The fleet led by Luo Bin arrived at the Sanya Military Port in early February 1869.

Young Master Liang and his sworn eldest brother hugged each other tightly as soon as they met, and this pair of good friends hadn't seen each other for half a year.

"Congratulations big brother, congratulations big brother! Congratulations to the eldest brother, who has made his dream come true and finally become the Baron of the British Empire," Young Master Liang smiled at Robin.

The red-faced Robin laughed, as the manager of the Guangzhou branch of Swire & Co., the distance from the Baron of the British Empire was as far away as Guangzhou to London, but he just fantasized about getting the knighthood of Her Majesty the Queen, but he didn't expect to come step by step, and his fantasy came true, and now he Robin is also a glorious ancestor!

"Big brother, I can have today's honor, it's all thanks to you, brother, until now I can't believe that all this is true! Brother, you know what? Eldest brother, I am now a lieutenant colonel in the Royal Navy of the British Empire, and I, a captain who has been retired for several years, have now been promoted to lieutenant colonel; That's not all, when I return to Guangzhou, your eldest brother and I will be the consul general of Guangzhou of the British Empire, and I can't stop it when luck comes! I am now wearing many hats, so I am resigning from Mr. Sweyer as manager of Swire & Co., you know? Swaier actually didn't agree, and gave me a raise, I really don't know if I can be busy in the future", maybe I haven't seen him for a long time, Luo Bin said a lot of words to Young Master Liang, and held his hand and refused to let go, the two looked closer than brothers.

It seems that Robin has really gained fame and fortune, and now he wears many hats: the manager of the Guangzhou branch of Swire & Co., the chairman of the Guangzhou Development Zone, the consul general of the British Empire in Guangzhou, and the lieutenant commander of the British Royal Navy; These positions are all enviable and decent positions, and they are all paid to be paid, which sounds so lofty! No wonder Robin keeps showing off.

"Big brother, you better take me to see the fleet you brought over", Young Master Liang couldn't stand the vivid death of the British Empire when Luo Bin opened his mouth and closed his mouth, and hurriedly closed the switch that he wanted to continue to launch to show off to the end.

Robin, who was so excited that he couldn't stop the car, changed directions and continued his ostentatious journey: "Brother, you see, what a great fleet this is, six ironclad battleships, four gunboats, and six sail battleships; Brother, these six sail ships were the main ships of my service in the Royal Navy of the British Empire, including the HMS Edinburgh, where I was at the time; These battleships have been maintained before leaving the military port, and I have carefully inspected each battleship, and there is absolutely no quality problem; If your eldest brother and I hadn't been made a baron by Her Majesty the Queen, we would never have been able to get so many such good ships."

Robin was not wrong about this, if he had not entered the circle of the English aristocracy, it would indeed be impossible to get these warships; And Luo Bin is really good to this sworn brother, he really spent 1.2 million taels of silver to buy these battleships, and he Luo Bin is very rare that he did not get a tael of silver from it. As for spending 100,000 taels of silver to hire people to drive these warships from England here, there may be a balance of several thousand taels of silver in it, but that is only a red envelope that Robin rewarded his former colleagues and comrades-in-arms, after all, he is now promoted to a knighthood, and he should be generous in front of his old people.

Luo Bin took Young Master Liang to board the largest ironclad battleship, this battleship looks not small, in fact, the displacement is only 2650 tons, and it is not a real ironclad battleship, but it is wrapped in a layer of ironclad outside the wooden hull; The battleship is equipped with four boilers and an old-fashioned steam engine, single-shaft propulsion, and the speed of only the steam engine is only a pitiful 9 knots, and the battleship is also equipped with sail assistance, if it encounters a smooth wind, the steam engine and sail assistance can run a high speed of 14 knots, but this kind of smooth sailing day is unavoidable, and who knows what kind of weather or sea conditions will be when you really want to fight.

The same is true of several other ironclads and gunboats, all of which were early ironclads built or commissioned by the British in the early sixties, and it is no wonder that the British Navy was willing to sell them. Now that Europe has a new type of steam engine with a higher energy efficiency ratio, the battleship ordered by Young Master Liang from the French has abandoned its sails, and the hull is also composed of iron armor, and the speed can reach 12 knots; The direction of the British Navy must be the same, which is why old ships will be sold in exchange for funds to build new ones.

However, even if it is an old ship, with the strict shipbuilding technology that the British have always demanded, the quality of these warships is indeed as Robin said, the quality is very reliable, and they are all well maintained, which can also reflect that the reputation of the British Navy as the number one in the world is indeed not out of nowhere. 1.2 million taels of silver to buy these warships is indeed worth the money, if it weren't for Luo Bin's relationship, it would definitely not be able to buy it.

With such a fleet, the Liang family army can be invincible on a rampage in the Far Eastern Seas!

"Big brother, how many naval instructors have you helped me recruit this time?" Standing on the deck of the battleship, Young Master Liang asked with emotion.

"There were more than 800 officers and sailors on these ships, most of whom were to return to England, and only 226 officers and sailors were willing to stay as instructors; Well, you ordered five freighters from me last time, and you brought them here this time, and the sailors on the freighters are all hired by the shipyard, and they are also going back. The manpower may be a little less, but also because of the rush of time, I can only find so much", Luo Bin was a little embarrassed that he couldn't find more instructors.

In fact, there are 226 instructors, and Young Master Liang thinks that it is almost enough, and he is afraid that there are too many British, and it will be difficult to manage it at that time. After all, this is the fleet of the Liang family, and if most of the people on the battleship are British, in case they have some dissent and ideas, it is really not easy to control.

It's just that the object he said to Luo Bin at the beginning was his teacher, Zeng Guofan, the governor of the Qing Dynasty, and now it is inconvenient to dismantle it, so he just smiled and said: "Well, 226 instructors are almost enough, and we have people in China, just let them learn slowly with the instructors."

Luo Bin felt a little comforted when he heard that the sworn brothers did not think that the number of instructors was small, and he was sincerely doing things for his brothers this time.

Young Master Liang naturally can't owe him this dedication and effort: "Big brother, we have an old saying in China called "Brothers settle accounts, this time you help me buy so many warships, I will pay you a commission of 100,000 taels of silver, and if you help me recruit 226 instructors, I will also pay you a commission of 50,000 taels of silver; Last year, the textile company we invested in had made a profit of 330,000 taels of silver, and according to the contract, I would give you 30% of the dividend, and I promised to give you 35% of the dividend, so I would also give you 115,500 taels of silver; I'll pay you a total of 265,500 taels of silver when I go ashore later."

Hearing that there was so much silver to take, Luo Bin was of course very happy, he knew that Young Master Liang was extraordinary, but he still smiled and rubbed his hands and pretended to be polite and said: "Brother, you have given too much, it is the eldest brother who did these things for you I am to repay you, you are so polite."

From his words, it could also be heard that Robin did not really refuse the silver. Alas, a penny is hard to beat a hero! Although the current Robin is a nobleman of the British Empire, he really has no money, he and Young Master Liang partnered to invest in the textile company when they borrowed tens of thousands of taels of silver to make up the investment of 300,000 yuan, and later in order to promote themselves, he spent a lot of publicity funds, returned to England to be named a baron, promoted to lieutenant colonel, are all honors, there is no real money to take, and it took a lot of money to communicate with those nobles. Now he actually owes a lot of money to relatives and friends, so when he heard that he had money to take, of course he would not refuse, and sighed in his heart, alas, it is still my brother who is considerate of me.