In the next month, more specific news was spread by caravans coming down from the plateau, causing an uproar.

Many newspapers even sent people to wait by the river just to get first-hand news.

You must know that transportation at this time was extremely inconvenient, so it was extremely expensive. The telegraph line built to the edge of Sichuan was only open to the public four hours a day, and the price was impressive.

But no matter how expensive it is, it can't stop the enthusiasm of the newspaper office.

In Shanghai, the most prosperous city at the end of the Qing Empire, there are already two newspapers with a daily circulation of 100,000 points. It can be said that the limelight is temporarily gone.

Before the news of victory came, they were still an ordinary newspaper with a daily circulation of tens of thousands.

"Excuse me! The plateau border guards attacked thousands of miles away, and the Yadong British army retreated in embarrassment. They have withdrawn from our territory..."

"Excuse me, Plateau Border Guards..."

"Give me one!"

"I want one too!"

"Don't squeeze, don't squeeze..."

"How many Britons died?"

"You deserve to die no matter how much you die!"

"We still have a British leased land here. When can we take it back?"

"When will we wait? Isn't it a good time now? We have won the battle, but still dare to say no?"

"That's right, we can't defeat it at sea, so why not on land?"

"At once……"

When he said this, the discussion in the crowd suddenly became much quieter.

Yes, the British Empire's huge naval fleet is its real strength. Decades ago, the British East India Company relied on its navy to fight from Guangzhou all the way to Jinling.

Along the way, let alone being invincible, it was also easy to come and go.

What about China? For thousands of years, the navy has been a supplement to the army, and the navy has no tradition.

Starting from the 1880s, the navy was built on a large scale. By the end of the 19th century, when the navy had grown in size, the finances could no longer afford it.

The navy is corrupt, this is the consensus of all Chinese people.

What is corrupt is not the sailors or the ships, but the corrupt and inefficient system of the Qing Empire.

All of them, when this was mentioned, the voices of those who were scrambling for newspapers became much softer.

"Excuse me, the South China Java-class battleship was launched, continuing to maintain the record as the most powerful battleship in the world."

"Excuse me, the Java Island-class battleship of the South China Empire was launched, and the foreigners were shocked..."

"I want one!"

"Then kid, give me one!"

"Little Sichuan? I am your Uncle Song. I gave ribs to your mother. Leave one for me..."

Maybe, this is dramatization, and people are getting excited again.

…………

"Zhao Erfeng still has two brushes. He dared to send a cavalry to go deep into Huanglong alone."

"Yes, I didn't expect that he still has such courage despite his age. If something goes wrong, these thousands of cavalry will be ruined."

"On the surface, they were calm and lowered the vigilance of the British. In fact, they used mobile troops to outflank the back roads at night. With one brigade of troops, they outflanked two divisions. I have to say that it was really courageous."

At the staff meeting of the Nanhua, Chang'an, and Imperial Joint Commands, a group of senior generals from Nanhua were lamenting Zhao Erfeng's bold "tactics."

Nan Hua also already knew the general outline of the battle on the plateau.

After the British army's defeat on the front line, Zhao Erfeng did not lead the troops to pursue and expand the victory, but suddenly stood firm.

In fact, it was because Zhao Erfeng suffered a stroke and the command structure was in chaos, so there was no time. After sorting out the situation, the British had already withdrawn to a certain distance, and the pursuit was of little significance.

Then, the British didn't know what they were thinking (they were running out of supplies), but they stopped after running for hundreds of kilometers, and only withdrew after reinforcements came up.

This time, it was delayed for another two days.

Zhao Erfeng's thousands of cavalry sent out in advance took advantage of this time difference and ran to Yadong. They did not attack the city directly, but cut off the road.

Unexpectedly, the British in Yadong fired two shots at the plateau border guard cavalry thousands of meters away, turned around and ran away.

When the cavalry commander entered Yadong, he was still a little confused.

In fact, most of the defenders here rushed to support the frontline fighting, and only one infantry company was left to maintain order.

Since this is the rear area, the infantry defending here did not even do the most basic fortifications.

Seeing the dark cavalry all over the mountains and plains "charging" toward them menacingly, the defenders thought briefly and made a rational decision - to retreat.

Most of the cavalry consisted of one person and two horses, half of whom were tribal warriors from various tribes. They had no shortage of horses at all, and some of them had three or four horses per person.

People who have never experienced it can't imagine the oppression caused by the darkness of tens of thousands of horses.

After various factors came together, Yadong was recaptured by the cavalry, the British lost their logistics transit base, and their logistics supply lines were directly cut off.

Button, button, button...

Just when the discussion was getting heated, there was a knock on the door.

"Your Majesty is here." Wang Linhai stuck his head out, said something and then retreated.

Immediately afterwards, Liu Yiming walked in, followed by Zhao Jiaxing, Jiang Wang, Gu Fan and other naval generals.

The appearance of the navy made Lu Lu slightly surprised. He was not surprised that the navy was coming, but that the navy was coming and followed Liu Yiming and Jiang Wang.

This signal was a little interesting. Wang Yang glanced at Xie Hui, and Xie Hui shook his head slightly.

These things all happened in the blink of an eye.

"Stand up!" Xie Hui shouted.

brush!

Everyone stood up and faced Liu Yiming.

"salute!"

brush!

Wave your arms in unison and make a sound.

"Everyone, take a seat!" Liu Yiming walked to the main seat and sat down expressionlessly.

Seeing Liu Yiming's performance, Wang Yang became even more confused and looked at Zhao Jiaxing for help.

Zhao Jiaxing grimaced, smiled reluctantly, and shook his head slightly.

Seeing his expression, Wang Yang felt a little more at ease. He shouldn't be dealing with the Army today.

"A... sensational thing happened recently." Liu Yiming pulled out the document and handed it to Xie Hui.

Xie Hui took the file and walked to the map as a habit before opening the file.

"Gah?"

Xie Hui let out a strange cry and glanced at Zhao Jiaxing with pity.

"Ahem! Seven days ago, there was a leak of confidential documents from the Naval Design Bureau, and the design sketches and some parameters of the Java Island-class battleship were leaked."

"The leaker is Liang Zhichao, who graduated from Naval University's ship design major and joined the Naval Design Bureau."

"After the leak occurred, after a surprise interrogation, it was determined that the leaker was...a Japanese spy buried in South China. Fifteen years ago, ten-year-old Liang Zhichao entered South China with immigrants and lived there."

"Okay, that's enough here." Liu Yiming waved his hand, interrupting Xie Hui's hesitant speech.

"The leaked sketch contains an armor distribution map. This should be a military secret, but it was easily obtained by a newcomer."

"Not only that, this person also passed the review to enter the university, and also entered the Naval Design Bureau, a department with high confidentiality requirements."

"What about other departments? Can the reliability of personnel be guaranteed?"

"Armored combat methods, tactics, various confidential plans, the Air Force's confidentiality work, and even the intelligence department." Liu Yiming said while looking at everyone.

"I'm not here to hold people accountable today, but I hope this is the last time."

"All departments should immediately conduct self-examination and cross-examination after returning to eliminate all uncertainties."

Liu Yiming did not let them speak, but kept talking to himself.

"Your Majesty, please rest assured that the Army will immediately conduct a strict review and ensure that no spy will be let go." Seeing that the atmosphere was getting more and more dull, Yang Tao hurriedly said.

"The speed must be fast. All work must be completed before the Java Island-class battleship is officially commissioned."

"Moreover, regular self-examination within the military should also be put on the agenda. Routine cross-examination should be supervised by the intelligence department."

Liu Yiming nodded and did not look at them. Instead, he took out another document.

"The data we can collect on the defenses in some areas of Japan, troop distribution, shore defense firepower in the port area, and warships are all here."

"Take them all and study them. I'll take care of today's lunch and dinner. There are camp beds in the back for you to sleep on. Give me a preliminary plan tomorrow."
To be continued...