Chapter 539 The United States declared war

At the beginning of the month, ice can still be seen floating on the Okhotsk Sea. Several ice-breaking ships have been busy back and forth for a month. Although they accelerated the melting speed of ice and snow in the middle of the sea, they still sailed in the restricted area near the shore.

Unlike the iceberg, the ice here is not so thick, but it is still relatively dangerous for ships. Although the Royal Ocean uses a military double-layer hull and a thick torpedo armor compartment underwater, the sailors are still careful. The lookouts on the deck have doubled and temporarily installed them on the deck. The rapid-fire gun is to prevent the sudden appearance of large ice.

The sea, located in the middle of Sakhalin Island and the Kamchatka Peninsula, is the true inland sea of Xinhua like the Bohai Sea. The Royal Coast Guard stationed in Kamchatka Peninsula and Hokkaido, relying on the Chiba Islands like a chain of the river, separates this rich sea from the Pacific Ocean, and the southern gate of Hokkaido has become One of Xinhua's granaries.

In the Tang Dynasty, this place was called the North Sea or Shaohai. After Li Mo recovered the whole of Eastern Central Siberia, it was also changed back to the name of Shaohai (for the convenience of reading, the book will not change the existing geographical name, just introduce it, so it will continue to be called the Sea of Okhotsk).

Standing on the deck and looking at the melting scenery of the northern country, the information he had just got in his hand made Li Mo's eyebrows lock more and more.

"100 million pounds of aid to help build the last Spanish-class battleship and build three more battlecruisers to share the interests of Gibraltar! If Xinhua participates in the war, he will return Luzon to the Kingdom of Spain for continued management after the victory.

Li Mo sneered. No wonder Spain is going to join the war. If it is Spain, Gibraltar's interests alone are worth taking risks dozens of times. What's more, he got 100 million pounds in vain. It's strange that Spain can stand it with a future Luzon's interests.

After returning the information to Chen Ping and Li Enfu, who accompanied him, Li Mo took a deep breath, let the cold fog turn around his lungs, and then calmed down and said, "Britain really respects us. It wants to share oil and water from us without a war."

"The distribution of benefits must be made clear before the war. There is nothing we can do, otherwise no one will work together. Britain is a slippery man. How can't we see this, but I'm thinking that Gibraltar is used to seduce Spain. If you want to invite the great god of the United States, I don't know how much it will pay." Li Enfu smiled and didn't care about the information, because it was the most common thing, but he couldn't figure out why Li Mo was so angry.

In fact, how did he know that Li Mo was angry that he didn't expect Britain to be so cruel. The almost crazy Gibraltar came out to induce Spain to join the Allies. This is one of the most important straits related to Europe. It can be seen how much the fall of Paris has done to the Allies.

After Spain joins, the Allies led by Germany will face a difficult situation. Although the combat capabilities of Spain and Portugal's troops remain to be observed, this year it is population and consumption.

What's more, there is a big wall grass on the edge of Spain. Italy's accession to the treaty is nearly 90%. The latest information is that Germany and Austria-Hungary have begun to distrust him and begin to mobilize troops to the Italian border to prevent sudden attacks.

In the army, Spain's joining will force Germany to continue to station troops on the western front, and it must also turn to defense to consolidate its current advantages, which greatly eases the pressure on Russia on the east front. The retreating Russia will have a chance to breathe. In fact, if it hadn't been for the previous With the long winter snow and too long depth, Russia has been forced to withdraw from the war.

Although Nicholas II's army humiliated the Allies, it did not mean that it was not important. Britain and France also saw this clearly. While it was difficult for the German army to penetrate in winter, they increased their assistance to Russia. In just three months, the materials shipped to Russia were as high as 20 million tons, and Britain also sent an army into Russia for the first time. .

However, it is difficult to help Russia in the Baltic Sea, even for the British navy, because the German fleet in the Baltic Sea is still very strong, so Britain and France prefer to use their brains on the weakest Ottomans of the Allies.

The big waste Osman really worried Li Mo. With the help of so many tanks, he didn't take the chin for four months, and was stubbornly stabilized by the Russian army. This result really made him a little laugh and cry. No wonder Germany lost a war in history. His helper was really in the flow.

Osman's decadence allowed Britain and France to see an opportunity, so the key was Italy. Once Italy joined the Allied Countries, the Austro-Hungarian Navy would be abolished. As long as Osman was forced to withdraw from the war and the huge British and French fleet entered the Black Sea, Bulgaria would be finished. After losing these three, Germany would be strong. We have no choice but to withdraw from the war.

In February, Britain and France gathered 17 battleships, 1 battlecruiser, 16 destroyers, and a seaplane mothership began to attack the Dardanelles Strait, but a small mine became the key, causing the two countries to lose soldiers and generals, not only losing three former dreadnaught-class battleships, but also severely damaging the British tireless battlecruiser. After the failure of the plan to quickly oppress Osman's surrender with cannons, the most classic and nonsensical landing meat battle finally began. Osman had to withdraw the main force of the attack on Baku, so at this time, the British army in the direction of Persia was extremely critical. Once the Ottomans fought on the third line, it was almost a failure. The beginning.

It's really difficult to defend Greater Kuwait with half a marine division, one aviation wing and one hundred falcons, plus seven destroyers.

This is the chain reaction of war. Any slight change leads to accidents. Li Mo is not a war expert. What he knows is just some naval combat fur and the strategic vision brought by the later marine era. To put it bluntly, he is more like a fine version of Churchill. His vision is more on strategy, and as for implementation, he must He had to rely on Chen Ping and others, so he asked, "Juanshou, what do you think will happen if Spain joins?"

Chen Ping looked relaxed and seemed to be confident, so he immediately returned and said, "The emperor is worried too much. Although Spain and Portugal are gathering troops, they are really too old. It is too early to break through the western line. Germany's previous consumption is not very big, and we transferred through Kuwait some time ago. Supplies, they already have 1,000 tanks, and other ordnance reserves are also sufficient.

"And Wang Shizhen also called and said that Germany already knew that Britain and France had imitated the A7 tank, so it was stepping up its research on anti-tank methods. Taking advantage of the winter to widen the width of the trenches on the Western Front, he also asked Germany to remove a large number of 37mm rapid-fire guns used by the navy and change them into light anti-tank guns. In my opinion, only If Germany doesn't make a big mistake, the big meat grinder on the Western Front can last for at least two years.

"After the failure of the assault in the Dardanelles, the British and French navy now change color when they hear the strait. Germany has taken over the command of the Ottoman army. The army alone lacks maritime heavy artillery cover, and the attack on the Ottomans is just a joke. In addition, Nicholas II refused to participate in the attack on Austria. Sman, so this battle hasn't reached a critical time yet.

Li Mo and Li Enfu looked at each other and recognized the other meaning of Chen Ping's words. The latter took the lead in asking, "Wen Shou, do you mean that we should not participate in the war so early?"

Chen Ping shook his head: "We can't decide when we will join the war. It depends on Wilson's determination! There has been information before that he and British Prime Minister Asquith have telegrams. Although I don't know what he has said, I think he must have made some promises, which can be seen from the fact that Britain left three invincible war patrols in Australia.

"In addition, even if the United States makes provocations and threats, I don't agree with us declaring war first. In fact, I think it's better to let the United States take this first shot first. At least we are resisting aggression." In the end, Chen Ping suddenly blinked his eyes.

His words made Li Enfu's eyes light up and said with a smile, "Yuanshou, you have a good idea. This war is different from other wars, and it may take a long time, so we must have an excuse for the public to recognize it, but the risk is not small. Once you suffer too much in the early stage, I'm afraid it will It will affect the counterattack later!"

"It's not a big loss. The biggest thorn in the United States is Honolulu, but he can't nibly give him a double fleet, so it's nothing more than losing some small troops, which will lead to a good environment for the same hatred in China."

"Ha ha, I didn't hear what you said, but I want to remind you that you must be careful when you do it. If someone knows that we deliberately let the United States open fire first, it won't have a good impact." Li Mo waved his hand and interrupted the topic.

Chen Ping and Li Enfu both nodded. This is indeed a taboo topic, but war depends on political needs, and politics is the basis of war. Taking the initiative to declare war and fight back to the death are completely different effects. In general sense, one is to resist aggression, and the other is to take the initiative to provoke, just like there are many feelings in future generations. It is not unreasonable for skeptics to say that Pearl Harbor was the result of the deliberate let go of the United States in World War II.

As the Ocean whistle sounded, more than a dozen ships suddenly appeared in the distance, of which five flat-deck aircraft carriers (three modified and trained) were particularly eye-catching. Due to the unique environment of the Okhotsk Sea and the sparsely populated here, the summer training of the newly formed naval aviation forces is here. Proceed.

As soon as the sailors put down their traffic boats, four F4C Hornet fighters had risen from the decks of the two aircraft carriers, as if to welcome the arrival of His Majesty the Emperor, and then four of them rose in the sky, soaring in the sky waiting for review.

When the traffic boat arrived in front of the aircraft carrier number 001, Li Enfu first sighed that although many battleships in Xinhua have a larger displacement than this kind of carrier, they can only feel the power of steel when walking around it.

The Yinshang-class aircraft carrier is a formal aircraft carrier that combines the use experience and the concepts brought by Li Mo's later generations after three training carriers. It directly filters the open bows in the early days of the aircraft carrier and adopts a safer closed type. The deck is 215 meters long, with a standard displacement of 15,000 tons and a full load of 21,000 tons. It is folded. After the wings, it can carry 50 fighters and attack aircraft, with a maximum speed of 30 knots, a range of 15 knots/10,000 nautical miles, and 20 knots/5200 nautical miles.

In terms of appearance, it is more like the famous Essex mini version of later generations. Li Mo knows this better than anyone else, so he stared at this shape at the beginning and gave up the three-stage deck layout formed by the Japanese elevator in the center, instead of two large The hydraulic lift is placed on the front and rear sides of the island, making the flight deck larger and more complete.

In terms of self-defense weapons, the Yin Shang class is also relatively perfect. After adopting the double-layer bottom of the ship, a 152mm anti-t torpedo armor compartment is added, 8 double-loaded rapid-fire high-level dual-purpose naval guns, 12 37mm quadruple quick-fire machine guns and 16 quadruple 12.7mm venomous snake machine guns, but recently These viper machine guns will be dismantled and replaced with 20mm machine guns that have just been successfully developed.

Although this design is very mature in the eyes of outsiders, Li Mo is not satisfied. The main reason is that the displacement is too small and the carrier is limited. Therefore, after the delivery of the water, five new aircraft carriers are already under construction.

Yin Shanghao and Xi Zhouhao, No. 001-002.

This is the real trump card that Li Mo prepared for this war. If the Guam class is deliberately released to attract the attention of the great powers and concentrate resources on the larger battleships, the aircraft carrier is still strictly confidential.

The reason for this is that Li Mo does not want to release the aircraft carrier so quickly, because the aircraft carrier is not new at this time. The United Kingdom and the United States have been equipped with several seaplane carriers, and have also converted a cruiser into a junior aircraft carrier that can take off and land with biplanes. Of course, its role is still Didn't realize it.

In fact, including the Xinhua Navy Department, they don't know much about the function of aircraft carriers. Many people and even Long Guozhang have doubts about aircraft carriers. This can't be blamed on them. This is caused by the thinking of this era. Giant ships and cannons are monsters in this year, and the muzzle aimed at the port of any country is a ruin, so Li Mo will The poor guy with the small cannon is very puzzled as the core of the future navy. Fortunately, Emperor Li was the sole force to exclude public discussion this time, and even cut the plan and funds of the first-class four heavy patrols that were originally planned to be built after the Hebei level, and made every effort to build the core of his own aircraft carrier.

The cost of aircraft carriers these days is much smaller than that of battleships. Taking the Yinshang class as an example, only one-third of the first generation of Yanjing-class fast battleships in that year, which still includes all carrier-based aircraft. Although Europe is not as good as itself in aircraft, if it is also built in large quantities, at least it will pose a greater threat to destroyers and submarines. So it's not cost-effective to release it too early.

Another reason why it can't be invested quickly is that there is a problem in the development progress of the ship-based attack aircraft. Because of its large size, coupled with the folding wing reinforcement fuselage and other weight gain, the weight of the F4D Longya carrier-based torpedo aircraft has to exceed the standard, and it has to be equipped with 770 kg of torpedoes, so it can't fly in many tests, which also caused The tragedy of the death of a test pilot, so the Aviation Design Institute is organizing forces to reduce weight. According to the calculation, it is necessary to lose at least 300 kilograms of weight, which leads to a serious lag in progress.

Li Mo also just knew this. His response was very simple. He was ready to let Yin Shang level install a 5° slide deck on the front deck, and also asked Chang Lin to set up a catapult research project. The former is currently testing, and the latter also came up with a preliminary plan for a compressed air catapult, but the equipment will take some time.

The arrival of His Majesty the Emperor made nearly 1,000 naval pilots and thousands of sailors on the five motherships undergoing take-off and landing training here particularly excited, and Li Mo's later aircraft carrier insights benefited officers, including Lefei, but it took at least 16 years for the Yin Shang level. The fact that it takes half a year to really enter the war preparation duty still makes these soldiers who are looking forward to showing the results of their hard work for many years every day a little frustrated.

Li Mo had his own way to comfort and encourage the soldiers. As the huge Ocean cruise ship leaned on the aircraft carrier West Zhou, a large amount of beer and delicious food were moved down, and the atmosphere suddenly became lively. Although the weather was still a little cold, a barbecue dinner on the aircraft carrier deck began, but Li Mo did not I know that his predecessor has been kept by the navy, so that future newspapers can often see photos of the empire's nuclear-powered aircraft carrier celebrating barbecue in a certain sea area.

He picked up a steak, regardless of the fact that Emperor Li smiled and ate happily with the officers. Li Enfu shook his head with a wry smile. He was about to find some vegetarian food, but Du Dazhuang pulled the corner of his clothes, who anxiously handed him two urgent information.

"On May 12, yesterday afternoon, the British cruise ship Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland, killing 1,198 people, including at least 124 American citizens!"

"Hanzhi officially participated in the war, and the Allies issued an announcement that ships outside the Allies were prohibited from sailing in the Strait of Hormuz and the Suez Canal!" -

Washington.

On the podium of the U.S. Senate, Wilson looked serious and solemn.

Outside the parliament building, thousands of Americans raised flags and shouted the slogan of declaring war and punishing Germany.

In the conference room, the black pressure was crowded with lawmakers and reporters, and even many members of the House of Representatives rushed over. The Lusitaniyah was sunk by a German submarine for no reason, which led to the news of the death of a large number of American citizens and completely suppressed the voice of isolationism. In the past few days, all newspapers have vented their dissatisfaction with this tragedy. This has led to a rise in hatred of morality in the United States. Under the use and instigation of intentional people, a large number of German shops were smashed, houses were burned, and even led to hundreds of deaths and injuries.

These reports, incidents, and analyses all point to one point. The United States is not safe!

"Ten days ago, the United States was defiled."

"Germany has launched an unbridled attack on American citizens. It has carried out all kinds of conspiracies and tricks in the society where we never doubt its members and even the political axe organs, destroying our unity and support for national policy, as well as the calm and peaceful setting inside and outside China's business community."

"Freedom and Mingzhu are being polluted. The war across the Atlantic has hurt the United States and will continue to be hurt!" President Wilson held the speech, and his body was almost stiff except for raising his arm.

"This is a difficult decision. I have thought about him for ten days. Today I will give you this right. I just want to say that now is the time when the United States must stand up. We should bravely take responsibility, defend the peace and justice of the human world, and fight against the power of selfishness and talent."

At 4:00 p.m. on May 22, the U.S. Congress passed the Army Expansion Act, increasing the number of troops from the current 500,000 to 3.5 million! At the same time, U.S. President Wilson declared war on the Allies after receiving the support of the majority of lawmakers!

On May 23, after learning the news of the declaration of war by the United States, Li Mo, the emperor of the Xinhua Empire, who was visiting Qingdao, said in the reporter's question: "The United States is becoming a tool for a small group of people. From the moment of its declaration of war, it has lost justice and neutrality. President Wilson should It is time to immediately withdraw the declaration of war, stop violently oppressing German citizens in the country, and bring criminals to justice.

"European affairs should be resolved by Europe. No one should expand the war infinitely under any pretext, because it is a sin for anyone who loves peace!"

"The choice of the political system is the right of the European people themselves. The hypocritical excuse is just a violation of human rights. The United States is losing its morality and conscience and becoming a paradise for arms dealers."

"The Pacific Ocean is facing an Atlantic-like danger. We must be vigilant to prevent American [***] nationalists from using European war as an excuse to harm our citizens."

24 said that in response to His Majesty's speech, the Prime Minister's Office of the Xinhua Empire issued an emergency announcement, requiring Chinese and sailing ships in overseas countries to pay attention to their own safety, and asking the Allies to stop blocking the Suez Canal and the Strait of Hormuz, because it is a hostile act against Asia!"

25, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Osman and Bulgaria declared war on the United States, and German Navy Marshal Tirpitz angrily announced that he would launch an unlimited submarine strangulation in the Atlantic Ocean!

26 On the 26th, General Mackenson gathered 17 infantry divisions and two cavalry divisions in Germany and Austria. After ten days of deadly battles, and with the help of 500 A7 tanks at the last minute, he finally defeated the two main armies of the Russian Southwest Front and contributed from Gorlitse**. The whole of Poland.

In the same way, the 200,000 Bulgarian and Ottoman armies captured Belgrade with the help of 200 A7 tanks and 600 cannons. At the same time, Romania declared war on the Allies.

28 said that Spain and Portugal issued a statement declaring war on the Allies.

29 said that France controlled the Nguyen Dynasty in Vietnam and threatened the young emperor Nguyen Phu Quo, who was only a teenager. It unexpectedly rejected the plan proposed by the New China Empire Asia to build a common Asia and declared war on the Allies!

30 said that Italy and San Marino fell into the arms of the Allies as expected and declared war on the Allies.

At the same time, Panama declared war on the Allies!

(to be continued)