No matter how unreasonable the British were, they still had basic credibility, and although the delivery of five warships to the Taiping Army had been delayed to meet the deadline stipulated in the treaty, they still delivered five warships. Among them were two ships of the third class and three ships of the fourth class, which were traditional ships of the British Navy. One of the fourth-class warships was an old acquaintance of the Taiping Army, the fast gram ship "Hermes" (cruiser) who had visited Tianjing.

"Halmis" is a steam engine sail double-powered wooden-hulled three-masted ship, 76 meters long, the hull is made of double-layer oak planks, each layer is up to 42 centimeters thick, the total area of sails is 1,120 square meters, the steam engine power is 360 horsepower, the bow has a solid angle of attack, the displacement is 1,300 tons, the ship is equipped with 34 breech-loading rifled guns and 316 crew members.

Among the two third-class warships, there is also one that Xiao Yungui and Hong Yun'er have admired for a long time, and she is the Gao Huali who held the signing ceremony of the "Nanjing Treaty" today. The first ship of the 'Cornwallis' class of third-class battleships, the Cornwallis was launched on 12 May 1813 at the East India Company's Bombay dockyard and was originally named 'Termagant', renamed on 15 May 1824. 'Cornwallis' is known in Chinese documents as 'Gao Huali'. The ship is 145 feet 11 inches long, 48 feet wide, 21 feet 1 inch deep, equipped with 28 32-pounder guns, 12 32-pounder large-caliber guns, 28 18-pounder guns, 6 18-pounder large-caliber cannons, 6 12-pounder guns, and a capacity of 590 people. On February 8, 1855, in response to the war against Russia in the Far East, the British added 787 horsepower to her.

Another third-class battleship was the 'Vengeur' class battleship Warrior, which was launched at the Deptford dockyard on May 31, 1813 with a length of 176 feet. It is 47 feet 6 inches wide and 21 feet deep. Equipped with 28 32-pounder guns, 28 18-pounder guns, 6 12-pounder guns, 12 32-pounder large-caliber short guns, with a capacity of 510 people. In 1847 she converted the steam-powered, also sail-steam-powered battleship.

The other two, like the Hamils, were fourth-class ships, but slightly smaller than the Hamils, and were only sail-powered ships, but each had more than thirty guns in their firepower. Not to be underestimated, they are the Rattlesnake and the Albatross.

Xiao Yungui and Hong Yun'er couldn't understand why the British regarded the Gao Huali as one of the transferred warships, was it because the British were threatening, or was it a gesture of goodwill? After all, as the signing ship of the "Nanjing Treaty", the Gaohuali has a humiliating mark on it for the Chinese people. The British handed over the Gao Huali to the Taiping Army as a reminder of the defeat of the Taiping Army in the past.

In fact, the two of them thought too much, although the Gao Huali was modified as a third-class battleship, it was modified with steam power. But the British were not satisfied with her appearance. In history, the Gao Huali faded out of the main fleet as a shore defense ship a few years later, and was replaced by a new warship with full steam power. In other words, the Gao Huali was a semi-obsolete product of the British replacing old and new warships, and it met the tonnage clause of the treaty in terms of tonnage.

After the transfer of the five warships, the strength of the Taiping Navy suddenly rose to a new level, and the Taiping Army hired a team of more than 500 foreign sailors in Shanghai. These men were mixed with the Taipings' own sailors to control five warships. In Shanghai, the East China Sea Fleet of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Navy was established, with the Gaohuali as the flagship of the fleet, with more than 2,500 combat personnel and more than 4,000 logistics and other personnel. The anchorage of the fleet was located in Dinghai. At the same time, Xiao Yungui renamed the Gao Huali, Mengshi, Hamils, Rattlesnake, and Albatross as Chijin, Aoki, Lanshui, Zihuo, and Heitu respectively, and the admiral of the Navy was Tang Zhengcai.

This time, Luo Xuan commanded the inland water division to go west, and Xiao Yungui deployed two warships Blue Water (Hamils) and Zihuo (Rattlesnake) to accompany him, with the intention of showing off the strong force of the West Temple, and at the same time, against those inland water divisions of the Shangxiang Army, Xiao Yungui believed that the two warships would be invincible.

Just like the shock of Xiao Yungui and Hong Yun'er when they saw the Hamils for the first time, when Shi Dakai, Zhang Suimou, Han Baoying and other people in the Yidian saw the Hamils that had been renamed the Blue Water in Quarry Rock, they were all shocked.

"Is this really our heavenly warship?" After Han Baoying's little face was briefly shocked, she began to become a little flushed with excitement, her happy tone did not hide the emotions in her heart at all, at this moment she was really proud of the kingdom of heaven, and subconsciously forgot the flag of the West Hall that these two ships were flying.

Xiao Yungui smiled, and Luo Xuan, who was in charge of the reception on the side, also smiled and said: "This ship is a fourth-class battleship of the British, and we have two larger battleships than this one in Shanghai, which are third-class battleships. The captain of the ship ...... "Luo Gang quickly reported some of the numbers of the Blue Water, but replaced the units in it with the unit of the Chinese people.

Shi Dakai's face became very exciting, and after listening to Luo's introduction, he frowned and said, "This giant ship is only a fourth-class battleship on Yingyi's side?" ”

Luo Xuan didn't understand the meaning of Shi Dakai's words, but nodded and said, "Yes, this ship is a fourth-class battleship. ”

Xiao Yungui understood what Shi Dakai meant, and sighed lightly: "Yes, this ship that makes us look like a giant ship is only a fourth-class battleship on the British side, and there are third-class battleships, second-class battleships and first-class battleships on it. Their first-class battleships were equipped with more than a hundred guns and a crew of more than 800 people, and the firepower of one ship was more than the number of guns of one of our 10,000 soldiers. ”

Shi Dakai looked up at the Blue Water in a daze and was silent for a long time, and only said after a while: "If we start a war with the British, what are the odds of victory?" ”

Xiao Yungui made no secret of it: "According to the current strength of our soldiers and horses in the West Palace, we will be completely defeated at sea, and we will be five or five on land." ”

Shi Dakai was silent again, his face became iron blue and silent, standing there like a sculpture, Xiao Yungui stood beside him and said in a deep voice: "Da compatriot, we have lagged behind other countries too much, too much, driving away the Manchu Qing is only the first step in reviving the Han family, if we drive away the Manchu Qing, this Yingyi will come again, what can we do?" Do you want to be someone else's slave again? ”

Shi Dakai gritted his teeth and said: "It's a big deal, and the blood will be sprinkled on this thick soil!" ”

Xiao Yungui nodded and said, "Refuse to die." It's true that we only have human lives left to exchange, but I think if we don't unite and fight among ourselves by now, maybe we won't even have a chance to trade human lives. ”

Shi Dakai lowered his head slightly, he didn't dare to look at Xiao Yungui, but he could see that his mood seemed to have knocked over the five-flavor bottle.

Xiao Yungui continued: "Maybe in a few decades, we will all be buried in the loess, and the descendants are still suffering, so that the future generations will ask why the ancestors had a chance to win." Why should they give up? This wasn't meant to be the way things were supposed to be! Then the insider will say that at that time they were busy fighting for power, busy killing each other, busy satisfying selfish desires. ”

The words were hard to hear, but they hit Shi Dakai's heart like a heavy hammer. Xiao Yungui pointed to the Blue Water and said, "A few years ago, the British drove her to Tianjing, and the King of Heaven was still in Wuchang at that time. I met the English on behalf of the Kingdom of Heaven. I also saw this ship, and I thought that one day I would have such a ship. Now, a few years later, I have not only this ship, but even a ship bigger than this one. Do you know why I was able to do it? ”

Shi Dakai didn't know how to answer, so he had to say: "Brother, Tianzong is a genius." and with the blessing of his heavenly brother, he is the first man in heaven. ”

Xiao Yungui shook his head and smiled: "I'm not a genius, I was just chopping wood and selling charcoal in Bauhinia Mountain back then. Then Xiao Yunguixu raised his big hand and said: "Don't say dark words in front of the Ming people, I can do it without the blessing of my brother." It's not a genius, it's because of the power in my hands. I used the power in my hands to integrate Su Fu's manpower and material resources to make Su Fu strong, so I was able to do this. Speaking of this, Xiao Yungui looked at Shi Dakai and asked, "But what about the Heavenly King?" What did he do with his promise? ”

Shi Dakai was speechless, when Hong Xiuquan promised to lay a small paradise, there is land and farming, there is food and food, and money is the same as the envoy, at first the holy treasury was abundant, but then the big pot of rice greatly reduced productivity, and finally under the rule of the Kingdom of Heaven except for Tianjing City, the rest of the places began to pay grain according to the old Manchu Qing Dynasty. Even Tianjing is not a small paradise, the drunken Jinling City has eroded the princes and generals of the Taiping Army, they have become greedy, selfish, and suspicious one by one, and the Tianjing Incident is just a means of fighting for power and profit, for the power and selfish desires of a few people, tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Tianjing have lost their lives, is this the little paradise in the mouth of the King of Heaven and the King of the East?

Xiao Yungui patted Shi Dakai's shoulder and said, "Since you have power in your hands, you need to make good use of it, it can bring you benefits, but it also has responsibilities in it." The greater the power, the greater the responsibility, I Xiao Chaogui from the day I became the king of the west of the kingdom of heaven, I asked myself to use the power in my hands, it brought me great benefits, and I also fulfilled my responsibility, this responsibility is to let the military and the people live and work in peace and contentment, and then enrich the country and strengthen the army! ”

In the end, Xiao Yungui stared at Shi Dakai and said, "What about the Heavenly King? Did he fulfill his responsibilities? What did he bring to the kingdom of heaven? Does Heavenly Father really need such a person to command the people of Heaven? Then he did not hide his own ambitions and desires, and said calmly: "In order for our children and grandchildren not to be bullied by Western powers in the future, I need more power so that I can fulfill greater responsibilities. ”

When Xiao Yungui spoke, he did not shy away from Zhang Suimou and Han Baoying behind Shi Dakai, Zhang Suimou listened to the words of the King of the West, and slowly changed from shock to contemplation, and Han Baoying slowly changed from anger to sluggishness, but both of them understood Xiao Yungui's words, in the past, they thought that only the Winged King could lead the Kingdom of Heaven to drive away the Qing Demon and move towards prosperity, but today they found that the King of the West was far ahead, and the Qing Demon in his field of vision was no longer to worry, and the more terrifying enemy was already in front of them. As the king of the west said, if the kingdom of heaven continues to be consumed internally, he will lose the opportunity for victory, and the king of the west has the ability to lead the kingdom of heaven to a farther place, but he needs power, and he needs more power. Although Xiao Yungui did not say a word from the end to persuade the Wing King to throw himself to him, every word that the West King said was to express this meaning!

Hong Yun'er didn't speak, but at this moment she said softly: "This Blue Water has brought a new path for the Heavenly Navy, and we are standing at the crossroads of the times at the moment, what awaits us is just a choice. But our husband and wife will not change their original intentions because of the choice of the wing hall, we will definitely go on this road, even if we die on the road, someone will take the flag and continue to walk, we do not want future generations to comment that we have the opportunity to choose victory now, but we have chosen to do nothing. Wing King, what is greater than loyalty in the world is the well-being of thousands of people and the vitality of future generations. (To be continued......)