Chapter 203 Do you want to fight back?

At the end of June, London was cloudy and rainy. It seemed that after the summer sun swept across the European continent, it lost its power because of the so-called unfalling empire. It hid in the clouds, rolled up the water vapor all over the sky and then flew down.

Of course, this is a self-deprecating joke, because no one likes this kind of weather.

In the ancient parliament building, a window quietly opened a little, as if to dispel the sultry heat and humidity in the room. Prince Badenberg stood in front of the window, with his back to the window, listening to the sound of inhaling cold air around him, and smiling bitterly.

"Is this true? Did the Far East arsonist's fleet really defeat the Russian fleet?

"God, it's the best joke I've ever heard."

"This is impossible."

"Gentlemen, I'm afraid it's true!" In the face of the questions of the parliamentarians, Prince Louis of Badenberg held the telegrams sent by the commander of the Far East Fleet, and the ambassador to China, and continued to shake his head with a wry smile.

Although he, as the First Minister of the Navy, also questioned the true surname of this telegram. After all, the main force of Russia has four battleships and six armored cruisers, and its strength is not weaker than that of the Far East Fleet of the British Empire. But such a fleet was just three months after arriving in the Far East, it was defeated by the newly-emerging Pacific Fleet. Total anniation!

This is also too difficult to accept!

Russia is not Japanese! Today's third naval power is sinking in the sand in such a way, and the total tonnage of naval ships has plummeted by 100,000 tons. I'm afraid Nicholas II is going crazy now!

So a year later, when all the warships I ordered returned to China, can I really defeat the Pacific Army? Should the British Empire consider changing its Far East strategy? Is it worthwhile to continue to detain two battleships of the Pacific Army? If there is a quarrel with them because of this, will it affect Britain's future interests in the Far East?

You should know that in the Pacific Ocean, not only the Far East, but also Australia's weak defense is not even as good as Northeast China!

Not far from Badenberg, Fisher, the Third Secretary of the Navy, was also serious. He annihiled the Russian Far East Fleet and captured the Russian new battleships Chesma and Sinop, which increased the number of battleships of the Pacific Fleet to six at once, and several armored cruisers were captured, so that the Pacific ships The total tonnage of the team has reached nearly 150,000 tons!

I heard that the Germans were rushing to build two new battleships for them at night. With the fall of Russia's ranking, the Pacific Fleet has surpassed Turkey and become the world's fourth navy!

And this achievement is not obtained by buying a ship by building a ship crazily!

They defeated the eleventh place! Indirectly defeated the seventh Qing, and now defeated the third-class Russia! Such a great achievement, even the Imperial Royal Navy must look away!

In particular, they have gained the most valuable experience of ironclad ships through two naval battles, and trained a large number of new generation of naval officers. This advantage is incomparable even the British Royal Navy at this moment!

Is it a blessing or a curse for such a fleet to lie in the Far East, where the empire has great interests?

The Pacific Ocean, the vast world's largest ocean, is becoming more and more unpredictable because of the rise of Hawaii and the American catch-up. All three American Indiana-class battleships have been put into service, and the new four Iowa-class (1896 version) are also being accelerated in construction, which is expected to be completed in a year. With the completion of service, coupled with their newly commissioned and under construction of armored cruisers, the total tonnage of the U.S. Navy will exceed 200,000 tons in two years!

The Imperial Navy is facing serious challenges and must find a new path!

"Gentlemen, Sir Ogner has called to suggest that we reconsider the situation in the Far East and the relationship with Hawaii. I think we need to deal with it!" The new Prime Minister, the Marquis of Salisbury, who has just been in office for only four months, stood up and glanced at the audience: "The Hawaiians have taken the lead in the competition in the Far East. The Russians will definitely carry out the craziest revenge. They are also ready to go, and the Americans are also catching up. The Imperial Far East Fleet will face the largest in history. Challenge!"

"In Boer, the empire is also facing chaos. The Boers have armed more than 30,000 soldiers, and this number is increasing every day! Germans, the French are digging for the interests of the empire there! If Bull loses control, I believe you all know what you will lose!" The bearded Marquis of Salisbury waved his arms and tried to infect the parliamentarians and imperial ministers around him.

"In the Atlantic Ocean, in the Pacific Ocean, the empire will face challenges!" The Marquis of Salisbury continued: "So I suggest that it is necessary to re-examine the empire's foreign policy, and we should immediately start a new shipbuilding plan to deal with the current situation!"

"In addition, I have decided to send a special envoy to the Far East immediately." The Marquis of Salisbury waved his arm and tried to make himself look more inflammatory: "On that land, any powerful regime is not in the interests of the British Empire. What we have to do now is to restrict the Honolulu people to that icy land and never let them continue to expand south. We can't let them continue to attack Russia!"

In the conference room, the voice of the Marquis of Salisbury was impassioned. With his voice, the British envoy stepped on a warship bound for the Far East. At this time, Li Mo, who was far away in Ryukyu, would not expect that after he swallowed the Russian Far East Fleet, the first to make a change would be the British. With the plan of as many as six old-star battleships, the whole world was stirred by the whirlwind blowing from the Far East!

Three days after the Marquis of Salisbury reported on the situation in the Far East, the American political axe also reacted. Because the political axe of Honolulu is in the Pacific Ocean, the pressure on the Americans is greater than that of the British. After learning that the Russian Far East fleet was completely annihibited, because of the fear of another major change in the situation in the Far East, immediately Once again, Roosevelt was sent as a special envoy to the Far East to mediate the war.

At the same time, after the British were to build six new battleships to cope with the changes in the Far East, the Americans immediately chose to follow up and decided to build four new Chilshage-class battleships.

But because it is not as strong as Britain in technology, the Americans have to continue to make improvements on the basis of the Iowa class, instead of redesigning the updated battleships like the British Empire!

The fierce reaction of the United Kingdom and the United States has led to a new round of naval competition throughout the Atlantic Ocean. Germany, France, Austria-Hungary and even Italy and the Ottoman Empire have sent special envoys to the Far East and began their own shipbuilding plans.

Master Li may not have thought that due to his appearance, this competition that reached ** before World War I was several years earlier than history! And if the scale is larger, more funds will be consumed! ——

At the gate of the East Palace of St. Petersburg, the statue of Atlas giant gods was very powerful, consuming two tons of malachite. In the peacock hall using nine kinds of precious wood, Nicholas II sat on the throne full of diamonds and gold, with a gloomy face, and even 40,000 colored stones were used behind him. The inlaid maps of Russia seem to have lost their former glory.

Because the gem that is gradually shining on the imperial crown is darkly extinguished today, four first-class battleships, six second-class battleships, and more than 20 other warships, all of which have become other people's toys!

What's more shameful is that the Chesma and Sinop were just sent to the Far East and were captured. Is the powerful Russian Empire a money-giving boy?

More importantly, the Empire painstakingly built Vladivostok, known as the first fortress in the Far East, was completely destroyed under the enemy's artillery fire. In the bombardment of the Pacific Army day and night, a total of 13,000 people were killed and more than 20,000 people were injured, most of which were underprepared, and most of them were serious. Burns and smashing, in the coming winter, they can't survive if the supplies are completely destroyed!

Although emergency transportation of materials from Berulia has begun, due to the lack of railways and poor roads, the progress is very slow.

Without the support of materials, even the reinforcements could not pass. In addition, without the protection of the fleet, the imperial army stationed in the Far East was almost completely destroyed. Even the proud Cossack cavalry put down their sabers and waited for the unknown fate.

In North Korea, Yuanshan Port has also been lost. The Russian forces in the DPRK have been almost cleared by me. Now it has almost become my world!

What should I do now? Keep fighting! Or face the reality?

Nicholas II and his empire are facing a major choice!

"Your Majesty, I suggest sending people to Honolulu to negotiate immediately. At present, the most important thing is not to fight back, but to preserve the last strength of the empire in the Far East. We can no longer let the soldiers consume in North Korea and the Far East, which is not conducive to the future decisive battle!" Alexi. General Kuropatkin was the first to say that for him, the army will always be the first! As for the navy, hum! It can only be said that they are so incompetent that they will be defeated by the small country whose whole territory is less than the empire's Kamchatka Peninsula!

It's a shame!

The army should not be a victim of naval humiliation!

"No, you must not withdraw to the army!" Grand Duke Alexander Lovich, the Minister of the Navy, stared at Kuropatkin and said, "Your Majesty, the fleet is gathering. It only takes a few more days for them to set out immediately. I will let everyone know how terrible the anger of the Great Russian Empire is!"

"No, we must withdraw from the army immediately. We can't do unnecessary consumption." Kuropatkin originally did not deal with Alexander Lovich. How could he not strike with such a good opportunity, so he immediately said, "Your Majesty, the navy has lost more than half of the warships. The first-class battleships of the empire can only be lowered a few, and only five second-class battleships! And our opponent, there were originally eight capital ships, and now there are warships that have obtained the empire, which have surpassed us, so I suggest that we should withdraw from the army for the winter first, and then the army will launch a counterattack after next spring!"

Nicholas II's face was not very good, but now he is even more gloomy when he hears about the capture of the warship!

"Army! Can your army fight against Ryukyu and Hawaii by itself? Alexander Lovich sneed at each other.

"The Army can't do it? Can you do it in the navy? The Imperial Army is the first in the world! With the most powerful Cossack cavalry, only our army can do the whole Far East!" After saying that, Kuropatkin deliberately tneered, "Navy? Humph, I really don't know where the empire spends so much naval budget every year!"

"Susp up!" This tease immediately made Alexander Lovich jump violently and rushed up a few steps and roared, "Didn't your army raise the white flag in the Far East obediently? Cossack? Even the war horses have been given to others!"

"Shut up!" Nicholas II couldn't stand it anymore. He shouted loudly!

A dignified Duke of the Empire, the Minister of the Navy, and the other is the Earl General, the Minister of the Army. He didn't think about how to work together to deal with the current situation, but there was even an internal conflict! And he quarreled like no one in his own peacock hall! Don't pay attention to your own emperor!

Nicholas II withdrew his eyes from the two naval and army ministers and aimed at the other person.

Sergey Witt, who is also the Minister of Transport of the Empire and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is currently the second most powerful figure in the hall after the Minister of the Interior, so when Nicholas II looked at him, he immediately said, "Your Majesty, I don't recommend fighting now."

"Why!" Nicholas II didn't expect to wait for such a frustrated word for a long time, and couldn't help sinking his voice.

"Because it consumes too much, the empire doesn't have that much money." Witt shrugged his shoulders and turned a blind eye to Nicholas II's gloomy face.

"There is no money! What's the reason? In the vast imperial territory, there are so many taxes every year, how can there be no money? His words immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of the ministers, and several people who had long been jealous of the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer raised questions face to face.

In the face of doubts, Witt was not slow. He looked around and slowly spread out his hand and said, "I mean there is not so much money, not that there is no money."

"Is there anything different about this?" Nicholas II frowned and asked.

"Of course there is!"

Witt stood in the middle of the crowd: "Gentlemen, please don't forget that the construction of the Siberian Railway has just started. We have spent a lot of military expenses to transport 50,000 troops and dispatch fleets before, and it has taken a whole year! How long will it take to fight back now? So I think that if we can wait until the railway is opened before fighting back, then we can save more military money to build warships and have more time to raise military money!"

"Of course, if Your Majesty wants to fight back now, I have no problem, but Vladivostok has been completely destroyed. According to Governor Alexayev's report, it will take at least two years to repair it, and another 50,000 workers and 30 million rubles! Otherwise, even if the fleet sets out now, there will be no base available.

"The most important thing is that even if the fleet departs now, it will enter winter when it arrives in the Far East. In addition, we need to transfer troops from the whole country, which will take about half a year. As you know, it is very expensive to mobilize the army in winter. According to my calculations, if you are ready to fight back now, you need a budget of at least 200 million rubles!"

(set in the book, ten rubles for one pound) 200 million?!

After hearing this number, everyone, including Nicholas II, took a breath of cold air!

200 million rubles, we can build several brand-new fleets!

Do you want to fight back?

(to be continued)