Chapter 155 Remedy (Ask for a Monthly Pass!) Read! ）

An autumn rain robbed London of the bright autumn sunshine and made the streets of London far fewer pedestrians, and a gentleman wearing a rubberized high-woven Egyptian cotton trench coat walked in the rain with a black umbrella, and the rain hit the umbrella and then slid to the ground, and when it hit the pavement stones, the splashed water splashed on the black leather shoes. This book is from.

Despite the topper-hat, Western-style attire, and even the unhurried pace of a London gentleman, anyone who walks by will notice that the "gentleman" is an Oriental.

A patrolman on the side of the road glanced at the gentleman.

Is it Japanese?

Or the Chinese?

For the British, there are only two countries in the East in their eyes, one is China and the other is Japan, in the past they only had China in their eyes, but now, they value Japan more in their eyes.

A country with a narrow territory but a country that strives for progress.

As for China? For the British, there may only be dirty, pigtailed men, entangled nv people, ignorant and ignorant, arrogant and inferior...... And so on, they could hardly find any good words.

Of course, that was in the past, and now at least these ignorant and ignorant, arrogant and inferior Chinese have an enlightened ruler, and of course when mentioning that ruler, the British will also mention the queen, and the Chinese queen is an English nobleman, and with the help of the queen, maybe one day China will also become a civilized country.

Ignorant British

Holding an umbrella, feeling the occasional gaze, Li Muqiu, who could guess what they were thinking, sneered in his heart, but turned to the staircase of a building on the side of the road.

"Knock Knock ......"

After striking the brass clasp, the black-wood opened, and it was a blonde European.

When the wood was closed again, passers-by occasionally saw a copper hanging from the black lacquered wood.

"Wilson Maritime Trading Company"

"Do you want wine?"

Despite all that said, but Wilson? Charlie didn't mean to get up and walk towards the wine cabinet, he just looked at Li Muqiu in front of him.

It's finally here

Fingers tapping your knee, Wilson? Charlie glanced at the £5 note on the table that had been split in half, and it was with this £5 note that the two had used to confirm each other's identities.

"Sir, if you need anything, just ask"

Nodding his head, Wilson's words tinged with compliments.

After ten months of affluence in London, Wilson knew he couldn't afford to abandon his current life and return to the life of a third-class white-faced man in Shanghai who survived by abduction on the streets of the concession.

Wilson knows his identity, he is just a white man, even now, others respectfully call himself "Mr. Charlie", but in fact, this Mr. Charlie is the identity given to him by the Chinese, they can give it to themselves, and they can also take it back at any time, and may even take back their own lives.

"We need three coal carriers"

Li Muqiu spit out a sentence casually, and tapped the armrest of the sofa with his right hand, his expression was extremely flat.

Coal carriers?

As soon as he heard this request, Wilson immediately linked to the now known "charcoal breaking incident", Britain and Japan together cut off the supply of Welsh anthracite to the Chinese fleet, and the fleet had to use German bituminous coal if it wanted to return home.

But why do they need coal carriers?

How could they still need coal carriers when there were German shipping companies that were responsible for the replenishment of coal and water for the fleet?

"Three Italian-flagged coal carriers, preferably those belonging to shipping companies that have direct contracts with the Italian military, and a complete set of official documents"

While making a detailed request, Li Muqiu took out a check from his pocket and gently pushed it in front of Wilson.

"Mr. Charlie, this is your reward"

Looking at the check, Wilson's eyes lit up, and the greed that flowed out in an instant did not hide from Li Muqiu's eyes, and he smiled contemptuously in his heart, he never had much affection for this kind of white-faced intelligence officer, who was completely engaged in this kind of work under the money.

If it weren't for the fact that it was difficult for Asians to integrate into the white circle, perhaps there would be no need for these white-faced people who were greedy for money to be intelligence agents of the Imperial Intelligence Agency, although he knew that most of the time, intelligence gathering mainly relied on money, but in his opinion, using these white-faced people as intelligence agents was undoubtedly a mistake, and might even endanger the entire intelligence network. ,

When Li Muqiu appeared on the street again, the rain had stopped at this time, walking on the street, Li Muqiu was thinking about the remaining problems in his heart, the ship would arrive soon, although Wilson was a white-faced man who was greedy for money, but in the past ten months, he had a good business relationship with most of the shipping companies in Europe, and there was no problem at all in hiring three Italian-flagged coal carriers, and now the biggest problem was coal, unless the intelligence bureau risked a "company" again, Otherwise, it will never be easy to obtain British charcoal.

"I hope ......"

With that name in mind, Li Muqiu knew that perhaps at this time, only he could help the navy obtain enough Welsh anthracite.

“…… The use of a triple turret affects the dispersion of the projectiles is too large, and the hit rate is not high, so in order to maintain a relatively high hit rate, we used five twin 12-inch guns, of course, in this regard, the same as the Chinese of Zhiyuan, the most significant feature of the "Zhiyuan ship", the unified caliber main gun mode is the second ......"

The designers at Vickers pointed to the model to John? Abanost? When Sir Fisher, the British First Admiralty, and his committee presented the design of the battleship Dreadnought, everyone could perceive the displeasure in Sir Fisher's brow.

Looking at the model, Fisher did not hide his displeasure, and since he became First Secretary of the Navy last year, he has led the formation of a committee, and at the same time proposed a design for a new type of battleship, a unified model of inch-caliber main guns, and a steam turbine that can maintain a speed of 21 knots for a long time.

When the design of the scheme was proposed, he was very clear about the requirement of maximum speed - 21 knots, and it could be maintained for a long time. At present, the maximum speed created by the battleships of various countries is 19 knots, and it can only be maintained for a short time, and the cruising speed that can be maintained is and can only be maintained within 8 iǎ hours, beyond which the reliability and life of the relatively complex steam engine are fatal, and at the same time, the spindle is overheated, the engine is overloaded, and even the most experienced engineer is helpless in the face of these failures.

Prior to this, the Royal Navy had begun experimenting with the new engine on the more iǎ ships in order to test and gain experience, and the steam turbines could ensure that the Dreadnought could continue to travel at speeds of more than 20 knots for 13 iǎ hours, which was particularly important in combat conditions.

Fisher saw that unified large-caliber artillery and speed superiority would dominate future naval warfare, and in his eyes, such a battleship was a "boiled old egg" that he could not crush.

But after the appearance of the Zhiyuan battlecruiser, Fisher saw the "perfect battleship" he dreamed of from the Zhiyuan-class battlecruiser, the most powerful and practical perfect battleship that integrates firepower and speed.

"The first factor in winning a naval battle is always the firepower of the ship"

Fisher said in the affirmative, and then added.

"The second is speed, so to speak, the Zhiyuan is a truly perfect battleship, and now we only have the Dreadnought, and it is still on the slipway"

Fisher's words were somewhat dissatisfied, he had tried to get the drawings of the Zhiyuan ship by selling the old warship, at least most of the development data, but the reality was always unsatisfactory, and in the end, the government refused his request.

"Gentlemen, what will happen if the dreadnought encounters the Zhiyuan ship at sea?"

Questioning rhetorically and clasping his hands, Fisher's expression became more and more serious.

"If he encounters the Dreadnought, he can blast the Dreadnought to pieces from a distance, and if he encounters two or more Dreadnoughts, he can use his high speed to escape our fleet."

Fisher, with a serious tone, stared at the crowd.

"And you can also use the stern main guns to bombard us, don't think it's unrealistic"

Placing the cigar in the ashtray, Fisher's tone was slightly deeper.

"Now, the self-appointed commander-in-chief of the Atlantic Fleet is trying to challenge the position of Britain, and we did not get Zhiyuan, but they did, so it can be said without hesitation that on the seas of the future, we are very likely to encounter Zhiyuan, not one, not two, but the entire fleet, which cannot but arouse our vigilance"

This was a mixture of chagrin in Fisher's tone, which in his view was in itself the greatest mistake of British Far East policy, which on the one hand worsened relations with Russia, and although Britain was now making every effort to repair relations with Russia, and finally the stupidity of the German Kaiser had made Russia an ally of Great Britain again, there was no doubt that it had propped up a potential adversary in Asia. ,

Japan, Japan is different from China, Japan is like Britain, the reality of the narrow island country of the country, doomed Japan will inevitably expand in order to obtain overseas colonies, and with the strength of China, Japan will eventually choose to break through to the south, and sooner or later war will break out between Britain and Japan.

China is different, China has enough resources, a large enough market, they have no reason to expand at all, even y-hope and ambition, and the queen of China is an English nobleman, in any case, at least for the next few decades, China prefers to be an ally with Britain rather than an adversary.

He had argued with the prime minister, but in the eyes of the prime minister and the dignitaries in London, the powerful China was more terrible and worrisome than the powerful Japan, so when the conflict became more and more likely to break out at any time, Britain still chose Japan and abandoned China.

This choice made him very helpless, and he could only watch the Chinese provide Germany with the drawings of the Zhiyuan ship in order to obtain the warship, and then the Germans built the Zhiyuan ship on the basis of borrowing from the Zhiyuan ship.

Of course, Fisher's words were heard in the eyes of others, but he only got an evaluation that was eyed by the gorgeous appearance of the Zhiyuan ship. After the Zhiyuan ship turned out, after the initial surprise and shock, it began to be fiercely criticized by European and American publications, most of which were criticized because of an article in the journal "Engineering" in September 05, this anonymous article is very familiar with the relevant information of the Zhiyuan class, and the accompanying series of plans are also quite accurate, and some people even suspect that the author may be involved in the design and construction of the Zhiyuan ship by technicians from Britain, the United States and Germany.

That article allowed countries to understand the Zhiyuan class in a real sense for the first time, and put forward a lot of valuable views, but it was very biased, what mixed with the armor of Germany, Britain, France, and the United States, the keel came from 30 factories in six countries, and the iǎ tube boilers that had not yet been adopted by various countries, and it was from China and the United States, and the steam turbine was made in Britain and the United States. A battleship "assembled" from parts from many countries, and the only thing the Chinese created was the miracle of the construction of the Zhiyuan ship, and 3,500 workers, working day and night, built the battleship in ten months.

Sensing the contempt in the eyes of everyone, especially from the Vickers designers, when he mentioned the Zhiyuan ship, Fisher couldn't help but sigh, didn't they realize the drastic changes that the Zhiyuan ship had set off on the battleship?

"Your Excellency, it is difficult for many people to realize the significance of the battle cruiser, in their eyes, prejudice often dominates consciousness"

After the meeting, sitting in Fisher's office, Jericho said to Fisher with regret.

"Jericho, I will definitely try to build more battlecruisers, if you have time please write a letter that I can show to the cabinet members, of course not to say that it was written at my request, and not to write it as an official document, the Royal Navy does not have a single battleship that has the speed required in future naval battles, but the Germans are preparing to build more powerful battlecruisers, and the speed is definitely more than 25 knots, so our battleships must have a speed of 27 knots, so that we can have greater initiative at sea, to be able to catch up with the enemy at 25 knots, speed is everything"

Fisher, who was sitting at his desk, was talking and checking the letters on the table, when suddenly a letter with the Chinese imperial insignia caught his attention, and he tore open the envelope, and the familiar font accurately and speechlessly told him that it was a letter from the emperor of China.

"Dear friend, for several years I have been inviting you to come to China at the right time to ,...... for our friendship"

The letter was very long, in the first half of the letter was about the friendship between the two, in the middle was to thank himself for his support to him and China, and at the same time to express the regret of Britain after choosing Japan, and at the end of the letter mentioned one thing, although the letter did not directly mention the need for his help, but from the meaning of the words, Fisher knew that this friend, whom he had never met, needed his own help, otherwise his Second Fleet would become another Second Pacific.

"Your Excellency......"

Looking at Fisher, who seemed to be pensive after folding the letter, Jericho asked hesitantly.

Looking up at Jericho, Fisher hesitated for a long time before speaking.

"Jericho, do you think we made the right choice of Japan?" ,

Jericho was stunned by a question, and he was silent for a long time before answering.

"Your Excellency, this is the decision of the political fǔ, of course, as far as the strong join forces, I think it should be right to choose Japan"

Sensing the Navy Minister's brows, Jericho didn't know that the First Navy Minister in front of him was a pro-China faction, so he hurriedly said as if remedy.

"However, as far as the strategic balance of the Far East is concerned, I think it is in the best interests of Britain to provide appropriate support to China and maintain a balance in the Far East, and a strong China can help Britain contain a strong Japan, so that Britain can secure British interests between the two countries."

Jericho's remedy made Fischer nod his head in satisfaction, a general can see through things, why can't those so-called political jīng heroes see the problem clearly?

"They, many people, call me pro-Chinese, but they forget that in my eyes, all that is important is the profits of Britain, and if China harms Britain's interests, I will be the first to support a war against the Chinese, but now, maintaining a balance, at least a proper balance, is what we should do, but they simply cannot understand this"

Shrugging his shoulders regretfully, Fisher picked up the cigar, handed one to Jericho, and then lit the cigar for him himself, took a puff of the cigar, and exhaled the smoke, he stared at Jericho in front of him.

"Of course, we probably shouldn't be involved in politics, but ......"

After a moment of silence, Fisher continued.

"Sometimes, we can do something to remedy the mistakes of the government in some aspects of its work"

"Your Excellency, what do you mean ......"

"Don't get me wrong"

Exhaling the smoke, Fisher glanced at the letter on the table again.

"The reason why I ask Britain to sell even a few light cruisers to China is because China needs help, and on the other hand, because when the whole of Britain shows its hostility towards China, we have to make an opening to shake an olive branch to China, at least, to convince them that we are in fact subject to the treaty, not to China, and that appropriate goodwill can sometimes work unexpectedly, so ......"

Looking at Jericho, Fisher said almost word for word.

"We need to supply the Chinese Second Fleet with coal, enough coal, can we think of a way?" A！ ~！