Seven Seas Beacon Fire

也就是光辉MK2还不具备实战能力，否则的话J10CE就不是一战打下三种4代机，而是一口气一战打下4种4代机了。

For the two countries of Gaul and Vitória, although they were somewhat displeased that the Onfaros Navy had used such an aircraft carrier to steal the title of "Europe's first aircraft carrier", as mature and established powers, they were not so easily swayed by such a matter.

Since we can't compete for "Europe's first aircraft carrier" now, let's compete for "Europe's first aircraft carrier" and see who has the strongest aircraft carrier in Europe.

Both sides felt they had the advantage. The Victorian Empire had three large light cruisers, which were not only fast, but also, in terms of the many tasks undertaken by large light cruisers, two quadruple 9.2-inch guns were not necessarily much weaker than two twin 15-inch guns.

The flight deck, almost as long as the hull, and the aircraft carrying capacity are practically "given away." The Royal Navy of Victoria naturally believes that such ships will be the best in the Atlantic in terms of both quantity and quality. After all, it is foreseeable that the Colombian Navy's two Constellation-class aircraft carriers will be permanently stationed in Pearl Harbor in the future.

Of course, in the eyes of the Gallic Navy, their aircraft carrier, which is 1 tons larger, is the most powerful aircraft carrier in Europe in the future. Although it may be slower (maximum speed 24.5 knots), its standard displacement of nearly 3 tons and its 3600 square meters of hangar space even after deducting the elevators convinced the Gallic Navy that this aircraft carrier would be the one capable of carrying the most aircraft in the future. Moreover, they were not afraid to compete even in terms of guns.

Although this aircraft carrier, which is slated to be named "Sun King," is not equipped with heavy gun turrets with guns of eight inches or more like those of the Victoria or Colombian navies, this does not mean that this aircraft carrier is not equipped with heavy guns.

The Gallic Navy's view on equipping aircraft carriers with heavy guns was somewhat similar to that of the Victorian Navy. There was no need to pursue 10-inch heavy guns. Of course, the more important reason was probably that the Gallic Navy had never been equipped with 10-inch guns. If they insisted on developing a 10-inch naval gun, it would cost a lot of money. In any case, they had a bunch of 240mm and 164mm naval guns from the pre-dreadnoughts. After careful consideration, the Gallic Navy chose to add gun sills to the sides of the two aircraft carriers, but ultimately decided on 210mm naval guns.

Since the Kingdom of Gaul did not have eight-inch naval guns before, and the guns used for the treaty heavy cruisers would have to be redeveloped anyway, it would be better to let the aircraft carriers and cruisers use the same guns, which would also reduce logistical pressure.

Because each side held strong cards, Onfaros's small aircraft carrier didn't become any explosive news. It was similar to how Ilang converted a merchant ship into a not-so-small aircraft carrier and even put their so-called fifth-generation fighter jets on it, but apart from being talked about by military enthusiasts, it never made the headlines of any major power.

The same applies to this world. Neither Onvalos's small aircraft carrier nor the vanity project that the Gallic king wanted to undertake could compare in terms of popularity to the news of the whereabouts of the Ursus royal family.

Chapter 341 The Two Roman Crowns

"Son of the Beach! Say that again? Where are Crown Prince Alexei and the two princesses now?"

Lloyd George glanced at the calendar. Today wasn't April Fool's Day, but why did the news he was hearing sound so like fake news?

"The Tang Empire held a press conference earlier today, where they released many photos confirming that the last three members of the Ursus Empire's royal family, including Crown Prince Alexei and two princesses, are now in Yingtian Prefecture."

The secretary-general wiped the sweat from his brow. He had just received the news and rushed to the prime minister to report: "Crown Prince Alexei and the two princesses, with the help of several loyal Ursus royalists, traveled eastward through the Siberian wilderness, through Mongolia, and into the heart of the Tang Empire."

Before entering the Tang Empire, they disguised themselves as ordinary merchants. However, they were caught in a train robbery on the train, and Crown Prince Alexei was hit by a stray bullet inside one of the carriages. He is currently receiving treatment and his vital signs are stable. However, the press conference did not provide any specific details about Crown Prince Alexei's condition.

"They crossed Siberia?" Prime Minister Law and George shook his head in disbelief. Almost all of Europe knew what kind of health Crown Prince Alexei was in, and how could this sickly man have survived the arduous journey?

"It seems that God is indeed blessing the descendants of the Third Rome."

"Withdraw our fleet from the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas." At this point, Prime Minister Lloyd George could only give a somewhat dejected order to withdraw the fleet. In order to provide effective support to Crown Prince Alexei and his entourage as soon as possible, the Victorian Empire, based on its speculation about the possible routes that Crown Prince Alexei and his entourage might choose to leave the Ursus Federation, dispatched fleets to the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas to provide support at any time, and even prepared for armed conflict for this purpose.

As long as it doesn't get bogged down in a large-scale ground conflict, the Royal Victoria Navy is not afraid to engage in a direct military confrontation with the crippled navy currently in the hands of the Ursus Federation.

Therefore, as soon as they learned of the major changes within the Ursus Federation, the Royal Navy of Victoria decided to send two fleets to provide support within 36 hours.

A fleet that entered the Baltic Sea via the North Sea consisted of the large light cruiser HMS Glorious, which had not yet undergone refitting, two Renown-class battlecruisers, and several cruisers. Although the fleet was not large in size, its strength should not be underestimated, and it was highly targeted.

The large light cruiser Glorious was originally built during the previous World War and was developed for the so-called "Baltic Sea assault operation". It is fast, shallow-draft, and heavily armed, making it very suitable for operations in the complex diving waters of the Baltic Sea. This ship can reach many waters that traditional capital ships cannot safely enter. If Crown Prince Alexei and his party can find a ship to go out to sea, this large light cruiser will rush to their aid immediately.

Although the only real capital ships are the two Renown-class battlecruisers following behind, the two Ismail-class battlecruisers of the Ursus Federation Navy are still waiting for their turrets on the slipway. Given the current state of the Ursus Federation, these two battlecruisers are far from being completed. Apart from these two battlecruisers, the Ursus Federation Navy only has three Gangut-class battleships that are still operational in the Baltic Sea.

Despite their numerical advantage, the Ursus Federation Navy certainly didn't believe that four Ganguts could definitely defeat two Renowns, let alone win; even forcing them to retreat would be difficult.

After all, the prestige in this world weighs about 6000 tons more than the prestige on Earth. With little change in the main body size and firepower, almost all of that 6000 tons was added to the armor.

In another world, after the Renown-class battlecruisers were completed, the whole world knew that the ships were not very well protected. After all, the Renown-class battlecruisers were part of the warships envisioned by Felix Felipe for the Baltic assault operation. Initially, they were only planned to be equipped with six inches of armor, essentially making them an enlarged version of the "Pee-Pee" class large light cruiser. Even after the armor was strengthened, nine inches of vertical armor was still not reassuring in the post-war era.

However, the Renown in this world is on par with the Admiral-class battlecruisers in terms of main armor belt protection. Its 12-inch, 12-degree angled side armor is even better than the armor of most battleships in the world. The Gangut-class battleship can at best be considered "the strongest dreadnought 16 years ago". If it were to fight the Renown, considering the quality of the officers and soldiers on both sides, the situation would probably not be optimistic.

In fact, the Royal Navy of Victoria originally planned to add two more Revenge-class battleships to reinforce the fleet. With 330 mm armor and eight 15-inch main guns, the Revenge was the Royal Navy's best-protected battleship at present. After being fitted with Greenboys, the Revenge-class battleships were even more powerful than the Bavaria-class battleships.

However, Downing Street considered that General Alexander, the head of the Ursus Federation Navy, was a potential candidate. The Ursus Federation's Baltic Fleet was directly under his command. If they could instigate the Ursus Federation's Baltic Fleet to "rebel," that would be ideal. The Victorian Empire certainly didn't care about the three Gangut-class battleships, but this could very well be a significant step forward in rebuilding the Ursus Empire.

In contrast, another fleet operating in the Mediterranean adopted a much tougher stance. This fleet deployed two Tiger-class battlecruisers, two Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, and two Orion-class battleships. In particular, for the two Orion-class battleships, this was probably their last military operation before they were decommissioned and scrapped.

This fleet even crossed the Dardanelles Strait, which they had been unable to breach during the last World War. After the defeat, the Ottoman Empire was forced to open the Dardanelles Strait to other Western powers, including the Victorian Empire, and this fleet has been operating in the Black Sea ever since.

Throughout this process, the Ursus Federation's Black Sea Fleet has been under tremendous pressure. After all, the Ursus Federation's Black Sea Fleet is still trying to salvage the Queen Mary-class battleships that were sunk during the revolution. Currently, the most powerful warship in the Black Sea Fleet is actually the Rurik II armored cruiser that the Victorian Empire built for the Ursus Empire Navy.

After all, the current Black Sea Fleet is directly controlled and commanded by the Ursus Federation, unlike the Baltic Fleet, which is essentially a kind of "feudal state". Therefore, the Victorian Empire is not prepared to adopt any appeasement measures.

However, whether in the north, the south, or the western Central European landmass, Crown Prince Alexei did not appear on these routes that were considered most likely to lead him away from the Ursus Federation.

They escaped the Ursus Federation's search by crossing the Siberian wilderness, a feat that anyone who understands the whole story would naturally applaud as "brave and resourceful." However, for many Western countries, including the Victorian Empire, this outcome was even worse than Crown Prince Alexei failing to escape Ursus.

“The worst has happened. The Roman Empire in the East now truly holds the crown of the Third Rome. I can’t even imagine how terrifying it would be if a country in the world simultaneously possessed the crowns of both the East and the West.” Lloyd George murmured to himself, looking out at the night view.

To be honest, the Western European powers didn't take the so-called Third Rome crown of the Ursus Empire too seriously in the past, since the claim to Rome was somewhat far-fetched. But now that this somewhat far-fetched Third Rome crown has fallen into the hands of the "Rome" in the East, many Western politicians, including Lawrence George, have suddenly realized just how terrifying the claim to Rome is.

After much deliberation, Lloyd George seemed to have finally made up his mind. He turned from the window to look at the Secretary General: "Have I arranged my schedule for tomorrow?"

“It was already arranged,” the secretary-general replied immediately. “However, I can revise the itinerary right away and postpone all the events that can be postponed, so you can have half a day free tomorrow.”

"Very good. Help me arrange a meeting with the ambassador of the United States of Colombia. Also... I think the Ursus Federation still has someone at its representative office in our country?"

The Secretary General nodded: "There are more, and they're right here in the former Ursus Empire embassy."

"When did they move into the Ursus Empire embassy?" Prime Minister Lloyd George was taken aback. In his memory, even after the establishment of the Ursus Federation, the Ursus Empire's embassy still refused to recognize the Ursus Federation, and the Ursus Federation, due to the hostility and opposition of the Victoria Empire, only set up a chargé d'affaires office in London.

"After the outbreak of war with Polania, the Ursus Empire embassy, ​​which was originally located in our country, declared its support for the Ursus Federation government. They dissolved their original diplomatic mission and handed over their premises to the Ursus Federation's chargé d'affaires."

“These Ursus people…” Prime Minister Lloyd George frowned. “Anyway, please arrange a meeting with the head of the Ursus Federation’s representative office.”

Chapter 342 Outside the Whirlpool

After the Tang Dynasty announced the news of Crown Prince Alexei, a political vortex that would affect the entire Eurasian continent began to stir up this turbulent situation.

Just as Law and George had feared, the first thing that came to mind for countries in both the East and the West was that the crown of "two Romes" had now fallen into the hands of one nation, something unprecedented in history.

Although in another world there's a certain rat who's always coveted my wife, Yui Aragaki, who has a unique method of argumentation that proves Tongliao is the legitimate Roman territory—

The orthodox Eastern Roman Empire;

Third Roman Russia;

The true legitimacy of Russia lies in Tsarist Russia;

The legitimate Golden Horde Khan of Tsarist Russia;

The Golden Horde was the Mongol Empire;

The true line of the Mongol Empire lies south of the Gobi Desert;

The legitimate Khorchin people of southern Mongolia;

Horqin District is located in Tongliao;

Therefore, the true Roman legitimacy resided in Tongliao.

However, as we all know, this method of argumentation is only slightly more persuasive than a Middle Eastern war gang using the Bible to argue that they have sovereignty over the land they have seized. It simply cannot convince other countries.

But now that the last three members of the Ursus Empire's royal family have fallen into the hands of the Tang Empire, things are completely different.

Some people familiar with the East have even thought of the unique title previously held by the Tang Dynasty emperor – Heavenly Khan.

The attitudes of these Eurasian countries toward the Tang Dynasty's acquisition of Rome's claims varied.

In most of the old European powers, including the Victorian Empire, the Kingdom of Gaul, and the Kingdom of Syracuse, many politicians expressed strong concerns about this, and some newspapers even openly declared that this was a moment comparable to the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople!

Although such clamor in the newspapers is somewhat "baseless," after all, the Tang Dynasty has not yet actually obtained this claim. Before a child with Ursus royal blood is born, the Tang Dynasty can only be considered to have "the opportunity to obtain the claim."

However, this did not prevent many Europeans from expressing strong concerns about this. The fall of Constantinople can be seen as the physical tolling of Rome's death knell. If Rome's claim were to fall into the hands of the most powerful empire in the East, who knows what would happen decades or centuries later?

This sounds like a very distant thing, but that country in the East has existed for more than 5000 years, and it seems that it won't be a problem for them to continue to exist for another 5000 years. If the roots of Western civilization are uprooted by Eastern civilization, will Europe have to start speaking Chinese in the future?

There are those who have concerns, and there are also those who support it. Yes, there are indeed those who support it, but there are not many European countries that applaud it, or rather, there is only one country that explicitly welcomes it: Polania.

The war between Polania and the Ursus Federation is becoming increasingly disadvantageous for Polania. After all, given Polania's population, their initial provocation of the Ursus Federation seems foolish. Even now, it's possible that Polania knew beforehand that the royalists within the Ursus Federation were planning something, and that the Ursus Federation had many internal problems. However, the population and land area disparity between the two countries is simply too great. Provoking and even launching an attack on the Ursus Federation seems like an unwise decision.

In fact, the people of Polania are already paying the price for this. They have endured several rounds of mobilization, and the domestic economy and even agricultural production have been severely affected. However, even though life has become more difficult because of this war, most Polanians still support it.

This only shows that the Ursus Empire back then did the Polanians a bit too much of a favor. It seems that waging war against Ursus within Polania itself was legitimate. You can certainly call the Polanians European fools, but they just had the mentality of preferring to be fools themselves rather than lose a piece of your flesh.

So in the newspapers of Polania, you could even see some tabloids writing bluntly: "We strongly support the Tang emperor of the East also wearing the Roman crown. The Tang Empire should send its army to escort their emperor to Europe for coronation."

Of course, anyone can see the core meaning of these words: if this is the case, the Tang army will have to cross Ursus twice, once on the way there and once on the way back.

Aside from European countries, the vast majority of Asian countries reacted to this with the sentiment that "this is quite a spectacle." After all, such news is as rare as a J-10CE shooting down three Rafales, one Su-30MKI, and one Mirage 2000 in an air battle in another world. It is definitely a rare occurrence in international political news.

However, while these countries are certainly keen on observing the drama unfold, if you ask them what impact this event will have on them, their answer will undoubtedly be, "What impact could it possibly have?"

Whether or not the Tang Dynasty was legitimate or not wouldn't affect its status in the East. If we had to say... countries like Korea and Ryukyu could travel to the Tang Dynasty visa-free. So, the people of these two countries were discussing whether, if the Tang Dynasty had inherited the Roman Empire, they could travel to Europe without a passport, and visa-free like they could travel to the Tang Dynasty.

Among these many Asian countries, the one that found this most unacceptable was Yingzhou, or rather, Crown Prince Akishino.

Crown Prince Zhaoren genuinely didn't want to see news about the Tang Dynasty, because seeing it would remind him of Tokugawa Akiko, and how she was currently in the Tang Emperor's palace, subtly indulging in his pleasures. Just thinking about it made him feel like he was being cuckolded. Although he and Tokugawa Akiko had never even been engaged, some men from Japan could still see her as their own possession.

Therefore, whenever he saw any news from the Tang Dynasty, he couldn't help but think in that direction. If it was bad news about the Tang Dynasty—for example, a poor harvest somewhere in the Tang Dynasty, the arrest of several corrupt officials, or the severe impact of the planned economy reforms on the market—this bad news about the Tang Empire always made Crown Prince Zhaoren overjoyed. It was as if the worse the Tang Empire became, the more it proved that Tokugawa Akiko had misjudged the future, and he could imagine Tokugawa Akiko's regret...

Well, this idea is somewhat female-oriented, but it's not too surprising that Crown Prince Zhaoren, who isn't particularly masculine, would have such thoughts.

The recent situation of this crown prince has naturally come to the attention of some officials in Yingzhou, which has deeply disappointed many people who had previously placed high hopes on this intellectually sound crown prince.

There's an old saying in the East: "A great man has no worries about not having a wife." Let alone the fact that Tokugawa Akiko has absolutely no relation to you, even if it were your wife who was taken away by the Crown Prince of the Tang Empire, you shouldn't act like this.

As for the other high-ranking officials within Yingzhou, their attitudes were divided. One faction was deeply worried, fearing that this might allow the Tang Empire to grow even stronger than the Tang Dynasty at its historical peak, at which point Yingzhou might be wiped out. Therefore, they believed they should begin strengthening their military forces now and make preparations for this as early as possible.

The other faction, however, viewed this as good news. The Victorian Empire and the United States of Colombia, deeply concerned, would certainly increase their aid to them. Their theory was that bad news from the Tang Dynasty meant they were "winning," while good news from the Tang Dynasty meant bad news for the United States of Colombia. Therefore, to cope, the United States of Colombia needed to support and strengthen Yingzhou, thus maintaining their "win."

This closed-loop theory of winning has almost developed to the point where it's almost as advanced as India's.

Speaking of India... India seems to be the country furthest from the center of the vortex on the Eurasian continent at this moment.

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They are currently holding a celebration ceremony to mark the first anniversary of the founding of the Bharat Federation.

Perhaps the entire country has been deeply influenced by the Victorian Empire. Although the most important thing for the Bharat Federation right now should be to resolve the strong autonomy held by the princely states within its borders, and on that basis, their most important task should be to find a way to build a brand new, efficient, and combat-effective army, the Bharat Federation has not only not done so, but has instead invested a lot of money in the construction of the navy.

The Bharat Federation government seems quite confident in its army, after all, it did have experience fighting the Leitanian Empire on the European battlefield during the World Wars.

Although these officials in Barat seemed to automatically ignore the fact that the officers who commanded them at the time were all officers of the Victorian Empire, it was clear that these were minor issues in the eyes of Barat.

Many officials within the Bharat Federation believe that the great Bharat has achieved independence and is becoming a powerful nation, therefore their entire country should acquire something commensurate with its status as a great power, and naval warships are undoubtedly the most suitable.

There are many other people in this world besides the current Gallic kings who like to create wonders.

Especially for the people of Bharat, who have been repeatedly conquered by various foreign peoples on this land for thousands of years, now that they have finally become independent and masters of their own destiny, if I don't have something to show my identity, then what the hell is the point of my independence?

Therefore, the Bharat Federation government is organizing a naval review for its National Day celebrations—all four of Bharat's main warships, as well as all its mobile cruisers and destroyers, will participate. Bharat has also sent invitations to almost all the major powers in the world, preparing to showcase the new face of the Bharat Federation to the world.

Even though the tonnage of the Bharat Navy's main warships is temporarily locked by the treaty, the idea of ​​building stronger battleships has been dashed. However, Bharat still has available cruiser tonnage. So, even though the loan funds used to buy ships and repair ports have not been spent, the Bharat Navy is already planning to put out a tender for a new generation of 10,000-ton heavy cruisers worldwide after the naval review on National Day.

A vortex over Eurasia?

Two Roman crowns?

What does all this have to do with me, Bharat? I, Bharat, didn't have six planes shot down in a single day.

I, Balat, just want to make the National Day naval review a success. Your third brother is just a vulgar person who pursues grandeur. If someone makes me feel comfortable today, I will definitely make them feel comfortable in the future.

In any case, neither the Eastern Rome nor the Western Rome made any claims to Barat, so naturally it had no impact on them.

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"Sometimes you have to admire how pure India really is in many ways. Their whole country is just so eager to show off their power in front of others."

While other countries were watching the news about the Tang Empire, Li Che was hiding alone in his room, treating the news about Balat as a joke.

“After all, he’s the third brother, so it’s not surprising.” Zhu Miaoyun chimed in from the side: “But they’re already so impatient to get an off-road vehicle to show off their military power, which is only a year after the founding of the country. I don’t know who they want to show off their military power to.”

“If you can figure out the Barat people’s thought process, then you’re one of them.” Li Che said, giving a thumbs up with his left hand. “Their thought process is something many people have thought about for three days and three nights and still can’t figure out. If you take them seriously, you’ll lose. How many normal countries are so eager to expand their navy just a year after independence? Especially since they haven’t even built a warship of more than 5000 tons yet.”

"Have they always been like this?"

“I’m afraid it’s not just always like this.” Li Che shrugged. “In your world, the Third Brother is a country that bought an aircraft carrier from Britain a long time ago. The word ‘unrealistic’ is probably commonplace for the three of them.”

Zhu Miaoyun gently shook her head, probably feeling that she, as a normal person, might never be able to connect with her third brother on a brainwave level in this lifetime.

Shaking her head, Zhu Miaoyun decided not to waste any more brain cells on her third brother's problem, so she nudged Li Che and asked, "Speaking of which, if you have time later, could you take me to meet those two Ursus princesses?"

"What do you want to see those two princesses for?"

"Can't I just be curious?"

Li Che closed the notebook in his hand and looked at Zhu Miaoyun with a smile. He hadn't considered this before, but... perhaps the "fallen princess" of the Ming Dynasty and the "fallen princess" of the Ursus Empire would create a different kind of spark?

"Of course." Li Che smiled and said, "Wait for my news, and I'll make the arrangements."

Chapter 343 Isn't it normal for Barratra to pull a big one? (2)

As the first major event in which navies from around the world had the opportunity to gather together after the signing of the treaty, most countries responded positively to the request from the Bharat Federation for a naval review to celebrate the nation's founding anniversary. Moreover, compared to the signing of the naval treaty in Honolulu, each country's navy sent its most impressive warships to the event.

For example, the Colombian Navy probably wants to emulate the former Great White Fleet by using such "military parades" during peacetime to improve the image of its armed forces. It could even be said that the Colombian Navy has a rather urgent need for this.