On the morning of the second day after the parade, Spanish Minister Costa was invited by Chen Ergou to the office of Lin Daxin, the governor's palace.

After meeting, Lin Daxin's first words made the Spanish Minister Costa suddenly frightened, and Lin Daxin said in a calm voice: "Minister Costa, I have bad news for you, the Americans are going to take action against your Spanish colonies, and they have sent a fleet to attack Manila!" Now this American fleet is stationed in Hong Kong! ”

Although Costa was in the Qing Dynasty, he knew that the United States was eyeing Spain's Cuban colony, and the whole of Cuba was already full of war clouds, so he didn't expect Lin Daxin, who was far away in the northeast, to know about it.

Costa got the news that there were signs that the Americans had sent a powerful fleet to Asia, but they did not know that the American fleet had reached Hong Kong, and it seemed that the United States did not even want to let go of the Philippines, Spain's Asian colony.

And Lin Daxin's next words surprised Costa even more, Lin Daxin then said: "I know the situation in the Philippines very well, you Spain can only control the Manila region now, and the rest of the Philippine region has been occupied by a Philippine liberation organization called Katipnan, that is, your Manila region is now also surrounded by this Katipnan organization!" When the U.S. fleet attacked Manila, with . Your Philippine navy can't defend Manila at all. Rather than the Philippines being seized by the Americans, why don't you sell the Philippines to me! I can give you Spain 10 million pounds to buy your Philippine colony! ”

In recent years, the old empire of Spain has sunset. Only the colonies of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines in Asia remained, and they were on the verge of collapse.

As early as September 1895, Cuba had a revolutionary army that declared national independence. A revolutionary government was formed and a provisional constitution was drafted. The bloody Spanish crackdown also failed to work. By 1897, Spain had lost more than two-thirds of its Cuban territory under the constant attacks of the Cuban Revolutionary Army, and Spain was unable to sustain the colonial war due to the depletion of its domestic military resources and financial resources.

To add insult to injury, in 1896 the Philippines, another Spanish colony, was also in turmoil. The indigenous ethnic groups of the Philippines are under the leadership of a liberation organization called Katipnanm. It also set off a huge movement against the Spanish colonizers.

By the beginning of this year, the Liberation Organization of the Philippines had liberated almost the entire Philippine archipelago, and even Manila, the capital of the Philippines, was surrounded by the Liberation Organization. Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines was in jeopardy.

While the Cuban people rebelled against the brutal colonial rule of Spain and achieved some results, they were also brutally suppressed by the Spanish colonial rulers, which caused many people in Cuba from other countries to be affected. There are a lot of Americans among them.

The news reached the United States. The U.S. government and the people were quite indignant, so the U.S. government sent the 6,682-ton offshore defense ironclad ship USS Maine to Cuba to protect the American nationals.

Before the departure of the Maine, the acting US Secretary of the Navy Theodore? Roosevelt found Henrith, the captain of the Maine, and said sternly to Henrith in his office: "Captain Henris, now I have an important task entrusted to you!" The future of the United States is at stake! ”

Henreth said with a calm face: "Mr. Minister, what task?" ”

Roosevelt lowered his voice and whispered a few words to Henris, and then Henris's eyeholes suddenly dilated, and his originally calm face suddenly disappeared. looked at Roosevelt with a frightened face, and said with a stumbling mouth: "Ministry...... Minister. You...... You're not...... Just kidding, right? ”

Roosevelt patted Henrith on the shoulder and said in a deep voice: "For the rise of the United States, some sacrifices are inevitable!" ”

Finally, the dejected captain of the USS Maine, Henris, left the office of the U.S. Secretary of the Navy, leaving with a somewhat stumbling footsteps.

Shortly after the Maine arrived at the port of Havana in Cuba, on February 15, 1898, the Maine suddenly exploded and sank in the harbor, the explosion was so powerful that it almost blew off the front one-third of the ship's hull, and the rest of the wreckage quickly sank to the surface. The incident killed 266 U.S. Navy officers and sailors aboard the Maine, the vast majority of whom were soldiers, and almost all the officers on board the ship were on shore at the time of the explosion, with only two officers on board.

When the Maine sank, Captain Henreth stood in a tree on the shore, trembling, holding on to the branch so that he could still stand, and Henres had tears on his face, and said to himself in a sad tone: "May your souls rest in heaven, young men!" May God forgive me my sins! ”

After the bombing, without any real evidence, the US government insisted that it was a conspiracy by the Spaniards. For a time, remembering "the Maine incident" and "to hell with the Spaniards" became the most popular words in the American population.

In addition, reporters from newspapers such as the New York World in the United States exaggerated Spain's evil and brutality when reporting on the situation in Cuba, and many Americans who did not know the truth were extremely angry and demanded that the US Government declare war on Spain.

In recent years, the US economy has developed rapidly, and the US monopoly capital consortium urgently needs to open up new markets, investment venues, and raw material production areas.

But just as the United States was preparing to expand overseas, the whole world had been carved up by the old colonial powers. The United States wants to re-divide the world's colonies, but because of its limited strength, it is unable to compete with Britain, France, and other countries.

At this time, the Spanish colonies began to be in turmoil, and the United States suddenly found that the colonies of Cuba and Puerto Rico in Spain and the Philippines in Asia were good targets. The United States decided to seize these Spanish colonies first with Spain, in order to control Central America and the Caribbean, and to obtain bases for expansion into the Far East and Asia.

At this time, armed uprisings against Spanish colonial rule broke out in the Philippines and Cuba, and the Philippine rebels had liberated most of the country. Surrounded Manila. The Cuban rebels pinned down Spain's 200,000-strong army. So the United States decided to seize this God-given opportunity.

An orchestrated plot against Spain, directing the events of the USS Maine. And long before the explosion and sinking of the USS Maine, US Acting Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt formed an Asian detachment. By the commander of the Asian detachment, Rear Admiral George? Dewey led the Asian Fleet to Hong Kong, waiting for the opportunity to go to war with Spain.

Because of the sudden rise of the naval fleet under Lin Daxin, the world's major naval powers began a naval arms race in 1895, and the US Navy has developed very rapidly in the arms race because of the economic strength of the United States. Although the shipbuilding technology of the Americans is backward compared to that of Western countries, the performance of the warships built by the West is not comparable to that of the warships built by Western countries. However, in terms of numbers, the United States surpasses many Western naval powers, and the United States is now much more powerful than it was in history.

At present, the US Navy has 14 state-of-the-art all-steel battleships. Among them, there are 6 Indiana-class all-steel battleships, 4 Chishach-class all-steel battleships, and 4 Illinois-class all-steel battleships. The United States also has a batch of 6 all-steel battleships, which are under construction. This batch of all-steel battleships was designed for the mother type of the two Retvizan-class all-steel battleships exported to Tsarist Russia.

In addition, the US Navy has three New York-class large armored cruisers with a displacement of 8,200 tons and three Brooklyn-class large armored cruisers with a displacement of 9,200 tons. And the United States now has 10 large Pennsylvania-class armored cruisers under construction in the dockyard.

So much so that George? Dewey's Asian squadron was much stronger than it was historically. 3 Indiana-class all-steel battleships, USS Indiana, USS Massachusetts and USS Oregon. 2 all-steel battleships of the Chishacht-class, the USS Chishachm and the USS Kentucky.

In addition to the five all-steel battleships, the New York-class large armored cruiser USS New York and the Brooklyn-class large armored cruiser USS Brooklyn, these two warships also joined the Asian detachment.

The Asian detachment also has 2 Olympia-class protective cruisers, the USS Olympia and the USS Baltimore.

These warships can be regarded as cutting-edge warships, but these all-steel battleships of the United States are a little slow. Indiana-class all-steel battleship. The standard displacement is 10453 tons, and the full load displacement is 11523 tons. The maximum speed is only 15 knots. The armor of the Indiana-class all-steel battleships was relatively thick, with the maximum thickness of waterline armor reaching 456 mm, the main gun turret armor was also 381 mm, the secondary gun turret armor was 200 mm, and the conning tower armor was 254 mm.

The all-steel battleship of this class was equipped with 2 twin 35-caliber 330-mm main guns, 4 double-mounted 35-caliber 203-mm secondary guns, 12 76-mm rapid-fire guns, and 6 356-mm torpedo tubes.

Another class of all-steel battleships of the United States, the Chishaji class, has a standard displacement of 11,540 tons and a maximum speed of only 16 knots. The same armor was thicker and heavier, with the maximum thickness of waterline armor reaching 420 mm, deck armor 76 mm to 127 mm, main gun turret armor 356 mm, secondary gun turret armor 210 mm, and conning tower armor 254 mm.

The Chishachi class is equipped with two twin 35-caliber 330-mm guns, four twin 35-caliber 203-mm secondary guns, 12 40-caliber 127-mm rapid-fire guns, and four 457-mm torpedo tubes.

Compared with the warships built by European countries, these two classes of all-steel battleships are much weaker in combat effectiveness, and the 35-caliber main guns are much shorter than the 40-caliber main guns that are now popular in the world, which will be very disadvantageous in naval warfare.

The level of shipbuilding in the United States is much worse than that in Europe, which is why Lin Daxin could not find a European country willing to build all-steel battleships for himself two years ago, and why he did not order all-steel battleships from the United States.

With a displacement of 8,200 tons and a speed of up to 20 knots, the New York was armed with 6 single-mounted 35-caliber 260-mm main guns, 12 single-mounted 35-caliber 133-mm secondary guns and 8 57-mm rapid-fire guns, as well as three 457-mm torpedo tubes, with a crew of 510 people.

The tonnage of the Brooklyn reached 9,200 tons, the speed also reached 20 knots, and it was equipped with 8 single-unit 35-caliber 260-mm guns, 12 single-company 35-caliber 166-mm guns and 12 57-mm rapid-fire guns, plus 5 600-mm torpedo tubes, and a crew of 635 people.

The armor of the 2 large armored cruisers was about the same, waterline armor 100 mm to 200 mm, deck armor 40 mm to 50 mm, main gun turret armor 260 mm, secondary gun turret armor 133 mm, conning tower armor 260 mm.

Olympia-class protective cruiser with a standard displacement of 5800 tons and a maximum speed of 21 knots. The Olympia-class protected cruisers from 80 mm to 133 mm for waterline armor, 37 mm to 56 mm for deck armor, 133 mm for the main gun turret, 80 mm for the secondary gun turret, and 133 mm for the conning tower. It is equipped with 2 twin 35x caliber 203 mm secondary guns, 10 40x caliber 127 mm rapid-fire guns, 14 47 mm rapid-fire guns, and 6 600 mm torpedo tubes. Crew: 450 people.

Now these nine US Navy Asian squadrons have docked in Hong Kong, waiting for the United States and Spain to officially declare war, they will directly crush the weak fleet of Spain and the Philippines, and then wait for the arrival of the US domestic army to cooperate with the army to capture Manila, and then occupy the entire Philippines.

And the decrepit Spanish Empire, when the world's naval powers began a naval arms race, was simply unable to carry out this money-burning game, so that the Spanish fleet in the Philippines was very weak, with only 1 protective cruiser with a displacement of 3500 tons, Reina? The Cristina, 1 wooden cruiser Castile and 5 small warships with a displacement of 500 tons to 1100 tons.

The combined capacity of 7 warships of the Spanish Philippine fleet could not catch up with the displacement of 1 American all-steel battleship, and the outcome of such a war was already doomed.

The Spanish minister Costa, when he heard that Lin Daxin was going to buy the Philippines, was extremely surprised, and was silent for a long time before he said to Lin Daxin: "Governor Lin, I can't call the shots with your proposal, I'm just a Spanish minister in Daqing!" But I can report the matter to Spain, and report the construction of Governor Lin to His Majesty the King, and the final decision is in the hands of our King Alfonso XIII of Spain! ”

Lin Daxin smiled at this time and said, "Okay! Minister Costa, tell His Majesty the King of Spain that there is no better deal than to buy a piece of your soon-to-be-lost colony for 10,000,000 pounds! And I can tell you for sure that although you Spain are trying to avoid war with the Americans, the United States is ready for war, and will attack Cuba and Puerto Rico at the same time as attacking the Philippines. The aim of the Americans is the total occupation of all your Spanish overseas colonies. ”

Costa nodded with an ugly face, "I will send a telegram to His Majesty the King of Governor Lin's words, and I will take my leave first!" ”

Lin Daxin said with a smile: "I look forward to Minister Costa bringing me good news!" ”

Then Costa hurriedly left Lin Daxin's office.

Lin Daxin called Chen Ergou outside into the office in the office, and then said to Chen Ergou: "Order the Third Fleet of the Second Fleet of the Northeast Navy to enter the first level of combat readiness!" Order the Marine Division at the Arthur base to enter the first level of combat readiness and be ready to go to sea to fight in a ship at any time! Order the 15th Division to immediately move to the Lushun base and reach Lushun as quickly as possible! ”

Chen Ergou nodded and said, "I'll let the Operations Department of the Governor's Mansion give an order right away!" Headmaster, will the Spaniards sell the Philippines to us? ”

Lin Daxin smiled and said confidently: "The Spaniards are already embattled in the Philippines, and the American fleet is staring at the Philippines in Hong Kong, if King Alfonso XIII of Spain is not a fool, now someone is willing to pay 10 million pounds to buy the Philippines, Spain will definitely agree!" (To be continued......)