Chapter 435: Sneak Attack on Pearl Harbor (I)

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As the three newly emerging powers in the world at the beginning of the 20th century, the Chinese Empire, the American Empire and the German Empire, the latter had lost the qualification to rise peacefully and was dragged into the abyss of war by the old imperialist countries. It was impossible to rise.

As the only two emerging empires in the world, the Chinese Empire and the American countries were destined to be kicked out in order to compete for the dominant post-war order. To determine who will be kicked out, they can only go through a war and finally fight the heroes and the males.

In this regard, both countries are mentally prepared, but the US decision-makers believe that the Chinese Empire has never joined the Allies or allies, so they do not have the conditions to go to war with the United States politically. Therefore, they believe that unless the Chinese Empire abandons its neutrality policy and joins one of them, there will be no war against the United States.

But they did not know that all this was already under the calculations of the Chinese Empire. On the surface, the Chinese Empire did not choose to join any camp of the Allies or allies, but instead offered to mediate to peacefully resolve the problem of the world war. This was just a paralysis of the United States, but was just a common strategy for pre-war political deception. In fact, the Chinese Empire had successfully stabilized European countries through financial blackmail tactics. If they supported the United States, the Chinese Empire would freeze all their funds in China.

Although this hidden tactic is sophisticated, not all American senior officials have not noticed it. Lance, a member of Woodrow's think tank, raised this question to the president's office. He pointed out to Woodrow and Marshall that the Chinese Empire had absolutely no kind intention to mediate the world war, and they were eager to bite the dog between Western countries. After two and a half months of mediation and mediation, European countries did not make any constructive progress and results at the negotiating table, but countries would instead reserve a large number of gold and silver.

It was prepared to take advantage of the truce to transport it to the Chinese Empire in exchange for a large number of military equipment and strategic materials. This shows that the Chinese Empire actually exported arms and materials to Europe on a large scale, squeezing the last gram of gold and silver from Europe. At the same time, a large amount of gold and silver reserves from European countries flowed into the Chinese Empire, which was equivalent to being squeezed by the Chinese Empire. If the Chinese Empire joins one of the camps during this period, it will undoubtedly cause a fatal blow to the other camp.

After hearing Lance's report, Woodrow and Marshall thought what he said was very reasonable and worthy of vigilance. For this reason, Woodrow met with the representatives of the Allied Powers in the United States. The representatives of Britain, France and Italy believed that their governments had always tolerated the Chinese Empire and actively supported any proposals of the Chinese Empire. Even if the Chinese Empire did not join the Allied Powers camp, at least they should not join the Allied Powers camp.

It can be said that as long as the Chinese Empire continues to declare a neutral attitude, whether it is the Allies or the Allies, they will accommodate and tolerate the small actions behind the Chinese Empire.

But soon, Woodrow informed all countries of the United States of concerns. Although all countries also had concerns in this regard, they had already transported a large amount of gold and silver to the Chinese Empire. On the surface, they mortgaged the treasury's hard currency reserves for peace, but in fact they used the gold and silver to purchase arms and materials to mortgage. The contract had been signed with the Chinese Empire and could not be changed.

Woodrow knew this time that the Allies had mortgaged the batch of gold and silver to the Chinese Empire for buying arms, and also knew how advanced the weapons and equipment the Chinese Empire was preparing to sell to various countries were. The Allies did not seem to be worried that the Chinese Empire would use tricks because they had never thought that the Chinese Empire would go to war against the United States.

But now that the US government knows about the transactions between countries and the Chinese Empire, it has to be vigilant.

The White House, Presidential Office. Woodrow held an emergency meeting. Foreign Secretary Gore, Treasury Secretary Rice, Army Commander-in-Chief General Hugh L. Scott, George Barnett Marine Corps Lieutenant General William Benson, Navy Command Admiral Robert E. Koont and others participated to study the United States' response strategies on the current situation.

Scott snorted coldly and said, "No wonder all countries handed over gold and silver to the Chinese Empire for safekeeping. It turned out that they had secret transactions with the Chinese Empire. This armistice negotiation is simply a cover. The countries are called negotiations, but in fact, they use these three months to prepare for the equipment and materials needed for the next war."

Les smiled bitterly and said, "The Chinese Empire is really good at calculating this time. Under the guise of mediation, it has thrown out a large number of advanced weapons and equipment to lure all countries to willingly take the gold and silver treasury to the Chinese Empire. Not only did it make a huge sum of money, it also drained the last drop of hard work of European countries. Our arms and material exports were also severely weakened, and the money was made available to the Chinese Empire."

Marshall asked, “Is the loss a lot?”

Rice nodded and said, "Originally, the Allied countries, Britain, France, Italy and other countries will purchase aircraft, cannons, tanks and other military equipment, as well as 2 billion US dollars of daily necessities from our country. But now, the Allied countries have only signed US$300 million in arms and US$600 million in daily necessities with us. All other orders have been cancelled, and they must have been transferred to the Chinese Empire."

"Damn it!" Woodrow immediately smashed the table, obviously very unhappy. The order of nearly 5 billion US dollars was taken away by the Chinese Empire, which made everyone present angry.

Rice continued: "The amount on the Allies must be larger. Conservatively, the Chinese Empire should have received orders of up to $12 billion under the pretext of peaceful mediation."

Marshall added fuel to the fire and said: "I'm afraid there are more than these. Russian domestic chaos. In order to preserve the throne, the Tsar has reached a secret agreement with the Chinese Empire. Other countries have only mortgaged two-thirds of the reserves of the treasury to the Chinese Empire. Russia has handed over all the reserves to the Chinese Empire, which are said to be 800 tons of gold and 40,000 tons of silver. The lifeline of the entire Russia has already held the hands of the Chinese Empire."

Gore added at this time: "There is information that the Chinese Empire is secretly matching the Russian and the allies, and Tsar Nicholas II intends to withdraw from the world war. Once this matter is true, then Russia, which lost the Eastern Front, will face tremendous pressure on the Western Front."

Woodrow nodded and said, "This is very likely to happen. Because at this time the army near the Tsarist Russian capital has been controlled by the Soviets, if the Tsar wants to regain power, he must draw elite troops from the front line back. If the reconciliation is not reached with the allies, once the Allies take advantage of the Russian main force's callback, the Tsar's situation will be more passive. Therefore, the chance of Tsarist Russia compromising with the Allies is not lacking, but very big."

Benson said: "If Tsarist Russia withdraws from the world war, then Britain, France and Italy will have to choose to end the war, and even necessary compromises and sacrifices will be agreed."

Gore said: "If that were the case, the war would end. Should we urgently shift our strategic focus and return to the Pacific Ocean? I always feel that something bad will happen in the Pacific Ocean."

Woodrow asked, "What do you mean?"

Gore frowned and sighed, saying, "Recently, I feel that the various actions of the Chinese Empire seem to be preparing for a major action. Some domestic experts and scholars remind us that the various actions of the Chinese Empire seem to be planning a major war. Because the Chinese Empire will make all-round arrangements before each war, including politics, economy and military, and they will actively launch offensives. The Russians and British suffered a great loss at that time because they were not vigilant. We should now be the number one enemy of the Chinese Empire, so I am worried that the Chinese Empire's actions were prepared to deal with us."

Everyone suddenly fell into deep thought.

Soon, Marshall suddenly said: "There are indeed signs in this regard. Think about it, the Chinese Empire mediated the war in political terms of European countries, and economically induced countries to transport most of the treasury reserves to the Chinese Empire. Military terms, the Chinese Empire produced a large amount of military supplies for each country, which could be used as a reserve of military supplies for the Chinese Empire to launch wars."

Everyone suddenly became nervous, and Woodrow hurriedly said: "It seems that the Chinese Empire is indeed preparing for large-scale operations. Will they join the Allies and freeze the Allied Powers' property in China."

Gore said: "This possibility is not without it. But if the Chinese Empire does that, the losses caused by the negative impact will be much greater than the income they seized from the property of the Allies. I think they will only use this as a threat to threaten the Allies' choice to be neutral when war between China and the United States begins."

Sterling said at this time: "I support Gore's view. The Chinese Empire has always liked to prepare for the future. They must have seen that the European war is about to end. In the next decade, European countries will lose their dominance, and the world order will be formulated by the Chinese Empire and the United States. One mountain cannot withstand two tigers. They are ready now to catch us off guard."

Benson also agreed: "That's right! The Chinese Empire has always liked to build plank roads openly and secretly travel to Chencang. It's not the first time that it's a sneak attack, but is a habitual tactic. We should be alert immediately, strengthen national defense, and transfer the main fleet to the Pacific."

Woodrow asked: "The main fleet is transferred to the Pacific Ocean, so what should the German Navy do in the Atlantic Ocean?"

Benson said: "You have also analyzed just now that Tsarist Russia will definitely transfer troops back to suppress the Soviet Union and will inevitably withdraw from the world war. Without the restraint of Russia on the Eastern Front, more than 3 million troops of Germany, Austria and Turkey will be transferred to the Western Front in an instant. Britain, France and Italy are exhausted. If you can't defend it, it will be a disastrous defeat. Obviously, Britain, France and Italy will not wait until then to seek peace, so before Germany and Russia reach an agreement, we will end the war with the allies early. Therefore, we should transfer the main fleet to the Pacific early. Once the Chinese Empire suddenly declares war on us, it will inevitably seize the Philippines and Hawaii. Once these two bases are lost, the door to the western United States will be open. The strength of the Chinese Empire's army is obvious to all. If they are allowed to land on the west coast of the United States easily, the consequences will be disastrous."

Marshall frowned and said, "But if your judgment is wrong. The European war continues to start and our navy is transferred to the Pacific Ocean, then the German navy will do whatever we want on the Atlantic Ocean, our supplies cannot be transported to the Allies, and Britain, France, Italy and other countries will soon be defeated due to shortage of supplies."

Gore said: "The Chinese Empire is very clever and puts us in a dilemma. No matter which choice we make, there are great risks."

"But we have to make a choice!" Benson said: "

Everyone looked at Woodrow, and at this time the president was the only one who made the decision.

Finally, Woodrow announced: "The main fleet of the U.S. Navy is temporarily stuck in the Atlantic Ocean. After all, the focus of the United States is in the east, and the lifeline of the Allies is also on the Atlantic Ocean. As for the Pacific, our retired old warships can be temporarily transferred to Pearl Harbor. Hawaii is the western gateway of the United States. The Army and Air Force first mobilize heavy troops to defend Hawaii. Once the Chinese Empire suddenly attacks us, we must ensure that we can hold on for three months to half a year to win reinforcements for our main force."

Everyone thinks this strategy is a compromise, so they agree more.

Subsequently, the USS.** sent thirteen retired battleships including Indiana, Massachusetts, Oregon, Iowa, Chilshazhi, Kentucky, Illinois, Alabama, Wisconsin, Maine, Missouri, Ohio, Utah, and other thirteen retired old battleships to Hawaii, as well as 23 old armored cruisers to supplement the US Pacific Fleet.

In this way, the US Western Fleet in Pearl Harbor plus the 21 Godbow Battleships that were originally in service (Virginia, Nebraska, Georgia, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Louisiana, Vermont, Kansas, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Mississippi, Idaho, South Carolina, Michigan, Delaware, and North Dakota,

The Florida, Utah, Wyoming, and Arkansas, as well as four old-fashioned Godbow battlecruisers (Montgomery, Seattle, Phoenix, and Little Rock), as well as 16 light cruisers and 54 destroyers, as well as 78 submarines, the number of main battleships of the US Western Fleet stationed in Pearl Harbor reached 192, plus 209 auxiliary ships, the total number reached more than 400.

In addition, the US Army plans to select 500,000 people from millions of new recruits in China to enter Hawaii, of which 200,000 US troops will be sent to the Philippines. The Air Force will mobilize 1,000 combat aircraft to be stationed at Pearl Harbor Air Force Base to undertake regional air defense missions in Hawaii.

Of course, Alaska also has to send troops to defend, but it is far away from the United States and is not suitable for garrisoning large troops because it is cold and cold. Therefore, the US Commission only sent 20,000 US troops there.

Although the US side smelled the danger from the Chinese Empire, what they never expected was that the Chinese Empire had already completed war preparations, army, weapons and equipment, logistics supplies, war funds preparations and other aspects during this period. When the US side was preparing to strengthen Hawaii's defense, the Chinese Empire had formulated a tactical plan to capture Hawaii in a short period of time and had begun to implement it.

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Chapter completed!