Chapter 534

Cologne, Panama, in June 1861, attracted the attention of the whole world. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info Here is attracting more attention in Europe than even the civil war that took place in the United States.

Even in the past month, journalists from the United Kingdom, France, and even the United States have rushed here, and the purpose of their coming here is naturally for the sake of big news, and what is the so-called big news?

It was the British who sent their fleet here - an expeditionary fleet with the ironclad "Warrior" and its sister ship "Black Prince" as the core sailed out of the British mainland and sailed for Panama, of course, the first stop of the British fleet was not Panama, but the Bahamas, and they did not sail directly to Panama, to Cologne.

But Britain's actions are undoubtedly sending a signal to the world that Britain will never sit idly by and watch the Chinese occupy Panama. After the British action, France also sent a warship from French Guiana, but instead of joining the British fleet, they sailed directly to Cologne, and Spain, the former suzerainty of New Glenada, also sent an old ship.

France and Spain sent warships to Cologne to monitor and deter China, both France and Spain enjoy special colonial interests in South America, and they will never sit idly by and watch the Chinese lord intrude here so arrogantly and obtain colonial interests here! Not only did France and Spain take action, but even the United States, which was mired in a civil war, sent a small brig gunboat to Cologne in accordance with the treaty they signed with New Glenada, which was indeed not easy for the United States, which was mired in war.

All of this is a signal, a signal that the whole white world is sending to China!

All of a sudden, the port of Cologne was filled with warships from all over the world, and it seemed that the harbor had become a port displaying the flags of various countries. flags, the tricolor of French warships, the red and yellow flags of Spanish warships. There are also the Stars and Stripes of American warships.

But these three old wooden-hulled warships, despite their flags, still look overshadowed in the port of Cologne, in the face of the huge ironclads, which is the difference between the two eras!

In the port of Cologne, the two 6,600-ton ironclad combat ships of "Hubei" and "Guangdong" are the most eye-catching, the huge fleet and the sturdy armored turret, from the time they first appeared in front of the world, they have amazed the world, and the service of the "Hubei" class central ironclad battleship even led the British to revise the drawings of the four armored ships they were building.

Compared with these two huge combat ships, the two armored cruisers "Wuchang" and "Tianjin" have little attention, but for the Imperial Navy, the 4480-ton Wuchang-class armored cruiser is the future of the Imperial Navy, and it is more in line with the needs of the Empire, because the Chinese Empire also has vast overseas colonies.

Africa, Pacific, Kamchatka, South Seas...... The large overseas colonies caused the Imperial Navy to put cruisers to defend it, and it is for this reason that in the ten-year naval expansion plan, the Imperial Navy will build 300,000 tons of capital ships within ten years, of which 200,000 tons will be a total of 65 cruisers, and only 12 combat ships.

For any country with a huge colony, cruisers, especially armored cruisers, are its indispensable maritime power, and the 4480-ton Wuchang-class armored cruiser can even act as a combat ship to a certain extent, and its two twin 210 mm main guns in the bow and stern are its fundamental basis.

These four cutting-edge armored ships were originally used to show the strength of the Chinese Navy to the world and show the world the determination of the Chinese Navy to protect the African colonies, but now, they are quietly moored in the port of Cologne, where they show the world the strength and will of the Imperial Navy.

"When will the British come?"

Standing in the cabin of the commander of the "Hubei", Zhang Di's eyes were fixed on the Bahamas on the map, staring at Nassau, the ocean-going fleet of 12 warships sent by the British, which had arrived in Nassau two weeks earlier, and they could pounce on Cologne at any time.

"It's been two weeks off, and it stands to reason that it's coming soon......"

As a naval officer, Zhang Di is even a little jealous of the British Navy, the British Navy is not only powerful with millions of tons of warships, but more importantly, they have a large number of ports around the world, which have become more important in the steam age, because steam armored ships are more inseparable from the port, they not only need the port for repair, but also need the coal and fresh water provided by the port.

Coal storage station!

In the era of steam-armoured ships, it was even more important than armoured ships, and it was the ports that spread all over the world that allowed the British fleet to be thousands of nautical miles away, as if it were on its own doorstep - its colony of Nassau in the Bahamas, a port in good condition, the British Navy did not sail directly into Cologne, but chose to repair there, so that the tired sailors could rest, and as for the warships, they could also be replenished with the more important coal water.

"If you don't come out, you don't know at all, our strength is too backward compared to the British!"

Li Yuncheng, as the chief of staff of the fleet, said in a rather exclamatory tone.

"From the time we came here, Cologne has seen very often British merchant ships, and those merchant ships can provide our information to the British fleet at any time, but what about us? We're like blind people, we don't have any intelligence at all......"

The chief of staff's words made Zhang Di nod his head and said.

"That's true, but what's the solution? Britain not only has the world's largest fleet, but also has the world's largest merchant fleet, with more than 10 million tons of ships, and even the world's largest cruise ship "Great Eastern", their merchant ships are all over every ocean in the world, and in contrast, we have spent so many years buying old ships and building new ships, but our merchant fleet is only more than one million tons, if it were not for the needs of colonial immigrants, we would not even have a million tons of merchant ships, and among these merchant ships, How many are steamboats? ”

As the commander of the fleet, Zhang Di naturally knows where the weakness of China's maritime power is, and the biggest weakness is not the weak maritime power, but the strangeness of the Chinese to the sea.

"Our people don't know the ocean at all, let alone the ocean, we are a traditional continental country, why does the royal family spend a huge amount of money every year to build an armored ship, the establishment of a sailing summer camp, is to let our children understand the ocean, understand the sea, establish marine awareness, but the cultivation of this awareness takes time, at least ten years, we can see the formation of a new generation of national marine consciousness ......"

The "Sailing Summer Camp" he called "Sailing Summer Camp" was funded by the "Ocean Foundation" funded by the royal family, which aims to promote "Sailing Summer Camp" nationwide, through which the "Sailing Summer Camp" will instill marine awareness in young people, so that they can understand the sea, understand the importance of the sea to China, and of course, also understand why the sea is the lifeblood of China, and why the colonies are so important to China.

This subtle influence will fundamentally change the national consciousness in China, but it will take time. It's a long time.

"When that time comes, I believe that the world's oceans will be filled with our merchant fleet, and our navy will be composed of a group of naval soldiers who really yearn for the sea, but ......"

With a long sigh, Zhang Di looked out the porthole at the small, not even worth mentioning, two-breasted unpowered gunship, which was an American warship, an old warship from decades ago.

"Westerners are not ready to give us time at all, let us slowly develop our strength!"

"Sir, isn't this exactly the cunning of Westerners?"

Li Yuncheng naturally habitually blames Westerners for everything, and in his opinion, it is the arrogance of Westerners that has led to the current tension.

"They themselves are expanding their colonies all over the world, even in China, if it weren't for the fact that His Majesty led us to defeat the Manchus, perhaps, now we have become their colonies, at least places like Guangdong, Taiwan and other places are very likely to have been occupied by them,"

In the past few years, scholars have always assumed that if the Manchus had continued to exist, with their traitorous habits, China would have been what China would be like now, and no one doubted that the Manchus might even have borrowed troops from Britain and France in order to exterminate the "bandits," and that in return to the two countries, they were likely to cede Guangdong, Taiwan, and Fujian to the two countries.

After all, they had the evil act of ceding the Northeast region. Often, people will always rejoice that His Majesty the Emperor overthrew the Manchus and kept China.

But when we seized some colonies, they came up with the "law of nations", and we violated the "law of nations". ”

Seeing that the chief of staff mentioned the public law of all countries, Zhang Di suddenly sneered,

"Do you remember Mr. Xiang Qi of Nanyang University's published article?"

The Xiangqi he refers to is Wang Minyun, the president of Nanyang University, which is one of the most well-known universities in Lingnan, along with Guangzhou Imperial University and Lingnan College, and is also the most well-known private university in China.

Mr. Xiang Qi, who has studied in Europe, believes that international relations have been determined by force since ancient times, and that "birds and beasts are connected to each other and devour each other." Those who devour others are civilized countries, and those who are devoured by others are backward countries. It's not just about righteousness! ”

Just as his words fell, the ship's bell suddenly rang on board, and a sailor hurried in.

"Sir, the British fleet is coming!"

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