Tianjin.

In the auditorium of the Imperial Naval Academy in the harbor, more than 1,000 young cadets wearing new and beautiful Imperial Navy military uniforms stood straight and lined up in a phalanx.

In front of them, on the rostrum, were the deans and instructors of the Imperial Naval Academy.

At this time, one hundred and eighty outstanding young officers were ascending to the rostrum one after another, ready to receive their graduation certificates from the dean.

The Imperial Naval Academy is one of the three major military academies established after the founding of the Han Dynasty. Among the three major military academies, the most famous is the Jingshi Lecture Hall, followed by the Royal Army Academy, and then the Imperial Naval Academy, which was established the latest.

The three military academies and the lecture hall are dedicated to the training and further study of officers above the rank of military academy, and the teachers are all imperial generals, and sometimes even the emperor himself will go to give lectures. Those who can enter the martial arts hall are all military elites, and they are all young Zhuang factions under the age of thirty.

The Naval Academy is a little less senior than the Jingshi Martial Arts Hall. But they are the most professional naval academy, and they are also the best young non-commissioned officers selected in the navy.

Today is the graduation ceremony of the first class of graduates of the Naval Academy, 180 outstanding officers.

These 180 people are the best group of young people in the four fleets today.

At the front, the first to walk on the rostrum was Tong Haifeng from the First Detachment of the North Sea Fleet, who was 1.8 meters tall, tall and tall, handsome and resolute.

Dean Liu Yunwen was wearing the dress of a former general, the cousin of the Son of Heaven, the son of Liu Qiao, the current governor of Liangguang, but among Liu Qiao's three sons, he was not as active as the other two brothers. Liu Yunsheng is now the governor of Zhili, Liu Yunzhen is also the commander of the soldiers and horses of the five cities, and Liu Yunwen is the dean of the Naval Academy.

In the past, when Liu Yun was promoted to the Beiyang General Army, Liu Yunwen also assisted his brothers in the Water Division, and later served as the Deputy General of the Water Division. After the establishment of the Naval Academy, Liu Jun transferred him.

Although the Naval Academy was the latest. But more than 1,000 bachelors have been enrolled, and today, the first batch of more than 100 students will graduate.

Liu Yunwen was not in a hurry to issue graduation certificates and titles to the bachelors.

He stood on the stage and said to the cadets below, "Today is the day when the first batch of cadets of our Imperial Naval Academy graduated, although the first batch of cadets has only been in school for one year, they have completed their studies just as well. After today, they will join the Imperial Navy and become our proud admirals. ”

"At this important moment. I am very fortunate to have good news for you. His Majesty came to attend the graduation ceremony of the school. Now let us greet His Majesty the Emperor! ”

As soon as Tong Haifeng, who was standing at the front of the graduates, heard that the emperor was actually here, his face couldn't help but turn red with excitement.

Amid the sound of a loud military band, the young Emperor His Majesty, dressed in military uniform, appeared under the escort of a group of guards and pro-soldiers, and then took the stage.

Tong Haifeng looked at the emperor and was excited in his heart, the emperor was so young, and the emperor was so heroic.

He was dressed in a navy blue naval officer's gown. There are also five gold bars on the sleeves, indicating the rank of general of the fifth rank that the emperor has.

Liu Jun made a brief speech, and then took the epaulette of the right lieutenant of the navy from the hand of the principal Liu Yunwen. personally put it on for Tong Haifeng, who was standing in front of him.

Then, Liu Jun picked up an iron anchor medallion, which was a dark yellow medallion made of brass. Awarded exclusively to every outstanding graduate who graduated from the Imperial Naval Academy.

After putting on his shoulders and medals, Liu Jun reached out and patted Tong Haifeng's arm vigorously.

"The maritime frontier of the future empire. It's up to you to guard it. ”

Although Tong Haifeng is the best student in this class, and he is usually excellent in all kinds of training, he still can't help but be excited at this time.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Tong Haifeng immediately clenched his right hand into a fist. Knock his left chest and give a standard military salute to the emperor.

"From today onwards, you will be the right lieutenant of the Imperial Navy, do a good job. Today, you are proud to be a cadet of the Imperial Naval Academy, and the other day, you are to make the Imperial Naval Academy proud of you. ”

The emperor personally conferred titles on His Majesty's students, and this honor made the graduating students very excited, and also made the other non-graduating students envious. Everyone knows that not everyone is eligible for the title of emperor, and under normal circumstances, only the rank of general is conferred by His Majesty himself.

They are now only the lowest rank in the army, and it is really extremely lucky and supreme honor to be awarded by the emperor.

The Han Empire was different from the Ming Dynasty in that the Han Dynasty implemented a system of separation of military and government.

At the same time, the military administration and military orders were separated, and the military was completely a professional army, consisting of a group of professional soldiers. Nowadays, officers are selected from the army and sent to military schools for training.

The soldiers made meritorious service in the army, performed well, and were promoted to non-commissioned officers. As assistants to the officers, they are responsible for leading the troops in training and daily management, and over the past few years, they actually have rich experience and excellent skills. Then the best batch of non-commissioned officers from these non-commissioned officers are selected from among the army, sent to military academies, and after special and systematic training, they are promoted to officers.

The army of the Han does not want soldiers.

If you reach the age limit and cannot be promoted to a non-commissioned officer, you will be required to be discharged. Although the Imperial Army is still being expanded, which is not a common situation, it will definitely become the norm in the future.

Soldiers who cannot be promoted, after a long time, will inevitably lose their enterprising spirit and become a soldier. If they are not promoted within the required number of years, they will have to retire.

After retiring, these soldiers who have been polished in the army can also bring a new atmosphere to the local area when they go to the locality, and even let them become local officials. It may even be included in the reserves, and in the event of a big war, he will become an excellent reservist.

Tong Haifeng is an excellent soldier, and in a short period of time, he was promoted all the way to the rank of sergeant with his military merits, and then successfully promoted to non-commissioned officer.

Along the way, he was promoted by military merit, and his performance was very eye-catching, and he was finally nominated for the captain of the fleet and sent to the Naval Academy. In the academy, he also lived up to the expectations of his fleet bosses, and he has always been the best performer, and he has always served as the captain of the cadets.

In the evening, the emperor gave a feast.

Everyone was finally allowed to drink and smoke, and everyone was excitedly singing, dancing and laughing.

However, Tong Haifeng didn't drink much, he didn't usually smoke, and he didn't even like this kind of noise very much. He left early. When you come to the school grounds, you can see the lighthouse of the harbor in the distance, pointing out the direction of the ships outside the harbor at night.

Looking back on his military academy career during this period, he felt as if he had only come to report for duty yesterday.

Time flies in a flash, really.

In fact, their current class of cadets is a crash course cadet, and the normal officer training time is three years, and they have not even reached a year.

But now the empire is expanding its army, not only the army is desperately expanding, but even the navy is also expanding.

The original navy had four fleets, which were later reduced to two. Now it has begun to resume its establishment.

Except for the Yangtze River Fleet, which was classified as an army naval division and belonged to the army, the remaining three fleets were restored and expanded. In particular, the Beiyang Fleet, where he belongs, now has the establishment of six detachments, each of which has nearly 9,000 people, which means that this fleet has more than 50,000 people.

The East China Sea and the South China Sea also have four detachments each, each with more than 30,000 troops.

It is said that the Admiralty is still planning to build a Western fleet.

The result of the large-scale expansion of the navy is that there is an urgent shortage of officers. Nowadays, many naval officers are promoted to one or two levels a year. There are even two or three of them a year.

These reserve officers, who were selected for training, had planned to have a three-year training period, but now they have graduated in a hurry in less than a year.

"Haifeng, I've found you."

Two young naval officers approached. There was also some alcohol.

"How much have you drunk?" Tong Haifeng said to the two companions with a smile. One of the two is He Mingyuan, from the East China Sea Fleet, and the other is Luo Zhizhou from the South China Sea Fleet.

He Mingyuan was the oldest of the three, and he used to be a member of the Zheng Pirate Group. But it was just a little pirate back then. Ordinary sailors only. Later, after the Zheng family took refuge in the emperor, he came and went from time to time and won the favor of a high-ranking officer sent by the emperor. Able to maintain into the academy.

Luo Zhizhou is empty, similar to He Mingyuan in the past, and he was also a pirate.

However, He Mingyuan is a small sailor on the Zheng pirate ship, while Luo Zhizhou was a pirate captain.

It is said that Luo Zhizhou's ancestor was once a captain under Zheng He, and later banned from the sea and also engaged in smuggling. Because of the cooperation between competitors and the government, he was forced to flee to the sea, and did inter-regional trade between the South Seas, the mainland, and Japan.

The family also once controlled an island and had a large team. When Qi Jiguang resisted the Japanese, Luo Zhizhou's ancestor led his men to defect to the Qi family's army.

However, later the ancestor was injured and left the Qi family's army, and returned to his old business when his father arrived.

However, the situation is not much worse, and a few years ago, infighting broke out on the island, and after a chaotic battle, the Locke family was defeated and forced to flee. Luo Zhizhou became a homeless pirate, with only one pirate ship and a few sailors who were still loyal to the Luo family.

At that time, he met Liu Jun patrolling the southeast and fighting with the Dutch, and Luo Zhizhou also led his troops to participate. Unfortunately, he was on the wrong side at the time and accepted the Dutchman's employment. After the defeat, he worked in a prisoner of war camp for a while, but because of his excellent maritime skills, he was finally recruited into the navy.

The three of them are from different backgrounds and different ages, but they are the best and most opportunistic among the students in the academy, and they have become best friends after a long time.

If it weren't for the fact that the academy did not allow different surnames to form righteousness, they would have burned yellow paper and beheaded chickens.

"The emperor personally awarded us the title, of course I am happy, this thing is enough for me to blow for a lifetime, how can I not drink two more glasses." He Mingyuan said with a smile.

Luo Zhizhou continued, "That is, we not only got the title of the emperor himself, but also the officer short sword awarded by the emperor himself, one hundred and eighty graduates, but only three of us got the golden sword, the rest only seven got the silver sword, and the rest were all bronze sheath swords." That's really enough for us to blow for a lifetime. ”

"By the way, did you get a notice from home?"

He Mingyuan didn't wait for Tong Haifeng to answer, so he said impatiently, "I have received a notice from our fleet, and it is very likely that I will be on the fourth-class warship of our fleet, and I may be able to be the deputy navigator." ”

At present, the Imperial Navy divides warships into six classes, of which the sixth class is a sloop, which mainly performs communication and escort missions.

Fourth-class warships, on the other hand, have been stipulated to have two gun decks, at least 50 to 50 or 60 guns, a crew of 350 goosebumps, and a displacement of more than 1,000 tons.

Although the cost of this kind of warship is relatively cheap, the shipyards on the southeast coast of the empire now build a ship of fourth-class standard fourth-class warships for only 150,000 silver dollars.

The fourth-class battleship mainly serves as the flagship of the cruising fleet, although it is not as powerful as the first, second and third class battleships, but it can be regarded as a very good battleship.

After all, a warship with two gun decks and fifty or sixty guns is not an ordinary armed merchant ship or pirate to fight against.

And serving as a co-navigator on such a battleship is also quite a good position. After all, the chief navigator is one of the most important positions on a battleship. Even if it is his deputy, he is also in charge of important personnel such as helmsmen and sail runners.

Luo Zhizhou said, "I would rather go to a fifth-level battleship, if I can be a deputy captain, it would be good." ”

"Haifeng, what about you, have you been notified of the arrangement?"

"Not yet." Tong Haifeng shook his head, he came out of the first detachment of the Beiyang Fleet, and he definitely wanted to return to the first detachment. However, the Beiyang Fleet has always been stationed in Tianjin, Denglai, Qinhuangdao, Lushun, Zhenjiang and other places, and there are basically no maritime opponents in these places, and the Beiyang Fleet is invincible and lonely.

In his heart, he would prefer to go to the Oriental Ocean or the South Sea Fleet.

In addition to garrisoning the coastal areas of Liangjiang, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Taiwan, the Oriental Fleet was also responsible for the Han concessions in Korea and Japan, responsible for the coastal areas of these two countries, and also responsible for protecting important trade routes and waterways with Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and the mainland.

"Haifeng, how many levels of battleship do you want to go to?"

"You are so good, I guess you have a chance to go to the first-class battleship."

The first-class battleship is the most powerful warship of the Imperial Navy today, with a crew of nearly 1,000 people per battleship, it is nearly 19 zhang long, equipped with more than 100 guns of various types from 12 to 32 pounds, with three gun decks and four mast sails. The displacement has reached more than 3,000 tons, and the carrying capacity has also reached more than two tons. The speed can reach nine knots, and it is the overlord of the sea in this era.

They were also quite expensive, costing six or seven hundred thousand silver dollars per first-class battleship.

In the entire imperial navy, there are only 16 first-class warships in active service, including six squadrons of the six squadrons in the Beiyang, four squadrons each in the East China Sea and four squadrons in the South Sea, and one in the Yangtze River Naval Division. In addition, there is a battleship of the Ryujin that is the emperor.

Basically, these first-class warships are the flagships of various fleets, and it is naturally extremely glorious to be able to land on the first-class warships and serve.

But to everyone's surprise, Tong Haifeng said an answer that the two of them didn't expect.

"Actually, I'd rather go to a Tier 6 battleship."

"Tier 6 battleship?"

"That's a sloop warship, there are only more than 100 people at full capacity, and the cost of one is only 60,000 yuan, and the navy is used for communications.

Tong Haifeng said with a smile, "If I can become the captain of the ship, even if it is a sixth-level ship, I will be satisfied." ”

"Hold the grass, you are so ambitious, you want to be the captain of the ship as soon as you graduate, and you really deserve to be the best guy in our class." Luo Zhizhou said with a smile, but he didn't want to be the captain of a communication ship, a small sixth-level ship, even if he was a captain, it was far inferior to a deputy on a fifth-level ship.

It's still the majesty of the big ship, and now on the sea, it is the era of giant ship cannons, and giant ship cannons are king! (To be continued.) )