Chapter 360 Entangled Britain

Outside the window.

The drizzle looked at it, as if the whole of London was shrouded in smoke and dust. People came and went on the street, and the tea seats on both sides of the street were full of people. The citizens who were quiet in the afternoon tea did not know that the British Empire was facing a comprehensive crisis.

Prime Minister Salisbury sighed and let the smoke float in front of him by the cigar with his fingertips.

The Boer War is in full swing. Over the years, it has only attached importance to the navy and ignored the construction of the army. The British Empire, which was immersed in its glory, was finally devoured. The slack army was defeated by tens of thousands of Boer armed forces. The war has been fought for nearly a year and has not recovered its disadvantage. In the end, it had to fight. Change the coach.

Although it has entered the holding stage at this moment, the army still has more wins and losses. In addition to the lack of better weapons, it is also because the old infantry lacks sufficient numbers and mobility. They are helpless in the face of the Boer armed forces, who are almost all cavalry, and they often struggle to take a stronghold. But behind him, he was attacked again.

In the face of the situation that both imperial gold and diamonds may be occupied by the Boers, his pressure can be imagined, especially after the army's successive defeats, the parliament has asked him to step down, which is a heavy blow to him!

Britain has begun to transfer troops from all over the world, not only the infantry stationed in Canada and Australia, but also the troops stationed in the West Indies, but according to the feedback from the front line, it is still far from enough!

According to the telegram sent back by General Joubert from the front line, in order to completely contain the Boer offensive, it takes at least 300,000 to 400,000 to defend such a wide area.

300,000 to 400,000!

Thinking of this number, Salisbury felt dizzy. The total army of the British Empire was only 400,000, half of which were overseas. Now 100,000 people have been transferred to Boer in China, and almost half of the offshore colonies were also taken away, and only 200,000 troops were barely gathered in South Africa, but now the least needed. We are sending an additional 100,000!

But where can the troops be transferred from? Finish all the domestic army?! Or India? Egypt or... Far East!

Egypt was first rejected, because Hamid II was a cruel guy. He was a natural eccentric. He had been extremely dissatisfied with the British occupation of Egypt and control of the Suez Canal for a long time. In addition, Germany, France and other countries have also been staring at it. It is unrealistic to transfer too many troops from Egypt at this time.

Originally, the best military base was the Far East, because there were 50,000 troops stationed in India and the Far East respectively, and there was also a Far East Fleet and an Indian Fleet, which was more than enough to defend. But the problem is that Li Mo has been expanding the army over the years, and now he has extended his sense of touch to the southernmost end of the East Indies. After that, his relationship with Britain has been deadlocked and distrusting each other. Now he is seriously confronted on the southeast issue. It is not too much to say that he will wipe the gun at any time. In this case, he will be transferred from the Far East. The troops are very dangerous!

If you just take away tens of thousands of troops, it may not cause much trouble, because there is also a navy and a fleet guard! But the problem is that the once powerful British Far East Fleet is facing the most serious threat!

The appearance of a powerful and even epoch-making battleship made the whole of Britain feel the chill!

Thinking of this, Prime Minister Salisbury finally looked back into the living room from meditation, and the ministers around him immediately stopped.

Everyone here knows the current predicament of the British Empire, so they came here today to find a solution, but the reality is incomparable!

"Your Excellency the Prime Minister, Li Mo has finished his visit to Osman yesterday. He will arrive in Italy tomorrow morning, and then take the train to France. According to the timetable they announced, the arrival time in Germany will be ten days later!" Kimberly took out the travel schedule forwarded by the Xinhua Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Although he is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, everyone here knows that he is only the shadow of the Marquis of Salisbury. The real decision is still the Prime Minister who is determined to change British conservative policy.

"William II has convened an emergency naval meeting, and Tirpitz has been authorized to get the technology of the battleship at no matter how much cost, and he has sent someone to Italy to accompany Li Mo until he arrives in Germany safely!"

"These damn Germans!"

Kimberly's words immediately attracted a curse. Even Prime Minister Salisbury did not expect Germany to be so proactive this time, and quickly looked at Prince Badenberg, the Minister of the Navy.

"Your Excellency, has the Admiralty found the answer?"

Compared with the red light a few years ago, Prince Badenberg has aged a lot. The huge navy and challenges from various countries have overwhelmed him. After seeing the Prime Minister's eyes, he did not speak immediately, but directly turned to John Fei, who had just returned from the West Indies and was restored to the position of Chancellor of the Third Navy. Scheer.

No matter what the reason was reinstated, Fisher did not want to investigate. It was crucial for him to immediately find out the technology to deal with the battleship, but when he came back and visited a number of naval technical experts, he was extremely disappointed.

Deconstruction is not a problem!

Power is not too difficult!

The problem is still the damn naval gun rechoic problem!

The British Empire has a huge scientific research institution. They have been trying to maintain the technical lead. Even when they were removed from the post of Third Secretary of the Navy, the idea of multiple guns he proposed was actually not given up. The Admiralty Department has been secretly organizing to attack, but this time they really felt thorny. Hand, the accuracy and rear cosor of the triple gun have become the biggest constraint. According to the calculation, not to mention installing ten guns, even if six 12-inch naval guns are installed, volleys will lead to the collapse of the deck!

Unless the hull is enlarged to 25,000 tons!

God, such a large displacement will cause the speed to drop to the unbearable thirteen knots. Although the battleships do not rely on speed, no one likes snail-like warships!

"Mr. Prime Minister, I can't guarantee how long it will take to solve the technology, but I believe that if there are two years, then we can solve it!" Fisher vowed, but in fact, he was extremely dissatisfied with the timetable. Li Mo had set the momentum to sell the battleship. France and Germany were trying their best to fight for it. Even the Ottoman Empire had expressed their desire to order one from Xinhua not long ago, but Li Mo was still unable to let go.

After watching coldly for many years, he already knows Li Mo very well. That guy is very good at taking advantage of the contradictions of various countries. Even if there is no contradiction, he will create conflicts, and finally take advantage of conflicts.

So he will never give up this opportunity to find a European partner, not to mention that even if he has a technology that can change the development of the navy, he will consider using it to the extreme and strive for benefits.

He got a good card. If he is lucky, he may be able to force France and Germany to support his reunification. In that case, Britain will be completely isolated in the Far East and will no longer be able to stop Xinhua from reunification!

But his thoughts seriously threatened the maritime hegemony of the British Empire. Whether he sold the battleship to France or Germany, it would be a disaster for the powerful Britain. Especially if the latter got it, the ambitious William II would definitely put it into construction immediately.

Everyone here feels a palpitation when thinking of the new battleships that Germany will continue to be launched in the next few years, which means that all the current battleships in the British Empire will become scrap iron, and the Atlantic Ocean will be completely shrouded in the shadow of the new battleships.

The most important thing is that it will take at least two years for Britain to have the same technology, and then wait until the construction and testing are over. Germany may have built more than eight capital ships of this type, and Britain will change from a leader to a pursuer!

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister." In the corner, a voice suddenly remembered, and Ogner slowly got up under the gaze of everyone.

As the former ambassador to China, after a few years of vacation, he has returned to the political stage and became the Far East affairs staff of the Prime Minister's Office, so after seeing everyone's doubts and worries, he immediately got up and said, "Maybe it's time for us to reconsider the Far East policy!"

"Reconsidering the Far East policy?!"

Salisbury looked at his new Far East affairs staff puzzledly and asked, "Mr. Ogner, can you tell me more details?"

"In fact, it's very simple. I believe you all know that the breakdown of Li Mo's relationship with the empire stems from our support for Japan a few years ago. After Li Mo established Xinhua, although it seriously threatened China's interests in the Far East, everyone ignored one point. In fact, he helped the empire resist the expansion of Russia and also made the United States People are brought into fear.

"Actually, in my opinion, if there is no Li Mo, both Japan and Russia, it will affect the interests of the empire there, and the United States will enter the Pacific Ocean more quickly. Because they are all ambitious countries, the establishment of Xinhua is just a different opponent."

"In my understanding of Li Mo, a complete Xinhua is more important to him than anything else. If we give up some Far Eastern interests in exchange for his renewed trust, then I don't think he wants to see Germany dominant in the Atlantic."

"So, I think we must revise the Far East policy. It may be a good choice to support Li Mo's unification of Xinhua."

"No, no!" Before Ogner finished his words, Fisher immediately stood up excitedly: "Mr. Ogner, you only saw that Li Mo might give in for Xinhua, but you didn't notice his ambition. He was more greedy than Japan and Russia. If he agreed to Xinhua, he would immediately intervene in the East Indies or even Australia. In the end, he will even be willing to learn from the Netherlands, Spain and Germany to challenge our maritime hegemony!"

"But?"

"It's nothing!"

In order to strengthen his tone, Fisher waved his arm vigorously and interrupted Ogner's words: "The British Empire can't show weakness, and Li Mo is not an idiot. Since he brought this battleship to Europe, he also made a lot of publicity to profit, so I believe that in the end, he will definitely take the initiative to find it. We!"

"I firmly believe!"

Looking at the people in the room who held each other's views, Prime Minister Salisbury was even more dizzy. There was a tangled problem in front of him. On the one hand, Boole, who was in urgent need of the army, needed to transfer troops from the Far East, and on the other hand, there was the sea challenge brought by the battleship. He must find a balanced policy!

"Your Prime Minister, I just got the news that the Germans have vacated several important docks, saying that they are going to be renovated and expanded."

The secretary opened the door and saw the Prime Minister holding his forehead and thinking hard. After a moment of hesitation, he immediately said the latest situation on the other side, but the news made Fisher and others familiar with shipbuilding look pale...

(to be continued)