Many years ago, the arrogant Italy lost all their territory in Africa at once. Even in the end, the Italian Navy lost a 50,000-ton armored fleet, which suddenly made Italy's domestic economy in collapse even worse.
.
Later, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was planning to counterattack the Far East with him, also suffered great losses. In the end, the Far East paid 10 million pounds in compensation. Seeing the people who were planning to take advantage of the situation with him, they waved their fists at him.
, King Umberto I of Italy, had no choice but to ask Germany to borrow money for compensation.
But at this time, Britain and France were creating friction around Italian Libya and seemed to be preparing to carve up Italian Libya. Umberto I immediately directly expressed his willingness to give up part of Libyan land to the two countries. In this way, Britain and France could barely deal with it, but
Two years ago, after Britain and Germany went to war in Africa, France immediately increased the number of troops stationed around Libya. France seemed ready to continue to expand its territory in Libya at any time.
Umberto I immediately turned to Germany's Wilhelm II for help. Subsequently, through negotiation between France and Germany, the two countries obtained Guangzhou Bay and Jiaozhou Bay from the Qing Dynasty respectively.
Then after two years of buffering time, Italy's domestic economic situation eased slightly. Umberto I immediately dispatched the newly formed Italian Mediterranean Fleet to garrison in the Libyan waters. However, the issue of the crisis that had just been resolved seemed to be on the horizon again.
In front of Italy's newly formed Mediterranean fleet.
This time Li Ningyu went to Spain to show off the strength of the Far East, so he specially led two newly launched Taishan-class battleships and a Huanghe-class battleship, as well as five Baichuan-class light cruisers, with a total tonnage of up to 70,000 tons.
Left and right, and this is also the entire main naval strength of Somalia.
At this time, the Mediterranean Fleet was only 5,000 meters away from the Far East Fleet. As long as it got a little closer, even the Baichuan-class light cruiser could hit it. Therefore, Li Ningyu had a bad idea in his mind, which was to attack the Mountain Zhenhu.
As early as about 6,000 meters away, the Italian Mediterranean Fleet discovered this fleet in the Far East. Since other countries except the Far East and the United Kingdom currently only have a small amount of shortwave radio equipment, the Italian Mediterranean Fleet sent a telegram to the Italian Navy Headquarters.
At that time, the lookouts on the Italian flagship discovered that the main guns of the two large-caliber battleships in the Far East Fleet had been aimed at the ships of the Italian fleet.
"Report! The Far East Fleet's artillery muzzles have been aimed at us!" The lookout nervously passed the news to the command room.
At this moment, Li Ningyu from the Far East Fleet command room took the peeled apple handed to him by the little girl Wan'er, took a firm bite, and said to Captain Qiu Jun beside him: "Fire!"
.
"Yes! Master!" Fleet Captain Qiu Jun responded immediately, and then he directly picked up the ship's intercom and said: "Two Taishan-class ships are ready, and the main gunners are ready to load empty shells!".
Then two Taishan-class battleships with all 305mm heavy artillery were equipped with empty shells for the exercise. Ten seconds later, fleet commander Qiu Jun said again: "Raise the angle to 45 degrees!".
"Ready!" The main gunner's voice sounded in the communicator, and then the fleet captain Qiu Jun couldn't help but glance at Li Ningyu, and then he immediately shouted an order: "First salvo! Fire!".
"Boom! Boom! Boom!..."
Suddenly, there was a long-lasting roar over the Mediterranean Sea. Just after hearing such a sound, Benjie, the commander of the Italian Mediterranean Fleet, immediately ordered a withdrawal to the Libyan military port, because the Italian Mediterranean Fleet was only a 50,000-ton ship.
There was a small fleet, and there were no large armored main battleships, so he chose to leave. However, after a loud burst of artillery, Benjie's face turned even bluer, because the Far East only used empty shells as a warning.
And just now, he actually issued a warning to all the ships of the Mediterranean Fleet to prevent a bubble attack, which was completely a disgraceful command. And it was because of this that Benjie, the commander of the Italian Mediterranean Fleet, after returning to the base, gave Umbe
Tuo I sent a long telegram.
There is only one content in the above, and that is to hope that Umberto I will send the Italian United Fleet to the Mediterranean, then ambush the Far East Fleet, and annihilate the Far East's maritime power in Africa, because Benjie told Umberto I that the Far East will take the lead in the Mediterranean.
Fired artillery at the Mediterranean Fleet, but the Far East seemed to have no money to buy artillery shells, so all they fired were the same practice shells and sandbag shells as the original Beiyang Fleet.
Benjie's nonsense was originally just to find a way out of his wrong judgment, but he never expected that Umberto I actually believed his words and transferred the Italian United Fleet to the Mediterranean from all the way to prepare for the war.
Ambush the Far East Fleet and eliminate the Far East's maritime power in Africa. At this time, the Far East Fleet has arrived at the port of Barcelona, Spain, and will then head overland to Madrid.
Barcelona, Bilbao, Tarragona, and Algecira are the main ports of Spain respectively, and when the Far East Fleet arrived, it still made an extremely deep impression on the Spaniards, because many centuries ago
, the Spanish Armada was the overlord of the sea, but after so much, they completely declined.
After the giant steel ships sailed into the Port of Barcelona, everyone in the local area couldn't help but come to visit the port. At this time, there was also a quarrel in the Spanish Royal Palace. Two factions were analyzing Li Ningyu.
The purpose of coming here and how to deal with it next, but their Queen Mother Maria doesn't want to hear their nonsense here.
Because she had known about the existence of this magical oriental boy for a long time, but she had never had a chance to see him. However, this time Far East came on his own initiative, which made Queen Mother Maria extremely excited. Therefore, the Spanish Royal Palace was busy at this time.
The carpets and food that need to be prepared in advance are all in place, just waiting for Li Ningyu's arrival.
At this time, Spain had long declined and was isolated internationally. In particular, the armed struggles of the people of Cuba and the Philippines against Spanish colonial rule restrained a large number of Spanish troops. The Spanish army's brutal suppression of the Cuban rebels angered the United States, because
Endangering the economic interests of American capitalists in the region, so on February 15, 1898, the USS Maine, a warship sent by the United States to Cuba to protect overseas Chinese, exploded in Havana Harbor. The United States used this incident as an excuse to launch an attack on Cuba on April 22.
Spain takes military action.
At the end of the 19th century, the United States entered a period of imperialism. Monopoly capital consortiums urgently needed to open up new markets, investment sites and raw material production areas, so various propaganda machines created public opinion about external expansion. However, just as the United States was preparing to expand overseas, the entire world was
After the carving up of the old colonial powers, the United States wanted to carve up the world's colonies again, but due to its limited power, it was still unable to compete with Britain, France and other countries, so it could only target the old and decaying empire of Spain.
At this time, Spain was already declining. Only Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines in Asia were left in its former huge empire. The United States decided to attack Spain first and seize these Spanish colonies in order to control Central America and the Caribbean, and gain access to the Far East and the Caribbean.
At this time, the struggle of the Spanish colonial people also created a favorable environment for the United States. Armed uprisings against Spanish colonial rule broke out in the Philippines and Cuba. The Philippine rebel army had liberated most of the country and surrounded
In Manila, the Cuban rebels held back Spain's 200,000-strong army.
Therefore, the arrival of Li Ningyu from the Far East gave Queen Mother Maria some new hope, which is why Spain sent Queen Mother Maria a special gift when Li Ningyu got married.
However, Li Ningyu knew very well about the Spanish-American War, because it was a war for the United States to make a fortune, and this time Li Ningyu planned to play a good game of chess with the United States. His name was all right, so he could take advantage of it.
The USS Maine exploded and sank in the Port of Havana, Cuba. It is said that the explosion was so powerful that it almost blew off one-third of the front side of the ship. The rest of the wreckage quickly sank into the sea within a few minutes, killing 266 people.
, the vast majority of them were soldiers. Almost all the officers on the ship were on land when the explosion occurred, and only two officers were on the ship.
The explosion aroused the anger of the people in the United States. Subsequently, the United States, through the minister to Spain, proposed conditions such as a ceasefire in Cuba and the lifting of the concentration camp law. In order to avoid war with the United States, Spain declared a truce on April 9, but the U.S. Congress subsequently issued a resolution
, that is to recognize Cuba's independence and demand Spain to withdraw from Cuba.
At the same time, President McKinley was granted the right to use force and declared that the United States had no intention of annexing Cuba. On April 22, the U.S. Navy sent troops to blockade Cuba's ports. On April 24, Spain declared war on the United States. The next day, the United States declared war. However, the United States actually
All preparations have been made for war.
At this time, the United States has established a fleet known as the third most powerful fleet in the world, which is deployed at strategic points around the world. Among them, the Asian fleet stationed in Hong Kong has already been primed and ready to go. Subsequently, the U.S. Congress has recruited 200,000 troops and has rapid-fire field artillery.
, telegraph, telephone and other advanced equipment.
On the contrary, Spain was unprepared. Of the 200,000 Spanish troops in Cuba, only 12,000 were able to fight, and the rest were mostly old, weak, sick, and disabled. The navy only had some old-style wooden-hulled warships. There were only 42,000 troops in the Philippines, and Spain's political situation was in turmoil.
There is chaos, and people in the military and political circles generally believe that there is no hope of victory in the war with the United States.
Vote to support the author and receive points and k-beans