In January 1794, when the British mission in Macartney had just arrived in London and excitedly reported the results of the trip to King George III, bad news came.

In the name of "maintaining the republic and defending freedom", the Tang Republic declared war on the Union of European Monarchies, that is, the Anti-French Alliance. Datang's diplomats in Prussia, Spain, Austria, Britain, the Netherlands, and Russia were recalled, but Datang also continued to perform normal trade with these countries on the grounds of maintaining its own business reputation, so a country like Russia, which had purchased large sums of weapons and machinery from Datang, could breathe a sigh of relief.

At this time, Datang announced that it would declare war on the anti-French alliance, which was completely without warning, and the previous Datang officials were also very indifferent to the war in Europe.

The news of the declaration of war by the Tang Dynasty seemed to have encouraged the Germans, and the day after the news came, the Germans captured Berlin, and King Frederick of Prussia? Wilhelm II fled to West Prussia in a hurry, and the Brandenburg area was occupied by German troops.

However, such a declaration of war is actually thunder and rain, and the core task of Datang is still to engage in domestic construction, especially when the three transcontinental railways are opened to traffic, the Nicaragua Canal is about to be completed, and the development of the three central and southern states is thriving. Under the circumstance that Datang has always had new land development, infrastructure construction and immigration, the development of Datang's manufacturing industry and the overall national economy is in the red. In order to build the country, a large number of steel and other materials were produced, orders for all kinds of machines were also very slow, and the demand for domestic ocean trade was also huge. But it must not be a big fight, because the construction needs to occupy more money and manpower.

It was impossible for the Tang Dynasty to carry out any unusual-level national mobilization during this period, in fact, except for the previous Tang-Western War. Datang has never carried out such a thing as national mobilization. The total defense expenditure of the Tang Dynasty army is as high as 800 million Tang yuan, not to mention the total military expenditure of other countries on the planet. Basically, the total GDP of European countries is about the same. Datang's local fiscal revenue is strong, and the amount of money handed over to the central government by more than a dozen overseas consulates and two special zones in Datang is also huge.

Judging from the huge military expenditure and capacity, the Datang Ministry of Defense left a war military expenditure of up to 80 million Tang Yuan in 1794, which could maintain the scale of a large fleet and a group army in the Tang Dynasty to continue to conduct medium-intensity local operations for a year. This is enough, because in Bai Nan's plan, although Datang participates in the war, it is basically to scare people. The scale of the sorties of the Don Army was limited.

Wilhelmshaven, Germany, will be the home port of a new Datang Navy Second Class Fleet. Datang is nominally a three-class fleet, all of which are first-class fleets. And below there are second and third fleets, some of which are temporary tactical in nature, and some of which are permanent, and the permanent second fleet receives its own name just like the first fleet. Datang's new fleet, with Wilhelmshaven as its home port, is the Datang North Sea Fleet!

Two years ago, Wilhelmshaven began to build the port and other facilities with the help of Datang, in order to provide a base for the Datang Navy. The Germans were also full of excitement about the arrival of the Datang fleet, not only Datang was Germany's most important ally, but also that there would be four Pinghai-class cruisers in the fleet, which would be transferred to the German Navy one after another. Become the backbone of the German Navy.

The scale of the North Sea Fleet of the Datang Navy is actually not weaker than that of the Indian Ocean Fleet, and as the main heavy cruiser, the North Sea Fleet has a total of six. In addition to the four Pinghai, which will be replaced later, there are also two Dingyuan-class. The latest San Francisco class will replace Pinghai after a certain period of testing. In addition to 6 capital ships, the North Sea Fleet has 6 Freewind, 3 Tempest-class and 1 Thunder-class frigates. The free wind will then gradually pass over to the Germans.

Of course, this is the planned North Sea Fleet, and the actual size of the first fleet to go to Europe is smaller, 2 Dingyuan-class, 2 Pinghai-class and 2 Liberty Wind class.

Fleet commander Duan Qing is a 35-year-old naval colonel, a small soldier of the Republic of China, who has studied and trained in the army for 20 years. Gradually grow into an excellent naval officer. Duan Qing is very handsome and humorous. He is also very talkative. In the past, he was the most popular officer among women at the blind date event held within the Navy. But Duan Qing has remained single so far. But compared to personal charm, Duan Qing's professional ability is also unquestionable.

"The North Sea has strong winds and high waves, and the free wind class has been severely criticized by the navy in recent years, with poor seaworthiness and inability to cope with high sea conditions. There have been at least three major accidents that almost capsized, but now the command of the Navy still uses the Free Wind as the main frigate of our North Sea Fleet, which is simply irresponsible. ”

Liu Yuan, the political commissar next to him, comforted his captain and said: "After all, there is consideration of transferring the free wind to the Germans in the future." ”

Duan Qing spread his hands and said: "The free wind is not suitable for the North Sea, and there is no difference between our hands and the hands of the Germans. ”

Liu Yuan said with a smile: "We don't have to think much about the Germans, besides, the frigate is in the North Sea, which was originally used as a coastal defense force, and the main battle still depends on the cruiser." ”

Duan Qing said: "We don't have many cruisers. ”

"It's a second-tier fleet, after all."

Duan Qing said again: "But the level of our enemy is not bad, the British now have a large number of steam ironclad warships, many of which have reached the level of the Pinghai class, we can't take it lightly." ”

Duan Qing took his work very seriously, he knew that this time the North Sea Fleet expedition to Europe, in fact, the country did not expect them to fight fiercely, so the configuration also used the warships of the older generation. Duan Qing didn't dare to take it lightly, if it really fought with the Grand Fleet of the British Royal Navy, the North Sea Fleet, which now only had six ships, would still not be so safe. Naturally, the two Dingyuan-class ships can kill all sides, and they can fight and retreat, but the Pinghai-class and the Freewind class are a little troublesome, because now the Royal Navy already has warships that can run up to 16 knots.

In Duan Qing's mind, it is undoubtedly the safest to focus on the latest cutting-edge warships and continue to give full play to the speed advantage of the Datang Navy. It's just that he doesn't know that Mr. President, who is also from the navy, doesn't want to expose too much, but wants to leave the British with the illusion that they are about to catch up with the Tang Navy. (To be continued.) )(.. )