Early in the morning, I have to be cheeky to ask for a monthly pass, a recommendation, and a subscription, but there is no way, the tenth on the list of new book monthly passes, is in danger!

Tai Shue Wan, Hong Kong, outside the dock of Jason-Cobay Shipyard, a subsidiary of Nanyang Hong.

At this time, it was a beautiful sea view, and inside and outside the wharf warehouse, people came and went, all of them were shirtless coolies, and in the shouts of the sailors of the Nanyang Line, they were transporting supplies to an armed merchant ship that had just been docked on the wharf.

This armed merchant ship, painted black, is not a low-cost Chinese Canton ship, nor is it the most popular scissor clipper ship in Western-style merchant ships today. Instead, it has two gun decks and looks a bit like a Tier 4 warship, with forty-four cannons and a large armed merchant ship with a displacement of 1,260 tons. The flag fluttering on the stern of the ship is not a rice flag, but a flag of the sun and moon - this is the national flag designed by Zhu Jishi for the future Ming Empire, and it is also the national flag of the current Grand Duchy of Lanfang.

This large armed merchant ship was built by the Jason Cobay shipyard for a year and a half using the fine timber of more than 1,000 trees. Including forty-four cannons, the total cost is as high as 165,000 taels of silver!

The "Lanfang" was built at such a high cost, of course, not simply for overseas trade. That's right, this is a warship with the name of an armed merchant ship! Belong to the future Ming Navy! The reason why it is listed as a merchant ship is because the current Grand Duchy of Lanfang does not have an official navy. It's not that Zhu Jishi neglected the right to control the sea, but that the British Empire "didn't support" Zhu Jishi to have a strong maritime liliang! The reason is naturally obvious, Zhu Jishi is likely to become the king of at least half of China in the future. It might even rule over all of China, though the British Empire would certainly try to get in the way. But what the British Empire opposed was not necessarily unfulfilled. But even if Zhu Jishi ruled China. As Napoleon said, he led China to rise to the rank of a great power, and as long as China did not have a large navy, the threat to Britain was not too great. Even if there was trouble, it was the trouble of the Russian Empire.

Therefore, Britain gave a rather cold response to Zhu Jishi's idea of developing the Lanfang Navy, not only refusing to sell warships to Zhu Jishi, but also refusing to set up a naval major at the Military Academy of Jishi University.

The British did not prevent Zhu Jishi from developing the maritime liliang in the name of "armed merchant ships", and even for the construction of the cruiser "Lanfang". It's also one eye open and one eye closed. Because the British know that the most critical issue in the development of the navy is not shipbuilding, but the training of really good naval officers! If there are no excellent naval officers, only a few merchant sailors, even if there is a huge ship that can carry 200 cannons, the future Chinese navy will only be in vain!

However, in Zhu Jishi's view, it is better to have a surface than not to have a table......

A bald-headed, black-skinned man was walking on the stern deck of the "Lan Fang" at this time. His side. Standing was a wheat-complexed woman, who was Zhu Jishi's concubine Wang Yunjiao. I was talking to him in a low voice. This strong man is Wang Dehu, the chief of the Nanyang Xingguang fleet, and now he is still the captain of the "Lanfang", and Wang Yunjiao is his sister. Both of them will accompany Zhu Jishi on his visit to Japan, and this "Lanfang" is Zhu Jishi's eastward ship.

A group of Western carriages came from afar, and a small group of knights opened the way, all of whom were wearing very fancy big red python suits, embroidered spring knives hanging from their waists, and black gauze hats. This set of clothes was excavated from the history books by Zuo Zongtang's wife Zhou Yiduan, and it is said that it was worn by the brocade guards of the Ming Dynasty - I don't know how to be a spy in such a stylish dress?

However, these brocade guards on horseback are not the pro-soldiers who usually guard Zhu Jishi's left and right, because they also have a very interesting identity - Hong Kong horse racing and apprentice jockeys, with a total number of 145 people. Incidentally, the current chairman of the Hong Kong Jockey Club is Robert Brown, Dean of the Military College of Jess University. Lieutenant Colonel Churchill. And Zhu Jishi is naturally the behind-the-scenes owner of the Jockey Club, our Sir Zhu seems to have a very high interest in horse racing, and there are more than 200 "racing horses" under his personal name, all of which are war horses imported from India!

Zhu Jishi's carriage is among the Western carriages in this line, but no one knows which one it is. Now Zhu Jishi's courage is getting smaller and smaller, and he always uses five taels of Western carriages to accompany him every time he travels, and which carriage he takes is a temporary decision.

Following these five carriages was a large group of brocade guards who were also wearing big red python suits and flying fish suits, with a total of 260 people! However, they were not armed with embroidered spring knives, but carried brand-new Besemai rifles!

These brocade guards are all Zhu Jishi's subordinates, and they will accompany him on a visit to Japan. Another 130 Jinyi guards will remain in Hong Kong to protect Chu Jishi's family. In addition, there are about 200 Jinyi Wei secret agents who form the core of the intelligence system of the Jishi Army. After a year and a half of development, the famous Jinyiwei in history has been resurrected in the hands of Zhu Jishi.

The team arrived at the dock, and Wang Dehu and Wang Yunjiao had already disembarked and waited on the dock. Seeing Zhu Jishi, who had changed into a bright yellow Tuanlong narrow-sleeved round-necked robe and wearing a black gauze winged crown, got out of the carriage and hurriedly bowed and saluted: "Minister (concubine) Wang Dehu (Wang Yunjiao), welcome Ming Gong!" ”

"Flat!" Zhu Jishi strode up to Wang Dehu, patted the other party's sturdy shoulder, and shouted the other party's nickname: "Tiger, can this boat be driven?" ”

Wang Dehu patted his chest and said with a smile: "Why can't I drive it, it's not that I haven't driven a Western armed merchant ship, not to mention that there are Western instructors on board." Not to mention sailing, even if you meet a full clear water division, you can sink all the cannons! ”

In the last battle of Lantau Island, the "sailors" under his command did not have the opportunity to fight - of course, even if they encountered Lord Ryan's sailors, they might not be able to fight! Those Manchu water rats are still a bit of a way on the water, if it weren't for Lord Rain to bring them ashore, with Zhu Jishi's unprofessional navy, they might not be able to deal with it. But now with this 1,260-ton Lanfang, Wang Dehu's waist pole has also hardened. This is a "cruiser" built according to the standards of British fourth-class warships, and it surpasses any warship of the Manchurian Division in terms of speed, firepower, and solidity. This is also the reason why Zhu Jishi chose it as a ship, after all, he had to pass through the Taiwan Strait on the way to Japan. If the ship is too small, it will be destroyed by the Fujian sailors of the Manchu Dynasty!

"Wow! What a huge ship! Ming Gong, how do you think the English ship is better than this Lanfang? ”

Zuo Zongtang also got out of the carriage, and he would also go to Japan with Zhu Jishi. Looking at the "majestic" figure of the Lanfang, he suddenly sighed.

"It's just a fourth-class warship." Zhu Jishi waved his hand and said with a smile, "The British Royal Navy has more than a hundred first, second and third class battleships, of which the third class battleships have 74 cannons, 30 more than this Lanfang!" ”

It's 1847, not 1947! The British Empire was still in full swing, especially the Royal Navy was the absolute ruler of the seas in this era. Zhu Jishi now does not dare to imagine shaking the maritime hegemony of the British Empire, he is a medical scientist and chemist, and his golden finger can shoot TNT explosives and picric acid explosives at most, but he can't build breech guns and ironclad ships. So there is no way to take the British naval fleet all over the seas......

"Xianggong, be careful on the road."

"Jason, you have to go and get back quickly."

"Xianggong, what a big sea ship!"

The three women, Luo Xiangju, Madame Duran and Hong Xuanjiao, also got off their respective carriages. Luo Xiangju and Mrs. Duran stayed in Hong Kong to take care of a lot of Zhu Jishi's industry and army, and Luo Xiangju's belly bulged again, making it inconvenient to travel far. Hong Xuanjiao stared at the big boat excitedly with round eyes, as a favorite concubine, she naturally wanted to accompany you. She and Wang Yunjiao will take care of Zhu Jishi's daily life along the way.

Zhu Jishi took Luo Xiangju and Mrs. Duran's hands, and whispered: "Hong Kong is here to ask the two of you, if there is anything that you can't decide, you can discuss with Han Si and Mr. Lu, Liu Peng will also come to Hong Kong in a few days, and then someone will help with mundane affairs." I won't be going to Japan for too long, I'll be back in two or three months. With the Lanfang here, no one can touch a single hair of me on the road. Be of good cheer. (To be continued......)