Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 210: There is no worse ally than the British
"You can't get in, you can't get in! I've been waiting for you for three fucking days, not to listen to your excuses! You're wasting your chance by doing this!"
Who is it? Which leader doesn't agree to our Chinese soldiers entering the country? Give me a name and I'll go find him myself!

In Ceylon, Li Xiaoshi, a Cambridge graduate who was known for his elegance and easy-going manner, was now angrily performing oral gymnastics on a group of British people.

"The Yamato personally led two aircraft carrier formations and two battleship formations that have already invaded the Andaman Islands. Both Ceylon and Rangoon are now under the Japanese's guns. Our soldiers paid the price of their lives and captured the Japanese lieutenant general in the most heroic way, but you guys wasted our time!"

"Mr. James, Britain's strength stems from its colonies and dominions spread across the world. Once these key links are disrupted, the interaction between Britain, its colonies, and its dominions is lost, and the industrial chain is broken, Britain's original strength will become extremely fragile."

"With all due respect, as your British allies, and even as people under your rule, we, the Nanyang Chinese, are deeply disappointed with your British performance in the Far East. Currently, the mainstream public opinion among the Nanyang Chinese is that the British are completely irresponsible and unworthy of ruling us."

"Even as an ally, I hope you can at least act like an ally, dear Mr. James. I once spent the happiest time of my life in Britain, and that was very important to me."

"Among the Chinese in Southeast Asia, there are many who, like me, once admired Britain, worshipped Britain, and were even loyal to Britain. We once called ourselves progressive elites. We had a deep love for Britain, but what was the result?"

"Your incompetence even makes us angry, and your inaction even makes us feel ashamed of our former love!"

"Are you still the so-called empire on which the sun never sets? Bullshit! Are you a country that is so indecisive, indecisive, and afraid of death still worthy of being our overlord?!"

If Zheng Yi were here, he would definitely be surprised by Li Xiaoshi's crazy output.

You know, he has always been a staunch pro-British, and has excellent relations with almost all major British ministers. Moreover, as a Cambridge graduate, he has always attached great importance to gentlemanly manners in diplomatic occasions.

At this moment, his face turned red and he was cursing at James, the commander of the Eastern Fleet, pointing at his nose.

Under normal circumstances, these British people would have been anxious if they were scolded like this by a yellow man. But at this moment, listening to Li Xiaoshi's sincere and fierce words, they all lowered their heads, and even had a bit of shame on their faces.

However, that's all there is to it.

Li Xiaoshi was so angry that he laughed.

Even though he was so excited, not a single general took the initiative to stand up and take some responsibility.

His disappointment is also real.

The Japanese army entered the Andaman Island. According to the clear reconnaissance of reconnaissance aircraft, the Japanese army planned to build a naval base here, and the scale was quite large.

Throughout the Andaman Islands, almost all young women were recruited as comfort women by the Japanese army, and even comfort women from other regions were recruited.

Li Xiaoshi was certainly not feeling sad for the women on the Andaman Islands, but he actually knew very clearly that the Japanese troops in the Andaman Islands were by no means temporary strongholds.

It was clear that the Japanese army planned to annex the whole of Myanmar from north to south through the army, and finally occupy Yangon, enter the Andaman Island from Yangon, and then march directly to the throat of India, the darling of the British Empire!
Things have come to this, Li Xiaoshi asked the British army to take advantage of this critical moment when the Japanese navy is still unstable and take the initiative to attack, and their air brigade in Myanmar can cooperate with the British army.

Naval battles, so many of which have been fought since World War II, have fully demonstrated the correctness of using air power to control the sea. Aren't aircraft carriers the ones being attacked?

How many aircraft carriers can the Japanese have? Even if they are heavy aircraft carriers, how many aircraft can they carry?

Currently, there are 38 P300Ds and more than 17 B18s and Bs at Yangon Airport. If they are not enough, aircraft from Penang can also come to provide support.

As long as the British navy takes the initiative to attack, this battle will definitely be won.

As a result, a day ago, the Japanese army entered the Andaman Islands. Wang Qiaoyun and Doolittle both believed that this was an opportunity not to be missed, and immediately ordered all the planes in Yangon to take off and bomb him before he could gain a firm foothold.

The Japanese and Confederate planes fought extremely fiercely in the air. Even the Japanese battleships, destroyers, and cruisers all pressed forward, firing their naval guns at the coastal defense guns for a whole day.

The result of the whole day was that the Japanese army shot down 26 aircraft, sank two cruisers, more than ten destroyers, and seriously damaged aircraft carriers and battleships. All ships were damaged.

In Yangon, four military airports were precisely bombed. It goes without saying that a spy must have leaked the relevant information. A large number of planes even had to go to Alor Setar because they had nowhere to land.

Six coastal defense guns were also destroyed and twelve were attacked.

The city government was destroyed by bombs, and the artillery and bullet factories along the coast suffered varying degrees of damage.

It is difficult to say who wins and who loses. In any case, both sides suffer losses. Yangon may have gained some benefits, after all, the factories, airports, and coastal defense artillery can all be repaired.

Although many civilians were killed or injured, to be honest, at this point in the war, civilians are actually just numbers, even insignificant, and not as important as factories.

Even the death of a few more civilians can boost morale. Those in power just need to have a good cry and make some speeches to show that everyone is united against the enemy.

The Japanese army lost ships, and there was definitely no place to repair ships in Andaman. At least the losses could not be replenished in a short period of time. So from this point of view, Yangon had a little advantage.

But in fact, the Japanese army did not lose out, because they did not expect to occupy Rangoon by landing directly from the sea. The difficulty of this was actually not much less than directly attacking Penang.

The Japanese army's trump card was the main attacker, Seishirō Itakane, and the more than 200,000 Japanese troops under his command.

As long as the China-Myanmar railway can be cut off, Yangon, a city with a population of over one million, will starve to death.

Even Penang and Alor Setar could be conquered without a fight.

So Yangon bombed the airport, hangars, and some ammunition factories. At least in the short term, Yangon no longer had enough air force to support the army.

When these more than 200,000 Japanese troops came from Thailand, at least they didn't have to worry about planes dropping bombs on them.

So from this perspective, the Japanese army did not actually lose. After all, although they suffered heavy losses, their tactical goals were achieved, and they bought at least a month for Itagaki Seishirō.

This is nothing, but what makes them most angry on the South Asian Alliance side is that they fought with the Japanese for a whole day!

The high-intensity exchange of fire lasted for six hours.

As a result, the British watched it for six hours!

Where is your Ceylon Navy?
In Li Xiaoshi's opinion, if these guys were willing to come out and fight with them, with Penang providing the air force and Ceylon providing the navy, they wouldn't be able to completely destroy the Japanese fleet, but they could at least inflict heavy damage, right?

But they refused.

Even now that they have finished the war, Rangoon and the Japanese fleet are a bit devastated. Why don't you come out to clean up the mess?
Even if you come out now and beat the man when he’s down, it’s fine!
In the end, the response Li Xiaoshi received was still a rejection.

The reason is actually not difficult to guess. It's nothing more than sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight.

This is completely different from the background of the Battle of Ceylon in history. In history, when the British and Japanese fought the Battle of Ceylon, Rangoon had already fallen into the hands of the Japanese army, and Japanese ships could even be resupplied directly in Rangoon.

But at this time, Yangon not only did not fall, but instead had a very powerful air force.

On the other hand, Britain's deterrent fleet was defeated by the Japanese army because of its arrogance and other reasons.

During the Battle of Ceylon in history, the British could at least comfort themselves that although they lost on land, their navy was still stronger than that of the Japanese.

Is the Japanese Navy the third largest in the world?

But in fact, this kind of Western list is just for fun. It's 2024, and they still say that the University of Tokyo's air force is the seventh strongest in the world.

At this time, they knew very well that the Ceylon Navy could not defeat the Japanese. In addition, the lack of sufficient naval power in the Middle East to blockade Germany in the UK had caused a series of chain reactions. After all, in history, the British first defeated the German Navy and then the Japanese Navy.

At this time and space, the German navy was not hit too hard. In London, some people had already proposed to withdraw the Ceylon navy.

Although they were still hesitant, there was no doubt that given Britain's current situation, the Ceylon Fleet would never dare to suffer any more losses.

If this fleet is completely wiped out, the British Empire will probably have no room to breathe in this war.

To put it bluntly, two words: cowardice.

And I am still hesitant and reluctant to give up anything.

As for Yangon inviting them to fight the Japanese army together?

In the eyes of the British, this is also a way to help others.

Because the Japanese army will definitely attack Burma first.

Yangon and SAARC are now too powerful. As one grows stronger and the other weakens, it is clear that they are no longer able to be eliminated. The British army believes that at this time they do not need to risk damaging the British navy for the benefit of SAARC.

The planes in Yangon were destroyed, and the Americans continued to build them.

If our British warships are destroyed, will the Americans build them for us?

Even if the US Navy really came, it would occupy the military bases that originally belonged to them and divide up the colonies that originally belonged to Britain.

To put it bluntly, even if the British could win the war, would they still be able to control Zheng Yi when they returned to Singapore with their defeated troops? Would Penang and Rangoon still be British colonies, even in name only?
In this case, it would be better to remain unchanged in the face of ever-changing circumstances and wait for both the Southern Alliance and the Japanese army to suffer heavy losses.

Judging from the results, it seems that both sides are indeed hurt.

To be honest, although Zheng Yi was angry about the result, he was not actually unacceptable. He had been prepared from the beginning that the British army would abandon Ceylon.

But Li Xiaoshi found it a little hard to accept.

He's a bit off guard.

This Chinese man, who studied in the UK since childhood, was a classmate of the British king, and married a Scottish noblewoman and the British king's cousin, is truly loyal to Britain.

Zheng Yi has always positioned him as a Malaysian who loves both China and Britain.

To put it bluntly, isn't he just a comprador elite from the colony? His political and economic status in Malaya was actually given by the British.

Isn't this just that I am loyal to you, but you treat me like a worn-out shoe?

Yangon is a colony of you British people!!
In our Yangon City, for many years, we have shared taxes with you on equal terms.

Li Xiaoshi often acts as a spokesperson for the British in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

Now that something is happening in Yangon, are you just sitting on the sidelines watching the fight?
However, this was not what maddened Li Xiaoshi the most.

He could even understand the problem from the British perspective. After all, the British also had Germany as their opponent, and the power of the fleet was indeed valuable.

But what the British did next was to make him, a loyal lackey of Great Britain, want to go to London and kill Fatty Qiu.

They actually refused to allow the Dongda Expeditionary Force to enter Burma!!!
You must know that the reason why the Japanese risked mutual losses in attacking Rangoon from the sea was to destroy Rangoon’s airport, destroy Rangoon’s air force, destroy Rangoon’s factories, and destroy Rangoon’s logistical supply capabilities.

Isn't it just to create opportunities for Itagaki Seishirō's army?

Itakane Seishirō's 300,000-man army is coming soon.

You know, Yangon’s army is far weaker than Penang’s, and in terms of numbers it is even less than Alor Setar’s.

Because Yangon is a city with a majority Chinese population, and Hu Wenhu implemented a ruling policy similar to that of the British, which was to ensure that the minority Chinese could maintain their position in the ruling class by instigating confrontation between the Burmese and Indians.

Of course, they are more humane than the British.

But now, the British, the Dutch and the French have actually proven whether such an army can fight.

The SAARC dares to make use of Malays, but it really does not dare to count on the Burmese in Yangon. These are two completely different things.

Zheng Yi still has confidence that the Malays in Alor Setar can fight the Japanese in street battles for him, and Zheng Yi is thankful that the Burmese and Indians in Yangon will not turn their guns against him at that time.

With only one or so Chinese divisions under Longyao in Yangon, they were able to stop the Japanese from landing on the beach. Even if they landed from other nearby ports, they had a certain degree of confidence in preventing the Japanese from entering the city.

But to say that they could stop 300,000 Japanese troops from cutting off the railway is pure bullshit.

From the beginning to the end, Zheng Yi placed his hopes for the safety of this railway on the East China Expeditionary Force.

But now, the British are actually setting up obstacles at the diplomatic level to prevent the expeditionary force from entering Burma?
Aren’t you just sitting on the mountain and watching the fight between tigers?

Didn’t you say that Yangon is no longer yours?
Don’t you want it anymore?!

When Li Xiaoshi learned that the British were setting obstacles to the University of Tokyo at the diplomatic level, he almost died of anger.

The excuse is actually not difficult to guess. To put it bluntly, they are afraid that the expeditionary force will not leave once it arrives. The British have only given Rangoon to Zheng Yi, not the whole of Myanmar.

You should know that Myanmar at that time was the country/region with the highest GDP in Asia, even surpassing Japan. Myanmar was very rich, with large amounts of oil, gems, rubber, rice, and precious metals. It was the golden hen that laid eggs for the British.

After all, the news that Seishirō Itakane led an army of 300,000 to invade Burma is just information. Who knows whether it is true or not?

Otherwise, it was just for the sake of face, after all, there were still many British troops stationed in Myanmar.

Before we even started fighting with the Japanese army, we invited an Asian country, a poor country that we have always looked down upon, to send their own troops to help us, Britain, fight.

Doesn’t my British Empire have any face?

The matter is stuck in London.

Some people in the parliament thought that they could come, while others thought that they should at least wait a while, and now there is a delay.

But for the University of Tokyo, at least in Chongqing, they did not dare to send troops on their own without the diplomatic permission of the British. After all, the Japanese had not started attacking Burma yet. It would be too funny if the expeditionary force and the British army in Burma started fighting first.

Look, Li Xiaoshi has come to Ceylon to curse people.

(End of this chapter)