Yang Zhengjin glanced at the book in Hook's hand: the bold black title on the plain cover was "Maritime Strength - Naval History of the World Realm". A line of small print directly below: [Beauty] by E.B. Porter, it is well preserved, and it looks like it is six or seven percent new at a glance.

Glancing at the book and then at Hook, Yang Zhengjin tilted his head back noncommittally, exhaled lightly, crossed his hands on the table, squinted and asked, "Do you think they will be more courageous this time?" ”

Hook pointed up to the book: "This is their last chance - what would you do if you were to lead the UK?" ”

Yang Zhengjin shrugged and smiled, but did not answer.

Hook continued: "In our time and space history, the Allies initially relied solely on the navy to launch attacks, and at the same time let fishing boats operated by ordinary fishermen perform minesweeping missions, resulting in many battleships being damaged and sunk. When forced to launch an offensive by the army, the first to land on the wrong beachhead, which should have been a gentle hill behind it, and only needed a short march to achieve its goal, but the result was a steep cliff and high mountain, which was condescendingly pressed and beaten, and turned into a tragic tug-of-war. When the final gathering of sufficient forces to open up a new landing ground was finally made, the commander was again struggling and did not seize the key points in time. Sit back and watch the loss of the fighter. In the crucial battle for the main point, the army units that had captured the position were suddenly shelled by their own warships, resulting in the loss of the position...... Do you think this time, they'll repeat these mistakes? ”

Yang Zhengjin shook his head helplessly: "It's hard to say, they got too much inspiration from us, how much they paid in Wu Dingguo back then, there is still no conclusion, but the performance of British naval aviation in the Battle of the Bay of Bengal should be enough to explain the problem - the worst result must be considered." ”

"If the other side really breaks through the strait, there will be big trouble." Hook squinted.

"Even if they break through the straits, or even capture Constantinople, we must continue to advance, and no matter how great the price is, we must re-blockade the straits, let alone allow Turkey to withdraw from the war."

Yang Zhengjin cut the railway.

Hook breathed a sigh of relief and nodded with a smile: "It's good to have such determination, now we can only go all out to the west, we must eliminate all distractions and stick to the end, only in this way can we firmly grasp the general trend and let the other party have no chance to take advantage of it." Lao Yang, you have to hold on. ”

Yang Zhengjin smiled bitterly: "Whether it is stable or not, it is not for me to decide alone, and you are not ignorant of the current situation, some people want to take the position, and some people have to give way." You and I are just stepping stones after all. I don't care, personal ups and downs are nothing in the tide of history. The new country we have created with our own hands, these hundreds of millions of new citizens, where they will go, and what kind of future they will usher in, is what is truly meaningful. ”

"I often think: Is it really okay to just leave it to them? Do they already have enough competence and experience? No matter how you look at it, you feel too radical, too naïve, too out-of-place, and you will definitely get out of trouble if you let it go like this, but you still have to treat them like your own children: let them obey us unconditionally, learn what we have assigned, follow the path we have planned, and let us control their rights and destinies......"

"When you say 'they', you don't just mean the people who want to be on top, right?" Hook emphatically forked the way.

Yang Zhengjin exhaled a smile and continued to himself: "We may love them as parents love their children, but one day, more and more people will realize that they belong to themselves, not to this or that 'parent', and they will fight for their rights and destiny in various ways. At that time, should we punish them for their disrespect and unfilial piety, or will we guide them to fight for it through the right way? ”

Of course, parents will choose to punish at the first time, because they firmly believe that they are doing good for their children, and if their children want to follow a path that they do not agree with or are simply unfamiliar with, they must be deceived by heresy and must be severely punished to make them wake up. Even if it is something that I have agreed with in my heart now and has publicly opposed before, in order to maintain the authority and image of my parents, many times I will still stubbornly oppose it to the end - the world is big, and the face is the biggest, let alone the face of my parents? ”

Speaking of this, Yang Zhengjin glanced at the big hanging bell on the wall, slowly closed the yellowed "History of the First World War", pushed it in front of Hook, and got up on the table: "It's time to go to Cining Palace, please leave the matter here to you first." ”

"Leave it to me...... Lao Yang, it is impossible to satisfy everyone, just do what you want, no matter what you choose, I will support you unconditionally. ”

……

"Ping'er, the last thing the Queen Mother can't let go of before she passes away is you."

In the side hall of Cining Palace, the empress Liu Qianhua, who was dressed in a white linen filial piety suit, was sitting opposite the crown prince Liu Ping, who was also in the same attire, one was gentle as water, and the other bowed his head and had a cold face.

"The Queen Mother's greatest wish before her death was to see you ascend the throne with her own eyes, and I had already planned to lay down with you after this war was over, but unfortunately the heavens did not fulfill people's wishes......"

Liu Ping, who heard for the first time that his sister had this plan, only raised his eyelids slightly, but there was irrepressible grievance and even resentment in his eyes: "The emperor ...... Sister...... Why do you want to hide your mother's illness from us? ”

Although Liu Qianhua had expected Liu Ping to ask such a question, she still couldn't help but tremble in her heart. Gently biting Sakura's lips: "I have done my best, such a terminal illness, the best doctor in the empire can do nothing......"

Liu Ping suddenly clenched his fists spread out on his knees, raised his head and asked: "I'm not asking about this, I just want to know Lu Dao, what right do you have to let us let me stay in the dark with Yuchun and Liu Fan for so long, until the queen mother is critically ill and tell us the truth?" We are the mother's own children! ”

"This is what the Queen Mother meant." Liu Qianhua tried hard to suppress the waves in her heart, and answered with low eyebrows.

Liu Ping looked incredulous: "Queen Mother? No way, why should the queen mother do this! How could the queen mother hide it from us biological children......"

As if something had broken the tightest heartstring, Qianhua suddenly raised her eyes and said angrily: "Enough, think about it carefully, although I am not born to the Queen Mother, I have never had the slightest disrespect for the Queen Mother, although I am not born to the same mother as you, when has it ever been unfavorable to you?" The Queen Mother is for your good, and I want to be good for you, if you don't believe me, go to the Queen Mother's spirit now to ask for clarification! ”

Liu Ping didn't seem to expect the meek and bullying imperial sister to start a rush so soon, and he was so shocked that he was speechless when he came to Wω as soon as he was a novel, and soon gritted his teeth and tilted his face to the side unconvinced.

"I believe in the emperor."

Behind Liu Ping, there was such a firm and warm voice, and the speaker was Liu Ping's twin sister, Princess Yuelan Liu Yuchun. She had already pulled up her hair in a bun when she was the first **, but it was still a bright season when she was above a girl and ** was not yet full.

—as I believe that the Queen Mother is for our good no matter what. Brother Ping, the father and the queen mother are both looking at us in the sky, you are born to the queen mother, what will the father think when he hears it? How did the emperor feel when he heard it? The royal family is already thin, and the brothers and sisters have to make trouble with each other when they have something to do, isn't this a joke for outsiders? ”

The elegant young man next to Liu Yuchun, Liu Fan, the half-brother who was three years younger than her and Liu Ping, also bowed his head and said: "The temper of the imperial brother has always been like this, and if you make it clear, there will be nothing to do - and ask the emperor to forgive him for the crime of disrespect." ”

When Liu Ping heard his younger brother pleading for him, he was furious, and got up and turned back: "Shut up!" How can my temper not be your turn, disrespectful and disrespectful. If you are guilty, you should be punished, and the laws in the palace are not for you to see......"

"Smack!"

This crisp slap suddenly stung a certain overlapping scar in the depths of Liu Qianhua's memory, making her subconsciously clench her hands - obviously it was not her who did it.

Liu Ping, who had a crooked face, opened his eyes wide, and glanced at Liu Yuchun with incredulous eyes.

"You...... You? ”

"It's me, I just want to know if you've had enough trouble?"

Liu Yuchun raised his chin without fear and looked directly at Liu Ping, who was a head taller than him, as if all this was taken for granted and there was no need to doubt it.

"When exactly are you going to grow up? After the death of my father, the queen mother spoiled you vigorously, the emperor said that you were hated by you, and Fan'er said that you were scolded by you, I didn't say anything, do you think I have no idea? The person who knows you best is me! You just don't want to take the responsibility you have to deal with, no, more than that, you never think you have any responsibility to this world, do you? It's the same every time, I only resent others, I never find problems in myself, I have relied on me to cry and cry to intercede for you since I was a child, do you think I like to do this? I've had enough of it for a long time......"

Hearing this, Liu Ping, who was already distorted, kicked over the chair next to his feet, hugged his head and shouted: "Did you say enough!" For what you are targeting me! What exactly did I do to get so many opinions from you? Father, emperor and queen mother are not like this! Did I just say something wrong? Didn't I just want to ask about what I suspected? Is that wrong? Is there something wrong? Am I wrong? ”

Finally calmed the slight pain in his heart like a glass shard piercing his skin, Liu Qianhua sighed lightly, and instantly condensed an invisible wall of ice on his face: "You're right, you just can't face reality yet." If you want to be free, I will give you the opportunity to be free, from now on, you can do whatever you want, whether it is flying your plane or going to the front line, I will not stop you, nor will I give you any special care, is this okay? ”

"No, you can't!" Such a desperate exclamation was naturally Liu Yuchun, whose face was discolored, "Don't make trouble, okay!" Isn't that interesting? ”

Liu Ping looked up and smiled with relief, suddenly knelt down on one knee, and said with sincerity: "Thank you for my emperor's grace, long live my emperor." Hooray, hooray. ”

"Brother, you're crazy!" Liu Yuchun screamed almost hysterically, causing footsteps to sound outside the window.

Liu Ping just lowered his head and smiled: "I'm not crazy, I'm just ...... Yuchun, people have to live according to their own ideas once in their lives, right? ”

"You irresponsible fellow, you can't think about the queen mother, think about your sister-in-law, think about your unborn child...... Think about ......"

As he spoke, large tears had fallen from Liu Yuchun's quiet eyes like deep pools in the forest.

Liu Ping took a deep breath, raised his head and closed his eyes, slowly got up, and supported his sister's weak shoulders with strong hands, and the big brother's smile was as bright as spring: "Yuchun, I'm not going to die?" Don't curse me. ”

After saying that, he turned to Liu Qianhua indifferently, and bent down and bowed his head respectfully and said: "Your Majesty, since everything is my problem, my continued stay here will only cause unhappiness to everyone, and ultimately damage the image of the royal family." Please allow me to join the Army Air Corps and fight as an ordinary pilot, and maybe there I can recognize my problems and find the way I have to go. ”

"I'm right." Liu Qianhua replied coldly, ignoring the sad atmosphere in Liu Yuchun's eyes or the schadenfreude under Liu Fan's innocent expression, but his slender hand unconsciously pressed on his chest - it was really just a frown, and a heart.

"After the last seven days, you will go to report, I will greet the national defense headquarters, I don't care how I arrange it, anyway, they must not treat you as the crown prince, so you are satisfied, right?"

"Emperor Xie ......"

Liu Pingzheng was about to kneel again, but was stopped by Liu Qianhua: "Don't rush to thank you first, there are conditions." First, you can only enter the army with the rank of lieutenant you are currently in. Second, after joining the army, one must absolutely abide by military regulations and obey military orders. Third, you can't go to the front with your real identity. Fourth......

Speaking of this, Liu Qianhua glanced at Liu Yuchun, who was anxious, angry and helpless beside Liu Ping, and said word by word with a stiff face: "Before going to the front line, you must get the consent of your concubine, even if you have already gone to the front line, once Her Royal Highness the concubine comes to me to ask for you, whether you want to or not, you have to come back." What do you think? These four conditions are indispensable, and they are agreed here, and if you agree, you can go to report. ”

Liu Ping was only slightly stunned, and quickly nodded confidently: "No problem, the first three are all taken for granted, and the last one is the last...... The princess is reasonable and will definitely support me. ”

Liu Qianhua was still not at ease, and then advised: "Let's talk to her after the last seven, talk well, and don't mess around." ”

"That's natural, I respect each other with the concubine, and I never talk badly."

Liu Qianhua frowned slightly, thinking: What I'm afraid of is that you are too "respectful of each other", haven't you heard of "cold violence"? When the time comes, you can get postpartum depression or something, can you still have nothing to do?

He still commanded indifferently: "That's good, since you really have this heart, let you go to the front line of this Asia-Pacific Liberation War, have a long experience, exercise your body and mind, and it is best to change your stinky temper by the way." You step back first, I still have something to say to Yuchun and Liu Fan. ”

Liu Ping fulfilled his wish, knelt down and left, Liu Yuchun was in a hurry, wiped his eyes and whimpered: "The emperor really let him go?" The guns on the battlefield are not long-sighted, in case there are three long and two short, how can you explain to your father and queen mother...... Even if he goes to the front line, he can be a staff officer in the headquarters and give advice, or according to the example of Germany, the crown prince himself will lead an army - no matter what, he can't be allowed to fly to the front line! ”

"The place my brother wants to go to the most is the sky, no one can stop him, don't let him fulfill his wish, he won't stay in the position of the crown prince honestly." Liu Fan twisted his fingers and analyzed seemingly neutrally.

Liu Yuchun was even more anxious, his eyes widened, and there were tears on his face: "What do you mean by this?" You think that when Brother Ping is gone, you will be able to ......"

Just finished the trouble here, your sisters and brothers started to make trouble again, what kind of world is this, it is really difficult for a Qing official to decide family affairs, the Queen Mother, please save me - Liu Qianhua screamed in her heart, and hurriedly intervened to dissuade her: "Don't say a word, the queen mother has a spirit in the sky, can she feel good when she sees you like this?" Yuchun, don't cry yet, although I obey Ping'er's wishes, after all, he is the prince of the empire, even if I don't say hello, can the military department not weigh it? Can it not be properly arranged? I'm not angry with him, no matter how much he jumps, he can still jump out of the palm of my hand? ”

Liu Yuchun stopped his tears a little when he heard this, and took out a handkerchief to wipe the corners of his eyes: "The emperor doesn't lie to me......"

"I'm his sister, of course I have to protect him."

As soon as the words came out, Liu Qianhua became empty-hearted, and took advantage of Liu Yuchun's lack of time to react, and changed the topic: "Yuchun, Liu Fan, people can't be resurrected after death, the dead are gone, and the living should be like this, we still have to live well, support this family, and pass on the unity and reputation of the royal family from generation to generation, so as to comfort the soul of the father and queen mother in the sky. ”

Both of them nodded yes, Qian Hua made up his mind, leaned sideways on the pillow next to the armrest, and continued to explain softly: "Yuchun, you still have to pay more attention to the affairs of the foundation these days, no matter when that 'change' begins, the purpose of transforming the national spirit through the subtle transformation of literature and art must continue to be inherited, this is not a matter of one or two generations, but the great cause of thousands of generations." ”

Liu Yuchun twisted his handkerchief with both hands, regained a little bit of his capable state at work, nodded and said: "Your Majesty, please rest assured, I will not fall behind in the work of the foundation, and I will definitely work hard to do better and better in the future." ”

"Please."

Liu Qianhua is not worried about Yuchun's management ability, and in good conscience, Liu Yuchun has been in charge of the royal foundations in the past few years, compared to when Liu Qianhua herself was in charge as Princess Yuehua, the performance of the wind evaluation is not below it.

What really worries her is Liu Fan - this is actually the most unacceptable thing for the Queen Mother before she passed away.

This seemingly harmless royal old man, since he was a child, has excellent academic performance, and never causes trouble, is a standard "model student", but his temperament is a little eccentric and erratic, and after going to college, he is full of partial hobbies, from quantum mechanics to Alayya, all of which are deeply studied, and he has made friends with a group of famous masters who are familiar with all the ways, and talks about the reincarnation of atomic theory all day long, as if he has been detached from the world, and is hidden in the palace.

This kid is very unusual. Liu Qianhua thought to himself - as if he was born to exist to pursue the ultimate truth, human affairs seemed to have nothing to do with him, but this did not prevent him from showing his cold and shining fangs when he liked......

"Liu Fan, over there of the Chengxian Society, you have to work with Zhu Liefeng as soon as possible, the development and popularization of various scientific academics, especially the internal development of those special disciplines, is the foundation of the empire's millennium plan, we must be cautious, not only to enliven it, but also to pay attention to secrecy - remember the oath you made."

Is it really right to hand it over to them?

Liu Qianhua didn't want to dwell on this kind of useless problem for the time being, she knew that she still had a lot to do, everything was just beginning, compared to the ultimate change in the world, these trivial things that were being carried out now were almost not worth mentioning, but she still had to deal with them one by one.

If you want to capture the world, you can't do it without patience...... Even if their patience has reached the limit, I will ......

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister Yang Zhengjin asks to see——"

……

In the southwest Pacific, at the headquarters of the Southeastern Front in Port Rabaul at the northeastern tip of New Britain Island, a welcome banquet was being held bustling with music played on the gramophone.

"Welcome, welcome, look forward to it, you are finally here, come on, you're welcome, it's all your favorite food, sashimi, kimchi, big drops of Smitta, Missy Missi drops Smida......"

Marshal Zhang Yiye, commander of the Southeast Front, greeted the guests so warmly, and the main reason for his nondescript words was that most of today's guests were naval officers of the allies Japan and Korea, and he just briefly expressed the goodwill of the host.

In the interval between changing glasses, Zhang Yiye always couldn't help but glance at the harbor outside the window, as if this was the only way to settle down a little.

The Navy's 10th Air Force, the Honolulu Air Force, which played a key role in the operation to recover Lae, just returned to Oahu last week, and because of the temporary change of plans in the base camp, most of the squadrons scheduled to be transferred from the Indian Ocean Third Air Fleet to the southeast theater were detained, and the enrichment of the Sixth Air Force in Rabaul became far away.

The arrival of the 2nd Mobile Fleet of the Combined Fleet was like a long drought and a rainstorm, quenching the thirst in Zhang Yiye's heart.

The 1st class battleships "Ise" and "Shinano" of Vice Admiral Yamaya's 1st Battleship Squadron, the 1st class battleships "Gwangkaitu" and "Yi Sunsin" of the 1st Battleship Squadron of the DPRK Army, and the Japanese battlecruiser "Haruna" that survived the Battle of the Bay of Bengal were the backbone, and the five capital ships were equipped with a total of 32 45-diameter 350-mm guns and four "Kuma"-class light cruisers of the 50-diameter 1st Sentai "Kuma": "Agano", "Yura", "Mikasa", and "Mogami"; the four Chinese "Leopard"-class light cruisers "Fenghua", "Yanghua", "Lihua" and "Chenghua" of the 1st Korean Light Patrol Squadron; and the Chinese expulsion of a total of twelve destroyers of the Wolf Flotilla from the 3rd Sentai Squadron.

As for the 2nd Mobile Fleet, which is temporarily under the direct jurisdiction of Vice Admiral Matsumura Tatsuo, commander of the Southeast Front Fleet, the backbone of the fleet consists of two second-class battleships "Kaga" and "Tosa" of the Japanese 2nd Battleship Squadron that have been improved from the Chinese Ruixiang class, and two second-class battleships "Seoul" and "Pyongyang" of the DPRK Army's 2nd Battleship Squadron transferred by China. Other forces include: three "Fuiyun"-class armored cruisers "Taebaek", "Taiji", and "Taewoo" transferred by China of the DPRK's 1st Squadron, two "Flying Eagle"-class seaplane carriers "Flying Eagle" and "Sky Eagle" of the 5th Air Force of the Chinese Army, three Chinese-made Tiger-branded light cruisers "White Tiger", "Snow Tiger" and "Goryeo Tiger" of the 2nd Squadron of the DPRK Light Cruiser, the Japanese light cruiser "Defu" (both belonging to the Tiger Brand) attached separately, and a total of nine destroyers of the 2nd Japanese Lightning Strike Squadron. and fifteen submarines drawn from various warbands.

In the past six months, the Southeast Front Fleet successively had a Japanese old protective cruiser "Kasuga" and two Korean destroyers sunk in battle, a Japanese armored cruiser "Iwate" was heavily damaged by a torpedo fired by an enemy submarine, and was capsized and sunk in a heavy wind and waves on the way back to the mainland, plus one Asahi destroyer with non-combat losses, and before the arrival of the 2nd Mobile Fleet, the book strength of the Southeast Front Fleet had dropped to three old armored cruisers, seven old protective cruisers, 18 old destroyers, and five submarines. In addition, the two light cruisers of the German Navy stranded in the Far East independently carried out the task of breaking diplomatic relations with Rabaul as their home port - such a weak force could not confront the combined Anglo-Australian fleet in this sea area even with the strong support of the Honolulu Air Force.

This time, there were four first-class and second-class battleships, one battle cruiser, twelve light cruisers, two seaplane carriers, and twenty-one destroyers.

Although the 1st Mobile Fleet can only stay here until March, and then it will leave for Hawaii to carry out a series of major operations such as the US West Coast Breaking Diplomatic Relations Operation and the Alaska Rescue Operation with the support of the East China Sea Fleet, and the base camp still has very few transport ships for the Southeast Front, Zhang Yiye still made up his mind: immediately launch the SF operation, and while the 1st Mobile Fleet is still in the middle of the Solomon Islands, at least advance the battle line to the middle of the Solomon Islands, and build a solid forward aviation base. Advance to the New Hebrides (where the Republic of Vanuatu is located in another space) to Fiji, tighten the noose on the sea to Australia, and retreat to the Solomon Sea, as an outpost of Rabaul.

The crux of the matter is, in the past two or three months, have the British and Australian troops not moved anything other than to retreat from Lae? Damn the Reference Office, even if we have to go all out to open up the communication line with Germany, Rabaul is a little bit concerned, Lae didn't calculate it that time, I don't care, and then I'm going to hit Bougainville Island, I can't help at all, the intelligence is all up to us, we have to be able to get through the sky, what else do you want your Reference Office to do?

The more Zhang Yiye thought about it, the more indignant he became, and unconsciously put a piece of dark red tuna fillet in his hand and sent it to his mouth, without chewing it twice, he suddenly drilled into his nostrils with a momentum, and at the same time, he couldn't help but burst into tears, and he couldn't breathe for a while - I X! Too much mustard!