"The British reacted so fast!"

As soon as Young Master Li stuffed a piece of pastry into his mouth, Lord Lecker, who was still in his spirit, circled from left to right again, like a fly buzzing around his head!

"The young master didn't wipe his hair!" Li Mo glanced at the small person who was waiting next to him: "Xiaoxiao, is there a fly swatter at home?" ”

"Fly swatter?!" The small-eyed Mei'er turned around a few times with the British minister who came to find the young master early in the morning, covered the corners of her mouth and retreated.

Lecker blinked, I don't know what this means, could it be that the new duke and maid just now? "It's so [***], it's actually in front of me!" Lecker went around to the left again.

Young Master Li wants to cry without tears, anyone who is scratched by a guy with a sheep-like smell and shiny head around his head for a long time early in the morning will be dizzy and his whole body will twitch! Young Master Li finally put down the pastry in his hand and cried, "Dear Lord Lecker, didn't I give you all the boiler drawings?" Just stop bothering me, I really don't have any money! ”

"Lee, oh. No, it's His Royal Highness, as far as I know, you've already got a lot of benefits from those American sugar merchants. Lecker squinted, smiling. Seeing that Li Mo panicked in his heart, he wondered in his heart: "That bastard leaked the young master's secret?" ”

"I guess there should be at least tens of millions of dollars!" Seeing that Li Mo didn't speak for a long time, Lecker smiled and continued: "Look, your Pacific Fleet actually doesn't have a main battleship, I don't think it's as good as this, how about you set it to be seven or eight?" I can give you a discount! ”

"Seven or eight!"

Without the other party knowing the specific number of blackmail, Young Master Li breathed a sigh of relief, but when he heard the number of warships behind him, he almost jumped! Seven or eight ships? Even if you can afford it, you can't afford it!

Besides, why does the young master want so many battleships now? Even if you give me dreadnoughts now, it won't be possible to buy seven or eight in one go! What's more, the young master plans to build his own ship!

Young Master Li covered his wallet in his hand and shook his head: "Don't, no money!" ”

"No money!"

Seeing that Young Master Li was holding his money bag in his hand, with a posture of plucking his hair rather than plucking, Lecker's heart was furious! You don't have money, who believes? I just signed a contract with the Germans, and I immediately only paid half of the contract price, which is called no money?

Besides, in the past few days, American sugar merchants have been crying every day at the American minister about you blackmailing people's money, which is called no money?! "No, if I don't pluck a few hairs from you today, my lord will be sorry for the country's cultivation!"

Rykel narrowed his eyes, and his cigar turned around his fingertips: "Lord Duke, you have offended the Americans, and I believe that the American political axe will definitely not give up!" For the sake of friendly relations between the British Empire and the Kingdom of Hawaii, we do not want you to go to war, which will damage the interests of the Empire here, so I think it is necessary to arrange for our Pacific Fleet to be stationed in order to better protect your property! ”

"What do you think?" Lecker's eyes flashed, and the corners of his mouth hooked: "Of course, then you only need to pay 100,000 pounds a year for maintenance!" ”

"Let the Pacific Fleet be stationed in Hawaii!"

The lines at the corners of Li Mo's mouth suddenly stiffened, and he looked at Lykel who was standing in front of him with a smiling face, and he couldn't wait to give this guy a shot immediately! What do you mean by friendly relations, bullshit!

Although the Pacific Fleet, which is stationed in San Francisco and Australia and cruises between the two places, is not half the size of the Far East Fleet stationed in Hong Kong, even if a British cruiser is stationed in Hawaii, it means that everything in the future depends on the face of the British!

Isn't this an obvious threat young master!

Dog!

Li Mo looked at Lecker quietly, and an urge to flip the table suddenly rose in his heart! The fist clenched behind his back turned white in an instant, and his finger bones were blue!

Lecker was still smiling, ignoring the sharp eyes under the thick eyebrows in front of him, although he also knew that it was a bit embarrassing for the new duke to let the British fleet in! But what does it matter? Behind it is the British Empire, the most powerful country of this era! Own the most powerful fleet in the world!

"Either promise to buy a warship! Or let the fleet in! The smile on the corner of Lecker's mouth widened, no matter what, he must win a big contract for Britain that is not inferior to Germany! Otherwise, your future will be in jeopardy!

In the room, the air suddenly froze, and even Yue'er, who was just about to come in with tea, stopped, and when the corners of her eyes swept the fists behind Li Mo's back, the corners of her mouth fell suddenly. "Big pervert, in trouble?"

The afterglow swept past the girl who was about to enter the house, and the lines at the corners of Master Li's mouth began to soften, although this breath was difficult to swallow, but in the end it was impossible to choose!

At the beginning, after handing over all the contracts to Germany, he was ready to blackmail himself with Britain and France, and was ready to take this opportunity to buy something good, but it was not expensive and destined to become a scrap iron battleship in a few years! And he didn't expect that Lecker would be so shameless as to threaten himself with the condition of letting the fleet be stationed!

Although he wanted to impulsively kill this guy in front of him right now, and stuff him and the British Pacific Fleet into the sewers, this breath had to be endured no matter what!

"I'm still weak!"

Li Mo pursed his lips, which were suddenly a little thirsty, and raised his sword eyebrows slightly, before he sighed and said, "Dear Minister, I feel that I have the ability to defend this country, and I don't need the help of your country's Pacific Fleet at all." ”

"Of course." Li Mo deliberately paused, his gaze on Lecker's face, and continued: "I also feel the need to buy two capital ships. ”

"Two, that's great!" Lecker didn't care if Li Mo was angry or not, the task he got this time was to sell the warship and fight for the contract! helped the British businessman win the benefits he deserved, so he hurriedly took out a warship design drawing from his briefcase and handed it to Li Mo.

"This is our country's newest export-oriented battleship with a full load displacement of ......." Lecker explained as he unfolded the drawings.

"it! You're well prepared! Li Mo took the drawings, spread them out and almost laughed, isn't this the Polar Star that he asked Chile to order? Damn the British, they didn't even change it and used it to sell.

At the same time, Li Mo couldn't help but have a trace of doubt in his heart, did this picture suddenly appear here, did it mean that the British knew about the secret agreement between him and Chile and deliberately came to test himself? If they had just tried to refuse to reveal a little bit of their mouth, would they have noticed that the two battleships in Chile were actually their own?

Thinking of this, Li Mo suddenly felt a chill down his spine, and couldn't help but raise his eyes to look at Lyckel, who was explaining the surname Neng, and secretly said that he was lucky. He pretended to look at the drawings, and soon shouted dissatisfiedly: "Your Excellency, did you take the wrong one?" Isn't this a battleship made to order from Chile? ”

"Oh?" Lecker did get the order to test Li Mo with the drawings, mainly because Chile's plan to sell the battleship this time was too sudden, so it was hard to believe that they had not been in contact before, and when he heard Li Mo's words, he couldn't help but think: "Could it be that those two battleships are really this guy?" ”

But then Li Mo's words dispelled Laker's suspicions. "Your Excellency, although I don't know much about warships, you don't have to fool me with this! If I need such a battleship, I can buy it from Chile at all, do you think they will refuse to transfer at a high price? Moreover, the two ships they ordered have already been launched, and I will buy them now, which can also help my navy to form combat strength as soon as possible, and there will be no need to wait for a few more years. ”

Lecker wondered, could those battleships really be the Chilean Navy's own? However, according to the intelligence of the Imperial Navy, the Chileans did not need to build three battleships at all.

No matter what, the order he received was to spy and persuade this wronged boss to order warships, even if all three battleships from Chile were given to him, it would not be possible to threaten the interests of the empire in the Far East, so it was better to grab the order first!

Thinking of this, Lecker hurriedly said, "Dear Lee, this is the best battleship in the empire's current external sales!" The Chilean Navy has ordered three ships, two of which have been launched for sea trials, and according to the performance, it is very perfect, so I personally think that this should be the most suitable battleship for you at the moment! ”

"Don't! It's too small! Li Mo's head shook like a rattle.

"It's still small! It's 13,000 tons! Lecker snorted with a wink.

"I heard that your country's majesty class will be launched next year, why don't you build me two, how about it?!" Li Mozhen smiled, staring at Lyckel's big pie face.

"Majesty!" Lecker's heart was pounding, what is this girl going to do? That's 16,000 tons! Hurriedly shook his head: "Dear Li, why do you want such a big battleship?" You must know that even if the Americans are still on the design drawings of the Iowa-class, the full load displacement will not exceed 14,000 tons! ”

"Big ship! It's cool to look at! ”

"Look at the cool ......" Lykel has a black line.

"That's right!" After Li Mo finished speaking, he pretended to be helpless: "Hey! Your Excellency, since you also know that I have made a feud with the Americans, I will tell you the truth! Now that Hawaii has become a thorn in their side, the new Iowa class has been laid, and there are four surnames at a time, plus the three Indiana-class battleships that will be commissioned soon, how many do you think I need if I want to withstand the US Navy? ”

Li Mo pointed to the drawings and sighed: "This kind of battleship is only equivalent to the Iowa class, and in three years they will have seven battleships!" If I want to protect myself, I need at least three, but if you add the shipbuilding capacity of the United States, do you think I can win? ”

"Hawaii is too small, so I can't compete with the Americans, and I can't afford it! To tell you the truth, I still extorted the two million construction costs from American businessmen, and borrowed some money from the queen to make up the cost of the project, and I really didn't have much money to expand the army. ”

"So you're trying to win with quality." Lecker frowned, he didn't believe that Li Mo would run out of money, those American sugar merchants were not so rich, as long as they dug down a little bit, they would buy several battleships.

"Yes, what I need is a battleship that comprehensively surpasses the American Iowa class, can maintain an advantage for at least five years, and is of good quality and firepower, so I think the Majestic class is good."

"It's not bad, and it's the best warship in the Empire right now!" Lecker is proud, but it's good, I didn't say that it was sold to the outside world! So in the face of Li Mo's request, Lecker could only helplessly say: "Dear Li, I must report this matter to the Admiralty and let the empire make a decision." ”

"Okay." Li Mo also knew that the majestic class would be the decisive force to maintain the British Empire's maritime superiority, and it was indeed a little troublesome to sell it to the outside world, but he didn't need it urgently now, if it wasn't for the sake of settling interests, he didn't want to buy battleships anymore, so he pretended to be helpless and spread his hands and nodded.

Obviously, Li Mo underestimated the British mood to make money, and in just ten days, Lecker was authorized by Congress and the Admiralty to help Li Mo build two improved Majestic-class battleships.

"Say!" Li Mo looked up to the sky and gestured with his middle finger, he thought that this would make the British retreat, and by the way comforted the gradually shriveled wallet, but he didn't expect the British to agree to build two Majestic-class improved models.

Then buy it! Compared to stationing the British Pacific Fleet, buying two battleships is just a trifle! So Li Mo made his own modifications to the majesty level in front of Lecker.

The hull and ship type still adopt the design of the majestic class, and the first change is that it must use a new type of boiler provided by itself, improve the power output, and require a speed of 18 knots.

In terms of the main gun, in addition to the full turret protection, it must also be consistent with the Majesty class, and only use the two new twin-mounted L40/305mm naval guns newly developed by the United Kingdom, instead of the old 35L/305mm main guns of the Polar Star.

The secondary guns were also greatly modified, due to the increase in displacement of 3,000 tons compared with the Polar Star, so Master Li asked for the installation of four twin 45L/203 mm secondary guns on both sides of the front and rear bridges, plus 12 single-mounted 45 times the caliber 152 mm side guns, and at the same time adopted the design of the Polar Star, adding four twin 37 mm rapid-fire machine guns, and canceling torpedo tubes.

Looking at the unrecognizable drawings that had been tampered with by Li Mo, Lecker couldn't help but laugh, especially since this guy actually wanted to install an 8-inch second-level main gun, and it was four duplexes in one installation! God, is this a battleship or a mobile battery? Why do you want so many large-caliber artillery?

Of course, Lecker didn't know that the naval battle that began more than a year later would directly prove Li Mo's "foresight", that is, in the decisive battle of the fleet, due to the small number of main guns and the slow rate of fire, it was impossible to hit high-speed and flexible ships, so in order to pursue the destruction of the opponent, it was necessary to strengthen the firepower output, ensure that the projectiles were dense at the same time, but also ensure that the lethality was sufficient, and all countries began to build steel monsters equipped with the so-called second-level main guns, until the dreadnoughts unified the caliber of the main guns to completely solve this problem, If it weren't for the fact that the technology was not mature at this time, Li Mo estimated that he would have drawn the dreadnought directly, and there would be no need to adopt this strange design of the second-level main gun.

"£1,500,000!" After Li Mo got it done, Lecker gritted his teeth and raised a finger: "One!" ”

"! 1.5 million! The dreadnought is only 1.8 million pounds, and the young master is not like this, you dare to open your mouth! Li Mo blackened his face and turned his head directly: "No money, don't buy it!" ”

In the end, in the persuasion and coercion and temptation of Lycker, Young Master Li was "helpless" and had to grit his teeth and cut down penny by penny, and finally the two warships were sold at a price of 1.1 million pounds each! It hurt so much that Young Master Li almost went into shock.

"Pack! A package price must be given! Help me train 3,000 shipbuilders, 300 naval officers, and sell me the new L40/305mm naval gun technology, and help me build a complete set of naval gun production technology! Li Mo had a final showdown.

"Packing?" Lykel's eyes are red, there is nothing to train people, after all, when buying warships, countries will require the training of officers and the training of shipbuilders, but if you only build two warships, you will ask the empire to provide a full set of new 305mm naval gun production technology, this is not a robbery! Besides, even if it is given to you, do you think that an industrial area can imitate such an advanced naval gun?!

In the end, under the bargaining between the two sides, Lecker finally agreed to provide all five naval gun technologies below 203 mm (including 203 mm), and the British Admiralty would provide technical support to help build a naval gun production plant.

In the end, Li Mo did get the package price, two battleships improved from the Majesty class, and castrated 203 mm caliber naval gun technology, as well as training related personnel.

The total price, £2.5 million!

"Woo woo...... they slander! British! You wait for the young master! Sooner or later, you'll all throw it up! Li Mo stood on the roof of the villa, his middle finger facing the sky, and scolded!

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Pinching the telegram sent back to San Francisco, George Dewey sighed.

It is clear that neither the president nor Congress is ready for foreign expansion, and although Roosevelt and Mahan and others have tried their best to chant Hawaii's important surname, they are still too weak compared to the huge voices that are bent on economic development and prioritizing domestic conflicts.

When will the United States learn to draw its sword and use warships and artillery to fight for its own interests? Looking at the Hawaiian-flagged warships in the harbor in the distance, George Dewey sighed again.

"Inform them that we're home!"

Two days later, George Dewey led two cruisers, escorted by the Sky Survey and the Sea Cruiser, to the farewell of the American envoy to Hawaii, and slowly made their way out of the narrow waterway of Pearl Harbor.

At the same time, hundreds of American immigrant estate owners who lost a large number of plantations and were almost extorted! Their large-scale evacuation this time heralds the complete dissipation of the Americans' power in Hawaii!

Looking at the American fleet, which was slowly departing under the "escort" of the Pacific Fleet, the whole of Hawaii breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, the ministers of the United Kingdom, Germany, Chile and other countries to the Kingdom of Hawaii issued a joint declaration, recognizing the surname of the Kingdom of Hawaii and saying that they had no intention of interfering in Hawaii's internal affairs.

When everyone thought that the Hawaii Incident, which had lasted for a month, had ended, on January 15, 1893, the United States, which had not expressed its position, suddenly announced that Commodore George Dewey would take over as commander of the Pacific Squadron of the US Navy Fleet, and at the same time would add two cruisers to expand the Pacific Squadron, and at the same time build the San Diego Naval Base as the new home port of the Pacific Squadron.

With the news coming, Li Mo suddenly saw that the wheel of history began to speed up, and the predecessor of the US Pacific Fleet, which brought nightmares to all Pacific Rim countries in later generations, began to emerge.

But at this moment, he had no time to think about this, when the newly renovated iron gate was opened, and the luxurious Yolani Palace also ushered in a new owner, heralding a new era in Hawaii.

In the corner, someone burst into tears under the light, quietly flipped through his private notes, looked at the words "1893 Hawaiian Coup" on the notebook, and gently ticked it next to it before turning to the next page.

Two big words suddenly jumped into view.

"Jiawu!"