Xiao Letian must not have heard the scolding of the big handsome, as early as half a month before Zeng Guofan entered Beijing, the Zhiyuan and seven other sail warships had already gone south to Malacca in the head military port of Naheba. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

The Zhiyuan underwent a major clean-up, all freshly painted, the ammunition depot reloaded, and even every rivet carefully inspected.

The earliest Prussian engineer said when he completed Xiao Letian's dream of a big toy, "A weapon like the Zhiyuan, a single ship should not form combat effectiveness as much as possible, and only by forming an echelon can it be put into battle......

The engineer was right, unlike the sail warship, the steel battleship is more sophisticated, more expensive to maintain, and requires more technical work.

Every warship should be overhauled every year if it is not in wartime, and if there is a war, then basically every naval battle should be repaired and maintained.

This is not something that can be repaired by a carpenter on a sail battleship, the maintenance of a steel battleship is a very, very professional discipline, and sometimes it is common for a major overhaul to take more than half a year.

In the hearts of the strict Prussian people, if this kind of warship wants to provide military protection for a country safely, it must be established in three fleets.

One-third of the ships were in dry dock for maintenance, one-third were in the best condition and on combat readiness cruises, and the other third were on standby maneuver.

The three groups of warships took turns to be refurbished in combat readiness, so that a perfect combat readiness system could be formed, and in the event of a war, there would be no faults.

Xiao Lotian also agrees with such a theory, but Xiao Lotian can't do it! After all, the Chinese are not Britain and France, and what they have in hand for hundreds of years is that various types of warships can complement each other and be gradually upgraded.

The warships owned by the Chinese are basically all captured, and there are old models bought from the United States, which are okay as training ships but really useless as warships.

The Zhiyuan is the only weapon that the Chinese Navy can handle, and it is also the only killer weapon that can make Europeans look high.

Xiang Ying, Cai Bixuan, Jin Sanshun, Lin Zhen...... The first commanders of the Chinese navy were indeed guilty of a bloody battle from last year's great return to Europe, fighting to the death with the French in the Atlantic, melting the city with Dakar artillery, and then supporting Iquique's heavenly veterans.

Traveled all the way to the iron blood, returned to the Ryukyus immediately participated in the battle against Tsarist Russia, the Minjiang Estuary artillery battle, and then the reversal of the situation Amami ambush, until the pacification of the Far East, the Zhiyuan was completely overloaded in the operation, several times the Prussian engineer Kevin was furious, and many hidden dangers would have a big failure if they were not ruled out.

It wasn't until after the war was pacified that the Zhiyuan had a month and a half for major maintenance!

Overloading a warship is a disservice, but from another point of view, it is an excellent training opportunity for these naval talents.

It is precisely because of the overload of the battleship that countless hidden dangers will be exposed, in order to eliminate these hidden dangers, the entire Zhiyuan officers and men have worked hard, and they have become familiar with the repair, maintenance and operation of the ironclad ship in the fastest time.

Talent is too rare, equipment wants to form combat effectiveness depends on talent, the Chinese are the first country to completely rely on ironclad naval warfare, then Xiang Ying's experience is the world's top.

Many of the little tricks they have figured out in their work are valuable knowledge for those who come after them.

With this group of elites as the root, we will be able to train batch after batch of elite cadets in the future, and only with a sufficient reserve of naval personnel can more warships form combat effectiveness.

Xiao Letian stood on the deck of the Zhiyuan, he could feel the changes in the temperament of this group of naval officers and men, at the earliest time he could still see a trace of hecticism and anxiety, but now watching these young men manipulating the Zhiyuan, it is more of a relaxed smile and strong self-confidence.

Perhaps the realm of the unity of man and ship is cultivated little by little!

The Zhiyuan is not the only warship on this visit to Europe, Xiao Letian's purpose this time is very clear, in addition to diplomacy, the more important task is to be involved in the Franco-Prussian War.

The Zhiyuan was the flagship, and the remaining seven sail warships were used as supply ships and troop carriers to accompany them, and Xiao Lotian transferred a total of 2,000 of the most elite veterans to form a task force.

Four reinforced battalions with 500 men were commanded by senior generals in a demoted command.

Xiao Hexin did not set off with him, but stayed in East Asia to look after his family, and the task of negotiating with the ministers of Tsarist Russia and France was also given to him.

Sima Yun is now with the rank of general, but he can only serve as the commander of the first battalion in the special task force, and Chu Zhao is his deputy.

Luo Huo, the commander of the second battalion, and Lu Ying, the deputy battalion commander, are also veterans who have followed Xiao Letian from the beginning.

The third battalion, battalion commander Liang Kun, deputy commander Jiang Lie, and the fourth battalion are all composed of foreign legions, battalion commander Ye Heita, deputy battalion commander Bing Taro.

This is already a super luxurious team, Luo Huo and Sima Yun were originally generals at the level of the corps commander, but they have also become front-line commanders in the task force, and the quality of the entire corps can be seen from this point.

This can be said to be the highest quality of soldiers in the world at that time, basically each company has a 20 percent proportion of college students, basically each platoon can be assigned an English interpreter, a French translator and a German interpreter, and there are even Italian and Russian translators in the battalion headquarters.

The entire unit is almost composed of reserve officers, with a literacy rate of 100 percent, a math penetration rate of 70 percent, and every squad leader can do complex mapping work.

Perhaps in the minds of European military observers, the 2,000-strong establishment is pitiful, and the Franco-Prussian War is destined to be a super battle with more than a million people, what can you do with these 2,000 people?

But if their intelligence officers could see what kind of arms supplies the casual warships were carrying, I am afraid there would be no more such ridicule.

"War...... It will never go the way you imagined...... The soldiers led by my Xiao Lotian will always win by breaking the old rules, and this is also the only way for the rising nation to challenge the pioneers!"

"I've waited too long for this battle......