Seven Seas Beacon Fire

Li Zongdi was quite surprised that the British were trying to reach a naval arms control agreement with the Leitanians to cool down the shipbuilding race between the two sides. After all, information dissemination was far less convenient than in another world, and many hidden historical records would not be made public for many years.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the old man was unaware of some of the secrets of the Britons and Leitanians before the World War, since there are very few people in the world who know these secrets. Li Che also learned about them on the Internet in another world.

Although the British have always given the impression of "preserving the status of the Royal Navy at all costs," to the point that "the value of the Victorian Empire lies in maintaining the pound sterling and its navy, and the Victorian Empire would spend every last pound in its treasury for the Royal Navy."

And when faced with the provocation of the amendment to the Leitanian Naval Act, he openly shouted "We need eight! We need now" in the House of Commons, and then started construction on eight capital ships in one year.

However, looking beyond the surface, what the British were doing was not truly about "defending the Royal Navy's status at all costs." What they were trying to do was simply to convince other countries that they had such determination, and to maintain this persona.

"Grandpa, although the British fleet is large, there are not many truly elite members in their fleet. The fleet that defeated ours in the Battle of the Java Sea was basically the vast majority of the Royal Navy's elite."

"The vast majority?"

"That's right. Due to the need to maintain its size, the Royal Navy of Victoria kept the cost of its capital ships very tight for a long time. As a result, the quality of the Royal Navy's fleet has been a long-term problem. In fact, it can be said that by today's technical standards, the Royal Navy's capital ships with guns below 15 inches, apart from a few battlecruisers with 13.5-inch guns, are basically all very bad ships."

Although Li Che actually agreed with the British idea of ​​the 343 battleships, what more could you ask for at £180 million a super-dreadnought? More importantly, 12 were built in a short period of time, adding a large number of fresh troops to the Royal Navy in an almost blitzkrieg manner before the outbreak of World War I.

However, politicians and lawyers have certain characteristics, namely, selective bias in their writing. When they need to praise you, they can elevate you to the highest heavens, and when they want to smear you, they can simply drag you down to hell.

Since the current argument is to prove that the Royal Navy should support stopping the shipbuilding race, then these 343BBs naturally need to be thoroughly criticized and discredited; otherwise, where would the evidence come from?

Then Li Che selectively stated some facts, such as that the British ships were poorly protected, with belt armor and TDS (Transportation and Defense Systems) being trash. In short, the British now disliked these ships.

Normally, if you dislike a piece of equipment, you can just get a new set of equipment to replace it. If you're not satisfied with a battleship, you can just start construction on a new battleship to replace it, right?

But that is the problem for the British.

Do you expect the British to build 12 new ships to replace these? Ten years ago, a super dreadnought was only a little over 20,000 tons, but with the current pace of technological advancement, a ship would easily be over 30,000 tons, or even close to 40,000 tons if speed is a priority.

The Britons can no longer build 12 of these new elites; even if you cut it in half, they'd struggle to build even 6.

"In any case, the British will surely propose a naval treaty in the future to limit the armaments of various countries, so rather than the British, we should propose it."

"Should we propose it?"

Li Zongdi shook his head: "Before this, didn't you say we should adopt an attitude of burning our bridges to build those giant swords? Now you want us to propose an arms race? Can the West still believe our previous 'fight to the death' attitude?"

“These two things are not contradictory, Grandpa,” Li Che said. “Whether the enemy believes we will build so many ships does not depend on what we say, but on whether we are actually preparing materials and cutting steel plates in the shipyard!”

However, proposing such an initiative to limit arms sets an example for the world and proves to countries around the world that we are the peace-loving party.

There are countries in this world that hope to use this world war to impose bonds on European countries led by Victoria and Gaul, while simultaneously advocating peace and waging wars of expansion for decades, committing genocide against the people of occupied territories. They have no right to talk about peace.

This time, Li Zongdi nodded deeply: "Putting on a high-handed stance and putting our opponents on a pedestal is indeed a good idea. Sometimes I really want to open your little head and see how you manage to come up with one idea after another."

This isn't me spouting ideas; I'm just a porter of another world's history.jpg

"So, when do you think we should play the card of limiting the naval arms race?" Li Zongdi asked.

"It shouldn't be too early; it's best to wait until we've made real progress in our ceasefire negotiations with the Federation before bringing it up. But it also shouldn't be too late; at the latest, it shouldn't be more than three years."

"Is there any particular significance to this timing?" Li Zongdi asked curiously.

"It's not too early, there's nothing to say, the battle at Yanping isn't over yet; it's not too late, naturally because since we've made up our minds to take the initiative to propose negotiations on limiting naval armaments before the British, we can't drag it out for too long, because the British won't drag it out for long."

What does "The British won't hold out for long" mean?

Li Che gestured three with his hand: "If the British don't propose to control the arms race within three years, then by then the earliest ships started construction will all be in service. How could the British possibly wait until the Federation's 16-inch gunboats and our 420mm gunboats are in service in large numbers before proposing to control arms?"

Li Zongdi understood now. To use an imperfect analogy, it's like a pregnant woman using her unborn child to blackmail a man. Of course, this can't be delayed for too long, otherwise, once the child is born, the man will have much less leverage.

Li Che attaches great importance to the treaty era that is about to arrive. Before that, he was relatively young and his family's original profession was in the army, so he had no connections with the navy and therefore had no opportunity to influence its construction and development.

Therefore, even now, Li Che harbors deep resentment towards many of the main warships inherited from the Ming Dynasty's Royal Navy. Many of these ships could have been designed better, but the final result was...

Take the Dingyuan-class battleship, for example. If it had been armed with eight 15-inch guns, it would definitely have been a contender for the title of the most powerful battleship of World War I. Unfortunately, it only had twelve 330mm guns…

However, the situation is different now. In the future treaty era, it can rely on the valuable information and experience gained in another world to avoid countless detours in the construction of the naval fleet.

Chapter 169 What should we give up, and what should we fight for? (2)

Two of the top three naval powers on this planet are already considering limiting the naval arms race after the war ends. The British are naturally doing so because of historical inertia, while the Tang Dynasty is largely benefiting from Li Che, the time traveler.

Therefore, Colombia at this time did not think that far ahead. This is not to say that federal politicians lack long-term vision. In fact, the federal politicians represented by President Wilson, regardless of party affiliation, are among the most qualified and strategically visionary politicians in the history of the Colombian Federation from the end of the last century to the beginning of this century, apart from a great man like Franklin.

It can be said that the United States' ability to seize the opportunities of the Second Industrial Revolution and transform itself from an insignificant country in the international community to a major power of paramount importance in the international arena is inseparable from the planning of generations of top politicians, from Theodore Roosevelt to Wilson. Although their methods and party affiliations differ, these politicians of the present era share a common goal, which is quite different from the chaotic political scene in the 21st century.

For example, in this time and space and another time and space, the reasons and motivations for the two Colombian federations to intervene in the world war under different international situations are also completely different.

In another timeline, President Wilson was initially a staunch isolationist because the absurd intensity of the fighting shortly after the outbreak of World War I made the Union's political elite realize that it would be a collective self-destruction among the established European powers.

In this situation, the Union had no reason to necessarily go to war. It seemed that the Union was just making a fortune selling goods like Victoria and Gaul, but in fact, President Wilson's goal was never just to make some gold.

What he wants to steal is the artifact of world hegemony.

Especially as World War I intensified and there was no hope of it ending in the short term, President Wilson raised the banner of peace, which was the most attractive and universal view at the time.

For the world at that time, the era of globalization had just begun to dawn, but the traditional European powers that were originally qualified to lead globalization were all heading towards physical or spiritual death in this war.

So the only one qualified to accept this clear destiny was the Federation at that time—the world's largest arms factory, a major power that controlled the economic lifeline of Europe, and a country that was only one yellow robe away from ascending to the throne of world hegemony.

Wilson was a visionary politician who, in another world, proposed a peace without victors, believing that only in this way could true peace be achieved. Of course, this peace without victors did not include the Union; more accurately, it should be called "a peace without victors other than the Union."

President Wilson believed that if the Union joined either side in the war, that side would inevitably win. The problem was that the peace imposed on the losers by the victors would be like a building built on quicksand, which would inevitably collapse within a decade or two.

Although Wilson was not the only one in the world at the time who predicted that "this is not peace, it is just a 20-year armistice," all of Wilson's plans before entering the war were paving the way for the Union to ascend to the throne of world hegemony. This included attempting to plan the League of Nations, adhering to isolation at the beginning, and mobilizing more than 470 million troops in just one year after entering the war to assist the Allied Powers in winning the war in the shortest possible time.

Of course, established nations like Victoria and Gaul were not to be trifled with. The Federation was later outmaneuvered by the League of Nations, so in the end, the Federation preferred not to join the League of Nations rather than compromise. It can be said that in another timeline, the Federation took more than 20 years to go from touching the throne of world hegemon to fully ascending to that throne, due to the tug-of-war and delays from Victoria and Gaul.

Of course, at this point, the uninformed Daniel Wu might be wondering: if the Federation knows the benefits of not participating in the war, why do they still want to participate?

The answer is simple: what the Federation wants most is a peace without victors, but if the Federation doesn't participate in the war, this peace without victors may very well include the Federation itself.

From the perspective of the federal political elites at the time, the military might of the Kingdom of Letania had reached its zenith. Ursus, which even Napoleon had not conquered, was about to fall under Letania's iron hooves. On the European continent, another unprecedented vast empire spanning Western, Central and Eastern Europe was being established, following the Napoleonic Empire.

Can Victoria and Gaul really defeat such a formidable opponent?

If at this time there were truly insightful individuals within Letania who offered Alsace and Lorraine in exchange for a ceasefire with Vitória and Gaul, and instead focused on absorbing the fertile lands acquired from the Ursus, a terrifying industrial superpower comparable to Colombia would emerge in the world 20 years later. At that time, Vitória and Gaul would no longer be able to contend with this nation.

This is absolutely unacceptable to the Colombian Federation, which has already invested heavily in Vitória and Gaul.

That's why the Federation forces rushed into the war just one month after their defeat in Ursus.

In this world, the reason why the Federation joined the war earlier was the same: soon after the war began, Letania's strong performance made the Federation realize that the Allied Powers could never defeat the Mingde Alliance.

If Victoria and Gaul are defeated, Letania will control the west of the World Island, and the Ming Empire will control the east. The two sides can practically be called the two emperors of the east and west, dividing the world equally. At that time, for the Federation, free trade and Manifest Mandate will all become a waste of effort.

That's why the Federation intervened in the war earlier than in history, and that's why the Federation chose to launch a surprise attack on the Ming Empire in the Pacific.

For Wilson, war and peace were both means to an end, and his goal was to ensure that the Federation of Colombia would one day ascend to the throne.

But now, President Wilson is so distraught that he just wants to end it all as soon as possible.

He is really tired.

First, there was the defeat suffered on the Silla Peninsula at the beginning of this year, with the Colombian Federation losing nearly 10 troops. The families of these soldiers are constantly lobbying and putting pressure on the government, demanding that President Wilson find a way to rescue their husbands and children.

If the initial internal conflicts were merely minor ailments, then the subsequent subtle attitudes of allies like Victoria and Gaul towards the Federation, and the significant reduction in war support after the defeat in Letania, chilled President Wilson's heart.

How did we provide you with aid in the early stages of the war? We gave you loans, we gave you weapons, and 75% of the expenses for the Victorian Empire's Somme campaign were paid by Colombia!

But all this was useless. President Wilson thought that as allies in the war, Victoria and Gaul would at least have some sense of propriety. Even if they wanted to betray him, they would at least wait until the war was over. However, after the fall of Letania, Victoria and Gaul clearly lost interest in the upcoming war against that great power in the East.

The Battle of the Bashi Channel, which just ended a few days ago, marked the complete failure of the Federation's southward strategy. In the past few days, the mutual accusations and insults between the Navy and the Army have reached a peak, and no one can be found to take responsibility for this failure.

Because the Federal Army and Navy, in their strategy for conquering Southeast Asia, actually achieved a miraculous situation where "everyone was in the right line of procedure and no one was held responsible for the failure."

Are you going to deal with McGiffin? Although McGiffin was not well-liked in the Navy before, and was even a bit too aloof due to his personality, after the Battle of the Bashi Channel, everyone in the Navy felt sorry for McGiffin. Because if the fighting continued, no one knew how much more loss there would be. Maybe they could win, or maybe it would be another victory in the Java Sea, but who could guarantee that they wouldn't be the loser?

He fought the Tang army to a standstill, and it was quite good that he brought back the vast majority of the ships, because the Federation Navy had long believed that the southward campaign had exceeded the current offensive limits of the Federation Army.

If you want to punish McGiffin, the Navy will be the first to object. After all, the Navy had already sacrificed Admiral Benson for the greater good. And everyone knows that the last time the Surabaya Fleet escaped the encirclement, it was partly due to the weather and partly due to poor intelligence from the Colombian Federation. The Navy's fault can only be ranked third.

In the end, the Federation shamelessly declared themselves the victors of the naval battle, naturally to give an explanation to the country. But since they were already the victors, how could they punish the commander of the victorious side?

But if McGiffin isn't going to take the blame, who is Pershing? What was his status in the Union Army? Unless he was killed by a shell on the front lines and his reputation was ruined, even if President Wilson had MacArthur's guts, he wouldn't dare let Pershing take the blame.

Moreover, at this point, it was clear to everyone that the southward campaign was no longer feasible. Those with even greater insight could see that the important thing now was not whether the southern front could be victorious, but how many of the troops that had already landed in Borneo could be evacuated.

In the National Assembly, many members also believed that we had already won the entire island of Yingzhou and were the winners in this war. The difference now was whether we won more or less, and it was time to know when to stop.

The problem is, how do we collect it now?

President Wilson felt a chill run down his spine at the thought of evacuating millions of people from Borneo.

Chapter 170 Crossing the Mountain Peak

The worst news for President Wilson is that he needs to find a way to evacuate more than one million people from Borneo, which is almost an impossible task given the current situation.

Although the Federal Navy's Third and Seventh Fleets under McGiffin's command still possess considerable strength and the ability to rival the Royal Navy of the Tang Dynasty, the lack of high-speed ships has left the Federal Navy in a passive position at present. It is almost wishful thinking to expect the navy to protect the army's complete withdrawal from Borneo.

After all, merchant ships are just too fragile. The susceptibility of civilian vessels to sinking is completely different from that of warships. Even if only some destroyers rush into the merchant fleet, they can cause heavy casualties in a short time, like weasels entering a chicken coop.

Moreover, the Federation suffered a major setback in a similar evacuation operation on the Silla Peninsula, where they only had to evacuate 100,000 people. Now, the number of people who need to be evacuated is more than ten times that.

The good news is that the Federal Navy is now more experienced in this area; the bad news is that business growth is outpacing experience growth.

Even if the federal troops in Borneo were to abandon all their weapons and supplies and use all their transport ships to carry people, according to current estimates, the throughput of Sandakan Port, even under the most ideal circumstances, could only sustain a maximum of 600-700 transport ships traveling back and forth continuously.

This is already the result of Sandakan's relatively good port conditions, and the Federal Army's continuous expansion of port facilities over the past year to support the increasing number of troops in combat.

"What I need to hear now, gentlemen, is the truth: how many troops can we actually withdraw from Borneo?"

In the Oval Office, facing President Wilson's question, the Secretary of the Navy and the Under Secretary of the Army exchanged unfriendly glances. Then, Under Secretary of the Army Hoffman gestured for him to proceed, and Secretary of the Navy Joseph Sims could only awkwardly step forward to answer:

"Your Excellency, we still have plenty of time. The front lines on Borneo remain stable, and the situation is not as dire as it seems. The army can gradually withdraw in shifts, shorten the front lines, and move its troops back to the northernmost part of Borneo. The navy will do its utmost to ensure the army's supply during this period. The troops that have withdrawn can then leave Borneo in order by empty ships."

"Minister Sims, do you want to hear what you're saying? What do you mean by saying the current front line is still stable so the situation isn't that bad? After the navy withdrew from the war zone, causing us to lose control of the sea, the coastal areas, which were originally our absolute advantageous areas, are now being handed over to us. The enemy has already begun to launch an offensive along the coastline, and our western flank is now facing enormous pressure!"

Furthermore, can the current navy guarantee our transport routes while ensuring the safety of the officers and soldiers on the evacuation ships? From the Yingzhou Islands to Borneo, at the current standard cruising speed of 12 knots for transport ships, it would take at least two days to arrive. Along the way, enemy attack ships and submarines would cause serious trouble for our transport ships. Can the navy cope with such a challenge?

The two sides held opposing views, and the sounds of arguing began to emanate from the Oval Office once again.

In the Oval Office today, the Secretary of the Navy began by stating from the Army's perspective that the war situation remains stable, while the Deputy Secretary of the Army directly refuted this from the perspective of naval sea transport.

This feels like the Pope has stopped reading the Bible and started reading the "Old Testament of the King James Version." President Wilson probably wanted to say, "Did you two pick up the wrong scripts?"

However, he knew that both sides were trying to shirk responsibility. The navy was saying that as long as they held firm, they would have a way to hold the line, while the army was saying that if the navy didn't show sincerity, they wouldn't be able to hold the line.

President Wilson, aware of the stakes involved, raised his hand to interrupt the argument and said to Sims, "Whether we can evacuate our lads as much as possible depends mainly on the Navy's efforts. Hoffman was right; distance is our greatest enemy. This is the fundamental reason why we were able to successfully evacuate troops from Busan but failed at Wonsan. Now, Borneo is even farther from Yeongju than Wonsan. Can our Navy guarantee the safety of shipping?"

“Your Excellency, we have already redeployed more than 70% of our destroyers and cruisers from the Atlantic Fleet. These warships will arrive in the Western Pacific theater over the next month.” Sims immediately replied, “The Navy will continue to do everything in its power as always.”

"Ha, to the best of their ability." Hoffman sneered. From the Army's perspective, the Navy's failure to fight to the end in the Battle of the Bashi Channel was cowardly! They didn't deserve to talk about to the best of their ability.

However, President Wilson knew that the Navy had indeed done everything it could—it had done everything it could without wiping out the main force of the fleet. Seventy percent of the destroyers and cruisers of the Atlantic Fleet had been transferred away, and it could be said that the Atlantic Fleet was almost drained. If the European war had not ended, such a transfer would have been unacceptable.

However, it should be noted that prior to this, in order to deal with the enemy's attack fleet, the Federal Navy had already drawn some cruisers and destroyers from the Atlantic Fleet. The so-called 70% force drawn now is what was left over from the previous draw.

It's been squeezed dry; there's really not a single drop left.

But with these troops, can the safety of shipping be guaranteed?

President Wilson himself knew that this was impossible, and that losses were unavoidable. The key now was to minimize the losses.

Seeing that His Excellency the President was not very satisfied with his answer, Sims continued, "We will learn from our experience in escorting ships in the Atlantic. In the upcoming transport and evacuation operations, all transport ships will depart in convoys. The Navy will divide the convoys into large convoys numbered BX and small convoys numbered SX."

By setting out in convoy form, we can statistically reduce the probability of encountering enemy attack ships and submarines. Furthermore, we will equip each convoy with a strong escort force. The number of large convoys will be determined according to the capacity limit of Sandakan, mainly consisting of large ships of 1 tons or more. Smaller convoys will mainly consist of merchant ships of 5000 tons. They will dock at a temporary pier in northern Borneo for loading and unloading, which will further improve our efficiency in resupply and evacuation.

Thanks to General McGiffin's previous strikes on the ports of southern Taiwan, the enemy will be unable to provide effective support to their attack fleets and submarines in several key ports in the south for the foreseeable future. This period will be a crucial golden window of opportunity for us.

It's clear that although relations between the Army and Navy are currently tense, the Navy has indeed done its best in this regard. Unless President Wilson tries to trade some overseas island of the Union for 50 old destroyers from the Britons, this is all the Navy can do for now.

After hearing Sims's words, the others in the Oval Office breathed a sigh of relief upon learning that there was still a golden window of opportunity for evacuation. However, upon closer reflection, they realized that McGiffin had also used the pretext of ensuring shipping safety to clear the ports of Taiwan first, thereby forcing the unprepared main force of the Tang fleet to engage in battle.

The biggest surprise of the Battle of the Bashi Channel was that some of the Tang warships that participated in the battle should not have completed major repairs so early. The Tang army deployed one and a half more battleship squadrons than the Federation army had expected, which was the fundamental reason why their battleships were able to hold out until the strategic cruiser fleet joined them.

In retrospect, did McGiffin foresee this unexpected turn of events? Was his attack on the southern ports of Taiwan a prelude to a decisive battle, or a prelude to his current retreat?

However, it is no use thinking about these issues now. What the Federal Army and Navy need to do now is exactly what Sims and Hoffman said to each other at the beginning: the Army should gradually shrink its battle lines and retreat steadily, while the Navy should strengthen escort to ensure transportation.

If all goes well, there is still hope of successfully withdrawing most of the troops.

After all, compared to the Dunkirk evacuation in another timeline, the fundamental reason why the Victorian and Gallic forces were in such dire straits was that the ground battlefield had been completely destroyed. At the time, everyone on the British Isles felt that the Leyte army's armored forces could crush the troops on the beach with just a little more acceleration.

Fortunately, the battle lines on both sides are still relatively stable. Although the morale of the Federation forces has been severely damaged, they can rely on their defensive positions and take turns retreating to shorten the battle lines... so there shouldn't be any problems, right?

Although no engineer named Edward Murphy has yet summarized Murphy's Law, just like gravity, the fact that Sir Richard Burgh did not discover it does not mean that it does not exist.

Just as President Wilson decided to end the meeting, the red telephone on his desk suddenly rang, the abrupt ringing causing everyone in the office to frown.

Everyone present instinctively knew that the news coming from the other end of the phone was definitely not good.

President Wilson frowned and slowly picked up the microphone. Then, everyone's intuition was confirmed by the expression on President Wilson's face.