"It's a bit unexpected that the maritime situation in Asia has changed in just 10 years." Looking at the Chinese fleet sailing out of the port of Batavia in the distance, Jericho had mixed feelings in his heart. It can be said that Jericho has experienced the whole process of the great development of the Chinese Navy, from the first order of 5,000-ton second-class cruisers from Italy, to the later Garibaldi-class and PISA-class cruisers, and then to the later Ninghai-class battleships and even to the current Asia's largest dreadnought fleet. The expansion speed of the Huaxia Navy can simply be described as vicious expansion! From a fleet that is not in the world to the top four in the world and the first in Asia, this speed makes Jericho have to admire.

"The navy is an aristocratic service, and a real naval power needs hundreds of years to build, and it is not just a few warships that can be called a maritime power." Protection saw what Jericho was thinking, and Thomas comforted him. He did not mean to belittle the strength of the Chinese fleet, but because he was puzzled, because in the history of the development of the British Empire's navy, the British spent hundreds of years and fought a long tug-of-war with one enemy after another to achieve victory. And the rise of the Huaxia Navy is so rapid that it even gives people an unreal feeling.

"The times are different, in the age of sails, a warship can be used for fifty years in good maintenance, or even after 50 years, the value of the battleship will not drop too much, and the progress of technology is very slow at that time. And the sailors and officers who operate the battleship need a considerable amount of time to train. But what about now? The situation is different. A battleship will become obsolete in a maximum of 10 years. Some warships are even obsolete before they are launched, and the huge fleet does not represent the corresponding combat effectiveness, and more importantly, the new warships are easier to operate. The time required for human resource development will be reduced. In the old warships were constantly depreciating. With the shortened training cycle, it has become easier for industrial powers to expand their navies. ”

"But it is also faster to consume, the accumulation of more than ten years in a country may be depleted in just a few months, and in the operation of the Grand Fleet, perhaps an afternoon will decide the course of the war, the British fleet in the past allowed to make mistakes, but now. Often, a small omission can have extremely serious consequences! Jericho said with a gloomy face.

Just as the two were talking, the fleet that the Huaxia Fleet was responsible for greeting had already appeared in view. The size of the Huaxia fleet this time was not large, but it was only two Longxu-class battlecruisers and several light cruisers. This is not because the Chinese fleet is deliberately sluggish, but because the British fleet is not large this time, but it is only two capital ships, one is the battleship Dreadnought. The other is the British Brothers Invincible of the Longxu class. Neither the mighty Chinese fleet nor the main force of the combined Anglo-French fleet brought by Jericho to the east appeared in the waters of the former Dutch East Indies. And there is a lot of thought behind this.

"The relationship between the British Empire and the Chinese Republic is now in a very wonderful state. There are elements of hostility and conflict between the two countries, as well as various interests at the same time. Britain was naturally very dissatisfied with the expansion of China, but at the same time it was powerless to stop it, let alone let the Republic of China fall to the side of Germany, Austria and Italy. More importantly, Britain has a huge stake in trade with China. The two countries are like two hedgehogs that only need to get together in winter to keep warm, they want to get close to each other, but they have to guard against the spikes on each other's bodies piercing themselves! Churchill recalled afterwards.

This was an opportunity for Britain and China to get closer, and in order to reduce their hostility as much as possible, the main force of the British and French fleets remained in Singapore. And the main force of the Huaxia Fleet was stationed in Taiwan. Then each side left two capital ships to take a midpoint. And the most suitable port in the whole Southeast Asia is the port of Batavia, first of all, the distance is more suitable. In addition, this is the most well-equipped port outside of the Chinese British, large enough to accommodate a large fleet to be stationed and maintained, and more importantly, this is the place where the Chinese are newly occupied, and the British have come here, there is a sense of recognition of all that China, and in the eyes of the British, this can be regarded as a kind of goodwill.

Although the size of the fleet is not very large, the level of personnel meeting between the two sides is very high. On the Chinese side, Yang Yonglin and Lin Yongsheng were Yang Yonglin, and the former, as the supreme commander of the Huaxia Fleet, was already equivalent to the commander of the British Grand Fleet. The latter, on the other hand, is a distinguished achievement. In European naval circles, it is generally believed that the two Longxu-class battlecruisers commanded by Lin Yongsheng were the most outstanding in a series of naval battles between China and Russia, and it can be said that they played the greatest role with the smallest force, so the British side specially asked Lin Yongsheng to attend this meeting. There is another person on the Chinese side is Cai Tinggan, and the main reason why he can participate in this level of meeting is that his submarine force is too dazzling in this war. There was even a submarine that destroyed a transport ship of nearly 30,000 tons, causing losses that were nearly 80 times the cost of its own cost! The submarine's formidable ability to break diplomatic relations really scares everyone.

As for the British side, Jericho, the future commander of the Grand Fleet, corresponds to Yang Yonglin's status. Thomas was Jericho's most trusted and valued subordinate, the future Task Force Commander. (Jericho is still very fine, Betty is what Fisher values, and the future battlecruiser formation will definitely be commanded by Betty, but Jericho will keep the most elite fast battleship formation in his own hands!) The other was Goodnow, one of Jericho's cronies, but this one was not on the capital ship, but was in charge of the escort and the light fleet.

After firing a salute at each other, the two sides sailed into the port of Batavia under the guidance of the Chinese fleet, and the activities of the junior officers and soldiers had been arranged. And Jericho and Yang Yonglin and his entourage went directly into the officer's cafeteria of the battleship Intrepid. Here they had an exchange of this significance, and the core of the exchange was Cai Tinggan and Goodnow. Jericho and Yang Yonglin are responsible for coordinating and formulating relevant plans. The core of the exchange is submarine warfare and anti-submarine warfare!

Even Fisher, who had the most confidence in the Royal Navy, believed that the threat of submarines to sea transport lines was already very serious under the current circumstances, and that this threat had expanded from sea transport lines to warships. The fact that the Chinese Navy carried out near-shore minelaying in the war and destroyed a large artillery transport ship of the Russian Navy made the British very worried about the safety of their harbor, although it was probably impossible to go in and launch torpedoes, but if a few submarines ran directly to the vicinity of the harbor one day and directly laid dozens of mines, it would be too disgusting.

Therefore, at Fisher's request, the British fleet decided to cooperate with the Huaxia Navy, which has the most experience in the use of submarines, and the whole cooperation process is divided into two stages, the first stage is the actual combat simulation stage, which simulates the situation that the Royal Navy may encounter in the future according to the submarine warfare and anti-submarine warfare that are close to the actual combat situation. The second stage will be to explore and study the problems encountered.

Of course, it is impossible for the Chinese navy to cooperate with the actions of the British in vain, and the reason why the Chinese government agreed to the request of the British this time, in addition to easing relations, the other most important purpose is to purchase some technology and equipment from the British on this condition. When the Germans had not yet mastered the 2500 horsepower liquid-cooled engine in 45 years, the British Emperor said that it had been equipped with 43, and the jet engine that the British made in World War 2 was twice as powerful as the German jumo004 with poor stability and life! The stability is not bad, and the structure is simple! It is said that it is against the sky!

This time, the main topics of exchange were power systems, the smelting of special steels, machine tools and various internal combustion engine motors. Needless to say, the steam turbines of the British are unique in the world, at least for now. In terms of special steel, the British definitely do not have to be worse than Germany, as for the machine tool, it is to buy some equipment that is in short demand in China and can not be produced in a short period of time, which is not that the Germans do not sell, but now Germany has entered the stage of preparation, and the expansion of all aspects has become very rapid, and the production of machinery in a short period of time is in short supply, especially the expansion of shipyards. Although Britain is also preparing for war, the foundation of British shipbuilding is much stronger than that of Germany. So the demand for machining equipment is not too great.

In addition to technical exchanges, the British and the Chinese will also discuss a number of other issues. The most critical issue is the direction of Japan's future development. Since the end of the First Sino-Russian War, Japan has won a Pinochan victory, although Japan has recovered all the territory outside Hokkaido, but for this reason Japan has pressed the most difficult capital since the Meiji Restoration! Moreover, the loss of a rebuilt navy and a large number of land forces, and the subsequent spoils of war after the victory were not enough to compensate for the high war losses, and after the war, the Chinese Republic completely controlled the lifeblood of Japan from the economic field, and grain and cotton yarn were two topics that the Japanese could never avoid.

The British, on the other hand, naturally hoped to support Japan, for example, by persuading China to lift restrictions on grain exports to Japan and at the same time reduce the dumping of goods against Japan. And the British naturally will not be good people in vain, the British need Japan's abundant human resources to fight for the British Empire, and in Africa and Europe for the British. And this requirement is obviously beyond the scope of Yang Yonglin's responsibility. Therefore, Yang Yonglin can only say that he will convey Jericho's request to the government, but he can't guarantee the specifics.

The second is more ~~~. I hope you will support us a lot~~~. (To be continued......)