There was a large Chinese character Zhiyuan and a golden dragon. Kevin looked at the drawing and asked about the size. "The brass gilding process takes a week to customize. Is it possible to customize it?"
The real Zhiyuan ship has two golden dragons on its bow. The chosen one is in the shape of two dragons playing with a pearl. There is also the word Zhiyuan under the dragon's claws. The brass is gilded and the sun shines brightly.
"It's too late. We must prepare to leave Europe now. Many things require careful planning. It will take at least half a month before we can set sail."
At this time, there were no recognized soldiers under the twin main guns on the bow of the ship, and all the irrelevant people on the deck were dispersed. Prince Yunkar, Wing King, and the international students, the meeting began to enter the top-secret stage.
Karl glanced at Yi Wang and asked, "I got the route map." Yi Wang nodded, "The encrypted telegram sent yesterday has confirmed the Zhiyuan's return route."
"Children, it's time to tell you the details. As the world's first battleship with a new design concept, the Zhiyuan has always had the highest level of confidentiality. In order to protect this battleship, Prussia even sacrificed the blood and lives of countless spies."
"We all know that the British Royal Navy is the world's most powerful empire on which the sun never sets. It relies on the two-power standard maintained by their powerful navy to ensure that it can simultaneously cope with the joint challenges of the second and third places."
"The ocean is a forbidden area for the British. They will never allow others to get involved. Especially once this heavy weapon that is ahead of its time falls into the eyes of the British, they will definitely capture it at any cost."
"We must admit that the current Ryukyus, including Prussia, have almost zero say in the sea. Facing the British provocation, we have no strength to fight back. So how to transport the Zhiyuan to Asia is a big problem."
"Let's take a look at the map." After King Yi said, Prince Karl opened a roll of world map. "Under normal circumstances, the 300-ton Zhiyuan should take the European coast, pass through the English Channel, the Strait of Gibraltar, enter the Mediterranean, then enter the Indian Ocean from the Suez Canal, and finally go north to India and Southeast Asia. Asia"
"The Zhiyuan is a purely steam-powered warship designed to carry 700 tons of coal. Considering the special characteristics of the cruiser, we increased the coal bunker storage to 1,000 tons. It is far from enough, so it must be replenished at the dock regularly."
"But almost all the ports on this route are colonies of Britain and France. If the Zhiyuan appears in the Baltic Sea, it will be discovered by them. Then it will definitely be chased and intercepted by the British."
"So" King Yi grabbed the topic, "So the Prime Minister specially sent us a message to point out a brand new route. This is a big adventure for the Zhiyuan."
"Look at the map around Northern Europe. There is a big temperature difference in the Baltic Sea. There is often dense fog. We can choose a foggy time to quietly leave the Vulcan Shipyard and secretly enter the Baltic Sea. After bypassing Denmark and entering the North Sea, we don't go south, we go north."
The finger moved on the map and a line appeared in front of people. "By not taking the usual route, we will definitely not let the British guess our plan to move north along Scandinavia and enter the Norwegian Sea until we reach the Faroe Islands." Turn south and follow the axis of the Atlantic Ocean all the way south."
Everyone gasped, "How is this possible? If you take the Reykjanes Ridge between the Faroe Islands and Iceland, you'll be almost to Newfoundland and already in North America."
"No, no, what the prime minister means is that if you don't get close to North America and go south along the ridge, you should go straight to the Azores, right? But that's not possible. This is Portuguese territory. It's impossible without British spies and diplomats. We can't keep it secret." "
"It seems that the Prime Minister means to avoid all the islands and go south along the Atlantic Ridge without stopping at any ports. Then, should we go around the Cape of Good Hope or the Strait of Magellan?"
King Yi pointed at the southernmost tip of South America with his hand, "The Prime Minister asked you to go here to enter the Strait of Magellan and the Pacific Ocean, and then cross the Pacific Ocean to go home."
"Impossible." Kevin jumped up on one side. "Do you think the battleship I designed is a perpetual motion machine? One thousand tons of coal is not enough for you to connect the North and South Atlantic Oceans. Are you crazy?"
"No, we are not crazy." King Yi took out a small ironclad model from the guard's bag and placed it on the map. "The Zhiyuan alone will definitely not be able to complete such an adventure, but we still have backup plans." After saying this, King Yi said again He took out five models of clipper ships from his leather bag.
"How about if I equip the Zhiyuan with five supply ships? Five large American-made clipper ships, each with a carrying capacity of more than 1,700 tons, will five be enough?"
Everyone was stunned by this bold plan. At that time, there was no concept of supply ships. Western navies still relied heavily on port chains for supplies. Because the design concepts of supply ships and warships were different, their speeds were difficult to coordinate. They could only be used as a last resort. We will recruit several civilian ships to assist with supplies.
In addition, the supply requirements for navigation in the era of sailing warships were not too high. The power of the ship in the strong winds at sea could not be loaded with ammunition, food, fresh water and some materials. People had never considered the problem of large coal bunkers.
The concept put forward by King Yi today was really refreshing to everyone present. "Don't look at me. I can't think of such a good way. This is also Prime Minister Xiao's idea."
Kevin's mind is calculating at high speed. He is calculating the distance, the coal consumption, and the crew's food and fresh water consumption. "Isn't it enough? It's not enough to use five clippers to supply an ironclad ship. I admit that this method is indeed very bold, but the journey is It’s just too far away.”
"It should be okay to cross the Atlantic Ocean, but it's impossible to cross the Pacific Ocean. It's definitely not possible."
King Yi smiled and said, "We have not considered crossing the Pacific Ocean directly. As long as our fleet can get here safely, we can get supplies from Chile."
"Ah" everyone turned their attention to that strange little country in South America, "Chile, do we have any special relationship with Chile?"
"Hahaha, not yet, but I think it will matter when your fleet arrives in Chile."
Karl glanced at Yi Wang with great admiration, "The longer you stay in contact with Xiao Letian, the more you will feel the impact. How is his brain growing? I just learned about the conflict between Chile, Peru, and Bolivia, and he has already started to intervene." "
"He really doesn't look like an Asian. I always feel that he understands the world better than us Europeans."
