The stage is set up on the Golden Mountain on the left side of Arthur Port. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The Golden Mountain is surrounded by water on three sides, one end is connected to the land, it is open and swinging, the martial arts platform is set up in front of the mountain near the water, standing on the platform, looking down on the endless sea, it really makes people have the sea and the sky, and the feeling of relaxation and happiness.

Not to mention watching the naval exercises, just standing on the stage and drinking in the wind is already a great enjoyment.

More than a dozen warships are lined up on the sea, including the three ironclad ships of the Beiyang Navy: Dingyuan, Zhenyuan, and Jiyuan; Super brave and mighty two clippers; and the Kaiji, Nanchen, Nanrui and other warships that belong to the Nanyang Naval Division and are manufactured by the Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau.

With Li Hongzhang's order, the drill began.

Suddenly, I saw more than a dozen warships fluttering their battle flags in a line, one after another blowing their whistles and chopping waves, and the officers and men of the Beiyang Navy in gray-blue military uniforms stood neatly on the deck.

When passing through the martial arts stage, the guns of each ship fired 21 salutes in unison to pay tribute to the two ministers. Such a majestic and spectacular scene is the first time Li Lianying has seen it in her life.

Looking at the warship that was flying away, he couldn't help but say to Li Hongzhang: "Li Zhongtang, so fast!" If Li Taibai had taken advantage of this illness back then, he would have said that 'thousands of miles of Jiangling will be returned in one day'! ”

"It's not fast!" Li Hongzhang said with infinite emotion: "The ships sold to us by Britain, France and other countries have actually long been outdated, if the Queen Mother can allocate some money to buy better ships again, it will be much faster than this." ”

"That's okay, how can people stand it if it's faster?" Li Lianying asked with her mouth open.

"Mr. Li, the birds and fish swim faster than trains and ships, and people in the West have long developed acceleration equipment to make trains and ships faster and faster, and they can stand it, can't we?"

"Of course, of course!"

Then began to drill the formation, more than a dozen boats advanced and retreated, turned left and right, and acted in unison, which was quite spectacular, and Li Lianying was dazzled and confused, and even claimed that it was good.

After appreciating it, he couldn't help but be puzzled, and couldn't help but open his mouth again: "Zhongtang, the sea is so vast, so many ships, how can you command it, and it can be so neat and unified?" ”

"Yuting" Li Hongzhang turned his face to Ding Ruchang, the general of the Beiyang Navy Division and the chief soldier of Tianjin Town, and said: "You tell Manager Li about it." ”

"If you go back to the general manager, you will use the flag to communicate during the day, which is called 'flag language', and at night you will use a light signal."

"Who's in command?"

"And who is in command of the flagship?" Li Lianying broke the casserole and asked to the end.

"This ......", this stumped Ding Ruchang, and he didn't know how to answer for a while. Seeing this, Li Hongzhang hurriedly said: "Today is naturally commanded by the prince. ”

Hearing this, Li Lianying seemed to understand. Who knew that after a while, I wanted to ask again, and suddenly saw Prince Alcohol sitting next to him looking at him, Li Lianying hurriedly stopped, thinking that Prince Alcohol was dissatisfied.

In fact, Prince Alcohol, like Li Lianying, is a layman and doesn't know anything about naval drills at all, but he is the prime minister and minister of naval affairs.

It happened that Li Lianying opened his mouth for him, but Li Lianying stopped just now, so he said: "I think the current formation seems to be the 'One Word Long Snake Formation', Hongzhang, since Lianying is interested, you can pass the order to change it to the 'Two Dragons Grab the Pearl' formation." ”

Li Hongzhang immediately dispatched a speedboat to catch up with the Zhenyuan ship and convey the order.

After a short time, I saw the red and blue flags on the Zhenyuan ship waving three times, playing the flag. In an instant, a "long snake" connected from end to end gradually turned into a "human" shape, the Zhenyuan ship was in the center, and there were six ships on the left and right, sailing towards the Golden Mountain with the momentum of the double dragon entering the sea, and the cannon salute.

This is the most important program: "Booming Boats".

In order to cope with this review, the Beiyang Yamen specially bought some old ships from the steamship China Merchants Bureau at a low price, which were used as target ships, with extra-high masts and colorful flags hanging on them. In addition, there are many targets of various sizes and floating on the surface of the sea, which look like small leaves from a distance.

Listening to only one order, first of all, dozens of cannons from the forts on the mountains on the east and west sides of Haikou opened fire at the same time, intersecting and weaving a fierce fire net to block the sea channel at the entrance.

Then, I saw more than 10 warships lined up on the east and west sides of the North and South Oceans, and the guns of the north and south of the head and tail opened fire directly at the target ship; in an instant, the flames, gunsmoke, and roar sounded, and the sea surface rose up with monstrous waves, and the invading "enemy ships" were completely shattered, like debris stirring in the raging waves and surging on the sea.

"Okay, great!" Li Lianying was deeply attracted by this scene and couldn't help but praise it repeatedly.

It's no wonder that Prince Alcohol is frightened, and it's no wonder that he has never seen this kind of battle since he grew up in the palace? It wasn't until Li Hongzhang handed over the telescope that Fang Dameng woke up.

"Lord Wang, the chief manager, now it's a single shot, you follow the first target ship in the front left row of the phalanx, and hit one by one."

Prince Alcohol fixed his eyes, only to see that at some point, fifty target ships had appeared on the sea again.

Another order. Boom! There was a loud bang, a smoke of gunpowder rose up, and the first target ship on the left shattered. In an instant, the sea was agitated and undulating, and the rest of the target ships were drifting.

It is said that the target shooting below is of course not easy, who wants to follow another order, bang, bang, chow, forty-nine cannon shots, forty-nine huge waves in turn, and the remaining target ships are smashed one by one.

"It's so exciting!" After Prince Alcohol saw it, although he had palpitations, he couldn't help but praise it.

It's not easy to get the praise of the prince! Seeing this, Li Hongzhang hurriedly asked someone to get a pen and paper, and said, "Lord Wang, can you just mention a poem to your heart's content?" ”

Prince Alcohol took the pen and paper and waved it emotionally:

The Golden Peak Fort watched the North and South Ocean warships to operate the Haimen and the battle in Kunming, and the stormy waves disturbed each other.

A torch of ash flew over the red cliff, and the eight directions were cracked.

The star Luo is in danger of suffocating the mountain, and the opportunity is mastered.

The top face is still too resting, and Tianxin is not tired of losing human affection.

Then, he turned his face to Li Lianying, who was still a little fluttery, and asked, "Lianying, what do you think?" ”

"Good, great! The minions have never seen such good poetry. Li Lianying was busy and couldn't speak.

"I'm talking about drill."

"Oh, back to the prince's words, the slave feels that it is really wonderful and unworthy."

"You know that's it. Go back and play with the Queen Mother, the Navy is doing well! It's well worth the money. King Alcohol said, "The gateway to the Beiyang in Lushun is very tightly guarded, please rest assured that the Queen Mother." ”

"The slave knows, and the slave must play truthfully."

The appearance of being obedient and cautious and abiding by his duty made everyone stunned and surprised.

They had witnessed the grandeur of An Dehai going south through Tongzhou, Tianjin, and along the canal, and compared with the two, it was even more difficult for people to believe that Li Lianying was the chief administrator in front of the Empress Dowager Cixi. (To be continued.) )