After the end of the European war, the German Empire was transformed in a chaotic situation, and Britain and France, seeing that the situation was not good, immediately organized an intervention army to try to stifle it, but it was unsuccessful and had to withdraw its troops.

Not to mention the innate advantage of the Germans, who are fighting at home, just look at the British and French armies to know that this intervention war will be defeated - bloody Europe has just ended, and the soldiers' war-weariness is so high, who is willing to go to death?

A few years later, the great powers gathered in Washington to discuss naval limitations and to consider a reorientation toward the Asian order.

In fact, after the end of the European war, the competition between the major powers was equally fierce, and the Americans threatened to build the world's most powerful naval force, planning to build 137 large and small warships within five years; Not to be outdone, the British said that even if they spent the last penny, they must ensure that the navy is the first in the world.

However, the Americans have made a high-sounding statement that for the sake of world peace, it is necessary to clearly stipulate the naval strength of various countries, and the implication is to restrict the development of the navies of certain countries.

This spearhead is naturally directed at Da Ming.

After about twenty years of development, the Ming Dynasty has become a country to be reckoned with, even though it is still in its infancy in many ways, but its sheer size and sheer population have forced the old powers to be cautious.

Especially the United States.

Historically, at the end of the 19th century, after the war between the United States and Spain ended, the latter was forced to sell the Philippines to the former at a low price.

Perhaps the Ming Dynasty at that time was powerless to interfere in the transaction between the two, but it was different when the European war ended.

How can this part of the Philippines be occupied by the Americans? That's almost like being stuck in front of your door.

There have been many negotiations between the United States and the United States over the Philippines that have lasted for more than a decade, but the Americans, who are determined to get involved in Asia, refuse to budge.

It was not until the Washington Naval Conference that the two sides intended to determine this issue, so the Ming Dynasty participated in the meeting as a neutral country in Europe.

In the draft treaty, the ratio of the total tonnage of capital ships of the five navies of the United States, Britain, China, France, and Italy was drawn up -- 5.25 for the United States, 5.25 for Britain, 3.75 for China, 1.75 for France, and 1.75 for Italy.

It also means that Britain and the United States can have a total tonnage of 525,000 tons of capital ships, while France and Italy have 175,000 tons.

France and Italy don't matter, France focuses on land, while Italy only needs to maintain the Mediterranean Fleet.

However, Britain and Daming were very dissatisfied with this outrageous draft, and the diplomats of Daming who participated in the agreement almost flipped the table and left on the spot.

It was only after being persuaded to make peace that the fierce mediation really began.

The bottom line given by the Ming Navy was 450,000 tons, so the diplomats deliberately asked for the same 525,000 tons as Britain and the United States at the Washington meeting, and naturally no one agreed to this request.

The U.S. side said that Daming would allocate a maximum of 375,000 tons, while Daming's foreign affairs officials "loosened their mouths slightly", saying that it could be reduced to 500,000 tons.

The United States wants to take into account both the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, and if it is calculated in half, the Pacific Fleet may only have capital ships of 25-300,000 tons of gross tonnage, so it will never agree that the Ming Dynasty can take too much advantage in tonnage allocation.

The British side saw the opportunity and tried to play the role of a-stirring stick again, and its proposal - since the Ming side did not let go, then simply the tonnage of Britain and the United States was increased from 525,000 tons to 600,000 tons.

This proposal was rejected by France and Italy.

After several days of entanglement, the two sides began to negotiate the distribution of tonnage in private, and the Ming side really revealed its purpose - the Philippines could not be controlled by the United States.

At first, the United States rejected any question about the Philippines, but after persuasion from Britain, France, and Italy, it finally reluctantly stated that if the Ming side could reduce the tonnage allocation to 400,000 tons, then it could consider reducing the "military presence" of the United States in the Philippines.

Foreign officials in the Ming Dynasty continue to insist that the minimum be 500,000 tons unless the United States agrees to demilitarize the Philippines.

After some haggling, the United States agreed to this request to a certain extent, and the Ming diplomats also announced their willingness to reduce the tonnage allocation to 435,000 tons.

In the end, the United States and the Ming Dynasty reached a separate agreement, which can be regarded as a sub-treaty of the "Washington Naval Treaty" - the United States is not allowed to station troops in the Philippines, the Philippine colonial army is capped at 60,000 people, the caliber of artillery cannot be > 75mm, the tank cannot be > 120, and the fortified area cannot be expanded and updated; The time limit was the same as that of the Naval Treaty, which ended on December 31, 7936.

In fact, the Ming side still wanted to move an inch, that is, to remove the large-caliber artillery in the Bataan fortress area and the Corregidor fortress area, but the US side categorically refused, saying that "it is necessary to ensure a minimum self-defense capability", and in the end it was not done.

After the two sides signed the agreement, the naval armaments agreement was settled, and finally the Ming foreign affairs officials won the upper limit of 435,000 tons of capital ship tonnage, which is slightly less than the navy's bottom line of 450,000 tons, but greatly reduced the US military presence in the Philippines, which can be regarded as a loss and a gain.

And this is also a major theoretical pillar of the radicals within the Ming Dynasty today - the past two years is a good time to attack the South Seas, otherwise when the time limit is up, with the national strength of the United States, as long as they want, it will only take a few years to rearm the Philippines.

So time waits for no one!

Taking advantage of the weakness of their current military presence in Asia, it would be a matter of time to quickly take over the Dutch East Indies and cook raw rice, otherwise Britain and the United States would have missed the best opportunity when they shifted their strategic focus to Asia.

"Captain Ling, what do you think of the enemy navy in the South Seas?" Zhou Changfeng wanted to smoke a cigarette, but the whole pack of cigarettes was damp and did not burn at all.

"You mean the Dutch fleet? It's just a local chicken and a tile dog. Ling Su, who looked disdainful, took a sip of wine and stretched out his finger to gestur, "There are only a few cruisers available in the Communist Party of China, the Java, the Sumudara, and the Tempu; And then there was a destroyer detachment, six destroyers; There are also four submarine detachments, a dozen submarines; In addition to this, there are patrol boats, minesweepers, torpedo boats. ”

"It's really weak, and the Netherlands is already in decline."

"Sir Zhou, the Navy has never taken them seriously, in fact, what we were worried about before was that the Army would not be able to clean them up neatly."

Zhou Changfeng couldn't help but laugh when he heard this, "Then are you still worried after this time?" ”

The corners of his mouth rose and Ling Su smiled, "Then it's naturally reassuring, this time it's really unbearable, you guys are making a big fuss in the heavenly palace, the defense of the Dutch is really ...... Tsk,"

"Well, if nothing else, I think we can play a 1-8 exchange ratio. No matter how optimistic it is, one to ten is possible. ”

"Chief Zhou is very confident."

"If this is not confident, then the army should go back and rebuild." The perimeter wind is colorful.

A wave rushed onto the deck, splashing the already damp clothes.

(End of chapter)