In an ordinary house in New York, Roosevelt was discussing things with his friend Mahan.

Roosevelt, who had lost the coup d'état in Hawaii, was not reconciled, and he attempted another coup d'état against Hawaii. But the damn Chinese-American Li Enfu didn't buy his account: "Damn yellow pig, since you joined the United States and become an American, you should serve the interests of the United States." ”

"Forget him. We'll have to find another way to force Liliukalani to hand over Hawaii. Mahan softly persuaded the impatient Roosevelt: "Hawaii's location is too important, Hawaii is stuck between the United States and the Philippines. It is the most important step for the United States to move towards the Pacific, and without Hawaii, we will lose our forward base for attacking the Philippines. ”

"I have convinced the parliament that soon two cruisers will sail out of the Atlantic to join the Pacific squadron. It's really not possible to find an excuse to seize it by force. The Atlantic Ocean is too crowded, and the Pacific Ocean should be the core interest of the United States......"

In the room, the two of them were intensively calculating Hawaii. In another room not far away, the muzzle of a black hole was aimed at Roosevelt. The observer gently patted the gunner's head, a signal that he could shoot. The gunner adjusted his breathing and pressed his finger on the trigger. At that moment, Roosevelt's door was pushed open, and a young man handed Roosevelt a piece of paper, which also happened to block the muzzle of the gun. Roosevelt's face changed greatly after reading it, and he quickly walked out of the room without saying a word.

"." The gunman couldn't help but explode a foul word, they had been following Roosevelt for more than three months, and finally seized another opportunity and ran away for him. Something must have happened, and it seems that we have to look for another chance. The gunner put away his gun, and the quick and observer left the room.

And Roosevelt's sudden departure left Mahan unaware of what was happening. Mahan picked up the telegram, and his face changed dramatically in an instant, and he sat down in his chair weakly. There were only two sentences in the telegram: Chile and Argentina sold one of each of their Dragon-class battleships to Hawaii, and Hawaii signed an agreement with Germany to build a shore-based battery complex for Hawaii, including 24 large-caliber guns.

Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii

Today, the Lie is hanging high, and the Pearl Harbor dock is crowded with people. Hawaiians from almost all of Oahu, including Kauai and other islands, have arrived, bunting in their hands, anxiously looking at the sea antenna to the east. Even the Hawaiian Queen Liliukalani came to the docks herself, because it would not be long before two battleships that truly belonged to the Hawaiian Kingdom would appear at the place where the sea and the sky were divided.

Since the end of the coup d'état in Hawaii, Lee has been in power in Hawaii. Whether it is an American businessman or a businessman from other countries, he dares to be angry in the face of Li Enfu's private enrichment with a gun in his hand, and even the queen began to guard against him carefully. But Lee's subsequent moves won the hearts of the local aborigines.

First of all, most of the land and estates of the American sugar merchants and the Lin family who failed in the coup d'état were confiscated by Li Enfu, but in order to win the support of other merchants, a small part of the other property was sold to other merchants at a very low price. The Li family, which rose in Hawaii in just half a year, began to recruit a large number of aborigines. Truly implement the policy of equal pay for equal work. Second, he invested in the expansion of Pearl Harbor and built it into a military dock with shipbuilding capabilities. He also built supporting facilities such as steel mills and cement factories, and of course the main source of workers for the construction was the local indigenous people. With the help of Queen Liliukalani, the aborigines who joined the construction became active. Although their incomes are much lower than those of their European counterparts, they are significantly higher than they were before Lee came to power. The aborigines who suddenly became rich did not have the traditional thrifty habits of the Chinese, and of course they had to enjoy life when they were rich. So the salaries that had just been paid to them were quickly sucked up by the dazzling array of goods that Li Enfu had purchased from abroad.

Li Enfu, who was snickering at the money with his left hand and receiving money with his right hand, has become a good person in the hearts of Hawaiian people, and their Majesty the Queen has also gained prestige because of his knowledge of people. Queen Liliukalani also officially canonized Li Enfu as the prime minister and earl of the Kingdom of Hawaii, and gave Oahu to Li Enfu as his personal domain, hereditary replacement. Lee also pledged to fully defend Hawaii's sovereignty and not to divide Hawaii in any form.

Then a powerful fleet sailed into Pearl Harbor, a fleet purchased from Chile and Great Britain by the Hawaiian political axe. While all the Hawaiians were still unaware of this, the mighty fleet left after only a month, and then announced that it had been purchased for the Qing kingdom to the west.

And the two warships that are about to come are of the same class as the Longyin. One came from Chile, which Chile had ordered for itself and was now being repurchased through diplomatic efforts. The other is from Argentina, with which Argentina has a long-standing territorial dispute, was shocked to learn of Chile's plans to buy ships. Although Argentina did not have the windfall income of saltpeter like Chile, it also gritted its teeth to buy one from the United Kingdom. Now Chile doesn't play anymore and sold all the capital ships, Argentina is mad and spends so much money to buy a toy back. It's a good thing for Argentina that someone wants to buy it now, although it is bought at cost, but it is better than keeping it at home and spending money on maintenance.

Today the warships will be back, and the two battleships that will return will be the warships that truly belong to the Hawaiians. Both the Queen and Prime Minister Lee have repeatedly stressed that the two warships will not be resold or leased in any way, and that they will fly the Hawaiian flag forever until they are decommissioned. Although the two warships were still Chinese, the captain of one of the two small destroyers under construction not far away was a real Native Hawaiian. The Hawaiians believed that in the near future, the Hawaiians would become the most powerful battleship captains.

In fact, there is no way to say this, the last sudden resale made the British miserable. The Pacific Fleet, which suddenly joined the Qing Dynasty, sank the last hope of the Qing Dynasty -- the Combined Fleet -- in a battle, otherwise even if the army was completely defeated, it would still be able to maintain the superiority of the navy over the Qing State. Nor will the entire coastline be looted, nor will there be an indemnity of up to 330 million taels of silver, nor will the 60 million dollars of war bonds purchased by the British Empire be wasted. Therefore, the British blocked Hawaii's plan to purchase warships from Chile and Argentina, fearing that they would repeat the mistakes of the past, and strengthened the Qing country in vain, so that the capital they supported would be unexpectedly hit again. With the assurance that Hawaii will not be resold again, the British are still not at ease, what if you lease it to Qingguo? In order to be on the safe side, Britain also forced Hawaii to sign a naval agreement, and there was only one issue, once the Hawaiian government axe resold the two warships or leased them to a third party, then the British Empire would send the Far East Fleet to Pearl Harbor.

Xu Shichang, who originally planned to hand over the lease to Qingguo in the name of lease, heard that he wouldn't even let the lease go, so he simply suggested that Li Enfu not buy it. But Li Enfu not only insisted on buying it, but also considered whether to buy two more cruisers to come back. Xu Shichang didn't know why, even Argentina only dared to buy one back, because the battleship was not only a battleship, it also needed the cooperation of other supporting warships such as cruisers and destroyers to form combat effectiveness, and the maintenance cost of warships was too high. And now a little Hawaii can be raised? It doesn't matter, the maintenance of the warship will be paid by the Qing Dynasty, and Hawaii only needs to pay the crew salary. So how to transfer it to the Qing State? Li Enfu said mysteriously: The solution was thought up by people, but it must be ensured that all the people on these four warships are Chinese. Why is that? Xu Shichang asked puzzled. Because the Chinese can defect and return to the motherland at a critical time. Looking at Li Enfu, who was laughing, Xu Shichang, who was hanging with a black line, went to find a place where he could buy a cruiser.

In fact, this is also to guard against the United States, which can play a role in restraining the pace of the United States' westward expansion. After all, while you are attacking forward, there is a friend and foe behind you, and there is a force that can definitely influence the tide of battle, and no one wants to see it.

The sun was already high in the sky, and the heat it released into the earth made the already excited crowd begin to wilt a little. Finally, several thick puffs of black smoke rose from the boundary between sea and sky in the distance, and the bright sound of air whistles resounded through the sea and sky. Two warships broke through the sea and headed for Hawaii at high speed.

"It's a warship, our warship is back—" On the dock, the people who had been waiting for a long time let out an earth-shattering shout, and the colorful flags in their hands were held high and waved in the air.

With the warship docking, the new commander of the fleet of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the captains of the two warships returned to Queen Liliukalani of Hawaii, and the two warships officially joined the fleet of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

The local language of Hawaii has not been learned by the Chinese captains who have only arrived for a short time, but after more than two years of study, Queen Liliukalani has not spoken Chinese very fluently, but it is no problem to understand it. After some courtesy, the queen recognized their contribution to the Kingdom of Hawaii. After some painless rewards, the queen announced that ordinary people were allowed to visit the ship. This made the atmosphere on the dock reach its best.

Looking at the excited crowd, the smiling queen looked at Li Enfu with a frowning brow, and asked with a smile: "My Prime Minister, are you still worried about the United States?" ”

"Americans aren't going to rest on their laurels. According to the latest information, that American is preparing a new plan to overthrow the Hawaiian kingdom. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful in both assassinations of him. The American that Lee is talking about is Roosevelt, the spearhead of America's Pacific expansion.

"Don't worry, the Germans will soon build batteries for us, and with these two warships, I think we still have the ability to protect ourselves." With the arrival of the warship, Queen Liliukarani was also full of confidence.

But Li Enfu didn't think so: "Your Majesty, there is an old Chinese saying: There is no army to help outside, and there is no city to defend inside." We must be just an island nation. ”

When the queen heard this, she also sighed deeply: "We are already very content if we can keep this land." It's a pity that your homeland is not strong enough and too far from us. ”

The reason why the queen would say such a thing was also the reason why Li Enfu explained Chinese history to her. Since Lee En-bok's different policies from Westerners, the queen had the idea of understanding China, what made the Qing State cultivate such outstanding talents, and what made him leave his country to join the United States? When explaining Chinese history to the queen, Li Enfu focused on the origin of Joseon, Yuben and Annam. These small countries have depended on China for thousands of years, from culture to customs, and no matter how powerful China is, not only did it not annex by force, but also did not have the colonial rule of Westerners now. Especially in North Korea, the Ming Dynasty even said that it would never conquer, and it was an obligation to send troops to rescue North Korea without asking for anything. After the end of the war, the Ming Dynasty withdrew all its troops and did not ask Korea for a penny of military spending. This greatly increased the queen's favorability towards China. A great power that is strong and does not want to expand, and respects other countries, is the ultimate reliance of the Hawaiian Kingdom. It's just the current Qing Kingdom...... And that long distance......

"Don't worry Your Majesty, we'll have a way."

The cheerful crowd on the dock eventually dispersed, and the queen returned to the palace, while Lee Eun-bok was still waiting on the pier. He was waiting not for these two warships, but for a freighter, a German freighter. It's just that they just arrived on the same day.

The German freighter was loaded with equipment and supplies needed to build a fort for Hawaii. This is not what Li Enfu is waiting for, he is waiting for a person on that German freighter.

The United States will not be willing to lose Hawaii, they transferred two cruisers to join the Pacific Squadron just to deal with Hawaii. Therefore, Li Enfu persuaded the queen to buy the next two battleships and asked Germany to build a battery group for Hawaii to protect itself. But this is not enough, Luzon, Guam, Saipan, the Spanish colonies in the Pacific have also entered the eyes of the Americans, since Roosevelt cannot be solved for a while, then the Americans must also take their eyes away from the Pacific, so that it is convenient for them to do things. And that person is the key. This person must be firmly controlled, and as long as this person can be used well, the United States can be dragged in the Atlantic for a long time.

Lee Eun-fu has already decided to give the United States another big stumbling block. (To be continued.) )