In a farmhouse outside Washington, old Tolivo carefully collected the scattered books, maps, and warship materials in the living room, and although he couldn't read them, they were all the treasures of the gentleman, so he was extra careful. ※※※※※ I ※ I ※ ※

The winter in the northern part of the United States is difficult, especially for an old man in his sixties, looking at the old man with white hair, wearing glasses, and leaning on the sofa to sleep, old Tolivo suddenly felt a little sad, thinking that this former famous Mr. Alfred Saiye and Mahan, who was famous in the past and crowded at the door, was so old unconsciously, he couldn't help sighing, quietly brought a blanket to cover him, and continued to clean up.

Marie's old Tolevi had tidied up the living room, but the smell of the coke filled the room made him frown, and he quickly walked to the window to open it for ventilation.

As soon as he opened the window, the howling north wind poured into the room violently, and suddenly the air dropped several degrees, and he hurriedly prepared to close it under the agitation, so as not to affect Mr. Mahan's rest, but unexpectedly, a tired voice came from behind him: "Since it is opened, there is no need to close it again." ”

"Mr. Mahan, damn it, it's all my fault."

"Hehe, it's okay." Mahan took off his old mirror, looked at the sky outside the window, waved his hand and was about to get up, but found that he was wrapped in a thick blanket, and said gratefully: "Tolivier, thank you." ”

"Mr. Mahan, you are too polite, this is what I should do." Old Tolivo smiled slightly, and just as he was about to retreat to make coffee, Mahan had already asked, "Tolivior, where is the manuscript here?" ”

"Here, sir, I've put it away." Tolivo immediately took a thick stack of manuscripts from the cabinet, and felt his years of hard work, and Mahan couldn't help but sigh.

Originally, the book could have been completed a few years ago, but the death of his good friends Roosevelt and William McKinley dealt him too much blow, and as a person who understood his theory of sea power thoroughly and "can also influence the United States" and made decisions, their death deprived his theory of good executors.

This devastated him.

Yes, there are still many followers of him in this world, and he is also known as a good theorist in the era of sea power, Wilhelm II, Nicholas I, and that Li Mo are undeniably influenced by the theory of sea power, although there are successes and failures, but their homeland has lost their chasers like them.

Although President Fairbanks has always claimed to adhere to the domestic and foreign policies of his predecessor William McKinley, he was troubled by just one trust bill, although he instigated the division of Panama a year ago, as he wished, "but there was an accident in it, that is, the French shipping company sold 40 percent of its shares to Thomas Mining Company as early as ten years ago due to financial constraints, which led to the Panama Canal Company established by the US government to continue to start building the canal, and it must take back that part of the shares. Otherwise, even if it is built, it will lose forty percent of the management rights in vain.

Mahan sighed, probably thinking that he was thinking too much, rubbing his swollen temples, mentally exhausted, "But when his eyes returned to the manuscript, he seemed to have regained his former dragon spirit and fierceness, and wrote the title of the book with a brush."

After writing "The Influence of Sea Power and the Relationship between the Old Oral War", he handed it to the old Tolivo next to him with great satisfaction: "Tolivior, help me send the manuscript to the Admiralty in a moment, they,." Speaking of this, Mahan hesitated for a moment, "I don't know if this manuscript will be valued by the current Admiralty, but after thinking about it, he hesitated, and chose the newspaper that published his book, and said: "No, you can send it directly to Mr. Edward" He promised me to publish the book. 【 I want: super fast update ]"

Old Tolivo's pious manuscript was about to continue his work, when suddenly there was a knock on the door, and Mahan looked out the window at the snow, wondering who would come to him in this kind of ghost weather.

The door opened, and a familiar figure appeared: "The great hero of the United States to get Panama, Philippe Buno, Varia."

"Dear Philip, how did you come back?" Mahan warmly gave the former director and engineer of the French shipping company "the current Panamanian minister to the United States, and the general manager of the Panama Canal Company of the United States."

While the two were at home, "Old Tolivo immediately put down the manuscript and brought his coffee, and went out with the manuscript, and there were only two people left in the room.

"Philip, you came to me in this weather, is there anything wrong?"

Varia nodded, his cheeks that were still smiling suddenly tightened, and he looked at the old man in front of him, who was known as the curtain that opened the curtain of the era of sea power, but he didn't talk about it.

"Is it a canal thing?" Mahan seems to have guessed something, like-minded.

Waria nodded, for the Panama Canal, he began to work as early as when he entered the French Canal Company, but he didn't expect the accident to happen, he had not yet entered the top at that time, and he didn't know that the original French shipping company had sold forty percent of the shares, and now Panama has **, and the shares of the French Canal Company have also been obtained, but George Thomas, the vice president of the Mining Company, rejected himself on the grounds that the price was too low.

So he couldn't help it, hoping that the U.S. government would put pressure on Thomas Mining, but President Fairbanks hesitated, believing that Thomas Mining was a normal business practice, and if the government intervened, it would inevitably make the trust law currently in force more difficult.

"This idiot!"

Whether it was the fact that the battleship Massachusetts had bypassed South America for almost half a year to participate in the Cuban War, or whether it was the fact that Russia was forced to make a detour to Africa to expedition to China, it all illustrates how important a convenient Grand Canal is.

The Chinese Empire already had the upper hand in the Pacific, and although the United States was constantly expanding its naval power in the Pacific, stationing five battleships at the San Diego Naval Base, they were just a bunch of targets compared to the huge Chinese Empire's navy.

The establishment of a two-ocean navy and the seizure of Panama and Malacca, and even the Suez Canal and the Strait of Gibraltar, have always been Mahan's great ideals, and two of these four important sea areas that are enough to influence the world are completely in the hands of the British, and although one is in the hands of the British, he believes that Li Mo will never let such a strategic route in Malacca be controlled by others.

For the United States, in addition to economic factors, the Panama Canal "is also an important and crucial step in strengthening control over South America" and opening the era of competition for sea power!

But it was held back by Thomas Mining, and the current US government knows the importance of the canal, but still wants to solve it commercially, which is undoubtedly a joke.

At this moment, Mahan really misses his old friends Roosevelt and William McKinley, if they are here, they will definitely solve it directly by government means, return the principal to Thomas Mining and pay some interest, and not be so timid as now!

"How much do they want?"

"At least eighty million dollars!" Varia raised a straight finger.

"These mercenary Jewish businessmen! Damn it! This number made Mahan furious" slapped the table fiercely.

Valia was also a little dumbfounded, as far as he knew, the French Canal Company was in a hurry to raise money, although the price was 10 million, but in order to get cash, the transaction was only 7.5 million US dollars, and in the past ten years, it has increased more than tenfold, and it can only be said that Mr. Thomas is too discerning.

As the world naval mentor in front of him said, "The tricky thing is that Thomas is a top Jewish businessman, and he is a super businessman who can influence the decision-making of the US government, and he is now called the three richest people in the United States along with Morgan and Rockefeller, but many people privately think that Mr. Thomas, who does not like to engage in industrial processing of raw materials, only loves mining like a mouse, and then sells them all over the world, and loves to operate with a large amount of capital after enclosing land, opened the Bank of America, After being called the majority shareholder of the US Federal Gold Reserve Board, it has actually surpassed the other two.

Perhaps this is what worries President Fairbanks, because that Mr. Thomas has become the banner of the Jews: "If you coerce him, maybe the huge Jewish interests will immediately remove the president!"

"Philip, is there no other way?" A cold glint flashed in Mahan's eyes: Like President William McKinley? ”

Varia trembled in his heart, he didn't expect Mahan to make such a proposal, and hurriedly waved his hand and said: "Mr. Alfred, Thomas is now the banner of Jewish businessmen" If the news is leaked, it will cause financial turmoil in our country. ”

And his whereabouts are very uncertain, most of the time abroad, "there are many people around to protect him, it is said that he invited many masters of kung fu from China to protect him", and also hired dozens of Russian veterans as bodyguards. ”

"Chinese Kung Fu?!"

Mahan never disdained this kind of trick of huā whistle, and any resistance in front of the ship's guns was an ant, but these words couldn't help but remind him that Thomas Mining seemed to use a lot of Chinese workers in Australia, could he have some kind of connection with Li Mo?

Varia had a similar speculation, but rejected it very much, saying: "I don't think it is likely, Mr. Alfred, that Limer is an extremely selfish man, and that he has not yet allowed the money of Jewish merchants to enter the Chinese market, and I have heard that the Chinese seem to be seeking to get hold of this part of Thomas's shares, and it is said that they have quoted a price of fifty million dollars." ”

"Philip, are you telling the truth? The Chinese people also intervened! ”

Now Mahan is really anxious, the Chinese Empire has basically mastered the hegemony of the Pacific Ocean, if they are allowed to control the Panama Canal again, I am afraid that the United States will really have to be bound to the North American continent for a lifetime.

"Yes.

Varia nodded heavily: "That ambassador Hua visited Thomas a few days ago, and the two had a discussion on the transfer of shares, which I learned from his secretary for five hundred dollars, which is very certain." ”

Seeing that Mahan's face was becoming more and more solemn, Valia simply said it all, and said: "There is another bad thing, according to a friend of mine who is a Colombian parliamentarian, the Chinese people asked about the right to dig the Grand Canal in Nicaragua a few years ago, but because they had to deal with the Russians, they didn't follow, but for some reason, they suddenly brought up the old matter again, and sent a survey team, and the Colombian government is also very interested in this, they want to use the canal to hit the Panamanians and paralyze their canal, It is said that the two sides have even made preliminary inquiries about the price. ”

From the geographical environment, although the length of the Isthmus of Nicaragua is longer than that of the Isthmus of Panama, and the amount of excavation is large, it has the advantage of a natural lake, once it is opened, it is bound to be wider than the Panama Canal, and the annual tonnage is far more than that of Panama.

This means that for his selfish purposes, he relied on Cortana's vote to fool the U.S. Congress, so that their decision to make a canal in Nicaragua that is not suitable for digging will be exposed, not only will he be ruined, but all the efforts of the United States over the past hundred years will be turned into powder.

"No, I must go to the president immediately, I must take back the shares of the Panama Canal, whatever the cost, and I must stop the opening of the Nicaragua Canal!" Mahan finally couldn't hold it anymore, and stood up excitedly to walk out.

Suddenly, the door was pushed open, and old Tolivo walked in with a snowy huā, and when he saw Mahan in a coat, he asked in surprise, "Sir, are you going out?" ”

"Yes." Mahan nodded: "Tolivier, go and prepare the carriage, I will go to see the president immediately." ”

Old Tolivo nodded, and just turned around, he suddenly twisted back and spread his hands: "Mr. Mahan, I'm afraid you won't see the president one day." ”

"Why? Isn't it Monday? ”

"Yes." Old Tolivo explained: "When I first went to the publishing house, I heard that the Chinese naval fleet had arrived in Ecuador and demanded that Ecuador hand over their president, because that guy had provided Russia with two battleships, which had killed hundreds of Chinese sailors. ”

"The Chinese say that if they can't bring that hapless guy back home to face trial, then they will declare war on Ecuador!"

"Therefore, His Majesty the President has summoned Ambassador Hua and is urgently negotiating!"

"What!"

The news that Old Tolivo had brought back made Mahan and Valria's eyes straighten, and they remembered the news that China had been in an uproar a few months earlier to take revenge on Ecuador.

However, they have no control over the life and death of Ecuador, and it is not in their hands whether the hapless president will be escorted back to China for trial, and he will be tried and humiliated in a foreign country after being arrested.

They are nervous, worried, surprised! It is because South America is the backyard of the United States and has always been regarded as a forbidden country by the United States!

When you huā spent countless efforts to get your hands on a lover who was molested by others, who can bear it!

"Oh, yes." Old Tolivo didn't seem to see the sudden change in the faces of the two, and then muttered, "I heard that the Chinese sent six warships. ”

"Six!"

"There are only five old battleships in San Diego, USA!"

"No, I have to see His Majesty the President today!" The continuous bad news made Mahan's body tremble twice, but he still gritted his teeth, like a lonely old knight, still putting on his coat and burrowing into the wind and snow that even young people feared.