"There are only eternal interests in the world, and there are no eternal friends." The British Empire was born out of commerce, and this has always been the only way for successive British rulers to cooperate with the Dutch against the Spaniards, to fight the Dutch for maritime trade zones, and in the Napoleonic era, the British would even support the Spaniards, who had just been their sworn enemies at the Battle of Trafalgar, against the French. Mahan then pointed to Japan on the map.

"When the Russians rose, Britain was actually going to support Japan against Russia. Compared with China, Japan's biggest advantage is that it is relatively easy to control, and because of its congenital insufficiency, even if Japan defeats Russia, it will only be a second-rate country, and it will not be able to catch Southeast Asia for a long time. Don't worry that Japan will have thoughts about the UK. Mahan smiled.

But soon, a man named Xu Jie changed all this, under his influence, the strength of the Beiyang Fleet expanded rapidly, which made the Japanese unexpected, and the forced Japan had no choice but to rush to the hospital and cooperate with the Russians, which violated the bottom line of the British! Britain, which originally had a good impression of Japan, had to abandon Japan and support Beiyang against Russia, and at this point, although the Qing-Japanese war had not yet begun, the outcome had been determined, and Japan would definitely die! Mahan sneered.

"After the Qing-Japanese War, the British did not abandon Japan? Beginning in 1896, Japan gained a lot of support from the British at the cost of selling its rights, and the British even re-supplied Japan with 2 armored cruisers in 1898. He has made great efforts to revive Japan, but the results seem to be mediocre. Although Japan recovered part of the territories occupied by the Russians. But it also depleted the vitality that the country had accumulated for five years. Theodore Roosevelt chimed in.

"So, from this point of view, the cooperation between the Chinese and the British was only a stopgap measure. It's just a choice under the weight of the Russians. But things have come to this point. There is a slight deviation from the British consideration, Japan has lost the opportunity to rise, when the Russians are defeated, Huaxia's strength will be enough to suppress the small country to his east, there is no need to worry, China's huge strength will develop to the south! Mahan said solemnly.

"The British Empire will not sit idly by and watch the old geopolitical pattern be broken. I've said this countless times. Although the Chinese navy was strong, it was far from challenging the sea power of the British Empire. The huge tonnage advantage was enough to defeat the elite but small fleet of the Huaxia Navy. Roosevelt retorted.

"That's where your problem arises. On the one hand, you only look at the Far East. On the other hand, you don't know how much influence the new warships have on the war. I'm a little disappointed by what you've done, both as a politician and as someone who used to be at the helm of the American Navy. Mahan said mercilessly.

"If Britain's enemy is only China, then the two Chinese navies tied together are not the opponents of the British Royal Navy. But the problem is in Europe. The rise of a new alliance of great powers already threatens the very existence of the British Empire, this time comparable to the threat posed by Napoleon's empire in the early 19th century. Britain must go all out to deal with the pressure in the European direction. Mahan said, pointing to Europe on the map.

"You mean the German Empire and Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire? The naval expansion of the German Empire was still very fast, and now the tonnage has reached the third in the world, taking into account the quality of the ships of the French Navy. The combat effectiveness of the Imperial German Navy was not weaker than that of the French. In terms of combat power, it is already the second in the world. But the gap between the second and the first is huge. Theodore Roosevelt said, shaking his head.

"If there were no dreadnoughts. Britain's strong tonnage advantage is indeed enough to crush Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary, but with the emergence of epoch-making dreadnoughts, the former dreadnoughts will be torn to pieces by the new warships before entering the range, which makes the huge British main fleet become chicken for a while, whether it is the early dignity or the current London class, there is no power to fight in the face of new warships, and the progress of technology has allowed Britain and other sea power countries to stand on a starting line again. And from the industrial level, the industrial scale of Germany is even larger than that of the United Kingdom. What's more, the Germans didn't have long lines of communication to guard. All they had to do was concentrate on building a main battle fleet that could wreak havoc on the Grand Fleet. Ma Han said in a few words the current situation of sea power.

"The Germans' thinking is very similar to that of the Chinese Navy, emphasizing the superiority in the decisive battle, and completely crushing the opponent with absolute superiority with a dignified division." Theodore Roosevelt said.

"That's right, the German Imperial High Seas Fleet inherited the Huaxia Fleet, both the naval development plan and the strategic purpose have a strong similarity, although it is not nice to say, but it is indeed effective, the rapid development of the German High Seas Fleet has become a sharp knife on the neck of the British Empire at this time. Perhaps the Germans had no intention of entering into a head-on conflict with the British, but given the British's sensitivity to sea power, a conflict between the two sides was inevitable. Mahan said.

Therefore, after the defeat of the Russians, the first thing the British had to deal with was no longer the Beiyang plot against Southeast Asia, but the increasingly powerful German Imperial Navy, so that the British would inevitably make compromises on the Southeast Asian issue, even if China could not eat the whole of Southeast Asia at once, then at least they could gain a firm foothold in Southeast Asia. If the United States of America wants to continue its westward expansion, it must face the edge of the Chinese Navy alone? Is that so? Theodore Roosevelt suddenly realized.

"That's right, China is ready to penetrate into Southeast Asia after defeating the Russians. At this time, the fleet of the United States of America was at the beginning of its reconstruction, and we could not project our forces on the other side of the ocean for quite some time. Moreover, with such a long distance and no supply points in between, even if the fleet of the United States of America was strong enough to rival the Chinese fleet, the long distance would block the progress of the United States of America. Speaking of this, Mahan's heart revealed a trace of regret.

"We can take Honolulu first, and then we'll have a foothold in the Pacific. And now it is unlikely that China will use force against the United States. Theodore Roosevelt thought for a moment and said.

"Honolulu? Anyone knows the significance of that small island for the entire Pacific Ocean, whoever controls this relay station will control half of the Pacific Ocean, China will not agree to the United States to do this, and the British may not agree, Australia is now a vassal of the British, with the geographical location of Australia, the British control the entire Pacific Ocean, if the United States now has a better base, then tell me, what will the British do? Mahan asked rhetorically.

"Don't the British know about the plans of the Chinese people? What you and I both know, will Britain, which is old in the way of equilibrium, sit idly by? Theodore Roosevelt yelled with some excitement.

"The British, naturally, will not sit idly by and tell you a top-secret message that the British and the French have already negotiated on issues of mutual interest. The two countries, which had come close to fighting in 1898, are now sitting at the negotiating table and considering how to deal with their common enemy, the German Reich and its alliance. With the defeat of the Russians, China was bound to expand in the direction of the Dutch East Indies, which was a general trend that could not be changed, and because of geographical reasons and the situation in Europe, the British had to make concessions. But if they join forces with France, Britain and France will at least be able to secure Vietnam, Malaya, and Burma. As for the Dutch colonies, the British will intervene, but they will definitely not really have a stalemate with Beiyang. Mahan spoke his mind.

"The British would back down? This is your subjective assumption or a reasonable inference, which we will talk about later, but there is one point, I would like to ask, what about Russia between the Anglo-French alliance? The French will not abandon Russia, and the British will not tolerate the Russians running rampant across the oceans. Theodore Roosevelt asked, thinking for a moment.

"Compromise is something that happens all the time, and there is nothing surprising about it, as for the Russians? It is important to know that neither the French nor the British want Russia to really fall, they just want the Russians to understand that the Far East and the ocean are not within the reach of the Russians. It is predictable that if the Russians and the Chinese finally reach an agreement on the Far East, the loans of the French and the British will quickly restore the blood-drained giant of Russia, and then the Russians will turn their attention to the Balkans, and both sides will be happy. Britain and France had a strong ally, and Russia had a new direction of expansion. Mahan said meaningfully.

"So what should we do in the United States? In this great change ahead, how can the United States of America maximize its interests? We have lost an opportunity to swear the strength and majesty of the United States of America to the world in the Spanish-American War, and we must not lose this opportunity next time. Roosevelt said with great ambition.

"At present, the navy of the United States of America is not enough to fulfill the mission of ocean-going operations in a short period of time, so the result now is to wait, even if our fleet does not experience the dismal whiteness of the Spanish-American War, in the next 10 years, it will not be able to go to the other side of the ocean to compete with the Chinese fleet." With the sound of the door opening, a familiar word reached the ears of Roosevelt and Mahan.

"Magiffin? Is that you? Theodore Roosevelt asked, turning his back to the visitor.

Thank you for the support of the little pig running away and the heart floating monthly pass~~~. There is a recommendation tomorrow, can you support it more?? (To be continued.) )