Zai Chun didn't feel sleepy at all at the moment. When he heard the knock on the door and the urging, he sat up from the bed with a groan.
"time?"
Xiao Sixi looked at her pocket watch under the candlelight, "Four thirty-five in the morning..."
"So early? Master, why are you looking for me? Has Liu Dadao's identity been exposed?" Zai Chun's heart skipped a beat, and an inexplicable sense of fear surged into his heart.
"Your Majesty, don't panic... Since Liu Dadao is the secret agent appointed by the Queen Mother, his ability and loyalty must be very low. He will not be exposed so easily. You must maintain your momentum and show off the emperor's demeanor of being calm and calm." …”
Da Sixi dressed Zai Chun while cheering him up, "Take a deep breath, Your Majesty, don't worry, Xiao Letian doesn't dare to do anything to you!"
Of course, Zai Chun knew that Xiao Letian would not do anything to him. Whether it was due to the relationship between master and apprentice or because he was an indispensable protagonist in this visit, Xiao Letian would not fall out with him because of a Manchu craftsman.
But fear is something that is not under one's control at all. Zai Chun just felt panicked and even his legs started to shake.
Later, when Zai Chun took charge, he recalled this terrifying night on the Mediterranean, and he realized that it was not his master who he feared, nor the conspiracy behind him.
What Zai Chun feared was that he discovered for the first time that there was an insurmountable gap between himself and his master. That is, from the night when Liu Dadao came to see him with his mother's secret order, Zai Chun had already been corrected by Xiao Letian. The ideological path has once again taken an irreversible deviation.
There was an obvious divergence in the core values of master and apprentice, which was the source of Zai Chun's inner uneasiness and fear. However, Zai Chun was still very young at the moment, and he was not aware of the source of the problem.
After getting dressed, Zai Chun opened the cabin door. Standing at the door was one of Xiao Letian's guard soldiers. He said respectfully, "Your Majesty, please go to the front deck immediately. The battleship is approaching the Strait of Gibraltar. The head of state asks you to go over and take a look..." "
"The Strait? The master asked me to see the Strait in the middle of the night?" Zai Chun was stunned at that time. 】
However, the soldier didn't know how to answer His Majesty's question. He just silently led the way. Soon Zai Chun saw a group of people surrounding the front deck. Almost all the senior officers on the Zhiyuan, headed by Xiao Letian, gathered together.
"Zaichun, come here! Look to the north... That's British Gibraltar over there. The British are ready to welcome you here in advance and let you watch a big show..."
"Big show?" Zai Chun looked at the sea in confusion. Only then did he realize that the British ships around him were more dazzling than usual. If the brightness of the lights of these British ships was one hundred when sailing late at night a few days ago, then today's brightness is three hundred.
Almost every British warship is desperately sending light signals to each other. The special signal flares are opened and closed by metal baffles. Under the control of the signal soldiers, different rhythms of light opening and closing rhythms form a series of lights. Only they, the British, Password information that only people themselves understand.
Xiao Letian didn't even look back, and whispered to Zai Chun beside him, "The British are conducting night combat training. They are demonstrating to us. They are showing their powerful naval strength!"
"It's scary! The strength of the British Royal Navy is not only the large number of advanced warships, but what's even more terrifying is that they have very high-quality naval officers and soldiers..."
"There is no chaos at all. There is no chaos at all when we perform battleship changes late at night... There is a sense of order everywhere. The entire Royal Navy is like a huge and sophisticated steam engine, fully demonstrating the huge power of the Industrial Revolution." !”
Zai Chun rubbed his cheeks that were numb due to insomnia, and scraped his brow bone hard. After the soreness passed, his eyes suddenly brightened.
The spectacular maritime exercise in front of them suddenly came into view. The British fleet began a carefully prepared escort exercise around the Chinese fleet.
In the middle of the night, the battleship's gun doors were wide open and watching the surrounding darkness vigilantly. The signalmen on the bow and stern of the ship quickly issued the orders of the fleet commander.
Those frigates and cruisers switched positions, and were able to cross the extremely dangerous waterways in the dark. Amidst the screams of countless Chinese soldiers, the warships almost collided with each other.
Obviously, the British Royal Navy has deployed the best warships and the most sophisticated officers and soldiers. They will not make low-level mistakes. After several successful cross-navigations, the British fleet on the entire sea suddenly changed from a convoy formation to a convoy formation. It became an offensive flying geese formation.
Bang bang bang... There was a monotonous sound of applause on the Zhiyuan. Only Chinese students who have studied in Europe can understand how difficult these ordinary changes in acting are.
Xiao Letian couldn't help but sigh. He nodded and thought to himself, in the era without radio, it was really not something that ordinary countries could do for more than thirty large warships to conduct night exercises in such a narrow bay.
Experts can see the door from a drill, but Zai Chun can only see the door. "Why did you choose the Strait of Gibraltar? Why didn't you hold such an exercise late at night before?"
Xiang Ying next to him curled his lips when he heard it, "That's to increase the difficulty. In the narrow strait, the currents are chaotic and there are many rocks, and there are civilian ships heading straight... Conducting exercises here can better demonstrate the superb skills of the British Navy!"
"Not only that, there is also an overseas enclave that the UK has been building for many years...that is the Port of Gibraltar in the north!"
"Look... Your Majesty, look north! The British fleet is sending light signals to the north, and the Fortress of Gibraltar has begun to respond. Look at the lighthouse..."
Five kilometers due north, there was indeed a dark shadow of land in the darkness, and there were faint lights shining. At first, Zai Chun thought it was an ordinary European seaside town.
But suddenly the next second, the sparse firelight in the distance suddenly began to increase in number, and the light began to spread and become brighter and brighter almost at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Xiao Letian said coldly, "The British Port of Gibraltar is a sharp knife inserted by the British in the strait. It is also the base camp of the British Mediterranean Fleet!"
"Now, these British people are going to show us their power, because this is the most powerful fortress in the British Empire, and it is said to never fall!"
That's right, today is a show for Britain to show off its muscles to Xiao Letian and Zai Chun. Chi Guoguo's threat is extremely strong, because they are about to reach the British mainland, and the Royal Navy wants them to know the rules.
In this world, Britain is the one with the biggest fist, and everyone must admit this.
"Gibraltar...Gibraltar...this is the combined fleet...His Majesty the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty and the heads of state of the Chinese nation are passing through the strait...I am reporting to you!"
"Combined Fleet...Combined Fleet...This is the Fortress of Gibraltar...Please express our welcome to His Majesty the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty and the Chinese Head of State...The strait is safe, please allow the Emperor and the Head of State to pass safely!"
