Xinshun 1730

Chapter 559 The intersection of fate on the eve of World War I

Just like the saying that Dashun often said here, either the sun comes out from the west, or something will happen to me.

Clive's sentence seems to be an answer with two choices, but it actually has almost the same meaning.

Even the most imaginative person at this time would never have imagined that the order in Dashun would collapse and create chaos suitable for so-called "heroes" and "legends".

So the meaning of Clive's words is that he hopes to go to India and find an exciting life there.India is finished, the Persians have broken through Delhi, the original order has collapsed, and the chaotic wars between the states are in troubled times.

Compared with Dashun, which is so orderly now that even the East India Company has to abide by the rules, it is obviously more attractive to Clive there.

As a company employee for many years, Old John had no choice but to persuade Clive a few words.

"Behind those legends and stories, there must be hundreds or even thousands of losers. It's just that people don't recite the stories of losers, they only think of success legends. Moreover, companies don't like to publicize the fate of those failures."

"Your father used a lot of connections and sent a lot of money to find you a chance to work in the Chinese business house. You have to know that once the staff is full this time, it may take a long time for vacancies to appear. The Chinese side The environment is much better than India. You have never lived there, you don’t know the horrors of the tropics, and there are many unpredictable diseases.”

Clever had already made up his mind after seeing the Royal Navy's fleet being forced to lower its flag, but he said playfully with an indifferent attitude: "That's better than living a normal life in this kind of place. I will find I have the opportunity to go to India. Since my father sent me to the company, he is already desperate for me. I don’t think he will care whether I am in China or India.”

Old John shook his head, thinking that the child was hopeless.If your father really doesn't care about you, how could he send you to China?Does the company lack employees who are willing to work in such an orderly place?
But for a sixteen or seventeen-year-old child, it is useless to talk too much.Old John thought, maybe he went to India, and after a few years, he knew it was better to be here.Just like every rebellious child, only after being beaten by the society can he know how useful the nonsense of his parents is.But until experienced, those can only be bullshit.

"If you really want to go to India, it's easy. It's hard to come to China, but it's easy to go to India. There's always a shortage of people there. But I won't talk about it, otherwise I can't talk to you. Tell your father."

Clare Wu thought, who wants you to take responsibility?This is my own plan.But since it's easier to go to India, it's easy, and I'll just say it myself.

After finishing speaking, he looked at the afterimage of the fleet that had been ushered into the harbor and disappeared on the water of Lingdingyang. He thought that the place where even the Royal Navy's fleet had to lower its flag was really not a place where heroes and legends could be born.

…………

The Centurion, which had lowered its flag, docked at the military port on the Kowloon Peninsula.

Under the threat of the forts on both sides, it is true that heroes and legends cannot be produced here.

A dragon has to coil up, a tiger has to lie down.

The Centurion can be described as a legend in the history of navigation, and it is not an exaggeration to say that the ship is a dragon and a tiger.

But now, he is still obediently squatting on the fort and pointing at the threatened military port.

Among the warships, the Centurion is just a sixty-gun battleship, which is not even ranked in the British Navy's ranks.

But after a few years, people may not remember the names of the British capital ships with hundreds of guns at this time, but they must still remember the old Centurion.

Harrison, the carpenter who didn't go to school, but defeated Newton, Galileo, and forced Euler, lamented that he was considered a three-body problem and wasted 30 years of his life watching the moon. Where is the H1 marine clock.For the first sailing test of the nautical clock, it was the old Centurion three years ago, but the captain at that time was not George Anson.

With this nautical clock that keeps accurate time despite the wind, waves, heat, humidity, and turbulence at sea, human beings can compare the London time on the clock with the local time calculated by looking at the sun, and calculate the longitude, so that human beings can be anywhere on the earth. Where you are, east-west orientation.

It can be said that the Greenwich Observatory can become the prime meridian, the source of latitude and longitude rules for the world, and all future world maps must abide by this longitude division, all of which can be traced back to this old battleship.

In the history of navigation, Columbus was the first to complete the circumnavigation of the world.And the Centurion was the first to complete the global voyage of the warship formation fleet, which opened a real world of great battles at sea, which means that crossing the seven seas is no longer a joke.

The cure of scurvy by vitamin C in later generations also has a great relationship with the centurion.In history, George Anson’s fleet took 1980 people to sail. After returning to the UK, 185 people survived, and most of them died of scurvy. This incident greatly shocked the British Navy. The mortality rate of 90.00% is too scary. , That year led to difficulties in the forced recruitment of sailors.James Lind, who was a naval doctor at the time, also witnessed the horror of the return of the Centurion, and finally found the orange lemon a few years later.

This is a milestone ship in the history of human navigation. Regardless of the filth of the colonists behind it, it is a ship that will still be remembered tens of thousands of years later even if humans fly out of the sun to open the interstellar era.

But now the ship, with its sails lowered and its flag lowered, has no power to resist under the watchful eyes of the fort.

Take off the scientific aura, this is just a battleship of the British Navy ready to fight.

Amidst the rumbling salute, the British officers and students lined up on the deck, waiting for Liu Yu and others to board the ship.

The premise is that they don't need to kneel down to greet them like merchant ships docked in Guangzhou, it's just a pure military exchange.

George Anson, who was dissatisfied and felt insulted, welcomed Liu Yu and others to the captain's cabin. Like a butterfly wearing a flower, Fazakle introduced each other who boarded the ship to meet each other.

"This is Commodore George Anson of the Royal Navy."

"This is the Marquis of Siberia from Dashun, Liu Yu, deputy envoy of the Privy Council. Next to him are Captain Mi Gao and Deputy Captain Du Feng of the Southern Navy of Dashun."

"This is Duplex, the French Commander of Pondicherry, a senior member of the French Orient Company."

Since it was just a military exchange, the other party also lowered the sails and lowered the flag. According to the rules at sea, he stretched out his right hand and shook it to prove that he did not put his right index finger on the trigger.

The appearance of the captain's room is similar to that on the Dashun warship, and it is covered with various charts.

Compasses, triangular rulers, quadrants, sextants and other strange instruments were piled up on the table.

The only difference is that the upper part of the captain's cabin is carefully hung with a heavy iron chain. A huge copper box is about one meter high and one meter wide. The clock on it is ticking.

The officers who came with Liu Yu saw the familiar captain's cabin, and also noticed the unfamiliar large copper box. They looked at the carefully fixed box with curiosity, and finally recognized it as a clock.

In history, Harrison's H1 nautical clock did not follow the Centurion for the second time to test and sail around the world in order to obtain more sufficient proof.

Because the Centurion was going around from South America to the Philippines, there were basically no supplies along the way, and the people of the Royal Society were worried about any accidents.

But this time, the nautical clock was placed on the Centurion.

Since Dashun woke up and started to conduct diplomacy with other countries, Britain has enough confidence to obtain sufficient supplies in China.And the fleet that attacked the Philippines with the nautical clock will also be even more powerful. In history, George Anson's fleet miscalculated the longitude in South America, directly reimbursed one-third of the ship, and a large number of sailors died of scurvy.

It was also because Harley, who supported Harrison, felt that his time was approaching.The next director of the Greenwich Observatory will be Bradley, who measured the speed of light.In the Battle of Longitude, this person was a "moon phase legal science school" rather than a "mechanical watch engineering school", so Harley hoped that before his death, he would take advantage of the opportunity of still being the head of the station to replace the "mechanical watch school" he recognized. "The hope is sent on board to complete a test of a circumnavigation of the world.

Liu Yu guessed that this might be the nautical clock he had been coveting, and couldn't help sighing slightly.

When I go to Europe this time, besides being a shit-stirrer, my biggest goal is to take advantage of the opportunity of "the Russian coup, the new party and the old party to clean up the Germans" to "visit the thatched cottage" and get those big shots from the Russian Academy of Sciences out of control. To the upcoming Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.

In the long run, it is to lay the same mathematical foundation as Russia and the Soviet Union in the future; in the short term, it is to invite a great power like Euler to perfect the "moon phase method", come up with an astronomical calendar, and calculate longitude by mathematics.

After all, he knew that Dashun's greatest weakness was precision machining, and Dashun really couldn't make a nautical clock at this time.

But in the end, the British took the lead in "longitude measurement", a prerequisite for domination of the Seven Seas.Even if I successfully took advantage of Russia's opportunity to clean up the Germans this time, and took away those powerful people, I'm afraid it will be at least ten years later.

I understand in my heart that Dashun looks big now, but in terms of "forming a system and advancing spontaneously", the gap is still not small.The navy, army, artillery and guns that are easy to chase are easy, but the scientific atmosphere, precision instruments, and theoretical science that are difficult to chase are still not small.

But at this time, he was on a British ship. Even though he was extremely envious, he could only look away, pretending that he didn't know what it was.

George Ansen noticed the gazes of these people, and the humiliation he had just been pointed at by Dashun's 74 gunboat seemed to have found a way to retaliate.

Seeing Liu Yu look away, George Anson said in a quite dissatisfied tone: "Mr. Marquis, the warships of the Royal Navy should not be treated like this."

Liu Yu frowned secretly, thinking that this is also a girl, or you would refuse to lower the flag and go to war directly at sea, or stop talking about it after what you do.

With a sneer, he said, "If it was the invitation sent to you by the Chinese court, of course your warships can raise their flags and enter Hong Kong. But the imperial court has never invited your warships to come. Why, it seems that you are very dissatisfied with lowering your flag and entering Hong Kong?"

"That's good, can I also take the warship to the Thames Estuary, without lowering the flag or reporting, and directly entering the port?"

George Anson straightened his body, and said in a disdainful tone: "With all due respect, Mr. Marquis. Your country's warships cannot reach the Thames Estuary. Perhaps, merchant ships can, but a full-staffed battleship can arrive here. At the mouth of the Thames, our Royal Navy is the only one in the world now."

(End of this chapter)