Li Fushou's thunderous anger was not without reason, and there was no place for the navy in this brewing war of reunification between the North and the South, and the main task of the navy was to avoid the battle and protect the ships and prevent the British fleet from biting back at a critical moment, which would be an unbearable burden.

He knew it very well;

No country's naval power can compete with the British Royal Fleet on the oceans, the French, the Germans, the Americans, let alone the Australian Coast Guard.

Without a first-class ironclad battleship equipped with a 343-mm cannon barrel, it cannot claim to be a world-class navy.

Even if you are equipped with a first-class ironclad battleship, you still have to maintain the necessary respect and humility to the hegemon of the world's oceans, which is due to strength.

In the Third Battlefleet of the Royal Navy of the British Empire in Calcutta, India, it is equipped with as many as 9 main ironclad battleships, although many of them are old models that are behind the times and belong to the waist gun room battleships, but the age of the ships is not long, and the service is generally about ten years.

Backward warships are only due to the rapid development of science and technology under the industrial revolution in the world today, and various new concepts and technologies for building ships are emerging one after another.

Among the first-class ironclad battleships newly built by many naval powers, the first ship is still advanced, and after a few years, the stern ship that disembarks on the slipway can no longer keep up with the latest trend, and the development is so fast and so dazzling.

There are few digressions

When the tall steel triangular masts of the Royal Navy's ironclad battlefleet appeared on the surface of the sea, the black smoke from the huge chimneys obscured the sky, and the muzzles of the black holes shone with a chilling icy sheen, making even the most arrogant opponents have to surrender.

Li Fushou has never been arrogant enough to confront the British Royal Navy, you must know that there is a Royal Navy South Pacific Task Force in Australia, and the home ports are in Sydney and Melbourne, although there are only a few old cruisers, but behind them stands the terrifying Royal Navy.

Any offense would be seen as a provocation to the majesty of the British Empire.

Any misfire will lead to unbearable serious consequences.

The southernmost point of any maritime operation organized by the Red Fort can only reach the port of Beilun, which is an invisible tacit understanding between the Red Fort and London.

This invisible tacit understanding, to which Vice Admiral Philip Howard, who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of the Admiralty, contributed a lot, and further south had to obtain the permission of the British South Pacific Task Force, which was in fact impossible.

Don't ask why, not all of the British navy top brass showed goodwill to the Chinese immigrants in the north, they preferred to help the southern whites and make some trouble for the Chinese in the north, after all, they have the same skin color and religious beliefs, and this cannot be changed.

"Lord Earl, please put out the wrath of thunder for the time being, in this war of reunification that will determine the fate of millions of Chinese, we and other naval officers can only watch from the sidelines, and we are really unwilling." The cold sweat on Geng Guigui's forehead came out densely, and his face was as bitter as eating Coptis chinensis.

"Hmph, I don't know what to say." Li Fushou snorted heavily, looked at Major General He Fang with a stern gaze, and asked with hidden anger; "And you...... And what is the reason? ”

Major General He Fang's face turned pale, he really didn't expect this matter to cause such anger from the earl, and now the earl's majesty is getting heavier, even if he insists on being a confidant and beloved general, he can't bear it with a cold face.

"If you know that you are wrong, please punish the earl."

"What's wrong?"

"As a senior admiral, Yu should not be deceived by immediate interests, and it is a mistake for Meng Lang to rashly ask for war, which will put the admirals in a dangerous situation and live up to the trust of the Earl, please punish the Earl heavily."

"Hmph...... You can't run away from the punishment. ”

Li Fushou walked around the study twice with his hands behind his back, turned around and skimmed the two admirals, and saw that they were all bowing their heads and ears like eggplants beaten by frost, and the anger in his heart couldn't help but subside a little.

Intentions are good, but such behavior cannot be condoned.

So he said in a deep voice; "You two go back to reflect deeply, each fined half a year, since he is back, don't run around, stay in the naval staff to make some defense plans, I added fortress artillery to your navy is to avoid the battle and protect the ship, the British are in the dark, we can't be careless at any time, we can't afford to lose."

"Obey the orders of the Earl, and I must reflect deeply on my humble duties."

"Where is the shame and no land, I must reflect deeply when I go back."

"Go, it's right to go back and train naval talents, don't take this "Qingtian Plan" again, limited by the current world environment, the steam ironclad battleships are too conspicuous, and our naval fleet will be dormant for a while, don't let the European powers target us. Li Fushou waved his hand and sent them away.

Seeing the dejected looks of the two, he couldn't help but add again; "As the backbone of naval construction, the cruiser plan can be considered, but it must come up with a reliable plan and must be forward-looking."

After these words were said, the joy in the eyes of Geng Guigui and He Fang flashed, and they hurriedly clasped their fists and said; "Thank you, Lord Earl, for your mercy, I'll see."

"Go, go, just don't mess with me." Li Fushou waved his hand, with a look of disgust, and sent the two of them away.

The bronze gluttonous incense burner is filled with light smoke and exudes a refreshing fragrance.

Li Fushou lit a cigar cigarette, walked to the window and looked out, the strong and mellow cigar smoke wrapped his figure, and the thoughts in his mind were also a lot more active.

Look from here

The majestic city of the Red River Valley is like a beautiful picture, stretching far to the end of the sky, with the Brisbane River looming in the distance, and the riverside high-rise buildings on the north bank in the distance.

This situation makes people open-minded and proud.

Li Fushou greedily looked at all this he had created with his own hands, and secretly warned himself in his heart that he must be stable, and if he is stable, he must not wave.

What he is doing now has not happened in the original historical trajectory, and there is no way to learn from it.

At the end of the 19th century today

The tide of history is rolling in, and if we want to grasp the last opportunity to change the map of human history, we sometimes have to take huge risks and try to make changes.

Humility does not mean eternal peace, and obscenity must rise to a certain stage.

Thinking that the Boers of only 500,000 or 600,000 people dared to rebel against the British Empire, and now the Red Fort has 20 million people, united as one, and a naval fleet with good combat power, all this gave Li Fushou sufficient confidence to flip the table.

The problems of the South must be resolved and cannot be postponed any longer.

Li Fushou looked into the distance with a deep gaze, and he knew that the reform results of the "Meiji Restoration" in Fuso were gradually revealed, injecting vitality into this ancient island country, and Fuso was on the road to rapid rise.

The Tsarist Russian Empire in the north was insatiable, and after the westward expansion strategy of Europe repeatedly encountered the heavy defeat of Britain and France and the Ottoman Empire, the eyes of the Russian woolly bear were eyed at the weak Qing Empire, and the bad idea of the three eastern provinces was being played.

The Americans were propagating the glorious and lonely narrative of developing their domestic economy, and after the great wounds of the Civil War had healed, the unwilling Citigroup set its sights on the Spanish colonies in Central America, with Cuba, Puerto Rico and even the Philippines as targets.

The French vigorously expanded in Indochina with ambitious intentions to create a French version of "Indochina", and even the Germans came to the Far East and proposed to the Qing Empire excessive conditions for leasing the ports of the Jiaodong Peninsula.

The British remained focused on consolidating a full-fledged colonial presence in the Indian subcontinent, and the crown jewel of the noble Queen Victoria was too much of the British's energy to care about the rest of the world.

Just take a look and you'll find out

Since the 60s of the 18th century, the British launched wars of conquest of Burma and Afghanistan, and through the Second Anglo-Burmese War and the Second Anglo-Afghan War, the British colonial rule in these areas was consolidated, and the two ancient kingdoms were included in the protectorate.

Its strategic purpose was to secure the flanks of the colonies in the Indian subcontinent.

In the east, it stopped the continuous penetration of French colonialists, and with the British Burma region as the boundary, it shielded French power in the central part of the Indochina Peninsula and could not penetrate westward.

Occupy the Kingdom of Afghanistan on the western side of India, contain the strategic attempts of the Tsarist Empire to move south, erect an impenetrable wall to prevent the greedy Tsarist woolly bear from advancing into the warm Pacific, and at the same time prevent the invasion of Tsarist influence into the Indian subcontinent.

Look around

There are undercurrents lurking in the calm, and the killing machine is hidden in the breeze, some nations are rising, while others are sleeping......

Thinking of this, Li Fushou sighed slightly, and felt even more that the burden on his shoulders was heavy, if he wanted to achieve the strategic attempt of not shining in the east and not shining in the west, the southern division continent was a huge obstacle that must be overcome.

Otherwise, it is impossible to break out of the cocoon and become a butterfly.

"Then let the storm come harder!" He muttered to himself, his gaze looking into the distance becoming more determined.

Your years are quiet because someone is carrying a load.

Carried forward by the tide of history, Li Fushou deeply felt that he was shouldering the heavy responsibility of changing the destiny of the nation, and perhaps this is the true meaning of rebirth.

Thinking of this, he turned around and walked back with easy steps, and when he saw the thick "Qingtian Project" on the desk, a smile appeared on the corner of Li Fushou's mouth.

The current ironclad battleship plan is not yet mature, and it still needs to wait for the development of science and technology, these expensive things that will soon be abandoned by history, who wants to build them, anyway, Australia does not spend this unjust money.

Isn't it fragrant to build more cruisers?

Compared with the ironclad battleships with cutting-edge technology and expensive funds, the technical level of the cruiser is slightly inferior, and it is not so easy to become obsolete, and now it is necessary to build something enough to serve for thirty or forty years, which is bound to be a very cost-effective investment.

The vast maritime territory of Australia and overseas provinces determines that the navy must have a certain fleet size, of which a large number of destroyers and light cruisers are the mainstay, and as for the battleships and heavy cruisers that are related to the decisive battle, we can wait and not rush for the time being.