There was a lot of shock in the Senate, and some members of the parliament even stood up. The veterans looked at each other, but they didn't know why. Lin He asked in surprise: "Hao Cheng, what happened? Is it because of South Africa?"

The South African colonies were made public at the beginning of this year, and at the beginning it was a small-scale because senior lawmakers discovered huge loopholes when they audited the budget and last year's state-owned enterprise revenue and expenditure, and involved large-scale immigration to South Africa and the lives of thousands of people. The Senate recognized the existence of Cape Town. Anyway, this colony is no longer a secret in the New World and the Western Indian Ocean.

"Yes, because South Africa, our colonies in South Africa have been attacked by the Dutch West India Company. So far, the siege has been going on for nearly five months." Lee Mingxun said calmly.

Of course everyone knows this. The news came more than 20 days ago. During this period, the senators have been summoning the situation in South Africa. However, no one thinks that the war should be started.

Lin He said: "As far as I know, it was the Dutch West India Company that attacked Cape Town, at least we have no evidence related to the East India Company."

"That doesn't matter. The key is that this is an excellent opportunity to start a war against the East India Company. War requires reasons. The Dutch gave us reasons and we must seize them. It's that simple." Li Mingxun explained with a smile.

This is plain, but it is a war that concerns the fate of tens of millions of people. Lin Cheng asked: "Your Excellency, have you made a decision?"

Li Mingxun nodded: "Yes, this is my decision. I hope to get the support of everyone here."

As the supreme head of the United States and the only veteran with a veto power, Lee Myung-hoon has the right to declare war on the outside. Of course, when it involves the interests of the United States' national interests, Lee Myung-hoon will choose to get the support and understanding of all veterans.

Lin He hesitated several times and finally said, "His Excellency the Head, have you reached this point?"

After South Africa's intelligence was transmitted back to China, Lin He, who was in charge of diplomacy, had prepared a variety of plans. At the same time, he was also negotiating with Cologne, the Dutch envoy to Taipei. Although Cologne spoke full of diplomatic rhetoric and looked unrelated to the East India Company, it was not at the point of directly declaring war.

"It was the West India Company that attacked Cape Town, not the East India Company, right?" Pan Xuezhong also interrupted and asked.

Li Mingxun nodded: "The land belongs to the land and the colonies belong to the colonies. This is the unspoken rule of the Europeans and does not apply to our United States. The United Nations will protect all our citizens. The United Nations has granted the West Indian Company the authority of the country as a country, so we have to endorse it. Our target of declaring war also includes the United Nations Republic of the Netherlands. However, we are far from reaching Europe and can only fight against the overseas territories of the Netherlands. Therefore, the Dutch East India Company is our main target of combat."

It was the Dutch who attacked South Africa, so all the Dutch were responsible for this. This is the United States' declaring war. Unlike European colonial countries, the United States confirmed the overseas territories, the colonies and their localities from the very beginning to share the same fate. This war was to show the determination of the United States to the world.

Lin Cheng glanced at Gao Feng, and the two exchanged their eyes and said, "Honor-in-chief, our preparations for the Shandong battlefield are now ripe. We can launch a large-scale war against the Qing Dynasty at any time. It seems that it is not a good time to start a war against the East India Company."

"The continental battlefield shrinks, with combat against the Netherlands as its strategic focus." Li Mingxun said without hesitation.

Lin Cheng coughed lightly: "That's right. I think that when the Western Army and the Qing Dynasty ceased to fight against the Qing Dynasty in the southwest battlefield, Qiongfan was suppressed, and the Lu Supervisor was unable to reach the national strength, only our attack in Shandong could force the Qing Dynasty to be in a state of full-scale war, consume its national strength, and turbulent its internal affairs. If we leave the Shandong battlefield, then the Qing Dynasty would have a long period of opportunity. Perhaps... I think this is a huge setback for our anti-Qing imperial enemy cause."

The members of the parliament also nodded and expressed their support.

Li Mingxun smiled and said, "Gentlemen, veterans and congressmen, there is no doubt that from the era of community to the founding of the country, resisting the Qing Dynasty was our strategic focus, but you must not be confused by appearances. Anti-Qing is part of the strategy of the United States. The reason why it can be its focus is because the war against the Qing Dynasty strengthened the national strength of the United States and protected national interests. The establishment of our United States is to protect the survival of the civilization of the Chinese nation and the health of the people. The reason for resisting the Qing Dynasty was that the Qing colonial power threatened our civilization and compatriots. Gentlemen, the Qing Dynasty was just one of our enemies, and anti-Qing was just a process, not the final outcome.

I admit that the mainland battlefield dominated by Shandong offensives does play a crucial role in weakening and restraining the Qing Dynasty regime. However, it should be pointed out that even so, we are fighting the Qing Dynasty in an overall situation. With our current national strength, if we fail, we will never be doomed. If we succeed, we will only fight the war from the Jiaodong Peninsula to the hinterland of Shandong, and then enter the Central Plains area. If we defeat the Qing Dynasty once, we will not end the war on the mainland, and we will not even change the strength comparison between the two sides.

But the victory of the war against the Dutch East India Company is different. Victory will save the United States from threats and restraints from the ocean for a long time and stabilize a strategic direction. We will gain control of the Nanyang region and mobilize the resources here to support our mainland war. Our national strength will be expanded and our civilization will have a broader living space."

"In other words, do you think we can solve the Dutch once and for all through this war?" Lin He asked.

Li Mingxun shook his head: "With our current strength, it is difficult to achieve this, and it is actually not worth the loss. After all, this will arouse the vigilance of Western maritime powers. The purpose of the war is peace, not to fall into a whirlpool. My plan is to let the Dutch recognize our strength, recognize our interests in the South Ocean region, and determine the sphere of influence in the form of a treaty to achieve long-term peace. Everyone, we are not a mainland country with land power first. The Dutch fought with the Portuguese for 40 years in the East and the Indian Ocean region and completed the power transfer between the East and the Indian Ocean region. Do you think we should always expand under the shadow and restrictions of the Dutch, or can we be able to conquer people with virtue and let the Dutch take the initiative to surrender hegemony?

Our rapidly expanding maritime interests have threatened the Dutch, and Europeans will only admire the strong and bow to the strong. For us, if we do not solve the Dutch in advance, we must always beware of the Dutch attacks from behind when we go to full war with the Qing Dynasty!

The United States is rising, and sooner or later, our strength will gain an advantage over the Qing Dynasty. Would you like to see that when it can give the Qing Dynasty a fatal blow, it will lose its chance because it is constrained by the Dutch?"

Everyone looked at each other, and many elders chose to remain silent. After the MPs whispered, they also calmed down. Song Laoqi, who had not spoken, asked: "Haint, I fully support your decision to first the Netherlands and then the Qing Dynasty. I think this is a plan suitable for our United States strategy. But is there such a possibility that we will postpone the Dutch for two or three years to deal with the Dutch. Of course, don't worry about the reasons for the war. Even if we start the war first and then find the reasons, it is understandable. I mean that we will fight the war in Shandong first and then declare war on the Dutch."

"What's the reason?" Li Mingxun asked.

Song Laoqi said: "I think this is more conducive to weakening the power of the Qing Dynasty. We will assume the main combat tasks against the Qing Dynasty within two years. Two years later, the Xiying in the Yunnan-Guizhou area will definitely have the power to counterattack against the Qing Dynasty. In this way, the Xiying will take over the main battlefield of the Qing Dynasty. In this way, the pressure on the Qing Dynasty can be maintained and force them to be in a state of war forever. This is beneficial to our United States and our anti-Qing cause."

Li Mingxun smiled and said, "I would rather solve the ocean threat first, and then work with the Xiying to compete with the Central Plains."

Seeing that Song Laoqi was still hesitating, Li Mingxun said: "In fact, our current strength is more advantageous than in two years."

After hearing this, the MPs were stunned at first. Everyone couldn't believe that the elders were also so. The rapid rise of the United States exceeded everyone's imagination. The strength and military strength of this country are changing with each passing year. Two years is enough to increase the country's military strength to a higher level. How could such a rapidly rising country be inferior to that of the present in two years?

Lee Myung-hoon looked at Simmons and said, "Of course Simmons, you should know what I mean."

Simmons focused his attention and said to everyone: "For the naval fleet, especially the main fleet, the Head of State is right. Our fleet's strength is entering a period of weakness. According to the plan formulated by the Navy Department, the year after that will be the year with the lowest number of main ships in our navy. You can see this naval ship management table."

The head of state attendant took a stack of information from Simmons and sent it one by one. The status of all the main navy ships registered on it. It can be seen that the United States currently has twenty-three main battleships, including seven battleships, including three Ai Beast-class 74-artery battleships and four Taiwan-class 64-artery battleships, six 1,100-ton orca 60-artery battleships and two 800-ton class 44-artery battleships (captured from Spain), four narwhal-class (750-ton) 36-artery cruisers, and four Taipei-class (1200-class) 44-artery heavy cruisers.

Although the budget in early 1647 determined that the mainland was the main strategic direction, the United States Navy determined to build a fixed construction plan for the construction of one Avian Beast Class, two Taiwan Class and two heavy patrols every three years, so the United States Navy could achieve a bumper harvest.

Among these battleships that can join the battle line, seven battleships, four heavy patrols and two light patrols were built after the Naval Battle of Manila (the Qinglong was built before the war). The thirteen ships were in good condition (three of them were in a state of improvement after trial sailing or trial sailing), but the other ten battleships were in very bad condition.

Two forty-four gun heavy gunboats were captured from Spain. They had a long service period and were hit hard by the United States naval ships in the Naval Battle of Manila. They were already overwhelmed. Later, because there was not enough funds, the ship was not enough. They were completely sealed at the beginning of the third year of Yongli. If they wanted to be launched again, they had to spend one to one and a half years to rebuild.

The six orca and two narwhal classes were all built at the beginning of the United States Grass Industry. In that era, the United States faced a strong enemy and expanded its navy desperately. Each of these eight ships was completed in just fourteen to sixteen months, and was rushed to the water, completely contrary to the three to five-year construction cycle of the main ship. What's more important is that these eight ships were meritorious ships in combat against Spain and participated in most of the decisive battles on the battlefield. Although they could defeat their opponents every time, they were repeatedly hit hard by enemy ships in the decisive battle, greatly reducing their service life.

Because the large-scale construction of free trade-class intercontinental transport ships occupies too many large ships, and the United States Navy lacks funds. According to the Navy's plan, battleships and warships other than heavy patrol will retire from active service after reaching their service period and will no longer be rebuilt. Even if it is rebuilt, it will be used to convert them into armed merchant ships or sell them to the outside world. In short, the Navy cannot provide enough funds.

This means that five to seven main ships will be retired within two years, and if this force is used on the battlefield, it will change the balance of the battle situation.

This is also impossible. The United States is always in a state of shortage of military expenditure. The Navy's military expenditure, which was originally inferior to the army, not only built and maintained the fleet, but also supported the United States' overseas colonization and expansion, and also formed a marine to participate in the continental battlefield. The first batch of capital ships in the United States were products of a special background. In order to speed up the construction period, it used a large amount of undry wood. Some of the technologies were not standardized. It was good to be able to serve for six or seven years, not to mention that it suffered so many war damage during its service.

"If war begins this year and next two years, we have twenty-one main ships that can be fought. If it is two years later, our number of main ships will be fourteen to sixteen, and it will not be possible to exceed twenty again after three and a half years. The next two years will be two years when the navy's strength has declined, and it is also the time when the navy is most unsuitable for declaring war on the outside world." Simmons concluded at last.

In today's naval shipyards, old warships are no longer built, while new battleships and heavy patrols have a more reasonable construction cycle, generally between 34 and 42 months. Only warships built in this way can serve twelve to fifteen years. The third batch of naval battleships were launched after 1654. Before that, old warships were withering and new warships were unable to serve. This was the weakest time when the United States Navy was the weakest, and 1652 was the strongest year for the navy within five years, and this was also the main combat time chosen by Li Mingxun.

When fighting against the Dutch, the navy is the main force, and the main ships are indispensable. These big guys full of metallic and violence are enough to decide the time to start the war.

"If this is the case, our army will support your strategic plan!" Gao Feng's first choice made a statement, which eliminated the biggest internal obstacle to the war against the Netherlands.

"support!"
Chapter completed!