After the Americans were completely slapped in the face by the Chinese fleet on the east coast, although the armistice agreement signed by Tongguò preserved the security of the entire east coast, however, after the declaration of the Spanish-American War, the fire of war was unexpectedly extinguished by the Chinese navy. Roosevelt also had a headache. 》. []

The Admiralty sent a letter to Newport News Shipyard and United Steel Shipyard urging them to immediately deliver the battleships under construction, but he did not forget the coastal patrol fleet stationed at Cape Delaware earlier, although this fleet of five warships was used as a supplement to the North Atlantic Squadron and the Cruise Squadron, but this fleet was actually a temporary patchwork of retired naval warships, and was almost useless.

However, Roosevelt finally found the sea power he desperately needed - the battleship Maine, which had been repaired at the Newport News shipyard due to engine failure, was briefly repaired at the desperate urging of the Admiralty, and this almost half-finished battleship, which had fallen behind at launch, soon became the flagship of the East Coast Fleet.

On 3 July, the U.S. fleet led by the battleship USS Maine reappeared in the Florida Strait, and the reappointed Commodore Sampson had apparently lost the sharpness of the complete blockade of the Spanish fleet a few months earlier.

And on July 12, the navies of the two countries encountered each other in the strait for a while, and although Vice Admiral Sevela's fleet added two new small-tonnage armored ships, the Chinese navy's large fleet had already left Haiti and sailed towards the Atlantic. So. The Spanish general for the battleships of the Americans. Obviously, they didn't have much confidence, but after firing and intimidating each other, they each returned home.

On the contrary, the situation in Cuba has changed a lot in a few months, and the strength of the Independence Army has grown a lot in just a few months, and it has quickly taken control of several cities around Las Tunas in the center, forming a large base around the Vavaro Mountains, and the Cuban Governor Viller personally supervised the battle, gathering more than 30,000 troops to besiege the Independence Army. The fierce fighting lasted for more than two months, with little success.

At this time, China, Britain, and Germany seized the opportunity to put pressure on the Spaniards, and the British minister Sir Chacleton even threatened to send battleships to stop the war from destroying Cuban trade, and at the end of July, a sudden tropical plague swept through the villages and towns near Amangio, where the war was held, and the independence army and the Spanish army had to sign a ceasefire agreement in the face of severe illness and wounds, and the Spanish government acquiesced to the autonomy of the independent army on the Amancio line.

After the fragile ceasefire, Gomez quietly visited Washington as a representative of the Independence Army. However, after more than half a month, little progress was made, and several arms dealers agreed to provide weapons and ammunition. However, a 7o% advance payment is required, which is certainly possible, but when Gómez asked for the guns to be shipped to the port of Guayabal, which is close to the independent militarized district, he was asked to add an additional 3o% of the price.

Later, he had to secretly visit the Chinese embassy in Washington, which somewhat surprised Huang Zunxian, the minister to the United States, who suddenly appeared from Washington, and after learning of the Cuban officer's request, Huang Zunxian immediately realized that this would be a good opportunity to win over these Cubans, not to pay for it himself, but also to let the Cubans see China's sincerity.

In fact, the Admiralty has already arranged for these things, and it only needs to transfer the goods to Colombia, and then change them to Chinese merchant ships to easily enter the south coast of Cuba under the escort of the Navy, and after obtaining the concession right to use the submarine port, in just a few months, the Chinese Navy has a mobile force composed of four destroyers operating on the east coast of the Americas.

A few days later, the plan for the disposal of the Cuban Independence Army had been submitted to Beijing, and Huang Zunxian's approach was immediately affirmed by Qin Kai, and the reason why he so resolutely supported the Cuban Independence Army was naturally due to Qin Kai's own considerations, Cuba was undoubtedly a time bomb that he put on the side of the United States, and the more free the funding he gave to Cuba, the more stringent the conditions imposed by the United States on Cuba, and there was almost no need to speculate that this small emerging country would turn to itself when the time came, and that was only a matter of time.

However, Qin Kai's most concerned issue now has shifted from the Atlantic to the country, showing the world the heavy task of China's martial arts, Xu Shoushan has carried out the most intense display with the victory of the giant ship cannon, the Pacific Fleet has just completed a routine visit to South American countries, and is on the way to the British Empire at the moment, and the three British Dreadnought-class battleships accompanying it fully reflect the importance that this sea power empire attaches to China.

After successfully curbing the Yankees' expansion attempts, a large amount of news from Washington has fully demonstrated that the process of American development is undergoing unprecedented changes in history, and President McKinlai is now in a precarious position because of the handling of the Sino-US conflict and the defeat of the Spanish-American War, and it will be difficult for him to do anything in the next short term......

And the Republican Party is obviously affected by this, and its influence is now greatly affected, and this has quickly spawned the popularity of the Democratic Party, taking full advantage of the mistakes made by President McKinley, and the next presidential Democratic favorite, William? Taft has criticized the administration's sloppy approach to the war, declaring that the United States needs to shift its focus to the inordinate countries around it, rather than the unfriendly countries around it, and that he will focus on domestic construction, strengthen tariff protection, and ensure sustained domestic economic growth.

Although it is difficult to say whether President McKinley will be re-elected as in history, the likelihood of this has been greatly reduced, and more importantly, although in only two years, the U.S. Navy will quickly rebuild a new fleet of five to eight battleships, as long as China, Britain, and Germany have their maritime power in South America, the Americans' expansion plans will be completely frustrated...... Unless the United States has the power to challenge China to the east or Britain to the west, this is obviously an impossible outcome.

On July 26, Xu Jianyin, the general director of the Ministry of Industry, personally summoned Huang Dongsheng, an airship design engineer from Mawei, and 4o outstanding engineers from the four major heavy industries and the three major practical rooms in Beijing, and announced to them the decision to establish the 311 project real room. Although there is no specific introduction to the research direction of the real yàn room. But these young people, the oldest of whom are less than 4o years old, are clearly aware of what......

Two days later. On the morning of 28 July, the large barracks in the western suburbs of Beijing suddenly ushered in a convoy composed of more than 10 Beijing cars, and the person in charge of the barracks was the Seventh Guards Division of Beijing, and the division commander was Liu Ji, a fierce general of the Third Group Army.

You must know that all those who can name the Guards Division are all veteran powerhouses in China's 6th Army. The Seventh Division, who was born in the three towns of Guangdong, is naturally the same, and Liu Ji is a character who is not afraid of heaven and earth, but he didn't expect to be so out of shape today...... However, after Qin Kai stepped out of the special car, the soldiers finally understood the reason for the division commander's nervousness.

"Salute!!" As the officer on duty shouted, hundreds of soldiers immediately gave Qin Kai a standard and upright military salute.

Although Qin Kai was not wearing a military uniform, he had already been deeply imprinted with the shadow of the protector in his bones, and immediately waved his hand back with a military salute, and when Liu Ji rushed up, he immediately asked with interest: "Liu Ji." You're all set! ”

"Alright...... As you asked, two airship battalion officers will carry out the mission today! Liu Ji immediately reported loudly.

Qin Kai nodded. Soon, accompanied by the major general and division commander, Qin Kai and Xu Jianyin, the general director of the Ministry of Industry, chatted while walking, while nearly 4o people recruited from Room 311 were surrounded behind him with great excitement.

Ten minutes later, except for Qin Kai and Xu Jianyin, a large number of engineers in Room 311 were surprised by the situation in this strange barracks...... And at the end of these three straight concrete roads, there are two strange-looking things parked.

"Is that a new type of transport vehicle? It's still a boat! ”

"How could it be a ship? You don't see very delicate rubber tires underground, but they definitely don't look like cars! ”

"Chief Engineer Huang, it can't be a new airship, right?"

", airships are a little bit like this thing!"

“……”

Qin Kai listened to the arguments of these young people behind him with a smile, he looked sideways at Xu Jianyin, the energetic director of the Ministry of Industry, can be said to have worked hard in this position, I have seen less than 1o years, on the basis of Nanyang Industry, a number of basic industries that radiate the whole country have been quickly copied, and Xu Jianyin, who is deeply aware of the success of Nanyang Industry, has also quickly established a system of various technical associations, and in the name of the Ministry of Industry, he has quickly labeled talents as technology.

Among the young engineers behind him, nearly half of them come from industries that are not directly under Nanyang, which shows the results of the vigorous development of domestic industry and the exhibition of the entire national industry, Qin Kai has long made it clear that it is obviously impossible to rely on himself to create a zào a qiē, but he does not mind pointing out a path for the exhibition of national science and technology, but how to go, he will not interfere too much.

As Qin Kai stepped into the improvised platform built on the side, an officer quickly stepped out of the ranks, and after saluting Qin Kai, he immediately raised a signal gun in his hand and shot a green signal flare into the sky......

Under the gaze of everyone, the strange thing at the end of the runway that looked at a horizontal box immediately moved slowly, from both sides of the horizontal box, two fine black smoke came out of the gasoline internal combustion engine, and quickly added this strange-looking thing, and what was even more strange was that a propeller-like device that only existed on a ship was also spinning rapidly under the drive of the internal combustion engine......

The entire runway was nearly 5ooo meters or more, and it was only after this strange machine that it had run more than 8oo meters before everyone could see clearly that it was a thing with a pair of double wings and a slender body.

At this time, Xu Jianyin picked up the microphone and introduced it to these stunned engineers, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the machine that Room 311 will be fully researched from today - a flying machine, we call it an airplane!" ”

Flying machine qì...... Many people here have obviously come into contact with airships, and the principle of airships is not much different from the Kong Ming lantern in ancient times, relying on buoyancy to lift into the air, and this so-called airplane ...... But it relies on the propeller at the front end to achieve the flight...... It's an unbelievably crazy idea.

But this is undoubtedly a crazy thought, and in the frenzied and puzzled eyes of more than 4o engineers, the plane called the plane suddenly soared into the air......

1 meter ......

2 m ......

3 m ......

5 m ......

A scene that made everyone unbelievable The picture was displayed in front of everyone, the plane smoothly maintained a height of less than 1o meters and flew forward, but, soon, this strange flying plane seemed to have some problems, began to fall crookedly, and finally slammed on the runway, due to the huge impact, a wheel on the right side taxied on the ground for more than ten meters, and directly broke the wheel frame, and the plane immediately turned sideways, crooked and about to turn over, however, dozens of soldiers immediately rushed out, Familiar with all kinds of hooks directly pulled this big guy. (To be continued!)

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