The beginning of autumn is approaching, the wind on the sea will be much cooler, on the coastal defense fort of Xujiashan on Monk Island, the red flag from the period of the unified prison government is hunting in the cool sea breeze. The giant cannon on the www.biquge.info turret pointed directly at the sea, and unlike usual, today the gunners are all standing at the tail of the gun, and they occasionally cast their eyes into the distance, just waiting for the signal to come.

Under the fort, the officer wearing the "captain" sleeve of the rank of major on his shoulder walked back and forth, and the frowning major looked at the distant communication room from time to time, the double-layer steel armor door was completely open, and the communication officer was also a little nervous standing by the door, as if everyone was waiting for something.

Suddenly, the phone rang, and the piercing ringing shook everyone's hearts.

"One-minute countdown!"

When the communications officer shouted this sentence, the commander of the battery immediately shouted.

"Attention all, reload!"

The silent fort suddenly became lively with the order of the commander, and the gunners immediately began to reload according to their previous training, and their speed was very fast, as if the enemy would hit the shells at any time, but it was only a few seconds to complete the loading of ammunition.

At this point, the countdown is still going on

"Three, two, one...... Fire! ”

After the last countdown, as the order was given, the huge cannon of the coastal defense battery on Xujia Mountain on Monk Island rang out,

The roaring sound of cannons stirred in the air, one after another, there were twenty-one salutes, in the sound of the salute, people looked towards the sea, only to see a fleet proudly moored in Dalian Bay on the sea in the distance, and the most eye-catching thing was probably the huge warship moored in the center of the fleet, in the morning sun. It's so eye-catching.

"This is my fleet ......"

Standing on a traffic boat with a tonnage of only a few tens of tons. When looking at the fleet that is getting closer and closer. Tang Haoran only felt a sense of relief, this is the first time that the cruiser fleet of the Northeast Navy has been completely displayed in front of the world, two "Dinghai" class armored cruisers, they were once the main ships of the Northeast Navy, three "Pingbo" class small armored cruisers, five "Fu" class destroyers, and seven "County" class lightning strike ships.

Without exception, every warship was hoisted with colored flags, and there were naval officers and sailors lined up on the side of each warship. Today is a big day, for the Northeast Navy, today is a big day, and this grand ceremony is to highlight the importance of this day.

Looking at His Excellency the Marshal, Lieutenant Colonel Wells, the staff officer of the British "Chinese Fleet," who was standing in the bow of another transport boat, was not as surprised by the appearance of the Northeast Navy as officers from other countries, and the Northeast Army was neatly organized. This is something that everyone knows, and there is no need to pay attention.

As a naval officer. What does Wells really care about? It is the local government of the Northeast that attaches great importance to the sea, just like the military uniform on the marshal -- a white naval dress, although there is no ordinary military rank, but this dress reveals a very direct signal -- from today onwards, the Northeast will set its sights on the sea!

However, not all foreign naval officers are like Wells who can ignore the fleet and its central flagship because of their own strength, and they are more concerned about the impact of this fleet on the balance of naval power in Northeast Asia at this time than in the future.

Just like Makarov, who happened to be on his circumnavigation voyage, after learning that today was the inauguration ceremony of the Northeast Naval Cruiser, in addition to congratulating him, he also expressed his hope to be able to watch the ceremony in person; as Russia's most outstanding naval officer, he knew very well that the essence of the maritime competition in Northeast Asia was the competition between Russia and the Qing Dynasty, and in the past, Russia's opponent was the Beiyang Fleet, but now there is an additional Northeast Navy.

In the past few days, through contacts with the Northeast Navy, Makarov has even felt that this adversary may even be a threat to Russia that may even surpass that of the Beiyang Fleet -- compared to the Beiyang Fleet, the officers of this fleet may be young and inexperienced, but they are all full of fighting spirit without exception, which is exactly the spirit that most officers in the Beiyang Fleet do not have.

"This is the Zhenhae."

As the distance got closer and closer, Makarov finally saw clearly the "Zhenhai", whether it was the "Dinghai" or the "Jinghai", the kind of cruiser with a tonnage of less than 5,000 tons, in Makarov's opinion, could not pose a threat to the Pacific Fleet, but the "Zhenhai" was different, it had four powerful 45 times the body barrel of 12-inch naval guns.

"There are 7 guns of about 6 inches on the side ......"

As an expert in the navy, although there is no public information about the "Zhenhai" battleship, Makarov still has a certain understanding of its firepower from its exposed barrels.

The reason why various countries have not yet had relevant information on it is because the "Zhenhai" warship was built by the local authorities in Northeast China, and everyone clearly remembers that less than three years ago, when the Northeast authorities said that they would build their own warships. There people said in a mocking tone that they were "talking about a dream", but now, the battleship "Zhenhae" was really moored in front of their eyes.

Not only that, but the Zhenhai, China's first self-built warship, was put into service ahead of schedule - not even inferior to the British shipyards, but what was the quality of its construction?

When everyone took the traffic boat and boarded the ship on the gangway on the gangway, unlike the officials and diplomats who went up to the gangway No. 1, the naval officers of various countries at the gangway No. 2 did not move fast, they cautiously observed the gunside of the battleship "Zhenhai" while walking, from the shape of the rivets, to the gaps in the armor on the broadside, to the gun profile, no one would doubt that if they had a camera, they would definitely take pictures to study it, although many details were covered with paint, But these insiders can always find some details that go unnoticed.

"The manufacturing process is quite ......"

At least the surface of the battleship made Wells a rare compliment, but he knew that many technical details were not as simple as they seemed on the surface, just like perhaps, its "hull" looked good. But battleships are by no means that simple. However, based on the understanding of the Qing people. Just like everyone else. Wells also praised this "world's first-class warship" in an admiring tone, the Qing people like to hear the praise of foreigners, saying something like this, it can always bring benefits, such as can bring more orders to the British industry, maybe this warship is built by the Northeast itself, but his main guns, power and many other equipment are made in the British.

"45 times the 12-inch naval gun, it can be said to be the most powerful giant cannon in East Asia......"

"Oh? Made in Armstrong? You can choose the best supplier......"

"6-inch rapid-fire gun. Made in Shenyang? Oh, the military technology of the Northeast is advancing thousands of miles by day, and it is far from being comparable to Taixi......"

In the praise of such praise, Tang Haoran still maintained a smile on his face, these foreign devils understand the character of the Chinese people, so they blindly serve sincerity, in fact...... There was not a word of sincerity.

"Well, our captain, what do you think of their compliments?"

looked at Huang Zhongying beside him, the captain of the "Zhenhai" who had led the "Jingyuan" expedition to Hawaii. Tang Haoran asked with a smile.

"Returning to the handsome ......"

The handsome "Your Excellency" only made Huang Zhongying, who was originally with joy on his face, tremble suddenly. There is a trace of transgression there.

"From the point of view of humble duties, the praise of Westerners should be all due to the handsome, and all to the superiors......"

This is the most appropriate answer, at least in Chinese officialdom, although it has been three years since he entered the Northeast, but some things cannot be changed for a while. His answer made Tang Haoran smile and nodded, and then turned his gaze to Su Yueyang, the deputy commander of the fleet and also an instructor, who was his own student and the "nail" he had planted in the navy. After all, the navy and the army are fundamentally different.

"Yueyang, what do you think?"

"Back to Dashuai, the praise of Westerners is just a lie with the wrong heart, and it can't be taken seriously, not to mention that the Zhenhai ship is just a warship, so agreeing with it is too much."

"Indeed!"

An officer in his forties on the side said in fluent Nanjing official dialect.

"However, the handsome must not be taken seriously, the praise of the Westerners, for us, is really a killing, the current weakness of coastal defense, far from being filled by a Zhenhai, we should further strengthen the armament ......"

What is a suspicious person, perhaps it is more appropriate to use it on Li Weizhong, this former Japanese rear admiral, because of his origin in Changshu in the Japanese navy can be said to be very excluded, as the president of the naval university, after the surrender of Japan, he naturally lost his job, and then he took more than 100 students, came to China, after inspecting the Beiyang and the Northeast Navy, he joined the Northeast Navy, not only naturalized himself as a Chinese, but also lobbied his students, the old naturalized China, and completely abandoned the Japanese name.

And the name "Li Weizhong" may indicate his mentality. Although the surname "Li" is the most common choice for naturalized Japanese because it is the national surname of the Tang Dynasty, the name "Weizhong" is the result of his abandonment of Japanese names.

Li Weizhong's attitude really aroused the dissatisfaction of some Japanese exiles, who always used "that guy" to describe him, but this directly led to the fact that in the northeast now, almost no one will remember "Pingi Hangsan", for the Chinese, they only remember Li Weizhong, who was the director of the Naval Officer Academy and is now the commander of the cruiser's fleet.

"Otherwise, we will regret our complacency in the future!"

Although he had a Chinese name, Li Weizhong knew what kind of performance he should have, so although he pointed it out, he still had some reservations.

Looking at the rear admiral next to him, who was dressed not much different from other Northeast naval officers, he was appointed to the Admiralty...... No, it should be said that Li Weizhong, as the commander of the cruiser fleet, Tang Haoran did not have much resistance, he understood that the navy is a technical branch, and the commander of this fleet is directly related to the fate of the entire fleet. In the Northeast Navy, including all the officers of Japanese descent, there is no more suitable candidate than Li Weizhong.

However, Tang Haoran always felt a little absurd and nonsensical -- in another time and space, the First Guerrilla Force led by Tsuboi Kozo was undoubtedly the best performance of the entire Combined Fleet, and now, after the disbandment of the army and navy due to the destruction of Japan, he has become the headquarters of the First Fleet of the Northeast Navy, which is really ...... However, whatever, by his side, isn't there still a prison army?

What's more, for Tang Haoran, who has already regarded Japan as "an inseparable part of the empire" in his heart, now Li Weizhong still has the role of "buying bones with a thousand dollars", and his use is undoubtedly telling all Japanese in exile in China that as long as they are naturalized as Chinese, they can be reused.

As long as the "green and yellow" in the past few years is overcome, as for the future...... Ten years later, this group of people, not old, retired, that is, to the Admiralty to "support", now, no way, take it and use it first!

"If you forget to fight, you will be in danger, that's the truth!"

Tang Haoran smiled and agreed.

"General Li, what you said is very good! Pride will always make people complacent, and this mentality is undoubtedly extremely dangerous for the army! For the navy, this is even more so, after all, the navy is a technical branch, if you don't advance, you will retreat, there is no other choice! ”

Then he turned the conversation around and looked at the consuls and officers of the countries who were still full of praise, and said softly.

"However, we also have to give them some face, after all, people praise us, and we have to bear it!"

Saying this, seeing that Huang Zhongying's face on the side became a little embarrassed, Tang Haoran could only sigh secretly in his heart, maybe there are the best naval officers in China in this era in the Beiyang Fleet, but they ...... Well, I have been poisoned by too many Manchu officialdom vices, and it is not a day's work to correct them.

It seems that in the future, even after reunification, the use of them may be ...... It has to be the same as the use of naturalized officers, although it seems a little helpless, but in fact, for Tang Haoran, he doesn't think he has so much courage to hand over such a large fleet to "outsiders" with confidence.

However, after a simple visit, with the issuance of the order, the inauguration ceremony of the fleet began, the whole process is completely Western-style, as the supreme commander Tang Haoran read out the order for the establishment of the fleet as the supreme commander of the Northeast Army and Navy, and appointed the commander, chief of staff and other positions, of course, compared with the Western Navy, the "instructor" with Northeast characteristics is also among them, which has no name but has the post of supervising the army, which has always been the characteristics of the Northeast, and the navy is naturally not exempt from vulgarity.

After the order was read, the salute rang out again, and the sound of the fleet's guns, along with the guns of the batteries on the shore, reverberated in the sky over Dalian Bay...... (To be continued.) )