Chapter 182 The last rupee of the British Empire! (Please subscribe, please vote)

Versailles, seat of the British negotiating delegation, Palace of Marly.

"Prime Minister Robinson, Minister Palmerston, Brigadier General Elu, and my father-in-law said that if the British Empire feels that the 10 million tons of shipbuilding quota is too high and there is no money to build it, he can also consider reducing the burden on the British Empire.

The Ming Dynasty is not short of money, so they can build more, 4 million tons, or 5 million tons. If you in the UK don't have money, just build less, 3 million tons, or 3.5 million tons.

In addition, my father thinks that the defense of the Strait of Malacca should be jointly undertaken by the Ming Dynasty and the British Empire. You, the British Empire, can persuade the Kingdom of the Netherlands to hand over Sumatra Island to the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty can pay for it. It is easy to talk about thousands or eight million, but it requires

installment."

The person who is helping Zhuge Weijiu as a lobbyist in the Marly Palace is, of course, the Duke of Marseille, the half-blood posthumous son of King Louis XVI of France. When Zhuge Weijiu said yesterday that he wanted to build a 10 million-ton warship, he immediately dismissed Robinson and Barme

Sir, Yilu ran away in anger—actually, I can’t say “ran away”, but the three of them had to go back and count on their fingers how many pounds the British Empire still had in their pockets to bet with Ming Dynasty!

In fact, the shipbuilding industry of the British Empire was not weak. After all, the British Empire was an island country with large overseas colonies, and it also controlled the European shipping market for a long time, which was enough to cultivate a huge shipbuilding industry.

In fact, until the age of motor and sailboats, the shipbuilding industry of the British Empire still had an overwhelming advantage over the Ming Dynasty. When the age of steamships arrived, the situation began to reverse.

After the sails were basically eliminated, the Europeans' leading advantage in the sail era was basically reduced to zero. The Ming Dynasty, which led the industrial revolution, relied on its leading advantages in the fields of external combustion engines and metallurgy to catch up with latecomers, and had already technologically surpassed the British.

The empire's shipbuilding industry achieved catch-up.

However, thanks to the British Empire's protection of the local shipbuilding industry, and the fact that the British had already mastered the technology of coal-fired boilers and steam engines, their shipbuilding industry could still overwhelm the Ming Dynasty in scale in the era of coal-fired steam engines.

But now the shipbuilding industry is experiencing another power revolution! This revolution is composed of two parts. One is the replacement of coal by fuel oil - oil-fired boilers and diesel engines are replacing coal-fired boilers! The second is that steam engines are replaced by steam turbines.

Replacement - Although there is only one more word "wheel", the efficiency is much stronger.

Because the British Empire was "poor in oil", it was completely backward in technologies such as oil-fired boilers, diesel engines, and gasoline engines.

Because their steam turbines started relatively late, they are also not as good as those of Daming. Daming has now completed the development of a direct-drive steam turbine with a single output power of more than 13,000 horsepower. Its civilian version (for power generation) has been put into use, and its military version has also been put into use.

Already testing!

The UK can now only produce a single steam turbine with an output of 700 horsepower, which can only be used on speedboats for the time being. The most advanced power system used by their large surface ships is still a coal-fired boiler plus a three-expansion reciprocating steam engine.

However, by burning coal and using a three-expansion reciprocating steam engine, tens of thousands of horsepower can be produced. Historically, the first "dreadnought ship" Nassau of the German Empire also used coal-fired boilers and a three-expansion reciprocating steam engine.

The steam engine still produced a main engine power of 22,000 horsepower.

So at the moment, the British shipbuilding industry can still compete with the Ming Dynasty in the "10-million-ton race", but the problem is that the British pound is not big enough. These days, it is a redeemable currency, not a banknote that can be used casually.

Brushing is the rhythm of turning into waste paper!

In addition, the bigger trouble is that the industrial scale of Great Britain cannot support this "10 million tons race". Great Britain and Ming Dynasty competing for "10 million tons" is a bit like the historical Mao Xiong and the Mi Empire engaging in an arms race. The Mi Empire family

The cause is great, and there are a large circle of industrialized powers around it as their subordinates. They can use their own resources to injure people and engage in armaments to defeat the bears. In order to catch up with the United States in armaments, Mao Xiong can only concentrate resources on military industry. This is actually a kind of

wartime system.

The wartime system can only be implemented once during wartime. How can we afford to do it every day?

Now if Great Britain insists on engaging in a "10-million-ton race", it will have no choice but to shift its economy into wartime!

But if you don't follow, you continue to admit defeat at the Versailles Naval Conference, give up the crown of the world's largest navy to the Ming Dynasty, and then cooperate with the Ming Dynasty to annex the Dutch island of Sumatra. Then how will the Western countries view Britain?

Great Britain is not the number one in industry and population, but it also lost the number one in navy, and it keeps ceding land to the Ming Dynasty (the land it ceded to the Netherlands was also ceded!), what else is this big brother going to do?

"Prime Minister, we must not compromise with the Ming Empire! If we compromise this time, the sunset of the Empire will not be far away!"

When the lobbyist Duke of Marseilles sent Robinson away with vague words, the Lord Admiralty, Viscount Palmerston, immediately gave the firmest opinion!

Prime Minister Robinson looked at the resolute Admiralty Minister and frowned: "But do you know how much the 10 million-ton shipbuilding plan will cost? Is there any way for us to raise so many pounds? Even if the British Empire can afford it,

Can the House of Commons agree to this amount of money? Can the factory aristocrats (referring to the Whigs) and London bankers support the cabinet’s fundraising requirements?”

"Prime Minister!" Viscount Palmerston saw Prime Minister Robinson wavering and immediately said to him firmly, "It is precisely because of the factory aristocrats and London bankers that I firmly oppose concessions. Don't you remember those

Why did factory owners and bankers abandon the Netherlands and immigrate to England? Didn't they take a fancy to England's superior geographical location and powerful army and navy, which were enough to protect their interests from being invaded by the feudal monarchs on the European continent? They

What we want is a strong England, not an England that only knows how to give in before the Eastern Empire. If England is no longer strong, can't their money leave England?"

"Leave England? Why?" Robinson frowned and looked at Viscount Palmerston, "Our homeland is very safe."

"Why? Because we are losing a competition for world hegemony," Viscount Palmerston said. "What became of France after Napoleon lost? Spain and the Netherlands also lost earlier, what have they become now?"

?If our Sun Never Sets Empire loses, do you think we will not be punished and still maintain the glory and wealth of the Empire?"

Robinson trembled, "Then, where will they go?"

"Maybe go to France!" Viscount Palmerston said, "Louis XVII and the Duke of Marseille have good relations with the Ming Dynasty. Their Bourbon dynasty has just received the shares of the Suez Canal and a large area of ​​land in the Rhineland from the Zhuge family.

It's the land on the coalfield! Zhuge Weijiu did this not because he was afraid that we would confiscate the property of the Zhuge family during the war, nor because of his special friendship with the Queen Mother of France, Louis XVII, and the Duke of Marseille, but because he was paying homage to the Duke of Marseille.

Everyone expresses Ming's support for France! Once Great Britain loses her glory, Paris will replace London as the financial center of Europe, and the Ruhr region, Alsace, Lorraine, Luxembourg, and Belgium will become under the protection of France.

An industrial center, sucking away the factories that belong to us in England. What is left of Great Britain without its banks, factories, India and Australia and the colony of Malacca?"

"But we don't have the financial and industrial strength to compete with Ming Dynasty in shipbuilding, and the House of Commons will not agree to the 10 million-ton shipbuilding plan!" Robinson glanced at George Yilu, who was counting his fingers beside him, "George, forget it.

Is it ready? How much will 10 million tons cost?”

"After calculation," Yilu said, "the initial estimate is that it will cost 1 billion to 1.2 billion pounds!"

"We only have an annual income of 140 million pounds!" Robinson gritted his teeth. "Is it possible for Parliament to approve such a huge military expenditure project?"

Viscount Palmerston smiled slightly, "Prime Minister, actually, we don't need to go through parliament!"

"Not through parliament? We are in the UK!"

Viscount Palmerston nodded and said: "If we plan to spend the last rupee of the British Empire on the 10 million-ton shipbuilding plan, we do not need the consent of the United Kingdom Parliament!"
Chapter completed!