Despite the initial setbacks, the British and Americans seemed somewhat frustrated.

However, they did not take this frustration to heart, because they believed that eventually things would turn around. But what happened later hit them.

Although in the days that followed, both the Americans and the British pushed the whole meeting as hard as they could. However, not to mention the Chinese representatives who have always adhered to the bottom line, even the Japanese are not very cooperative in this matter―――――― because the Japanese government has been very keenly aware that Britain and the United States also have a little bit of unpredictable thoughts about the two Nagato-class battleships that Japan is currently building, namely the Nagato and the Mutsu...

It is precisely because of this discovery that the position of the Japanese has become slightly more complicated.

As a result, although the conference on arms limitation has been held for several days, in practice there has not been much progress in the conference as a whole.

Moreover, in addition to China and Japan, the French and Italians are also secretly resisting this conference―――――― for these two countries, which have a long history and are very proud, it is undoubtedly a very ugly thing to ask them to admit that their navy is only third-rate.

So although nothing was said on the surface, some private resistance has always existed.

Similarly, the British and French had high hopes for pressure on the Chinese side to put pressure on the Nationalist government, but basically did not have the effect they wanted. At least in the face of the pressure exerted by Britain and the United States, Yan Shao was very tough. There's no intention of giving in.

From a certain point of view, the whole meeting is very difficult to give birth to.

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"Do you think the Chinese are really not afraid that the meeting will break down?"

Sit upright on the couch. Wilson looked at Roosevelt sitting next to him with some curiosity.

But this time, they are not in the White House, which is the presidential palace, but only in Wilson's own home―――――― although he is already president, this does not mean that Wilson himself needs to live in the White House every day, he also has his own private time.

As a young man whom Wilson valued very much, Roosevelt was naturally qualified to be a guest at his home.

Especially during this more sensitive period, Wilson was in great need of Roosevelt's own abilities to help him solve some of his dilemmas.

After all, the dilemma at hand...

"Aren't you afraid of tearing your face at all?" Set the teacup aside. Roosevelt sat up straight, then leaned forward slightly to Wilson. "I can't say that, at least the Chinese should see it." If this treaty is reached, then the benefits for the Chinese will definitely be much better than not being reached..."

"Oh?" Hearing this, Wilson looked at Roosevelt with some curiosity.

After a pause, Roosevelt continued to explain. "At the moment, there are only three countries that can pose a threat to China at sea. China, England and Japan..."

"Of course. This is not to say that Italy and France are not strong enough, but Italy's interests are not in Asia, but in Africa, and the Italian navy is more like a standard Mediterranean fleet, allowing them to leave the Mediterranean Sea and cross the Indian Ocean to Asia to fight the Chinese, which is inevitably too difficult for them. Not to mention that there are only a few routes from the Indian Ocean to Asia, relying on the strength of the Chinese underwater fleet. Even the Italian fleet could be lost before it entered the South China Sea. ”

"You mean?"

"Strait of Malacca...", Roosevelt looked down at his pocket watch. It was half a ring before he spoke. "The fastest way to get into the South China Sea from the Indian Ocean is through the Strait of Malacca, and of course, there are several other straits besides the Strait of Malacca, but for Italians, this location is probably the fastest and the most suitable. As for the Chinese, as long as they let their underwater fleet ambush in the Strait of Malacca and several other straits, the next thing is self-evident. It is very likely that the Italian fleet, which did not play well in this world war, will encounter what happened to the Japanese at Longkou Bay there, and even if it is completely annihilated, it is not impossible..."

"What's more, the Italians have no interests in Asia, and the possibility of such a large-scale conflict with the Chinese is too small."

"As for the French, let's not mention how good the relationship between the French and the Chinese is. First of all, there is no possibility of conflict between the French and the Chinese, and the only place where there is a possibility of conflict is only French Indochina. The problem is that it is not a very important place for the French, and there is a voice in France and in China that in order to avoid a conflict between China and France in the future, it is entirely possible to sell French Indochina to China, and there is still some market for this kind of talk in France, especially in the current situation where the French government is heavily indebted. And for the Chinese, it seems to be a very good thing to be able to buy it from the French with money. First, he avoided the possibility of a direct conflict between China and France, and secondly, it also symbolized the return of the strength of the Chinese to Southeast Asia..."

"As a result, the only countries that may pose a threat to China are our country, the United Kingdom and Japan."

"Of these, our country is the least likely, while the UK and Japan are the most likely. However, although the strength of the Japanese is very strong, the Chinese are not very worried about the Japanese navy. ”

"Oh?" Hearing that Roosevelt was such a club, Wilson really seemed a little surprised. "Didn't the navy say that the Japanese are much stronger than the Chinese in the navy? Especially in terms of the main fleet, the strength of the Japanese is at least a cut higher than that of the Chinese. If a war breaks out between the two sides, the most likely defeat is the Chinese's ocean fleet ?! ”

"That's right, in fact, the judgment of the navy cannot be said to be unreasonable." So to speak. Roosevelt smiled wryly. "However, the judgment of the navy is based on the old concepts of the past, such as the number of capital ships on both sides, as well as the performance, the caliber of the main guns, and the training of the seamen, etc.?"

"Is there anything wrong with that?" The more Wilson listened, the more confused he became, after all, as a politician, Wilson did not know much about military affairs after all.

Roosevelt, however, was different, as a top brass in the Navy. Roosevelt obviously had a much deeper understanding of military affairs than Wilson, so he could see the problems more clearly.

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"As I have already said, the old ones were just the standards of the old days. Of course, there is nothing wrong with this criterion under normal circumstances. But before we think about that, we first need to consider one more thing. That's how close China and Japan really are..."

"For the Chinese. The Japanese archipelago is so close that it is very easy for the Chinese underwater fleet to easily block the external traffic of the entire Japanese archipelago. In fact, according to the information obtained by the Navy, China's underwater fleet is currently mainly equipped with three types of submarines, one of which is a U-boat produced by technology imported from Germany before the war, and two types are developed and produced by itself during the war and after the war based on the technology imported from Germany in the past, and the other is a long-range ocean-going submarine. There is also an offshore submarine, but it doesn't matter what kind of submarine it is. They can easily block the entire Japanese archipelago, which shows how targeted the Chinese are to Japan. ”

At this point, Roosevelt paused for a moment before continuing. "In addition to this, it is also important to have information that in addition to the new submarine base being built in the Chinese at the military port of Vladivostok, Chinese is also building a submarine base on Sakhalin. If these two bases are completed, submarines from these two bases will be able to easily block the entire Japanese archipelago, no matter which direction it comes from. ”

"We are all well aware that Japan is an island country, and it is a very resource-poor island country, and it is very dependent on external resources in all aspects. If the country had been blockaded by submarines, as the Germans had done during the war, then even if the Japanese had the most powerful surface fleet in the world, they could collapse without a fight because of lack of resources..."

Speaking of this, Roosevelt couldn't help but sigh.

In fact, the Defense Navy has always been very targeted at Japan, especially its huge surface fleet, which can be called the world's largest underwater fleet in terms of size and quality, and can easily blockade the entire Japanese archipelago.

Yan Shao, who is very aware of Japan's weaknesses, understands very well that to deal with a country like Japan, it is only necessary to block him so that he cannot communicate with the outside world, and at the same time, he cannot get resources from the outside world. So even if the country is unwilling and still wants to fight, Yan Shao has a way to make it collapse without a fight.

Even if it takes more time to blockade, it is very likely that the whole of Japan will be blockaded into a dead island―――――― if Yan Shao can develop a bomber with a combat radius covering the entire Japanese archipelago during this period, I am afraid the situation will be more lively.

Especially when these bombers are equipped with incendiary bombs, they can turn Japan into a sea of fire.

Japan, which was originally called an earthquake island country, will also be called an earthquake in the future, and it will become a flame, an island of flames...

And it is precisely because of this that Roosevelt found it tricky, because the facts show that the current Japan is not an opponent of the Chinese at all. Especially when the shortcomings of the Japanese are so great ...

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"Except for Japan, it is unlikely that our country will have a conflict with China, so the country that is most likely to have a conflict is the United Kingdom. First of all, the British still occupy a significant part of China, such as Hong Kong, and the concessions in China that have not yet been returned to the Chinese government. In fact, in recent years, the Chinese government has been demanding that the British government return these concessions, as well as the control rights in Hong Kong and other areas, but the British government has always ignored the Chinese government. This is one reason why relations between the two countries have always been strained, even during the First World War. ”

"Other than that. The Burma and Malay regions currently occupied by the British government were once subject states of China in history. At present, there has always been an idea in China to liberate the subject states that are currently being colonized and restore the glory of the Celestial Empire in the past. ”

In fact, this idea can be said to be very marketable in China at present, so if the Chinese are given a chance, I believe the Chinese will never let it go. However, it is necessary to achieve this goal. The huge naval fleet of the British was a threat. ”

"Actually, from a certain point of view, the situation of the United Kingdom and Japan is very similar, both belong to the island countries. Resources are scarce, and if someone blocks them from the sea, it won't be long before the situation becomes very bad. ”

"But there is one decisive difference between the two. First of all. Britain had a large overseas colony. and arguably the most powerful navy in the world. Second, Britain is far enough away from China that unless the Chinese can build submarines that can sail all the way from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic, it is almost impossible to achieve something like dealing with the Japanese..."

"And no matter how strong the underwater fleet of the Chinese is, after all, it cannot reverse the huge gap between the two sides at the naval level." Especially in terms of capital ships, the number of capital ships of the British has even reached more than ten times that of the Chinese. If you want to close this gap, there are only two ways for Chinese. One is to increase his strength as much as possible and catch up with the British. Another is to find a way to weaken the British―――――― of course, there is a third way, that is, two measures at the same time. ”

"In fact, what the Chinese are currently taking is the third measure, on the one hand, to start construction of four super dreadnoughts at the same time to achieve a leap in strength, and at the same time, they are also trying to find a way to pass the Guò treaty, so that the strength of the British has been greatly weakened, so that the strength of the two sides can reach a level where the gap is not very large. Especially considering that the British homeland is located very far from Asia, if the Chinese want to do something, unless the British can come up with reinforcements from distant Europe, it will be difficult to compete with the Chinese fleet..."

When he said this, Roosevelt sighed with emotion. Because when he said this, he suddenly remembered the Russians who had traveled thousands of miles and were tired and half dead to rush from Europe to Asia to reinforce the Pacific Fleet during the Russo-Japanese War.

From a certain point of view, perhaps the Chinese are fighting this idea.

Because no matter who you are, after spanning almost half a world of distance, it is difficult to maintain any combat effectiveness. Especially considering that in this era there are warships on Earth, the inhabitants inside are very poor ...

"Then according to you, the Chinese should be very sincere about this meeting, why are the Chinese not willing to make even the slightest concession until now..."

"That's because the current conditions are not satisfactory to the Chinese..." Speaking of this, Roosevelt looked at Wilson. First of all, we need to understand that for the Chinese, if they want to achieve a local advantage over the British, they need to have at least half or two-thirds of the British. But if we do it according to our requirements, I am afraid that the Chinese will only get one-third, which is absolutely unacceptable to the Chinese..."

"Therefore, they would rather reject this treaty than agree to such conditions. Because if they agreed to such conditions, it would be tantamount to giving up their ability to confront the British―――――― compared to the promise, at least after refusal, they can still find a way to expand their armaments, especially in terms of the navy, after all, their economy is still relatively healthy, especially considering that China's tax rate is still very low, and only a few taxes need to be added to get a huge amount of fiscal revenue. In contrast, the British, who are currently burdened with huge debts, are obviously no longer able to continue to support a huge fleet of dozens of capital ships, so even if no agreement is reached, the British still need to reduce their own forces, which is actually not much difference for the Chinese..."

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After hearing Roosevelt's words, Wilson finally understood some of the truths. At the same time, he also deeply understood one point, that is, the idea of this treaty Chinese is very simple, that is, if it can succeed, it is naturally better, but if it cannot be successful, it is nothing.

In any case, the biggest threat to the Chinese is the British, and even if they are not successful, the British will also weaken their military strength. The difference is simply that there are no limits, and if the UK economy improves in the future, it is likely to rise again.

"In this way, for the success of this meeting, maybe we need to make a little more effort..."

With that, Wilson touched his chin.

Unlike the British, this meeting was not a failure for the Americans, especially for Wilson. (To be continued......)