Mr. Xiao, I'm sorry, Ben Baylor tried his best, but the emperor ...... "As soon as he got the news that Yi Xue Gege was under house arrest in Changchun Palace, he knew that the matter between Yi Xue Gege and Xiao Yao was the East Window Incident, and he hurriedly put down the messenger in the Ministry of Industry and tried to ask for the face saint to intercede for Yi Xue Gege, but unexpectedly, Yinzuo in the rage did not announce his visit, but let the eunuch Gao Nianying pass on a sentence - so that he could do it himself, so he drove him out of the palace, and he had no choice but to go back to the Lingering Garden and tell Xiao Yao what happened.

"Qingqing Zijin, relax my heart. I am fortunate to have it, but I am not killed. Xiao Yao, who had a pale face, sat silently for more than half an hour, sighed in a low voice, then raised his head, looked at Yang Yang, who had always sat with him, and said with a smile: "Although the second master can rest assured, it is okay, well, this matter is no wonder the second master, in fact, it is a certain and a second master, and the saint also has his troubles, so he can understand." ”

"Are you really alright, sir?" Seeing that Xiao Yao had returned to normal, not only did he not breathe a sigh of relief, but he became a little nervous.

"It's okay, it's really okay. Xiao Yao smiled and said: "It's okay, but the second master may have something, the saint will never tolerate any external force to intervene in the competition between the second master and the eldest brother, and the matter between a certain and Yixue Gege will probably doubt the second master's intentions, so the second master must not interfere in this matter again, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable." ”

"This ......" Hongyang is a smart person, as soon as he thought of the words sent by Yinzuo, his heart suddenly sank, and his face was stunned for a while, but he quickly recovered, and said with a resolute face: "What Mr. said, Ben Baylor knows in his heart, but Ben Baylor will definitely not let go of this matter, since this matter was provoked by Jiugu." Ben Baylor went to the ninth aunt to solve it, and he had to drag out the matter of the marriage first, or he would have wronged the eldest sister. ”

"Don't, if that's the case, not only will the second master be in danger, but Yixue will only have one way to marry the Hu family. Xiao Yao hurriedly said: "The reason why the Holy Lord put Yi Xue Gege under house arrest instead of immediately issuing an edict to marry is actually because the Holy Lord still has doubts in his heart. If the second master blindly participates again, not only will the second master's status not be guaranteed, but Yixue Gege is afraid that it will not end well. Now, if the second master really wants to help someone, then ask the second master to win in this victory competition, as long as the second master can win, there may be a glimmer of hope, if the second master loses. That ......"

There is no need for a hammer to ring the drum, and he is a awake person, and when he heard it, he understood the key to it, nodded his head and said: "Now that the eldest brother has opened up the situation, this head is very exciting." There is the style of Emperor Ama back then, and Ben Baylor has now fallen behind, but it is a pity that there are too many technical materials in the Ministry of Industry, alas. It's been almost two months now, and there hasn't been much progress. ”

Xiao Yao's eyes flashed with a hint of color, and he said with a smile: "The second master doesn't need to be in a hurry, the affairs of the Ministry of Engineering are already slow and meticulous, if it is done hastily, it will be defeated, and this matter must not be urgent." Big Brother's hand knocking on the mountain and shaking the tiger is indeed chic, but this matter is not difficult in the first place. It's just a trick to draw a scoop according to the gourd, the real difficulty is still to come, this official rule is not to rely on the clear once, twice to ensure that the official rule is long-term and clear, the saint wants not to be so superficial effort, whether you can come up with a set of effective systems is the key, the eldest brother still has a headache, the second master should not be dazzled by the brilliance in front of the eldest brother, although according to his own rhythm to integrate. ”

Xiao Yao's words were like a bolt of lightning that lifted the fog in his heart. The dull mood of nearly half a month was suddenly swept away. got up, respectfully saluted Xiao Yao and said, "Thank you, Mr. for your advice." Ben Belle will not lose this competition, please rest assured. Xiao Yao just smiled, and didn't speak, but the relief and bitterness in that smile were mixed together, which was a little ambiguous......

At three o'clock on March 18, the seventh year of Yuanzhuo, the sky was clear and cloudy, the early spring sun was intoxicatingly warm, several groups of seagulls were flying freely on the blue sea, like flying elves, the crisp birdsong mixed with the wind blowing through the sail and the crackling sound was so beautiful, all of this was so beautiful, even if Qiao Hailong, who had been adrift on the sea for most of his life, had already seen all this, but he still couldn't help but revel in it.

"Commander, are you homesick again?" Ke Mingda, chief of staff of the Dongying Detachment of the First Fleet, quietly appeared beside Qiao Hailong at some point and asked with a smile.

Homesick? That is a matter of course, since the order to sit in Dongying, the fleet has been wandering around the sea near here for nearly half a year, not only the high-ranking officers and soldiers are homesick, but also those lower-level officers and soldiers are also looking forward to the day when the guard will be changed. Yes, soon, soon, in about ten days, the first fleet will be able to return to Qingdao Military Port, and all the more than 20 large and small warships of the first fleet will also be in time for renovation. A rare smile appeared on Qiao Hailong's dark face, looked at the horizon in the distance, and asked with a smile: "What, don't you want to?" ”

"Who wouldn't want to, my daughter-in-law just added a fat grandson to me, I haven't seen it yet, hehe, if you go back, you must hug ...... enough" Ke Mingda didn't finish speaking, and the lookout post on the top of the mast suddenly shouted: "Fleet!" A fleet has appeared ahead, the Great Fleet of England! ”

What? Qiao Hailong and Ke Mingda glanced at each other, and there was a trace of anxiety in their eyes - this is the Dongying Sea, according to the provisions of the Sino-British Beijing Treaty, the English fleet is not allowed to enter this sea area, but England has already broken in once last year, but at that time it was not the first fleet where Qiao Hailong was located, but the second fleet of the first fleet, at that time, the English fleet only confronted the Qing fleet for a while and then withdrew from the Dongying Sea, and then the English ambassador was forced to apologize to the Qing Dynasty and declared that he would never commit it again, but now, just a year later, the English fleet has made a comeback again, and its intentions must be unkind! The Qing fleet is not afraid of war, but at this time the fleet has been cruising for a long time, whether it is the state of the battleship itself or the morale of the soldiers, it is already the lowest point, if it is fighting with the English fleet at this time, it is difficult to say whether the victory or defeat is too late.

Qiao Hailong came back to his senses, took out a monocular from his bosom, and carefully looked at the forest-like masts that were gradually rising from the sea level, his face was as cold as if it were frozen—the English fleet had a total of thirty-two large and small warships. Among them, there are four first-class battleships with a capacity of 850 people, and there are 104 guns equipped with three layers of artillery decks; Eight battleships of the second class, with a capacity of 750 men, are also three-tier artillery decks, equipped with between 90 and 98 guns; Twelve battleships of the third class, with a capacity of 650 men and two gun decks. It is equipped with between 64 and 84 guns, and six auxiliary ships. At this moment, the Qing fleet only had eight large warships, each with a crew of 880 people, three gun decks, and one hundred and eight guns; 12 medium-sized warships, two-deck guns, armed with 64 guns; three auxiliary ships; Both the number of ships and the number of artillery were far below the English fleet, and the only advantage was that the range and rate of fire of the Qing artillery exceeded that of the English artillery:

The artillery of the Royal Navy at this time, divided by the weight of the projectile. There are mainly five types of guns, 9-pounder, 12-pounder, 18-pounder, 24-pounder and 32-pounder, with calibers of 10.4 cm, 11.5 cm, 13.1 cm, 14.4 cm and 15.9 cm, respectively. However, at a distance of 200 meters, the English ground artillery could not effectively penetrate the ship's plank, and the rate of fire of the English artillery was about one fire every three or five minutes, and in addition to solid shells, a small number of shotguns and chain shells were used. On the other hand, the artillery of the Qing fleet only had three specifications: 12 cm, 14 cm, and 16 cm. The rear-loading drawstring guns were used, using smokeless gunpowder, with a maximum range of 1,800 meters, which could penetrate the ship's board at a distance of 300 meters, and the rate of fire was two rounds per minute.

Qiao Hailong stared at the English fleet in the distance with a pair of eyes. Gritted his teeth and said: "Order, raise the dragon flag, and order all ships to prepare for battle." "This dragon flag is the battle flag of the Qing Navy, which is usually stored in the captain's room of the flagship, and will only be raised at the flagship when it is in the combat field, once this flag is raised, it means that a bloody battle of life or death is about to begin.

"Commander, our army is tired. At this time, the battle is only afraid of disadvantages. I hope the commander thinks twice, and besides, the English fleet is unknown. I'm afraid it's not okay to raise the dragon flag rashly? Ke Mingda saw that Qiao Hailong had given a pre-battle order, and hurriedly persuaded him.

"What, are you scared?" Qiao Hailong glanced at Ke Mingda coldly, and the disdain in his tone suddenly angered Ke Mingda, who was old and serious, Ke Mingda was also an old sailor who had worked in the navy all his life, and when he heard Qiao Hailong's words, he suddenly became angry and roared: "I'm afraid of a fart, Lao Tzu has never been afraid of war, but the commander wants to think about it for his brothers, our army has been out on patrol for several months, and at this time, the morale and the condition of the fleet are worrying, what to do to fight with the red-haired ghost, if you lose the battle, how to explain to the saint!" ”

Qiao Hailong sneered and said: "Lao Ke, I know what you said, but what I know even more is that the army's spirit can not be discharged, if our army is cowardly before fighting, even if it escapes back to Qingdao safely, can the Holy Lord spare all the officers and soldiers?" This shame of escaping will forever be engraved on the bow of my First Fleet of the Great Qing Dynasty, can you afford this responsibility? If our army shows weakness, once the British army takes advantage of the situation to attack, a great defeat will be inevitable, and our fleet may be able to reluctantly escape back to Qingdao, but what about the army brothers in Dongyingdi? Stay under the guns of the red-haired ghost and get beaten? Herald: Prepare for war! All ships set sail and get ready to seize the upper hand! ”

"Good! It's dead or alive, and the birds are facing up! Ke Mingda ripped off the white navy shirt on his body, exposed his strong chest, strode towards the mast, and loudly conveyed Qiao Hailong's order, as the herald on the top of the mast quickly waved the signal flag in his hand, the Qing fleet immediately moved, and all ships were hung with full sails, adjusted into a column to meet the English fleet that sailed in the distance.

This English fleet was the entire main force of the Far Eastern Fleet of England, and its commander was Sean; Admiral Nadal, a veteran naval commander whose chief of staff was Prost; Rear Admiral Green, the rising star of the English Navy, the young Zhuang soldiers, the instructions received by the England fleet this time were extremely vague, and there was no clear provision that the Qing fleet must be annihilated, just to test the response ability of the Qing fleet, of course, if the Qing fleet is passive and sluggish, the English fleet can have the right to decide whether to annihilate this part of the Qing fleet according to the actual situation, according to Admiral Nadal's words, this order is simply stinking like shit - whether to fight or not is even here there is no accurate letter, Let the front-line commanders decide for themselves, if they win, the credit will be to the shameless politicians, but if they are defeated, Admiral Nadal, as the front-line commander, will be a perfect scapegoat for starting the war, and the politicians will not hesitate to sacrifice themselves to the Qing Emperor to appease the anger of the Qing Emperor.

"General, the yellow-skinned monkey has come to the door by himself, hehe, such a big group of fat sheep, with the superior strength of our army and rich combat experience, we can definitely defeat the opponent, Your Excellency General, please give a combat order." Rear Admiral Green's eyes were very thief, just through the monocular in his hand to observe for a while, he found that there was something wrong with the Qing army's marching array, and the numerous shells on the hull also showed that the Qing fleet had not been well maintained for at least half a year.

Admiral Nadal is a veteran naval officer, how can he not see that the Qing fleet is not in a good state at this time, but Admiral Nadal thinks more about political things than the current naval battle, and it is not easy for him to order an immediate war - this is not only related to the fate of the two countries, but also a big issue that determines his personal future. Admiral Nadal ignored Rear Admiral Green's advice, stared at the Qing fleet advancing at high speed with a pair of eagle eyes, closed his lips tightly, and said nothing......

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