The first month of the forty-first year of Chengtian, February 1815 in the Western calendar.

It's winter in the Northern Hemisphere and summer in the Southern Hemisphere, and it's the hottest time of the year in the Drake Passage.

As a strait discovered by Europeans 300 years ago, the Drake Passage, located at the top of the South American continent, has always been one of the two important waterways along the east and west coasts of the Americas, the other being the Strait of Magellan.

The Drake Strait is very wide, compared with the twists and turns of the Strait of Magellan, the width of the Drake Strait is close to 2,000 miles, and it can no longer be simply generalized as a strait. It is the widest 'sea' gorge in the world!

But westerly winds prevail in this place, especially in the northern half, and wind and waves more than ten meters high are commonplace. If you are close to the south, you will frequently encounter large icebergs because of the near polar regions. Floating icebergs can occur in the Drake Passage at any time of the year, and due to the influence of polar cyclones, the strait often has strong winds and waves, often up to 10-20 meters high. These have brought huge problems to general navigation.

The western part of the Strait of Magellan also has strong winds and waves, but in contrast, the Drake Strait can be described as 'rough and rough'.

The Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean meet here, and under the influence of the polar wind belt at the high latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere, storms dominate the Drake Passage. The strait seems to be home to all the hurricanes and waves of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, with winds of magnitude 8 or higher, 365 days a year. Even a first-class sail battleship was trembling like a leaf on the rough sea.

This perennial strait has been the site of countless ships capsizing over the past 300 years. In the maritime history of Westerners, the Drake Passage has been called the "Murderous Westerly Belt", "Storm Corridor", and "Devil's Passage", and is a veritable "Death Corridor".

Although the coastline of that place is tortuous, the headlands and islands are dense, and the wind in the gorge is mostly foggy, and it is also a world-famous strait with fierce winds and waves, and the tide is high and rapid, and there are many whirlpools against the current, and there are ice floes on the sea from time to time, which is not conducive to navigation. Compare this to the Drake Passage, where there are harbors where large ships can be moored and used as a place for the fleet to rest and replenish, while there is not even a ghost of a small island in the Drake Passage. The Strait of Magellan is naturally the first choice of the Chinese fleet.

But in order to confuse the Europeans, Chen Han still sent a small detachment through the Drake Passage, set off first, guerrilla on the east coast of the Americas, and attracted the attention of the Europeans.

Chen Han organized an expedition to the Americas for the Grand Fleet, which had already been known to the Europeans, and according to the information sent by the intelligence organs, the European countries had gathered quite a lot of warships to gather in Argentine waters, the purpose of which was to strictly guard against the attack of the Chinese fleet.

There is no doubt about the danger of the Strait of Magellan and the Drake Strait, as long as they block the onslaught of the Chinese fleet at the exit of the strait, then the winner of this battle must belong to them. The harsh natural environment in the strait is like a snowstorm in Russia, which greatly weakens the enemy's combat effectiveness and threatens the enemy's supply lines one step ahead of them.

If the Chinese naval fleet wants to win, the most important thing for them is to go to the Chinese-controlled areas in the Americas, repair the ships under the protection of strong batteries, recover physical strength, replenish material and munitions, and after they are completely recovered, they will put on a posture and fight with the Europeans.

Although there are only Spain and Portugal in the European fleet on the surface, in fact, Britain, France, Sweden, the three major European navies, as well as the Netherlands and Denmark, the two major shipping powers, plus the Baltic Fleet in Italy and Russia, can be said to have gathered the essence of European navies.

The news from the intelligence department, the only thing that made Chen Ming feel relieved was that Nelson was still firmly in the UK.

The naval battle of this fleet is more dangerous and risky than the land battle, and once it fails, it is easy to run on land, but it is impossible to run on the sea. Especially in the harsh environment of the Strait of Magellan.

The person who led the detachment in the Drake Passage was none other than Admiral Cai Lian of the American Fleet, and his team had a total of seven warships, including four sail warships and three sail hybrid warships, the latter of which had removed the large wheels of the hull and had a significant increase in actual combat effectiveness. It's just that in the current small fleet, these three sailing ships still play the role of transport ships.

These sailboats could be changed from paddle wheels to propellers in a short time, but the entire structure of the hull could not be changed, and these sailboats were built to be used as transport ships.

The night sky was full of stars, and the waves crashed against the hard hull, making a "bang" sound from time to time. The moon hung high, the sea surface sparkled, and the moonlight reflected on the sea surface was cut into pieces by the waves, reflecting the stars in the sky.

Although the waves on the sea were not small, the ship was steady, and the slender hull was like a fish in the moonlight, ready to sink at any moment.

This is the Huzhou sail transport ship of the detachment, which originally belonged to the American Fleet, and half of Chen Han's sail transport ships were allocated to the American Fleet, and even the general logistics sailing ships were not as many as those under the jurisdiction of the American Fleet. The Huzhou is a meritorious ship that has crossed the Drake Strait twice. This will be the third time entering the Drake Passage.

Now, a sergeant officer was standing on the foredeck of the sailboat, directing several sailors to drain the water from the bow turret chamber. At dusk, a sudden strong wind rose in the strait, and the waves crashed against the hull of the ship, and although it did not cause much damage, there was a lot of water in the bow battery room.

And when it's dark, you have to set up a searchlight, otherwise the ship will hit an iceberg in the dark, and it will be fun.

Even if several ships are equipped with ramming angles in the bow and 'thimbles', and they really collide with the big iceberg, it will be the same end.

They are now sailing on the south side of the strait, and the wind and waves are a little smaller than in the north, but there are more icebergs, and this place is closer to the South Pole. A group of soaking officers and men set up searchlights on the wet bridge, which was not the night training of the past, but a real actual battle.

This naval officer's name is Li Tingyu, a native of Xiamen, Fujian, and his name is Runtang, and he is the stepson of Li Changgeng, who is a rising general in the naval division at the same time as Cai Lian, but he is ten years older than Cai Lian. Therefore, Cai Lian can still go into battle in person now, and Li Changgeng can only join the army in the Grand Fleet.

Li Tingyu's military rank is sergeant, although he is only twenty-three years old, but his naval qualifications are not low. At the age of sixteen, he was admitted to the Qingdao Naval Command Academy, which was the leader of the Chen Han Naval Academy.

The naval generals under Chen Ming also have the phenomenon of grouping, and they also have large and small hills. And in summary, the southerners are the majority, just like the generals in the cavalry units are the northerners who have an absolute advantage.

Chen Ming's approach was to establish a series of army command academies in the south and at the same time establish a first-class naval command academy in the country. Li Tingyu was 'manufactured' in this way, serving on a training ship at the age of eighteen, serving as the most basic sailor, wiping the ship's plank, climbing the mast, entering the steamship internship after half a year, and then returning to the Naval Command College for half a year, focusing on sailing tactics.

This is his first year of official enlistment, and this is the big battle. If the performance is good, soon, in a few years, there will be a rising star in the new generation of steam fleet of the Chen Han National Defense Force.

The period of change of the times is the best moment for talents to emerge, and the speed and cruelty of replacing the old and the new are not inferior to that of war.

From the old-fashioned Oriental hard sail to the Western-style sail warship, Chen Han Sailor has already undergone a transformation before. Now that the transition from the sail warship to the steam age is underway, it is natural that there will be a large number of old-school characters among the sailors who will 'abdicate' to make way for the virtuous.

At present, Li Tingyu's position on this Huzhou sailing ship is a communications officer, and he is also responsible for the searchlight at night, as well as the signal light for communicating with other ships in the fleet at night, the flag during the day, and so on. Responsibilities are not unimportant.

Soon, the sailors set up a searchlight and a large sealed frame, and Li Tingyu quickly returned to the command cabin of the sailing ship to receive the next instruction from the pipe belt.

"Get in touch with the rear flagship, inform them of the current location of our ship, and tell them that the sea route is safe."

"Yes!"

The order of the pipe belt was given, and Li Tingyu turned around and left. On the vast sea, the seven warships opened a huge distance between each other, and the entire team stretched for more than ten miles, forming a long line. The Huzhou is the vanguard, and the flagship Liu Yu is located in the center of the entire queue, and there are two ships between it and Huzhou. The messages sent by the Huzhou had to be delivered to Liu Yu ship by boat, and this process was very time-consuming.

Therefore, Chen Han's important ministers are now looking forward to the invention of the telegraph, because the old means of communication have made them unbearable.

This slow communication was too slow and too slow compared to the expansion of the Chen and Han empires.

Although this is also the biggest reason why Chen Ming is feudal America, instead of taking the entire America into his pocket.

Receiving the signal feedback from Liu Yu, it took more than half an hour, and this is still peacetime. Li Tingyu glanced at the time, and the hour hand had just reached eight o'clock.

A long night has just begun.

……

In Nanjing, Chen Ming held the latest information sent back by the European Affairs Office, and his eyes flashed with a cold light. Britain and France have merged, what a joke.

By the time Chen Han marched into South Africa, Napoleon's role had practically ceased to exist. Even if there was no war in 1812, Chen Han would have won the war against Russia alone. But Chen Ming still hoped that Napoleon could bury a big hidden danger for Europe, but although Napoleon survived the catastrophe of 1814, the changes in Europe took a completely different path.

However, ......, this was no more drastic than the consequences of Napoleon's exile. Although Britain and France tried to cooperate, didn't they also keep one hand on each side to guard against each other?

The British joined forces with Prussia, Sweden and other countries to vigorously aid Spain, Portugal and Russia, according to the proportion of investment, the Russian battlefield is the center of their investment, these countries have invested a lot of money and arms in Russia and a considerable number of elite generals, that battlefield really gathered the military essence of the European region. In South America, these countries have sent some volunteers to Argentina and Brazil while supporting some arms and supplies.

At the same time, the French, Napoleon, and Russia, Spain, and Portugal all had fierce contradictions that would not be settled in the short term. But the relations between all Napoleon's France and the lighthouse state were wonderful.

Because of the existence of China, although the United States and France have some petty filth, they have definitely not developed to the extent that they clamored for France's North American colonies to do so in the original time and space. Not to mention that even in the original time and space without China, after France and the United States reached the Louisiana land purchase case, the Americans quickly reconciled with France again.

The Second Anglo-American War, although there were reasons for this, that, and that. However, the United States used its status as a neutral country to constantly transport various materials to France, so that American merchant ships of all sizes were captured by the British, which is also the most irreconcilable contradiction between the two sides.

Now the only supporters of the Lighthouse State have become Napoleon's French Empire. According to the European Office, in the second half of last year, at least 50,000 French troops were sent to the lighthouse country, along with large quantities of arms and supplies, and these are likely to be just the beginning.

The British and Prussians used more than 100,000 'volunteers' on the Russian battlefield, and Napoleon, according to the agreement with the British, also sent a considerable part of the French army to the United States.

Compared to the vast and inhospitable Brazil and Argentina, the United States is not only smaller, but also quite wealthy.

The strategy of the Americas is generally that the north is strong and the south is weak, and the south is constantly using space in exchange for time, losing and retreating while resisting one after another. However, the battlefield in North America needs to be desperately guarded by 'every inch of mountains and rivers and every inch of blood'.

If the lighthouse country is completely destroyed by China, the British in Canada will not pose a threat to the Chinese at all. In that case, the Chinese will be able to spend a lot of energy and strength in South America. Moreover, after the Chinese have a large part of the American coastline, they can also deploy warships on the east coast of the Americas in large quantities, which is a huge threat to the European mainland.

You must know that up to now, the elite coastline of North America is still nested in the hands of the United States and the British, Chen Han has seized the Gulf of Mexico and the northern part of South America, but the local shipbuilding facilities have been completely destroyed, and the foundation of these territories themselves is poor, and there are still agreements between China and Spain, the United States, etc., which limit the development of the shipbuilding industry on the east coast of Central America. Therefore, up to now, Chen Han can only make merchant ships of a few hundred tons in the eastern part of the Americas, and they are all sails.

And if the lighthouse country is completely devoured, China will have no restrictions in the Americas.