My Italy

In fact, in addition to France, Britain, Russia and the United States were all surprised by Italy's shipbuilding plan. But compared to France, they were more surprised. The only one that made some moves was the United Kingdom. The British Imperial Navy transferred two battleships from the mainland 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 the new Dreadnought battleship.

That's right, it was the epoch-making Dreadnought. For the ship, Lieutenant General Felscher, who was the commander-in-chief of Portsmouth at this time, spoke highly of the ship. He praised the Italian-built battleship as an epoch-making masterpiece and called on the British Navy to quickly keep up and not fall behind.

However, the British Empire has its own national conditions. There is no need to demonstrate the new battleships. How can they start construction directly? Therefore, countries are still in the demonstration stage, and construction will have to wait a little longer.

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 just beautiful.

Seeing the crowd disperse, the Japanese military police guarding the embassy also breathed a sigh of relief. There were demonstrations against the Russians every now and then, and their police were very tired. Were it not for their duty, they would all have wanted to demonstrate against the Russian protests. In order to protect North Korea's interests, 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 focus on.

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, the government will go bankrupt."

Tibetan Prime Minister Sone Arasuke, who was born in the army together with the Prime Minister, informed everyone present about the situation of 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 Mihuangsuke said bitterly. "Currently, there is nothing to borrow. Our country has taken out everything that can be used as collateral for loans. There is only one way left."

Although Zone Arasuke didn't say what the method was, everyone present knew what it was.

Speaking of Japan's financial disastrous situation, Carlo deserves the most credit. Due to Italy's intervention in the Sino-Japanese War of 1888-1894, 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 North Korea, a springboard for the mainland.

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 1893 before the war to 279 million yen in 1895 after the war. With rapid growth, it reached 438 million yen in five years. (The Three Kingdoms intervened to return the 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 It exceeded the 300 million yen mark.

This also led to the fact that Japan's finances were the first to be unable to sustain it as Japan continued to expand its military. It was only 1903, and Japan's finances were already unable to withstand the crisis.

Faced with the Tibetan Prime Minister's complaints, Prime Minister Katsura Taro instead asked the Foreign Minister on the side.

"Omura-kun, how was the conversation with the Russians?"

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 answered. "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 wants to delineate their respective spheres of influence with Russia, because Russia has also extended its hand into North Korea. This situation is of course that after the Qing Dynasty withdrew from North Korea, the small court of North Korea was afraid that Japan would be disadvantageous to itself, so it wooed the Russians and tried to use the struggle between the two to maintain its political status.

The negotiation between Japan and Russia is to occupy the Korean Peninsula alone.

Facing the foreign minister, Katsura thought for a while and then asked the navy minister beside him. "Yamamoto-kun, if your navy faces Russia's Pacific Fleet, what are the chances of winning?"

Although this is just an inquiry from the Prime Minister, all the important ministers present paid attention to this issue because it is related to Japan's future.

Facing everyone's gaze, Yamamoto Gonbei, the Minister of Navy, immediately spoke. "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 couldn't help but frown. Because the odds of winning are too low, Japan has invested all its assets. The odds of winning are too low and the risks are 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 Department 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. Second, the Russian fleet stationed in Lushun cannot be prepared. , we can use torpedoes to attack the docked Russian warships, try to annihilate some of them in the naval 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 smiled. "If this is the case, that would be better. We use the ship to sink at the port of Port Arthur and block the Russian warships inside."

The Japanese Navy had already figured out the situation in Port Arthur. Although Lushun is an excellent ice-free port, it has shortcomings. The inner harbor of Lushun is narrow and the water is relatively shallow. In addition, there is only one entrance and exit. Large warships can only enter and leave the inner harbor at high tide, and must be towed by tugs.

Although Yamamoto Gonbei did not say what the odds of winning were, Katsura Taro measured it himself, so if everything goes well, he would basically have an eighth-level chance of winning.

In this case, some means must be used.

"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 else can Komura Jutaro say? For the final victory, a little reputation is nothing.

"Don't worry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs knows what to do and will not let the Russians notice anything unusual."

After getting a reply from Jutaro Komura, Katsura looked at Yamamoto Gonbe and defended. "Yamamoto-kun, I'll leave it to your navy for the rest."

"Hey!"