When we were in Guangzhou Port, the temperature was still only a dozen degrees, but as we went further south, the temperature became hotter and hotter. By about four o'clock in the afternoon, the temperature had reached 289 degrees, just like summer.
"Damn it, it's not February here, it's almost July."
On the second deck of the bow, Xiang Xiaoqiang muttered to himself, but he still climbed on the railing to look at the sea with great interest. This feeling of sitting on a huge ship sailing on the sea, with the endless sea as far as the eye could see in all directions, he used to
I have never experienced this before. Most of the time I traveled to seaside cities, but there was only one side facing the sea. The gray-white and muddy sea water was filled with foam, and wave after wave crashed onto the beach. It was just a "seaside" at best, and it was far from this complete immersion.
The feeling in the ocean can be compared.
At this moment, the Yongan Princess is chopping the waves on the sea at a speed of 30 knots, about 54 kilometers per hour, with snow-white waves cutting out from the bow. There are several dolphins jumping and following not far away from the left and right sides of the hull, and many snow-white seabirds are happily flying overhead.
Shouting, circling and flying.
Xiang Xiaoqiang had already put on summer clothes, a sun hat, sunglasses, a white shirt, and single pants, enjoying the warm wind that was blowing in his face and full of salty moisture.
It has been seven or eight hours since we left the port. At first, the passengers on the deck were all watching the sea with great interest like him. But as one hour and two hours passed, the sea remained unchanged and extremely monotonous.
Everyone lost interest and started chatting, playing cards, and drinking tea on the deck. More people entered the ship to hang out in bars, watch movies, visit duty-free shops, go to casinos, or simply sleep.
However, Xiang Xiaoqiang was the only one on the deck, still looking at the sea with undiminished interest. He couldn't get enough of it. No one could understand the persistent feelings he had for the ocean in his heart. Even Qiu Qiu, who was a navy man, couldn't understand.
.This is the feeling of a military fan who traveled from a country with a weak navy to a country with strong sea power. This was still the 1930s, still in the era of ocean hegemony, and the last glorious period of battleships. Xiang Xiaoqiang’s feelings for the ocean,
The cherishment of sea power was difficult for Ming Dynasty people of this era to understand.
Behind him, Qiu Qiu was lying on a white lounge chair, lying under a parasol, playing cards with three other ladies and ladies. Qiu Qiu also put on summer clothes, a white gauze skirt and a wide-brimmed sunhat, and played cards with three other ladies.
The ladies from the upper class sit together, looking like the life scene of the upper class women in the British colonies in the early 20th century.
Qiu Qiu had just finished playing a hand of cards and lost several points. He put down his cards and called to Xiaoqiang:
"Xiaoqiang, don't look at the sea like that all the time, it'll hurt your eyes!"
Xiang Xiaoqiang moved his shoulders impatiently. Alas, this girl is good at everything, but her mother-in-law is even more deadly than my mother.
The three ladies playing cards with Qiu Qiu all smiled. They all knew that this was Mrs. Xiang, and the one who kept looking at the sea there was Commander Xiang. This was the first time for them to have such close contact with Commander Xiang, and this
The legendary Mrs. Qiuqiu. But it seems that they are not mysterious at all, they are just a young couple. Especially this Mrs. Qiuqiu, who is clumsy at playing cards and has lost more than ten yuan in this moment.
Winning money from Commander Xiang’s wife’s pocket made these ladies, who were usually very proud, very happy.
After a while, Xiang Xiaoqiang suddenly discovered that on the starboard side, about 10,000 to 20,000 meters away, there were several coral reef-like things. They were not much above the water and were very flat. This was the first time he had seen them in several hours.
to land.
Xiang Xiaoqiang hurriedly looked through the viewing telescope on the deck, and saw two or three clear coral beaches in his field of vision. The sandy beaches were white and there were a few coconut trees on them. They were surrounded by water and were probably coral islands.
Xiang Xiaoqiang was very excited and quickly called Qiu Qiu over and asked her what kind of island it was. Qiu Qiu looked at it briefly, looked up at the angle of the sun, raised her wrist to look at her watch, and said professionally:
"Paracel Islands."
Oh, this is the legendary Paracel Islands! When Xiang Xiaoqiang read the text in elementary school, he learned that the Paracel Islands are a string of treasure islands in the South China Sea. They are extremely rich in resources. There is even a saying: half of the water in the Paracel Islands is water.
, half of it is fish.
Qiu Qiu had not seen the Xisha Islands either, so she was also grabbing the telescope with Xiang Xiaoqiang and watched with great interest for a while. As she watched, she said:
"Our route passes between Xisha and Zhongsha. Now we can see Xisha Islands on the starboard side, and soon we will also see Zhongsha Islands on the port side..."
Sure enough, before she finished speaking, Xiang Xiaoqiang discovered a coral island more than 20,000 meters away on the port side. Qiu Qiu took a look and confirmed that it was the Zhongsha Islands.
Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at the two islands on the left and right, and suddenly asked Qiu Qiu:
"Now in Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha, do we have territorial disputes with others?"
Qiu Qiu said with all his treasures:
"Of course there is. France claims that the Paracel Islands belong to Indochina and is theirs. The United States claims that the eastern part of the Nansha Islands and most of the northern islands belong to the Philippines and is theirs. The United Kingdom claims that the southern islands of the Nansha Islands belong to Malaya and are theirs...
Haha, there is no dispute about the Zhongsha Islands. But it’s no wonder, these islands are right at people’s doorsteps. Some islands in the Nansha Islands are only a few dozen kilometers away from the Philippines and Malaya, but they are more than a thousand kilometers away from the mainland of the Ming Dynasty.
They'll definitely say it's theirs."
Xiang Xiaoqiang stared at her face and asked again:
"What about our Ming Dynasty?"
Qiu Qiu smiled and said:
"Of course we will ignore them. France will definitely ignore them. As for the United States and Britain, give them a little face. We will not touch the islands near the Philippines and Malaya. The other 90%
We can manage the islands as we should. It’s useless to get close to them. Hum, anyway, in Nanyang, the largest fleet is the Ming Dynasty fleet. We are not afraid of soft or hard ones. Oh, it’s yours to get close to you, then it’s yours
So, if Singapore is closer to us than the UK, then Singapore still belongs to us... Isn’t that right? There has to be a first-come, first-served basis. Our Ming Dynasty has been operating in Nanyang for how many years, while Britain, France, the United States and the Netherlands have only been in Nanyang for a few years."
I was very happy to see Qiu Qiu opening her little mouth triumphantly and smiling at Xiaoqiang. This was really rough and unreasonable.
As if to support Qiu Qiu's "heroic words", a black spot appeared on the sea level in front. Xiang Xiaoqiang looked through the telescope and saw that a mast appeared below the sea level and was smoking. Xiang Xiaoqiang called out again
Qiu Qiu came to see him. He looked hard with the telescope for a while and suddenly said:
"Warships ahead!"
As soon as she shouted, several ladies on the second deck at the bow stopped playing cards and ran over to take a look. They looked hard with delicate telescopes and chirped at the same time:
"Really……"
"I can't see clearly..."
"It's not out yet..."
"Why is it so small..."
The warship emerged from the sea level, revealing its full appearance.
Qiu Qiu observed with a telescope and said:
"It's a cruiser, weighing more than 10,000 tons, with a speed of about 20 knots."
Since the warship and the Yong'an Princess were traveling in opposite directions, and the speed was not slow, with a combined speed of more than fifty knots, so soon, the light gray warship became larger and larger, became clearer and clearer, and could be easily
You can clearly see the tower and the triple main battery turret, and you can even see the white waves rising from the bow of the ship. The national flag can also be seen clearly, red and yellow, the flag of the Ming Dynasty.
Seeing the warships of my country on the vast sea, even the ladies on the deck became excited, chattering and asking questions about Qiu Qiu. Qiu Qiu is the youngest here, but she is like a serious big sister.
In the same way, he answered their questions, and from time to time he would say, "This question is confidential, I can't talk about it."
"This is a Li Guang-class heavy cruiser," Qiu Qiu looked at the telescope and said, "It may be the Li Guang itself, with a displacement of 13,000 tons..."
The three decks became lively. Many people came out of their cabins when they heard that there was a warship watching. For a time, the upper, middle and lower decks were full of people, and many people were watching with their own telescopes.
.
After a while, the cruiser was in sight, passing by the Yongan Princess just a few hundred meters away.
The Yongan Princess is a civilian ship. According to the rules, when a civilian ship encounters a warship, it must take the initiative to honk its whistle and raise its flag in salute. When it passed by the cruiser Li Guang, the Yongan Princess's whistle sounded, and then the mast
The national flag was lowered to one third, then raised again, and the ceremony ended.
The cruiser Li Guang also blew its whistle, lowered its flag, and raised its flag in return.
On the right is the Xisha Islands, on the left is the Zhongsha Islands, and in the middle is a cruiser with strong armor and powerful guns that cuts through the waves. This is a symbol of the country's ability to safeguard sea power. Only with the middle can there be two sides.
The cruiser was also full of sailors. Those sailors were wearing pure white sailor uniforms and were very eye-catching on the iron-gray warship. They held the railings, waved their hats, and excitedly cheered, shouted, and whistled towards the cruise ship.
Xiang Xiaoqiang, like all the passengers on the deck, waved and cheered to the Daming cruiser heartily. Xiang Xiaoqiang's heart was filled with excitement, his eyes were red, and he didn't care about his image at all, shouting until his voice became hoarse.
…
When we passed through the Nansha Islands, it was already dark, and the sea was so dark that we couldn't see anything. There was another mood on the deck. Many passengers who had complained about the heat on the deck during the day came out at this time and leaned on the railings in twos and threes.
The sea breeze blows, and young couples and lovers hug each other, bathing in the cool sea breeze at night, and occasionally talk about love and affection.
At this time, we are not far from the equator. At night on the tropical sea, if the weather is clear, it is very refreshing to lean on the railing of the ship and blow the sea breeze. What is especially pleasant than on land is that although it is a "summer night", there are absolutely no mosquitoes at sea.
, there is not a single one, you can lie down on the open-air deck chair all night to your heart's content, and you can sleep with the window open in the cabin. You don't need any screens, and you are guaranteed not to get a bite all night long.
But for a luxury cruise ship, the most exciting time is at night. This nearly 40,000-ton luxury cruise ship is like a gorgeous floating palace, recreating the most luxurious nightlife in the bustling metropolis. Movies, musicals and dance dramas
Performances, banquets, cocktail parties, dances, casinos, art auctions, barber shops, gyms, massage rooms, every place has become a good place for these upper-class people to spend time and have fun.
What’s even more rare is that all cabins on the ship, as well as places where passengers may go, are all air-conditioned. At this time, air-conditioning was a rare thing. It was only available in high-end department stores, movie theaters, opera houses and other places. Private air-conditioning was also available.
Still not. Now the Wing On Princess mainly runs tropical routes, so not only the upper class in first class, but also the middle class in second class can enjoy air conditioning. Even the ordinary people in third class can enjoy the coolness of air conditioning.
Accompanying Xiang Xiaoqiang and his wife to Germany this time, in addition to four bodyguards, there are also three traveling companions, all retired old men in their fifties and sixties. One is Song Ruhai, who was originally an army attaché at the Ming Dynasty Embassy in Berlin and was also a military attaché.
A veteran diplomat who knows Germany well. One is Sun Jiye, who was the former Army Attaché at the Ming Dynasty Embassy in Moscow, and also knows the Soviet Union well. The third is Wang Hexiang, the former deputy director of the General Administration of Military Industry under the Ministry of National Defense. These three old men are all
He has retired and now has a special mission to "travel" with Xiang Xiaoqiang in a private capacity.
The bodyguards Xiang Xiaoqiang brought this time were not from the security company, but agents specially selected from the security team. Although the last time the bodyguards were selected from the security team, the main focus was on skills. This time the selection of bodyguards not only
To be good at skills, more importantly, you must be proficient in German and Russian.
At this moment, Xiang Xiaoqiang and his party were having dinner in a private room in the catering department. In addition to Xiang Xiaoqiang and his wife, three consultants, three bodyguards (one standing guard at the door), Alfred Krupp was also invited.
Alfred Krupp was born in 1906 and is still a young man under thirty years old. This man was the last head of the Krupp Empire. He took charge of the Krupp Empire in 1939 and spanned the entire World War II.
He was imprisoned for several years after the war, and then continued to run Krupp until the 1960s. By the mid-1960s, the Krupp Group owed a total of US$1 billion in debt to 263 banks. He died in 1967. A few years later,
The Krupp Group, a generation of military-industrial empire, collapsed.
The dark sea was visible outside the round porthole window, and the lights in the box were bright. A table of exquisite Chinese food impressed Krupp. He said that during the days he had been in Daming, every meal of the delicious Chinese food made him unforgettable. Especially in the
This meal on the Yongan Princess was even more so. While he was talking, a bodyguard who was proficient in German was translating at the same time. Xiang Xiaoqiang laughed and said:
"Brother Alfred, to tell you the truth, I feel the same way! This table is almost dominated by seafood. There may be better chefs in the mansions of dignitaries in Nanjing, but it is not easy to have such fresh food.
Seafood.”
Xiang Xiaoqiang chuckled to himself: Even among Western foods, German food is generally considered to be the worst. Compared with Chinese food, which is generally considered to be the best in the world, if you German guy doesn't eat all your tongue, it's pretty good...
At the dinner table, everyone ate seafood and drank 1906 white wine. This was a wine of the same age that Xiang Xiaoqiang specially opened for him to entertain Alfred Krupp. Xiang Xiaoqiang was so thoughtful, and Alfred
Red was very moved. While drinking wine, he proudly talked about the origin of his name.
The founder of the Krupp Empire was also named Alfred Krupp. The cannons he produced enabled Bismarck to defeat Austria and France in the mid-19th century. Alfred's mother Bertha was his granddaughter.
Bertha's marriage was personally arranged by Kaiser Wilhelm II. He asked the diplomat Gustav to marry Bertha and add "Krupp" to his surname in order to run the business of this prominent family and prevent it from falling into the hands of political enemies.
hand.
The Krupp family has always been the pillar of German militarism and is favored by the country's highest authorities. It is the tradition of this family to abide by time, obey discipline, and execute orders. Taking meal times as an example, breakfast is 7:15 and 7:16
People who arrive will find that the restaurant is closed and others have already started eating. In addition, even in the middle of winter, Gustav Krupp refused to light up the fireplace and deliberately made the office cold so as not to become
Listless. Alfred grew up in such an environment.
Alfred talked rather sadly about the humiliating memories of his childhood: Germany was defeated, the emperor went into exile, the Allies came to their house to demolish the factory, his father was declared a war criminal, the workers revolted and occupied Essen, the French occupied the Ruhr area...
Then, when mentioning Hitler, he praised the Führer all the time, saying that the Führer was the savior of Germany. Germany's hope was that only the Führer could make Germany stand up again, wash away the shame, and revitalize his family.
Alfred was very enthusiastic about Xiang Xiaoqiang. He knew that this man, who was a few years younger than him, was a powerful figure in the Ming Empire today. He had the power to "expand the army at will" and "purchase arms at will" almost based on his own preferences.
Rights. He knew that a word or a nod from Xiang Xiaoqiang could make his family earn astronomical amounts of money.
Just when he lowered his voice and got closer to Xiang Xiaoqiang, wanting to get to the point with him and test how far Ming Dynasty would cooperate with Germany, someone knocked lightly on the door of the box and said:
"My lord, your telegram."
Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded, a guard stood up and opened the door, and another guard standing guard at the door stared at a waiter coming in. The waiter was holding a silver plate with a telegram on it, and bowed slightly to Xiang Xiaoqiang very respectfully.
:
"My lord, you have a telegram from home."
Xiang Xiaoqiang knew that there was a telegraph department on the luxury cruise ship, which was specially used for passengers to send and receive telegrams. However, ordinary passengers only had clear codes. He nodded, and the guard took it and gave the waiter another tip. The waiter was respectful
He leaned down and stepped back.
The guard asked Xiang Xiaoqiang:
"Sir, would you like to decipher it now?"
"right."
The guard immediately sat down on the sofa nearby, took out the code book, and translated it word for word. Soon, the guard handed the translated message to Xiang Xiaoqiang, looking panicked.
Xiang Xiaoqiang lowered his head and read it, and couldn't help but be surprised.
The telegram was sent to him by Zhu Yourong, but this is not surprising. The key is that in the telegram, Zhu Yourong first awarded Xiang Xiaoqiang the title of Imperial Envoy of the Ming Dynasty, and then ordered him to suspend his vacation and immediately take over the post in the name of Commander of the People's Guard and Imperial Envoy.
The cruise ship became the highest officer on the Wing On Princess. Then, he immediately commanded the cruise ship to sail to Singapore as quickly as possible at the highest speed.
Further orders will be sent within two hours.
Xiang Xiaoqiang put down the telegram and looked up in shock.
What does this mean? Drive to Singapore as soon as possible? You have to go through the Strait of Malacca, and you must pass through Singapore. Does this mean that you have something important to do in Singapore and you need to stop? Then there is no need to go to such a big fight, and again
The imperial envoy was granted the title of minister, and he took over the cruise ship again... Could there be some kind of coup in the country?
Xiang Xiaoqiang studied the telegram again and made sure he understood it correctly. He showed the telegram to the three old men and asked for their opinions. Because taking over a ship at sea is not a trivial matter.
The three old men studied it over and thought that since it was His Majesty's will, they must obey it.
Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded and decided to follow the order. He folded the message and put it in his pocket, confessed to Alfred, then called Qiu Qiu and two guards, and asked the waiter to take him to see the captain. The reason why
Taking Qiu Qiu with him, he felt that this kind of maritime affairs would be much better with a naval officer present.
He came to the captain's room, explained his purpose to Xiaoqiang, and showed the captain the Queen's message.
The captain was an old man in his sixties, with gray hair, but very energetic. After reading the message, he smiled and said:
"Sir Xiang, it's great that your Majesty has arranged this. Now we need a shrewd and decisive person like Mr. Xiang to support this matter."
Xiang Xiaoqiang didn't understand yet, but the captain seemed to have already figured it out. He said curiously:
"Sir Captain, to be honest, I just received your Majesty's telegram and I still don't understand what's going on."
The captain sighed, picked up a message from the table and handed it to Xiang Xiaoqiang.
Xiang Xiaoqiang saw that this message was sent jointly in the name of the Maritime Minister, the Navy Minister, and the Chief of Naval Staff of the Ming Empire. The order was between 85 degrees and 130 degrees east longitude, and between 15 degrees north latitude and 20 degrees south latitude.
, all Ming warships and civilian ships immediately sailed to Batavia as quickly as possible. Two hours ago, another large-scale anti-Chinese riot began there, and it was estimated to be the largest one. The local aborigines were massacring
- Killing, raping, raping, and burning, attacking all Chinese families, shops, and factories, Batavia has fallen into a pool of blood.
All nearby ships must unconditionally sail to Batavia to help the local Chinese escape and carry them to Singapore, Malaya, the Philippines and other places. The Wing On Princess must disembark all passengers in Singapore before it can free up space to transport locals.
Chinese.
Batavia is the later Jakarta. It was called "Batavia" during the Dutch colonial period. The later Java Island is also called "Batavia Island" now.
Xiang Xiaoqiang felt a sharp pain in his heart and put down the telegraph newspaper tremblingly.
The old captain shook his head and sighed:
"This kind of thing has happened again... Entering the twentieth century, this is the second time."
Xiang Xiaoqiang didn't say much. He was no stranger to this kind of thing. He just asked in a deep voice:
"When can we arrive?"
"As fast as possible, it will take us to Singapore tomorrow afternoon and to Batavia tomorrow night."
In other words, during these more than twenty hours, thousands of heads will be chopped off, and thousands of women will be raped. As for the properties that were burned and looted, they have been ignored.
Xiang Xiaoqiang took a deep breath and said in a trembling voice:
"Sail the boat well, please."
…
Five minutes later, on the dance floor, banquet hall, casino, cinema, auction house, and other places on the ship where the Yongan Princess was singing and dancing, the music suddenly stopped, and a voice sounded from the announcer:
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am the captain. I am extremely sorry to interrupt you. In ten hours, you must disembark in Singapore... I repeat, in ten hours, you must disembark in Singapore..."
Passengers were noisy in various places on the ship. They didn't know what was going on, whether the captain was crazy or something. But the next words made everyone quiet down.
"...The Wing On Princess has just received orders from Her Majesty the Queen and the Imperial Maritime Minister. After leaving Singapore Port, it must sail to Batavia at full speed to participate in the evacuation of the local Chinese... Please cooperate..."
Everyone immediately understood what was going on, and the whole ship was in an uproar. All the passengers rushed out of the place where they were relaxing, rushed back to their cabins, and turned on the radio to listen to the news.