Xu Feng smiled when he heard this: "Actually, when you asked me this, you were ready to believe me, and trust was just a funny feeling, right?"

Li Junwei nodded. After he came to America, he felt that it was indeed a bit bad. The people of the American empire already had their own political atmosphere. They would pass on their demands through various means. Although after the reform, the Governor became the Chief Executive and a large number of old people were continued, Li Junwei felt that from Wuwei to ordinary people, they were worried that the original development model of America would be interrupted.

This is also the problem that Li Junwei has to face. It is not the question of whether Li Junwei trusts Xu Feng, but whether the imperial government trusts the people of the American Empire.

The American provinces are the most special among all the empire provinces. Similarly, the Xijin region is also the Xijin region. The main trading targets of these two places are foreign countries, not empire lands. However, Xijin is different from it. Xijin is located in a place surrounded by wolves and needs the protection of the empire. Behind it are several powerful harbors in the empire. Even if there are any abnormal movements, you can call tens of thousands of cavalry over.

But in America, the Spaniards had long been unable to threaten America. On the contrary, the people of the American provinces had to rely on Spanish colonies to prosper the economy. The top leaders of the entire empire had some concerns about the American provinces. If the Americas were not developed, the empire's interests in America could not be guaranteed, and the purpose of using America to balance Europe as a geopolitical core could not be achieved. However, the development of America would inevitably lead to the weaker economic and local links between the American territories than those of European and European countries' colonies.

Economically, we do not rely on the local area, and security. Can the land be made sure to belong to the empire by relying solely on national feelings and national identity? The only solution is to fully respect the interests of the people in the Americas, and then increase the identity of the country and nation as much as possible.

This can be seen from the fact that the American territory is classified as a province, not a colony. When Lee Junwei arrived, a farewell ceremony was held for the three members who went to Shin Kyung. These three were to represent the American people in the Imperial House of Representatives to participate in the politics of the high-level imperial powers. In the past, there was one representative in the American region in the House of Representatives, but he could only participate in the vote on the affairs of the American region. Later, he became two, and later, he could participate in all overseas territorial affairs. After becoming a province, these three had all the power.

But Li Junwei did not just please him. During the reform period, he did something very important, which was to strengthen religious control. Because he had long carried out economic activities with the Spanish colonies, coupled with the arrival of a large number of Japanese and Korean immigrants, and the company's era was not strict, resulting in some religious buildings such as Catholic churches and Japanese shrines in Jinzhou. For these, Li Junwei demolished them with a tough attitude and criminalized or expelled some religious people.

In the process of establishing an education system, Li Junwei also required that people in the education sector must strictly review teaching materials and strengthen national and national identity from the teaching content.

"Okay, Xu Feng, let's talk about it seriously. First of all, I'm in America and have two goals, Panama's Isthmus and Potosi Silver Mine. This is bound to be occupied. This is the national will of the empire." Li Junwei went straight to the point and told Xu Feng about his plan.

Xu Feng smiled: "This is a very reasonable goal. If you seize the Potosi silver mine, you will obtain a treasure pot. This is in the interests of the American people. With the silver mine in hand, the empire will not impose large taxes and increase taxes because of war. The Panama Isthmus is more in the interests of the American people. If you are in hand, we can participate in the trade on the East Coast. You may not know that for decades we have been seeking to read the Great East Mountain... No, we have been crossing the Great Xianbei Mountain and exploring the paths therein.

Until two years ago, the expedition team found a road, but also set out from the Beiyuan area, and the road to Jinzhou eastward did not appear. Even if it was found, it was difficult. The climate of the Daxianbei Mountains was very harsh, and the cost of goods was very high. Moreover, the Indians we met on the other end of the mountain were very fierce. They obtained war horses and weapons from the Thais and did not trust any outsiders. We also came into contact with the French on the other side of the mountain, and these people were even more arrogant."

Li Junwei also thought so, and he also said: "Panama and Potosi both belong to the Governor General of Peru, not the Governor General of New Spain, which is close to the American province. I think even if a military operation is launched, it will not cause excessive reaction."

Xu Feng shook his head firmly: "No, the Spanish colonists will definitely launch a counterattack. Even the people from the Governor of New Spain will participate in the war. The Panama Isthmus is the only way to pass between Peru and Spain, and Potosi is the largest gold and silver mine for the Spanish, so they cannot sit idly by."

"So you mean to reduce the scale of the war and then fight quickly, right?" Li Junwei asked.

Xu Feng said: "No, my personal opinion is that if you don't fight, you will have to fight a big battle, and you will have to severely damage the Spanish's power in the colonies and make them feel that we are invincible. Only in this way can they willingly give up the isthmus and silver mines. It is of course good to fight quickly, but it may not be possible.

So, my personal advice is not to attack Panama or Potosi directly, we should attack Lima!”

Li Junwei is naturally familiar with this name. Lima is the capital of the Peru Governor's District and is also a large city with a population of more than 100,000. In the entire America, it is second only to Potosi, Mexico City and Bogota. However, these three cities are all inland areas, only Lima, right by the sea, and are also the easiest to attack.

Li Junwei couldn't help but fall into deep thought about this bold plan. In fact, although the American province is close to the Governor of New Spain, its biggest enemy has always been the Governor of Peru. Because Peru has a Lima fleet, this fleet is responsible for transporting Potosi's gold and silver and goods from the Governor of Peru to Panama, and then transporting the goods transported by the Spanish twin fleets from Spain from Panama to Lima.

For a long time, this has been the most powerful maritime force in the Eastern Pacific region. It is also the source of confidence that the Spanish call the Pacific Ocean the Spanish Sea or the Southeast Pacific Ocean the South China Sea. However, in the past decade, the American company fleet from the Jinzhou region has repeatedly attacked the Lima fleet's silver ships, which has severely damaged the fleet. For a long time, precious gold and silver metals were transported on land. Although sea transportation has been restored, due to the war, the Lima fleet has been strengthened and many newly built ships have been added.

Of course, with the current strength of the American fleet and the technical advantages of the imperial naval ships, it is not difficult to defeat the Lima fleet. As long as the Lima fleet is defeated, the sea control of the Pacific will be completely in the hands of the empire. But the question is, can Lima be captured by defeating the Lima fleet?

Li Junwei sighed: "It seems that the plan is about to change. I originally wanted to capture the Isthmus of Panama, and then use this as a stronghold to continue to move south, contact Zhao Wenting in South America, cooperate with the dispatched troops stationed in Nangang, and attack Potosi."

"Panama is not suitable as a battlefield. It is the narrowest place in the Americas, and it is between the two large Spanish colonies. It is far from us. If you occupy Panama, you will be besieged from all Spanish colonies and a humid tropical environment. Wars will last for a long time, and victory will not be glorious." Xu Feng said.

Li Junwei nodded: "Well, the opinions you provide are very important. We need to plan in detail. I have someone to establish an Expeditionary Force Command. Obviously, in the Americas, we need to enrich local people, and even more, people familiar with our opponents, Spaniards, and as the local speaker, you hope to help."

"Of course, I will do my best." Xu Feng said.

The two were discussing, but they heard the sound of cannons coming from the direction of the port, and then many people rushed out of the streets. The citizens cheered loudly and ran towards the dock. Xu Feng was surprised: "What's wrong? What happened?"

Li Junwei smiled: "It should be the local dispatched fleet that has arrived."

"You should tell me in advance that as the Speaker, I should organize local people to welcome you. Prince, I must surrender. I need to do a lot of things to send a fleet to arrive." Xu Feng hurriedly left.

When the empire decided to reorganize, the American fleet was established locally, that is, the fleet led by Zhao Longcheng. The fleet included two third-level battleships and four cruise ships. After arriving in Beiyuan, it merged with the newly reorganized American Development Company fleet, with a total of two seventy-four artillery battleships, three sixty-four artillery battleships and nine twenty-four artillery or thirty-two artillery cruise ships. However, this obviously did not have an absolute advantage over the Spanish Lima fleet, so the Navy also planned to build a dispatch fleet, which is the First Expeditionary Fleet.

The American fleet belongs to the stationed fleet, while the expedition fleet belongs to the dispatch fleet, which are different in all aspects. The main responsibility of the American fleet is to protect the imperial territories and people in the American region, while the dispatch fleet is to seize more territories and colonies.

In the absence of war, the military expenditure of the American fleet is locally spent, while the dispatched fleet is entirely responsible for the navy, so the size of the stationed fleet will be limited. After all, the local population of the American fleet is limited.

The first expeditionary fleet arriving in the Americas has six ocean-going heavy cruisers, namely Zhiyuan, Weiyuan, Suiyuan, Jingyuan, Pingyuan and Zhenyuan. This is also the main battleship of the Imperial Navy in the past decade and is also the best manifestation of the Imperial Navy's reform.

After the establishment of the empire, the focus of the country's military strategy was tilted towards the mainland. First, King Cheng made a western expedition to establish the Kansai appeasement zone, then the Northern expedition destroyed the remnants of the Qing Dynasty, and then King Yu made the west expedition to expand his territory and enter the Black Sea coast. The navy's status declined. However, because the empire had a large number of overseas territories and colonies, plus the subcontinent, wars broke out one after another in East Africa, Japan fell into a civil war, and the navy maintained a considerable scale.

However, since the fifteenth year of the empire, the imperial emperor Li Junhua launched a reform movement for the navy and the army. The reason is that all classes of the empire were full of doubts about the status and responsibilities of the navy and the army.

You should know that the last combat mission that the Imperial Army participated in was the Northern Expedition to the North of the Demon, and the Navy had not participated in any decent naval battle after the Indian Ocean Naval Battle. With the establishment of King Yu's Western Expedition and the establishment of the border areas under the Lifanyuan, people found that almost all combat missions were undertaken by the Lifanyuan's vassal soldiers, and the Imperial Army, which reached a scale of 450,000, has been stationed in the provinces in the sea, and at most it was displayed on the southwest border, or it was a fight against bandits and some heads who were in chaos in the southwest.

If the army only undertakes such a task and does not open up boundaries and defend the border, why spend 7.5 million taels of taels to maintain such a large-scale army every year?

The same is true for the navy. At its peak, the Imperial Navy had 68 battleships with more than 64 guns, mainly distributed in the local fleet and the Indian Ocean fleet. However, these powerful battleships had very weak adaptation to ocean-going operations. Various accidents occurred during the Indian Ocean naval battle.

This is nothing. The key is that the navy does not have decent enemies. Western colonists have been completely defeated. The maritime force of the British and Dutch people is declining. They rely more on the Indian Ocean order established by the empire and have long dared not challenge it. For example, the Dutch Orange-class return sailing ship that posed the greatest threat to the empire back then, with a displacement of more than 1,500 tons. During the Java Naval Battle and the Indian Ocean Naval Battle, these sailing ships had more than 70 artillery pieces. Except for battleships, the other ships were not opponents.

However, fifteen years after the empire, people were surprised to find that the Orange class had improved tonnage expanded to 2,000 tons, or even higher, but the number of artillery was greatly reduced. The artillery deck was largely transformed into a warehouse. Under normal conditions, about forty artillery pieces gradually decreased to about twenty. Twenty years after the empire, there were even large sailboats that completely canceled the artillery deck, and only installed some short heavy artillery and light artillery on the stern and open-air decks. This kind of firepower was to deal with ordinary pirates.

Later Cape Town reported that these artillery deckless sailing ships were no longer return sailing ships. They usually sailed from Penang or set sail from Batavia, and armed ships arrived in Penang and set off again. They did not return to Europe at all, but only went to Cape Town, a free port of the Empire in South Africa, where there was a long-term rental warehouse of the Dutch East India Company, and then placed the goods directly in the warehouse, and were loaded and transported from Cape Town to Europe.

On the Indian Ocean route, they adopt a small fleet system, with ships returning almost every month, while on the Atlantic route, they adopt a large fleet system and transport twice a year.

The Dutch's approach was quickly imitated by Britain and Portugal, while the East India of France and Denmark did more thoroughly. The ships of these two East India companies did not even enter the Indian Ocean, so they purchased Oriental goods in Cape Town, or sent personnel to take the monthly shuttle from Cape Town to Penang. After purchasing in Penang, they hired Imperial ships and transported goods to Cape Town, and then used their own ships to transport them back. Another Danish East India company's ship caught fire and hired Imperial ships directly in Cape Town, and set off with their flags.
Chapter completed!