In 1707, the English fleet led by Admiral Chauvelle won another naval victory against the French fleet in Gibraltar, but on the way back, it encountered a heavy fog that lasted for more than ten days, making it impossible for the English fleet to accurately locate the voyage.

Guessing that he was approaching the Isles of Scilly, an ordinary sailor broke through the barriers of others and desperately pointed out to Chauvelle that the fleet's course might be wrong. In the English Navy, it was strictly forbidden for subordinates to interfere with navigation, let alone such a turtle creep who publicly accused the supreme commander of the fleet?

Chauwell, who was already distraught by the problem of the shipping route, hanged his commander on the spot for disobeying military orders in order to maintain his dignity. The execution of a small soldier only slightly calmed Chauwell's inner turmoil, but the entire English fleet sailed in the wrong course to the dangerous reef-strewn waters off the Isles of Scilly.

On the sea under the dark clouds, the flagship Union crashed headlong into the reef group, the sharp reef instantly tore through the hull of the Union, and the turbulent sea water poured inexorably into the cabin, and in just a few minutes, the Union capsized and sank with a wound.

But the Grim Reaper's footsteps did not stop there, followed by the Eagle, the Romney, and the Burning Wood...... One battleship after another sailed to death. In the end, four English warships sank to the bottom of the sea forever with nearly 2,000 officers and men. Shawville himself, washed ashore by the waves, died at the hands of an ordinary peasant woman who coveted the jeweled ring on his body......

……

Ever since it was known that the earth is round, the concepts of longitude and dimension have been proposed. Accurate nautical charts and accurate maritime positioning have become essential skills for European countries to compete for maritime rights and interests in the era of geographical exploration.

Unlike latitude measurements, longitude is difficult to obtain by observing celestial objects, so captains can only rely on speed to estimate their relative positions, and in the process, find the time of their current voyage. Then getting the exact time difference from the point of departure becomes the key of the keys.

But the inaccuracy of the time has cost generations of ocean pioneers, and every captain has to spend a lot of his energy observing the phases of the moon to deduce the position at sea, and a longitude measurement often takes hours, and praying for good weather, even then, errors of tens of nautical miles are commonplace.

In order to obtain precise astronomical numbers for moon phase observations, the Greenwich Observatory was born, and the modern astronomical shrine created by seeking maritime supremacy became the standard of geographical longitude in later generations.

On the other hand, people's pursuit of higher longitude measurement has not yet given up. Spain, Portugal, and France have all offered high prizes to their own scholars for solving longitude measurements. Especially England. No matter how virtuous or mediocre, every king often inquired about it. In 1714, England introduced the Longitude Act, which stipulated that anyone who could find a better way to measure longitude at sea would receive an unprecedented bounty of £20,000!

The question of longitude is a matter of time. Wouldn't it be easy to bring two clocks to the sea? Both East and West. Hundreds of years ago. Similar solutions have been proposed. In the 17th century, the famous physicist and mechanical inventor Huygens first introduced a marine clock, but it still could not solve the clock timing errors caused by the turbulence of the sea.

It wasn't until 1736 that Harrison, who was born into a family of watchmakers, made the world's first marine clock that could keep accurate time at sea, and the centuries-old moon phase method was finally eliminated.

However, Harrison's invention of the marine clock was complex and extremely expensive. Even with a few modifications, the cost is as high as £500, and the cost of a marine clock is almost as much as the cost of building the Greenwich Observatory in the first place. But anyway, Harrison's nautical clock. Finally, the longitude measurement problem that has plagued the world for hundreds of years has been solved.

……

On January 16, 1642, a naval steam frigate was slowly moving south over the ocean more than a dozen nautical miles north of Qingcheng Bay.

This is the Rosemary frigate on which members of the Huamei "Haizhou Research Group" are riding, led by Senator Su Zining, and important members include Huo Qian, Minister of Civil Affairs, Guan Ruzhong, Governor of Haizhou, and Rear Admiral Sun Yang, Chief of Staff of the Navy. The research team has just finished its annual inspection of "Huashi Port" and "Haimen City" on the northern coast of Haizhou and is on its way back to Qingcheng City.

After the signing of the Treaty of Friendship between the United States and France, Huashi Port and Haimen City were established in late 1636 and early 1639 respectively in order to control a large area of new territory assigned to Huamei. Among them, Huashi Port is located in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and can continue inland along the Salmon River in the north of the city in the future. Because the inland mica and gemstone resources are abundant and granite is abundant, it is named Huashi Port.

Haimen City is a new town established on the site of the Portland Port in Maine, and it is also the East Coast port town with the highest gorgeous dimension. However, due to the influence of the warm ocean current, the climate here is more pleasant than many towns in the interior of Songzhou. Moreover, according to the country's long-term planning, Haimen City, which is currently under the jurisdiction of Haizhou, will become the capital of "Dingzhou" in the future, and at the same time it will also be an important core frontier for the "approaching strategy" of the French Quebec colony.

Due to the strategic importance of Haimen City, in addition to the local finance of Haizhou, the state also has special construction funds. Almost every year, the Congress, the Cabinet and the military set up a joint research team to inspect and guide the work of such important core towns. Now, nearly three years later, Haimen City has begun to take shape, and a number of local economic investment projects have been completed, with a settled population of 3,600 people.

“…… Although Zhou Bitang is only 25 years old, he is the first master of management at the Capital National University, and he has experience in Heping City, and it is worth trying to make him the acting mayor of Haimen City next year. However, it is necessary to change his development thinking, not to rely too much on the relocation of old nationals, and to accept more new immigrants appropriately. ”

On the deck of the ship, Su Zining was still chatting with Guan Ruzhong about the topic of work, and affirmed Guan Ruzhong's bold use of the new generation of young officials and the development direction of forest industry, livestock dairy industry, jam and starch deep processing in Haimen City.

Zhou Bitang, the adopted son of Zhou Junting, chairman of Xinhua Chemical Group, was 8 years old when he was abducted and trafficked to Huamei by the Dutch, but he learned and grew up very fast. Zhou Bitang is young and promising, and his appearance is also very good. He has a high-level literary and youthful temperament, and is the most promising of the many children who have been adopted by the crossing, and is now serving as the acting director of the Civil Affairs Bureau in Haimen City.

"Brother Su, since you are so optimistic about Haimen City, why don't we sum it up and invest there?" Sun Yang on the side walked over and squeezed a copy of the text in his hand with a smile, "Deng Mingquan of Huamei Wood planned to pull us together last year to start a large-scale pine processing and dry distillation project in Haimen City. I made an investment plan, Brother Su, can you help me read it? ”

"Okay. Then you'll have an idea. However, I don't have as much of a 'financial burden' to feed a large number of people as you. ”

Su Zining chuckled and took the text handed by Sun Yang, but half-jokingly refused the other party's invitation to cooperate. Su Zining has heard a lot of stories about Sun Yang's illegitimate son and his wife Yan Xianping who often fight secretly in order to support a large family in private.

As soon as the words came out. Friends, including Defense Minister Zheng Quan, were happy. Thinking that the children of each family are now gradually growing up, the middle-aged crossers all showed a smile of relief.

"I heard that your family, Su Fangqi, is an exchange student at Fudan University. I also have two girls who were admitted to Fudan University this year. Let's take a look this time. Sun Yang is accustomed to his friends' comments on his private life, although he has long been confused, he is still very cheeky and dismissive.

The whistle sounded, and before I knew it, the frigate Rosemary had sailed into Qingcheng Bay, and the port of Qingcheng to the west was faintly visible. Boats or sails. or soot-spitting merchant ships passing in and out of the blue bay mouth, and the layers of port buildings gradually enlarge at the end of the line of sight.

"What's going on there?"

After listening to Captain Rosemary's routine report, Sun Yang turned his gaze to a certain direction of the port, only to see several small boats crowded not far from the shore. A bunch of dockers are busy. A piece of charred hull fragments was slowly emerging from the water under the work of the salvage ship's pulley tripod, and the dock workers crowded on the deck of the ship shouted.

"Looks like salvaging a shipwreck? I don't know whose ship was burned to the ground...... This is not a small loss. Huo Qian looked at the situation and said his inference.

As the country grows bigger, there are more and more things, the division of labor in all walks of life is more fragmented, and the operational details of a modern industrialized country are more complex. Quietly looking at the busy scene and the horribly burned shipwreck, Su Zining also sighed softly.

……

The Haizhou research team of the Congress only stayed in Qingcheng for two days, because the Spring Festival is about to end, and her daughter's Fudan University exchange student semester is about to come to an end, Su Zining still has to take time to pick up her daughter from Fudan University. The members of the first Haizhou Local Council, who are about to serve as members of the first Haizhou Local Council after the Spring Festival, will also meet in these two days, so Su Zining's schedule is particularly tight.

The buffet banquet hosted by the Qingcheng Municipal Government to entertain the National Assembly Research Group was held in the city hall, and local business and political celebrities in Qingcheng City were invited to visit.

Su Fangqi and Su Fangwei became one of the figures who accompanied their father to the city hall banquet today, and several female classmates also followed him to the banquet. Several female college students wearing Ivy League college social dresses became the most dazzling storage at the banquet. And Sun Yang's two openly admitted twin mixed-race illegitimate daughters, Sun Lina and Sun Aina, also accompanied their rear admiral father in public, but most of the time they were very withdrawn and low-key in the far corner of the banquet hall.

Soft music echoed through the banquet hall, and both men and women enjoyed a buffet in a relaxed atmosphere. As the host of the banquet, Danielson, the mayor of Qingcheng, accompanied his direct boss Guan Ruzhong, the governor of Haizhou, very proudly, and constantly introduced the freshly baked Haizhou local councillors to the magnates from Manchester City one by one.

"Dad, Yan Shuming, this villain, actually refused to take me to visit Qingcheng City a few days ago! When I go back, I'm going to sue Uncle Yan and Aunt Katarina! ”

A few days ago, he put down his shelf and took the initiative to go out to the other party to play, but he was "unreasonably refused", as soon as he thought of this, Su Fangqi was full of displeasure, holding Su Zining's arm while still muttering.

"Sister, we were taking exams for a few days, how could we have time......" Brother Su Fangwei explained in a low voice on the side.

The eighteenth change of the women's university, and today's eldest daughter Su Fangqi is an honor student in an Ivy League university, studying finance and physics at the same time, no matter from which point of view, she is the proudest daughter of the Su family. Su Zining, who took her beloved daughter, constantly greeted the toasts coming from all directions. And Su Fangqi also showed excellent etiquette and upbringing, which naturally made Su Zining also gain praise for his daughter from various Qingcheng business and political celebrities. His son Su Fangwei looks ordinary, and it is very good to be admitted to Fudan University.

"Ah, look, they almost look exactly the same!" Angelia, who had participated in this kind of high-class banquet before, was walking around the banquet hall holding Chang Zilian's hand at this time, and suddenly lowered her voice as if she had discovered something new, "It's the dress of Fudan University...... They look good, but I know who they are. Hmph, it's just an illegitimate child. Could it be that their mother still expects the two daughters to share the inheritance of the Sun family's property? ”

"Shh......h Anyway, it was also the daughter of Uncle Sun's family. An Shu walked from the side with a plate, and made a secret gesture with a finger on her mouth, "I heard that their biological mother passed away last year, so Uncle Sun officially took them into the house......"

"Oh. That's right...... Merciful God, that's unfortunate. I retract what I just said. ”

Angelia quickly shut up. Then he picked up the food very elegantly by the buffet car, while several of the junior officers of the Navy on the frigate USS Rosemary, who had been invited to the banquet, all showed idiot expressions.

At this moment, the sweaty Qingcheng City Police Chief and the Coast Guard Captain walked into the banquet hall and drove Mayor Danielson away, his anxious expression and rapid pace attracted the attention of others, and everyone in the banquet hall looked over.

"Mr. Governor, Mr. Mayor. New progress has been made in the salvage of shipwrecks in the harbor. The police chief glanced at the depressed captain of the coast guard beside him, took two steps in a row and lowered his voice, "Today is the sixth day of salvage work, and the body has been found." However, the ship's nautical clock was not found. ”

Guan Ruzhong's face was stunned, he slowly put down the wine glass in his hand, and then turned his head to the side of the hall, and at the end of his sight, Su Zining was talking with Huo Qian, Minister of Civil Affairs......

……

In the quiet depths of the national government office in Manchester, in the office building of the Ministry of Homeland Security, Migu is frowning and reading a message forwarded from the Qingcheng city government in Haizhou. On the opposite side of the desk, several internal military and police officers of the Ministry of State Security did not dare to stand up straight.

"Why did someone from the Department of Homeland Security's Haizhou office intervene in the investigation seven days after the incident?" As soon as Mi Gu threw the message on the table, two cold eyes swept towards the subordinates in the room, who seemed to be extremely dissatisfied with the slow response of the Chinese soil security department to the "Yuanyu No. 07 Burning Incident" that occurred in Qingcheng City.

"Your Excellency, from the beginning, they were characterized as an accidental fire, and we did not receive any requests for help from the Qingcheng Police Department and the Coast Guard at the first time." A military police officer explained cautiously.

"Immediately investigate all the departure and return records of Yuanyu 07 in the last year, as well as the information of all the crew!" Miya pinched the knuckles of his fingers, his face darkened terribly, "Especially the information of the deceased, including his daily interpersonal interactions. In addition, for all European merchant ships that enter and exit the port of Haizhou Qingcheng City, a detailed information must be sorted out! ”

"Yes, Your Excellency!" Several subordinates hurriedly saluted, and then hurriedly exited the office.

"Stealing a marine clock and killing someone? These Europeans are really trying to figure it out. After looking at the investigation text again, the expression on Miya's face became more and more strange, and he even laughed helplessly at the end.

……

On the deep blue waters of the North Atlantic, a merchant ship flying the flag of the French royal family is rising and falling on the cusp of the storm.

"Mr. Curtis, maybe we shouldn't change course, the wind and waves are too bad! It's too late to return to Quebec! The French captain slammed open the cabin, and a large handful of seawater poured out of the captain's hat, and he was even more soaked.

"No, we have to be careful, we can't go back to Quebec!" The middle-aged French man dressed as a merchant had a gloomy face, and his eyes flashed with unknown excitement, "If we turn back, then their warship will find us at the mouth of the St. Lawrence!" ”

"Can't you stop for supplies in the Azores yet? Then we will have to drift at sea for at least two months before we can return to France! The French captain's face turned a little pale, and he was puzzled by this crazy detour at sea.

"A qiē for the sake of the king! Tell everyone that if they return to France, they will be rewarded with 200 livres! The middle-aged man said as he took out a scroll rolled up in waterproof paper from his bosom, "I have the highest authority given by His Excellency Prime Minister Richelieu, so you must ensure that we can avoid the search of the American warship." ”

"Yes, for His Majesty the King and His Excellency Prime Minister Richelieu......" The French captain looked bad, but still gritted his teeth and walked out of the cabin.

"Keep watching, check the mast cable!"

In the rough winter of the North Atlantic, lonely French merchant ships left their traditional routes in favor of a more dangerous route, and still struggled to the northeast, with their hulls and sailors looming in the wind and waves...... (To be continued......)