Qin Lang has always believed that George. Dewey was one of the lucky fellows, having been promoted to captain in the Navy in his third year after leaving the Annapolis Naval Academy, and four years later to lieutenant admiral, then to lieutenant in 1884, and then, on February 28, 1896, he became a commodore -- no one in the 1858th class of the Naval Academy had risen through the ranks. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Of course, if we do not take into account the time of promotion to general, Mahan, who is one year younger, can be promoted at a rate comparable to Dewey's - he was promoted to lieutenant and lieutenant colonel at the same time as Dewey, and he was promoted to colonel in 1885. However, after that, until his retirement, Mahan was never promoted[Note 2].

And Commodore was not yet the rank that Dewey eventually obtained. On May 10, 1898, nine days after he had destroyed the Spanish fleet in Cavite, he was naturally promoted to rear admiral, and then directly to admiral in March of the following year. Finally, in 1903, in addition to the rank of Admiral he had received in 1899, Dewey was given a special rank: Admiral.of.the.Navy[note 3].

In the U.S. Navy, Dewey's position was unique,[note 4] even higher than that of the founder of this army, U.S. Navy Colonel and Rear Admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy. Paul. Jones [note 5]. Therefore, no one has been or is able to reach ...... Of course, it is even less likely to take his place; As for the future, perhaps still not.

He was lucky.

But Dewey didn't think he was lucky. Although almost all officers in the Navy were a little superstitious and believed in luck, and luck did play an important role in naval warfare - in good times, a battleship only needed a few salvos to fire shells into the ammunition depot of an enemy ship, causing an earth-shattering explosion, and in bad times the opposite was true, Dewey insisted that his success had nothing to do with luck but was the result of his hard work.

He is indeed very diligent, there is no doubt about this, but there are a large number of officers in the US Navy who are as diligent as him, or even more diligent, and these people are promoted very slowly, and they may only have a chance to get a promotion once in a dozen years, so whether they work hard or not is not the decisive factor, luck is the most important.

Qin Lang hoped that he could share Dewey's good fortune and that it would bring him a Congressional Medal of Honor. However, in addition to luck, he also needs the friendship of the commander of the fleet.

Because only Dewey had the power to recommend to Congress that he be awarded the Medal of Honor.

"I greatly appreciate the actions taken by Admiral Farragut in Manila Bay, which is a testament to the wisdom and courage of the members of the U.S. Navy." He complimented and went around in circles. David. Glasgow. Admiral Farragut, Dewey's former superior, commanded the last U.S. Navy operation into Manila Bay and was the object of Dewey's efforts to emulate. In fact, almost everyone who knows Dewey knows what he wrote.

"Whenever I'm in a difficult situation, or overwhelmed by a specific question, I ask myself, 'What will Farragut do?' As we prepare for our entry into Manila Bay, I keep asking myself this question. I must admit that I was thinking about him as we entered Manila Bay that night, convinced that what I was doing was exactly what he would do. ”

Therefore, if you want to gain Dewey's favor, complimenting Farragut is undoubtedly the most appropriate approach, which is much more effective than complimenting him himself, and is not easy to cause disgust.

And so it is.

The commodore admiral's slightly upturned beard showed his mood at a glance. Still, he behaved extremely seriously. "Mr. Qin, do you think the Spanish Navy will hide in Manila Bay?"

In fact, he discussed this with Mahan and Gridley, and concluded that the Spanish fleet was hiding in the Krabi anchorage. But Dewey wanted to put Qin Lang to a small test—everyone who knew Qin Lang claimed that he possessed extraordinary judgment and analytical skills, and that he could never make mistakes. According to some known facts, the Commodore believed the conclusions of these people, but deep down there was still a little doubt and distrust.

Not because of race. Dewey was always friendly to the Chinese and respected the Chinese sailors and attendants who served in his fleet. In fact, after the Spanish-American War, Commodore wrote a letter to the Admiralty, the State Department, and the Treasury Department, demanding that the Chinese sailors be granted citizenship as a reward for their outstanding performance in the Philippine Naval War—a suggestion that was politely rejected by the Treasury Department, which oversaw the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Therefore, his doubts and disbelief in Qin Lang's ability were not due to racial reasons. It's just that as a professional soldier and a general who has served for forty years, he can't help but doubt every conclusion that has not been confirmed by him.

Qin Lang smiled. "Rear Admiral Montoho's fleet is anchored at the Krabi anchorage—I'm sure you've deduced that, General."

"No inference can be fully believed until solid intelligence is obtained." Dewey shrugged, "You should be well aware that there will always be a discrepancy between reality and our subjective guesses. ”

"There is no doubt about it, General. Sometimes, however, logical speculations based on known facts are often the actual situation. ”

"You don't think there are any other possibilities?"

"Yes."

"Because you've always been right?" This was the only conclusion Dewey could think of. A person who has never made a mistake is always the most prone to making mistakes. Overconfidence is a danger.

He didn't know what foundation Qin Lang's confidence was built on, and of course Qin Lang wouldn't tell him that it was history. And realistically, Rear Admiral Montoho's fleet could only anchor at the Krabi anchorage. In addition to those reasons that Dewey and Mahan knew, there was one more point: "Your opponent is the Spanish Navy, not the Royal Navy." ”

"Of course." Dewey did not understand what he meant: everyone knew that it was the Spanish Navy in the Philippines......

And then the commodore understood. "You mean fighting spirit."

"That's true." Qin Lang smiled.

The Spanish Navy did not have the fighting spirit of the Royal Navy, which had so many Nelsonian madmen that two cruisers could attack a battleship with such ferocity that they could still achieve victory[6]; It is not uncommon for the battlecruiser "Counterattack" to single-handedly pursue the sisters "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau". If the Spanish fleet in the Philippines could have such a fighting spirit, or even only half of it, Qin Lang would have to consider that Montoho would run somewhere else.

But the Spanish fleet was the Spanish fleet, and it was better to expect it to fight like the Royal Navy than to expect the Italian soldiers to fight bravely – at least at some times, when the Italians fought against the Germans in Yugoslavia or the Greek partisans against the Germans, and the Noodles became as brave as the ancient Romans – but the Spanish navy had always been only third-rate, and from the fall of the Armada to the civil war of the thirties, all battles were lackluster.

And in such a navy, the first question for commanders will become "how to save themselves" rather than "how to destroy the enemy". Across the Far East, however, Montojo can only feel safe in seemingly extremely fortified Manila Bay. He won't go anywhere else.

"What do you think, General?" What he meant was that this boring quiz could be over.

"Maybe we can stop searching Subic Bay." Dewey didn't answer directly, but turned his head and smiled at Gridley, then turned back and said, "So, how are you going to take Manila?" As far as I know, there were 36,000 Spanish soldiers in the city. ”

"There were less than 20,000 Spanish soldiers, and the rest were Filipinos." Qin Lang corrected. He knew much more about the situation in Manila than Dewey thought. This is an added benefit of recruiting mercenaries in Canton Bay, and in China, where relationships are important, getting information through relatives and friends is sometimes more effective than sending spies – much of which, of course, is false and false, or has long since become obsolete.

But the information Qin Lang obtained was neither wrong nor outdated, the only problem was that it was not confidential enough. Luckily, he didn't have to care about that, how many soldiers there were in Manila and what they were made up of wasn't a matter of concern, nor was how to eliminate them.

"Defeat first, then kill, this is my method."

Dewey's beard shook slightly. "A little brief, isn't it, Mr. Qin?"

"There is no other way to attack the city, but to let the soldiers enter every house and kill the enemies inside. This is the only way to work, nothing else. Of course," he shrugged disapprehantly, "if the Spaniards are willing to fight us in the streets." ”

This answer did not satisfy Dewey. "Mr. Qin, you know, I don't know much about land warfare, but I believe that ground combat is as complex and changeable and full of uncertainties as naval warfare, so I think your course of action is somewhat, huh...... Not comprehensive enough. So I have a suggestion. ”

"I'm listening."

"What do you think of the resistance in the Philippines? As long as we say yes, they'll be happy to work with us. ”

"I don't think that's a good idea, General." Qin Lang said.

Oops, exactly.

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Note 1: Dewey entered the Naval Academy in 1854, graduated in 1858, and held the title of midshipman until 1861

Note 2: Mahan received the rank of major general after retiring from the army

Note 3: Admiral.of.the.Navy is a special rank like "Admiral.of.the.Army", which is the same as General.of.the.Army officer

Note 4: Only Dewey in the Navy received the rank of Admiral.of.the.Navy, while the Army had several members of the General.of.of.Army, including Washington and John Pershing, commander of the U.S. Expeditionary Force in World War I

Note 5: John. Paul. Jones [1747-1792], born in Scotland, began his seafaring career at the age of 13, entered the U.S. Navy in 1775, and entered the Imperial Russian Navy after the Revolutionary War. It should be pointed out that this person is a complete unlucky guy, and every time he changes countries to serve, he has to run away because of a dispute with someone

Note 6: On January 7, 1797, the Royal Navy cruisers "Indefatigable" and "Amazon" combined forces to attack the French Navy's 74-gun battleship "Droits.de.lHomme", severely damaging the opponent and forcing it to run aground in the shallows - it is worth mentioning that since the "Amazon" was seriously damaged and stranded in the tenth hour of the naval battle, in the last two hours, "Indefatigable" was in the last two hours with the " Droits.de.lHomme" heads-up (to be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )