At the venue of the London Naval Conference, the French Foreign Minister sipped his tea while watching the British Foreign Secretary deliver an impassioned speech. At this moment, a side door opened, and a major from the French delegation walked out briskly, delivering a slip of paper to the French Foreign Minister. With just one glance, the French Foreign Minister's eyes went wide. His expression even caused Foreign Secretary Chamberlain to hesitate slightly in his speech.

Moments later, members of the British, American, Italian, and Chinese delegations entered, delivering small slips of paper. Soon, the venue fell into silence. The diplomatic groups were all led by their respective foreign affairs officials, and upon seeing the sentence written in their official languages on the slips—"General José Sanjurjo has launched a coup in Spain"—no one had the heart to continue the idle chatter.

The British Foreign Secretary began to consider whether to discuss this matter while everyone was present. He spoke, "I propose a recess."

No one objected. Within fifteen minutes, the foreign affairs chiefs of Britain and France were sitting face-to-face in a small room. Secretary Chamberlain asked, "Did France have prior knowledge of the Spanish coup?"

The French Foreign Minister shook his head. "We knew nothing of this." This was not a lie. France did not wish to see Spain become a socialist country, but neither did France have any interest in supporting the Spanish right wing. At this stage, France's primary domestic priority was maintaining political stability; both the left and right wings in the French parliament were striving to promote welfare policies to secure stable voting blocks. If a civil war broke out in Spain, France would have to deploy military forces to resolve the issue. Regardless of whether it was resolved well or not, it would be a loss for France. France certainly would not engage in such a thankless task.

Secretary Chamberlain was not as concerned about a Spanish civil war. Spain was a major European power and a neighbor of France. Britain was generally pleased to see anything that caused trouble for France, provided it did not damage Britain's fundamental interests. Seeing the French Foreign Minister deny knowledge, Chamberlain continued, "Then what is France's attitude?"

This question was difficult for the French Foreign Minister to answer. Whether expressing support or opposition, France would place itself in a disadvantageous position. The French Foreign Minister thought for a while before replying, "We hope Spain can quickly restore order. If Spain enters a stage of civil war, I may very well have to leave London."

Chamberlain understood this was a retreat in order to advance, so he brought the topic back. "The situation in Spain is critical and may require a joint European effort. Therefore, the British Foreign Office is very keen to know France's true view on the naval treaty."

At this point, the French Foreign Minister finally said, "Actually, France is not particularly dissatisfied with the 1.75 quota, but it is possible that China will not sign. I believe it is unreasonable to let a newly independent country in the Far East remain outside the naval treaty. This would only fill the naval treaty with risk."

The British Foreign Office had previously determined in their analysis that the French government did not necessarily want to overturn the naval tonnage allocation. Even if they had ideas, now was not the time. However, France was determined to help China become a member of the global naval treaty. Secretary Chamberlain asked, "Then does the French government not agree with the tonnage opinion proposed by China?"

The French Foreign Minister replied with a confident expression, "The French government has the ability to persuade the Chinese government to join the naval treaty. As a condition, we believe the Chinese government will accept the 1.75 ratio."

Secretary Chamberlain was truly somewhat puzzled. He could understand that China was currently focusing all its energy on domestic construction, but he could not understand how France would benefit from China in this. However, General José Sanjurjo's coup in Spain could potentially trigger a Spanish civil war, and Britain could not truly remain completely aloof. Finally, Secretary Chamberlain could only say, "If it is only 1.75, Britain considers this an acceptable tonnage."

With the compromise of the two European great powers, after an hour-long recess, it was the French Foreign Minister's turn to speak. The Italian Foreign Minister looked at the French Foreign Minister, guessing what kind of reasons he would continue to propose. France definitely wanted to expand its naval tonnage at this stage; as long as France expanded its naval tonnage, it would trigger a chain reaction. Then Italy's opportunity would come.

Amidst such expectations, the French Foreign Minister spoke. "Gentlemen, I believe you all know that a coup has broken out in Spain. This means the world has begun to develop in a more unsafe direction. As a responsible Great Power, France believes it is necessary for all countries to freeze existing naval tonnage. At the same time, France is willing to invite China to join. The Chinese representative proposed possessing a naval tonnage equal to Italy's; I believe this is a reasonable request."

Seeing the Frenchman change his face faster than flipping a page, the Italian Foreign Minister was somewhat stunned. If this was the plan, Italy would gain nothing. But before the Italian Foreign Minister could speak, the British Foreign Secretary had already stated his position. "I believe this is a responsible proposal. Britain agrees."

The Japanese representative immediately stated, "Our side considers this a reasonable view."

Thus, everyone's gaze fell upon the United States. The American Secretary of State had not come to disrupt the situation, but merely to maintain American interests. The French Foreign Minister's proposal caused no loss to America's naval position. Although once China joined, the naval strength in the Far East would be basically on par with the United States, given the national strength of China and Japan, they did not possess the capability to attack the US West Coast. All pressure would be borne by the direction of Southeast Asia.

So the American Secretary of State immediately stated, "I think France's proposal is very reasonable."

Now, the burden was thrown to Italy. The Italian Foreign Minister looked at this group of old foxes, knowing that he had become the one being calculated against. Since the situation was so, the Italian Foreign Minister immediately said, "Italy's naval tonnage is insufficient, so Italy demands to know the parameters of the treaty ships first. If Italy cannot be satisfied, we cannot agree to any proposal."

"Then let us recess temporarily." Secretary Chamberlain once again ended the meeting that had been convened for less than twenty minutes.

During this recess, Italy was excluded, staying alone in the Italian delegation's rest room. Chinese Foreign Minister Li Shiguang felt some regret in his heart. He had thought Italy would be able to make trouble fully at this conference, but he hadn't expected the situation to suddenly become serious. Britain, France, and the US had all made wise decisions, leaving Italy with only one last possibility for making trouble.

Seeing everyone had arrived, Secretary Chamberlain said, "The main guns of battleships in the new treaty ships must not exceed 14 inches. Other matters can be discussed."

Even a civilian official like Li Shiguang was amused upon hearing this. 14-inch main guns meant it was basically impossible to penetrate the armor of treaty ships. Although imperialist countries were vicious when facing oppressed peoples and nations, they truly strove to maintain peace within the imperialist circle.

Seeing Li Shiguang's smile, Secretary Chamberlain asked cautiously, "Does Minister Li not agree with such a regulation?"

Li Shiguang shook his head. "I am not a naval expert, so I do not know if this caliber is reasonable. However, what I care about is whether other countries all agree to such a caliber requirement. If other countries can accept it, China naturally can also accept it."

Chamberlain felt the British Foreign Office's judgment had been proven right again. The Foreign Office believed China might not be willing to build ships on a large scale in the coming years, and Li Shiguang's words proved that China indeed had no such plans. Because currently, let alone battleships, China did not even have standard cruisers. The caliber of new capital ships would completely constrain the specifications of China's future battleships. As long as China agreed to such a standard, the biggest problem in their assumptions was solved.

Since China was so cooperative, Chamberlain continued, "The British government believes that Britain, the United States, and Japan should all abandon the right to replace capital ships under the Washington Naval Treaty, while France and Italy may still replace capital ships in accordance with the International Naval Treaty (Washington Naval Treaty). Britain, the United States, and Japan need to scrap capital ships or convert them into training ships respectively."

Italy's number of capital ships was insufficient; this was the reason the Italian Foreign Minister had objected just now. As long as Italy was allowed to continue building capital ships according to the Washington Naval Treaty regulations, Italy's requirements were met.

France could build new warships, while Britain, the US, and Japan retained retired capital ships; this was also a balance.

Soon, France, the United States, and Japan all expressed agreement.

Seeing that the naval powers had been settled, Chamberlain finally asked, "May I ask Minister Li, is China willing to join the International Naval Treaty?"

Li Shiguang originally hadn't expected the International Naval Treaty was truly intended to maintain peace among imperialist countries. Since the other party was so sincere, he replied, "I will send the content to the Chinese Parliament, and the Parliament will vote on it."

With matters proceeding to this step, Secretary Chamberlain returned to the venue with the other countries. When the Italian Foreign Minister walked back into the venue alone, the conference began once again.