After several months of sea voyage, Fu Wei arrived at Constantinople with a fleet.
Earlier, Wang Meng sent an official letter to the captain of pingman school, and it was not the first time that he led the fleet to serve the mission. He had led the fleet to Sasan, Persia many times before. Each time, he brought back a large number of slaves and pretended to ship the purchased grain. In fact, the grain was directly stored in the system warehouse.
In the Far East, the Han Empire had a fleet coming to Rome. It was discovered as early as the fleet was close to the Strait of Gibraltar. Although the Spanish province had a bad relationship with Constantinople in advance, it urgently sent the news to Constantius II of Constantinople.
It was supposed to wait for a reply from Constantinople, or let the Spanish provinces stop the Chinese fleet, or allow the Chinese fleet to pass through the Strait of Gibraltar, but the Chinese Fleet just made a routine notification and directly entered the Strait of Gibraltar. Later, Fu Wei asked a ship to send a gift to the Spanish governor in Rome, As a result, the governor of Spain sent a ship to make a pretentious chase.
When Fu Wei set out, the scale of the fleet was very large. There were 230 warships of various types and 180 transport ships of different types, which combined was 410.
After more than four months of sailing, the journey was not stable. It should be said that it had experienced thousands of risks and difficulties. Some ships were lost in each adventure. When it arrived at the entrance of the Strait of Gibraltar, there were actually no 410 ships.
There are only 342 ships safely arriving in the Strait of Gibraltar. Some ships look even miserable from the appearance, but on the whole, the fleet is still huge.
There are fleets in the Spanish provinces, but there are only more than 30 ships, basically small ships. This province is at the westernmost end of Rome, and then to the west is the Atlantic Ocean.
Since the elimination of Carthage by Rome, there has been no threat from the sea. It can even be said that if there were no sudden emergence of the Han fleet, there would be no foreign fleet in the Atlantic for hundreds of years.
Then we can understand that without maritime threats, the development of the navy in Spanish provinces is tantamount to having enough to support and spending military spending in vain. This is also why there are only more than 30 small ships stationed in such a strategic place.
Intuitively, the ships brought by Fu Wei, no matter what model, are a few larger than those in the Spanish provinces, and they also crush the garrison in the Spanish provinces in quantity. Even if the Spanish governor receives the order to intercept, he will not implement it, let alone the governor of Spain has been unable to deal with Constantinople.
The Chinese Fleet entered the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar, with a clear goal towards Constantinople. The appearance of this huge fleet surprised the people along the way.
From west to East, everywhere the Han fleet passed, the local leaders learned that there was such a fleet whose ownership was unknown. They reported to Constantinople at the first time, and the emergencies of various levels fell into the hands of Constantius II like snowflakes.
Another effect of the emergence of the Han fleet was to frighten the ships on the route and along the coast.
No ship dared to block the route of the Han fleet. The only choice was to avoid it far away. The Roman Navy along the way only dared to follow far away, saying nothing, and was unwilling to rush up to a passionate attack.
Villages along the coastline are fleeing, and cities are on defensive alert. Local civil protection officials began to collect ships. They wanted to organize a fleet to fight the fleet of unknown forces. It was not the first option, or they expected to protect themselves more when attacked.
The situation was changed because the Han fleet was close to the Italian peninsula. The reason was that Constantinople had announced that the fleet came from the distant Eastern Han Empire, so that there was no need to panic.
All parts of Rome were reassured that the fleet was not hostile and began their own abuse.
The Han fleet did not carry out any attack, that is, some people committed crimes in the panic of various cities and villages, various vicious cases occurred frequently, many people died, and there were a lot of property destroyed in the chaos. Who should be those?
As long as the cities on the coastline basically develop navigation and maritime trade. I don't know that before the Han fleet was not hostile, the ships in various cities didn't dare to go to sea at all, which was tantamount to a pause in trade.
For businessmen, time is money. If they delay so many days, they will lose money every day. Some people will cause greater losses because of the delay of delivery date.
No matter what happens on the pipeline or what impact it causes, good and bad Fu Wei won't be a bird. When he arrived at Constantinople, the fleet stopped outside the dock. It was business to see the king when he went ashore.
When he was still on the ship, Fu Wei saw the outline of Constantinople and the crowd of onlookers. These are still not what he cares about. After handing over the official letter from Chang'an, he was interested in seeing the Roman nobles who are similar to the Han people but much shorter.
"The noise caused by Junshan is a little big." Dou ah waited for the handover of business before he went up to give Fu Wei a bear hug: "you don't know! Constantinople is busy these days. Dozens of hundreds of people come to report in horror every day."
Fu Wei saw Doo aman's gloating and smiled.
When they were in China, they often met, that is, their friendship was neither salty nor light. They met again in a place far away from their hometown, looked at each other very pleasing to the eye, and magically sublimated their feelings.
"You've gained a lot of weight. The reception of the people in Daqin is very meticulous, isn't it?" Fu Wei looked around and saw that some acquaintances were smiling and greeting. Behind him, he said to Dou a, "look at me, are you thin?"
Doo ah really observed Fu Wei carefully. He had the impression that Fu Wei was a little fatter. He really lost a lot today.
"We set out from gitanado and went around in a big circle. We took a route called the Cape of good hope. It was thrilling all the way." Fu Wei didn't know what he was thinking, showed an expression of the rest of his life, and continued: "thanks to the soldiers who have experienced the great storms and waves in the Pacific, have sufficient coping experience, and sail along the coastline along the way, otherwise..."
After Malacca, the sea area belongs to the Atlantic Ocean, but the Han people generally only move in the A3 ocean. They really don't pay much attention to the rest of the sea area.
There is also a small mistake made by Liu Yan. He originally thought that the Suez canal already existed. The real situation is that the Suez Canal really existed. It was dug up by the Egyptians more than 3000 years ago. It can lead from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. The problem is that it was blocked more than 3000 years ago.
"The canal absolutely exists. It must be deliberately concealed by the local aborigines, and their exploration is not effective." Fu Wei is talking about the exploration of the Suez Canal. Even if there is no Suez Canal, the emperor says there is, but the alien conceals it very bad and can't find it himself: "in order not to delay time, we have to change the route."
Dou a was a little stunned. Looking at Fu Wei, he said strangely, "there is really such a canal. This is the news from the people of Daqin. It's just that the river has been blocked for too long, and some river sections have simply been filled up."
Fu Wei's face stiffened. He just helped Liu Yan throw a pot. He secretly scolded Dou ah for being too straight. He felt he couldn't chat happily any more.
Wang Meng had already met with the senior management of the fleet one by one to greet each other. He took Fu Wei with him to meet Julian, who was in charge of the reception, and had to negotiate how to arrange the berthing of the Fleet ships.
In fact, the arrangement of the Han fleet should be decided in advance. Several docks on the side of Constantinople are not unable to accommodate the Han fleet. The problem is that one wharf can not accommodate all ships at all. The Han fleet needs to be parked separately, and Wang Meng also needs the advice from Fu Wei.
"Separate berthing does not exist." Fu Wei directly rejected Julian's arrangement, thought about it and said, "the entrance here is a long and narrow strait. It's not so realistic to block in the Strait."
Julian had long expected Fu Wei's refusal. Let alone that Rome did not officially establish diplomatic relations with the Han country. Even if the relationship was good after the establishment of diplomatic relations, as long as the Han people's IQ was still online, the fleet would not be allowed to be split. He smiled bitterly at the seemingly reasonable words behind Fu Wei. It was just a way to show off the vastness of the Han fleet!
"Well?" Fu Wei asked Wang Meng for advice: "before coming here, I saw a sea area suitable for berthing, where most of the fleet's warships are berthed, and the rest of the warships and transport ships go everywhere to receive the materials you purchased?"
Wang Meng smiled and looked at Julian. Another thing, he hasn't left Constantinople since he came to Rome. Even if he has purchased anything, it is stored in Constantinople. There are no purchased materials in other places, but there's no need to say.
"Where is it?" Julian subconsciously felt something was wrong and needed to know where the sea was first. After listening to Fu Wei's detailed description and knowing where the location was, he stared at Fu Wei silently for a long time. Without consent or refusal, he said, "we need Augustus's permission."
The sea area mentioned by Fu Wei is in the northeast of the Aegean Sea. The berthing area is next to an island at the exit of the Strait (dadanir), close to Thrace.
This position is the throat of the Strait. Locking here is tantamount to cutting off the connection between the maritime route and Constantinople. Once an attack is launched, it can also threaten the Greek peninsula and Asia Minor. Being close to Thrace is more conducive to cutting off the land transportation line between Constantinople and the European continent.
"That's as soon as possible." Fu Wei was surprised how Julian could speak Chinese so standard. He joked: "it's not good that the fleet will be blocked here a moment later."
The Han fleet really blocked the channel. The current situation is that the ships outside can't get in and the ships inside can't get out. The longer the time, the more serious the congestion will be.
"It's blocked." Julian looked at it, frowned and said, "Sir, can you make the fleet line up and get out of the channel?"
"Well, Wei is not qualified to be called 'Your Excellency'." Fu Wei said to Julian first, and then asked Wang Meng for instructions: "angel decision?"
Wang Meng smiled and said, "blocking is very bad."
Fu Wei also smiled. He heard what Wang Meng wanted to express. After the mission came to Rome, it was not plain sailing. Generally, the Romans received it with courtesy and did not develop to the point of tension.
Next, the surrounding Roman ships need to withdraw from a certain distance to avoid. The whole process took nearly five hours. The fleet that received the order began to adjust after waiting for the clearance around the fleet.
Julian just now didn't understand what a Han Army waving a flag was doing. He didn't hear what kind of tools the Han Army used to spread military orders. When he saw that there were soldiers waving flags on Han Army ships, he reacted that it was a method of communication with flags.
The Han Army had flag language for a long time, and the army used it less often. It was a rule for the navy to use flag language for communication. At the same time, the Navy also mastered the means of communication with lights flickering at night (Morse code).
Roman military orders were transmitted in a very primitive way. In addition to relying on human transmission, they used the agreed sound rhythm. Julian found that the Han people could use flags to communicate, and immediately had an extreme desire to explore.
"You came quite quickly." Wang Meng was really surprised. He thought he needed to wait a few more months or even longer. He lowered his voice and asked, "what's your impression of Daqin?"
Fu Wei knew what Wang Meng was asking. He also lowered his voice and replied, "the territory of Daqin is quite vast. We come from the west, and the territory of Daqin is on both sides of the Strait. The same is true wherever we go along the way. They have many coastline cities and ports everywhere. Divided by the types of civilization under your majesty, they are very much like marine civilization?"
Wang Meng was stunned. He really didn't know what Liu Yan did behind him. After a little thought, he could understand what "marine civilization" meant: "the marine development of Daqin went astray. They almost had no ships suitable for sailing outside the Mediterranean."
Fu Wei has some knowledge about the development of the Roman ocean. The Persians don't laugh at the Romans less about this. It's not one or two hundred years for the Persians to laugh at the Romans as a short legged nation on the sea.
Speaking of Persians, Fu Wei couldn't help laughing and said, "when we came, we followed nearly 100 Persian ships and haven't bypassed the Cape of good hope. Those guys counselled."
Wang Meng didn't ask how many ships Fu Wei took when he set out. At a glance, there should be about 300 ships. The condition of some ships is still very bad. After hearing that the Persians failed halfway along the road, he said sincerely, "you are a real warrior!"