afterglow

Chapter 226 A theory backed by physics;
The sailors in the No. [-] turret of the Ekaterina the Great heard a loud "Bang", as if someone had hit it hard with a hammer.

Several lookouts on the rear bridge were taken aback by the huge vibration. At first they wondered why the movement of this round of salute was so loud. Did they put too many propellant packs when reloading?

But they soon discovered that some yellow or red "paint" was also splashed on the observation deck.

Since more than a hundred battleships and cruisers in the entire formation were firing, and each ship was hundreds of meters away, most people did not notice the small movements of the Longshuo, and only a few people noticed the flying debris falling into the sea and splashing. splash.

After the 21-gun salute was fired, the Tsarist Russian sailors who returned to the deck suddenly lost their previous smiles. They stared dumbfounded at the messy rear deck and were at a loss.

"What happened to the back deck?"

"Uh... Your Excellency, Captain, we have been attacked by the Chinese!"

With the end of the ship review, Ekaterina the Great hoisted the signal flag K, requesting communication, and began to signal Longshuo.

On the way back to Portsmouth, the two battleships have been using the language of lights to communicate, accusing each other non-stop.

After entering the berth, as soon as it stopped, a team of marines accompanying the Longshuo immediately boarded the deck and made preparations. If the Tsarist Russia came to retaliate, the marines would go to the pier to guard the market.

Lieutenant Colonel Valentin, the deputy captain of the Ekaterina the Great, gathered more than 300 sailors, armed with sticks, iron pipes, and wrenches, disembarked aggressively, and headed straight for the Longshuo, which was at the adjacent berth.

"Do you really dare to come to the door to make a theory?" The Marine Corps officer waved his hand and ordered: "Line up, carry the machine gun over and set it up!"

More than 100 sailors and more than [-] marines also waited on the pier with sticks, and five Type [-] light machine guns were set up on the back of piled wooden boxes and oil barrels.

The Tsarist Russian sailors who rushed over were aggressive just now, but when they approached, the black muzzle of the machine gun seemed to be silently warning anyone who dared to mess around to shoot.

Lieutenant Colonel Valentin's aura suddenly weakened by three points, secretly cursing these Khitans for daring to use machine guns to intimidate their own side.

"You dare to openly attack our ship during the ship review. This is a contempt for the empire. We have protested to your country's embassy. Now you despicable guys must apologize!"

Fu Di, the supervising officer of the Longshuo, was always a high-ranking guy, and he had a Sima face to everyone. After the interpreter beside him finished speaking, he replied casually: "You might as well explain why the chimney of your ship suddenly pops up. What about the black smoke, and coincidentally, it didn’t come out when there was no wind before, but it happened to come out when the wind picked up?”

Naturally, this kind of immorality cannot be admitted, so Valentin insisted that there was a problem with the boiler, "You misunderstood the situation, because the superheater and smoke box of a boiler on our ship failed at that time, so it was inevitable. Incomplete combustion of heavy oil."

"That's it," Fu Di said with a look of sudden realization, "Your ship has only undergone modernization a few years ago, right? How could there be a malfunction during the grand ship review? Your country's technology does not seem to be very good. Maintenance The maintenance is not in place, and the quality is worrying."

"This is slander... are you deliberately provoking?"

"Obviously not, I'm just talking about the facts."

The five machine guns on the opposite side made the angry Valentin calm down quickly, and he said with a straight face: "On behalf of the captain, I request your ship to formally apologize and compensate 30 rubles."

Lin Xunzhen on the side laughed when he heard the words, and couldn't help muttering: "Is the turret painted with gold paint? Or is the deck made of gold?"

Fu Di replied with a calm expression: "On behalf of this ship, I am asking you to make an apology. The value of the national flag and military flag cannot be measured by money. You must sincerely admit your mistakes and apologize."

"That's impossible! Shameless, you sons of bitches!"

"Don't even dare to admit it, who is shameless?"

"What the fuck, it's so annoying." Lin Xunzhen patted the translator on the shoulder, and then said contemptuously, "Your ancestors are the bastards of the maidservant girls of which princes and nobles in the Golden Horde?"

Although Lin Xunzhen's mother is from Nagasaki, this does not prevent him from humiliating her without any psychological burden.

Because the attack power was too strong, Valentin pulled out his own gun in a rage, and the hundreds of sailors behind him also glared.

But then, five Type [-] light machine guns pointed at him in unison.

As a naval officer serving on a battleship, Valentin has not felt the power gap so clearly and intuitively for a long time. Compared with how weak the M7933 Tokarev pistol in his hand is.

The last time he had this feeling was when he was serving on a destroyer, comparing the 102mm gun of the destroyer with the 305mm gun of the battleship moored in the port.

After talking again and stalemate for about half an hour, Valentin, whose aura became weaker and weaker, shouted: "This is contempt for Russia and His Majesty the Tsar, your emperor will not let you go!"

After saying this, he took the three hundred sailors and left angrily.

"The western barbarians are all the same. They know soldiers but don't know etiquette, and eat hard but not soft." Fu Di said lightly, then turned around and left, "Eating hot pot tonight is a celebration."

At about the same time, London...

Wu Yuanqin and Qiao Liang had just returned to the Ritz Hotel when they received a call from the embassy.

Knowing that the Tsarist Russian embassy issued a diplomatic protest to the Daming embassy, ​​they didn't know why, and hurriedly asked about the specific situation.

"Protest? What's the matter? What's wrong with the Russians?"

At this time, the summary report issued by the officers of the Longshuo after discussion was long overdue.

The Catherine the Great in the front deliberately adjusted the working status of the boiler, so that the heavy oil was not fully burned to produce black smoke to smoke the Longshuo behind, causing the bridge glass to be covered with oil, and the national flag and naval flag were also polluted.

So the guys on the Longshuo couldn't hold back their breath, and all together, they used dye bombs to mess up the opponent's rear deck?
After hearing the news, Wu Yuanqin's complexion was cloudy and Qiao Liang couldn't laugh or cry.

The former flicked his sleeves and said slightly angrily: "Children's tricks! Mess around on that occasion!"

"What's done is done, it's useless to get angry." Qiao Liang, who was in a good mood, smiled, "At least he still knows how to measure, and there are no casualties."

Wu Yuanqin glared, "If someone dies, what's the deal?"

In the opinion of the two imperial envoys, if the other party deliberately provokes troubles, they should ignore them at the time, and then use the problem to make use of it.

Doing such immature things on diplomatic occasions will only put oneself at a disadvantage. The fact that the Russians dare to do this without thinking is really speechless.

"The Russians are confident, and they may also take the opportunity to show their favor to the British." Qiao Liang walked around the spot thoughtfully, "Didn't they unilaterally raise the price of crude oil and tariffs a few days ago? "

"That's right, you can't lose your share." Wu Yuanqin said in a deep voice, "From this point of view, although reckless to fight back on the spot, it's... nothing."

With the current situation, the fight might start someday. Who cares about these trivial matters?
Qiao Liang said nonchalantly: "Russians are also fighting endlessly, and the situation is chaotic. Last year they suppressed the Kharkov parade and caused more than [-] deaths and injuries. If they continue to make such a fuss, there may be another mutiny or coup d'etat."

"The tsar is very weak, and if such disputes continue, chaos will inevitably arise. The military believes that the Russians may intentionally cause trouble to provoke disputes, and the Anxi frontier army is still on alert."

"This kind of situation is to see who will lose their temper first, and I wonder if the Russians have enough patience."

"Obviously, the most appropriate time is when our country is attacking the southern regions." Wu Yuanqin looked out the window with doubts on his face, "It is better to induce the Russians to focus on other places, and the short-term value of Central Asia is more cost-effective. "

The revolutions that broke out in Petrograd 20 years ago can be described as extremely diverse. As a typical feudal empire, Tsarist Russia’s internal contradictions were sharp and complicated, with uprisings, riots, demonstrations, and struggles continuing.

The ups and downs of this event that determined the fate of Russia are roughly similar to those in history, but there are key differences.

The European war like a meat grinder on the front line devoured countless conscripted soldiers, and many workers turned into gray animals and died on the battlefield.Many handicraft practitioners and small proprietors have been mixed into the ranks of the proletariat, and their ideas and standpoints are naturally not firm enough.

At the same time, a large number of petty bourgeoisie who participated in the revolution showed obvious uneasiness and vacillation, which is typical "weakness".

However, the Tsarist Russian bourgeoisie was inextricably linked with the feudal forces, and most of them were actually royalists, who only demanded the establishment of a constitution to protect their own interests and share the original supreme power, and did not seek to fundamentally disintegrate monarchy.

More importantly, in the late spring and early summer of Qiyuan 7917, a certain lawyer failed to enter the country and had to return, which made the leadership of the workers' ranks even weaker.

As a result, various factors led to their final defeat in the struggle, and they were defeated by a frenzied counterattack.

However, in the end, the Russians did not welcome back Nicholas, who disappointed them, but chose to support Alexei, who was only 13 years old at the time-obviously, the young tsar was better controlled.

In order to consolidate the hard-won fruits of victory, the Russian bourgeoisie almost completely restricted the real power of the tsar, and the remaining symbolic power was at the same level as the British king.

Interestingly, 20 years later, some Tsarist Russian politicians and parties expressed regret, feeling that they were a little timid back then.

We have reached that point, we can try to establish a bourgeois republic in one step.

"In name only, mediocre father and son."

Zhu Shiyan's evaluation of Nicholas and Alexei is very low. The so-called "whether good or bad depends on his peers". The place of pride.

"This action is very abrupt, and it hurts the face of the country." But Zhu Shiyan thought about it, this seems to be in line with the rough style of the Russians?

Longshuo's impromptu decision made him a little worried.Anger is out of the question, how can the double flags of the military and the country on the country's most important weapon be trampled on by others?

It's just that the behavior of these young and middle-aged officers is really tangled-it's reasonable to say that they fired at each other with naval guns;

This kind of arrogant and indulgent, or even arrogant, attitude is not good in the eyes of the emperor. Young people who are arrogant will not only make mistakes, but are also easy to be bewitched and instigated.

"The matter should be handled in a low-key manner, without concealment or publicity." He hesitated a little, and ordered: "The officers who discussed and decided to act... verbally reprimand one or two."

Not punishing is encouraging arrogance, but heavy punishment will cause dissatisfaction, which can be said to be a dilemma.

The value of the existence of the army is nothing more than defending the country and expanding the territory, and it is human nature to be eager to prove its own value.

Recently, some people in the military have re-emphasized the battle plan against Japan, claiming that now is a rare opportunity.

This proposal may not suit the appetite of some people who are eager for quick success, but in the eyes of the emperor, it is more secure.

Japan, which was divided and separatist, was seriously infiltrated by the powers. Many towns on Honshu Island were supported by Britain, the United States, France, the United States, Italy and Russia. A few towns could only choose to hold together for warmth to barely maintain independence.

If politics were not taken into account, and purely from a military point of view, the military believed that the Dongying Islands must be held in their hands and used as an outlying position to defend the Ming Dynasty, with unparalleled strategic value.

At the same time, the naval bases and air force bases deployed there can considerably expand the scope of Ming's force projection.

This view is very attractive to most people, so the argument of sending troops to quell the Wa country has been enduring for decades.

But the opponents think that maintaining the status quo is actually good. The entire Wa Kingdom is a buffer zone between the Celestial Dynasty and the Western forces.

This saves the trouble of going out in person, which is very cost-effective in the long run and can save a lot of money and energy.

Against the backdrop of so many parties holding their own opinions, the emperor's thinking is more focused on political considerations.

Serve an appetizer before the real war, calm down the restless mood of many people, and try the army's quality.

The nobles and big entrepreneurs are looking forward to the opportunity to make a fortune. Obviously, it is impossible for a mere Japanese country to satisfy their appetite, but at least they can temporarily stop the state of being ready to move, so that they can patiently wait for the most suitable one. Opportunity to wave to Nanyang again.

Otherwise, you may be overwhelmed before the opportunity arrives.

In terms of military affairs, the Dongying Islands will be built into frontier positions that can be attacked and defended, and monitor and defend the entire North Pacific region, so that they can be more confident and bold when attacking the Nanyang region in the future.

As for the diplomatic concerns, it is secondary. It is inevitable that Wa will be covered by the sphere of influence of Ming Dynasty. It will be a matter of time before Western forces expel there. All countries have already made such preparations. one day.

In terms of sending troops, it happened that Daming had already started preparing for war since last year. Although it was only a little basic preparation, it was much better than rushing into war.

After deliberation, the emperor believed that this proposal was feasible, so he ordered the cabinet to hold a high-level meeting on the matter and discuss it with the military, rather than just the civil servants thinking about it themselves.

(End of this chapter)