Chapter 179 Big Oil Field
"What are you afraid of? It's a joke!" Michael, Gail and the others burst into laughter. They didn't think war was so terrible at all. It wasn't the first war, and they hadn't been back home for long.
"That's right. None of you can pass the conscription physical examination anyway." Sheffield's words caused laughter again. It was too easy for them to avoid the conscription physical examination and show that they were unable to fulfill their obligation to fight for their country.
In war, of course, freemen will fight and die. The lives of slave owners are so precious that they cannot be wasted on a battlefield full of gunfire. It is enough for everyone to know this. There is no need to say it so bluntly.
"I really want to thank you on behalf of the federal government. You are so concerned about the national situation despite your disability. If my birthday had not come yet and I were still a minor legally, I would have wanted to go to the battlefield to fight for my country." Sheffield was no less shameless than everyone else and found another excuse for not joining the army. He just forgot that after a few months of thinking about it, he might really become an adult.
But it doesn't matter, he can always find another excuse, such as he sprained his ankle when he was five years old and it has never healed. But joking aside, Sheffield still gave his friends a hint, "If nothing unexpected happens, it's time to fight the Spanish Empire and make this sunset completely fall."
"We have been waiting for this day. If it weren't for the civil war, Cuba would have been incorporated into the United States long ago." Gale said coldly. He obviously got more indoctrination from his parents and knew that the families in the southern states had strong feelings towards Cuba. Moreover, when the Confederate States of America was established, if they successfully separated from the United States, they were prepared to continue to expand and cause trouble for Mexico and Cuba.
Obviously, the Spanish Empire was not taken seriously by these people. Sheffield, who had sent people to Spain for investigation, understood that this idea was correct. In fact, the global territory of the Spanish Empire and the British Empire, two generations of empires on which the sun never set, was very similar to the Wei State in the Warring States Period, if compared with an example from Chinese history.
Wei was the hegemon in the early Warring States period, but after the Three Kingdoms divided Jin, Wei encountered a very big problem. Its territory was very fragmented, a typical point-like layout, which was the dumbest, most laborious and most unsustainable layout for dominating the world. Wei was deep in the center of all the countries, with no strategic depth. Everywhere was a battlefield, and no place could be lost. As a result, every time Wei launched a major offensive, it would be immediately stabbed in the ass by others in another place, and then it could only return to rescue.
The Wei State, which once dominated the world, failed to concentrate its strength on one point. It tried to rescue the eastern capital Daliang twice. Its main general Pang Juan and Crown Prince Shen were defeated. The main force of the Wei army suffered heavy losses and was unable to recover and was trampled underfoot.
The Spanish Empire and the British Empire were like this. Their homelands were not impregnable, but their colonies were spread all over the world. Most importantly, Spain was stabbed in the ass by Napoleon once, which led to domestic chaos and almost all of its American colonies were lost.
The British Empire reacted quickly, abandoning its colonies before launching a siege, stirring up conflicts before leaving, and waiting to make a comeback, but in the end there was no chance of a comeback.
According to the current situation in the world, the local population is large enough, and there are only a few candidates for world hegemony. The advantage of the United States is that there are not so many powerful enemies blocking the doorstep, and it has more favorable conditions than the two candidates in Eastern Europe and East Asia. The most important thing is that at this time, there is also the German Empire, the motherland in the minds of the Germans, to attract hatred. The existence of the German Empire is the greatest luck of the United States.
Before the Industrial Revolution swept the world, the three candidates actually caught the tail of the last wave of traditional expansion. Imperial Russia crossed the Ural Mountains and marched eastward, and the Qing Dynasty started its westward expedition. Both of them started to conquer the remaining Mongolian forces at the same time.
Imperial Russia destroyed the major khanates in Siberia and took Siberia into its possession. In East Asia, the three generations of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong successively annexed Outer Mongolia, Qinghai-Tibet, and finally destroyed Junggar, and also robbed one-third of Kazakhstan. To be fair, the Qing Dynasty did not fight endlessly in the Central Plains, and spent much more time on the Mongols.
From Ivan the Terrible to Catherine the Great, Russia took 300 years to expand. It took the Qing Dynasty 150 years to swallow up the Mongolian tribes. In the end, the Russian Empire became the largest country in the world. The Qing Dynasty, together with the Northeast and the Han areas, doubled its territory, becoming the perfect map in the minds of many people.
Compared with the previous two, the expansion of the United States took less time and achieved equally good results. In just fifty years, it had completed a very successful expansion and became a superpower in both oceans.
Now it seems that the United States is one step ahead of the other two candidates. Sheffield looked at his belligerent companions and said, "My dear companions, although the Republicans are in power now, we must also get our share. Compared with those Yankees, our advantage is that we have a more international perspective, rather than those counterfeit and shoddy product manufacturers who are blocked in the domestic market. We should play to our strengths. Even William McClay cannot give our interests to others."
"We have an experienced team, so we may not be defeated by the federal army, right?" Sheffield reminded coldly.
"We not only have troops that can fight, but we also have the advantage of terrain. If we can't get our share, we can forget about using the southern ports." McHale shouted loudly, "We can still win even without the federal army."
"That's an exaggeration. Even though Spain is not strong, they are not guaranteed to win." Sheffield reminded his teammates to be humble, or at least to a limited extent.
But he did not think that his companions were inflated. If he remembered correctly, the Spanish-American War ended with the newly powerful United States defeating Spain. In specific battles, there were many cases where the US military wiped out the Spanish navy and army without losing a single person, almost the same as the Anglo-French Allied Forces at Baliqiao.
Now, if we want to say which one is stronger, Spain or the Qing Dynasty, Sheffield really needs to think about this question. Before the Sino-Japanese War, the Qing Dynasty was the last in the first-class countries in the eyes of various countries, and was also the weakest imperialist power. After the Sino-Japanese War, it was no longer considered one of the powers, but a second-class top country, and was definitely more favored than Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, and so on.
If Spain's national strength was not as strong as Italy's, it would not have the ability to do anything against the Qing Dynasty. Italy can be regarded as a unit of measurement.
"Anyway, this is how it is. We have layouts in Central American countries, and we must beat the Yankees." Sheffield ended the New Year's party. "Our companions must prepare well, and everyone should unite and prepare to divide the cake."
After leaving the room, Sheffield thought for a moment and ordered, "Send a telegram to Los Angeles and ask our Chinese labor leader to come over. I can give him a chance to take revenge. Also, let our Democratic Party members talk to the president. What's the point of keeping the news secret? Ask him if anyone is pressuring him to go to war. Tell him directly that as long as he agrees to the conditions, the Democratic Party will agree. If he doesn't agree, just get supplies from the ports of New York and Boston. The southern ports are very busy and are preparing for import and export business."
As for whether there are teams that can fight, the army is definitely no problem. Any one of Gail and McHale can pull out a team. But the problem is at sea. Black Gold Transport Company has two protected cruisers in Haiti under the name of the Haitian government.
One of them was equipped with four eight-inch guns in two armored turrets that could swivel 150 degrees; ten five-inch guns, fourteen six-pound guns, two Gatling machine guns, and six eighteen-inch torpedo tubes. It was 344 feet long, 53 feet wide, with a draft of 21 feet 6 inches and a full-load draft of 25 feet; it had a displacement of 5,800 tons, 17,000 horsepower, and a speed of 20 knots; it carried 1,000 tons of coal and had a cruising range of 6,000 nautical miles/10 knots; its deck was armored two inches and cost $1.79 million.
Another protected cruiser was commissioned three years ago. Four eight-inch breech-loading guns, six six-inch breech-loading guns, four six-pounder rapid-fire guns, two three-pounder rapid-fire guns, two one-pounder rapid-fire guns, four 37mm swivel guns, two Gatling guns, and five fourteen-inch torpedo tubes.
330 feet long, 48 feet wide, 20 feet draft, 24 feet fully loaded; displacement 4,400 tons, 10,000 horsepower, speed 21 knots; coal capacity 1,000 tons, endurance 7,200 nautical miles/10 knots; four-inch dome armor, two-inch deck, two-inch gun armor; cost US$1,325,000.
These are the two trump cards in the hands of the United Company. As for why there are no more, didn't they look at the cost? Sheffield United Company only invested some necessary deterrence. The two warships cost four million US dollars.
These were all purchased from Europe by the Haitian government. Sheffield United had little experience in shipbuilding and could only manufacture fishing boats. The Navy of the United States is now built by shipyards on the East and West Coasts. The Houston shipyard is still catching up. It is good enough to be able to repair warships, but they still want to manufacture them?
A few days after the New Year, as if the New Year brought good luck, an explosive news came from the exploration team: they had found oil. The drill bit drilled down the well and broke the cement plug. The drillers began to lower the salvage tube, again and again, to take out the mud in the wellbore. This process lasted for more than two days. Everyone stared at the wellhead, but there was nothing.
Finally, they saw oil spots on the surface of the mud that came up. As the oil spots grew more and more, the exploration team members were finally convinced that their two years of hard work had not been in vain.
"What a pity. The Rockefeller family is lucky. I believe they know it." Sheffield shook his head slightly, as if he saw the excitement of Rockefeller Jr.
(End of this chapter)
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