Chapter 1277 Strait of Hormuz

Soon, Kumoyev and Lebrya's boat successfully arrived in front of the Liberty. They followed the ladder dropped from the ship and successfully boarded the Liberty.

The Liberty was already packed with people, and the ship's East African personnel began assigning areas to them.

Hilda, the captain of the Liberty, looked at the crowds of Russian refugees and couldn't help but sigh: "I didn't expect that at the age of over sixty, I could still sail on such an old-fashioned ship and sail on the sea with a kind of immigrants."

"It's as if the time has advanced to more than thirty years ago, when I led a team to Haiti for the first time as a captain, but this time the destination was indeed Southeast Asia, and the people on the ship were not black people, but white people, or Slavs."

When she was young, Hilda once participated in the "black slave trade" organized by the East African government. At that time, she was driving a wooden-hulled sailboat.

First Mate Wilknitz said: "You can't compare them with black slaves. After all, they now have East African nationality, and their living environment is much better than that of the black slaves. They still have free space on the ship and food. They are better than black slaves."

"Besides, Nanyang is much better than Russia except that the conditions are a little worse. In the future, they may be grateful for fate's favor this time!"

Wilknitz is also an experienced old sailor who has been active on trade and immigration routes in East Africa and the Far East for a long time.

Hilda said: "It's better than staying in Russia anyway. Russia has been quite unlucky in recent years. I heard that there was a coup recently and Nicholas II stepped down."

Wilknitz: "Haha, the current situation in Russia cannot be saved. The Ottoman Empire has declared war on Russia, and the Allies have a great advantage. There will be unrest within Russia. It is estimated that Russia will be the first to be eliminated in the European war. Even Russia's failure may trigger a chain reaction of war, and I don't know whether Britain and France can sustain it. "

Since the turmoil in Russia, the balance of war has tilted towards the Allies again. The Ottoman Empire finally couldn't sit still and came to an end in a hurry, wanting to bite off a piece of flesh from Russia.

Throughout 1916, the Allies continued to make breakthroughs on the Eastern Front, but it was indeed not easy for the Ottoman Empire to endure until 1917.

Hilda said: "This time the Ottoman Empire is well prepared, and Russia may face the most serious situation in its hundreds of years of history."

"Although Napoleon once invaded Moscow, Russia had a large number of allies at that time and the weather could turn defeat into victory. This time it was not France alone, but three world powers, Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, who attacked Russia from three sides. "

Although the Ottoman Empire is not a great power, its strength cannot be underestimated. Like the Far Eastern Empire, it is a world power that can change the balance of regional power.

The main reason why Hilda is optimistic about the Ottoman Empire is that Russia is too weak now. Even if the Ottoman Empire only exerts Bulgaria's combat effectiveness, it can teach Russia a harsh lesson.

The Ottoman Empire has two aspects that can threaten Russia, namely the Black Sea and the Caucasus, which will greatly share the pressure of the Allies. Even looking at the size of the Ottoman Empire alone, the addition of the Ottoman Empire is entirely likely to lead to the collapse of the entire Russian front.

Hilda said: "We have sold a lot of weapons to the Ottomans in the past few years, from rifles, machine guns to artillery, and even some surface ships. As long as they can exert their strength in the Russian-Turkish War of the last century, they can also give them The Russian army was severely damaged, unless Russia withdraws from the war, but this should not happen. "

Hilda naturally cannot think that the Russians will withdraw from the war at this time. There is no other reason. Russia invested too much manpower, material and financial resources in World War I, and almost bet the fate of the entire country on this war. .

Although Nicholas II has stepped down, Hilda does not believe that the new Russian government has the courage to stop the war.

As long as Russia does not withdraw from the war, no matter what the outcome, Russia will not end well. After all, the war zones between the Allies and Russia are almost all the best areas of Russia in Europe.

Wilknitz did not object. He said half-jokingly: "Maybe by the time we come back from the Nanyang region, the Eastern Front battlefield will be over."

Hilda said: "I thought too much. At the beginning, European countries all had the idea of ​​a quick war, but they never imagined that this war would continue until now. From the time Austria-Hungary and Serbia declared war, It’s been two and a half years since it started.”

"Russia has a great cause, and Britain and France are also well-established. It is not impossible that the war will continue for a few years. Of course, if the war can continue, it will definitely be beneficial to us, so we still hope that the war will not end prematurely."

"Otherwise, at my age, I wouldn't be able to fly with you young people, and I would still be driving an antique from the last century."

"From this point of view, we can see the prosperity of the empire's foreign trade, and this is all because of the outbreak of the European War, which gave us this opportunity."

"Thank you that we live in a peaceful country, otherwise it would be these Russians who would be sailing the ship now instead of us."

As time passed, four hours later, the Liberty was finally fully staffed.

Hilda and Wilknitz did not talk much and began to direct the sailors to prepare to leave the sea near the town of Fao.

After leaving Fao, it is completely safe to leave the Strait of Hormuz. Although the British in the Persian Gulf have not threatened ships in East Africa so far, this risk has not disappeared.

The Ottoman Empire's joining the war is a foregone conclusion, and no one knows whether the British will change their strategy in the Persian Gulf.

Even with the deterrence of the East African Navy, they still have the ability to deliberately make things difficult for a few merchant ships.

A day later, the Liberty and other East African merchant ships gathered near the Beibu Gulf Territory. The reason why the East African merchant ships gathered here was mainly to facilitate the East African Navy's escort.

After gathering about 20 ships, under the leadership of two East African destroyers, the Bella and the Gwiru, and a frigate, the Kitwe, this large fleet that was temporarily put together, marched towards the Strait of Hormuz.

The Liberty was produced in the 1990s. Although it is an old-fashioned sailing ship, it is also equipped with a steam power system. However, this still cannot change its speed that is difficult to keep up with the large force. It can only fall behind the fleet, which is incompatible with a kind of ocean liner.

Although the speed is slow, it is safe along the way. In fact, under normal circumstances, the British cannot stop these returning ships at all.

After all, the British were most worried about East Africa delivering war materials to the Allies, and if they wanted to intercept, they should intercept East African ships heading towards the port of Basra.

However, this was also difficult for the British to do. In the Strait of Hormuz, East African cruisers and destroyers cruised daily, and even battleships of the Indian Ocean Fleet occasionally came in and out.

These warships were the foundation of East Africa. As the North Atlantic trade stagnated, the power of the East African Navy began to return to the Indian Ocean.

In the early days of the war, many forces of the Indian Ocean Fleet supported the Atlantic direction. Now with the return of the support fleet, the Indian Ocean Fleet has returned to its peak.

And the British naval forces left in the Indian Ocean could not attach importance to the Strait of Hormuz, because Britain needed to ensure the security of India first, which made it impossible for the British to transfer the main force of the Indian Ocean Navy to the Persian Gulf.

As for the Berlin-Baghdad-Basra Railway, although it played a huge role in helping the Allies, it was not enough for Britain to take the risk of rashly moving the Persian Gulf route.

The Berlin-Baghdad-Basra railway is, after all, a land transport channel. In addition, the country it passes through is complex and its connectivity is relatively poor. It is destined to be incomparable with sea transport. As long as East African warships do not slip into the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal, Britain can sit back and relax.