Seven Seas Beacon Fire

Li Che subconsciously asked the question, but then realized he had said the wrong thing. The term "heavy cruiser" only came into use after the London Naval Treaty. Before that, there was no such thing as a heavy cruiser, because heavy is essentially light. After all, the original meaning of a light cruiser was not a light cruiser, but a lightly armored cruiser.

However, Sa Dingming clearly didn't think too much about it and quickly got Li Che's meaning: "Is the Crown Prince referring to our new generation of first-class cruisers? We currently have a total of 3. This designation can indeed distinguish between the old and new generations of first-class cruisers. I think we can consider promoting this designation in the navy, at least as a substitute in informal situations."

Li Che breathed a slight sigh of relief. After traveling back and forth between the two worlds so often, he sometimes couldn't help but mix up some words. Fortunately, Sa Dingming would always make up for it for him.

We need to pay more attention to this in the future, as it can be quite troublesome if we mispronounce a word.

For example, saying "Dad, I need some money" when asking for money would likely have drastically different results than saying "Old Deng, give me some gold coins."

When it comes to heavy cruisers, it is essentially a process of increasing the size of cruisers.

Before the outbreak of this world war, navies around the world had already realized that the tonnage of mainstream light cruisers was no longer sufficient. The hull size of 3000 to 4000 tons was only that of a typical second-class cruiser in the past. The main armament was basically 120 mm or even only 105 mm rapid-fire guns, with a few 150 mm guns occasionally added to make them formidable in cruiser civil wars.

However, with the development of thermal torpedoes and the gradual increase in the size of destroyers, with their tonnage generally exceeding 1,000 tons, not to mention the four-inch guns of the Victorian and the 105mm guns of the Leitanian, even the larger caliber 4.7-inch and 5-inch guns were not enough to stop the destroyers from launching torpedoes at a safer distance, nor were they powerful enough to quickly render the destroyers that launched the torpedoes combat ineffective.

Therefore, just as federal police officers prefer to use 9mm or even .45 ACP to "remove blackheads" rather than .22 when dealing with high-drug blackheads, as early as the eve of the war, the secondary guns of the new generation of light cruisers and battleships of various countries had begun to uniformly use 150mm or 6-inch naval guns. These guns had a longer effective range, and the weight of the shells had increased from 20+ kg to 45 kg, and the tonnage had further increased to the level of four or five thousand tons.

However, such minor repairs and modifications on the original basis cannot meet the needs of navies around the world for light cruisers and for the future, because light cruisers are a type of warship with a wide range of missions. They not only have to be responsible for guarding the main fleet and defending against the attack of the enemy's torpedo fleet, but also need to lead their own torpedo fleet to attack the enemy's formation when necessary.

After the outbreak of war, the size of light cruisers underwent further expansion, as they needed larger tonnage and stronger firepower to suppress the opposing light cruisers in the cruiser civil war.

The first to attempt this was the Federal Navy, the "foolish son" of the wealthy family. Of course, another reason might be that the Federal Navy's cruiser fleet before World War I was really small and disorganized, something that any World War II player is certainly aware of. Could the Federal Navy's Tier II and Tier III cruisers in the game possibly perform their missions? Could you expect the St. Louis, with its mere 23 knots, or the Chester, with its extremely weak protection and firepower? Neither of them could!

Therefore, after the outbreak of war, the Union Navy quickly began construction of the Omaha-class cruisers earlier than in history. These cruisers, with a displacement increased to 8000 tons, were equipped with 12 six-inch guns, and their combat capabilities were greatly improved compared to the previous mainstream light cruisers.

However, compared to the Commonwealth, the Royal Navy of Victoria and the Royal Navy of Ming Dynasty made a greater leap in this regard. Just six months after the Omaha-class cruisers, the two Royal Navys of the East and West simultaneously started construction on two cruisers with extremely similar roles: the Hawkins-class of the Royal Navy of Victoria and the Yangtze-class of the Royal Navy of Ming Dynasty.

这两款巡洋舰的吨位都达到了万吨级且拥有能够达到30节以上的高航速，霍金斯级配备了7门7.5英寸舰炮和多门4英寸副炮，而“长江”级则配备了两座双联装180毫米炮塔和4座单装180毫米炮塔。

Compared to their predecessors, the two new-generation cruisers of the Ming and Victorian navies were not only enhanced in tonnage and firepower. They were also among the world's first cruisers to fully match the fire control systems of capital ships. In engagements with traditional light cruisers, they could even fire freely from outside the effective range of the enemy cruiser's main guns.

"If we have three... then I don't think we need to go to such lengths with the Yongning-class. Even if we remove the side turrets, I don't know if that will increase the speed by even one knot... Two Yongchang-class ships, plus three Changjiang-class ships, can each form the core of an offensive commerce raiding fleet. Our navy has... does it have aircraft-carrying cruisers?"

"Aircraft-carrying cruisers? We converted three of them after the outbreak of war, but the Battle of the Java Sea broke out while they were still undergoing training after the conversion. These three cruisers, which were mainly intended to provide aerial reconnaissance capabilities for the main fleet, were left idle. Does the Grandson mean to use these three aircraft-carrying cruisers to provide aerial reconnaissance for the commerce raiding fleet?"

Sa Dingming quickly guessed Li Che's thoughts, but then he shook his head with some difficulty: "But Grandson, I must point out that the performance of these three aviation cruisers in the test was not ideal. It is not difficult for the plane to take off from the foredeck, but it is difficult to land from the aft deck. If the sea conditions are slightly bad, it is difficult for the pilot to land safely."

Foredeck? Aft deck? So you still don't have a full-length deck?

Under Li Che's careful questioning, it turned out as he had expected—two of the navy's aviation cruisers were converted from submarine support ships, and another was converted from the hull of a Yangtze River-class cruiser midway through its construction.

"Can't you just flatten the entire deck and make a continuous deck that connects the bow and stern?" Often, leaps in military technology and equipment development are just a matter of breaking free from conventional thinking. It was easy for Li Che to enlighten Sa Dingming and his team, but it would be difficult to complete the modification of these three ships within a month.

After all, this kind of conversion isn't something you can simply solve by demolishing the abrupt superstructure in the middle and laying down a wooden deck. The ship's funnels are still standing there, so you have to move the funnels of these ships to the side. Considering that the shipyard is gradually restoring production order, most of its energy is being used to deal with torpedo boats and convert cruisers, it is impossible to complete the full-length deck conversion of these aviation cruisers within a month.

"It's too late to modify them. Here's what we'll do: load as many planes as possible, stuff the hangar with loose parts, and add more moorings on the deck. After the pilots take off to reconnoiter, if conditions are good, they should try to land the planes. If conditions are bad, they should just parachute out and abandon the planes!"

These days, airplanes are basically just "flying wooden frames." Although the country is facing difficulties, the Ming Dynasty has the foundation of an industrial nation, so deploying a few dozen planes for the upcoming naval operations is no problem at all.

This isn't the 21st century anymore. There aren't any flat-top ships where the cost of the aircraft they carry is higher than the ship itself. Nowadays, aircraft are literally consumables. Apart from carrying a person into the air, they're not much different from the FPV vehicles used in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Upon hearing Li Che's explanation of this method of using airplanes as consumables, both Liu Duncheng and Sa Dingming, after their initial surprise, realized... that this was fucking feasible.

"So, are we going to launch an unrestricted attack campaign?"

Liu Duncheng asked the most sensitive question: the reason the Federation officially intervened in the war was the unrestricted attacks launched by the Leitanians in the early stages of the war.

“Of course we must wage an unrestricted attack war.” Li Che answered without hesitation: “Just because we can organize a raiding fleet does not mean that we can organize boarding inspections of every ship on the ocean. Firstly, doing so would be time-consuming and laborious, and would only increase the probability of our raiding fleet being discovered and caught up.”

Secondly, if an Argentine cargo ship is carrying goods from Chile to Italy with Brazilian crew members, how can we determine whether these goods were ordered by the United States military? Do we have the resources to distinguish them one by one?

Finally, the Federation has already joined the war because of Letania's unrestricted submarine warfare. Do you think the Federation would declare war on us again for that reason? We are already at war with the Federation! Now we need to think about how to win this war! Don't worry about war crimes; only the defeated are war criminals!

Chapter Twenty-Two: Bad News

Although there are still some internal disagreements within the Navy, the current head of the Navy, Sa Dingming, firmly stands on the side of supporting Li Che. In addition, with the support of a group of influential generals in the Navy, including Liu Duncheng, the entire Navy is already operating in an orderly manner according to different divisions of labor and tasks.

Just as economic and trade activities in federal society during the Great Depression did not cease, but were halted by the deteriorating economy due to a lack of funds, the Great Depression can be gradually restarted and society can emerge from its predicament through methods such as work relief. Similarly, the war machine that once belonged to the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy is now beginning to operate at high speed in some areas.

Although the war machine is still far from operating at full power, it is no longer necessary for it to be as versatile as it used to be.

Of course, Li Che's attitude could not play a decisive role in whether or not to launch an unrestricted commerce raiding campaign; these matters were naturally left to Prince Jin, Li Zongdi, to decide.

However, the Prince of Jin did not hesitate or waver in this regard and quickly approved the navy's request to prepare for a full-scale, unrestricted commerce raiding campaign.

As for whether the Commonwealth will be enraged by the unlimited commerce raiding? Well, if you are enraged, that would be great, that's exactly what I want to see.jpg

When the Federation people in this timeline first entered the war, many insightful people realized that the Federation people were already prepared to intervene in this great war, which was completely different from the Federation in another timeline.

Because if the Ming Dynasty and the Lytania win this war, with an East under the Ming Dynasty's order and a Europe under the Lytania's order, the Commonwealth will be forever excluded from the mainstream game by the World Isle, and their sphere of influence will be forever confined to the New World.

The Federation, of course, did not want to see this situation unfold, so they found a pretext to intervene in the war. This pretext was that a Leitanian submarine had sunk a Federation ocean liner. The Federation used the Leitanian's unrestricted submarine warfare as a reason to "declare war on the evil Allied Powers."

But just as you can't kill someone who's already dead, the Ming Dynasty and the Federation have already forged a deep-seated hatred in this war. So what can the Federation do now that they're launching an unrestricted commerce raiding campaign against the Federation? Are they going to declare war again?

As the year progressed into March 919, just over half a month after the Prince of Jin led his army into Jinling, ordinary people could already sense that the atmosphere of the entire country had "changed considerably."

The factory is gradually resuming production, and the garrison officials transferred from the border regions, under the leadership of Crown Prince Lee In-chi, are using their most familiar methods to adjust the economy—planning.

In several universities in Nanjing, professors, lecturers, and even students from the mathematics departments were gathered together. They were asked to assist the new government and the army in calculating what hundreds of industries and thousands of factories of all sizes needed to produce and manufacture. The results were then issued to these factories in the form of administrative orders, requiring them to produce according to the instructions.

Many of these factories had ceased operations and were on the verge of bankruptcy during the later stages of the war. Now, these factories and the workers that could be mobilized were required to resume production unconditionally. Initially, this approach, which was completely different from that in inland areas, not only aroused the resentment of many entrepreneurs, but also the workers did not support it much.

After all, many factories have stopped operating because they can't even afford to pay their workers' wages, and no worker likes to work for free.

However, the workers soon discovered that although the new government could not pay them their full wages, it could provide them with much-needed necessities, such as food, medicine, and other daily necessities.

how to say?

A steamed bun might be worth only 5 cents on ordinary days, but during times of famine, it could cost as much as a piece of gold to exchange for.

Although the situation in China hasn't reached that point yet, it's clear that the normal prices of many daily necessities have already skyrocketed. Even with normal, full wages, it would be difficult to buy so many things. In comparison, the "treatment" offered to workers by the new government is much better.

But just when everything was thriving and full of vitality, bad news came from the south. Li Zongdi was so angry that he smashed his pipe. Li Renchi sighed and felt that the fate of the country was about to slip through his fingers. Sa Dingming was so angry that he didn't say a word all day. Liu Duncheng slammed his hat on the table and said that he would rather give up his life and perish with them.

The bad news was that a fast fleet of the Royal Victorian Navy had been stationed in Singapore. This was the first time the Victorians had deployed large warships to the Singapore fortress since the fall of Palembang.

Although the Victorian squadron was not very strong, consisting of only three battlecruisers and a few escort cruisers, the three battlecruisers were two Indulgence-class battlecruisers and the only survivor of the Invincible-class battlecruisers—the lead ship, HMS Invincible.

These three battlecruisers were all early-generation battlecruisers with relatively weak capabilities. The Invincible-class was merely a minor upgrade of the Invincible-class. In general, these earliest battlecruisers were completely outmatched by the new generation of battlecruisers in terms of both firepower and protection.

Even their once-proud speed of 25.5 knots has been caught up by the new generation of Queen Elizabeth-class battleships (on paper). These battlecruisers will probably be quickly put into reserve after the war ends.

However, under these circumstances, the Victorians dispatched three of their battlecruisers to the East, which was a major blow to the unrestricted commerce raiding that was about to take place.

If the Victorians were to deploy these three battlecruisers to assist the Commonwealth in their encirclement and suppression campaign throughout the Western Pacific, then the Ming Dynasty would likely have no other large surface combat vessels capable of undertaking the task of disrupting commerce, except for the "Yongfeng," a new vessel capable of reaching 31 knots.

Moreover, it's unrealistic to place all our hopes on those three "Yongfeng" class ships.

The Victorians have only sent three of their oldest battlecruisers so far, but what if they send the Renown next?

They have a speed limit of 32 knots! And that's a ship that's nearly 4 tons running at 32 knots.

Chapter Twenty-Three: A Reliable Ally, England

If the Victorians had sent three battlecruisers to the East before the outbreak of this world war, the Ming Dynasty's Royal Navy would have laughed out loud—what are you trying to do by sending these few nobodies? Are you here to deliver our heads when war breaks out?

By today's standards, these battlecruisers, while not exactly outdated, are practically on the verge of obsolescence. However, with the Federation's battlecruisers all lost and the Ming army's battlecruiser fleet trapped in Sishui Port, unable to escape, the arrival of these three battlecruisers—the only three remaining battlecruisers in the East—has almost pushed the navy's operational plans to the brink of collapse.

Firstly, among these three battlecruisers, apart from the relatively slow HMS Invincible at only 25.5 knots, the two Indulgence-class battlecruisers could reach a speed of 27 knots. This speed was higher than that of all large surface combat ships of the Ming Dynasty Navy, except for the three Yangtze River-class heavy cruisers and one aviation cruiser that also used the Yangtze River-class hull.

The Yongchang-class armored cruisers, which were previously expected to be quasi-battlecruisers, are now in a rather awkward situation. No matter how much they are regarded as "quasi-battlecruisers", they are genuine battlecruisers!

The armor of the three Victorian battlecruisers was indeed not very good, but it is said that at least two of the Indulgence-class battlecruisers had their magazine sections reinforced during the refit after the Battle of Jutland.

Even though the Ming army's armor-piercing shells were of excellent quality, and although the new hard-capped armor-piercing shells had not yet been deployed for replacement, the soft-capped armor-piercing shells that were previously the main equipment of the Ming army were at least at the level of Russian armor-piercing shells or the United States Army's 1916 Midwell armor-piercing shells (the Russians possessed the best armor-piercing shells of the same caliber in the world before the green shells entered service), no one knew whether the 240mm naval guns could threaten the core area of ​​the British battlecruiser.

After all, the Leitanians used at least 280mm guns to destroy the Victorian battlecruisers in Jutland.

If the Yongchang was facing a situation where it couldn't win, then the Changjiang-class battlecruisers were facing a situation where they couldn't outrun them.

Some students might say, "Isn't the Yangtze-class cruiser supposed to be able to reach at least 30 knots? How could it be slower than the Victorian battlecruiser, whose fastest ship was only level 27?" The problem is that if they encounter rough seas, the Victorian battlecruiser, which is almost 20,000 tons, would probably only lose one or two knots, but a cruiser that is only 10,000 tons and has a particularly large length-to-beam ratio and a particularly slender hull could lose five knots.

One might be outmatched, and the other might be outrun. How the hell can the original battle plan proceed?

Under these circumstances, Li Che was the first to make a decision. He immediately sent telegrams to the Navy and his grandfather, both conveying the same message: all preparations should continue and all operational plans should remain unchanged.

Clearly, Li Che was prepared to push forward with the original battle plan, even at the risk of the Victorian three battlecruisers.

So, the day after the telegram was sent, Li Che, unsurprisingly, waited in his temporary office for his father, who had traveled all night by train from Yingtian Prefecture.

"What exactly are you trying to do, kid? I know you've had a smooth life so far, but don't let that make you think about competing for the moment and forcibly pushing your original plan forward just to save face. If one path doesn't work, let's try another. How many arrogant and autocratic people in history have had a good ending?"

Upon meeting him, Li Renchi began lecturing him like a monk from Journey to the West. Li Che smiled helplessly at his father's behavior: "Who said I'm autocratic? Even if I wanted to be autocratic, I'd need the authority to do so, wouldn't I? Did Grandpa give me that authority, or did you, Young Master?"

"I...you..." Li Renchi was speechless for a moment: "Then aren't you acting arbitrarily? What exactly are you trying to do?"

“I’m just offering my suggestion.” Li Che spread his hands: “I think we don’t need to worry about the three battlecruisers from Victoria, and even if the Victorians do come to interfere, it won’t have much of an impact.”

"Isn't this a big deal? Let me tell you, don't stand on the dry shore and watch the show, making things worse. Do you want the Royal Navy of Victoria to send those Renown-class battlecruisers over here or something?"

"Dad, do you know what the biggest difference is between you and Grandpa?" Li Che rolled his eyes at his father and asked.

"Marching into battle?" Unexpectedly, the young master actually answered seriously, but he quickly realized, "What difference is there between me and my father? What does that have to do with you? I am your father, don't always treat me like an idiot, okay?"

“I’ve never thought you were a fool, Dad. If you were a fool, then there would be no normal people in the world. I’m just saying that everyone has their own strengths, and the biggest difference between you and Grandpa is your vision. Grandpa always sees further ahead than you.”

Li Che calmly walked to his seat but did not sit down. Instead, he struck the classic pose of the protagonist in House of Cards, supporting himself on the table with both hands and leaning slightly forward: "I heard that Grandpa smashed his teacup after learning that the Victorians had sent three battlecruisers to Singapore."

"He smashed his pipe."

"Did Grandpa tell me to stop working after receiving the telegram?"

"No, but your grandfather has always spoiled you. If he doesn't care, I have to come and ask you, right?"

Li Che shook his head: "Dad, you have to understand one thing. Grandpa smashed things not because he thought the Victorians would ruin our original battle plan. Grandpa was just angry that the Victorians were still trying to extort us at this time. Fortunately, the Victorians were only planning to extort us."

"Extortion?" Li Renchi was slightly confused. "What does that mean?"

"It means that the Victorians don't want to see us completely defeated by the Federation." A confident smile appeared on Li Che's face: "The Victorians did not see through our battle plan. Don't think of MI5 and MI6 as being so magical. The founder of MI6 was even an intelligence layman. The fact that the Victorians are reinforcing their troops in Asia at this critical juncture is purely a coincidence and does not mean that the Victorians are prepared to assist the Federation in the war."

"What?" Although Li Renzhi was adept at handling domestic and financial issues, he clearly lacked sufficient knowledge and understanding of international relations, or more precisely, the Victorian Empire.

"Father, the Federation has demonstrated their terrifying industrial production capacity in this war, especially their shipbuilding industry. Although the Federation Navy is still smaller than the Royal Victoria Navy, which has a huge fleet, just by looking at the warships on the shipyards, you can tell which country is most likely to gain maritime hegemony in the future."

The Royal Navy has almost exhausted all its resources for this war. Apart from the Admiral-class, which is an improvement on the Renown-class battlecruisers, the Victorians no longer have any other large surface ships under construction. The Victorian Empire's shipbuilding industry is now like a giant with a muscle strain; it can no longer run. They have reached saturation.

Dad, you just asked me how many people in history who wanted to rule arbitrarily ended up well? Then why don't you think about it—between those emperors who were already old and frail but unwilling to relinquish power, and those crown princes who also didn't want to continue living in constant fear—how many of them had good outcomes?

"You mean there's already a rift between the Victorians and the Commonwealth?"

Li Renzhi still found it somewhat unbelievable in his subconscious. After all, in the previous Java Sea naval battle, the cooperation between the Victoria and Colombian navies could be described as seamless. The troop movements of both navies between the two oceans not only successfully carried out strategic deception, but more importantly, ultimately achieved absolute superiority on the local battlefield.

In Japanese anime, this kind of cooperation would require the male protagonist and the second male lead to shout about their friendship and bonds to achieve the desired effect. Not to mention that most Victorians and Commonwealth people are Anglo-Saxons, both countries speak English, and can be considered to be of the same race and language. Are you telling me that these two countries have reached the point where they would undermine each other?

"Nothing is impossible. Although the Commonwealth and the Victorians are now allies, as the former Victorian Prime Minister Salisbury once said, the only value of the Victorian Empire is to maintain the pound sterling and her navy."

The Royal Navy is fundamental to maintaining the British colonial system and global financial hegemony, while finance is the pillar that supports the Victorians and maintains the world's most powerful Royal Navy. The two complement each other and are indispensable. However, the Commonwealth has in fact challenged the Victorians in both aspects at the same time. It's just that compared to the stupidity of the Leitanians, the Commonwealth's challenge is more covert.

Li Che's amazing little lesson today can be described as him imparting all his knowledge to his father: "For the Victorians, if we are completely defeated by the Federation, then the world's largest ocean will be completely taken over by the Federation Navy."

However, if we are not defeated by the Federal Navy, then the Federals will have to share this ocean with us. The Federal Navy's main focus will be tied up in this ocean, while the Atlantic will still be dominated by the Royal Victorian Navy. For the Victorians, now is the time to nurture a bandit to enhance their own power; we are the bandits in their eyes.

"But the Victorians and the Commonwealth are both members of the Entente Powers; they are allies..."

“The Victorians and the Commonwealth are, of course, close allies, so believe me, Father, you will see that the Victorians are willing to give the Commonwealth all the support they can, except for practical assistance.” Li Che believed that he was the person who understood the Victorians best in the world, and he understood Britain better than the Victorians themselves: “And don’t forget, Father, the Victorians have twice tried to organize peace talks between the previous provisional government and the Commonwealth. The Victorian Empire is the country in the world that most wants a ceasefire between us and the Commonwealth right now.”

During both World Wars, the Victorians were known as "reliable allies." Almost every country that fought alongside the Victorians was betrayed by them, and our expeditionary force suffered greatly in this regard.

The Victorians' only unchanging motivation is the benefit of the Victorian Empire. You can call the Victorians shameless because when they are shameless, they not only cheat foreign countries, but they will also cheat their own country's sailors.

For example, during World War II, when HMS Glorious and its accompanying destroyers were sunk by the Leicester Navy, the passing heavy cruiser HMS Devonshire received a distress telegram but lied that it was simultaneously conducting a main gun salvo training exercise (even the Victorians themselves thought it was a coincidence that the heavy cruiser's main guns opened fire at the exact moment the telegram was received), and then passed by. Afterwards, of the 1537 British sailors, more than 900 climbed onto lifeboats, but only 46 survived.

After fabricating a flimsy excuse, the British Admiralty raised the secrecy level of the matter to 100 years. Until the end of the century, the matter was questioned by the British Parliament, and the answer was that it was not declassified.

Considering that the troublemakers were still colluding with the Germans 40 years ago, and that the Norwegian royal family had a close relationship with the Germans, then—the Windsor royal family abandoned 1500 sailors who were fighting against the Leyte army at sea to die in order to reach Germany, and then simply declared them missing and did not care about them afterwards.

How many ministers are worth a single word in this sentence?

In addition, what exactly did the deputy head of state who inexplicably crashed his plane in Britain talk about with the Victorians?

If their words were made public, how many ministers would each of them be worth?

When all the elements coincide and match up, a normal person should understand that it is highly unlikely to be a coincidence.

That being said, it is even more important to understand that while the Victorians were shameless, they were not incompetent.

The Victorian Empire's ability to govern the world as a global hegemon far surpassed that of the Federation of Colombia.

Three older battlecruisers represent a delicate force; it's difficult to determine whether the Victorians' deployment of such a fleet is a threat or a gesture of goodwill, given that the Leitanians have now surrendered and the Royal Victorian Navy can free up a sufficient number of warships to come to the East.

Let alone three battlecruisers with 12-inch guns, even sending Lion, Tiger or Renown would not be a problem. Moreover, these warships can be deployed for a long time, without having to rush back to the homeland after the battle as last time.

"While what you're saying makes sense, what exactly are the Victorians after? Is it just for a somewhat unrealistic future? Are they convinced that we'll be able to restrain the Commonwealth in the Pacific?"