It will take some time to prepare for the military exercise, but isn't the "Free Trade" just idle? Anyway, being idle is idle, so it's better to let her go to a certain target country for a friendly visit first. As soon as Napoleon gave an order, the French Foreign Ministry began to contact Britain, proposing that in order to enhance mutual understanding between the two countries and deepen the friendship and mutual trust between the two sides, the navies of the two sides would each send a warship to each other for a friendly visit. The French also said that they would send the "Free Trade" to Britain as a "messenger of friendship". When the time comes, the friendly British people will be able to board the "Free Trade" and, under the guidance of the relevant personnel, learn all the details of the French warship. Some lucky viewers will even have the opportunity to simulate some of the equipment in person.

When Prime Minister Addington learned of the Frenchman's proposal from the Foreign Office, he was taken aback. He immediately consulted with the Minister of the Navy and the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. It was unanimously agreed that the French had come to demonstrate.

"So we don't agree with them coming?" Prime Minister Addington asked.

"How's that going to work? That would make us look timid. The Admiralty Chancellor immediately objected, "and they are from the 'Free Trade,' and we do uncharacteristically wish to know more about the ship." ”

"Is there anything special about this boat?" The Prime Minister asked.

"This is a steam cruiser, and although it is called a cruiser, it is a large ship the size of a second-class battleship. It's just that there is a relatively small number of artillery pieces equipped. Not so long ago, the ship had two battles in the Caribbean and the US Navy. Captured, sank, and severely damaged one American warship, and almost all at once the Americans lost half of their navy. ”

"Hahaha, those rebels, their entire navy is only 6 warships." Prime Minister Addington gloated. But he found that the Admiralty did not mean to laugh along, so he asked, "Why, a second-class battleship—although they call him a corvette, shouldn't it be a normal thing to take out three frigates?" ”

"Your Excellency, it is like this, the three frigates of the Americans are also warships close to the size of second-class battleships, and they are in a sense the same as the French's 'Free Trade', which are special warships that sacrifice a certain amount of firepower in order to increase their speed. The greater role of this kind of warship is not to be used in battles on the battle line, but for attacking routes, and our warships, which can beat them, most of them can't outrun them, and those who can outrun them can't beat them.

Judging from the fact that we watched the second battle between the 'Free Trade' and the Americans, none of our warships could outrun the 'Free Trade', and the 'Free Trade' was able to sail all the way to the Caribbean, and its self-sustaining strength was also very good. ”

"Isn't the steam ship we have recently developed with a propeller comparable to it?"

"I'm afraid so, Your Excellency the Prime Minister. When our propellers rotate at high speeds, there is a sharp drop in efficiency and violent vibrations, which has not yet been completely solved. So, at least for now, our ships have not yet reached the speed of the 'Free Trade'.

In addition, according to our people's description of the second battle of the 'Free Trade', in addition to the speed, the 'Free Trade' surprised us with two things, one is the firepower of the 'Free Trade'. The 'Free Trade' does not have many cannons, only nine cannons on each side. But in actual engagements, we observed that the ship fired almost as many shells per unit of time as a third class battleship. You know if a boat could run at 15 knots, and at 15 knots that doesn't depend on the wind, and still have that kind of firepower – it would be terrible. If the contents of the report are true, then the entire navy, including the 'Victory', has not a single warship that has been able to fight the 'Free Trade' in battle. ”

"Not even the Victory?"

"Yes, Prime Minister. Because of the speed advantage, they can easily grab the T position. As a result, the firepower advantage of the Victory could not be brought into full play. ”

"Ah, I get it in general. The first surprising thing about that ship that you just said was the rate of fire of its cannons? So what's the other one? ”

"It was its defense, and our men observed that both sides were firing at close range, but not once did the American artillery penetrate the planks of the 'Free Trade'. All the shells flew off the board of the 'Free Trade'. Later, according to the information we learned from the Americans, they even suspected that the 'Free Trade' was a real iron-hulled ship. ”

"So you want to take advantage of this opportunity to take a look at that boat?"

"Yes, Prime Minister."

"Well, then I'm okay with that, anyway, we can't show weakness to the French, right? But when the time comes, what if we send that ship to visit France? ”

Although the question of which ship to send in the end still needs to be carefully considered, if the French dare to show their most advanced warships to the British, can the British be too timid to look at it? What's more, those French media have already begun to build momentum for this matter.

Scientific Pravda was the first to disclose the news, and the style of reporting was naturally the usual style of Scientific Pravda, the shorter the news, the bigger the matter, and only two lines of text were devoted to the front page: "The French Navy's steam-powered cruiser 'Free Trade' will pay a friendly visit to London on May 10. The general public can board the ship to visit. ”

The news was on the front page, but there was no more caption, which made it easy to get the reader's attention. Of course, if that's all there is to it, it's not enough. Then the "London Businessman" published an article, saying that the visit of the "Free Trade Engine" is a sign of the continuous improvement of strategic mutual trust between Britain and France, and this friendly visit will certainly further increase the understanding between the two sides, thereby consolidating the hard-won peace and friendship between the two countries.

However, at this time, the major newspapers in the UK were generally not included. At most, they reprinted the relevant news and did not comment more on it. On the contrary, some tabloids have made some reports on this matter, but the basic content can be summed up in one word, that is: the royal navy is full of martial virtues, and the French navy is unbearable.

The British tabloid reports seemed to displease the French, so The Sun gave a comprehensive introduction to this epoch-making French warship. Including its power, including its various amazing performances...... Basically, although the "Sun" did not say it explicitly, anyone can see that its subtext is: "This ship can beat any warship of the Wang Navy in a heads-up." ”

Of course, the "exaggerated" report in The Sun (English edition) made many Britons feel that it was very hot. As a result, many British tabloids began to fight back, laughing at the unreliable boasting on the "Sun (English Edition)" that the revolutionary technology was used to increase the rate of fire of the guns by four or five times, and that the "Free Trade", which had only nine guns on each side, had firepower no less than that of a battleship.

As for increasing the rate of fire of artillery by four or five times, considering that the original rate of fire of the French Navy's artillery was more than half that of the British, plus their guns were originally small, what 110 mm caliber, converted into more general pounds, is only about 12 pounds. 12-pounder guns, also embarrassed to be mounted on battleships, look at our British battleships, what kind of cannons are they?

But overall, although it is a little noisy, it is not too loud. At least, those larger, slightly more weighty media did not join in, because although some of them, they have their own special news channels and know some situations, and they don't want to jump out at this time, and wait until a few days later, they will be slapped in the face by reality. In general, the people of this era are still relatively simple, and although people also lie, cheat, and steal, they are at least not too embarrassed to call it the glory of continuous improvement in public. I won't make a joke that the day before yesterday said that no one would die, and in a blink of an eye, it would become a joke that if there were less than 100,000 people who died, it means that I was too capable.

Of course, in the final analysis, this is not because people in this era are more moral. Rather, it is because the poor of this era still lack education. Education has two functions, one is to make people sensible; There is also the kind of stupidity that makes people more stupid than the uneducated. In terms of the second purpose, the education of this era is too different from that of later generations, so it is impossible to build a beautiful new world in this era.

As for the big newspapers, which did not get the news through special channels, they were silent because they felt that arguing with the tabloids was uncharacteristic, and that it was not in keeping with the grace of the United Kingdom.

The British are still very confident in their navy, and one of the manifestations of self-confidence is that they do not care much about the criticism of others, and they do not hesitate to praise the merits of others. Anyway, your so-called merits and progress, in his opinion, are that is, primary school students have a perfect score. Well, the little pot friend is so smart, awesome, come, uncle will give you a lollipop.

However, if he suddenly found out that he did not get a perfect score in the primary school exam, but scored a perfect score in a higher school than him, at this time, his mood may not be different. This is like when the gap between the Red Rabbit Country and the Beacon Country was still large, and the country's GDP was less than half of that of California, the Beacon Country had a much better evaluation of the Red Rabbit Country; When the GDP of the Red Rabbit Country is closer to the Lighthouse Country, the situation will be completely different, and the giant panda will immediately become an evil dragon.

On May 10, the "Free Trade" docked at the docks in the port of London.