"Sir! What is this I hear about us supplying the U.S. military?" Siulin's voice carried the frustration of the boardroom as she confronted him.
"It's not a big deal," Fang Ming replied calmly. "We just need to produce the goods, load them, and deliver them."
"But what's this about joining the combat? Are we expected to fight alongside them now?" she demanded.
"They're requesting transport ships that can both deliver and provide immediate resupply. We may not have transport ships,"Fang Ming admitted, "but we have plenty of other vessels."
The 19th century's great powers had built imposing fleets to guard trade routes and colonies, but their warships carried a glaring flaw: technological limits made long voyages impossible without resupply. To address this, cruisers were introduced as more versatile replacements. Yet the Asiatic Fleet lacked modern cruisers and relied heavily on cumbersome battleships.
