The visit of the Minister of State Colonel Charles, who was about to bring enough capital to Zhang Yunfei in Fengtian Province, also made Zhang Yunfei feel the deep uneasiness of the United States.

Although Honolulu and the United States have a secret paramilitary partnership, it was when the Honolulu Navy did not threaten the security of the US Western Pacific coast. With the continuous foreign wars of the Pacific Fleet, the U.S. Navy has deeply felt the military pressure from Honolulu.

Of course, the US government has not yet felt that Honolulu would become the enemy of the United States, because the United States has not yet had any differences and conflicts in its interests. Honolulu's pillar industries, the sugar industry and the alcohol industry, are in a monopoly position for countries around the world, but the United States is not worried because Cuba is in its hands. The just-in-come automobile industry of Honolulu has taken a technical route, and production and sales are run by American automobile merchants.

More importantly, Zhang Yunfei is kind to the country, at least so do people in the political and business circles in the United States think. Despite this, the US military is not only vigilant about Honolulu. Especially after the Pacific Fleet wiped out the Russian Far East Fleet, it was already in a dominant position in the Pacific region.

Colonel Charles smiled and said, "Mr. Zhang hasn't placed an order with our Navy for a long time! Now Mr. Zhang has offended Russia. With Nicholas' personality, I believe that when the peace agreement is terminated, he will definitely take revenge on you!"

Zhang Yunfei also echoed and said, "Why did Colonel Charles say that? No one can predict what will happen next moment, especially what will happen five years later!"

"Mr. Zhang may not know that on the day Russia signed the contract, it placed an order to build battleships with France, and at the same time it also placed an order to build two battleships with our country," said Colonel Charles.

Zhang Yunfei was a little surprised. It was completely expected that Russia had placed an order to build a ship with France. However, when did Russia trust the United States? And it was still placing an order with the Philadelphia Shipyard? This Philadelphia Shipyard was very familiar to Zhang Yunfei because a shipyard built two protective cruisers and a large number of auxiliary ships such as gunboats and transport ships for Zhang Yunfei.

Zhang Yunfei didn't understand why Colonel Cha wanted to tell him this? So he asked: "Why did you tell me?"

"The Russian government's purpose is very simple. First, they want to rebuild the Far East Fleet. With the domestic shipbuilding industry alone, they cannot build a fleet that is sufficient to compete with you in a short period of time, so they have to purchase it.

But France wants to build ships by itself. The remaining air docks are still not enough for Russia to need them. So Russia chose us. The second purpose is to use the opportunity to understand the data parameters of the Pacific Fleet at the Philadelphia shipyard. These actions. Even we know that there is a war. You won’t know it!”

Colonel Charles sucked it lightly, and took it in his mouth and swallowed it slowly. It felt very refreshing.

It was really said by Colonel Charles. Zhang Yunfei only knew that Russia would go to war with him again. But he didn't know that Russia had begun to formulate a combat plan against him. Such a large-scale shipbuilding operation was obviously aimed at Zhang Yun's enclave. However, Russia's such a large-scale shipbuilding plan would inevitably set off a new round of naval competition. With the Russian's local wealth, Zhang Yunfei really dared to fight.

"Thank you very much for telling me these things!" Zhang Yunfei said.

"It's nothing! We are just dealing with Russia's commercial interests. And you have a secret agreement with Mr. Zhang. Therefore, we are friends. As the Admiralty, Russia is sincere in order to build land warship data. We will provide you with land."

Colonel Cha continued to savor his tea. He seemed to be very worried.

If Zhang Yunfei had not been seeking an exhibition in the Qing Dynasty, and had to do his best to deal with Russia in the north, and there was a Japanese in the Pacific, the U.S. Navy would almost dare to conclude that his next goal was the United States. However, there were many people with great vision in the United States. When they saw Russia and Japan, they would sooner or later be stepped on by Zhang Yunfei.

The United States has always been a country that hides its strengths and keeps its low profile until it became the world's number one industrial country at the end of the 19th century. The surplus of industrial products and demands the United States to open up overseas markets, which led to the root of violent military expansion. Especially the expansion of the naval area, the huge shipbuilding project once made European powers nervous. In just ten years, the U.S. Navy used its huge shipbuilding capabilities to build a powerful navy, which made the U.S. Navy jump from the twelve world to the fourth naval power in the world.

Mahan's theory of maritime power not only led the world trend, but also inspired the US naval development, causing the US Navy to embark on the road of external expansion. Due to the appearance of Zhang Yunfei, the death of Roosevelt, who should have been US President in 2018, was gone. The United States lost the necessary determination to march into Asia and focused on the attack on the American Great Six.

Colonel Charles was deliberately using tricks, and Zhang Yunfei knew very well. This move is called retreating to advance, and it is a good diplomatic strategy. People who can use this trick are not simple.

"Col. Charles, tell me your request! I originally planned to build warships in Guizhou, but your shipyard seems to have no spare ship seats?" Zhang Yunfei asked.

The United States is busy building its own Navy plan at this time. The docks of major well-known shipyards in China are filled with warships built for the U.S. Navy, and it seems that there are no spaces left.

However, before coming, Colonel Charles had already contacted the Admiralty and the shipyard and determined that Zhang Yunfei would definitely place an order. The so-called merchants cannot afford to make any profit

It is the most accurate to describe Americans.

Colonel Charles looked at Zhang Yunfei with a smile, as if he had guessed the result, and saw him take out several contracts from his folder and handed them to Zhang Yunfei.

"I have several shipyards here that are relatively idle, and can provide you with any shipbuilding service, ranging from battleships to destroyers and torpedo boats, you can choose whatever you want!"

Zhang Yunfei looked through the documents carefully. Although he felt extremely depressed, his face still smiled.

Currently, Zhang Yunfei's Pacific Fleet has 7 battleships, and at the same time, there are two domestically produced goods under construction in Pearl Harbor Shipyard. And with the UK, a shipbuilding agreement has been signed. Each level of the British battleship will be built for Zhang Yunfei. In this way, two battleships will be completed every year. Now, the former dreadnought is about to withdraw from the stage of history. If you build too many, it will not only waste money, but also waste time.

There is no need to build battleships in the United States, but it is necessary to balance the relationship between the US navy and local governments. In the end, Zhang Yunfei decided to order other warships in the United States. Before World War I, countries around the world wanted to increase mutual trust, mainly to be transparent to each other in military terms to gain the trust of each other. The most direct way was to order warships from each other, because the national strength during this period was measured by the navy. Ordering warships was to explain their military transparency to the other party to ease the relationship.

Zhang Yunfei looked at several shipyards: the design was designed, and finally decided to build heavy cruisers to make a good deal. Not only can it cruise the Pacific Ocean, but it is not as updated as a battleship, and it will not be outdated.

Zhang Yunfei chose the heavy cruiser as the large armored cruiser in the United States. The design version chosen was the Pennsylvania-class heavy cruiser with a displacement of 22 knots and a very strong firepower. It uses two sets of vertical triple-inflattening units to double-axis horsepower. However, this heavy cruiser I didn't want was because it uses a bulky steam engine, so Zhang Yunfei needed to transform it.

"I ordered two large Pennsylvania-class armored cruisers in your country, which were built by the United Steel Shipyard in San Francisco, but I need to make some changes. Remove all the lower deck floors and replace the saved weight with 6 8-inch guns. The power system of the warship is provided by us, and the rest are handled by your shipyard."

Zhang Fei calculated that the two warships were launched in 1899. At that time, Britain or Germany would have better power systems. Although Zhang Yunfei is unable to localize all parts of the warship, his biggest advantage is that he can absorb advanced equipment from various countries for his own use. Even the copied version of the assembled warship is better than the things from a single country. In addition, he chose to build it in San Francisco, and Hawaii is very close to him, so he can follow up on learning technology and experience at any time.

In fact, most of the current US-made ships rely on importing materials from countries such as Britain and Germany. To put it bluntly, the United States is currently a second-hand dealer. The only difference is that American land design ideas are more forward-looking. This is also an aspect of Zhang Yunfei's optimism about the United States. At least the US artificial land warships look more comfortable than French inverted triangular warships.

Zhang Yunfei removed all the 152mm cannons on the lower deck because the naval battle experience between the German Far East Fleet and the British fleet during World War I told him that this kind of lower cannon could not fire in the big waves, just decorations. The heavy cruisers equipped with six single-mounted 203mm cannons were invincible before the battle cruisers appeared.

In addition, if it is replaced by the latest British power system steam turbine unit, the steam turbine of the same size has a high output power and light weight, which makes the heavy cruiser reach 2 or higher based on the original 22 knots, reflecting the true value of the heavy cruiser.

Because with the emergence of new steam turbine units in Britain and Germany, a cross-age naval revolution will surely occur. The battleship degree as the main naval battleship will be greatly improved. If other battleships, especially the heavy cruisers of quasi-battleships, lose their degree advantage, there is no difference between a pile of scrap iron without heavy armor in front of the battleship.

Zhang Yunfei was familiar with the huge disaster brought to the naval power by this dynamic revolution. Many naval powers desperately built a bunch of warships from the pre-Defensive-class era, almost hollowed out the national treasury, but ended up being outdated overnight and becoming scrap iron. Many powerful countries have never recovered from this, such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Tsarist Russia. There are also many countries such as Japan, the United States, and France, which were severely slaughtered by Britain, causing heavy losses.

Among them, only Zhang Yunfei and Britain were the biggest winners, and Zhang Yunfei's mistake gave Germany the start of researching the new steam engine in advance, which made Germany not take detours and was also considered a winner. Other countries, any country that built a large-scale dreadnought, would suffer terrible losses.

Especially in Russia and Japan, which are now suppressed by Zhang Yunfei, Zhang Yunfei can vaguely see them crying and crying at their parents with painful expressions.

Chapter 215 Mediation

Colonel Charles was a little dizzy about Zhang Yunfei's purchase of the ship.

The reason why the United States designed this armored cruiser with a tonnage of up to 1 was originally intended to target Zhang Yunfei's Pacific Fleet's 10,000-ton heavy cruiser. Because the US Navy designed such a large tonnage armored cruiser, it was a little worried. At the same time, in order to save money, it was included in the scope of external sales.

I didn't expect Zhang Yunfei to be interested in it. In Colonel Charles's eyes, Zhang Yunfei should have chosen to build battleships to deal with Russia. I didn't expect Zhang Yunfei to be interested in heavy cruisers. For a moment, I knew how to answer.

"What? Is there any problem?" Zhang Yunfei asked.

"No, no! No question," Colonel Charles hurriedly replied: "I don't know that Mr. Zhang actually has such a thorough understanding of the battleship. I admire him very much. Why didn't he choose to build a battleship?"

Zhang Yunfei thought Colonel Charles thought he made less money, and when asked this, he replied: "I don't think Russia will pass on my current naval power in a short period of time. At the same time, my goal is not to expand externally, so there is no need to build a powerful offensive fleet. There is a vast sea between Hawaii, the Philippines and the Qing Dynasty. I cannot let the battleships cruise. I only need this heavy cruiser that integrates offensive and defense to cruise."

Zhang Yunfei said this deliberately in the hope of dispelling Colonel Charles's concerns, because from his words and deeds, Zhang Yunfei seemed to have felt that he and the U.S. Admiralty had already had some concerns about his rise, which was something that Zhang Yunfei didn't want to see.

Sure enough, when he heard that Zhang Yun did not intend to build a fleet that dominated the world, Colonel Charles smiled and said, "Although he did not get the order for Mr. Zhang's battleship, I also felt it made sense after hearing Mr. Zhang's words. At present, there is no need for too large fleets in the Pacific region, otherwise it will cause panic among many Americans. You know, many Americans are more worried."

Zhang Yunfei guessed that Charles School's visit was purposeful, and he was obviously deeply uneasy about Zhang Fei's fleet.

"I understand your people's feelings very well. Any country will do this. I hope we can have broader communication and establish a harmonious environment for us in the Pacific Rim." Zhang Yunfei said.

Colonel Charles nodded and then asked: "As far as I know, Mr. Zhang is still publicly announcing the maintenance of the war with Japan. I think your goal is to prepare to deal with the future threats of Russia, or how to expand your power in the Qing Dynasty. I don't think you should be worried about Japan, a small country, because the Japanese navy has been scared by your fleet and is currently huddled in Tokyo Bay and dare not come out, so it has no threat to you."

After hearing Colonel Charles say this, Zhang Yunfei suddenly felt nervous and thought: It seems that the United States is not only alert to itself, but has begun to prepare to deal with itself.

Colonel Charles's sense of caution is already very clear, which is to test Zhang Yunfei's attitude towards Japan. If he continues to suppress Japan, although he has not crossed the US line, it will undoubtedly make the United States guard against itself in advance and target itself everywhere, which is an unfavorable factor for Zhang Yunfei's current main career.

"Col. Charles, what do you want to say?" Zhang Yun asked.

"I said that Japan no longer has the strength to compete with you, and has expressed to us the desire to reconcile with Mr. Zhang. At the same time, we thought that if the war still remains, our shipping trade with Hawaii and the Philippines, and even in Fengtian Province in the future will be threatened, which will not be conducive to our trade exchanges. Therefore, our government hopes that Mr. Zhang can reconcile with the Japanese government, and we are willing to mediate from it." Colonel Charles replied.

Obviously, the US government is not at ease with Zhang Yunfei and finds far-fetched excuses to mediate. If it stops suppressing Japan, the United States will have nails to check and balance Zhang Yunfei in Asia, and the United States will also be much more at ease. This is in line with the current interests of the United States. Although the bottom line of the United States is in Hawaii, as long as Zhang Yunfei does not annex the Kingdom of Hawaii, the United States will naturally not say that Zhang Yunfei is listed as the enemy's guardianship. But if there is a Japanese check and balance Zhang Yunfei, it is beneficial to the United States, so why not do it?

On the other hand, Zhang Yunfei was also thinking about his own gains and losses: his main enemy has actually been replaced by Tsarist Russia. Although the two countries that wanted to destroy China were the targets Zhang Yunfei wanted to attack, compared with Japan, Tsarist Russia was much stronger, and it seemed that Tsar Nicholas II had fought his life to start a war with him. Five years was enough for the Tsar to be fully prepared.

Zhang Yunfei thought that Japan is no longer the rapid rise of Japan in history. He did not make any profit in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, but instead lost his wife and soldiers. In addition, the newly built warships overseas were plotted by Zhang Yunfei, and the current Japanese navy could not even defeat Zhang Yunfei's current heavy cruiser formation, and would not threaten Zhang Yunfei's great cause in a short period of time. Most importantly, Zhang Yunfei needed a large amount of manpower, material resources and financial resources from the United States to help him complete the industrialization of the Northeast, and he had to compromise with the United States.

Those who achieve great things do not care about the trivialities, not to mention that Zhang Yunfei does not have strong industrial strength to support him at present, so he can only endure it first. However, if he compromises like this, Zhang Yunfei feels that he is too shameless.

So he said: "Your country is welcome to mediate. My conditions are very simple. If the Japanese government agrees to return the territory of Ryukyu that they occupied, I agree to reconciliation."

Although Zhang Yun's enclave's request seemed very reasonable to the United States, because the Ryukyu Kingdom was originally a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty. According to the Western concept, it was a colony of the Qing Dynasty. It was naturally reasonable for Zhang Yunfei to return. But I just don't know what the Japanese government would think. After all, their fleet was sneak attacked by Zhang Yunfei and suffered heavy losses. Now they still ask them to spit out the meat they swallowed into their stomachs, which seems to be a little difficult.

However, Colonel Charles was not worried, because he had seen the geographical location of Ryukyu. As long as Zhang Yunfei's fleet drove over, it would not take long to drive the Japanese garrison away. It would be easy to get Ryukyu. Moreover, Colonel Charles, as the mediator, did this, and ran on both sides.

Fang’s opinion. As long as Zhang Yunfei agrees to sit down and negotiate with the Japanese government, the amount of money.

"I will notify the Japanese side of your conditions as soon as possible. For Mr. Zhang's sincerity, on behalf of the US government, I thank you." Colonel Charles said.

Zhang Yunfei smiled and said, "I also thank Colonel Charles for his help, and thank your government for its strong support for our land. I hope that my son can bring benefits to your government and people in my territory."

"I don't know when Zhang Xian will arrange to meet with our local traders, but they are looking forward to meeting with Mr. Zhang!" Colonel Charles said happily.

The conversation between the two was very smooth, and every agreement reached naturally requires a high-sounding polite speech. This is a compulsory course for diplomats. Now Zhang Yunfei hopes that his foreign minister Tang Shaoyi will come to help him as soon as possible. But calculating the days, Tang Shaoyi is also coming to Lushun. Zhang Yunfei is now increasingly feeling that a person is too tired and needs more civil servant groups to help.

Zhang Yunfei needs to consider carefully the meeting with the American business group agent, because there are many reporters, as the superior now, Zhang Yunfei's words and deeds represent a huge interest group and involve the nerve endings of various countries.

Today, when I met the American business groups, the Ming Dynasty and other countries' business groups also flocked to each other. It was impossible for Zhang Yunfei to meet them all, and he didn't have that much time.

"I will be safe as soon as possible, but before making arrangements, I hope that the representatives of your country's business groups can hand me their interests, the ways and directions they want to invest, so that they can also conduct on-site inspections and implement our cooperation as soon as possible." Zhang Yunfei said.

"Of course, I'm happy to serve you!" Colonel Ers replied.

...

Under the guidance of the grand minister Colonel Charles, Zhang Yunfei agreed to the talks with Japanese Consul in China Yuki Nakajima.

At the request of the Japanese government, Japanese ambassador Nakajima must make sure that Zhang Yunfei reaches a settlement. Even if the relationship cannot be improved, he hopes that Zhang Yunfei will stop his military operations. The authorization Nakajima received is that as long as Zhang Yunfei's request is within the affordable range, he will agree to everything.

Because Zhang Yunfei seized the Philippine Islands and Pacific Islands such as Guam from Spain, and Hawaii formed a large net in the Pacific Ocean, which blocked all Japan's maritime external channels. Japan's new fleet was surrounded by such a large strategy and had no choice but to make dumplings by Zhang Yunfei's Pacific Fleet and was wiped out.

Finally, Zhang Yunfei sent a local fleet to inspect all merchant ships entering the Pacific Ocean. All Japanese ships were seized and all goods were confiscated. If the personnel resisted slightly, they would be bombarded or shot. For a time, Japan's overseas trade was almost completely interrupted and suffered heavy losses.

At the same time, Japan's international relations are obviously not as good as Zhang Yunfei. After the fleet was destroyed, Japan also learned its lesson. It did not dare to build ships openly and secretly order warships from European and American powers. However, the great powers have always bullied the weak and feared the strong, and did not want to offend Zhang Yunfei head-on. Therefore, as long as Zhang Yunfei did not stop the war with Japan for a day, Japan would not be able to obtain warships overseas.

The most important reason is that Japan had already expelled the invading forces of the great powers from Japan, but with the development of the international navy, Japan's existing navy was far behind. Gradually, it returned to its original starting line. After seeing that Japan was weak, the great powers began to prepare to invade Japan and sign unequal treaties. In order to get rid of the harassment of the great powers as soon as possible, the Japanese government had to bow its head and ask Zhang Yunfei for peace.

Zhang Yunfei knew that Japan was a resource-poor island country, and he just wanted to use military blockade to drag down Japan's economy. As for military operations, it was limited to the navy. The Navy's Pacific Fleet had an overwhelming advantage over the Japanese joint fleet, but unfortunately, Japan was not a fool. He used the cover of the coastal artillery to hide in Tokyo Bay and did not come out. Zhang Yunfei did not have the decisive force to land in the 6th Japan, so he could only maintain the blockade level and use the economy to drag down Japan.

After reporting to the Japanese minister for approval, Japanese Minister Yuki Nakajima immediately agreed to Zhang Yunfei's request, and Japan returned the Ryukyu Islands to Zhang Yunfei. This was a big surprise. Zhang Yunfei originally wanted to shout prices all over the sky and deliberately delayed the time. He did not expect that Japan agreed so simply, and that American Minister Colonel Charles mediated from the side. Zhang Yunfei wanted to repent and had to take into account the feelings of the US government.

Zhang Yunfei thought to himself: Forget it, I haven’t had time to deal with the Japanese yet, so I will let it go first and settle the accounts after autumn.

Therefore, under the mediation of the US Minister Colonel Charles, Zhang Yunfei and Japanese Minister Yuuo Nakajima signed a contract to terminate the state of war between Honolulu and Japan - the "Honolulu-Japan Treaty".

The treaty stipulates that the war between Honolulu and Japan will take effect immediately after the signing of the two sides or the emperor. The Japanese government will transfer the Ryukyu Islands, which are located in the north and the Diaoyu Islands to the south, with a total area of ​​more than 600 square kilometers, to the Honolulu government for free. The Japanese government forces will withdraw troops from the occupied Ryukyu Islands within one week from the date of the entry into force of the treaty. The Ryukyu King Shangtai, who was exiled to Tokyo, Japan, will be handed over to the Honolulu government for handling.
Chapter completed!