Cixi thought about it seriously and said: "What you are talking about seems to be 'the same formation, the same situation', in fact, although the 'formation' is the same, the 'situation' is different - the 'one-word long snake formation' ten years later is no longer the 'one-word long snake formation' ten years ago. I say that, right? ”

Oh, that's a lot of understanding.

Guan Zhuofan praised: "The Queen Mother Shengming! Exactly! The way of the world today is 'a great change unseen in 3,000 years', and new tricks are emerging almost every day. I was able to eat a set yesterday, but when I wake up tomorrow morning, I may not be able to eat! It's really called 'changing with each passing day'! If you hold on to the defects, the rubber pillar is drumming, and you refuse to be flexible, if you are not careful, you will fall behind others! The Queen Mother Mingjian, 'If you fall behind, you will be beaten' -- we have suffered this hardship! ”

"Great changes unseen in 3,000 years" and "changing with each passing day" are not the first time she has heard Guan Zhuofan say; "If you fall behind, you will be beaten" is the first time it has been heard. Although the sea breeze was cold and the ships were roaring, these words seemed to have a strange magic, from the ears to the heart, like the bell chime of the silent night, every word rang, which made her heart tremble, and her whole body was slightly hot.

Not really!

It has been 20 years since the 20th year of Daoguang -- the "1,840 years of the Western calendar" as Guan Zhuofan said. In the past 20 years, the country's predicament -- one defeat to Britain and then to Britain and France, and the Western powers have vied with each other to gain what they want. Rakshasa even took advantage of the fire to rob and robbed the entire ten places in Anhui Province! The reason for this shocking is that there is no more thorough explanation than the six words "if you fall behind, you will be beaten"!

On the sea. Ironclad ships. Chopping the waves. You come and go, the whistle blows, and the smoke billows out. This scene gives the best explanation to these six words: If these warships were their own -- if they were built by themselves -- they would be better, no one would dare to bully them, and they would not be "beaten"; If it's not your own - or you can't make it yourself, someone will dare to bully you. If you are called "backward", you will be "beaten"!

Cixi felt that her body was like a wok, and there were countless thoughts coming and going in her mind, but in the end, she only said four words in a low and powerful voice: "You are right!" ”

It's good, it's very powerful, and the royal sister is really in my hub.

Let me add a yard.

"Shengming is no more than the Queen Mother! In today's world situation, the minister has a parable, called: 'The great river goes east.' The tide is mighty, and those who follow it are prosperous. Those who rebel die. ’”

Speaking of this, Guan Zhuofan paused so that Cixi could digest it.

Sure enough, the royal sister read it in a low voice: "Go to the east of the big river, the tide is mighty, those who go along with it prosper, and those who go against it die?" ”

"Yes! I think that our countermeasure is four words: 'advancing with the times'! ”

"Keeping up with the times?"

"Yes! Times! The world situation is changing day by day, and only in this way can China not fall behind and strive to be the upper reaches of all countries; Only in this way, in the midst of the changing situation, can China always be invincible! Only in this way can our China one day stand proudly at the head of the tide, the leaders will be crowded, the power will be all over the world, and all nations will come to the court! ”

This series of sentences was too powerful, and the royal sister was so excited that she didn't know what to say, so she once again grabbed Guan Zhuofan's hand tightly in full view of everyone.

Hmph, when I was in college, I used to debate. The eventful years of the history department's debate team were not given for nothing.

Guan Zhuofan started from the advantages and disadvantages of the "Wild Goose Array" and gave the royal sister enlightenment education, which is not without roots.

In the Battle of Lisa, Austria's "wild goose spread its wings" defeated Italy's "long snake". However, in the Battle of the Yellow Sea 28 years later, the Beiyang Fleet's "wild geese spread their wings" were defeated by the "long snake" of the Japanese Combined Fleet.

There were many reasons for the defeat of the Beiyang Fleet, among which the stubbornness of the formation and the lack of flexibility were one of the important reasons.

The warships of the First Sino-Japanese War were already fully steam-powered, and their speed and handling were not comparable to those of the steam-sail hybrid era. The Beiyang Fleet formed a "wild goose marching formation" with the intention of engaging the enemy and fighting hard, but the Japanese Combined Fleet was divided into two independent columns, the "First Guerrilla Force" and the "Own Fleet," both of which formed a "long snake" and roamed rapidly outside the "wild goose formation" of the Beiyang Fleet.

In the Battle of Lisa, the Austrian flagship "Ferdinand" rammed and sank the Italian flagship "Italia", and the battle was thus drawn; In the naval battle in the Yellow Sea, the "Zhiyuan" was unable to reach the edge of the "Yoshino" -- this is a good illustration that after more than 20 years of development, the speed and maneuverability of the warship have undergone fundamental changes.

In addition, the "wild goose spreading its wings" is a wedge-shaped horizontal formation, which is very difficult to maintain the formation, and the overall steering is even more difficult; The "long snake" is a single column, and the ships follow the first ship, and the fish runs through them, like snakes swimming in the water, turning left and right, coming and going freely.

Therefore, the Japanese Combined Fleet could choose the distance to meet the enemy at will, give full play to its advantages of fast ship speed and high rate of fire, and the two columns either attacked in turn, or flanked the front and rear, went and returned, and repeatedly lashed out at the Beiyang Fleet.

On the other hand, the Beiyang Fleet's "flying geese formation" was difficult and clumsy, and its advantages in large caliber and powerful artillery could not be brought into play, and in addition, Ding Ruchang was injured early, and the entire fleet was even more difficult to coordinate and command poorly, and it was always in a situation of being passively beaten.

From beginning to end, the Japanese Combined Fleet maintained the initiative on the battlefield.

In this way, after more than four hours, the Beiyang Fleet finally couldn't bear its strength.

It's a pity that these things that haven't happened yet, or will never happen in this time and space, can't be told to the royal sister, otherwise, my speech will be even more exciting.

It doesn't matter, what I'm talking about today is enough for her to digest.

After the "drill," it is time for the final process: "artillery drills" -- that is, a live-fire exercise of maritime artillery.

In today's artillery firing exercises, only buoys were set, and no target boats were set. The reason for this is because today's audience is too special to think about it a little more.

The reason for the "artillery exercise" at the small station shooting range is that the gun position and the target position are completely fixed, and the distance between the two is 100 percent certain. Before firing the gun, the firing distance and firing angle have been repeatedly corrected countless times, and it is almost necessary to measure it directly with a ruler.

But this cannot be done with naval artillery shooting. In addition, the accuracy of artillery in this era is already limited, and the difficulty of aiming at sea is greater than that on land. If an astonishing round of bombardment passed, there would still be one or two target ships left on the sea, swaying around intact, and the scene would be ugly.

Therefore, there is no target boat at all, and the Queen Mother is invited to watch the excitement.

Ahem, who made you "military blind".

The five large-tonnage battleships "Shotson," "Vice Admiral," "Maryland," "Jefferson," and "Mississippi River" were lined up, with the "Shooter" taking the lead, forming a "long snake formation" in a single column.

These five are in charge of the "artillery exercise".

The "long snake" has its head west and tail east, and uses its port gun to fire due south; The "Champion" was located about the eighth chain due west and south of the "Yangun" column, south of the bow and north of the stern, so that the Queen Mother, who was standing at the left end of the front bridge, could clearly see the whole process from the shell flying out of the muzzle to the time it fell to the surface of the sea.

The signal flag of "starting the exercise on time" was raised on the signal mast of the "Champion".

The weather is fine, the sun is shining in the west, the spectators are facing east, and the visibility on the sea surface is excellent.

The "snake tail" of the "long snake", and the port side of the "Mississippi" near the stern, a large cloud of white smoke came out, in which the fire burst out, Cixi clearly saw that a gray smoke trail flew out of the fireworks, under the clear sky, drew a long arc, and flew towards the sea in the distance.

A loud thunderous bang came.

Cixi shuddered slightly, but she immediately controlled herself, and did not let the "clairvoyant mirror" in her hand lose its purpose: on the sea, where the smoke disappeared, it was like a giant whale breaking through the water, and a huge column of water rose high.

Involuntarily, Cixi let out a low exclamation.

*(To be continued......)