As the largest port in the Caribbean, the port of Cologne also has a fleet that is neither large nor small - the Caribbean Detachment of the Imperial Western Fleet, and the Port of Colon is its station, although the Western Fleet is one of the three major fleets of the Imperial Navy, but there are not many excellent ports that belong to it, after all, the port located in the tropics is not suitable for the deployment of the navy, but in order to maintain overseas interests, the empire must maintain and deploy a fleet of a certain size in the Atlantic, as a sub-fleet of the Caribbean Fleet, the scale is not large, And not small - a Jinan-class armored cruiser, as well as two protective cruisers, constitute the main force of the fleet, although not large, but in the Americas, it is the most modern naval force in the whole of the Americas.

In the morning light, in the berth area of the naval base, a white traffic boat spewed smoke and made a sound when it crossed the side of the ship's flagship "Edo", which was built with donations from the Tokugawa shogunate during the Sino-British War, and was specially named "Edo" as a token of gratitude to them, of course, the shogunate had hoped that after the war, the armored cruiser they donated to build would become the shogunate's first warship, but was it necessary for Japan to build a navy?

Of course, there was no need for that, so naturally this cutting-edge "Edo" became the flagship of the detachment.

After the boat came along, a sturdy navy colonel in a snow-white uniform stepped up the gangway. The armored cruiser was moored at the berth, and in the harbor, drifting with the rising tide outside the harbor, its gray hull and cannon covered in gold by the rising sun. The colonel climbed up the steep gangway to the ship and saluted the flag and officers.

"I ask for permission to board the ship."

"Agreed, sir."

"My name is Ding Ruchang."

The officer's eyes widened instantly. Dressed in a hot white navy uniform with gilded buttons, white gloves, and long monoculars under his arm, the second lieutenant was straight enough, but he still straightened up.

In the navy, the experience of Ding Ruchang, who was only 28 years old, can be said to be legendary, he was born as a "bandit", he was captured by the rebels in Anqing, and later exiled to the African colonies as a prisoner of war. Becoming a member of the Defence Force in the African colonies, unlike ordinary troops, the Colonial Defence Forces even had a small inland river "fleet" - some wooden-hulled gunboats equipped with several up to twelve 88 mm naval guns, unlike naval officers, who had to graduate from military academies, Ding Ruchang, who had only studied privately for a few years, became the first mate of a six-gun boat by virtue of his military exploits in the Congo River.

After the outbreak of war, in the face of the British Navy, despite the backward performance of its warships, they still had a large number of old warships, which still posed a threat to the transport lines. In fact, during the war, the British Navy, which seemed to be unable to fight against the armored fleet of the Imperial Navy, did not fall silent, and they sent a large number of warships to start a breaking battle. Those sail steam ships, may be old, but with the characteristics of their sails, the endurance is almost unlimited, they are like ghosts on the sea, elusive, sinking dozens of Chinese merchant ships, in order to protect the transport line, the navy used all the forces at its disposal, in addition to adding artillery to the transport ships, those wooden shell gunboats of the colonial defense forces, were also requisitioned for merchant escorts.

As the first mate of the "Thunder", Ding Ruchang was only responsible for the inter-colonial escort, and although the warship's reputation was very shocking, it was actually only a brig of only 85 tons. The colonial defense forces named the gunboats with some very intimidating names, but the "Thunder" only had six guns and a low-power steam engine.

Normally, Ding Ruchang, who sailed the route between the South African colonies and the Central African colonies, would have encountered little danger, but at the end of the war, he accidentally encountered a cruiser, the USS Colonel, a steam-powered wooden-hulled warship with 32 rear-loading guns.

After discovering the colonial fleet, it immediately launched an attack, almost as soon as the naval battle started with 18 guns "Storm" suffered heavy losses, and the captain of the "Thunder" was killed in the British shelling, a group of sailors who had only shelled the natives, was not the opponent of the British Navy at all, but as the first mate Ding Ruchang took over the command of the fleet, when the "Storm" and other merchant ships fled in all directions, he launched an attack on it without hesitation, compared to the Colonel with a displacement of nearly 2,000 tons, The "Thunder" with a displacement of less than 100 tons can be said to be pitifully small, but in the half-hour-long naval battle, until the "Thunder" sank, it continued to shell the "Colonel" and hit the enemy ships more than 10 times. The warship, which was more than 2,000 tons, also suffered heavy losses in the naval battle, and the "Colonel," which was seriously flooded, even had to give up its plan to capture the sailors and sail to land at an accelerated pace, and the British sailors on the ship naturally became prisoners of war of the colonial defense forces.

Despite the loss of the warship and the vast majority of the officers and men on board in this small naval battle, Ding Ruchang, as the actual commander of the warship, still became a hero of the navy for his resolute and resolute attack, and even a symbol of the navy's never giving up, and was commended by His Majesty the Emperor. Even the Admiralty Shangshu even allowed him to enter the Whampoa Naval Military Academy for further study, and after the six-month training period, he became the first mate of a sail cruiser and became the captain of the ship three years ago.

And Ding Ruchang himself has become a legend in the navy because of this naval battle and his experience. And now he has just been promoted to the rank of Admiral of the Detachment. It is precisely because of this legend that the second lieutenant officer will be a little excited, after all, when they were at the Naval Academy, they had studied that naval battle more than once, and everyone came to the conclusion that there was no better choice than to retreat, but Ding Ruchang made another choice, and his choice was the fighting spirit that the navy must have. It also inspires these juniors of the Navy.

"Yes, sir. I'm going to inform the Admiral, sir, herald! ”

"Don't bother him yet. He didn't know I was coming, so I went to the deck first. ”

Ding Ruchang is no stranger to the "Jinan-class" armored cruiser, and before he was transferred to the Atlantic Fleet Command, he was the captain of the "Chang'an" of the same class, so he has always had a deep affection for this type of warship built at the end of the war, although it is now backward.

Ding Ruchang was in complete interest as he walked along the foredeck, where the sailors were already busy, and they were busy dodging the water that spewed out of the hoses when the flashing deck sailors washed the deck. The deck under your feet is comfortable to step on. The Japanese breeze in the harbor has a pungent smell and smells pleasant. It was the world he knew, a coherent world of warships, intricate machinery, and valiant sailors, heavy artillery, and the sea.

After a long career as a staff officer in the Command, he finally returned home.

This is his home!

To the left, the 2,840-ton Incheon and the 1,650-ton Nagasaki were moored there, and the sailors on board had already begun their morning exercises, all of which were exactly the world he had been looking forward to returning to in the past year.

Now he's back!

Half a month ago, when accepting this appointment, Ding Ruchang immediately packed his bags and got up to Cologne, but he did not arrive at the fleet at the first time, but made observations outside the fleet for a few days to get to know the fleet and the sailors in the fleet.

Only today, he entered the base in the early morning and boarded the warship.

The gangway herald came briskly and saluted, he looked to be fifteen or sixteen years old at most. On the whole, the sailors are very young today – the navy is always growing in size compared to the army. And the two deck officers on the deck wore the collar badges of the Navy Major, and judging by their age, they looked more like lieutenants. The most direct benefit for soldiers in wartime is to be promoted quickly.

"Your Excellency, Captain, greets you, sir. He's taking a bath, and he's going to be done soon. He said that he had your letter in his cabin, forwarded from the Fleet's land office, and that he invited you to breakfast, sir, please come with me. ”

"What's your name and what level?"

"Sir, my name is Li Kecai, and I'm a gun corporal, sir!"

He answered the incoming commander of the fleet cleanly and enthusiastically, and was no less legendary in the navy.

"Corporal Li, how old are you?"

"Nineteen, sir."

Sure enough, the young ones are deadly...... Just like himself, he is also a young man!

The captain's cabin was quite imposing, with a Panamanian attendant, a snow-white shirt, a round brown face, dark eyes, and thick black hair.

"My name is Amiso, sir."

When he handed the letter to the colonel, he gestured with a dignified gesture of a little head, showing pride in his identity more than flattery to his superiors, and indeed, for the Panamanians, it was an honor in itself to be the captain's attendant.

"Mr. Captain will be out at once. Sir, want coffee? Or tea? ”

When he took the letter, looking at the Panamanian Ding Ruchang in front of him, his brows furrowed suddenly, and he looked at the waiter and asked.

"Are you in the Navy?"

He will not be wearing a military uniform and will obviously not be a naval soldier. Although there are many civilian employees in the naval base, there should be no civilian employees on the ship, except for ship repair technicians and workers.

"Sir, I'm a civilian employee of the Navy, a three-year employee......"

Amiso replied with some pride that he could even speak Chinese fluently.

"Admiral Ding, Amiso is a very reliable employee, he was already on our side when our troops arrived here......"

When Li Wenqing, who happened to walk out of the bathroom, heard Ding Ruchang's displeasure, he hurriedly explained that after the two completed the handover, this would no longer be his fleet.

"So, if you can, please ask Admiral Ding to keep it."

"Admiral Lee!"

With a straight face, in the face of this request, Ding Ruchang said coldly.

"I don't know what the rules were here in the past, but in my fleet, it is absolutely forbidden for civilian employees to get on board, and now, as the commander of the detachment, I will remove the civilian employees on the ship within half an hour!"

After saying this, Ding Ruchang ignored their surprise, and then said coldly.

"Now, notify all the officers on board the ship, and a dinner party will be held in half an hour!"

Needless to say, even the most idiotic now knows that the newly appointed Admiral of the Detachment is starting to light the first fire.

The atmosphere in the officer's cafeteria at the base was extremely tense, and the officers occasionally turned their eyes to Zhang Mingfu, who was the chief of staff of the fleet, only to see that he was also sitting there, and Ding Ruchang, who had taken off his military hat, was also sitting there.

Shaving the head, which was the custom of the self-righteous army, was for the convenience of rescue in wartime, but after the war, many officers still grew their hair, mostly with that kind of flat head. Now you only need to look at the hairstyle, and the big guy already knows that this admiral, known as the legendary admiral, is different from the previous admiral.

Despite the nominal dinner, the officers sitting at the long table knew very well that this was by no means a dinner, and they all already knew how the commander was angry on the flagship before, because of the ship's attendants.

As the former Admiral Li Wenqing did not attend the dinner, as soon as the handover was completed, he left the fleet, of course, when he left, his face was extremely ugly, it is no wonder that Ding Ruchang did not save the slightest face for him at all, since even the previous Admiral did not save face, let alone others, just when everyone was there waiting for the Admiral's anger, they saw the Admiral stand up.

Looking around at the officers in the restaurant, Ding Ruchang did not get angry, but cut straight to the point.

"Navy Staff Order!"

"Wow!"

Without any hesitation, all the officers stood up at the same time when they heard this. An order from the Naval Staff? What is it?

"All officers and men of the Caribbean Fleet, in view of the fact that the invasion of the United States of America by the United States of America has caused the displacement of millions of civilians, and in order to prevent the further expansion of this humanitarian disaster, to maintain peace in the Americas, and to rescue the people of the Confederate States of America who have been invaded by war, you hereby order your fleet to escort the Marines to the Confederate States of America to maintain peace in the region and carry out humanitarian relief ......"

All the vocabulary is foreign to these officers, a humanitarian catastrophe? Maintaining regional peace? Humanitarian relief?

What does it all mean?

Maybe they don't know what that means, but they can be sure...... It's going to war!

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