After the exercise, the Great White Fleet assembled and continued its voyage around the world. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info their next stop is New Zealand. New Zealand used to be an overseas territory of the Tang Dynasty, but now it has been changed to two provinces, the north and the south. There are not many inhabitants here, the economy is not very developed, and the local area has trade with the rest of Datang and can provide a variety of daily necessities, but it is also self-sufficient in agriculture and animal husbandry.

Later, the Great White Fleet visited Shengyou (New Caledonia) and Australia, and in these South Pacific regions, the Great White Fleet did not stay, but only opened it to the local residents for a tour, replenished with some necessary food, fresh water and fuel, and then continued sailing.

After passing through Batavia, Singapore, Colombo and other overseas cities, Datang originally wanted to visit the British South Indian colonies. However, the British had their own worries, the appearance of the mighty Great White Fleet in South India would inevitably make the locals think about it, and the British had basically lost Canada, so they could not lose the most productive Indian colonies in any case. As a result, the British politely refused the berthing of the Tang fleet.

Datang did not care, and then the fleet went north to Karachi, its own North Indian overseas territory. None of the ports along the coast of the North Indian colonies were in particularly good condition, with only a limited number of ports capable of berthing a large tonnage fleet such as the Great White Fleet. In fact, even the reception capacity of the port of Karachi is relatively limited, in order to ensure the normal entry and exit of some merchant ships,

This is also the case in Persia and Celestia, two overseas territories with ports but on a relatively limited scale. That is, the scale of Dubai Harbour is a little larger, which can accommodate the entry of the Great White Fleet.

The Great White Fleet sailed around the world, and many of the stops were in the provinces and overseas territories of the Tang Dynasty. This is simply unavoidable, because Datang encloses territory in the world, and everywhere is Datang's land, basically crossing the Pacific Ocean from South America, and all places along the way are Datang's sovereign territories, and this is basically the case when entering the Indian Ocean. And the self-sustaining power of the fleet is not unlimited, and it is necessary to replenish oil and water along the way.

Leaving Dubai Harbour, the Great White Fleet continued south through the Strait of Hormuz. The Tang Dynasty has a small military port in Djibouti, and the reason for its existence is to maintain the Indian Ocean fleet, and the fleet did not go there. The Great White Fleet then made stops in South Africa and Morocco, followed by visits to Spain, France, Italy and Greece.

The arrival of the Great White Fleet in Europe gave almost all European countries a huge shock. The size of 8 battleships and 4 aircraft carriers is enough to destroy the navy of any country. In fact, if the tactics and strategies are right, the Great White Fleet will not have a problem leveling the navies of all Europe.

And the visit of the Great White Fleet to Europe has caused military spies from various countries to flock to it. How the Datang Navy builds ships, how it uses ships, and how it organizes its fleet are all very valuable information.

The Great White Fleet left the Mediterranean Sea and went to England. It can be said that Britain attaches the most importance to the visit of the Great White Fleet of all countries. Not only did Britain give a very high standard of reception, but even King George III personally attended the reception ceremony. Of course, in terms of reconnaissance, the British were also extra careful. This is the best opportunity to observe the main fleet of Datang at close range, if the British do not know how to detect electronic signals now, otherwise the intelligence of Datang radar has also been collected by the British (the radar is not turned on when actually entering the port). The British had a preliminary understanding of some principles of radio communication, and wanted to intercept some communication passwords and the like, but unfortunately the means were not enough, and they did not achieve anything.

In Plymouth Harbor, Admiral Nelson of the British Royal Navy looked at the dense Tang ships that had filled the berths in a small three-story building in the docks, and there was no expression on his face.

Collingwood, another famous admiral of the Royal Navy next to him, joked and said, "Here is the essence of the vast majority of the Datang Navy, as long as these ships are sunk, then the Datang Navy will be severely damaged." ”

Nelson shook his head and sighed: "That being said, the number of ships left in the Tang Navy is still several times that of our Royal Navy, and what is even more terrifying is their shipbuilding industry capacity, to build such a fleet, it will not take ten years of effort, maybe if the Tang people want to, it may be done in five or six years, and our gap is too big." ”

Collingwood smiled and said, "Maybe in five to ten years, our Royal Navy will have a better development." ”

Nelson still shook his head: "I don't believe in this situation, even if Britain is unwilling, it has to admit that the gap between the national strength of the United Kingdom and the Tang Dynasty is too big." Our people are industrious and hardworking, our soldiers are brave and noble, but our opponents are thousands of years old and full of creativity, and one of the largest in the history of mankind. Britain and the Tang Dynasty were in the same era, which is really a great tragedy. ”

Collingwood's mood was also a little lower, he said: "Maybe twenty years ago, we still had the intention of competing with Datang for world hegemony, but now, the country's positioning is only to avoid being infringed by Datang and maintain the dignity of the first power in Europe." Destined to do second, it is a helpless thing for any soldier. ”

The two glanced at each other, feeling that this topic was too heavy, because they vaguely knew that as long as Datang herself didn't have problems, no country could completely defeat her externally.

Nelson changed the topic and talked about the battleships of the Tang Dynasty, he said: "Well, the Tang people have sent a lineup of eight battleships this time, almost all of which are stronger than our current battleships, and the Mexican class is more than 40,000 tons, with strong firepower. However, I always felt that the era of battleships was coming to an end, and that our previous naval battles with the Americans, where agile and long-range aircraft had shown their superiority. ”

Collingwood frowned, "Really? But you see, the Tang people are still working hard to build these beautiful and powerful warships, and they plan to build ten of them in the Mexican class. With such a large density of anti-aircraft fire on a battleship, what can a few aircraft do? As long as it is caught by the battleship, the aircraft carrier is finished. ”

Nelson was silent, and he wasn't sure what the future would hold. If possible, Nelson certainly wanted Britain to develop both battleships and aircraft carriers for verification, but Britain obviously did not have that much financial resources. The cost of any battleship and aircraft carrier makes the British bleed, Datang is to take a fraction of the financial part of the shipbuilding, while the British are to use the financial majority to build ships. (To be continued.) )