"What a big plan for both sides!" Listening to the report of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Xu Jie smiled bitterly. His original intention was to open a small opening for Italy to increase the strength of the Italian navy so that it could maintain neutrality in future wars, and by the way, sell some benefits to the French, so that they could better contain Germany. But who would have thought that both the Central and Entente would see it as an opportunity, an opportunity to limit the enemy's self-promotion! Treaties are never 100% honored, and both sides will find loopholes. But now it seems that both the Central and Entente countries wanted to make a big deal out of this in order to get the most out of it. After all, everyone knows that each other is not clean, and it would be better if we could destroy some of each other's careful thoughts?

Both the Central Powers and the Entente had to ask for a meeting, and China could only participate, and in this kind of meeting that exploited loopholes and restricted loopholes, whoever did not go would suffer, and considering that it was Italy that proposed the proposal to limit the treaty, the countries agreed to convene a supplementary conference to the Naval Armaments Treaty in Rome after consultation. to remedy some "deficiencies" and "loopholes"! "It's only been 3 years, and it's going to be a meeting again? Is there still any end? Lin Yongsheng, who had represented the Huaxia Navy at the last arms limitation meeting, heard that he was going to be sent again this time, so he complained that for it, holding a meeting was far less easy than fighting a war.

The first topic of the meeting was raised by the Italians, that is, the question of how to operate the surplus in the case of the surplus of capital ship tonnage, but not enough to build new capital ships. This problem is not only the Italian navy, but also the navies of other countries to a greater or lesser extent. For example, the French Navy can build a new capital ship with a tonnage of 125,000 tons, so the choice of the new capital ship is 2 large battleships close to 40,000 tons and 2 smaller battleships. Or directly select 3 large capital ships, and the remaining tonnage will be converted into aircraft carrier tonnage. In the same way, the Austro-Hungarian Empire also had so many new warships in tonnage, and there was also the problem of zài.

On the contrary, there are no problems like China, the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom, because their tonnage is very large, and this bit of leftover material is nothing to them. As for the construction of aircraft carriers? Hehe, these first-rate naval powers with deep pockets are preparing their own aircraft carrier reserves, who cares about this bit of scraps? Therefore, the first topic of this meeting is actually the first-rate naval power to fight for some interests for its little brother!

Judging by the situation, Italy has about 1.5 to 18 thousand tons of remaining tonnage left (because the old warships also need to be improved. And this will inevitably cause a fluctuation in tonnage. France and Austria-Hungary used less than 12,000 tonnes of leftovers at most. These two countries are also very shrewd, and they both coincidentally abandoned the original construction plan of 2 large and 2 small, and switched to 3 large capital ships. Then the idea raises the issue of tonnage conversion in the negotiations. And in addition to the three countries of Italy, France and Austria. Turkey, Spain and Russia are similarly entangled in plans for new warships.

It stands to reason that the three of them enjoy a 4.5 weight ratio. That is, the tonnage of the capital ship is 225,000 tons. Turkey and Spain have a total of five fast capital ships, which uses at least 125,000 tons of tonnage, even if they do not build new ships. Russia can only use about 90,000 tons. Russia now does not have the ability to build new capital ships on its own. The construction of the Izmail-class battleships was actually carried out with foreign support, and the looting of the Russian naval industry by the Germans during the war can be described as tragic, and according to the jump limit, Russia can only buy battleships with a standard row of no more than 35,000 tons. That is, at most 2 ships will be built, and then there will be more than 20,000 tons of capital ship tonnage. Of course, in fact, this was born in tonnage and could build 3 fast battleships equipped with 15-inch guns, but obviously. As the supplier, Germany and Austria don't have this idea, he still wants Russia to squeeze out more tonnage for Turkey and Spain, two more obedient little brothers!

All in all. This time, France has 12,000 remaining capital ship tonnage, while Italy has more than 15,000 tons of tonnage left in the Allies, Austria-Hungary is comparable to France, and Spain, Turkey and Russia have a common remaining tonnage of about 20,000 tons. Did the Entente probably endure it? Obviously impossible! For this, they have prepared ample rhetoric as ammunition for "mouth cannons"!

"The core issue of this meeting is to fix the loopholes and deficiencies of the Beijing Naval Arms Limitation Treaty, not to deny the treaty from scratch, so in this meeting, the changes in the fleets of the two sides should follow the principle of reciprocity, that is, the Allied and Entente changes should be the same. We agree with Italy to convert part of the remaining capital ship tonnage into aircraft carrier tonnage, but at the same time, France should also enjoy such treatment. And I need to remind you that the Allies have gained an advantage in this exchange, and that this change should not be extended to other countries. "On the first day of the conference, the British presented their point of view on behalf of the Entente.

"So ruthless?!" The opening remarks of the British made the Allies feel very tricky, first of all, they expressed their support for Italy's attitude, on the one hand, it was to show goodwill to Italy, after all, the rift between Italy and Germany and Austria was no secret, and in this case it was normal for the Allies to win over Italy. The second aspect is to seek certain interests for France. After all, the British officials said very well, this is to follow the principle of fairness and justice, the Italians have changed, and the French are not too much to change, right?

"Your remarks are biased. Italy's choice to convert battleship tonnage into aircraft carrier tonnage was the tone set during the talks in Beijing three years ago. At that time, there was no restriction on other countries. So Italy can convert the remaining tonnage of capital ships into aircraft carrier tonnage, but France cannot. The Germans are not fuel-efficient lamps either, and after flatly rejecting the one-on-one conversion, the Germans turned around and put forward their own opinion: "If the French side demands that the tonnage of capital ships be converted into the tonnage of aircraft carriers, then we demand the same full force from Austria-Hungary, Spain, and the Turkish Empire." "The last sentence is the point of the Allies! In this meeting, the Allies have a great plan!

"If the tonnage of capital ships can be converted into aircraft carrier tonnage at will, then the restrictions on the tonnage of various warships in the treaty will become meaningless. The treaty will lose its meaning, and I don't think anyone here will break the treaty if they want to, right? If your country demands that the tonnage of the capital ships of other countries can be converted, we in the United States will definitely accompany you to the end! "In the face of a German counterattack. U.S. Representative Sims said calmly. The treaty has just been signed for three years, and the Americans' ambitious shipbuilding program is underway, and the tonnage under construction is far from reaching the amount stipulated in the treaty, so the Americans are not afraid, since you want to convert, then the United States can naturally do it, not only the allies have a large amount of surplus tonnage that is not used. The United States has the same too! And the large number is terrible!

"Ladies and gentlemen, I think we got a wrong question, what we need to discuss is the utilization and conversion of a small amount of surplus tonnage in the tonnage of capital ships. It is not the tonnage conversion of the capital ship, that is to say, the tonnage of the capital ship cannot be converted at will. Italy really has no choice, and the remaining tonnage of about 15,000 tons is only enough to build a cruiser. In the same way, France and Austria-Hungary also had such a problem. However, considering the balance between the Central and Entente powers, the total tonnage of conversion could not be in the same proportion. "Just when the meeting was at an impasse. Lin Yongsheng expressed his opinion on behalf of Huaxia.

"Our point is. The Italian Navy could convert it in a 5 to 4 ratio, because at the time of the signing of the treaty, it was already stipulated that Italy could convert the remaining tonnage into aircraft carriers at a later date. So the Italian Navy can add about 12,000 tons of aircraft carrier tonnage, and the French Navy can also get about 9,000 tons of aircraft carrier tonnage. And taking into account the balance between the Central and Entente powers. The tonnage of Austria-Hungary should have been somewhat lower than that of France. "In this meeting, Italy and China are in a group, so China naturally wants to support Italy to gain an advantageous and detached position as much as possible. If Italy is completely included in the Central Powers, then the tonnage that the Italian Navy can obtain in the future will naturally be at a relatively low standard.

"The construction of your country is not fair, because the remaining tonnage is a problem that is common to almost all countries. If only Italy, Austria-Hungary and France could solve the problem, then it would be unfair to the other small countries. Of course, we still support the definition of remaining tonnage in the Republic of China. Some countries could not obtain aircraft carrier tonnage by stopping the construction of battleships. This is a betrayal of the spirit of the treaty! "Germany's representative, Siper, has bitten the issue of the conversion of tonnage in small countries, and demanded that the remaining tonnage shared by Turkey and other countries can also be converted.

"Speaking of a betrayal of the spirit of the treaty. I think Germany has the least reason to blame other countries. Russia, Turkey, and Spain shared the required tonnage, but in practice Germany forced Russia to give up its tonnage, and as far as I know, Russia wanted to build an aircraft carrier, but was refused, because the Germans wanted to use Russian tonnage to transfer it to Turkey. And the builder is a German shipyard, which is unfair to Russia. In the treaty, it seems that there is no provision for large countries to arrange the tonnage of small countries, right? The tonnage issue of the three small countries should be resolved through negotiation on the basis of the principle of equality, right? Sims said.

As for this, it doesn't matter whether the Germans admit it or not, all the Americans want is a reason, although three small countries can have 4.5 aircraft carriers, but if they are assigned to each country, they can only build a 22,500-ton aircraft carrier at most. After several years of research, it became known that aircraft carriers of this tonnage were not balanced. And the Americans are doing this to break the Allies' naval construction plans.

"If it is in the spirit of justice, Spain, Turkey and Russia should indeed share equally in the tonnage of aircraft carriers, and it is inopportune to give all the tonnage to the other two countries." At this critical moment, the Huaxia delegates sided with the Entente. The shape of the whole meeting immediately went against the Allies!

Thanks to book friends zhouyu1976, hukaikaka for their tips~~, as well as book friends flying knife + Xiao Li, Xiaobai who doesn't want to die, ranky, fatchi1979's monthly pass support ~~~. (To be continued......)