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Text Chapter 342 Kato Takaaki is here

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    "Stop, that boring war must end immediately!"

    In the gloomy Whitehall of London, the loud voice of the energetic and passionate Lord Admiralty Churchill rang from morning to night.  The navy needs enthusiasm and energy, but the elegant British generals and knights are still very uncomfortable with this kind of hysterical shouting, although they all think it is time to end the farce in the Far East so that Nicholas II can  The lunatic is fully committed to fighting in Europe, but the problem is that neither China nor Japan has let go of whether they are willing to negotiate peace.

    Moreover, the Royal Navy is currently in trouble. The news that Chinese submarines swept through the Japanese Second Fleet off Qingdao did not encourage the Germans who were struggling to break the North Sea blockade. In just a few weeks, dozens of ships were hit.  Shen, even the Royal Navy did not avoid it. In one day, three 10,000-ton armored cruisers were sent into the sea by German submarines. Thousands of soldiers were buried at the bottom of the sea. While the sap gave the generals a headache, they also began to hate the bastard who invented this war machine.  .

    "Send a fleet! Let them sit at the negotiating table."

    The proposal was immediately met with a blank stare when it came out. Even His Excellency Churchill, who advocated artillery diplomacy, politely rejected the proposal. Not to mention that the most important thing for the Royal Navy in the Pacific is to find the Spee fleet and kill it. The Atlantic Ocean is crowded with battleships.  Even if they can't muster any strength, the only possibility is France.  But when the German army came to Paris, it was obviously impossible for the proud French rooster to get involved in another quagmire, not to mention that the French navy had to monitor the Italian and Ottoman people who had been wavering so far.

    Headache!

    Lord Churchill cleared his throat and was about to deliver a passionate speech to boost morale when footsteps sounded from outside.

    The person who walked in was the Third Lord of the Admiralty, Fairbanks. This old man in his sixties was a senior officer in the Royal Navy. It was his efforts and command in the Boer War that the British Empire still remembers.  The navy completely blocked the coastline thousands of miles away, and finally allowed the army to exterminate the Boers who had no support.  He walked in and looked at Churchill who was sitting in the middle. To be honest, no one in the navy liked this guy who smoked a cigar every day and looked more like a politician than an admiral. But who made him gain the trust of the Prime Minister?

    He walked among the generals, and behind him was an oil painting commemorating the Battle of Trafalgar. The legendary naval commander Sir Nelson stood in the oil painting and looked at his juniors silently.  Fairbanks held the telegram in his hand, and there was a bit of joy on his wrinkled face: "Gentlemen, I got two pieces of good news. The first one is that there was a riot in North Korea, and millions of people walked out.  The family has participated in the anti-Japanese movement, and the Japanese government envoy who cannot sit still is already on the ship heading to China."

    "Finally I see hope."

    Before the sigh of relief subsided, Old Phil raised his hand again: "There is second good news. Through the efforts of Jardine Matheson Company, the Chinese have promised to consider secretly selling a submarine purchased from Germany to  We will study it, but first they need 20 steam turbines for destroyers, and it also depends on whether the Far East Peace Agreement can be reached."

    "is this real!"

    ¡°Old Phil, this is no time for joking!¡± Get a German submarine?  The news behind Old Phil instantly detonated the conference room, and almost all the generals stood up.  The shame of being pierced by a German submarine some time ago and the telegrams of attacks on merchant ships received every day have already made the proud Royal Navy very anxious, so it goes without saying what it means to get a German submarine.

    His Excellency Churchill was also very happy, but he was extremely worried: "England needs submarines and peace in the Far East, but it also needs to plan for the post-war world. We must tell the Chinese unambiguously where our bottom line is, and  We are not letting them weaken our allies." In the past, perhaps the generals would have nodded to these words and sat down to discuss sending that squadron for an emergency "visit" to show the power of the British Empire and intimidate Xiaoxiao. But now. Although.  Everyone knows it is right, but they feel that the big trouble in Germany should be solved first.

    There is no doubt that Britain does not want Japan to be weakened too seriously.  Therefore, Churchill's words did not resonate with the Navy, but they were recognized in Downing Street. The telegram sent by the Prime Minister to the Far East really inspired this impulsive Lord of the Admiralty.

    ¡°Selling submarines?¡±

    On the train back to Nanjing, Jiang Baili also didn¡¯t understand why Yang Qiu made this choice.  Although he understands that a German submarine is enough to make the British government make certain tilts at the negotiating table, but now that the country has regarded submarines as a trump card, wouldn't it be bad if the technology fell into Japanese hands by selling it at this time?

    Yang Qiu continued to read the briefing, seemingly unaware of Jiang Baili's worries. After a long time, he put down the thick stack of telegrams and said, "Brother Baili, don't worry too much."?I have already discussed this matter with the Admiralty.  We can already prevent submarines ourselves, so selling one is not a big problem.  Of course, the ventilation pipe must be removed. As for other things, the technology in various countries has actually reached it, so whether to sell it or not is not a big problem.  On the contrary, Britain has promised to exchange 20 urgently needed steam turbines. Jardine Matheson Company will also place an order for two 10,000-ton merchant ships in Jiangnan as trade compensation.  "

    Judging from the conditions, it is indeed very attractive, let alone the steam turbine.  After Jiangnan Shipyard changed its flag, it gave top priority to self-produced boilers and steam turbines. However, it has been unable to achieve a breakthrough due to processing problems in the past two years. Now the Navy destroyer plan has difficulties in importing power equipment due to the European War, so 20 units  Steam turbines became extremely important.  What's more, there are still orders for two 10,000-ton ships, which will create a precedent for China's export of large-scale industrial complete sets of equipment. If the war can take advantage of the opportunity to become famous, it will play a very positive role in the future development of the shipbuilding industry.

    ¡°And by suddenly agreeing to sell at this time, and tying the sale with Asian peace negotiations, the UK, an important mediator, is bound to be even more anxious to get Japan to accept the conditions.  But he is still a little worried, after all, the Anglo-American alliance has not yet been dissolved.  Yang Qiu was not very worried and said with a smile: "In fact, several weapons to counter submarines have passed the test last month and can be equipped within two to three months at most. Not to mention that without the snorkel, the effectiveness of the submarine will be seriously reduced. As for your worries about Japan  To obtain technology, in fact, even if we cover it up, they won¡¯t be able to get it? Britain and France both have submarines.¡± He said it was indeed true. Seaplanes and depth bombs have passed tests and reached equipment standards. With these two weapons, there is no snorkel.  The threat of submarines is not great, not to mention that he hopes that the Japanese Navy will completely take the detour of large submarines.

    After all, many things have been finalized and even developed. For example, the Gota bomber, which is a replica of the classic World War I, has been flying in Chongqing for a long time and has even entered small batch construction. However, it is not good to take out some things too early.  , at least before their small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery is mass-produced, exposing bombers to the world will only attract greed and ambition. Britain and France don¡¯t want to get involved in this quagmire now, but that doesn¡¯t mean they don¡¯t have the strength to get involved. They really want to force themselves to surrender at all costs.  It is not impossible to develop technology.

    What he is most concerned about now is whether Japan will continue the war.  To be honest, he no longer wants to continue spending money. He is finally looking forward to the time when the World War officially begins to make money and benefits. If he continues to pester, even if he makes money, he will fill this bottomless pit.  Even though Japan suffered huge losses, China was actually not feeling well either. On the surface, the two-month war did not consume much, but if you add in the supplies and weapons purchases that had been prepared to hoard since last year, it has actually spent more than 200 million people.  Yuan.  Based on the current national annual income, it is equivalent to spending one-third of the annual income. If it were not for the European order, it would have gone bankrupt.

    Thinking of this, he closed the document, turned around and asked, "Who is the special envoy sent by Japan during business hours?"

    "It's Japanese Foreign Minister Kato Takaaki." Cai Gongshi quickly pulled out the information he had compiled in the past few days: "This person is the son-in-law of the Mitsui Zaibatsu and the largest provider of political funds to the Japanese Constitutional Council. He has a deep grudge with the Yamagata faction and has always hoped to break it.  The feudal clan is dominant. The Mitsui Zaibatsu behind him also suffered a lot this time, and the 30 million invested in the Baofen Coal and Iron Mine has been completely wasted. The raw silk and textile industries under his name have been slightly on the rise recently, but because of  There is a shortage of raw materials and insufficient production. As for shipbuilding and machinery manufacturing, there are currently military orders to support them. However, the stock of raw materials of Yawata Steel, a steel supplier, is about to bottom out, and the United States has recently issued a ban on the sale of steel raw materials and steel to overseas markets.  Steel-making equipment bill, so in recent days there has been news that they are preparing to ask the United Kingdom to help Japan continue to purchase iron ore and steel-making coke from the United States on the condition of persuading the Japanese government to cease the war."

    Jiang Baili also relaxed after hearing this, and said with a smile: "Vice President, you moved this chess piece at the right time. Okuma Shigenobu's government now has few options, either continue to fight and watch the military become more and more powerful.  There is still the possibility of losing North Korea, or we can only ruthlessly take advantage of the opportunity that Europe is also eager to have an armistice between the two of us, get some benefits and regain our strength in order to come back again."

    "Come again? If you miss the front of this store, you will have no chance." Yang Qiu smiled coldly: "Do you know what his bottom line is?"

    "It's not clear yet, but judging from the intelligence sent back from Japan, the Okuma Shigenobu government should want to continue to keep Lushun and Taiwan, or at least one of them, and maintain its concession interests in China."

    "Is this considered a peace negotiation?" Jiang Baili snorted coldly in his nose.  Of course Yang Qiu would not accept this condition. After thinking about it, he said: "I sent a telegram to the president and the prime minister, promising that the draft that Britain and France would master would be put on hold. It was suggested that Wu Tingfang and Yang Du be the negotiators, and Gu Weijun be the secretary. In addition, immediately  Contact Wang Zhengting to speed up negotiations with Russia. Now they are in the anxious period after Tannenberg, and they may not agree if the conditions are harsher. Send another call.Give it to the General Staff and let the Northwest Army postpone its advance. This is considered a favor to Britain, France and Russia. As for Jinzhou  "

    "Pull out this nail immediately!"

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