Seven Seas Beacon Fire

"However, the telegram now says that Alexei's fertility seems to have been affected by an accident on the train... Should we release all the details about them to the outside world? For example... including Alexei's health condition."

"Of course it should be announced."

"I think it should be kept secret."

Prime Minister Fifth Jishi and Crown Prince Li Renzhi gave completely opposite answers almost simultaneously. After hearing each other's answers, they looked at each other, smiled, and then repeated their attitudes to Li Zongdi.

Fifth Salvation: "The value of a fertile Alexei is completely different from that of an infertile Alexei. Since we do not intend to play this card immediately, we might as well maintain it at its maximum deterrent effect."

“There are no secrets in the world. Even if Alexei’s infertility might affect his value, we still have two princesses.” Li Renzhi said, “At worst, we can let Zhi’er marry one of the princesses, or we can have both sisters. In my opinion, that’s not a bad idea.”

"I think you're in a hurry to have a grandson. That kid complained to me that he doesn't want to have any more women around him anytime soon." Seeing his eldest son selling off his grandson so decisively, the old man couldn't help but say a few words on behalf of his grandson.

"If Alexei's fertility hadn't been affected, it wouldn't be a problem, but Alexei is now clearly infertile. Do we have any other options? We can't just let that Ursus princess go to the palace as a concubine now, can we?"

"I think you're asking for a beating!" Li Zongdi always loosened his belt when he did things, and Fifth Jishi could only helplessly step in to smooth things over: "Your Majesty, Your Highness the Crown Prince, I think we should release the news in batches. First, let's release the news that Alexei and the two princesses are with us, and see how other countries react. Then, based on the reactions of other countries, we can adjust the content of the news we release next."

Li Zongdi stopped pulling at his belt, pondered for a moment, and then slowly nodded: "Just as you say, my dear minister!"

Chapter 338 On the Crown Prince and the Prime Minister

After Li Che returned to Yingtian Prefecture, he quickly learned from Zhu Miaoyun about some of the events that had occurred in the court over the past period. Zhu Miaoyun was clearly pleased with the respectful but distant attitude that he had shown towards the two Ursus princesses. The biggest difference between Princess Yongning and many other fairy princesses was that she really only needed your attitude.

So, Li Che now received the reward of massaging Zhu Miaoyun's feet. Princess Yongning lay on her side on the sofa, put her feet on Li Che's legs, and read aloud the official documents and memorials she had copied over the past few days. Li Che, who was quite tired after returning from a long journey, leaned against the soft cushions of the sofa, squinted his eyes, but his hands did not stop moving.

In fact, it would have been much more efficient for him to read these copied memorials and official documents himself, but clearly, our Crown Prince was happy to do so.

"The Crown Prince and the Prime Minister have differing opinions?"

When Li Che heard his father and the Prime Minister disagree on whether to fully disclose Alexei's personal health issues, he couldn't help but interrupt Zhu Miaoyun's increasingly hesitant voice and ask, "There wasn't a heated argument, was there?"

"No." Zhu Miaoyun flipped through the two pages: "But the Crown Prince and the Emperor got into a fight, and the old man almost pulled out the Seven Wolves sword."

Li Che: ???

"Speaking of which, it's all the Crown Prince's fault. The Crown Prince said that he would marry both princesses to you, and that your offspring would naturally have the legal authority of the Third Rome and the ability to interfere with the Ursus Federation. I think your father is raising you as a breeding pig."

"If I were a stud pig, then what about you being penetrated by one?"

"That's like buying cabbage!"

"So you don't want to be a sow either? Then call me a stud pig?" Li Che feigned anger, then grabbed Zhu Miaoyun's right ankle and began tickling her sole with his other hand. As soon as the ticklish spot on her sole was attacked, Zhu Miaoyun immediately began to twist uncontrollably from side to side on the sofa, trying desperately to pull her foot back. But it was clear that our Princess Yongning's strength was far inferior to that of the Crown Prince. In a fit of anger, Zhu Miaoyun began to stomp on Li Che's face with her left foot while laughing loudly:

"Let go of me! I'm stating facts, not making personal attacks, hahaha... Stop scratching me! At the rate your dad keeps stuffing women into your life, isn't he treating you like a stud?"

"I can admit I'm a stud pig, but you've probably forgotten that stud pigs can't pluck cabbages in a cage, they can only pluck... Just admit you're a pig!"

"You're a pig, you're a pig, you're a pig."

"Alright, alright, so you're going to play like this?" Li Che gestured like a husky pointing at someone, and Zhu Miaoyun took the opportunity to pull her foot back and also gestured like a husky pointing at someone: "So you're starting domestic violence now? You can't live like this anymore!"

After the two of them fooled around for a while, Zhu Miaoyun leaned against Li Che's chest. The vigorous exercise had made her breathing a little rapid, so she simply lay down on Li Che, who buried his head in her loose hair: "While I was away from the capital, are you sure my father's temper has been good and that he hasn't had any unpleasantness with the Prime Minister?"

"Why are you so concerned about the relationship between your father and the Prime Minister? It seems you care more about it than the relationship between your mother and father." Zhu Miaoyun asked, somewhat puzzled, "Isn't it normal for them to have some arguments because of differing political views?"

“Of course it’s normal, but it’s best if these two don’t start arguing.” Li Che sighed helplessly as he said this: “In history, many old comrades in politics have become irreconcilable political enemies through escalating quarrels, even if there is no personal grudge between them.”

"Aren't you being a bit too pessimistic? Aren't your father and Fifth Master on good terms? Aren't they good friends in private? How could they have fallen out like this over a few arguments? One is the Crown Prince, and the other is the Prime Minister. How could they possibly become political enemies?"

Li Che cast a glance at Zhu Miaoyun with a hint of concern for a struggling student, a subtle disdain that our princess keenly noticed.

"What kind of look is that? Explain yourself clearly. Don't use analogies, just speak plainly!"

"Don't use metaphors. Are you MOSS? Can't you understand analogies?" Li Che shook his head. "My father may appear to be the Crown Prince, and he is indeed the Crown Prince, but the role he plays is not that of a Crown Prince. The reason I am worried about the relationship between my father and the Prime Minister is because the system of our Tang Dynasty court is still in the early stages of the country's establishment and is not perfect in many aspects. In fact, our current administrative system is even less perfect than that of the Ming Dynasty that we replaced."

"Huh?" Zhu Miaoyun blinked, somewhat confused. "Where is it imperfect? ​​Even the Prime Minister has been reinstated, and the first Imperial Representative Council is about to convene. Isn't everything moving in a positive direction?"

Li Che rubbed Zhu Miaoyun's head: "The problem actually lies precisely in the restoration of the prime minister system. The Fifth Gentleman and the Datong faction can be considered our family's senior partners to some extent, so our dynasty naturally cannot be like the Ming Dynasty, which did not even give people the position of prime minister. You should know what the most famous thing the Hongwu Emperor did in politics was, right?"

"Did the four major cases result in a lot of deaths?"

"........."

"I just shuddered. Don't look at me like that. Even I know that would abolish the prime minister system." Zhu Miaoyun pouted. "What's wrong with that?"

"The abolition of the prime minister system represents the pinnacle of supreme imperial power. However, the responsibilities and functions of the court will not disappear with the disappearance of the prime minister. Many people say that Emperor Hongwu was a workaholic and could do everything personally, so it didn't matter whether there was a prime minister or not. But this is actually a very superficial view. After Hu Weiyong, Emperor Hongwu did have a prime minister. Do you know who it was?"

Zhu Miaoyun blinked her clear, large eyes: "Empress Ma...?"

Li Che couldn't help but slap her on the bottom: "It's Crown Prince Zhu Biao, you idiot!"

"what?"

"The reason why the early Ming Dynasty was the highest point in the history of the entire Northern Ming Dynasty and even the entire classical dynasty of China was not only because of the outstanding personal qualities of the two emperors Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di, but also because Zhu Biao and later Emperor Renzong of Ming successively served as the de facto prime ministers during the Hongwu and Yongle reigns. In fact, the early Ming Dynasty presented a dual system of emperor and crown prince. It seemed that there was no prime minister, but in fact someone did the work of a prime minister. The decline of the Ming Dynasty after the early Ming Dynasty also began after the loss of this 'crown prince acting as prime minister' model."

"So, the fact that Baozong ended up like that isn't entirely his fault?"

“He still bears the main responsibility, after all, his father, Emperor Xuanzong, couldn’t keep up with this model from the beginning, but they didn’t cause the Tumu Crisis.” Li Che said, “Although the Grand Secretary later became the de facto leader of the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty, in the end, the ‘Grand Secretary’ was not the rightful head of all officials.”

"why?"

"Because, strictly speaking, it was an advisory body to the emperor, an auxiliary organization of the inner court. Although its members were later mainly composed of officials from the outer court, the cabinet itself was not an outer court institution. Although this institution had in fact become the administrative center of the Ming Dynasty, from the perspective of a regular government institution, the cabinet was not part of the government."

Li Che began to explain to Zhu Miaoyun in detail: "This situation improved somewhat after the Southern Ming Dynasty, with the position of Left Censor-in-Chief effectively assuming the functions of the prime minister. But haven't you noticed the current situation? Our Great Tang Dynasty now effectively has two sets of government and two prime ministers at the same time."

"Many dynasties in history had more than one prime minister at the same time."

“You’re right. So all those dynasties had very serious factional struggles in their history. But even so, the situation in those dynasties was incomparable to ours now. The prime ministers in those dynasties were colleagues, while the relationship between the Fifth Master and the Great Harmony faction and us… is much more delicate. We all have the same goal now: to make this country better. The more so, the more carefully we need to handle the relationship between the two sides. Before we can work together to develop a more reasonable and effective government system, we should try to avoid internal strife.”

Zhu Miaoyun pouted, "I still think you're overthinking it. I think the Crown Prince and Mr. Fifth get along very well, and they won't develop to that point in a short time."

"It's unlikely to develop to that point in the short term, but once it really gets to that point, it will be impossible to coordinate. Do you remember why Comrade Steel was criticized by his mentor for being too weak?"

Zhu Miaoyun fell silent. She had come across this story on her computer in another world and shared it with Li Che, so she remembered it.

“Da Linzi couldn’t bring himself to kill a few dozen people at the beginning, and in the end he dragged it out until he had to kill thousands of people to stabilize the situation. Beneath his steely exterior was a weak heart.” Li Che took a deep breath: “I don’t want to be like Da Linzi, just like if I were to become a doctor, I wouldn’t want to be like Bian Que.”

Chapter 339 The first aircraft carrier in the West was...

Meanwhile, in Western Europe, as the year XX20 began to pass, although the pace of the arms race slowed down due to the signing of naval treaties, the modernization of naval weapons and equipment did not completely stop.

Especially in some emerging ship types, in peacetime, the construction of navies of various countries, in addition to considering actual combat capabilities, often also undertakes the important task of cooperating with their own propaganda. This competition in propaganda and public opinion has long shown the rudiments of a certain Germanic philosophy.

For example, the size and combat power of the main fleet of the Gallic Kingdom's navy were far inferior to those of the Victorian Empire, but this did not prevent their navy from "winning" over the Victorian Empire in some other aspects.

Besides the first batch of heavy cruisers built by various navies specifically according to the rules and regulations of the treaty, the King of Gaul, who had "hard-won" victory in the last World War, believed that the great Kingdom of Gaul should demonstrate its strength in some way. Or, to put it more simply, His Majesty believed that in order to prove to the world that the Kingdom of Gaul had won the World War and was the most important pillar among the many countries that defeated the Empire of Letania, ... it was appropriate to consider building a spectacle.

Yes, Paradox Interactive (P社) players are naturally no strangers to building wonders, and many even deliberately pursue the complete collection of wonders. Of course, these players are often the kind of non-human creatures who think, "I've already collected 90% of the taxes, how can these lowly people still have money to rebel?"

The Gallic government was naturally reluctant to see His Majesty build a spectacle. After all, they knew better than anyone how much money was left in the treasury. It was already a struggle to save the battleship Lyon, and now you want to build a spectacle too?

This isn't a game. What's the point of building a wonder? Even if you're just two buildings short, the legendary Boeing 767 fighter-bomber will still be decades away.

Fortunately, the king said, "I know it would be too expensive to build another wonder on land, so it would be better to build it at sea. Besides, ships built at sea would be more practical."

Of course, this idea was initially met with strong opposition. In addition to the same reasons as before, another reason was that the Lyon was the largest shipyard and dry dock currently available in France. If the king wanted a "spectacle," it should at least be larger than the ships available to the Royal Navy of the Victorian Empire, right? This was impossible within the framework of the treaty.

However, the king soon expressed his understanding that he knew that with the dual constraints of France's shipbuilding industry, his own technology, and treaties, achieving a breakthrough in battleships was out of the question.

However, this did not prevent the Kingdom of Gaul from making more achievements in emerging ship types such as aircraft carriers. The Kingdom of Gaul received some intelligence from the Royal Navy of the Victorian Empire through the Victorian Empire's powerful intelligence network (don't ask why there is a powerful intelligence network).

Although the intelligence itself was not highly classified, the fact that these Gaulish intelligence agents in the Victorian Empire were able to obtain the information so quickly demonstrates their operational capabilities.

The news that the Gallic intelligence agents described how the Victorian Empire was converting its aircraft carriers into powerful new carriers using the hulls of the Brave-class large light cruisers deeply intrigued the Gallic navy.

The Gallic Navy at present certainly cannot build the world's largest battleships, because the number of battleships that Gaul can retain in the treaty is already fixed. However, the number of aircraft carriers is not fixed. Since no one has built many aircraft carriers before, the tonnage of aircraft carriers obtained by various countries is basically spare tonnage. The maximum tonnage limit of a single aircraft carrier is significantly greater than the tonnage of the several Courageous-class large light cruisers that the Royal Navy of the Victorian Empire used to convert into aircraft carriers.

So the king's idea is that if our Gallic Kingdom can't have the largest battleship in Europe, then let's have the largest aircraft carrier in Europe. Anyway, it's the largest, so even a small victory is still a victory.

So the Gallic Navy chose an unfinished Lyon-class battleship to convert into an aircraft carrier, which was indeed much larger in tonnage than the Béarn aircraft carrier in the other world.

However, since it was an aircraft carrier converted from a battleship, it had all the old problems. Its relatively slow speed and the relatively short length of the battleship itself made the Gallic Navy realize that if turrets were added to this aircraft carrier, the length of the flight deck would be too short. Although aircraft of that era could still take off and land on such a short flight deck, the Gallic Navy still had a heated discussion about whether or not to retain the main guns.

Regarding the question of whether or not to retain cannons and a very short flight deck, one nation's "astounding wisdom" helped the Gallic Navy make a swift decision—that nation was the Onfaros Navy.

They are now the first country in all of Europe to commission an aircraft carrier.

The size and combat power of the Onfaros Navy were very limited. When it comes to the Onfaros Navy, most people of this era probably think of the time when the Onfaros Navy asked the Colombian Navy to buy warships, and the Colombian Navy took the opportunity to sell its two worst pre-dreadnoughts that had just entered service to the Onfaros Navy.

Judging from the data alone, the performance of these two battleships sold to the Winfaros Navy was quite good for a pre-dreadnought. With a displacement of only 13,000 tons, they were equipped with two twin 12-inch main guns and four twin 4-inch secondary main guns. After cramming so much weaponry into the small hull, the ship even showed a slight bow tilt when sailing.

After being tricked into buying what were probably the worst pre-dreadnought battleships in the Colombian Navy's possession, the Onfaros Navy realized that these short and chubby old-fashioned pre-dreadnought battleships were no longer of any use in the face of the new era of dreadnoughts. So the Onfaros Navy used their ingenuity to convert one of the battleships into an aircraft carrier.

That's right, it's an aircraft carrier with a flight deck that's less than 120 meters long.

-------------------------------------

P.S.: I spent the whole day watching jokes about the Indian Air Force, and it almost made me laugh to death.

The fact that the Indians were able to get Dassault Aviation to urgently request that they stop using the Rafale in future operations shows their capabilities.

I saw a few jokes about the J-10 CE and Rafale today, and they almost made me laugh to death.

Do you like it?

like.

Do you like the J-10?

I like the PL15E of the J-10.

Tell me, who are you?

I am a Rafale fighter jet

Please be more specific!

I am a Rafale fighter jet, and I like the J-10's PL-15E!

-------------------------------------

And also.........

HQ9 vs. Wind: Bro, I heard you want to have a climbing contest with me?

No matter how powerful you are in War Thunder, it's all fake. In the real world, the J-10 remains silent, only sending out PL-15s incessantly.

Chapter 340 The Real Explosive News

While the aircraft carriers of the Kingdom of Gaul and the Empire of Victoria were still in the early stages of modification on the slipway, the aircraft carrier "Limonos" of the Duchy of Onfaros quietly claimed the title of the first aircraft carrier in Europe.

Although it's obvious to anyone that this ship is really a joke, it's more like a seaplane carrier with a full-length flight deck capable of launching and recovering some light carrier-based aircraft than a proper aircraft carrier.

After all, this ship, displacing less than 13,000 tons (its weight was significantly reduced after removing two 12-inch twin turrets, four twin 8-inch turrets, and a large number of secondary guns and armor), was only 119 meters long. Its top speed was barely 17 knots at the beginning of its service, and its actual top speed now is probably only a little over 16 knots...

This metric is really too bad, and it is even completely outclassed by escort carriers from World War II. Escort carriers like the Casablanca-class, which were converted from merchant ships and were essentially canned jeeps, had a speed of at least 18 knots and a total length of 148 meters.

As is well known, although escort carriers during World War II could operate some torpedo bombers, they mostly performed anti-submarine escort missions. This was because the short flight decks of these escort carriers could only allow the last few rows of torpedo bombers to take off with heavier bombs and torpedoes. The vast majority of them carried only fighter planes and used light bombs or rockets to attack submarines or enemy merchant ships.

On a 119-meter flight deck, even for propeller planes that look like broken wooden frames in this era, this length is really too tight. Therefore, if we disregard seaplanes (which good people's aircraft carriers carry half of their aircraft as seaplanes), the number of fixed-wing carrier-based aircraft that the entire ship can launch at one time will not reach double digits.

Such ridiculous performance naturally rendered the aircraft on board the ship virtually ineffective in attack, but the ship did indeed fit the characteristics of an aircraft carrier in many ways.

Does it have a flight deck?

Although it's unusually short, you can't say it's nonexistent; mine is even a full-length deck.

Do you have a hangar?

Although the hangar capacity is surprisingly small, you can't say there isn't any; I even have a seaplane hangar.

In short, this suddenly appearing aircraft carrier gives other countries the feeling that when the J-10CE and Rafale were competing for the title of the strongest 4.5-generation fighter jet in the South Asian subcontinent, a Tejas MK2 suddenly jumped out.

Regardless of the actual combat capability of the Tejas MK2 or how long its range is (like the MiG29), just tell me if it's a 4.5-generation aircraft equipped with an active phased array radar!

Of course, there is a fundamental difference between Onfaros building this aircraft carrier and India building the Illustrious MK2. Onfaros was very clear about what missions his aircraft carrier was intended to perform. Its purpose was to add an airfield in the Aegean Sea far from Onfaros's homeland, using the lowest possible cost to enhance the navy's aerial reconnaissance and search capabilities.

As for why Onfaros, with so many islands in the Aegean Sea under its control, didn't build airports on the islands but instead modified such a ship, it all boils down to being broke. The navy's budget is limited. If it wanted the air force's reconnaissance capabilities to cover the entire Aegean Sea, then Onfaros would need to build many airports on the islands in the Aegean Sea and equip each airport with aircraft.

However, after modifying this youthful version of the aircraft carrier, it could be sent to wherever aerial reconnaissance was needed, serving as a floating airfield. After all, facing the threat from the Ottomans, Onfaros needed to carefully budget its defense. Although the Ottomans had become a defeated nation in the last World War, compared to the Leitanian Empire and the Habsburg Empire, the Ottomans had made a relatively dignified exit, and their national strength was still overwhelmingly superior to Onfaros's.

Therefore, compared to other countries, Onfaros really needs to find ways to split every penny of its defense budget in two, and this is still true even in the 21st century of another world. Compared to Commissioners Smith, Humphrey, Dejan, and Schneider, who made their fortunes by purchasing military equipment, Commissioner Leodani's behavior would certainly make outsiders wonder if he dug up his ancestral graves and sold them to buy equipment.

After all, it's impossible to explain why Commissioner Leodani could use a fraction of the EU's military spending to support 35% of the EU's tanks. That's truly a testament to his dedication to public service and national interests, enough to bring tears to one's eyes.

Compared to Onfaros building this aircraft carrier, India seems to have no idea about the weapons and equipment it has. They've been playing too much Brahmanism and think the real world is like their fantasy world or like the planet Andon. They tried to take the Rafale fighter jets and then the J-10CE. And what happened?

I thought it was radar noise.

The phased array's performance was so good that it accidentally locked up.

Let's Talk About It (from "You and My Thunderbolt 15")