Military meetings continue.

Because of the Achilles heel of the Queen Elizabeth I-class main fleet, the whole meeting suddenly became easier.

According to traditional experience, the navies of the United States, Japan, Russia, and France will purchase the design and technology of the Queen Elizabeth I-class battleships of the British Empire, which shows that once the navies of the four countries build such battleships with fatal flaws, they will fall into a tragic situation of being completely beaten in the future when they engage the imperial Chinese navy.

Li Weiguo even asked the maid to bring the best red wine, inviting everyone to have a meeting while tasting it.

A serious military meeting, which in an instant turned into a celebration, was a celebration of the crushing defeat of the Entente Navy in advance.

"Your Majesty, the American headquarters of S.H.I.E.L.D. has just received definite news that the American Naval Armament Committee did not adopt the design scheme of the Queen Elizabeth I-class battleship of the Royal Navy of the British Empire, but independently designed a new type of battleship, and even the steam turbine system no longer purchased the Parsons steam turbine system of the British Empire, but built its own turbines."

"What?"

There was an exclamation in the imperial study, and everyone put down their wine glasses, and their expressions instantly became serious.

"Is it possible that the United States was able to break free from the technological shackles of the British Empire in such a short period of time?"

"Whether it's possible or not, since the United States didn't copy the technology from England and designed and built it itself, then we had to re-evaluate."

Although the ministers were shocked, they still paid attention to it, after all, it meant that the American naval industry had achieved domestic production, which was a qualitative leap and a manifestation of the military strength of a powerful country.

Li Weiguo frowned, he has been trying to weaken the United States, since the day he prevented the unification of the United States.

Now that Grant is dictatorship, the United States has been able to make the government decrees of the United States unimpeded, no longer shackled by parliamentary procrastination and quarrels, and concentrate American manpower, material and financial resources to do great things, as if emulating the rise of the Chinese Empire.

That's not going to work!

If the Grand Effect were to mimic the rise of the Chinese Empire, it would be a huge threat.

You must know that the United States has abundant resources, a strong industrial base, two hundred years of science and technology education, and no shortage of population, once developed, it will be more powerful than the United States in history.

Thinking of this, Li Weiguo became more serious, and he asked, "Is there any information about the new capital ships of the American Navy?" ”

The new director of S.H.I.E.L.D. in charge of this matter is Mingyue, the former minister of the palace guard and the commander of the Yulin Army, and the first female officer in the history of the Chinese Empire to be promoted to the top officer of the intelligence department.

The reason why Mingyue is in charge is mainly because of her trust in Mingyue. Mingyue is still unmarried, she has dedicated all her youth to the royal family, and is loyal to Li Weiguo and Su Sanniang, the queen of the West Palace. As the world's largest intelligence agency, S.H.I.E.L.D. is a matter of life and death for the country, and it must be handled by the most trusted person.

Although the former governor Cheng Kun was also loyal, Li Weiguo still did not dare to fully trust it. At the same time, the power of S.H.I.E.L.D. is too great, the amount of all kinds of secret funds is huge, and the funds of the Chinese Empire, such as Bliss and illegal money, are all carried out by S.H.I.E.L.D., if it is a bit greasy, no one can find out, if there is ambition, it will be very convenient to use power and funds to cultivate secret forces, so it cannot be replaced for a long time.

Last time, Li Weiguo found an excuse to transfer Cheng Kun out of S.H.I.E.L.D., and since then S.H.I.E.L.D. has a new rule, and the previous supreme officials can serve as the director of the bureau for a maximum of two terms and eight years, and the successive directors can only be appointed by the emperor, and the chief of the palace guard or the minister of the guard.

In this way, the Chinese S.H.I.E.L.D. will be completely in the hands of Li Weiguo, and it will also be completely in the hands of the emperor in the future, even if the imperial power in the future is getting less and less, and the process of democratization is getting faster and faster, it will not let the emperor become an ornament, and holding the world's intelligence is equivalent to controlling the national destiny of the Chinese Empire.

Mingyue heard Li Weiguo ask her, so she immediately took out a document and handed it over, and explained: "According to Grant's secret order, the American Navy will start construction of 4 Rhode Island-class battleships and 4 Louisiana-class battlecruisers, as well as 4 auxiliary New York-class armored cruisers, 18 Columbia-class frigates, and up to 50 submarines. ”

"Rhode Island-class battleships? It seems that Grant is planning to do something to Rhode Island! ”

Li Weiguo sensed Grant's vast naval ambitions and his intention to make a move on Rhode Island.

Wu Yong worried: "Rhode Island is isolated on the North Atlantic coast, surrounded by the American Navy and Army, once the war starts, Rhode Island will fall into the harsh environment of being surrounded, it is better to give up Rhode Island!" ”

"Why give up Rhode Island? I think Rhode Island is a nail, and if it can be nailed, it can play a huge strategic role. ”

Chen Jingnan suddenly said that although he was no longer in the military, he couldn't help but rebel when he heard that Wu Yong planned to give up Rhode Island.

The two immediately argued, one explaining the various reasons for having to abandon Rhode Island on a tactical level, while the other analyzed the benefits of holding on to Rhode Island on a strategic level.

The ministers all rolled their eyes and waited for them to finish arguing.

However, Li Weiguo's eyes suddenly lit up, and he thought of a famous battle in the history of World War II, called the Battle of Stalingrad, where a city held out for several years and completely dragged down the arrogant German army.

Strategically, the Soviet soldier gained valuable respite and was able to regroup and defeat the German invasion. Otherwise, if the Battle of Stalingrad ends in a few months, then the Soviet army will not have time to organize an army to counterattack, and the consequences will be the loss of the country.

Today, the overall strength of the Chinese Empire has surpassed that of the United States in an all-round way, and it is in a state of attack. But in the case of Rhodes, on the contrary, the Chinese Empire was on the defensive.

If war breaks out, it will be very useful to be able to use Rhode Island to contain the main force of the United States.

"If Rhode Island is built into a fortress far beyond Guam, will it be able to hold on?"

Hearing Li Weiguo's question, Wu Yong was stunned for a moment, he knew that Li Weiguo had already thought about it.

Chen Jingnan was immediately overjoyed, and finally won Wu Yong, and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, Rhode Island is much larger than Guam, as long as you build a large number of permanent fortifications and hoard a large number of weapons and equipment, ammunition and food supplies, you will definitely be able to block the attack of the US army for several years without falling." ”

Li Weiguo agreed: "Building a permanent fortress is equivalent to inserting a dagger directly into the throat of the United States, which can play an important role at a critical moment." ”

When Wu Yong heard this, he immediately sighed, he knew that Li Weiguo had already made a decision.

In fact, Wu Yong also felt that there was a certain value in holding on to Rhode Island, and he was not worried about the financial resources and engineering construction capabilities of the Chinese Empire, but only worried about whether the officers and soldiers of Shence who would guard Rhode Island in the future would have the will to defend Rhode Island. After all, not everyone can survive a heavy siege without wavering. Once the defenders can't bear to waver, then it will be in vain in the mighty Eternal Fortress.

"Your Majesty, if you want to defend Rhode Island, you need to send a strong-minded general and tens of thousands of elite troops!"

Hearing Wu Yong's words, Li Weiguo knew that he also agreed, so he became more confident.

"Since Grant intends to recover Rhode Island, then we will build Rhode Island into a giant steel hedgehog, and if the U.S. military dares to come, let them hit their heads and bleed."

Considering that the current naval strength of the Entente bloc is not the opponent of the Imperial Chinese Navy, as long as the Imperial Chinese Navy continues to build ships and overwhelm the Entente every time, then the Entente will not easily dare to start a war.

In this way, the fortress of Rhode Island had plenty of time to be built.

Next, the military conference focused on the Imperial Japanese Navy.

I am not afraid of the little strength of the Imperial Japanese Navy, mainly because in the entire Asia-Pacific region, there is only the Japanese Empire as a nail left, and once a war with the Entente starts, the Imperial Japanese army is closest to the Chinese Empire and can attack from all sides. In particular, the Allied navies wanted to come to the Pacific to fight the imperial Chinese navy, and the Japanese archipelago was the only place of supply, so the strategic location was extremely important.

"According to the information we have, the Imperial Japanese Navy is also developing rapidly, and in addition to not having the money to build more battleships, they have built a large number of cost-effective armored cruisers and submarines. At present, the Japanese Combined Fleet has 4 main battleships, and two more are being built in Britain. 18 armored cruisers, 22 unprotected cruisers, 47 frigates, 240 submarines. ”

240 submarines!

The ministers were amazed, and even Li Weiguo was stunned, despising little Japan for a long time, and as a result, ignoring the capabilities of little Japan, he actually built 240 submarines over the years.

"It's good that it's not 2400 submarines, the number of anti-submarine destroyers in our Imperial Navy should be enough!" Lin Jiyun wiped a handful of cold sweat and said weakly.

Mingyue broke the news again: "This is just a submarine of the Japanese, France and Tsarist Russia do not count, their submarines are mainly active in Europe, and there are more than 500 submarines in Britain and the United States combined, and their quality is much better than that of Japan." ”

Lin Jiyun was about to cry, since he was used to the fierce bombardment of the enemy by the cannon of the giant ship, he didn't pay much attention to the development of submarines. Every time I asked Li Weiguo for money to expand the navy, I was expanding the main warships on the surface, and the number of submarines was very pitiful, and there were only more than 80 submarines so far.

Without paying attention to submarines, the number of natural anti-submarine destroyers is not much left, it is still at the level of five years ago. In the last five years, the Navy has only stared at battleships and battlecruisers.

Li Weiguo glared at Lin Jiyun and said, "It's okay, we still have time!" At least until the number of dreadnought battleships of the Entente group surpasses ours, they will not easily start a war against us, as long as the submarine forces and anti-submarine forces are done well within three or five years! ”

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Lin Jiyun suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

On the issue of war against Japan, the best way is a naval blockade. Japan is short of resources, and coal and oil are the basis for supporting modern industry, but Japan has too few coal mines, not many reserves, and no crude oil, so it relies on imports.

Once the sea passage was blocked, the Japanese Navy's warships were soon left without coal or oil, and they were parked in the military port and became scrap metal.

Of course, if you want to attack the Japanese mainland, it will be a different matter.

At least when the outcome of the world war was uncertain, Li Weiguo would not choose to attack the Japanese mainland. If the Chinese Empire had won the World War, it would have swept Japan away in one fell swoop with the power of a great victory and completely mastered the Asia-Pacific region.

Next is the French and Tsarist Empires, France is pinned down by the German Empire, so naturally there is no need to worry about the Chinese Empire. Tsar Alexander III of the Tsarist Russian Empire was angry to death, and the new Tsar Nicholas II had just succeeded to the throne, and his reign was still unstable, and it was unlikely to pose a threat to the Chinese Empire in the short term.

Thus the military conference ended, and the objectives of the Chinese Empire were temporarily placed on Britain, the United States, and Japan.

Wu Yong personally presided over the construction of the permanent fortifications of Rhode Island, and at the same time, the Chinese Empire Concession in the southern United States also began to strengthen the fortifications of the fortress. Since the island of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the virgin islands are all in the hands of the Chinese Empire, the defense forces in the Caribbean Sea also need to be strengthened, and naval bases and coastal fortifications will become the key targets of the American army and the English army once a world war breaks out.

Lin Jiyun presided over the antisubmarine work conference and adjusted a part of the funds from the navy's shipbuilding budget to expand the number of antisubmarine destroyers and submarines.

Li Weiguo also left Lin Jiyun alone, counted him down, and made him pay attention to anti-submarine work. In the future, the victory or defeat of a war at sea will not necessarily be determined by the capital ships, but the key is to break the engagement.

After all, as the tonnage and firepower of battleships become larger and higher, and the cost becomes higher and higher, not all countries are willing to pull out the naval fleet that they have worked so hard to build for a decisive battle. The more expensive the battleship, the more distressed it is about losses, and the more cautious it becomes, and it will be difficult for a great battle between fleets to break out again.

Therefore, submarine warfare with low cost and strong destructive power will become the key to victory or defeat in the future.

Lin Jiyun was educated by Li Weiguo, and finally changed his mind and paid attention to anti-submarine warfare and submarine warfare.

Originally, the Navy Committee planned to abandon a few light cruisers and transfer the funds to build more destroyers and submarines, but in the end, Li Weiguo made a special order and embezzled 5 million yuan from the construction funds of the permanent fortress of Rhode Island, which was specifically used to build destroyers and submarines for the navy.

As for the construction of permanent fortifications in Rhode Island, it will be increased in next year's budget or returned from next year's naval budget.

The problem of funding is not a big deal, and what Li Weiguo is most worried about is what US President Grant will do when he learns that the Chinese Empire has built a large-scale defense system for the fortress of Rhode Island.

A month later, when Grant learned that construction was taking place in the concession area of Rhode Island of the Chinese Empire, and it seemed that large combat fortifications were being built, he was furious and ordered six American divisions to conduct large-scale military exercises near Rhode Island, and the navy also conducted live firing in the nearby waters.

In the Rhode Island concession area, the Chinese Imperial Shence Army quickly entered a state of combat readiness, and the two sides were tense, and the situation suddenly became tense. (To be continued.) )