Chapter Thirteen: Collaborating on Difficult Childbirth

  Three years later, the sensational fleet disappearance incident occurred again, but this time it was not the Japanese who were unlucky, but the French. The deputy commander of the French Far East Fleet, Admiral Foch, who had participated in the Anglo-French joint inspection fleet, sat stupidly in the command center of the French Far East Squadron in Haiphong, looking at the report in his hand.

  Nine French warships, more than 2,000 French sailors, lost contact after leaving the port. Because the French fleet did not arrive in Guangzhou Bay on schedule, the staff of the French Consulate General in Guangzhou sent a telegram to inquire about it the next day. When receiving this telegram, Major General Fod did not realize that there was a problem with the fleet, but thought that Admiral Bidaire might have changed his plan halfway.

  After waiting for 4 whole days, Admiral Foch finally felt that something was amiss. None of the nearby ports had any news about the French fleet. The fleet headquarters even contacted the British Far East Fleet Headquarters in Hong Kong to ask if they had found any trace of the French fleet, but the British were also completely unaware.

  This made Fude anxious, and he hastily dispatched all the ships of the Far East Fleet to search for them at various ports where they might have stopped, but still nothing was found, and the fleet vanished as a whole.

  It wasn't until now that Vice Admiral Fude realized that three years ago, the Japanese fleet had disappeared without a trace in the same way. At the time, he and the British had made a show of searching for it in the waters near Taiwan, completely dismissing the Japanese pleas as a conspiracy. Now, the tables were turned on him - what was he to do? If he couldn't come up with a suitable reason, his career would likely be over, and the politicians back home wouldn't hesitate to make him the scapegoat to placate the anger of the missing sailors' families.

  Afraid to return, afraid to report, the domestic side is still waiting for the good news of occupying Guangzhou Bay. So, a telegram was sent from the French Far East Fleet in Da Nang, drifting across the ocean, directly to France.

  The French government received a telegram and was immediately thrown into chaos. During the Sino-French War, Taiwan wasn't taken back, and the government stepped down. Now Guangzhou Bay hasn't been taken back either, with even greater losses than during the Sino-French War. No need to think about it, hurry back to the office to pack up personal belongings and prepare to go home.

  The French government immediately convened an emergency meeting, studied for several days, and finally decided to send two warships from French Oceania to Annan first, to supplement the Far East Fleet in Annan. As for the missing fleet, Vice Admiral Fode was ordered to investigate the cause within a time limit and make arrangements.

  As the French lost most of their main fleet ships and had to maintain security in Annam, the plan to forcibly lease Guangzhou Bay was also indefinitely postponed.

  Although the French plan went bankrupt, the disappearance of this French fleet was still noted by governments of various countries, with dozens of warships mysteriously disappearing in the South China Sea. The first three times were Japanese, and Britain, France, Germany, the United States and other countries thought that the Japanese were lying, so they didn't take it to heart. But this time it was their own French brothers who met with disaster, so it shouldn't be nonsense. What could have caused so many military ships to disappear without reason?

  The Japanese spoke first, and with a tone of schadenfreude, they said that the French fleet had probably encountered a storm, deviated from its course, and sunk. This was what the French had previously said about the Japanese fleet, but now the Japanese were repeating it verbatim; The Americans were busy attacking the Philippines and didn't have time to ponder other things, so they just expressed sympathy for the French fleet's misfortune; The British, apart from being slightly disgusted by Japan's petty-mindedness, generally agreed with the Japanese account, because in the consciousness of the British Navy, no one except God could eliminate a powerful French fleet without mobilizing a large number of ships. Not even the British themselves could do it; The Germans had always been at odds with the French, and this time they were delighted to see the French suffer a setback. However, their usual rigorous attitude led them to carefully analyze various factors, and finally, they came to a conclusion: the French fleet did not encounter a storm, because there had never been a storm in the Gulf of Tonkin that could sink more than 4,000-ton cruisers, and it wasn't just one ship, but three. There were only two possible reasons for the French fleet's misfortune: either the French were lying, or they had been attacked by an enemy.

  Soon, the German claim was partially confirmed. Two Vietnamese fishing boats were fishing in the waters north of Da Nang when they inadvertently picked up several wooden planks, one of which was the nameplate of the French fleet's flagship cruiser "Bassac". The planks showed clear signs of scorching and one plank had several bullet holes.

  The French were furious, in their own backyard, they were actually annihilated by someone else's fleet, this is a great shame. But anger aside, the French Far East Fleet had only a few small gunboats left, and the rest were wooden sail warships, let alone going to find enemies, defending their own home was now a problem.

  The British were also furious, as the fleet of their in-laws was annihilated silently under their noses. This is a serious threat to the British Far East Fleet as well. However, the British have not thought of Taiwan yet, because the Taiwanese navy is really not worth mentioning. The first thing that comes to mind for the British are the Americans and Germans. In the Far East, only the American and German fleets can achieve this miracle.

  The Germans were overjoyed, their arch-enemy France was actually hacked, it's worth a drink. If the British fleet was also hacked, the Germans would be even more delighted, but being able to hack the British also means they can hack themselves, so the Germans strengthened the defense of Weihai Port.

  The French proposed that the British, American, German, Japanese and Russian fleets send warships to thoroughly investigate the attack on the French fleet. The Russians immediately agreed and volunteered to send three main battleships from Port Arthur to Hong Kong. The Japanese were furious, saying they would not participate if the Russians did. They hated the Russians for taking over Port Arthur, which Japan had shed blood and sweat to capture. Germany was unwilling to risk its own interests for France's sake, citing instability in Kiautschou Bay as a reason for not sending warships, but offering moral support instead. Britain agreed to France's request and prepared to send several warships to participate in the investigation. The United States made excuses, saying that the situation in the Philippines was too intense and their fleet could not be spared, but offered to help defend some ports in Annam for France.

  The French almost fainted, sending a warship to help me defend the port? This reason was often used by themselves in the past, many colonies were defended like this and then became their own. Now it's being used to cheat themselves!!!

  The British are also helpless, relying on a few pieces of wooden boards with bullet holes, can't determine what's going on, let alone these countries are all white-eyed wolves, not one is thrifty, don't be the big head yourself, let the French people mourn and change.

  The French proposal thus miscarried, and the French government was powerless to do anything but vent its spite on the Annamese, so for some time afterwards many Annamese fishing boats were attacked by French gunboats on the pretext that they had shown signs of attacking the latter.