When Hu Heping accepted his results with some astonishment, there was no suspense about the change in the battle situation, but playing like this made him extremely inexplicable, he originally only wanted to teach the Yankees a small lesson, but he didn't expect the force of this slap to be a little outrageous...... Or is the Yankees too weak...... Anyway, at this moment the Yankees' destroyers have clearly become semi-submarines.

"Report! 2 people were slightly injured in the No. 4 position! ”

"Report, water seepage on the starboard side of the bilge, and the pipe is being repaired!"

"Report, the No. 3 and No. 4 terrace gun mounts on the starboard side were damaged, and the No. 6 Gaoping 60mm gun was damaged and could not be put into battle!"

Report ......

The assessment of the battleship was quickly gathered in the bridge command room, and the violent collision on the starboard side was obviously impossible to be unscathed, even in the case of a huge advantage in the armor belt and tonnage, the damage to two-thirds of the gun mount on the starboard side still made Hu Heping a little depressed, but fortunately, the damage to the hull was minimal, and the Cangzhou almost immediately abandoned the semi-submersible Ursi destroyer without stopping.

"Turn the rudder and go squeeze the Yankees away!" Hu Heping gave a simple but clear order, and the Cangzhou, which had already fallen into the excitement of battle at this moment, immediately pounced on the stunned Ferrar destroyer like a furious lion!

A few days later, the New York Daily, which has a strong nationalist overtone in the United States, reprinted an interview with a British naval officer who came to the aid later, and the British officer criticized the performance of the American warship in a surprising tone.

"We observed that our allies, poor Americans, showed incredible cowardice in front of the Chinese Navy. He tried to escape without any substantial confrontation and made a very low-level mistake - he hit and damaged a Chinese merchant ship while turning!"

This act was seen by the Chinese as a serious provocation and eventually led to the destroyer Ferrar being seriously rammed in the same area. Almost incapacitated, and if it weren't for the Chinese seeing us, the American soldiers on both ships would have to swim to get back to port......"

The news of an extremely serious paramilitary confrontation between China and the United States immediately shocked the world, and on June 5, US Secretary of State Knox sent a note to Chinese Ambassador to the United States Huang Zunxian. Claim that China and the United States are on the verge of declaring war, unless the Chinese side can strictly investigate the matter and compensate the US for its losses! But. Huang Zunxian apparently did not agree with the US side at all, and he produced a detailed report on the incident, accusing the US military of being the black hand that deliberately provoked the conflict, and demanding that the US side severely punish the perpetrators and compensate the Chinese merchant ships, warships, and personnel for their losses.

A diplomatic conflict in which the two sides have their own opinions. It was a quick upgrade in almost a week. Both sides began to raise the stick to declare their resolve, and Sir Chacleton, the British minister to the United States who was involved in mediation, met with William on June 11. President Taft, who brought news from Winston Churchill, the British Admiralty--the Royal Navy is still difficult to be sure of victory in the Pacific theater, so Britain still needs a little time to prepare for a conflict against China!

This news obviously did not satisfy President Taft, and the Ursi incident has continued to ferment in the United States, causing the Republican Party facing the general election to encounter an unprecedented crisis, and the Democrats have seized on this military mistake. Violently attacked President Taft and the Republican Party, and even caused the former Republican President Theodore? Roosevelt was also highly dissatisfied.

President Taft clearly has high expectations for the upcoming election. The dissatisfaction of the party bigwigs and the public opinion offensive from the Democratic Party made him very dissatisfied with the British plan, but in view of the current erosion of the Entente situation in Europe, he was more willing to take some necessary risks......

Five days later, London received feedback from the U.S. government that President Taft had decided to rely on his own strength to resolve the dispute between China and the United States in the Atlantic, but President Taft apparently preferred more military assistance from the United Kingdom, and he proposed to Prime Minister Asquith that the North Atlantic Joint Command, which had been formed, would organize naval operations against China.

This news was like ice cubes thrown into hot oil, which immediately caused a huge shock on the part of London, and the blockade of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea had long been the best means for the British Empire to contain Germany, but because of the existence of China, the effect of this means was indeed greatly reduced, and considering the huge chain of interests between China and Britain and the United States, in fact, Britain would have preferred to obtain enough window period to open up the situation in Europe.

Churchill's plan, the first minister of the navy, in fact, is also very clear, based on the current state, can be used in various forms to obstruct China's trade with the allies, but to open a new battlefield in the current situation of the European battlefield is also anxious, this is obviously not in the interests of the British Empire, to China...... The North Atlantic is the preset battlefield, but the truly fierce battle is expected to be a war that will sweep the whole world.

However, considering that the United States has become an important source of infantry for the Entente and is looking forward to opening up the situation in Europe, it is urgent for the United States to increase investment...... By June 24, Prime Minister Asquith gave the United States an affirmative reply, and Britain agreed to increase pressure on China, including militarily!

It's just that the things that Britain is willing to come up with are actually very limited, except for Davy, which has been stationed in the North Pacific? Outside of Vice Admiral Betty's Second Squadron, Britain simply can't take out more military strength, but this is obviously enough to inspire President Taft's determination to solve the North Pacific problem!

Almost at the same time, the Chinese embassy in the United States also captured a series of messages from various sources that convinced Huang that the Americans were actively postponing negotiations in favor of more drastic action...... The war is escalating!

On July 15, after the Sino-US negotiations were silent for nearly half a month, and after the domestic media in the United States strongly created a momentum, President Taft issued an important speech on the USS Ursi incident, announcing that more maritime forces would be dispatched to carry out actions to restrict European trade.

On the same day, the Minister of War, Henry Son, signed an order issued by Vice Admiral William Anderson. Schiller sailed from the port of Key West to the Caribbean with a large fleet of 10 battleships, 15 destroyers, and 8 supply ships, accompanied by two dreadnoughts led by British Rear Admiral Abbasnot, the USS Thor and the USS Ajax.

In the afternoon of the same day, U.S. Secretary of State Knox came to meet President Taft very nervously, "Your Excellency, Chinese Ambassador Huang Zunxian has submitted two protests, demanding that we leave the Caribbean Sea, otherwise China will enter a state of hostility between the two countries and cancel all the agreements signed before...... Including the Panama Canal Agreement! ”

"Henry, what is the attitude of the British? Why David? Vice Admiral Betty sent only 2 battleships, didn't the British fleet have 8 battleships anchored in our harbor? President Taft did not respond directly to his secretary of state, but frowned and discussed with the secretary of war, in the plan, Henry **** also proposed a plan to the British Second Fleet to cooperate with the plan, but the young Vice Admiral Betty, a new member of the Royal Navy, apparently did not accept it, but agreed to participate in the plan according to the orders of the London side.

"Your Excellency the President, Lieutenant General Beatty, who believes that our battle plan is difficult to achieve, has given us the advice that the only way to defeat China in the true sense of the word is in the Pacific, even if the entire Atlantic Ocean is in our hands, and the threat of possible attack on the west coast of the United States cannot be eliminated...... So he only ordered the Royal Navy to coordinate, and the main fleet was still cruising on the east coast! ”

"Can we succeed in blocking the mouth of the Panama Canal and forcing the Chinese to make concessions!" President Taft glanced at Knox, the answer to this question is obviously closely related to the protests of the Chinese, the US home fleet on the west coast, almost poured out, if the same literal statistics, the US Navy obviously has an amazing advantage!

According to the investigation of China's Atlantic Fleet, although the other side has established a military defense zone in Colon City at the mouth of the Panama Canal and stationed a fleet to garrison it, the Atlantic Fleet has only four battleships, although the flagship is the Fujian, China's most advanced "Jin"-class battleship, the other three battleships are all old battleships that have been launched for many years, and the astonishing ratio of 12:4 is enough for President Taft to get a positive answer.

Sheng is obviously much more expert than President Taft, after all, he is also from the military, and he can think more deeply about this question, so he immediately gave a negative answer, "Your Excellency President, William?" Both Vice Admiral Schile and Vice Admiral Betty believed that we could do a short-term blockade, but considering that the distance from the nearest military port of Key West to Cologne was more than 1,500 kilometers, if the replacement of the battleship sequence was carried out, it would take at least 20 battleships to carry out the blockade while keeping the capital ships suppressed, otherwise it would ......"

"Otherwise? What the? ”

"Both generals believe that we can suppress the Chinese for two weeks, and we can put enough pressure on the Chinese, but after two weeks, the fleet must return to rest and recuperate, and it will not be able to continue to maintain superiority at sea, and the plan to block China's trade is obviously difficult to sustain, and it is even difficult to pose a direct military threat to the city of Cologne!"

Seeing President Taft's frowning brows, **** Sheng naturally understood the problem, the United States needs a war, especially a war that can be expected to have advantages and victory, and the election also needs such good news, especially when the president is now mired in the sluggish approval rating within the Republican Party, "Your Excellency, Pacific Fleet Edward?" Lieutenant General Abel sent a telegram in which he believed that if action was to be carried out, it was important to have a head start in the Pacific! (To be continued.) )