Chapter 422 Tonnage Limitation of Naval Capital Ships

Author: Wang Zixu

Chapter 422 Tonnage Limitation of Naval Capital Ships

The basic premise for signing a naval treaty is that countries disclose their shipbuilding plans to each other.

As soon as this shipbuilding plan was made public, the negotiations that seemed to be going smoothly at first collapsed.

No other country expected the Lucians' shipbuilding plan to be so "radical".

Even after receiving a reminder from France to proactively avoid being labeled as militaristic, they only lowered the target of 400,000 tons to 320,000 tons.

This triggered a series of strategic changes in other countries.

Prussia and Lucia directly confronted each other and raised the target to 320,000 tons.

Then, it does not mean that Lucia and Prussia both have a tonnage of 320,000 tons of high-speed capital ships, so the treaty can be signed directly.

Britain, France, and Spain are the three traditional naval powers. Their goal is to remain not weaker than the emerging countries.

Either we should correspond to the goals of Lucia and Prussia and set a target tonnage of 320,000 tons, or we could ask Lucia and Prussia to lower the target tonnage.

They were originally leaning towards the latter.

The first time I asked Lucia to reduce the tonnage, it seemed to have some effect.

But now, after Prussia put forward the same target of 320,000 tons tit for tat, Lucia could not continue to lower the target tonnage.

There is even a tendency to return to the original goal.

Because there are other countries competing with us, we are no longer alone.

Prussia wants 320,000 tons, and we want 400,000 tons. Isn't it considered an act of militarism?

In such a strange atmosphere, the second meeting ended hastily without reaching any consensus.

After the meeting, Talleyrand immediately went to Charles, explained the situation at the meeting, and then expressed his concerns:

"Your Highness, I am very worried that this naval treaty may not have the effect you originally planned.

"Lucia announced the shipbuilding plan, and Prussia responded tit-for-tat, which may make the shipbuilding competition open and intense!"

Charles's expression was also a bit ugly, but his way of thinking was different from Talleyrand's:

"No, the effect will definitely still be there, but it won't be too idealistic.

“All countries in Europe and the West have agreed to limit the tonnage of high-speed battleships to 160,000 tons, which is an ideal goal.

“It is completely normal for something to happen unexpectedly and not be possible.

"We can at least pass a treaty and lower Lucia's target from 400,000 tons to about 300,000 tons.

"At the same time, it also allows Lucia to shift the target of competition from us to Prussia.

"The same goes for Prussia.

"Without this naval treaty negotiation, Lucia would have been holding back its efforts to directly build a 400,000-ton high-speed capital ship, which would have been a huge pressure on us.

"If we want to make our navy not weaker than Lucia, we must also build a 400,000-ton capital ship.

“It’s not that we can’t do it, but it will seriously affect our other plans.

"It makes no sense for France to invest such a large cost in naval ships.

"So the next goal is to further reduce the upper limit on the basis of 320,000 tons."

Talleyrand thought about it again and found that Charles's idea was indeed correct.

Although it is not ideal, it is indeed beneficial and can play a certain role after all.

It can also divert the attention of emerging naval countries like Lucia and Prussia.

But the problem is that the French Navy's position in the West will also shift with its attention...

After hesitating for a few seconds, Talleyrand asked again:

"Your Highness, should we adjust our goals? Still maintain the balance of power against Lucia and Prussia, or should we allow Lucia and Prussia's treaty tonnage to exceed ours?"

Charles was a little worried after hearing this question, but he didn't hesitate at all:

“The overall direction remains unchanged, setting and limiting the maximum tonnage of a single country, and we must reach this tonnage.

"160,000 tons is probably impossible. Let's relax it to 240,000 tons..."

Talleyrand also looked sad after hearing this.

240,000 tons has been greatly increased compared to 160,000 tons, but there is still a big gap compared to 320,000 tons.

Talleyrand had already imagined how the Lucians would react.

"You can't make so many, why don't you make them? Why do we have to have as many as you?"

Of course France can build a 320,000-ton high-speed battleship, but the pressure it endures is much greater than that of Lucia.

According to the Ming Dynasty's common saying, this is a bit of a swollen face to pretend to be fat.

When Talleyrand was preparing to leave with a sad face, Charles finally reminded him:

“The key target now is Lucia, and Prussia, Austria, Italy and other countries should be within reach.

"We can unite with Britain, Spain, Austria, Prussia, Italy and other countries to jointly put pressure on Lucia.

"Lucia shouldn't put herself on the opposite side of the entire Europa.

"Under the current situation, including Lucia, the demand for navies from various countries in Thailand and Spain is actually not very high.

"The essential purpose of Lucia and Prussia should be to gain sufficient status through a naval treaty.

"Their actual bottom line should be to maintain balance with us.

"So through joint pressure and jointly asking Lucia to lower her standards, it should be achievable."

Talleyrand himself was a diplomat. When he heard Charles's reminder, he immediately reacted:

"That is to say, diplomatic means can be used to create a situation where Lucia has to compromise...

"Eliminate shipbuilding plans that exceed actual needs and avoid unnecessary naval competition.

"This is the goal of His Highness' proposal to sign a naval treaty..."

Ciel nodded gently with a serious expression:

"Yes, but I just mentioned a direction. How to implement it depends on the diplomatic skills of His Excellency Talleyrand."

Talleyrand agreed and said:

"My subordinates will do their best..."

Charles watched Talleyrand leave the office, and then wrote a telegram to Zhu Jingyuan.

"The Ming Dynasty did not participate in the signing of Europa's naval treaty, which now seems to be a very wise choice...

"I, the client, don't want to do these nonsense anymore, let alone Daming, who has nothing to do with it in the first place..."

From this day on, the negotiations related to the naval treaty directly entered an in-depth stage.

Regarding the tonnage limit of high-speed capital ships of various navies, the upper limit varies back and forth between 200,000 tons and 400,000 tons.

The naval treaties between the European and European countries in this world look completely different from the naval treaties in Zhu Jingyuan's previous life.

The original naval treaty was for the United States to achieve a corresponding status with the United Kingdom, and Japan to achieve a relative status.

The UK wants to maintain its position. Although France and Italy are involved, they are basically taking advantage of the situation.

As for the Lucians and Germans who did not participate, they were just simply eating.

The key lies in the negotiations between Britain, the United States and Japan.

In the current naval treaty in this world, all the major countries in the European and Western continent are key participants. Only the Netherlands, a truly small and marginal country, comes to enjoy the show.

Lucia wants to gain a leading position, Prussia wants to gain a position that is not weaker than any other country, and traditional countries such as France, Britain, and Spain all want to maintain a balance.

However, after in-depth analysis, we can find that it is actually similar to the naval treaty of another world.

They are all challenges faced by emerging industrial countries and traditional naval powers.

All naval countries that suffered heavy losses in the war tried to maintain their status and not fall behind.

Although traditional countries, led by France, have diplomatic means of joint pressure.

But in actual negotiations, Lucia, who has lower pressure to build ships, obviously has the advantage.

You can put pressure on me, but I can ignore it.

Especially after excluding the Minghua elements and the refined Lucia elements, Lucia is very tough in diplomacy.

Finally, after half a month of torturous negotiations, the major countries in Europe and the West finally achieved a compromise that was barely acceptable to all parties.

The total tonnage of capital ships of the navies of all Thai and Spanish countries shall not exceed 320,000 tons.

This number is still Lucia's bottom line number, but its connotation has changed.

Lucia's original goal was to reserve all of the 320,000 tons for cutting-edge high-speed battleships.
To be continued...