The Shuangliu is an old destroyer built more than twenty years ago. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 After the early days of service, the age of the ship and the fact that the hull was too small to be modernized on a large scale. There has never been a shortage of warships, especially small warships, and the Ming Navy naturally transferred this old destroyer to the local fleet.

With the continuous development of science and technology, the Shuangliu built more than 20 years ago is old and cannot keep up with the pace of the times.

After serving in the Mediterranean, India, Australia and other local fleets, the Shuangliu was transferred to Kiribati before the outbreak of war to replace the last destroyer, which was older than it and had been officially removed from the Navy and dismantled and sold as scrap steel, to become the flagship of the Gilbert Islands Local Guard Fleet.

No one could have imagined that this destroyer, which was close to its retirement and had not been dismantled and sold as scrap steel due to the sudden outbreak of war, would have ushered in the most glorious moment in the last period of his career.

Navy Commander Huang Chengjie is a native of Shuangliu, Sichuan, and his ancestors have been teachers who have been teaching and educating people for generations. Originally, the old people in the family wanted him to inherit the family mantle and continue to be a teacher, but Huang Chengjie, who was active by nature, yearned more to become a soldier.

It's just that Huang Chengjie, as the only son in the family, can't be accepted by the army. He could only regret watching his high school classmates be admitted to the military school one by one, but he could only go to the normal university.

However, as if God had predestined it, Huang Chengjie unexpectedly received a notice from his family when he was in college that he actually had a younger brother. The mother, who is already an elderly mother, has added a son to the Huang family, and Huang Chengjie is no longer the only child in the family.

Huang Chengjie, who couldn't bear it anymore, quietly went through the withdrawal procedures without telling his family, and then was soon admitted to the Naval Academy. Because of this incident, Huang Chengjie fell out with his family and has not returned to his hometown for many years. His parents, who had been teaching all his life, were reluctant to let him risk his life and death to go to the battlefield, but the young man's heart could not be tethered.

After graduating from the Naval Academy, Huang Chengjie successively worked as a trainee staff officer in the local fleet command and did document processing in the naval logistics department. Later, he went to the local fleet in West Africa and became the captain of a patrol boat, and then transferred to the Volga River Fleet as a patrol boat captain. Prior to the outbreak of war, he was rotated to the Australian Local Guard Fleet as the captain of a torpedo boat.

After the outbreak of the war, the Ming Navy was frantically expanded, and all kinds of reserve ships and mothballed ships were unsealed and activated. Coupled with the variety of civilian ships received and the large number of new ships in various shipyards, the navy is in dire need of a large number of experienced naval officers and men.

Huang Chengjie, who served as a torpedo boat captain in the Australian local fleet, was naturally promoted to destroyer captain with long-term service experience. However, Huang Chengjie did not choose to go to the Pacific Fleet or the Mediterranean Fleet to command a new destroyer, but chose to become the captain of the flagship of the Kiribati local fleet and the commander of the fleet.

Daming has too many local fleets. Although the name of the fleet commander is not small, this local fleet is really very miniature. After Huang Chengjie became the commander of the destroyer, the military rank should be major, which is the military rank corresponding to the commander of the destroyer. However, he also served as the commander of the third-class local fleet, so he became a lieutenant colonel.

His colleagues were incomprehensible to Mr. Wong's choice. Although he can be directly promoted to a lieutenant colonel, this is a tricky act, and the navy is not a fool who can naturally see it.

And where is it better to be a local fleet commander in remote Kiribati than to be a captain in the Pacific Fleet or the Mediterranean Fleet? The chances of the latter being promoted far outweigh those of the former. This is also the reason why the commander of the local fleet should be promoted by one more level, because basically no one will choose to go.

Many people feel that it is a pity, Huang Chengjie is an excellent soldier, if he goes to the Pacific Fleet, it is definitely not difficult to become the captain of a cruiser in the future, and it is not impossible to even become the captain of a battleship or aircraft carrier.

It's just that if he goes to the local fleet, then his career will basically end there. If there is no big accident, Huang Chengjie will be promoted to colonel between retirements, and then he will bid farewell to his career.

No one knows what Huang Chengjie really thinks. Only he knew that the only reason why he gave up his good future and went to the remote Kiribati was the destroyer Shuangliu.

More than twenty years ago, the Ming Navy was in an era of peace. Naturally, life in the Navy in peacetime will not be as good as in wartime. Although the military budget is quite sufficient, it is delusional to want to equip new warships on a large scale. The army is a monster that does not think about financial revenues and expenditures and economic development. They will only ask for more troops, more and better new equipment.

However, the monster of the army was still chained in peacetime, and had to submit to the overall situation of the whole country. In the absence of military expenses for the construction of new ships, the navy resorted to a traditional way of obtaining military expenses for shipbuilding, that is, to sell naming rights. To put it simply, the military, especially the navy, collects money from the private sector to raise military expenses for the construction of new ships. Usually this type of warship will change the name of the ship to the place of donation as a sign of glory.

The Shuangliu destroyer was built with donations from the people of Shuangliu County. Huang Chengjie has always firmly remembered that when he was a child, he donated his New Year's money in that fanatical atmosphere. At that time, he dreamed of growing up to be the captain of the Shuangliu that contained his New Year's money.

The most fundamental reason why he insisted on joining the Navy despite the opposition of his family was this Shuangliu destroyer. And when Huang Chengjie has the opportunity to command this battleship that haunts him, anything else can be left behind.

Since coming to Kiribati, even if it has never been baptized by war, Huang Chengjie has not had any slackness. Strengthen training, maintain warships, familiarize yourself with water ripples, sea conditions, etc., etc. Huang Chengjie fulfilled the duty of a naval officer. He even begged his classmates to get the opportunity to send the Shuangliu to the Pearl Harbor dockyard for refit and maintenance.

After a new boiler and a small water pipe system and a thorough descaling of the bottom of the ship, the Shuangliu was reborn, at least in terms of power. Several other small patrol boats and torpedo boats in the local fleet were also refurbished in the dockyards on the island of Kiribati.

Huang Chengjie has been waiting for his own war, he tried his best to make all the preparations, but he didn't expect that when the war really came, the enemy was so strong that he couldn't resist. A whole huge task force, not to mention those capital ships, just pulling out a destroyer detachment is enough to completely destroy Huang Chengjie's miniature fleet.

The telegrams sent to him by the Pacific Fleet and the Admiralty said that he should be allowed to choose his own combat strategy, in fact, giving him a reason to retreat legally.

After all, the difference in strength between the two sides is too great, and if Huang Chengjie is ordered to fight, it will really let them die in vain. Unlike the Navy, the huge gap in equipment cannot be smoothed out by courage alone. So the navy handed over the decision to Huang Chengjie and let him choose his own fate.

"Do you remember the look in the eyes of the garrison as we left the port?" Huang Chengjie asked his captains in the conference room of the Shuangliu.

"......" The captains of these patrol boats and torpedo boats looked at each other, and their faces were not good-looking. As soon as he remembered the indifference and disdainful eyes of the marines when the fleet left port, the mood of these naval officers sank. For the soldiers, no matter what the reason, desertion is the greatest shame for the soldiers.

"The Americans' fleet came suddenly, and it was incomparably stronger than ours." Huang Chengjie looked around at his subordinates and said in a deep voice, "Under normal circumstances, it is understandable that we choose to retreat at this time. However, the honor of a soldier does not allow me to do this! ”

After a pause, Huang Chengjie continued: "If the enemy's strength is strong, then you have to retreat to avoid fighting, then what kind of battle is there to fight?" Before the war, everyone pulled out the family bottom and compared, and whoever was stronger would be considered to win. What else do you want the military to do? ”

"Commander, what do you mean?" The captain of a torpedo boat asked aloud.

The position of the Kiribati local fleet at the moment is about a hundred nautical miles southwest of the island of Kiribati, and their course is Jarvis Island, where the Ming army is stationed.

"I decided to go back and defend my honor as a soldier. We are the Kiribati garrison fleet, and now that Kiribati is under attack, we will defend it! This is the duty of a soldier! Huang Chengjie's words carried a touch of determination, which made people moved. This is to die. The ships of a local fleet are not as heavy as a light cruiser of the Americans in all their combined tonnage, and this is a real life to maintain honor.

"Although I am the commander, I can't force everyone to carry out a mission that will kill you." The Ming army was not a barbaric army like the Japanese locust army that did not take human life seriously. There is nothing to say about regular warfare, but basically there is no such thing as forcing officers and men to carry out mortal tasks. In such a situation, it is up to the officers and men to make their own decisions.

"This operation is voluntary." Huang Chengjie said in a deep voice: "The patrol boat continues to go south to Jarvis Island, and those who are unwilling to join this operation use the patrol boat to go to Jarvis Island on a voluntary basis. I will send a telegram to the Admiralty to prove that I guarantee that no one who did not participate in this trip will not be blamed or punished in any way. Now let's go back to our respective ships and announce it, and we'll be back in an hour! (To be continued.) )