Fox of France

It will take some time to prepare for the military exercise, but isn't the "Free Trade" just idle now? Anyway, being idle is idle, why not let her go to a target country for a friendly visit first. So Napoleon gave an order, and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs began to contact the United Kingdom, proposing that in order to enhance mutual understanding between the two countries and deepen the friendship and mutual trust between the two sides, the navies of both sides would each send a warship to the other side for a friendly visit. The French also stated that they would send the "Free Trade" to the UK as an "ambassador of friendship". At that time, the friendly British people can board the "Free Trade" and learn about the details of the French warship under the guidance of relevant personnel. Some lucky viewers will even have the opportunity to simulate the operation of some equipment in person.

When Prime Minister Addington learned of the French proposal from the Foreign Office, he was very surprised. He immediately called the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of Foreign Affairs to discuss it together. It was agreed that the French had come to demonstrate.

"Then we don't allow them to come?" Prime Minister Addington asked.

"How can that be done? It will make us look timid." The Secretary of the Navy immediately expressed his objection, "And they are coming with the 'Free Trade'. We really hope to get a closer look at this ship."

"Is there anything special about this boat?" asked the Prime Minister.

"This is a steam frigate. Although it is called a frigate, it is a large ship the size of a second-class battleship. It is only equipped with relatively few artillery pieces. Not long ago, this ship had two battles with the US Navy in the Caribbean They captured, sunk, and severely damaged one of the American warships, which almost caused the Americans to lose half of their navy at once."

"Hahaha, those rebels, their entire navy only has 6 warships." Prime Minister Addington smiled gloatingly. But he found that the Secretary of the Navy didn't mean to laugh, so he asked, "Why, shouldn't it be normal for a second-tier battleship—even though they call him a frigate—to kill three frigates?"

"Your Excellency, it's like this. The three American frigates are also warships close to the size of second-class battleships. In a sense, they are the same as the French's 'Free Trade'. They all sacrificed to increase their speed. Special warships with a certain amount of firepower. This type of warship is not used for battles on the battle line, but for attack routes. Those who beat them can't beat them.

And according to our observation of the second battle between the "Free Trade" and the Americans, none of our warships can outrun the "Free Trade", and the "Free Trade" can sail all the way to the Caribbean. Force is also very good. "

"Isn't the propeller steamship we developed recently not comparable to it?"

"I'm afraid it is, Your Excellency Prime Minister. When our propellers rotate at high speeds, the efficiency drops sharply and the phenomenon of violent vibrations has not been completely resolved. So, at least for now, our ships have not yet reached the 'free trade No.' that speed.

In addition, according to our people's description of the second battle of the "Free Trade", apart from the speed, there are two things that surprised us about the "Free Trade", one is the firepower of the "Free Trade". The 'Free Trade' doesn't have many cannons, only nine on each side. But in actual combat, we observed that the number of shells fired by this ship per unit time was almost no less than that of a third-tier battleship. You know if a boat can go 15 knots, and that's 15 knots independent of the wind, and still have that kind of firepower - that's just horrible. If the content of the report is true, then the entire navy, including the "Victory", currently has no warship that can beat the "Free Trade" in battle. "

"Not even 'Victory'?"

"Yes, Prime Minister. Because of the advantage in speed, they can easily grab the T position. This makes the 'Victory''s firepower advantage not really playable."

"Ah, I get the general idea. The first surprising thing you said about that ship just now was the rate of fire of its cannons? What's the other one?"

"It's its defense. Our people observed that the two sides fired at each other at a very close range, but the American cannons never penetrated the ship's planks of the 'Free Trade'. All the shells were on the 'Free Trade'. 'The board of the ship hit and flew. Later, according to the information we learned from the Americans, they even suspected that the 'Free Trade' was a real iron-hulled ship."

"So you want to take this opportunity to take a look on that boat?"

"Yes, Prime Minister."

"Well, then I have no objection. In short, we can't show weakness to the French, right? It's just that when the time comes, which ship shall we send to visit France?"

Although the issue of which ship to send in the end needs to be carefully considered, since the French dared to show their most advanced warships to the British, could the British still be too timid to even look at it? ? What's more, those French media have already started to create momentum for this matter.

"Scientific Pravda (English version)" first disclosed this news, and the reporting style was naturally "Scientific Pravda"'s consistent style of the shorter the news, the bigger the matter, and only used two lines of text on the front page to report the news : "The steam-powered cruiser 'Free Trade' of the French Navy will visit London on May 10. The general public can visit the ship."

This news is placed on the front page, but there are no other explanatory texts, which is easy to attract readers' attention. Of course, if only this is not enough. Then "London Businessman" published an article, saying that the visit of "Free Trade" is a sign of the continuous improvement of strategic mutual trust between Britain and France. Not easy peace and friendship.

However, at this time, the important British newspapers generally did not join in. At best, they reprinted the relevant news and did not comment further on it. On the contrary, some tabloids have made some reports on this matter, but the basic content can be summed up in one word, that is: the Royal Navy has abundant military virtues, and the French Navy is unbearable.

The reports of these British tabloids seemed to make the French unhappy, so "The Sun (English version)" gave a comprehensive introduction to this epoch-making French warship. Including its power, including its various astonishing performances... Basically, although the "Sun" didn't say it explicitly, everyone can see its subtext: "This ship can beat the Royal Navy in a one-on-one any of the warships."

Of course, the "exaggerated" report on "The Sun (English version)" made many British people feel very angry. As a result, many British tabloids began to fight back, laughing at the unreliable bragging on the "Sun" (English version), which adopted a revolutionary technology that increased the rate of fire of the artillery to four or five times the original rate. The "Free Trade" with only nine guns on each side has the firepower no less than that of a battleship.

As for increasing the rate of fire of the artillery by four or five times, considering that the original rate of fire of the cannons of the French Navy is more than half slower than that of the British, and their cannons are inherently small, what 110mm caliber is converted into a more common pound , is about 12 pounds. The 12-pound gun is also embarrassing to install on a battleship. Look at our British warships. What kind of cannons are those?

But in general, although it is a bit noisy, the sound is not too high. At least, those larger and more influential media did not join in, because although some of them have their own special news channels, know some situations, and don't want to jump out at this time, wait until a few days later, they will Slapped in the face by reality. Generally speaking, people in this era are relatively simple. Although people also lie, cheat, and steal, at least they are not ashamed to call it the glory of continuous improvement in public. Not to mention the joke that the day before yesterday when I said that no one would die, then in a blink of an eye it would turn out that if fewer than 100,000 people die, it means I am too capable.

Of course, in the final analysis, this is not because people in this era are more moral. It is because the poor in this era still lack education. Education has two functions, one is to make people understand things; the other is to make people more stupid than uneducated people. In terms of the second purpose, the education of this era is too different from that of later generations, so it is impossible to build a beautiful new world in this era.

As for the big newspapers, which had not been obtained through special channels, they were silent, because they felt it would be disrespectful to quarrel with the tabloids, and, moreover, it was not in keeping with United Kingdom decency.

The British are still very confident about their navy, and one of the manifestations of self-confidence is that they don't care much about other people's criticisms, and they are not shy about praising their advantages. Anyway, your so-called strengths and progress, in his view, means that the elementary school students got full marks in the exam. Well, little friend is really smart, awesome, come on, uncle will give you a lollipop.

But if he suddenly found out that he didn't get a full score in the elementary school exam, but got a full score in a higher school than him, at this time, his mood might be different. It’s like Chitu Country’s gap with Lighthouse Country was still big, and when the national GDP was less than half of California’s, Lighthouse Country’s evaluation of Chitu Country was much better; wait until Chitu Country’s GDP is closer to Lighthouse Country Then, the situation will be completely different, and the giant panda will immediately become a dragon.

On May 10, the "Free Trade" docked at the pier in the Port of London.