December 1880 was marked by two major events

First thing, this powder keg in South Africa finally exploded,

On 16 December, more than 5,000 Boers gathered in Pardekral for a national convention to proclaim the restoration of the Republic of South Africa.

On the same day, the Boers sent the declaration of independence of the Republic of South Africa to the Pretoria garrison, but the British refused to accept it and ordered the garrisons everywhere to rush to reinforce Pretoria.

The next day, clashes between the Boers and the British garrison broke out.

On 20 December, two companies of the 94th Regiment of the British Army stationed in Leidenburg rushed to the aid of Pretoria and were ambushed by the Boer militia at the Bronkhorst River, and fierce fighting began......

Due to the tactics of guerrilla warfare adopted by the Boers, in the engagement, 77 of the 247 British troops were killed and 157 were wounded, while only 2 of the Boers were killed and 4 wounded.

The First Anglo-Boer War began, and the sudden outbreak of war attracted the attention of Europe, North America, and Australia.

The second thing, December 25th after Christmas.

The population of Red River Valley officially exceeded the 500,000 mark, which is the first major city in Australia to reach this size, which has strong symbolic significance.

At the same time, Brisbane's population has grown from 337,000 to 352,100, a step closer to Melbourne, the second most populous city of 431,000.

This means that Australia's economic center, the center of agricultural and animal husbandry production and gold mining, has shifted from the south to the central region, and the twin cities shine throughout Australia.

In the midst of laughter and laughter, the booming Red River Valley ushered in the New Year's Day of 1881, although the merchants tried their best to create a festive atmosphere, but in the Red River Valley and the surrounding four cities, there was no festive atmosphere.

Chinese people are not used to this foreign festival, and most people don't even know what New Year's Day is.

January 6, 1881

Red River Valley Pier

Five Seagull-class patrol ships are neatly parked on the dock, and the beautiful dark gray hull of this new 960-ton fast patrol ship is vigorous and powerful, full of visual beauty, especially the 239mm cannon barrel on the foredeck, which is particularly eye-catching.

Four Belgian 70-mm secondary guns were placed on both sides of the bridge, two on one side, arranged in a high and low dislocation, and the battery behind was one and a half meters high, and the muzzle of the black hole pointed straight ahead.

In addition, there are four sturdy steel circular shelves on the top of the rear compartment of the bridge, which are gun emplacements for hand-cranked Gatling heavy machine guns, which are usually stowed away in non-war times to prevent the invasion of high salt fog and water vapor at sea.

On the front side of the 239 mm main gun, two steam torpedo tubes are placed on the left and right, showing an outer figure-eight shape that expands outward, which is the most powerful weapon of the high-speed cruiser.

Today, all five Seagull-class patrol ships are fully flagged, and officers and men in straight coast guard uniforms are lined up on board the ships for review.

The orchestra played a cheerful "March of the Sea", and a group of heavy wagons with family coats of arms quickly entered the dock under the protection of the cavalry of the Guard, and stopped in front of the long red carpet.

The guards opened the carriage door, and Li Fushou, dressed in military uniform, got out of the carriage, his tall figure was extremely tall, and he glanced around with a majestic expression.

Geng Guigui, the captain of the coast guard and captain of the "Seagull", quickly ran to the front, folded his legs, "snapped" a straight position, and saluted the standard British military salute.

"Report to Your Excellency Lord Earl Queensland, all ships of the Coast Guard are ready, please review."

"Well, take a break."

Li Fushou nodded calmly, and the majestic "Navy March" immediately sounded, and Li Fushou stepped on the red carpet and inspected the patrol ships that formed combat effectiveness under the protection of Coast Guard Captain Geng Guigui all the way.

The officers and soldiers standing along the front line of the ship were in high spirits, and they took out their best state to meet the review of the big boss of the Red River Valley.

Li Fushou was very satisfied with the state of the officers and men, and this kind of high morale was exactly what he wanted to see.

After the review

Li Fushou boarded the "Seagull" patrol ship, and Geng Guigui, who was on the side, gave a diligent briefing on the warship's training preparations, and the entire coast guard maintained high morale and formed a basic combat effectiveness.

The captain of the lead ship, the "Seagull," is Geng Guigui, and the captain of the "Sea Falcon" is Zhu Qingxi, a classmate of the Manchester Naval Academy.

Among the three frigates in the second batch of commissions, the captain of the "Bar-headed Goose" was Li Jie, who returned from the US Naval Academy, one of the nine secretaries known as the "Hongmen Nine Wolves," who received complete naval officer training in the United States.

The captain of the "Haiyan" is Wu Gang, a graduate of the Manchester Naval Academy in the United Kingdom, and an outstanding mid-level naval officer.

The captain of the "Puffin" is Zhang Daoru, Li Jie's classmate at the US Naval Academy, a gold digger from a scholarly family, and his academic foundation is very solid.

Seeing these young talents emerge one after another, Li Fushou was very happy in his heart and asked with great interest; "Precious, do you find any difference between you British graduates and American naval academy graduates?"

"Your Excellency, the Earl has cultivated all your humble duties, and you are dedicated to the construction of our Red River Valley maritime forces, and we are exactly the same in this regard, because of the different priorities of British and American education, the United States Naval Academy has unique views on the use of steam torpedoes, while the British pay more attention to the practical application of gunnery and naval queue tactics, and the others are all inherited from the British, the curriculum and subject settings are not much different, and the British officers pay more attention to etiquette and gentlemanly cultivation, and the requirements are extremely strict in this regard, The U.S. side is much more accommodative. ”

"Well, yes, then order the patrol fleet to anchor and sail, and we'll talk as we go, and we'll have plenty of time to get to know." Li Fushou laughed, turned around and walked into the bridge.

"Yes, the lowly duty will be carried out immediately."

Geng Guigui, as the commander of the fleet, immediately issued the order to set sail through the flag, and followed Li Fushou into the bridge, Li Fushou was sitting on the captain's chair in the bridge at the moment, looking left and right curiously.

Geng Guigui could only stand respectfully by his side and play the role of a diligent commentator.

When the order to set sail was given, the engine room was immediately raised to fire and pressurized, and with the increase in the pressure of the boilers, a large cloud of white smoke came out, and the sailors on the deck quickly moved to untie the cables, lift the anchor and fix the large iron anchor, and were busy nervously and skillfully.

Soon, as the boiler reached the specified steam pressure, the pressure relief valve emitted a high-pitched whistling sound.

The engine room feeds high-pressure steam into the steam engine pipeline through the steam pressure switching valve, which pushes the steam engine to rotate faster and faster, making a continuous roar, so as to drive the propeller to rotate at high speed through the long propeller shaft.

The hull of nearly 1,000 tons shook violently, and slowly left the dock and sailed towards the clear and wide river, leaving a large churning snow-white track behind it.

The fast cruiser accelerated very quickly, quickly reaching a speed of 11 knots, and the sharp bow easily cut through the tumbling waves, and under the blessing of strong power and inertia, the speed was still increasing rapidly, and soon it was soaring on the wide river.

The five high-speed cruisers are in a formation, cleaving the waves all the way on the river at a speed of more than 20 knots, and the huge freighter is easily overtaken at this time, which in turn highlights the speed advantage of the high-speed cruiser, which is indeed incomparable.

Li Fushou sat on the chair on the bridge and chatted with great interest, and before he knew it, nearly an hour had passed, and five high-speed cruisers had passed through the river along the coast of Brisbane City and entered the blue Moulton Bay.

What do you say about this feeling?

The apes on both sides of the strait could not stop crying, and the light boat had already crossed the ten thousand mountains.

After the cruiser entered the offshore water, the wind and waves on the sea surface increased significantly, and the wave height reached 3~4 meters, which made the high-speed cruiser continue to fluctuate violently between the wave peak and the wave valley, and the big wave head even lifted to the bow deck, and then was smashed to pieces.

The big waves were like invisible giant hands, crashing into the hull again and again, throwing the thousand-ton cruiser up and down.

The discomfort caused by the violent turbulence increased rapidly, and the speed of the cruiser had to be slowed down and maintained at the level of 15~16 knots, which significantly reduced the turbulence of the hull.

At a glance, the endless blue of the sea is contrasted with the turquoise blue of the sky, and after looking at it for a long time, it feels very monotonous and produces a sense of aesthetic fatigue.

"Precious brother, when will we be able to join the Taishan ship formation?"

"Your Excellency the Honorable Earl, the Taishan ship formation set sail 12 hours in advance, according to the speed of both sides, it is expected that we will catch up with the freighter formation in the open sea, from now on, it is expected to be close to 23 hours, that is, around 1:00 noon tomorrow."

"Oh, when will you get there?"

"The Red River Valley is about 1,500 miles from Papua New Guinea, and at the slowest speed of the freighter formation, they have sailed a day ahead of schedule, and from now on they are expected to arrive in four days, or about 60 hours at the speed of a Seagull cruiser." Geng Guigui replied very quickly, and it seemed that the answer was imprinted in his heart early.

"Alright then, there's nothing to appreciate outside, so I'd better go back and get some rest." Li Fushou said and stood up.

"Yes, His Excellency the Earl's cabin has already been arranged." Geng replied.

"You stick to your post, I can still find these few steps."

"Obedience." Geng Guigui raised his hand and gave a standard military salute.

Lei Xiao and Fu Peng, who had been standing quietly behind the bridge, hurriedly took the first step, pushed open the hatch and walked out first.

The bridge wheelhouse of the Seagull Cruiser is not large, and it will be very crowded if you squeeze in three more people, so the two bodyguard leaders can only stand at the back with grievances.

Li Fushou nodded silently, walked away from the bridge, and came to the captain's room in the rear to rest for a while.

As for the two bodyguard leaders, they can only be wronged to camp in the aisle, and when the crew passes by, they must stand up, tuck their stomachs and chests, and stagger after physical contact.

No way, the aisle is too narrow.

The captain's room is a very small room, about 1.8 meters long and 1.5 meters wide, the bed is folded, and it can be used as a sofa when lifted, and the small table is the office. When you sleep, you can take up the whole space when you put it down, and only one person can walk in sideways.

Even so, this is the most luxurious personal space on the ship.

A 960-ton frigate with a crew of 37 men was completely occupied by the bow of the ship with a variety of major artillery weapons and ammunition depots, the stern and bilge were occupied by power compartments and various equipment, and a large coal storage compartment was to be kept.

As a result, the space left for the sailors to live in was very small, to the point of being harsh.

The sailors had to sleep 8 people in a cabin a little larger than this, and the two rows of beds faced each other on 4 floors, which could barely accommodate one person and barely climb in, and they couldn't be too fat, which was a bit like several layers of flat coffins stacked together, and it was difficult to lift a leg when sleeping.

The Seagull had Li Fushou and 10 more attachés, and it seemed that the crew could only sleep in turns, freeing up a cabin with relatively large space and a passage with relatively good air circulation for the use of Lord Earl's attachés.

After all, one of these 10 attachés is counted as one, whether it is the head of the guards or the secretary, and his status is higher than that of the captain of the coast guard, Geng Guigui.

As a host, you can't let your distinguished guests be too aggrieved.

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