“…… Are you going to enable Wenhao? Isn't it too risky! "It is worthy of being Hong Tao's big housekeeper, and without going into details, Cixi guessed who the person in Hong Tao's mouth was. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

"If you really want to say dirty, I'm not cleaner than you at all, the wicked still need the wicked to grind, no matter how bad he is, I have a way to clean him up. I didn't use him before, because I had you by my side, and I didn't have his place at all, and I didn't bother to use my brain. Now I can't be lazy anymore, how can one more Wen Hao tolerate me? And in the environment of Da Song, he will play better than you, after all, it is his home field. Don't worry, with your people helping in secret, I won't let him turn the sky upside down. This is also my chance to give Lao Wen a brother to reconcile, and it is the last time, for Lao Wen's sake, I have to give him this opportunity. Cixi guessed correctly, Hong Tao did think of a candidate who could be used, in addition to the problem of character, the ability is indeed enough. The question is how to suppress his ambitions, and Hong Tao already has a preliminary idea. Now he is not bored, he wants to try this difficult challenge, anyway, he has done all the more difficult things, and he is as heavy as holding it on his back.

"Okay, I'll try to transfer all the people who can go to Da Song first, the European side will remain the same, and the second batch of trained personnel will be ready as soon as possible, I'm waiting for your good news here." Since Hong Tao said it so clearly, Cixi didn't have to worry about it, doing what she had to do was the greatest help to Hong Tao, and the rest of the problems could only be handled by the miraculous emperor himself. Maybe there will be another miracle this time, anyway, following Hong Tao all these years, he has already regarded miracles as food.

"Take good care of yourself, if nothing else, we might get together again. Even if something happens, I try to escape as much as possible, and I've always been proud of this ability. Hong Tao patted Cixi on the shoulder, sent him one last to the side of the boat, and then shouted the standard Hongtao-style parting message to everyone on the dock.

At the end of June 1245, the canal was officially opened, and the first batch of people to sail through the canal, in addition to the original hydrographic exploration ships, was the expeditionary fleet of Hongtao. It consisted of 21 Virginia-class warships, carrying 1,000 marines, more than 500 grassroots Indian cadres who had undergone short-term training, less than 100 benevolent, charitable, and Bush-selected apprentices, more than 400 navy, and some mechanical equipment.

The expeditionary fleet was accompanied by a supply fleet of three Salmon-class armed cargo ships and five whaling ships, commanded by Luo Mei and Hong Salamander. Their mission was to accompany Hong Tao's expeditionary fleet to Midway, and after completing the last replenishment of the expeditionary fleet, they would choose the most suitable island in the middle of the archipelago to land on the most suitable base. Whether to conquer the local natives or kill them all depends on the situation of Luo Mei and the salamander.

Whatever happens, both of them are going to establish a foothold here and establish a permanent base on the island using the tools and weapons of the cargo ship. He then began to migrate from the Kingdom of Mexica, gradually turning the Midway Islands into a naval base in the Pacific Ocean, in order to control the waters on the eastern side of the North Pacific Ocean and prevent any ships from the west from approaching the west coast of North America. Once the naval forces of the Spring Alliance are restored, two large-scale naval forces will be stationed in the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean at the same time, and Midway Island will be the future anchorage of the Pacific Fleet of the Spring Alliance.

Hong Tao's expedition to the Great Song Dynasty this time has already emptied the naval foundation of the Spring Alliance. There were only five whaling ships left in her Atlantic fleet, and not a single Virginia-class battleship. And the construction of the Midway naval base took away the remaining armed cargo ships.

Now Mercy is a light commander, and the only one who can handle it is Wen Xiaoqi's industrial ship. Fortunately, Wen Xiaoqi didn't listen to Hong Tao's suggestion to put this boat on the slipway as a souvenir, after installing four Qizu cannons on it, this guy can really be regarded as an iron turtle that can run on the sea, as long as the chimney is not too seriously injured, it is difficult for the front-loading smoothbore gun to cause damage to this boat that is all riveted with steel plates. If it weren't for its slow speed and the need to replenish coal and water halfway, Hong Tao would have taken it back to the Great Song Dynasty with him.

In addition to the navy being drained by Hong Tao, the army of the Spring Alliance is basically equal to zero. The 1,000 marines on board were all Swan's heart, most of them had participated in the invasion of the North American continent, and there were hundreds of them who accompanied Hong Tao on the expedition to Flanders and Hansea. They were all trained to be soldiers on horseback, not just marines, but as long as there were horses on land, they could immediately become a light cavalry with muskets. If they encounter mountainous and jungle areas, they will be transformed into light infantry, which can be said to be the most versatile troops so far, except that they cannot go to the sky, they can basically adapt to other terrains.

Hong Tao also equipped the small number of marines with extremely luxurious armament, with an average of five shotguns and rifled guns per person, five revolvers, forty new 80-millimeter mortars, bullets, shells, grenades, and explosives filling every space on board. Even Hong Tao, who has always regarded safety as the highest requirement, turned his cabin into an arsenal, dismantled sofas and beds, and slept on ammunition boxes.

Hong Tao knew very well that even if his raid was successful, the Jinhe Empire would temporarily give up its attempt at the Great Song as he had imagined, and the Great Song might not be able to get his hands on it smoothly. There are still a lot of people you need to deal with, and these weapons and ammunition are the last tools to reason with them. It will take half a year to return to Midway again to replenish at the earliest, and the Spring Alliance is not a highly developed industrial country, and many dangerous chemicals cannot be produced in large quantities, even if they are fully operational, they cannot reach the level of casual use.

Compared with the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean is much vast, and from the port on the west side of the canal, which is named Asia Port, it took Hong Tao and Luo America's fleet 25 days to complete the voyage of more than 5,000 kilometers, which is almost as far as a direct voyage from North America to Fort Carl. And this is less than half the width of the North Pacific Ocean, which is nearly 6,000 kilometers from the Midway Islands to the Japanese Islands. If he sailed directly from Asia Port to Mingzhou Port in one go, the straight-line distance would be more than 12,000 kilometers, and even if Hong Tao was given a modern ocean-going sailing ship of more than 50 feet, he would not dare to say that he would be able to complete this voyage.

This is the purpose of Hong Tao's sending his daughter and son-in-law to the Midway Islands, which will be the only fulcrum in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for many years to come. Sailboats could not directly cross the North Pacific, let alone steamships, which needed to be replenished with water and coal on the way. As for when a steam engine with higher power and higher heat exchange efficiency will be developed, Hong Tao can't infer it at all, anyway, it won't be too fast, maybe he won't be able to see it in his life.

In this way, the importance of the Midway Islands is highlighted, it leads the countries of eastern Asia on one hand, and the American continent on the other, and if people on the east and west coasts of the Pacific Ocean want to communicate and interact, they can only transit through the Midway Islands, and whoever controls this place is equivalent to controlling the entire North Pacific Ocean from the perspective of development.

On the other side of the American continent, Weng Ya has used the Victory Islands as a base for the Atlantic Fleet. The two islands, one east and one west, are like the two gates of the American continent, which have been controlled by the Spring Alliance. If nothing else, the Spring Alliance will develop with peace of mind for a long time, and it will be difficult for the flames of war to burn to the mainland.

"It's so far away, and it's really important, but I don't know if there are any similar islands around." Rome can now see the world's charts, or most of the world, because most of South America, Antarctica, and the North Pole are still blank. Hong Tao said that he is old and doesn't want to die anymore, so leave these three places for future generations to explore.

"There are still a few small islands 2,000 kilometers northwest and more than 3,000 kilometers due west, but there is no fresh water on the islands, and no farming is possible, and all fresh water and food must be supplied by boats, which is not suitable for large-scale development. When you have your hands free, you can build an outpost there, so that your surveillance range is much more westward. But don't go west anytime soon, and don't provoke the Golden River Empire before you are strong, because if they find a foreign ship coming from the eastern sea, they will swarm and soon find you. The Midway Island mentioned by Hong Tao is the Hawaiian Islands in later generations, and the real Midway Island is more than 2,000 kilometers to the northwest, and there is a Wake Island due west. Hong Tao told Luo Mei and Hong Salamander about the geography of the North Pacific that he could think of without reservation, the purpose was to make their minds clearer, and then not to do stupid things.

"Dad, why don't you let America go with you, I can build it well if I stay here myself." Seeing that the supply of the fleet was about to be completed, and Hong Tao's fleet would soon leave, Hong Tao was a little reluctant. My father is already an old man, although he has never lost a battle in his life, but the hero doesn't mention the courage of the year.

"Of course, of course, my daughter can build this place, and America is only here to witness your ability. If you're just tossing it alone, no one will see it, and it won't be brilliant. Therefore, this witness has to be left to you, and there are thousands of people on your father and my ship to feed, so you can save some food for your father. "Hong Tao didn't doubt Hong Tao's ability, but he didn't want to break them up again. His own family has been torn apart, and he can do less if he can. (To be continued.) )