"It's a bit unexpected that the maritime situation in Asia has changed in just 10 years." Looking at the Chinese fleet sailing out of the port of Batavia in the distance, Jericho had mixed feelings in his heart. It can be said that Jericho has experienced the whole process of the great development of the Chinese Navy, from the first order of 5,000-ton second-class cruisers from Italy, to the later Garibaldi-class and PISA-class cruisers, and then to the later Ninghai-class battleships and even to the current Asia's largest dreadnought fleet. The expansion speed of the Huaxia Navy can simply be described as vicious expansion! From a fleet that is not in the flow of the world to the current level of the world's top four and Asia's first, this speed makes Jericho have to admire.

"The navy is an aristocratic service, and a real naval power needs hundreds of years to build, and it is not just a few warships that can be called a maritime power." Protection saw what Jericho was thinking, and Thomas comforted him. He did not deliberately belittle the strength of the Chinese fleet, but because he was puzzled, because in the history of the development of the British Empire's navy, it took the British hundreds of years to fight a long tug-of-war with one enemy after another to achieve victory...... Many of them encountered hard stubble like Louis XIV and the Dutch, and fought some defeats to achieve today's status. And the rise of the Huaxia Navy is so rapid that it even gives people a sense of unreality..........

"Times are different, in the age of sails, a battleship can be used for fifty years in good maintenance, or even 50 years later, the value of the battleship will not lose much, and technological progress is very slow at that time. And the sailors and officers who operate the battleship need a considerable amount of time to train. But what about now? The situation is different. A warship will become obsolete in 10 years at most, and some warships are even obsolete before they are launched, and a large fleet does not represent the corresponding combat effectiveness, and more importantly, new warships are easier to operate. The time required for human resource development will be reduced. With the depreciation of old warships and the shortening of personnel training cycles, it has become easier for industrial powers to expand their navies. ”

"But it's also consumed faster. More than a decade of accumulation in a country can be exhausted in just a few months. And in the battle of the Grand Fleet, maybe an afternoon will decide the course of the war, in the past the British fleet allowed mistakes, but now, often a small omission can cause extremely serious consequences! Jericho said with a gloomy face.

Just as the two were talking, the fleet that the Huaxia Fleet was responsible for greeting had already appeared in view. The size of the Huaxia fleet this time was not large. It's just two Longxu-class battlecruisers and a couple of light cruisers. This is not because the Chinese fleet is deliberately sluggish, but because the British fleet is not large this time, but it is only two capital ships, one is the battleship Dreadnought. The other is the British Brothers Invincible of the Longxu class. Neither the mighty Chinese fleet nor the main force of the combined Anglo-French fleet brought by Jericho to the east appeared in the waters of the former Dutch East Indies. And behind this is a well-considered ..........

"The relationship between the British Empire and the Chinese Republic is now in a very wonderful state. There are elements of hostility and conflict between the two countries, as well as various interests at the same time. Britain was naturally very dissatisfied with the expansion of China, but at the same time it was powerless to stop it, let alone let the Republic of China fall to the side of Germany, Austria and Italy. More importantly, Britain has a huge stake in trade with China. The two countries are like two hedgehogs that only need to get together in winter to keep warm, they want to get close to each other, but they have to guard against the spikes on each other's bodies piercing themselves! Churchill recalled afterwards.

This was an opportunity for Britain and China to get closer, and in order to reduce their hostility as much as possible, the main force of the British and French fleets remained in Singapore. And the main force of the Huaxia Fleet was stationed in Taiwan. Then each side left two capital ships to take a midpoint. And the most suitable port in the whole Southeast Asia is the port of Batavia. First of all, the distance is more appropriate, in addition to the fact that this is the most well-equipped port outside of the Chinese British, large enough to accommodate a large fleet to be anchored and maintained, and more importantly, this is the place where the Chinese are newly occupied, and the British have arrived. There is a sense of acknowledging all that of China, which in the eyes of the British can be regarded as a release of goodwill. …………。

Although the size of the fleet is not very large, the level of personnel meeting between the two sides is very high. On the Chinese side, Yang Yonglin and Lin Yongsheng were Yang Yonglin, and the former, as the supreme commander of the Huaxia Fleet, was already equivalent to the commander of the British Grand Fleet. The latter, on the other hand, is a distinguished achievement. In European naval circles, it is generally believed that the two Longxu-class battlecruisers commanded by Lin Yongsheng were the most outstanding in a series of naval battles between China and Russia, and it can be said that they played the greatest role with the smallest force, so the British side specially asked Lin Yongsheng to attend this meeting. There is another person on the Chinese side is Cai Tinggan, and the main reason why he can participate in this level of meeting is that his submarine force is too dazzling in this war. There was even a submarine that destroyed a transport ship of nearly 30,000 tons, causing losses that were nearly 80 times the cost of its own cost! The submarine's formidable ability to break diplomatic relations really scares everyone.

As for the British side, Jericho, the future commander of the Grand Fleet, corresponds to Yang Yonglin's status. Thomas was Jericho's most trusted and valued subordinate, the future Task Force Commander. The other is Goodnow, one of Jericho's cronies, but this one does not serve on the capital ship, but is prepared to take charge of escort and light fleet ..........

After firing a salute at each other, the two sides sailed into the port of Batavia under the guidance of the Chinese fleet...... The activities of junior officers and soldiers have been arranged, as they should be. And Jericho and Yang Yonglin and his entourage went directly into the officer's cafeteria of the battleship Intrepid. Here they had an exchange of this significance, and the core of the exchange was Cai Tinggan and Goodnow. Jericho and Yang Yonglin are responsible for coordinating and formulating relevant plans. The core of the exchange is submarine warfare and anti-submarine warfare!

Even Fisher, who had the most confidence in the Royal Navy, believed that the threat of submarines to sea transport lines was already very serious under the current circumstances, and that this threat had expanded from sea transport lines to warships. The fact that the Chinese Navy carried out near-shore minelaying in the war and destroyed a large artillery transport ship of the Russian Navy made the British very worried about the safety of their harbor, although it was probably impossible to go in and launch torpedoes, but if a few submarines ran directly to the vicinity of the harbor one day and directly laid dozens of mines, it would be too disgusting.

Therefore, at the request of Fisher, the British fleet decided to cooperate with the Chinese Navy, which has the most experience in the use of submarines, and the whole cooperation process is planned to be divided into two stages, the first stage is the actual combat simulation stage, which simulates the situation that the Royal Navy may encounter in the future according to the submarine warfare and anti-submarine warfare that are close to the actual combat situation. The second stage will be to explore and study the problems encountered.........

Of course, the Chinese Navy could not cooperate with the actions of the British in vain. In addition to easing relations, the other most important purpose of the Chinese government's agreement to the British demand this time was to purchase some technology and equipment from the British on this condition. You must know that by the time of World War II, some of Britain's technologies were still unique in the world, when the Germans had not yet mastered the 2500 horsepower liquid-cooled engine in 45 years, the British Emperor said that it had been equipped with 43, and the jet engine that the British made in World War 2 was twice as powerful as the German jumo004 with poor stability and life! The stability is not bad, and the structure is simple! It is said that it is against the sky!

This time, the main topics of exchange were power systems, the smelting of special steels, machine tools and various internal combustion engine motors. Needless to say, the steam turbines of the British are unique in the world, at least for now. In terms of special steel, the British do not have to be bad in Germany, as for the machine tool, it is to buy some equipment that is in short demand in China and can not be produced in a short period of time, which is not that the Germans do not sell, but now Germany has entered the stage of preparation, and the expansion of all aspects has become very rapid, and the mechanical production is in short supply in a short period of time. In particular, the expansion of the shipyard. Although Britain is also preparing for war, the foundation of British shipbuilding is much stronger than that of Germany. So the demand for machining equipment is not too ..........

In addition to technical exchanges, the British and Huaxia will also discuss a number of other issues. The most critical issue is the direction of Japan's future development. Since the end of the First Sino-Russian War, Japan has won a Pinochan victory, although Japan has recovered all the territory outside of Hokkaido, but for this reason Japan has pressed the last bit of capital since the Meiji Restoration! Moreover, the loss of a rebuilt navy and a large number of land forces, and the subsequent spoils of war after the victory were not enough to compensate for the high war losses, and after the war, the Chinese Republic completely controlled the lifeblood of Japan from the economic field, and grain and cotton yarn were two topics that the Japanese could never avoid.

The British, on the other hand, naturally hoped to support Japan, for example, by persuading China to lift restrictions on grain exports to Japan and at the same time reduce the dumping of goods against Japan. And the British naturally will not be good people in vain, the British need Japan's abundant human resources to fight for the British Empire, and in Africa and Europe for the British. And this requirement is obviously beyond the scope of Yang Yonglin's responsibility. Therefore, Yang Yonglin can only say that he will convey Jericho's request to the government, but he can't guarantee the specifics. The second is more present~?~. I hope you will support you a lot~?~