In Chai Dongliang's mansion, the housekeeper was busy with dozens of subordinates, and in six days it was time for him to marry Mo Xiaolian and Wu Meiqi.

Everyone was talking about his marriage, but Chai Dongliang didn't care at all, and was chatting with an old foreigner in the flower hall in the back hall.

Although it was close to the Mid-Autumn Festival, the day in Anqing was still quite hot, and this dignified-looking thin old man was wearing a straight blue-black rear admiral dress, with medals on his chest, and he refused to loosen his buttons even if sweat trickled down his forehead.

Although the old man is already in his seventies, his waist is straight, and his two blue-gray eyes are as sharp as falcons, and he seems to be able to see through people's souls all the time. This person is none other than the author of the famous "Theory of Sea Power", Alfred? Thayer? Mahan.

As part of the Bethlehem Contract, the United States will help China build a new naval university, which will be located in Wuhu. Chai Dongliang unceremoniously appointed Rear Admiral Mahan, the father of the American Navy and the world's most famous, to serve as the principal. The Bethlehem Company was born out of the Carnegie consortium and has an inextricable relationship with the Morgan consortium, and the "Bethlehem Contract" itself has the interest of a secret agreement between the political axe, so the American political axe also agreed. Major General Mahan, who was idle at home and panicked, set off immediately after receiving the offer, and after more than a month of drifting at sea, Mahan finally came to Anqing.

For this Major General Ma Han, who has influenced the world for a hundred years, Chai Dongliang did not dare to slack off at all, and personally ran to the Xiaogushan Wharf to greet him. couldn't wait to enter the city, Chai Dongliang invited him into his private residence and entertained Major General Mahan with a family banquet.

"Walter? Sir Raleigh famously said, 'Whoever controls the seas controls trade; Whoever controls world trade controls the wealth of the world itself. Britain is a case in point. Throughout the eighteenth century, Britain used its maritime power to gain wealth at peace, and continued to dominate the seas by naval force in conditions of war. It expands the base of sea power activities to all parts of the world. The coherent exchange of production and commodities in a country, as well as its free and secure trade with all continents, is the expression of the system of sea power, which becomes the basis for the creation and expansion of the system of national wealth and dignity. ”

Chai Dongliang listened to him talk eloquently, and smiled faintly, this set of theories coincides with Britain's century-old "sword-wielding business". Many people in history have had similar ideas, but none of them have studied Mahan in depth, and no one has closely linked naval history with the general history of the world like him.

Mahan is a person with an extremely special status in the United States, and it will be under the guidance of his idea of sea power that the United States will become the hegemon of the world step by step in the next 100 years.

When his book "On Sea Power" was published, it immediately shocked the world. After reading the book, King Wilhelm II of Germany said with great excitement that he was holding this "first-class classic" in his hand, and that he was "not reading" but "devouring". The British believed that Mahan's book was a theoretical sublimation of their practice of sea power, and they also returned this theory to their own practice as quickly as possible, focusing on the two core goals of "control" and "development and utilization" to develop maritime capabilities, and took the lead in building the famous "Dreadnought" battleship in the history of naval equipment in the world. Other countries immediately followed suit, and soon a race to build huge ships led to the conclusion of the Treaty on the Limitation of Naval Armaments to restrain each other. Russia and Ben InMahan made a detailed analysis of possible overlaps and overlaps in the sea power of the two countries, and also engaged in a naval battle of unprecedented scale in the Tsushima Strait.

Theodore? When Roosevelt was still assistant secretary of the navy, he immediately wrote to praise it as "a very good book" and "the most thorough and instructive work of its kind that he is aware of." And solemnly said: "If I don't think of it as a classic, I would be very wrong." During the Spanish-American War, the assistant secretary of the Navy attached great importance to Mahan's suggestion to "tightly blockade Hawala, Matanzas, and western Cuba," closely monitored the islands occupied by Spain in the Pacific Ocean with the eyes of a strategist, and sent a detachment to fight in the Philippines while blockading Cuban waters. With just a few "turning stones into gold" maritime actions, the United States not only gained control of the Caribbean region, but also seized Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines from Spain, and also gained a foothold in Hawaii and Samoa.

Theodore. As soon as Roosevelt became president, he invited Mahan into the White House as a naval adviser.

Therefore, this "Theory of Sea Power" has been indisputably rated as one of the top ten works that have influenced the course of world history. Mahan also influenced the future world for a hundred years, and has since become the world's recognized founder of naval theory.

However, after Taft became president of the United States, Mahan's good life came to an end, and he kept writing articles announcing that a war of unprecedented scale was about to break out in Europe, and the United States could not stay away. His remarks made the American political axe, which advocates isolationism, very unhappy, and when he saw that the Chinese wanted this alarmist old man by name, they sent him away.

"Your Excellency, whether you like it or not, I have to say that China has now become the sphere of interest of the great powers, and for the United States, the Panama Canal, Hawaii and the Philippines are important passages into the Yangtze River valley in China??? And your luck or misfortune lies in the fact that you rule over the vast land of the Yangtze River Valley, which is destined to make it impossible for you not to deal with the great powers. ”

Chai Dongliang smiled and said: "I agree very much with what you said, but the European powers are preparing for war, I'm afraid they don't have time to worry about China, right?" I don't care about me as a little person. ”

Mahan suddenly became serious: "Your Excellency General, do you also think that Europe will fight?" ”

Chai Dong nodded and said: "I think this war will be unprecedented in scale, and the United States will not be able to stand alone." ”

Mahan immediately became energetic, and he had declared countless times in the United States that the war on the European continent would inevitably involve the United States, but no one paid attention to it, which made him very depressed.

Chai Dongliang asked rhetorically: "If there is a big war in Europe, which side will the United States stand on?" England or Germany? ”

"Your Excellency, General? So what would you choose? ”

Chai Dongliang looked at him left and right, and said with a smile: "I will stand on the side that is most beneficial to China." ”

Mahan also laughed: "The United States will make the same choice." ”

Chai Dongliang has always attached great importance to the quality and equipment of individual soldiers, as well as the coordinated operation of various arms, and does not have too much preference for generals, in modern warfare, the role of generals has been greatly weakened, and the two warring sides are fighting the comprehensive national strength and the quality of soldiers, and most of the so-called famous generals are out of the needs of the declaration, and the actual effect is not great.

In the War of Resistance in another time and space, Seishiro Itagaki swept through five provinces of China with half a division, and was ambushed and surrounded by the [***] team countless times. There were countless ambushes in the Itagaki Division, but every time he successfully broke through, he couldn't contain the encirclement and couldn't die, and Itagaki Seishiro's unreasonable style of play made countless Chinese generals a headache.

In the era of hot weapons, soldiers with inferior equipment have no fighting spirit, and no matter how superb the command skills of generals are, if there are no excellent soldiers to carry them out, and there is not enough national strength to support them, they will become a joke in military history.

In the new era, the real famous generals are not the kind of traditional heroes who compete on the battlefield, but have a very high strategic vision, can play a leading role in the development of the country, and have the ability to lead a country to a strong strategist.

Major General Mahan, there is no doubt that he is such a person!

According to the information on Chai Dongliang's computer, after the start of World War I, Mahan clamored that the United States must enter the war, which annoyed President Wilson very much at the time, and he ordered the Admiralty to review every article of Mahan, and a large part of it was harmonized.

Mahan soon fell ill from depression and died a few months before the war began.

Chai Dongliang believes that after coming to China, he will have enough room to display his talents, and participating in World War I is his set goal, while Mahan is a guy who is extremely fanatical about war, and the two will not clash on this point. The old man shouldn't have died of depression so early.

Although Major General Mahan is keen on war, he is completely different from those war maniacs in his own military department, and he regards war as a continuation of politics, rather than simply as a military glory.

Chai Dongliang strongly agrees with this idea, the purpose of war is to find resources and markets for commercial activities, as well as to ensure the safety of commercial activities. Only trade can bring prosperity, of course, the ideal state is unequal trade, if you cannot achieve dominance in the economy, equal trade is also a good choice. Even if you take 10,000 steps back, it is much better to be in a position of being exploited at the lower end of the business chain than to close off the country. After the Meiji Restoration, China was struggling at the lower end of the commercial chain and was exploited by European and American powers, but even so, the national strength of the two countries has also increased tremendously. After defeating the Qing Dynasty and Russia, he became a member of the Great Powers Club, and the Qing Dynasty was trapped by a rotten system and alien rule, but its fiscal revenue increased from 80 million taels to 300 million taels a year.

"Your Excellency, General, I am a soldier, not a politician, please don't use hypocritical diplomatic rhetoric, which side will you stand on in the future European continental war?" Ma Han looked directly into Chai Dongliang's eyes and went straight to the road.

Chai Dongliang knew in his heart that he would not be impressed by such a person's perfunctory lies, and he had to come up with some dry goods, so he said categorically: "I will work with the Entente, this is the most beneficial choice for China." ”

In 1907, the British, French, and Russian Triple Entente was established, and recently he was trying to join him.

Ma Han smiled playfully: "Why? You must know that Russia will always be China's most dangerous enemy, and at present, Britain and France are courting Yu himself, and he himself is your country's mortal enemy. ”

Chai Dongliang asked rhetorically: "What about the United States?" Will the United States be on the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary? Isn't the British alliance a big problem for the United States? Isn't the cooperation between the United States and me aimed at dealing with the British alliance? But I absolutely do not believe that the United States, together with Germany and Austria-Hungary, will strike at Britain, France, Russia, and Ben!"

Ma Han laughed and said, "Your Excellency, we are the same kind of people!" ”

Chai Dongliang asked, "Oh, then what kind of person do you say I am?" ”

"People who can give up hatred and friendship for the sake of profit!"

Chai Dongliang said with a smile: "Between countries, there are no eternal enemies and friends, only eternal and unchanging interests. ”

Mahan clapped his hands and applauded: "Your Excellency General, this sentence is too wonderful??? For the eternal good, we toast! ”

Chai Dongliang didn't blush and didn't beat his heart to include Churchill's famous sayings, this sentence almost said to Mahan's heart, to put it bluntly, he and Churchill belong to the same kind of people, and naturally they will feel like confidants.

Mahan's disgust with the rampant isolationism in the United States was fundamentally contrary to his theory, which in his mind was the inevitable decline of the Old Continent and that the United States should take advantage of the golden opportunity to take the place of the British Empire and rule the world.

In Mahan's theory of world islands, island countries such as Britain and Ben are extremely vulnerable, and once the sea lines of communication are cut off, the country will die without a fight, so this kind of island country has the strongest sense of distress, and the surname of aggression is naturally also very strong.

A country like Russia, which is located at the core of the world island, has a vast territory and a large population, and even if it is closed, the economy can be circulated internally and will not be broken in an instant. It is even more difficult for foreign enemies to invade it, and the resource-rich central countries of the world's islands can rely on the extensive railway network to send resources wherever they are needed. The vast territory would make it extremely difficult for the invaders to supply, and Russia only needed to retreat in stride, and it could easily stretch the enemy's supply lines, thus putting the invaders in an extremely difficult situation.

In Mahan's theory, such a state is an invincible state. A large-scale invasion of Russia was almost doomed.

The only way for the world island center is to seal it off so that it does not have access to the oceans and thus does not pose a threat to the world.

China, which shares a long border with Russia, will become the most important ally of the United States on the eastern coast of the Pacific Ocean, and will form Russia's most powerful link in blocking the center of the world island.

It is precisely under the guidance of this theory that the United States will regard the United States as its number one enemy, no matter what system Russia becomes or who is in power??? Even a hundred years later, the situation has not changed.

It was under the guidance of Mahan's theory that the United States began to attach importance to its relations with China, and it was against this background that the "Bethlehem Contract" was created, which replicated a complete industrial country in the Far East.

From this point of view, Ma Han is a little kind of favor to Chai Dongliang.

"Your Excellency, can you recognize Russia as the greatest threat to the world order?" Mahan asked.

Chai Dong nodded: "Of course, even after a hundred years, it will still be the case, but I don't think Russia is invincible." ”

"Oh, tell me what you think."

Chai Dongliang flicked the globe on the table, patted it at the position of Russia to stop it from rotating, and then said with a faint smile: "I think that Russia's land area is enough to accommodate a hundred countries. ”

Ma Han was stunned for a moment, and then laughed and said: "Your wisdom is beyond my imagination, I believe that in China, I will live a very happy life!" ”

(To be continued)