Seven Seas Beacon Fire

Chapter Seventy-Eight: A Great Victory (1)

As the rising sun shone on the sea, Admiral Benson stood on the bridge of a destroyer with a complex expression, watching the receding Silla Bay behind him. At this moment, his Seventh Fleet was reduced to a remnant, including two capital ships. Of the six dreadnoughts, his flagship, the battleship USS Delaware, was the first to be torpedoed, while the battleship USS Utah was the first to capsize.

The poor USS Utah was hit by four torpedoes on one side, which completely destroyed this giant ship with a full load displacement of nearly 2.5 tons. In less than 15 minutes, the entire battleship capsized, leaving only an ugly hull on the surface of the water. Of course, if the time it takes for the hull to sink is also counted as the sinking time, then the USS Utah was actually the second to last battleship to sink.

Less than 10 minutes after the Utah capsized, the lead ship of the Florida-class battleships, the Florida, was also hit by two torpedoes. Both torpedoes were the latest 550mm thermal torpedoes. Because both torpedoes hit the bow of the ship, one of them even hit the weakened part of the front of the TDS, so the TDS was inevitably blown through and a large amount of seawater rushed in.

Although the USS Florida continued its efforts to salvage the ship for more than an hour afterward, the flooding of the USS Florida could not be controlled, and before 6:00 a.m., the captain of the USS Florida finally ordered the ship abandoned.

After the order to abandon ship was given, the deck was packed with sailors preparing to board the lifeboats. However, once the Florida battleship's listing angle exceeded 25 degrees, the entire process of capsizing was completed in just 5 minutes. As a result, many sailors who had not yet had time to board the lifeboats or those who jumped into the sea with life rings were crushed to death by the overturned giant ship.

It was only at this point that a destroyer appeared on the chaotic sea, noticed what was happening, and quickly approached to rescue the sailors who had fallen into the water. However, as the destroyer approached, seawater that had entered the engine room during the ship's capsizing caused the boiler to explode.

Although the power of a steam boiler explosion cannot be compared to that of an ammunition depot explosion, it was still enough to shatter the hull of the USS Florida battleship. It not only killed many sailors who fell into the water, but the shrapnel from the explosion also pelted nearby destroyers, causing casualties among the officers and men on the destroyers.

At this point, the entire Seventh Fleet was only thinking about how to get out of this hellish place as soon as possible. All the warships that were still able to move began to retreat towards the open sea of ​​Silla Bay, while the Ming army's torpedo boats had run out of torpedoes by this time.

In fact, in the final stages of the battle, the Ming army's command system was completely overloaded. Neither the large warships at sea that served as command ships nor the multiple shore command posts specially set up on land could effectively command the fast boat formations at sea. No matter how detailed the plans and preparations were beforehand, deploying a naval formation of this size exceeded the processing limit of the command chain of that era. At the beginning, the deployment of troops could be relatively controlled, but later it was entirely up to the officers and soldiers at the front to make their own decisions.

Therefore, considerable waste of ammunition was inevitable. For example, a Colombian cruiser was hit by 11 torpedoes. After the continuous explosions subsided, the ship was almost completely destroyed. Such waste was enormous, but it was unavoidable – even during World War II, carrier-based aircraft, each equipped with a radio and carrying only one or at most two or three pilots, still fell into chaos when launching attacks.

Often, war is a contest of who performs better and makes fewer mistakes amidst the chaos, and tonight's victor undoubtedly belongs to the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy.

Even so, during the retreat of the remnants of the Seventh Fleet, the Ming army still pursued them as much as possible, and finally successfully delivered another torpedo to the battleship South Carolina. This one of the earliest dreadnoughts of the United States Navy still retained many features of the pre-dreadnought era in its structure. For example, the power was still a reciprocating triple-expansion steam engine instead of a steam turbine, so the maximum speed was only 18.5 knots. For example, the underwater TDS structure was not as perfect as later ones, so the TDS was blown through on the spot after being hit by the torpedo.

However, after the boiler room of the USS South Carolina flooded, the flooding was brought under control through the efforts of the damage control team and various measures such as reverse flooding. At this time, the ship's power was reduced to less than 8 knots. The captain of the USS South Carolina originally planned to run aground, but Admiral Benson directly ordered the USS South Carolina to be abandoned and torpedoed.

General Benson understood that the 100,000-strong Federation forces besieged in Wonsan were doomed. After the Federation forces besieged in Wonsan surrendered or were completely annihilated, the United States would no longer be able to maintain its foothold on the Silla Peninsula battlefield. Domestically, they would abandon the Silla Peninsula due to both the cost of investment and the risks involved. After all, they could not accept the possibility of the Ming army launching another attack in Busan and annihilating another 100,000-strong Federation force on the Silla Peninsula.

If we abandon the capture of the Silla Peninsula, which is already a foregone conclusion, and then run our capital ship aground on the Silla Peninsula, wouldn't that be tantamount to handing a battleship over to the enemy? Although the South Carolina, as the oldest dreadnought, might not even be highly regarded by the current Ming Dynasty Royal Navy, this ship has extremely high commemorative and symbolic significance for the United States Navy. With 10 soldiers about to be forced to lay down their arms and surrender, if the Navy were to lose its veteran dreadnought, Admiral Benson couldn't imagine the enormous political trouble he would face.

Let this ship remain on this sea forever.

In this battle, the United States Navy's 7th Fleet lost all six pre-dreadnoughts and four of the six dreadnoughts, as well as seven cruisers and five destroyers. The losses of the more agile destroyers were actually the least in this battle. After all, with the Ming army's torpedo boats in the rear no longer under effective command, the officers and men of the Ming Royal Navy adhered to one principle—to fight the larger ships whenever possible. Therefore, the losses of light ships like destroyers were not significant.

However, this was already the greatest loss the United States Navy had suffered since the start of the war. Yes, although the Seventh Fleet was essentially an "Army Navy" serving the Army, and its warships were mostly relatively old models, especially the loss of six pre-dreadnoughts, the actual impact on the United States Navy's combat effectiveness was almost negligible. Even the loss of four dreadnoughts had a smaller impact on the United States Navy's combat power than the previous losses, such as the annihilation of all battlecruisers in the Sulu and Java Sea battles.

However, in terms of casualties, this night was indeed the worst for the United States Navy since the start of the war. No matter how old a ship is, it still needs people to operate it. In particular, in addition to the loss of warships, the United States Navy also mobilized a large number of civilian ships for this evacuation operation. These civilian ships carried both ordinary sailors and combat personnel drawn from the United States Navy. These ships also suffered extremely heavy losses that night.

Moreover, unlike warships, civilian ships, which are almost entirely designed to resist underwater explosives such as torpedoes, are basically sinking with a single torpedo, no matter how large they are. Since many ships were temporarily requisitioned, they not only lacked the strict anti-sinking features of military ships, but they also failed to remove flammable materials from their vessels, or did not have time to do so at all. As a result, some ships carrying evacuating officers and soldiers caught fire simply from being strafed by the small-caliber cannons of Ming destroyers or torpedo boats, and the fires quickly spread to an uncontrollable state within a short period of time.

Among these, the situation on the United States' civilian liner "Richard" was the most tragic. This ordinary civilian liner was crammed with more than 3000 people. At the time, the Ming army mistook the ship for a large cruiser. The Ming destroyer that encountered the ship had already run out of torpedoes, so it strafed the ship with its main guns and machine guns. After just a few rounds of fire, the ship's deck caught fire. At this point, the Ming destroyer realized that the ship was not a military vessel.

Of course, in wartime, civilian ships carrying out military transport missions can continue to be attacked. However, the 40mm cannon fire on the ship caused severe casualties and damage to the crowded passengers. The cries of agony coming from the ship prompted the destroyer's captain to order a halt to the firing and send a light signal demanding that the ship immediately return to Wonsan Port or the attack would continue.

The transport ship readily turned around, but unfortunately, this civilian vessel, which had been temporarily requisitioned, was previously a relatively luxurious fast cruise ship. There were simply too many flammable materials on the hull, especially the soft furnishings in the luxurious cabins, which caused the fire to spread rapidly in a short period of time. Under these circumstances, people crammed on the deck could jump into the sea to escape, but most people crammed into the cabins could not get out at all.

As the fire spread completely, the air was filled with the aroma of roasting meat, but the smell, when combined with the image of the burning ship in front of them, made people want to vomit.

Ultimately, the ship was burned to ashes at sea. Although a Ming Dynasty destroyer and several torpedo boats nearby came to the rescue after the fire started, less than 200 of the more than 3000 United States Army soldiers who boarded the ship were rescued. The vast majority of them were burned or drowned.

----------

Chapter Seventy-Nine: A Great Victory (2)

After the remnants of the Seventh Fleet withdrew, the United States ground forces, still engaged in fierce fighting with the Ming army within the land encirclement, witnessed everything. Of course, the shallow-draft heavy gunboats of the Royal Victorian Navy, which had been leased to the United States along with their crews, also witnessed it. The officers and men of the Royal Victorian Navy on these ships were truly dumbfounded at this moment.

Originally, I was just here on official business during a period of great success, doing my old job of bombing the shore and getting some medals and subsidies. In the Silla Peninsula, most ports except Busan don't even have shore defense guns. This should have been a low-risk, high-reward field mission, but now it seems like I'm going to end up in a prisoner-of-war camp.

Despite the imposing 9.2-inch or 14-inch guns on these shallow-water heavy gunboats, they only had seven-inch and six-inch guns besides these main guns. Moreover, each of these two types of shallow-water heavy gunboats only had one of these medium-caliber guns.

Expecting to use these things to fight against the torpedo boats and destroyers that seem to cover almost the entire bay? The Royal Navy may have courage and a fighting spirit, but its officers and men are even more intelligent.

Although the Royal Navy of Britain used two shallow-draft heavy gunboats to drive the light cruiser HMS Königsberg, which had been rampaging at sea in the early stages of the war and later hid in the Rufige River, to its death and was eventually scuttled, that was, after all, a battle that took place under the special conditions of an inland river.

In these normal waters, even large torpedo boats could easily overpower these shallow-draft gunboats. At this time, these shallow-draft gunboats carried sailors from both Britain and the United States. Among them, the British naval captain on the HMS Abercrombie found the liaison officer of the United States Navy. After about 10 minutes of negotiation, the two sides reached an agreement: all the shallow-draft gunboats would run aground, and then everyone would set the warships on fire. This way, unnecessary casualties would not be caused, and the warships would not be left to the Ming army.

When these shallow-draft heavy gunboats, which provided crucial fire support to the United States ground forces, were beached and burned, the flames rising from these burning warships completely extinguished the fighting spirit of the United States Army officers and soldiers within the encirclement.

The Union forces within the encirclement had been experiencing repeated defeats and retreats over the past few months. After being surrounded in Wonsan, the soldiers were able to temporarily regain their footing thanks to the reassurance of some dutiful United States officers. Their entire fighting spirit was essentially pinned on the hope of returning home from here.

But with the fleet that could have brought them home destroyed, and the transport ships either captured by the enemy or sunk, it was difficult for any officer to inspire the fighting spirit of this Federation force.

Li Renxu witnessed the entire fierce battle at sea from the mountaintop. At night, all they could see were the rain of bullets crisscrossing the sea, the searchlights sweeping back and forth, the flares constantly rising, and the intermittent explosions.

The great battle at sea captivated the attention of all onlookers. Before sunrise, no one knew whether the East Wind or the West Wind would prevail. Although some information could be gleaned from radio communications, as the battle continued, radio commands became increasingly chaotic. Apart from knowing that the initial engagement went well, no one knew how the battle would unfold.

Before sunrise, no one dared to pop the champagne at midway through the event, after all, the navy had gone from a great victory in the Sulu Sea to a crushing defeat in the Java Sea in just a few days.

When the sun rose and everything settled down, Li Renxu laughed and called a halt to the attack. Last night, when the situation was unclear, he decided to launch a fierce attack with his troops as a double insurance policy in the face of uncertainty at sea. In this situation, he was a cold-blooded general who would not care about casualties in order to win the entire battle.

However, now that the overall situation was settled and the scales of victory had completely tipped in his favor, he called a halt to the troops' offensive. He knew that the federal troops inside the encirclement could not escape, and they might even surrender. While continuing the offensive might hasten the enemy's collapse, there was no need to incur unnecessary casualties now that victory was assured.

The situation unfolded exactly as he had predicted. He didn't even have to wait long. Around noon that day, several officers from the United States arrived at the Ming army's position, carrying white flags. They indicated that they were representing Andre Walker Brewster, the commander of the Silla Expeditionary Army of the United States, to discuss matters related to the negotiations.

The demands made by the United States Army were very simple: to ensure that their officers received treatment commensurate with their status, to ensure that the Ming army treated prisoners of war properly, and to ensure that no United States soldier was harmed after the Federation forces laid down their arms.

Li Renxu immediately rejected the modest demands made by the United States military representative: "I can offer your surrendered officers the appropriate treatment, and I can also treat your surrendered soldiers properly in a humanitarian spirit. However, there is a prerequisite: our conditions will only be offered to your officers and soldiers who have been selected by us and have not committed war crimes. All officers and soldiers who have committed war crimes will be tried and executed by our military courts."

Li Renxu's words clearly took the United States military representatives by surprise. After all, they originally thought that they had come out with the white flag just to go through the motions. They had all surrendered and made these most basic demands. Why did they still want to investigate war crimes?

From the perspective of the Silla Expeditionary Force of the United States, this Eastern prince had no intention of accepting their surrender; he simply wanted revenge.

"Did our battle with your army also constitute a crime? Surely your army cannot be seeking revenge in this way because of the excessive casualties inflicted on your army by our valiant performance in the defensive battle?"

"Who brought up battlefield matters with you?" Li Renxu looked at the United States soldiers before him with an expression of concern for the mentally challenged. "What we're discussing now is the war crimes you committed on the Silla Peninsula after arriving on this land. What? Do I need to help you recall them? You retreated from Pyongyang all the way here, abandoning so much supplies along the way. Before your navy came to your aid, where did you get your most basic military rations while stationed around Wonsan? They couldn't have fallen from the sky, could they? From the vicinity of Pyongyang to here, do I need my adjutant to show you how many villages we discovered that you burned down, and how many Silla civilians died under your butcher's knife?"

The United States officers fell silent in embarrassment upon hearing this. To be honest, they hadn't considered this possibility at all. In the East, the United States only regarded the Ming Empire as a formidable adversary. In other words, whether from the perspective of military operations or the general populace, the United States considered the Ming people as "people." As for the people living on the Silla Peninsula... the soldiers of the United States simply did not regard the people living in these "vassal states" of the "Eastern Rome" as "people."

"That was only the work of a small group of morally corrupt soldiers; most of them have already died in battle..."

"You're not trying to pin all these war crimes on the dead, are you? Well, my nephew once said that sometimes the dead are more useful than the living, so it seems you agree?" Li Renxu waved his hand, signaling the representatives to get lost.

“Go back and have a good talk with your superiors. My patience is limited. I’ll give you 24 hours. If you’re unwilling to surrender after 24 hours, we can continue the ‘large-scale operation’ that we didn’t finish before. At that time, our army can even retreat 10 kilometers on its own, and we’ll fight again. Moreover, I guarantee that our navy will not interfere with our exchanges. However, at that time, we will probably have little interest in taking prisoners.”

After these representatives returned with Li Renxu's threat, not to mention 24 hours, only two and a half hours had passed when Andre Walker Brewster, commander of the United States Silla Expeditionary Army, officially ordered all federal troops within the encirclement to lay down their weapons and surrender.

Although Brewster is currently ill, he has not lost his mind due to a fever. After losing naval support, the Ming army's artillery force is 10 times larger than theirs. Even if the enemy navy does not intervene, this overwhelming artillery advantage is enough to completely destroy the Silla expeditionary force within the encirclement.

General Brewster was an experienced officer. To the best of his knowledge, there had never been a large-scale battle in human history in which anyone could win despite being outgunned by ten times the enemy's firepower. In his understanding and perception, such an army could not possibly exist in the world.

The Union Army is certainly not that kind of force. The lads of the United States Army have done their best over this period of time.

As for the prince's suggestion of a trial, Brewster had no confidence to object, even if he wanted to. These were privileges that the victors should enjoy.

Chapter 80 The inevitable reactions from all sides after the great battle (Part 1)

"Win?"

Looking out the window of the headquarters, Zhu Miaoyun saw that the entire naval port seemed to be filled with a cheerful atmosphere. Turning her head to look at the scene inside the headquarters building, she wondered if it was just her imagination, but some officers seemed to be walking so lightly that they looked like they wanted to jump.

This cheerful atmosphere also affected her. After all, before she transmigrated, Zhu Miaoyun remembered someone saying that happiness, like the flu, is contagious.

"Your Highness seems very happy?"

Suddenly, a voice came from behind her. The voice sounded like a soft female voice, but Zhu Miaoyun inexplicably sensed a hint of coldness. From the slight "the wise are the wise" tone in the voice, she could tell who the speaker was.

Zhu Miaoyun turned around and lowered her head slightly to look at Tokugawa Akiko, who had appeared behind her at some point.

As for this "Sakura girl," Zhu Miaoyun naturally already knew a great deal about Tokugawa Akiko's background and origins. Strictly speaking, she was now just a high-ranking maidservant by Li Che's side.

Due to their respective identities, Zhu Miaoyun and Li Che did not have much private communication. Even when they met occasionally, they would chat for a few minutes. Ultimately, they tried to meet in public as much as possible and maintained a tacit "official" relationship.

Since Zhu Miaoyun arrived in this world, the only familiar person she has had is Wang Ma. After Wang Ma's death, she has no one she knows well anymore. In comparison, Li Che is actually the person she is most familiar with since she transmigrated to this world, even though this "familiarity" has only lasted for a short time.

Therefore, Zhu Miaoyun was unsure whether she should remind this grandson to be careful of the Yingzhou people.

Yes, although Zhu Miaoyun had watched a lot of anime and Japanese dramas from Japan before she transmigrated, she also had a deep prejudice against the Japanese people. This was partly because there was so much news about Japan's nuclear wastewater discharge and "craftsmanship spirit" before she transmigrated, and partly because she had met some Japanese people and media while volunteering at the United Nations. Zhu Miaoyun had no good feelings towards these seemingly polite but actually hypocritical and double-standard Japanese people. Of course, she did not rule out the existence of many good Japanese people in the world, but Zhu Miaoyun did have a prejudice against the Japanese people.

This is not only because of her experience, but also because of her place of origin.

Before transmigrating to this world, Zhu Miaoyun grew up in Jinling.

Although Zhu Miaoyun's history knowledge was not very good, and her understanding of the Tokugawa Shogunate was basically limited to the name Tokugawa Ieyasu, this did not prevent her from treating the Japanese girl in front of her with extreme caution.

After all, in this world, the Kingdom of Japan has been one of the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty since ancient times. At the most critical and crucial moment of the war, it betrayed the Ming Dynasty and stabbed it in the back. As a princess of the Ming Empire, it is only natural that she would be unhappy with the people of Japan.

However, Zhu Miaoyun really didn't know what she should remind Li Che to be careful about. Zhu Miaoyun had read a few time-travel novels, and it was very important for time travelers to keep their identities a secret. She couldn't very well go and tell that grandson of the prince what heinous crimes this small island nation had committed in another world, could she?

Since arriving in this world, Zhu Miaoyun herself wasn't quite sure if she had adapted to her current identity. Even though she was an ordinary girl who wasn't very sensitive to political matters, Zhu Miaoyun still knew how sensitive the current identity of a former dynasty princess was. Therefore, despite her doubts, she never brought it up.

Although sometimes Zhu Miaoyun would ask herself in the quiet of the night, "Why bother with all this?" She had been filled with passion when facing Lord Qin, but afterwards she felt a little scared. If she hadn't met Li Che on the street, Zhu Miaoyun couldn't guarantee that she wouldn't have died there. So after that, Zhu Miaoyun secretly warned herself more than once that this was not her world, and she shouldn't do anything foolish in the heat of the moment.

But when the news of victory came today, this heartfelt joy... made her feel somewhat lost again. Who am I now?

If Zhu Miaoyun was somewhat confused about this a while ago, today, with no one else around, facing this Japanese girl who seemed to be living a good life, Zhu Miaoyun proudly raised her head: "Of course, the soldiers on the front lines have won the victory. Although I only contributed a tiny bit to it, as long as I think that I have made my part in this victory, I am naturally honored."

Akiko Tokugawa seemed somewhat surprised by this answer. From Zhu Miaoyun, Akiko Tokugawa could not sense any sorrow, resentment, or bitterness of a princess of a fallen kingdom.

After a moment of stunned silence, Tokugawa Akiko simply smiled and said, "I thought Your Highness and I were the same kind of people, but it seems that Your Highness's temperament and magnanimity are far beyond my reach."

Zhu Miaoyun frowned. She could understand the unspoken meaning behind the Japanese girl's words. After all, this Japanese girl could be considered a princess of a fallen kingdom. Perhaps this Japanese girl felt that as a princess of the former dynasty, her presence at the front line in military uniform (let's call it the front line for now) was to accumulate political capital or to contact "loyal and righteous men" in the navy. Although something like what happened with Lord Qin had occurred, in the Japanese girl's eyes, as a princess of the mighty Ming Dynasty, she must be thinking about how to restore her country.

After all, it seems that in another world, even in various literary works, whether it is Zhu San Taizi or Jiu Nan Shen Ni, the surviving members of the Zhu family are thinking about how to restore the country—this can be considered a stereotype in people's eyes, since the descendants of the wise and powerful Hongwu Emperor should do such things.

"So, you originally thought of me as a princess who was biding her time to restore her kingdom? What? You're going to help me too?"

Zhu Miaoyun's words made Tokugawa Akiko shake her head with a smile: "Princess, your probing is a bit too direct. Whether or not you want to restore your country, the Tokugawa Shogunate will not interfere. The affairs of the Celestial Empire are not something a small country like ours can meddle in. I just saw that you were all alone here, so I wanted to inquire about your situation. I was just making assumptions about your feelings. I thought you had the same troubles as me, but now it seems I was overthinking it."

"The same problem?"

“Yes.” Akiko Tokugawa nodded. “Our Tokugawa Shogunate is now, under the banner of the Celestial Empire, actually opposing the Yingzhou Islands. Nowadays, the newspapers on the Yingzhou Islands list us as traitors and rebels. When I left my father’s side, he often cried while looking at the newspapers every night.”

"Her Highness previously took the initiative to report Lord Qin for the sake of the nation's greater good. Although Lord Qin's actions were indeed treasonous, from the perspective of the Ming imperial family, he was truly loyal and virtuous. It seems that some royalists, much like many within Yingzhou, view Her Highness's actions as a betrayal. I was worried that Her Highness would be troubled by this, but it seems I was overthinking it."

"Your father is quite hypocritical. He gave his own daughter away to others to be a slave, just so he could regain power. And yet he could still cry every night after reading the newspaper..." Zhu Miaoyun's tone was completely devoid of the demeanor expected of a princess: "You think you can come and enlighten me? Your whole life has been sacrificed for a political marriage. I should be the one enlightening you."

“Sacrifice?” Tokugawa Akiko tilted her head, a clear look of confusion on her face. “Why is this a sacrifice? So, Princess, you are pursuing free love? That is indeed the current trend, but… Lord Crown Prince is handsome and kind. He achieved fame at a young age but is steady in his actions. My father did not allow me to marry an old or ugly and vulgar ruler. It should be Akiko’s good fortune to have met someone like Lord Crown Prince. Even if the shogunate is still the same as before, Akiko probably wouldn’t be able to find such a man on the islands of Japan.”

Tokugawa Akiko's words left Zhu Miaoyun speechless. It seemed that Tokugawa Akiko indeed had no reason to oppose this political marriage.

This is like a member of a group being told they need to serve a 40-year-old woman. When you imagine this woman to be some ugly, middle-aged woman, you meet her and find she looks like Yin Tao or Zhu Zhu...

That's not torture, that's enjoyment.

Thinking about it this way, it seems that Tokugawa Akiko really doesn't have any bad intentions. No matter from any perspective of interests, Tokugawa Akiko is not at a disadvantage.

However, regardless of other aspects, this Japanese girl's evaluation of Li Che included his composure in his actions... Zhu Miaoyun's mind was once again filled with the image of that guy cosplaying Xie An at the seaside dock. Just thinking about the contrast between his appearance before and after made her chuckle.

However, Zhu Miaoyun suppressed her smile. She suddenly had a bold idea. This Japanese girl in front of her had come to Li Che's side with a political mission. So this Japanese girl was definitely not satisfied with just becoming a maid. Considering the status of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the Prince of Jin's mansion would definitely give this Japanese girl a title in the future.

Although the people of Yingzhou are all suspicious, there's an old Chinese saying: "Those who understand the times will act accordingly..." Pshaw! It's more like: "If you doubt someone, don't use them; if you use someone, don't doubt them!"

Well, while that statement isn't entirely accurate, Zhu Miaoyun quickly realized that with this victory, it would be difficult for her to maintain her current situation. Regardless of whether the Prince of Jin's mansion would become a republic or an empire in the future, this suspense should be resolved in the future with this major victory.

However, no matter what, after this matter is settled, I must keep a certain distance from the Prince of Jin's mansion. Being in the vortex of politics is already dangerous enough; I cannot venture into the eye of the storm.

However, considering her future, it was important to figure out the attitude of the Prince of Jin's mansion towards her. But as a princess without any power, she had no ability to place confidants in the Prince of Jin's mansion. So, this girl from Yingzhou became her way of obtaining this information.

Since this girl is very satisfied with the political marriage and is determined to make it official, this young lady, a love master who has read 200 romance comics, cannot stand idly by at this time!

"You're right, so Miss Akiko wants to marry the heir apparent, right?"

I never imagined that Japanese girls these days would be even more aggressive and less defensive than I thought. They seemed like aloof and unapproachable at first, but now they've suddenly become shy and demure when faced with my direct questions.

"Your Highness, you say that..." Clearly, the Japanese girl had not expected Zhu Miaoyun to ask such a question: "Your Highness, you don't mind?"

Why would I care? The person I like has been missing for ages and I don't even know where he is. Why would I care if Li Che is flirting with a Japanese girl? Wait, does this Japanese girl think I'm interested in Li Che?

"What do I care about? You don't think I'm interested in this man, do you? Although he is handsome and capable... don't worry, this princess already has someone she loves. I'm in a good mood after today's great victory, so I decided to help you out. You actually think I'm going to steal your man? Would I steal your man?"

Realizing her mistake, Tokugawa Akiko quickly smiled and bowed, saying, "I hope Your Highness will forgive me. If my words have offended you in any way..."

"Alright, alright." Zhu Miaoyun waved her hand. "But I have to point out one thing: based on my current observations, Li Shisun is clearly more interested in warships than in you. In his eyes, you are probably less attractive than those steel warships of the navy. Therefore, your situation is rather special because your competitors are not other women, but a group of steel ships."

Tokugawa Akiko also recalled how Lee Cheol had behaved in his daily life and work over this period. Princess Yongning was indeed right; this Crown Prince's interest in various mechanical creations far outweighed his interest in women...

"Your Highness, what do you think I should do?"

"Of course, if you can't beat them, you join them!" the master of 200 romance comics replied confidently.

-------------------------------------

Chapter 81 The Inevitable Reactions from All Sides After the Great War (Part 2)

White House of the United States of Colombia

President Wilson was awakened from his sleep by a loud banging on his bedroom door, which made him a little grumpy, as he had only recently fallen asleep.

After all, President Wilson hadn't had a good night's sleep for several days due to various worries. He only received news from General Benson at noon today that the first day of the evacuation was going exceptionally well, and it was expected that most of the men in the encirclement would be evacuated within the planned timeframe.

Upon hearing this good news, President Wilson even had a few drinks with his wife that evening.