Imperial capital, imperial palace, Tianlu Pavilion.

The palace in the palace is named after China's oldest national library, and the same is true of the Chinese Empire, with millions of ancient books. Of course, in addition to ancient books, Tianlu Pavilion and the Imperial Libraries of the Imperial Capital, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xi'an, Tianjin, and Jinan all enjoy the right to keep the deposited copies, according to the requirements of the law, the publisher must submit a certain number of copies of the latest publications to these seven designated libraries, and the submitted publications are samples, and it is precisely by virtue of the fact that "all records or other things related to copyright, which are required to be kept by law, should be placed under the control of the Imperial Library", that in just six years, These seven libraries became the largest libraries in China.

Unlike the other six libraries that are open to the public, Tianlu Pavilion is the private library of the royal family, and only a very small number of people are allowed to enter this library, except for members of the royal family and administrators. Shi Si, the most well-known shipbuilding expert in China, is one of the people who has access to the library.

“…… The new type of battleship should have a displacement of about 150,000 tons, a power of 18,000 horsepower to 20,000 horsepower, and a speed of more than 18 knots. ”

When introducing the concept of a new warship to His Majesty, Shi Si glanced sideways at the map on the wall, and immediately resumed his posture of bowing his head and standing solemnly, this is the posture of a courtier to see His Majesty, although there is no need to kneel now, but such a slight bow of the head is also a test for the minister in a long audience.

However, he found that His Majesty's mind did not seem to be on the new warship, which was the work of his painstaking efforts.

"The Army is really good, the ball is kicked here......

Zhu Yifeng, who was standing in front of the map, snorted a little lazily, moved his neck at the same time, and then pointed to the map and muttered to himself.

"Don't they know what's important?"

In the face of His Majesty's self-talk, Shi Si decided to continue to feign ignorance.

"In view of the vast colonies of the future empire and the consequent maritime interests, it is extremely necessary to maintain a strong fleet of at least 30 combat ships of more than 10,000 tons......

While the huge overseas colonies bring overseas benefits, it naturally brings corresponding problems - how to defend the overseas colonies, and this requires further expansion of the navy, the navy needs more and better battleships, and as the best warship designer in China, it is necessary to design a more advanced warship.

Seemingly casually snorted, Zhu Yifeng cast his eyes on Shi Si, who was one of the few non-Chinese nobles, and she was not an ordinary low-level title, but a marquis.

"Cruiser!"

Finally, Zhu Yifeng temporarily pulled his attention back, looked at Shi Si and said.

"Decades ago, Lord Nelson, the Royal Admiral, while searching for the French fleet sent to Egypt, exclaimed: "Cruisers! If I die at this moment, the desire for a cruiser will be engraved in my heart! ”。 Cruisers are important, especially for a country with a large overseas colony! ”

Zhu Yifeng, who was temporarily distracted, looked at a corner of the map, which was marked in blue as belonging to China's sphere of influence, which occupied almost the entire world.

"According to the current concept of the Navy, we still basically use the simplest and most effective way to control the ocean - that is, to directly block the enemy's coast. Over the past few hundred years, pirate tactics and privateers have proven to be a very powerful blow to maritime nations. Therefore, the naval circles still believe that winning the decisive battle of the fleet, and then suppressing the enemy in the port without maneuvering, is the right way to win. But they did not take into account that, due to the rapid development of shipbuilding technology, as well as artillery technology, one thing is certain: the future naval nearshore blockade strategy is becoming more and more difficult to realize. ”

Although he seemed absent-minded before, in fact, Zhu Yifeng knew better than anyone else about the future development direction of the navy that it was impossible for the navy to directly block the enemy's coast in the future as it is now, just like the British did in the past, because ship technology and artillery technology have changed, and even now, the navy has begun to test torpedoes, and torpedo boats will also force capital ships to stay away from the coast.

Therefore, for the capital ships built by China in the future, Zhu Yifeng has his own judgment.

"And whether or not the near-shore blockade is achieved, the attack ships of the enemy navy can sneak across the blockade line, or directly from the ports of the overseas provinces and colonies to attack our shipping, according to the calculations of the Colonial Department, in the next thirty years, our overseas immigration will reach 1.5 billion, the vast colonization will bring unprecedented benefits, the overseas colonies will supply all kinds of materials needed by the homeland, and the tonnage of our merchant ships will exceed 20 million tons, and we will be more dependent on the sea ...... than ever before."

That's for sure, maybe in the next 30 years, 100 million people will move out of China, but how much will China's population increase in 30 years? Before the Industrial Revolution of fertilizers and seeds, the barren land would not have been able to support so many people, food from the colonies would meet local needs, and the sea would play a more important role in Chinese life than ever before.

For the understanding of World War I and World War II, Zhu Yifeng is very clear about the significance of submarines attacking British shipping, and the legendary experience of the German cruiser "Emden" in World War I also shows that as long as a few elusive cruisers can mess up the shipping on the entire ocean. Therefore, the future Chinese Navy will need a large number of cruisers to control the world's oceans.

"Therefore, the future Chinese Navy will need a large number of cruisers to control the world's oceans. The first thing we need to do now is not to let our cruisers have the upper hand at sea in the future, so the Imperial Navy needs advanced cruisers to control the world's oceans more than the capital ships used for fleet decisions. ”

"Your Majesty, without combat ships, there is no sea dominance!"

Shi Si's tone didn't contain much rebuttal.

"It is impossible to control the seas without a decisive battle of the fleet or a strong fleet as a threat, and the control of the seas by cruisers is based on the strength of the main fleet!"

Regarding Shi Si's rebuttal, Zhu Yifeng nodded in agreement.

"Indeed, without enough combat ships, it is naturally impossible to have sea supremacy, and without cruisers, you cannot master the sea, the two complement each other, but now, it is certain that our combat ships will not lag behind in the next ten years, and their scale will not be surpassed by other countries!"

Including a few combat ships that have not yet been built, China already has the largest combat fleet in this era, so Zhu Yifeng has no intention of continuing to expand the combat fleet, and now China needs cruisers, after all, with the end of the war, the vast colony will be placed in front of everyone's eyes.

"After the war, in the face of vast colonies, we must consider a reality, how can we defend such a huge colony, from North America, to Africa, from Africa to the Pacific, our colonies are all over the world, and when the time comes, how to defend the colonies is an inevitable problem."

Standing in front of that world map, looking at the palm-sized box in the corner of the map, the global map published by China has begun to use blue to mark the territory of the empire, and you can clearly understand the influence of this huge empire in the world. Look at the blue that covers the eastern and western hemispheres. Zhu Yifeng can say with great pride: "In my territory, the sun never sets." ”

Ten years ago, did you ever think about this day? I thought that one day, China would replace Britain as a new "empire on which the sun never sets", and now this "empire on which the sun never sets" is slowly rising, just like the rising sun, but the problems in front of the "empire on which the sun never sets" are unavoidable.

"Perhaps, our national strength has far exceeded that of any other period in history, and the country's financial strength is also the same, but the naval budget is not unlimited, and it is very difficult to meet the requirements of the number of cruisers on an advanced basis, and besides, the difference in overseas colonies also puts forward other constraints on cruisers......"

Looking back at Shi Si, Zhu Yifeng continued to ask.

"What are the tasks of the cruiser? It is escort, reconnaissance, notification and display of force, these are low-intensity tasks, of course, not what we need, we have long had our own plan for cruisers, according to our design of cruisers in the past, that is, he is required to be able to fight alone, have a certain amount of armor protection, have relatively strong firepower, with its own good navigation performance, large endurance characteristics, if our armored cruisers are used to assault British shipping all over the world's oceans, None of the British cruisers escorting the shipping could stand up to it alone, and our idea proved to be successful. Therefore, the armored cruisers we will build in the future have very strict requirements in terms of firepower, protection and speed, in order to be able to annihilate enemy ships in one fell swoop and defend our routes in the battle to defend the route. ”

Speaking of the difference between the armored cruisers of the Chinese Navy, Zhu Yifeng said with his fingers crossed.

"For the sake of armor and firepower, we need to increase the tonnage of the cruisers, but is it enough to increase it alone? Of course not, because we also have to take into account the situation in the colony ports, after all, not every colony has well-equipped ports, they all have deep-water ports, and in order to be able to serve in the naval stations of the colonies, the cruisers of the Imperial Navy must have a shallower draft to accommodate the different depths of the ports, and of course, they must be cheap enough......"

Staring at Shi Si, Zhu Yifeng began to cry.

"As of now, more than 120,000 yuan has been spent on this war, and now the financial resources of the empire are being exhausted little by little......"

This is the first time that Zhu Yifeng said in front of his courtiers the embarrassment of finance, war is to burn money, and overseas warfare is to burn money, whether it is to build warships or build merchant ships, a lot of capital is needed. At present, the 1.2 billion yuan is only the government's expenditure, and if the banking industry, led by the Imperial Bank, gives low-interest or even interest-free commercial loans to various industries for industrial expansion in accordance with the government's directives, the actual expenditure has already exceeded 5 billion yuan.

After the outbreak of the war, the country's finances were in fact seriously overdrawn, if it were not for the economic prosperity of the war, especially the increase in tax revenues and the smooth issuance of domestic bonds. I am afraid that this will have reached the point where the government needs to sustain the war by issuing banknotes, although in fact, in the past two years, the Imperial Bank has issued 2 billion yuan of banknotes to maintain the war expenses, and even just a month ago, the branch has decided to issue another 400 million yuan of banknotes to cover this year's expenses.

"Out of money?"

Shi Si looked at His Majesty in surprise, if he remembered correctly, just a few months ago, Minister Duzhi was still proudly saying that the fiscal revenue in the first quarter exceeded 1.5 billion yuan, and there was no problem at all with the financial revenue of 800 million yuan this year.

"How is this possible? No, doesn't it mean that there are no problems financially at all? ”

"I really don't have any money,......"

A little helpless and often sighed, Zhu Yifeng looked at the map and said.

"Now, British North America has been occupied by us, in order to ensure the security of British North America, the army put forward a proposal to build the Pacific Railway, and considering that it is now a time of war, this railway cannot be handed over to private capital for slow financing, so it will be completely built by the army's engineers, which means that thousands of kilometers of railways in total need government investment, and this railway alone needs to invest 200 million yuan......

Frowning and smiling helplessly, building a world empire comes at a price.

"There is also Africa's central railway network, which is built by private capital, but several railways need to be subsidized by the government as much as 1.5 billion yuan......"

When His Majesty mentioned these figures, Shi Si suddenly realized a problem.

"Your Majesty, is it ...... Is it really ready for a truce? ”

Because he was born in England, he can be said to have very complicated feelings about this war, and now His Majesty's sigh makes him realize that the war may not be able to go on.

"I suddenly want to drink! Drink two glasses with me, this is the French red wine that Napoleon gave me. ”

After the attendant opened the wine, Zhu Yifeng took a sip of wine, then looked at Shi Si and said.

"It's not that a truce is being prepared, it's that the war can't be fought anymore!"

"How come, aren't we in an advantageous position now? Don't have money? Can I reissue bonds? ”

Shi Si said as a matter of course.

"It's not just about money......

Leaning back in his chair, Zhu Yifeng once again looked at the book on the table, a book published by the British related to colonial rule.

"Rather, how do we digest the colony, you know, now we have held on, such a large colony, in front of us, how to digest it, even we haven't even digested our own vassal country, and there are so many colonies now, what should we do? How to eat them? ”

The situation of the development of the war, in fact, has long exceeded Zhu Yifeng's expectations, he did not expect that China can get so much spoils in this war, while in ecstasy, he is a little worried in his heart, worried that China can not digest these colonies, in history, China has recovered Vietnam and Korea countless times, but in the end they still did not become a part of China, because China has never considered the next step after the conquest.

In the early days of the war, the government confined itself to the development of a strategic plan for the "first phase of operations," which set out only a timetable for the conquest. This goal has been achieved very quickly, the speed and scale of the victory have been completely beyond our imagination, and the victory at the front has also fostered our complacency and overconfidence. This emotion can be called "victory disease" to some extent! ”

Zhu Yifeng didn't know what better words to use to describe it than that, and he was willing to see it as a "disease" that, if left untreated, would eventually affect the future of China as a whole.

"Its symptoms are actually evident when we define strategic objectives, which are far from being met by the military, industrial and administrative capabilities of this country. Defending a new decentralized empire, while at the same time proceeding to develop it in order to digest the economic "fruits of victory", has now become a major strategic and administrative concern for us. However, we lack the colonial experience and administrative capacity of the European powers that we have driven away, and at this time, the first problem we have to face is no longer how to carry this war to the end, but we should pull our energy out of the war, and then, focus on our colonies, focus on how to digest and absorb the colonies, and finally make the colonies part of the empire, nourishing the economic ...... of the empire."

The only thing that is fortunate now is that there are hardly too many "civilized peoples" in these colonies, they are just some isolated primitive and backward indigenous tribes, and of course not all, Australia, Canada, all live a large number of Europeans.

Moreover, the problems of the vassal states of Korea, Japan, and Vietnam are also in front of him, so for Zhu Yifeng, he hopes to end the war at this time, rather than carry it on.

"Your Majesty, if the minister expects it to be true, by the time you say this, your envoy should have already begun negotiations with the British."

The reason why Shi Si said this was because of his understanding of His Majesty the Emperor in front of him. He believes that now negotiations have begun.

"Envoy?"

When Shi Si mentioned this term, Zhu Yifeng's smile was a little strange, he really sent an envoy, but the identity of this envoy was a little special.

It can even be said that it is very special, so that when the candidate for this special envoy was first mentioned, many ministers who knew about the matter opposed it, and they had various reasons to oppose it, and the most fundamental reason was that he was not Chinese!

But Zhu Yifeng knows that now, in the world, there is no one more suitable than him! It can even be said that only he has the possibility to end this war!

"Shi Qing, let me tell you......"

(The biggest issue since the outbreak of the war was how to end it, and now it is time to start digesting the fruits of victory...... The new book will be released in the next few days, and I hope you can continue to support Speechless! Thanks! ）js3v3