Chamberlain! Former British colonial secretary and current British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain!

Mr. Hu met the British prime minister in a makeshift café near the square, but his face looked a little haggard.

"Your Excellency the Prime Minister!" Hu Xiaoyan took off his hat and put it on his chest, bowing down.

"Sit." Chamberlain squinted.

The former British Prime Minister, the Marquess of Salisbury, had a problem with his eyes, so most of the things were delegated to his deputy, and Britain is a capitalist country with a predominantly colonial approach! Among them, Chamberlain, as the colonial minister, was even more powerful! But the British Army was very weak! The British Empire went to deal with the Boers, but it was a blow in the face in the early stages.

On 30 October 1899 (later known as "Sorrow Monday" by the British), Leddy Smith's 4,000 British troops under the command of Lieutenant General George George White launched a counteroffensive against the Cloth army, and at Nicholson's Nek they encountered the main force of the Cloth Army under the command of Joubert, and the British army was defeated with a loss of 1,272 men, and the rest retreated to Ladysmith.

In the early morning of 15 December, Admiral Buller launched an assault on the troops at Colenso, a small station southwest of Ladysmith, in an attempt to force the Tugela River to Ladysmith. For various reasons, the British army was defeated again.

During the same period as the Battle of Ladysmith, the British army also suffered defeats at Kimberley on the Western Front and Stormberg on the Central Front, losing more than 2,800 men, in what is known in the history of the British Army as the "Dark Week". Admiral Buller resigned as commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force because of the defeat.

On 17 December 1899, Lord Frederick Roberts was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the South African Expeditionary Force by Lord Salisbury, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, with Lord Kitchener as Chief of Staff.

After this time, the British army gained the initiative on the battlefield, and the Boers lost. But this does not mean that the Boers have failed. The ensuing guerrilla war was a headache for the British.

The Boer War, presided over by the colonial minister Neville Chamberlain, was criticized by the cabinet at the time, and if nothing else, Chamberlain's ouster was just around the corner. But at this time, Hu Xiaoyan tricked the Germans and sent an airship to the British.

After Chamberlain got the airship, he repaired the airship within a month and asked the research department to develop an incendiary bomb filled with oil and white phosphorus. Three months later, the airship was delivered to the Transvaal. Chamberlain ordered Lord Kitchener, then commander of the British South African Army (Roberts had returned home for his merits), to carry out a scorched-earth policy.

If an army is sent to carry it out, the guerrillas will constantly attack the army's food and grass, leaving the army exhausted. But there is no such trouble with airships. The airship flew to the mountain villages, small hills, and gathering places where the Boers might exist. Molotov cocktails were thrown at these places. All of a sudden, the Boer settlements were devastated by airboats. An incendiary bomb filled with oil and white phosphorus is no ordinary flowering bomb. The damage it causes is not only physical, but also psychological. Because the fire of an incendiary bomb cannot be extinguished. As a result, the guerrillas in the mountains were not only unable to hit their opponents (the guerrillas had no weapons to hit the airships), but also unable to take the initiative (the British troops were all cowered in the fortress).

The attack on the first airship was so successful that Chamberlain was overjoyed when he received the telegram, and he immediately asked the research department to continue the design and construction of the new airboat. The British Imperial Research Department, which had embezzled part of the naval funds, soon built the second and third airboats. Numerous airships then flew towards the Transvaal.

By mid-1901, there were ten empty boats circling over the Boers. Boole's morale fell to the bottom. The Boers offered to negotiate. The Boers, who were supposed to hold out until 1902 with heavy casualties, could not hold out at the end of 1901. The Boers surrendered.

Chamberlain got what he wanted, and got the prestige he wanted.

After the death of the Marquess of Salisbury, Chamberlain successfully defeated his rival Arthur Balfour to become prime minister. But the so-called success is also an empty boat, and defeat is also an empty boat. The reason why Chamberlain was able to quickly build a lot of empty ships to help him win the Boer War was because he embezzled naval funds.

As mentioned earlier, the naval vessels of the British Empire are decommissioned every year, and new ships are being built every year. Chamberlain's embezzlement of naval funds caused strong dissatisfaction in the Navy! No matter how powerful the airships are, they do not fall under the jurisdiction of the navy, and Chamberlain's behavior is tantamount to using the navy's money to fight for the army, and the navy has no share in the war or anything. How can this make the Navy bearable?

And as we all know, Britain is a naval power. Although he took over the throne as Prime Minister of the British Empire, Chamberlain's life was not easy, because the funds of the Navy were misappropriated, and the Navy was very annoyed by the defection of Chamberlain (the former colonial minister, who was his own man for the Navy).

So from 1902 to the present, Chamberlain has almost run out of hand. In order to gain recognition from the Navy. Chamberlain had to activate the Super Battleship program. That is, the famous "Intrepid Battleship Design Plan" in later generations! The Dreadnought-class battleships appeared in 1904 a year before the original history!

The design of the Dreadnought-class battleship was unprecedented, firstly it eliminated the setting of the first and second main guns, and secondly, it needed to strengthen the armor. And again and most importantly, the engine!

The engine didn't really matter. But for dreadnoughts, it is extremely important. Because the displacement of the Dreadnought-class battleships exceeded that of all previous warships. In the past, battleships generally had a displacement of about 15,000 tons, and the maximum speed was generally about 20 knots. The Russian Borodino-class battleships were powered by twenty coal-fired boilers with two steam engines. The maximum power output of the main engine can reach 16,500 horsepower. Such data clearly did not keep up with the requirements of the Dreadnought-class battleships.

The use of new steam turbines on battleships of more than 15,000 tons was the first time in Britain and the world at that time, and it was considered a leap in design thinking at the time. The power part of the "Dreadnought" class is equipped with 18 triple-type steam boilers, 4 Parsons steam turbine units with 22,500 horsepower (24,700 horsepower at sea trials), and a maximum speed of 21 knots (22.4 knots at sea trials), compared with the reciprocating steam power units of the "Sir Nelson" class with a power of only 16,750 horsepower (15 boilers) and a maximum speed of only 18 knots The class maintained good reliability for 13 hours at speeds above 20 knots, which is especially important in combat conditions.

The Dreadnought battleship was far superior to the previous dreadnoughts, and the use of its steam turbine was extremely important. But these are inseparable from a money word.

The research and design cost of the Dreadnought battleship was also much higher than that of the previous dreadnought. The Boer gold, which was the source of money for the British Empire, was cut off by war, and the British Empire was desperately short of money. After 1902, the Boers adopted an intransigent policy of heavy casualties, that is, the Boers were willing to work only on farms and factories rather than in gold mining, which made British finances very difficult, and although Chamberlain tried his best to pacify the Boers, the navy was already impatient. The Navy has not added a single new warship for two years in a row!

"To put it simply, I need money." Chamberlain didn't talk nonsense. This is not an exchange between countries, and there is no need to play false.

"The market in Chinese mainland has been open for so many years. Isn't the UK making enough money? Hu Xiaoyan was unmoved, and in order to secure Chamberlain's position, Hu Xiaoyan tried his best to persuade (spend money) on the southern governors to accept British goods. and sold British industrial products to the north. It can be said that Hu Xiaoyan himself really can't do better. If it weren't for the support of such a large market as China, Chamberlain would not be able to hold on to it now.

"Don't tell me old Hans doesn't have your shadow in his Rolls-Royce Phantom, and don't tell me the latest Beetle doesn't have a stake in you!" Chamberlain sneered.

"You underestimate the capabilities of the British Empire's intelligence services!"

Hu Xiaoyan was stunned. Then he smiled wryly.

"Okay. Tell me your opinion. ”

"The Russian battleship Duke Suvorov! I'll sell it to you! Chamberlain nodded to the table.

Battleship Duke Suvorov! After escaping the Russo-Japanese naval battle, he anchored in Singapore. But the Japanese have been eyeing each other. As a result, the battleship Duke Suvorov could not return at all, although the tsar always insisted on war, but Russia really did not have the strength to have another naval battle between Japan and Russia. So the war dragged on. The tsar was unwilling to bow his head, and Japan was not willing to stop there.

The battleship Duke Suvorov had to pay a large sum of money to the British Asian Fleet every year to ensure that the Japanese Navy would not blow up and sink the battleship. But now it seems that the Russians can't hold out.

"It's useless for me to want battleships. Japan will never allow our navy to develop. Hu Xiaoyan was indifferent. Battleships are good, who doesn't want them? But can Japan agree?

"I promise Japan won't be looking for trouble." Chamberlain took a note from his pocket and handed it over.

Hu Xiaoyan took a look and immediately stared at it.

"Are you crazy?"