Seven Seas Beacon Fire

Li Che probably noticed his wife's questioning gaze. He grinned and thought to himself that when the Victorian Empire organized the anti-Napoleon alliance, the European countries met to discuss how to defeat Napoleon on the battlefield, and they all had to speak French. Although the Victorian Empire and the Kingdom of Gaul were at odds, the Victorians were the most accepting of French cuisine in the world and the most appreciative of the elegance of French.

“Early French was also very crude. It wasn’t until Prime Minister Richelieu established the French Academy and hired hundreds of top linguists, and after two generations of unremitting efforts, it took 55 years to compile a French dictionary. They systematically sorted out and standardized various ancient Greek and Latin words, jargon, folk slang, and local dialects, and formulated detailed grammatical rules. Only then did French become a standardized, clear, and accurate language.”

Li Che said, "What Prime Minister Richelieu accomplished back then is something Your Highness can try to do in the future as well. The origins of English are more complex than those of French, yet there has never been such a standardized and organized process."

"Never mind then, I'm just a literature enthusiast, not a linguist." Prince Edward waved his hand with a smile. "Let's continue talking about the Three Kingdoms. Li Che, which of the Three Kingdoms is your favorite?"

“Of course it’s the Shu Han. I’m an idealist.” Li Che said something that even he didn’t believe, but Prince Edward across from him seemed to believe it. He scratched his head a little embarrassedly: “I envy those who like the Shu Han, because they are great idealists. I also like the Shu Han, but I find that I might like the Cao Wei a little more, especially Cao Cao. He’s a bad character, but he’s very charismatic.”

Li Che almost couldn't help but laugh. He could only sigh in his heart that it was perfectly normal for His Highness Edward to like Cao Cao the most. After all, Cao Cao liked married women, and you like married women even more than Cao Cao.

Of course, liking married women doesn't mean it's wrong. Li Che actually also liked some married women characters on the internet in another world, but he only treated these characters as side dishes. This one in front of him, however, was bought like rice.

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"We've finally seen the Tang Empire's heavy cruiser in person. What are your thoughts on this heavy cruiser, Director General? Compared to the low-resolution photos published in the newspapers before, we can see it clearly now."

After the special train departed, most of the people who had gathered at the dock had dispersed, but two people who looked like they were no ordinary people were still on the dock gazing at the Jiangzhou heavy cruiser moored on the opposite dock.

The world's first commissioned heavy cruiser has generated considerable interest among navies worldwide, including the Royal Navy of Victoria. Therefore, the current Director of Shipbuilding for the Royal Navy of Victoria, Day Incott, did not board the special train to London and stayed behind instead of accompanying Vice Admiral Victor, who had previously gone to greet him and accompanied him back to Portsmouth.

The question was asked by Vice Admiral Victor, who had been very interested in the Jiangzhou heavy cruiser on his way there. After all, this ship made other ships of the same era look like Burke to modern ships, or DDG-1000 to Calcutta.

This modernity is visible to the naked eye. Therefore, whenever the Jiangzhou is docked at the pier or encounters civilian ships at sea, it always becomes the most eye-catching one in the fleet.

"Judging from the exterior alone, I'm sorry to say I don't see anything particularly noteworthy about this ship." Day Incourt looked at the hull of the Jiangzhou heavy cruiser. "If we were to design and build such a heavy cruiser, I think we could do it too."

"The Syracuses apparently learned from their conversation with the crown prince that the ship had 150 millimeters of armor."

"impossible."

Dee Incourt shook his head, despite having designed several warships and been criticized by many on the internet in another world, with some even labeling him a German spy.

However, it's impossible for someone to remain the head of DNC for so many years without some real skills. De Incourt's greatest strength is satisfying unreasonable customer demands—don't worry about the specifics of how he does it, he can try his best to meet the customer's requirements.

In some ways, he could be considered a less extreme Western version of Kikuo Fujimoto.

"impossible?"

“This is a cruiser that can pass through the Suez Canal. How deep is the Suez Canal now due to siltation?” Day Incourt said. “Although it probably doesn’t have 150mm armor, this cruiser definitely has a pretty good main armor belt. After all, the freeboard of this cruiser is almost half a deck height lower than our cruisers.”

If the Admiralty doesn't impose such high requirements on the seaworthiness and freeboard of our cruisers, then our heavy cruisers should be able to obtain comparable protection capabilities.

"It's no use telling me this; I'm just a Strait Fleet Commander."

Victor could certainly hear the resentment in Day Incourt's tone. After so many years of doing assigned tasks in his position, it was impossible for him not to have some complaints about the many bizarre demands of the Royal Navy.

Victor also felt that the Royal Navy's current performance requirements for cruisers and other warships, particularly regarding freeboard, were somewhat too stringent.

Looking at cruisers from all over the world, British cruisers typically have the highest freeboard and the best seaworthiness, which is in line with the Victorian Empire's long-term need to maintain a military presence around the world.

However, we all know that this increased freeboard is not for nothing; it all comes down to structural weight. As a result, the heavy cruisers currently being built by the Victorian Empire have almost no decent protection. Some within the navy even mocked, "This is a new era white elephant, so let's just call it the Powerful-class heavy cruiser."

The "powerful" thing mentioned in that sentence refers to the largest and most powerful protected cruiser in the history of the Victorian Empire, which dates back to the 90s.

In October XX91, the Royal Navy's military attaché in St. Petersburg, after following up on Ursus's intentions regarding large first-class cruisers, reported, "I have been informed that the government desires to possess 10 such cruisers with the aim of destroying enemy sea lanes."

Based on the available evidence, the Royal Victorian Navy at the time believed this to be a credible report, as a high-performance armored cruiser, HMS Rurik, had been launched in the middle of the previous year, and two cruisers of similar size were reportedly under construction.

The Victorian Empire was the first country in the world to design a protected cruiser, and has been particularly fond of this type of ship since building its first protected cruiser in XX81.

This is certainly related to the Victorian Empire's vast overseas colonies. The Victorian Empire built protected cruisers primarily for colonial patrols and protecting sea lanes. Furthermore, they were quite large, with over 7000 tons being common, while other countries typically had ships of 3000 to 4000 tons.

Based on this intelligence, the Victorian Empire built two first-class cruisers with a displacement of 14,000 tons and a length of 536 feet. These two ships were just as impressive as the super battleships of that era.

After all, when the Royal Navy built these two powerful cruisers, no other battleship could match their tonnage. However, these two formidable protected cruisers proved to be quite awkward in actual use.

Because the original idea behind these two cruisers was to fight against the Ryukyu Islands at all costs, the Royal Navy of Victoria did not impose any restrictions on William White's design of the warship. As a result, William White crammed a total of 21 boilers into the ship, which the sailors described as powerful and impractical.

Some informed officers are now using this term to describe the cruisers currently under construction, clearly indicating that not everyone within the Royal Navy of Victoria considers seaworthiness to be that important.

"I heard that the heavy cruisers that the Colombian Navy is building have a freeboard that is not much higher than that of destroyers."

"Why compare yourself to Columbia?" Day Incourt shook his head. "Those Columbians still don't know what a real cruiser is."

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P.S.: Sword Star is really great, the young lady is so beautiful.

Chapter 384 If you're going to pretend to be a charlatan, you have to keep it up (1)

"But the Colombian Navy's heavy cruisers are equipped with 10 eight-inch main guns, and it seems that they have laid as much armor as possible within their tonnage limits. Although we don't know the specific protection data, it shouldn't be too bad, right? After all, the ship's freeboard is so low."

Based on Vice Admiral Victor's understanding and experience in warship design, he believed that the Colombian Navy's heavy cruisers must have good protection. After all, it's hard for a normal person to imagine how the Colombian Navy could make such a ship with such a low freeboard and such fragile armor.

Regardless of the specific performance of the Pensacola-class heavy cruiser, this heavy cruiser, which is still under construction in the Colombian Navy's shipyard, has become a hot topic within the Royal Victoria Navy due to its stark contrast with the Royal Victoria Navy's Kent-class heavy cruisers.

Many officers and soldiers at the grassroots level expressed during conversations that they would prefer to serve on ships with better protection.

As the initiator of the naval treaty, the Victorian Empire upheld the treaty in all aspects, strictly adhering to its provisions during the treaty period for both capital ships and cruisers.

After all, this matter concerns the political credibility of the Victorian Empire. It is impossible to do what some countries do: build a cruiser of more than 1 tons and then call a deer a horse, claiming that the ship is 8500 tons.

This is like the people of Chu during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, who could openly say, "We are barbarians." But Duke Xiang of Song absolutely could not do that.

For this reason, the standard displacement of heavy cruisers in the Royal Navy of Victoria was strictly controlled to within 1 tons, so this cruiser with extremely weak protection naturally became the object of ridicule among the officers and soldiers of the Royal Navy of Victoria.

Having lost three battlecruisers in a single day at the Battle of Skardraghorst during the last World War, the Royal Victoria Navy now places an unprecedented emphasis on the protection of its warships. Under such circumstances, it is only natural that such a fragile cruiser would not be popular with its officers and men.

However, for this heavy cruiser planned to be named the Kent-class, Deincourt was not entirely honest. Many of his criticized designs were mainly due to the client. As the head of DNC, he was certainly no ordinary person.

"The freeboard of the Colombian Navy's cruisers is only half that of ours, and the freeboard of the Tang Empire's Jiangzhou-class heavy cruisers is also about two meters lower than ours. The lower-ranking soldiers are confused about the situation. Are our Royal Navy officers also joining in the commotion?"

At this moment, Day Incourt looked resentful, as if no one appreciated his good intentions: "A warship that cannot perform the duties of a cruiser in many situations is unqualified, no matter how good its firepower or how outstanding its protection is. Otherwise, why would everyone build battleships and cruisers? They might as well just build submarine gunboats, which have particularly outstanding firepower and protection."

Perhaps sensing the resentment in the chief engineer's tone, Victor could only offer a wry smile and comfort him: "The ships that the general wants and the ships that the soldiers want are always different. There's no need to get angry over something like this."

Victor knew that Day Incourt was right. The most important thing about a cruiser is the word "cruiser." For heavy cruisers like those built by the Colombian Navy, sea state six or seven was basically the limit for their operations.

In sea state 7, the wave height is already 5.5 meters. Under such conditions, the Pensacola and the two lower-positioned turrets of the heavy cruiser are almost unable to fire. If the sea state worsens further, even the two higher-positioned turrets will be almost unable to fire.

In comparison, the Kent-class cruisers had far superior seaworthiness, arguably the best in the world. The Royal Navy of Victoria had almost obsessive requirements for the seaworthiness of cruisers, and under such requirements, the designers simply could not equip the Kent with heavy armor within the tonnage limits through normal means.

But Day Incourt had his own way of dealing with it.

The Royal Victorian Navy is very adept at adhering to the rules while having contingency plans in place for what to do if those rules are broken.

"I have fulfilled Whitehall's requirements for the seaworthiness of the warships without fail. The Kent-class hulls contain enormous wealth. This ship has great potential for modification. If the treaty breaks down or is not renewed in the future, we can easily attach a four-inch layer of armor to the Kent-class heavy cruisers. Moreover, the Kent-class heavy cruisers will still have a freeboard of at least 8 meters."

Dai Yingcourt gestured with his finger towards the Jiang Zhou heavy cruiser in the distance: "The design concept of the Tang Empire's heavy cruiser is almost identical to ours. The only difference is that their cruiser probably added this heavy armor from the very beginning."

"Then isn't that a breach of contract regarding their tonnage?" Victor exclaimed in surprise. "Shouldn't we point it out to them face-to-face?"

“They say it was an error caused during construction. Are you really going to let them dismantle the ship?” Day Incourt shook his head. This kind of not-too-excessive deviation was actually within everyone’s expectations from the beginning, and the Victorian Empire was certainly not surprised by it either.

"These Easterners have almost the same understanding of cruisers as us. In contrast, the cruisers that those guys from the New World have been a false proposition from the beginning. These guys from the New World don't understand what a cruiser is at all, and it seems that they won't have a cruiser now or for quite some time to come."

"From what you're saying, it seems like you have a prejudice against those people from the New World. They were allies of us before, but your hostility towards them seems..."

“I have a Swiss friend who served as a war correspondent in northern Borneo during the last World War, and he took many photos with his personal camera.” De Incourt glanced at Lieutenant General Victor: “General, I am a man of conscience and morality, so I will naturally view certain countries that are keen to commit war atrocities with prejudice.”

"Really?" Lieutenant General Victor asked with some curiosity, "Why have I never seen it in the newspapers?"

“Because there’s an invisible hand imprisoning my friend, no newspaper is willing to publish the photos he took, as if some invisible hand is controlling everything.” Day Incourt sighed. “I don’t like it.”

Victor Zhong nodded silently, then seemed to remember something: "Speaking of which, I recently heard an interesting story about a Colombian naval cruiser."

"What interesting tidbit?"

"Did you know that Colombia enacted a ban on alcohol three years ago?"

"If the funny stories you're trying to tell are those posters on the streets of Colombia that say, 'You can't do this, or the grape juice will turn into wine and become undrinkable,' then please don't mention them. I've heard plenty of those in the last few days."

The alcohol ban enacted in Colombia is somewhat laughable in many ways. Although there is no internet at present, it does not prevent news of the alcohol ban from being quickly circulated throughout Europe.

It can only be said that people's efficiency in gossiping is unimaginable, regardless of the era.

“It’s not one of those Prohibition jokes you’ve heard before,” Victor assured him. “This amusing anecdote actually happened on the day the heavy cruiser Pensacola was launched. Because of Prohibition, even champagne, which was used for the bottle-breaking ceremony, wasn’t allowed.”

"So how did the Colombian Navy finally resolve this?"

"They filled the champagne bottles with water, so the 13-year-old girl who was specially invited to throw the bottle ended up throwing a bottle full of water. And in recent years, no Colombian naval ships launched have 'drunk' champagne. I really don't know if God will still favor these ships with such a perfunctory ceremony."

Victor's words made Day Incourt laugh as well.

"It now appears that although the Colombian Navy and the Tang Empire Navy both have 3 tons more heavy cruisers than us in total tonnage, the future combat power of the Colombian Navy's heavy cruisers may not be much stronger than ours, while the Tang Empire's cruisers... will probably become a formidable enemy for us in the direction of Singapore."

"It's alright, we have the world's most powerful fast fleet. Heavy cruisers are just an add-on for us." Day Incourt sighed with a touch of melancholy, "If only the Nelson-class battleships had chosen the battlecruiser design..."

"We already have enough battlecruisers."

Day Incourt shook his head: "Not nearly enough."

"Not nearly enough?"

However, Day Incourt said nothing, took another deep look at the Jiangzhou heavy cruiser moored on the opposite dock, and then left the dock without saying a word.

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“Father, Li Che is truly amazing. From the beginning of our conversation about Eastern writings to our discussion of other literary works and artworks, the Crown Prince of the Eastern Empire seemed to know me very well. Later, after I pressed him for details, I learned that Easterners can judge many aspects of a person by looking at their palms. For example, he looked at my palm.”

King George V, looking at his rather excited son, was somewhat troubled by his son's lack of religious sensitivity, as a devout believer.

After listening to Prince Edward's detailed account, King George V frowned: "You mean, that Eastern grandson of the crown prince has magic powers?"

"Yes! I think I experienced that yesterday."

King George V never imagined that sending his son to the dock to welcome the visiting delegation of the Crown Prince from the East would result in his son setting him up in a big mess.

I have arranged for my son to be the future heir to the throne of the most powerful empire in the East. This should have been a serious diplomatic event, but Prince Edward does not seem to have this awareness, which has greatly disappointed George V.

After all, after his death, Prince Edward will become Edward VIII, and he will be the one to lead the country.

Although the Victorian Empire has long since become a constitutional monarchy, with the power of the government firmly in the hands of the Prime Minister, this does not mean that the Victorian royal family is a meaningless figurehead.

Aside from some ultimate measures that absolutely cannot be used lightly, the most important thing for the Victorian royal family today is to gain the support of the people.

During the previous world war, as the war intensified and the methods of confrontation between the two sides continued to escalate, hostility towards the Leitanian Empire rose. In 1917, the Leitanian family announced that it would abandon the Leitanian surname "Saxen-Coburg-Gotha" and change its surname to "Windsor," marking the localization of the royal family.

George V, whose original name was George Frederick Ernest Albert, was the second son of Edward VII and Princess Alexandra of Denmark. Due to his lower position in the line of succession to the throne, he received naval training in his youth, entered the Royal Naval College at the age of 12, and sailed around the world with his ships, visiting places such as the Caribbean, Australia, and Taiwan.

Throughout the war, George V demonstrated absolute support for the Victorian Empire's war efforts, which earned him considerable popularity among the people.

What was the purpose of George V's previous deeds? Was it simply to be a good person and do good things?

Even a fool would know that these are not the reasons.

"Edward, the Crown Prince of the Tang Empire said he wanted to read your palm. What did he say?"

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PS: Our dear protagonist is about to start playing the charlatan again, and this time I'm going to make him do something big. I'm not Iran, so when I say big, I mean big. You can all guess how he's going to pull off this charlatan act.

Furthermore, I genuinely didn't expect the Americans to miss with their bunker-buster bomb this time. The decline in the quality of these American space soldiers is truly appalling. If all American space soldiers are of this caliber...

Chapter 385 If you're going to pretend to be a charlatan, you have to keep it up (2)

Upon hearing his father's question, Prince Edward's mind gradually cleared from the excitement of meeting a kindred spirit.

Prince Edward was quite excited today, so when his father talked to him about his interactions with the Eastern prince during the day, Prince Edward was a little too excited and even said some things without thinking.

Take, for example, the time Li Che read his palm.

His good brother had specifically told him that no one should talk about such things casually, so how could he have mentioned it to his father so easily?

How can I face my good brother like this?

Yes, although it has only been less than two days since Prince Edward was released from prison at the dock yesterday, Prince Edward and Li Che already feel like they have known each other for a long time—at least that's how Prince Edward feels.

After all, as the prince of the world's most powerful empire, Prince Edward's childhood was indeed marked by a lack of peers and companionship. Aside from his own brothers, although some noble children grew up alongside him, it's easy to see that their interactions with these young nobles were undoubtedly influenced by strict family discipline, constantly emphasizing his status as the first in line to the throne of the Victorian Empire.

This constant feeling of being held in high esteem meant that Prince Edward lacked true friends from a young age. In fact, Prince Edward himself was well aware that apart from those who were truly his equals, he would probably find it difficult to have any close friends.

The relationship between the Victorian Empire and the Leitanian Empire was originally quite good—at least in the latter half of the last century, the relationship between the two countries was very close. So, the royal families of the two countries did have a good relationship in the generation before Prince Edward, after all, they were related by marriage, weren't they?

However, as Prince Edward grew up, relations between the two countries began to deteriorate. The Ursus royal family was too far away, and apart from occasions like Queen Victoria's birthday, they rarely got together.

So after discovering that they had a lot in common with each other during their time together, Prince Edward quickly became friends with Lee Che.

This might seem a bit far-fetched to some women. How could they become friends after knowing each other for less than two days?

However, men know very well that friendships between men often happen in an instant. It might start with two men driving together on the highway for several hours, or it might start with borrowing a light while smoking, or it might even be a cover for each other to turn around and say hello when they see a beautiful woman while walking with their girlfriends.

Sometimes, male friendships begin in a single moment, and two days is more than enough time.