In the endless deep ocean, a fleet of three warships, three coal carriers, a merchant ship, and a cruise ship broke through the mirror-like blue sea and slowly moved forward, with several long white lines behind the fleet.

The ships were the Regent, Yanjing, and Mukden, and the merchant ships were full of Chinese industrial goods, and the cruise ships were regular passenger ships from Shanghai to San Francisco, which departed once a month, carrying passengers and mail, and sometimes cargo.

This cruise, after the news of traveling with the Regent, the tickets were sold out immediately, and some domestic Chinese businessmen, who had no foreign trade business, also took this opportunity to buy tickets to travel to the United States.

Merchant ships, cruise ships and coal carriers are all new steamships with new power, and the three-expansion engine was first used in civilian ships. At the same time as the construction of the Regent, the main ironclad ships of the Royal Navy also carried out power system improvements, and the first to complete the refit were the Yanjing and Fengtian.

Building a new ship and applying a new power system and modifying the power system of an old ship are two concepts, and improving the power system of the old ship and replacing it with a new engine may cause many problems to the ship, which is also the reason why the British and French navies are slow to respond to the application of the new power system.

Of course, at this stage, the three-expansion engine is the first in China, and Europe has not yet obtained the corresponding technology.

When the wind is good, the Yanjing and Mukden will also open their huge sails to save coal.

Standing on the second deck, touching the cold metal railing, looking at this huge ship that would never reflect the strong light under the dark gray sun, looking at the "Huyi" and "Huyi" hoisted on the gravity arm behind him, as well as a fast communication ship with a displacement of 11 tons, Ye Zhao felt an indescribable emotion in his heart, the Regent is the aircraft carrier of this era.

"Master, the wind is strong and ......" There was a soft and cowardly voice behind him, holding the mink fur was a little girl with bright and delicate eyes, wearing a pure black and white lace maid dress, thin knee-length white cotton socks, small leather shoes like black jewels, and a dreamy Lori maid that can only be seen in comics, but there were a bunch of them around Ye Zhao, and it was really embarrassing to think about it.

The maid is called Misaki, yes, she is of Yue origin, just twelve years old, and seven years ago she was inspected by customs on the way to China by human traffickers, and then she was incorporated into the group of maids who adopted orphans in the Regent's Palace, for her, she is more fluent in Chinese than in Yuewen.

The outstanding members of the maid group can theoretically enter the palace to serve at the age of twelve, but according to the "Child Labor Protection Regulations", they must abide by the working hours and the choice of type of work for child labor, of course, the maid industry is not prohibited from using child labor, and the lower age limit is very low, this is a fact today, not that Ye Zhao said that it can be abolished, and it can only be slowly changed by relying on economic development.

The imperial palace generally limits the age of palace maids to those above twelve years old, and at the same time, palace maids between the ages of twelve and fifteen are in the stage of taking on light labor while studying.

Misaki is the best person in the assessment of women entering the palace this year, whether it is a female celebrity or a cultural level, she has taken the first place in the exam, and her surname and appearance have also been evaluated as the highest level.

This time Ye Zhao went to the United States, there must be a maid to serve him, Rong'er handed over this matter to Jin Feng, and Jin Feng chose Misaki and personally admonished her for half a month.

Misaki also knew that the male host "likes lace ruffle maid outfits", and Concubine Yi, who often goes to the maid group, is really the most terrible woman in the world in the eyes of these candidate maids.

Ye Zhao naturally didn't know that if she picked a maid to serve with her, she would be mobilized in the harem, but Misaki is really good, gentle and comfortable, smart and cute, she seems to know what she wants, and her ability to observe words and colors is a must.

The sea breeze blew, and the small body under the maid of Misaki trembled slightly, and Ye Zhao smiled: "I think you're cold, right?" "Take the big one,Put it on Misaki's body,The whole little body and arms were wrapped tightly,Little Lori was obviously startled,"This,How about this......"

Ye Zhao had already helped her tie the brocade belt on her neckline, and glared, "Don't move, listen to me." ”

Worth a thousand gold, the sable fur is big, and Misaki's small body is immediately warm, and she whispers: "Thank you, Your Majesty." ”

Ye Zhao smiled, let go of his hand, and then laughed dumbly, draped on her small body, the skin looked extremely wide, and the ground was even more dragged underneath, which was very funny.

Misaki's hand shrunk in the skin, carefully pulled up the skin, walked up two steps, and said, "Master, listen to the guard, the front is to Hawaii." ”

Ye Zhao nodded slightly, "Yes, Hawaii......" gaze, looking at the faint black dot in the distance.

"Master, the outside world is so big, will the master's fleet conquer them?" Misaki's tone was full of pride.

Obviously, Misaki, who came to China since childhood, has a very different psychological state compared to Iori.

"Whoever wants to conquer the whole world is crazy." Ye Zhao laughed.

Misaki said in a very affirmative tone: "The master will definitely be able to." ”

Ye Zhao smiled and said nothing.

A few days ago, when I passed by Midway Island, I had already erected a monument on it to declare sovereignty, Hawaii Island, what could I do? If you don't come to the Pacific Ocean yourself, you won't be able to do a lot of impromptu things.

After the reunification of the United States, its tentacles will inevitably extend into the Pacific Ocean, and if it does not take the first step, it will lose the initiative, such as Midway, which will be declared by the United States to have its territorial sovereignty within a year or two.

grabbed the first hand, even if it was to share the spoils to the Americans in the future, let him be grateful to Dade in exchange for some benefits by the way, right?

…… Hawaii, discovered by British navigators 90 years ago, more than 50 years ago, the small tribes of the islands of the archipelago, after a bloody war, established a unified Hawaiian Kingdom, more than 30 years ago, European and American missionaries entered Hawaii, more than 20 years ago, the United States recognized the status of the Kingdom of Hawaii, more than 10 years ago, the French political axe claimed to occupy Hawaii, with part of the sovereignty of Hawaii, but this claim was not recognized by the residents of Hawaii, but caused dissatisfaction among most of the residents. During the American Civil War, Hawaii was forced to sell land to the Northern Army to grow coffee.

Today, the king of Hawaii is Kamihameha V, and the Polynesian indigenous people on the island are the main residents, in addition to Americans, French, people, Chinese and other immigrants.

Honolulu, the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii, is the only deep-water port in the archipelago today, and it is also a natural deep-water port.

Honolulu is known as Honolulu in China, and Chinese have settled in Honolulu since the end of the last century, and in 1797, Native Hawaiian chiefs sailed to China and stayed in Guangzhou for three months.

Since then, the number of Hawaiian natives selling sandalwood to Guangzhou has gradually increased, and Hawaii has been called Honolulu.

Today, there are more than 3,000 Chinese in Honolulu, and there are also local sugar owners, such as the Zhang family and the Tang family, who were the first Chinese families to come to Honolulu to run sugar plantations more than 30 years ago.

Thirty years ago, Chinese Zhang Kuan, Tang Xu, Huang Zhu, Wu Feng and other Chinese pioneered sugar squeezing in the sugar cane garden, and brought six Chinese masters, including Liu Zhang, Deng Qiu, Deng Shan, Du Zuo, Zeng Mei and Zeng Cheng, to serve as sugar cooks and carpenters in the sugar cane house, opening a precedent for the development of Honolulu's sugar cane industry. The cultivation of sugar cane and pineapple also took off. Growing rice and sugarcane is what the people of the Pearl River Delta are good at. Operating these two crops, the investment is small, and the profits can be high, so the Chinese are happy to do this.

When the Chinese fleet arrived, King Kamehameha V of Hawaii invited Zhang Yinheng, who is now the head of the Zhang family, to attend the welcome banquet.

At that time, Zhang Kuan, who pioneered the history of Chinese struggle, had passed away, and Zhang Yinheng was his eldest son, and he was also close to the age of sixteen.

The chief representative of the Chinese mission to the United States is Minister of Foreign Affairs Zou Kaizhi, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should actually be called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade; in today's era, exchanges with the outside world are actually more about trade and commerce, and exchanges in the purely political and military fields are relatively rare.

At the banquet to welcome the Chinese guests, Zou Kaizhi and Rear Admiral Li Chengmou of the Royal Navy also attended as the leading figures on the Chinese side.

Ye Zhao was mixed in the merchant pile, watching this strange world with cold eyes.

The Hawaiian Royal Palace is a two-story building, the most humble among the palaces Ye Zhao has ever seen, and it is not as imposing as the hotels in the big cities of the Central Plains.

The little maid Misaki was also full of disappointment, and secretly said: "Master, the natives are ugly, and the palace is even uglier." "Now I kind of understand why the master didn't conquer the whole world.

Ye Zhao laughed when he heard this, and said, "I'll tell you something funny, isn't their king called Kamihameha?" It was later changed to a name, and the original name translated into Aboriginal dialect means hard-shell crab. ”

Misaki was surprised, opened her mouth, and couldn't speak for a long time.

On the grass next to the palace, the natives performed hula dances, and Ye Zhao sat on a wooden chair from afar, and beside him were members of the royal guard task force, men, women, and children, dressed as merchants, cruise passengers, and family members.

The original land regiment was divided, and the infantry team was reorganized and expanded into the most elite heavy infantry guards brigade of the Royal Army.

With the end of the civil war, some of the members of the secret service were assigned to the secret service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the rest were transferred to the Imperial Guards and organized as task forces, which usually carried out the escort duties of the members of the imperial family during domestic patrols and foreign visits.

Those brown-skinned natives had weeds around their waists and shook their bellies rhythmically, Ye Zhao smiled and said, "It's not a different style, different cultural circles, aren't they?" ”

In the main seat behind the long wooden table, Zou Kaizhi was discussing in a low voice with King Kamihameha V, a Chinese interpreter who had been to Honolulu in the early days.

Not intending to stay in the Hawaiian Islands for too long, Zou Kaizhi hoped to sign the treaty within three days, the most important of which was naturally a clause for leasing a natural harbor (Pearl Harbor) on Oahu and building a ship repair yard, dry dock, fuel supply depot, dock, and other facilities on it.

In this way, there are continuous supply depots in the entire Pacific Ocean for Chinese and civilian ships, and its significance is self-evident.

Before the banquet in the evening, Kamehamiha V was invited to board the Regent, accompanied by Rear Admiral Li Chengmou of the Chinese Navy, to review the various formations of the Chinese Royal Navy, which left a very deep impression on Kamihamiha V.

And the shot of the accurate rapid-fire cannon smashing the reef on the sea through continuous fire made Kamihameha V even more unable to close his mouth for a while.

In recent years, more and more Chinese merchant ships passed through Hawaii Island, and the merchants who had occupied the monopoly in the early years disappeared, and Kamihameha V already knew that his country had been included in the scope of the protectorate by the huge empire of the East, and the countries of the East had re-entered the era of order dominated by China.

Before seeing the Chinese fleet, Kamihameha V knew that sooner or later the Chinese would come to the door, France and Spain had made territorial claims to the Kingdom of Hawaii, the Americans were also accelerating the pace of influencing the kingdom, and it was only a matter of time before the most powerful country in the East came to the depths of the Pacific Ocean.

Fortunately, the Chinese only offered to lease land to build the port, and promised to deploy only a small number of security forces to protect the security of the port, and would not station troops on Oahu.

Just as Kamihameha V bowed his head and muttered, Zou Kaizhi said again: "Your Highness, whether you agree or not to sign a friendly concession agreement with our country, our country will recognize the sovereign status of your country, and at the same time will send a message to the whole world, the fate and future of the Kingdom of Hawaii is decided by the Polynesians, and any attempt by any country to annex the Kingdom of Hawaii will be regarded as a challenge to China's policy of equality and freedom in the East." ”

Kamihameha V's eyes lit up, and then he said: "As you know, any treaty in the kingdom needs to be approved by the parliament. "Although it is an indigenous country, more than ten years ago, it became a parliamentary system under the guns of the French.

Zou Kaizhi smiled slightly: "Yes, I understand completely. Raise your glass and clink glasses with Kamihameha V.

Tasting tea, Ye Zhao turned his head and saw Misaki sucking a lollipop, was stunned, and said, "You like lollipops?" "The new generation of maids is no longer as mechanical and rigid as before, full of sincere fear, the master can be scared half to death when he coughs, to be precise, the current palace maids are gradually like living people.

Misaki is it, dare to chat with the master, just now Ye Zhao told her to move freely and sit down, although she still paid attention to the master's every move, but also took out her favorite candy to eat.

Listening to Ye Zhao's question, Misaki hurriedly wrapped the lollipop in plain paper and said, "Master Yi has rewarded a lot, it is very sweet, master, do you want it?" ”

Ye Zhao was immediately helpless, this Jin Feng was all messy, and he couldn't tell her some words. But Misaki just likes lollipops, so what's the solution?

He coughed dryly, waved his hand and said, "You eat yours." ”

As he spoke, he saw that across a few tables, a Chinese businessman was greeting the guests at each table one by one, and gradually approached.

It is Zhang Yinheng, the sugar king who has entered the local native nationality, with excitement on his face, greeting and toasting with the hometown people who have come from thousands of miles to fulfill the friendship of the landlord.

Zhang Yinheng said that he was a little drunk today, even if he negotiated the first business with a profit of more than 1,000 taels a few years ago, he was not in a happy mood at the moment.

The Celestial Empire fleet finally came to Honolulu, and the steel giant ship carried an awe-inspiring power, standing on the dock pontoon, like ants looking up at a giant elephant, and a feeling of high mountains rising spontaneously.

In fact, in recent years, the motherland has become stronger and stronger, and these overseas travelers feel the deepest, especially those with some statuses.

is like Zhang Yinheng, although he has earned a good net worth, but he has never gained real respect in the early years, the French, Spanish and Americans on the island, even if they are poor and scoundrels in their hometown, they turn a blind eye to him, and they are very arrogant. But in the past few years, he has clearly felt the change in the attitude of Westerners towards him, and more and more invitations have been invited to various balls, and it is obvious that he is regarded as a member of the civilized gentleman.

But he was not very fond of such balls and gatherings, because the best of the "civilized people" always spoke of the natives in a very contemptuous tone, as if they were about cattle and wild beasts.

However, it is an indisputable fact that the strength of the motherland has greatly improved the status of overseas Chinese, especially those who can live a decent life.

Today, the motherland's fleet is visiting, how can Zhang Yinheng be unhappy, although he is close to the age of six, today he is like a happy child, excited to say anything about wine, table toast, if people don't drink, he even raised his hand to pour wine, rude as if back to his youth.

Zhang Yinheng's eldest son hugged his father, helpless, but he didn't dare to persuade, he said that he was afraid of his father, even if he didn't speak properly, he would be severely reprimanded by his father, it can be seen that his father who is drunk and crazy now, the eldest son recites Buddha in his heart, and the old man is sober, thinking about such a gaffe, but don't blame me again.

There were several tables across the table were guards and task force members guarding Ye Zhao, and each table had a drink with Zhang Yinheng, and then Zhang Yinheng turned to Ye Zhao's table.

At this table, Ye Zhao, Misaki, several male and female guards, and Zheng Aqiao, this female surname is a seven-foot man, and the deputy head of the Ouchi guards with godlike marksmanship.

Patrolling and fighting are different, Ye Zhao likes to take Urden and the guards who are skilled in riding and brave and good at fighting, and when he goes out on patrols, he is escorted by Zheng Aqiao who is a master of firearms and a master of national arts. For example, the sharpshooter Zhao Kaishan, the Beiquan Sect Ren Qian, the gossip palm Dong Haichuan, the Taijiquan Yang Banhou, etc., these people were all present at this time.

Needless to say, Ren Qian has a deep relationship with the matchmaker, the most low-key grandmaster. Dong Haichuan, the gossip palm, and Taijiquan Yang Luchan for a while, Dong Haichuan accidentally injured people's lives in his early years, became a eunuch since he was castrated, and worked incognito in the palace, and then fought with Yang Luchan, and the name shocked the Beijing teacher, and it has only been known to the world since then.

At that time, Yang Luchan was edicted to compete with the boxers in the palace of King Su, and won consecutive battles, and finally threw a boxer on the garden net. At that time, Dong Haichuan passed by with a vegetable plate in his hand, and immediately flew to the net to rescue the boxer. Dong Haichuan then fought with Yang Luchan, and the two men confronted each other, and the victory was inseparable. Since then, Taijiquan and Baguazhang have their own portals, and they have been passed down to future generations.

The character of Tong Lin and Tong Haichuan in the old martial arts novel stems from his admiration for Dong Haichuan.

Yang Banhou is the second son of Yang Luchan, he inherited his father's mantle, and since he was a child, he has been looking for famous teachers, outstanding martial arts, and he has been famous in Beijing at the age of 20, known as "Yang Invincible".

The new dynasty abolished the Eight Banners system, and these famous boxers were able to enter the guards and become the guards of the Forbidden Palace, perhaps, this is also the ultimate goal of all martial artists in the Central Plains today, representing that their boxing skills and arches are truly in the hall and recognized by the royal family.

Zhang Yinheng arrived at Ye Zhao's table, the smell of wine was suffocating, holding a wine glass, and the words were not good, "Come, come, I respect my fathers and elders with a glass, poor country, let you, let you laugh, see and laugh!" I'm homesick! As he spoke, the old man burst into tears.

Zhang Dagongzi said helplessly: "I'm sorry everyone, Jia Yan has drunk a few more glasses, but I can't help you." Then he said to the old man, "Father, I am happy today, why are you crying?" ”

Zheng Aqiao stood up with a smile and said, "Old man, the gentlemen at this table are not good at drinking, come on, come, I'll have a drink with you." ”

The old man waved his hand vigorously and said loudly, "No, you look down on me, don't you?" Stand up, stand up, let's have a drink! ”

One of the guards changed color, and his face sank.

The old man saw Misaki coldly, was stunned, and said: "Central Plains, Central Plains is really dressed in strange clothes, but it's so beautiful, why can't I meet such a lovely girl when I was young." Naturally, he couldn't recognize the cute maid costumes in later comics, which were very different from the current maid costumes in Europe and the United States. But no matter what era it is, the little maid Misaki is naturally pure and dazzling, super eye-catching.

Zhang Dagongzi suddenly turned red, this is too embarrassing, for the old disrespect, what do you say?

Several guards stood up and were about to attack, but Ye Zhao had already waved his hand, also stood up, and said with a smile: "Let's have a toast to the big guy and the old gentleman." ”

Ye Zhao got up, how dare the guards sit, and stood up in a loud voice.

Misaki asked Ye Zhao in a low voice: "Master, do I also drink spirits?" ”

Ye Zhao smiled: "You think, drink your juice obediently." ”

Raising his glass, Ye Zhao said to Zhang Yinheng and the others: "As this son said, today is a good man, you are happy, I am even happier to see you, come, I salute you with a cup, it is not easy to go through the ups and downs outside these years!" ”

Zhang Yinheng, Zhang Dagongzi and others didn't understand what Ye Zhao meant, but the guards naturally understood, and seeing that Ye Zhao drank it all, all the guards raised their necks and drank the wine in their glasses, regardless of the amount of wine.

The old man gave Ye Zhao a thumbs up: "You are this!" ”

Ye Zhao smiled, and said to the eldest prince of the Zhang family: "Hurry up and help the old gentleman to rest, drinking alcohol is the most hurtful." ”

Ye Zhao's words have an irresistible power, Zhang Dagongzi nodded again and again yes, helped his father go out for a long distance, and then suddenly came back to his senses, stunned, turned his head to look, far away, the young man with extraordinary bearing has gradually lost his face, but as far as his eyes can see, among these hundreds of people, the first person you see must be him, as if everyone is his foil.

(To be continued)