The blue sky is clear and the white clouds are surging. A modern cosmopolitan city straddling the banks of the River Thames, with wide roads and high-rise buildings. It's March, the temperature is warmer, and the city of London is out of the cold silence of winter and has regained the prosperity and vitality of spring. Shops are all over the street, posters are blinding, and the jingling of the tram passes through the bustling flow of people, adding a touch of meaning to this bustling and magnificent city.

In the Prime Minister's residence at 10 Downing Street, an old man is sitting quietly on a large sofa; His half-lost hair and thriving beard made him stand out from the crowd. Although due to age, his body has gradually become bloated, and his face has all kinds of bad spots and black acne; But his blue eyes were still so concise and clear. In front of him, a middle-aged man in the uniform of a naval colonel stood respectfully; In the face of the three prime ministers and the noble prince who has been in charge of the British power for nearly 10 years, the middle-aged man is as tame as a pigeon, and he has completely lost the sharp look he usually has.

"Prentis, this is the 8th time you've come to me during break. What news did you bring me this time? The old man spoke slowly in a hoarse voice.

The middle-aged man called Prentis bowed slightly to him and said respectfully: "Lord Marquis Salisbury, our embassy in Germany has sent back an update to London. Just five hours ago, Spain bought 1 Brandenburg-class and 2 Saxony-class ironclads from Germany to deal with the serious threat posed to them by the United States in the Caribbean. Among these 3 warships, the former is a cutting-edge ship with a displacement of 10,500 tons and equipped with 6 11-inch guns; Although the latter is an old ship with a displacement of 7,700 tons and equipped with six 10.2-inch guns, its combat capability is also quite considerable after modification. In order to obtain the three ironclad ships, Spain paid a total of 3.6 million pounds in cash to Germany. ”

Salisbury's eyes flashed with a hint of discoloration, and then the corners of his mouth were raised, and his words were full of playfulness: "In order to keep Cuba, the Spaniards really gave up all their family's old books. Even for my British Empire, losing 3.6 million pounds at once is a very painful thing! These Germans are really ruthless, and these 3 rags dare to sell at such a high price; The Royal Navy's latest old man-star battleship is only more than 900,000 pounds 1, right? ”

Prentis nodded and said, "Lord Marquis is right. The cost of the first ship, the Old Man Star, was £921,316, and the average cost of the six ships was just over £910,000. If these 3.6 million pounds are placed in my British Empire, it can almost build 4 old man stars of 13,150 tons. ”

Speaking of this, Prentis glanced at Salisbury's old muscular face, and asked with some puzzlement: "Lord Marquis, I don't understand, why did you not let my Royal Navy sell warships to Spain, but instead gave this business to the Germans?" You should know that those barbarian Hans on land have always been vain to our British Empire; On the surface, he bows his head and is submissive, but secretly he keeps making small movements. Three years ago, they took the initiative to build an armored cruiser to Russia, and it was built for the Russian Pacific Fleet, which was clearly against our British Empire. In recent years, their tentacles have begun to reach out to the Middle East, which not only cuts off the connection between our Indian and African colonies, but also poses a huge potential threat to the Red Sea shipping of our British Empire! Isn't sending them another £3.6 million now fueling their ambitions? ”

Hearing these words, Salisbury showed a look of relief on his face, and smiled: "Prentis, if you can think of this layer, it means that you are no longer the kind of soldier who only knows about war. The person in front of the meeting praised himself, and Prentis felt slightly unnatural in his heart, and hurriedly said a few words of modesty. Salisbury paused, then said, "I actually did this for a reason. ”

"As a core member of the Navy Headquarters, you don't need me to elaborate on the military reasons, right? If this had happened a few years ago, we could have put some relatively old ironclads on the list for sale, but the fact that France is now building a large number of high-speed ocean-breaking armored cruisers has forced us to start re-examining the maritime landscape that the Royal Navy is facing. Whether it was to escort the fleet or to serve as a fortress wedge to deter French raids, it is necessary to preserve the ironclad ships that we have been in service since 1883. Therefore, the Royal Navy did not have a surplus of ironclads to sell to Spain. Salisbury briefly told Prentis about the cause and effect of the incident.

Prentis was silent. As early as 1893, France began an attempt to build a new type of armored cruiser that could be fast and capable of long-term endurance on the oceans, specifically designed to harass Britain's sea lines of communication. As a country heavily dependent on maritime shipping, Britain has always abhorred this kind of pirate rogue tactics, but there is no good solution. There are now nearly 10,000 British merchant ships sailing at sea, covering almost every shipping lane in the world; And the ocean is so vast that even the Royal Navy's warship, which has more bugs than bedbugs, can only protect a small area, and it is impossible to cover everything at all. If the French relied on their colonies, which were also all over the world, to release a dozen raiders to engage the British in a big battle, the Royal Navy's 34 first-class capital ships in service might not be enough! The French navy ranks second in the world, and it also has a battleship composed of 19 capital ships; It is impossible for all British capital battleships to be used for search and escort, and the French capital fleet also needs British battleships to deal with!

Salisbury said slowly: "In addition to this, there is another factor that cannot be ignored. Although the British Empire is at an unprecedented peak, its ability to control the world has begun to decline; France, with its large number of colonies, and Russia, with its millions of Cossacks who were fearless to death, were both very troublesome enemies for the British Empire to maintain its global hegemony. Under these circumstances, it is necessary for us to sweeten the Germans, to maintain good relations with them, and not to allow them to become enemies of our British Empire at the present stage, together with France and Russia. Only in this way will we be able to fully devote our energies to dealing with France and Russia. ”

"Lord Marquis, didn't I remember that you said before that Germany would not be on the side of France and Russia?" Prentis said in amazement.

"Germany, of course, will not stand in the same trenches as France and Russia, but that does not mean that they will not be enemies of our British Empire! Didn't you just say that Germany is deferential to us on the surface, but behind the scenes, it is always stumbling on us from time to time. Our Queen's grandson, who had polio, was born with a paranoia, dreaming of his Germany replacing the British Empire as the new overlord of the world. Although his behavior has reined in over the past few years, we still can't guarantee when he won't have a neurotic attack and make any moves that are in opposition to us. Salisbury said lightly.

"Lord Marquis, I still don't understand, even if the Germans are our enemy, what threat can they pose to us? They did not have the overseas colonies of the French all over the world, and they could not play the strategy of breaking diplomatic relations with the French; And without the geography and population of Russia, it does not pose a threat to the security of our zone of economic interests and colonies. Now that they are encircled by France and Russia, they can only unite with Austria-Hungary in order to protect themselves, how can they threaten our British Empire? Prentis asked.

Salisbury glared at him and said angrily, "You idiot, why do you only keep your eyes on such a shallow level? The current world has long entered the era of industry, and with industry is almost equal to everything! At present, Germany's heavy industry far exceeds that of the British Empire, both in scale and quality; If Germany were to attack the British Empire, it would be much more difficult than France and Russia! ”

Seeing that Prentis still had a blank look on his face, Salisbury was slightly annoyed in his heart, and said, "Let's take your naval domain as an example." Why did France change their naval strategy from a decisive battle with a fleet to a breakdown at sea? It is because they know that the total amount of industry in their country is too different from that of our British Empire, and there is no possibility of defeating us in a head-to-head battle. And the situation in Germany is completely different from that in France! According to official data released by Germany last year, their steel production has exceeded 5.09 million tons, almost four times that of France's 1.34 million tons; And the steel output of our British Empire last year was more than 50 tons less than theirs! In addition to steel production, which is a basic figure for heavy industry, Germany also has several times the number of machine tools and mechanical workers in France, and is unique in the field of precision machining. If Germany really wants to challenge the maritime supremacy of our British Empire, then even if they want to give priority to the army, it will definitely build ships much faster than the French! ”

"Ah, really?" Prentis said with some surprise.

"Germany now has 5 major shipyards, each of which has the capacity to start more than 2 battleships at the same time; Converted, the Germans will not have a problem at all developing their navy at the rate of starting construction of 5 battleships per year! As for the financial factor, Prentis, do you know what the German government's revenue was last year? Salisbury asked.

Today's collection is very good, the author thanks everyone for the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, and the author also wishes everyone a happy holiday and a family reunion