Chapter 500 Number, Seventh Fleet!

@@@@@@@@@10 Downing Street.

In the narrow Prime Minister's conference room, Prime Minister Asquith was full of anxiety. Beside him, Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Gray, Chancellor of the Exchequer Lloyd George, Secretary of the Navy Winston Churchill, and Colonial Secretary Bona Law were present, but like the Prime Minister, they were all black-faced and slow to speak.

There is no doubt that this is one of the most difficult choices in the history of the British Empire. As prime ministers and cabinet members, they all know what today's decision means!

Or forget Germany and fight with the new empire with all your strength! Or forget Xinhua and fight with Germany!

There is no second way to go!

"Winston, how's Cameron's place?" Asquith broke the silence and turned his eyes to Churchill, who was the most important part of Britain and was also regarded as a protector of the navy.

"The situation is not very good." Although Churchill did not agree to compromise, he could only shake his head under the pressure of German reality: "Li Mo's second fleet has arrived off the Strait of Hormuz and is confronting Cameron!"

"They sent four of the latest battleships. Although Cameron has six Nelson-class battleships in his hand, the situation is still very bad. The main reason is that we have no way to curb the fast small cruiser. According to General Cameron, the reason why Johnson can be stranded is that they did not carry out a torpedo attack. Hit, otherwise." George looked at Churchill and continued on his behalf.

"So, they had the opportunity to expand their results?" Asquith's eyes lit up, and then faded again, and he asked, "Gentlemen, I want to know if we can be sure to defeat the Chinese at this time!"

"If we are allowed to transfer battleships from the mainland fleet, then we can do it!" Churchill gritted his teeth and said fiercely.

"No!" The Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Gray, immediately stopped Churchill: "His Excellency the Prime Minister, with all due respect, General Cameron's words are very clear. The Chinese had the opportunity to carry out the killing, but they gave up, which shows that they don't want to make things big. For our country, the threat of the Germans is greater than China!"

"I think that Li Mo suddenly sent troops this time because the Pacific plan we implemented with the Americans stimulated him, so he continuously borrowed mobile hands in the Gilbert and Hormuz Straits and threatened us with the Baghdad Railway! If we now transfer stronger battleships from the mainland fleet to India, although we can defeat him, the loss will certainly not be small!"

"How did we face the German high seas fleet at that time? They are already building two new Bavaria-class battleships, and the remaining four are about to start construction, but our country only has five Queen Elizabeth-class ships, which can't be suppressed!" Gray analyzed quickly and clearly, making the air in the conference room cold again. Churchill was reluctant and shouted, "Your Excellency the Prime Minister, we should build more battleships, or build five more Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, or we should start building newer battleships!"

"God!" Prime Minister Asquith looked at Churchill and his chest began to hurt. Although he also knew that the German Bagoria-class battleship, which originally thought would not start next year, had completely broken Britain's advantage of quantitative suppression, the problem was that the current financial pressure was too great. If he proposed to build a capital ship, he didn't know how to go. Convince the parliament!

"Your Excellency, we have no way out. Either we win or let the Germans rule Europe!" Churchill waved his hand and tried to infect these cabinet ministers. He said in an almost pleading tone, "If you can't get a battleship, then at least you should give us a battlecruiser. I don't want to be pointed at by German cannons!"

"Wait, Winston, we are talking about the Chinese crisis. As for your request, I think we can talk about it later." George interrupted Churchill: "If we can't solve the Chinese, no matter how many battleships we build, we must fight on two fronts. Do you think it's possible?"

"Yes, as long as 20 battleships and 40 battlecruisers are being built!"

"Wo!" Prime Minister Asquith is going to bleed. If it is being built, I'm afraid that Britain can declare bankruptcy without fighting! So he immediately stared at Churchill and said, "Wenston, don't say any more. We must solve this crisis first!"

"Yes, this is the most urgent at present!" Gray's expression did not change because of Churchill's exaggerated plan. He continued: "The Chinese have sent a signal that they are willing to stop the construction of the Baghdad Railway, so we must seize the opportunity instead of expanding the crisis again until it turns into a war!"

"So what should we do? The Chinese people's article. Before the colonial minister Bonalau finished his words, there was a knock on the door outside the conference room. The Prime Minister's secretary hurried in and said urgently, "Mr. Prime Minister, we have some bad news."

"What's the news?"

"We have just got the information that the Chinese army has begun to send troops to the southwest, and the marines stationed in the Philippines and Borneo are also gathering. Another of their infantry divisions is advancing from Chengdu to Tibet!"

"What!"

"Damn it, these yellow pigs, what the hell do they want to do!"

"Prime Minister, they are applying pressure!" Facing the angry cabinet members, Gray took a deep breath: "To us."

"Exercive pressure?" Asquith understood a little.

There is no doubt that Li Mo has been demonstrating since Gilbert. He wants to tell Britain in this way not to interfere in Pacific affairs! This bastard, arsonist, he saw that Britain was in a deep arms race with Germany, so he dared to come to India's doorstep like this!

"Grey, contact the Chinese immediately. We are willing to negotiate, but their army must stop acting!"

"Winston, get the four Orion battleships ready!"

"Lao, let Austin Chamberlain go to India."

"George, you go to the United States with me once. I have to meet President Taft."

On October 20, 1912, the crisis caused by the dispute over the Baghdad Railway began to intensify. First, the Xinhua Empire began to send more troops to the border between Myanmar and India, and second, the third batch of two Yanjing-class battleships from the Pacific Fleet also arrived in the Strait of Hormuz, making the Xinhua Empire's troops in the Indian Ocean. The force soared by 30%.

At the same time, Britain did not show any weakness. Four new Iron Duke-class battleships quickly entered the Mediterranean Sea and crossed the Suez Canal on October 25. At the same time, two invincible-class battlecruisers stationed in Australia also arrived at the coast of Western Guinea controlled by Xinhua.

On October 28, the Xinhua Empire also showed its strongest force. The first Hebei-class battleship Hebei and the second Henan just delivered departed for the Indian Ocean under the protection of five destroyers, which also indicates that the threat of gunfire between the two countries is increasing!

For anyone, even Li Mo, the initiator, this is an almost stagnant moment. With the arrival of two [***] ships in the Indian Ocean one by one, everyone knows that as long as there is a little Mars at this time, it will be a catastrophe!

But at this moment, another accident happened.

On November 2, when Zhang Zuolin, the Chief of Staff of the Army on behalf of the Xinhua Empire, and the British Special Envoy and the new Minister of Indian Affairs, Austin Chamberlain, arrived in Delhi at the same time, William II inspected the powerful German high seas fleet outside Wilhelmshaven!

This move is undoubtedly a naked provocation!

In the face of the smoke that Europe can no longer hide, all walks of life in Britain have begun to seriously consider whether it is worth starting a full-scale confrontation with another country thousands of miles away at this time.

At this time, a piece of news relieved the British people.

On November 3, Zhang Zuolin, Chief of Staff of the Xinhua Imperial Army in Delhi, who had just arrived in Delhi, announced that Xinhua was willing to give up the construction of the Baghdad Railway, but only if Xinhua's interests in the Persian region must be respected and protected. Careful reporters found that he had more than once mentioned Persia run by the Emperor of the Xinhua Empire. Royal Bay Oil Company was treated unfairly in Kuwait, a British protected area!

On November 4, after the first day of preliminary confrontation, Austin Chamberlain, the representative of the British political axe, who was eager to solve the Persian Gulf crisis, began hard negotiations after domestic communication.

On November 14, after 11 days of consultations, Britain and Xinhua reached the Gulf Agreement on the settlement of the Persian Gulf dispute in Delhi. According to this agreement, Britain will allow the navy of the New China to station a small fleet with a total tonnage of no more than 10,000 tons and no more than 3,000 troops. The Persian Gulf carried out escort missions and killed two Chinese shippers at the same time, causing the transportation company to compensate 100,000 pounds for losses.

In addition, Britain also announced the lifting of the protection agreement with the Kuwaiti chiefs to ensure that the Royal Oil Company of the Persian Gulf, invested by the emperor of the New China Empire, Li Mo, can receive fair and just treatment.

Xinhua also promised to compensate 200,000 pounds for the maintenance cost of the Johnson, and said that it would not build the Baghdad Railway for at least a decade, and promised not to interfere in the interests of British protected areas outside Kuwait, and guaranteed that Royal Oil would not stop selling oil to Britain and its allies at any time.

The most unexpected thing is that according to a final clause of the agreement, Xinhua will provide a loan worth 7 1.5 million pounds, or about 500 million blue coins, to the United Kingdom. The loan will be mortgaged with 300 tons of gold and some British overseas assets in Xinhua, Nanyang and other places, and all the loans will be used to collect from Xinhua. Buy strategic resources such as grain, rubber, steel, automobile engines, generators and oil.

For Britain, this result is not a failure, nor a victory for Xinhua, because the Strait of Hormuz is still in the hands of Britain, and the Indian Ocean is still the back garden of Britain. Three thousand troops are not enough to change anything, but the escort fleet that can be stuffed into 10,000 tons is still buried for this sluice. A curse.

On November 15, on the day when the United Kingdom and Xinhua reached an agreement to withdraw their respective fleets, Prime Minister Asquith arrived in the United States for a five-day visit and discussed with U.S. President Taft on a series of issues such as the British, the United States and the Pacific.

At the same time, Zhang Zuolin also rushed to Istanbul non-stop, conducted five hours of secret consultations with Emperor Mohammed V of the Ottoman Empire, who was deeply involved in the Balkan war, and finally reached an agreement that the Ottoman Empire would merge the Euphrates induct triangle including Kuwait, Basra and Abadan. For Greater Kuwait, it was leased to the New China Empire in exchange for military assistance worth 300 million blue coins.

For Osman, it seems to have lost land, but in fact, those lands have never been under their control. The voice against Osman in the Persian region has never stopped. What's more, it has been controlled by Britain before, so it is really cost-effective to exchange military aid for 300 million blue coins.

300 million blue coins were exchanged for the super oilfield area, which accounts for 3% of the world's total reserves. Emperor Li couldn't close his mouth. Even according to the current profits of the Persian Gulf Oil Company, it only took two years.

Not only did he grab the big business of 500 million blue coin loans from the United States, which is constantly getting large loans in Europe, but more importantly, it means that it has finally opened a gap in the iron curtain-like Persian region!

Excited, he immediately announced the decision to send a total of 2,000 soldiers from two battalions of the Fourth Marine Division and five defense-class destroyers there to protect the interests of the empire in Greater Kuwait.

The name and reading number of the fleet is.

Seventh Fleet! ......

(to be continued)