The official report to the emperor is called "play", and the official report to the prince is renamed "Qi", and the book of Qiben, that is, the book of the minister's entry into the East Palace, is called Qiben.

The British side has no other demands for the time being, and they do not intend to continue to engage in substantive confrontation with the Ming Dynasty, because it is meaningless to do this move at the moment, and the gains outweigh the losses.

Now the British Empire was only interested in maintaining its other colonies, and the key focus was still on the "balance of power" policy in Europe; As for the precarious pattern of the Far East, it can be said that it is rotten if it can be maintained day by day, without long-term consideration at all.

"Because the British and the Dutch are not afraid to do such a bold act? Come on, shut up, it's a cliché of the past. On the phone, Zhu Liqiang was very unhappy and rebuked a vice admiral of the Oriental Fleet.

These days, the emperor's health is not very good, so he asked him to act as an agent for some days of ordinary government affairs, although he cannot be called a prisoner, but his power is not small.

Naturally, people from all sides and factions did not want to miss this opportunity, and everyone paid close attention to the crown prince's behavior and actions in order to find out his style of doing things.

"The situation in the world is uncertain, but there are already people who can't sit still." Zhu Likai complained to Zhan Shi Wu Zhengren beside him: "They seem to be sure that the United States will pinch its nose and let it go." ”

The latter, who looked helpless, bowed his head and said: "The remarks about the abolition of its armament are all over and over again, but for the United States, which has such a complete and huge industrial construction, I am afraid that the transformation will not take more than a year." ”

"Although its army is small, it is easy to expand, and according to the report the year before last, the United States can arm at least 60 divisions with just hoarding war-ready ordnance." Zhu Liqi stood up and said as he paced: "Not to mention the navy, it has never been neglected, and it is first-class in terms of scale and technical level. ”

His so-called combat armament was mentioned in a report on the United States' war preparedness jointly counted and predicted by the Intelligence Service of the Metropolitan Governor's Office and the Ministry of War, which was used to assess the speed of the imaginary enemy's preparations and military buildup.

Although the United States has only a small army of 100,000 troops that does not match its size, its stockpiles of various weapons and equipment are well preserved and in large quantities.

For example, the M7917 rifle, the P-14 rifle designed by Enfield was flawlessly organized to open a new production line in factories throughout the British Isles, so the British went to North America to find a manufacturer, and the Americans produced a total of more than a million P-14 rifles, and finalized the Model 7917, most of which were left in stock after the war.

In addition, there are hundreds of thousands of Springfield M7903 rifles, more than 4,000 imitation "Miss Schneider 75", Mle-7897 75mm field guns, and more than 1,000 imitation Schneider Mle-7917 155mm howitzers.

These huge numbers of weapons cannot be ignored, and the expansion of the army by 60 divisions is a small estimate, but in fact it is possible to make up hundreds of divisions.

This is only the first wave of attrition, once it turns into a state of war and completes the transformation of ordnance production, all kinds of weapons and equipment will be produced like a torrent.

It can be said that this is what Zhu Likai is most worried about - Daming can indeed easily pocket the entire Nanyang, which can make Britain and the Netherlands swallow their anger, but how to ensure that the United States pinched its nose and let it go?

Although the latter does have the probability of backing down, how dare it rule out the possibility that the United States will choose to respond head-on and tough?

If anyone dares not to consider this situation, it should not be called optimism and self-confidence, but naivety and conceit.

At that time, how much price will it have to pay to bring Daming and the United States to the negotiating table? In other words, can the current national strength of the Ming Dynasty be able to fight against it?

This is what Zhu Likai is worried about as the crown prince - it is okay to fight, but how to end the war with dignity?

He was not sure how to make the war "manageable", because he knew very well that those who benefited from the war and made a lot of money would really be satisfied. Man's greed is endless.

More importantly, the distribution of benefits is very complicated, and it is impossible to avoid uneven distribution. No matter how precise the knife is when dividing the cake, it is always inevitable to have a little more or a little less.

And this will be precisely where the contradiction lies, and those guys will inevitably be unwilling to end here when the time comes—why did he make so much money from this, and I didn't make much money before I had to end the war, how can this be reasonable?

After thinking for a while, Wu Zhengren muttered: "It is unlikely that the Americans will completely abandon the Far East, and no matter how shrewd businessmen are, they will take risks to invest and try, and once the war starts, unless the results of our army are sharp enough for them to immediately dispel their thoughts, they are unlikely to choose peace talks." ”

He paused, and then said: "For example, as the Navy said, if it can achieve an annihilating blow to the Pacific Fleet of the US Navy in a short period of time, it will be enough to make it completely abandon the Far East. ”

If it can achieve a devastating blow to the Pacific Fleet, then the vast Pacific Ocean will allow the Ming Navy to cruise, and the west coast of North America will be wide open.

On the other hand, if it can only injure one or two fingers, then the Pacific Fleet can continue to maneuver and delay, and as long as it wins for a year or two, the follow-up ships will be replenished into service like dumplings.

Zhu Lijin snorted coldly and said casually:

"But it's unlikely, the Navy just wants to massively expand its fleet after the treaty expires, but is that useful? The U.S. Pacific Fleet can retreat into a 'presence fleet', but does the Oriental Fleet want to launch a strong attack against the firepower of the harbor defense guns? ”

"Although the situation is deteriorating at the moment, it is estimated that it will take at least three or four years to reach its peak, so it is better to invest in construction for another year than to invest huge sums of money in fleet expansion now. Military spending is not in a hurry to increase, and in two years, the more it is built, the more it will really fight, and the more stamina it will have. ”

"Your Highness," at this time, an attendant hurriedly walked in, "The sudden earthquake in Meizhou and Qingshen County is not strong, but it is reported that hundreds of houses have collapsed, and hundreds of people have been killed or injured. ”

"When?"

"Just before, unitary."

"Fortunately, it wasn't an earthquake at night......," Zhu Liqi said without thinking: "Let them investigate the situation as soon as possible, and severely punish those who conceal and lie about it, and order the surrounding state capitals to assist in the rescue, and just follow the usual practice." ”

After finishing speaking, he thought of something again, and added: "The road conditions in Meizhou are not good, and this time the road is bound to be broken." The telegraph ordered the Sichuan Metropolitan Division, if the material delivery is not smooth, it will dispatch the air force to help. ”

"The order is given, understand." The attendant who came to report gave up his orders and left quickly.

Wu Zhengren next to him also announced: "Your Highness, the itinerary at the end of the month has been arranged, the automobile production line of Yangyue Company is basically completed, and it is still being debugged, and trial production will start next month. ”

"That's fine."

(End of chapter)