Seven Seas Beacon Fire

Da Tang naturally wholeheartedly supported Sir Balfour's Plan A, while privately complaining, "Was Victoria's plan really not made for us?"

Chapter 291 Gaul: I will lead the opposition against Victoria!

The Royal Navy of Victoria's proposal was certainly not aimed at helping the Tang Dynasty. The situation that the Royal Navy of Victoria most wanted to achieve was actually very simple, which can be summed up in four words: maintain the status quo.

It's like everyone simultaneously pressed the pause button on naval development, and everyone discussed how many ships to retain based on their existing active vessels, while all combat ships that had not yet been built or entered service were scrapped.

For the countries participating in the treaty, with the exception of the United States of Colombia, they all paid a heavy price in this war. Most countries needed to recuperate, so the proposal of the Victorian Empire was actually in line with the tastes of most countries.

In fact, this was also a proposal put forward by Britain during the Washington Naval Treaty negotiations in another world, and it was indeed recognized by most of the participating countries at the time, including the United States.

If judged according to this standard, then there would probably be no BIG SEVEN on Earth at all. Apart from the Nagato, Hood, and Colorado which were already in service at the time, the Mutsu, which was not yet completed, and the other Colorado-class battleships except for the Colorado, would all face the fate of being scrapped.

However, at this juncture, Japan perfectly demonstrated what it means to be cunning yet miscalculate. While the specific details of the treaty were being negotiated, the Mutsu was still undergoing outfitting and would require approximately six to seven weeks to complete, and it should have been scrapped. The Japanese delegation argued that the Mutsu was already completed, and immediately after the meeting, they made an urgent phone call to Japan to inform them of this, requesting that the remaining outfitting work be completed before Europe and the United States became aware of it.

Upon receiving the telegram, the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal immediately mobilized all workers for 24-hour continuous construction, completing the remaining work in just one week. In addition, furniture, cooking utensils, and tableware borrowed from the Yokosuka Naval Base and other warships were urgently arranged inside the ship. A truckload of patients was even brought in from the naval hospital and housed in the Mutsu's infirmary, disguised as sick sailors on board.

Thus, the "Mutsu" successfully deceived the British and Americans, leading them to believe that it had indeed been completed long ago, and thus escaped its fate of being scrapped. Of course, Japan also paid a corresponding price. Although they saved the ship, both Britain and the United States each gained two additional 16-inch class capital ships. In the end, in order to save this one ship, they were the ones who ultimately suffered in the comparison of naval strength.

The Victorian Empire certainly understood that, according to this standard, the Tang Dynasty, which had just commissioned two new battleships and which were currently the most powerful battleships in the world, would have a slight advantage. However, the Victorian Empire, a truly shrewd and calculating empire, knew very well what it meant to "focus on the big picture and let go of the small details."

What is big?

As long as this treaty can be negotiated, as long as the arms race can be slowed down, and as long as the Victorian Empire can maintain its dignity as the world's number one navy, even if it has to be on par with other countries, it is worthwhile. Under this premise, the superior performance of one or two warships will not seem to matter much.

It's like if you were to bring out an equal number of battleships from the main naval forces of the Tang Dynasty and the Victorian Empire to fight a battle, what difference would it make if the Tang Dynasty had two super battleships equipped with 420mm guns?

The Royal Navy of Victoria had a full 10 battleships equipped with 15-inch guns as the absolute backbone of its fleet. At present, no other country's naval fleet has such a high average quality as the Royal Navy!

Moreover, the primary hypothetical enemy of the Tang Dynasty Royal Navy is certainly not the Victoria Navy. Even if they have to face the trouble caused by the Longyue 420mm cannon, the first thing they should worry about is Colombia, not Victoria.

This time, however, it wasn't the ordinary people who jumped out to object to Victoria's suggestion of maintaining the status quo; instead, it was the United States of Colombia that spoke out against it.

"We absolutely cannot accept such an outcome. We believe that the warships that each country's navy should retain should be discussed in detail based on the country's strength and status. In particular, the construction progress of the first batch of our South Dakota-class and Lexington-class battleships is quite complete. The United States of Colombia will absolutely not give up these capital ships."

Unlike the representatives from another world who wrote essays like elementary school students, the Colombian representatives simply and directly expressed their opposition, as Colombia itself was the country with the lowest willingness to sign the treaty among all the participating nations.

In other words, while Datang was placing additional orders for Longyuan, it also boldly started construction on a super battlecruiser with a larger tonnage and equipped with 420mm naval guns. This arrogant move intimidated Colombia to some extent, making them unaware that their current shipbuilding industry could single-handedly drag down other countries in the world.

Otherwise, given Colombia's current situation, it's hard to say whether they would agree to sign this naval treaty. After all, if a simple shipbuilding race could win the final victory in the struggle for world dominance, then the price would be far too cheap.

Even so, the United States of Colombia basically participated in this naval conference with the mindset of "if we can talk, we will; if not, we'll go back to the arms race." This unyielding attitude caused considerable headaches for the Victorian Empire.

Of course, from the perspective of the United States of Colombia, they also felt wronged. In another world, keeping the Mutsu in their lives, which seemed unwise, was actually quite "human nature".

To put it bluntly, the biggest difference between the United States of Colombia and the United States of America in another world is that the United States of America initially agreed to the British suggestion. Apart from the fact that the United States of America in another world was relatively laid-back at the time, the most important and undeniable point is that at that time, the construction progress of the Colorado-class battleships, except for the USS Maryland, was not very high. As for the South Dakota-class battleships... they were only in the state of "steel centipedes".

Can you really ask the US to abandon these warships under construction and ask them to abandon several warships whose power and weapon systems are basically installed, with only communication and interior furnishings remaining, and whose construction progress has exceeded 95%?

Not to mention that although these two Longyuan-class battleships have only been in service for a short time, how much international acclaim have they made in the past six months? Whether it's the combat record between them and the standard battleships in the Colombian Navy's possession, or the one-sided battle between these two Longyuan-class battleships and the two King-class battleships built by the Leitanian Empire, which are recognized as having excellent performance, the Colombian Navy has a strong need to find a capital ship that can compete with them.

This wasn't just a matter of considering the strength of the fleet; more importantly, it was about giving an explanation to Colombia. As the Colombian representative just mentioned, it was "from the perspective of strength and status." After experiencing this world war, most citizens of the United States of Colombia began to realize that their country had become a world-class superpower, comparable to the Victorian Empire.

Since their country has become the most powerful country in the world, shouldn't the most powerful country be equipped with the most powerful warships? Compared to the United States in another world, the United States of Colombia in this world joined the world war earlier by inciting nationalism, and deployed a larger number of troops, gaining more riches than in history.

But everything in this world comes at a price. Since the United States of Colombia has chosen to shift its weight to the right, it must pay a price for it.

"We must immediately support this proposal from the Victorian Empire and give them a hand."

Li Che noticed that after Colombia expressed its opposition, the delegation from the Victorian Empire did not respond immediately. Clearly, the Victorian Empire's momentum was insufficient. Therefore, he immediately gave direct instructions to the spokesperson, demanding that they immediately support the Victorian Empire.

"We would like to ask the Colombian representative to clarify one point: we are participating in an arms control conference aimed at seeking future world peace and development, not a spoils-sharing conference to divide up the world's oceans. What all countries should do is immediately stop the naval arms race. Is the Colombian navy not strong enough to protect your country?"

The representative from the Tang Dynasty spoke very well, but his remarks were perhaps a bit too righteous and even a little wicked, making Li Che feel somewhat embarrassed.

Peace and development?

No, this is fucking dividing up the world's oceans, it's a spoils-sharing party.

However, he never felt ashamed of it, after all, in this world, his country was the one sitting at the table preparing to eat, while in another world, Yunyun's former homeland was the one that was partitioned.

In this cannibalistic era, if you don't eat people, you'll end up on the table, becoming a dish on the plate.

The Tang Dynasty and Colombia quickly started arguing about this issue, and their debate even went so far as to define what constitutes "active duty," giving Li Che a sense of déjà vu when he heard a bald man discussing "Ma Chao" on the internet.

However, just as the two sides were arguing fiercely, the Victorian Empire stepped in to smooth things over. The representative of the Victorian Empire suggested that since the differences between the two sides were so great, it would be better for both sides to compromise.

The United States of Colombia could retain its two Lexington-class battlecruisers and two South Dakota-class battleships, which were already largely completed, while the Tang Empire could continue to complete its two unfinished Longyuan-class battleships. Both sides would then be able to possess capital ships with four 16-inch or larger main guns.

Of course, the Victorian Empire will also receive two new generation battleships that have already been started. This, along with two admiral-class battlecruisers that, although they do not have 16-inch or larger naval guns, are of the same overall strength, means that each country will have four "super capital ships".

It can only be said that the Victorian Empire has lost its usual mastery of maintaining balance; its ability to stir up trouble is remarkably adept at doing so, but...

Damn it, we were supporting your proposal before! How could your bottom line change so quickly?

The entire negotiation team on the Tang side, including Li Che, felt a sense of déjà vu, as if saying, "We are ready to fight to the death, why has Your Majesty surrendered first?"

Both the United States of Colombia and the Tang Dynasty teams began internal discussions regarding the proposal put forward by the Victorian Empire. Therefore, neither side's representatives expressed their opinions immediately. The first to object was the Kingdom of Gaul.

The reason why the Kingdom of Gaul disagreed was simple: the Kingdom of Gaul simply could not afford to build any more advanced capital ships. Although the people of Gaul demanded the completion of the Lyon battleship out of national pride, the Gaul representatives actually hoped that the proposal put forward by the Victorian Empire would be approved, even if it meant abandoning the Lyon.

The main reason they hadn't expressed their opinion before was that the proposal actually suited their interests, but since it was proposed by the Victorians, even though the Gauls were very interested, they remained aloof and didn't express their opinion.

So, does that mean tsundere has fallen out of favor? (not really).

As a result, the Victorian Empire is now prepared to compromise with Colombia to some extent. The compromise is that Victoria, Colombia, and Tang will each complete an additional batch of warships, so that the number of super capital ships with a tonnage of more than 4 tons in each country's navy will be consistent.

How could you do that?!

Doesn't this distort the reality of different countries?

Then let me ask you! What do you mean by the Victorian Empire only mentioning the number of capital ships that each of you three can replenish after completion? Aren't we, the Kingdom of Gaul, a nation? Don't we have our share?

Of course, the fundamental reason why the Kingdom of Gaul disagreed was not only because the Victorian Empire did not mention that the Kingdom of Gaul could also obtain a further share, but also because—even if they agreed to give you a share, what difference would it make?

The largest naval gun currently possessed by the Kingdom of Gaul is the 340mm naval gun. Because they chose the path of accumulating firepower density, the Kingdom of Gaul does not have any larger naval guns at present. Moreover, after the expansion of the shipyards in Gaul, which are used to build battleships, the largest warships that can be accommodated in terms of size are only 3-ton battleships like the Lyon-class. They want to build 4-ton warships.

Please expand the shipyard's dry dock first!

So after much deliberation, considering my somewhat compromised Gaulish choice, since I don't want to build them now, don't have the money to build them, and don't have the ability to build such ships, the best outcome is that no one should build them!

Chapter 292 Yingzhou is an "External Soul Bone"

The Victorian Empire was utterly baffled by the Gauls' dissenting opinion.

Although we've been partners for over a century, don't you have any idea of ​​your own worth? How many people does Gaul have now? What is your industrial output? How many young people died in this world war?

The Victorian Empire doesn't even consider you its primary adversary anymore, so why are you getting involved?

For the Victorian Empire, MI6's intelligence work within the Leitanian Empire during the war was not very successful. Until the eve of the collapse of the Leitanian Empire, the Victorian Empire believed that the Leitanian battlecruisers Mackensen and York had been completed. It can be said that MI6's performance was not particularly satisfactory to the Victorian Empire, after all, they did not even understand the basic situation of the most important large capital ships.

While we may not have a thorough understanding of the enemy's capabilities, we know everything about Gaul. How many personnel did the Victorian Empire send to the European continent during the entire World War? With such a large-scale troop movement and flow, Gaul's intelligence agencies, even if they wanted to be vigilant, were simply powerless. The Victorian Empire probably knew the current state of the Gallic navy even better than Fontainebleau did.

What right do you have to disagree? If you were given the freedom to build ships, could you even finish?

Therefore, the representative of the Victorian Empire simply stated elegantly: "Even the Kingdom of Gaul has the right to pursue a larger share of naval tonnage—provided that the Kingdom of Gaul can afford it."

That's really insulting. It's like a mature woman mocking a middle-aged man: "Even if I put on a pair of black stockings and wait for you in bed today, can you get up?"

Therefore, the opposition from the Kingdom of Gaul quickly disappeared like a splash of water. Although the United States of Colombia's previous statement "from the perspective of national strength and status" was full of utter imperialist arrogance, it also revealed the law of the jungle in the international community of this era.

Regarding the second option B proposed by the Victorian Empire, apart from Gaul, no other country expressed strong opposition in principle. After all, compared to Option A, which the United States of Colombia expressed absolute unacceptability and even threatened to withdraw from naval treaty negotiations, although there were still some differences on some details, a general consensus was temporarily reached.

In particular, although Gaul expressed its opposition, it did not claim that it would withdraw from naval negotiations. In fact, even if Gaul made such a strong statement, it would probably not have the desired effect.

After the Colombian Navy withdrew from the treaty negotiations, it could easily start construction on 12 or even 16 capital ships. Even if Gaul withdrew from the naval treaty negotiations, it would probably be a huge financial burden to complete all of Normandy and Lyon.

By then, your warships might not even be finished yet, while the Gallic navy in the port will already be flying the flag of the new school.

Therefore, the Gauls did not persist for long; they soon gave in on the issue because they realized that not many people seemed to care about their opinions and attitudes.

Compared to Colombia's previous resounding opposition, the Gallic delegation seemed somewhat vulnerable. Back then, the Colombian navy relied heavily on the Gallic navy's assistance to contend with the Victorian Empire's fleet at sea and ultimately achieve independence. However, after so many years, it seems that the father-son relationship between the two sides has gradually reversed.

This somewhat broke the defenses of the proud Gauls.

However, the Gauls will soon discover that this is not the only opportunity they will have to breach the naval defenses under this treaty.

Although there is some consensus among all parties, especially the three major powers, regarding the Victorian Empire's Plan B, there are still many things to discuss among the countries.

The first is the share of total tonnage of capital ships.

After all, the only acceptable aspect of Victorian Empire's Plan B so far for all parties is this balance of "cutting-edge combat power"—at least on paper.

But apart from these newest and most powerful super warships, how many active combat ships do each country's navy retain?

It is impossible to retain them all, since all the countries participating in this naval conference have a large number of warships that are outdated. Collectively keeping these old ships would only increase the maintenance costs of each country's navy in vain and would not change the balance of naval power.

After all, the purpose of this naval arms control treaty conference is to reduce the burden on all countries, so it is of paramount importance for everyone to jointly eliminate a batch of old ships they have – the so-called weeding out the dross and keeping the good.

After all, in the order of battle of navies around the world, there are still some former dreadnoughts that are nearing the end of their service life. Who can expect these ships to carry out any combat missions in the future? These old dreadnoughts might not even be able to defeat the newest light cruisers.

However, when discussing the naval tonnage retained by various countries, contradictions quickly arose.

维多利亚帝国认为，参加这场海军军事会议的五大海军强国——维多利亚、哥伦比亚、大唐、高卢和叙拉古所保留的军舰吨位份额之比应该是10比8.5比7比4比4。

The United States of Colombia, however, believes that the tonnage share among the five major naval powers should be: Colombia 10, Victoria 10, Great Tang 6, Gaul 4, and Syracuse 3.

Faced with the proposals put forward by Victoria and Colombia, the representatives of the Tang Dynasty, except for Li Che, were quite angry and dissatisfied. What the hell? You, Victoria Empire, give yourselves 10 shares and give other countries less shares than yourselves. We can understand your starting point, but what do you mean by giving Colombia 8.5 shares and us 7 shares?

Do we deserve to be one less than them?

As for Colombia, that's even more bullshit. They asked for 10 quotas, but only gave us 6? Why should our naval quota be 60% of yours?

Gaul and Syracuse were too lazy to offer their suggestions at this point, as it would be unwise to get involved in the war of the gods between the three nations. So, these two Mediterranean countries chose to remain on the sidelines.

After much arguing among the three countries, Victoria and Colombia finally reached an agreement, with both sides agreeing to each have a share of 10. However, disagreements remain regarding how much of the main components the Tang Dynasty should receive.

"The total tonnage of our navy's main warships is not much less than that of the Colombian navy. In fact, the slight difference in tonnage between our two navies is more due to the few main warships that the Colombian navy acquired from the Leitania navy. We cannot accept that our share of naval power is less than that of the Colombian navy. No matter what share the Colombian navy receives, we demand an equal share. This is the minimum requirement for our country to ensure national defense security!"

The Tang Dynasty was not unprepared for its naval tonnage to be smaller than that of Victoria and Colombia, but my bottom line was one thing, and the actual bargaining in the negotiation process was another.

By first adopting the posture of wanting to obtain the same share as the other two strong players, they will naturally have more room to maneuver when they are "forced" to make concessions later.

Moreover... Li Che's gaze swept over the small teams from Yingzhou and Barat, who were seated in a corner in the distance. The representatives from these two countries could only sit in the audience seats against the wall, along with teams from small countries like Onfaros. They didn't even have a table in front of them.

However, these two countries cannot be ignored, as each of them possesses several capital ships.

"Furthermore, we must point out that the defense pressure on our navy includes not only those of you present here, but also those of Yingzhou and Bharat, which are armed by Victoria and Colombia. The level of armament in Asian countries is now higher than that in the Americas and Europe. Under such circumstances, if our navy does not have a sufficient share, we will not be able to guarantee our national defense security. Therefore, we believe that the demands we are pursuing are reasonable."

The Colombian side was somewhat surprised. They did not expect that the Tang Dynasty would take the initiative to reveal Yingzhou before them. Originally, the Colombian side planned to bring up Yingzhou when there was a disagreement with the Tang Dynasty on key issues and a long tug-of-war ensued. It would be very useful to disrupt the other party's rhythm or to exchange benefits.

Columbia originally thought this should be Tang's D point, which he could throw out to annoy the opponent when he wanted to. However, he didn't expect Tang to throw it out first, which made Columbia feel... this seems to be his D point again.

However, since the other side had already brought the topic to the forefront, Colombia certainly couldn't afford to lose in terms of momentum. So, Colombian side made a rather sarcastic statement that the Colombian Navy could accept the Tang Dynasty increasing its share of warships to 80%. They had indeed overlooked the defense pressure on the Tang Dynasty Royal Navy, after all, the Yingzhou Navy also had 6 super-dreadnoughts. Therefore, they believed that it was indeed "understandable" for the Tang Dynasty Royal Navy to obtain a higher share.

After the Colombian Navy made these remarks, both the Tang Dynasty, which had been at odds with Colombia, and Victoria, who had just reached a certain consensus with Colombia, frowned.

Wait a minute, what did you just say?

No, no, no, it's not that we didn't hear what you just said, we just don't quite understand. Where did the Yingzhou Navy get six main warships?

Those two kingships were personally skinned alive by our Great Tang Royal Navy's Longyuan-class battlecruisers. Both ships were almost reduced to scrap metal. If we remove those two ships, the Yingzhou Navy should have four battlecruisers at its disposal.

Two Dufflinger-class and two Lion-class battlecruisers should be the entirety of the Yingzhou Navy's current strength, so how come two more ships have appeared?

The mystery was soon solved.

"Has everyone forgotten about the two King-class battleships? Although these two battleships were severely damaged in the previous battles, they are still in the Yingzhou Navy's order of battle. More importantly, these two ships have not sunk yet, have they?"

The Colombians' eloquence this time was so impressive that even people from the Victorian Empire would have to give them a thumbs up – you guys really know how to come up with something amazing.

Those two ships were practically reduced to hulls by the bombing, right? No, even the hulls were severely damaged. The boilers and engines inside were likely completely destroyed.

"The Colombians are trying to play the Ship of Theseus."

Many people saw through Colombia's trickery. Sa Dingming was certainly able to figure out what Colombia was planning. As for the Colombians' cunning tricks, the Victorian Empire also felt like a spoiled young lady who had been deceived.

Just as Colombia was always ready to play the Yingzhou card, the Victorian Empire was also always ready to play the Balat card. However, before attending the meeting, the Victorian Empire believed that the Balat and Yingzhou had roughly the same number of capital ships, with the only difference being the performance of their warships.

Unexpectedly, Colombia immediately claimed that Yingzhou had six capital ships, which was equivalent to 50% more manpower than the Bharat Navy!

This time, the Tang Dynasty and the Victorian Empire reached a consensus again. During this period, the alliance between the three countries could be said to be switching back and forth, and everyone's position was very flexible. This gave Li Che a strange sense of familiarity—it was just like the Antians discussing the strength of each faction. Players from different factions were splitting up and uniting. Today everyone was criticizing Meituan, tomorrow everyone was criticizing Ele.me, and the day after tomorrow it would be everyone's turn to become Wolf Warriors.

Clearly, the United States of Colombia's previous relaxation of quotas was not due to a change of heart, but rather because they were already prepared to make up for it in this regard. The small island of Yingzhou was almost becoming Colombia's "external soul."

Under such circumstances, the Victorian Empire was naturally unwilling. Why should Yingzhou have two more ships than Barat?

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Chapter 293 Halftime Break (1)

After a full day of intense discussions among all parties, apart from the initial agreement on the share of "super capital ships" retained by each of the "top three powers," no progress has been made in negotiations concerning the total tonnage share of naval capital ships.