"Do you mean to say that Russia will be removed from the list of reference countries under the two-power criterion, and Germany will be one of the new reference countries on a par with France?" Count Selburn asked, in fact, this is knowingly asking, the inclusion of Germany in the Royal Navy blacklist has its own part of the promotion, and Fisher also supports his own initiative. *.

"Yes, Russia is indeed the third naval power in the world now, but its industrial capacity and shipbuilding level are lacking, and compared with Germany, the space and speed of development are far behind. Therefore, it was foreseeable that the Germans would overtake Russia as a maritime threat to the Royal Navy, as I mentioned four years ago. Fisher said.

"I know that you have always regarded Germany as a threat, and that you have openly supported Arnold's 'Copenhagen Plan', which has made His Majesty say that you are crazy." The Earl of Selborne said with a smile.

However, unlike the Earl of Selborn, who regarded Germany as an imaginary enemy for the sake of profit, Fisher's targeting of Germany was more pure, and he really believed that Germany's development would pose a threat to the Royal Navy, so he targeted Germany.

Germany was not the only one that Fisher had publicly called Britain an enemy, but his enthusiasm for preemptive strikes made him seem irrational.

Support for the "Copenhagen Plan" was only one of his many crazy ideas, in which he wrote in 1904 when he was commander of the Portsmouth base: "The commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, if he is bold enough, should tow the submarines from Malta to Toulon and let them sneak into the harbor before the war begins...... Everything is fair in war. The best way to declare war on an enemy is to sink their warship, and that's the first thing they should know about war. ”

It is no wonder that many people call Fisher a madman, but Fisher's attitude towards the Germans was very much in line with the needs of the Earl of Selborn, so he was somewhat indulgent in Fisher's attitude.

However, such reasons were not enough to convince others to exclude Russia from the reference country of the two-power criterion, regardless of the development potential of the Germans. Now the Russians are the third naval power, and they have just won a naval battle in the Far East, and more importantly, it is our allies who have suffered the defeat. The Earl of Selborne continued.

"It is true that the Russians are the third naval power in the world, but the only threat to the Royal Navy is the Baltic Fleet, the strongest of the three Russian fleets. However, this threat, I think, will soon cease to be ours, so that the German ocean fleet will become our new threat in the Atlantic. Fisher replied confidently.

"Will the Baltic Fleet cease to be a threat? Could it be that the fleet of the Russians will disappear out of thin air? John, what is the basis for this conclusion? The Earl of Selborne asked.

"Quite simply, because His Majesty the Tsar of Russia would order the Baltic Fleet to go to war in the Far East, and although I don't think it was a good idea, it is clear that His Majesty must have made up his mind, and not long ago he changed the name of the current Pacific Fleet to the First Pacific Fleet. And the Baltic Fleet was renamed the Second Pacific Fleet, and the purpose of such a move is already obvious. Fisher replied.

"Well, if the Russians really let their Baltic Fleet sail 10,000 nautical miles to the Far East, we can really breathe a sigh of relief." The Earl of Selburn laughed: "But speculation alone is not enough, and if you want others to accept your reasons, you will have to wait until those Russians really leave." ”

"I don't think we're going to wait long, the Russians are going to do this by reorganizing their fleet, and they haven't moved yet, maybe the Russians are waiting for the completion of the last few of their newest Borodino-class battleships, so that the newest and strongest Russian battleships can go to the Far East. It will make the fleet of the Russians look stronger. Fisher deliberately accented the word "looks."

Not long after the completion of the warship, which had not been completed by the crew and the ships, sailed tens of thousands of nautical miles to the Far East. Not to mention a breakdown halfway, even if it really arrives, how much performance can such a crew of such a battleship play?

Although Count Selborn is not a naval officer, he also understands this truth: "In any case, such a fleet still looks very deterrent in terms of size, and the Baltic Fleet and the Pacific Fleet are inferior." The Japanese are also difficult to parry.

But you're right, after the departure of the Baltic Fleet, there will be enough reason for us to remove Russia from the two-power criteria. The Earl of Selborn nodded.

"But in any case, this plan will not be implemented until the Russians are actually gone, although we can start preparing now. But whether the Russians go to the Far East or not, we are under tremendous pressure. Let's be honest with you. John, the navy's funding for the 1905~1906 fiscal year will not increase, and the navy will not be able to get more funds to expand its strength. The Earl of Selburn sighed and compromised himself to the Parliament, agreeing to reduce the amount of money for the navy.

"Really? This is to be expected, and there is no way for us to keep the Navy budget increasing as it did in previous years. Fisher was not surprised by this, he had foreseen this day early on.

"Yes, but the officers of the Admiralty Commission will certainly be unhappy with this, but the situation is like this, and they have to adjust their mentality and no longer say as before, 'This is the ideal plan, how can we get enough money to make it happen?' , but to say, 'That's all the money, how much we're going to squeeze out of it to win the war in the future.'" The Earl of Selborne said with some dissatisfaction.

"It's important to use limited funds to raise the strength of the army as high as possible, and that's what I've always advocated." Fisher echoed Selborn's words.

"That's why I'm coming to you, John, in the three-member committee, you claimed that as long as the navy and army can unify the budget, and at the same time use the principle of naval supremacy, you can save 30 percent, and at the same time increase the strength of the navy by 30 percent, and the strength of the army by 20 percent.

I believe you can do this, and I need you to solve the difficulties we are facing now. John, you should have a plan to achieve what you said, right? The Earl of Selborne asked.

"Of course, maintaining the supremacy of the Royal Navy in the defence system while saving money is the sole purpose of our reforms. And to achieve this, we need to carry out things like reform of the management structure, the elimination of obsolete ships, the redistribution and concentration of the fleet, the rebuilding of the naval reserves, and the reduction of non-essential expenditures. In 1903, Fisher had already made a decision for Fisher in a personal letter saying that he would be able to make a significant reduction in funding while increasing combat efficiency.

However, the final service of this Qiē reform was still the new capital ship that Fisher had been thinking about, using the latest technology to give it unprecedented firepower and speed, but the high cost of such a capital ship was not acceptable to the current Royal Navy's financial situation.

Therefore, all the reforms should reduce the burden on the Royal Navy, optimize the financial situation, and finally build a fleet with the new capital ships as the core of its own vision, so that the Royal Navy, which has completed the technological innovation, can have a technology and efficiency that all opponents cannot reach when the country's economic conditions can afford it, so as to continue to maintain global sea power in the longer term.

The Earl of Selburn didn't care how Fisher could do it, he only cared if he could do it, so he was very happy to see that Fisher had an idea: "John, I have already discussed with Your Excellency Balfort that the three-member committee will be dissolved this month, and I want you to be ready to take on new work." ”

"Yes, Your Excellency." Hearing the new task, Fisher's face was straight, and he responded sternly.

"First of all, the Navy budget of 1905~1906 will not grow, I hope you will also work hard to make it able to reduce it, I need you to complete the Navy budget framework of 1905~1906, and then the Navy departments can improve the details, and we can achieve our goals within the framework."

"And in order to be able to accomplish this, we need to promote naval reform, and this requires a complete reform plan, so I want you to draw up a reform plan now." This plan is to be implemented immediately after the departure of Admiral Cole. His Majesty the King, Your Excellency the Prime Minister and I will give our full support.

In addition, I have compiled two working memoranda that you can add to your reform proposal. ”

Fisher took the two memoranda from the Earl of Selborn, flipped through them, and immediately realized the value of the two memoranda, and immediately said: "Please rest assured, Your Excellency, I will not let Your Majesty and the two Excellencies down. ”

Although the Earl of Selburn was not a soldier and had a bad personal relationship with Fisher, he spared no effort to support Fisher.

The two memoranda, one of which was to reorganize the Admiralty, to concentrate all the functions and powers of several sea ministers in the hands of the First Sea Minister, and to entrust many decisions to one person, was to establish a strong authority in the Navy's institutions.

The second memo was about the ideas of a technological revolution, fleet reorganization, officer selection, and so on, many of which were integrations of the ideas that Fisher had previously proposed.

These two memoranda are a strong support for Fisher's future work, and it can be said that the whole mind is tailor-made for Fisher.

In the summer of 1904, Fisher was busy again, and the short, energetic general, who wrote letters with almost more exclamation points than full stops, was about to bring the greatest and most radical revolution to the British Navy in more than 100 years. (To be continued......)