Chapter 3 In advance

"Does the navy have any training plans recently?"

Looking up at Liu Guanxiong, Chen Moran asked with a smile that nine years ago, Ye Zugui, who was overworked for naval construction, died, and then Sa Zhenbing became the Minister of the Navy. Last year, Liu Guanxiong, the commander of the Zhenyang Fleet, served as the Minister of the Navy. After Yuan Shikai, Liang Dunyan and Cai E left, Chen Moran left him behind.

No one will be surprised by anyone. Unlike the army, the navy has always been regarded as a "sign of the army" and is the greatest support for the empire to promote its national prestige for thousands of miles. However, this minister of the Yin shares did not add any capital ships at all in the past five years after the South China Sea War. Until four years ago, the Sino-US navy understood and prepared a record. After the expiration, the construction of a new capital ship began. Although the tonnage of the capital ship is inferior to that of the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States, the current Royal Guards Navy is far from comparable to that of nine years ago.

In the past nine years, the navy, which mainly manufactures armored cruisers, has at least one "training fleet" composed of two armored cruisers every month for ocean training in the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, during which it has completed many round-the-world voyages.

The navy's training fleet has also sailed to the sea near the Antarctic for training and landed in the Antarctic. Compared with the relatively silent army for nine years, although the navy has not built a capital ship, it has always been a domestic "star".

"Your Majesty, the 3rd Cruiser Squadron of the Navy is training in the Mediterranean Sea. Considering the current instability of the Balkans, we are going to cancel the training course to the Mediterranean Sea next month, but we are going to increase our training in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, because..."

When he spoke, Liu Guanxiong took a look at His Majesty and noticed that His Majesty was nothing strange, and then he continued to speak.

"Because, no matter how the world situation develops in the future, in terms of defense, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean will be the main battlefield of the navy. Therefore, we are considering sending a special tighter fleet to the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean next month to form a special fleet with the emperor-class warships as the main force and the Yue-class armored cruisers as the auxiliary. Send the fleet to carry out an expedition in the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean... Well, training..."

The so-called expeditionary training is actually an expeditionary exercise, but for a long time, in order to avoid misunderstanding from other countries, the navy often insists on "training" and conducts various exercises in the name of training.

"Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean..."

Nodded, Chen Moran didn't say anything. Previously, in front of Yuan Shikai, Liang Dunyan and Cai E, Chen Moran did not say what he really thought, but in fact, as early as a few years ago, he had been considering that in this war, China's positioning, or China would form an alliance with that side, and The depth of the war.

"Liu Qing, if,"

With a slight look, Chen Moran stared at Liu Guanxiong with extremely serious eyes.

"If we declare war on Britain, how many possible surnames will the navy defeat the British Royal Navy in the Indian Ocean?"

His eyelids suddenly jumped, and Liu Guanxiong was silent for a moment. What should come always come. Since the Battle of the South China Sea, the Royal Guards Navy has a hypothetical enemy, one is the United States, and the other is Britain.

"Your Majesty, is the United States involved!"

The reason for asking this question is that Liu Guanxiong understands that the Chinese navy does not have the ability to defeat the American and British navies at the same time.

"There is no need to consider the factors of the United States in three years!"

"Can the Army occupy Singapore!"

"No problem!"

After getting answers to several questions, Liu Guanxiong still thought for a while.

"If it is the main force of the British navy, then we may win only 30%!"

"What about half of it?"

"sixties!"

Liu Guanxiong's answer made Chen Moran silent. This answer is not surprising, which is true.

"So, the navy hopes that in this war, limited by strength, we may not be able to divide the world with Germany, at least maintain a certain degree of neutrality. Only in this way can we ensure that the country will not become a defeated country! After all, we need to face maritime threats from the United States and Britain!"

"We can't remain neutral in this war!"

His Majesty's words only made Liu Guan's heart tremble slightly. He looked up at His Majesty in surprise. Does His Majesty still want to... take risks? This is a bet on the whole country... "Now is different from the past. In the past, we had nothing. We could bet on the whole country, but now we can't!"

He smiled, and Chen Moran's smile seemed a little helpless. This helplessness was always from the bottom of his heart. In the past, he could gamble, but now he can't gamble anymore. He often goes to the gambling table, and there will always be a day when he loses his family.

"But war is gambling, so it is inevitable to be on the gambling table, but we must consider how to be a proper winner!"

For a moment of meditation, Chen Moran continued to say.

"But this winner must have something to gain, not a nominal winner!"

The nominal winner!

In the history of the First World War, China was a nominal victorious country!

"Your Majesty, you mean..."

Liu Guanxiong is confused now. He knows the difference between the nominal winner and the de facto winner, but... "I mean, we want to join the winning side!"

"The winning side?"

Looking at Liu Guanxiong with a smile, Chen Moran showed that you were not honest enough.

"Your Majesty means..."

Liu Guanxiong asked tentatively.

"Join the British and French camp..."

As soon as this sentence came out, Liu Guanxiong's heart beat. As the former commander of the Zhenyang fleet and the minister of the navy, he knows better than anyone that the British and French camp includes the United States to some extent, but the maritime and industrial forces of these three countries are far from comparable to that of Germany and Austria. In this mastering the sea In the era of victory, it is impossible for Germany and Austria to win the war at all.

"Yes!"

This is the first time that Chen Moran put forward his real idea. According to the development of history, at the end of this month, with the assassination of the Grand Duke of Austria-Hungary, World War I will break out in the next two months.

Originally, I should have shared my ideas with them last night, but finally, considering some factors, I finally decided not to be in a hurry for the time being and wait until the situation is clear, but I can't wait here. If you want to get additional rewards, you must prepare in advance.

"But even so, for the benefit of Europeans, we are sorry for ourselves. After all, this is not our war, so..."

Looking at Liu Guanxiong, Chen Moran continued to say.

"Our only purpose is to seize the appropriate booty and get as much profit as possible at the lowest possible cost!"

At this time, Chen Moran, who had stood up, walked to the center of the living room, where there was a globe.

"Liu Qing, look here,"

pointing to an area near the equator in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Chen Moran's eyes were slightly longing.

"If we fight against the United States, then in the Pacific Ocean, the battlefield is beneficial to the United States, not us. The United States has Xia Weiyi as a stronghold in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but what about us? There are only a few small islands obtained from the Japanese, even if there are Taiwan and Japanese as the first defense barrier, but they are just defense, so..."

With his hand on the "Emperor William's Territory" in the southern hemisphere, Chen Moran turned around and said to Liu Guanxiong.

"We're going to take it here!"

"Your Majesty..."

Looking at the position of Emperor William's territory on the globe, Liu Guanxiong frowned, where... "There is nothing inappropriate here. The most important thing is that there are few German troops here, only more than 200 people. The German colonies here are mainly engaged in plantations, mining and political axe organs, and there are also a small number of them. Europeans in its country. In 1885, the Lutheran Church and the Catholic Church sent priests to this place to preach, but due to local tropical diseases, inconvenient transportation and other factors, the development of missions and plantations has been progressing slowly. Germany has not conducted a comprehensive investigation of this place. It was not until this year that the German political axe sent an expeditionary expedition team. After going deep inland, I drew a map of the whole region and found many unknown animal and plant species. I think it only takes a team of armed sailors to conquer such a place. Liu Qing, what do you think?

In addition to rhetorical questions, Chen Moran's eyes are still staring at the place known as Papua New Guinea and the Bismarck Islands in later generations. The reason why he chose here is for the future. Who knows whether China will have a war with Britain in more than 20 years? If a war breaks out between China and Britain, with this southward base, China [*** The team can then occupy Australia and occupy the whole of Australia before the United States intervenes in the South Pacific.

From your majesty's words, Liu Guanxiong understood your majesty's meaning. Your Majesty's idea is very simple to "pick soft persimmons". There are only 200 defenders, which means that there is no need to fight at all, you can seize Emperor William's territory and exchange the results of more than 100,000 square kilometers of territory at a negligible cost. This is It's interest.

"All you need is a warship and the armed sailors on the ship to capture Rabaul, but Your Majesty..."

Looking up at your majesty, Liu Guanxiong said again.

"I'm afraid Congress..."

"The right to declare war is in me, not the Congress!"

Looking at Liu Guanxiong with a smile, Chen Moran said in a faint tone.

"And then, you will give me a reason, won't you?"

Give me a reason!

Of course, Liu Guanxiong knows what your majesty means. If there is no suitable excuse for declaring war, let the navy make an excuse, resulting in a fact. Then your majesty decrees a declaration of war on Germany, and then war. There is no need for any excuse at all. The only thing needed is profit.

"Your Majesty, should we..."

After understanding His Majesty's meaning, Liu Guanxiong turned the globe. In fact, the navy has been eager to get overseas military bases, not to mention bases all over the world, but at least it should be able to meet the needs of the navy's ocean-going training.

"Your Majesty, I think we may be able to carry out some actions here!"

(to be continued)