At the end of the banquet, that night, Jenny, who was so excited that she couldn't sleep. Jerome can't wait to give it to his father, Leonard. Jerome wrote. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

“…… I had no idea that this wise messenger from the East would think so highly of our little Winston, who, after his encouragement, seemed to be a different person from that day on,...... Because of his connections, we're now back at the centre of gravity in London's social scene, and everything has become incredible. …… He's going to the United States, Dad, and I beg him to be a guest at our house, and don't miss the opportunity to meet him, and you'll understand how much he means to all of us. ”

"I learned from Earl Lin that Qianguo had ordered two more fast cruise ships in England to be built by John Brown Shipyard. I think if he goes to the United States, he will probably place an order as well, and you know what that news means, so I won't say more. I look forward to your assistance in making his visit to the United States a success. ”

On October 7, 9086 (the twelfth year of Daqian Guangxu, the nineteenth year of Meiji in Japan), Lin Yiqing and his entourage left the United Kingdom and took the "Atlantic" luxury cruise ship of Zachunard Company to the United States. Due to the previous joint action of Britain and Qianqing against Russia, Lin Yiqing's cruiser "Weiyuan" had returned to Qianguo and joined the fleet to deter Russia, so he took a cruise ship to the United States instead, and the travel expenses of the mission were paid for by the American millionaire Leonard Brown. Jerome paid.

On Lin Yiqing's way to the United States, a young American had already gone to his long-lost motherland before him, waiting for Lin Yiqing's arrival with a different mood.

"Captain Magiffin, he should be leaving England now, right?"

On the Qianguo Navy's "Weijie" training ship, Li Sizhu leaned on the railing and looked out at the sea from afar, and asked Ma Jifen, a US Navy captain who was teaching at the Tianjin Naval Academy next to him.

"Yes, ma'am." "It says that His Excellency the Count has departed on October 7th, but we have been on the way for him to arrive first," he said, handing her an English newspaper that he had bought when it was on a layover in Chile. ”

"That's the case......" Li Sizhu stroked the photo of Lin Yiqing in the newspaper, and the corners of his eyes were a little moist.

"You need not worry, ma'am, we will soon be joined by His Excellency the Earl, and I, like you, eagerly await meeting him again. It is my honor to be able to escort you to my home country this time. ”

"Thank you, Captain Magifin......"

When Majifen recalls his past, his heart fluctuates like the waves of the sea.

Born into a family with military traditions, his grandfather was born in Scotland and immigrated to the United States and settled in the town of Little Washington, near Pittsburgh. He was a soldier in the American Revolutionary War. A number of other relatives in the family took part in the war in 9012, and one of them also became an army major. Magiffin's father was a lieutenant colonel officer in the 85th Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment during the Civil War and was promoted to colonel during the Mexican War. Therefore, Majifen was influenced by the army from an early age.

Magiffin finished high school in town and attended Jefferson College. But his ambition made him unwilling to live forever in this peaceful and beautiful town. In order to get out and about, Majiffin wrote to the members of Congress in their state, asking him to recommend him to the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Appreciating the young man's ambition, the councillor asked Colonel Margifin Sr. if he would approve of his son's enlistment in the army. The elderly are also happy to see their sons succeed their fathers. In 9077, Magifin became a naval cadet as he wished, when he was still a child.

Majifen was a tall man who liked to wear the uniform of a naval cadet, and his young eyes always flashed with a look of daring and adventurous.

In Annapolis, he was as clever as any other boy. He was likable and excelled in courses on operational skills such as ship piloting, gun use, pilotage, and steam turbine maintenance, with poor grades in other subjects. But in some adventurous things, he is often a leader. He hated red tape, and it was nothing to apply discipline to others, and he was not happy to apply it to him. At the top of the staircase on the floor where his room is located, there is a pile of spherical cannon shells left over from the 9012 war. One night, Majifin couldn't sleep, and he was determined to do something no one had ever done: roll the shells down the stairs one by one. The shells rolled down the wooden staircase, smashing the staircase slabs and breaking the railings of the stairs, sounding like the roar of cannons. An instructor who heard the sound rushed to stop him, and Majiffen was sent to the Sandy. There, Majiffin met Mick, an old sailor who managed the confinement ship. Later, many naval officers met Mick here. Magiffen actively wooed Mick and left the confinement ship with six packets of gunpowder. Magiffen poured the gunpowder into six Mexican war cannons on display on the college's lawn and set them on fire in the middle of the night on July 1. The consequences can be imagined, and the troops of the entire surrounding garrison were alarmed. For the week that followed, workers were busy repairing shattered glass windows everywhere.

There was a famine in Ireland between 9078 and 9079. The U.S. government decided to send the old warship USS Constellation to Ireland to transport food donated by New Yorkers. During this voyage, the cadets will take turns commanding the warship and will submit a report on the preparation for sailing, the balance of the ship's load and cargo on the ship. The purpose of this exercise is to develop the trainees' ability to operate a warship and fill out a logbook. At that time, the guns were kept inside the warships, and when they were fired after loading the shells, the muzzles of the guns had to be pushed out of the gun holes on the side of the gunwales. It's a lot of work. First, tie a rope from a column to the base block of the gun, and then pull the gun tightly against the rope of the column, so that the block slowly slides diagonally down to the hole, and of course, it may hit the hole hard. The first report submitted by Majifen was about the improvement of the methods of artillery retreat and re-advance. This simple but efficient method was popular and was applied to other older warships with guns arranged in the ship. The trainees were also asked to submit a report on their participation in the suppression of a riot on the Isthmus of Panama during the voyage. Majifen was praised for the deployment operation. In his report, he recounted how he had equipped the people with a new type of firearm that had been heavily loaded with gunpowder and had caused serious damage to the enemy's ranks. Of course, after doing this kind of thing, he will definitely be sent to the "Sandy" confinement ship to explain the explanation.

After listening to a presentation, participants are asked to write a report detailing their recollections of the presentation. These reports must not contain altered or interpolated sentences. Corrections and sentences made in errors after writing are not used as a reference for scoring. Magiffin's report was well done, but spelling mistakes are also evident throughout the article. He insisted that these inadvertent spelling mistakes should not affect the grade.

But Majifen isn't just about pranks. Once, a professor's house caught fire, and he rushed in to rescue two small children. Because of this, he was praised by the Minister of the Navy.

At this time, the U.S. Congress passed a bill that had a great impact on Magiffen's future. This is a very unfair bill that stipulates that cadets should only be filled when there is a shortage on a warship. In 9084, the size of the US Navy was not large. This is very detrimental to the talent pool. For many cadets, the bill is unfair to them, as they were previously promised to become naval officers, train at the academy for four years, and then serve at sea for two years. As a result, only the first 12 of that year's graduates had the opportunity to enter the navy, and the remaining 90 had to go home to work as civilians. As compensation, a placement fee of $1,000 per person was paid.

Magiffen failed to make it to the top 12. In the graduation exam, he was ranked relatively low. Because of the lack of teaching experience of the students and instructors, none of the students even graduated that year. After six years, Magifin only received $1,000, but he studied at the best naval academy after all. That's his only capital. He was unable to put his knowledge into practice at home, so he had to look for opportunities abroad.

At this time, the Incheon Bay War between the Qianguo and Japan (a brief conflict between the two countries caused by the Coup d'état in Kashin, Korea, known to foreign countries as the Incheon Bay War because of the naval battle between the two sides at Incheon Bay) broke out. Ma Jifen decided that instead of wasting his skills, it would be better to serve in the army of the Great Qian Empire under the dragon. It was a very risky thing to do at the time. The previous Qianri Moss Bay War, the Southwest War of Japan, the occupation of Ryukyu by Qianguo, and other events have made Qianguo often appear in newspapers, making people no stranger to her. Now, people wake up from their 42nd Street beds in San Francisco on the West Coast and can sleep in another bed on the other side of the ocean ten days later. On the way, you can also spend 12 hours in the Japanese port of Yokohama, and take a rickshaw tour of the city. People who go to Cairo, Egypt like to spend the winter in Japan on the way.

But for a young man who is accustomed to a quiet life in a small town in the interior of the United States, going to Qianguo is not an easy task. Usually, he has traveled to a nearby town to run away with relatives.

Armed with what little money he had left, Magiffen arrived in San Francisco in February 9085. He behaved lightheartedly in his letters to his family to dispel the worries of his mother and sister. Everyone understands what the family feels when their son is going to go on a long trip to earn a living. But for the young men who traveled far away, they didn't think so, and they all had the belief of breaking through many difficulties. At this time, Majifen's letter was also full of pleasant atmosphere.

The letter is full of happy sentences, a few words about difficulties are skipped, and the tone is still as mischievous and confident as if talking at home. It seems that everything will be fine. Young men who are going out of the house usually comfort their mothers in this way.

"I'm doing well physically and mentally, you don't have to worry. I've grown up, and I can settle anywhere, and I won't die of hunger. ”

In the letter, he also wrote his own name in Chinese characters, which was taught to him by the consul general of the Qianguo in San Francisco. There are also two elephants drawn in pencil in the letter. "I'll bring you two when I get home." He said. He didn't know that elephants were as rare in Qianguo as they were in Pittsburgh.

Majifen arrived in Qianguo in April. On the way from Nagasaki to Shanghai, his steamer was followed and watched by two Russian gunboats, but was quickly thrown off by the steamer at an accelerated pace. Majifen, who was on board, was furious about this, but it was the only danger he had encountered in this short war. Peace has come.

Peace or not, he wanted to find a job, and when he arrived in Qianguo, he wrote a letter to his family:

"April 13, 9085, in Tianjin, Qianguo."

"Dear Mother: I'm not in the mood to write because I don't know what the future holds. It took me a fortune to get here, and if I didn't get something, then I'd be a fool. On Sunday evening we passed through the Dagukou Fort and sailed into the harbor after daybreak. The river is very narrow and densely packed with mines. Our steamer ran into an electrically triggered mine, but fortunately did not explode. Then, it was not until 10:30 a.m. that we reached the city of Tientsin, thirty miles away, seventeen of which were a river only a hundred feet wide, during which time our steamer ran aground ten times. ”

"Finally, the boat was stopped and disembarked. Me and an engineer Brace. Gerton arrives at an inn and the first thing he hears is that the war is over! I went back to the boat and couldn't sleep. I've never been so depressed in my life. I knew that if they didn't hire me, I would be finished. I don't have the money to leave Qianguo. I didn't sleep all night, and the next morning, I thought it would be better to find a hole in the ground. I definitely lost 10 pounds. At 10 a.m. I went out for a walk and found Mr. Patrick, the U.S. Vice Consul, and asked him to forward my cover letter to Governor Li Shaoquan. He agreed. I returned to the ship, and when I heard that the captain was going to go ashore to meet Li Shaoquan, I followed him in every possible way. ”

"We entered the Governor's Palace, passed through many winding corridors, and met 'Master Lee' in the house (you will understand why I use quotation marks here). Contrary to what I had imagined, he was a middle-aged man in his thirties, looking incredibly young, and after we sat down, we drank tea and smoked while talking through an interpreter. ”

"He turned to me and asked, 'Why did you come to Qianguo?' ”

"I replied: 'I will serve and fight in the troops of Qianguo.' ”

"'What is your hope?' ”

"'I want you to give me a position.' ”

"'I don't have a place for you.' ”

"'I think you'll have -- I've come here halfway through America just to get a job.' ”

"'What are you going to do?' ”

"'I would like to command the newly built Mineship to join your Beiyang Fleet and send all the Japanese warships to the bottom of the sea.' ”

"'Would you like to?' ”

"'Of course.' ”

"He thought for a while, and then said, 'I'm going to see where there is a need, it's just the beginning, is it okay to have a monthly salary of 100 taels?' ”

"I said, 'Then we'll see what it does.'" (Actually, I'm very satisfied)"

"After the meeting, he said that if I did a good job, he would send me to the flagship of the fleet. Suddenly he looked at me and asked, 'How old are you?' ’”

"I told him I was 24 years old, and I thought he would be disappointed because I had heard that in Qianguo, men were treated as children until they were 30 years old. I was worried that he would say I couldn't do anything. I didn't know what to do or how to get him to trust me. ”

He looked at me at a loss and laughed, when an old man in his 60s walked in, and I immediately understood that this was the real Governor Li Shaoquan, and the person I was talking to just now was General Lin Yiqing, the famous hero of the Southwest War and the commander of the Incheon Bay Naval Navy, who had just returned from Korea. I didn't expect to see him here. ”

"Although I feel teased, I am not annoyed at all, on the contrary, I like General Lin Yiqing very much, and I find that we have something in common."

"'He's a good lad, I think we can keep him.' Lin Yiqing suggested to Li Shaoquan. I was very glad to hear what he said, because everyone knew that General Lin Yiqing had a very good relationship with Governor Li Shaoquan, and his suggestion was equivalent to the Governor's approval. ”

"Governor Li Shaoquan thought for a while and agreed that if I could pass the multidisciplinary assessment exam of the Naval Division of the Ordnance Bureau, then hire me. The exam was originally scheduled for the next day and was later postponed by another day. On this day I was called to sit in front of a group of men in black gauze-winged official hats and to take a formal exam. I barely passed. The questions cover ship driving, the use of guns, navigation, nautical astronomy, algebra, geometry, spherical trigonometry, quadratic curves, other curves, and integral operations. I was able to answer about three of the five questions in each topic, but I got all five questions in the first group right. Because each set of questions is only about enough time for me to answer three questions. In the end, one of the examiners said that I didn't need to finish the questions, and he was already very satisfied. I've done a good job, and tomorrow he'll report the situation to the Governor. He looked at my first answer sheet again, ship driving, and said that I had the best grades in this section. I'll stay here and you don't have to worry. I told the consul, Mr. Patrick, about this, and he was very pleased - he was a very kind man. ”

"I was so happy that I smoked a Manila cigar for a while after dinner. I spent the whole day doing exam questions, writing fifteen sheets of paper and drawing a bunch of sketches, which was so tiring. ”

"I gritted my teeth to get a position, I think I should get a good night's sleep, and I will be able to sleep well tonight."

"By Tuesday morning, I had not heard from the Lord of the Admiralty. So I went to Admiral Ding Yuting, the admiral of the fleet, and handed me my business card. The Admiral came out and received me warmly. "I passed an excellent test," he said, and my strengths in driving the ship have been noted. (To be continued.) )