"Mr. President, in order to prepare for war with the Ming Dynasty, we must choose a suitable location to build a naval base between Washington and Oregon."
In the Oval Office of the White House, General Ulysses S. Grant looked at President Rutherford Hayes and said.
"why is that?"
President Hayes asked rhetorically.
"Didn't we already build a naval base on San Francisco Bay?"
In order to prepare for the war with the Ming Dynasty, after the "Los Angeles Incident", the United States not only formulated a naval expansion plan, but also built a new naval base in San Francisco Bay. The naval base has various facilities such as shipyards, because
The project is so huge that it has not yet been completed.
Well, General Grant wants to build a new naval base in Oregon. Doesn't he know that everything costs money?
In response to the president's question, General Grant replied.
"Mr. President, if we want to blockade Vancouver, we cannot rely on a anchorage in San Francisco Bay. We must also establish a new naval base as close as possible to prevent Ming Dynasty coal ships from sailing out of Vancouver.
, of course, more importantly... Lieutenant Colonel Mahan, please explain your thoughts."
"Yes, Mr. Minister."
Ma Hai unfolded a map he carried with him.
"Lieutenant Colonel, what is this?"
President Hayes asked, looking at the map.
"Mr. President, this is the Strait of Juan de Fuca channel between Vancouver Island and Washington State's Olympic Peninsula, which is the primary outlet for the Georgia Sound and Puget Sound to the Pacific Ocean. The portion of the Strait that makes up our
The national boundary between the Ming Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty. This strait is 90 miles long and 10-16 miles wide. Mr. President, if we build fortresses in places such as Niebe, the mouth of the Olympic Peninsula, and deploy special long-range artillery, then we only need
With forts, the entire strait can be blocked. Once the war breaks out, it will be impossible for Ming Dynasty's coal ships to sail out of this sea area. At the same time..."
Mahan continued to move his hand up the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
"There are also Johnstone Strait and Queen Charlotte Strait to the north. The narrowest area of Johnstone Strait is only one nautical mile. We can mine mines in this area between the Queen Charlotte Islands and Vancouver Island.
, establish a mine network. Of course, it is inevitable that some fish will slip through the net, so we need a new naval base, whose task is to implement a naval blockade in times of war. Of course, more often than not, our forts and mines
, is enough to block most targets. Even,"
Looking up at the president, Mahan said.
"We can also implement blocking operations at the chokepoint of Johnstone Strait in the early stages of the war and prevent their coal ships from leaving through shipwrecks. In this way, we can use the least naval force to achieve our goal -
—Cut off the coal supply of the Ming Empire. Without coal, the war machine of the Ming Empire will not be able to continue to operate efficiently!"
Standing in front of the map and looking at the locations marked by Mahan, President Hayes pondered for a moment and then asked.
"Lieutenant Colonel. Your plan seems perfect, but I have a few questions that I hope you can answer."
"Yes, sir."
"Now do we have artillery with such a long range?"
"Currently, there is no artillery in the world with a range of more than ten miles, but Mr. President, technology is always improving. As long as we put forward technical requirements to manufacturers, they will soon be able to come up with weapons that meet our needs. This
There is no problem."
President Hayes thought for a while and asked again.
"What if they attack our fortress and fort from the land?"
"Isn't that what we dream of, Mr. President?"
Mahan said with a smile.
"No matter which army attacks the fortress, it will eventually pay an extremely heavy price. The damage caused by machine guns and artillery to the infantry will be unimaginable. Maybe by then our forts on the Olympic Peninsula will become the thorn of the Ming Empire.
Meat machine, thousands of soldiers of the Ming Empire will be killed by machine guns and artillery in front of our fortress, and eventually we will exhaust their war potential there. Exhaust their war potential in the northern territories."
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Looking at the naval lieutenant colonel in front of him, President Hayes was silent for a long time. He looked at General Grant standing aside, and then asked.
"General, what do you think?"
"Mr. President, if our war with the Ming Empire is inevitable, then we must do everything possible to prepare for this war and ultimately win it."
General Grant answered directly and straightforwardly.
"Otherwise we are destined to be the losers in this war."
"It seems that if you want to plan these operations, you will need a large budget."
President Hayes spoke for a while.
"At that time, I thought we should be able to squeeze out, and the members of Congress would agree. After all, for safety, no matter how much money is spent, it is worth it."
Once upon a time, in order to save money, the United States spent its own money on martial arts, but what was the result? It was during the "Los Angeles Incident" that it made humiliating concessions.
…
There were not many secrets in the United States in the 19th century, so there were not many secrets because reporters would publish them in newspapers. Issues were being discussed in Congress, and many issues had not even begun to be discussed. They were all given away by supporters or opponents of the issue.
After it was leaked, both of them were trying to gain the power of public opinion to support themselves.
Of course, this makes it easier for other countries to collect intelligence. They don't even need to go through any channels, they just need to buy a newspaper to get the information they need.
But if you want to get the details, you still need some extra efforts. In other words, you need to go through some special channels.
There are almost no people on the Potomac River in winter, but there is a man there, scattering grains and feeding the pigeons from time to time. In front of him, pigeons are walking and flying in the snow.
.
Even if someone sees this scene, they won't be curious about it. Many people know that Mr. Ritter's favorite thing is to feed the pigeons here, and they can see him every week throughout the year.
Although the weather was very cold, he did not wear a hat, letting the biting cold wind blow his blond hair. After finally feeding the grains in the paper bag, Ritter helplessly shook his shoulders, and then said to himself
of.
"Okay, I'll feed you next time."
While he was talking, he crumpled up the paper bag in his hand and threw it into the snow. The pigeons in the snow seemed to think that the paper bag was also grain. They jumped over and ate it a few times, only to realize that it was not grain.
After the meal, I even turned around and looked at the big golden retriever with some doubts.
"What a bunch of cute little things."
Ritter smiled, looked at the pigeons for a while, and then left. After he left, the pigeons were jumping around in the snow, looking for food. At this time, a passerby who looked like a beggar walked away.
Come over, casually bend down to pick up the paper ball on the ground, and then continue walking forward...
