Chapter 42 Pearl Harbor
In the evening, 11 warships of Zhang Yunfei's Nanyang Fleet sailed into Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in turn.
Pearl Harbor, as the name suggests, was named because there was a circular island in the center of the harbor, and the port was like a huge pearl shell, containing a pearl. In 1860, a whaling team in the United States discovered a large number of whales in the nearby waters, and then leased the eastern area of Pearl Harbor from the King of Hawaii, and then became a supply point for the US Asian cruiser. It played a huge role in the Spanish-American War. In 1909, it was designated as a naval base by the United States. In order not to overstimulate Japan, the US Congress did not approve large-scale construction. In 1919, the US Congress passed a plan to allocate US$1.2 billion for large-scale construction, which angered Japan and led to the Pearl Harbor incident during World War II, and since then it became an internationally renowned naval base.
In order to leave a good impression on the foreigners and also to make invisible advertisements for themselves, Zhang Yunfei ordered all officers and soldiers to stand in front of each other along the side of the ship, with their hands on their backs, their heads raised their chests, and their expressions of despising all living beings. The effect was pretty good, which caused a stir in the harbor. Everyone stopped to watch the fleet with a clean military appearance. There were people wearing all kinds of clothes in the harbor, British, American, Spanish, Japanese,
Of course, there are many Chinese people. The most conspicuous ones are of course the black Hawaiian natives wearing flower-straw hats and clothes made of coconut bark, but their eyes seem to be unwelcome. Zhang Yunfei only saw the natives during the celebrations of the natives in his previous life. Now he was not surprised to see them. The Qing officers and soldiers on the ship just glanced secretly and did not dare to make too big moves, otherwise the people in the supervision team would be miserable if they found out.
There were many ships parked in the port today, most of which were merchant ships, but several warships Zhang Yunfei saw them. From the flag, it can be seen that there were two British ships, one in the United States, one in France, and one in Spain.
"How come there are so many warships from countries here?" Zhang Yunfei asked Pablo next to him.
"I don't know much about this, but it seems like I'm attending an event or something!" Pablo analyzed.
"Where are we parked?" Zhang Yunfei did not ask, but was looking for the fleet's parking position.
After looking at Pablo Ryan for a week, he did not find that a large enough marina was docked in a fleet, and all marinas had ships docked.
"It's really not! Is it a celebration today? There's not even a berth?" Pablo said dissatisfied.
"Wang Meng! Scream to the shore to see if there are any Chinese and let them find a way?" Zhang Yunfei shouted.
"Yes!" Wang Meng gave an inappropriate salute, then turned around and went out.
When he arrived at the side of the boat, Wang Meng saw a few people dressed like Chinese, so he immediately shouted: "Hey! Are you Chinese? Do you understand what I say?"
The people on the shore saw someone on the warship in Chinese, so one of them stood up and replied: "We are Chinese workers here, what are the instructions for you!"
Seeing that the other party could understand his words, Wang Meng immediately shouted: "We are from the Qing Dynasty Nanyang Fleet. We will stop here temporarily. Please find someone to think of a solution and find a place to park for us!"
"Please wait, I'll go and we will find a way to go!" The man said, "After saying that, he held his fists and bowed, turned around and left.
"Thank you!" Wang Meng thanked.
At this time, the originally vicious expressions on the faces of the natives nearby gradually eased. It turned out to be the Chinese fleet. The natives in Hawaii were only closer to the Chinese and were always very enthusiastic about the Chinese. The reason why they looked bad just now was that their queen was detained, so they were hostile to outsiders except the Chinese.
"Aloha! Aloha!" the natives on the shore shouted at the king.
Wang Meng couldn't speak rusticly, so he had to smile and nod at the natives on the shore, and pouted and learned: "Hello! Hello!"
At this time, Zhang Yunfei came over, patted Wang Meng on the shoulder and said, "Not hello! It's Aloha!" Then he turned around and shouted to the natives on the shore, "Aloha!" Then he said in a local language: "I am your queen's friend. Now come to visit your queen, but I don't have a big enough place to park the boat now! Can you help me, my friend?"
The natives on the shore felt very friendly when they heard Zhang Yunfei's words, and they heard that they were the queen's friend. So one of the natives said to Zhang Yunfei that he knew there was a place where many boats could be stopped! Then he pointed to Zhang Yunfei in the west and signaled Zhang Yunfei to follow him.
Wang Meng grew up and asked, "Commander, you are so knowledgeable and talented! You can even speak the earth!"
"Okay, stop flattering! I only know a few words of daily life!" So Zhang Yunfei immediately ordered the fleet to follow the native man who led the way.
Half an hour later, Zhang Yunfei's fleet followed the guidance of the natives to a dock northwest of Pearl Harbor. They saw that the docks here were all natives and some Chinese. It turned out that this was the exclusive harbor for their natives. They were surprised to see Zhang Yunfei's fleet coming. After the natives led the way explained, these natives enthusiastically gave up the place to Zhang Yunfei's warship, which made Zhang Yunfei and others very grateful.
Although the docks are relatively simple, they can barely berth for the fleet. After the 11 warships docked, Zhang Yunfei ordered all the marines to set up camp immediately on the nearby shore, and at the same time, he ordered people to give some extra food and some daily necessities on the ship to these natives. After the local people got the things, they helped the marines to build a camp in order to thank Zhang Yunfei. So it was easy to do things. With the help of local natives, the camp was built soon. It made the officers and soldiers of the ship feel good about it. They are really simple natives!
Although it was already 7 o'clock in the afternoon, the light here was still very good. Zhang Yunfei held a meeting with Pablo, Lin Jianzhang, Zhao Gang and other major officers. The general content was to seize the time to supply the warships, mainly coal, freshwater and food. As for ammunition supply, Zhang Yunfei thought of another way. At the same time, the officers and soldiers of the ship took turns to rest. Considering safety factors, all officers and soldiers of only one warship were allowed to go to Honolulu at a time, and the time was set to be half a day. The Marine Corps had one battalion every time, and others rested in the camp.
At this time, a soldier on duty came in to report that there were three Chinese outside the camp who wanted to see the commander of the fleet.
So Zhang Yunfei left Wang Meng and Zhao Gang to accompany him to receive the guests, instructed others to rest, and then asked the guards to bring people in.
After a while, when the guards came in again, they brought in an old man in his sixties. On the right was a middle-aged man in his forties, and on the left was a big man in his early thirties. He could tell at a glance that he was a bodyguard. None of the three of them had their damn braids, and they should have settled in Hawaii.
"I wonder what you call me? What's the matter with me?" Zhang Yunfei asked.
"I guess you are the commander of this fleet!" the old man asked.
"That's right!" Zhang Yunfei said.
"Old Chen Fang, a native of Xiangshan, Guangdong, has been here for more than 40 years. He is now the chairman of the Hawaii Merchant Association and the consul of the Qing Dynasty in the Kingdom of Hawaii. On the right is the oldest son Chen Dalei, and on the left is the old man's general Gao Liang." After reporting the name, the old man introduced the two left and right to Zhang Yunfei.
When Zhang Yunfei heard that Chen Fang was the consul of the Qing Dynasty in Hawaii or the head of the merchant, he immediately became happy and said, "Since Mr. Chen is an official of the Qing Dynasty, it will be easy to deal with. My fleet is now in urgent need of coal and ammunition supplies. Please implement it quickly!"
"This, the commander hasn't told me your identity yet?" Chen Fang smiled and thought to himself: 'This man is the commander of the fleet at a young age. After knowing that I am the consul, he immediately gave me an order. You must know that in the Qing Dynasty, the consul abroad was an official from the Zongli Yamen. He was a senior official outside!'
"Oh, sorry! I am the admiral of the Nanyang Navy, my name is Zhang Yunfei! Okay, I know this time!" Zhang Yunfei said.
"What? You are Lord Zhang Yunfei, the Admiral of the Nanyang Navy!" Chen Fang's eyes suddenly lit up and she said in surprise. The two people next to her also stared at Zhang Yunfei with wide eyes.
"Ah! What's wrong!" Zhang Yunfei was asked by Chen Fang, thinking: 'Hawaii is so far away, I probably haven't offended you!' It turned out that Zhang Yunfei was worried whether the original owner of this body had offended the old man or the two next to him. Look at Zhao Gang and Wang Meng, these two people have been following their former masters. If something happened, they should know. Seeing that they had no expressions, they felt a little calmer.
"Haha! It turns out that heroes are young! Lord Zhang's achievements are so well-known these days!" Chen Rui said
"Ah! What's going on?" Zhang Yunfei was stunned again.
"Your Madam doesn't have to be humble. You led the Nanyang Navy half a month ago to destroy several Japanese military supply bases, making Japan unable to fight again. The world is probably aware of the deeds of negotiating peace-making!" Chen Rui said admirably.
When Zhang Yunfei heard this, he found out that this was the matter! What? Japan asked for peace? What's going on?
"That's my duty. When the country is in danger, the soldiers will naturally wear corpses to repay the court! However, why did Japan ask for peace? After attacking Japan, I did not return home, but went straight to Hawaii. I arrived today, so I didn't know, so I asked Mr. Chen to tell me!"
"Well said! The Qing Dynasty should have a few more talents like Lord Zhang!" Chen Fang gave Zhang Yunfei a thumbs up. Zhang Yunfei's face was flushed and thought to himself: 'God, there are a few more geniuses like me, and the Qing Dynasty will cross faster!' Then he heard Chen Fang say: "I have just heard about the peace in Japan. The foreigner's newspaper said: 'The Lord led a fleet to destroy several important Japanese supply bases in one fell swoop, which made Japan's front-line supplies extremely scarce.' Finally, through the United States, the Japanese Foreign Minister Mu Ao Zongguang is negotiating with Li Zhongtang in Tianjin? And the military operations of both sides have also stopped. I heard that the court rewards you, the South China Minister, and the peach feathers, I am congratulating you here first!"
"So that's how it is? Ah! Take advantage of your auspicious words! Take advantage of your auspicious words!" Zhang Yunfei thought excitedly: 'It's changing history! I've changed history!'
Seeing Zhang Yunfei secretly happy, Chen Fang thought that Zhang Yunfei was young and energetic after all, and was bound to be very happy, but she didn't know that Zhang Yunfei was excited about his changing history.
"I have prepared a villa for Lord Zhang, and I also ask Lord Zhang to come!" Chen Fang interrupted Zhang Yunfei's thoughts and said.
"This, thank you Mr. Chen for that!" Zhang Yunfei didn't want to live in this simple military camp, so it would be better to stay in Honolulu City.
"Where! Lord Zhang can visit his humble house, which really makes my family prosperous!" Chen Fang said.
"Mr. Chen is too modest. Wang Meng, please make some arrangements!" Zhang Yunfei turned around and said to Wang Meng.
"Commander! I heard that a coup has just occurred here. For the sake of the safety of the adults, it is best not to go. If you go, you should bring more people!" Wang Meng said responsibly.
"Then you see how many people are suitable to bring!" Zhang Yunfei knew that Wang Meng was good to him, so he asked.
"I wonder how many people can accommodate Mr. Chen's residence?" Wang Meng asked Chen Fang.
"I have many houses in my residence. I wonder how many generals need?" Chen Fang asked back.
Wang Meng laughed and said, "Does Mr. Chen think our commander are the commander alone? My commander has more than a dozen warships, nearly 3,000 naval soldiers, and more than 2,000 Marines alone. Are you just standing there to decorate your home?"
Zhang Yunfei next to him saw that Wang Meng actually told him his old truth and sighed: "This confidentiality work seems to be strengthened!"
When Chen Fang heard Wang Meng's words, a gleam flashed in his eyes, so he smiled and said, "I can accommodate two hundred soldiers in my residence!"
After hearing this, Wang Meng said to Zhang Yunfei: "Since two hundred soldiers can be accommodated, it is appropriate to let Captain Zhao take 400 people to take turns to rest!"
Zhang Yunfei thought that although there were a lot of people to bring so many people, he was very happy. At least his subordinates cared about their superiors, so he agreed.
"Okay, you and Zhao Gang go down and arrange it!" Zhang Yunfei said.
"Yes!" The two saluted and accepted the order and left.
Chapter completed!