Chapter 469: The feeling of being blocked by a 16-inch cannon at the door of the house
Panama Bay, Rey. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biqugeγ info
It's only 40 kilometers off the coastline of Panama City, right at the Pacific outlet of the Panama Canal.
Previously, it was a deserted rainforest.
It became important when the United States and France dug a canal in Panama.
Because once an army is stationed on the island of Rei and large-caliber fortified artillery is deployed, then it can directly block the Panama Bay and block the exit of the Panama Canal.
By the time the United States and France realized the importance of Γle Rey, it had become an overseas territory of the Chinese Empire.
Panama was part of a Colombian province, and the cooperation between the Chinese Empire and Colombia led the Colombian government to finally agree to lease the island of Rey to the Chinese Empire.
However, the Chinese Empire relentlessly and took advantage of the outbreak of war between Colombia and Venezuela to coerce and induce Colombia to force the Colombian government to sell Rey Island to the Chinese Empire for 1 million yuan on the pretext of secret military assistance to the Colombian army.
In fact, the Colombian government is very clear about the status of the island of Rey.
Previously, it was only agreed to lease it to the Chinese Empire, but it restricted the Chinese Empire from building permanent fortress fortifications and naval bases on Rey Island.
This is because the Colombian government is out of its own interests, although the Colombian government is very disgusted with the United States, in order to disgust the United States to build a canal in Panama, it took the initiative to hook up with the Chinese Empire and pit the United States by a whole 200 million.
However, the Colombian government also understands that the United States is the number one power in the Americas and cannot be provoked.
The Colombian government wants to exploit a loophole between China and the United States, blackmailing each other in order to maximize benefits.
Therefore, fearing a strong backlash from the United States, at the outset of the issue of Rey Island, a large number of restrictions were imposed on the Chinese Empire as a way to calm the tension and anger of the United States.
But the plan could not keep up with the changes, and the large-scale military assistance of the Chinese Empire to Colombia, helping Colombia build super-dreadnought battleships, which deeply irritated Colombia's neighbor Venezuela.
Venezuela has always been hostile to Colombia, which has the backing of the Chinese Empire, so Venezuela has to turn to the United States for help.
Roosevelt was very happy after receiving Venezuela's request, and he believed that the Chinese Empire's alliance with Colombia was bound for the Panama Canal, so Roosevelt was very worried that once the Panama Canal was completed, he might have made a wedding dress for others, and if the Chinese Empire took advantage, it would be even more uncomfortable than killing him.
Therefore, Roosevelt responded positively to Venezuela's request and wooed Venezuela to join the Entente bloc.
Once Venezuela joins the Entente, Colombia is trying to attack Venezuela, and the problem will become very complicated, even triggering a world war.
Colombia therefore lodged a protest with the United States against Venezuela's accession to the Entente bloc.
However, in the face of protests in Colombia, Roosevelt was also surprised.
Didn't you order four super-dreadnought battleships from the Chinese Empire! I thought that I had really become a world power, and I dared to threaten the powerful United States!
Roosevelt was upset and ignored the Colombian protests.
At this time, the speaker of the Colombian parliament realized that even if the Colombian Navy was equipped with four super dreadnought battleships, it would not be able to be looked down upon by the United States, so he could only turn to the Chinese Empire for help.
The Chinese Empire took this as an opportunity to offer a permanent purchase of Rey Island.
The Speaker of the Colombian Assembly understood that once Venezuela joined the Entente bloc, the balance of power between the Allies and the Entente would constrain Colombia from using force against Venezuela easily.
Thus, Colombia finally agreed to sell the island of Rey to the Chinese Empire in perpetuity.
In return, the Chinese empire betrayed itself and openly pressured the United States and the Allied members that Venezuela was an enemy of Colombia and that if the Entente accepted Venezuela, it would be tantamount to an immediate war against the Allies.
Faced with the aggressive momentum of the Chinese Empire, the Entente countries convened a conference and were forced to make concessions and refuse Venezuela's accession.
However, the United States will not be reconciled.
Roosevelt ostensibly rejected Venezuela, but secretly reached a secret agreement with Venezuela to provide Venezuela with all kinds of advanced weapons and economic assistance to help Venezuela resist a possible military invasion by Colombia.
The Chinese Empire also knew about the small actions of the United States, but pretended not to know. Only when Colombia encounters more difficulties, will it turn to the Chinese Empire for more help, so that the Chinese Empire can get more benefits.
At the end of 1893, Colombia, with the support of the Chinese Empire, brazenly launched a war of aggression against Venezuela.
In recent years, Colombia's military power has been unprecedentedly strong, with the great help of the Chinese Empire. The weapons and equipment of the Colombian army are all Chinese-style, and the level has directly stepped into modernization from the era of turtles, and it is even equipped with a large number of Chinese-made military motorcycles, and a semi-mechanized infantry division has been established separately.
Whether it is equipment or training, the whole process is in charge of the military advisory group and instructor corps of the Chinese Empire.
Even among some of the main forces of the Colombian army, there were military instructors from the Chinese Empire who directly served as the commanders of the troops, commanding the Colombian army to fight in Venezuela.
The Colombian army invaded Venezuela, and naturally met with stubborn resistance from the Venezuelan military and civilians.
Although Venezuela did not join the Entente Group, in fact, the Entente Group has acquiesced to Venezuela as a member state, not only the United States, but also Britain and France in the guise of the International Red Cross humanitarian relief volunteers, sent a large number of personnel into Venezuela to help Venezuela resist Colombia's military invasion.
This is like the Boer War, the Chinese Empire and the Allied countries have sent a large number of military personnel to participate in the war as volunteers under the banner of humanitarianism, and the British Empire has been pitted everywhere.
Now the British Empire is a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye, and it is most actively sending the so-called "volunteers" to participate in the war.
As a result, following the Balkan War in Europe, the Ethiopian War in East Africa, and then the Boer War in South Africa, the secret war between the Central Powers and the Entente has burned to the South American continent and started a war in Venezuela.
Both the Entente and the Central Powers are testing each other's combat strength and bottom line, and using these wars to test each other's strength and military tactics, so as to achieve the purpose of collecting each other's military intelligence and preparing for the real Armageddon between the two sides.
The Colombian army won a brilliant victory in the early stages, winning three battles and three victories, capturing the coastal areas of Maracaibo and Maracaibo Bay in one fell swoop.
However, the next battle was not so easy, on the coastal flats, the Colombian army was defeated by the Venezuelan army with superior artillery bombardment under the opening of the way by the semi-mechanized infantry division, with advanced Chinese-style weapons and equipment.
But most of Venezuela's territory is mountainous and not suitable for mechanized troops.
Soon, when entering the mountains to fight, the Venezuelan army received secret support from the military of the United States, the British Empire and other countries, obtained a large amount of ground radium, and began to spread cloth radium all over the mountains.
See mine warfare again!
Not only was the Colombian army sad, but even the Chinese Empire was quite speechless.
This radium tactic is the first successful combat power invented and tested by the Chinese Empire, and has been cited as a classic defensive tactic by the military of all countries in the world.
Even the American military is deeply touched by the radium warfare, after all, the American army in the Spanish-American War, but the Spanish army suffered from the Spanish war, and has a deep memory since then.
Now, the British and American forces have directly taught this tactic to the Venezuelan army, but Venezuela is dominated by mountainous terrain, which is most suitable for burying radium everywhere.
In the face of the Earth Radium War, let alone the Colombian Army, even the Chinese Imperial Divine Army, which is known as the strongest in the world, can only stare dryly when it encounters the Earth Radium War.
The sweeping radium technology in these years is very primitive, after all, the electronic components have not been applied, and the technology of radium is higher than the sweeping radium technology, which is almost a world problem, even after one hundred and twenty years, the sweeping radium is also a world problem. It costs $15 to build a radium, but it costs at least $80 to sweep a radium, and when countries hear the word radium, they will be sore to death, not to mention the 90s of the nineteenth century.
Invisibly, the ground radium tactics invented by the Chinese Empire have now become a magic weapon for weak countries to carry out defensive operations.
As a result, the Colombian army's offensive was frustrated, resulting in a stalemate in the war, and it was estimated that a protracted war would be fought.
In fact, Britain and the United States and other Entente countries had already waged extensive ground and radium warfare in the Balkan War, the Serbian War, and the Boer War, otherwise these three wars would have been fought long ago.
At first, the Chinese Imperial Army participated in the war with the assistance of military training, but now it has fallen into a stalemate of war, which is also unexpected.
At the same time that the war in Venezuela was at a stalemate, the news that the Chinese Empire was building a huge fortress fortification on the island of Rey quickly spread around the world and attracted great attention from the Entente camp.
The Wall Street Journal paid attention to and followed up on the matter, and at the same time reported on it at length.
"The Chinese Empire's permanent purchase of Isla Rey and its seven nearby dependencies from the Colombian government is a far-reaching move."
"As we all know, the United States and France are cooperating in the construction of the Panama Canal, and once the Panama Canal is completed, it will not only benefit Britain and France in maritime economic and trade terms, but also facilitate the access of the Allied navies to the Pacific Ocean. Because previously the Allied navies entered the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic, they could only make a detour through South America. Today, if the Panama Canal were opened, it would save two-thirds of the journey. Originally, it would take three months for the U.S. Navy to enter the San Diego Naval Base in the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic, but it would take only one month if it took the Panama Canal. β
"Militarily, the U.S. Navy risked being attacked by the Imperial Chinese Navy and deployed its main naval forces in the Pacific Ocean, and only needed to quickly deploy to the Pacific through the Panama Canal when war broke out."
"The Chinese Empire has obviously seen through the strategic and military objectives of the United States' intervention in the Panama Canal, so the Chinese Empire has become very close to Colombia in recent years, and even pulled Colombia into the camp of the Central Powers."
"In the event of a war between China and the United States, or between the Allies and the Entente, the Colombian government will take back the Panama Canal. And the United States and France will not rest on their laurels and will inevitably send troops to retake the Panama Canal. β
"It is foreseeable that the largest and most intense war will break out around the Panama Canal."
"And the Chinese Empire does not seem to believe much in the combat effectiveness of the Colombian army, and does not consider him an opponent of the American and French armies, so the Chinese Empire bought the island of Rey."
"You know, Rey Island is just blocked in the middle of the Bay of Panama, as long as the Chinese Empire builds a giant fortress artillery on Rey Island, in fact, the Chinese Empire has begun to build a giant fortress, then the Panama Bay will be completely blocked, even if the United States and France seize the Panama Canal, and the warships pass through the Panama Canal, they will be blocked by the Chinese Empire's fortress artillery in the Panama Bay."
"If the Chinese Empire sends another naval fleet to intercept it, then it is easy to sink the American Navy warships that are going to fight in the Pacific through the Panama Canal."
β¦β¦
"Smack!"
Roosevelt slammed the newspaper on his desk, then got up and paced back and forth, grimacing.
"Duh! Duh! β
There was a soft knock on the door, and Roosevelt called impatiently to come in, only to see that it was Secretary of War Harris.
"What's wrong? With a sad face, who owes you money? Harris joked.
"The Chinese Empire built a permanent fortress fortification on Rey Island in Panama Bay, and dug up a naval port capable of docking 40,000-ton giant ships, and the latest intelligence shows that the Chinese Imperial Military transported the 16-inch naval guns used for the Fury-class battleships to Rey Island, a total of 20 guns!"
Roosevelt said with a wry smile, motioning for Harris to sit casually.
Harriston frowned, he had come for this purpose.
At this time, the United States did not have the chairmanship of the Department of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but as the Secretary of the Army, he was the supreme leader of the American military except for Roosevelt.
Even though the current strength of the American Navy is stronger than the Army, in the military system, the Navy is still subordinate to the Army, and the naval officers are the first rank above the Army officers, and in history, after World War I, the American Navy in turn overwhelmed the Army and became the highest military department.
Now, as Secretary of the Army, Harris oversees the entire U.S. Army and Navy forces.
Of course, the so-called ministers are only civilians, politicians, and the real completely military department is called the Military Command Department, which is formulated by their staff officers and approved by Harris before they can carry out combat missions.
In conclusion, the American military system of this period was very chaotic.
However, due to Grant's military coup, the United States became a dictatorship, and now Grant spends most of his time resting, and power is concentrated in Roosevelt alone.
Harris is a good friend of Roosevelt, Roosevelt was the head of the military command department at the beginning, and the relationship between the two is very good, becoming a hardcore duo, firmly controlling the entire military and political power in the United States, even if Grant repents now, there is no way to take Roosevelt.
It can be seen that Roosevelt was still quite shrewd and his ambitions were quite terrifying.
It was Roosevelt's ambitions that made him feel unusually angry in the face of the political, economic, and military oppression of the Chinese Empire.
After reading the information, Harris said: "20 16-inch naval guns, 50 times the diameter of the barrel, are condescending on the fortress battery, and the range is far greater than that of the Fury-class battleships. From Rey Island to the coastline of Panama, less than 40 kilometers, I am afraid that it is completely within the fire range of 16-inch naval guns! The Chinese Empire is trying to build an unsinkable super battleship in the Gulf of Panama! β
Roosevelt said hatefully: "The Chinese Empire is simply too hateful, they have built such a powerful fortress battery firepower on Rey Island to blockade the entire Panama Bay, even if we build the Panama Canal, it will be very difficult for warships to safely enter the Pacific Ocean from the Panama Canal in the future." β
Harris nodded, he knew very well how terrifying the power of the 20 16-inch cannons was, with a condescending range of dozens of kilometers, even the most powerful battleships in the United States did not dare to guarantee a safe escape, not to mention other battleships with little blood and thin skin, they would be sunk by the opponent one by one.
"You know, in order to build the Panama Canal, we were extorted 200 million yuan by the Chinese Empire and Colombia, and in order to build the canal as soon as possible, I even doubled the appropriation and let the workers start work day and night. Now once the Chinese Empire's Rey Island Fortress is completed, the Panama Canal, which we have worked so hard to build with countless dollars, will become a joke all over the world! β
"This is forcing us to die in the United States!"
The more Roosevelt spoke, the more angry he became, his face turned purple with anger, and his expression was even more distorted, ugly and terrifying. (To be continued.) )