"Great victory! Imperial Navy Victory! The Vikings are down! ”

In the streets and alleys of the major cities of the Chinese Empire, the sound of newspaper sales came and went, attracting countless pedestrians to stop and pay for newspapers.

In the imperial capital, a high-end sedan stopped, and Hambeck, the ambassador to China, heard the sound of selling newspapers and hurriedly bought one.

When I opened it, it was written about the extermination of the Viking group, with all the time and place, and various photos attached.

Looking at the photos of the Victorian painted battleships being sunk in the smoke of fire, Hambeck burst into tears, as a politician, he hadn't shed tears for a long time, but at the moment he couldn't help it, because one of the photos of the sunken battleship, his younger brother served on it, obviously had suffered an accident.

"Damn it!"

"James, you're a pig, the stupidest pig in the world!"

Hambeck wiped away his tears, his heart heavy and angry, and hurried back to the embassy.

As soon as you enter the door, you feel that the atmosphere is extra oppressive.

"You're finally back, come over for a meeting, something big is wrong!"

Military attache Boromal hurriedly waved to Hambeck.

Hambeck entered the conference room, only to see that more than a dozen counselors and military attachés from the embassy had already arrived, and they were listening to the speech of British envoy Prien.

Prien is the special representative of Prime Minister Saul, and the purpose of this trip to the Chinese Empire is to explain to the Chinese Empire about the Viking Regiment, hoping that the Chinese Empire will not think that this is a deliberate act of the British Empire, so as to avoid the outbreak of war between China and Britain.

Of course, Prien is all nonsense, and the Vikings are simply a tactic adopted by the British Empire to attack the economy of the Chinese Empire, but so far, there is no evidence that the British Empire government instigated it.

As long as there is no evidence, the British Empire will naturally deny it to the end.

But it is necessary to maintain a superficial peace with the Chinese Empire, after all, the British Empire is not well prepared for various wars at the moment, and does not want to go to war with the Chinese Empire head-on, otherwise it will not resort to the indiscriminate tactics of the Viking Regiment.

However, what Prion never expected was that he had only been in the Chinese Empire for a few days, and as a result, the Viking group was wiped out by the Chinese Empire.

The news was definitely a bolt from the blue, but what made him even more nervous was that the Imperial Chinese Navy had captured thousands of Viking pirate members, and he heard that he was still under trial.

What to interrogate?

Apparently the mastermind behind the Vikings, the government of the British Empire.

If this allowed the Chinese Empire to find evidence, it would inevitably detonate the Sino-British War.

As a special envoy, Prien's mission was to prevent the Chinese Empire from declaring war on the British, so he urgently convened a meeting to discuss countermeasures.

"We must do everything we can to make these captured compatriots stop talking nonsense!"

Listening to Prien's speech, Hambeck didn't pay attention to it at all because he was in a very bad mood. However, when he heard that the Chinese Empire had captured more than a thousand pirate captives, he wondered if his brother would still be alive and captured.

He suddenly had hope, so he suddenly said: "Since these pirates are all compatriots of our British Empire, then we must negotiate with the government of the Chinese Empire and extradite these compatriots back to China." ”

"Extradition?"

"That's right! How could I have forgotten such an important thing! ”

Prien was overjoyed, believing that Hambeck's proposal was very good and the best thing to do so far. Just extradite these captured British pirates back to England and everything will be solved.

However, soon Prien calmed down again and shook his head with a sigh.

It wanted to get back more than 1,000 pirate prisoners from the Chinese Empire, especially in the current situation, the Chinese Empire believed that the Vikings were a conspiracy of the British, so it was difficult to return the prisoners. Even if it is returned in the end, I am afraid that it will have to pay a high price.

Eventually, though, Prien decided to give it a try.

At the same time, Li Weiguo also convened a pre-imperial meeting, first of all to praise the Battle of the Strait of Malacca.

It is precisely because of the destruction of the Viking Regiment that it is equivalent to a heavy blow to the British Navy in disguise, after all, the warships of the Viking Regiment are all warships of the British Navy, although these warships are not first-line equipment, but for the British Navy, they are a huge loss. If the British Navy transferred its main fleet to the battlefield, then there would be no more naval forces to defend his homeland.

Therefore, the extermination of the Viking Pirate Regiment this time was equivalent to a heavy blow to the British Navy, which was equivalent to the Sixth Sino-British War, and the Chinese Empire won the first round first.

That's right, Li Weiguo has already decided to start the Sixth Sino-British War.

In fact, the Sixth Sino-British War had already begun the moment the British decided to use Viking regiments to attack the Chinese Empire's maritime trade lines.

It's just that this time the British learned wisely, they didn't tear their faces with the Chinese Empire head-on, but used the shady means of the Viking group to fight a secret war with the Chinese Empire.

Of course, this is also related to the progress of the times, the progress of science and technology, the progress of human nature, have made the British ordinary people refuse war, so the British government can no longer start a war if it wants to start a war as in the past, and there must be a sufficient excuse to start a war.

The same was true for the Chinese Empire. The Chinese Empire is more advanced in science and technology than the British Empire, and in terms of human nature, the Chinese Empire has been a benevolent and righteous state since ancient times, and no matter what war, it has to be famous.

Therefore, if Li Weiguo wanted to start the Sixth Sino-British War, he also had to find an excuse, an excuse that was enough to make all the people of the empire support.

Now, this excuse has been found by Li Weiguo, and that is the Viking Regiment, which is a conspiracy behind the British. Although there is no direct evidence that the British government is behind it, it is sufficient to know that it was behind it.

"Regardless of whether these more than 1,000 Viking members were instructed by the British government, we must insist that it was the British government, and if there is no evidence, we will make evidence, anyway, the truth of the facts is like this!"

Li Weiguo finally set a strategy, whether there was evidence or not, the Chinese Empire would create evidence to expose the false mask of the British.

Weng Tonggong said: "There is naturally no problem in making evidence, but once the war starts, the United States and Japan may be involved in the war according to the Anglo-American-Japanese alliance, and France and Tsarist Russia have ambiguous attitudes, these are potential threats!" I wonder if the military is fully prepared! ”

Wu Yong replied: "The dreadnought battleships built by the British Navy are at least two years away from being launched, and this is the case for both the United States and Japan, so we can win the first attack by starting the war in advance." ”

Admiral Minister Lin Jiyun added: "That's right! We will build twelve Dreadnought-class battleships first, which is enough to crush the main fleet of the British, American, and Japanese navies! War at sea, there are no problems at all with our Imperial Navy! ”

War Minister Zhang Xiaoliu also spoke: "The army has completed mechanization, whether it is the Far East Railway or the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, we have built the world railway connecting Germany to the Persian Gulf, and we can send a million troops to the European border within a month." Provided, of course, if it is necessary for us to invade Europe. ”

Air Force Minister Zhuang Jiuxia hesitated, now his air force is still small, and it is still being formed and trained, but since the secretary of the military department and the minister of the navy and army have spoken, he, a senior military officer, cannot delay his feet, so he has no choice but to say: "The air force is also ready for war, and can provide air reconnaissance to the navy and army at any time to monitor all the enemy's movements." ”

Weng Tongyi glanced at the military personnel and knew that they were all wearing a pair of pants, so he turned to Wang Kaitai, the head of the household, and said: "Modern warfare is about money, this time to start a war with Britain, the United States and Japan will inevitably be involved, France and Tsarist Russia are potential enemies, military consumption is probably unprecedented, I don't know if Lord Wang is ready." ”

The flesh on Wang Kaitai's face suddenly twitched, and he glanced at Li Weiguo, and saw that Li Weiguo's old god was pretending to be invisible, so he said: "At the request of His Majesty, the Household Department released the imperial economic statistics in advance. At present, there is a surplus of 130 million yuan in fiscal reserves, 3,455 tons of gold in foreign exchange reserves, and the total GDP of Jianyuan in 3983 is about 12 billion yuan, so next year's fiscal budget of the empire will be 10% of the total GDP, that is, 1.2 billion yuan. However, in view of the outbreak of war this year, the budget needs to be significantly increased. The last time there was a war with Britain and Japan, the budget was 500 million yuan, which was just enough. This time, in addition to Japan, the United States will enter the war, and considering the total economic volume and industrial strength of the United States, our war budget will be at least 3 billion yuan, which will account for 25% of GDP. ”

Finally, Wang Kaitai added: "Of course, this is the first year's war budget, and I hope to end the war within a year, so that it will not have much impact on the empire's economy, and the financial risk is within a controllable range." Otherwise, the renminbi will face downside depreciation risks. ”

Wang Kaitai's speech is the most important, because it is about whether the Chinese Empire can afford to fight a war. After all, modern warfare does not rely on a large number of people to solve problems, but the consumption of steel, coal fuel, ammunition and materials such as shells and bullets, and medicine, and the consumption of food has dropped from the first place to the last place.

Once the war starts, all kinds of resources are frantically consumed, and it is not the industrial countries that cannot afford to fight, and the industrial countries that are not rich cannot afford to fight.

The Chinese Empire is currently the richest industrial country in the world, and if you take on any of the European and American powers alone, you will have no problem, but if you are against Britain, the United States, and Japan at the same time, or if you add France and Tsarist Russia, then you have to be careful.

As of January 3984 (1984 AD), the economic aggregate of the Chinese Empire was still the largest in the world, accounting for 31.6% of the world's total GDP.

Britain's total economic output fell to 12.1%, ranking third in the world, inferior to the United States, but its overall military strength is stronger than that of the United States, and it still ranks second in the world and second in the world in terms of comprehensive national strength. The British Empire has a strong foundation, and even if it falls, it will take a long time.

The United States accounts for 15% of the world's total economy, and its economic strength exceeds that of the United Kingdom, but its military strength depends on the British Empire.

The German Empire is in fourth place, accounting for 10.3% of the world's total economy. As a rising power, the level of science and technology ranks second in the world, riding the high-speed train of the development of the Chinese Empire, militarily second only to the Chinese Empire and the British Empire, surpassing the United States, secretly accumulating strength, seeking to challenge the throne of world hegemon.

In fifth place is Tsarist Russia, with a total GDP of 8.8% of the world. As a traditional big country, the land is the second in the world, the military power is huge, but the economy and science and technology are backward, the GDP is not high, all rely on real estate, agricultural products, a typical agricultural country, the granary of Europe. This is the same as the Qing Empire in history, the GDP is the first in the world, but unfortunately the gold content is too low, it is a big country, but not a strong country.

France ranks sixth, accounting for 6.8% of the world, and is a traditional European power, but its development speed is slow, the impact of the Franco-Prussian War is huge, science and technology and economy are lagging behind Germany, and its comprehensive national strength is about the same as that of the United States.

Next is Austria-Hungary, which accounts for less than 3% of the world's share and although it is one of the European powers, it is economically and militarily in the middle of the great powers.

Italy is ranked eighth, with a GDP of 2.5% in the world, and as a rising country, the level of economic development is lagging behind, and the military is not strong, and it has been in a relatively backward position.

Japan ranks ninth, GDP accounts for 1.4% of the world, is also a rising power, the economy and science and technology because of the British and American strong help and support, rapid development, especially the military advanced development, slightly stronger than Italy, GDP gold content is better than Tsarist Russia, but per capita much behind Tsarist Russia, so the comprehensive national strength can not beat Tsarist Russia.

The last one is India, the Chinese Empire for the first time listed India as a target of concern, because India's population is currently larger than the Chinese Empire, although there is no industry, but the export of agricultural products is huge, making GDP account for 1% of the world, although it is a British colony, all aspects of development are very backward, but because it is a neighbor of the Chinese Empire, a participant in the last Sino-British war, so Li Weiguo specifically asked to collect information on India.

Wang Kaitai listed the top 10 countries in the world for everyone to see at a glance.

"The combined GDP of Britain, the United States and Japan is 29.5%, which is not much different from the 31.6% of the Chinese Empire, so the minister does not recommend starting a war now."

Weng Tongyi finally found an argument and talked about GDP for a very good reason.

Li Hongzao also shook his head and said: "If this data is discussed in the Congress, I am afraid it will not be passed, and it is too risky to win or lose." ”

Li Weiguo frowned slightly, but he didn't say anything, this is a fact, there is nothing to argue.

However, war is gambling, and the number of five or five is obviously very high, and for gamblers, even if there is only 10% hope, it is possible to give it a try. (To be continued.) )