Seven Seas Beacon Fire

Li Che thought to himself, "I'm really not being biased; I'm simply discussing this issue from the perspective of national strength."

"In the recently concluded world war, Gaul almost wiped out an entire generation, so at least now the Kingdom of Gaul is indeed a relatively weak country, much weaker and less aggressive than before the war. Providing these countries, including Gaul, with medical aid will hopefully lead them to choose our side during negotiations,"

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PS: War Thunder has recently become a huge battlefield, from Tieba to forums. I've never seen tank battles on the Russia-Ukraine front so lively.

However, I must say a few words about the VT5 tank. I strongly recommend that everyone go for it. As we all know, I am a staunch VT5 supporter. In my previous books, I even dedicated a chapter to questioning why the ZTQ15, which has no negative composite armor modules, was used when it had such an excellent design as the VT5. I also often felt deep regret and sadness that the tanks serving in our army were not the VT5.

Of course, this condition was basically cured after Comrade MPF served in the military.

The ZTQ15 is quite handsome too!

We all know that the official statement says the VT5 can withstand 100mm APCBC armor-piercing rounds. Don't think that full-caliber 100mm armor-piercing rounds are weak. The prototype of the Leopard 2 was once hit by a full-caliber 100mm shell, causing the hull to crack, which forced the Leopard 2 to change its armor design.

To be realistic, the VT5's armor should at least be able to withstand the 2S38's 57mm bullet, instead of being as comical as it is now, where it can be penetrated by 5.8mm ammunition.

Where is Chapter 283 of the treaty negotiated?

The negotiation process of naval arms control treaties can be said to be the best illustration of how countries should "speak from the perspective of strength and status". Because of this, in this process, the relatively weaker party will naturally unite to confront certain countries with significantly stronger national power and naval strength, and argue for the specific provisions.

The most typical examples are the Kingdom of Gaul and the Kingdom of Syracuse. These two countries can be considered long-established naval powers, but compared with other naval powers, their navies seem to have had few highlights in history.

The Gallic navy has always been perceived as a background element. Once someone becomes familiar with the history of the Gallic navy, they will only feel that if the image of the navy could be personified, then the image of Gaul would be very suitable to be the victim in the story of the Minotaur.

Who was the backdrop to the Battle of Trafalgar, where Nelson achieved his life's greatness and fame? Who led the navy's development astray at the end of the last century? And who interrupted the navy's ambitious expansion plans before the outbreak of this world war?

That is of course our beloved Gallic Navy. Whether from the perspective of naval strategic and tactical planning or specific technical details, the Gallic Navy has consistently and persistently provided typical negative examples for the navies of the world. It is also very good at taking the lead in developing advanced technologies, and then becoming a technological martyr while others use more mature products to launch technological boomerangs.

Unfortunately, the current situation of the Gallic Kingdom is that the country's vitality has been almost completely depleted in the world war. The entire country will have to enter a long period of recuperation and development. Investment in naval construction can no longer be as ambitious as before the outbreak of the war, when dozens of battleships were built at a time.

Compared to the Gallic navy, the Syracuse royal navy, a naval force developed on the Apennine Peninsula, was more efficient most of the time. After all, relative to the strength of the Syracuse Kingdom, their navy's size and ranking in the world were significantly higher than their national power ranking.

Although the historical combat record of the Royal Navy of Syracuse was not impressive, they were often at the forefront of the world in the exploration of naval technology development, producing many classic ship designs and maintaining a leading position in the world in terms of warship technology and design expertise for a long time.

Such exquisite design skills were actually largely a result of being forced out by the relatively weak national strength. For example, the classic Garibaldi-class armored cruisers were able to usher in a new era because the Syracuse Navy did not have enough funds to build a sufficient number of battleships and first-class cruisers at the same time. Therefore, the first-class cruisers also needed to assume some of the functions of battleships.

This fully demonstrates that when pressured, the contractor can produce exceptionally excellent work. (I experienced this firsthand when commissioning Minna to design the piece; the design for Longyuan underwent numerous revisions before reaching its current perfection.)

In another world, the Apennine Peninsula will give birth to the swan song of their capital ships. The Veneto-class battleship, which was the most technologically advanced and used the most new technologies during World War II, still enjoys great popularity in a certain ship girl mobile game in the 21st century and can even rival the original Veneto-class battleship.

What? Someone actually doubts that Veneto's popularity can rival his wife's?

Now let's do a multiple-choice question. Each person can only post one sentence for each option. You are now making your choice:

A praise for Lexington

B tells black V jokes

Although the two countries are currently considered rivals in the Mediterranean, the presence of the Royal Victorian Navy, a behemoth in the region, allows them to maintain a united front against the Victorian Empire in many areas, particularly regarding light combat vessels such as destroyers and submarines.

In the future, the operational environment of the Royal Navy of the Tang Dynasty in the waters of Southeast Asia is actually very similar to that of the Mediterranean. Even in another world in the 21st century, modern warships from the Mediterranean still sell very well in Southeast Asia.

It is unrealistic to expect a single magic bullet to win over these two countries and align their positions. However, if this magic bullet acts as a catalyst to help them stand firmly with us on some issues out of common interest, while remaining aloof and splitting the original alliance on other issues that are not directly related to their own interests, then this would be a great victory.

Sometimes, expressing support doesn't require explicit statements. Just as silence can sometimes be a form of indulgence, it can also be a form of support.

However, just as the Tang Dynasty's diplomats were making contact with the Kingdom of Gaul and the Kingdom of Syracuse with samples of medicine and their mission, the process of preparing for the naval arms control treaty conference also made a big step forward—even though countries including the United States of Colombia had already agreed in principle to hold such a conference.

After all, with the war just ended, most countries hope to reduce their financial burden. Even the few countries that can afford it do not want to be labeled as provoking global tensions and undermining peace in this environment.

However, the location of the meeting was a point of contention among the participating countries.

Some friends might ask, "It doesn't matter where you hold a meeting, what's the big deal? Is it really necessary to argue about this?"

But this is still very important. Even when hosting the Olympics or the World Cup, which are strictly limited by various rules and regulations, the host country still has a huge advantage. How much more so when it comes to important meetings like this that concern the fate and future of a country.

Even if the meeting location only brings one point of convenience in the future, we must make twelve points of effort now!

The Victorian Empire declared itself the world's leading naval power, with a long and distinguished naval history. It had held the throne of naval supremacy for longer than many countries had established modern navies. Therefore, this conference should definitely be held in London.

Moreover, London is not far from most of the participating countries. Everyone can simply take a boat and disembark on the Thames without any extra travel. Furthermore, this naval arms control conference was originally proposed by our great Victorian Empire, so it is only natural that it be held in our country.

The first to object to the British statement were not Colombians or Tang Dynasty people, but the Gauls – what do you mean by "it's convenient to come to London"? Well, I'd say it's convenient for everyone to come to Gaul, and in terms of cultural heritage, which European city can compare to Paris?

The Kingdom of Syracuse was well aware that with its strength, the possibility of getting everyone to hold a meeting on its territory was extremely slim. Therefore, the Kingdom of Syracuse opted for a second-best option: they felt that such a meeting should be held in a neutral country, such as the Duchy of Ellstadt in Central Europe, which is a typical permanently neutral country in Europe. Everyone would feel at ease holding the meeting there, right?

Although Syracuse's suggestion was very fair, and its approach of depriving everyone of their home-field advantage by not being the host was also clever, as mentioned earlier, the essence of this negotiation was still to be conducted "from the perspective of national status," so Syracuse's suggestion was naturally ignored.

Among the remaining major powers, the Tang Dynasty proposed that negotiations could be held in Ryukyu, while Colombia initially suggested that the negotiations be held in Washington, but later changed its tune and said that the negotiation location could be moved to Honolulu.

It can be said that the starting points of China and Colombia are basically the same: choosing an island for negotiations, with a certain home advantage, makes other countries feel more at ease than negotiating in cities on their mainland.

The reason for this is easy to understand. What is the most fundamental reason for countries to compete for home-field advantage? It is, of course, communication security. The most taboo thing in the negotiation process is to let the enemy know your bottom line. If the negotiation is carried out in the inland areas of other countries, you obviously can only rely on your own encrypted telegrams to ensure the security of communication.

This is actually the least impactful aspect. The pressure of secrecy is all-encompassing. In an unfamiliar place, from your bedroom to the restaurant, from your car to the bathroom, there could be listening devices everywhere. You have to carefully destroy anything you write on paper. And because you can't be sure which place is "safe," you have to be on high alert throughout the entire negotiation. It's easy to imagine that negotiating under such circumstances would create greater psychological pressure and naturally affect your performance during the negotiation process.

Such underhanded tactics are not an exaggeration. After this world war, the intelligence agencies of various countries have basically gotten rid of their makeshift state, and such a situation is almost inevitable.

Why do countries feel more at ease negotiating on the island?

The answer is actually quite simple: negotiating on the island would at least provide each country with an absolutely safe zone—that is, the national ships carrying their representatives.

At least on their own warships, there were no enemy listening devices or enemy eyes and ears. Even if they needed to contact the homeland, they could rely on the longwave radio on the warships. In short, it was an ideal place for leisure.

Therefore, the negotiation locations proposed by Tang and Colombia can be seen as a summary of the negotiation locations of previous countries.

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"In the end, they still chose Honolulu." A few days later, Zhu Miaoyun looked at the headline on the newspaper: "Haven't all our efforts over this period of time gone to waste?"

“How can you call it a waste of time?” Li Che was quite satisfied with the final result: “From the beginning, the negotiation location could be in any country, but it certainly wouldn’t be within the sphere of influence of our Great Tang.”

"Why?"

Li Che couldn't help but reach out and pinch the princess's nose: "Do you even need to ask? Have you forgotten that we are a defeated country that did not lose the war? In that world war, the other countries were all in the Allied camp, and only we were in the Allied camp. Although the war is over now, the friendship between the other countries still exists. In addition, we are an Asian country, so the negotiation location will definitely be chosen between the Victoria Empire and Colombia."

"Then why did our media outlets put so much effort into our competition with Colombia for the location of the naval treaty signing ceremony...?"

"All this effort wasn't in vain. Didn't you see that Colombia initially wanted to hold the negotiations in Washington? I bet they had a lot of underhanded tactics planned for Washington, but after we proposed negotiating in Okinawa, those Colombians couldn't handle it."

They also had to raise their stance, adopting a professional Colombian attitude, and choosing an island that was more acceptable to other countries. I never expected Okinawa to be chosen as the negotiation location from the beginning, but we proposed Okinawa to get the Colombians to move the negotiation location from Washington to Honolulu, which is practically our home turf.”

"So that means you'll be going to Honolulu for this arms control conference too?" Zhu Miaoyun asked. "You haven't even declared yourself emperor yet, but you're already so busy it's like you're the only one left in the whole country."

Li Che could hear a hint of resentment in Zhu Miaoyun's tone, which was understandable, since he and Zhu Miaoyun would be working long hours after their wedding, with little free time before heading to Honolulu with the negotiation team. Their honeymoon wouldn't even be over before they had to go back to work.

Every girl hopes to have a perfect wedding and honeymoon. Although Yunyun understands the importance of prioritizing the big picture, she is definitely a little unhappy inside.

"Would you like to go to Honolulu together?"

Li Che's question made Zhu Miaoyun's eyes light up; it seemed that the question had truly touched the princess's heart.

"Oh, can I come with you?"

Li Che thought Zhu Miaoyun's voice was really well-matched.

“Of course, this is all part of our honeymoon. You always wanted to play in the sand on the beaches of Hawaii, right? This time you can have as much fun as you want.”

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P.S.: I casually complained a couple of times yesterday, but I didn't expect it to ignite everyone's enthusiasm. I can only say that BVVD is really damn bad.

Chapter 284 Your wife has finally been born.

Although the world war has now come to an end, for the vast majority of people, this end is somewhat bitter.

Yes, that's right. We drove the Colombians out of Borneo and Luzon, and the whole world witnessed the Colombian expeditionary force's pathetic retreat from Borneo.

However, looking back at the gains and losses of the entire war, the United States of Colombia is still the undisputed victor—you can't say they failed just because their victory wasn't aesthetically pleasing or thorough enough.

Similarly, you can't say that losing is still honorable because it's a victory.

After all, the current era doesn't yet adhere to Germanic winning strategies.

So, in this context, the first piece of news that brought a sense of relief and celebration to the people of the Tang Dynasty after the war ended in the new year was that the Crown Prince was finally preparing for his wedding.

Yes, this is indeed good news that the whole country is celebrating.

First of all, whether you say the people of this era are ignorant, backward, or conservative, it's probably because although the empire's reputation in this world has been tarnished by Emperor Yongning, compared to the achievements brought about by the Qing dynasty in another world, the people in this world still have a strong sense of identification with the "imperial family," and the imperial family's happy events can truly make ordinary people "feel proud."

Thanks to the family education of the Li family and the good reputation passed down over the years, many people still have a good feeling about the Ming Dynasty, but they are not resistant to the Tang Dynasty. After all, there are quite a few people who cannot distinguish between the Tang Dynasty they are in now and the Tang Dynasty founded by Li Dingguo. Some even think that Li Dingguo is a descendant of the Li Tang Dynasty.

Moreover, everyone knows that His Majesty has made outstanding contributions in the war. He is truly a hero among heroes. Who wouldn't give him a thumbs up? The Crown Prince also offered many brilliant strategies in the later stages of the war. Everyone has heard about this from newspapers or radio. For the vast majority of ordinary working people, they naturally regard Li Zongdi as Zhaolie and Li Che as a little Zhuge Liang.

Whether this comparison is appropriate or not, working people just love this kind of thing.

Of course, besides these superficial benefits, there are also real benefits for the general public. First of all, the whole country gets a day off on the day of the Crown Prince's wedding. This is a statutory holiday. Whether you are a student or a simple working person, wouldn't you say a few auspicious words of blessing to the Crown Prince if you get an extra day off out of nowhere?

Not to mention that the imperial court also announced that, in order to celebrate the grand wedding of the crown prince, it would appropriately reduce personal income tax and agricultural tax. This would be real money that could be put into people's hands. In general, many elderly people in rural areas would not care too much about such news from the outside world. However, because of the reduction in agricultural tax, when these old men met and chatted, they would often bow to the sky and say something like, "The Holy Emperor has a grandson of a unicorn."

Of course, the Tang Dynasty court was well aware that these reductions in personal income tax and agricultural tax were not actually due to the Crown Prince's wedding. Even if Li Che hadn't gotten married this year, the tax reductions would still have been granted.

Although the new dynasty has many areas where it needs to spend money, the emperor, the crown prince, and the cabinet ministers all know that while spending money is important, it is even more important to restore the country's vitality and help people emerge from the shadow of war as soon as possible.

Tax cuts are just one of many means of stimulating the economy.

Zhu Miaoyun, who was choosing her favorite phoenix crown, was also very happy to hear the news. For this kind-hearted girl, her own wedding was very important, but it was even more important that the general public could benefit from her wedding. The combination of these two happy things could indeed bring her even greater joy.

Zhu Miaoyun pointed at Nongshui with some doubt and asked Li Che, "Is there still an agricultural tax now?"

"Isn't it normal to have an agricultural tax these days?"

Li Che knew that Zhu Miaoyun, because she came from another world, felt that abolishing agricultural taxes was a matter of course. A powerful country should not make farmers bear these burdens anymore, and the agricultural taxes paid by farmers could be fully recovered from other industries.

Seemingly noticing the doubt in the girl's eyes, Li Che continued, "Even in the Victorian Empire, there is still an agricultural tax. Abolishing the agricultural tax is definitely our goal for the future, but it is not something that can be abolished in a short time. Because in this era, even if you have money, you may not be able to buy food. Having real food in your hands that can be allocated and managed is very important for the stability of the Tang Dynasty in the future."

Zhu Miaoyun nodded, seemingly understanding, "I'm a bit slow, and there are some things I don't quite understand. But I've personally witnessed how the Syrian people went from only being able to eat flatbread every day, to eating small flatbreads, and then to not even being able to eat flatbread and suffering massacres by terrorists. Having enough to eat is always the most important thing, whether in Gaza or here..."

Li Che remained silent, simply placing another style of phoenix crown on Zhu Miaoyun's head and quietly gazing at her reflection in the mirror. Although he had liked Zhu Miaoyun before, both psychologically and physically, he still felt that she was too beautiful when he saw her in the phoenix crown and wedding gown.

If it weren't for the maids beside him, Li Che felt that his current desire was almost to violently tear Zhu Miaoyun's wedding dress to shreds.

Li Che gently inhaled the fragrance emanating from Zhu Miaoyun's body. This scent, derived from hormones, was so strong that even covering his nose couldn't mask it. Just as the air in the room seemed to be filled with the restless energy of hormones, Zhu Miaoyun's sudden remark almost made Li Che stumble and fall to the ground.

"Your wife has been born!" Princess suddenly blurted out.

What do you mean by "my wife was born"?

"Then let me ask you something! I'm about to turn 20. Why did I marry a woman who was just born? Is such a big age gap appropriate?" Li Che couldn't help but look up at the newspaper in Zhu Miaoyun's hand. However, Zhu Miaoyun seemed to be deliberately teasing him, and quickly slammed the other side of the newspaper onto the table.

"Why are you looking at me like that? I'm not making this up. Before I transmigrated, you used my phone to play games quite a bit, didn't you? I remember you were particularly impressed by a certain American aircraft carrier in the game, right? I still remember you babbling on and on about how you would always love Lexington."

"When did this happen?" Li Che felt like his embarrassing past had been brought up again, which made his face turn slightly red.

Reaching out to flip the newspaper over, Li Che immediately saw the headline on page 3: "Colombian Navy Holds Launch Ceremony for the Third Lexington-class Battlecruiser, the Saratoga."

Ha, how come Saratoga in this world also sneaked ahead of her sister?

“This is the sister-in-law, not the wife,” Li Che immediately corrected.

"Pretty much the same, I think? I feel like all these ships look the same."

"How can they all be the same?"

"How can they be the same! The Lexington in the other world was ultimately completed as an aircraft carrier, while the Lexington here has 16-inch naval guns."

The ambiguous atmosphere that was initially there was almost instantly broken and disappeared. Sometimes, when the relationship between two people is too close and intimate, they will face the same problem.

After the lighthearted joke, Li Che's gaze fell upon the photos of the launching ceremony held by the United States of Colombia in the newspaper. It was clear that the Colombians' pursuit of high-speed ships had finally been fulfilled. After giving away all of their battlecruisers, the Colombian Navy had finally regained its own high-speed capital ships, although the Lexington-class battlecruisers, which had just been launched, were still quite a distance from entering service.

Admittedly, setting aside political stances, the Lexington-class battlecruisers were undeniably beautiful, a beauty that even the grotesque American birdcage-style masts couldn't conceal. As arguably the world's longest capital ship, the Lexington-class battlecruisers, besides possessing the high speed of Champion World, could only be clad in a relatively thin layer of armor.

To be honest, although Li Che didn't know the exact level of protection of the Lexington-class battlecruisers in this world, he was certain it wasn't up to par. After all, this world was ultimately materialistic, and protection required armor steel, and the Lexington-class battlecruiser's citadel was so long...

As I said before, it's a real shame that this ship isn't converted into an aircraft carrier, given how suitable the hull is.

"You're really just staring at this ship like that! I'm your wife now!" Zhu Miaoyun nudged Li Che with her elbow.

"Why are you so jealous of everything? Do you really think I treat warships like my wife?" Li Che pinched Zhu Miaoyun's nose again, annoyed. Hmm, it felt really good, making him want to bite it.

"Why would I be jealous? I just wanted to remind you that your wedding is coming up soon. I know you have a lot on your plate, but you should focus your energy on the wedding!" Zhu Miaoyun deliberately started using a dialect again when she said the second half of her sentence, which made Li Che roll his eyes. In return, Zhu Miaoyun let out a pleasant laugh.

Unbeknownst to the two inside, outside the door, Tokugawa Akiko silently pressed her back against the door, quietly listening to the laughter and chatter coming from inside. She silently counted the tiles on the floor beneath her feet. The expression on the Sakura girl's face changed one after another, and finally, as if she had made up her mind, she gently clenched her fists and left.

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That evening, Li Che returned to his study to deal with some official business that had been delayed due to the preparations for the wedding over the past two days. At present, the negotiations on the naval arms control treaty were also imminent. Although no similar incidents had occurred since the last conflict outside Edo Bay, the navy had been busy with quite a few things lately.

First, there are the main warships that are still under construction at the shipyards. Although the war is over and there is no need for these main warships to be put into service as soon as possible, it is beneficial to keep more tonnage during negotiations and have more say and confidence in the negotiation process.

On the other hand, the workers in the shipyard also had an emotional attachment to these giant ships under construction. The workers regarded these warships as their children. What parent would want their child to die in the cradle? Therefore, in the workers' simple understanding, once the child was born, they had to raise it to adulthood. So these workers also hoped to complete as many warships as possible before the naval treaty was officially signed.

Li Che couldn't bring himself to shatter the workers' hopes with harsh reality, given their simple and endearing nature. All he could do was compile statistics on the completion status of different warships and then allocate workers to focus on building the main warships with the highest completion rates.