"What? What did you say?" These words are not trivial. Not only did His Majesty the Emperor's half-closed eyes suddenly open, his whole body was shaken, and he sat up suddenly, even the Minister of Military Affairs who had been sitting silently next to him also had a big face. Change, even stood up suddenly.
"Zhou Aiqing, are you serious about this? Is the information accurate?" Situ Mingyue was shocked and asked again and again. Next to him, Qiu Qiu's sharp eyes were also firmly fixed on the face of the sweating intelligence minister.
"Wei Chen dare not lie, but according to the information obtained by Wei Chen, the style of the warships that the Japanese are currently building is indeed similar to the large warships of the Imperial Navy, with almost no changes. According to the intelligence, the Japanese are on Sulu Island There are already a large number of large warships under construction in Isita Port and Bowa Port, the two major ports in the Atlantic Ocean. Near the Alor Bay in the Atlantic Ocean, our intelligence personnel detected an unknown number of large Japanese warships undergoing adaptation. Sex drills.”
This sentence was like a heavy hammer falling on the hearts of Situ Mingyue and He Zhiqiu, which made them feel dizzy. Even though they were mentally prepared, Situ Mingyue still felt dizzy in the head and quickly leaned her body against it. On the lounge chair.
"Master Zhou, are you sure that the warships built by the Japanese are imitations of the large warships of our imperial navy? Could they be imitations of the Milanese warships?" He Zhiqiu's tone was a little weak when he said this, because He knew that although the Milanese's warship manufacturing technology was comparable to that of the Imperial Navy's warships, they had their own characteristics. The Imperial Navy's ships were larger in size and had more unique attainments in keel design, while the Milanese's warships had their own characteristics. The ship is slightly smaller and has superior mast and sail design. The two ship types have their own characteristics and strengths, and there are also big differences in appearance.
"Master He, there should be no mistake. You also know that the appearance and characteristics of the Imperial Navy ship and the Milan warship are very different. It is impossible for our intelligence personnel to identify the mistake." Zhou Baozhong immediately replied.
The room suddenly fell silent, and the three of them were all considering the seriousness of this problem, especially Situ Mingyue and He Zhiqiu Junchen, who were frowning deeply. You must know that large-scale warship construction technology has always been the basis for the Tanghe Empire and the Milan Kingdom to dominate the Atlantic Ocean. Although the empire does not have much external ambitions in the ocean, it is an important means of defending coastal defense. Once it is defeated by the ambitious Japanese Having mastered the construction technology and being located in the ocean, they are obviously more suitable for developing naval forces. It will not be long before they will pose a serious threat to the eastern seaboard of the empire.
The Empire and the Kingdom of Milan have long classified this technology as top secret and have adopted very strict confidentiality measures. Except for the blueprints of the manufacturing technology that are preserved in the center of the Empire, they only exist at the Imperial Navy Fleet Headquarters in Yuhang Prefecture. The drawings of this technology are mainly reserved for the convenience of ship overhaul.
But now it is obvious that the empire's warship manufacturing technology has been leaked, and it has fallen into the hands of the Japanese on the eastern sea. The Japanese have been harassing the eastern seaboard of the empire for a long time, causing massive losses of personnel and material to the empire's neighboring prefectures and counties almost every year, and the people along the coast have suffered greatly. The imperial navy is mainly responsible for clearing out the elusive Japanese pirates. The Japanese pirates roaming offshore the empire actually all had this deep political background, and most of them were supported by the families with the strongest Japanese power living on the islands in the Atlantic Ocean.
Taking a long breath, Situ Mingyue pressed the temples on both sides of her head impatiently, and after thinking about her words, she said, "In your opinion, the secret of this shipbuilding technology was leaked from within the empire?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, I can confirm that the secret of this shipbuilding technology was leaked from the empire. Because everyone knows that this shipbuilding technology involves many aspects and was developed by the empire after hundreds of years of accumulation. The Japanese originally built their own ships. It is small in size, has little capacity, is not very fast, and has extremely poor wind and wave resistance. It only has a flexible feature. It is far from being compared with the imperial ships. The technology in this area cannot be greatly improved overnight. . But now, the Japanese have built an unknown number of warships and are conducting actual combat exercises, and there are still many more under construction. Because the Japanese have taken very strict precautions against their military facilities, especially their military ports, our intelligence personnel are still unable to Sneak in." The Minister of Intelligence's face was very serious at this time.
"But Weichen is unable to determine the channel through which this secret was leaked. This is not within Weichen's jurisdiction." He then added.
At this moment, Situ Mingyue no longer has much energy to trace the channel through which the leak was leaked. What is in front of him is that once the Japanese master these technologies, their shipbuilding technology will suddenly improve by leaps and bounds. It could even be on par with the Imperial Navy soon, and the consequences would be disastrous. The empire must consider countermeasures immediately, otherwise the east side of the empire will face huge threats in the near future, especially the empire's large islands in the Atlantic Ocean.
He Zhiqiu was also sighing secretly. He was sure that the leak of warship manufacturing technology most likely came from the Imperial Navy Headquarters. He had reminded the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Fleet who was nominally his subordinate more than a year ago. , but it didn’t seem to attract the other party’s attention. He received news from his subordinate military intelligence department that several large Japanese families were consolidating their forces, especially the Tachihara family, which had taken greater action. It not only attracted the support of some small families, but also merged with some powerful tribes and annexed them. The action was in full swing. At that time, I was worried that since the Tachihara family made such a big move, they must have far-reaching thoughts behind it. Sure enough, the words of the Minister of Intelligence confirmed his worries. The Japanese were very sophisticated, especially the Tachihara family.
But he was familiar with the intertwined relations between the Empire and China, and he knew that the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Navy Fleet had a close relationship with His Majesty the Emperor in front of him.
The atmosphere in the room was full of depression and dullness. After a long time, Situ Mingyue raised her head and waved weakly: "Zhou Aiqing, thank you for your hard work. You can go down first."
When the Minister of Intelligence disappeared outside the gate, Situ Mingyue raised her head and said in a low voice: "He Aiqing, am I really old? Why do I choose this time to have an attack?"
The gloomy and desolate look on He Zhiqiu's face made He Zhiqiu feel sad. He was not a mediocre person, but the timing of his ascension to the throne was indeed not good. The previous emperor left too many holes, which he could not comment on. As soon as he came to the throne, he encountered natural disasters. Continuous floods in several northern counties took the empire several years to barely recover. This was followed by several years of severe drought, forcing the empire to tighten its belt to maintain normalcy. It seems that the Taiping Sect began to take root in those few years.
At this time, the northern Liberian countries were in a period of great development, and their national power was growing day by day. Comparing the two, it is no wonder that several countries were suspicious of them. Since Lei Juetian came to power, the Maci Khans in the south have developed even more rapidly with the combined efforts of their monarchs and ministers. In just a few years, their strength has surpassed that of the neighboring Kingdom of Milan to the east and has become the most powerful country in the southern part of the Eastern Continent, especially in In the past two years, it has successively annexed the Kingdom of Jemelo, the city-state of Ankun, and the Kingdom of Yuejing, and its strength has reached a new level.
On the other hand, the empire was suffering from internal and external troubles, the expansion of the power of several major vassal towns, and the frequent invasions of nomads, which made the emperor, who was exhausted mentally and physically, focus on one thing and not the other. This was really difficult for him.
"Your Majesty, you don't need to be too anxious. Although the Japanese have mastered shipbuilding technology, building a powerful naval force cannot be achieved by just building a few ships. Moreover, they still have a fatal weakness. If we can use it well, we can make it difficult for them to take care of themselves." He Zhiqiu came up with an idea after thinking about it for a while.
"Ah? My dear, please tell me." At present, wars are raging in the north, south, and west. Today, I learned that even the eastern sea frontier is in crisis. How can this not make Situ Mingyue feel anxious? At this time, I heard that the military affairs When the minister said this, he felt greatly relieved.
"As far as I know, the Japanese are not all harmonious, and there are quite a lot of conflicts among several major families among them. In addition to the most powerful Tachihara family, which controls most of Sulu Island, there is also another family that controls the northern part of Sulu Island. The Takeno family, the Ikihi family that controls Onigashima, and the Tengu family that controls Hanajima and Thousand Islands, these families are also not weak. The one Mr. Zhou mentioned just now who is building warships in a big way should be the Tatehara family. Because Isita Port and Bowa Port are controlled by the Tachihara family, and judging from the current situation, other families should also feel the threat from the Tachihara family. The Japanese have always been brave and fierce, especially the fierce internal battles. Externally, if we can make good use of it, hehe, then they will..." He Zhiqiu did not finish what he said, but just pursed his lips with a sinister smile on his face.
Situ Mingyue felt reassured and quickly asked: "Then how should the empire respond now?"
"Hey, fan the flames and shoot birds with arrows." An uncertain look flashed on He Zhiqiu's face.
After chewing the words of the Minister of Military Affairs several times, Situ Mingyue understood the general meaning. A rare smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he said with deep feeling: "He Aiqing, I rely entirely on you. If this minister can be like this If you are like me, why is the empire so great?"
"Your Majesty, your words are serious. I am just doing my duty as a minister." He Zhiqiu seemed very calm and even indifferent in the face of His Majesty's praise. He changed the topic and said, "Your Majesty, the plan we discussed earlier has been basically prepared. Ready, just waiting for your Majesty’s order.”
"Oh? Are you completely ready?" He Zhiqiu's topic seemed to be expected. Although the words were very cryptic, Situ Mingyue clearly understood what the other party meant.
"Well, everything is ready. I'm just waiting for your order." He Zhiqiu nodded solemnly and replied.
"Well, dear, let's do it according to your opinion. I will inform Yusuf." The tone was very cautious, but also very determined. Situ Mingyue's expectant eyes fell on the Minister of Military Affairs, which seemed to be much heavier. "This battle can only be won, not defeated!"
"Your Majesty, don't worry, I will not let you down." He Zhiqiu's eyes looked extremely deep at this time.