"Your Excellency, there is no solution." Fisher bit his lip, he knew he was crazy, but now was the best time to execute this crazy plan.

"What is it? John? Sir Bannerman came to his senses at once, and the rest of the room was equally focused on Fisher.

"Your Excellency, this is the Copenhagen plan I once mentioned, to completely destroy the new battleships of the German Navy before they become combat-ready!" Fisher's expression was a little excited, and his words were a little fanatical.

"John! You are crazy?! Sir Bannerman said the same thing as Edward VII had said.

"Your Excellency, this is our only chance! The 4 battleships of the German Navy are now 3 in the North Sea and 1 in the Mediterranean, scattered in two places, and they have just been completed, according to German tradition, they need to undergo 6 months of training before they can officially join the combat sequence, so now the new battleships of the Germans are not threatening, and the Royal Navy is now strong enough to completely destroy the Germans! Fisher said eagerly.

"As long as the Germans don't go to sea to fight us, we can't annihilate them! And the place where their warships are trained is the Baltic! There is no point in attacking Wilhelmshaven, the Germans can wait for their battleships to form a fighting force before counterattacking! Bannerman retorted.

"However, the battleship in the Mediterranean can't pass Gibro at all, which one is stronger? As long as she dares to sail out of the Otto Langte Strait, our Mediterranean fleet can pinch her to death! And the 3 battleships in the North Sea were not at all an opponent of the Royal Navy, which had an absolute numerical superiority! The later we get our hands dirty, the less advantage we have! Fisher said angrily.

"Enough! John! Sir Bannerman reprimanded: "But what is the cost of destroying the German navy once and for all?" It's not just your Royal Navy war! If there is a war, it will be a war for the entire British Empire! We put pressure on Germany because we want to support the French! If the Germans and the French had not gone to war, then we would have no reason to intervene!

And if we go to war with the Germans first, then the French will not be obliged at all! We are supporting France and Germany in the war, not us in the war with Germany, and France watching the drama from the sidelines! If so, what's the point of our war? His Majesty the King, neither the parliament nor the people will agree to such a stupid war! ”

"The Germans are demonstrating." Gray said, with some helplessness in his words: "If it is only announced that they have new battleships, it is impossible to complete all four battleships on the same day." However, the four battleships were deliberately made public on the same day, and they were publicized in a high-profile manner, obviously with their political intentions, and they were demonstrating against us. ”

"I know, but the Germans did have an effect." Sir Bannerman smiled wryly: "Even we find the situation difficult, let alone the people? And the public, who did not know the truth, would obviously blame the navy that gave the Germans an advantage. The other side will also protest against our policy of going to war with the Germans for the sake of France. And the person who caused this is ourselves. ”

"What do you mean, Your Excellency? If Germany and France go to war, aren't we ready to go to war? Gray asked, "But to do so would be tantamount to our treachery, and our diplomatic credibility would be severely damaged." ”

"Now the initiative to go to war is not in our hands, it is France and Germany, not us, that decide whether Britain will enter the war, and if Germany and France go to war, we will still have to fulfill our obligations." Bannerman said helplessly.

There was an awkward silence in the room again, and the feeling of being led by the nose made the cabinet members of the British Empire feel extremely depressed.

"In other words, if the French can be the first to make concessions, will we be able to get out of this predicament?" Herbert as Chancellor of the Exchequer? Henry? Asquith naturally did not want a war. The money bags of the British Empire are tight enough.

"But the French have our support to dare to take a tough stance on Morocco, and De Carcey is now using our promises to convince the French government." Gray said helplessly.

"Then we'll let De Carcer step down and let Rovier negotiate with the Germans." Asquith said that he did not want to take responsibility and did not want to be blamed, and the Briton had already sold the skills of his teammates.

"It should be feasible for our media to exaggerate the consequences of a war and let the French know about it. Even if we entered the war, the French Army would pay a terrible price in the face of the German Army's attack. There was even a fiasco in the Battle of Sedang.

The numerical superiority of the German Navy's new battleships, even if the combined fleet of the British and French navies could defeat them, would suffer heavy losses, the Royal Navy was so large that such losses could be bearable, but the French Navy, which had just been rebuilt on the right track, would be destroyed.

And the reason for this was because of De Carcer's own hatred of Germany. It was his personal sentiments that were trying to drag France into the war.

Such propaganda would have terrified the population in France who were already afraid of the German invasion. Rovière's power in the French government was not weak, and as long as the French people were against De Carce, then Rovier could suppress De Carce. So that our purpose has been achieved. "As foreign secretary, Gray has long been accustomed to playing this kind of political tricks.

De Carcer's only reliance was on the promise of the British, who backed him to now be on par with Rovière. But with a little extra weight on Rovier, De Carce's end is over.

In this way, not only will our diplomatic credibility not be damaged, but on the contrary, although there will be no war between Germany and France, the contradictions between Germany and France will continue to deepen, and no matter how much Rovière hopes to ease the contradictions, the current aggressive attitude of the Germans will be difficult for the French to accept. As long as we convince the French that Britain will be on the side of France if Germany and France go to war, the French will have to rely on us even more. Gray said.

"So let's do it." Sir Bannerman nodded, he couldn't think of a better way now, after all, it was best for him to avoid war if it could be avoided.

"Yes, Your Excellency Prime Minister." Gray nodded.

"Also, what John said about the new German ships, I hope to be read in tomorrow's newspapers, I don't want tomorrow's newspapers to be full of headlines where we marvel at the numerical superiority of the Germans, and we can't make the people lose confidence." Sir Bannerman commanded.

"Yes, Your Excellency Prime Minister."

"Then let's get here today." Sir Bannerman said with some weariness.

"Your Excellency the Prime Minister, Your Excellency the Chancellor of the Exchequer, I still have something to say." Fisher began: "This has to be supported by both of them. ”

"Anything else? John? Sir Bannerman asked.

"Yes, Your Excellency Prime Minister, the Parliament's budget for 1907-1908 approved plans for the construction of three improved battleships of the Bellerophon-class battleships, which were more powerful than the Dreadnought and Bellerophon-class battleships because of their more powerful 12-inch, 50-diameter naval guns, and were capable of completely overwhelming the German battleships.

So we are not worried about the performance of the ships, but in terms of numbers they are too few! Although the Germans originally put on a show, they told us about their next battleship construction plan! They will immediately continue to work on 4 new battleships, which should be an improved version of the German class, and the performance will definitely be improved.

As a result, we have one less newly built battleship than the Germans! If this continues, the gap between us and the Germans will get bigger and bigger! We must increase the number of battleships built! The number of new ships built must be increased to 6! ”

The lion's big mouth scared everyone for a long time without reacting, and the first reaction was Asquith who was in charge of the money bag: "John, are you crazy?!" The Royal Navy was reformed and reorganized to save money! For your three armored cruisers, which cost up to £1,700,000 each, the cost of naval shipbuilding in 1905-1906 was £9,980,000! £1,610,000 less than the Navy budget of 1904-1905! We can finally feel the benefits of the reform now, but you are asking for an increase in the construction program of 3 battleships?

You must know that in 1906-1907, 3.3 million of the Navy's 9 million pounds of shipbuilding funds were used to build those 3 battleships, and now if we add 3 more, then our shipbuilding expenses will exceed 12.3 million pounds! This will be unprecedented in the history of the Royal Navy! So what's the point of the Royal Navy reform?! ”

"Your Excellency, if it weren't for those damned Germans, I wouldn't have made such an embarrassing request, and the budget for naval shipbuilding in 1907-1908 was only £7,800,000! This is exactly the concession that the Royal Navy has made in order to alleviate the financial pressure!

And yet now it is the damned Germans who are forcing us to increase the number of ships! The reality now is that the number of our new battleships is falling behind, and we must chase this gap back! The Royal Navy cannot tolerate the loss of superiority at sea! The British Empire cannot allow the Royal Navy to lose its superiority at sea! His Excellency the Earl of Selborne once said: 'All the expenses of this country are in maintaining its bank credit and its navy. Fisher exclaimed, "Since we have avoided intervening in a war, let us use the funds for the war to strengthen our ability to win the war!" We must regain numerical superiority before the completion of the newly built battleships of the Germans! (To be continued......)

ps: ps: Historically, from 1889 to 1910, the Royal Navy spent the most on shipbuilding in 1904-1905 at £11,593,649, followed by 1903-1904 at £11,377,505 and R1292