In November 1871, Xiao Letian took the Zhiyuan and nine captured French warships to form a combined fleet and returned from Britain to Asia.
Prussia repaired more than just the Zhiyuan for Xiao Letian. In the Battle of East Frisia, the Zhiyuan sank a total of three ironclads, severely damaged and captured four cruisers, while a small part of the remaining French fleet fled. , were captured by the Prussian navy.
These captured warships will never be returned to France. Some of them were towed to Wilhelmshaven with the Zhiyuan, and some were towed to the Hamburg Shipyard to start repairs and transformations.
In order to express its admiration for the Chinese navy, the German side gave Xiang Ying the greatest priority in the allocation of captured warships.
You Chinese will pick these battleships first, and the rest will belong to Germany!
After joint investigation and research by naval officers and engineers... When Xiang Ying was not with Xiao Letian, he spent most of his time between Port Wilhelm and the Hamburg Shipyard.
From these French battleships of mixed models, Xiang Ying selected nine battleships, one of which was a battleship, and the rest were fast cruisers!
It's not that Xiang Ying showed high style, but those French battleships were really useless. They were completely different from the Zhiyuan's ideas from the beginning of their design, and they couldn't be modified later.
A large number of French battleships are still in the style of sailing battleships, with small-caliber and large numbers of naval guns arranged on the left and right sides. The design of the entire battleship from the keel is developed according to the most outdated ideas.
The Chinese don't want such obsolete battleships. Only one has the possibility of transformation and upgrading, so Xiang Ying stayed.
But the cruiser is a good thing. Although this thing has design problems, it is fast enough and can become the best firefighting team at the critical moment when the Chinese control East Asia in the early days.
Anyway, Xiao Letian is not prepared to go to war with Western powers within thirty to fifty years, especially a naval war, so the important task of the early Chinese navy is to control Asia.
Do those backward peoples in Asia need the advanced Zhiyuan series of battleships to deal with them? There is no need at all. In the eyes of the uninformed Asian people, these French-made armored cruisers are already the magical weapons of the Dragon King.
Killing a chicken is not easy, so cruisers are the best!
Nine warships escorted the Zhiyuan as it began its return voyage from the Mediterranean to Asia, accompanied by 24 steam freighters purchased by the Chinese, which could temporarily serve as supply ships.
After arriving in Asia, some of these cargo ships will be used by the navy, and some can be auctioned to private shipping companies. This is a sure-profit business.
Thirty-four cash steam-powered ships formed a huge returning fleet, and there were also several treasure ships following. Such a scale was certainly nothing in front of Britain and France.
But in the eyes of other European countries, it is already a very powerful military force!
The fleet sailed to the Strait of Gibraltar. The Portuguese and Spanish navies looked in horror at this modern army showing off its power. Then they looked at their own hybrid warships with sails hanging on them. They all lowered their heads in shame.
All the coastal defense batteries on the Spanish coastline actually received the king's order and were all wrapped in gun jackets to show respect for the Chinese fleet.
Xiao Letian smiled. He grabbed Yi Wang's wrist and shouted excitedly, "Did you see it? My old brother, did you see it? This is the glory of victory in a foreign war!"
"Men from China have to fight foreign wars! Go toe-to-toe with the world's powerful countries. Only in this way can we gain the respect of others!"
"I took away their Philippines. They didn't even dare to point their cannons at us. This is the dignity earned by the victor!"
"Don't think that Europe is really the center of the world. I have been here before. I have seen clearly their reality and reality. I know how many contradictions there are within them!"
"Not only do we need to use barbarians to control barbarians, but these barbarian and Di countries are actually full of internal rifts. Conflicts between capitalists and poor workers, conflicts between different parties, conflicts between emperors and emerging forces..."
"Development is extremely unbalanced between countries. Many countries in Central and Eastern Europe are simply not as powerful as we are!"
"How many loopholes? There are thousands of loopholes waiting for us to find... Our Chinese race is destined to rise in this era, as long as we are willing to open our eyes and take a look, it will be fine!"
Xiao Letian burst into tears of excitement, and even King Yi was moved to tears.
"Before I came to Europe, I thought this country was so powerful that it was invincible. That country that could build strong ships and cannons that could span thousands of miles of sea was almost invincible in my subconscious mind!"
"But when I came to Europe and lived here all year round, I saw with my own eyes the real living conditions of all walks of life here, and then I realized that this place is also a mess!"
“It wasn’t until I saw it with my own eyes that I realized how many opportunities we missed!”
"Not only the Kingdom of Heaven, but also the Manchu Qing Dynasty are a group of blind people who are unwilling to open their eyes to see the world. Failure is inevitable!"
Xiao Letian held King Yi's hand, "That's right, my old brother, it's not that difficult for China to catch up in this era, as long as you are willing to open your eyes and see the world!"
"The Iron Curtain in Europe has not fallen yet, and we can still catch up with the technological gap! Europeans are not a chess game, they have too many internal conflicts!"
"We can definitely get the new technologies blocked by Britain and France through the curves of Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and other countries!"
"As long as we do good diplomacy, the United States and Germany can always satisfy us about the industrial products that the British are unwilling to sell!"
"They can't even lock in talent! Do you know how poor Eastern and Central Europe are? How much the smart people and scientists there long for a place to show their skills?"
"As long as we open our eyes to see the world, and as long as we are willing to take the initiative to go abroad, there will be countless opportunities!"
Listening to Xiao Letian's excited words, Wang Ju behind him smiled, "Yes, as long as we are willing to spend money and work hard, these Europeans can still work hard for us!"
"Look at the Paris Commune. These people at the bottom who have no support for life want to improve their class! This is a huge volcano, it depends on how you use it!"
"These Europeans, in order to fight the civil war and survive, can sell national treasures. The hundreds of thousands of academic collections in the French Library are sold to us!"
"What a wonderful internal contradiction. As long as we can make good use of it, are we still afraid of Europe?"
At this time, King Yi said with a serious face, "We can take advantage of the internal contradictions of the Europeans, but won't the Europeans take advantage of the internal contradictions of China?"
"Look inside the Qing court, between the Manchus and Han, between the ocean and the continent, between Confucianism and Western learning...how many contradictions can be exploited, how can the enemy let them go?"
"Hahaha... Then let's hurt each other! This is a world where we hurt each other, it just depends on who can survive to the end! I firmly believe that the one who laughs in the end must be us Chinese!"
Note: That... that... that today is the 27th. Can I get another wave of recommendation votes?
It seems that the goal of five thousand is difficult to achieve.
Why……
