Mahan's three questions were so direct that Grant was a little confused.
Because the problem with his question is obvious. It's not a problem at all.
"Lieutenant Colonel, whether a war will break out between us and the Ming Empire depends on them, not us!"
Once again, Grant responded with high-sounding words. In the past few years, American public opinion and observers have been talking about a topic - when will the war between the United States and the Ming Empire break out?
For the United States, which has experienced the "Shame of Los Angeles", the Ming Empire even poses a far greater threat to the United States than the British to some extent. In particular, the Ming Empire threatens the sparsely populated northwest region of the United States.
Because of this, in the eyes of the vast majority of Americans, Ming Dynasty is the most direct imaginary enemy of the United States. Of course, this is also true, and in the past few years, the United States has also been preparing for this war.
As a naval lieutenant colonel, Mahan certainly knew this very well, but Grant did not give a direct answer.
"But when any country goes to war, their ultimate goal is to win the war. Am I right? Lieutenant Colonel!"
Of course, now that he was interested in what Mahan was going to say next, he no longer needed to think about the issue of time.
"Yes, Your Excellency Minister, then the only question now is, how do we win this war?"
Facing Grant, Mahan said.
"We must see a realistic problem, that is, in the past few years, the power gap between the United States and Ming Dynasty has not widened, but has been continuously narrowed. A few years ago, the biggest advantage for the United States was
It is our advantage in population, but what about now? The Ming Empire already has a population of 20 million. In the next few years, their population will continue to increase exponentially, with tens of thousands of people arriving almost every day.
Chinese immigrants arrived in Ming Dynasty on immigration ships. Just in the past 1874, more than 1.2 million immigrants arrived in Ming Dynasty, and more than 150,000 of them arrived in Vancouver, which is what they call the Beihai Governorate. Your Excellency, Minister, "
Grant was very clear about the numbers Mahan mentioned. In fact, anyone who cares about the future of the United States would notice these numbers.
"These people are all young, and they are all young people with childbearing potential. What we are facing is an exponential increase in population. Soon their population will exceed ours, and by then our only advantage will be lost.
It’s over.”
Looking at the frowning Secretary of War, Mahan continued.
"Of course, what ultimately determines the outcome of the war? Or the battlefield! What we are about to face on the battlefield is an opponent that we have never been familiar with, and that is far ahead of us in technology. Facing such an opponent
, how can we defeat them and win the war?"
Then he asked again and said to Mahan.
"Beihai Governor-General! Almost everyone has placed their hope of victory there. It seems that as long as we can occupy it, we can eliminate the threat from Ming Dynasty, because of coal! Without coal, Ming Dynasty's factories cannot operate. Without coal, Ming Dynasty cannot operate.
Their steel plants cannot produce steel, and without steel they cannot build warships and manufacture weapons. In the end, we will win this war."
All this is not a secret at all. In fact, there are often discussions in American newspapers about how to occupy the Beihai Governorate and cut off the coal supply to the Ming Dynasty.
"Almost everyone has noticed what is the weakness of Ming Dynasty? There are neither enough coal mines nor enough iron mines in his homeland. Without the coal from the Beihai Governorate and the iron mines from Guinea, their industrial production would not be possible.
It may continue. In the past few years, their dependence on external mineral resources has not diminished, but has continued to increase. Therefore, everyone thinks so, which is of course correct. The problem is...
Can we occupy the Beihai Governor-General, capture their fortresses, and defeat their armies at the beginning of the war? You know, what we can see, they can also see. Otherwise, how could they build fortresses on the border?
What? If we want to capture those fortresses, we must pay the price in blood. General, it is more about time."
Of course, Ming Dynasty knew where its weaknesses lay, and it was also very clear that if a war broke out, the United States would definitely attack the Beihai Governorate. Therefore, after the "Los Angeles Incident", it immediately built a number of fortresses along the border.
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"Time is on their side. It will take time to conquer the fortress. It may even be a long process, one year or even two years. General, during this process, their defense strength in the north will only become stronger and stronger.
Strong, the army will only grow. And we have to consider the threat from Mexico. Their strength is very weak, but when our strength falls into the North Sea Governorate, who can guarantee that they will not be involved?
?”
Facing Mahan's analysis, General Grant nodded.
"We are all aware of this, so we will continue to increase investment in the navy in the past and in the future. Once a war breaks out, our fleet will prevent the Ming Empire from sending reinforcements to the north. This is exactly what the navy does.
role in the future war."
"General, in the future, the most important task for the navy is to defeat the Ming Dynasty fleet. Only by defeating their main force can we win control of the sea and prevent them from supporting the northern territories from the mainland. This is of course our plan.
But this is not enough."
Mahan shook his head and said straightforwardly.
"If we want to win, we must do two things. You must let their fleet travel thousands of miles north to engage in naval battles with us near our waters. All we need is to fight this laborer at our doorstep.
Expeditionary fleet."
This is not a new theory. This point has been emphasized many times in the plan formulated by the US Navy, which is to use the distance advantage to defeat the Ming Navy's expedition. Grant nodded slightly in agreement, and then he asked.
"What about number two?"
"The second is that we must build a chain near the Beihai Governor-General, just like the hinge we built in the south, to tightly lock the Beihai Governor-General. Even if a Ming Dynasty fishing boat goes out to fish, it must
With our permission, under our blockade, not even a single coal ship will be able to sail to the south, to the Ming Dynasty, and then the initiative in the war will be in our hands."
Mahan took a deep breath, met Grant's eyes and said.
"But now we are not prepared for this at all. We are just preparing for a naval battle with the Ming Empire, but we have not considered how we can win this war. We thought we could defeat them through a naval battle.
And win the war, but actually? That's just wishful thinking."
As a naval commander, Mahan's judgment was very accurate. The United States seemed to be preparing to deal with the Ming Dynasty, but in fact it was not prepared at all.
"Based on our current preparations, not only is it impossible for us to win this war, but we may even fail as soon as it breaks out."
As the saying goes, good advice is hard on the ears, so Mahan's words made Grant frown, and he said a little unhappy.
"So what do you think we should do now? Since you have said so much, there must be a corresponding solution now."
"Yes, General!"
Mahan said confidently.
"This is also the purpose of my coming today."
This chapter has been completed!