The General Staff of the Chinese Empire planned to fight against Yue, and in view of the quasi-military alliance between the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as the ambiguous relationship between Britain and the United States, the possibility of Allied intervention or US military intervention could not be ruled out.

For this reason, in addition to building four Yuan-class superbow-type battleships, the Imperial Chinese Navy restarted the submarine program out of the need for a naval blockade of the island nation and the Hawaiian Islands, the US Pacific naval base, and the existing 59 Eastern Han-class and advanced submarines were no longer able to meet the requirements of the simultaneous blockade of the Yueben Navy and the prevention of the US Navy from reinforcing the Yueben. Therefore, the Admiralty demanded the addition of fleet submarines with stronger combat capabilities, and the Don-class submarines were launched in this atmosphere.

At that time, when the Imperial Chinese Navy was far less powerful than the British Navy, it used submarines, a tactical and strategic weapon with a relatively high investment and high price, as a means to counter the British Navy. Now, as the number and scale of surface ships of the Imperial Chinese Navy surpass that of the British Navy, and after sitting on the throne of the world's largest navy, the Imperial Navy dislikes submarines again, and is eager to stop developing submarines, so that the great powers of various countries will no longer talk about submarines, accusing the Imperial Chinese Navy of engaging in sneak attacks and monks.

The Imperial Navy wanted to prove their strength with the cannons of giant ships, worthy of the title of the world's first navy. However, many times, the Imperial Navy had to admit that it would not work without submarines.

Although the Imperial Navy did not pay as much attention to the development of submarines as it did in the past, the development of submarines did not stop. After five years of unremitting efforts, the imperial submarine engineers represented by Holland, Lake, Zhang Xianbin, and Xu Feng finally completed the test of the Barracuda [SS-130], the first ship of the Tang-class submarine, in the summer of 1912.

Since the Sino-British War, there was no example of submarine warfare in the Chinese Empire, and the Eastern Han class submarines performed well in the sneak attack on Singapore Bay.

However, in the following five years, there has been no war in the submarine, although some data can be obtained during the exercise, but it is impossible to test the real combat effectiveness of the submarine, and the navy has been very satisfied with the submarine, so that the follow-up research and development work suddenly lost the target of the surname.

It was in this situation that the Tang-class submarine was completed after a long five-year development work.

Regarding the Tang-class submarine, among the students of Holland and Lake, the most outstanding Zhang Xianbin and Xu Feng proposed the development direction of the Tang-class submarine.

It turned out that they found that the advancing submarine seemed to be quite perfect, and it was almost impossible to find an opponent. Even the Navy's Osprey-class hunting ship was not so easy to sink her during the anti-submarine exercise against the promoted submarine.

By chance, Zhang Xianbin and Xu Feng returned from the exercise, and the officials of the submarine department of the shore navy held a ceremony to celebrate them. A submarine base employee planted a bunch of balloons as a welcome. But the quality of the balloons sent was not very good, and many of the balloons were blown up and soon found loopholes.

This staff member kept complaining, and happened to be bumped into by Zhang Xianbin and Xu Feng. Zhang Xianbin and Xu Feng were quickly inspired that when the balloon was purchased, it was impossible to see the holes the size of the eyes of the needles, but once they blew it up, the holes became bigger. Similarly, the current promotion submarine does not see any drawbacks and weaknesses, but if she is magnified, many unsafe structures with hidden dangers will be revealed.

Zhang Xianbin and Xu Feng immediately told Huo Lan and Lake their thoughts, and they immediately got their attention. At that time, Holland and Lake were also in pursuit of achievements, so they put the Xizhou-class submarine several times at once and built a Qin-class submarine test ship, but a lot of problems were exposed, and it took a long time to correct them.

It was precisely because the Qin-class submarine exposed a lot of problems that the problems were found and corrected in time, and the current 1,000-ton submarine was finally completed. Similarly, if we continue to enlarge the upgraded submarines, then we can find out the potential safety hazards after the enlargement of the upgraded submarines, so as to find the direction of development and improvement.

Subsequently, they began to design the 2,000-ton Tang-class submarine, and built the first barracuda to start testing, and sure enough, many problems were found in the sea trials. For example, during the sea trial, the phenomenon of burying the head was found in surface navigation, and the surface speed was not as fast as the underwater speed. The layout structure of this head-on submarine is not good enough, and if it is improved, the speed can be increased. In addition, with the rapid expansion of the speed of surface hunting ships, submarine surface warfare has become outdated, and the artillery system installed on the surface affects the underwater speed of submarines. In order to increase the survivability of submarines, underwater speed is extremely critical. Therefore, starting with the Don-class submarines, the naval artillery systems carried by the submarines were canceled. So after dozens of revisions, the more advanced Tang-class submarine was finally completed.

The Don-class submarine suddenly enlarged its size to 2,000 tons, with a surface displacement of 2,000 tons and an underwater displacement of 2,620 tons. The size is also much larger than that of the upgraded submarine, with the length of the submarine exceeding 100 meters for the first time, reaching 104.1 meters. And in order to increase the underwater speed, the appearance of the Don-class submarine has also been significantly modified.

In the past, the bow of submarines was of the scimitar type, and the hull was roughly rectangular, but there were no right-angled edges and a small circular arc. Starting with the Tang-class submarines, thanks to the progress of hydrodynamics in the Chinese Empire, the conventional design of submarines was broken, and the teardrop-shaped submarine design was used for the first time. The teardrop shape has been proven by physics professors at Imperial University to be the shape with the least underwater resistance, and it is best used for submarines. In particular, the artillery system was eliminated for the Don-class submarines, so the teardrop shape was more important for increasing the speed.

After adopting the teardrop type, the tail of the submarine must be as small as possible, like the tail waist of a fish, in line with fluid dynamics and reduce underwater resistance. In this way, the tail of the Tang-class submarine must be massively reduced, the two stern torpedo tubes must be removed, and the two-shaft propulsion must be changed to single-shaft propulsion, which can not only reduce the underwater noise and prevent it from being detected by the sonar of the hunting ship, but also further reduce the stern space, so as to achieve the purpose of "small waist" drag reduction.

The underwater drag part has been significantly reduced, and all that remains is to increase the thrust of the submarine itself.

At this time, the power system of the Chinese Empire was greatly improved, with 4 Diesel 12-type 6-cylinder 4-stroke diesel engines, with a power of 6,200 horsepower and a surface speed of 21 knots, which was only 0.23 knots higher than that of the promoted submarine. However, the teardrop-shaped submarine is not suitable for high-speed navigation on the surface, because this layout method causes the surface navigation to be buried all the time, so the speed must be greatly reduced.

Her advantage is underwater. The Tang-class submarine uses 4 Tesla K-type high-power motors, with a parallel output of 4,300 horsepower, and an underwater speed of 21 knots, breaking through the 20-knots mark for the first time, and making the underwater speed of the submarine exceed the surface speed for the first time. At the same time, the scientists of the Beiyang Science and Technology Electrical R&D Office were inspired by Wang Chenhao during Wang Chenhao's inspection last year, and began to develop the most powerful nickel-cadmium battery with the most power storage capacity discovered in the 21st century, and even if they caught up with the Tang-class submarine test, they started from the Tang-class submarine, and the submarine gave up the low-efficiency old-fashioned battery and began to install the X1 nickel-cadmium battery, so that the Tang-class submarine had a cruising time of 28 hours at a speed of 15 knots, which was enough to get rid of the hunting of any surface hunting ship (provided that it did not provoke the other party, If the other party insists on consuming it, it is also dangerous).

The underwater speed of the Tang-class submarine was able to break through the 20 knots mark, thanks to another technology, also from the guidance of the Chinese Emperor Wang Chenhao. Wang Chenhao suggested that the propeller of the submarine should adopt a single-shaft seven-blade high-curved propeller thruster, which can not only make up for the speed reduction caused by the cancellation of dual-shaft propulsion, but also increase the speed in turn.

In terms of armament, the Tang-class submarine canceled the two stern torpedo tubes of the upgraded submarine, and in order not to reduce the attack power, it was equipped with six bow torpedo tubes, which were installed in the upper, middle and lower positions of the bow of the drop boat, with a regular hexagonal layout, which also became one of the main symbols of the subsequent submarines of the Chinese Empire.

The increase in tonnage allows the Tang-class submarines to carry more torpedoes and fuel, including 24 21-inch red-headed torpedoes and 400 tons of diesel.

Another advantage of the increased displacement is that stronger steel armor can be installed, so that the safe diving depth of the Tang-class submarine reaches 150 meters, which is currently impossible for any hunting ship to carry out anti-submarine, making the Tang-class submarine have a strong survivability.

In terms of electronic equipment, the sonar system has been upgraded to the S3 type, which is divided into two types: active and passive. The S3A1 active sonar is installed under the bow of the boat to detect the target's bearing, speed, distance, etc., and the maximum detection distance has exceeded 5000 meters, but the active sonar array is too power-intensive, and the submarine commander is required to use it carefully, because it may cause the battery to run out of power in advance, which becomes a disadvantage.

After the start of the anti-submarine operation from the Chinese Empire, the anti-submarine hunting ship was equipped with a sonar system, so a passive sonar array was installed from the Tang-class submarine, which was located on the back and sides of the submarine, which could listen to the sonar detection signal from the surface and in the water, and could judge the position of the opponent in turn.

The comfort inside the 2,000-ton Tang-class submarine has been greatly increased, and each of the 62 officers and men has a loose berth to rest. Of course, the main purpose of creating a comfortable space is to increase the amount of air stored and ensure that the submarine can stay underwater for a longer period of time. At the same time, an oxygen reserve chamber was added, where 20 hydraulic oxygen were placed for the crew to breathe in case of emergency.

It can be said that starting with the Tang-class submarines, the equipment and surname Neng have already stepped into the door of the third generation of submarines with one foot. The Admiralty felt threatened by the Tang-class submarines, because the speed, attack power, diving depth, and incubation time of the Tang-class submarines had been greatly enhanced, and the most advanced hunting ships of the Osprey and the Storm in service in the Imperial Chinese Navy had no substantive countermeasures to the Tang-class submarines.

Therefore, starting with the Don-class submarines, the Admiralty had a new understanding of the development of submarines and no longer looked down on the combat effectiveness of submarines.

The Tang-class submarines can be used for reading-force operations, and their huge displacement can carry enough fresh water, food, ammunition and fuel to be replenished with the help of the overseas military bases of the Chinese Empire, and they have global combat capabilities.

Considering that the Tang-class submarines can exert tremendous combat effectiveness in the war against the United States, the Admiralty approved the construction of the Tang-class submarines. However, because the cost of the Tang-class submarine has reached 2 million dragon coins, only 10 ships were finally approved to be built, and with the Barracuda, a total of 11 ships.

The Imperial Chinese Navy planned to let the Tang-class submarines fight with the fleet, but the operation of breaking diplomatic relations had to be completed by quantity, so the Admiralty ordered an additional 30 cheap-cost submarines, which were to be built by 20 shipyards across the country at the same time, and required that all of them be completed by next summer.

Thus, by 1913, the submarine fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy would have 11 Tang-class submarines, 60 advanced submarines, and 49 Donghan-class submarines.

Although the Don-class submarine has dominated the underwater world, it cannot be sunk by any of the active hunting destroyers in the world. However, foreign submarines are generally not advanced, and the hunting ships in service in the Chinese Empire are enough to be promoted to anti-submarine combat missions.

To this end, the Admiralty demanded that all of the more than two hundred hunting destroyers in service in the existing Reich be refitted, and that the same be completed in the summer of 1913. The Fairy-class light cruisers, Osprey-class and Tempest-class destroyers, as well as the Tempest-class battlecruisers, which were under construction in batches, were all required to be completed and commissioned in the summer of 1913.

At that time, the Imperial Chinese Navy will have 30 Fengxian-class light cruisers and 282 anti-submarine capable hunting ships. Among them, 202 Exocet-class and Mistral-class hunting ships will be responsible for coastal defense patrols and anti-submarine missions in mainland and overseas territories, as well as escorting merchant fleets.

30 Storm-class light cruisers [CL-1~CL-30], 20 Tempest-class battle-destroyers [DDB-1~DDB-20], 50 Rainstorm-class destroyers [DD-233~DD-282], and 30 Osprey-class destroyers [DD-203~DD-232] will be assigned to the Pacific Fleet and the Atlantic Fleet as appropriate, and will follow the fleet.

In terms of aircraft carriers, although the Admiralty believes that the aircraft carriers in service cannot sink battleships, aerial bombs and torpedoes are more than enough to deal with the old battleships, armored cruisers, light cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and even transport ships of the US Navy.

To this end, the Admiralty demanded an increase in the number of aircraft carriers. However, the Admiralty did not agree with the status of aircraft carriers, so it did not approve the design of new aircraft carriers, but demanded that British merchant ships captured during the Sino-British War be simply refitted, which was both economical and practical. Eventually, 20 aircraft carriers were approved by the Admiralty for refit, all of which simply had chimneys down, support columns, and a straight-through flight deck in the upper part, no armor protection, only simple small-caliber rapid-fire guns. The tonnage of these 20 converted aircraft carriers is about 8,000 to 23,000 tons, the speed is between 14 and 24 knots, and the aircraft on board are between 15 and 55 aircraft.

The average cost of converting all merchant ships into aircraft carriers is less than 1 million dragon dollars, which can be described as very simple, and even the hangar is too lazy to refit, and all the aircraft are placed on the flight deck in the open air, which is equivalent to an aircraft transport carrier.

Although a rudimentary modification, it is fast and can be completed in 6 months. And it is very practical, after all, there is no aircraft carrier program abroad, and there is no experience in aircraft carrier warfare, once the Chinese Empire uses aircraft carriers to fight, it must scare foreigners.

Large-scale modification of aircraft carriers, naturally, more carrier-based aircraft are needed.

To this end, the Admiralty stepped up the production of Cat Demon carrier-based fighters, planning to produce 500 to equip 20 modified aircraft carriers, but the production capacity of Cat Demon Ship Warfare was limited, and the temporary increase in production lines could not complete the production task of 500 Cat Demon Ship Battles in the summer of 1913.

As a result, the Admiralty retreated to the next best thing and successively ordered Jian-2, Jian-3, and Jian-5 fighters from aircraft factories in Mukden, West Bank, Chengdu, Kunming, and Guangzhou; although these three fighters could not be folded and could transport much fewer planes, they could all carry aerial bombs and torpedoes, which was more than enough to deal with the fragile air force of the United States.

The movements of the Imperial Chinese Navy were soon detected and felt by the United States and the United States. The economic and financial resources of this year are limited, and the construction of a new first-class capital ship will only start every few years, and the eight capital ships that will start construction this year have made him tighten his belt. Every year, the Chinese Empire has a first-class capital ship designed, built, launched, and put into service, which is incomparable to the Navy. The Chinese Empire began to build four Yuan-class battleships, and the caliber of the main guns has been increased to 17 inches, which is even more incapable of the navy to catch up.

This year, the National Assembly of the Chinese Empire issued a white paper on national defense, which directly pointed out the military threat of the Chinese Navy to the Chinese Empire, exaggerated the theory of military threat to the Chinese Empire, and the people in the Chinese Empire began to be worried and vigilant about the Chinese Empire, which made the Japanese very worried. Because the Chinese Empire had done similar actions before declaring war on Russia and before declaring war on Britain, which was brewing for war.

The culture of the book is very close to the Chinese culture, so the political axe of the book is obviously more able to feel the smell of gunpowder and the information of war coming from the Chinese empire than the United States.

For this reason, the Yamamoto Authority Cabinet quickly convened an enlarged meeting to discuss how the Chinese Empire would defend itself in the event of a war against the Chinese Empire.

As a diplomatic original, Ito Hirobumi first said: "I think it was we who stimulated the Chinese Empire!" In fact, it is very obvious that we will start building 8 capital ships with 16-inch guns at once, which will obviously cause concern for the Chinese Empire. I suggest that the work be stopped immediately, we do not need to be dragged into the water by the United States, let the Chinese empire compete with the United States, the financial resources they have saved should be invested in economic construction, and only when the economy reaches the level of China and the United States, we are qualified to compete with them. ”

Ito Hirobumi was opposed to the expansion of the Chinese Empire, because he knew very well that the military power of the Chinese Empire was no longer something that he could have competed with. It would not do Yuben any good to continue to compete with the Chinese Empire. Sandwiched between China and the United States, with the deterioration of Sino-US relations, Ben will certainly have to make the most difficult choice in the future, whether it is to turn to the United States or to succumb to China, which will bring unforeseen disasters.

Ito Hirobumi was also supported by Saionji Konobo, Katsura Taro and others, all of whom belonged to the peacekeepers and did not advocate confrontation with the Chinese Empire.

However, it was Yamamoto Gonbei and other right-wing militarists who were in charge of the government, who were born for war and never considered whether the economy could afford it, but only the face of the empire.

The two princes of the War Department supported Yamamoto Gonbei, one was Prince Chihito and the other was Prince Nohisa, and the two controlled 95% of the strength of the Honkai Army. In addition, people such as Oyama Yan, Yama Prefecture Aritomo, and Togo Heihachiro all supported uniting with the United States to balance the Chinese Empire.

In particular, Heihachiro Togo, who was the captain of the Naniwa during the Sino-Japanese War, was captured by the Imperial Chinese Navy, spent more than half a year in prisons and labor camps in China, and suffered humiliation and abuse, and he vowed to take revenge.

As a result, Heihachiro Togo retorted: "We are now carrying heavy indemnities, more than a dozen unequal treaties are pressing on our heads, the economic aggression of the Chinese Empire against us is no less than the damage caused to us by the war, and a large number of their industrial products are dumped in our country, unfair competition, forcing many of our domestic companies and factories to close down." Twenty years ago, there were 20 million addicts in the Chinese Empire, and now there are less than 200,000. The detoxification pills they ate were very effective, but the detoxification pills sold in our country became heroin, causing millions of people in the empire to become more addicted to drugs, and hundreds of millions of yuan were excavated by the Chinese empire, and they shamelessly forced us to agree to the legalization of the heroin trade. ”

"That's right!" Yamamoto Gonbei nodded and said, "We still have to compensate the Chinese Empire with 1.25 million pounds every year, and we have to pay it back for more than 20 years." If we save this money and build a strong navy, no longer bullied, no longer exploited and enslaved, gentlemen, please help our country. ”

Yamamoto's words were earnest, which made the officials resonate with them.

Hirobumi Ito sighed and said, "Do you think we don't want to be freed from slavery and exploitation? It's just that now really isn't the time. The Chinese Empire is so powerful that even Britain and Russia are no match for them, and we have no hope of revenge in the short term. If we try it reluctantly, maybe we will have to put the little strength we have now, and it will be even more difficult to turn over again. ”

Prince Chiren, who had been silent, suddenly said, "Don't we still have the United States?" The Americans forgave us another $8 million in debt this year, and the British provided us with their core military technology, which is a good opportunity for us to rise. ”

Yamamoto agreed, "What His Royal Highness said is very true. Although the Chinese Empire surpassed the United States in terms of economic aggregate, it regained the first position. However, the industrial strength of the Chinese Empire is not as strong as that of the United States, and we have asked the United States as a backer, and with the help of American funds and British technology, I believe that we will soon become a great power. ”

Ito Hirobumi shook his head and sighed, "You are all so naïve! How can politics be so simple? The United States and Britain helped us without pretense and with great help. But you have to understand that the United States does not want to collide head-on with the Chinese Empire, so it wants to support us against the Chinese Empire. Although Britain hated the Chinese Empire, they did not have time to deal with China now, and their energy was focused on Germany in Europe. Britain's support for our technology actually wants us to contain the Chinese Empire, so that the Chinese Empire cannot meddle in European affairs, so that Britain can rest assured that it will not have to be distracted to guard against the Chinese Empire. And what about us? Would the Chinese empire want to see his immediate neighbor become a pawn of the United States? Would you like to see your neighbors become stronger? Obviously impossible. The Chinese Empire will not let us grow stronger, and once it feels threatened, it will nip us in the bud as soon as possible. Now, there are general signs that we have provoked the Chinese Empire, and they are preparing to do something against us. ”

Prince Nohisa said: "Ito-kun is right, if you say this before we pass the military expansion law, maybe we will not provoke the Chinese Empire." ”

Hindsight!

Everyone immediately rolled their eyes, secretly saying that Prince Nengjiu was too good at pretending to be a good person.

Prince Nehku didn't care about the white eyes of everyone, and continued: "Now that we have stimulated the Chinese Empire, it is estimated that it is impossible to redeem it. So let's not talk about right and wrong, and the immediate priority is how to respond to the war actions that the Chinese Empire may take against us. ”

Katsura Taro retorted, "Why can't it be recovered? As long as we stop building eight capital ships, then there will be no more threats to the Chinese Empire, and they will definitely let us go! ”

Yamamoto Gonbei snorted coldly and said, "You are naïve!" The Chinese Empire wants our emperor to be demoted to king, they want us to be incorporated into the Great China Federation and become their vassal state, they want us to garrison troops in Tokyo, they want us to disband the navy and army, and only keep the National Guard for self-defense, they continue to dump goods on us, they continue to feed us heroin, do you think you can live? ”

Katsura Taro said, "Why can't you live?" There is a famous saying in China: 'Lie down and taste the guts, 3,000 Vietnamese soldiers can swallow Wu', and at present, the contradictions between China and the United States are on the verge of intensification, and they are no less than the gunpowder taste of the European allies and the Entente. Once China and the United States go to war, both countries are economically, militarily, and populous powers, and it will be a protracted war, and no matter who wins or loses after the war, they will have no strength to control us, and then this will be our chance to rise. ”

At this time, Prince Chiren said: "The problem is not here. Even if we stop building warships, we will not be able to stop the Imperial Chinese Navy from doing anything to us. The reason is simple: there has been a long dispute between the Imperial Chinese Congress and the military over the investment of military spending. The Chinese Emperor [***] must find an opponent as an imaginary enemy, otherwise their military spending will be cut. This is a common problem of the military of every country, and they do not hesitate to start wars in order to get more military spending. And between us and the United States, the Chinese emperor [***] side will obviously choose to attack us, because we are the weakest. So, don't leave anything to chance, our special high school has confirmed that the Chinese Empire has begun to plan a war against us. ”

Katsura Taro was about to refute, but Ito Hirobumi immediately stopped him and asked Yamamoto Gonbei and other main battle factions: "Okay! Let's not talk about that, but what do you suggest? Are you sure? I don't want to defeat the Chinese Empire, as long as I can protect myself, I will accept it. ”

Yamamoto Gonbei looked at everyone, everyone was basically silent, obviously they all knew the gap between the military and economic strength of the Chinese Empire, this battle was difficult to win, and it was enough to protect themselves.

In the end, Yama County Youpeng said: "Let's form an alliance with the United States!" This is the only way out of us! ”

"At least the United States is helping us now, no matter what their purpose is," Oyama said. It's better than the Chinese Empire demoting our emperor and poisoning us with heroin! ”

Hirobumi Ito said: "The question is whether the Americans will form an alliance with us. You know, we've tried many times and failed. ”

At this time, Foreign Minister Lin Dong said: "We have not failed. It's just that the Americans have not answered us positively, they are just willing to help us. ”

Ito said: "That means they don't want to form an alliance with us. ”

"At least the Americans didn't object either!" Lin Dong continued: "As long as we state our interests with the United States, I believe that we will definitely convince the Americans. ”

Prince Chiren nodded, "That's right! Rather than our emperor being demoted and reduced to a vassal state of the Chinese Empire, it is better to be a pawn of the Americans, at least we are still a country with independent reading power. ”

Heihachiro Togo said at this time: "In my opinion, our position is exactly in the same situation as the Philippines of the United States in the situation of attacking the Chinese Empire, and the United States sits in Hawaii, forming an iron triangle layout. If we break here, then the Hawaii of the Americans is in danger. As long as we agree to contain the Chinese Empire and state our interests to the Americans, I believe the Americans will agree. ”

Seeing that everyone insisted, Ito Hirobumi said, "Then let's try it!" If we can tie up the Americans, maybe it will also be our way out. ”

Yamamoto Gonbei was overjoyed when he saw that Ito Hirobumi agreed, so he said, "Then ask Ito-kun to go to the United States, right?" With your diplomatic skills, I believe that good news will be obtained. ”

"I'm going?" Ito Hirobumi was stunned: "What about the foreign minister?" ”

Yamamoto Gonbei said with a smile: "We will not hang ourselves from a tree, the foreign minister is going to Britain to try to join the Entente camp." In addition, I will also visit China to get to the bottom of the Chinese Empire, and if we make a false alarm, it will naturally be the best outcome. ”

Prince Chihito saw Ito Hirofumi hesitating, so he directly clapped his hand and said, "I think that's it!" Ito-kun, let's work hard! ”

"Hey!" Hirobumi Ito could not refuse Prince Chihito's request, so he had to agree.

After the meeting was adjourned, the principal officials of the book went abroad one after another to visit. Ito Hirobumi went to Washington, Lin Dong went to London, England, and Yamamoto Gonbei also made a request to the Chinese Empire to visit Yanjing.

After Ito Hirobumi went to Washington, he immediately met with US Vice President Thomas? Marshall held talks during which the two sides exchanged views on US-US relations and topics of common concern.

Ito Hirobumi expressed his concern about the rapid expansion of the power of the Chinese Emperor and the Chinese Empire, and told Marshall that a series of measures of the Chinese Empire represented the judgment and basis for the actions of the Chinese Empire and the United States.

Marshall also sensed the unusual behavior of the Chinese Empire this year, but did not think that the Chinese Empire would take action against the United States, which he thought was impossible. In his eyes, the Chinese Empire will at most take action against the United States and will not attack the United States, after all, the United States is now very strong in naval power and stronger in economic strength, and the Chinese Empire will not stupidly start a war with the United States.

However, Ito Hirobumi was a political veteran, and he knew how to organize language, and after some persuasion, Marshall was clearly moved by his words. As a result, Marshall immediately approached President Wilson for discussion.

"Mr. President, if the Chinese Empire does something against Yueben, how should we deal with ourselves? As the last reading country in East Asia, if it is also defeated by the Chinese Empire, it is likely to become a colony, and the Chinese Empire will use the Chinese Empire as a springboard to threaten our Hawaii. At that time, Hawaii will become the front line, and the Chinese Empire, which controls the Pacific Ocean, will completely cut us off from the Philippines, and even attack Hawaii directly from Wake Island. And if our Hawaii is lost, then the American West will face disaster at any time. ”

Marshall repeated Ito's exact words to Wilson and the White House think tanks.

Soon, the think tanks gave the answer, and they also believed that the United States should not give up on the island, because the Chinese Empire had already arranged a huge island chain encirclement in the surrounding areas of the United States, and the United States was the only one who jumped out of the encirclement, broke the island chain blockade of the Chinese Empire, and could threaten the strategic points of the Chinese Empire.

If the United States loses its capital, then the United States will have to collide head-on with the Chinese Empire, which is obviously not in the interests of the United States.

Wilson asked, "However, if we form an alliance with Yueben, it will be tantamount to openly challenging the Chinese Empire, and our already cold relationship will be worse." And, what if Ben drags us into the vortex of war? Although we are engaged in a large-scale arms race with the Chinese Empire, we are not sure that we will defeat the battle-hardened Chinese Emperor [***] team. You must know that if this war breaks out, it will be impossible to estimate the consequences. ”

Marshall nodded and said, "I understand Mr. President's concerns!" However, the Chinese Empire plundered the surname, and they had long been optimistic about the huge wealth of the United States, and if we want to preserve our wealth, we must face the possible military aggression of the Chinese Empire. ”

"I agree with that!" Wilson nodded, agreeing with Marshall's view that the Chinese Empire was eyeing the vast wealth of the United States. This shows that the Chinese Empire is inserting a straw into the arteries of the United States and sucking the blood of the United States by taking away the technical team of Carnegie Steel, the United States, the Panama Canal, the United States, a large number of scientists and technical engineers, and the huge trade surplus with the United States.

Marshall then added: "I think that our alliance with Yuben will help to suppress the Chinese Empire, so that it will not dare to act rashly." Not only can they keep their capital, but they can also lay a nail in the Pacific Ocean for the Chinese Empire to contain them. I don't think the Chinese Empire will easily go to war with us, after all, we are the world's largest economy and industrial country, and we can only lose both sides in a fight. ”

Wilson nodded, "That's the theory of this!" However, we can trust that our economic and industrial capabilities are enough to rival the Chinese Empire, but can I trust our military? You must know that they have no experience in big wars, and compared with the experienced Chinese Emperor [***] team, there is a big gap. You know, if we are defeated militarily, then everything will be ruined. ”

Marshall replied, "We should trust our army, and they will defend their country with their lives." Even if we can't defeat the Chinese Empire, at least we have the ability to protect ourselves. ”

Wilson was persuaded by Marshall, so he said, "All right! I agreed! But in the end, it depends on whether Congress can pass it! ”

Subsequently, Wilson and Marshall separately contacted the main members of the Ming Cook Party and exchanged views with the Republican Party, and then brought it to Congress for discussion. At the same time, Ito was also invited to give a speech to the Diet and answer questions from members of the Diet in person.

I have to admit that Ito's diplomatic skills are still very strong, and his defense succeeded in convincing most of the members of the US Congress, and the remaining members also agreed with the help of Wilson and Marshall.

On October 10, 1912, the U.S. Congress passed the "U.S.-China Security Treaty," which was intended to form an alliance, and this day coincided with the National Day of the Chinese Empire, and the provocation was self-evident.

The news of the alliance between the United States and the United States spread rapidly, and the world's third military alliance appeared, and the whole world was in an uproar.

Europe's tense nerves are now almost collapsing. Both the Allies and the Entente hoped that the United States would become one of them, but in the end, they were very unhappy to let Yuben succeed.

However, what they are even more nervous about is that the US-China alliance is obviously not aimed at the two major military blocs in Europe, but is clearly aimed at the Chinese Empire. Now both the Central Powers and the Entente are looking at the attitude of the Chinese Empire, and they do not know how the Chinese Empire should respond.

Originally, both the Central Powers and the Entente wanted to pull the Chinese Empire into the group. But the Chinese Empire strictly stated that it would not meddle in European affairs. At the same time, Britain and Russia, both of the Entente powers, broke out into a great war with the Chinese Empire, and the hatred could not be eliminated in a short time. In this way, the Entente was afraid. If the Chinese Empire joined the Central Powers in a fit of rage, the likelihood of the surname was very large. There was basically no contradiction between the Allies and the Chinese Empire, and this could be solved except for the economic trade deficit, so the Allies were very happy and actively contacted the Chinese Empire, hoping that the Chinese Empire would join the Allied bloc.

At this time, Foreign Minister Lin Dong was visiting London to negotiate with Britain on the matter of his desire to join the Entente. Britain has always rejected the book because of the attitude of the Chinese Empire. Now that it is said that it is allied with the United States, Britain naturally wants to accept it.

However, the serious problem before Britain is. The United States said that it was only a security treaty, and the content was only that the United States said that the United States would fight jointly in the face of aggression on its homeland. The Entente had to deal with the Central Powers in Europe, and the war could not affect the United States and the United States, so the United States said that the security treaty did not allow the United States to join the Entente to fight against the Central Powers.

On the other hand, if the Entente absorbed the Entente, then it would be an enemy of the Chinese Empire. It is bound to force the Chinese Empire to join the side of the Allies, which is a fatal thing. The Entente knew how strong the military power of the Chinese Empire was, and they were actually more optimistic about the Chinese Empire between China and the United States. Therefore, even if it cannot win the Chinese Empire into the Entente, at least it cannot push the Chinese Empire into the camp of the Allied Powers.

After urgent consultations, Britain, France, and Russia held that unless the United States explicitly stated that it would join the Entente bloc, it would not accept the proposal. However, the United States is indeed unwilling to join any of the two major military blocs in Europe, and it is the national policy of the United States to stay out of the situation. The alliance with the United States is also forced by the United States to have no choice, otherwise it would not be.

As a result, the Entente politely rejected the request, but the Entente did not want to say anything to death, but expressed their willingness to give him any technical support. In this way, it can be regarded as appeasing the book.

(To be continued)