New World 1620

Friday, June 1621, 6, was hot.

Not long after the Neiwan Fortress was handed over to the Land Guard at the beginning of the month, the former anti-smuggling ship at sea finally suffered an irreparable failure after a long period of hard work.Recently, some European recruits have been added, and the officers and soldiers of the Maritime Garrison, which has a total staff of more than 60 people, have completely become idle personnel.

The absence of any armed forces on the water made the community council extremely anxious, and Manhattan's defenses currently consisted of only the fortress of the Inner Bay Fortress.In order to prevent accidents, in the middle of the month, the construction progress of the Enterprise, which had only completed [-]% of the outfitting, was urgently accelerated, and the pressure on Shi Yige and You Qi suddenly doubled.

Yesterday, all officers and soldiers of the Maritime Garrison were notified that a special sailing ceremony for the USS Enterprise will be held at the dock of the shipyard in the Brooklyn Industrial Zone today.

Early in the morning, in a mechanic apartment in a new block in the industrial zone of Brooklyn, Wang Tiehammer, with the help of his lover Xiang Wei, slowly changed into the latest summer military uniform, with the rank of lieutenant colonel displayed on the epaulets.

In view of the gender imbalance between men and women in the Manhattan community, Wang Tiehammer's underground love affair with Xiang Wei, a female teacher in an Indian student class, finally achieved results in an extremely low-key wedding with an extremely limited range of friends.

Now, Wang Tiehammer, newly married for less than a month, feels as if he has returned to the rhythm of his life.After receiving the big-brimmed hat from his wife, Wang Tiechui looked at it in front of the mirror for a long time, and his heart became more and more excited.

"Why are you so solemn all of a sudden? Is there any important ceremony today?" Xiang Wei adjusted the collar of her newlywed husband curiously, with a happy smile on her face.

"Today is the first sea trial of the Enterprise, and our navy was officially established today." Wang Tiehammer did not show his inner excitement on his face, but said calmly, "If the school is not busy, You take Wenwen with you to have a look."

"Wen Wen was entrusted to Aunt Huang Nian's house on Monday, you just found out today? It will take time to go back to the Manhattan community to pick him up." Xiang Wei was slightly annoyed, but she was extremely happy that her husband cared so much for this one who was not his own flesh and blood. year old child.

"I thought you kept him at Aunt Haihuifen's house next door... I've been too busy during this time, and I've been training the crew on the Mermaid, so I haven't been home. I'm sorry." Wang Tiehammer blushed, and hurried Showing apology, "When the sea trial is over, there will be a holiday, and I will spend time with you two."

"Also, maybe once the sea trial is over, you, the pre-appointed captain, might be busy going to sea for training again." Xiang Wei has long been used to this navy husband who almost treats work as a housework.

Taking off his military cap and touching the back of his head, the future captain of the Enterprise rarely showed embarrassment.

……

……

The wharf area of ​​the shipyard was even more lively today. Although there was no military music played due to limited conditions, a huge crowd of spectators and guests from various production departments gathered together.

Zheng Quan, a member of the Military Security Department, Liu Mingjun, the chairman, and Liu Lanxi, who served as Liu's secretary temporarily, participated in the sea trial sailing celebration as representatives of the community committee.

The hull of the USS Enterprise is painted snow white, with blue near the waterline. The 800-ton light cruiser USS Enterprise, which has been outfitted under overtime work, is now quietly docking at the pier.

On the No. [-] berth on the shore not far away, the main project of the second Enterprise-class cruiser "Freedom" has been half completed.The No. [-] berth is the third ship of the same class, the "Dongfang", and it has only completed less than [-]% of the main project.Due to the limited labor force of technicians in the shipyard, the construction progress of the two ships of the same class was significantly delayed in order to complete the outfitting and sea trials of the Enterprise ahead of schedule.

The three tall sail masts of the Enterprise were tightly wrapped with canvas, and there were still more than a dozen technicians from the Ministry of Industry on the ship's deck, doing the final installation and debugging work near the gun mounts of several naval guns.Four ferocious and bold 90mm Wisworth naval guns are installed and configured on the central axis, with two at the front and rear of the central bridge.This is the first batch of heavyweight products after Lin Youde's military industry department completed the design of the processing technology in one month.

The Wisworth naval gun with a hexagonal inner diameter and a rotary bore technology, plus a rear vertical wedge breech breech, made it rare for the navy's first sailing warship to use a breech gun.Although the manufacturing process of the Wisworth hexagonal rotary gun is very cumbersome, it is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process with a low technical content, so it was rushed and assembled on the ship not long ago.

It is matched with separate copper cartridges and wrought iron shells, which are the same as the gun itself. The processing of such shells is more troublesome, time-consuming and costly, but at this stage it can only be so.

In addition to the newly-appeared naval officers and soldiers, except for more than 20 European recruits who had boarded the Enterprise ahead of time, the remaining 30 officers and soldiers who were time travelers lined up neatly in three rows, and the front row was full of officer uniforms.

"Old Liu, it's time to start." Zheng Quan looked at his watch and made a slight gesture of invitation.

Taking out a piece of paper from his pocket, Mr. Liu coughed twice, then swept across the officers and soldiers in front of him, his steady and sonorous voice began to echo in the dock area in front of the Enterprise.

"Today is a memorable day for us to go through that ordeal, or the day when the navy of our future country was born. It may be born earlier than this country, but it doesn't matter!" Mr. Liu said When I got here, I threw away my speech and walked in front of a group of young officers and soldiers, "We all came from different places, but experienced the same pain, gathered in this new world, and you stood up decisively to protect Compatriots are on the front line of danger..."

As Mr. Liu's impromptu speech continued, many young men who had only become soldiers after time travel puffed up their chests.All of them had tense faces, with an obligatory generosity.

"...Today, the Enterprise is officially undergoing sea trials. It can also be said that we let it enter service in a hurry. Similarly, everyone will officially become a real navy soldier."

After Mr. Liu finished speaking, he took a small notebook from his daughter behind him, then walked up to Wang Tiechui, and handed it to the other party.

"Hehe, let's keep everything simple. On behalf of the current community committee and the future country, I appoint you as the captain of the Enterprise. The preparations for the next sea trial and follow-up arrangements will be presided over by you."

After finishing speaking, Mr. Liu, who seemed to have something on his mind, walked away with his hands behind his back, accompanied by his daughter.

"Sun Yang!"

Taking a deep breath, Wang Tiechui suddenly called out a name with a loud voice.

"To!"

The former naval political officer showed a hint of joy, walked up to Wang Tiechui in a few strides, and gave a dignified military salute.

……

……

"Leave the moorings! Raise the sails!"

Regardless of whether they are Chinese or European, the officers and soldiers quickly ran to their respective work sections and began to pull the rope.The snow-white sails fell layer by layer, and amidst the cheers of the crowd, the huge hull of the Enterprise began to slide slowly.

Monty, the former captain of the Mermaid, historically the father of the Dutch Admiral Ruyter, is now the captain and acting first officer of the Enterprise, and has been given the rank of interim master sergeant of the Navy.He will be responsible for fully assisting Wang Tiehammer in the sea trial and crew training of the Enterprise for the next month.

The Enterprise with a clipper bow gently cut through the waves. After entering the wide bay, the bulging sails gradually increased the speed of the Enterprise, and within half an hour, it accelerated to 10 knots.

Looking at the undulating and rolling waves on both sides of the bow, the first officer, Monty, who had never really experienced such a crazy speed, even though he was mentally prepared, clung to the bridge railing tightly with an expression of disbelief.

Then he turned his gaze to the two hexagonal guns with huge circular gun mantlets in front of the bridge, and the tremor in Monty's heart became more and more obvious.

The undulating bow breaks through the water like a sharp axe, pierces the waves like a flying fish, and flies all the way to the exit of the bay with the howling sea wind.The speed is still increasing, and Monty has obviously felt that it is even more abnormal. According to experience, the speed at this time is close to 15 knots.

"God...no ship can escape its pursuit." Monty lightly crossed himself on his chest, his face flushed with excitement.

"Hehe, old Wang, how is the effect? ​​With this speed, you can easily go to the Azores in a few days."

You Qi, the chief engineer of ship design who insisted on accompanying the ship for the first sea trial, walked on the bridge with a proud and relaxed expression on his face.

"Well, although the top speed is still not as fast as the anti-smuggling ship, but the momentum is very strong!" Wang Tiehammer clenched his fists, feeling full of arrogance.

In sight, European or Chinese naval officers and soldiers are busy in every corner of the deck, doing various adaptive training.Some of the officers and soldiers who are the artillery crew have even begun to slowly push the artillery mount.

"That's it. Remember to allocate more funds, and I will build you a fleet. Now, let's see Mr. Lin's masterpiece!"

You Qi had a rare playful smile and said half-truths and half-fake jokes, his eyes were also full of fire.

The battleship started to turn, and part of the sails began to be retracted. Under the control of Sailor Sergeant Monty, the speed gradually decreased, and finally only kept the speed of 6 knots.The four naval guns were all pointed to one side.In the distance is an unnamed island at the mouth of Hudson Bay.

A blazing flame spewed out from a certain gun barrel, and the huge hull even shook slightly, followed by three groups of expanding and spreading muzzle flames appearing alternately.A shell landed on the island, setting off a cloud of black and red smoke.

……

……

In the empty community committee meeting room, Mr. Liu sat blankly on a chair, his eyes falling on a letter that had been read countless times on the table.

It was left to him by Su Zining who was far away in Europe. It is said that Zheng Quan also has one in his hand, but it is unknown whether the content is the same as his own.

"Father, why are Brother Zheng and Brother Wang so eager to establish a navy? It is even said that the land garrison will soon be reorganized into an army. Why is there no legislation in this country? Why did the Ministry of the Army and the Ministry of the Navy be established first? ?" Liu Lanxi walked up to the old father holding the teacup, and held his father's slightly cold hand.

"Xiao Xi, what do you think of Xiao Zheng and Xiao Wang? Oh, I'm talking about their character and ability to do things." Mr. Liu glanced at his daughter in the old police uniform, and his tone was very serious.

"Brother Zheng and Captain Wang are both typical soldiers, very capable of leadership, and very serious in their work!" Liu Lanxi thought for a while, and chose to praise as much as possible, but when talking about Zheng Quan, her face was obviously slightly red.

"Well, yes, without them, it would be hard to say that this community would have collapsed in the first few days of the catastrophe." Elder Liu nodded slightly, secretly happy with the changes in his daughter during this time, "If we just maintain and protect such a community, Perhaps having them is enough. But we are a country in the future, and what we need to protect is not only the security of national defense, but also people's hearts and order. Those who want to do these things are not just soldiers..."

"Ah... Could it be that the rumors are all true?" Liu Lanxi muttered suddenly, and then quickly covered her mouth.

"What rumor?" Elder Liu suddenly felt something was wrong.

"Some sisters who are close friends with people in the navy said that the legislative group of the community committee intends to prohibit soldiers from participating in politics in the future national laws... Maybe Brother Zheng and Captain Wang can't accept it."

"Don't talk nonsense about these things outside!" Mr. Liu suddenly patted the table, which made his daughter turn pale with fright.

"Xiao Su is right. The biggest problem now is not how many enemies there are outside, but that we have too much suspicion and insecurity inside us. People are afraid of going back to a certain state in the past. They are even more afraid that the whole country will become a huge city. The military factories of the United States ... Look at the present, all industrial planning and production are in the service of military priorities."

Mr. Liu's deep voice echoed in the empty conference room, appearing anxious.

"We have new homes, new land, even cannons, rifles, warships... But why do residents still feel insecure?"

This problem has stumped Liu Lanxi, and she has more or less been exposed to a lot of gossip in the community, especially now that the news about the establishment of the country has been spread internally.

"It's hard to answer, right? Then I'll tell you the answer." Mr. Liu put the letterhead on the table in his pocket, dipped his finger in the tea and drew a big circle on the table, "Our previous regime was based on internal and external politics. In a hostile and encircled environment, the military is the only guarantee for maintaining the security of the political system, both internally and externally, which is the theory that political power comes out of the barrel of a gun. Now it is different. Although it seems that the dangers we face are also great, these dangers are not It is caused by the obvious internal and external political hostility. There is no such political hostility and class rule object in our interior. If there is, it is also the memory of the social life in the past. In this new environment, the internal There is no class object that the political system is hostile to, because we are all on the same boat! In a country where the will of the people is unified, soldiers will not and should not participate in politics, except for militarism!"

"Father, are these what Su Zining said, or do you think so?" Liu Lanxi was thoughtful.

"Xiao Su is a kid who beat around the bush, but I understand what he means. He is worried that the future regime will become militarized. To break this, the only way is to separate the government from the military."

Just as he was talking, the door of the meeting room suddenly opened, and Zheng Quan, the military security commissioner, was standing at the door.

"Old Liu, I've been looking for you everywhere, and I plan to talk to you about increasing manpower." He said, smiling slightly at Liu Lanxi.

After looking inside and outside the door, Liu Lanxi stood up wisely, picked up the cold teacup in her father's hand, and planned to go out for a hot one.