As the name suggests, a naval parade is a naval parade held by a country, on the one hand, it is to let the domestic people feel the strength of the country, encourage the morale of the military and the people, and at the same time express the intention of strategic deterrence to foreign countries.

It is precisely because of its many functions that since the era of sail warships, the world's major maritime powers have held various ship parades. The empire of the sun, which conquered the world with its navy, was naturally the most adept at this matter, and Queen Elizabeth had repeatedly inspected the royal navy, which was at its peak.

At a time when the world was in turmoil and coincided with the succession of a new king, the British wanted to hold a grand parade to boost the self-confidence of the people at home and announce the might of the Royal Navy to the world.

And... The sun never sets, the empire has not yet set!

Zhou Changfeng was naturally disdainful of this, and he muttered: "The afterglow of the empire is just that, in a few decades, there will only be a few small sampans left in the British Navy......"

But no matter what, at least the current Ming still attaches great importance to this.

The British warmly sent an invitation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Ministry of Rites, hoping that the Ming Navy could also send warships to participate in the parade, and asked the Ming Emperor to order a member of the Qin Cha to participate in the parade.

Obviously, the British wanted to ease the tense relationship due to the border war, and show off their martial arts by the way, so as to give Daming a little shock that the sun never sets.

"Naturally, you have to go, as for the size, the old and the new, let the cabinet and the military department discuss this."

The emperor set the tone from the beginning, and at this point, there was no objection from the Manchu civil and military forces, and the most important thing was which ship to send.

In the Wenhua Palace, in addition to the ministers, several naval generals, including Xu Zhanwei, also came to the meeting today.

As the sun gradually rose, the temperature slowly rose, but the air conditioning here was not turned on, only the large ceiling fan above was slowly turning.

"The British had sent invitations to other countries for several days, the United States planned to send the battleship New York, the French planned to send the battleship Dunkirk, Italy... Declined the invitation. ”

As a minister of national defense, Lin Xi first explained the known information straight to the point, and as for other small countries, it seems that there is no need to mention it.

"The New York? If memory serves, it was an old ship from more than 20 years ago, right? Someone asked.

"Yes, the New York-class, an old ship with a displacement of 30,000 tons and still using 356 mm naval guns, the Americans don't want to save face." Another vice admiral said with a smile.

Xu Zhanwei raised his hand and waved, "You can't say that, you have to pull your latest gadgets over like the French to save face?" They wanted to show the Germans by the way. ”

The Dunkirk-class battleship was a cutting-edge battleship that the French entered service only last year, but although the French called it a battleship, it was designed more like a battlecruiser.

Its hypothetical enemy was not the battleships of other countries, but the pocket battleships of the Germans and the cruisers of other countries.

"Then let's compromise and send Zhenguan or Yonghui."

"I think it's okay."

"It's too modest!" Li Guangyuan, a scholar of the Huagai Palace and a minister of finance, waved his hand again and again, "This time, you might as well be bold and send the latest big ship, this kind of foreign and political matter, what you want is that kind of aura." ”

He thought for a moment and then asked, "Hey, it shouldn't be confidential, right?" Are there any new technologies that should not be known to other countries? ”

Xu Zhanhuan, who was a little helpless, said reluctantly: "Yes, but internally, the British can't look at it." ”

The so-called "latest big ship" naturally refers to the Longshuo, so everyone argued for a while, and finally finalized the Longshuo, which is definitely lined up.

And it should also be able to confuse the British to a certain extent - the Ming people generally don't send new things out to show off the market, so this means that the Ming Navy has already started building new battleships after the Longshuo, and maybe even launched?

At this time, Xu Zhanwei looked at several ministers present, "By the way, it's rare to come here, I'll mention something to you." ”

Foreign Minister Yu Shenhua had just packed up a few documents on the table and was about to get up to leave, when he heard the words, he sat down, "Is there anything important about the navy?" ”

Xu Zhanhuan was not ambiguous, and asked bluntly: "Hmm... The legation heard that the Germans had hatched a prototype of the new torpedo, could Mr. Yu manage to buy a few? ”

The term "adult" was only widely used to refer to high-ranking officials from the Yuan Dynasty, and then gradually spread, and sesame-sized officials were also called so. However, after the constitutionalism, this kind of flattering name was no longer popular among the people, and to this day, calling officials "adults" is either respectful or yin and yang.

You guys fell in love with someone's baby thing, and then asked me to be a lobbyist?

Yu Shenhua stretched out his index finger and nodded on the table, and said with a smile: "Okay, you Xu Zhanwei, you also said that this is a new thing, how can it be so easy to do?" Isn't that embarrassing for us? ”

"Hey, this is indeed a good thing, whether it can be made is one thing, whether it is tried or not is another thing."

"Got it, let's talk about it later."

The navies of all countries in the world have not given up on improving their own torpedoes, and the current steam gas torpedoes are very obvious because the air emitted will produce bubbles, so the track is very obvious, and it is easy for the opponent to detect it early and avoid it in time in actual combat.

Therefore, countries have put a lot of effort into other power methods, and the Germans are unique in the field of electric torpedoes, which have been put into use as early as the end of the European war, and now their achievements in hydrogen peroxide torpedoes are also considerable.

The original research direction of the Ming Navy was oxygen torpedo, the traditional thermodynamic torpedo uses compressed air as an oxidizer, but as we all know, oxygen only accounts for 21% of the air, and the rest of the nitrogen does not participate in the reaction, and a large number of bubbles will be produced when the torpedo is discharged.

But the Navy soon abandoned research into replacing compressed air with liquid pure oxygen – without it, it was too dangerous and unstable.

Due to its own characteristics, electric torpedoes have less range, speed, and power than traditional torpedoes.

Although the performance of the Type 35 electric torpedoes equipped by the Ming army is acceptable, in addition to the submarine forces, the surface ship units still do not like to use them.

So the only way left is the hydrogen peroxide torpedo, this thing can be described as quite complicated, research and development is very difficult, tossing for several years and there are still a few difficulties that have not been overcome, so after hearing that the Germans seem to have produced results, the navy pondered whether to make a few finished products back for reference one or two.

After leaving the Wenhua Palace, several admirals chatted while walking, and the chief officer of the Second Battle Fleet of the South Ocean Fleet complained: "Speaking of which, the Germans really plan to go down like this? It's not even a fleet on this scale. ”

Xu Zhanwei muttered: "It's hard to say, just a few small battleships and submarines are too thin, and at least a few battleships have to stay in the harbor, so that a part of the British Navy can be contained." ”

Although the German Society did not recognize and fulfill the Treaty of Versailles, and was not restricted by the fact that "the navy is forbidden to equip dreadnoughts and can only have coastal defense ships", they have learned the lessons of the European war and do not seem to plan to invest too much in the navy?

The full name of the German Navy is Arbeiterinmarine, which means workers' navy, and the ship number is generally AMS; In contrast, the former Imperial German Navy was called Kaiserlichemarine, or Kaiserlichemarine.

Interestingly, the word Arbeiterin, German has a feminine and masculine, Arbeiter is a male worker, Arbeiterin is a female worker, that is to say, this literal translation is actually a female worker navy, of course, the Chinese generally do not study in detail.

Unlike the British, who liked to refer to battleships as "she", the masculine Germans had always used the masculine, androgynous "er" or "es" to refer to battleships, and as a result, it was natural for German sailors to use "sie" to refer to their warships.

The current idea of naval construction of the Germans is simply "fly, dive, and fast":

With medium and large submarines as the main ocean-going combat weapons, it carried out a war against Britain, cut off and blocked the transportation of strategic materials, and turned the British Empire into an isolated island.

At the same time, the navy's shore-based air force, small submarines, and speedboats should cooperate with each other to carry out coastal defensive operations and delay and hinder the enemy's navy's coastal artillery bombardment or landing operations.

But what is not known to the outside world is that the Germans have now begun to build new battle cruisers and battleships, and their mission is to penetrate deep into the Atlantic and strike at British sea lines of communication.

Both ships are designed for a maximum speed of more than 30 knots and a range of more than 9,000 nautical miles at a cruising speed of 18 knots. Their tactic was to suddenly and quietly leave the harbor and quickly cross the North Sea at a speed of 30 knots to break through the blockade of the Royal Navy.

Once they are washed into the Atlantic, it will be a sky high for birds to fly, and the sea is wide for fish to leap, and the British will be anxious.

Despite the size of the Royal Navy, there were not many high-speed capital ships - the Prestige and Counterstrike sisters could run to 29 knots, the Hood had been rebuilt and became heavier so that its speed had dropped to 29 knots, and George V had actually only 28 knots.

As a result, the British had to orchestrate a hunt, and if they missed, they would quickly slip away, during which the Germans could slaughter all the merchant ships on the route as they pleased.

If they knew that the Germans were already planning to do so, the Ming Navy would naturally have to celebrate a little - so echoing from afar, the British would not be able to take care of each other, how could they have the spare time to take care of the South Seas?

On the same day, a telegram from the Navy Department of the Ministry of War was sent to the Hangzhou Naval Base, asking the battleship Longshuo to suspend the follow-up routine training arrangements and wait for the order.

The next morning, Qixia Prison.

Zhou Changfeng, who was spanked, tried to go to the cafeteria to eat at noon yesterday, but in the end he failed, so Mu Yu brought him back the two meals last night and this morning.

At this time, a corporal came over with a slip and shouted: "Ding number 327, Ling's relatives will come to visit later, come with us." ”

Zhou Changfeng, who didn't know why, was puzzled: "Isn't it usually the end of the month that prison visits are allowed, and it's only the middle of the month, right?" ”

The few gendarmes who came to give the order naturally couldn't answer, so they only asked him to move quickly, so Zhou Changfeng slowly moved to the edge of the bed and slowly got off the ground.

Then, he was helped all the way to the visitation room, but the distance of a hundred or so steps seemed to be farther than several miles of mountain roads.

It is conceivable how surprised Xia Xiaoshi was when she saw such a scene, she subconsciously stood up and said nervously: "First... Sir, you are ......"

"It's okay, I just got hit with that board in advance."

"Is it okay to eat and live here?"

"For sure, I feel like I'm going to gain a few pounds."

Whether it is to maintain self-esteem or to avoid worrying about his lover, Zhou Changfeng said lightly, but he doesn't know that the discomfort and pain in it can only be understood by those who have really suffered it.

However, he seems to have forgotten a special feature, that is, in the eyes of Xia Xiaoshi, who is a teacher, his words belong to a typical tough mouth.

Therefore, Xia Xiaoshi felt that her initial distress had faded a little, and she was a little more gloating.

She has been thinking about coming to visit these days, so she begged in every possible way, and Xia Bing reluctantly agreed to go through the back door, but it was only for the days of early visiting.

She pouted and said, "The students will be whipped by the ruler if they are unscrupulous, and the soldiers will be beaten with sticks if they exceed the rules." Sir, you have a good meal, and you should never do anything again in the future. ”

"That's nature."

"I'll wait for you to come out......"

"Well, don't worry."

The short visit ended quickly, and Xia Xiaoshi left a large bag of pastries and snacks before leaving.

When the complacent Zhou Changfeng returned to the cell with the basket, Mu Yu's eyes immediately lit up.

However, Zhou Changfeng waved his hand and said seriously: "Airplanes are very sensitive to load capacity, and you will gain weight if you eat too many of these high-sugar and high-oil things, so ......"

Mu Yu, who wanted to cry without tears, threatened to break off with him after being released from prison, and did not agree with the friendship of the window.

"Classmates? Which window is the same? ”

"Behind bars!"

But his good days had not even been a full day, and he was notified early the next morning.

Yuan Huai, who came to the door in person, glanced at the cell, and then waved his hand to signal that Zhou Changfeng did not need to stand up, so as not to affect the injury.

"That's right, there is probably something in the navy that needs your participation, Commander Zhou, and I guess I have to go tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."

Oh huh? Slip ahead of schedule?

Zhou Changfeng secretly applauded and asked, "Is it a commutation or parole?" ”

"Neither, it's an execution outside of prison."

“……”

Recently, the trial production of the Type 36 light tank has been finalized and put into mass production, and its official name is the "Type 37 guerrilla fighting vehicle".

The heavy tank that took four years to develop has finally come to fruition, Wuhan Yangyue Company and Yanjing National First Heavy Machinery Group have trial-produced prototypes of their respective schemes, which will be compared and tested at the Laizhou Proving Ground, and the results of the competition will determine who will ultimately spend it.

At first glance, this should be the concern of the Army, what does it have to do with the Navy?

The reason is that there are also different opinions within the Ming Navy - some people believe that tanks suitable for landing operations should be lightweight, easy to transport, and even floating; There are also those who insist that the landing force lacks heavy weapons, and it must have a big guy with strong armor and sharp artillery as a solid support point, otherwise the landing force is likely to be driven into the sea by a wave of counterattacks by the other side to feed the fish.

Since the two sides have their own opinions, they can only engage in a few prototypes for actual testing.

Therefore, not only Zhou Changfeng was ordered to participate in the assessment, but Yan Chenwu, who was in the Second Marine Regiment of the Nanyang Fleet, also received the same order.

(End of chapter)