Chapter 135: Xu Shoushan

"What is so happy?" Every time before the start of the war, it has become a habit for Xu Shoushan to personally check the equipment and the morale of the soldiers on the ship! Of course, this naval battle of ambushing the combined fleet of the Dutch and Portuguese countries is no exception! What only made him curious was the high atmosphere in the No. 2 Gun Group, which obviously formed a sharp contrast with the silence of the soldiers of the other units he had inspected before! He immediately pushed open the hatch of the No. 2 turret and walked in with his head bowed!

"Captain!"

"Hello Captain!"

Looking at the polished cannonball next to him, Xu Shoushan couldn't help but walk over and touch it, and asked with a smile: "Who wiped it, is it clean?"

"Captain, it's me!" "And me!" Hong Hai and Liu Chengen raised their right hands with some blushing at the same time! However, compared with Hong Hai's somewhat ashamed face, Liu Chengen, a trainee gunner who had just graduated from school and was assigned to the Lianpo destroyer, was undoubtedly much more positive!

Looking at the diametrically opposite expressions on the faces of the two, Xu Shoushan couldn't help but ask with some interest: "What's the matter, tell me?"

Liu Chengen, who has not been deeply involved in the world, is not only bold, but also a big mouth! He was already very excited to see his respected captain in person, but this time when he heard the captain ask himself, he said a little proudly: "Captain, just now the squad leader told us to polish the cannonball to be able to hit the Dutch battleship more accurately!" When he said this, his face turned red, and his voice was much lower, "So, I also followed the squad leader to wipe the shells, hoping that when the war starts, I can work with one shot! When the time comes, I can also have money to marry a daughter-in-law!" ”

After listening to his words, Xu Shoushan's serious face couldn't help but show a hint of a smile, looking at the embarrassed Hong Hai and the soldiers around him who were constantly shrugging their shoulders, desperately suppressing themselves from laughing! Your idea is good, if you can hit the Dutch warship, remember to report to me personally, and when the time comes, I will not only give you meritorious service, give you a bonus, and let you marry a daughter-in-law, but also let you introduce your experience in front of more than 200 officers and men of the whole ship!"

"Yes, Commander!" Liu Chengen agreed excitedly.

After nodding with a smile and saying hello to the officers and soldiers around him, Xu Shoushan walked out of the No. 2 artillery room! Listening to the noise coming from behind him, he sighed softly and did not stop it! War is coming soon, and it is also a kind of happiness to be able to go to the battlefield with a smile!

Looking at the undulating blue sea in the distance, Xu Shoushan thought with some difficulty: "I don't know how many heroic naval soldiers will return to the sea after this war!"

Tightening the white gloves on his hands, Xu Shoushan retracted his gaze and walked towards the engine room with his guards! Although he didn't want war either, he wouldn't flinch if the enemy had reached his doorstep! At the same time, as the commander of these venerable soldiers, he had to do his best to let them survive this war, because they were too young, they hadn't married and had children, and they hadn't enjoyed the joy of life yet!

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Baker looked at the captain who was holding binoculars in both hands, and his expression was getting more and more serious, and he couldn't help but ask, "Does the captain have made any new discoveries?"

Hearing his words, Henrik put down the monocular in his hand and let out a long breath, the look on his face relaxed slightly, but the jǐng ti and doubts revealed from his eyes were getting stronger and stronger!

"Beck, take a look, they're getting stronger!"

Somewhat puzzled, he took the telescope handed over to him, and Baker looked into the distance with some curiosity!

Quickly retracting his gaze, Baker wiped his eyes repeatedly with his right hand, and then raised the monocular in his hand again, but the result remained the same!

"Captain, they ......??!"

Seeing his usually calm subordinates become this dumbfounded, incredulous expression! Henrik also nodded in understanding! If he hadn't been curious, he picked up the binoculars and looked at them, I'm afraid he wouldn't have noticed that in just one night, there were four unidentified warships following the fleets of the Netherlands and Portugal! Moreover, judging from their almost identical appearance, they should be warships of the same type! That is to say, they belonged to the same country's naval warships! However, what puzzled Henrik was how they had gathered together in the dark of night, in the Indian Ocean, where no one could be seen a hundred meters away, and there was no telegraph for them to communicate!

Although at this time, the European scientific community had already had the theory of radio, but there was no one that could really be put into use! So Henrik couldn't have imagined that Huo Jiajun already had such a convenient and fast way of contact, far ahead of the times!

"Captain, according to our previous calculations, if the Chinese People's Army really has the ability to manufacture warships, then the combined fleet and expeditionary force of the Dutch and Portuguese are likely to be dangerous this time!" Baker looked at the battleship in the distance and said in a somewhat anxious tone.

Although the relations between Britain and these two countries are not very friendly! Even the current diplomatic closeness between Britain and the Netherlands is only taking advantage of each other! Britain needs to interfere in the European continent for itself and try to prevent an uncontrolled land hegemon from appearing on the continent, so it needs the Netherlands! And the Netherlands also needs the support of Britain behind it for the sake of its own national security and to prevent the annexation of the German Empire and France! As Benjamin Disraeli, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the leader of the Conservative Party, and who died just last year, famously said, 'There are no eternal friends between nations, only eternal interests'!

But in any case, the Netherlands and Portugal are European countries, and their people are all white sè people like the British, and the Chinese People's Army is indeed an authentic yellow sè race, so congenitally Beck hopes that the Netherlands and Portugal can win this war, because this is not only in the interests of cause and effect, but also in line with the concept of 'white supremacy' in his heart!

Patting this old friend who had been with him for almost five years, Henrik said with a smile: "Don't worry, Beck! Even if the Chinese and People's Army can build such thousand-ton steel warships, how much can they build in two years? Can they reach the total tonnage of nearly 80,000 tons of warships already in the Dutch and Portuguese?"

Hearing this, Baker couldn't help but shake his head, as the most powerful maritime empire in the world, the British shipbuilding industry is the most developed, and the design and construction of their warships is also the fastest and most advanced in the world! And as the lieutenant commander and first mate of the Royal Navy, he knows very well that even if such a warship of more than 1,000 tons is designed and built, and then successfully tested at sea, and finally joined the fleet for service, even if it takes two years at the earliest! Coupled with the shipbuilding industry in the Far East, which is not very developed in the first place, it is conceivable that the number of these warships will never be too much, maybe the four in front of you are the sum of all the ironclad warships of the People's Army!

"What the captain said is also that now the number of ironclad ships of the Dutch and the Portuguese alone has reached eight, and the total tonnage of warships far exceeds that of these four warships! Therefore, there is no reason for failure! However, relying on four warships can involve a lot of strength between the Netherlands and Portugal, and when the time comes, it can also reduce the support of the fleets of the two countries to the land forces, and enhance the people's army's defensive capability against the expeditionary forces of the two countries!" Beck couldn't help but shake his head and continued: " It is a pity that the outcome of the war will not change, and with the navy in a weak position, the KPA has no way to stop the landing of the Dutch and Portuguese on the island of Java!"