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Chapter 979 Grassland and Sea

"Setel, don't talk nonsense! The fleet will soon enter the anchorage, you go and arrange the alert!" But he was interrupted before he could finish his words. The voice came from behind the emperor's left side.

"Isn't he Chinese?" Hong Tao knew who was interrupting without even turning around. It was the commander of the Indian Ocean Fleet, Jie Ji. No matter how high an official is, how old he is, or what profession he is in, the eunuch's characteristic voice with weak breath is always difficult to completely conceal.

"Your Majesty, this man is the younger brother of the Marquis of Korchin. He entered the naval reserve in the 1626nd year () and was officially assigned to the Indian Ocean Fleet in the th year. He is now the captain of a thousand households."

The former eunuch of the Cuju team is now a middle-aged man in his 40s. But apart from his beardlessness and slightly shrill voice, it is hard to associate this dark-skinned, muscular, and majestic senior naval officer with a eunuch from any angle.

"Oh... His brother once mentioned this matter in a memorial, and I also gave him a gold watch to encourage him to train hard and defend the country. How has he performed over the years? Has he flaunted the title of Marquis in the army?"

After listening to Jie Ji's introduction, Hong Tao finally remembered who the officer was. He was Borjigin Setel, the second son of Oba Dataiji of the Khorchin tribe in Inner Mongolia.

Oba died suddenly two years ago, but this master of adapting to the situation had arranged everything for his three sons two years before his death.

The eldest son, Badaza, will definitely inherit the title of Marquis of Khorchin. The second and third sons have no titles and no territories. If they want to enter official career, they can only go to new school or take the imperial examination, or go into business and become a rich man.

But Oba chose to join the army, and sent his three sons to Guihua City to attend new school a long time ago. When the second and third sons turned 15, they immediately signed up for the reserve force and tried to pass the assessment to officially serve.

What's the saying? Even the wisest man can make mistakes. His plan was perfect, but something unexpected happened during the execution. The second son, Settle, did not sign up for the Army Reserve, but secretly followed his classmates to the Navy Reserve and was admitted.

Young people's rebellion and rebellion are not a recent phenomenon, but also existed in ancient times. If Setel stayed in the tribe honestly, even if he had rebellious behavior during adolescence, it would not be too extreme, and he would always be restrained by his father.

But it was different when I arrived at the new school in Guihua City. My already young and restless heart met a group of people with the same restless hearts, and my courage instantly increased dozens of times.

For a child who grew up on the grassland, the sea was too far away, and fighting on the sea on a large sailing ship was even farther away. But Settle and his classmates got news about the navy from somewhere, and then they developed a strong yearning for the unknown and wanted to go out of the grassland and try it out on the sea.

The result was that Oba Taiji was almost angry to death, or heartbroken to death. Although he had never been a navy officer, he knew more than the child. Compared with the army, the risk of death in the navy was many times higher.

In other words, although serving in the army involves more missions and a higher risk of injury, the probability of death is relatively low. As long as you are not killed on the spot or are not seriously injured, you can basically be saved.

But the navy is different. Not only do they have to face human enemies, they also have to overcome many natural factors. No matter how well they do or how thoughtful they think, a storm may destroy their ship and kill everyone, with a high probability that no one will survive.

But no matter how angry or worried I was, it was too late to change now. According to the Ming Dynasty law and military regulations, once you join the military service, no one has the right to interfere.

Not to mention that he was just a Marquis of Khorchin, the emperor's own brother went to serve, and no one in the royal family dared to say anything, let alone play the trick of replacing him.

Oba Taiji could only watch his second son pass the reserve selection, officially join the active navy, and then follow the fleet thousands of miles away, and he could not see him for several years. "He is a good soldier, with courage, knowledge, experience, and personality that are very suitable for the navy. He often compares the sea to grassland and sailboats to war horses, and based on this, he created two sets of tactics for naval battles.

After the deduction by the General Staff proved that it was indeed useful, he was promoted from an armed cargo ship to a Han-class battleship as captain. However, he was too bold and reckless. In order to avoid a storm during an ocean voyage, he disobeyed orders and led his ship away from the fleet. For this, he was demoted two levels of honor.

Jie Ji's evaluation of the performance of this second-generation official's subordinate was relatively comprehensive and neutral, with both positive affirmation and negative criticism.

“Why wasn’t he removed from office and tried in accordance with military regulations?”

But Hong Tao frowned when he heard this. Obeying orders is the first priority of a soldier. No matter how capable one is, if one does not obey orders, he will be a disaster. However, Setel was only demoted by two levels of honors, which was obviously not in line with military regulations.

"Well...it turned out that the fleet commander made a mistake in his judgment. He has already been dealt with and was demoted to command an armed merchant ship. If Setel had been calmer at the time and persuaded the fleet staff to change the wrong order according to regulations, he would not only not be demoted but would be rewarded."

Speaking of this, a trace of embarrassment appeared on Jie Ji's face. The Navy had been established for more than 20 years, and there were not many cases of conflicts between captains and fleet commanders, and it was even rarer for them to go their separate ways.

The most troublesome thing is that the captain was rewarded for disobeying orders, but was only punished for not following the rules and procedures. This happened during his tenure, when he had many arguments with the Navy Staff in order to enforce the law impartially.

"Bullshit! If I had the time to convince the fleet staff and hold a meeting to discuss it, I wouldn't have to risk being tried for disobeying orders and leading my ship away from the fleet!

You are an old navy, and I am very disappointed that you can still say such words at this time. As an officer, if you dare not even protect the lives of soldiers, and only think about whether you will lose your position and be punished, and whether you will be promoted and make money, it will not take long for this army to degenerate into the appearance of the border army of the Ming Dynasty.

Write down the whole story of this incident and send it to the General Staff together with the case files of the Navy Staff. The Fleet Staff should be punished even more. What are they doing? Did they do a careful analysis after someone raised the question? "

Hearing this, Hong Tao roughly understood the scene at that time. Then he flew into a rage and slapped the steering platform, breaking the glass covering the navigation compass. Ignoring the pain of his palm being scratched by the glass, he grabbed Jie Ji's collar, lifted her up in front of him like a chicken, and scolded her face to face.

“Your Majesty, please calm down… Your Highness, please calm down… Someone, come quickly, get the first aid kit! Protect the emperor…!”

The deck, which had been orderly, was suddenly dumbfounded. The ministers who were looking at the city of Batavia through telescopes had no idea what was happening, but when they saw the emperor's ferocious expression and blood on his hands, their legs softened out of habit and they knelt down.

The sailors and officers who were preparing to drop anchor on the deck had no idea what was going on. Seeing so many high-ranking officers kneeling, they also knelt. However, since they had never learned this set of etiquette, their postures were not accurate. Even when they were kneeling, they still raised their heads and asked each other questions with their eyes and mouth shapes.

Then came Wang Chengen's mournful cry. He and Honey Badger were the only two who did not kneel down, and they pounced on Jie Ji like hungry wolves. Oh, yes, Jie Ji did not kneel down either, but it was not because she did not want to, but because the emperor grabbed her collar and she could not kneel down.

(End of this chapter)