Seven Seas Beacon Fire

Chapter 253 Everyone's Learning to Exploit Loopholes (4)

"The Chileans have already entered the Gulf of Mexico with two Lion-class battlecruisers from the Kingdom of Victoria, and our two New Mexico-class battlecruisers are accompanying them. Within 24 hours, these two battlecruisers will be able to pass through the Central American Canal."

McGiffin pushed a telegram onto the president's desk, his tone languid, as if he had finally put an end to a matter or been freed from constraints: "Once these two battlecruisers arrive in Yingzhou, you can dismiss me from my post. This way, you can have a proper explanation, both to the outside world and to Congress."

President Wilson took the telegram, glanced at it, and then looked at McGiffin: "You're making it sound like I'm a president who likes to have others take the blame for me. Since I promoted you to Commander of the Pacific Fleet, I certainly..."

“You simply didn’t have a better candidate at the time.” McGiffin’s attitude was quite straightforward: “Otherwise, a mediocre person like me with such a temperament and personality would never have become the commander of the Pacific Fleet.”

President Wilson smiled and waved his hand: "I don't think there's anything wrong with your temper, and how could you be mediocre? You are of course the best commander we have chosen."

"The war is over, and there's nothing that can't be said, Your Excellency. When I graduated from the Indianapolis Naval Academy, 26 people outperformed me in my class. I almost didn't even make it into the Colombian Navy. You chose me to succeed you as commander of the Pacific Fleet not because I'm so outstanding, but because the United States Navy of Colombia is a navy that lacks sufficient talent and most of its officers are mediocre."

President Wilson's eye twitched, and after a long sigh, he said, "I have to admit, the reason you remained at the rank of major general for so long before that was really because of your foul mouth!"

“I just like to tell the truth, Your Excellency.” After saying this, McGiffin loosened the top button on his military uniform collar and sat down across from the president’s desk as casually as if he were in a bar: “The war is over, but there are far too many lessons to be learned from it, Your Excellency.”

President Wilson, seeing McGiffin's "outrageous" behavior, did not show any anger on his face. Instead, he walked to the cabinet next to him with a strange smile and took out a wine bottle and two glasses.

No naval general is a non-drinker. McGiffin's eyes lit up when he saw the bottle: "I thought only people like us would drink with others in our offices."

"Consider this a final indulgence. The Eighteenth Amendment is about to be passed, and from then on, you won't be able to enjoy whiskey with friends in any public setting except when you're alone at home." President Wilson poured the whiskey into two glasses and pushed one of them toward McGiffin: "Try it and see if you can tell what it is."

"Wine?" McGiffin took the glass, swirled it, took a sip, and muttered doubtfully, "Is there sugar in it? No, this is Sauternes?"

"The French ambassador gave it to me." President Wilson picked up his glass and took a small sip. "Before this war, I never drank alcohol because I felt it would numb my senses and perception. I always thought I should always keep a clear head, but..."

"So the decision to launch the southward operation from Yingzhou... was made by Your Excellency after you had been drinking?"

"That wasn't a decision I made alone; it was a decision made by the entire United States of Colombia in the fervor of victory." President Wilson shook his head. "At that time, the Second Leitanian Empire's high seas fleet was completely locked down in the North Sea, and the Habsburg Empire's navy was repeatedly decimated by the Kingdom of Syracuse's navy in the Adriatic Sea. Two dreadnoughts were sunk by frogmen and submarines, and the Goben was also trapped in the North Sea. At that time, our entire Allied Powers could spare considerable resources to completely eliminate the Ming Empire... at least that's what we thought at the time."

“In a way, we did manage to defeat the Ming Empire, but clearly we didn’t defeat that civilization disguised as a nation.” McGiffin scratched his head. “For the sake of this drink today, I won’t discuss the strategic mistakes we made in the past with His Excellency the President. I’m about to retire, and before I leave, there are a few things I’d like to say to His Excellency the President.”

"My term as president is coming to an end. If you really have something to say, shouldn't you stay in this position for a few more years and tell it to the next president next year?" Perhaps it was the effect of the alcohol, but President Wilson's tone was slightly flippant.

“It is your responsibility to coordinate with the next president.” McGiffin shook his head, it seemed he really didn’t want to continue in his current position as fleet commander: “I have dedicated my life to the Navy, so my advice is limited to the Navy.”

"Go on," President Wilson said, his previous flippancy and smile vanishing, replaced by a serious expression. He knew this was the heartfelt advice of a veteran.

"First of all, as I said before, the generals of our United States Navy are a group of mediocre generals. Perhaps in the future we will have our own Nelson or Yang Wenli, but the high command of the United States of Colombia cannot pin their hopes of winning the war on the emergence of a genius commander."

After saying this, McGiffin took another big gulp of wine and continued, "I don't mean to criticize our naval talent training system. Many of our officers have proven to be reliable after being tempered by war. Although my abilities are limited, and I was unable to bring the United States a key victory in the last few crucial naval battles, the fundamental reason why we failed to achieve final victory is that we did not make good use of our own advantages."

If we had fully utilized our shipbuilding industry during the war, our navy could have been just as large as the Royal Victorian Navy, as evidenced by the ships already on our slipways. However, when we realized we actually possessed this capability, a series of errors, including technical shortcomings and overly optimistic estimates of the war's end time, prevented us from fully leveraging our production capacity advantage.

President Wilson did not speak, but simply nodded silently.

"Of course, all of this is in the past. If the countries can reach an agreement, the naval arms race will temporarily come to a halt. But precisely because it is about to come to a halt, we need to seize a more advantageous position before the race officially ends."

After speaking, McGiffin gulped down the last bit of wine in his glass, then tapped the glass lightly on the table, signaling President Wilson to refill it. The president, holding the glass, gave him a slightly displeased look: "Is this how you drink your Sauternes?"

"Navy drinks everything like rum." McGiffin waved his hand casually, the outstretched finger not to apologize, but to say that he could have five more of that drink.

"Alright, consider this drink your consultation fee." President Wilson poured him another half glass of wine: "What you mean by seizing the advantage and creating a more favorable situation is helping to arm Yingzhou?"

“Of course.” McGiffin nodded. “This was inspired by the Victorian Empire. They armed the Bharat Federation to secure shipping from the Red Sea to the Strait of Malacca, didn’t they? The Bharat Federation is unlikely to become an enemy of the Victorian Empire, at least not in the next few decades. And we happen to have the Kii Kingdom, which absolutely cannot surrender to the Tang Empire.”

"Would the high-ranking officials of Yingzhou resolutely stand on our side against the Tang Empire for their personal safety and the power they hold?" President Wilson nodded slightly: "That is indeed a good idea."

"This is the only option we have right now," McGiffin admitted. "How many tons do you think we can get in the upcoming naval treaty negotiations, Your Excellency? And how many tons can the Tang Empire get?"

President Wilson frowned slightly: "I think that no matter how much tonnage we acquire, the Tang Empire will certainly want to obtain tonnage that is as close as possible to ours, and many people, including yourself, are concerned that the Tang Empire's bottom line for tonnage will not be less than 70% of ours."

"Yes, regardless of whether they obtain 70%, 80%, or 100% of our tonnage, it is almost impossible for us to gain a troop advantage in the Pacific alone. If we want to gain a troop advantage relative to the Tang Empire, we must allow Yingzhou to obtain a considerable share of tonnage and bring them into the future naval treaty negotiations."

"You mentioned this to me before, and it was this point that convinced me to support your navy's plan to borrow two battlecruisers from the Chileans through the Victorian Empire for Yingzhou." President Wilson pressed further, "Once these two battlecruisers arrive in Yingzhou, those little island nations will have six capital ships. The total tonnage of these six ships..."

"The total tonnage of these six ships will reach over 160,000 tons. If we include the two so-called super-class cruisers with four gun turrets that Yingzhou has purchased and is preparing to start construction on, their main warships will reach over 180,000 tons."

Do you think the Tang Empire can accept this number?

Although President Wilson agreed to plot against the Tang Empire, and although he was somewhat dissatisfied with the outcome of the war, he genuinely did not want any further direct conflict with that country.

"That depends on the capabilities of our diplomats."

McGiffin raised his glass and gently clinked it against President Wilson's. The clear crystal glass made a pleasant sound, and the red liquid inside shimmered under the light.

"Is there anything you'd like to say before you leave?"

"There are some things I want to tell you, but I feel... it's no use me saying them."

"Then you have to say it."

“Useless President…” McGiffin shook his head: “Because this is essentially a deadlock, a deadlock between us, the Tang Empire, and Yingzhou.”

"Dead knot?"

"If possible, we should try our best to resolve past grievances and conflicts with the Tang Empire within the next 20 years. We are now the world's most powerful industrial nation. We can produce battleship gun barrels like sausages. But what if our adversaries reach or even surpass us in terms of industrial scale?"

President Wilson's expression darkened upon hearing this, but he still smiled and said, "I don't think it's necessary to be so worried. Even though the Tang Empire inherited the foundation of the Ming Empire, even before the war, the Ming Empire's steel production was only half of ours."

"The present does not represent the future, Your Excellency. That country in the East has a total of 6 million people. No matter how small the number is, multiplied by 6 million, it becomes quite considerable."

McGiffin's demeanor at this moment did not resemble that of a distinguished naval admiral, but rather that of an efficiency department member dissatisfied with every aspect of the current Victorian government: "It is unwise to maintain a long-term hostility with such a large and populous country. If possible, it would be best to repair relations with the Tang Empire. We don't need the relationship to be very close, but at least we should be able to avoid war. But I know that this is almost impossible, which is why I say it is a deadlock."

Wilson gave a wry laugh. Repair the relationship?

Because of this war and the discipline of the American Expeditionary Force, the two countries have long since reached a point of irreconcilable enmity, a matter of life and death. President Wilson truly didn't know what other way to repair relations between the two nations except for the complete defeat and crushing of one side.

Are we really going to return Yingzhou?

“You’re right, this is a deadlock.” President Wilson sighed. “Although I’m not a warmonger, the only way I can think of to avoid war right now is to use military force to deter the other side from easily starting a war… This war has completely changed me, and I can never go back to the way I was before.”

McGiffin smiled without saying a word, responding to President Wilson with only a pleasant burp.

------------------------------------

PS: Okay, starting tomorrow until the end of the month, I will update twice a day to make up for the extra chapters I promised to a certain brother. I hope that this person will be a man of his word, known as an honest and reliable young man.

Chapter 254 Friendly Relations Between the Army and Navy (1)

New Kyoto, the Kingdom of Kii

After expelling the Tokugawa Shogunate, the Meiji Restoration government moved the capital to Edo and, amidst the wave of Westernization, renamed the centuries-old place as "New Kyoto," similar to "New York."

Although some older residents of Yingzhou might find the name somewhat incongruous, it is part of the political correctness of the Yingzhou Archipelago in order to distance itself from the Tokugawa Shogunate era.

Emperor Nisshin sat on the throne in the main hall of the Imperial Palace, looking somewhat timidly at the ministers below who all had hawk-like eyes and wolf-like gazes. Although it had been three years since the "restoration of imperial power," Emperor Nisshin was still completely unaccustomed to such a grand court assembly.

His reign title represented the earnest expectations these "reformers" had for him—daily renewal and daily progress. (The descriptions that appeared earlier will be replaced below; the descriptions in this chapter will prevail.)

Many people told him that Yingzhou was on the right track and that the country would have a bright future following the West, which represented civilization and freedom.

However, Emperor Nisshin, now in his forties, doesn't have much ambition or aspiration. In fact, he used to have a good relationship with Tokugawa Iesatsu. Although the samurai class has been very wary of and watchful of the court nobles for centuries, Emperor Nisshin had a good relationship with Tokugawa Iesatsu, probably because he didn't have many friends. Although their relationship was somewhat similar to that of Nezha and Ao Bing in the Shanghai Animation Film Studio version, for a considerable period of time, Tokugawa Iesatsu was the only man with whom Emperor Nisshin could talk freely without too much concern.

In addition, since so many emperors had gone through this process, Emperor Nisshin did not have any particular dissatisfaction with his inability to grasp power. However, when his daily life was disrupted and he was elected to regain power by the group of "Shūjō" in front of him, his excitement only lasted for a few days, followed by continuous fear and anxiety.

What if the Ming Dynasty's heavenly army returned? Would he be taken to Yingtian Prefecture and given a cup of poison? With such fear in his heart, Emperor Nisshin endured until the Ming Dynasty was overthrown. For a time, he felt that he had finally made it through, but before he could relax for even two days, Li Zongdi led his troops into Yingtian Prefecture, and the war that seemed to be coming to an end continued for another year. During this year, the Allied Powers, especially the United States of Colombia, whose complete victory was within their grasp vanished, and a new Tang Dynasty, which had replaced the Ming Dynasty, reappeared in the East.

Do you think the Tang Dynasty wouldn't care about Yingzhou's betrayal? Don't be ridiculous! That's the Tang Dynasty founded by the descendants of Li Dingguo! The royal family of that country were the original shareholders who rebuilt the Ming Dynasty!

Therefore, after news of the repeated setbacks at the front lines came back, Emperor Nisshin was so frightened that he was speechless for a long time. During that period, he could only pretend to be aloof and remain silent in front of outsiders.

Now that the war is finally over, Emperor Nisshin can breathe a sigh of relief for the time being, but he still feels like he has sat on a powder keg. This pressure has exacerbated his mental illness to some extent.

However, his mental state is relatively normal now. Recently, if we exclude the Colombian troops stationed in Yinzhou, the entire country does indeed seem to be thriving, although much of this thriving is probably due to the development of certain women-owned service industries...

Navy Minister Saito Juichiro looked at His Majesty the Emperor, who sat on a high throne but whose eyes seemed blank and flustered. Although he knew that his thoughts were extremely disrespectful, for some reason he kept thinking of the Eastern idiom "a monkey wearing a crown."

Saito Juro had met Emperor Yongning of the Ming Dynasty. Although that emperor was the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, it must be said that before the outbreak of the war, this emperor looked quite extraordinary. At least in terms of appearance, he was indeed dignified, tall and strong. The way he walked in his dragon robe with a square gait was incomparable to that of Emperor Nisshin.

The reformers were eager to instill a martial spirit in His Majesty the Emperor, since in this era, monarchs of both the East and West were quite martial, not to mention that the current Emperor of the Tang Empire was a world-renowned general, and even his princes were considered to have great military talent.

Therefore, after the restoration of imperial power, although these courtiers formulated a series of "martial training" for His Majesty the Emperor, the Emperor, whose lineage had been based on inbreeding for generations, was simply incapable in this regard. Although the oil paintings of the Emperor in military uniform hanging in the palace now look majestic, the appearance and physique "beautified" by the painter's brush are something that the real Emperor could never possess.

Fortunately, Emperor Nisshin had a fine prince. Saito Juichiro looked at Crown Prince Akihito. The hereditary disease that plagued the imperial family was fortunately not present in this prince. Moreover, this prince was very intelligent from a young age—at least compared to the emperor. Therefore, these ministers placed their hopes and expectations on this crown prince.

However, upon seeing the Crown Prince wearing an army uniform without rank insignia, Navy Minister Saito Juichiro frowned almost imperceptibly.

He certainly knew that on the other side of the sea, the Tang Empire's grandson, who was about the same age as Crown Prince Zhaoren, had a very close relationship with the Tang Empire's Royal Navy, and that the grandson usually appeared in public wearing a naval uniform. (Although this was simply because Li Che's naval uniform was more convenient to wear than the traditional ceremonial robes of a crown prince.)

Crown Prince Zhaoren himself has clearly become closer to the army.

"My esteemed ministers, if you have matters to report, please do so. If not, the court may adjourn."

After the formulaic opening remarks, Saito Juichiro prepared to rise and present his memorial. Yingzhou had been facing many important matters recently. However, he was only a step behind, while the Minister of the Army, Inukai Eisaku, stood up first.

His actions caused Saito Juichiro's expression to change, because everyone knew that today's court meeting was actually convened for the Navy. The Navy really had something to discuss today, so why did the Army take the lead at this time?

"Your Majesty, the Army requests an additional 400 million national currency to purchase weapons left behind by the Colombian Expeditionary Force within our territory."

Inukai Eisaku's words almost made Saito Jujuro jump up and want to fight him hand-to-hand right there, because this was fucking intentional!

It is widely known that the Navy recently acquired four capital ships from the United States of Colombia. Although on the surface these four ships were purchased for only four dollars, which is almost like a free gift, it is well known that what is free is the most expensive.

However, although the United States of Colombia did not pay the purchase price for these Leitanian warships, it allocated a large sum of money to urgently modify them after acquisition, hoping to put them into combat as soon as possible.

Although subsequent changes in the war situation and the pandemic led to a hasty end to the war, and these Leitanian warships did not enter the combat sequence of the United States Navy, the Colombian Navy had already spent money on the maintenance and upkeep of these ships.

So who will pay for this?

The answer is obvious. Although these four ships were practically given away for free, all the associated costs, including personnel training and logistical maintenance, had to be borne by the United States of Colombia. Especially the logistical maintenance—everyone knows these ships are Leitanian vessels and therefore metric, while the Colombian Navy's warships are mostly imperial. While Colombia's industry certainly couldn't be incapable of providing logistical maintenance for a few metric warships, under normal circumstances, if Yingzhou wanted more direct and cheaper logistical maintenance, it could simply contact the shipyards in Leitanian after the war. These shipyards, already on the verge of bankruptcy, would certainly be very willing to take on this order, and the price would be extremely favorable.

However, the United States of Colombia forcibly stipulated in a contract that the logistical support for these ships must come from them. In fact, they also contacted the shipyards in Letania to provide spare parts. By going through the United States of Colombia, wouldn't the middleman make a profit?

These all cost money!

Not to mention the matter he was about to report on today concerning the two Victoria battlecruisers. These two battlecruisers were purchased by the Chileans through the United States of Colombia, who then transferred them to the Navy of the Kingdom of Kii. It's impossible that Colombia paid for the ships, right? And it's not unreasonable for Colombia to take a cut, is it? It's also not unreasonable for Chile to act as a middleman and take a cut, is it?

Where does this money come from?

Doesn't it still have to come from the Kingdom of Kii?

So now, at this crucial juncture when money is most needed, your army is asking to buy weapons and equipment left behind by the Colombian Expeditionary Force in the country?

Yingzhou isn't that rich!

"Inukai-kun, the current war is over. Now is not the time to expand the size of the army, is it? What use will it be if we spend so much national currency to buy cannons at this juncture?"

"Saito-kun, you're mistaken! I'm not trying to expand the army! The army is simply trying to equip our current standing divisions with the weapons and equipment that were previously lacking. Is that too much to ask? Do you think the navy is the only one in the country who can afford to spend money?"

Chapter 255 Friendly Relations Between the Army and Navy (2)

"Your Majesty, the Tang army still has eight divisions assembled at the southernmost tip of the Silla Peninsula. If we include the Silla troops, we will face more than 300,000 troops across the Tsushima Strait. Our land defense forces are still unable to equip all the artillery needed for our divisions. The navy has acquired four large ships. After eating so much meat, can't our army get a little soup?"

Inukai Eisaku sports an exaggerated mustache, and when he gets excited while speaking, his two stubbles, which seem to have been coated with an enormous amount of hair gel, tremble up and down along with his excited lips.

If his words were heard by an uninformed outsider, they would surely lead them to believe that the army must be constantly bullied by the navy, unable to even equip its combat troops with the necessary gear, while the navy can buy whatever it wants. This would definitely be a sign that the imperial court favors the navy.

However, anyone who knows a little about the inside story knows that although it is true that the Yingzhou army lacks heavy equipment, this is mainly because the size of the army is too large.

After the defeat of the Colombian forces in the Silla Peninsula, and fearing that the Heavenly Army would cross the sea to the south, the Kii Kingdom's army organized 100 local divisions throughout the entire Yingzhou Islands! If the standing divisions are included, Yingzhou mobilized more than 100 million army combat troops.

100 divisions! That sounds like a terrifying number. After all, when Hitler retreated during World War II, he only deployed twice as many divisions.

In reality, these so-called local divisions were not even close to the size of a division-level unit. Each local division was at most equivalent to a brigade-level unit. Moreover, many local divisions could not even muster a single decent artillery piece, so these units had to find ways to drag out those recoil-propelled field guns from the end of the last century from abandoned warehouses to fill the gaps.

In terms of mobilization intensity, Yingzhou was nothing compared to Europe, which really fought to the point of exhaustion in this war. Bulgaria mobilized 21.82% of its people to the battlefield, Gaul mobilized 21.24%, Victoria mobilized 19.61%, Letania mobilized 16.95%, and even Lagos mobilized 15.77%.

If we consider the mobilization intensity of Europe, Japan would need to deploy at least 600 million combat troops to be comparable. However, in the East, the limiting factor for troop mobilization has never been population, but rather armed forces.

Yingzhou was, after all, a country that had put away its weapons and let its horses graze for over a century before this world war. Although there was a large group of lower-ranking samurai who were both literate and skilled in combat, it was clear that the wars of this era could not rely on these samurai to fight on the battlefield with cold weapons.

The country was not adequately prepared for the war, and in the early stages, it did not obtain enough equipment from the Ming Dynasty. Later, Colombia was unable to attend to its Yingzhou, which naturally led to the predicament that by the end of the war, a large number of combat troops were still unable to be equipped with full-capacity artillery.

In theory, if these local divisions were disbanded, the remaining troops would be more than enough to arm standing divisions. However, it is clear that the army does not want to disband these local divisions; at the very least, they want to retain a significant portion of them and reorganize them into standing divisions.

This naturally led to a shortage of some heavy equipment. Originally, the shortage was not large, but the army was preparing to reform itself by referencing the United States Army of Colombia, adopting large-scale divisional units and increasing the number of long-range heavy artillery pieces.

This has created a huge equipment shortage. Previously, the divisions in Yingzhou were only equipped with 75mm field guns, but now the army wants to equip its divisions with 105mm or even 150mm heavy artillery.

The price of these heavy artillery pieces, along with the supporting heavy draft horses, ammunition trailers, and other equipment, is much higher than that of 75mm field guns. If the 400 million yuan were not used to buy surplus war supplies, it would not be enough to buy the heavy artillery needed for even a few divisions.

"It's not that we're not letting your army have a taste of the benefits. When can't you buy artillery? After the World War, whether in Europe or Colombia, there are plenty of heavy artillery pieces left over from the war and stored away. The prices will only get cheaper in the future. But if our navy misses this window of opportunity, we might not be able to buy them even if we pay more!"

Saito Juichiro no longer cared about manners and elegance; he couldn't let this guy ruin the Navy's top priority today.

Emperor Nisshin saw that the Ministers of the Army and Navy were arguing again. Although he himself did not know what to do, he had now become accustomed to casting a pleading glance at his Crown Prince.

After nodding to his father, Crown Prince Zhaoren, who was sitting below, turned to the increasingly heated argument between the Ministers of the Army and Navy and reprimanded them in a deliberately solemn voice: "Silence! If others were to see you two behaving so disrespectfully in the current court assembly, what would become of the Empire's reputation?"

Prime Minister Daisuke Takahashi, who had been sitting below without saying a word, muttered to himself—the court officials of the Ming Dynasty often engaged in full-blown fighting during court assemblies, yet the fighting among Ming officials did not affect the prestige and reputation of the country.