In the harbor of Long Beach, a steamship temporarily leased to the British slowly docked, and James was standing on the deck. Cook, quite a sense of nostalgia for revisiting the old place. By his side www.biquge.info Robinson, who had also come to Los Angeles to negotiate before, was less interested than Cook, because this time he came to Los Angeles, he was going to hand over millions of square kilometers of British land to the Tang people.

Captain Cook saw that Robinson was depressed, and he comforted Robinson: "Mr. Baron, please cheer up, although we have lost the land of Great Britain, it is a barren land that grows nothing, and the 2 million pounds of land purchase money that the Tang people gave us is also a very good income." The point is that by using this opportunity, we can guarantee that Britain is not left behind. ”

Robinson nodded and said, "yes." ”

He was captured by the Tang in Hawaii and placed under house arrest for nearly a year before Captain Cook was released back to England. However, it is precisely for this reason that Captain Cook did not die young and be killed by the natives like in another plane. During his time in Datang, Cook became acutely aware of the gap between Britain and all European countries and this emerging country. When he was in Los Angeles, he saw the extremely detailed maps of the Tang people, and he realized that his long-standing exploration of the sea seemed to be less important.

He saw the advantages of the Tang people in navigation, larger and faster ships, and more advanced navigation and positioning techniques. After returning to China, Cook used his influence to hope that Britain would complete the steaming of the ship, learn technology from the Tang Dynasty, and catch up with the developed and advanced Tang Republic as soon as possible.

The steamship of more than 3,000 tons they had under their feet was leased to them by the Tang people after Robinson came to the Tang Dynasty, so that Robinson could return to London as soon as possible. Put the situation on note. After the British rented the ship, they tried their best to understand the mystery of the steamship, but the Tang sailors on board even refused their bribes and did not allow them to survey the steamship. The British were not good at turning their faces directly with the Tang people, and finally gave up the idea of killing people and selling goods.

On their way back, they shrewdly picked up a bunch of British goods to be shipped to Los Angeles to sell. The space of this ship has been utilized.

Two years earlier, the British had succeeded in building a steamship of their own, but due to the low level of the steam engine and the inferior transmission system, the ship was not only very easy to lie down at sea, but also had a maximum speed of only 9 knots. With the sails to match, this ship does have an advantage over ordinary sailboats, but compared to the steamships of the Tang people, it is obviously inferior.

Robinson said: "Our war with the French and Spaniards is coming to an end. But this war has cost us too much. The warships purchased by the French from the Tang Dynasty forced our Royal Navy to dare not leave the port easily, and their land forces had better weapons, and even though our commanders commanded wisely and our soldiers were extremely brave, we still could not achieve a crucial victory. In order to make peace, we had to recognize the protection of the Maratha by the French in exchange for a French take-up of Canada and a total armistice. Originally, our Royal Navy could have come to North America. Razing the Spanish colonies to rubble, but we can't do that. Because Spain acquired Don-made warships, and we don't know the attitude of the Dons, their fleet in the Bahamas was easily able to wipe out a large fleet of the Royal Navy. France and Spain, with the support of the Tang Republic, have achieved some advantages over us, and the cabinet and parliament have formed a unified opinion. That is to stop this damn war, and then immediately make overtures to Datang and get all the new technologies we can get. ”

Cook nodded: "I also think it's a wise choice, after all, no matter what, Britain is a European country." And being a European maritime country, we must have a navy sufficient to protect ourselves. In this war, the Royal Navy became the laughing stock of the whole people, and the shame of Britain, which was really intolerable. ”

Robinson added: "Spain was on the decline, their American colonies were full of rebellions, and the battle of Gibraltar was a sign of their cowardice. But Louis XVI of France was ambitious. He did not hesitate to take out loans like bankers, borrowed from the Tang Dynasty, and also expanded his armaments to launch a war against us. Our spies got the news in Paris that Louis XVI was going to make his fleet fully steam-ironclad, and they signed a contract with the Tang people for the conversion of thirty steam-ironclad warships, and if the French had more than thirty steam ironclad warships, then our British would basically be finished. ”

Even the Tang people did not expect that what really crushed the British's agreement to buy land was the transformation of the Tang Dynasty and France on thirty steam ironclad battleships, and the original sail battleships would be transformed into steam ironclad frigates with greatly enhanced combat effectiveness. The French also reclassified the warships of the steam age according to the standards of the Tang people, and those with more than 3,000 tons and heavy guns with a caliber of more than 155 mm were steam ironclad cruisers; Battleships of about 1,000-2,000 tons, with a caliber of 100 mm or less with their main guns, are steam ironclad frigates.

The contract of the French included the conversion of two existing French 100-gun first-class sail battleships into cruisers, and the conversion of 80-, 74-gun and 64-gun third-class battleships into frigates ranging in tonnage from 2,000 to 2,600 tons. The French cruiser will be equipped with 155 mm foreign trade naval guns exported by Datang, and the main armament of the French frigate is a long-barreled 76 mm naval gun. These battleships are capable of reaching 12. The speed of 5 knots put the Royal Navy in an extremely unfavorable situation.

The British finally couldn't sit still, they were originally confident in their technical ability, but after two years of tossing, they still couldn't build a warship comparable to the Tang Dynasty steam ironclad battleship, and the French could complete thirty modified warships within five years, and at that time Britain would completely bid farewell to European hegemony.

The British Royal Navy suffered heavy losses in the North American Revolutionary War, losing a lot of ships. Later, in the naval battles in Europe, the French also sank a number of important capital ships. What is even more painful is that because the British know very well that when they build sail battleships at this time, they are building targets, and they have no value, so the British sail battleships have been in the stage of stagnation in construction in the past two years.

At this time, the British finally couldn't bear it anymore, and the huge sense of crisis made them make a decision to hand over Prince Rupert of Hudson to Datang, and the vast land from the Great Lakes to the west coast belonged to Datang. The condition is to get all the new technology that can be obtained, especially the ships of the navy.

Just as Robinson and Cook were thinking about their own things, there was a sudden buzzing roar in the sky, and Cook suddenly looked into the sky, only to see what looked like a big tin bird, flying towards it.

"My God, what's that?"

The Datang sailor who was preparing to disembark on the side said casually: "That's an airplane, you can understand it as a machine that can fly." ”

Cook couldn't let go: "You Tang people have conquered the sea, do you want to conquer the sky now?" ”

The sailor smiled, showing two rows of white teeth, and seemed very proud, and said, "Why not?" ”

The aircraft came from Boeing and was named Boeing 147, codenamed White Gull. It is a small carrier-based seaplane that can be launched by a seaplane catapult. It appeared in this place and was seen by the British, which was actually an accident, and if possible, the Tang people still didn't want to scare the children.

The Boeing 147 is a reconnaissance water aircraft designed specifically for the Zhuolu-class battleships, with a maximum take-off weight of only 2. 4 tons. However, compared with the previous weight of 800 kilograms of Flying Fox, it has also made a lot of progress. It is powered by a 420 kW air-cooled piston engine from Datang Pratt & Whitney. Although the technology is still not very mature, it has also passed the acceptance of the military. The White Gull seaplane reached a speed of 260 kilometers per hour and a cruising speed of 200 kilometers per hour, with a range of 1,600 kilometers and a range of more than 6 hours. Compared to Boeing's first not-so-successful biplane, the Flying Fox, the Boeing 147 can be said to be a huge success.

In terms of armament, the white gull also has 2 7s. 62-mm aviation machine gun and could carry two 50-kilogram bombs for attack. Although this is a big gap with the figure that Navy Commander Deng Xiyi imagined at the time, it is still commendable.

At this time, the Boeing 147 had entered the final stage of sea trials, and in order to test its reliability, it took off from Seattle, landed at sea for a rest, and finally arrived in the waters near Los Angeles. By the time the British saw it, the flight test had been completed, and the Boeing 147 would eventually enter active service as the first military vehicle in the Tang Army.

However, the Zhuolu-class battleship that is matched with it, I'm afraid it will take a few more years, and now this battleship has not even begun to lay the keel construction, and it is still on the drawings.

The Boeing company has accumulated technical experience and confidence in the Boeing 147, and at the same time is more optimistic about seaplanes, and the chief designer Huang Bin hopes to imitate the PBY Catalina seaplane of World War II, and develop a large seaplane that can transport, bomb and search and rescue shipwrecked. However, since Datang Pratt & Whitney, the only company to develop piston engines, the best engine that can be done now is the 600 horsepower engine used in the 147, and it is obvious that the twin-engine PBY needs a stronger engine close to 900 horsepower, and this is Pratt & Whitney's next goal.

However, the army saw that the navy had got a new toy, and also changed its attitude, funded Boeing to develop an army-type fighter jet, and gave the speed of more than 300 kilometers per hour, the range of more than 1,000 kilometers, and the ability to carry 100 kilograms of bombs. (To be continued.) )