"The Chinese Navy actually practiced their fleets in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, and the Germans not only acquiesced, but also gave them support and supplies! This is simply a provocation against the Russian Empire! Essen slammed a document on the table and roared! The laurels of the king of the Baltic can only belong to Russia, and it must belong to Russia! ”

"King of the Baltics? Oh, what a nice name, but it's a pity that in the next 2 to 3 years, this name will not have a chance with the Empire. Makanov said with a miserable smile. Regardless of the outcome of the war in the Far East, Russia will lose control of the Baltic! ”

"I understand what you mean, the battle with the Huaxia Republic will be a crushing victory even if it is won, and the Russian fleet, which has suffered huge losses, will not be able to resist the rising German High Seas Fleet, so the end result is that we must be pinned down in the harbor, but in that case, why do we have to go to war with the Huaxia Republic? Our focus is in Europe! Essen asked, a little puzzled.

"The current China is not the Qing Dynasty, Napoleon the Great's prophecy has come true, this dragon has awakened and stretched out its claws! He does not allow his own existence around him that can be threatened, and likewise does not mind some benefits from his weak neighbors! If we can't guarantee peace for about 20 years with a single victory, why should we concentrate on solving Europe's problems? This war must be fought, and it must be won, otherwise the beginning of the war in Europe will be the time when China will attack us! Makanov said solemnly.

"Then now that our fleet does not have an advantage, what should we do? Especially the main fleet. Our dreadnoughts are significantly inferior to the warships of the Huaxia Republic. Essen said worriedly.

"Remember those would-be dreadnoughts?" "If nothing else, two of them will be converted into the same dreadnoughts as the Borodino-class, while the other two will replace the twin 10-inch guns on the sideline with single-mounted 12-inch guns," Makanov said. So we barely have 8 dreadnoughts. Purely in terms of the number of main guns, we have 60 main guns, while the Chinese Navy only has 62 main guns (not including the fast fleet). The two sides are basically roughly equal, and the three Dante-class battleships of the Huaxia Navy are still old ships, and we have an advantage. ”

Having said that, in fact, Makanov is still not very confident that his main fleet can fight the opponent! After all, in addition to standard battleships, the Huaxia Navy also has 4 fast capital ships equipped with 12-inch heavy guns. And in addition to the gap in equipment. In terms of the quality of personnel, Makanov also complained about the newly recruited naval officers and men in Russia, who were filled with a large number of aristocratic youths and many of the soldiers. If it's a head-to-head showdown. Their chances of victory are really not big, their only chance of winning lies in the battle between the fast fleets of the two sides, and the Russians are still very confident in the cruiser formations of Russia and the Netherlands!

"How's going on with the Dutch? Our two fast battleships are almost finished, and the Dutch's seven-provincial fast battleships are also nearing completion. As for armored cruisers. The armored cruiser Amsterdam of the Dutch has already been delivered. The battleship was about to leave for the Far East in the near future. Our rapid fleet will be formed earlier than the Huaxia Navy, but the main fleet may be later due to changes in planning. Makanov said.

"If there are no accidents, you will continue to lead the fast fleet, and in a maximum of 2 months, you will go to the United States to pick up the ships, and then go to the French port of Toulon and then cross the Suez Canal to the Far East. Don't go back to the Baltic, I can't guarantee that there won't be accidents! Makanov said with some depression. Although even if the two fleets meet. The Chinese Navy did not plan to do anything with the Russian warships. But it's like two goats passing by four lions, and maybe the lions don't have the urge to hunt. But the psychological pressure is too great! In order to prevent accidents, the Russian Admiralty decided to go directly to the Far East.

Just when the Russians began to lay cloth in the Far East, the construction of the Dutch East Indies had already begun, and one of the important ones was the expansion of the dry dock, not to mention that, at least to ensure that the warships of the two countries would have a place to repair after they came! According to the Dutch's own plans, the displacement of the seven provincial warships was more than 20,000 tons, and it was enough to build a dock of about 22,000 tons by themselves. In terms of displacement, this design is understandable, but the aspect ratio of the battlecruiser is a bit large, and as a result, the dock width is rich, but the length is not enough! The other warships of the 2 countries can be thrown into it, but only the seven provincial difficulties are the price, the ultra-high power and the arrangement of 8 main guns in the central axis! As a result, the Dutch had to rebuild the dockyard to accommodate the two national treasures of the Seven Provincial Fast Battleships!

Shipbuilding is only one aspect, more important is to establish a variety of material reserve warehouses and security systems, you say coal, just pile a place on the line, heavy oil can not be like this, you must first build heavy oil tanks, but also lay special oil pipelines, at the same time there are pressure stations on the pipeline, to not viscous heavy oil can not flow to the destination. At the same time, you also have to fire prevention, although heavy oil is not easy to ignite, but static electricity or volatile oil and gas will still blow up when exposed to open flames, although the probability is not high, but the Dutch do not dare to try it on their own territory.

More important is the issue of site selection, you said that you build the oil depot closer to the port, in the range of naval gun fire of the Chinese Navy, the accuracy of long-distance combat warships is not enough, it is easy to hit a fixed target and quite conspicuous oil depot, not too much, a hit of a picric acid high-explosive bomb is enough to make the entire oil depot area fly into the sky. You said that if you build a remote point, the cost of pipelines and related facilities is a big expense.

And these problems are only the beginning compared to the following problems, and the first thing you need to do a big project is land and labor. This means that there will be a large number of relocated people in many cities, and the resettlement and handling of these personnel is a troublesome matter, if it is indigenous, it will be directly demolished, but it is definitely not possible to do this for the people of their own country and the Chinese, for the former is worried about domestic pressure, and for the latter is afraid that the Chinese fleet will use this reason as an excuse to go around here!

According to the Dutch's plan, they needed to at least ensure the security of the defense system of Java, and they needed to set up supply points and batteries in Octavia, Surabaya, the coast of Peka, and Semarang. It is not so easy to buy artillery and related facilities, as well as raw materials, after all, these things can be bought with money. But if you have the money, can you hire enough labor and skilled people to repair the fortress?

The number of natives in the Dutch East Indies is indeed large, and the salary required is indeed low, but the problem is that the value for money is too low! Low quality is one aspect, laziness is another! Disorganization and indiscipline are the third aspect! All the places that can be tragic in one engineering team are tragic. The quality and progress of the project can be imagined! Even mixing concrete is not good at mastering the temperature, a large number of unqualified materials are piled up on the project, and because of the delay, the poured concrete has become unusable from poor quality after a long period of exposure! And then the Dutch had to tear it down and rebuild! So this speed must be quite tragic.

In addition to financial and engineering problems, the Dutch also had to strengthen their rule over the region, but with the current Dutch national power, it was absolutely impossible to strengthen all the tens of thousands of islands in the Dutch East Indies. You must know that even in Indonesia on Xu Jie's plane, there are still many rebels active in the corner areas of Indonesia. The vastness of the area and the complexity of the terrain, as well as the ethnic question, made it impossible for the Dutch to firmly control all the areas.

So the Dutch still focused on the islands of Java and southern Sumatra. But even such a narrowed area of control was not something the Dutch could easily satisfy. How big is Java? 132187 square kilometers of land! Even if there is a Dutch soldier in 10 square kilometers, it will be more than 13,000 people! This is not counting the garrison of the fortress, and in order to completely control the island of Java, the Dutch government needs at least more than 50,000 troops! But where is the Netherlands now looking for so many elite troops? Doesn't care about Europe itself? The Dutch government is building a navy on a large scale, and the bulk of military spending is going to the navy. Isn't it difficult for a strongman to expand the army? So the problem of insufficient numbers of the army has been plaguing the Dutch military until the beginning of the war!

Not enough in the army? It didn't matter, look for the Russians, and the Russians did intend to provide their allies with some "infantry" to increase their control over important areas of the Dutch East Indies, but this suggestion was quickly rejected by the Dutch! The Dutch have never forgotten that they are working with a pack of insatiable wolves! Any attempt by the Russians to meddle in Southeast Asia is not tolerated by the Dutch! The Dutch would rather let the rest of the country be a mess of chaos and riots than would have "safety" under the bayonets of the Russians! After repelling the attack of the Chinese Republic, will the Russians, who have an absolute advantage in strength, take the opportunity to "enclose the land"? Fear of wolves and tigers is a true portrayal of the Dutch!

At the same time as the construction was underway, the Dutch Navy had also added to the dispatch to the Far East, four light cruisers had left the military port for Southeast Asia, and the Amsterdam-type armored cruisers under the command of Admiral Harvey were to go to the Far East with two Provincial-level battle cruisers after the seven-province battle cruisers were in place.

"At that time, we and the Russians will have 4 fast dreadnought warships and 1 armored cruiser, and we will still have the ability to protect ourselves in the face of the Chinese Navy that is not yet fully in place." Looking at the telegram forwarded from the Admiralty, Admiral Harvey muttered to himself.

Thanks to the book friends Shan Qingying and the Blue Prince for their tips, as well as the book friends Chinese soldiers, the hot-blooded Wufeng, and the monthly pass support of LX731209~~~. (To be continued......)