Seven Seas Beacon Fire

Sa Dingming was silent for a moment, then he posed his final question: "But neither of these ships has undergone full-scale sea trials yet. Most of our seven operational capital ships are battlecruisers. Although the Longyuan is designed to be a fast battleship with a speed of 27 knots, it uses a new generation of boilers designed for cruisers during construction. Its reliability at full power is questionable..."

“General, you need not worry about this,” Li Che interrupted him. “In this operation, the two Longyuan-class battleships do not need to pursue at full speed. The two ships need to maintain a speed of 20 knots, and at most show a speed of 23 knots. And here I also have a personal suggestion.”

"What advice?"

"That is, in public, future Longyuan-class battleships should not travel at a speed exceeding 23 knots when there are other ships in the vicinity. In our publicity, we should also declare that the maximum speed of all Longyuan-class battleships is 23 knots."

"Your Highness means... to make the outside world believe that the Dragon Abyss is a traditional battleship?"

"By Colombian standards, it's considered a fast battleship."

Li Che told a corny joke that laymen might not understand, and Sa Dingming couldn't help but smile. After all, the Federation Navy's new generation of 16-inch gun battleships was touted by the Federation Navy itself as "fast battleships," but this thing only had a little over 6 horsepower and a speed of only 23 knots. Could other countries call this a fast battleship? Only 0.5 knots faster than the Bavarian?

However, the Colombians felt that this thing was two knots faster than the standard battleship's 21 knots, and for this reason, they were ridiculed by industry professionals from other countries.

After laughing, Sa Dingming still didn't quite understand.

Why would you disguise a high-speed ship as a low-speed ship?

Chapter 183 The Ingenious Use of Reverse False Labeling

Throughout history, the phenomenon of false labeling has been common in the weapons and equipment of various countries, both ancient and modern. In ancient times, many swords and early bronze cannons, iron cannons, and firearms suffered from various quality control or processing problems during the production stage. This was especially true in the case of the Central Plains dynasties in the East, where the size of the army was much larger than that of the feudal lords in the West at the same time. The requirement for large-scale production outweighed the performance of individual weapons, so the reduction of weapon performance and the false labeling of weapon specifications became a common phenomenon.

After entering the industrial age, due to the progress in manufacturing processing capabilities and the improvement of management levels, the phenomenon of falsely advertised weapons in various countries has naturally been greatly alleviated. Even in this period, the differences in the rate of fire of firearms or artillery were more due to the differences in users, rather than the weapons failing to meet the claimed specifications.

But soon, Hayek's powerful influence led some shrewd arms dealers to start thinking crookedly.

As is well known, for almost all large countries with large armed forces, the weapons and equipment deployed by their forces are often not the best, but rather the lowest bids from among the bidding manufacturers.

Of course, at this point, the false claims about weapons and equipment began to become more sophisticated and professional.

For example, the Gallic 75 claims a maximum rate of fire of 30 rounds per minute, but this rate of fire can only be achieved at the maximum elevation angle. This is because in this state, after the breech is opened, the shell casing will automatically eject under the influence of gravity. Therefore, in the case of horizontal firing, the rate of fire will drop to a maximum of about 15 rounds per minute.

For example, a certain military gaming powerhouse developed an advanced medium-range air-to-air missile that, despite using a grid tail fin, still boasts a range of 70 kilometers, comparable to other similar air-to-air missiles. However, the other missile's range is achieved at an altitude of 1 meters, while this missile's range is achieved at an altitude of over 2 meters. As we all know, the higher the altitude, the thinner the air, the less drag the missile experiences, and the longer its range. But let's just say it's not 70 kilometers.

For example, in another world, three third-generation main battle tanks from three East Asian countries in the 21st century have frontal lateral protection ranges of less than 15 degrees or even less, while other mainstream third-generation main battle tanks have lateral protection ranges of 30 degrees. They achieve seemingly good protection on paper by reducing the effective range of their frontal fan-shaped protection...

Similar situations have occurred to varying degrees in the equipment development of various countries. Some are due to the need for commercial promotion of weapons, some are due to the military's lack of mandatory requirements for stricter indicators, and finally, countries like the Land of Light and Persia use a certain degree of exaggerated data to deter hypothetical enemies from the perspective of their own national defense security.

In most cases, the performance of weapons and equipment is unlikely to exceed their stated specifications. After all, if any piece of equipment could possibly achieve such capabilities, the manufacturer would normally choose to publish the data.

However, there are always exceptions. In the history of the development of human weapons and equipment, there have indeed been some instances of falsely advertising the performance of technical equipment. Among these, the most impressive and influential example is probably the two Nagato-class fast battleships of the old Japanese navy.

When the two Nagato-class battleships were first built, they were considered high-speed battleships for their time, thanks to their speed of 26 knots. This speed was faster than that of Queen Elizabeth, and in fact, it was two knots faster than the average speed of the Federation's battleships at the time. It was also five knots faster than the Federation's standard battleships, and only one knot slower than the four Kongo-class battlecruisers in their own fleet. The maximum speed of the Kongo-class battlecruisers at that time was only 27 knots.

However, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) did not publicly declare that Nagato was a fast battleship. They claimed that Nagato's speed was 23 knots, which was in the same class as their battleships, the Izu and Ise.

The reason why the IJN is playing tricks on this issue is ultimately because of the treaty. Although the treaty only stipulates the tonnage of warships and the caliber and number of guns that each country can retain, it does not impose any restrictions on the speed of warships.

However, because the ship was rushed to completion in Japan, and the country claimed that the battleship was built with donations from elementary school students in Japan, it would be impossible to explain to the public if it were dismantled. Therefore, while Japan retained the ship, Britain and the United States were granted the tonnage to build two additional warships equipped with 16-inch guns.

Let's suppose that IJN hadn't concealed the tonnage in the first place, what kind of impact would that have had?

The most significant impact was undoubtedly on the two Nelson-class battleships. The British chose the Nelson-class battleship design from among a group of three battleship designs. The most direct and fundamental reason was that the Royal Navy of Victoria was confident in the world's most powerful vanguard fleet at the time—the world-renowned HMS Hood battlecruiser, the two Renown-class battleships also equipped with 15-inch guns, and finally, the Tiger-class battlecruiser.

With the world's largest and strongest four battlecruisers, the Royal Navy of Victoria had absolute confidence in its advantage of high-speed ships! After all, the four Kongo-class ships had not yet undergone the last major upgrade and refit in history before the war, and the four ships combined could not possibly compare with the Royal Navy of Victoria's vanguard fleet.

But what if we add two more long gates?

Although the Nagato-class battleships were initially considered inferior ships, to outsiders, the Admiral-class battlecruisers, despite their more attractive appearance, seemed to have a significant advantage in terms of size (15-inch vs. 16-inch). After acquiring two Nagato-class battleships, Japan effectively became the country with the largest number of fast battleships in the world.

If the British realize they have no advantage in fast ships, the Royal Navy of Victoria will likely opt for two battlecruisers instead of the original two Nelsons.

The Royal Navy of the Tang Dynasty is now in a situation somewhat similar to that of the IJN in history—who is the world's largest and most powerful vanguard fleet now?

The British could have won by virtue of their powerful, heavily armored Renown-class battleships, but if the mass-produced Longyuan-class battleships were to enter service at this time, the balance of power between the two sides in terms of fast ships would uncontrollably shift away from the Royal Navy of Victoria.

Considering the crucial role high-speed ships could play in the next world war, Li Che would naturally prefer that when naval treaties are signed in the near future, other countries continue to build traditional slow battleships rather than choose to build a high-speed capital ship.

Neither the Nagato nor the Ryubuchi have a particularly significant aspect ratio; their ratio of around 7 provides an excellent opportunity for these two capital ships to disguise themselves as slow-moving vessels.

In short, while all countries are still focusing their main efforts on the ongoing war, Li Che has already begun laying the groundwork for future treaty signings.

This illustrates the difference in strategic vision between a time traveler and the natives of this time and space.

Sa Dingming was eventually persuaded. After all, this matter was not very difficult. It was like the joke Li Che had encountered in another world about the ship girl game: Why is there a speed barrier in this map? Can't my high-speed squadron drive a little slower?

In this way, the most crucial part of the entire plan was resolved, and the two main battleships of the Dragon Abyss began their final overtime and overload construction. For these two large ships, they had less than a week left before the Colombian military's next transport convoy set sail.

Correspondingly, other main warships that planned to participate in this operation also began preparations for the operation.

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Tokugawa Akiko, accompanied by several young men from Yingzhou, knocked on Li Che's door. Back when Li Che left Yingtian Prefecture again, he had sent a message to Tokugawa Akiko, asking her to bring a few people from the Yingzhou navy who could relay the message to the present.

The Tokugawa Shogunate, which ruled the islands of Yingzhou for hundreds of years, has temporarily left the islands, but it has been rooted in that land for so many years and its influence is deep and complex. Even now, the Tokugawa Shogunate still has many secret channels to contact some hidden retainers who are still in the islands of Yingzhou.

While it's impossible to expect these people to plant bombs on the rudders of enemy capital ships behind enemy lines, they can still serve as intelligence liaisons within the current Yingzhou Navy.

From the very beginning, Li Che was well aware that the accuracy of intelligence was extremely important for this operation, and even more important was the subsequent manipulation of public opinion. All of this was inseparable from the help of the Tokugawa Shogunate. In fact, this was the most valuable asset the Tokugawa Shogunate could currently offer to the Tang Dynasty, and their role in this regard was irreplaceable.

After Li Che saw Mingzi leading these people in, he took the initiative to get up and go forward to greet these young people who were older than him.

These are the officers responsible for liaising with the current Yingzhou Navy who are still loyal to the Tokugawa Shogunate. There's not much to say about the Yingzhou Navy itself. Before the outbreak of this world war, the Yingzhou Navy and the Silla Navy regarded each other as their biggest hypothetical enemy. In the pre-dreadnought era, both sides were equipped with a small number of battleships and armored cruisers.

However, after entering the era of dreadnoughts, the ever-increasing cost of modern warships made both countries choose to temporarily back down – not that they really couldn't afford them, but that with the Ming Dynasty protecting them, why should they spend so much money to build a navy?

Therefore, until the outbreak of war, both navies were small and efficient maritime forces with cruisers and destroyers as their main combat force.

This was probably the first time these young men from the Tokugawa Shogunate had received such hospitality from members of the royal family of the superior nation. Although the Li family was not as prestigious as the Zhu family in this regard, the Li Jin Prince's Mansion was still a very well-known name. For these young men from Yingzhou, Li Che's identity was something they had never dared to dream of before.

When such people meet and chat with you for a few words, they not only take the initiative to ask about your well-being, but also directly express their welcome to settle down in the Tang Dynasty. Those who carry out such missions can basically be called suicide soldiers. Li Che successfully shortened the distance between the two sides with just a few words.

It just goes to show how naive people are these days.

"How many of you are still inside Yingzhou?"

"There are probably over a thousand people like us in total."

One of the young men's words surprised Li Che somewhat. He had thought there would be at least a few dozen people like this, but he didn't expect there to be so many. Of course, these people were not like the assassins trained by the Silk Guard during the Gaopingling Incident, but the fact that they were still willing to work for the Tokugawa Shogunate showed how popular the Tokugawa Shogunate was in Japan.

After learning more details about where these thousand-plus people were located in Yingzhou, Li Che felt a surge of happiness. Although more than half of them were on Kyushu Island, with these people, while they certainly couldn't match the Jinyiwei's intelligence network in Yingzhou in terms of the timeliness of intelligence transmission, their ability to transmit messages and spread "rumors" was unparalleled by ordinary intelligence personnel.

Just as people enter the mountains and hear the roar of a tiger before seeing it, Li Che's first task for them was to spread rumors about the Longyuan-class battleships.

The two giant ships will set sail tomorrow for their first sea trial. After the trial, they will rendezvous with the navy's main fleet and then intercept the Colombian military's transport convoy.

What they had to do was bring back the rumor that "fishermen encountered Tang Dynasty's new warships at sea" and spread the news within the Yingzhou Navy.

Such news would certainly alert the Colombian army. What Li Che wanted was for them to be hesitant to act rashly. What he needed to do now was to continuously increase the psychological pressure on the front-line officers and soldiers of the Colombian army. Then, when they actually encountered those two giant dragons at sea, the pressure accumulated from the rumors would overwhelm their ability to make accurate decisions.

Chapter 184 I received much help from Mingzi.

“I have received much help from Mingzi.”

After watching the two shogunate warriors who were about to depart for the main island of Yingzhou leave, Li Che turned around with a sigh and looked at Tokugawa Akiko standing to his side.

At first, Li Che only regarded this Japanese girl as a political marriage arranged by his grandfather. He treated this little princess of the shogunate as a typical "long black-haired young lady" image from Japanese anime or TV dramas. Tokugawa Akiko's previous behavior did give people the feeling of a well-behaved girl. He just did not expect that Tokugawa Akiko could bring him such a big surprise.

When Tokugawa Akiko said she had a way to help him, to be honest, perhaps because he had watched too many anime in another world, Li Che's first thought was of magic like a beautiful girl's lap pillow that could restore one's energy.

Ahem, don't laugh. Other transmigrators grew up in another world and then came to this world to live two lives. Although Li Che has accumulated a wealth of knowledge and experience by relying on two worlds, he is still just a boy who is not yet 20 years old. It is normal for him to be a little naive.

Unexpectedly, this Japanese girl was truly a hidden talent, bringing me such a big surprise.

On the surface, this surprise mainly stemmed from the Tokugawa Shogunate's unique advantages and special connections, enabling them to accomplish things on the intelligence front that the Embroidered Uniform Guard's network could not, thus contributing to the Tang Dynasty's victory.

On the other hand, at this critical juncture, the Tokugawa Shogunate suddenly demonstrated its capabilities to him... It should be noted that behind this capability lies an intelligence agency independent of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Although this agency is not as large as the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and although it had already suffered heavy blows before, it is, after all, a remnant of the intelligence agency built by the Tokugawa Shogunate, which once controlled the entire island of Japan, with the full power of the nation. As the saying goes, even a starved camel is bigger than a horse; from his personal perspective, this is nothing short of a gold mine.

To use an imperfect analogy, in a scenario like the struggle for the throne among the nine princes, would a particular prince acquire a small-scale organization like the Sticky Rod Office? (Don't ask me why I didn't use the Ming Dynasty as an example, because the succession to the throne in the Ming Dynasty was either almost entirely free of contention or decided entirely on the battlefield through the Jingnan Succession Law.)

Although Tokugawa Akiko still acts like a well-behaved girl in front of him, Li Che certainly doesn't see Tokugawa Akiko as just a well-behaved girl.

The Tokugawa shogunate seems to have placed all their hopes on him. This is likely due to the series of victories on the front lines and his performance recently, which has given them confidence. Regarding the olive branch extended by the Tokugawa shogunate, Li Che...

It's impossible to refuse!

Yes, he didn't want it to be like this, but the other party's asking price was just too high.

Such a small intelligence agency could provide him with a lot of help. Although his two uncles were currently considered to be "close relatives," one should always be wary of others. Putting aside his third uncle, his second uncle's military resume was quite impressive. It was unknown where this uncle's potential was, but based on his experience dealing with this uncle over the years, his minimum potential was at least that of a MacArthur.

Don't think this is a denigration. MacArthur's military abilities were indeed average, but overall he was definitely above average and not mediocre. He also had his highlights, such as the Inchon Landing. Moreover, if you don't see MacArthur as a soldier but as a politician, you will find that MacArthur was actually a top-notch politician.

However... no one likes dealing with MacArthur, and Lee Che was no exception.

Tokugawa Akiko's feelings were somewhat complicated at this moment. Although one should not expect too much love in a political marriage, the attitude that Tokugawa Akiko had shown in front of Lee Che was not entirely a pretense from a career perspective.

Just as a girl will dress up specially when she sees a boy she likes, or even a tyrannical man from Sichuan or Chongqing will speak softly and gently, Tokugawa Akiko was actually quite satisfied with Li Che. In terms of status, he was the heir of the Li Jin Prince's Mansion of the Ming Dynasty and now he is the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty. On this planet, you can't find many truly high-quality men of this age who can compare with him in terms of status and position.

In terms of appearance, there is nothing to criticize. Not to mention that Li Dingguo was already handsome, Li Che was the one who rolled a leopard in terms of appearance before he was born, thanks to the genetic improvement of many generations of beautiful concubines.

As for ability... well, that's a matter of comparison. Tokugawa Akiko had met the Emperor and the Crown Prince, while we all know that's basically like trying authentic squirrel fish after tasting West Lake Fish in Vinegar Sauce...

Therefore, Tokugawa Akiko's previous attitude was genuinely intended to leave a good impression on the boy she liked. However, after today, Tokugawa Akiko also knew that Li Che would definitely no longer regard her as a simple and cute girl.

All of this was, of course, a decision made by the Tokugawa shogunate. As for why the shogunate seemed so eager for quick success, it was because the shogunate sensed a crisis.

The new dynasty's crown prince has gotten involved with the former dynasty's princess. What kind of scene hasn't my Tokugawa shogunate seen before? But this is something I've never seen before.

Faced with Zhu Miaoyun's identity and appearance, how could the Tokugawa Shogunate not panic?

“These are things that Akiko should do.”

After letting out a silent sigh, Tokugawa Akiko tried to cheer herself up. Although she longed to become true soulmates with the Crown Prince, based on their interactions over the past period, the relationship between the Crown Prince and the Princess seemed closer to that of soulmates. Tokugawa Akiko could sense that she could not possibly defeat Zhu Miaoyun in this regard.

Therefore, since she could not become his soulmate, she would become his irreplaceable and virtuous wife. Tokugawa Akiko believed that as long as she could excel in a certain area, she could become an indispensable part of the Crown Prince's life.

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"Have fishermen from Yingzhou encountered a new main warship of the Tang army that was undergoing sea trials?"

When McGiffin heard the news from his men, his first reaction to the staff officer who brought him the intelligence was—you actually believed this fake news that looks like a trap set by the enemy?

McGiffin had reason to reprimand the officers, because the intelligence sounded very unreliable. First of all, considering the vastness of the Western Pacific and the presence of submarines from both sides, it would be safer and more reliable to conduct sea trials in the Bohai or Yellow Seas for safety reasons. Colombian submarines generally do not go to these two places, because in such heavily guarded areas, a single mistake could easily lead to the entire crew collectively starting a second cycle of life.

While fishing boats sometimes travel to more distant places in pursuit of fish, most fishermen in Yingzhou fish in the coastal waters and use local wooden boats rather than the deep-sea steel-hulled fishing boats.

And then you, a group of fishermen, just sailed your boats and, with incredible luck, avoided all the Tang army's patrol lines, successfully reaching the Yellow Sea and even the Bohai Sea? And just by chance...

Have they spotted their new battleship undergoing sea trials?

How come you've encountered all the good luck in the world? Do you think I believe it or not?

“Sir, we have considered these issues as well.” The officer pointed to the document and said, “It seems that the fishing boat took the risk of entering in search of better fishing grounds.”

“Even so, I don’t believe that any captain of a civilian fishing boat could tell the difference between a new battleship and an old one.” McGiffin remained skeptical of the source of the information: “Normal fishermen shouldn’t even be able to distinguish between battleships and cruisers.”

"Sir, please take a look at the attached document." The staff officer said, "It's mainly because there happened to be a reporter on board who took some photos at the time. The clearest one is this one. After we developed it, we were able to see it clearly when we looked closely. There is a capital ship with four gun turrets in the distance, a type of warship we've never seen before."

McGiffin then realized that there was an accompanying picture. After just one glance, McGiffin was able to confirm from the unclear figure in the picture that it was definitely not a Haiqi-class battlecruiser.

Compared to previous warships, the superstructure is larger, the bow design language is significantly different from that of the main warships of the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy, and the new main guns are unprecedented... Clearly, this is the new generation of battleships that the enemy has been building, as repeatedly emphasized by intelligence agencies.

Judging from the situation in the photos, it seems that the sea trials have already begun.

Although McGiffin subconsciously felt that there was something fishy going on, countless people were already urging him on – the food the soldiers on the front lines were eating was hardly any better than pig feed, and the Colombian army was under immense pressure on its supply lines, which only increased McGiffin's pressure.

Especially now that they know the enemy's newest and strongest battleship will be able to join the battle fleet in a few months, it means that when this ship appears on the sea in a few months, the Colombian military will not be able to find any ships that can fight against it - the 16-inch gunboat under construction is not progressing as fast due to the production capacity of the guns.

Under such circumstances, will the Federal Navy still be able to rely on its influence to ensure the safety of maritime transport routes?

No, of course not.

Looking at the still somewhat blurry silhouette of the ship in the photo, McGiffin felt as if he were seeing a giant countdown, a death knell. But even the Lexington-class battlecruisers, which were the fastest to be built, were not expected to be completed until next summer.

It seems that all we can do now is try to improve transportation efficiency.

Thoughts on TGA in the group:

"The J-20S is definitely the fifth-generation fighter jet of the year!"

"While the J-20A and J-35 may not be groundbreaking, they are certainly qualified."

"The F35 Tr3 is also top-notch."

"The F-22 is at least starting to address its shortcomings, isn't it?"

"The Su-57 at least has an air-to-air combat record, right?"

"Although the future of the Kaan is uncertain, at least it resembles a fifth-generation fighter jet."

"No matter what, the KF21 has been developed in a down-to-earth manner."

"The Su-75 isn't entirely out of the question... the progress is quite significant."