Santiago, August 27, 1916, AD 2757.
Chile is the longest and narrowest country in the world and is known as the "skirt of the earth."
The collision of the Pacific Plate and the South American Plate over hundreds of millions of years gave birth to the richest copper deposits on the earth, bringing this South American country Come endless wealth.
Since locals extracted copper from malachite at the end of the 18th century, Chile has become the country with the most abundant copper reserves, largest output, and largest exports in the world, and is known as the "Country of Copper Mines."
Moreover, it is also the largest country in the world that produces natural saltpeter, mainly produced in the Atacama Desert in the north.
Since the discovery of saltpeter mines, this desert has become the richest area in Chilean history.
Chile's saltpeter mines are distributed in a very wide area.
Behind the coastal plateau, between the Peruvian border and the province of Antofagasta, the saltpeter mine belt is more than 750 kilometers long and 2,530 kilometers wide.
A 13-meter-thick layer of saltpeter is buried 0.52 meters above the ground.
Before China invented ammonia synthesis technology, saltpeter was an essential raw material for the military industry, and there was no other material that could replace it.
Moreover, it is also an important raw material for fertilizers.
The end of the 19th century was a period of great development of agriculture in Europe and the United States.
The demand for fertilizers was very strong.
All countries needed a large amount of fertilizers, especially after the guano resources were increasingly depleted.
Chilean saltpeter became Europe and the United States.
A hot commodity for farmers, their need for this resource grew day by day for half a century until ammonia synthesis technology became popular.
Since there are two major customers, the military and agriculture, Chile, which controls the largest saltpeter mine in the world, is naturally a big profit city.
In addition to the above two minerals, which rank first in the world, Chile also has iron, coal, iodine, lead, zinc, manganese, mercury and oil deposits.
Especially iron ore, its grade is very high and its iron content is over 60, which is comparable to Swedish iron ore.
The decades from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century can be said to be Chile's golden age.
Relying on the two strategic resources of copper and saltpeter, Chile's small life was very nourishing.
At the beginning of this century, it had become one of the top three powers in South America, and its economic strength ranked first in South America.
Especially after the outbreak of World War I, the prices of saltpeter and copper skyrocketed.
Before the war, the price of refined copper was about US$300 per ton.
This year, it has soared to US$640 per ton, and the price of saltpeter has also skyrocketed by more than half.
From about US$35 per ton before the war, it skyrocketed to about US$55 per ton.
At this time, only China and Germany had the technology to synthesize ammonia, and other powers still needed saltpeter.
Although many of these mining companies are controlled by British and American capital, and most of the profits are misappropriated by them, Chile, as a landowner, still gets a lot of oil and water, and it feels like hand cramps counting the money.
Since 1891, naval officer J.
Monte launched a civil war and seized power in Chile.
During the following period, the landlord class united with large importers and exporters to control the government through Congress, beginning the so-called "Congress Republic Period."
Because it caught up with the good times, Chile's economy developed greatly during this period.
Of course, it was not just Chile that experienced great economic development during this period.
Argentina and Brazil next door also became rich.
Brazil's main exports are coffee, rubber and cocoa.
The total value of Brazilian exports increased to 980 million cruseiros.
Among them, the first two are ranked first in the world.
The export value of coffee always accounts for more than half of the world's exports, the export volume of rubber accounts for 40% of the world's total, and the export volume of cocoa is the second in the world.
Argentina began exporting wheat and corn to European markets in 1878.
During World War I, wheat exports exceeded 3 million tons, ranking third in the world.
Corn export volume reached 4.8 million tons by 1912, ranking first in the world.
Exports of leather raw materials also ranked first in the world in 1913.
During World War I, Argentina's exports of butter, meat and wool surpassed those of the United States and Australia, ranking first in the world.
If you have money, be willful.
Holding a lot of money in your hand, your heart became restless.
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Arms are the most fun thing, and they are liked by all men.
They can be staged and increase national power.
What a good thing.
So the three small powers of ABC in South America began to engage in an arms race.
The most ostentatious and stylish toy in the world today is the battleship.
This thing is just like the nuclear weapons of later generations.
It is the thing that best demonstrates the identity of the great powers.
It can be regarded as the ticket to the circle of great powers.
It is different whether it has it or not.
The three small powers abc take it for granted that they are also great powers.
How can they not have battleships?
The first to take action was Brazil, the weaker of the three small powers.
They ordered three battleships from the United Kingdom.
After the completion of the British battleship HMS Dreadnought, Brazil ordered the first two dreadnought battleships from the British Armstrong Company in 1906.
This was based on the "Bellerophon-class" battleships of the British Royal Navy and was designed according to the requirements of the Brazilian Navy.
The design plan was modified.
This is the "Minas Gerais-class" battleship, and Brazil has ordered two in total.
But we all know that Niu Niu likes to deceive people.
Except for the Japanese King Kong class they gave to their younger brother, which is a rare conscientious product, the other warships in appearance are all monkey versions of deception.
Especially for foreign trade battleships, unscrupulous Niu Niu weakened their side armor to a crazy level to ensure that they could be penetrated by the main guns of British armored cruisers within normal combat distances.
Yes, you read that right, it was penetrated by the British armored cruiser's main gun, not the battleship's main gun.
The Brazilians were no exception.
This "Minas Gerais" battleship was not only a thin-skinned dumpling, but the power system also used an old reciprocating steam engine instead of a new steam turbine.
But no matter how similar it is, the "Minas Gerais-class" is also a battleship with 12 305mm main guns and six twin turrets.
The military balance in South America was suddenly broken.
So Argentina, which considers itself the leader in South America, cannot sit still.
After learning that Brazil had ordered dreadnoughts from Britain, Argentina also planned to build dreadnoughts.
After soliciting 15 proposals from many European and American shipyards, it was decided that the American shipyard with favorable quotations would undertake the construction of two ships.
The construction of the Argentine dreadnought began when the Brazilian dreadnought was completed, so it is relatively new, with a displacement nearly 50 times larger, and the main gun is also a more advanced 12-inch 50-caliber main gun.
The Brazilian one is 45-caliber.
There are two main guns at the front and rear of the hull.
The turrets are arranged in a piggy-back style, and the two main turrets in the middle of the hull are arranged in a stepped manner.
The side firepower is better than that of the Brazilian dreadnought.
This is the "Rivadavia-class" battleship.
Yingjiang is much more conscientious than Niu Niu.
The battleships they built have a conscientious 12 inches of side armor.
The thickness of the battleship's armor is the same as the caliber of the main gun.
This is the normal level.
Therefore, Argentina's battleships overwhelmed Brazil in one fell swoop, both in terms of firepower and armor.
As for Brazil's third battleship "Rio de Janeiro", it was ordered from the United Kingdom in 1911 in order to overtake Argentina.
Originally, Brazil was planning to buy a battleship equipped with 12 356mm main guns, but Niu Niu played a trick, claiming that building such a large battleship was too difficult and would take a long time.
At the same time, it set a sky-high price and bought Brazil.
People were scared.
In fact, it’s not that Niu Niu really finds it difficult to create, but they themselves don’t have this level of super fearlessness right now.
At that time, there were only two Chinese Fuxi-class battleships with 12 14-inch main guns, and no other country had any.
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With Niu Niu's virtue, how could he help others build such a good battleship when he didn't have it himself?
So Niu Niu once again took Brazil as the enemy, and they designed a "Rio de Janeiro" equipped with 14 doors and 305 mm for Brazil instead.
Uh, yes, this is the sacred object of our multi-turret cult, the Agincourt, an unprecedented weird battleship with seven turrets.
In the history of the original time and space, due to the shrinkage of the market for Brazil's three major products, coffee, rubber and cocoa, their treasury was empty and unable to pay the money, so they had to resell it to the Ottomans, and it was eventually wiped out.
But the history of this plane was a little different, and in the end this sacred ship was left to the Brazilian people.
Thanks to the addition of China as a major customer, Brazil's agricultural products are not worried about selling, and the market for coffee, rubber and cocoa has not shrunk much, thus ensuring the capital chain of this ship.
The battleship "Rio de Janeiro" was completed in February 1914 and returned to Brazil, becoming the third battleship of the Brazilian Navy.
Compared with Brazil and Argentina next door, Chile, which was originally the number one navy in South America, responded slowly.
Chile only reacted after the navies of Brazil and Argentina began to announce the purchase of battleships.
It wasn't until 1911 that they adopted a plan to expand their navy.
After some comparisons, Chile decided to order two "Admiral La Torre" class super-dreadnought battleships from the United Kingdom, which were based on the British Navy's Iron Duke class battleships.
Designed, the firepower layout is similar to that of the Iron Duke, but it uses a larger 14-inch main gun.
The Iron Duke's main gun is 13.5 inches.
Of course, the Chileans are no exception.
The armor of this battleship has also been greatly reduced.
The price offered by Niu Niu to Chile is 2.5 million pounds per ship, which is really shameful.
But the Chileans were unlucky.
Before their two super-dreadnoughts were completed, a battle broke out.
There is no doubt that with Niu Niu's consistent virtue, these two unfinished battleships were naturally seized by them.
Of course, Chile is not the Ottomans.
They have two war necessities, copper and saltpeter.
If Chile is offended, they will be in trouble if they stop exporting these strategic materials to Britain.
Therefore, the British did not dare to directly float the battleships like they did with the Ottomans.
Through "friendly negotiations" with Chile, they bought two battleships at the original price.
As for the "friendly negotiation" method, you know.
At the same time, along with the two battleships, Niu Niu bought six destroyers ordered in 1913.
Anyway, after the agreement was reached, President Salas of Chile broke several teacups in his office.
Seeing the cooked duck fly away, let alone the frustration of the Chilean people, but it is better to fall out with Niu Niu over this matter.
After all, the British Empire did not just shamelessly float away, but paid the original price.
So Chile could only watch helplessly as the two neighbors next door drove their battleships out for a ride from time to time, not to mention the envy, jealousy, and hatred.
In this era, the Chilean people are still very high-spirited.
How can our great country Chile not have battleships?
That is absolutely impossible.
Even the two bumpkins next door have them.
Our great Chile must also have them.
So they prepared to order battleships from other countries.
In today's world, only the top powers such as Britain, Germany, France and Russia are capable of manufacturing super-dreadnoughts, as well as the three sub-tier powers of Austria-Hungary, Italy and Japan.
Among them, Britain, Germany, France, Russia, Japan, and Austria have all been involved in the war, and they definitely have no time to take this order.
In other words, at this time, only three countries, China, the United States and Italy, have the ability and leisure to take over this order.
But we all know that Italians are very romantic.
This talent allows them to have the best designers and often design excellent warships.
However, this romantic talent is not suitable for practical work, and their factories are extremely inefficient. , the shipbuilding speed is extremely slow.
For example, other countries can build the same ship in two years, but they may not be able to build it in five years.
Chile, which urgently needed battleships to support the scene, could not tolerate such low efficiency, so Italy was eliminated in despair.
The last remaining suppliers are China and the United States, and they expressed purchase intentions to both countries last year.
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They placed an order for three battleships.
Damn, this is a huge order.
The eyes of major shipyards in China and the United States were green.
They immediately responded enthusiastically to Chile and provided him with a lot of design plans.
Chileans are very picky, this is good, that is good, they want them all.
They have been arguing internally for a long time about the selection of battleships.
The military naturally hopes that the stronger the better, while the government hopes that the cheaper the better.
The two sides have great differences.
In the end, the Argentines helped them unify their opinions.
At the beginning of this year, the third battleship ordered by Argentina was officially put into service.
This is a new New York-class battleship they ordered from the United States in 1912, which is also the successor of the Chinese Fuxi-class battleship.
American version.
Now the Chileans couldn't sit still, so both the military and the government took a step back to compromise and quickly ended the quarrel.
The military agreed to reduce the original three battleships to two, and the government also agreed to choose battleships with better performance.
Today, delegations from China and the United States arrived in Santiago, the capital of Chile, to conduct a final review and determine the final supplier.
The two governments attach great importance to it and both sent senior government officials to lead the teams.
The U.S. delegation is led by Secretary of State Robert Lansing, and the Chinese delegation is led by Premier Zhang Lizheng.
In addition to these government officials, the delegation also included representatives of shipyards and designers from both countries
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