After the banquet on the battleship, Zhu Jingyuan and the British and French representatives rested on the ship for a short time and returned to the city in the afternoon.

The visiting fleet of the Ming will escort them back to Tessie, but will not directly carry them to life in their own warships.

Battleships can give them a general tour, but diplomats with intelligence missions will not be allowed to ride for a long time.

Charlotte and Shire, as well as representatives of the two countries, will still leave on a more comfortable special passenger ship.

After Zhu Jingyuan sent them back to their residence, he directly reminded Charles and Charlotte that they could pack their things and prepare to return.

Talleyrand, Grenville, Monroe and other officials were all relieved that they could finally go.

However, Charlotte and Charles themselves are obviously a little reluctant to give up.

In the courtyard where Charlotte lived, Zhu Jingyuan said goodbye to Charlotte and prepared to go back to the palace to do his own business.

Charlotte reached out and pinched Zhu Jing's sleeve and didn't let go.

Zhu Jingyuan stopped and looked back at the girl beside him:

"What's wrong?"

Charlotte intermittently muttered what she wanted to say:

"After leaving this time, I don't know when I will have the opportunity to see you again.

"Even if you tell me where you're going in the future, I may not have a chance to actually meet you."

Zhu Jingyuan felt that what Charlotte wanted to do was not said.

However, Zhu Jingyuan did not look at the atmosphere and said: If he really wants to see anyone, the British can't stop him at all.

I probably wouldn't have thought about meeting Charlotte again.

For Charlotte herself, even if she became the king of England, it is estimated that she will not have the freedom she has now.

After a brief silence, Zhu Jingyuan turned around and opened his arms.

Charlotte hesitated for a moment, then boldly took two steps forward and hugged Zhu Jingyuan's body hard.

Then with his eyes closed, in a very small voice, he said on Zhu Jingyuan's chest:

"Your Highness, I actually ...... I want to be with you and have a baby together.

"We can't get married, but we don't need to marry either, I can be your lover.

"A child with your bloodline will be very good, and he will definitely be a very good king."

Zhu Jingyuan blinked, understanding what Charlotte meant.

Charlotte is the second in line to the British throne, and she is the only one in her generation.

Unless her father, who was forty-seven years old, and his wife, who had been separated for an unknown number of years, now went and created a legitimate son, Charlotte's order of succession was completely fixed.

After the death of his father, George IV, Prince of Wales, she would become King of England.

At present, it seems that the possibility of his parents adding her a legitimate brother is infinitely close to zero.

This did not happen in the original history, and after she died in childbirth, his uncle worked hard to create a legitimate daughter, namely Victoria.

Charlotte will definitely succeed to the throne if she doesn't die, and Charlotte's own heir will definitely have to choose from her own children.

Now Tessie has openly allowed illegitimate children to inherit, but the order of inheritance is after the legitimate child.

A concubine similar to the Ming Dynasty can also inherit, but the order of succession is after the concubine.

If Charlotte does not marry for the rest of her life, she will not have legitimate children, and will only have a few illegitimate children with herself.

The eldest of her own and her illegitimate sons would become the king of England after her.

This method is certainly feasible, especially with the Ming Dynasty as a backstage support, even if it is a war of succession, it can be won.

But the problem is that it is not possible to implement it now.

Zhu Jingyuan rubbed Charlotte's head:

"You're still a child yourself, and you're thinking about having children, at least until you're eighteen years old."

Charlotte's head rubbed in Zhu Jingyuan's arms:

"Charlotte doesn't have a dead child, Charlotte is already menstruating, and the doctor said that she can get pregnant when she has menstruation."

Zhu Jingyuan was particularly helpless to explain and arrange:

"Theoretically, yes, in practice it doesn't work at all.

"If you are thinking about getting pregnant and having a baby at this age, it is easy to have an accident, and the result is likely to be two deaths.

"I don't want that to happen.

"If you really want to be my only woman, wait until you are eighteen years old and come and stay with me for another year.

"I will give you the identity of the princess of the Great Food, even if the British don't accept it, the Great Foodcountry will accept it.

"We'll think about having children then."

Zhu Jingyuan is a prince-level vassal king, and there are four princesses, and the princess is not a queen.

Charlotte has a high probability of becoming the queen of the United Kingdom, and it is not impossible to give her the status of a princess of the Great Eater.

Charlotte listened to this arrangement, and was both regretful and surprised.

The surprise is, of course, this princess, who unfortunately can't have children yet.

Members of the royal family of Tessie find lovers to spend the night with, which is a common thing in Tessie.

The courtiers of the Ming Dynasty and the people in the court did not think that there was anything wrong with the prince of their family who was fortunate to have a little girl.

On the second day, the British and French missions led by Charlotte and Charles officially began to pack up their behalf.

Three days later, the well-prepared delegations of the two countries officially departed for Xintianfu.

Zhu Jingyuan also went to the dock to see off Charles and Charlotte as a host, friend, and lover.

Charlotte grabbed Zhu Jingyuan's hand all the way.

Charles watched the scene and felt that something was wrong.

Zhu Jingyuan didn't think too much about it, and sent them all the way to the dock.

The others boarded the ship one after another, but Charlotte hugged Zhu Jing and didn't want to let go, and said with tears in her eyes:

"Your Highness...... We'll have a chance to meet, right? ”

Zhu Jingyuan smiled and nodded:

"Of course there is a chance to ......"

Charlotte is still worried:

"But...... But what if my grandfather, my father, and the English don't allow me to come to see you again? ”

Zhu Jingyuan thought for a while:

"If you're eighteen years old, they won't let you come to me.

"If you were twenty years old, I still hadn't seen you.

"Then I'll take the fleet to capture London, England, or Richmond, America.

"I'll snatch you back and give me a princess."

Charlotte's worries suddenly turned into surprises:

"Really! If I can't get out, will you really go and snatch me back! ”

Zhu Jingyuan nodded very seriously:

"Of course it's true, I've always been a man of my word, and Britain and the United States have no power to stop me.

"But you also have to remember that according to the rules of our Ming Dynasty, if you want to be my princess, then you can't have an affair with other men.

"It doesn't matter if you're married or not......

Charlotte nodded very seriously:

"I understand, am I your exclusive mistress of the royal family......"

Charlotte finally put her mind at ease, said goodbye to Zhu Jingyuan with twelve points of expectation, and boarded the passenger ship step by step.

Then Zhu Jingyuan realized that Xia Er was still standing not far from him.

Zhu Jingyuan and Charlotte spoke very quietly, and Charles deliberately avoided it a little.

So Charles shouldn't have heard what the two were talking about.

But the state of Zhu Jingyuan and Charlotte fell in the eyes of Charles, and the relationship between the two was exposed.

After Charlotte got on the boat, Charles came to Zhu Jingyuan with mixed feelings:

"Best friend, I'm leaving, if you don't express it, I can only remember your character of heavy sex and light friend......"

Zhu Jingyuan opened his arms with a smile and hugged his best friend:

"I wish you a smooth journey and all the best, my friend."

Xia Er also hugged Zhu Jingyuan, and finally felt satisfied, but at the same time, he was quite reluctant to leave, turned around and boarded the passenger ship.

The passenger ship was already ready, and as soon as the last passenger got on board, the whistle sounded.

Quickly put away the anchor chain and gangway, and slowly left the dock with the assistance of the tugboat at the dock.

Zhu Jingyuan stood on the dock, waving lightly to Charlotte and Charles on the edge of the deck, watching them leave.

Two battleships and four cruisers, all of which had already set sail first, were waiting outside the dock.

After the flotilla converged, they sailed northeast and arrived at Sanqing Castle the next morning.

Two battleships were to be refueled here.

After the battleship docked, the prepared fuel pipes were preheated, and the fuel inlet was quickly connected.

This process of fuel replenishment has also become the focus of observation by British, French, and American officials such as Talleyrand, Grenville, and Monroe.

They had already confirmed by the appearance of the chimney and the smoke emitted from the chimney during the voyage that these two ships should be pure fuel warships.

Now, in addition to reconfirming this, it is more important to directly observe the efficiency of the fuel replenishment.

Even if it is a 20,000-ton warship, if you want to fill the fuel tank with coal in an empty state, it will take at least two days.

After the tonnage is enlarged to 40,000 tons, it may be more than four days to continue to replenish coal.

Because coal is solid, it has to be loaded into the hold by mechanical equipment, and it has to be adjusted evenly in the hold.

It was a very boring and hard job, and the time it took skyrocketed with the size of the fuel tank.

Now, several thick pipes are connected directly to the fuel tank, and the heated and melted heavy oil is pushed into it by the oil pump.

There is no need for complex machinery to move the ship to the hold, and the liquid fluid can be naturally and evenly distributed in the fuel tank.

Therefore, the efficiency of fuel shipment has been directly improved by an order of magnitude.

Eventually, both battleships were refueled before sunset.

In total, it took less than six hours.

Grenville looked at the two battleships that had left the harbor again, and his expression was full of astonishment and shock:

"In just half a day, the refueling ...... of the capital ship was completed"

Monroe's expression became even more serious:

"The draft of the two battleships deepened from light to full load.

"Depending on the change in the depth of the waterline, the two battleships were refueled with at least five thousand tons of fuel."

Jefferson looked at the battleship in the distance and muttered:

"In half a day, they filled at least 5,000 tons of fuel......

"5,000 tons of heavy oil...... In calorific terms, it is equivalent to at least 8,000 tons of coal.

"Eight thousand tons of coal is enough for a capital ship to complete a round-the-world voyage at a speed of ten knots!"

Monroe sighed softly, then nodded earnestly:

"That's true, and the fuel is flowing, there's no voids inside.

"8,000 tonnes of coal will take up more space than 8,000 tonnes of fuel.

"With the same large tank, the amount of heat that can be obtained by the fuel tank can be more than twice that of coal.

"That is, the theoretical endurance of a fuel warship. Probably more than twice as many as coal-fired warships of the same tonnage. ”

Grenville looked at the two U.S. officials:

"In other words, even if we build a capital ship with the same displacement of 40,000 tons, it is impossible to leave a cabin capable of carrying 8,000 tons of coal, which will make the weight distribution of the battleship completely out of control......

"Our warships must also switch to full fuel power, don't toss mixed fuel, we must make up our minds!"

At this, Grenville smacked the railing on the side of the ship hard.

When Monroe heard this, he sent out a soul torture:

"Daming has four major oil-producing areas: Nanyang, Dashiguo, Baku, and Oil Lake, and we have no ...... in the United Kingdom and the United States."

Grenville was stunned for a few seconds, then hammered the railing again.

On the other side, Talleyrand and Charles were also looking at the battleship that had restarted, observing with a different state of mind.

Talleyrand said to Charles with admiration and emotion:

"Fuel is not only easy to refill, but also stores more energy.

"The key is that when it is transported in the boiler, it is much more convenient than coal.

"There is no need to shovel coal manually, and the speed of fuel delivery will no longer affect the continuity of the boiler's work.

"The efficiency of fuel filling is much higher than that of coal, and the high can affect the progress of the war!

"Daming's new warship was replaced with full fuel power, obviously taking these situations into account."

Charles thought for a moment and said:

"So our new warships in the future will all use pure fuel power."

Talleyrand said with some concern:

"The advantage of pure fuel power is huge, but we don't have our own oil field."

Charles rightly said:

"You can buy it from Daming! As my dear friend said, Baku and the Great Food Country produce enough oil to supply the whole of Taisi.

"It is even possible to cooperate with the Great Food Country to build oil pipelines from the oil-producing areas of the Great Food Country to the coast of the Great Qin Sea.

"Then we don't even have to go through the West Sea Canal, we can directly get the oil supply from the big food country."

Talleyrand was very worried and said:

"Big Food Nation is indeed able to supply our fuel needs, but ......

"If all the French warships switch to fuel power, and at the same time our fuel comes from the Ming Dynasty.

"Once the Ming cut off the fuel supply, our fleet will be completely paralyzed......

"Even if you reserve fuel in peacetime, it is difficult to support a long war."

Charles asked rhetorically, obviously with some surprise:

"If France is not fighting with the Ming Dynasty, why would the Ming cut off our fuel supply?

"Does Your Excellency Talleyrand still think that we are still capable of being the enemy of the Ming Dynasty? Do you still want to be the enemy of the Ming Dynasty?

"Our relationship with Daming can only be a closer and closer partner, and there is no other possibility.

"We're not going to ...... The key is that you can't be the enemy of the Ming Dynasty. ”

(End of chapter)