Unlike Sir Crowe's geostrategic diplomacy, Prime Minister Richelieu's maritime strategy and naval military thinking were based on the country's financial needs.

Prior to the re-establishment of the navy in Richelieu, all Charlemagne's well-known and unknown strategists had always regarded the navy as a subordinate service, and the purpose of building the navy was to strengthen Charlemagne's international standing and to send Charlemagne's army to the island of Albion at the right time. Not based on the struggle for maritime and colonial interests.

As a technical branch that is different from the traditional army, the equipment and personnel conditions required are much higher than those of the army. Until there is a breakthrough increase in fiscal revenue, the economic burden of building and maintaining a navy is difficult for Charlemagne, a traditional land-powered power, to bear.

Richelieu was keenly aware that Charlemagne had fertile land and a large industry supported by first-class high-tech companies such as V.E. But homegrown resources alone are not enough to support Charlemagne to go further and become the overlord of the human camp. At a time when the colonial economy and overseas trade were developing rapidly, Charlemagne's self-sufficient economy was being equaled in size and growth by the overseas colonial economies of Albion and Castile, and in a few years it may even be in danger of being completely surpassed. Therefore, Richelieu ended the "internal friction idling" with V.E. and adopted a mercantilist national policy to encourage the export of industrial products.

Exports must involve trade, and as an efficient mode of trade that can extend exports to the most remote areas, maritime trade is seen as a top priority, and maritime trade must involve navy and sea power.

Overseas trade could quickly increase a country's financial resources, and the colonies signed with Charlemagne were too small. As a late naval power, Charlemagne could not have squeezed into the separate trading systems of Albion and Castile through simple means of trade. Therefore, if Charlemagne wanted to ensure the prosperity of the kingdom, he had to expand his colonies outward, establish his own overseas colonial trade system, and the scale and speed of expansion must exceed that of other countries in order to realize Richelieu's vision.

Whether it is to ensure the security of overseas trade or to carry out the expansion of overseas interests, a strong navy that can overwhelm other maritime powers is needed, and the funds to support this navy must come from the profits of foreign trade. Once a virtuous circle between overseas interests and the size of the navy is formed, it in turn can lead to the resolution of domestic problems, quickly making Charlemagne prosperous and powerful.

Li Lin gave Richelieu a higher opinion of his strategy than Sir Crow. As a traditional maritime power. A nation steeped in maritime culture for thousands of years. The emergence of a diplomatic analyst such as Sir Crow in Albion was inevitable. And Charlemagne, as a traditional continental power, has relied on the army to obtain and maintain its statehood for hundreds of years. The whole country has long neglected the seas, and regarded the retention of a navy as a member of the extravagant ruling class of the continental nations. With a strategic focus on the world and the economy, we interpret the full meaning of naval construction from a new perspective, and strive to build a strong navy. Richelieu was a master of strategy who really jumped out of the rut of land power. It's worth impressing.

But what flows in his bones is the blood of the mainland nation after all. Lack of in-depth understanding of maritime culture and maritime peoples. He underestimated the militaristic tendencies in China and did not have enough knowledge of Li Lin's ability, which doomed this strategy to failure.

Fundamentally. Charlemagne, and especially Richelieu himself, did not really want a world war. The fundamental purpose of the expansion of the navy at this stage is not to compete with Albion for a short time, but to serve as a powerful bargaining chip in the bargaining process. It would force Albion to make concessions and acquiesce in Charlemagne's annexation of the Castilian colony, in order to put Charlemagne in a more advantageous position in international politics.

This small abacus, which seems reasonable at first glance, is actually a paradox. That is, the Albiang Navy has an advantage over Charlemagne's Navy, and Charlemagne can force Albion to acquiesce to Charlemagne's threat of his maritime supremacy through guò shipbuilding competitions and negotiations.

This is wishful thinking, and Albion's fear and tolerance of his old adversary challenging his sea power is much lower than Richelieu and Charlemagne imagined. As Walsingham put it: "Every Albion should give every copper plate to maintain our maritime supremacy." ”

The Duke of Marlborough, who was involved in the disarmament negotiations this time, may be the most apt: "Every rivet that Richelieu has hammered into his warships has brought about a unity of opinion among the thousands of most energetic men in every industry and every region of Albion." The sonorous hammer of Charlemagne's shipyard is the national will of the whole country of Albion to fight to the end. ”

Although both countries had plans to abandon the arms race because they could not afford to spend huge naval spending, this did not affect Albiang's ambition to maintain his maritime supremacy, and he did everything possible to make Charlemagne retreat. Among them are "military" means such as the arms race and "preventive war", as well as "literal" means such as diplomatic tactics and disarmament negotiations.

"Our country believes that the ratio of the total tonnage of the warships of the three naval powers - Albion, Castile and Charlemagne - should be 10:6:4. ”

Sir Crow spoke calmly, as if he were in the Admiralty building of the royal house of Albion, and across from him sat a naval officer, who was talking about the weather. Instead of talking to the president of V.E about Albion's bottom line in the disarmament negotiations, he was at his villa on the outskirts of Lüders.

It's a gesture, a human favor at a slight cost. With the strength of Li Lin's intelligence network, he would know sooner or later that the Duke of Marlborough would make this request during the negotiations, so it was better to say it a day or two in advance and win over this ally.

With a shelf life of no more than three days, the table shows the importance of the alliance with the V.E consortium, and adds insurance to Charlemagne's back in a possible future war.

It has to be said that the Albion gentlemen are really business-minded, and they are chillingly shrewd in both diplomacy and negotiation.

“10：6：4......”

Tasting the taste of black tea, Li Lin's cheeks turned into a smile.

"Are you serious?"

"There is no doubt that this is the ratio of naval strength that our Privy Council, the Admiralty, and the Ministry of Finance hope to reach after careful discussion and consultation, and after repeated arguments and calculations. We can discuss this, but we don't agree to make any changes, and that's our bottom line. ”

Sir Crow's smile was meaningful, like a cunning old fox who had been honed over time. (To be continued......)

PS: There will be a change later, so stay tuned