"..........If necessary, our country can completely postpone this meeting until the battleship is completed..." As Bu Zigao's categorical words fell, almost everyone present couldn't help but change color slightly, only the Chinese delegation and a few people who were relatively deep in the city government were able to maintain their original expressions, so that their joy and anger could not be invisible.

The former is naturally because he already knew that Buzigao would say this, so he was somewhat mentally prepared in his heart. As for the latter, it is because the castle is deep enough, so even if you are surprised by the words of the high step, you can still barely keep your calm and make an expression of Tarzan collapsing in front of you without changing your face―――――― of course, these foreigners may not know which mountain Tarzan is, so it may be easier to understand if this mountain is replaced by the Alps or the Rocky Mountains.

There was an awkward silence, and everyone in the room fell silent.

For a moment, there was an awkward silence in the room.

It was probably a long time before the representative of the United States, as the host, had to speak. "General Bu, please don't say such irresponsible things......... Hold off until it's done? Who of you didn't know that the scale of the [Jairus] class was strong, but who didn't know that your country's [Jairus] class had actually just been put on the slipway, and now it is only a little rudimentary, and it will be delayed until it is completed. ”

As the words of the US representative fell, there was once again a lot of discussion in the meeting.

Between the words, there was a slight mockery. But when it comes to talking. No one would deliberately 'be louder'. After all, they also have some scruples, but on the other hand, they are also a little sarcastic about the 'whimsy' of the step.

Although the groundbreaking ceremony of the [Jairus] class was indeed public, it was indeed invited by many people. But it's just that the ceremony is public. As a rule, the process of building battleships was kept secret―――――― unless the state responsible for its construction deliberately leaked secrets.

This is not surprising at all, since it is difficult to say that any country will not have any contradictions with other countries. And in many cases, as more and more contradictions accumulate, the possibility of conflict becomes more and more likely, and such things can be described as common in history.

At this time, if you have any important military projects, do you want the enemy to know very clearly where your project has progressed? Or is it to make the enemy unclear, and then feel jealous...

And then. Here's the problem.

In the presence of hostile countries in the outside world, what country would be willing to expose the progress of its important military projects? ―――――― ritual or something is helpless~

After all, the shipyard is by the sea, not to mention the size of a battleship is not small. Even if you want to hide. It's not that easy. What's more, for such a large project, it is difficult for the outside world not to notice it. Especially when the Wehrmacht has been clamoring for battleships for a long time.

Therefore, it is better to be generous, anyway, as long as the most critical project progress is kept secret.

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At present, the progress of the [Jairus] level project is still relatively smooth. At least under a three-shift work system. The [Jairus] class can be said to be forming at a relatively fast speed.

However, due to the high level of secrecy, the outside world is not very clear about this.

Therefore, it is difficult for both Britain and the United States, which are extremely concerned about this, and the Japanese, who are more concerned than Britain and the United States, to get the real progress of the [Jairus]-class battleships.

But one thing they still know is relatively clear, that is, it takes at least ten months for a super-dreadnought to cut steel plates, lay keels and launch, ―――――― the historical Dreadnought battleship took almost ten months. From 2 October 1905, when the Intrepid laid the keel at the Portsmouth Naval Yard, to 10 February 1906, when it was launched. It took almost 10 months for the Intrepid to begin sea trials on October 1 of the same year. The construction progress was unexpectedly fast.

It should be noted that the battleship Dreadnought can be said to be the ancestor of all dreadnoughts in later generations. Although, at the moment, the Dreadnought's performance doesn't seem to be particularly impressive. Especially with the famous battleships of later generations, such as the Japanese Yamato-class, the American Iowa class, the British Queen Elizabeth-class, the German Bavaria-class and Bismarck-class...

As for the French and Italians, let's ignore this ...

Anyway, the design of the battleships, whether they were French or Italians, was quite inexplicable, and there seemed to be no need to care about it.

In any case, the pace at which the Intrepid was built was surprisingly smooth.

Of course, since the Dreadnought is an unprecedented capital ship that has never been seen in the past, new equipment has been added to it that has not been seen in the past. Therefore, although it was very efficient when it was built, it actually carried out a long inspection of the new equipment, and it was not officially commissioned until December 3, 1907, in other words, it took almost more than a year, close to two years, for the intrepid to complete the entire process from the start of construction to the commissioning.

From the beginning of her service, the Dreadnought was the flagship of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet until 1912. During the First World War, on March 18, 1916, the Intrepid even rammed and sank the German submarine U29 in the North Sea. Of course, the Dreadnought also paid some price for this, as docking repairs missed the Battle of Jutland. In 1916-1918 he was stationed at the Thames estuary. In 1919 he was transferred to the reserve. In 1921, the once-glorious steel behemoth of the sea, which ushered in the era of dreadnoughts, was sold and demolished.

It can be seen from this how long it will take for this battleship to complete the process from construction to service. In particular, the Communist government in the past almost never had experience in building battleships. Under these circumstances, no one can guarantee how much time the national government will take. to finish the battleship ...

If you don't get it right, it doesn't seem impossible to use it even for a year and a half.

No, two or three years to be exact...

No one can guarantee this. After all, at present, countries do not know much about the process of the Jairus-class battleships, and they can only judge by guessing, so the error will naturally be relatively large...

But at least one thing has become the consensus of Britain and the United States and other countries, that is, the national government that has not built large dreadnoughts in the past. The process of building a dreadnought will never be easy.

And when this consensus had been reached, the representatives of the Communist government suddenly jumped out and said that they would delay the meeting until the battleship was completed. The British and Americans were naturally a little unacceptable.

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Hearing the representative of the U.S. government standing there and saying that what he had just said was irresponsible, Buzigao couldn't help but sneer.

"Irresponsible, the words I just said are irresponsible. Could it be that what you just said, Mr. Secretary, is that responsible? ”

Hearing Buzigao say this, US Secretary of State Charles? E. Hughes's expression was slightly embarrassed.

Because he was one of the people who had just stood there and belittled the Wehrmacht and Navy as worthless.

Of course. He would do this out of selfishness. After all, if the strength of the Defence Navy is not devalued, how can there be an excuse to impose the greatest restrictions on the Defence Navy in the treaty?

It was only by reducing the Defence Navy to the point of worthlessness that they had the pretext and the reason to impose extremely harsh restrictions on the Defence Navy in the treaty.

This, combined with the Japanese and British, as well as the Four-Power Treaty, which the United States has already signed with three other countries, would have the United States no longer have to worry about security in the Pacific.

In fact, Charles was different from Wilson and Roosevelt, and both Wilson and Roosevelt knew one thing very well. That is, the government of the National Society would not accept the British and American proposals under any circumstances, so this time the British and American proposals were raised. At most, it can play a role in disgusting the national government.

In the end, I am afraid that Britain and the United States will still have to compromise and make concessions―――――― unless they want the negotiations to break down.

Of course. They don't mind disgusting the Nationalist government first.

But Charles is different, he looks down on the Chinese from the bottom of his heart, and he doesn't think Chinese is anything remarkable at all. It's just a bunch of nouveau riche who stepped on shit in World War I, trying to be on an equal footing with them―――――― even though in the eyes of many people is actually the biggest nouveau riche in the world.

And people who think the same way as Charles are definitely not small in the U.S. government. It is also because of this relationship that Charles took the lead in attacking at the Washington Conference, vainly trying to belittle the Chinese Navy as worthless, and then logically lower the position of the Chinese Navy.

merely

He obviously did not expect that the Chinese, who should have been obedient in his expectations, would be so tough, and even did not take him, the US secretary of state, into his eyes at all, which naturally made Charles a little unimaginable.

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Although Charles is indeed very arrogant, he is also clear that if this meeting does not have China's participation, it is not worth holding in itself.

After all, there are only two countries in the international community today that still have the strength to start an arms race. One of them is, of course, the United States, after all, this time the Americans did not make much money in this war, although the expenses were high, but with the money borrowed during the war, the interest alone was enough to make the Americans happy...

Coupled with the income of other aspects, even if the pressure on the Americans in this war is indeed very high, it is absolutely fine to start an arms race.

The shape of China is similar, as a country far from the battlefield, although the Nationalist government has invested heavily in the west and north of China. But with the reparations for the defeat provided by the German government, and a series of other things, it was no problem to hold on.

Or even to start an arms race ...

Of course, China's national strength is certainly not as strong as that of the United States. After all, it has only been developed for six or seven years, and it is already against the sky to be able to do this. If you want to compare with the United States, which has accumulated a hundred years, the gap is still relatively large.

But compared to countries such as Britain and France, which are already exhausted. China's advantage is more obvious. This was especially true for Japan, which had suffered two disastrous defeats, the Battle of Shandong and the Korean War.

And among the many countries, I am afraid that China is also the only one that is likely to clash with the great powers in the short term. Such a state must be limited to the great powers, so China must not withdraw from this treaty.

If China withdraws, it will cause a chain reaction.

Japan, for example, is the most likely to have an armed conflict with China in the first place. And in less than a decade, there have already been two large-scale armed conflicts, and even countries that can be called local wars. If China does not sign the treaty. Japan is also clearly unlikely to sign it.

After all, if the four Jairvey-class battleships of the Wehrmacht Navy were launched, then the Japanese Navy, which already had a weak advantage, would lose its advantage. Therefore, in order to preserve their advantages, it is simply impossible for the Japanese to sign such a treaty that is extremely restrictive to themselves.

Similarly. The same goes for the British. After all, China is likely to attack Britain's colonies in the Far East in the future. How could the British have curtailed their navy in such a situation? Of course, the British do not need to build any new ships, they only need to maintain the existing huge fleet size, and they can already be called invincible in the world!

Similarly, if the British did not sign this treaty, the Americans obviously did not sign it.

And the French and Italians, who will not sign either―――――― of course, they don't need to think about it. After all, after the Great War. Neither the French nor the Italians actually retained much power, even if they did not sign the treaty. Nor is it likely that a regional arms race will be triggered anytime soon.

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In fact, it is not only this treaty to limit the arms race, but also on many other things, Britain and the United States need to communicate with China.

For example, peace in the Far East, as well as the control of Soviet Russia and the prevention of epidemics, etc., would never have been possible without the cooperation of the Nationalist and Social Governments.

"That arrogant idiot, really thought that the Chinese would go against the grain, and he would listen to whatever he said..."

Looking at Charles's embarrassed face, but he didn't dare to say anything too harsh, an American sitting next to him couldn't help but whisper sarcastically.

"yes..."The other person next to him couldn't help but agree.

Just when Charles cooperated with the British in making those demeaning words against the Wehrmacht, they had already sensed that something was wrong. Because the British are only the beginning, and they are very ingenious, belonging to the kind of tone and tone that will displease the Chinese, but will not provoke the other party.

Then, after clever guidance, Charles stood up and took on the firepower that attracted all the hatred.

It can be said that if the first half is British, no, the first third is played by the British, to be exact, then the second two-thirds are played by Charles and the people around him.

If at first the hatred of the Chinese was on the British, then with the brilliant ridicule of Charles and others, these hatreds have all been concentrated on the Americans. Now it is even more difficult for the Americans to ride the tiger, because Bu Zigao has just made it very clear that if they cannot give them an explanation that satisfies them at this meeting, they would even rather drag the whole meeting until the battleship is completed.

And those four battleships, even if they are calculated at the fastest speed, I am afraid it will take more than a year and a half, and this is still an extraordinary performance, and many details are omitted―――――― to put it simply, it is to serve while testing, so that the time in between can naturally be greatly shortened.

But more than a year to convene a conference? No, one of the terms of the meeting, exactly? I'm afraid this is a little too difficult, after all, the people here are basically political leaders from various countries. For example, the U.S. government sent Charles, who was the secretary of state, and the national government sent the prime minister.

In addition, the British sent Arthur, who was the head of the Imperial Privy Council? James? Lord Balfour, and Lord of the Admiralty Lee? Baron Fallm.

In addition, France, Italy and Japan can also be said to be the heavyweights of their respective countries. When so many heavyweights have been staying in Washington? And to stay for at least a year? Such a thing is unimaginable even if you think about it...

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In any case, the atmosphere of the whole meeting was completely frozen.

Whether it was Bu Zigao, Li Liang or Gu Weijun, or Charles and the others on the other side, they were obviously unwilling to speak first.

Buzi and other people are very simple, they don't feel that they are wrong at all, if they speak first at this time, even if they don't say it, it is equivalent to admitting their mistakes, at least they will fall into the disadvantage first, which is of course very unfavorable for them.

And for Charles, even if he knew that these Chinese were important to the whole meeting, but to make him bow to these yellow-skinned monkeys from the Far East, he was absolutely unwilling... (To be continued......)