The matter of choosing an envoy was handed over to Lucien. After all, there are the most scammers and other things in the Ministry of Truth, even more than the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Of course, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also has its own advantages, that is, many of the people in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs get wages at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, secretly get wages at the Ministry of Truth, or get wages at the Ministry of Public Security, or even get wages at the three departments at the same time.

Lucien found a guy with excellent work ability in his department. Last time, this guy helped him find a lot of guys who were in the Ministry of Truth, his heart was in the Ministry of Public Security, he received salary in the Ministry of Truth, and his bonus in the Ministry of Public Security, so he got Lucien's eyes.

After talking to this person, Lucien further determined that this was a very capable guy who deserves reuse. This guy's hands were full of calluses that he had been grinding out when he was a craftsman. When necessary, he could always show an honest and stupid hat at any time, but he could speak five languages ​​and received a very good education. More importantly, he was quite clear-headed and could clearly see where his interests were. He was also very brave, not afraid of death, nor was he afraid of letting others die. Or to put it more clearly, this guy was a natural liar and robber.

This guy is Victor de Treville. Well, just look at the name and you will know that he is a nobleman. But he has no choice from his background and has a path. Just like in "The 1993", Guo Wen, who was born in a noble, firmly stood on this side of the revolution. Victor is also a progressive nobleman who betrayed his background and firmly stood with the vast revolutionary masses. He cut off relations with his brother who continued to remain in the reactionary camp. He made considerable contributions in the battle to suppress the rebellion of the nobles when Napoleon ascended the first rule, and now he is one of the trump cards of the Ministry of Truth.

So now that Lucien has thought of him as soon as he receives this task.

Victor also knew that although he was highly valued, he faced a big problem. That is, he had always worked in a secret department.

In the eyes of many people, working in a secret department is extremely powerful and powerful, so powerful that even the names cannot be mentioned. But this is actually a complete misunderstanding, and it is the result of being led by various magical dramas. The more you cannot mention the name, the more you can be sacrificed at any time, no one knows it. Not to mention the names that cannot be mentioned, most of the time, the commander of the Jinyiwei with a name and a surname, is compared with the serious civil servants, especially those who are from Shujishi. In fact, Mao is not counted.

If you really want to climb up, you must find a way to turn to the Ming Road and become a person whose name can appear in the newspaper. Victor knew that this time, as the special envoy of the First Reign of Napoleon, went to Santo Domingo, might be such an opportunity.

So after receiving the task, Victor immediately went home to prepare. He only told his wife, "I'm going to go out for the task." He brought the luggage that he had already prepared long ago. Because he often needed to go out immediately because of a certain task, there would always be a set of luggage at home that had been packed in a box and could be carried out after carrying it.

My wife, who had long been used to all this, didn't ask him where he would go or when he would come back. Because most of the time, these are also "confidentials". However, Victor himself added another sentence: "It may be a long time to go out this time." When he went out, his son Edgar said in a silence: "Dad when he comes back, remember to bring me paints, and my paints are almost used up again."

Victor responded with a smile and then went out.

There was already a carriage waiting at the door.

"Go to Russell Pier." Victor got on the carriage and said to the coachman.

Russell Pier is a dock on the Seine River, where there are steamships to Le Havre. In order to protect the secret of propellers, civilian steamships are still only allowed to use paddle wheels except for naval warships. This of course slows down the speed of the ships, but because the ships are constantly stopping day and night, this is already the fastest way to get from Paris to the Atlantic coast. Of course, if you turn the direction in the opposite direction and go to Paris from the Atlantic coast, it is better to take a mail bus.

When Victor arrived at LeHavre, the staff of the Ministry of Truth had prepared him a ship to Santo Domingo.

This is a large steam cruiser named "Free Trade" with three towering masts and two large chimneys. The so-called large steam cruiser is the latest experimental warship of the French Navy. Its displacement has reached the level of a second-class battleship, which is about 2,300 tons.

In addition to the significant increase in displacement, she also used a lot of new technologies. First of all, steel keels.

In this era, the keels needed to build warships are hard-won strategic resources. Although keel splicing technology has been used, the strength of the splicing keel is obviously not comparable to a giant tree that grows directly, and the use of splicing is also very limited. Therefore, keels have seriously limited the size of warships and other ships.

But the emergence of cheap steel has changed this situation. Steel is stronger than any wood, and it can be as thick as it wants and length as it wants. The only problem is that steel is easy to rust in the marine environment. Most of the other parts of a boat can be replaced, but the keel cannot be replaced. Once the keel is severely rusted, it almost means that the entire ship is over.

Of course, this is not without solutions. For example, adding chromium to steel to make stainless steel. In fact, stainless steel has appeared in the laboratory of military composites. However, chromium has just been discovered, and its extraction is not easy, which makes the cost of stainless steel quite high. Moreover, the corrosion resistance of the stainless steel produced by military composites in the laboratory is not enough to resist the salt spray environment at sea, and its strength is also very average compared to ordinary steel. Therefore, this technology is not suitable for making keels of warships.

Another related technology is to galvanize the entire steel keel. On the earth, the zinc reserves are far less than chromium, but its refining is not difficult. A mysterious Eastern power was able to produce large quantities of metal zinc in about a thousand years. Until the 19th century, metal zinc was one of the flagship products exported by a major power.

The melting point of zinc is very low, which makes the galvanizing process quite simple. It does not require electroplating or something, but only a hot dip method is required.

The keel of this warship uses this technology.

The use of steel keels has caused the cost of this big guy with a size of more than 2,000 tons to be reduced by a little. The savings of construction time are even more obvious.

The ship still uses a hybrid power of steam and sails, but is equipped with two larger steam engines and is equipped with twin propellers.

Of course, the steam engine and coal cabin occupied a lot of space, so the ship still had only a complete gun deck and a very short low-rise gun deck.

However, compared with the "Equality" in the past, the firepower of the "Free Trade" is still much stronger. It has twenty 110mm caliber rear-mounted rifled guns. Two of them are installed in the head of the ship, and the other eighteen are distributed on both sides of the warship. The upper gun deck is seven on each side, and two on each side of the second gun deck.

Although the number of cannons has increased by only two, the rate of fire and power of each cannon has greatly increased.

The Free Trade has completed many voyage tests in the offshore area, but this is the first time for her to sail across the Atlantic Ocean. This kind of long voyage is also the purpose of designing her: to sail to the New World to defend free trade between the old and new worlds.

In fact, the ship was not fully prepared for such a long-distance voyage. It was just that the situation in Haiti changed, and a warship that could shake the scene was urgently needed. Napoleon made a request to the Navy to allow the Free Trade to sail in the ocean in advance.

The night after Victor boarded the ship, the ship sailed out of the port and sailed towards the vast sea.

The speed of the "Free Trade" is not fast, and on average, it is only about 7 knots. Of course, this is because they did not start the steam engine, but rely entirely on sails. Although the coal cabin of the "Free Trade" is large, it cannot support the navigation across the Atlantic Ocean.

Victor had never had a long experience on a sea boat before, so he was very novel about the days on the sea at the beginning. However, this novelty passed quickly and the days suddenly became monotonous and boring. It took more than a month to sail across the Atlantic Ocean. In the past month, Victor could see other than blue sky, blue sea, and blue sky.

Occasionally, they could encounter one or two other ships, but most of these ships avoided them from a distance. Occasionally, one or two were approaching a little, but after seeing the "Free Trade" clearly, they immediately turned around and ran away.

"Mr. Treville, is this your first time participating in such a voyage?" Captain Zola asked, looking at Victor alone boredly looking at the sea.

"Yes, it's indeed the first time I've participated in such a long voyage. I've also taken a sea boat in the Mediterranean, from Marseille to Genoa. At that time, I already thought the sea was so big, but now I know that the Mediterranean is so small. By the way, Captain, how long will it take to get to Santo Domingo?"

"Ah, Mr. Treville, you have asked this question more than once. Maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after tomorrow, in short, we are almost here." Captain Zola replied.

Victor smiled embarrassedly, and was about to say something when he heard the lookout shouting: "Discover the ship, thirteen o'clock!"

:.:
Chapter completed!