The green grass is green, the flowers are brocade, and a white classical sandstone building is hidden in the verdant trees, which looks as quiet and elegant as a paradise, peaceful and quiet.

In the bright and clean fresh hall, the tall and thin new President of the United States, Wilson, is standing in front of a huge map of the world; After a stroke of coloring, the entire region of Europe on the map was painted in three colors: red, blue, and gray. Next to Wilson, the head of the navy, Daniels, who was in a suit and leather shoes, stood quietly in place, and only when Wilson turned around did he calmly salute the man in front of him.

"At the negotiations in The Hague, the Germans made their usual strong statements. In the face of the British and Russian representatives present at the meeting, Germany still proposed that the French withdraw their troops from Morocco immediately, that they would not take any similar military action against Morocco, and that they should compensate for the German interests damaged in the meantime, a condition that was obviously impossible for any French government to accept. Wilson beckoned the man in front of him to sit down, and then said in a flat tone, "Yoni, do you know what that means?" ”

Daniels was silent for a moment and then said: "Since the Germans sailed the battleship to the port of Agadir, the situation in Europe has begun to develop in the direction of getting out of control, and the Berlin government's unchanging attitude under the pressure of Britain, France and Russia for a month has closed the door to a peaceful solution little by little. This time, there is a real chance that the Germans will show their blades against the French. ”

"You're right. Over time, Britain, France, and Russia would rapidly increase their war power by virtue of their resources, population, and economy, which were far superior to those of Germany and Austria; Although Germany's national power is already the largest in Europe, they are only slightly stronger than Britain, and they are far from being able to confront the Allied bloc that has completely exploded. Once these three countries, especially Russia, are allowed to become fully strengthened. It would be a mortal threat to Germany; Therefore, Germany must take advantage of the fact that the Entente group has not yet completed its preparations for war. in order to most effectively safeguard their national security. Wilson smiled. But it directly pointed out the real core of the Moroccan crisis, "That's why the Germans will always be active on the world stage with such a tough attitude that France cannot accept, because their ultimate goal is to launch a European war to break the blockade of the Entente!" It was a great courage that Kaiser Wilhelm, who had shrunk in his left hand, was able to put his will to war into practice with such a resolute attitude. ”

Daniels looked at the colorful map of Europe behind Wilson, and it instantly understood something in his mind. He let out a sigh of relief and said, "It turns out that Mr. President has long been aware of the situation in Europe. Then I would like to ask, once the European war opens. What do you think is the strategy of the United States? ”

"Although this war will not last long, and the fighting between the two camps on land will hardly last until Christmas this year, we still cannot rush to get close to one or the other." Wilson spoke softly, his gray-blue eyes revealing a hint of stellarity, "Although the German-Austrian Alliance is inferior to the Entente in terms of war potential, their weapons and equipment, tactical system, and decision-making and command are the top existences in the world; In the face of the strength of France and Russia, which has been gradually sharpened in the reforms of recent years, even our Secretary of War Leonard cannot determine who will win and who will lose in the battle. In the naval realm, the German fleet was not significantly inferior to the British Royal Navy, and the command game and luck component were enough to make the naval battles that broke out between them take on a completely different ending. Relations between the United States and Europe. It will directly affect our own vital interests, so the best strategy for us at the moment is to remain neutral. Wait until the situation on the battlefield is clear before making a final decision. ”

Daniels nodded slightly, and his slightly solemn eyebrows quietly stretched.

Wilson smiled with relief on his face again, and said leisurely: "To a certain extent, we should really be grateful to this Kaiser Wilhelm, because the war provoked by him has created a great opportunity for our United States to quickly improve its international status." Economically, the fierce fighting European powers were bound to need a lot of supplies to keep the war going; We can take advantage of the opportunity to sell the surplus products of domestic overcapacity at a high price, and at the same time make money and enliven the economy of the United States. The United States still owes a great debt to the European powers, and this war will allow us to write off these unpleasant bills at very little cost. In the face of the lure of lucrative profits, the so-called international neutrality law can be torn up at will like origami in the hands of a child, and I believe that both warring sides will happily accept the import of materials from the United States. ”

Tangiers frowned and said, "But Mr. President, then we can only stand on the side of the Entente." In the event of war, Britain could completely cut off Germany's ocean-going trade by virtue of its geographical position and the strength of the Royal Navy, and we would have to unilaterally provide the Allies with commodity exports. It was difficult to export goods to Germany even through neutral countries such as Norway, the Netherlands, and Denmark, and the British would definitely set up embargo zones in places such as the North Sea during the war, and strictly prohibit neutral merchant ships from sailing into these waters. ”

"Doesn't that mean that the maritime trade between these small neutral nations near the edge of the battlefield and my America will also be interrupted?" Wilson's eyes widened in surprise. Tangiers nodded: "Although the war has not yet broken out, I am almost 100% sure that the British will do it." They would not tolerate a constant stream of blood transfusions from these neutral merchant ships into the German war machine, even if they were not loaded with any prohibited items, even if they were United States ships flying the American flag. ”

Wilson fell silent. According to his original plan, he was to sell supplies to the two major camps in Europe at the same time: Britain and France, which had geographical and maritime advantages, naturally bought and shipped on their own, while Germany, which was blockaded, could import from the United States through the transfer of neutral countries. In the imminent clash of giants between the European powers, small countries such as the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden would certainly be able to hide as far as they could, while the United States could boldly transport large quantities of goods to these neutral countries on its own merchant ships, and then resell them into German ports. In this way, it not only circumvented the huge diplomatic pressure of direct support for Germany, but also earned a lot of real money from the world's second-largest rich man, whose total national income reached 2.8 billion pounds last year. However, what he did not consider was that the British would directly set up an embargo zone in the North Sea, which meant that the United States would not only be unable to open up the German market in the war as it wished, but would also lose its original trade volume with the Netherlands and other countries!

Tangers said in a deep voice: "In the final analysis, it is still that my American military strength is not strong enough. If we could have a navy as strong as the German High Seas Fleet, the British would not dare to intercept merchant ships flying the flag of the United States in the so-called embargoed zone. Our military strength is simply unbearable relative to the total economic and industrial aggregate of the United States, which is the largest in the world in the world; If not, how can we take into account the attitude of the British in the reselling of supplies? ”

"Yoni, how is the United States' naval fleet building?" Wilson asked after a long pause.

"Mr. President, at the moment our Atlantic Fleet has only 8 Dreadnought battleships; Among them, only two Wyoming-class ships completed last year are among the world's first-class ships, and the overall strength is less than a quarter of the British Navy and one-third of the German Navy. The former Dreadnoughts numbered as many as 25, outnumbering all the giants except the British, but now they had completely lost the ability to fight back against the dreadnoughts with all heavy guns. Its practical role in naval warfare will be extremely limited. Daniels said in a flat voice, but anyone could hear the strong dissatisfaction with the current state of the navy in his words, "And in the Pacific, we have only 15 armored cruisers, and they are as powerless as lambs under the mouth of a lion against the Japanese battle cruiser Kongo. ”

"What about the ships under construction, I remember that Congress now has to approve the budget for the start of construction of new battleships every year, and there should be a lot of ships under construction, right?" Wilson asked again.

"That's true. In the past two years, we have started construction of four super-dreadnoughts of two classes, but this simply does not meet the needs of the Navy. Britain builds more than 6 ships a year, Germany can maintain an average annual rate of 4 to 5 ships, and Congress only allocates a maximum of 2 capital ships to the Navy every year, which is simply a great crime against the defense and security of the United States! "In the long run, the gap between our maritime power and that of Britain and Germany, and even France, will widen; Once the relations between the United States and one of the parties break down, how can we respond to the maritime threat from the Atlantic? ”

Wilson sighed and said, "Why don't I want to invest more money in the amount of armed power?" It is only the spectre of the Civil War half a century ago that stands in stark contrast to the current prosperity, and the American people yearn to live in peace forever and have a natural resistance to developing the amount of armed force used in war. At present, the budget that Congress can allocate to the Navy to start construction of two new battleships every year is already the limit of what the government can do; I'm going to get more funding for the Navy this year, but don't get your hopes up too much. ”

"Now our only hope is that the British and German navies will be wiped out in a battle at the pinnacle." Tangers muttered. (To be continued......)

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