Seven Seas Beacon Fire

That is, the Kingdom of Kii of Yingzhou and the United States of Colombia jointly signed a "Treaty of Mutual Defense between the Two Countries". Under this treaty, the United States of Colombia will help Yingzhou build a strong naval force. The United States of Colombia also followed the example of the Victorian Empire and announced that it would export to Yingzhou the original King-class battleships and Derfflinger-class battlecruisers that Colombia had previously acquired from the Victorian Empire for 1 US dollar.

Just when people all over the world thought that Yingzhou would follow the example of the Bharat Federation and acquire four capital ships in one go to join the ranks of the world's naval powers, a piece of news that surprised many people came.

Chapter 251 Everyone's Learning to Exploit Loopholes (2)

"Yingzhou purchased four twin-mounted 13.5-inch turrets from the Victorian Empire. These turrets have already been loaded onto ships from the Victorian Empire and have now passed through the Central American Canal?"

Li Che stood behind his father, looking at the intelligence report obtained by his third uncle's men. His third uncle had just taken over the reorganized Jinyiwei (Imperial Guard) at the end of last year and was granted the title of Prince of Wei.

Although his third uncle really wanted to make some achievements in this position to show his father, in such a short time, he hadn't even started to make any significant impact in the Military Intelligence Bureau yet. Unexpectedly, he had already gained such a great achievement out of thin air while the system was still in a transitional period of following the old ways.

It's almost like when Di Matteo took over Chelsea as interim coach in 2012, relying on the core players left over from the Mourinho and Ancelotti era, and on the experience of veterans and counter-attacking tactics, he miraculously won the Champions League title.

"Did Yingzhou purchase battleship turrets from the Victorian Empire?"

Upon hearing this news, Li Zongdi immediately frowned warily. The 13.5-inch turret itself was nothing special. In today's world, such a naval gun could hardly be considered second-rate. It could only be described as an ordinary naval gun that reached the entry level of a super-dreadnought.

However, Yingzhou's purchase of four 13.5-inch turrets from the Victorian Empire was quite significant, much like how the JH-7A Flying Leopard is no longer considered a very advanced aircraft.

However, if one day India suddenly buys dozens of JH-7 fighter-bombers, then India's navy will definitely be in a state of unease.

Firstly, these highly offensive heavy fighter-bombers have always been extremely sensitive in the arms market and are not easily sold, because even if these aircraft are no longer advanced in performance, their outstanding single-strike capability is enough to change the balance of local military power.

Secondly, the sale of such a highly offensive weapon inevitably carries a deeper political message, and this message is often the one that deserves more serious attention.

A 13.5-inch naval gun is like our current YJ-12 in this day and age; even if it's not the most advanced, it's generally not exported to sensitive regions as easily as it is to China. It wouldn't be surprising if South America (ABC) wanted to buy such a turret, but in Taiwan...

What the hell are you Victorian Empire trying to do by selling turrets at this time?

"What are these turrets for?" Li Renzhi looked at the intelligence compiled by his third brother's men. "Buying four turrets separately, are they planning to build their own ships... or are they going to deploy these turrets as fortress cannons?"

"If you ask me, they will definitely deploy troops in the Tsushima Strait. Right now, the entire island of Yingzhou is worried that one day we will march south and cross the sea to conquer. If I were them, I would definitely prioritize strengthening the coastal areas of the Tsushima Strait, which are most likely to be landed on, especially along this stretch of coastline, and turn the ports into fortresses."

Li Renxu, as always, expressed his opinion from the perspective he was familiar with. Li Che's second uncle was granted the title of Prince of Zhao last year. Although his military achievements during the previous war were the most outstanding among the three brothers, he is now the most leisurely. The third brother has the responsibility of managing the Military Intelligence Bureau, while he, the prince who won the victory at Yuanshan, is now in a state of ease and freedom.

Although he still holds a military post, it's clear to everyone that His Majesty intends to give Prince Zhao some leisure time. The reason for this isn't hard to guess. The three brothers, Li Renzhi and Li Zongdi, have always been considered to be friendly and respectful to each other. However, it's obvious that in the early days of the dynasty, whether referring to the experiences of Emperor Taizong of Tang or Emperor Chengzu of Ming, Li Zongdi didn't want his sons to focus their energy on vying for power—although the probability of this happening is probably not high given the current prestige of his eldest son and the current era.

However, Li Renzhi's personality dictates that if given the opportunity, he always hopes to show off his abilities, whether in front of his father or his elder brother.

"The coastline of the Tsushima Strait isn't exactly short, but four gun turrets..." Li Renzhi asked his second brother, "Aren't four gun turrets a bit too few?"

After the Battle of Wonsan, Li Renxu now has a completely new understanding of coastal defense. The United States Army controlled a series of high grounds around Wonsan, which was a place that had no fortresses before. In addition, the United States Army lost a large number of heavy artillery pieces during its previous retreat, and could only set up field artillery from the army and some sampan guns provided by the navy. If the United States Army had set up large-caliber fortress guns on those hills, the Battle of Wonsan would not have been so easy.

"Brother, you may not know this, but the role of the heavy artillery on this fortress is not to overwhelm the attacking forces with a high density of firepower. This is because the attacking side will usually launch an attack only after gaining a superior number of troops and firepower. The defending side's fortress artillery relies on its own protection and long-range firepower to limit the attacking side's firepower."

瀛洲购买了这4个13.5英寸的炮塔，他们可以把这4个装甲炮塔放在4个不同的要塞当中作为支撑火力，并且围绕着这些13.5英寸的炮塔布置其他八英寸和六英寸的火炮。

The purpose of this 13.5-inch turret was to keep our heavy artillery out of range of this giant gun, forcing our attacking forces to use infantry-accompanied light field guns to engage their 6-inch and 8-inch guns. Essentially, these 13.5-inch guns served a deterrent function.

Li Renxu's remarks made Li Renchi nod repeatedly. After he finished speaking, Li Renchi turned to Li Zongdi and said, "It seems that my second brother has gained a lot from the battle of Yuanshan."

Li Zongdi also cast a satisfied look at Li Renxu: "It seems you haven't been idle all this time. You've been giving yourself a lot of extra training. What you studied at the military academy was mostly field combat-related majors. These coastal defense and fortress-related majors are the result of your extra training, right?"

Li Renxu, who was almost 40 years old, actually showed a slightly embarrassed expression when his father praised him, which Li Che found somewhat strange. How to put it? It was quite different from the second uncle he remembered. It was as if Yuan Shao had suddenly become Yuan Banlin.

"After all, Yingzhou has not yet been reclaimed. What I think about day and night is to personally lead the army to reclaim Yingzhou in the future!" Li Renxu's words were quite heroic, especially since he also cupped his hands to his elder brother and said, "I wish to become your Marquis in the future!"

Li Renchi could only shake his head and laugh, "You've already become a prince, why would you want to come back to being a marquis within the pass?"

“Of course,” Li Renxu said quite seriously. “How can titles like Marquis of Guannei and Marquis of Champion be regarded as ordinary marquises?”

After saying that, the middle-aged and elderly men burst into laughter. It was fortunate that their laughter was quite hearty; otherwise, if they had all been laughing in a snickering manner, Li Che would probably have thought he was already in the Soul Palace.

"I think these turrets weren't meant for use as fortresses."

Li Che suddenly spoke up at this moment, and even threw out a more shocking guess.

"I think this is Yingzhou trying to build large surface warships on its own, and large capital warships at that."

After Li Che said this, he noticed that his grandfather, father, and two uncles were all looking at him. After a moment of silence, his third uncle burst out laughing first: "Nephew, we all know you have a good relationship with the navy, but this is our Li family. We're talking behind closed doors, not asking for funding in the parliament. Yingzhou building its own capital ships? Don't be ridiculous. The largest warship Yingzhou has ever built before was only a cruiser of over 4000 tons!"

"Kid, did you take bribes from Sa Dingming and specifically look for opportunities to speak up for him?" Li Zongdi said with a smile, "Although your grandpa doesn't understand many things about the navy, I do know that building a capital ship is not easy. It's not something you can achieve overnight."

“Building a modern, large surface warship is certainly not something you can achieve overnight, just like you can’t get full after eating only the fourth steamed bun. But Yingzhou is by no means a starving ghost who has never eaten a steamed bun before.”

As someone who had "studied abroad" in another world for so long, and someone who sometimes couldn't tell which country he belonged to, Li Che had a very clear understanding of the nature of that island nation and their past actions.

"Grandpa, Dad, and two uncles, a cruiser of more than 4000 tons is indeed an insignificant little thing in the navy, but in fact, the manufacturing process and technology of most warships of 10,000 tons or more have been applied to cruisers of 4000 tons."

Not to mention, if we disregard military orders, Yingzhou had already built quite a few 10,000-ton ocean-going vessels before the outbreak of this war. While civilian Chuanzhi could not compare to military ships in terms of internal susceptibility and structural strength, its ability to build 10,000-ton vessels meant that these features could be easily added to its fleet.

"That doesn't mean Yingzhou can jump from building cruisers of 4000 tons to building battleships of 2 tons in one go. As far as I know, there shouldn't be any country in the world that can build a giant ship of 2 tons when it has just acquired the ability to build light cruisers of 4000 tons." Li Renxu has indeed been idle at home for too long. An army soldier is now starting to read naval books. It's like a chef not looking at a recipe but reading military strategy.

However, Li Che had also engaged in heated debates with many shippers on the battleship forum in another world. His skills, ranging from technical details to personal attacks, were honed through practice. How could he be easily stumped by his second uncle's questions?

"Four turrets don't necessarily mean that battleships of over 20,000 tons will be built, or even larger battlecruisers." Li Che shook his head: "Second Uncle, have you heard of the three large light cruisers that the Kingdom of Victoria started construction on during the later stages of the World War?"

"A large light cruiser?"

Li Che nodded: "These three large light cruisers are regarded as a secret weapon by the Kingdom of Victoria. They are named HMS Brave, HMS Glorious, and HMS Fury respectively. These two large light cruisers are equipped with 18 boilers and can reach a speed of 32 knots. In addition, they have two twin-mounted 15-inch naval guns. These large light cruisers have a displacement of over 16,000 tons. I think Yingzhou should build two warships like these."

Essentially, it's just a Deutsche Welle-class destroyer equipped with a 13.5-inch naval gun! Li Che thought to himself.

"Only four main guns?" Li Renzhi held up four fingers and flipped them over. "But I heard from the navy that a dreadnought needs six to eight naval guns..."

"More cannons are to increase the amount of firepower and to facilitate the use of half-salvoes by the dreadnoughts during the firing correction process, but four main guns are sufficient for long-range engagement firing correction." Li Che further explained, "The Yingzhou Navy certainly knows that no matter how they develop, they can never overwhelm us in terms of scale, so their future naval construction will certainly not be aimed at engaging in a fleet decisive battle with us. I think these Yingzhou people will take our past tactics as an example and use them against us, just like how we used cruisers to break through the enemy lines and annoy the Americans during the war. And these two ships are definitely the most suitable for them."

If we compare the ship I just speculated about with the Royal Navy's Courageous-class large light cruisers, and if the speed requirement for the Yingzhou wasn't so insane, and the speed was reduced to 29 or 30 knots, then the propulsion system could save a lot of space and weight, and the final displacement of this ship would likely only be slightly over 1 tons.

Li Che's reasoning silenced his grandfather and father. If they could previously convince themselves that Yingzhou wouldn't go looking for capital ships after only building second-class cruisers, and that Yingzhou wasn't buying these turrets to build warships, then now it was much harder for them to convince themselves.

After all, going from 4000 tons to 10,000 tons sounds perfectly reasonable.

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P.S.: Don't worry, the world-shaking news mentioned at the end of the last chapter wasn't just about these four turrets. I originally wanted to write a two-in-one chapter today and release it all at once, but I'm just too sleepy, so I'll stop here for now.

If you haven't joined the group yet, you can join the book club group 705028652. There are currently 404 people in the group, which is a rather unlucky number on the internet, so everyone should hurry up and join to bring some good luck.

Chapter 252 Everyone's Learning to Exploit Loopholes (3)

"Chile wants to buy our two Lion-class battlecruisers?"

Looking at the official document from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in his hand, Lloyd George thought that either he hadn't woken up properly today, or the Chileans hadn't woken up properly today.

Before this world war broke out, the Victorian Empire had just mediated the arms race between the three major South American naval powers. Are you Chile now preparing to reignite a new round of naval arms race?

"Are you sure this is a purchase request made to us by the Chilean government?" Lloyd George's face clearly showed "I don't believe it."

As a veteran of the Victorian Empire's political arena, having witnessed numerous ups and downs in politics from his time as Prime Minister Salisbury to the present day, and having handled many previous Chilean arms purchases, he was all too clear about what kind of warships the Chilean Navy hoped to acquire.

Given the quality of South American navies and their strategies, do they even need battlecruisers? These navies don't even have enough capital ships to form a single squadron, so what need do they have for vanguard or main force?

For the three South American countries, speed was not the most important thing. What they pursued was to maximize firepower within a limited budget and relatively limited tonnage. In fact, the arms race that these three countries engaged in after entering the era of dreadnoughts was less about preparing for war and more about a performance art of flexing their muscles. Otherwise, the side armor of the Admiral Latorre-class battleships ordered by the Chilean Navy before the outbreak of war would not have been only nine inches thick—the same as the Lion-class battlecruisers.

"This is indeed a formal procurement request from the Chilean government."

"So the Chilean Navy is abandoning the second ship of their Admiral Latorre-class battleships and instead going to buy two Lion-class battlecruisers with a different caliber than the Admiral Latorre-class battleships they already have? Given the current state of the Chilean Navy, even if they were to buy ships, do you think they would buy battlecruisers or the cheaper but better-protected and better-fired Orion-class battleships?"

Lloyd George's probing questions made the Whitehall official reporting to him break out in a cold sweat.

It's no wonder he's a prime minister who experienced world wars. Through years of experience and the tug-of-war with the navy over strategy and military spending, the prime minister has become almost an expert.

Everyone knows that the Chilean Navy purchased two battleships from the Victorian Empire before the outbreak of war. After the outbreak of war, the Royal Victorian Navy quickly purchased these two capital ships through negotiations and named them HMAS Canada and HMAS Barrat respectively.

The first ship was relatively well-constructed. The Royal Navy of Victoria completed it during the war and it participated in the Battle of Scadrak. This fragile battleship was fortunate enough to escape being hit by any shells in the battle, and after the war, it was bought by the Chilean Navy for a super-discounted price of only £1 million.

The ship has been back in the hands of the Chilean Navy for less than a year, but now the Chilean Navy wants to buy another ship. However, the second ship was not completed and is still lying in the shipyard. Didn't you abandon the second ship yourself?

Moreover, given the current state of the Chilean Navy, even if they were to buy ready-made ships, the Orion-class battleships would clearly be a better choice than the Lion-class battlecruisers, offering two more 13.5-inch main guns at a lower price, and better protection.

“I believe that Downing Street is wise enough to see that these two ships were not bought by Chile for itself. Which country is the real buyer?”

Under Lloyd George's persistent questioning, the official finally stammered that the purchase of the ship in Chile was settled in US dollars.

Settlement in US dollars?

Lloyd George immediately thought of the United States of Colombia. Could it be that the United States of Colombia purchased this in order to make up for the gap between itself and the Tang Dynasty in terms of high-speed ships?

However, he almost immediately dismissed his earlier guess. If it were wartime, it would be one thing, but now that Colombia and China had ceased hostilities with the Tang Dynasty, and most of the personnel in Borneo had already been evacuated, would the United States Navy still be interested in the Lion-class battlecruisers, especially given the upcoming naval treaties between the various countries?

Under the treaty, such old ships were not assets, but rather liabilities! Lloyd George was absolutely convinced that if possible, the Colombians would even want to discard all of their dreadnoughts, leaving the tonnage for those steel behemoths still on the slipway.

So this can't be from Colombia... No! This is something Colombia and China bought to bridge the gap between themselves and the Tang Empire in terms of high-speed ships!

Within minutes, Lloyd George figured out all the details. There must be Colombians behind these two ships, but they weren't the ones who ultimately received the goods.

He turned his gaze to an island nation on the edge of the World Island on the world map behind him, Yingzhou... Of course, after expelling the Tokugawa Shogunate, this country now calls itself the Kii Kingdom, and just last month, they purchased four capital ships from the United States of Colombia for a total of four dollars. These ships had been divided between the United States of Colombia and the Second Empire of Leitania's high seas fleet.

Thinking back to the four gun emplacements on the transport ship that had just left the Victorian Empire and the blueprints for the Hush-class large light cruisers, Lloyd George now understood everything completely. However, after figuring everything out, he felt extremely dissatisfied and worried.

The dissatisfaction naturally stemmed from dissatisfaction with the Navy. Without a doubt, Lloyd George did not believe that the Navy could not see the clues that even he could see. Whitehall certainly knew which country was the real buyer of the two battlecruisers, but they were just pretending to be ignorant.

Was the Navy blinded by greed for a few million dollars? Although the Navy's budget was drastically cut after the war, and even the purchase of four Admiral-class battlecruisers was cut by two, and now there are still doubts about whether the second ship, which is relatively well completed, will be retained, Lloyd George believed that the Navy was not simply trying to get a quick buck to build the second ship.

The current First Sea Lord is not only a brave and skilled general on the battlefield, but also a rare general who is proficient in politics and personnel struggles. Although many people in the military dislike Betty's style, and many others directly believe that Betty is a person of poor character, shamelessness is often one of the essential elements of a politician.

Therefore, Lloyd George believed that this guy must have a deeper plan, but whatever his plan was, the fact that the two Royal Victorian battlecruisers ended up in Yingzhou's hands would inevitably further provoke the Tang Empire's attitude.

After all, the Victorian Empire had already sold four capital ships to the Barat Federation, two of which were the powerful Bavarian-class battleships. These powerful battleships could overwhelm any capital ship in the hands of the Kingdom of Gaul or the Kingdom of Syracuse. To this day, both countries are full of resentment towards the Victorian Empire for disposing of these Leitanian battleships that they both coveted.

This was actually Downing Street's way of putting pressure on what they considered to be the Tang Empire's bottom line, under the premise of ensuring the future balance of the world's maritime situation under the control of Victoria Britain, and without the Tang Empire being able to directly oppose it. Now, if two Victoria battlecruisers were sold to Yingzhou, the Tang Empire's feelings would be completely different from if they were sold to Barat.

After all, what kind of country was Japan before? It was a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. Their king and shogun needed to be officially recognized by the Ming emperor to have any legitimacy! In Europe, this country could even be considered part of the Ming Empire.

When the Habsburg Kingdom still existed, the Habsburg king's control over Hungary was about the same as the Ming emperor's control over Yingzhou, wasn't it?

“Summon the First Sea Secretary to see me immediately…” Lloyd George called the bell in his office and summoned his secretary. He had just begun to speak when he waved his hand and said, “Never mind, go to Whitehall now. I’ll see him in person.”

After a moment's thought, the Prime Minister abandoned his decision to send Betty over. He was not going to give the Navy any excuse or opportunity to delay. He wanted to go to Whitehall himself immediately to stop the deal.

He knew that this deal had been kept from him all along, so now that the news had reached him, the deal was probably already in its final stages. Time was of the essence to him!

Normally, although the distance from 10 Downing Street to Whitehall is not far, Prime Minister Law and George, as elegant gentlemen, should have traveled from their official residence to the Admiralty in a stately and luxurious Rolls-Royce. However, the current Prime Minister clearly had no time to wait for a car, so the gentlemen and ladies on the streets of London had the good fortune to witness the unusual sight of Prime Minister Law and George "racing" through Whitehall.

Having reached his age, even a short distance of a few hundred meters was enough for the Prime Minister to be out of breath by the time he arrived at the Admiralty gate. However, Lloyd George didn't even have the leisure to tidy up his slightly disheveled hair. The Prime Minister, carrying his walking stick, strode into the Admiralty as if he were carrying a sword.

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"I expect you to give me an explanation for those two battlecruisers, Your Excellency Earl of the North Sea."

Faced with the Prime Minister suddenly barging into his office and addressing him so formally with his title, David Beatty knew exactly what had made the Prime Minister storm in so aggressively.

“It’s just selling two somewhat outdated battlecruisers. I think the Admiralty should have enough authority to decide that themselves.” Beatty was still trying to play dumb, but Prime Minister Lloyd George had already angrily come up to him and slammed his hand heavily on the desk.

With a bang, the pens in the pen holder on the desk trembled three times. If an Asian were here, they might suspect that the Prime Minister of the Victorian Empire had practiced something like Iron Palm.

"Don't try to stall me any longer! David! You know why I'm here. The Navy's current actions are potentially dragging us back into a new arms race! You should also understand that the naval treaty we're pushing for is precisely to protect Victoria's naval power!"

"The Navy never intended to sabotage the treaty negotiations; it simply wanted to gain a more proactive position within the treaty," Betty stated bluntly. "As long as we align our position with Colombia and China, we are not afraid that the Tang Empire will not yield. They cannot engage in an arms race with both of our countries simultaneously; ultimately, they will have no choice but to endure."

"What if they're unwilling to be patient?! You can't assume in international politics that your opponents are all rational and restrained people!" Having experienced dealing with Wilhelm II, these words can be considered the heartfelt advice of Prime Minister Lloyd George.

“They will be rational, because we can give them a certain amount of leeway at the last minute.”

Betty's words widened Prime Minister Lawrence George's eyes. Was this a last-minute attempt to sabotage Colombia during the naval treaty negotiations?

Damn it, Betty, you despicable bastard, you should be in the House of Lords. Being a general in the Navy is a waste of your talent!

As a high-ranking officer in the Royal Navy, Beatty understood that Downing Street's fundamental purpose in proposing to control military spending was that the Victorian Empire could no longer sustain a continuous arms race. The Navy did agree to conduct arms control negotiations, but there were disagreements between Downing Street and Whitehall on specific details.

Especially with the appearance of the Longyuan-class battleships, and the South Dakota-class battleships and Lexington-class battlecruisers already on the shipyard, the Royal Navy couldn't help but feel worried about the large number of capital ships equipped with 15-inch guns at its disposal.

While the Royal Navy, with its world's largest fleet of 15-inch gun battleships, boasts a superior average quality of capital ships compared to the United States Navy or the Chinese Royal Navy, its flagship, HMS Hood, while confidently claiming to be the world's best battlecruiser, raises the question: what about the future flagship of the Royal Navy?

未来要进行舰队决战的时候，难道真的要让标准排水量25,750吨、满载排水量3万吨出头装备8门15英寸舰炮的复仇级战列舰，去对抗那标准排水量都几乎必然在35,000吨以上甚至接快4万吨，装备8门420毫米舰炮或者12门16英寸舰炮的其他两强海军的新锐？

Although he recognized that the Navy had its own strategy for dealing with the upcoming situation, and it sounded quite feasible, Prime Minister Lloyd George, having experienced the World Wars, genuinely didn't want to cross the line and pressure another major power again, because, as he just said, you can't expect your adversary to remain rational forever.

Furthermore, his anger today stems not only from concerns about the potential damage the navy's actions could cause to the international situation, but also from the fact that the navy's entire plan bypassed the cabinet! For any normal country, discovering such tendencies within the military... is something that must be taken very seriously, and such tendencies must be nipped in the bud!

"I don't want to worry about that now, I'm ending the deal immediately!"

"I'm afraid it's too late, Your Excellency the Prime Minister."

"Too late?"

"The two battlecruisers left port earlier today and have now departed Britain under the operation of Chilean naval sailors."

This news caused Prime Minister Lloyd George to lower his head and remain silent for a long time. After a long while, he finally looked up at Betty and said, "You know what responsibilities you will have to bear next, right?"

“Of course.” Betty replied expressionlessly, seemingly quite righteous, as if he didn’t care what kind of punishment he would receive in the future, all for the sake of the navy’s ability to acquire a new generation of capital ships.

Recalling Jericho's previous assessment of Beatty, Prime Minister Lloyd George left a mocking smile at Beatty's righteous demeanor before leaving the First Sea Secretary's office on bad terms.