Louis Napoleon Bonaparte's lack of confidence in himself naturally comes from his own real strength that he can see with his clear eyes.

After several years of bloody battles, his maritime power of the French Empire had long been shattered by the Allies. In his opinion, if he hadn't brought his American fleet back from the American battlefield and timely joined forces with the already riddled local fleet, those damn British men would have long been able to show off their power in the English Channel in one step and show their power on his country.

Now, even with the American fleet that had returned to the rescue, his maritime power on the Atlantic Ocean can at best temporarily stop the British from doing anything arbitrary in the English Channel. Not to mention that he is not able to take into account the Mediterranean Sea, even if he has that ability, his maritime power will not enter the Mediterranean Sea at all. Because the Strait of Gibraltar, which controls the throats of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea, has long been sealed by the Allies and is airtight.

In this case, if we want to stop the dream of being unique to the Mediterranean sea armed by the Allies led by the British, we can only rely on the maritime power of Italy, Austria, Greece, and his own Mediterranean fleet, which is not powerful.

Is this possible?

Louis Napoleon Bonaparte felt that this was likely to be an extremely difficult thing to do.

You should know that in recent years, it seems that the Allies have made a lot of efforts in the Mediterranean, and it seems that the Allies have always had a certain advantage and have never lost their absolute control over the Mediterranean. However, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was actually very clear in his heart, because the British who firmly controlled the Indian Ocean in their hands had no idea of ​​winning the Mediterranean.

The British kept coveting the Mediterranean, which was actually just to restrain the strength of the Mediterranean allies and make it difficult for them to pose any threat to the Indian Ocean in the hands of the British.

But now it cannot be done. According to his allies of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the maritime power mercilessly placed on the Indian Ocean has become a lonely ghost. If this is true, there will only be one result, that is, the British will have to fight to the death to take control of the Mediterranean.

If you still want to stop the crazy British from stepping into the Mediterranean at this time, it will probably be a legendary joke.

But Lin Haifeng and his comrades, who were thousands of miles away, saw the potential of France that Louis, Napoleon, and Bonaparte themselves did not see.

This is the Citrost Consortium of France that has long been sold to Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. However, it has always been shelved at the Marseille Shipyard where the Citroën Consortium cooperated with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom government. It was also the hundreds of "tadpole" torpedo speedboats that were once scoffed by many French naval generals.

The facts proved again that small. may not be a bad thing.

And the facts also proved once again that countless great opportunities are always left to those who are interested.

Ai Hua, the big boss of Citroen Consortium, is such a kind of person.

At the beginning of the completion of the Marseille Shipyard, although the first project undertaken by Ai Hua, the big boss of the Citroen Consortium, was to build two large iron-shell cargo ships of tens of thousands of tons at the same time for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom government, which initially showed the world the strength he had. However, after this, the Marseille Shipyard suddenly became "silent".

Instead of accepting orders for ironclad ships from the French Admiralty, Aihua began to concentrate on playing his own "game" to develop and build wooden torpedo speedboats.

However, the torpedo speedboat developed by the Marseille Shipyard obviously failed to be favored by the French Admiralty. After only completing the construction contract for thirty torpedo speedboats, there was no more of the following. The reason is very simple. The French Admiralty admires giant ships and heavy artillery, rather than a little guy who is likely to be knocked down even if there are big storms.

But Ai Hua still does his own way.

It is difficult to understand whether it is the French Admiralty, which is eager to get a big ship and a cannon, the Marseille Shipyard and even the major shareholders of its Citroen Consortium.

Given the construction of an iron-clad ship, it can build more than a hundred torpedo speedboats. Although the people in the Admiralty nowadays don’t like torpedo speedboats, sooner or later, they must ask to come to our door.

After all, a few years ago, the big boss of the Citroen Consortium once used his keen sense of smell to be proud of the European financial market and made a big fuss for shareholders in the bond market and stock market. Although the shareholders who had heard the words of the Chairman were still unconscious, they were not only convinced, but also sincerely hoped that their Chairman would burst out with the previous power.

Sure enough, in the second half of 1870, the Citroen Consortium and the shareholders of the Marseille Shipyard, who had been depressed for several years, finally opened up a little. After several years of "working behind closed doors", they could only use this boring method to force their torpedo speedboats to the Marseille Shipyard, which finally got an order from the Italian Navy.

Although the orders are only twenty, they always give the shareholders of Citroen Consortium and Marseille Shipyard some hope.

Given the growing crisis in the Mediterranean, the French Admiralty, which felt like a skillful woman could not cook without rice, was helpless, and with countless reminders from the Citroen Consortium, he finally remembered their inconspicuous "little guys" who were still in the Marseille shipyard.

In early April, the French Admiralty received more than 200 torpedo speedboats belonging to them from the Marseille shipyard, and built three torpedo speedboat bases in Monterier, Marseille and Corsica to provide quick training for soldiers.

In late June, the combined fleet formed by Britain, Spain and Portugal began to stir up waves in the Mediterranean again.

Although the Mediterranean storm carried by the Allied Combined Fleet this time is stronger than before, it is obviously not yet reached its peak.

Despite this, the Allied Fleet, which had been tortured by countless "Mediterranean storms", felt considerable pressure in the face of the fierce Allied Combined Fleet.

However, after several days, the passive situation of the Allied Fleet began to be reversed by accident.
Chapter completed!