Episode 177-for-tat breaking engagement

After Ye Ziyu and Bai Xiaoman's wedding was completed, because Ye Ziyu was still a student of Lu University, Lu Dada gave him only a dozen days of marriage leave, and they definitely couldn't go to Europe and Northern Xinjiang like Xiang Xiaoqiang did at the beginning. The young couple went south to Wuyue and visited the beautiful landscapes in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

After the brother-in-law left, Xiang Xiaoqiang became more and more anxious, always looking forward to his wedding with Zhu Yourong being held as soon as possible. But after all, this is to marry the empress, and it can't be compared with any previous wedding to Xiang Xiaoqiang, and it can't be sloppy at all. After Zhu Yourong discussed with Xiang Xiaoqiang, he invited several important ministers from the cabinet to consult privately. Although several important ministers led by Shen Rongxuan had long expected this day, they were also quite sudden at this moment, and they almost felt a sense of loss.

Once upon a time, what they tried to prevent in every possible way is now about to become a reality.

But even if the ministers have great ability, they can't be hindered at the moment, they can only bless. On the one hand, this matter is His Majesty's own marriage, and theoretically, as long as His Majesty himself is willing, no one can stop it. On the other hand, the mainstream public opinion in society is in favor of this marriage, and the ruling power of the cabinet in the future will depend on these public opinions. The pros and cons and where to go, the ministers have already weighed it very clearly.

Several ministers also briefly analyzed the current situation at home and abroad, and agreed that now is indeed a good time for His Majesty's wedding. It is still only early spring, and the battlefield against the Soviet Union is still in the stage of stalemate, and there is no major war. When the summer arrives two or three months later, the summer offensive begins, and the war situation becomes tense, and then the big wedding is not very suitable.

This also plays into the arms of Zhu Yourong and Xiang Xiaoqiang. The two happily sent away several ministers, and then Zhu Yourong found Wei Zijin and asked her to arrange the preliminary preparations for the wedding, preparing to complete the wedding in April.

"After that," Zhu Yourong looked at Wei Zijin and said with a smile, "Also in April—at the latest in May, I will marry you, so that you and Yan Bin will finally become married." ”

Wei Zijin's eyes lit up suddenly, his cheeks flushed slightly, his chest rose and fell sharply a few times, he smiled, took a step back, bowed down with a long bow, and thanked:

"Slave and maid, thank you, Your Majesty!"

Then he turned his face, and gave a long bow to Xiang Xiaoqiang, and said the same:

"Thank you, Lord Xiang!"

Zhu Yourong and Xiang Xiaoqiang were really like a couple at this time, they were both smiling and saying together:

"Hehehe...... Hurry up ......"

……

The next day, April 1, the Secretariat of the Imperial Court of Zhu Ming hosted a press conference, at which the spokesperson of the Secretariat officially announced the news that Her Majesty the Empress was about to marry, that is, the Marquis of Ili. Suddenly, this news became a piece of news that the entire Ming Empire and even the whole world paid attention to.

The Imperial Family also began bidding for the upgrading and expansion of the current Xiangfu in order to make it meet the standards for Her Majesty's residence after marriage. According to the practice before the Ming Dynasty, the empress could live in the palace or her husband's house after marriage. Generally speaking, the empress will return to the palace when she lives in her husband's house every day, and when there is a formal court meeting or a royal meeting, or when she receives foreign envoys, and other important occasions.

Xiang Xiaoqiang's mansion was originally a mansion with a large area, which was completely worthy of the empress's residence. Xiang Xiaoqiang is also the target of many forces at home and abroad, so the security facilities of Xiang Mansion are also very good, and there is no problem in this regard. Now the main thing is to upgrade some of the facilities inside, renovate the garden landscape in the front and back yards, and then completely cover up the door and the semi-underground steel forts inside, don't look so murderous, just do it.

Although it is still a marquis' palace, it will soon become a royal palace. Xiang Xiaoqiang is also about to be upgraded to a prince.

……

On April 3, the first fleet from the United States sailed in the Pacific Ocean for a month, and finally sailed into the port of Guangzhou and began to unload. There are a total of 6 cargo ships in this batch, all of which are huge ships of more than 10,000 tons, and there is only one kind of cargo: military vehicles. This fleet carried a total of nearly 300 military trucks, five tons of military trucks, and small officers' cars. And just behind them, in the vast Pacific Ocean, at least twenty more such flotillas are approaching. It can be expected that in the period from April onwards, there will be no less than 4,000 military vehicles alone. The automobile industry in Daming is working at full speed around the clock, and the highest monthly output record is only more than 3,000 vehicles.

And that's just the first month. According to Daming's order, more cargo ships will come every month in the future. Every month there are more things shipped than the last.

The world's largest arsenal on the other side of the ocean finally began to turn for the Ming Dynasty.

Ford originally had a branch in Daming, which was the "Daming Ford" in charge of Deli Bradley. Daming Ford is not just in charge of sales, he also has a production base in Daming, but the scale before was not too large, and there were only four production lines. At the wedding of Ye Ziyu and Bai Xiaoman, Bai Deli announced that he would add ten production lines to the Daming production base, which was not a temporary idea, but a decision made by Ford headquarters in the United States. Now, the plant provided for these ten production lines has also broken ground, and the core parts of the ten production lines have also been shipped to Daming with the fleet. With the completion of these ten production lines, the speed at which the Ming army was loaded with military vehicles was even faster.

In the face of the increasingly strict submarine blockade of the Ming army, and at the same time seeing that the Ming Dynasty's own Pacific transportation lines were in full swing, Japan naturally also countered and began to implement ** against the Ming Dynasty. In the past, the sea transportation lines of the Ming Dynasty were mainly through the Indian Ocean route and the South Sea route, and the whole process was in the area controlled by the Ming army, and the Japanese army had no way to destroy it. Well, now, the Ming army is buying supplies from the United States on a large scale, and at least half of the goods are on the Pacific route. Although Japan cannot be said to have the right to control the sea in the Pacific Ocean, it is the most convenient way to start from Japan if it wants to attack the Pacific route of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, from the end of March, when the first batch of American cargo ships was still in the Pacific, Japan began to implement the "plan to attack the transportation lines of the Ming Kingdom." However, there is a problem with this, the geographical location of the two countries is different. To the east and south of the Japanese archipelago, there is an open ocean that stretches as far as the eye can see. To the south of the Ming Dynasty, the inland sea is relatively closed, separated by a series of archipelagos (such as the Philippines and the East Indies) and the ocean, forming a separate South China Sea. In this closed South China Sea, the Ming army held absolute sea supremacy.

If the Japanese army also uses submarine-based blockade, then it would be easier to do, and the submarines can sneak in. However, Japan's navy was built entirely according to the idea of a "decisive battle with the fleet," and the submarine sector was very weak. Now Japan can only use surface ships to strike at the Ming Dynasty's transport lines. However, it is difficult for surface ships to enter the South China Sea undetected through a series of dense archipelagos.

In this way, the submarines of the Ming army could be deployed directly in close proximity to Japanese ports. Although the western Pacific Ocean was vast, no matter how much the Japanese fleet tried to hide from it, it had to enter the port in the end. As long as the Ming submarine group stays in the sea near the port, it can play the effect of "waiting for the rabbit". But the Daming fleet is different, they can choose any route far away from their home country and enter the South China Sea. And once in the South China Sea, it is absolutely safe. To the east of the South China Sea is the vast western Pacific Ocean, and Japanese warships can only look for the Ming fleet in this vast ocean, and it is impossible for them to stand directly outside Japanese ports like Ming submarines.

What is even more troublesome for Japan is that most of the goods that are now transported to Daming are American ships. Although these U.S. cargo ships were nominally leased to "Free Russia" and flew the flag of Free Russia, it was still difficult for the Japanese Navy to make up its mind about what to do. After all, it was just a change of flag, and inside it was all Americans, from the captain to the crew. Sinking a large number of American cargo ships is tantamount to making enemies of the United States.

Therefore, the Japanese emperor directly sent a message to the Navy Command Department that in the event of a war, it was necessary to strictly abide by international conventions, and that it was necessary to ensure that the entire crew of the crew was transferred to the warship before sinking the cargo ship. No American casualties must be caused. At the same time, the Japanese ambassador to the United States also submitted a note to the US Government, stating that the two countries were at war and that Japan was carrying out a naval blockade of the Ming Kingdom, and that the Japanese Government was concerned about this dangerous move by the United States.

But at this time, trying to stop the United States from selling to Daming is tantamount to seeking skin with the tiger. The US Secretary of State directly rejected the Japanese government's note on the grounds that "the United States did not sell supplies to the Ming Kingdom, but to the Russian Federation."

In this case, two-for-tat battles between each other kicked off in the western Pacific.