"Don't risk it! Don't take any chances! Fisher, this old stubborn! Churchill snorted and walked into his office in Whitehall, grumbling at Prince Battenberg, who was waiting for him in his office.

"Your Excellency the Prime Minister didn't agree with your proposal." Prince Battenberg saw Churchill's indignant look on his face and knew he had hit the nail in the coffin with Prime Minister Asquith.

"That's right, Your Excellency the Prime Minister is against it." Churchill was full of resentment, but this resentment was not directed against Asquith, who opposed his proposal, but at his invitation to return as First Sea Lord: "Fisher, that old stubbornness, even he objected!" Which old bastard said he was going to sink the German Navy in the harbor in the first place? Now he's here saying he doesn't need to take any risks?! ”

Churchill looked at Prince Battenberg and said with some regret: "Fisher's old stubbornness must have deliberately disagreed with me because of what happened at the beginning!" Luis, you shouldn't have resigned in the first place! ”

It was Churchill's ghost idea that brought Fisher down from the position of First Sea Lord, and Churchill himself understood that with Fisher's temper, he should not throw himself face in front of the entire cabinet, and that he could not get off the stage was already enough respect for himself as a naval minister. And in this time of war, he had to ask this thorn with great prestige in the Royal Navy to come back as the First Sea Lord. In front of Prince Battenberg, the former First Sea Minister, who was also stubborn and had been working very well with him, Churchill couldn't help but complain.

"I must avoid suspicion, what will the people think of Great Britain, the most powerful force against Germany, and the First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy is a German nobleman?" Prince Battenberg said with some emotion: "And I am too old to bear the pressure of war, doubts from the outside world, and the eyes of my family. ”

"Winston, Jericho has just taken command of the Grand Fleet. He needs time to get familiar with the work and perfect his preparation. And he also needs his strategic and tactical thinking to be recognized by the cabinet, to establish his own authority, to determine his own command, and Fisher, of course, has to support him. Prince Battenberg helped Fisher to say a fair word, and then said it. Jericho is a key member of the Fisher Gang, and now he is in such a pivotal position as the commander of the Grand Fleet, is it possible that Fisher doesn't support him?

"He supports Jericho, who will support me? It's almost noisy outside! All the people in Britain were asking me, 'When will the Royal Navy take revenge on the Germans?' ', 'Is the Royal Navy afraid of the enemy and avoids war?' How do you ask me to answer? 'As long as the Royal Navy stays in the harbor and does nothing, the Germans will surrender on their own'?! Churchill grumbled bitterly.

"I agree that we should do something about it now, but that suggestion is outrageous." Prince Battenberg shook his head, he knew what the character of the Admiral in front of him was, although it was indeed for Great Britain. It's for the sake of the Royal Navy, but he always likes to make big news to attract people's attention: "Shell the German coastline, force the German Navy to come out for a decisive battle, and then destroy all German maritime power in one fell swoop." I know you're hoping for a Trafalgar-style victory......"

"Great Britain wants a Trafalgar-style victory." Churchill interjected.

"Well, Great Britain wants a Trafalgar-style victory." Prince Battenberg took over: "But it's really too risky, if the Royal Navy of Trafalgar loses, what will be the result?" Your idea, I said at the beginning that it was impossible to get approval. What the Royal Navy needs now is some sound planning. Achieve some small victories to dispel the effects of previous defeats. ”

Jericho said that the main force of the Grand Fleet should always maintain deterrence unless necessary. And not on combat duty! The Grand Fleet is not dispatched, how can it still achieve victory? Churchill snorted coldly.

"The Royal Navy doesn't have just one big fleet." Prince Battenberg pointed to Churchill's desk: "The message you sent before you returned." ”

Churchill grabbed the news on the table and looked at it quickly: "The main forces of the German Far East Fleet have left the Philippines and Qingdao? ”

"That's right, the Ron and Emden did not arrive at Subic after leaving Qingdao, and the Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Kolburg also left Subic shortly after, and their whereabouts are now unknown." Prince Battenberg tapped his fingers on the armrest of the chair: "They are a great threat. ”

"Threatening?" Churchill was somewhat surprised: "We have 12 battleships in the Far East, and the Germans cannot pose any threat to us." ”

"But those are former dreadnoughts with a speed of less than 20 knots. They can't catch up with the Germans. Prince Battenberg shook his head, not only that he couldn't catch up, although there were many capital ships of the Far East Fleet, there were not many high-speed ships, and it was difficult to find a small fleet of Germans in the vast sea. And even if they do, it will be difficult to confront the German armored cruisers: "It is very likely that the Germans will enter the Indian Ocean, and our capital ships will not be able to catch up with them, and they will be able to do whatever they want in the Indian Ocean." And this fleet is the main force of the Far Eastern Fleet, if we can annihilate them all......"

"Then we can advertise that the Royal Navy has completely annihilated the German Far East Fleet!" Churchill's eyes suddenly lit up: "This can also give an explanation to the people." 3 armored cruisers, 2 light cruisers, such a result is not small! ”

"So you have to strengthen the cruiser fleet in the Indian Ocean region, it's useless to rely on those former dreadnoughts." Not long after his resignation, Prince Battenberg was still very clear about the fleet of the Royal Navy: "Now the only armored cruiser that can fight the Germans in the Far East is the armored cruiser of the Chinese detachment, the armored cruiser Minotaur of the Chinese detachment, the defense is now in the Mediterranean fleet, and she can quickly reach the Far East from Alexandria through the Suez Canal, she has been stationed in the Chinese detachment for two years, and now there is no problem at all to operate with the Minotaur." The Shannon is now in the Grand Fleet's 2nd Cruiser Squadron, and it will take a long time to get to the Far East, so you need to move quickly. ”

"I'm going to negotiate with that old stubborn Fisher again, and I don't know what kind of face that old stubborn will put on to show me, and mobilize the armored cruisers of the Grand Fleet." Churchill's face was bitter again.

At this time, Johenwan in Charlottenburg Palace never imagined that in order to avoid the Far East Fleet not even having the ability to escape in the face of the Royal Navy's battle cruisers, he strengthened the combat effectiveness of the Scharnhorst-class, but at this time, he invited the Minotaur-class armored cruisers, a strong enemy that had been missed in history, at the beginning.

"An ultimatum to us from the Japanese?" Jochen said with some mocking sarcasm: "After we started the war with France and Russia, these yellow-skinned monkeys have been ready to move, and they can actually endure until now before giving an ultimatum?" The British must have been happy to have such an obedient dog. ”

"What Your Majesty said is that it is just a dog of the British, and now that the dog is in a situation, he shamelessly asks us to transfer Jiaozhou Bay to them free of charge, and claims that he is ready to return it to the Qing State in the future." Holwig taunted Jochen's tone.

"If the Japanese knew what we were going to do, would they be?" Tirpitz laughed from the sidelines.

"Jiaozhou Bay is gone, although it's a pity, but we really can't hold it now, but the Philippines can't afford to lose." Jochen put away the smile on his face and asked Goltz seriously, "How is the defense of the Philippines prepared?" ”

"A brigade originally stationed in Qingdao has now been reorganized in the Philippines, and we originally stationed 1 integrated division and 2 backbone divisions in the Philippines, and the dismantling and filling of this brigade into 2 backbone divisions, plus the Qing laborers who have now been conscripted as soldiers, we now have 3 divisions in the Philippines." Goltz said with a smile: "Those Qing laborers are very hard-working, as long as they are trained, they can become good soldiers, the Qing country has so many soldiers, but the level of the army has not been very good, it is really a waste." ”

"They gave us 100,000 soldiers this time, and we have to thank them." Jochen said with a smile.

Due to a series of butterfly effects, especially the absence of the invasion of China by the Eight-Nation Alliance, the Manchu Dynasty is still struggling to survive. However, this was not a bad thing for Germany, after the possession of the Philippines, the value of Jiaozhou Bay to Germany was greatly reduced, so Jochen decided to abandon Jiaozhou Bay and make every effort to keep the Philippines without objection.

However, the significance of this to the Manchu government was different, the Germans returned Jiaozhou Bay ahead of schedule, which was a great achievement that the Manchu government could boast about, and the "great cause" of "recovering mountains and rivers" would greatly strengthen the authority of the government, which was great news for the Manchu Qing who were still alive. Germany opened its mouth in exchange for 100,000 laborers to be shipped to the Philippines, who could be turned into soldiers if necessary. As a result, it was not easy for the Japanese to capture the Philippines.

Goltz was full of confidence in holding the Philippines, but Tirpitz was a little sad: "The main force of the Far East Fleet has all left the Philippines, and now there are only 2 American Eagle-class small cruisers left in the Philippines, and the destroyers originally stationed in Qingdao have all returned to the Philippines, a total of 8 destroyers form a complete destroyer fleet, and there are several S-1 high-speed torpedo boats, which are all the ships of the Far East Fleet at present, and there is no way to stop the landing of the Japanese Navy with such strength." ”

"This is also something that cannot be helped, even if the main force of the Far East Fleet stays in the Philippines, it will not play any role." Jochen didn't want the Japanese to use Kongo-class battlecruisers to capture the Spey fleet, so it was wiser to hurry away: "Then do you know the actions of the Far East Fleet after leaving the Philippines?" ”

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but in order to ensure that the fleet's movements will not be discovered, the Far East Fleet has not contacted us." Tirpitz shook his head.

"No news is the best news."

Saying this, Jochen would not have expected that soon Spee would make big news. (To be continued.) )