In fact, in addition to France, the United Kingdom, Russia and the United States were all surprised by the Italian shipbuilding plan. However, compared to France, they were more surprised. The only one who took any action was the United Kingdom. The British Empire Navy deployed two ships from the mainland.
A battleship was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet as a response to the Italian shipbuilding plan.
After that it's gone.
There are not even as many topics about its shipbuilding as there are about the new Dreadnought battleship.
Yes, it was the epoch-making Dreadnought. For this ship, Lieutenant General Fisher, who was the commander-in-chief of Portsmouth at this time, spoke highly of it. He praised the Italian-built battleship as an epoch-making masterpiece and called on the British Navy to quickly follow suit.
Keep up the pace and don’t fall behind because of this.
However, the British Empire has its own national conditions. The new battleship does not need to be demonstrated, and construction can be started directly. Therefore, countries are still in the demonstration stage, and construction has to wait.
Just as various European countries have their own plans because Italy is preparing to build a large navy, an undercurrent is surging in the Far East.
In Tokyo, the demonstrators had just dispersed, and the flags protesting against Russia fell to the ground. As the core point of the protest, the colorful exterior wall of the Russian Embassy in Japan was beautiful.
Seeing that the crowd dispersed, the Japanese military police guarding the embassy also breathed a sigh of relief. They were very tired from the frequent demonstrations against the Russians. If it was not their duty, they would all want to demonstrate against the Russians. In order to
To protect the interests of North Korea, their police officers only receive 60% of their public salary. How can a family live on this little money?
The big men involved in the dispute between the two countries don't care at all about the thoughts of the little policemen, because they have more important things to pay attention to.
In the palace, a royal meeting was being held.
"Your Majesty, gentlemen, the funds of our Ministry of Finance can still last for three months. If we don't find a way, then the government will go bankrupt."
Tibetan Prime Minister Sone Arasuke, who was born in the military together with the Prime Minister, informed everyone present about the situation in the Ministry of Finance.
"Can you borrow some more from Britain, the United States and other countries?" Minister of Agriculture and Commerce Hirata Tosuke made a suggestion.
Faced with this suggestion, Zeng Nihuangsuke said with a bitter look on his face. "Currently, we have no money to borrow. We have taken out everything that can be used as collateral for loans. There is only one way."
Although Sone Arasuke didn't say what the method was, everyone present knew what it was.
Speaking of Japan's financial disastrous situation, Carlo deserves most of the credit. During the Sino-Japanese War, due to Italy's intervention, Japan suffered heavy casualties and received no compensation. If it had not been for the support of the British Empire, it would not have even been able to obtain the springboard for the mainland of Korea.
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You must know that in the original history, after Japan received 230 million taels of silver compensation from the Qing Dynasty, its total fiscal revenue increased directly from 134 million yen in 1903 before the war to 279 million yen in 1895 after the war. As the
It has grown rapidly, reaching 438 million yen in five years. (The Three Kingdoms intervened to return Liao Dynasty and gave an extra 30 million taels of silver)
In the absence of a huge indemnity from the Qing Dynasty, although Japan obtained the protection of Korea, the Korean Peninsula was not enough to supplement Japan's finances. Even if Japan mobilized more people to work abroad, Japan's finances have been unable to
Breaking through the 300 million yen mark.
This also led to the fact that Japan's finances were the first to be unable to support Japan's continuous expansion of its military. It was only in 1903 that Japan's finances could not support it.
Faced with the Tibetan Prime Minister's complaints, Prime Minister Katsura Taro asked the Foreign Minister on the side.
"Omura-kun, how's the conversation with the Russians going?"
Faced with the Prime Minister's inquiry, Komura Jutaro, who served as the crucial ambassador to the Qing Dynasty during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, immediately responded. "The current talks with Russia are not going well. I have a feeling that the Russians are deliberately stalling for time."
Komura Jutaro said that Japan wanted to delineate their respective spheres of influence with Russia, because Russia also extended its hands into North Korea. This situation was of course that after the Qing forces withdrew from North Korea, the small court in North Korea was afraid that Japan would be disadvantageous to them, so they wooed them.
The Russians tried to use the struggle between the two to maintain their political position.
The negotiation between Japan and Russia is to occupy the Korean Peninsula alone.
Facing the foreign minister, Katsura Taro thought for a while and then asked the Navy Minister on the side. "Yamamoto-kun, if your navy faces the Russian Pacific Fleet, what are the chances of winning?"
Although this is just an inquiry from the Prime Minister, all the important ministers present are paying attention to this issue because it is related to Japan's future.
Faced with everyone's gaze, Admiral Yamamoto Gonbei immediately said, "If the combined fleet fights the Russian Pacific Fleet normally, we have a 60% chance of winning."
The words "60% chance of winning" made everyone present frown. Because the chance of winning was too low. Japan had already staked all its assets. This winning rate was too low and the risk was too great.
"What if we do everything possible?"
It was Prime Minister Katsura Taro who spoke, and Foreign Minister Komura Jutaro, who was familiar with diplomatic rules, changed his expression after hearing this.
After saying this, Katsura Taro didn't care about the other people's faces. Instead, he stared at Yamamoto Gonbei, waiting for the other party to give him a reply.
Faced with the Prime Minister's continued questioning, Yamamoto Gonbei thought for a while and said, "Our Navy Ministry has made such a plan before. If we want to use all possible means to defeat the Russian Pacific Fleet, there are two points that need to be considered. First,
Our fleet must be concealed, and the second Russian fleet stationed in Port Arthur cannot be prepared. We can use torpedoes to raid the docked Russian warships, try to annihilate some of them in the military port, and then lure them out to sea and sink them in one fell swoop."
"What should I do if the other party doesn't come out?"
Faced with this problem, Yamamoto Gonbei showed a smile. "If this is the case, that would be better. We will use the ship to sink at the port of Port Arthur and block the Russian warships inside."
The Japanese Navy has already figured out the situation of Port Arthur. Although Port Arthur is an excellent ice-free port, it has shortcomings. The inner port of Port Arthur is narrow and the water is relatively shallow. In addition, there is only one entrance and exit. Large warships can only
Access to the inner harbor at high tide must be towed by a tugboat.
Although Yamamoto Gonbei didn't say what the odds of winning were, Katsura Taro weighed it himself and found that if everything went well, he would basically have an eighth-level chance of winning.
In this case, some measures must be taken.
"Omura-kun, the negotiations with the Russians will still continue. As for when to terminate the negotiations, we will wait for notification."
Facing the Prime Minister, what can Jutaro Komura say? For the final victory, a little reputation is nothing.
"Please rest assured that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs knows what to do and will not let the Russians notice anything unusual."
After receiving a reply from Komura Jutaro, Katsura Taro looked at Yamamoto Gonbe and defended. "Yamamoto-kun, I'll leave it to your navy for the next step."
