The first to react was Count Ludendorff, who glanced at the pencil lines on the map on the table, stretched out his finger and pointed to the location of the Hawaiian Islands, and said: "This is really a very bold plan, and I have no objection to the capture of the Hawaiian Islands." ”

Then he traced the lines on the map with his hand, moved all the way to the location of San Francisco, frowned slightly, and shook his head a little unfavorably.

Colonel House also nodded and said, "Yes! I'm also the earl, the Hawaiian Islands are fine, San Francisco is a little too dangerous, after all, it's the mainland of the United States, and it's too far away, Rear Admiral Montoho, what do you think? ”

Montojo, the commander of the Spanish Asian fleet, leaned forward slightly, stared at the lines drawn by Gao Hongsheng on the map with his eyes, supported his chin with one hand, and drew back and forth with the lines drawn by Gao Hongsheng with the other hand, and then grabbed the pencil and marked the approximate nautical miles on each node on the map, and then began to move along the coastline with his fingers at the location of San Francisco, gently slid over the place names, and finally returned to San Francisco, raised his head and asked Gao Hongsheng: "Mr. Gao, What about the defense forces of the continental United States? ”

Gao Hongsheng chuckled lightly and said lightly: "According to my intelligence, the defense force of the West Coast of the United States can be described as nothing. The Americans arranged it like this. ”

After he finished speaking, he picked up the pencil on the table and found the Caribbean Sea on the map, and drew a circle there: "Rear Admiral Montojo, your Spanish home fleet is going to sail here, and they will be led by Rear Admiral Severa, who initially received the order to destroy the US naval base in Key West and then blockade the US coast." The forces he had at his disposal were, four armored cruisers and two destroyers.

Major General Montoho, do those ministers in your country have a problem with their brains? How did such a ridiculous order pass. ”

Gao Hongsheng chuckled mockingly, and Count Ludendorff and Colonel House also chuckled, making Major General Montohue's face a little black.

However, this order is indeed somewhat ridiculous, and the ironic thing is that it is the Spanish government's order that does not take it personally.

At that time, the United States had a new battleship of more than 11,000 tons that had just been put into service, the battleship Iowa, which was commissioned in June 1897, and now it has just been run-in, and it is a good time for the prime of life to contribute, and there are three 10,000-ton Indiana-class battleships, namely Indiana, Massachusetts and Oregon, of which the Oregon was transferred from the West Ocean of the United States to the East Coast after a voyage of more than 10,000 nautical miles, plus a second-class battleship of more than 6,000 tons, and finally a non-counting, The USS Tennessee, an offshore defense ironclad of the same class as the sinking USS Maine.

The Americans just compared these ships with those ships led by Cervela, it is simply an easy rhythm of hanging, this kind of self-indulgent order can be described as extremely ridiculous, and it is also the main reason for Gao Hongsheng's ridicule.

Ignoring Rear Admiral Montojo's dark face, Gao Hongsheng drew a line from Cape Verde to the Caribbean, which is the route that Severa will sail in the future, and then said: "Due to your domestic orders, I think that in the end Severa will follow this route to the Caribbean, where he will hide from the American fleet, but it would be quite good for him to get there, especially under the blockade of the Americans." ”

Gao Hongsheng nodded approvingly, Sevela's ability is quite good, he rushed to the windmill with a giant spear like Don Quixote, very brave, and at the same time he was very cunning, the game of cat and mouse was quite hilarious, which made the Americans have a headache for a while.

The corners of his mouth curled, and Gao Hongsheng continued: "According to intelligence, on April 29, Severa left Cape Verde, and before the start of the war, when the home fleet led by Severa set sail from Cadiz to Cape Verde on April 8, a war panic was triggered on the east coast of the United States. As a result, even if it was impossible for Severa to attack the East Coast of the United States, he attracted most of the forces of the United States Navy to the East Coast to defend and encircle the fleet he led. According to the latest intelligence, in addition to transferring most of the warships to the west coast, the Americans also deployed some of their old guns from the civil war period on the east coast to defend the fleet of Sevela. ”

"And according to the summary of intelligence, all the battleships and armored cruisers of the United States are concentrated in the following three locations to defend the east coast of the United States, but the entire west coast can be described as completely undefended, so gentlemen, our opportunity has come."

After speaking, Gao Hongsheng attached himself to the map and marked with a pencil the three places where the American fleet was assembled, namely the southernmost point of the United States in Key West in the Florida Keys, Norfolk and three locations north of Cape Delaware. These locations are all near the east coast of the United States, and after drawing, Gao Hongsheng threw away his pencil with a smile and looked at the three generals in front of him with a smile.

Count Ludendorff also became interested when he heard this, he and Major House exchanged glances, the latter nodded slightly, and said with a smile: "A golden opportunity, the arrogant Americans didn't expect that their Asian detachment would be trapped in Manila Bay, if they hadn't been trapped in Manila Bay, they would have enough ability to contain Montoho even if they were defeated, but now they are trapped in Manila Bay, and we now have enough strength to attack the American mainland, Rear Admiral Montohue, Here's your chance. ”

"Yes, General Montoho. Here's the opportunity, and you should be able to pull off a miracle. Colonel House said with some envy, no one does not covet an opportunity to leave a name in history, but unfortunately the Queen Elizabeth is a ship of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and cannot participate in the war.

Montojo smiled bitterly, his face was full of undoubtedness, this opportunity is too good, good enough to determine the outcome of a national war, if he leads the fleet to San Francisco in the United States, and captures the city, then his homeland Spain will hold a good hand, if the Americans are forced to mobilize a fleet from the west coast to encircle him, then the home fleet led by his colleague Rear Admiral Severa will be revitalized, and the fleet from the west coast will be transferred to the east coast to encircle and suppress him, It would be a voyage of nearly 10,000 nautical miles, at least nearly a month's worth of sailing, and when the Americans sailed over, he could calmly evacuate from the American mainland, which was simply a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to defeat the Americans.

But he didn't have a warship in his hand that could carry out this opportunity, his flagship Rena Christina cruiser was just an unprotected iron-hulled cruiser with a displacement of only 3,090 tons and a cruising capacity of only 3,900 nautical miles, and the other Castile could not make a fire normally due to power system failure, and now it was still Gao Hongsheng and one of their cargo ships in tow, not to mention the other ships, which could sail less than two thousand nautical miles at most, and could not carry out ocean-going battles at all, what did he do to carry out this plan.

So he could only smile bitterly and look back and forth at Gao Hongsheng and them with pleading eyes, hoping that they would understand what he meant, lend him the boat in their hands, and let him complete this plan that would bring him supreme glory.