The surface of the Pacific Ocean is much larger than that of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea.

The sea was as blue as a glittering blanket, rolling and surging layer by layer, like this blue velvet blanket rising and falling. When the sun shines, all you see is the light flashing. Looking down to the west, there seems to be no other color except this blue sky, and at the end of the line of sight, the blue sea and the light blue sky seem to be blended together, and between the sea and the sky, there is infinite blue.

Small islands finally appeared in the north of the Ming Navy's channel, and each island seemed deserted, not even green trees were seen, only gray hills and white snow. Occasionally, whaling ships flying the Star-Spangled Banner and large Canton ships flying the Sun and Moon Banners pass by the waterway. The decks of those ships were often filled with immigrants from China's southeast coast, waving and cheering at the Ming warships.

Standing on the back deck of the Daming, Xue Dingyue did not feel a trace of joy for the cheers of these overseas travelers, because the direction of these Guangzhou ships was to the east, which was the same as the South Ocean Fleet. However, due to the slow speed, they were caught up by the fleet one by one. Looking at the appearance of these ships, it is clear that there has been no exchange of fire with the Russian fleet.

The current location of the South Sea Fleet is in the waters near the Aleutian Islands, which is also the only way for ships of the Sail Age to travel from Japan to Hawaii. This is the location of the North Pacific Westerly Drift Belt, a westward current that stretches from the northeastern part of Honshu to the western coast of the North American continent. Therefore, sailing ships heading east from Japan usually choose to pass through here. But the Russian fleet apparently did not take the Westerly Drift Belt of the North Atlantic.

"Your Excellency, Commander, they have already communicated with the Canton ship in the language of the flag, and they have not seen the Russian fleet. Only an American fleet of steam galleons and sailing ships was seen. ”

The staff officer came over and reported loudly. In English, of course.

"That's the U.S. East India Fleet." Aspen said without raising his head.

"The Americans are helping the Russians, both openly and secretly. Will there be Russian ships mixed in with the US fleet? Schrödingyue muttered.

"Possibly......" Aspen pondered, "it might be only partial, and we should turn south to Hawaii." ”

"Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, are you sure they will go south to Hawaii? Maybe they'll go north to Alaska or hide somewhere in the Aleutian Islands. ”

Xue Dingyue paused and said, "Maybe we can seize the Aleutian Islands first, and then go north to Alaska." ”

"No, no, it can't be like this." Aspen waved his hand, "According to the Triple Entente." Alaska is part of the future kingdom of Alaska and should be captured by the combined fleet of Ming and France...... This is not our task. Moreover, Alaska and the Aleutian Islands are sparsely populated, and it is difficult to replenish them, and ten or more Russian ships can have two or three thousand people on board, and it is difficult for them to survive in this area. ”

This reason is not good at all, no matter how desolate Alaska is, food can always be obtained to feed two or three thousand people, and no matter how bad it is to fish, you can find food for that few people.

Then Aspen gave a reason that Schrödingyue couldn't refuse: "And there are at least 50,000 Chinese expatriates in Hawaii, and if Hawaii is controlled by Russia, those expatriates are likely to be slaughtered!" ”

"Oh well! We immediately went south to Hawaii. Xue Dingyue nodded. He knew that the Ming Emperor regarded foreign colonization as a policy of internal security. Therefore, no effort is spared to safeguard the interests of overseas Chinese. If 50,000 people were killed in Hawaii, it would undoubtedly be a major blow to the emperor's colonial policy! If this massacre had anything to do with the wrong decisions of him, the commander of the South Ocean Fleet. Then wait for the dismissal and investigation!

Although Aspen's judgment that the Russian fleet was heading for Hawaii was based solely on the need for Britain to compete for supremacy in the Pacific, this judgment was completely correct.

At the same time that the main force of the Ming Nanyang Fleet, consisting of three third-class battleships, three fourth-class battleships, four cruisers, six escort ships, and six flying scissor armed merchant ships (troop carriers, recruited from the coast of Japan), turned around and headed towards the Hawaiian Islands. A joint U.S.-Russian formation flying the American flag was already on its way south to Hawaii.

This joint formation consisted of four American ships and ten Russian ships, and the four American ships were Matthew. The entire lineup of the U.S. East India Fleet commanded by Perry, while the ten Russian ships included a third-class battleship, a fourth-class battleship, two cruisers, two escort ships, and four Russian armed merchant ships - in other words, Emperor Zhu's naval quality was really not good, and he actually chased down a third-class battleship and a fourth-class battleship, and let them join the American East India Fleet commanded by Perry (including four Russian armed merchant ships) near the coast of Japan to form a joint formation.

Due to the disappearance of Wrangel (captured) and Nevelskoy (feeding the fish), the command of this Russian Eastern Fleet is now vested in the commander of the battleship Catherine I. Dmitry. Fedorovich. Colonel Ushakov took over. The grandson of the historical Russian naval god (Orthodox Christian) is now in Matthew. Perry's flagship cruiser USS Mississippi.

"What is the strength of the Anglo-French fleet in Hawaii? Are there any coastal batteries at Pearl Harbor? What is the state of armament in the Kingdom of Hawaii? Can you tell me about it? ”

Colonel Ushakov sat at a long dining table with a cup of Mahew in his hand. Perry, who bought the Lafite from the Düssel Wine Store in Hong Kong, asked a series of questions with a frown.

"Britain and France each had a small fleet in Hawaii, and there were no third or fourth class warships, only cruisers, escort ships, and armed merchant ships. The total number is between ten and fifteen. ”

"In addition, there are many armed merchant ships of Chinese anchored in Pearl Harbor, who transport Chinese coolies to North America, then buy grain and meat from North America to Hawaii, then buy sugar from Hawaii and ship them to Japan, and finally buy seafood and handicrafts from Japan and ship them back to China."

Matthew. Perry's brow furrowed slightly as he said this. Because he was very worried about the activities of the Chinese in the Pacific and the western United States over the years. With the discovery of gold, gold prospectors from China are pouring into the western states of the United States. And the Kingdom of Hawaii was also very welcoming to Chinese settlement—compared to Western colonists, Chinese immigrants were very industrious and business-savvy, they planted sugar cane, palm trees and rice in Hawaii, ran businesses, started factories to produce cane sugar, and shipbuilding and shipbuilding docks, which brought rolling tax revenue to the Kingdom of Hawaii in just a few years.

However, there are too many Chinese! If they are allowed to enter Hawaii and the United States in a steady stream, within 10 years, Hawaii will become a second Lanfang, and the western United States will be full of Chinese.

But restricting Chinese entry into the United States or simply deporting Chinese Americans is not so easy. This is not in line with the current law of the United States, and the current United States, unlike European countries such as Britain, France and Russia, is not a country with a strong central government, and the states have a lot of autonomy and can even make constitutions. Several western states or territories were not opposed to the entry of the Chinese—and now the attention of the western states was drawn to whether or not to practice slavery. The Chinese immigrants seem to have two sides to please Lu on this issue, first of all, they are not slaves or slave owners, they are all free people, and most of them are Mormons and believe in God. Second, they were very industrious, and some southern farmers even thought that it was more cost-effective to hire these Chinese to grow cotton than to raise black slaves. So neither the slaves nor the abolitionists were opposed to Chinese immigration, and the Mormons welcomed these Chinese parishioners, whose entry could strengthen the Mormon Church in the West, and the Mormon-controlled Utah territory was even ready to become a state!

So the best way to prevent Chinese from entering the United States is to control the Kingdom of Hawaii - the Kingdom of Hawaii under the control of the United States can and justifiably prevent Chinese and Russian ships and expatriates from entering during the Sino-Russian War! And the war between China and Russia looks like it will last for 100 years. (To be continued......)