This was the original Plaza de Armas and is now Unity Square.
A sculpture was built in the center of the square, which is two hands tightly held together.
There is a rectangular base below, with unity written in Chinese characters on the base.
Mr. North walked towards the original Miru Presidential Palace in Lima, which is now the palace of Queen Donghua and the office of the Lima District Government. Donghua implements a district and county system, and the kingdom is divided into regions.
It is equivalent to a province, with a large region divided into divisions, and the villages below.
Special zones and regions are parallel to each other and are similar to municipalities. Currently, there are two special zones in Donghua, one is the Lima Special Zone because of its important economic status, and the other is the Cusco Capital District.
At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Donghua also operates here. Yes, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Donghua is not in the capital Cusco but in Lima.
The Kingdom of Donghua is currently in a state of war. Except for the countries in the Greater China Circle, it implements a limited opening policy to other countries. Currently, the only open port provided by Donghua is Lima.
It has become the largest commercial and import and export trade center in Donghua.
Dong Shutong also established an ore and heavy metal trading center here.
Currently, ore is Donghua's main source of income. It is also the fastest way to make money.
Especially for saltpeter ore and guano fertilizer, Donghua has almost monopolized the global market.
Dong Shutong is still very business-minded. He established this trading center in Lima just to obtain the pricing power of these commodities.
Even when trading within the Huaxia Circle, Donghua must follow business rules.
Brothers are still settling accounts!
Nolan North felt ashamed because he was going to Donghua today to submit a statement of protest and declare war on Donghua.
Then, he will leave here.
Leave in despair!
This was the first time that the Great Empire submitted a protest in case of failure. It was to a small country that had just been established.
Nolan North knew that he would be nailed to the pillar of shame in history along with this incident.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs occupies an entire building next to the old president. The Queen's palace is in the main building. Usually the Queen is not here, and the rooms in the main building are also used to entertain some distinguished guests.
After walking through the garden and arriving in front of the Donghua Foreign Affairs Department, a white waiter received him.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Donghua has some white staff due to work reasons. The other place with the most white employees is probably the Intelligence Department.
"Hello, Mr. North, our Minister Cai is waiting for you."
The current Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Donghua was built by Cai Qiming alone. It can be regarded as starting from scratch.
Zhumu also named him Bo Wangbo. Zhang Qian was once named Bowang Hou. Later, the envoys sent by the Han Dynasty to the Western Regions often called themselves Bowang Hou to win the trust of other countries.
Cai Qiming likes this title very much.
To spread the power of the Han Dynasty in foreign lands, what they are doing now is such a great thing.
This is a great era.
Nolan North had a straight face and said nothing.
He had known Cai Qiming for a long time, who was originally the minister of the Renaissance Army.
At that time, Cai Qiming would also attend some diplomatic activities hosted by him.
Everyone hangs out in the diplomatic circle of Milu, and there are usually many interactions.
Unexpectedly, after the establishment of the Donghua Kingdom, this person suddenly became Donghua's Minister of Foreign Affairs and became the master of this place.
God’s will is playing tricks on people!
"Hello, Mr. North." Cai Qiming was polite and did not lose etiquette because the two sides declared war.
"Minister Cai, this is the declaration of war and statement of protest from the Great Empire."
"Minister Cai, I want to remind you, are you Donghua prepared to bear the wrath of the Great Empire? You have made a wrong choice and should not become the enemy of the Great Empire."
"Mr. North, thank you for your reminder. But I also want to explain that this is not Donghua's choice, but our response. As long as someone dares to invade and provoke the Donghua Kingdom, then they are our enemies. We do not
There is room for choice.”
"When the Great Empire sailed its fleet into our Linhai, and when your fleet fired at the Donghua Navy, at that time, did you give the Donghua Navy the right to choose?"
"Mr. North, our Donghua Kingdom is not afraid of any threats. No matter who wants to invade Donghua, no matter how powerful he is, we Donghua will fight him to the end, even if there is only one of us left, we will fight to the end.
"
"Mr. Cai, may I take this as your declaration of war?"
"It's up to you!" Cai Qiming made a gesture of invitation.
Nolan North threw up his sleeves and walked away.
Cai Qiming did not want to continue arguing with him. Although he was a diplomat, he knew very well that before the war had a winner, the role of a diplomat was minimal.
Diplomats can only play their role before and after the war.
The function before the war is the so-called "attacking the enemy". The function after the war is either to clean up the mess after the defeat or to gain more benefits from the victory.
…
In the Strait of Magellan, looking at the hill-like "Warrior", Nie Dahua felt a sense of despair.
"Jing Haibo, we still don't have the technology to repair such a large warship." Qin Ying, who was following Nie Dahua, said.
Qin Ying is forty-five years old and is the equipment director of the Donghua Navy. He is an engineer in a shipyard and is a true technical officer.
"Old Qin, who said we need to repair it? This kind of big thing is not suitable for us. Moreover, this kind of artillery layout is outdated. If we have the money to maintain it, it would be great if we go to the mainland and order two more "Zhenhai" class destroyers.
"
"Then why did Jing Haibo sigh?"
"Oh, I think it will take a long time to dismantle it."
"Tear it down?"
"Yeah, look at how good the performance of the steel plates forged by the Great Empire is." Nie Dahua said, pointing to the bullet marks on the "Warrior" that were blasted by the "Zhenyuan" during the previous battle.
"Old Qin, you come and choose to take care of this matter. Leave part of the removed steel plate to strengthen the fort in Dongmen Port, and the naval guns are also moved to Dongmen Port. Judging from this battle
, the firepower and protection of the forts on the port are very insufficient."
The naval guns on the "Warrior" were changed to coastal defense guns, and the caliber was sufficient.
"Sigh - it's such a pity. If it can be repaired, it would be good to drive it out to scare people." Tan Ying sighed, he was a boat lover.
He just took a spin on the "Warrior", and there is really nothing to say about the craftsmanship of the shipyard of this great empire.
The things they make are almost like works of art. Anyway, the craftsmanship of the Fuxing Military Shipyard is not as good as others.
As an old man who came from a shipyard, Qin Ying, a technical geek, is still very objective.
"If you really feel pity, see if you can use these materials to build an ironclad ship in Donghua, even if it is smaller in tonnage."
"Commander, if you want to allocate funds to me, I really made it."
"Of course it's true. We won the battle this time, so I'm going to ask the ruler for money. Besides, our fleet is too small, and the Great Empire has suffered such a big loss. They will definitely seek revenge from us later.
We must be prepared. At least the number of ships must be increased."
"Okay, then I'll go make it."
The thing that Blake regretted most was not the defeat, but the stranding of the "Warrior". It would have been better if it had sunk.
At this time, he and a group of captured officers and soldiers were being transported to the Donghua mainland.
They were traveling on the transport ship Gu Huan of the Donghua Navy.
As an admiral, Black's treatment was good and he could even have a separate room. Several of his officers originally lived with him and were responsible for taking care of his life.
Ordinary sailors do not receive such good treatment.
Most of Grenada's sailors were left at the East Gate Port, where they were to become laborers building the port and forts.
The reason why Nie Dahua just said he wanted steel plates and artillery was because the expansion of the port fort has begun.
In the next war, it will be difficult for Nie Dahua to ambush the enemy again.
The enemy may take Cape Horn by then, may storm the Strait, or may come from the Pacific.
Therefore, Nie Dahua probably won’t be able to wait and see.
The guard work here in the strait can only be left to the forts and torpedo boat brigade.
However, Nie Dahua felt that if the Great Empire wanted to retaliate, they could only wait until their new iron-clad ships were launched.
Donghua still has time to prepare, but there is not much time.
It was the end of July, and the battle on the northern front had been going on for nearly twenty days.
It has been more than ten days since the Donghua Army retreated to that defensive line.
In the past ten days, the attacks between the two armies have almost never stopped.
General Reyes also received news that Colombria was under attack. However, he refused the order to send troops back to support. He is now the frontline commander of the coalition forces, and his place is the main direction of the entire war.
He must be responsible for the soldiers of the coalition forces.
They have already invaded Donghua territory.
After so many days of offensive, the situation on the battlefield gradually became clear. The Donghua Army's strength on the eastern front was insufficient. At least compared to the number of reinforcements, it was much smaller.
But they can always maintain their strength advantage on local battlefields.
This is because they have a fleet of transport ships that can move quickly on inland rivers.
"General Wolseley, have you seen this kind of power plant in Europe that does not use steam?" Reyes asked.
The scouts saw this kind of ship when they were scouting on the river. They had no oars, sails, or steam engine chimneys.
"internal combustion engine!"
"General Reyes, I have seen a fuel-burning power device in a magazine, but it has not yet been put into practical use in Europe."
"So Donghua's technology is more advanced than Europe's?"
"Of course not, this must be something sold to them by the Renaissance Army. You must know that even the armored ship was first built by the Renaissance Army. It is said that their president is a scientific genius."
Ever since the Ironclads of the Renaissance Army became so brilliant, Europe has begun to pay attention to some of the technological progress of the Renaissance Army. They have also tried to steal the technological intelligence of the Renaissance Army.
However, they cannot enter the inland areas at all and can only operate in the free trade zone designated by the Renaissance Army, which was the original concession.
After the Renaissance Army took over the territory, it did not completely abolish the concession.
Dong Shuheng still needed these windows for foreign trade at that time.
However, he still determined the nature of the concession with the foreigners.
Originally, the Qing government did not hand over the management of the concession to foreigners.
The so-called extraterritoriality was only developed later.
Dong Shuheng made it clear to them the nature and functions of the concession, and at the same time sent people to directly manage the concession and transform it into a free trade zone.
Within this area, foreigners can set up factories, move around freely, and engage in commercial activities. However, they must abide by the management of the Renaissance Army. Goods entering and exiting the free trade zone still have to pay taxes.
There are now six free trade zones under the Fuxing Army, from south to north, Guangzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo, Shanghai, Jimo, and Tianjin. The original Fuzhou Concession was cancelled.
This is not a port opened in accordance with the Sino-British treaty. It was set by Dong Shuheng himself.
Both are doing business with foreigners, but free trade zones and concessions are different. One is proactive opening and active management. The other is passive opening and letting things go.
If it were like the Qing Dynasty, the concession would almost become the land of foreigners.
Dong Shuheng naturally could not tolerate such a thing happening.
There are still two islands, one in the hands of the Great Empire and one in the hands of the Portuguese.
It's not that Dong Shuheng doesn't have the strength to take it back now. It's that taking it back now is worse than not taking it back at all.
The Da Ying Empire never wanted to break up with the Renaissance Army because of this island. Dong Shuheng also wanted to use this island to bind the Da Ying Empire.
The small island in Portugal is just for them to take care of. Dong Shuheng also uses the important people in Portugal as a cover to do many things. Such a small country is very profitable and it is best to control it.
Under the strict policies of the Renaissance Army, it was difficult for these foreigners to obtain information. They could only use their profits to bribe some businessmen to help them detect intelligence. However, they also got bad news.
The internal combustion engine developed by the Fuxing Army has been put into practical use, and tractors or diesel agricultural machinery have appeared in many places. Since the development of diesel engines, more than 5,000 units have been produced so far.
After several new diesel engine factories are put into operation in the second half of this year, the annual output of diesel engines can reach 50,000 units.
This represents not only technological progress, but a real improvement in production efficiency.
…
"It is meaningless for us to disperse our troops to attack in other places now. We can only attack De Orellana. The Donghua Army currently has only 20,000 troops on the front line of defense of De Orellana. Part of the 20,000 troops are deployed in towns.
, part of them is deployed on the river bank. The defense line in the town is their focus. So as long as we capture the town, there will be a breakthrough in the Donghua Army's defense line."
"Well, this town is taking us too much time, we must capture it as soon as possible." Reyes agreed with General Wolseley's point of view.
The small town of De Orellana originally had more than 3,000 residents. After Donghua was founded, it was built into an important ferry.
Supplies transported from the U River usually land here. This becomes the bridgehead for the development of the plain area between the Napo and Putumayo rivers.
The immigrants going north basically start from here.
In the past two years, this small town has become more and more prosperous.
But now, everything is gone. The newly built houses have turned into ruins. Even the ferry by the river was destroyed in the shelling.
Huang Xing's third division is now stationed in this small town. From the outside, there seems to be no one in this town. In fact, the soldiers are hiding in bunkers.
The houses can no longer function as bunkers. Instead, they will bury the soldiers underneath after being shelled by the enemy.
The Third Division's positions were mainly located on the streets and consisted of trenches and barricades.
These positions were also set up while fighting. At first, they blocked the enemy outside the city.
However, the number of coalition forces was too large, and the open space outside the city was conducive to their group attack.
So Huang Xing withdrew all his people into the city. In this way, the enemy could only attack along the streets and could not expand.
The strength of the Third Division does not appear to be so stretched.
The Third Division fought for nearly twenty days and suffered heavy casualties, with one-third of its troops reduced.
The enemy they destroyed was at least three times their own losses.
Even if 10,000 people were lost, it would not have much impact on the coalition forces.
As the attacking party, the coalition forces were more concentrated than the Donghua Army.
At this time, on the battlefield in front of De Orellana, the coalition forces had invested 50,000 troops.