On Christmas Day in December 1774, Paiknan led a fleet of migratory birds from the port of Long Beach in Los Angeles to the home of this plane. He was followed by the large passenger ship Ocean Light with a displacement of 11,800 tons, the freighter Fubang Fugui with a displacement of 6,000 tons, the freighter Jiangqi Jiangli with a displacement of 3,000 tons, and the frigate Yu Dayou and Mao Wenlong belonging to the Datang Navy (many book friends are dissatisfied with Yuan Chonghuan, so change Mao Wenlong, in fact, the principle of naming the frigate in this book is a famous general of a dynasty, and Qi Jiguang class is the ship class of all Ming Dynasty generals).

This fleet is the first to start, and at the same time there is a "pirate fleet" led by Yang Zhen, the scale of this pirate fleet is not very large, only 500 people, but there are as many as 10 warships, basically maneuvering these galleons is already the limit, fortunately, these galleons are Chinese-style hard sails, the operation is relatively simple, and this fleet does not intend to carry out any battles, if the Western-style full sail is loaded, these people are simply not enough to control as many as ten ships. Yang Zhen, a "eunuch of the new era" who has studied Western history, feels that it is too ugly to call a pirate, and calls his fleet a privateer fleet, in short, it is an order to rob.

In this privateer fleet, the largest are four 2,000-material galleons, with a displacement of more than 1,000 tons, which are the core combat force of the fleet, and they also carry many firearms of the Ming Dynasty, such as iron artillery, smoke balls, thistles, iron-billed fire harriers, and the like. Of course, the most powerful thing is that there are a few grenadiers prepared on it, although the power of the grenadiers in naval battles is a joke, but considering that the main opponents of these pirate ships are armed merchant ships, as well as weak Qing Dynasty naval ships, not the powerful warships of European powers, it is enough. The purpose of the grenadier is not to sink enemy ships, but to kill and injure the enemy's living forces and deter the enemy. In addition to the four 2000 large ships, there are 2 1500 ships and 4 1000 ships.

Since none of these pirate ships were modified to be steam-powered, their speeds could only average around 7 knots, while the main fleet of the Migratory Bird program had a speed of 14 knots, which was twice as fast as the pirate fleet. However, this setup is also advantageous, the main fleet can serve as a forward station for the pirate fleet, and establish a series of landing and supply points, and arriving early in the Qing country can also open up a forward base for the pirate fleet.

Bai Nan was not on the Yu Dayou, this time he was on the civilian passenger ship Ocean Light, this 10,000-ton large passenger ship is a mid-grade cruise ship made in the United States before World War II, the environment and conditions are good, and the most important thing is that the space is large enough, Bai Nan placed his stronghold here. Relatively speaking, the foundation is still the corvette of the Ming Dynasty sailing ship, and it is not so comfortable. On board the Light of the Seas, Bai Nam can even enjoy a daily shower. Originally, there were also billiards, chess rooms, and bars on the ship, but in order to enhance the ability to transport migrants, some changes were made and it was cancelled.

In addition to the crew, there are also some operators of the Migratory Bird Program, with dozens of people, mainly economic talents, and some people with strong work ability, all of whom have been selected by Bai Nan. In addition, there is a marine company specially transferred from the navy by Bai Nam, and this company is also the only marine unit in the navy.

The decoration is an elegant captain's room, Bai Nan made a pot of coffee, the sailing time is long and boring, everyone needs to find all kinds of things to pass the time, there are still two people in his captain's room, Lin Youde, the deputy manager of the International Trade Company, and Chang Bin, who was transferred to the Marine Corps as a company commander.

"Lieutenant Colonel Bai, did you deliberately set up a route through the Hawaiian Islands in the hope of establishing a supply point for us on the island?" Lin Youde enjoyed a cup of coffee and asked.

Bai Nan put down the coffee cup, sat down at the back of the table, and said: "Hawaii is in the center of the Pacific Ocean, I don't need to say what the strategic position is, everyone knows what the strategic position is, now it is still ruled by a group of tribes, there are fights with each other, I know that it will be a few years before the British navigator James Cook arrives here to complete the actual geographical discovery of Hawaii." In 1810, after years of bloody wars, Hawaii was unified and the Kingdom of Hawaii was established, and the British and Spanish began to bring various crops to the area, such as coffee and pineapples. Hawaii is an excellent kingdom for growing tropical crops, and in another dimension, such a small plot of land produces 10 percent of the raw sugar in the United States. In our Tang Republic, there is no real hot land, and we need to obtain many raw materials from tropical plantations, such as rubber, spices, sugar, tropical fruits, and so on. ”

Chang Bin smiled evilly, took a sip of coffee like a big cup of tea, and said, "So Lieutenant Colonel Bai is planning to occupy Hawaii and turn this place into our tropical plantation and resort?" ”

Bai Nan said indifferently: "You can say that I have a strong coveting heart for Hawaii, but I don't think the occupation has yet reached this point. ”

Lin Youde said: "I want to follow the example of the French and build a trading post in Hawaii, through which we can influence the agricultural production of the local people, and even affect the trade between tribes, and at the same time, we also have our own sphere of influence here, and prepare for potential colonization in the future, so that we don't need to spend too much manpower and material resources, less input and more output." ”

Chang Bin said: "If you want me to say, the strategic location of Hawaii is too important, since our route with the west coast of the Pacific Ocean will become the lifeblood route, it is very valuable to build a transit supply point in Hawaii." In the future, our strength will be stronger, and we will directly establish a naval base at Pearl Harbor and compete for dominance in the Pacific Ocean, ahahahaha. ”

Bai Nan smiled a little and said, "No, Chang Bin, you still have such a secondary temperament." ”

Chang Bin touched his nose and said, "Isn't what I said right?" ”

Bai Nan shook his head: "No, what you said is all right. Although the main purpose of the Migratory Bird Program is to open up transpacific trade and bring Chinese immigrants to Datang, even we can use this opportunity to learn about the situation in Hawaii. ”

Lin Youde slapped his ass without a trace, and said, "Killing two birds with one stone, it really has the style of Lieutenant Colonel Bai." ”

The fleet sailing in the endless waves makes people feel extraordinarily small, and the people who sail away are always lonely, raising their eyes is endless blue, bowing their heads is also endless sea blue, and the monotonous colors sometimes make people a little desperate. After many days of sailing, the fleet arrived at the Hawaiian Islands without incident.

"Lieutenant Colonel Bai, are we landing on that island, Hawaii Island?"

Bai Nan shook his head and said: "Although Hawaii Island is the largest in the Hawaiian Islands, the real essence of Hawaii Island should be on Oahu, and the future capital Honolulu (Honolulu) and Pearl Harbor are on this island, and we landed on Oahu!" ”

"Yes!"

Thanks to the fact that Pearl Harbor and Honolulu Harbor on Oahu are some of the best harbors in the Pacific Islands, the water depth here can reach 12 meters, and even now there are no harbor terminals, such as the 10,000-ton passenger ship Ocean Light, which has a draft of about 8 meters, and can be moored in Pearl Harbor without any obstacles. This is not to mention the berthing of other ships of smaller tonnage.

Chang Bin and several marines landed on Oahu Island on a sampan, and on the shore Chang Bin pinched his waist to bring the pleasant tropical wind scene, as well as the wide deep harbor, and sighed: "Sure enough, it is a first-class good port, Pearl Harbor is in hand, and most of the Pacific Ocean is what our Tang Republic said, and now those Spaniards still dare to be disrespectful to us, we will deploy one or two ships here, and any Spanish ship passing through the north-south equatorial route, we will sink him." ”

A Marine said to Chang Bin: "Company commander, Lieutenant Colonel Bai told us to communicate with the natives on the island, where can we go to find those natives." ”

Chang Bin smiled softly, pointed to the coconut grove not far away, and said, "Do you think we are here, no one?" The figure over there, your company commander, I have long been there. ”

The young soldier was astonished: "Why didn't I see it. ”

Chang Bin flicked this little soldier's brain, and said: "So you still have to practice your skills in jungle warfare, our marines must adapt to all kinds of near-shore land operations, especially jungle warfare, mountain warfare, and landing warfare, all of them must be proficient, although there are few marines, but each must be elite!" ”

The soldier said, "The company commander taught you a lesson, but are we just waiting here for those natives to contact us?" ”

Chang Bin laughed and said, "Of course not, can you still come to a tropical island for nothing?" Yes, there is a coconut grove over there, let me pick some coconuts down, the voyage is such an unpleasant, we have a refrigerator on the ship, but we don't dare to put many fruits, some leaves, I am hungry. ”

Not to mention Chang Bin's lack of business, his eyes are still excellent. Before Chang Bin landed, there was already the arrival of the Hawaiian fleet operating on the shore, and the huge ships like mountains were beyond the understanding of these tropical people whose living conditions were still relatively primitive, so the Hawaiians flew to the scene where the annual harvest sacrifice ceremony was held.

"You guys, didn't I ask you to collect the fruits that are sacrificed to the god of Nonglu? Why did you run back empty-handed, do you know that if you let the wizard, this is a serious blasphemy, and you will be killed directly. The chief was quite reasonable, pulling a few people aside to speak.

The young native Hawaiian didn't care about anything else, and hurriedly said, "Chief, it's a big thing, it's a great thing for us." Out of the sea suddenly appeared a huge palace, and from above came down a strange group of people, now gathering on the beach. ”