Nanyang Storm 1864

On September 22, 1830, The New York Times published an article on its front page entitled "In the last three months, the State of Chu has suddenly migrated nearly a million people to Central America. What is its sinister intention?", along with a large photograph of the docks.

This report, with its detailed data, reveals a chilling truth.

The Great Chu Empire may be preparing to launch a full-scale war against the United States, but due to effective secrecy measures, it is difficult for outsiders to discover the truth.

Of the million people sent to Central America, half went to the three Central American states, mainly Costa Rica, where more than 30 armed people were settled.

Hawaii and Baja California also received an unspecified number of migrants.

The latter, in particular, is located in a border state adjacent to the United States. It is a state where all personnel are military settlers, and the secrecy measures are extremely strict, making it difficult for outsiders to see the truth.

However, it is certain that these migrants are all young officers and soldiers who have been mobilized, and their specific destination is obvious.

The New York Times’s bombshell report immediately caused a huge uproar in the United States, and the truth it contained was truly shocking.

Many stubborn and arrogant Americans simply do not believe that the State of Chu would dare to launch a full-scale war against the United States.

The US government was deeply shocked. On the one hand, it negotiated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chu, and on the other hand, it launched an investigation through multiple channels. Soon the truth came to light.

After all, it's impossible to keep such a major strategic move completely secret.

On October 6, the U.S. government released a secret report.

The report points directly to the unusual recent activities of the State of Chu, which has started construction on large aircraft carriers at multiple shipyards simultaneously, totaling as many as seven. Among them, the aircraft carrier "Wrath" has already been launched and will be delivered to the Royal Navy in November.

The other six large aircraft carriers are under construction day and night and will be completed and launched before the end of the year.

If we add the three aircraft carriers currently equipped by the Chu Royal Navy, the total number will reach ten, making it the world's largest naval air force.

The State of Chu has been sending large-scale immigrants to Central and South America, and the effort has not diminished to this day, with a total number exceeding one million. These immigrants are all recruited as reserve armed forces, and their intention to target the United States is obvious.

The probability of a full-scale war breaking out at the end of this year or the beginning of next year is higher than 80%.

When the secret report reached the White House, President Herbert Hoover could hardly believe his eyes and immediately flew into a rage.

He waved his fists and roared, "How dare those damned Easterners do this? This is the greatest threat America has ever faced since its founding. That dying old emperor is undertaking a military adventure he cannot afford to lose. America will not yield, but will respond with the strongest possible force."

His roar echoed in the Oval Office of the White House, leaving a group of senior American officials looking at each other in disbelief.

War was now imminent.

White House Chief of Staff Paul Douglas began by saying, "The situation is very clear, and we must act immediately and take decisive measures to deal with the possible large-scale invasion by the State of Chu."

"It sounds simple, but the Smoot-Hawley tariff law has offended almost all of our European friends. This foolish move is practically political suicide."

"And then there's the National Security Act, which is the culprit that caused the State of Chu to overturn the table. We are now bearing the serious consequences of it, but now we are completely safe."

"Alright, Minister, now is not the time to shirk responsibility, but to figure out how to deal with this difficult situation."

"I said it from the beginning, it was incredibly stupid to do that."

Unable to contain their anger, the government officials in the Oval Office soon erupted into a cacophony of noise, resembling a bustling marketplace.

The United States was the epicenter of the global depression. Since last year, its economy and finance have been severely damaged, with hundreds of thousands of factories closing down and hundreds of banks shutting down and facing bankruptcy.

In desperation, the Herbert Hoover administration passed the infamous Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, imposing high tariffs on goods imported from around the world and building its own backyard walls.

This tariff bill imposed high tariffs of over 53% on more than 2 imported goods, almost completely shutting down transatlantic trade and severely impacting countries such as Britain, France, Germany, and Italy.

This was followed by trade retaliation from European countries, which raised tariffs and brought transatlantic trade to a near standstill.

Eighty percent of Italy's imported cars came from the United States. After tariffs were raised, this market was completely lost, and enterprises from the State of Chu seized the opportunity to occupy it.

The U.S. auto industry suffered a severe blow as a result, further exacerbating the economic crisis.

European countries are burdened with huge debts from the war, and due to a sharp decline in government revenue, repayment is nowhere in sight, leading to frequent debt defaults.

This, in turn, exacerbated the bad debt problem in the US financial industry, triggering a wave of bankruptcies, which can be described as adding insult to injury.

The Herbert Hoover administration, facing a sharp decline in fiscal revenue, turned its attention to the wealthy Great Chu Empire, subsequently enacting the even worse National Security Act...

This series of disastrous moves finally provoked the fury of the State of Chu, leading to the current major trouble.

After emergency consultations

The White House decided to take multiple measures to deal with the situation. On the one hand, it negotiated with the aggressive Great Chu Empire through diplomatic channels and asked international forces, represented by Britain, France, Germany, and Russia, to participate in diplomatic mediation.

On the other hand, the government began to expand its military and prepare for war, but there was a huge disagreement among government officials about how much to expand the army.

Expanding the military or preparing for war both require spending money.

Now, with the government facing extreme financial strain, major cities like New York, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Chicago are witnessing tragic deaths from starvation on the streets, and the lower classes are living in dire straits.

The financial industry collapsed in a chain reaction, making it nearly impossible to raise huge sums of money.

Without money, how can we talk about expanding our military and preparing for war?
After several days of debate, the final decision was to expand the military by 60 troops, with plans to complete the expansion by the end of the first quarter of next year. This, along with the National Guard and militia, would largely mitigate the risk of a full-scale invasion.

The United States has a vast territory, and the politicians in the White House are arrogant and overbearing. They do not believe that the Chu state's large-scale invasion will bring them any advantage, and they are extremely confident in their own strength.

The State of Chu was indeed powerful and had a large population, but that was its homeland in the western Pacific Ocean.

In Central and South America and Baja California, the Chu Kingdom had only a mere 20 to 30 million people (note, excluding the Kingdom of Colombia and other vassal kingdoms). To dare to challenge the United States, which has a population of over 100 million, was truly overestimating its own strength.

This arrogance exists not only in American political circles, but also in the military and local state governments, leading to unsatisfactory implementation of war preparedness policies. More than a month has passed, and in preparation for a possible full-scale invasion, the number of U.S. troops added has only 4.2, just 8% of the original plan.

At this speed
It would be good if we could expand the army by more than 20 by the end of the first quarter of next year.

Ultimately, it all comes down to a lack of money. The federal government is short of money, the state governments are short of money, and there is a shortage of money almost everywhere.

In the late 1930s

The Great Depression reached its deepest point, and an industrial chill swept across North America. Even the most optimistic capitalists tightened their purse strings and were unwilling to make new investments.

The Hoover administration successfully blocked the path to development by raising taxes and enacting national security laws.

International mediation led by Britain also seemed half-hearted, basically remaining at the level of some ineffective cocktail parties, which diplomats from various countries regarded as a form of gathering, discussing things that were completely off-topic.

From the perspective of European countries such as Britain, France, Italy, Spain, and Belgium, they would love for Chu and the United States to fight each other, as this would create huge demand and help the world recover from the Great Depression.

More than a decade after the end of World War I, Europeans harbored a strange sense of aversion towards the two great powers, Britain and the United States, whose homelands had not been involved in the war.

Europeans generally believed that Chu and Mei profited from the war, taking the opportunity to expand their sphere of influence and economic power, and making a lot of money from the suffering of Europeans, which made them very unhappy.

If Chu and Mei could engage in a fierce battle, European countries would likely welcome it.

Regardless of which side loses the war, it's a good thing for Europe.

It was under this strange psychological influence that the international mediation efforts led by Britain became noticeably perfunctory, and naturally, little progress was made.

By December
The 32,000-ton "Wrath"-class aircraft carriers built by the major shipyards of the Great Chu Empire have all been completed and fitted out. Four of them have already been delivered to the Royal Navy of the Great Chu Empire, while the remaining two are still undergoing intensive fitting-out and sea trials.

Naval air wing units that had already been produced and undergone extensive shore-based training have been deployed to new ships and have begun training in maritime combat subjects.

At that time, the United States had only two Lexington-class aircraft carriers, namely the USS Langley and the USS Ranger. The former was converted from a coal carrier and had a displacement of 1.78 tons.

In terms of specific technical level, it is slightly inferior to the Type 2 "Justice" class aircraft carrier equipped by the Royal Navy of Great Chu.

Meanwhile, the United States was still developing the Yorktown-class aircraft carriers, which were larger in tonnage, and construction was planned to begin in 1931. No funding had been allocated for them.

In the world
As pioneers, the Royal Navy has already refitted and is building three aircraft carriers: HMS Furious, HMS Argus, and HMS Hermes, and is further developing carrier-based aircraft.

The Japanese Navy also plans to build its first true aircraft carrier, the "Hosho," entering a new track in the development of maritime military equipment.

The Great Chu Empire poured all its resources into developing the "Wrath"-class aircraft carriers, and by the end of 1930, five of them had been launched and commissioned. Together with the original "Justice," "Freedom," and "Fairness," they suddenly formed a massive fleet of eight aircraft carriers.

Two more aircraft carriers are nearing the end of their construction phase, and all of them will be completed and put into service within the next month or two.

At this moment

Even the slow-to-react Europeans sensed something was amiss; the footsteps of war were quietly approaching North America, and a full-scale invasion seemed inevitable.

At the last minute, the Americans panicked.

The U.S. Navy is not weak. According to the provisions of the Manila Treaty on Disarmament, the U.S. Navy is equipped with newly commissioned main battleships, armed with 354 mm large-caliber naval guns, making it quite powerful.

Even when facing off against the main battleships of the Great Chu Empire, they were in no way inferior.

The main battleships of the Great Chu Empire were equipped with 343mm triple-mounted large-caliber naval guns, with a humpback layout, a total of 4 turrets, and 12 343mm caliber giant guns.

The Great Chu currently has 17 main battleships in service, which is only 5 more than the United States' 12, so the difference between the two sides is not significant.

The biggest gap was in aircraft carriers. The Royal Navy of the Great Chu Empire allocated a large amount of naval tonnage to this new type of ship. Although it built seven aircraft carriers by the end of 1930, it still did not break the naval limit stipulated by the treaty.

The cost was the reduction of a large number of main battleships, heavy cruisers, and light cruisers, which were either resold, decommissioned, or simply sunk as target ships.

New Year's Day in 1931 arrived late. At this time, large convoys of ships were shuttling back and forth on the trans-Pacific route, and the footsteps of war were drawing ever closer.

Newspapers and news agencies within the Great Chu Empire made no attempt to conceal their intention to wage war against the United States, with numerous articles providing extensive analysis and reports, sparking heated discussions among the general public.

Related topics have consistently occupied the center of public opinion.

The people of the empire had a very bad impression of the Americans. Those rude white Americans had a long history of oppressing and abusing Chinese people, and related reports would ignite endless anger in the hearts of the people of Chu.

Although the people bullied were people from the northern lands who had migrated overseas, the people of the Great Chu Empire felt the same way and naturally had a bad impression of the Americans.

The topic of an expedition to North America received widespread support within the Empire.

The massive military buildup that lasted for half a year consumed a huge amount of materials, pulling the Great Chu Empire's economy back from the brink of decline.

In 1930, the economic growth rate actually reached 3.92%, showing a clear rebound from the bottom.

Beginning of the new year
High-level military and political meetings are being held one after another in the capital, Manila. Preparations for war against the United States have not slowed down, but have instead entered the final sprint stage.

On January 12, the Royal Army Chief of Staff, Prince Chu-Zheng Hui, along with a large group of senior generals, boarded a luxury cruise ship bound for North America. They were the last group of senior generals to travel to the United States.

On January 15, Task Force 1, led by the aircraft carrier USS Furious, comprised eight battleships, a total of four aircraft carriers, and a large number of heavy and light cruisers, forming a massive fleet that stretched as far as the eye could see, and sailed majestically toward Costa Rica on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

along the way
The fighter jets carried by the aircraft carrier will conduct live-fire exercises to continuously improve their attack capabilities against enemy naval formations, and the curtain is about to rise on a major battle.

On January 26, Task Force 2 set sail from Manila Port in a grand procession, consisting of three aircraft carriers—USS ​​Justice, USS Freedom, and USS Justice—as well as four main battleships, and hundreds of heavy cruisers, light cruisers, large cargo ships, colliers, ammunition ships, and other vessels, heading towards North America.

On February 2, Task Force 2 departed from Sydney, heading straight for the main naval port in Baja California. The fleet, which blotted out the sky, filled the sea and made an extremely impressive appearance.

(End of this chapter)