Seven Seas Beacon Fire

Because of a very simple but counterintuitive fact—look at the Republic of Leitania, it still nominally has four battleships, but putting aside the current condition of these four battleships, the Nassau-class, as the first dreadnought of the Leitania High Seas Fleet, is now likely no match for a heavy cruiser like the Jiangzhou on the high seas.

That's right, a battleship can't beat a modern cruiser.

Nearly 20 years ago, battleships were severely outdated in terms of fire control systems. For a considerable period, new cruisers with advanced fire control equipment were able to challenge older battleships that had not undergone upgrades.

Chapter 401 Hill Imprisoned

As the right-wingers gathered in front of the Capitol prepared for a new round of marches after sunrise, some of them quickly noticed a large group of mounted police riding tall horses appearing on the streets along with the morning sunlight and mist.

Sensing that things were not going well, these right-wingers immediately turned and ran towards their spiritual pillar—"Saint" Sylvie, who had just crawled out of her sleeping bag. Over the past two days, Sylvie and the right-wing crowd gathered there had become completely united.

It wasn't just those who came here at Sylvie's call; even those who initially came with money gradually began to accept this "saint" in the short two days they spent together.

Although Ludendorff's prestige among right-wingers is still higher than Sylvie's, as the former Chief of Staff of the Leitanian Empire, Ludendorff, who dresses impeccably and still lives in his villa, naturally doesn't feel as approachable as the down-to-earth Sylvie.

For Ludendorff, when he initially discovered that Sylvie's appeal and influence exceeded his expectations, he decided, based on his past political experience, not to compete with Sylvie on the same track, and he did not make a public appearance in front of the gathered crowds.

But as the saying goes, if you don't occupy a territory, someone else will. And if you regret it later, that's another story.

In short, in these two short days, although these ordinary people did not see any obvious miracles from this saint, they all felt enlightened from her speeches and interactions with everyone.

Why did our country lose this war?

Why is our life so miserable now?

Why is our country led by a bunch of insects?

At least for these grassroots people who generally have not received much higher education, it is as if a new world has been opened to their minds. The word "deafening" is not enough to describe the shock they have experienced in the past few days.

Although the original reason for Letania's withdrawal from the war was the loss of the support of the general public, the sharp decline in living standards caused by the long war, and the devastating impact of the total war on the social economy made people tired of the war, at that time, most people, including those gathered here, thought: Damn this war, we don't want to fight anymore, we don't want the gains we have made in the war, can we just quit this game?

Yes, but there will be a price to pay.

After Lycania's war machine came to a halt, Tartania lost its bargaining power with the Allied Powers. As a result, people realized that their lives had not improved with the end of the war, and that the future looked even bleaker. People regretted their actions.

Although this outcome was the result of everyone's choices, no one wants to take the blame upon themselves. Subconsciously, everyone needs an outlet, a target... a suitable scapegoat.

Therefore, the current Versailles system, the Ursus Federation in the East that first signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and then tore it up, and the bankers who still indulge in a life of pleasure despite the general precipitous decline in living standards have naturally become the common objects of hatred and disgust in Leitanian society.

The "standard answer" thus emerged.

These people don't bother to think about the specific reasoning process behind the "standard answer." In their eyes, none of the G5 (Great Five) in the Versailles-Honolulu system are good people!

However, in the eyes of the Leitanian Republic government, realizing that the Tang Dynasty might be completely enraged by a part of their parliament and that the 500 million dragon coins would be lost, the Leitanian Republic remembered that the Tang Dynasty was their beloved relatives and brothers. Therefore, early this morning, the Leitanian military and police, who were allowed to remain, gathered almost all of their mounted police in Berlin.

These mounted police were mostly cavalrymen from the last World War. Most of them had won victories and honors on the battlefield. Although the trench warfare with almost fixed battle lines on the Western Front left traditional cavalry with no room to maneuver, the cavalry of the Letanian Empire performed exceptionally well on the vast Eastern Front in their battles against Ursus cavalry, including Cossacks.

Today, these mounted police officers, all former veterans, have replaced their sabers with rattan whips, but this does not prevent these well-trained veterans from maneuvering their warhorses to launch impressive wall assaults on the streets.

Before setting off, these veterans were told by their superiors that they needed to disperse the demonstrators as quickly as possible without any mercy. Demonstrators who dared to gather and confront the cavalry were no ordinary thugs and had to be dealt with severely!

As the pinnacle of shock cavalry, the modern cavalry's wall charge was far more powerful than any shock cavalry of the classical era. When Sylvie climbed to the top of the wooden crate and saw a row of walled troops crashing in like waves in the distance, the demonstrators at the forefront had already begun to scatter.

They were not an army after all. Although a few demonstrators brought their own pistols or shotguns, no one dared to confront these cavalrymen head-on at this moment. Despite the efforts of some key right-wing elements to maintain the situation, their efforts were destined to be in vain.

These right-wing elements are far too vulnerable in the face of a real machine of violence.

Sylvie gripped the flagpole tightly, her eyes fixed on the mounted police who were charging into the crowd like wolves. Someone beside her tugged at her skirt, shouting and trying to get her away from the area. It was clear that the government had decided to use force to clear the area, and if she were caught here, she would surely face trial and imprisonment.

But Sylvie had no intention of leaving. She took a deep breath and began to softly sing "Erica," a folk song from Letania. Amid the noise of the street, the girl's gentle voice rang out.

These well-trained veterans quickly rushed over the ordinary civilians. Apart from those who had been trampled to the ground by the horses' hooves and those who had fled, those who hadn't run away or didn't want to run were now filled with fear. Beside a platform made of several wooden crates, Sylvie was still chanting with her eyes closed. The leader of the mounted police adjusted his military cap, which had been slightly askew during the earlier charge, and, holding the reins, slowly guided his horse to Sylvie's side.

The officer waited with gentlemanly manners until Sylvie finished singing the entire song. After she slowly opened her eyes again, the officer pointed his whip at Sylvie and said, "Beautiful lady, you are under arrest."

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For the first time since its founding, the Republic of Letania has demonstrated such high efficiency. In the past, no matter how big or small the matter was, it would take three days and three nights of arguing in the parliament to reach a conclusion, and some issues could even be debated from the beginning to the end of the year.

Compared to the efficiency of the government of the Republic of Letania, Deutsche Bahn in the 21st century is far more efficient.

This time, however, the efficiency of the Republic of Leitania government was like putting a Vestapan in a car; it swiftly and decisively dispersed the right-wing elements on the streets, and even placed Ludendorff under house arrest. In addition, it passed the Treaty of Friendship and Technical Exchange between Leitania and the Bilateral Treaty on the Introduction of Talents in Leitania at the fastest speed.

Upon learning the news, Li Che was somewhat surprised by the efficiency of the Republic of Leitania government. "Is this still the Republic of Leitania I know?"

Traun, who was specially sent to deliver this news, carefully inquired of Li Che's satisfaction after explaining everything. This almost made Li Che burst out laughing, realizing that his counter-espionage plan had been far too successful. Of course, on the other hand, it also revealed how insecure the Letanian government was regarding its own national security. They were so on edge that they quickly surrendered without even verifying whether the Gallic army had been mobilized.

I haven't even had a chance to contact the Gauls yet.

However, this is not surprising. At present, Letania is only allowed to maintain a military and police force of no more than 10 people. It is not allowed to possess any heavy machine guns, tanks, or any artillery pieces larger than 75 mm.

Incidentally, during the last World War, Leitania's front-line infantry guns were 77mm.

It is fair to say that Leitania's defense capabilities are currently at their lowest point in history. They are now vulnerable to being easily defeated by any of their neighboring countries, especially Gaul, with whom they have a blood feud.

Letania also understood that it was easy to invite a god but difficult to send him away.

"What do I have to complain about?" Li Che and Traun opposite him were both pretending to be unaware of the "borrowing troops from Gaul." Seeing Li Che's appearance, Traun thought that the Crown Prince was still not satisfied, so the former diplomat said with a mournful face, "Your Highness, could you please call back the two cruisers that are blockading us at sea?"

"Hey! My friend, what are you talking about? The officers and men on our two cruisers were just going out to sea for a warm-up, how did that lead to the blockade of your port?"

"Your Highness, we........."

"What are you worried about? We only have two cruisers, while your navy still has four battleships, right? How can these two ships threaten your four larger and more heavily armed battleships?"

Li Che's words were purely an act of feigning ignorance.

In fact, in the past few days, these two cruisers of the Tang Dynasty Royal Navy have attracted widespread attention from navies around the world.

Because two cruisers, which should be as agile and cunning as foxes at sea, actually carried out a military blockade of the port, and there were also battleships in the port, this time it really was a case of the nine-tailed fox daring to suppress the dragon.

The operation, which lasted only two days, can be said to have showcased the new ship type of "heavy cruiser" to the world. Li Che himself did not expect that this move, which allowed the navy to put some pressure on Leitania, would have such a profound follow-up butterfly effect.

To put it bluntly, when people were discussing heavy cruisers before, they all regarded this class of warship as a special type of ship built under treaty, and more than one industry insider felt that heavy cruisers were "too low cost-effectiveness".

It is precisely because of this viewpoint that some other countries that are not part of the G5 but also want to purchase some cruisers have hesitated for a long time on whether or not to buy heavy cruisers.

This question seems to have been answered today.

Heavy cruisers should not only be viewed as warships that can harass older battleships at long range by relying on their fire control advantages, but more importantly, they are almost all-around versatile secondary capital ships.

Because the treaty limited the tonnage to 1 tons and the caliber of the guns, it effectively blocked the possibility of a cruiser competition between countries, allowing heavy cruisers to comfortably play their role as secondary capital ships.

When it came time for heavy cruisers to carry out missions, they could use their fire control systems and new eight-inch gun shells to fight against the old battleships, while also easily suppressing the small and light vessels in the harbor.

Isn't this a perfect example of a small hexagonal warrior?

Faster, more fuel-efficient, more agile, and cheaper?

Hmm, looking at it this way, heavy cruisers seem really appealing.

"Your Highness, I know that some people in our country have offended you, but most of us Leitanians are still each other's most sincere friends. Regarding what happened a few days ago..."

"Mr. Traun, I don't really like apologies that are just words. I've always believed that an apology should be sincere, and the greatest sincerity must be material..."

Traun could easily understand the implication in Li Che's words: the two treaties he had brought were actually conditions that the Tang Dynasty had put forward from the very beginning of their visit. Now that things had come to this point, the other party would naturally not be satisfied with the same conditions as before.

What else does your country need from us?

Name your price!

Chapter 402 Their Scientists Take Away

When Traun left Sanssouci Palace again, his face did not show the humiliation of being extorted, but rather a sense of relief tinged with confusion.

It felt like a peasant woman carrying eggs was walking along the roadside when someone suddenly pulled her into the roadside bushes, only to find that the person wasn't there to steal her eggs, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the conditions offered by the Crown Prince of the Tang Empire were somewhat incomprehensible, and everyone had made such a big fuss only to end up lifting the torch so lightly, for the Republic of Letania at present, there could be no better outcome.

After Traun left, Zhu Miaoyun, who had been behind the screen, slowly walked out. Our Crown Princess looked at Li Che with a somewhat incredulous gaze.

"It's one thing for that old man from Letania to look at me like that, but why are you looking at me like that too? Is that so abnormal?"

“The main thing is that in my impression you’re not a good person… Ah, I mean, I didn’t mean you’re a bad person, but you shouldn’t be that easy to talk to.” Zhu Miaoyun crossed her arms in front of her chest: “Don’t you always say you admire what the Gongyang School says? Shouldn’t you write a great book of hatred like the dwarves?”

“You’re comparing the Rams’ doctrine to the dwarves’ doctrine. I don’t even know which side would put your words on their books if they heard them…” Li Che shook his head: “Are you playing the villain? Is it really that hard to understand why you didn’t take this opportunity to exploit the nation of Letania?”

"After all, you pretended to contact the Gauls, and you even sent two cruisers out of port... The ultimate goal of all this was to get the education departments of the two countries to act as a bridge and organize regular exchanges of teachers and students between universities in both countries... Wait a minute, you're not trying to steal our thunder..."

Li Che smiled and shrugged: "In this day and age, it's really too difficult to expect Professor Qian to have completed his studies and served the country before the outbreak of World War II. So, I guess I can only rely on his mentor's ideas?"

"I thought you'd changed your ways, but it turns out you're trying to seduce all those top scientists in Letania!"

"Stop reading so much Cuckold stuff." Li Che stepped forward and tapped Zhu Miaoyun's head hard with his finger. "I just want to provide these top researchers with a stable environment and good research conditions. What did I do wrong? Besides, if we don't recruit these talents, they are very likely to move to Colombia next."

What is most important in this century?

Talent is the most important thing!

Many people believe that because the US won World War II, this was an era of industrial Cthulhu victory.

Yes, no.

The most important factor in the United States' victory in World War II was, of course, its massive industrial capacity, which was like that of Cthulhu at the time. This was more important than any technical detail of the United States.

After all, for the Americans, would replacing their mass-produced battleships with the KGV, a new and embarrassing battleship, or replacing all their mass-produced Essex battleships with Yorktowns or even Rangers, affect their ultimate victory in naval battles?

Aside from suffering greater casualties, there would be no fundamental difference. Similarly, even without the M4, if they continued to use the M3, the Americans could still overwhelm the Germans with seas of M3s. For the Americans, what they specifically built during World War II was not so important; what mattered more was how many they could build.

The problem is that this was based on the premise that the United States' industrial output and overall national strength far surpassed that of any other country at the time. What if the United States had encountered another industrial Cthulhu?

Against the backdrop of two industrial Cthulhu clashes, the role of technology becomes apparent.

You build eight Essex rockets here, and eight Taihou rockets there? Wouldn't the same number of Essex rockets be just a bargaining chip compared to the Taihou rockets?

Your carrier-based aircraft use 2000-horsepower engines to build F6Fs, while the enemy's carrier-based aircraft use 2000-horsepower engines to build FW190pluss. How can the exchange ratio be acceptable after a battle breaks out?

You're mass-producing M4s, while the other side is mass-producing 59s? Then you don't even need to talk about the exchange ratio anymore, because you've basically said goodbye to the exchange ratio altogether.

The more powerful a country is, the more terrifying the multiplication effect of top-notch technical talent in a particular field becomes. The boost from talent is not a simple addition, but a multiplication.

Rather than squeezing more gold coins out of Letania in the short term, Li Che would prefer to take away the country's future golden goose in one fell swoop.

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Li Che's final battle on his European tour has now come to a close. Compared to the somewhat uneventful visits before, the trip to Letania can be described as somewhat chaotic, much like the current state of Letania itself.

However, the outcome was quite satisfactory. Li Che had obtained almost everything he hoped to gain from this country. Moreover, from the perspective of the middle and upper classes, especially intellectuals, who were not so ignorant, the Tang Dynasty's diplomacy towards Letania was far more friendly and civilized compared to that of other European countries.

Li Che didn't have a very good impression of Letania. The reason he had always been quite "generous" in his policies toward the country was that he hoped the professionals he acquired from there would be able to dedicate themselves to their "second homeland." After all, he didn't think he could expect these foreign technical talents and scholars to be able to stay at the Gulag Hotel while conducting research and development.

The Tang Dynasty was a normal country; it shouldn't be treated in such an abstract way.

However, compared to the achievements Li Che discussed in Letania, the world was more interested in the legendary story of the Tang Dynasty Royal Navy's Jiangzhou heavy cruiser "suppressing four battles with a single cruiser"—of course, this was entirely an artistic exaggeration.

First of all, the other cruiser of the Tang Dynasty Royal Navy was simply ignored. Well, even putting that aside, the four battleships of the Leitanian Navy had no desire to actively set sail for confrontation. Since being returned to the Leitanian Navy by Victoria, these four battleships have not been well maintained, and their current condition is only slightly better than that of the Kuznetsov aircraft carrier.

However, what people love to see in news is sensationalism, and given Letania's current global influence, no one is going to explain the real story behind all of this.

What he saw was the outstanding performance of the new heavy cruisers. As a result, some countries that had been eager to purchase heavy cruisers in the international arms market quickly took action.

The first to take action was the Barat Federation. I dispatched two heavy cruiser procurement teams to the Victoria Empire and the Tang Empire, respectively.

It seems that Li Che put a lot of thought into the cruiser issue when he stayed in Barat. However, now that they are preparing to purchase heavy cruisers and put out a tender, he still hasn't forgotten about the Victoria Empire. He's probably worried that the Victoria Empire's own heavy cruisers are still not finished and that they will obviously be more expensive.

However, the announcement of this news by Bharat caused quite a stir in other countries, after all, what is the relationship between the Bharat Federation and the Victorian Empire?

Even now, after gaining independence, Bharat is theoretically still a member of the Commonwealth of Victoria. Yet, when this nation, after independence, sought to procure its first new warships, it simultaneously submitted bids to both the Tang Dynasty and Victoria...

For example, can you imagine that our country or Israel would be simultaneously bidding on military equipment from both our country and the United States?

Just releasing this kind of news is enough to attract attention.

Another country interested in purchasing heavy cruisers was the Kingdom of Iberia. Although Li Che did not make an official visit to the Kingdom of Iberia, the Blue Space fleet sailed alongside Iberian naval vessels and exchanged greetings before passing through the Strait of Gibraltar. At that time, the new Jiangzhou heavy cruiser greatly impressed the Iberian Navy.

The newest large surface warships in the Iberian Navy today are the three Iberia-class battleships purchased from Victoria before the outbreak of World War II. In fact, these three Iberia-class battleships are also called pocket battleships, since the displacement of these three ships is only 1.5 tons, which is even lower than some of the last generation of pre-dreadnoughts.

The Iberian Navy is now in dire need of modernizing its large surface ships. With relatively limited funding, the Iberian Navy naturally hopes that the newly acquired ships can undertake different combat missions simultaneously, especially in terms of speed, where it would be best to achieve some breakthroughs.

Clearly, the Iberian Navy's budget was insufficient to support the purchase of capital ships with a speed of 30 knots. Therefore, heavy cruisers with a speed of over 30 knots became the largest combat vessels that the Iberian Navy could consider within its budget.

The Iberian Navy simultaneously issued tender invitations to three countries: Victoria, Tang Dynasty, and even Gaul.

It can be said that the fact that the Tang Dynasty was able to receive invitations from "Western countries" to bid for their heavy cruiser projects can be seen as an affirmation of the Tang Dynasty's naval shipbuilding industry. After all, in the past, it was very difficult for Eastern warships to gain a foothold in the Western arms trade market.

At that very moment, an unexpected potential buyer, whom no one in the world had anticipated, was also eagerly examining the Jiangzhou-class heavy cruiser featured in the newspaper.

Most of the people reading the newspaper didn't even know which country the heavy cruiser belonged to; they were simply looking at the ship in the newspaper and exclaiming in admiration, "If we could have a ship like this, we could probably drive those damned Gallic people away, right?"

“You’ve got the order wrong.” A somewhat capable-looking middle-aged man walked over, glanced at the newspaper, and said, “Only after we drive out those damned Gallic people and establish our own country will we have the opportunity to possess warships like these!”

"But... how can we drive away the Gauls, who also possess such warships?" A deep sorrow welled in the eyes of the older man. "Last time, the Gauls' warships fired at our village. When I returned, my home was completely reduced to ruins. I found the bodies of my son, daughter-in-law, and grandson in the rubble, but I couldn't even distinguish whose flesh they were originally..."

"There will be a way... We'll always find a way to deal with those guys."