Although Li Zhaoyu's solution is to go to hell with all the big countries, it is most attractive to small countries. However, big countries absolutely disagree with this plan.

Apart from the empire, France has the highest tax level, but it is only at the order of 25 million imperial silver dollars. Except for France, only the five major countries can reach the order of 10 million, while the rest of the countries are only a few million.

Not to mention the long-term plan for ten years, even if it is only 30 million in the first year, they cannot afford it. Eight countries share 15 million, and the average membership fee of each country is smallest. In the case of general debts from various countries due to war, it is enough to make each country bankrupt.

However, Li Zhaoyu's plan was also a helpless resistance. If this plan of death was not proposed, the National League Congress would likely force the empire to accept the plan proposed by the seven major powers, resulting in the empire being forced to withdraw from the National League. This is undoubtedly a huge political failure for Li Zhaoyu.

Because of Li Zhaoyu's sudden attack, the conspiracy of the seven countries failed directly. Because of such a more influential plan, they could not get an absolute majority.

"I failed, I didn't expect that I would fail in this way." Earl Robert threw himself into the sofa, clenched his fists fiercely, and roared.

Earl Surrey's expression was even calmer. He poured a glass of wine for each of them and said, "I have known for a long time that China cannot suffer losses by relying on diplomatic strategies alone. In fact, what can it be if it succeeds? What is the point of satisfying the vanity of the gentlemen in Paris and London? Let China spend one or two million more every year? They will not spend this money in vain. This kind of thing has no meaning from the beginning."

Earl Robert took the drink handed to Sarri and drank it all in one go. In fact, he thought so, but under the pressure of the country, he could only do this. Although he contacted all countries in advance, determined common interests, and even exchanged interests in other aspects, he still failed.

"Earl, if you think so, China can actually withdraw from the League of Nations. This is their most important trump card. In the League of Nations system, we cannot do anything that will hurt China. Even if there are many countries in contact, it will be like this. If we want to do it, we can only do some more practical and offensive work." Earl Surrey said.

"Do you have new ideas?" Robert asked seriously.

Surrey said: "Actually, have you been doing it all the time. Two days ago, you arranged for someone to introduce someone from the London Railway Company to the Japanese representative, didn't you?"

"We're just doing some business cooperation." Robert said with a smile by Surrey's secret hidden in his heart.

"Even if it is commercial cooperation, you and I have to know that if you want to make China suffer, you cannot just cooperate in business. The Japanese are a good partner. They are within China's sphere of influence, and any action will cause China to overreact. Moreover, they are willing to cooperate with us and cooperate in any aspect." Earl Surrey reminded.

Japan also sent personnel to participate in this League of Nations Conference. According to the specifications of participating in the Eastern League Conference, the Japanese Emperor, Tokugawa Shogunate and the Western League of Daming sent a delegation to Seville. Of course, the common goal of this delegation is to join the League of Nations. Representatives of different forces have different responsibilities, especially the Western League of Daming, who want to cooperate more deeply with European countries.

At the League of Nations meeting, the Japanese delegation was in a depressed mood, because Japan not only did not become the founding country of the League of Nations, nor did it become the Council, and it was not even a formal member. It could only participate in the League of Nations meeting as an observer.

As for why such an ending was, in addition to the empire's intention to suppress Japan, the most important thing was its own reasons. Although Japan had a delegation, there was no leader, and there was no righteous envoy. In the League of Nations Conference, each country had only one representative to speak, and the representatives of the Tokugawa shogunate and the representatives of the Western Daming refused to give in to each other.

But even so, the Japanese delegation still caused some trouble for the empire. It promoted the empire's actions to eliminate the Japanese in South America outside the venue, believing that it was a hegemonic act and caused a humanitarian disaster. This is also a rare material for countries like Britain and France that oppose the empire.

Seeing that Surrey had just spoken out, Robert simply said: "Yes, if we don't cause a big trouble for China, their eyes will always be on us and cause trouble for us. The gentlemen in London believe that any behavior that can push China into the quagmire is worth our attempt."

"Japan will be a quagmire. Japan's significance to China is very important. If this country is unified and developed, it will be the only threat to China's abdomen. And this is what both of us are happy to see." Sarri said confidently.

Robert said: "Earl, there is something you need to know. Given the current domestic situation in Britain, we will not support any military arming of Japan. That will cause a strong backlash from China."

The Earl of Surrey knew where the attitude of the British side originated, that is, the situation in Ireland. Ireland is still in a state of autonomy, and the British have not achieved effective rule in its country. As long as the UK supports Japan too clearly, the empire can completely fight back against Britain by supporting Ireland's independence. This is exactly the situation that Britain does not want to see at all. After all, the two countries have not exactly the same ability to deal with crises.

Li Zhaoyu obviously didn't know this, but he was doing the same thing as his opponent, which was to cause trouble for his opponent as much as possible. Although Spain once stood on the side of Britain and France on the issue of sharing membership fees by the League of Nations, after being resolved by Li Zhaoyu, Philip V still returned to the normal track of cooperation with the empire.

In July of the 45th year of the Empire, the military trade cooperation between the two countries reached a small climax. The flagship of the Imperial Mediterranean Fleet, the battleship Xuanwu, arrived at the port of Cadiz, the port of Spain. What’s special about this warship is that it was completely impossible to find the standard equipment that the warships and civilian ships had at that time - the towering masts and the style of covering the sky and the sun. Instead, it was a huge chimney with thick black smoke and the bridge part that occupied the main position of the warship.

This is a brand new ironclad ship that relies entirely on steam power and uses the most powerful 305mm dual-mounted heavy artillery, which is different from any ironclad ship built by the Empire in the past. For this warship, the Empire even restored the battleship serial number.

After entering the steam era, although the Empire built various steam-powered warships or steam-assisted warships, considering their tonnage and purpose, its warships were divided into main cruisers and service frigates. Without exception, these warships were warships with ships with guns, that is, like the early sail battleships, the artillery was aimed at both sides.

Later, warships arranged by artillery were developed, that is, a cannon was arranged in the center of the warship and the cannons were arranged in the center, so that heavier artillery could be arranged.

However, the Imperial Navy has never stopped exploring turret warships. When Li Junwei prevailed in America, a cruiser in the fleet was transformed into a turret cruiser. Since the end of the American War, the Imperial Navy has suffered a period of funding cuts, mainly because the threat from Europe is too small, and the navy can gain absolute combat power and technical advantages without updating the warships.

Until the Spanish throne inheritance war, the Dutch took the lead in collecting ironclad ships. After the war, Britain and France also successively built steam-powered warships, and even began to test-produce ironclad ships. The navy once again encountered challenges from the West, so an epoch-making battleship was needed to maintain the advantages of the imperial navy.

Just as in the pre-Imperial era, the Imperial Navy used the Ai Beast-class sail battleship to overwhelm the Europeans' Garen warships and armed merchant ships in the East. This epoch-making warship was once again named Ai Beast-class, and the Xuanwu was one of the two ships, and the other sister ship, the Suzaku, served in the Imperial local fleet.

Xuanwu is the first battleship built by the Imperial Navy with a displacement of 10,000 tons. Its displacement is almost 10,000 tons, with a length of 94 meters and a width of 19 meters. Its draft exceeds 8 meters and a displacement of 10,400 tons.

The two-axis propulsion is adopted, with the purpose of reducing draft depth and facilitating the newly expanded Suez Canal and increasing stability. Eight boilers push a twin-cylinder direct-connected steam engine, with a maximum speed of up to thirteen and a half knots and can carry 1,800 tons of coal. When using local high-quality coal, the range exceeds 5,000 nautical miles, and can complete transoceanic voyages.

The main weapon of the Xuanwu is two dual-equipped 305mm front-mounted rifled guns, which are arranged with one turret in front and aft, which is no different from the previous dreadnoughts in later generations. Therefore, the auspicious beast-class has become the originator of the steam-powered battleship.

Although the Ruibeast-class battleship has created many history and is also the strongest battleship in service in the Imperial Navy, this does not mean that the Imperial Navy likes her. In fact, the front-line officers and soldiers of the Imperial Navy are not interested in these two battleships that have been in service for only two years, and the same is true for the Imperial Navy's senior management.

The reason is actually very simple. The freeboard of the Ai Beast-class battleship is too low, only more than three meters. Of course, this is a modified design. According to the original design, the Ai Beast-class freeboard will not exceed 1.5 meters. The Imperial Navy is a global navy and requires combat in various sea areas around the world. The Ai Beast-class freeboard is obviously not suitable.

This is also why the Ai Beast-class battleship was originally planned to build six, but in fact only two were built, one in the Mediterranean Fleet and the other in the North Sea Squadron of the local fleet. These are all calm places, and there will be no problems with the Ai Beast-class.

But the problem is that the Imperial Navy's assumption of combat areas is not the calm Mediterranean Sea, but the surging North Atlantic Ocean, which is not suitable for such battleships that are prone to waves.

Of course, low freeboard does not mean that there is a problem with safety. In order to prove the safety of the ship, Pan Mingqi, the chief designer of the Aiba grade, arranged 400 people at one time, ran from one side of the deck to the other side, and then returned. He ran back and forth eighteen times, artificially creating a seven-degree roll to prove its stability.

On the way to the Mediterranean fleet, the Indian Ocean encountered eight-meter-high waves in the Indian Ocean. The hull rolled to 14 degrees and did not capsize, which was enough to prove its design stability. However, the working conditions under harsh sea conditions are still too poor, which makes the Avian Beast-level class not suitable for combating in high sea conditions.

The reason why the Navy did not like the auspicious beast-level is that both the Xuanwu and the Zhuque had serious accidents. During the training of the Zhuque last year, the boiler valve was accidentally closed, causing the steam pressure to unexpectedly increase, but the safety valve rusted to death due to corrosion, and the boiler explosion occurred directly.

Twenty crew members, including the deputy captain and the commander of the engine, were killed on the spot, and more than 70 others were injured, and nearly 30 of them were injured and died. This became the largest boiler accident in the history of the imperial navy, making the navy firmly believe that the auspicious beast-level boiler has defects.

Although the Xuanwu boiler did not explode, due to the use of the front-loaded rifled gun, two rounds of shells were accidentally stuffed into an exercise with the Black Sea Fleet, which directly caused the artillery to explode and caused a major accident of more than 40 casualties.

The Xuanwu arrived in Cadiz, which was just the main gun.

The auspicious beast-level service has only been in service for more than two years, leaving a serious psychological shadow on the Imperial Navy. Although Li Zhaoyu asked the Xuanwu to come as a "model room", the Navy took the initiative to ask if the Xuanwu could be sold directly to Spain.

As a guide, Li Zhaoyu boarded the Xuanwu with Philip V to visit. The auspicious beast-level boiler problem was strictly kept secret. At least the officers and soldiers of the Xuanwu did not know what happened on the Zhuque. As for the cannon explosion, it was just an accident...

Whether there is a problem with the auspicious beast-level boiler is still uncertain, but this kind of battleship that cannot be fought under high seas is extremely suitable for Spain. After all, the Spanish bought battleships to confront the Austrian Empire in a large bathtub of the Mediterranean, and the Mediterranean is famous for its calmness.

The Xuanwu had many advanced things. The steam-powered turret made Philip V feel very novel. He even wanted to fire a shot himself, but when he saw that he needed to cooperate with eleven people to complete the loading work, Philip V changed his mind again. He would not work with civilians.

"This is the most advanced warship in the world, no doubt. His birth will eliminate all the iron-clad ships before, the noble Majesty the King." Pan Mingqi, the chief designer who was with him, said that the reason he was so active was that as long as he sold this battleship, he could obtain more design funds and design better and more battleships.

"Including those ironclad ships in your country?"
Chapter completed!