After all, the development of naval armaments is not something that can be built as much as it wants, and it depends on a country's financial resources. If the financial resources are not enough, there is not even money for the construction of battleships, let alone money for the maintenance of battleships.

Of course, there is one example that is an exception, and that is Japan. If we look at Japan's current economy and fiscal revenues, Japan simply does not have enough financial resources to maintain a strong navy. Their finances have long been on the verge of collapse. In order to obtain more money, the Japanese government can only plunder more wealth from ordinary Japanese people by raising the price of food. This makes life very difficult for the Japanese. Of course, this is also the tenacity of the Japanese character, which can be endured. If you were the people of any country, I am afraid that you would not be able to hold on. Even if the Japanese government were to accumulate money like this and want to build a strong navy, it would not be possible. After all, every battleship requires a lot of money to build. Therefore, the navy is undoubtedly a very expensive branch of the military.

Fortunately, the Sea of Japan was relatively useful, and the United States, Britain, and France hoped to use Japan as a pawn to contain China, so they repeatedly provided loans to Japan, so that Japan had enough financial resources to build these warships. Otherwise, the Japanese would have been stunned by the construction drawings of the battleships, and they would not have been able to start building those battleships because they had no money.

The construction of heavy cruisers drawn up by various countries is also like this. Although, tightly only the tonnage and caliber of the main guns of the heavy cruisers were regulated, and the number was not specified. But as long as the head is not caught in the door, there will be no reckless frenzy to build heavy cruisers. After all, no matter how much heavy cruisers are built, they are not as good as capital ships. In a real naval duel, the capital ship is the most important.

The cruiser was next up with the destroyer. For these destroyers, the countries have no heart at all to discuss. After all. Destroyers are the most common in the navies of various countries, and they will not play a big role in naval warfare, so there is no need to make regulations at all.

The French were very infatuated with the lightning strike effect of destroyers, and tried in vain to build a fleet dominated by lightning strikes, so as to achieve the goal of defeating large ships with small ships. But. In the end, it turned out that this simply didn't work. Therefore, in the end, the French had to give up the idea of thundering ships and return to the road of big ships and huge guns. Even if the destroyers of the naval forces of various countries make any regulations, presumably all countries will not build destroyers endlessly. After all, resources are limited, and if too much is invested in destroyers, it will be affected in the subsequent construction of other warships.

One of the last points of discussion was submarines. Britain is most jealous of other people's submarines. Because during the First World War, the elusive German submarines made British ships and merchant ships suffer enough, and became an unforgettable memory for Britain. So Britain advocated a complete ban on submarines. France, in a-for-tat manner, put forward a very different proposal, claiming that if a weak navy country is not allowed to use submarines, it is tantamount to handing them over to the naval powers to be slaughtered at will, and therefore there should be no restrictions on submarines at all.

So the two sides began to quarrel like words and swords. The British representative said in a menacing manner: "Britain must not allow France, which has an army of 800,000 troops, to have a first-class submarine fleet!" The representative of France said to the general of the army: "If Britain is willing to cancel the capital ships, then we will immediately cancel the submarines." ”

The British representative immediately shot back: "France with bases all over the place. With a large number of submarines, the threat to Britain could be many times greater than the threat to Britain from Germany. The representative of France ridiculed him: "Britain must have built capital ships to salvage sardines? So. Why not let poor France also build a few submarines to study the plants of the seabed? ”

Seeing that the "submarine warfare" between Britain and France had reached a stalemate, the United States hastened to come out to play a round, but because everyone had too many differences, no agreement was reached on the issue of restricting submarines, so it had no choice but to settle the matter.

The Chinese Empire did not say much about submarines. Submarines of the Imperial Chinese Navy. Although it was inconspicuous in the First World War. However, this does not mean that the performance of submarines in the Chinese Navy is not good. In fact, the Chinese Navy's submarines were even more powerful than the German submarines that made a splash in World War I. It's just that the Chinese submarine has no target for attack. Therefore, Chinese submarines basically did not achieve anything in World War I. But actually. Even German submarines will never dare to underestimate Chinese submarines.

After the end of World War I, Germany's submarine forces were disbanded, and those materials and talents became the object of plundering by various countries, which greatly improved the performance of submarines in various countries. However, this is nothing at all for the Empire. The Empire's newest submarines have long been far ahead of other countries.

The Second World War was the time for the Imperial Submarine Force to show its talents. When the time comes, the entire Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and even the Atlantic Ocean will become hunting grounds for the submarine forces of the Reich. The enemies of the empire will suffer huge blows and losses for this.

After half a month of bickering, the meeting finally reached an agreement, and the representatives of the United States, Great Britain, China, France, and the Kingdom of Italy signed their names on the treaty, which meant that the "Treaty on the Limitation of Naval Armaments" was formally concluded and entered into force.

The "Treaty on the Limitation of Naval Armaments" stipulates that the total tonnage limit of the capital ships of the five countries is 500,000 tons each for the United States, Britain and China, and 175,000 tons for France and Italy, that is, the ratio of the five countries is 5:5:5:1.75:1.75. It is forbidden to build capital ships with a standard displacement of more than 35,000 tons, and it is forbidden to install guns with a caliber of more than 16 inches. The total tonnage limit of aircraft carriers is 180,000 tons for China, 135,000 tons for the United States and Britain, and 60,000 tons for France and Italy; in principle, the standard displacement of a single ship shall not exceed 27,000 tons, and it shall not be equipped with guns of more than 8 inches.

Later, the United States, Britain, China, and France began negotiations on interests in the Pacific and the Far East. During the talks, the United States referred to China's construction of military bases on islands in the Pacific Ocean, and said that the Chinese empire's actions were exacerbating conflicts in the Pacific. The Chinese Empire should stop building military installations on those islands.

However, this view of the Americans was strongly opposed by the representatives of the Chinese Empire. Tang Shaoyi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Empire, proposed that those islands in the Pacific Ocean belonged to the territory of the Chinese Empire, and that the Chinese Empire had the right to build any facilities on these islands, whether civilian or military, which was the freedom of the Chinese Empire. If the U.S. wants China to stop building these military installations, it will do so unless the U.S. agrees to stop building military facilities on the Hawaiian Islands, the Philippines, and Guam. Britain stopped building military installations in Australia and New Zealand and even in the South Seas. Otherwise, the empire would never have agreed.

The British immediately quit, arguing that Australia and New Zealand were inherent British territories that had been occupied by the British many years earlier. So, the British construction in these areas, that's no problem. What's more, Australia is a huge island with an area of seven or eight million. New Zealand is not too small to be confused with the islands in the Pacific Ocean. On the other hand, China's islands in the Pacific Ocean are just colonies obtained from Germany. As a latecomer to the Pacific, China should respect everyone's interests in the Pacific, stop the construction of military facilities, and ensure peace in the Pacific.

The representative of China suggested that the islands had previously belonged to Germany. However, after Germany sold the islands to China, the islands belonged to China. None of the other countries have the right to intervene. Otherwise, it would be interference in China's internal affairs.

The representatives of the United States, Britain, and China once again engaged in a war of words on this issue. After all, the United States and Britain have huge interests in the Pacific, and they fear that China will use those islands as a springboard to launch direct attacks on the territory of the United States and Britain. In that case, it will be difficult for them to resist China's attack. For this reason, they desperately hoped that the Chinese Empire would stop militarizing the islands in the Pacific.

As for France, it is a bystander. France had little interest on the Pacific coast, except for its colonies in Indochina. They were cheated by the Americans and the British in the previous Limitation of Naval Armaments treaty. Therefore, they naturally will no longer stand on the side of Britain and the United States and help them suppress China. After all, if China is offended severely, it will not do them any good. In the event that China were to attack the Indochina colonies directly from the south, it would be very difficult for them to hold on there.

However, in the end, due to the strong opposition of the representatives of the Chinese Empire, this article could only be abandoned. In order to guard against China, the United States and Britain have had to increase their military investment in the Pacific.

Therefore, in the end, the four countries of the United States, Britain, China and France only signed a non-binding "Four-Power Convention", which stipulates that the four countries respect each other's rights to island possessions and territories in the Pacific region, and if a dispute involving the above rights arises between them and cannot be resolved satisfactorily through diplomatic means, a meeting of the States Parties shall be convened to consider a settlement; In the event that the above-mentioned rights are threatened by an act of aggression by any State, the States Parties shall consult comprehensively in order to "take the most effective measures jointly or individually" to deal with the situation.

In fact, the Four-Nation Pact is of no use, and in the event of a war over these islands and territories, there is no other means for the countries to deal with it than war. (To be continued.) )

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