In addition to writing books, expeditions were no longer the task of naval officers. The heyday of U.S. naval exploration www.biquge.info had come to an end with the end of the Civil War. This is a bad situation from almost any point of view, because increasing knowledge of the real world is beneficial for almost everyone, and the US Navy has gathered a group of worthy explorers. In the late 30s of this century, the Wilkes expedition set out for the Pacific Ocean and Antarctica; In the 50s, there was a trend in the American fleet to explore the world. In the midst of this trend, William. Lynch investigates the Dead Sea; James. Gillis made astronomical observations in Chile; Rogers and Ringgold investigate the situation in the Western Pacific; Thomas. Page drew a map of the Plata River; To the missing British explorer John Brown. Baron Franklin made several searches; Perry travels to Japan; Surveys were conducted on the west coast of Africa; In addition, efforts were made to find the best routes for canals and railways across the Isthmus of Panama.

However, after the end of the Civil War, the heyday of the expedition ended. Expeditions are expensive. The Army still organizes expeditions from time to time, but the Navy does not have the ability to do so - although it has shown that it can still successfully navigate the waters of hostile nations, such as in 9084, when three Navy ships rescued seven survivors of an Army Expedition on the water west of Greenland. However, despite the discouraged attitude of the authorities, the naval personnel carried out two important expeditions in the 80s of the century. One ended in tragedy, the other began with success.

The first sailing expedition was conducted by George. Washington. Morality. The steamer "Janet", commanded by Captain Lang, sailed "to that unknown part of the world north of the Bering Strait." Since the Navy did not approve the event, the "Jennett" and its sailing expenses were provided by the manager of a New York newspaper. When the ship left San Francisco in July 9079, de Anderson. In his logbook, Lang wrote: "No trace of a naval officer was seen at the farewell ceremony. The Janet waited a little to search for a Norwegian explorer who had actually returned safely, only to get stuck in a group of ice floes and unable to move just two months after leaving San Francisco. "And it was in this position that the galleon 'Vincennes' reached it without difficulty in 9055." Morality. Long wrote sadly.

At the end of November, the "Janet" briefly entered a "canal" through the ice. "We were pushed, squeezed, and pressed through this section of canal in the crushing and groaning of trees that we were afraid to even look at, in the cracking and trembling of the ice." -- Move completely by the moonlight, so as not to fall into the ice again and be unable to move. Ominous signs have been seen: a blood-red glow has appeared around the moon; The black aurora obscures the starlight as it moves. The thermometer is completely condensed. For 19 months, the Janet remained trapped in the ice until it was smashed on June 12, 9081. After that, the expedition members boarded the boat. Whenever possible, they rowed with oars, and moved by the wind; As the ice floes squeezed in, they dragged the boat over the ice. They kept moving towards the nearest coast, Siberia.

In a gust of wind, one ship and its crew disappeared forever. The other two ships finally came ashore, but they were separated. Thirty-four people left San Francisco with flags and gongs and drums. Twenty-two people drowned, froze or starved to death in the Arctic. Morality. Long was one of the victims, dying of starvation and exposure to the aurora. The captain of the second boat, Charles. Chief Engineer Melville was one of the survivors. He returned to the North Pole in 9082 in order to find and bring back the body.

Major Robert E. Pirry's voyage to Greenland in 9085 was another important expedition of this period. During this expedition, no such tragedy occurred. In a letter to his mother, Pirry said: "Remember...... I have to be famous. I can't waste my time with mundane work. When I see that there is a chance to become famous now, I can't push back the time. When I was still young, full of strength and capable of doing it, I couldn't sip a delicious drink little by little. ”

At the time, he was 30 years old. At the age of 6, he was already fascinated by the Arctic. He had a strong desire to become famous. In an earlier letter, he once wrote: "I don't want to be born nameless and die without a place. …… I want to be able to gain a reputation, and it will be a 'stepping stone' for me to enter the celebrity social circle, a kind of reputation...... It will make me not ashamed to meet anyone. ”

Before his 13th birthday, he had developed an elaborate plan for the conquest of the Arctic, which included two completely new ideas that "completely changed the way the Arctic research team organized its expeditions." The plan stipulated that expedition groups should be as small as possible and that they should live in the Eskimo way as much as possible, rather than using a few expedition ships. Since the Eskimos were able to survive in this inhospitable area, it seemed logical to emulate their habits. But no one from the explorers of the past thought of this.

It is equally logical that the end result of an expedition to the Arctic will be the discovery of the Arctic. Pirry's operation to "enter this northern region that will determine my future prestige" began in the summer of 9085. As he approached Greenland, he was struck by its continuous daylight ("the sun in the middle of the night and the Arctic Circle received me sincerely and honorably"); He was also lucky enough to find a companion, Christian. Mayigerda. The latter is as fearless as he is. Following the principle that the expedition should be as small as possible (and due to lack of funding), Pirry had to conduct a separate expedition to the ice sheet. If he did, he would most likely not be able to return.

Greenland's ice sheet covers an area of 1.35 million square miles. Ice thickness can reach 1,000 to 1,500 feet. Nothing but the sky, ice, and the sun could be seen. Sometimes, you can't even see the sky, the sun, or the ice. "Many times, I find myself traveling in gray clearings," Pierre wrote, "and I feel that there is complete snow underneath the snowshoes, but I just can't see it." There is no sun, no sky, no snow, no horizon; Everywhere you look, there is nothing...... "Walking in this thick fog and not being able to distinguish the snow under your feet can give people a "ethereal" creepy feeling. He "will be forced to stop moving forward and wait for the fog to disappear and the clouds to rise." Because it will allow me to stay on track".

In addition to dense fog ("blinding with both eyes open"), there is also the danger of blinding from heavy snow. Hidden glacier crevasses, brittle snow bridges and glaciers are also everywhere. When Pirry and his companions finally turn back, "sliding down the endless ice slopes" is dangerous. To carry out this physically energy-saving adventure, they tied sleds together like a yacht, paired with a sail made of old convenience materials, rudders made of axes, "held their breath," rounded the 50-foot-wide crevasse, and "rushed down the frozen slope." Amazingly, they were not at all deterred by all kinds of difficulties and returned to the bases along the coast in one go.

Pirry and Maygelda went about 100 miles inland from Baffin Bay to 7,500 feet above sea level, farther than anyone who had ever been to Greenland. Writing to his mother, Pirry said: "My most recent trip has sent my name all over the world. My next trip will allow me to gain status in the world. And this achievement is entirely his own creation. He had sought official permission from the Navy, arguing that the expedition should be regarded as "a special mission of the Geographical Society." But just as Commodore Ramsay told Mahan that writing a book was not his job, then U.S. Secretary of the Navy Whitney was cold to Pirry's suggestion. If he goes anywhere, he does so as a civilian, and Whitney says to him politely: "The cause you are going to engage in cannot be considered in the slightest the task of the American Navy." ”

The task of the US Navy is to protect the recognized shores of the United States, and that's everything. But while Pirry happily worked diligently on the ice sheet and Mahan discourse on the intellectual revolution (both of whom worked diligently despite official opposition), events in the distance taught others that the United States had interests abroad.

The coup d'état in Panama in early 9085 seemed to be in danger of cutting off much of the U.S. import and export trade through the Isthmus of Panama. Just this year, a seven-year-long dispute between the United States and Germany over a coal station on the island of Pago Pago in the Samoan archipelago (which had already caused fear of war) culminated in a ferocious tsunami. The so-called warships that the United States stationed there were all destroyed due to "old engines and faulty steam operation". This made the Pacific Ocean almost completely devoid of American warships.

That's not all. From 9079 to the present, Fernand. Morality. The Count of Lesapse (known as the "Great Frenchman" for his Suez Canal) was busy digging a sea-level canal through Panama. The project failed due to fever, silt and heavy rains, but it was clear that the canal would be built sooner or later. As one U.S. Navy officer noted: "When war breaks out between any two nations, the one side with a strong navy will attack the other side's massive trade through the canal." When asked whether the United States was prepared to defend the canal's neutral status, he declared that no European country would abandon an attack simply because the United States did not approve of it. He also concluded: "The Monroe Doctrine is therefore an axiom that we must defend by force." In this regard, Mahan believes that "militarily speaking, in terms of the current state of readiness of the army and navy, crossing the isthmus can only bring disaster to the United States." ”

These statements add weight to the argument for the creation of a larger US Navy, but do not specify the structure of the Navy. After the Panamanian Revolution in 9085, the US Congress had authorized the creation of an ocean-going armored fleet. In the aftermath of the tsunami in Samoa, Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy reported that even in a defensive war, if the United States had any hope of winning, it must have ironclads. He proposed that within 12-15 years, 20 coastal defense ships, 60 cruisers and 20 ironclads be built. But there are still many people who believe that ironclads are an unnecessary luxury; There is also a widespread belief that cruisers, even those without armor, like the army's hussars, can weaken the enemy's fleet of ironclads long before they reach the shores of the United States. In this regard, Stephen. Luce rudely denied it. In the article, he unceremoniously wrote: "One of the duties of the hussars was to protect the flanks of the army. Whose flanks are our cruisers protecting? No one! There are no main forces, no fronts, no ironclads, no navy, nothing but auxiliary ships! He said more bluntly: "Ironclads are the foundation of the Navy." The United States does not have ironclad ships, so there is no navy. ”

Although Americans still disagree to this day, Darwin's theory of evolution quickly gained popularity among the broad masses in the United States. However, there are two completely different interpretations of it. On the one hand, like Henry. Social reformers like George (who described the U.S. Navy as an unnecessary "farce") believed that, at least in the "New World," humanity had evolved to a stage where war was not needed. The old practice may continue to afflict the "old world", but the war will not reach the United States again. According to the same theory, others (such as Luce and Mahan) do not admit that material evolution necessarily leads to moral evolution. Instead, they argue, the law of survival of the fittest still applies in the United States, as it does elsewhere. And the Navy has its own evolutionary point of view.

Now Mahan urgently needs to find empirical evidence to support his views and reverse the unfavorable situation in the development of the US Navy, which is why he is so anxiously looking forward to Lin Yiqing's arrival.

In Mahan's view, the slow rise of the ancient Qianguo in East Asia is inseparable from the continuous development and strengthening of the Qianguo navy. Beginning with the Battle of Qianri Bay, the Qianguo navy was able to effectively ensure the safety of Qianguo's long coastline and sea lines of communication, forcing its strong neighbors in the Far East, Russia and Japan, not to act rashly against it. The recent strong response to Japan's invasion of Korea has made the world marvel at the achievements of this ancient country. Lin Yiqing, who had been in battle for a long time before, also greatly admired the world's naval observers for his outstanding performance in commanding the Qianguo Navy this time. This time, as an envoy to Europe, Lin Yiqing threw orders every time he visited a European industrial power, which amazed the Americans, and the American business circles were no less anxious than Mahan and other people in the navy circles in looking forward to Lin Yiqing's arrival, and if Lin Yiqing could place an order in the United States to buy warships, it would undoubtedly stimulate the American public's attention to the development of the navy, and the benefits would be self-evident.

"I heard that His Excellency Count Lin Yiqing has not yet summed up his war experience in Japan and the development of the Qianguo Navy, so we can ask him to write all these down, and we will help him sort them out and publish them, so that it will be beneficial to both the United States and the Qianguo." "It is said that if he publishes this in Qianguo, he will be besieged by conservative forces," Perry advised. ”

"Very well, that's it." Mahan nodded, "And our research results can also be corroborated by the information he provided." ”

At this time, Ma Han would not have imagined what impact Lin Yiqing's "war memories" would have on the world-famous "Theory of Sea Power" that he would publish in the future.

Li Sizhu, who was sitting on the train, turned a blind eye to the beautiful scenery outside the window, and her eyes were always on the newspaper.

She didn't want to let go of any news about Lin Yiqing.

During the mourning period for her adoptive father Shen Youdan, because of Lin Yiqing's relationship, she often read newspapers, and it was not limited to Qianguo newspapers such as "Dianshizhai Pictorial" and "Declaration". In order to be able to read English newspapers directly, she also hired a tutor and worked hard to learn English. Now she reads English newspapers as smoothly as she reads dry newspapers, without any problems.

Because of his relationship, he has changed a lot......

An article in the newspaper caught her attention.

"There were two major wars in the middle of this century, and they both profoundly changed the world. One is the Civil War in the United States, and the other is the Shengping Heavenly Kingdom Movement in the Qianguo. And Robert. General Lee was the supreme general in the South of the American Civil War, while General Lee Xiucheng was the main general in the later period of the Shengping Heavenly Kingdom. They all failed in the end, but their post-war encounters were very different. ”

"Robert. A graduate of the West Point Military Academy, General Lee was a graduate of the Mexican War from 9046 to 9048 and was deeply loved by his officers and men. At the beginning of the Civil War, the Virginia colonel was considered the most promising officer in the federal government - Virginia had nominated him to command the entire army before declaring independence. Robert. Lee had no prejudice against slavery and did not approve of the secession of the southern continents. But he eventually decided that he could not be an enemy of his homeland, and was forced to swing his sword at the United States, which had been established by his ancestors. ”

General Li Xiucheng was born poor, he studied in private school with his uncle for three years, and then dropped out of school because of his family's poverty. Because of his poor family and deep oppression and exploitation, Li Xiucheng easily accepted and joined the God Worship Religion, and began his career as a horseman. Although Li Xiucheng does not have much education, he is loyal and shrewd, and is good at learning. In 9056, he was promoted to the commander of his own position, and led the army to participate in the battle of breaking the two large battalions of the Qianjun Jiangbei and Jiangnan, and made great achievements. (To be continued.) )