Under the bright sun, at the racecourse of Hill Manor, Natsuki, dressed in a scarlet riding suit, took the reins of "Tulip" from Charlotte. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info this vigorous thoroughbred horse has witnessed the twists and turns of the two people, singing and crying emotional experience, now it has been in the young prime of the horse, phoenix, handsome and extraordinary, the posture of the horse to the people of the admiration.

"Be careful." Charlotte said affectionately.

Xia Shu nodded with a smile: "Don't worry, I know it in my heart." ”

It was a horse race that had nothing to do with honor, as a form of high society socialization, in order to allow the royal nobles to show off their heroic appearance, and Prince Edward was a part of it, and the rest of them had at least the title of earl, or the heir to a prominent aristocratic family, and there was no restriction on age, but it was very rare for General Hill to be over forty years old.

Turning over his horse, Natsuki drove the "Tulip" to General Hill. This resolute and tolerant professional soldier, although he escaped the Battle of Jutland, lost his left eye forever, and when he returned to England at the end of the war, he was no longer as strong as he had been, and his physical condition was repeated, and perhaps to fulfill the friendship of the landlord, perhaps to defend his dignity, he insisted on participating in this horse race, and at this moment he was sitting on horseback with his head held high, and his momentum was not lost at all to the able-bodied young men around him.

"The years are like flowing water, and ten years have passed in a flash." Natsuki sighed.

"It's been ten years, it's been ten years...... Duke Hill nodded, smiling bitterly, the past ten years should have been the most powerful stage in his life, but since Natsuki broke into this manor, he and the entire Hill family's life trajectory has deviated, from Duke Hill to the new generation of young people, almost everyone has been affected. They had every reason to hate Natsuki, and even if they did something extreme, it wouldn't be too surprising. However, they pity Charlotte and don't want her to be hurt again, so most of them, like General Hill, hold their chests high in the face of adversity and proudly face the bleak wind and rain on the road ahead, which Natsuki admires very much.

After sighing with emotion, Xia Shu blamed himself: "Because of my own selfish desires, I have made you suffer too much in the past ten years, and I hope to have the opportunity to make up for it." ”

General Hill looked ahead with a calm face: "If staying away from Xia Luo is the best compensation for us, will you leave willingly?" ”

Xia Shu replied in a slow and firm tone: "This is by no means the best way to make amends, it will only make Xia Luo's heartbreak never heal, so I refuse." For the rest of her life, I want her to live happily. ”

General Hill was silent, his eyes were a little blank and a little confused, as if he had seen the complete decline of the Hill family, but if his daughter could get true happiness, what was there to be afraid of?

In the run-up to the start of the small Jockey Club at Hill Manor, on the high seas east of the Thames estuary, the Gneisenau, arguably the most equipped cruiser on the Continent, was competing in another unofficial race. This German-made battleship belongs to the Scharnhorst class, equipped with four twin 210 mm 40 times the diameter of the main gun, its maximum firing elevation angle of 30 degrees, the maximum firing range of 15,000 meters, and the combat rate of fire is 4 to 5 rounds per minute, which is higher than the 234 mm and 203 mm guns made in Britain in the same period, and almost the same as the German-made 150 mm rapid-fire guns, so in the face of the armored cruisers built by the great powers at the same time, it can obtain considerable firepower output by virtue of the number of main guns and the rate of fire. Theoretically, only the British Navy's Warrior and Minotaur classes could match them, but most of the six British armored cruisers had been silenced during the war, and those that remained at the end of the war were also paid to the Allies under the terms of the London Armistice. Today, the flagship of the British Home Fleet is the aging Majesty-class battleship "Noble", and the only remaining armored cruiser formation is the weaker Cressy class and Monmoth-class.

With a standard displacement of 12,000 tons, the Cressy class was already a fairly large capital warship at the time, and its original design was two 234 mm caliber primary guns paired with 12 152 mm secondary secondary guns. After the end of the war, in view of the fact that it was difficult for the British Royal Navy to obtain new ships in the short term, in order to meet the most basic defense needs, and without violating the restrictions of the London Armistice Agreement, the British military adopted a variety of emergency measures, on the one hand, they searched for all available resources in the international market, did not hesitate to buy back the former warships for export at high prices, and even pursued the "King Kong" ordered by the Japanese Navy and built by the British Vickers Shipyard, and on the other hand, they tried every means to modify the existing ships. Enhance the performance of older warships with the most advanced equipment available today.

The first batch of ships to be successfully refitted, the Eurian began in early July and ended at the end of October, with the famous British John Brown shipyard giving it a new lease of life in less than four months. After the modification of the London Armistice, the caliber of the main gun was reduced from 234 mm to 203 mm, but the barrel diameter was increased from 40 to 45, the number of guns increased from 2 to 8, the fire intensity was doubled, and the optical ranging equipment was updated, and a set of Dreyer fire control and command system was installed. At the same time, the old armored cruiser completely replaced the oil-fired boilers, increased the power output to 24,000 horsepower, increased the design speed from the original 21 knots to 23 knots, and added a mechanical catapult to carry a single seat on the water.

The remodeled "Euriares" was not enough to compete with the German battle cruisers, but it was suitable for use against the Irish Navy. On the occasion of the visit of the "Gneisenau" carrying a candidate for the Irish throne, the British Navy was eager to use this opportunity to test the combat effectiveness of the "Euriares", not to expect such an old ship to support the future, but because the improvements made to learn from the defeat of the war were first applied to these modified ships, and if they can be proved to be correct and effective, then these new technologies will undoubtedly be placed on the next generation of new design and construction.

As with traditional artillery exchanges, the British arranged for stationary and floating targets, and two live-fire armored cruisers would fire at steady and fast speeds, respectively, and in both cases the use of school-firing aircraft was permitted.

Today, the "Gneisenau" has become the "Long Live Freedom" of the Irish Navy, but its silhouette is still the same, and the livery still uses the gray and white wartime camouflage, the biggest change is that its controller, although some German officers and soldiers are still retained on the ship, most of the posts have been changed to authentic Irish. In order to train a group of qualified sailors, a professional training system and sufficient practical opportunities are indispensable, and if there are veteran sailors with rich combat experience to guide them, the efficiency and quality can be reliably guaranteed. Benefiting from their alliance with Germany, the Irish Navy officers and sailors were able to grow up in an ideal environment, with officers and crews of two Scharnhorst-class ships accompanying the German fleet to the northern seas on live combat missions. Now that the Scharnhorst was docked and refitted, all the Irish officers and men on board joined the Gneisenau, and only a small number of German officers, non-commissioned officers, and mechanics were needed to make the ship meet the handling requirements.

The "Long Live Freedom," with the green, white, and orange crown flag fluttering on the mast, and the "Eurian Ares," flying the St. George's cross flag, arrived at the firing area one after the other, and each of them ejected and took off a reconnaissance and school firing plane, and then adjusted its course for the target azimuth and put on the strongest attitude of meeting the enemy on the side side......

In the racecourse of Hill Manor, the princes and nobles of Britain and Ireland rode their horses and galloped happily, showing their grace on horses. Natsuki is dressed in red and red horses, like a jumping flame, Prince Edward is dressed in white and white horses, showing clean and flawless dignity, from the starting stage, the two of them ride hand in hand, almost all eyes are deeply attracted by this perfect match......

In the sea east of Thames, the "Long Live Liberty" built in 1904 and the "Eurian Alles" built in 1899 emitted a thunderous roar one after another, at a distance of more than 10,000 meters, the salvo of the main guns of the two battleships reached a very high level, in contrast, all the main guns were arranged in the central axis, and the "Long Live Liberty" using a stereo optical rangefinder and a semi-mechanical fire control system was easier to take the lead in the initial stage, and the "Eurian Alles" was limited by the hull structure. Half of the eight main guns after the modification are twin turrets, half are single gun profiles, and the broadside salvo can only be put into six main guns, and its combined rangefinder is susceptible to light and smoke, but the Dreyer fire control system is far stronger than the ship-wide unified firing command system used by German-made warships......

Halfway through the race, the slightly rusty combination of Natsuki and "Tulip" gradually fell into a position, and the opponent could not be seen out of the corner of his eye, Prince Edward did not turn his head to look around, but rode his horse wildly. Although a horse race has no necessary connection to the future of the country, the ladies and gentlemen who watched the race cheered enthusiastically when they saw the British crown prince take the lead in front of the candidate for the throne of Ireland......

For long-range shooting at slow-moving targets, the "Long Live Freedom" outscored the "Euriales's" 16 shots with one out of 10 shots, and compared to the actual hit rate of several major naval battles during the war, their shooting standard was top-notch. With this kind of performance, if the two mounted cruisers fight within the effective combat distance, each has the opportunity to sink the opponent, but the former is in the original state of unrefitted and still has great potential to be tapped, and the state of the latter meets or even exceeds the psychological expectations of the British Navy, but the modification of the warship is easy to implement, but the transformation of the mental state of the officers and men is difficult to achieve. After a series of crushing defeats in Jutland, Flanders, and the Faroe Islands, few people in the British Royal Navy from top to bottom still have the confidence to win a war of revenge, and they were full of fear of the German fleet, and in the future, when facing the Irish Navy, which is like the German second-tier fleet, whether the officers and men can show the confidence to win, seems to be a big question.

(End of chapter)