Li Pinglang bid farewell to Niu Xiuqing, the governor of Fujian, and thanked Niu Xiuqing for sharing information with the Imperial Navy fleet.
Niu Xiuqing gave him a fist and left the naval port with the eliminated naval guns that had been traded in advance.
Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang had been accompanying him. Seeing Li Pinglang's actions, he said with some concern: "These obsolete naval guns, according to our army's previous deployment, are intended to be used as island coastal defense guns.
Lao Li, will your actions be punished domestically?"
Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang did not address Li Pinglang's position. As a private friend, he reminded Li Pinglang that doing so would be very risky.
Li Pinglang said nonchalantly: "As long as we can win the war, the court will not look into these petty gains.
I don’t put all this money in my own pocket, but use it as a small treasury for the fleet to provide benefits to all members of the fleet.”
Gu Zhonghuang nodded and said, "Old Li, as long as you understand."
He knew what Li Pinglang was thinking, so he was not worried that something might go wrong in this transaction with Fujian.
The uneven distribution of fleet members can easily lead to internal strife and directly expose the things the fleet has done that are not easy to expose to the higher authorities.
This income serves as the fleet's small treasury, which is equivalent to everyone having a share, and is distributed to everyone through fleet benefits.
People are not worried about scarcity but inequality. This money belongs to the fleet and everyone, so it will not cause conflict to the fleet.
Gu Zhonghuang does not need to worry about this matter, which may cause some conflicts and indirectly affect the upcoming war.
Li Pinglang expressed his own thoughts and said: "As a guest army, we need the cooperation of Fujian for many things.
For example, there are craftsmen on this island and the thermal coal that the fleet needs.
The empire's intention can be seen from the fact that there are only ammunition, commonly used medicines and other supplies on the supply cargo ship.
The empire hopes that our fleet will solve the problem of coal burning in warships locally.
The cost of shipping coal directly from the empire was too high.
What's more, if Fujian fails in this battle, the empire's idea of intervening in the Mediterranean will completely fail.
If we accomplish the empire's strategic goals, His Majesty the Emperor will definitely give us generous rewards.
Even for this reward, we must help Fujian when it is in trouble and must not let them suffer a disastrous defeat on the front line."
Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang has always understood that it is in the actual interests of the Great China Empire for Fujian to establish a foothold on the Mediterranean coast.
He no longer discussed this topic, but asked Li Pinglang: "Admiral Li, the supplies have arrived.
Fujian also had to fight against the army from Constantinople.
The navies of various European countries are now ready to take action.
It is also time for the Imperial Navy to set out to show the powerful strength of the Imperial Navy to European countries."
"We must strike preemptively," Li Pinglang agreed: "Convene the captains to hold a military meeting, and we must select the target of this operation."
After Li Pinglang finished speaking, he immediately asked the guards to notify each captain of the military meeting.
Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang summoned his staff and began to prepare various matters for the military meeting.
Zheng Sen walked into the room where the military meeting was held and noticed the first thing he saw, which was a detailed map of the Mediterranean Sea.
He said excitedly: "My bones have become loose these days, and now I finally decide to start a war."
Zheng Sen looked like Li Pinglang and said in a firm voice: "Admiral Li, let me be the vanguard of the fleet. I will definitely find a good way for the fleet."
When Lu Yuanwang heard what Zheng Sen said, he immediately quit and said in an excited tone: "You, Changbai Mountain, have done a lot of things along the way.
Our Wuyishan cruise has always been very transparent.
Even if it is a rotation, it should be our Wuyishan now."
Li Pinglang saw that everyone was refusing to give in to each other and vying to be the vanguard of the fleet. This was due to the military's morale.
He slapped the table with his hand and said: "Don't argue, I already have a candidate for Pioneer.
The purpose of convening a military meeting this time is to discuss which target we should attack in our first battle in Europe.
In the first battle, you can only win, not lose.
If we don't get off to a good start, this will affect our prestige.
The strategic goals chosen must be very important, and do not choose some dispensable areas.
The enemy will only feel the pain after important areas are taken away by our army, and the impact will be the greatest.
But don’t choose an important city like Rome. The number of our marines is still too small and they are not capable of taking down a city with a large population."
Li Pinglang saw that everyone else was deep in thought. He already had a goal before the war started.
This time I want the group to choose a goal, just to unify everyone's opinions.
He put his hands behind his back and circled around the table, seeing others thinking hard to find a place that met the requirements.
Li Pinglang said calmly: "This time the navy has been stationed on the island for a long time, and people always ask me when the war will start.
During this time, while I was waiting for supplies from the empire, I was also waiting for the results of two other things.
The first thing is the construction of the island. We must build this island well. It will be the future naval base of friendly forces.
I don't want the officers who came to scold me when the Third Fleet handed over this island to our army.
This would embarrass us in the Navy and make everyone a laughing stock.
The second thing is that I am waiting for news from England.
If anyone knows the most about European countries, it must be the Chinese Embassy in the UK.
Our army is now deaf and blind, relying entirely on the intelligence of Fujian.
This is too dangerous, and if you are not careful, the entire army will be destroyed.
Our army has received intelligence from the embassy a few days ago.
The map in front of you was drawn based on the content of this intelligence."
After Li Pinglang said these words, he observed his personal performance.
Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang is the most relaxed, he already has a plan in mind.
Lu Yuanwang looked a little anxious, and his eyes kept scanning the Mediterranean coasts of European countries.
Zheng Sen and Shi Lang's eyes were fixed on one place, and they were both studying the topography of this place.
Admiral Li Pinglang saw that everyone had basically finished thinking, and he suggested: "Let's write down the names of the areas we want to attack on a piece of paper.
Let’s see if the place we are thinking of is the same place.”
They all took out their pens and wrote down their goals on paper.
When Li Pinglang saw that everyone had finished writing, he was the first to unfold what he had written.
The four characters Gibraltar caught everyone's attention.
Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang opened the note he had written, and it also had the words Gibraltar on it.
Zheng Sen and Shi Lang smiled, and they also opened their own notes, which also had the words Gibraltar on them.
Lu Yuanwang was a little frustrated. He opened the note he had written and it read "The mouth of the Mediterranean Sea".
He smiled honestly and said, "It turns out this place is called Gibraltar. I forgot the name of this place."
Lu Yuanwang saw everyone smiling and nodding. Some people even said it didn't matter. It was normal not to remember the names of foreign places.
He was secretly glad if he hadn't seen where Shi Lang was looking.
The place names he wrote were different from everyone else's, so it would be a shame for you.
Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang laughed and said happily: "Heroes think alike.
If you want to control the situation in the Mediterranean, you must control the two core areas.
One of them is the Suez Canal, which is now in the hands of the imperial vassal state of Fujian.
I believe in waiting until the empire forms a solid presence in the Mediterranean.
The empire will definitely talk to Fujian to directly or indirectly control the Suez Canal.
Another important core area is Gibraltar.
We can see from the map that the western entrance to the Mediterranean is extremely narrow.
If our army can capture Gibraltar, it will be a turtle in a jar.
The naval strength of the European countries along the Mediterranean Sea is completely unable to resist us.
If they want to move troops into the Mediterranean, they must pass through Gibraltar.
Gibraltar guards the gateway to the Mediterranean.
We can divide the navies of European countries into two parts.
In this way, we can defeat them one by one to increase our army's winning rate.
Gibraltar may not look like a big place, but its geographical location is very dangerous.
Due to the size of the fleet's marines, the task of capturing Gibraltar is also a task that the fleet is capable of handling."
When Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang heard what Li Pinglang said, he immediately applauded, and other officers in the room also applauded.
"Okay, Admiral Li said it very well, we must capture Gibraltar.
It guards the western entrance of the Mediterranean Sea. Once we control this area, we will control the lifeblood of the Mediterranean Sea.
For countries along the Mediterranean Sea, their navies must pass through areas under our control when entering or exiting the Mediterranean Sea.
This is a strategic arrangement and an upright conspiracy."
Li Pinglang saw that the army was surprisingly unified in thinking.
He immediately issued an order, and the main force of the fleet was caught by surprise. Before the European countries could react, they captured the Gibraltar area.
Li Pinglang ordered Shi Lang to be the vanguard. This general was young but extremely steady in his work.
He also asked the fleet escorting the cargo ship to stay on the island.
The generals who started escorting the fleet did not agree until Li Pinglang said that these islands belonged to the Third Fleet.
The escort fleet general immediately became excited and immediately agreed to station here without any urging.
He was also very harsh on the craftsmen who were repairing the coastal defense guns on the island.
The escort fleet generals have regarded this archipelago as an asset of the Third Fleet.
Li Pinglang led the armored fleet to leave the island.
The ships were billowing black smoke, forming a black cloud, and heading towards the Strait of Gibraltar.
Shi Lang listened to the warning air whistle of the Qilian Mountain armored cruiser.
He immediately jumped up from the bed, opened the door and looked outside.
By this time the sun had set, and the sea was pitch black.
The Qilianshan armored cruiser sails on the Mediterranean Sea at night.
They relied on charts and sextants to determine the location of the fleet.
The iron-clad cruiser Qilian Mountain also shines a searchlight on the sea.
Not far away from the Qilian Mountain was the main force of the fleet, following closely behind.
They started from the island and chose to travel south along the coastline of the African continent.
The northern coastline of the Mediterranean is too dangerous and will pass through important ports in the Holy Roman Empire, France, Spain and other countries.
The coastal defense guns at these ports will never be unkind to them.
If the fleet spreads ammunition to these military ports, it will only give off bad breath and reveal its own identity.
This made the Spanish extremely nervous and mobilized a large number of troops to support Gibraltar, which would create obstacles for the fleet to occupy Gibraltar.
With current navigation technology, it is impossible to get too far from the coastline.
Even if the military has a sextant, which makes it less likely to get lost at sea, it may cause damage to the military because it does not understand the complex sea conditions of the Mediterranean.
Once an ironclad ship is damaged in Europe, it is impossible to repair it because parts cannot be replaced.
In order to ensure the safety of the route, they chose to take the southern African route where European countries have relatively weak power.
Their ultimate goal is Gibraltar, and they can reach this goal no matter which route they take.
Shi Lang came to the deck and immediately asked: "Why did you sound the whistle? We found something around us."
A young officer who was not too old ran over and saluted: "Captain Shi, we found a large number of cargo ship fragments ahead.
Seeing the shape of the fragments and the flags on them, it's likely that they were an imperial caravan that was murdered here."
When Shi Lang heard this, he picked up his telescope and looked in the direction of the searchlight.
There are indeed wrecks of cargo ships floating on the sea.
He also saw some living people floating on the sea holding pieces of the ship.
It is September now, the water temperature in the Mediterranean is relatively warm, and the nights are not long.
These people still have a chance to survive. If they arrive later, no one will survive.
Shi Lang immediately ordered the crew of the Qilian Mountain to rescue these already depressed crew members.
The Qilianshan lowered the boat and, with the help of searchlights, searched for survivors.
The first person alive was quickly rescued on board.
This is a middle-aged man in his forties, wearing a common military robe. The decorations on his body also have some Egyptian characteristics.
The man immediately knelt down to thank him.
Shi Lang asked someone to change him into dry clothes, feed him a bowl of hot porridge, and at the same time learned about this man's experience.
They were merchants from Fujian and went to England to do business.
Everything was normal until we passed through the Strait of Gibraltar.
After arriving in the Mediterranean, he was targeted by pirates.
These pirates were different from the usual pirates. Their ships were strong and their guns were powerful. They did not mainly plunder the caravans, but simply wanted to eliminate them.
Shi Lang asked for a few details, and he immediately understood that it was not pirates who attacked the caravan, but the navies of various European countries.
They wanted to use this method to warn Fujian.
There is currently no news of the Dahua Empire caravan being killed.
European countries are just not ready and want to bring down the Chinese Empire.
If they are really ready, they will definitely take action against the Dahua Empire caravan without hesitation.
These barbarians in Europe are afraid of power but not moral.
They must be intimidated by the powerful strength of the Imperial Navy so that they will not dare to make mistakes.
Shi Lang immediately reported the news to the main force.
Admiral Li Pinglang decided that the fleet would not move forward and would rescue more people who fell into the water in nearby waters.
After more than half of the night's emergency rescue, a total of more than 30 people were rescued, and the other crew members could not be found at all.
If they had not come ashore, their fate would be obvious.
Li Pinglang slapped the table angrily and said: "These barbarians in Europe must be broken through.
Gibraltar is the Imperial Navy fleet, the first battle to establish its reputation." (End of Chapter)
