Jiangning, the official residence of the Prime Minister of the Eastern Song Dynasty.

The high-ranking officials of the Eastern Song Dynasty civil and military officials sat in a daze, and everyone was staring at the briefing they had just sent. During the war, the Prime Minister of the cabinet, Wen Daosheng, turned his back to them, looking at the huge hanging map, and did not move.

Outside the window is the Jiangning city, the most prosperous city in the Eastern Song Dynasty, with tall buildings in the city center lined up one after another. Most of the shops in the commercial area are grand and decent. The industrial area is filled with chimneys and machines roaring. The dock is moored with inland merchant ships full of cargo, and steamboats emitting thick smoke on the river dragging strings of wooden cargo ships, heading east and west.

Everything is so beautiful and so full of vitality... No one would have thought that the catastrophe had arrived.

The main force of the Eastern Song Dynasty's Nanyang Fleet suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Longshi Island!

Three first-class battleships, ten second-class battleships, and twenty third-class battleships... a total of thirty-three main battleships were lost, all of which were sunk!

This is half of the main battleships of the Eastern Song Navy!

The more than 30 well-trained naval officers and soldiers lost together with these main battleships and more than 30 Class IV, Fifth and Sixth-level ships that had sunk, were also more than 30,000 well-trained naval officers and soldiers... and the determination and confidence of the United States of the Eastern Song Dynasty to maintain the war.

Due to the friendly relations between the Eastern Song Dynasty and the Great Zhou Dynasty, the Great Zhou Republic's implementation of the "China Priority" policy for more than 100 years, and the ultimate unification idea believed by the Chinese nation, all made the capitalists and people of the Eastern Song Dynasty have a good impression of the Great Zhou Republic.

In the eyes of most Eastern Song people, the decisive battle between the three Chinese heroes was not a national war, but a civil war.

A war of unity that ended more than 200 years of more than 300 parts of the world!

The United States system of the Eastern Song Dynasty put the Jiangning court in a very unfavorable position in this war of unification.

Because the Jiangning court and the Hezhong Conference are not superior supervisors of the Hezhong Prefectures. The instructions issued by the imperial court and the Hezhong Conference on the Hezhong Prefectures are not mandatory. Moreover, the Hezhong Prefectures can also be separated from the Hezhong Prefectures in terms of legal principles...

In fact, from the day the Eastern Song Dynasty was established, the factor that maintained the unity of this "confederate system" was the royal navy of the Eastern Song Dynasty court.

The Eastern Song Dynasty was close to the "confederate system" politically, and was an extroverted maritime country economically. The prosperity of the domestic economy depends on overseas markets and colonial wealth... In other words, the prosperity and prosperity of the Eastern Song Dynasty must rely on powerful maritime power.

The national defense of the Eastern Song Dynasty relied on the Navy's Yangtze River Fleet.

In other words, without a navy, there would be nothing in the United States of the Eastern Song Dynasty.

In order to maintain the strength of the navy, the Hezhong states of the Eastern Song Dynasty had to hand over the "naval power" completely to the central government and use the financial resources of the fifty states to build a maritime power that was enough to confront the navy of the Great Zhou Republic.

Therefore, the Eastern Song Navy was the basis for the unity and unification of the Eastern United Kingdoms.

Now that the navy has suffered heavy losses, the foundation for the unification of the Eastern Song Dynasty will no longer exist.

The sunset in the United States is naturally close to you!

"Prime Minister," said Shen Wansan, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue of the Eastern Song Dynasty, tremblingly, "We, will our shipping be interrupted soon? What should we do? But what should we do... Otherwise, we would recommend that Your Majesty take the royal family to avoid Xinsong for a while.

Now the local fleet is still intact, and you can escort Your Majesty and the royal family to leave Jiangning and go to Xinsong."

Shen Wansan is the richest man in this cabinet. His property ranks among the top ten in the entire Eastern Song Dynasty. He claims to have several "small goals" and is rich enough to rival a country. However, his Shangshu was not donated, but was recommended to the cabinet by the Jiangnan Industrial and Commercial Alliance (party) that is extremely influential in the "Suzhou, Hangzhou, Xiumingyue" area, which naturally represents the interests of Jiangnan industry and commerce.

For Jiangnan industry and commerce, losing maritime power is equivalent to facing a catastrophe.

Oh, it may not necessarily be a catastrophe... You can also surrender decently!

Leaving the United States of the Eastern Song Dynasty and joining the Great Zhou Republic.

Although after joining the Republic, Jiangnan industry and commerce could no longer have the right to speak in the United States of the Eastern Song Dynasty. However, it can still maximize its own interests under the protection of the Republic's constitution...

The Republic can deprive the autonomy of the states of Jiangnan, but at the same time, it must protect the autonomy of the states of Jiangnan and the civil rights of the people of Jiangnan.

Although local governance will inevitably be weakened (from a legal perspective, local autonomy under the republic comes from the decentralization of the Supreme Council), it is not unacceptable.

The plan proposed by Chen Wansan now to escort the emperor and the royal family to the Xinsong Song by the local fleet was actually to implement the refuge plan of "the royal family gave up the local area of ​​the Eastern Song Dynasty."

Once the royal family left, the Hezhong government of the Eastern Song Dynasty and the Great Zhou Republic were able to negotiate peaceful reunification...

"We can still fight!" Zhao Liangzhong, the Minister of War of the Eastern Song Dynasty, shouted loudly, "The Zhou State also suffered great losses in the Battle of Longshi Island. They lost at least 15 main battleships!

More importantly, the Battle of Dragonstone Island shows that sail battleships without armor protection are simply vulnerable. In the future, they will be new warships equipped with cast iron cannons that can fire large-caliber flowering bullets and armor protection. Perhaps some of the power should be provided by water wheels powered by ‘water heaters’ (steam engines).

Zhao Liangzhong was a child of the Eastern Song Dynasty royal family. He was a naval engineer. Before joining the wartime cabinet, he was the director of the Navy Shipbuilding Bureau.

As a shipbuilding expert, after studying the report of the Navy Du Military Vehicles, he concluded that the era of wooden sail battleships was over.

The 60,000-stone-class battleships currently under construction are like those seemingly powerful battleships lost in the Battle of Dragonstone Island, and are vulnerable in front of large-caliber flowering bullets.

Therefore, losing 33 main battleships is not necessarily fatal for the Dong Song Dynasty. As long as the Dong Song Dynasty can launch a new armored warship construction plan as soon as possible and create an iron armored ship with steel armor that can withstand the bombardment of flowering bombs, it can regain the lost sea power!

In the competition to build armored ships, the Eastern Song and Great Zhou should be on the same starting line.

"How long does it take for the Naval Shipbuilding Bureau to complete the construction of the first armored ship?" Prime Minister Moon Daosheng asked.

"Two months!" Zhao Liangzhong replied, "The Navy is preparing to transform three large steamboats with a displacement of 15,000 stones, and will definitely be completed within two months."

It will definitely take a long time to completely build a new armored ship. In order to seize the time, naturally, there is only one who can transform the old ship.

It is much more difficult to transform large sail battleships than to transform small and medium-sized steam tugs.

Because the wooden masts and sails of the sail battleship are too large to protect them. Once the masts and sails are destroyed by flowering bombs, the battleship loses its power.

Moreover, the sails and ropes on the sail battleship can easily cause fires, and the fire will spread to the artillery deck, causing a big explosion.

In addition, the large sail battleships are too large. If all iron armor is installed, the ship will be too heavy and the speed will inevitably drop significantly.

Therefore, it is very difficult to transform the sail battleship, so it is better to start with a steam tug.

Another reason is that the naval engineers of the Eastern Song Dynasty gave up the sail battleship. That is, the firepower of the sail battleship is excessive!

More than 100 cannons of first-class battleships are obviously oversupplied in actual combat. Because a first-class battleship can only get 8 inches, 9 inches of flowering bullets will be done. Do you need more than 100 cannons there? More than 100 cannons have opened the flowering bullets, so you can't even knock the opponent into slag?

And so many flowering bullets are dangerous for me!

Almost all the battleships that exploded in the Battle of Dragon Stone Island were carried by themselves and were exploded... This was a completely suicide bomber!

Therefore, the naval engineers of the Eastern Song Dynasty believed that the number of naval guns should be reduced, and the self-weight of the ship should be allocated to the power system, namely the steam engine and the coal silo.

An armored battleship with a displacement of about 40,000 stones is enough to have about 20 9-inch guns or 10-inch guns.

When the number of artillery decreases, it is possible to protect the cannons with a solid bulletproof gun compartment. As long as the gun compartment, machine compartment, and coal bin are not destroyed, the warships will generally not sink.

"Our steamboats are all tugboats," Chen Wansan immediately shook his head and frowned. "These tugboats are not well-seaworthy and can only be operated in inland rivers and offshore. Transportation from the far sea will still be blocked... It is blockade, not harassed! How can the country bear it? Without overseas food and bird droppings, there is no food to eat!"

When it comes to eating, the cabinet officials present sighed and agreed.

"Yes, the world is so big, the food is the biggest!"

"There are still a downturn in recent years, and people's lives are difficult (everyone has books to read, everyone has meat to eat, and everyone has silk and satin to wear. It's really difficult). If eating becomes a problem, will the people's hearts still support us?"

"Yes, the United Government should be people-oriented... Now both the army and the navy have lost, and the domestic economy is difficult to maintain, so it is better to make peace as soon as possible."

The drawbacks of United States politics were undoubtedly revealed at today's conference!

The cabinet members of the United War Cabinet were actually representatives of the Hezhong states. They must first be responsible for the Hezhong states, and then the emperor and the court.

If the Western Song Dynasty is now against the Western Song Dynasty, a country of military households and gun doctors, then 50 Hezhongzhou will definitely support the court to fight to the end.

Let a group of feudal military households and gun doctors be the masters of their own country, and the capitalists in 50 Hezhongzhou are still doing this? Don’t you have to hand over your wealth? So you have to fight to the end!

However, the Great Zhou Republic is different from the Western Song Dynasty, and the Great Zhou Dynasty is also a capitalist country... The difference between the universal system and the republic is not big, but the supreme power belongs to the state parliament or the national parliament.

In addition, although the Eastern Song and Great Zhou are two countries, their relationship has always been very close, and it can be said that they are difficult to distinguish each other.

Moreover, due to the "China priority" and "Opening America" ​​implemented by the Great Zhou Republic for more than 100 years, many transnational capitalists in the Jiangnan region of the Eastern Song Dynasty are said to have no motherland in capital!

Therefore, in the Jiangnan area, there are many capital wealthy families with great influence, no matter whether it is the Great Zhou or the Eastern Song Dynasty... and even a unified China is more beneficial to them!

Because after the unification of China, the market is larger, the barriers are fewer, and the flow of capital, products and talents is faster and easier, and internal friction in external competition can also be completely avoided.

From any perspective, peaceful reunification is beneficial to the great capitalists of the Eastern Song Dynasty who did not love the court.

For ordinary people in the Eastern Song Dynasty, is it important to defend the emperor or to eat meat? Unification is nothing more than the unity of the people to become republic, the emperor to change the head of the army, the Jiangning dialect changed to Tianjin dialect... If you insist on fighting, you will have no food or drink!

Are you really willing?

"Prime Minister, please say something!" Zhao Liangzhong turned his head and looked at Wen Daosheng's back, "The rise and fall of the country is just a matter of your old saying!"

As soon as these words were said, Wen Daosheng's back collapsed, and then he sighed.

The old prime minister turned around, and his face was covered with tears. He looked at Zhao Liangzhong and smiled bitterly: "I made a decision with one word? What kind of virtue can I make a decision with one word?

Zhao Shangshu, don’t forget that our country is a country of Hezhong, not a country of emperor... Now the food in stock can still be supplied, and the people’s hearts are stable. Once the food is exhausted, Hezhongzhou will be against Song and Zhou. What should we do then? Send troops to suppress it?"

It is impossible to send troops to suppress the enemy... It is not that there are no soldiers, but that doing so will destroy the United States system.

The United States system is equivalent to 50 brothers working together in business. Some people don’t want to do it anymore and want to withdraw. At this time, the remaining 49 people can kill him?

Therefore, the united system is not suitable for the world hegemony in later generations. The system of a certain United States has long been not the united states at the beginning of its founding, but the political system reshaped by the Civil War, and its cohesion is quite high.

The United States of the Eastern Song Dynasty never experienced baptism like the Civil War. They have always been based on the joint construction of the navy and the joint defense of the Yangtze River.

Now that the navy has collapsed, the founding of the country has been shaken.

As for rebuilding the navy and establishing steam battleship troops, it will not be successful in a few years. Who can live for a few years on hunger?

Moreover, the Great Zhou Republic will also build steam battleships! The steam engine was invented by others...

Wen Daosheng sighed: "Please respectfully ask the emperor to move to the new Kaifeng."

"But can I protect it by moving to Xin Kaifeng?" Zhao Liangzhong's tone softened.

Shen Wansan interrupted in a low voice: "The people of the New Song Dynasty are all subjects of the emperor, which is different from the states of the Hezhong... Tens of millions of people are united, are they afraid of the hard work of the Republic's expedition?

Besides, there are millions of military gun doctors from the Western Song Dynasty.”

Wen Daosheng also said: "After the emperor left, the United Kingdom will continue to resist. How could a peace agreement be reached within a year or two? 50 Things in Hezhong State are not so easy to negotiate.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, we can also transfer more talents and soldiers and generals loyal to the Zhao family to Xinsong..."
To be continued...