The Great Bitter Lake is a very important area for ship training in the Suez Canal. Because the canal is too narrow and can only pass one row of ships at a time, this lake area has become a resting place for waiting in line to enter the canal.
Historically, there was no lake here. Before the canal was dug, it was a low-lying saline-alkali land and desert. It was not until the canal was dug that seawater poured in, and it became a saltwater lake.
The origin of the name Great Bitter Lake. Some people say that it got its name from the salty and bitter water here. Others say that tens of thousands of migrant workers gathered here and spent eleven years of long and painful life of hard labor here. , so this lake was named the Great Bitter Lake.
The combined fleet gradually entered the Great Bitter Lake from south to north. Only when Xiao Letian's sight was covered by the blue lake water did he truly realize the greatness of this canal.
The lake as far as the eye can see is densely packed with moored ships, with large and small white sails mixed with black smoke from steamships. There are at least three to four hundred merchant ships of various colors moored as far as the eye can see.
These are all merchant ships waiting to pass through the canal. Since the Combined Fleet has the powerful naval escort of the Empire on which the Sun Never Sets, coupled with the previous coordination by British diplomats, the Combined Fleet has the highest authority.
Although the French canal authorities were not happy, they had to clear the river channel in advance and try to let the combined fleet pass first. This will completely mess up the originally planned schedule.
Merchant ships from small countries such as Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, and Portugal were driven to the area farthest from the canal entrance. No matter how much the captains jumped and cursed, the French managers remained unmoved.
The British and French merchant ships also had to temporarily leave the river to clear the water for the Combined Fleet. Fortunately for the British, they all learned about the visit of the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty and the Chinese head of state from the newspapers. When they saw the Combined Fleet and the Zhiyuan, they Trumpets were honked in salute, and the decks were filled with waving sailors.
A small number of Prussian merchant ships were even more excited. They pointed at the mighty battleship and shouted, "The battleship we built is a battleship built by Prussia. Long live Prussia, long live Zhiyuan." The national pride was unprecedentedly high.
Only the French and Tsarist Russian merchant ships were silent. The sailors on the deck looked at the combined fleet with complicated eyes, especially the eyes directed at the Zhiyuan with extreme hatred.
"You guys who are willing to die, just wait for His Majesty the Emperor to deal with you. Sooner or later, I will sink your iron turtle."
Of course, the Chinese will not care about the clown's abuse. These heroic soldiers all lined up on the deck with their hands behind their backs, proudly accepting the attention of the merchant ships on the Great Bitter Lake. They are using practical actions to change the Europeans' view of China. Misconception.
The Manchus and Qing Dynasties cannot represent China, and those skinny smokers cannot represent the Chinese people. Today I will show you how powerful and powerful the Chinese army is.
Although the water surface of the Great Bitter Lake is open, there are too many ships that cannot be anchored, and the scheduling is a bit chaotic, so the fleet moves forward very slowly.
This is understandable. After all, the canal has just been put into operation this year, and the managers are also accumulating work experience. Some mistakes are forgivable. However, just two hours after entering the lake area, a dangerous situation occurred in front of the combined fleet.
The idiot French pilot boat actually led the way indiscriminately, and an Italian ketch had a serious collision with a Dutch clipper ship.
There was a grinding sound on the lake. Two merchant ships passing through the narrow boat alley collided with each other, and wood chips were scattered everywhere.
"Hahaha, these French idiots are leading the way, idiots and trash." There were whistles and boos everywhere on the lake. In this chaos, the speed of the combined fleet slowed down even more.
Zai Chun lay on the railing and watched excitedly the quarrel between the two ships ahead. Occasionally, he could understand a few simple slang words. Whenever the curse words were exciting, Zai Chun would burst out laughing.
But Xiang Ying beside him had no intention of watching the excitement. He kept holding the telescope in his hand, and he carefully screened the ships in the entire lake area.
"Something's wrong! Why is this happening? Master, take a look. There's something fishy about the boats parked on the lake."
Xiao Letian took the telescope and looked carefully but found nothing. "What's wrong? I didn't see anything."
"No, head of state, please look carefully at the flags of the ships. Why are all the French merchant ships concentrated in a fixed area in the northwest? They are all concentrated as much as possible."
"The merchant ships of other countries are all scattered. Maybe the Dutch merchant ships are on my port side, and the American merchant ships are on the starboard side. Never all countries are concentrated together. Merchant ships are not warships, let alone envoy fleets with political missions. , why are we gathering together?"
"Well, maybe the canal authorities opened a back door for their own ships. After all, this is a canal contracted by the French," Zai Chun said at the side.
"No, Your Majesty, your thinking is too simple. Merchant ships are parked here waiting to pass. The most basic principle should be to arrange them according to time. For example, the ships arriving on the 1st are gathered together, and the ships arriving on the 2nd are gathered on the other side."
"How in the world is it possible that merchant ships from only one country can enter in one day?"
Xiao Letian frowned and said, "What's your guess?"
"It's hard to say. It depends on how crazy the French are. Is it impossible for them to use force against us? Under the protection of heavy British troops, the French dare to use force."
"But if they don't use force, why are they gathering their own merchant ships to protest? To put pressure on us? I can't tell."
"In this case, let's inform the British side and brainstorm ideas," Xiao Letian ordered, and soon the British side received a reminder from the Chinese.
However, the British response was very indifferent. The flag message sent by the British flagship was very direct: "Under the protection of the British Royal Navy, no country dares to use force against the combined fleet, not even the powerful France."
"As long as you don't log in rashly, there will never be any accidents. Please rest assured."
Faced with the British's extremely strong self-confidence, the Chinese were speechless. After all, this is the territory of the Europeans, and they can only cooperate as much as possible under the protection of the other side.
But Xiao Letian and the British had no idea that right behind them, on the southern line of the canal they had just passed, an Arabian horse as pure black as satin was galloping forward along the river.
A woman wearing a white veil was riding her horse northward, as fast as a flash of lightning. Behind her, two Arab warriors were eagerly pursuing her.
"Miss, please slow down and stop going faster. Our horses can't catch up with you. Miss Lightning, please slow down."
