sweeping the world

Chapter 1045 Expedition Fleet
In life, if you don't have to worry about food or clothing, you will basically pursue fame and fortune.

Those who strive to enrich themselves will not settle for a mediocre life.

People who feel they are capable, the more they think their abilities are, the more they will want to obtain a status that is consistent with their perceived abilities.

If we say which group is the most unethical in the world, it is undoubtedly the so-called scholars. Because of their intelligence and intelligence, they are always able to assess the situation and make choices that are beneficial to them. They usually seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, and rarely do so. Stand your ground.

Those scholars who can maintain their firm stance, as long as their status is high enough, can basically leave their mark in history. The reason is simply that there are too few such people.

In fact, the same is the case. If something is seen more, there is no need to record it. The more scarce it is, the more it will be advocated.

No historian would record how people breathed air, would they?

The expedition fleet organized by the Han Empire is destined to be solemnly recorded in history.This time there will be three thousand ships of various types and sizes forming the expedition fleet, including seven gunboats. One of the gunboats is the latest technological crystallization of the Han Empire, and it is called "Linzi".

This was not the largest fleet ever organized by mankind, but it was certainly the furthest fleet ever to sail for a war.

The main component of the expedition fleet was drawn from the Nanyang Protectorate, including all the gunboats in the Nanyang Protectorate, and their only two gunboats were recruited from the Annan Protectorate.

Huan Wen was appointed as the commander of the expedition fleet, his two military deputies were Li Mai and Wang Kan, and Wang Meng was the commander of the army.It means that apart from Wang Meng, the command team of the expedition fleet is all from the south, and even [-]% of the troops are from the south.

The huge fleet was assembled in Hangzhou Bay in later generations.Here is the second largest shipbuilding base of the Han Empire, and the ships that are about to sail away will be assembled here. The main thing is that a round of strict inspection and maintenance should be carried out.

Huan Wen bid farewell to Liu Yan on the second day after taking command, and happily set off from Chang'an to Hangzhou Bay.It took him only five days to reach Hangzhou Bay, and immediately established his own shogunate.

The road built from Chang'an to the southeast is already more than 41 miles long. If the clear track is applied in advance, it only takes [-] hours to complete the [-]-mile road. Huan Wen spent the next three days on horseback.

"Have all seven gunboats entered the port?" Huan Wen also brought his own shogunate team. What he needs to do now is to have enough understanding of the expedition fleet to see if there are any deficiencies and make up for them: "How long will it take for them to Overhaul and maintenance complete?"

Wang Kan was in the south before, and he was the commander of a medium-sized fleet in the mainland and Yizhou.He received a new order to arrive directly at the Hangzhou Bay Naval Base by boat to perform his military duties as a lieutenant general.

"The time given by the supervisor of the shipyard is at least half a month." Wang Kan believes that this time is very reasonable, based on the premise that the gunboats were not seriously damaged or needed major repairs: "They sailed from Liaodong and Zhuya There will be no delays as the manpower has been transferred from the continent."

"Very good!" Huan Wen said with great satisfaction, "I will ask the emperor for his credit."

Although the warships of the Han Empire were all oar-assisted, sailing during the monsoon season was the most suitable.

In winter, the natural climate will form a southwest monsoon on the Zhanghai (South China Sea), which is very suitable for ships to sail.

In summer, the monsoon tends to blow northwest.

Ships that rely on sail power to sail can naturally have faster speeds when the wind is down, but it will be difficult to advance when the sails are on headwinds.This is why the monsoon is so important in the Fengfan era.

The expedition fleet needs to reach Malacca through the sea before the end of winter, and then rest here until the arrival of summer, borrowing the convenience of the monsoon to pass through Asanyang at the fastest speed.They might still be able to reach the Cape of Good Hope directly before the monsoon ends?
"General." Wang Kan held the document and handed it out, saying at the same time: "The first troops have already entered Kuaiji County."

Huan Wen took the document and looked at it, paying special attention to the number of the troops that arrived first. He was not surprised to see that it was the troops from Jiaozhou Bay.

Every military port of the Han Empire would station a marine corps, and their establishment can be traced back to when the military port was established. The earlier the military port was completed, the longer the marine corps stationed would be established.

Jiaozhou Bay was not the first military port of the Han Empire, Ma Shijin in Liaodong was, and Jiaozhou Bay was the second.

"This time there are [-] ships of all kinds, carrying [-] land troops." Wang Gong still needed some confidence in his heart and asked respectfully: "Will there be a follow-up fleet?"

Huan Wen knew that there would be no follow-up reinforcements for at least three years, and only they would invade Rome tens of thousands of miles across the sea.

The scale of the Han Empire's war against Rome depends on what they can fight.

"That's it..." Wang Kan didn't feel disappointed: "Three years? It takes at least six months to enter the sea area of ​​Rome from the Han Dynasty. A round trip is at least one year and two months."

The Han Empire was so far away from Rome that it took more than a year just to deliver the news. They began to invade Rome. No matter what they fought, it would take so long to send the battle report back to the country so that the central Based on the battle reports they sent back, it was assessed whether to continue to increase the input of troops, or to let them retreat.

Huan Wen turned around and looked at the mountain and river map hanging on the wall.

Huan Wen has been looking at this map for several years. He has screened the map more than once, and used various channels to understand the mountains and rivers on the map.

"When will Wang Jinglue arrive?" Huan Wen had several in-depth discussions with Wang Meng when he was in Chang'an. Generally speaking, he learned some key information from Wang Meng, and there were still many doubts that needed to be answered: "He has arrived Rome, when I return home I will have a personal experience of what I heard and saw along the way.”

Li Mai happened to lead Wang Meng in, and heard a tail of Huan Wen's words.

"I mentioned Jinglue just now." Huan Wen and Wang Meng are actually not that familiar. If they hadn't been in the same shogunate this time, they would have only had contact with each other because of some official business, and they had no personal relationship in private.He turned his head and continued to look at the map of mountains and rivers, and asked: "Their strait (Gibraltar), the terrain on both sides of the strait is as mentioned in the long history, the north bank is a land of dense vegetation, and the south bank is a desert?"

Wang Meng saw that Huan Wen used two titles in one sentence, especially when he called himself Chang Shi at the end. Knowing that it was office hours, he walked to the edge of the map of mountains and rivers, pointed to the north bank and said, "Here the Romans have established coastal defenses and deep defenses. belt. They call it Spain."

Spain was called a long time ago, and the Romans changed the name many times later, but the Han people classified it based on the information they learned, calling it Spain.

"The south coast is a shallow sea, and most of the area from the beach to the inland is desert." Wang Meng compared the map and stopped after it extended more than two hundred miles inland: "There are oases in these places, where some small and medium-sized tribes gather."

"In this case, the breakthrough point is not on the south bank." Li Mai asked Wang Meng: "The shore defense on the north bank was built starting from the 16th year of Yuanshuo, right?"

"Indeed." Wang Meng smiled and said: "The last time the Han Dynasty directly arrived at the capital city called Constantinople through this strait, the Romans were frightened."

"It's a pity..." Huan Wen glanced past the Strait of Gibraltar, looked towards the sea to the north, and asked, "Going north here, and then turning northeast, is there a strait similar to the land of Han and Yizhou?"

The map hanging on the wall roughly outlines the territory of Rome. It is not actually accurate, but generally there are not many mistakes.

"This island, they call it Britain." Wang Meng introduced: "The Romans occupied half of Britain's island, and the rest was divided and occupied by the Celts and Saxons."

"Did the Romans withdraw from Britain because of the Celts and Saxons?" Wang Ni paused and asked again: "If the Han invades Rome, can they be used by the Han?"

Wang Meng couldn't answer this question, but he knew that Huan Wen was considering giving up on attacking the Strait of Gibraltar, and instead launched an invasion from the northern sea area of ​​Europa by detour.

"The current Roman emperor started from the east, and he has many conflicts with the Roman nobles in Europe..." Wang Meng has introduced the situation he knows to a certain person more than once.This time, he needs to make one point clear: "I have reported to Your Majesty that the conflict between the East and the West of the Romans may be eliminated due to the invasion of the Han, so that they can unite."

Huan Wen still nodded in agreement.His actions also illustrate one thing, and he did not pin the invasion on the split of things in Rome, at least not in the early stage.

"This Britain may become the bridgehead of the big man in Europe." Huan Wen knew very well that Rome could not be destroyed with [-] landing troops alone: ​​"We need a bridgehead far away in Europe. When Chang Shi went to Rome, did he talk to Kai Were there any contacts with the Turts or the Saxons?"

"I disappointed the general." Wang Meng shook his head and replied, "Maybe Meng didn't really set foot on the land of Europa, the farthest he reached was Constantinople. The Romans called it Asia, not Europa."

Huan Wen never understood this point.He nodded to Wang Meng, and asked another question: "When will Qinling's firearms soldiers come?"

This Wang Meng was able to answer: "Three thousand firearms troops will come in the middle of autumn." He paused, and said with a wry smile: "Prince Ming is among them."

"..." Huan Wen heard the news for the first time, and said without concealment: "This is really troublesome."

Wang Kan and Li Mai, who were standing aside, looked at each other and smiled wryly one after another.

Before Liu Shen was sent to the army to participate in the war in the territory of Hunnit, people who did not know before followed Liu Shen back to the jurisdiction of the Anxi Protectorate, and had already set foot on the way back to Chang'an. known to people.

Their understanding is that Liu Yan is accumulating prestige for Liu Shen, paving the way for Liu Shen to become the crown prince.

If Liu Ming had been assigned to the army without Liu Ming, they would have been [-]% sure of their guess, but Liu Yan had arranged Liu Ming into the army, so the original [-]% certainty would have been reduced to [-]%.

"Your Majesty is in his prime." Wang Meng used to be Liu Shen's personal secretary, and recently became one of the three servants. No matter how you look at it, he is Liu Shen's confidant. Some words should be said by him: "The position of the crown prince , not in a hurry."

"I heard that Shangshuling asked His Majesty before going to the western border..." Huan Wen didn't use a questioning expression at all: "I heard that Cui's agitation for the officials was suppressed by Zhongshuling?"

Wang Meng could say some things, but obviously he couldn't say these things, and he didn't even express his opinion, so he glanced at Huan Wen strangely.

"We are all loyal to Your Majesty, and we can only be loyal to Your Majesty." Huan Wen did not stop the topic because of Wang Meng's strange expression: "This expedition may take three to five years, maybe ten or even more years, before we can return to the Han Dynasty."

"For so many years, Prince Ming has been away all the time, so there should be some troubles for us." Li Mai kept shaking his head with a wry smile: "Don't be labeled, right?"

Let them refuse Liu Ming to the expedition fleet, they don't have the guts.Indeed, he was afraid of being labeled as Liu Ming inexplicably.

What can Wang Meng say?He knew what the people, including Huan Wen, were afraid of. It was nothing more than that once Liu Yan became the crown prince, they would be tens of thousands of miles away, and it would be difficult for them to make a timely statement. It is useless to make great contributions.

"This time, the captured Roman royal family will also go with them." Wang Meng was referring to Julian.He turned the topic back to the expedition: "Also...the Major Envoy (Helena) is already pregnant."

Coincidentally, after Rome, Persia and the Han Empire entered a state of war, the Roman princess and the Sassanian princess who married the Han Empire sent good news one after another.

They have been in the deep palace all the time, unaware of the fact that their home country has entered a state of war with the Han Empire, and they are raising their babies and waiting for delivery.

"Oh?" Huan Wen was stunned, and laughed and said, "Our Roman Governor and Persian Governor, someone has been elected."

Wang Meng followed suit with a smile, then shook his head, so he would not say anything.

Even if the Han Empire wiped out Sasanian and Rome, it was actually very difficult to fully annex them. It really needed a person of Han royal blood and Roman (Persian) blood to become the local administrator.

"While there is still time..." Huan Wen walked to the desk, suppressed his smile, and said seriously: "Arrange a few more plans. Generally, we will march from Egypt, choose to attack Gibraltar, or march to Britain, or other .”

This is Wang Meng's authority, so he asked his followers to come over and come up with a plan that might have been drawn up a long time ago.

(End of this chapter)