"I have at my back, the finest fighting men in the world. You may turn me over to the goddamned Yankees, but don't think for a second that they will not avenge me."- Stonewall Jackson
Henry Bartle Frere, administrator of the Cape Colony, had strict instructions from Prime Minister Disraeli to turn over Thomas Jonathan Jackson to Foreign Service marshals in Port Natal. At the risk of his own career, Frere decided to deny the marshals access to the former Confederate general. There had to be some secret as to how Jackson managed to get both black and white troops to fight together as a single cohesive unit. Back in the United States before the Civil War, Jackson had taught slaves how to read and write (despite it being against the law), and helped them along the Underground Railroad to their freedom. Frere suspected that the secret to this was respect, something that was certainly not prevalent amongst British society at the time. In any event, fearing a revolt by the Boers and black Africans in the area, Frere let Jackson stay on as a liaison between colonial administration and the natives. When asked how he managed to promote racial harmony in the Cape, Jackson simply replied: "Men are not so different, give them a devil and all their old enemies become angels."
Meanwhile, back in Prussia, it was clear that whatever plans that Otto von Bismarck were laying, he was simply being ignored. He had never intended for Alsace-Lorraine to be annexed, he REALLY didn't intend for Prussia to acquire Poland and Courland while fighting an aggressive war against Russia. Apparently, Kaiser Wilhelm was following some sort of psychotic foreign policy, half-based around listening to every suggestion his generals were giving him about declaring war, and some other stuff about allowing Germany to pose a long term challenge to Great Britain. It seemed like Alien Space Bats (1) were controlling the Kaiser's foreign policy. Bismarck needed to do some damage control. However, before he could start that, the Ottoman Empire was demanding that its long-lost territories along the Danube basin be restored to it. Prussia was part of a pact between the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was deeply in debt, and the Ottoman Empire, which was stagnant and slowly modernizing. Bismarck realized a solid alliance with both the Ottomans and the Austrians would result in a somewhat more stable continental bloc, and a modernized Ottoman Empire could contain Russian ambitions in the south. The Treaty of Belgrade, signed in 1883, allowed for the Ottoman Empire to purchase back Northern Serbia and Bosnia in exchange for relieving some of Austria's economic woes.
With that solved, Bismarck could do some damage control. The Kaiser, Moltke and various factions in the Reichstag had frightened the British Empire enough to into making a hollow alliance with the French. In order to placate the British Empire, Bismarck hurriedly went to convince the Ottoman Sultan and the Khedive of Egypt into signing a treaty that guaranteed British passage through the Suez Canal in exchange for Egyptian and Ottoman debt relief. He also narrowly averted a war between Egypt and Ethiopia, so that Egypt could focus more on paying off its debts. With guaranteed access to the Suez Canal and a safer passage to India, the British were somewhat placated. However, they still insisted on placing naval units in Alexandria and Port Said, just in the event that the Prussians or Austrians or Ottomans challenged their supremacy in the Mediterranean. The British however, were not too angry about Russia. Russia apparently would only approve of Germany's union if the Germans helped them re-militarize the Black Sea. The Russo-German War was merely Germany's assertion that they didn't need Russian approval to form their own state. However, the biggest question between the Germans and the British still remained. Germany's insistence of building a strong navy was frightening many British politicians. There was political deadlock between Germany and the UK.
Speaking of navies, China was catching up fast. In 1884, Hangzhou Dockyards launched its first pair of all-steel battleships, the CNS (Chinese Naval Ship) Zheng He and CNS Guoxingye. Never much fans of ram based combat, the Zheng He and Guoxingye were built as stable gun platforms with a rather peculiar innovation. Zuo Zongtang, the official in charge of shipbuilding, realized that naval guns had a range of several thousand meters at least, and that nobody would ever even try to close to ramming range. He also noted that it was far more confusing to load various types of shells in ships. Because combat would take place primarily at long range, Zuo reasoned that a ship with all long range guns would destroy the enemy before they could even close. Thus, both the Guoxingye and Zheng He were armed with 12x 30 cm guns each, with the next caliber down being its 75mm light cannons. Also the big guns were fitted with "tiesan" (2) or "iron parasol" enclosures that protected the loading crew. Zuo instituted a series of strict drills that ensured the accuracy of Chinese gunners...just in time for China to reclaim its tributary of Yue-nan.
The French had been in the land of Yue since 1862, and weren't about to leave anytime soon. In order to strengthen their hold over their protectorate of Tonkin, and to establish an overland trade route with Yunnan province. However, the Vietnamese, under Emperor Tu Duc, appealed to China for assistance. Liu Yongfu, garrison commander of Yunnan, took 6 brigades of troops, three heavy riverboats, 8 light riverboats, and several dozen light mountain guns and marched south. Yang Yuke, commander of Guangxi, took another 5 brigades of troops, plus 5 heavy riverboats, 12 light riverboats and two corvettes. Marshal Tang Jingsong of the southern provinces was to march south with 12 divisions. Against them were only a few thousand French troops in Tonkin under Henri Riveree. Liu Yongfu marched to the walls of Hanoi, laying siege to the garrison there. However, his lack of heavy artillery meant that he couldn't maintain the siege for long, so he retreated to Lang Son. Due to several intelligence failures, Riveree grossly underestimated the size and capabilities of the Chinese, believing them to be nothing more than mere barbarians. At the battle of Bac Vie, the Chinese annihilated Riveree's 4 regiments, slaughtering them to a man. Marching south, Liu Yongfu took Hanoi, then moved to take Haiphong, assisted by Marshal Tang's forces.
The French, panicking, landed a force of 55,000 men at Saigon, at the mouth of the Mekong. Amedee Courbet, was put in charge of the French Far East Squadron, a force that had 16 ironclads, as well as the steel battleships Redoutable, Formidable, Devastation and Amiral Baudin. Facing this force was the Imperial South Seas Fleet, led by the steel battleships Zheng He, and Guoxingye under Admiral Wu Angang. The South Seas Fleet was smaller than the French Fleet, but its men had been relentlessly drilled by British advisors, and the Chinese ships were superior to anything the French had. While Marshal Tang's forces swept south towards Saigon, Admiral Wu maneuvered towards the Far East Squadron tied up in port at Saigon. At the Battle of the Meigong (Mekong) in July 1884, the South Seas Fleet, using their onboard wireless telegraphy devices, divided up into 2 parts, then simultaneously attacked the French fleet, just as they were putting out to sea. The French forces suffered an overwhelming defeat at the hands of Admiral Wu, with Admiral Courbet getting killed when an armor piercing shell slammed into the bridge of the Amiral Baudin. The French lost the Redoutable, Formidable and Amiral Baudin, while the Captain Guillame Olliver of the Devastation, seeing that all was lost, managed to flee the battle. He would tell everyone that he had managed to fight his way out of the Chinese trap and that Admiral Courbet had behaved like coward during the battle.
With the French Army and Navy humiliated, the French government pulled back from Indochina. French President Jules Grevy was sacked. He was succeeded by interim president Patrice de MacMahon, who signed the 1885 Treaty of Paris with minister Zeng Jize, this treaty ceded Yue, Laos and Cambodia to the Wu Dynasty and ensured Chinese rule in Southeast Asia. Because Emperor Gong was feeling generous, the French received a small concession in Saigon. The kingdoms of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia were to pay tribute to the Wu court, and conduct foreign affairs via the Chinese, but otherwise retained autonomy. Meanwhile, in order to make good with other European powers, Emperor Gong allowed the British to lease Lantau Island in the Hong Kong peninsula, as well as several other islands in the South China Sea. The Chinese also signed a trade deal with Germany. France was effectively shut out of the Chinese market, increasingly replaced by the United States, which is where the next update will take place.
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(1): With a wink and a nod
(2): Turrets.