The bright moon in mid-autumn slowly rises into the night sky, and many people who are busy all day long are also rarely relaxed.

At this moment, thousands of miles away, the British Isles is still only noon.

With the gentle breeze and the smell of the wet, salty sea, Portsmouth is cool at noon in September, and the sun is shining with a thousand rays of light, but you can hardly feel the heat.

Next to the No. 2 pier on Weill Island, the huge battleship Longshuo was moored here, and all the officers and men of the ship were entering the cabin one after another for lunch.

"I always feel that someone is peeping in the dark, tsk, I don't know if I'm too worried."

On the way to the officer's cafeteria, a staff officer complained to Lin Xunzhen, who was traveling beside him, about his strange feelings.

The latter replied nonchalantly: "How could the British have missed this great opportunity? The hills of the island, the buildings across the docks, these places must have been observed and measured from afar. ”

"Hey, too." The staff officer nodded slightly, "Let them test it, anyway, in the past two years, the external information that can be seen by them has been almost collected." ”

"That's right, as long as you don't come in." After entering the restaurant, Lin Xunzhen stretched out his hand and pulled away the chair, "Besides, all the countries participating in the parade are doing the same thing, and the embassy must be very busy." ”

Not only are they busy with foreign affairs on the surface, but the military attaches of the embassy naturally will not miss this rare opportunity to measure the warships participating in the parade.

The Longshuo of the Ming Navy, the Catherine the Great of the Tsarist Russian Navy, the Luxembourg of the German Navy, and the Moronno of the Argentine Navy were all arranged to be anchored at several docks on Weill Island.

Because of this trip to the UK, the Mid-Autumn Festival can only be spent overseas, so the Longshuo specially refrigerated a batch of selected osmanthus flowers in a huge cold storage before setting sail.

In addition to the moon cakes in these two days, the osmanthus that has been prepared for a long time has been used to make osmanthus cakes.

On the broadside deck, Wu Yuanqin, the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites who came with the ship, stroked his beard and said with a smile: "I see that the soldiers are very interested, very good." The old man will repeat it again, it is a matter of the face of the country, and he cannot relax. ”

"You can rest assured that you won't be traveling." The captain replied, and several officers accompanying him also clasped their fists and saluted.

Subsequently, Wu Yuanqin and Qiao Liang, Shaoqing of Honglu Temple, got off the boat and left.

As ministers of the Ming Emperor, they were to participate directly in the coronation of King George VI and the subsequent parade.

At the same time, the credentials and gifts were presented.

After arriving in London from Portsmouth, the two ministers arrived at the Ritz Hotel and were immediately led by the attendants to their respective rooms.

Wu Yuanqin sighed: "When I witnessed His Majesty's accession to the throne, I was only in my twenties and had just entered the official career. Time flies like a white horse, it's been more than 30 years. ”

"Yes, the years are not forgiving." Qiao Liang echoed.

The two fell silent as the elevator slowly ascended.

After getting out of the elevator, Wu Yuanqin spoke again: "This time, the representatives of all the countries have gathered in one place, and let's see how the British express it." ”

The thoughtful Qiao Liang said: "It depends on whether you continue to be tough or mild." ”

"How can the British make a gesture of weakness?"

"It's not uncommon to see turnips in one hand and sticks in the other. Besides, maybe the British will see the situation one day. ”

"If that's the case, they won't take the initiative." Wu Yuanqin knew very well that the British Empire was also desperate for face many times.

"It's okay if that's the case," Qiao Liang smiled, "If they want to be decent, then give it decency." ”

Of course, the British are not stupid, and it is inevitable that the Ming people covet the Nanyang region and are committed to turning it into a back garden.

How can a huge empire tolerate the power of other countries on its doorstep for so long?

Prior to this, the British had never relented in the slightest, and had always firmly stated that if the Ming Dynasty violated and subverted the interests of the British Empire in Asia, then war was absolutely inevitable.

The Ming Dynasty has also repeatedly tried to send fleets to cruise, send people to openly collect topographical information, deliberately provoke overseas Chinese to make trouble, and so on, and the British side has naturally protested again and again.

After wrestling for so many years, the Ming monarchs and ministers have regarded temptation as a routine measure, maybe one day the British will really lower their proud noble heads?

The coronation of the British King on a sunny October 2 day changed the atmosphere of London, solemn and a little excited, and most of the people who left home to visit were in high spirits, and the streets were full of traffic and police officers trying to maintain order.

The process of the coronation depends to some extent on the historical period and the will of the monarch, but it is generally similar, at least the basic process will not change.

The coronation ceremony in Britain from ancient times to the present day has basically chosen between the two cathedrals of Canterbury and Westminster.

And this time, George VI chose to be crowned at Canterbury Cathedral.

At around 8 a.m., George VI and his wife Elizabeth set off from the Tower of London to the Cathedral, passing through Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square, under the escort of the Royal Cavalry.

The coronation of the monarch was naturally presided over by the archbishop himself, and after the forty-two-year-old George VI slowly sat down in the chair, which was more than 700 years old, the archbishop began to read out the duties and obligations of the king.

Finally, he solemnly asked, "Your Majesty, the King's Coronation Oath is regarded as the same as the law, are you willing to take the oath?" ”

George VI, with a solemn expression, bowed his head and said, "I am willing to take an oath." ”

"Do you govern in a manner that respects the customs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and other Territories?"

"I will."

The archbishop then took the oath, and George VI signed his name with a pen.

At this point, the coronation oath was officially in effect, and the archbishop slowly glanced at everyone present, and then motioned for everyone to be consecrated.

Trumpets and music sounded, and all the British and Commonwealth delegates in the cathedral chanted in unison, "God save the King."

Then, the orb, which symbolized religious authority, the scepter, which represented the power of the monarch, and the golden rod of the dove, which symbolized justice, were successively awarded to George VI. Finally, the archbishop placed a gold St. Edward's crown made in the 17th century on the king's head.

After moving to the throne on the side, all the royal family members present knelt down in salute.

After Queen Elizabeth's coronation, the King and Queen returned to Buckingham Palace in a parade in the famous golden carriage.

Royal guards in tall bearskin hats, bright red shirts and black trousers always attract attention, and in this age without the internet, it is natural to see them dressed for the first time even more curious.

"It's just a show of martial arts. This bearskin top hat was a favorite of the French, and they even set the height of the hat for different branches of the army, and they also made many bells and whistles accessories. Qiao Liang explained to Wu Yuanqin: "After the Battle of Waterloo, the British guards also changed to this hat, saying that it was to commemorate the hard-won victory. ”

The latter thought for a moment and commented: "This outfit is much lighter than that of General Han. ”

"Don't wear armor now, do you? I haven't seen him several times. ”

"Look at the days and the location, at least the ones in Xi'an Gate and Chengtianmen are all in armor."

Wearing armor, holding an axe or a gourd hammer, the weight of dozens of catties is not easy even for a strong young man, especially in the hot summer, the heat is unbearable, so the Han generals in the Forbidden City often go to stand guard only wearing clothes and carrying a gourd hammer.

As the coronation ceremony came to an end, the parade that attracted more attention and attention from all over the world also came.

Naval parades of the British Empire often take place in the Spithead Strait, between the British mainland and the Isle of Wight, with Southampton to the north and Portsmouth to the northeast, which has been the core base of the Royal Navy since ancient times.

On October 5, in the calm Spithead Strait, the coronation parade of King George VI officially began.

In addition to the 147 warships of various types from the Commonwealth countries, there are also 18 representative ships sent by foreign navies, which is unprecedentedly large.

According to the arrangement of the British, the order in which foreign navies were to be inspected was the United States, France, Russia, China, Argentina, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, and so on.

The meaning of this order is naturally unusual, and it is similar to what the Ming Dynasty had expected at first, except that it is uncertain who will come first between France and Russia, and now it seems that the British still pay more attention to the old enemies on the other side.

The rising sun in the east shone down thousands of rays, and the calm strait was so calm that there was no wind and waves, only the wake left by the warships.

Looking down from the sky, nearly 200 warships of all sizes could not be seen at a glance, densely packed, as if children had arranged all their toys neatly together.

The feeling of being in it is even more shocking, there are all warships in front and behind, left and right, surrounded by mountains of thousands of tons and tens of thousands of tons of steel, this sense of oppression makes people both excited and nervous.

On the bridge of the Longshuo, a group of naval officers were equally excited.

"The British have paid most of their money this time."

"Yes, several fleets have drawn ships, do you remember?"

"Ten ships of the Home Fleet, nine ships of the Mediterranean Fleet, more than a hundred ships of the reserve fleet, as well as more than two dozen submarines and more than a dozen auxiliary vessels."

"To the point, capital ship."

Lin Xunzhen replied casually: "There are ten battleships and battle cruisers, and four aircraft carriers. ”

When the battleship Catherine the Great sent by the Russian Navy slowly sailed by, the battleship Longshuo of the Ming Navy followed.

To everyone's dissatisfaction, the Russians seem to be deliberately causing trouble? Plumes of black smoke suddenly erupted from the normally normal chimney, and it became thicker and thicker, passing over the Longshuo behind it.

This situation lasted for a few minutes, and by the time it passed through the parade area, the bridge and flag of the Longshuo were clearly stained and blackened.

Although it was an old ship from 20 years ago, the Catherine the Great was modernized a few years ago, and the old 20 small Yarrow oil-coal boilers were replaced by new eight heavy oil boilers.

It is not difficult for a steam turbine-powered ship to achieve this effect of black smoke, as long as the heavy oil under the boiler is not fully burned.

So everyone agrees that this is deliberate by the Russians!

Although the Ming Dynasty and Tsarist Russia have been old enemies for hundreds of years, they resorted to tricks on this occasion......

"It's dirty! Isn't this deliberately disgusting?! ”

"It's a nuisance to scrub this to......"

"Let's block the door when we dock at the port!"

For a moment, everyone on the bridge was indignant.

The captain was originally the most calm, after all, in diplomatic situations, more things are better than less things.

However, when he raised his high-powered binoculars to look at the Catherine the Great in front of him, he could clearly see the sailors lining up on the deck behind him laughing.

So the captain was not calm, and he complained in a deep voice with black lines: "Next!" ”

At this time, Lin Xunzhen, who had been silent, suddenly spoke, "It's not interesting to go to the door to reason afterwards, why don't you just do it now?" ”

More than a dozen eyes fell on him, and the gentleman will never wait for revenge, right?

"Now? What to do? Can you still make the smoke drift backwards? The deputy captain wondered.

Lin Xunzhen smiled indifferently, "No, no, no, when the salute is fired next, ......"

When he finished speaking, everyone stared at him, but no one said anything.

Hey, isn't that a bit overdone? It's easy to cause diplomatic disputes, right?

The captain closed his eyes and thought for a while, thinking that it seemed to be okay, so he nodded in agreement.

Since the captain agreed, everyone had no objections, and they dispersed to prepare, and it was so happy that the enmity and enmity were simply neat.

Lin Xunzhen walked to a microphone and shouted: "No. 2 turret, prepare two color identification shells later, one for each of the left and middle guns, and one charge." ”

"Huh? Next up is the gun salute. The turret commander of the second turret thought he had misheard.

About two quarters of an hour later, as more than 100 warships of all sizes have been reviewed, the next step is to stop the ship and fire a salute.

In order to avoid the huge blast damage from the main guns, the sailors on the front and rear decks quickly left to make sure that no one was ready to clear the air.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! ”

Orange dazzling flames erupted from the muzzles of the guns, and more than 100 warships in the entire strait were firing their cannons in salute, and the sound of cannons shook the heavens and the earth.

If a simple formation sailing was nothing, the current salvo can really lift people's hearts high, and the delegates of various countries watching the ceremony on the shore were shocked by such a magnificent spectacle.

However, at this time, the triple 400mm main gun of the No. 2 turret of the Longshuo inadvertently slowly lowered the angle.

Under the control of the sailors, the cartridge and the 35-type color marking bullet were successively lifted into the turret chute by the lifting machine, and then pushed into the gun chamber by the hinged projectile pusher.

"Boom!"

Two 400mm color marker shells flew out at high speed, and after a short flight, they smashed head-on on the aft No. 4 turret of the battleship Catherine the Great, which was only a few hundred meters away.

The color-coded bullet is a modified version of the training projectile, which is pre-loaded with dye under the hood, and can be used to dye the splashed water column when falling into the water, so that the trajectory can be distinguished during shelling.

Suddenly, as if the paint bag had been smashed on the door, the aft deck of the Catherine the Great was in shambles.

The red and yellow dyes are sputtered, and the teak deck seems to be a child's palette, full of red and yellow pasted together.

(End of chapter)