The fleet soon arrived at Ceylon Island, the largest island in southern India and one of the main military ports of the Navy's Third Fleet.
All warships entered the dock for a detailed inspection and recorded the easily damaged parts.
After Su Shu thought about it for the past few days, he decided to start and finish everything.
Even if I miss my father and mother, I don't have to go back to the capital directly through the railway in the East India Province.
Su Shu will follow the fleet to complete the final voyage.
Admiral Zhantie announced that naval officers could move freely in the port.
Ceylon Island was one of the first ports developed by the Chinese Imperial Navy.
After the Indian region was occupied by the Chinese Empire, wired telegraphs were connected through submarine cables.
The officers and men of the fleet did not go to eat, drink or have fun immediately after they disembarked.
Everyone went to two places, the post office and the telegraph office.
Grassroots officers and soldiers cannot afford the high telegraph fees.
They go to the post office and send their written letters to the post office.
Letters sent from the island of Ceylon, after being sorted by the post office, can be transported by ship and railway to any province in the Great China Empire.
The postage for letters is very cheap. Even if it is shipped to Beihai Province, it only costs five copper coins.
The soldiers reported to their families that everything was fine and that they would be reunited with their families soon.
Su Shu and staff officer Lu Yuanqi went to the telegraph office together.
It takes several months for the letter to be sent on the road.
The speed at which the telegraph returned the message did not even take half an hour.
Generals who have silver coins in their pockets and are relatively wealthy prefer to send news through telegraphs so that their families can learn about them as quickly as possible.
Staff officer Lu Yuanqi said with emotion: "Western India has just been occupied, the wired telegraph is not yet connected, and the post office is not perfect.
Otherwise we would have sent the news home."
Su Shu nodded and looked at the suddenly busy telegraph office.
The Navy has its own internal telegraph office, which mainly reports military-related news.
Military and civilian telegraph systems are two different systems. When generals report to their families that they are safe, they must use the civilian telegraph system.
Su Shu did not want to stand alone and followed suit in using the civilian telegraph system.
At the Ceylon Telegraph Office, only a few big businessmen usually need to report urgent news via telegraph.
The steward of the telegraph office saw a large number of generals and came to the telegraph office to send a telegram.
This was not the first time he encountered this situation. He knew that another naval admiral had returned from a long voyage and sent a telegram to his family to report that he was safe.
The telegraph office already has sufficient experience with this situation.
They immediately started queuing up to call their number, and at the same time asked the waiter to inform them of the cost of sending the telegram.
Su Shu saw that the cost of telegraph had been reduced. Now one silver coin could send ten words regardless of the distance.
This is ten times cheaper than when the telegraph was first launched, but it is still not a price that most people can afford.
Su Shu was at the front of the queue. He handed the contents and address of the telegram he had written to the telegraph operator.
The telegraph operator's expression changed drastically and he immediately asked the supervisor for instructions.
He was sweating and sending this telegram nervously.
This telegram, with only a few hundred words, was not the telegram he sent with the most words, but it was the telegram with the most terrifying content.
The beginning of the telegram was [My son, Su Shu, reported to my father]. The content of the telegram briefly reported on the situation of overseas travel.
The telegraph operator looked nervous, but his hands were steady and he accurately sent out the contents of the telegram.
After he finished, he immediately relaxed.
There is absolutely no room for error in this important telegram.
His career was over because of a typo that caused ambiguity in the telegram.
Most people left after sending the telegram and went to have fun in the port.
Because they know that after the family receives the telegram, there is no need to reply.
Su Shu did not leave the telegraph office. He had to wait for a call back from his father and mother.
Half an hour later, Su Shu received two telegrams.
A telegram from his father Su He supported him in continuing his final journey.
The telegram sent by Queen Mother Wang Wenjun is full of longing.
Su Shu carefully put away the two telegrams. He bought several newspapers on the island and took them back to his room to read.
He has not learned about the situation in the empire for two years. Now he can only indirectly understand the major events that have happened in the empire in the past two years through newspapers.
The first thing Su and Shu cared about was whether the empire had a heir apparent.
He felt relieved when he saw that the empire had not established a prince, and even the public voice for discussing the prince was weak.
What Su Shu was most worried about was that his father suddenly fell ill while he was at sea.
This can only establish a prince to oversee the country. If he is not in the country, it has nothing to do with the position of prince.
Among the major events explained in the newspaper, Su Shu was most concerned about the position of Lord Chu.
That was the change of imperial prime ministers, with Wei Shiming taking office and Qian Mingyi becoming prime minister.
It is normal for the Prime Minister to change.
However, Wei Shiming became an official directly in his prime, which is very unusual.
There must be an overt and covert struggle behind it, and Su Shu couldn't tell it from the few words in the newspaper.
Su Shu finished reading the newspapers of the past two years, and the fleet also completed maintenance work on Ceylon Island.
The fleet continued its journey, instead of heading north to the East India and Burma provinces, it headed east directly to the Strait of Malacca.
When the fleet passed through the Strait of Malacca, Su Shu stood on the deck of the battleship Taishan and observed the grand scene of the Strait of Malacca.
This is the busiest strait he has ever seen, with an endless stream of merchant ships entering and leaving the strait.
The industrial center of the Dahua Empire is divided into coastal industrial center and inland industrial center.
Among them, Hanzhong Industrial Center and Sichuan-Chongqing Industrial Center are representatives of the inland industrial centers of the empire.
Industrial products from these two places generally reach the seaside directly through the Sichuan-Burma Railway and do not need to pass through the Strait of Malacca.
Products from the Imperial Coastal Industrial Center must pass through the Strait of Malacca if they want to be transported to Central Asia and Europe.
This is because sea shipping has the lowest cost.
The coastal industrial centers were the busiest, producing a large amount of industrial products that were urgently needed to be transported to Central Asia and Europe in exchange for large amounts of silver coins.
The battleship Taishan sailed in the Strait of Malacca and soon attracted many merchant ships and people on the shore to watch.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! People here saw a huge ironclad ship for the first time.
If the battleship Taishan hadn't been flying the dragon flag of the Great China Empire, it would have caused panic among the people.
Soon, well-informed people spread accurate news to the surroundings. This was the battleship Tarzan built by the empire two years ago.
After two years of training at sea, it finally returned to the empire today.
This news made the onlookers burst into applause, feeling proud of the power of the Dahua Empire.
When Su Shu saw the warm welcome from the people, he also felt a sense of pride.
The fleet quickly passed through the Strait of Malacca because the warships had undergone detailed maintenance on the Island of Ceylon.
This journey does not stop at any ports along the way.
The fleet enters the South China Sea, which is like going home.
The South China Sea has now become the inland sea of the Great China Empire.
Pirates in the South China Sea were cleared, and merchants and fishermen were able to travel freely in the South China Sea.
Su Shuhai saw many fishing boats digging for struvite on the islands and reefs in the South China Sea.
This is a very precious fertilizer. Su, Shu and others in America and Europe have seen this scene.
The fleet headed north along the coastline of Cochin Province.
Su Shu held the telescope and looked towards the road to the west.
There are usually fishing boats operating along the coast. The sea fish caught by fishermen are salted and sold to inland areas. This is very cheap meat.
The imperial court wanted to make the people in the mainland affordable to eat sea fish.
The imperial court did not tax fishermen, but only taxed merchants who sold fish.
Xianyu can enter the homes of ordinary people, which is also related to cheap salt.
Now the price of salt in the Dahua Empire is only a few cents per catty.
If, like the previous dynasty, a pound of salt cost several hundred cents, ordinary people would not dare to put too much salt in their meals.
The fish people would rather let the fish stink on the beach than pickle it.
The seaside is dominated by fishermen, and if you look inland, you can see large rice fields.
The rice fields in Jiaozhi Province are ripe four times a year, and it is one of the most important grain producing areas in the Great China Empire.
The rice here doesn't taste very good, but it's definitely filling.
The empire formally developed southern regions like the province of Cochin.
These areas produce a large amount of food, which truly allows everyone in the country to have enough to eat.
Since then, there has never been a large-scale starvation to death in the Dahua Empire.
My father, Su He, said in his lectures that the Han people are the most hard-working people, especially the lower class Han people.
Just give them the most basic living conditions and give them hope of advancement.
The son of the common people can become the prime minister of the empire, the son of the common people can become the governor of the empire, the son of the common people can become an academician of the Royal Academy of Sciences, and the son of the common people can become a merchant with a fortune.
The common people will burst out with extremely strong abilities and create a huge prosperous age.
Along the way, Su Shu saw the desolation of America, the chaos of Europe, and the barbarism of Africa.
His father was right. The speed of the empire's development shocked him.
Only the Great China Empire is the beacon of world civilization and can guide the direction of the world's progress.
The vast stretches of paddy fields in Jiaozhi Province can be clearly seen even if Su Shu is standing on the deck of the battleship Taishan traveling at high speed.
This is related to the positioning of Cochin Province itself, which is the agricultural area responsible for providing raw materials.
The empire has a clear status regarding its overseas provinces.
Except for areas with extremely important strategic locations, the rest of the provinces only develop agriculture and will not develop industry in a short period of time.
There is no harm in doing so.
Agriculture needs to accommodate a large population, which is relatively concentrated.
Agriculture gathered a large number of indigenous people and gave them a stable industry, so that officials could be sent to teach them Chinese culture.
These provinces provide industrial raw materials and markets, which can promote the development of the core industrial provinces of the Great China Empire.
Military strength is closely related to industrial level. It refers to provinces that only develop agriculture. Even if they want to resist the empire, they will not be able to build a strong army.
One's own strength is the confidence of local forces.
Su Shu saw the situation in Jiaozhi Province, and his situation was exactly the process of the Great China Empire digesting and absorbing the newly incorporated territory.
He felt that the empire's assimilation methods far exceeded the methods used by European countries to manage colonies.
After assimilation, this area will belong to the territory of the Great China Empire, and it will be difficult to separate from it later.
Western colonies are pursuing short-term interests. Once the mother country declines, the colonies will inevitably choose to break away from the mother country.
The fleet sailed near the Cochin Province, and no warships entered the port to stay.
The fleet wanted to purchase supplies, so it just informed the empty cargo ship to go to the port to purchase supplies.
The cargo ship is accelerating to catch up with the fleet, replenishing fresh food for the soldiers on the fleet.
Now that the fleet has sighted the Cochin Province, they are not far from their real goal.
Everyone in the fleet does not want to waste time. If they arrive at the military port one day earlier, they can return home one day earlier.
Su Shu was not very familiar with the fleet's target port. He went to Chief of Staff Cao Zhengyuan and asked: "Chief of Staff Cao, which port will the fleet go to.
Is it still Qinhuangdao Port where we set out?”
He believes that the fleet's goal is probably near Qinhuangdao Port. The fleet must complete its journey from beginning to end and return to the starting point. Only then can it be considered successful in traveling around the world.
Chief of Staff Cao Zhengyuan said with a smile: "The request of the imperial court and the senior officials of the First Fleet for our fleet is to return to the First Fleet military port.
We have all been drifting at sea for nearly two years, and who among us is not extremely anxious and wants to reunite with our families as soon as possible.
The imperial court allows our fleet to choose, of course, to choose the port closest to us.
The fleet docked at Guangzhou Port as planned, and we are now not far from Guangdong Province."
When Su Shu heard the news, he was ecstatic.
When he passed through the Indian region, he could no longer resist the urge in his heart and wanted to end the journey early and return to China to reunite with his father and mother.
After he was born, he was often separated from his father, but he was never separated from his mother for more than three days.
When he was overseas, he missed his father and mother.
Just to maintain his strong image, he didn't show it to the outside world.
The idea of the fleet landing as soon as possible was too much to his liking.
Su Shu calculated the time. In almost three days, he would be able to officially end this mission.
After he was happy, he felt melancholy in his heart.
In the past two years, he was not used to it at first, but in the end he gradually got used to life on board.
He also made many friends on this warship.
This mission was officially over, and he was about to leave the fleet, feeling reluctant to leave.
Su Shu quickly threw away this emotion. With his status, he could not stay in the fleet for a long time. He would inevitably be separated from these friends.
Everyone in the fleet has a smile on their face these days, which is the joy of returning home from a distant traveler.
Staff Officer Lu Yuanqi was still carrying a heavy sail and kept counting the distance to Guangzhou Port.
He shouted: "The fleet is still ten kilometers away from Guangzhou Port."
Hearing the news, everyone cheered.
Some people were so excited that they threw their hats high and kept cheering that the fleet was about to arrive in port.
As the fleet approached Guangzhou Port, they could see more merchant ships coming and going.
Su Shu also saw a kind of cargo ship that he had never seen before.
That is a cargo ship made entirely of steel. It emits black smoke, its steam engine drives the propeller, and it travels at high speed on the sea.
The speed of technological transformation in the empire is too fast. The large-scale marine steam engine and mature propeller technology have just been verified on the warship Taishan.
In less than two years, these technologies have been applied on cargo ships.
The putting into use of these giant cargo ships represents that the imperial shipbuilding industry has fully understood these technologies.
The navy's logistical transportation will become simpler in the future.
The fleet, led by the guiding ships, entered the Guangzhou military port in an orderly manner.
The battleship squadron of the Imperial Navy Fleet set out from Qinhuangdao and took two years to finally complete its global voyage.