Chapter 342 Lack of the power of one-shot determination!

The four walls of the spacious conference room are embedded with all kinds of gold and silver decorations, which shows the luxury of the Royal Navy of the British Empire, and also shows the concept of pursuing more comfortable, more spacious, and more suitable for long-term deployment in the ocean.

This is a detail, but it is the biggest difference between a global navy and a regional navy.

But today, this comfort and eye-catching can't give any pride to the British [***] officials in the conference room, because the opposite side is confronting themselves. In the fleet once positioned as the regional navy, there is a new warship that no one has thought of!

"You can be sure!"

Filetman's eyes were solemn, looking at the officers standing in front of him, and his face was so gloomy that he could even drip water!

The result of the sinking of a Dutch cruiser and the withdrawal of the remaining four with injuries was not beyond his expectations, or even better than expected.

After the arrival of the four torpedo ships of the Far East Fleet, the opponent did not chase and fight fiercely, but let them retreat, showing that they did not want to rush too much, and began a sea battle that no one could predict the result.

Tactically speaking, the British and Dutch fleet lost a cruiser. The Battle of Natuna was a loser, but strategically, the two sides were still on the same line, and the victory was far from being divided.

So after receiving the four escaped cruisers, Phillipman thought of launching an attack immediately, taking advantage of the number of losses to hit the more and more arrogant Xinhua Imperial Royal Fleet, but the news suddenly brought back by the captains was solid and poured cold water on him.

A new battleship that has never been seen before has five double L45/305mm heavy guns, with a displacement one more than their largest duke class, not to mention the main force in the Far East Fleet at this moment, with a displacement of about 14,000 tons.

What kind of battleship is this? It can carry ten heavy guns! In the online surname tactic, it can actually provide eight firepower outputs with a range of at least 15,000 meters to one side at the same time!

When the captain and sailors confirmed that the news was withdrawn, almost all the officers did not believe their ears. How could this be possible?

The 20,000-ton hull can't carry ten heavy guns, because the hull structure can't withstand five huge gunbacks at all, and the terrible rectic force will directly shatter the deck when shooting!

Compared with the officers, Phillyteman is more aware of the difficulty. Sir Fisher, the former third minister of the Navy who came to watch the Far East not long ago, also put forward this idea, but he had to give up because he could not reduce the rear of artillery. Could this biggest problem have been solved by Li Mo?

If this is the case, I'm afraid it will be a complete disaster for the British Imperial Navy, because you will find that when you drive a battleship that can't shoot in a volley and is happy to carry out the mission with first- and second-class main guns respectively, the opponent's driver is loaded with ten heavy guns, and the big guys who can shoot at a volley are blocked. It's at the door!

There is no need to fight at all, and we also know who will be the winner of this duel!

Because the effectiveness of such a battleship in actual combat is more than two old men! What's more, because the main gun is on the same hull, its fire output is more concentrated, and the hit rate will be higher. If you are lucky, you can destroy a ronus almost instantly!

Damn it, that Li Mo has always been lucky!

The most shameful thing is that the other party did not have the idea of using this mysterious new battleship as the main force of the confrontation at all. After the torpedo ship arrived and quickly blew up the Dutch cruiser Camacho, the battleship and the accompanying two Jinghai-class cruisers, as well as four new large torpedo ships, immediately withdrew from the battlefield.

In order to cover it, the opponent even blocked the route of Captain George and others with four cruisers and fired a warning!

Filetman believes that the mysterious battleship with two cruisers and four torpedo ships is nearby, but this sea area is so broken that it is full of reefs and islands. These days, he sent almost all cruisers and torpedo ships to expand the search, but failed to find it!

The most dangerous enemy will never be the guy standing opposite and cursing, spitting and waving a knife at you, but those bastards hiding in the corner with a cold light and short blade hidden in the cuffs!

At this moment, there is a group of bastards who are extremely lacking in European chivalry, and even disdainful, but take sneak attack as the supreme concept!

You can't imagine how shameless it would be to use a new, mysterious and powerful battleship that is not used openly, but used as an assassin!

When he thought of attacking, the other party would call the battleship over with mysterious summoning skills, and then attack one of his weakest links. Felitman couldn't help but think of the hungry wolves in the wasteland, expelling the prey in groups to one or a few partners staring at the blood-red eyes and lurking in the grass. Before, the scene of biting the throat and launching a fatal blow!

"Shit!"

Thinking of this, born in a noble family, the polite Felix couldn't help swearing. He even had an impulse to force out the mysterious big guy, but after thinking about it, he still couldn't help thinking about it.

"Expand the search and send out all cruisers and torpedoes. Be sure to find it!" In the roar of Felitman, the door of the conference room was suddenly pushed open.

"Mr. Commander, the Commander of the Royal Navy of Xinhua is outside. He hopes to see you immediately and resolve the misunderstanding between the two sides."

"Misunderstanding!" -

In the corridor in front of Hanyuan Hall, Li Enfu carefully patted the snow on his coat, and then carefully folded it before handing it to the maid waiting to be collected.

Looking at this action, Chen Ping smiled and said as he walked along the corridor, "Mr. Li, you also have a big family now. You are rich, and a coat is worth so careful?"

"What a rich man!" Li Enfu looked at the staff officer Chen and said, "The four divisions have just been completed, and there are two more volunteer teachers!" Where should I go to raise money? I finally understand that you, Yan Fu and the emperor are all masters wearing a pair of trousers!"

"Haha..." Chen Ping's face was red. Over the past year, six infantry divisions have been formed in a row, and 30,000 Mongolian cavalry have been collected. Finally, the army has passed the stage of overstretched troops. Although the last two volunteer divisions are still under construction, the news from Lu Song has made him unable to close his mouth. The enthusiasm of the Chinese in the Nanyang to join the army was so high that it was formed in less than two months. Half, he was so happy that he kept scratching his ears and cheeks.

Seeing his appearance, Li Enfu was even more black on his forehead and said, "Don't be complacent. As you said, Borneo and the northwest have been completely calmed down in a year, and now it has been half a year!"

"Prime Minister, don't worry." Chen Ping was proud and said with a smile, "Long Guozhang has blocked the British and Dutch fleet, and significant progress has also been made in Borneo."

"Really?" As soon as Li Enfu, who didn't believe it, stepped into the Hanyuan Hall, Li Mo's laughter came from it: "Mr. Li, don't worry, Yuanshou didn't tell a lie this time, and there is good news in the northwest."

After more than half a year of redecoration, the layout of the Hanyuan Hall, which used to be strict and conservative, has been completely changed. In fact, the whole Yingtai has also quietly changed. In addition to some decorations that must be preserved, more Western-style and simple home styles have been introduced here. The spacious sofas have replaced wooden seats and walls There are also a lot of celebrity calligraphy and paintings.

Yingtai and the Summer Palace have now become the private property of Master Li, so Li Enfu didn't care about how he wanted to change it at all. He asked, "Your Majesty, what's the good news from the northwest?"

After asking the two to sit down and asked the maid to bring the milk tea to warm the stomach, Li Mo pulled out a document from the table and handed it to the two people: "I just received it, in duplicate, and your share has probably been sent to the Prime Minister's Office."

A Borneo and a northwest have now become the biggest pimple in everyone's hearts, so after seeing the document, Li Enfu did not care about politeness. He hurriedly opened it and his face immediately piled up folds.

"The oil field has been found!"

"Hmm." Master Li nodded and was also very happy to find the oil field, but the little depression was not the Yumen he set, but the extension.

It is wrong for later generations to say that the Qing Dynasty did not have an oil industry. In 1861, Taiwan's Miaoli owned the world's second oil well, only two years later than that of the United States. In history, in 1905, Qingzheng Axe allocated 80,000 taels of silver to prepare for the construction of the extension of the oil museum. More than a year later, it launched the first industry in mainland China. Oil well.

And the extension of the oil field in history is the most effective guarantee for the strategy of advancing into the Greater Northwest in future generations!

However, this discovery was purely accidental. After the geological team sent to Yumenguan to explore oil in a row, they had to find another way to find the local county records, visit the people, and ask if there were any records of discovery. As a result, they did not find them in Yumen. Instead, they found clues in the county records of the extended area. Later, they learned that the local area was extended. People discovered oil very early and used it to burn lamps to make ink, but few people know about it in remote areas.

What they didn't expect was that the extension of the oilfield was close to the surface, and the oil only came out after drilling less than 100 meters, so a telegram was sent immediately, hoping that the Ministry of Equipment and Security could speed up the transportation of a few more sets of oil well equipment. At the same time, they also hoped to send the oil refining equipment in immediately and produce gasoline as soon as possible.

This news made both Li Enfu and Chen Ping very happy. Judging from the performance of the truck entering Mongolia last time, although the failure rate is still a little high, the requirements for the road are not very high, as long as the dirt road is slightly smooth, so the staff has already made a decision to use the truck in the northwest war, but it has always been Limited by gasoline transportation, now after the extended exploitation of oil, Pingding Northwest has another weight.

In this matter, Li Enfu is more anxious than Li Mo. Ending the Northwest War early means less sales, so after saying hello, he immediately went to the equipment department to find Tang Xiao in person with the documents, preparing to send the necessary equipment in immediately during the winter break and find a small refinery to solve the steam. Oil problem.

After seeing Li Enfu leave, Li Mo finally turned the topic to the war and asked, "Have you read the report sent back by Long Guozhang?"

Chen Ping nodded and always liked the simple Long Guozhang's telegram of more than a dozen pages this time. In addition to mentioning that the British and Dutch fleet had been blocked in Borneo and began negotiations on these matters, he also emphasized the first use of "suffocation".

Eighty tons of liquid "suffocation" poison gas, which shocked the general staff and everyone. According to the description of the special anti-chemical force entering Gaoping two days later, nearly half of the nearly 30,000 locals died directly from the diffuse gas, and most of the rest lost their mobility, and within the next week There have been large-scale deaths, and less than 3,000 people have survived so far, but these people's bodies have also suffered serious injuries, and there is only one end waiting for them.

Li Mo doesn't know whether Britain has used chlorine gas in Boer or not. If not, it should be the first time in history that chemical weapons have been put into actual combat. And "suffocation" was developed based on his fragmentary memory of sarin gas in his previous life. Although it can't reach the terrible power of sarin, it is much stronger than chlorine and mustard!

In order not to let people discover this secret, Long Guozhang has ordered the removal of all the villages and tribes around Gaoping. He also arrested more than a thousand natives to bury Gaoping's secret under the earth, and finally executed these natives to ensure that they were foolproof.

After dealing with these, he also said for the first time that he should be equipped with a large number of this poison and develop a matching naval chemical shell, but Li Mo refused.

It's not kindness, nor is it out of humane consideration. In fact, Master Li has no good impression on the natives in that land. Even if he doesn't mention the cruel anti-Chinese movement that many people in China don't know about after the river crabs in later generations, just one Lanfang is enough for him to order the complete killing of all the natives!

The reason for refusing is that it is limited by money and technical means. The production and storage of "suffocation" are very expensive. In addition, with its own high corrosion surname and shelf life, before the lack of better means, a large amount of equipment is just to make trouble for themselves.

However, the first use of the poison gas made Li Mo see the hope of speeding up the settlement of Borneo, so he ordered the investment of cheaper chlorine gas, because for those unarmed locals, chlorine is already a big killer.

Combined with the use of chlorine gas, the army has created a simple way to first divide the Borneo rainforest piece by size, then use the method of expulsion and intimidation from all sides to compress the natives to one point, and finally drop a large number of chlorine gas barrels to make the natives lose their ability to move, and finally arrest people or... .

Because chlorine virus surnames and contaminated surnames are not very strong, they will not cause much harm to the rainforest and land, and as long as they are well protected, they will not endanger themselves.

So in Chen Ping's view, the ground war in Borneo continues to arrive with reinforcements. Instead of fighting, it is better to use this opportunity to train new recruits.

The only doubt still comes from the sea. Felitman was obviously scared by the shocking Chinese ship. Otherwise, with the British style, the Xinhua Army made such a big move in the Southern Ocean this time. I'm afraid he would have ordered an attack long ago, otherwise the two British cruisers would not have joined. The Dutch fleet attacks together. Don't think that Britain is afraid of war. The British [***] ships and soldiers all over the world are the best proof.

But the war also depends on the timing. In the past, Britain had absolute maritime strength, but now Boer has contained too many British warships. In order to capture the arms ships going to South Africa all over the world, completely blockade the sea of South Africa, and cut off the support from the sea, the British Empire sent more than half of the cruisers, and even Eight main battleships have been mobilized to provide support in the past, so once Filitman ventures to war, he may face the embarrassment of not receiving domestic support.

There are ten battleships on its side, and there are also ten in Britain. Although the cruiser Britain has an absolute advantage of twenty-five to fourteen, now there is one more Chinese ship that can withstand two or three and lurking in the dark. Felitman's pressure can be imagined.

What's more, in Chen Ping's view, as long as he signs the agreement, takes the initiative to give in, and does not move Java and Sumatra, which are extremely important in strategic positions, I'm afraid that Britain will not work hard for the Netherlands.

Li Mo also agreed with Chen Ping's words. As long as he took the initiative to give in, the British really had no reason to work hard, so he explained that after Chen Ping sent the essentials of the negotiation to Long Guozhang and Tang Shaoyi, he took out the detailed battle report of the Natuna naval battle from the table and handed it to Chen Ping and asked, "Do you see anything?"

Chen Ping has actually read the battle report several times, and has repeatedly deduced with Yan Fu and others according to the battle report, so when he heard Li Mo's inquiry, he immediately nodded.

"Lack of the power to make a final sound!" ......

(to be continued)