Episode 30 Jakarta! Jakarta!

When I was in Guangzhou Port, the temperature was only a dozen degrees, but as I went further and further south, the temperature became hotter and hotter, and by more than four o'clock in the afternoon, the temperature had reached 20 degrees.

"Damn, it's February, it's about the same in July."

On the second deck of the bow, he muttered to Xiaoqiang, but he still climbed the railing to look at the sea with great interest. He had never felt the feeling of sailing on a huge ship on the sea, with the endless sea as far as the eye could see. In the past, I used to travel to coastal cities at most, but only one side of the sea, the gray and yellow water was foaming, wave after wave rushing to the beach, at best it was "seaside", far from the feeling of being completely in the ocean.

At this moment, the Yongan Princess is cleaving waves on the sea at a speed of 30 knots and about 54 kilometers per hour, and the bow of the ship cuts out snow-white waves. A few dolphins jumped and followed not far from the left and right of the ship, and many snow-white seabirds overhead were shouting happily and circling and dancing.

Xiang Xiaoqiang has changed into summer clothes, sun hat, sunglasses, white shirt, and single pants, enjoying the warm breeze full of salty moisture.

It had been seven or eight hours since he left the port, and at first the passengers on the deck were like him, very interested in watching the sea, but as an hour or two passed, the sea did not change, and the monotony was extreme, and everyone lost interest and began to chat, play cards, and drink tea on the deck, and more people went into the boat to go to the bar, watch the movies, go to the duty-free shops, go to the casino, or simply sleep.

However, Xiang Xiaoqiang was the only one on the deck, still looking at the sea with undiminished interest, and he couldn't get enough of it. No one could understand the obsessive affection for the ocean in his heart. Even Akiyu, who is in the navy, doesn't understand. This is the feeling of a military fan who has traveled from a weak country with a navy to a powerful country with a sea power. This was still the 30s of the 20th century, or in the era of maritime hegemony, or the last glorious period of battleships. Xiang Xiaoqiang's feelings for the ocean and the cherishing of sea power are difficult for the Ming Dynasty people in this era to understand.

Behind him, Qiu Yu was lying on a white recliner, lying under a parasol, playing cards with the other three noble ladies and young ladies. Qiu also put on summer clothes, a crisp white gauze skirt and a wide-brimmed yang hat, and sat with three other upper-class ladies, looking like the kind of high-society ladies in the British colonies in the early 20th century.

Qiu Yu just finished playing a handful of cards, and lost several Mingyang, put down the cards and called to Xiaoqiang:

"Xiaoqiang, don't always look at the sea like that, your eyes are broken!"

Xiang Xiaoqiang moved his shoulders impatiently. Alas, this girl is good at everything, but her mother-in-law and mother are worse than my mother.

The three ladies who played cards with Qiu Yu all laughed. They all knew that this was Mrs. Xiang, and it was Commander Xiang who had been watching the sea there. It was the first time they had such close contact with Commander Xiang and the legendary Lady Qiuqiu. But it doesn't seem that they are mysterious at all, that is, a young couple. Especially this Mrs. Qiuyun, who is stupid when she plays cards, has lost more than a dozen Ming Yang at this moment. Winning money from Mrs. Xiang's pocket made these usually proud ladies feel very enjoyable.

After a while, Xiang Xiaoqiang suddenly found that in the distance on the starboard side, about 10,000 meters away, there were several coral reef-like things, which did not surface much, and they were very flat. It was the first time in a few hours that I had seen land.

Xiang Xiaoqiang hurriedly looked through the viewing binoculars on the deck, only to see two or three clear coral beaches in his field of vision, the sand was snow-white, and there were a few coconut trees on it. They are surrounded by water, presumably coral islands.

Xiang Xiaoqiang was very excited, and hurriedly called Qiu Yu over and asked her what kind of island it was. Qiu Yu glanced at it slightly, looked up at the angle of the sun, raised his wrist to look at his watch, and said very professionally:

"Paracel Islands."

Oh, and that's the legendary Paracel Islands! Xiang Xiaoqiang read texts in elementary school and learned that the Xisha Islands are a string of treasure islands in the South China Sea, and the resources are very rich, and there is even a saying that half of the water in the Xisha Islands is water and half is fish.

Qiu Qian had never seen the Xisha Islands, and at this moment, he also grabbed the telescope with Xiang Xiaoqiang and looked at it with great interest for a while. As she looked, she said:

"Our route passes between Xisha and Zhongsha, and now we can see Xisha Islands on the starboard side, and we will see Zhongsha Islands on the port side soon......"

Sure enough, before she finished speaking, Xiang Xiaoqiang discovered Coral Island more than 20,000 meters away from the port side. Qiu Yu glanced at it and confirmed that this was the Zhongsha Islands.

Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at the two islands, one on the left and one on the right, and suddenly asked Qiu Yun:

"Now Xisha, Zhongsha, Nansha, do we have territorial disputes with others?"

Autumn is like a few treasures:

"Absolutely. France asserted that the Paracel Islands belonged to Indochina and were theirs. The United States claims that most of the islands in the eastern and northern part of the Nansha Islands belong to the Philippines and is theirs, and the United Kingdom claims that the southern islands of the Nansha Islands belong to Malaya and are theirs...... Hehe, that is, the Zhongsha Islands are not disputed. However, it is no wonder that these islands are at the doorstep of people, and some islands in Nansha are only a few dozen kilometers away from the Philippines and Malaya, but they are more than 1,000 kilometers away from our Daming mainland. They will definitely say that it is theirs. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang stared at her face and asked:

"And then—what about our Daming?"

Qiu Yun smiled:

"We? Of course ignore them. France is absolutely ignorant. As for the United States and the United Kingdom, give them a little face, and the islands near the Philippines and Malaya, we will not touch them. The other 90 percent of the islands, we can manage them as we want. It's useless to get close to them. Hmph, anyway, in the South Seas, the largest fleet is the Ming fleet, and we are not afraid of the soft and hard. Oh, what's near you is yours, so let's say Singapore, which is closer to us than to the UK, so Singapore is still ours. …… That's not what I said. There has to be a first-come, first-served basis. How many years have we been in Nanyang in the Ming Dynasty, and how many years have Britain, France, the United States and the Netherlands come to Nanyang. ”

Looking at Qiu Qiu's triumphant little mouth, smiling at Xiaoqiang, he listened very happily. This is really rough talk.

As if to help Qiu Qiu's "bold words", a black spot appeared at the sea level ahead. Xiang Xiaoqiang looked through the binoculars, and a mast appeared under the sea level, and it was still smoking. Xiang Xiaoqiang called Qiu Yu to look at it again, Qiu Yun looked hard with the telescope for a while, and suddenly said:

"Warship ahead!"

As soon as she shouted, several ladies and ladies on the second deck of the bow stopped playing cards and ran over to watch. They looked hard with tiny little binoculars as they chirped:

"Really......"

"Can't see clearly......"

"It's not out yet......"

"Why is it so small......"

The warship emerged from the sea level, revealing its full picture.

Qiu Yu observed with a telescope and said:

"It's a cruiser, more than 10,000 tons, with a speed of about 20 knots."

Since the warship and the Yongan Princess were traveling in opposite directions, and the speed was not slow, adding up to more than fifty knots, so soon, the light gray warship grew larger and clearer, and the tower and the main turret of the triple could be seen without difficulty, and even the white spray of the bow could be seen. The national flag is also seen clearly, red and yellow, the Ming flag.

Seeing the warships of their own country in the vast sea, even the ladies on the deck became excited, chirping and asking Qiuyun in a gossipy. Qiu Yu is the youngest here, but like a serious big sister, she answers their questions, and from time to time she says, "This question is secret, I can't say."

"This is a Li Guang-class heavy cruiser," Qiu Yun looked at the telescope and said, "It may be the Li Guang main ship, with a displacement of 13,000 tons......"

The deck on the third floor was lively, and many people heard that there was a warship to see, and they all came out of the cabin. For a time, the upper, middle and lower decks were full of people, and many people watched with their own binoculars.

After a while, the cruiser was in front of him, just a few hundred meters away, passing by the Yongan Princess.

The Princess Yongan is a civilian ship, according to the rules, when a civilian ship encounters a warship, it must take the initiative to sound the horn to salute and raise the flag again. When it passed by the cruiser Li Guang, the whistle of the Yongan Princess sounded, and then the national flag on the mast was lowered to a third, and it was raised again, and the salute was finished.

The cruiser Li Guang also whistled, lowered the flag, and raised the flag in return.

On the right is the Paracel Islands, on the left is the Zhongsha Islands, and in the middle are the cruisers that are cleaving the waves and have strong guns. This is a symbol of the country's ability to maintain sea power. With the middle, there are two sides.

The cruiser was also full of sailors. The sailors, dressed in crisp white sailors' suits, stood out on the iron-gray warship, clinging to the railings and waving their hats, cheering, shouting, and whistling excitedly toward the cruise ship.

Xiang Xiaoqiang, like all the passengers on deck, waved and cheered to the Daming cruiser. Xiang Xiaoqiang's chest was surging, his eyes were red, he didn't care about his image at all, and his voice was hoarse.

……

By the time we passed through the Spratly Islands, it was already dark, and the sea was so dark that nothing could be seen. On deck it was a different story. Many passengers who think the deck is hot during the day come out at this time, leaning on the railing to blow the sea breeze in twos and threes, and a couple of small couples and lovers also hug each other, bathing in the cool sea breeze at night.

At this time, it is not far from the equator. On a tropical night, if the weather is clear, it is refreshing to lean against the railing of the boat and blow the sea breeze. Especially cooler than on land, although it is a "summer night", there are absolutely no mosquitoes at sea, not one, you can lie on the open-air deck chair for a night, and you can also open the window to sleep in the cabin, no need for any screens, to ensure that you will not be bitten a bag all night.

But for a luxury cruise ship, the evening is the most exciting time. This nearly 40,000-ton luxury cruise ship is like a gorgeous floating palace, recreating the most extravagant nightlife in the bustling metropolis. Movies, musical performances, banquets, cocktail parties, dance parties, casinos, art auctions, barber shops, gyms, massage parlors, each of these places has become a great place for these high society people to have fun and have fun.

What's even more rare is that all the cabins of the whole ship, as well as the places where passengers may go, are all air-conditioned. At this time, air conditioning is a rare thing, only in high-end department stores, cinemas, opera houses and other places, private air conditioning is still not available. Now the Yongan Princess mainly runs tropical routes, so not only the first-class upper class and the second-class middle class can enjoy the air conditioning, but also the third-class people enjoy the coolness of the air conditioning.

This time, Xiang Xiaoqiang and his wife went to Germany with him, in addition to four bodyguards, there were also three travel companions, all of whom were old men in their fifties and sixties who had retired. One is Song Ruhai, who was originally an army military attache at the Ming Embassy in Berlin, and is also a diplomatic veteran who knows Germany well. One is named Sun Jiye, who is the army attache of the former Ming embassy in Moscow, and he 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. The three old men are all retired, and now they have a special mission, and they are "traveling" with Xiang Xiaoqiang in their private capacities.

The bodyguards brought to Xiaoqiang this time were not from the guard company, but agents specially selected from the security team. Although the last time the guard company was selected from the security team, the main focus was on skill. This time, the bodyguards must not only be skilled, but more importantly, they 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 advisors, and three bodyguards (one stood 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, who took the helm of the Krupp Empire in 1939, spanning the entire Second World War, was locked up for several years after the war, and then remained at the helm of Krupp until the 60s. By the mid-60s, the Krupp Group owed a total of $1 billion in debt to 263 banks. He died in 1967. A few years later, the Krupp Group, a generation of military-industrial empires, collapsed.

Outside the round porthole is the dark sea, the box is brightly lit, and a table of exquisite Chinese food amazes Krupp's food, saying that he has come to Daming these days, and the delicious Chinese food makes him unforgettable every meal. This is especially true of this meal aboard the Princess Yong'an. He was saying that a bodyguard who was fluent in German was also translating. Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled and said:

"Brother Alfred, I'll tell you the truth, I feel the same way! This table is almost dominated by seafood, and in the mansions of those dignitaries in Nanjing, there may be better chefs, but it is not easy to have such fresh seafood. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled secretly in his stomach: German food, even in Western food, is recognized as worse. Compared to Chinese food, which is considered to be the best in the world, you German don't eat your tongue, which is good......

At the table, everyone eats seafood and drinks white wine from 1906. This is a wine of the same age that Xiang Xiaoqiang opened for him in order to entertain Alfred Krupp. Xiang Xiaoqiang was so attentive, Alfred was very moved. As he sipped, he proudly spoke of the origin of his name.

The founder of the Krupp Empire, also known as Alfred Krupp, produced cannons that enabled Bismarck to defeat Austria and then France in the mid-19th century. Alfred's mother, Bertha, was his granddaughter. Bertha's marriage was arranged by Kaiser Wilhelm II himself, who asked the diplomat Gustav to marry Bertha and added the word "Krupp" to his surname in order to run the illustrious family's business and prevent it from falling into the hands of political enemies.

The Krupp family has always been the pillar of German militarism and is favored by the highest authorities of the country. Observing time, following discipline, and carrying out orders are the family's traditions. For example, breakfast is at 7:15 a.m., and those who arrive at 7:16 a.m. will find that the restaurant is closed and someone else has already started eating. In addition, even in the middle of winter, Gustav Krupp refused to turn on the fireplace, deliberately making the office chilly so as not to become listless. Alfred grew up in such an environment.

Alfred spoke with sadness of his humiliating memories of his childhood: the defeat of Germany, the exile of the emperor, the Allied countries coming to their house to dismantle the factory, his father being declared a war criminal, the workers' revolt and occupation of Essen, the occupation of the Ruhr by the French...... Then, when it comes to Hitler, he praises him, saying that the Führer is the savior of Germany, and that only the Führer can get Germany back on its feet, wash away its shame, and revive his family.

Alfred was very enthusiastic about Xiang Xiaoqiang, he knew that this person who was a few years younger than himself was the real power figure of the Ming Empire today, and he had the right to "expand the army at will" and "buy arms at will" almost according to his own preferences. He knew that Xiang Xiaoqiang's words and a nod might make his family earn astronomical money.

Just when he lowered his voice and approached Xiang Xiaoqiang, wanting to cut to the chase with him and test the extent to which Daming would cooperate with Germany, someone knocked lightly on the door outside the box and said:

"Your telegram, my lord."

Nodding to Xiaoqiang, one of the guards got up to open the door, and the other guard standing guard at the door stared at a waiter coming in. The waiter held a silver plate with a telegram on it, and bowed slightly to Xiao Qiang very respectfully:

"Sir, you have a telegram from China."

Xiang Xiaoqiang knew that there was a telegraph department on the luxury cruise ship, which was specially used for passengers to receive and receive telegrams. It's just that the average passenger is just a clear code. He nodded, and the guard took it and gave the waiter another tip. The waiter bowed respectfully and stepped back.

The guard asked Xiang Xiaoqiang:

"My lord, will you decipher it now?"

"Yes."

The guard immediately sat down on the sofa next to him, took out his code book, and translated it word for word. Soon, the guard handed the translated message to Xiang Xiaoqiang, looking panicked.

Xiang Xiaoqiang bowed 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 unusual, the key is that Zhu Yourong first conferred the title of Qin Cha of the Ming Empire to Xiao Qiang in the telegram, and then ordered him to suspend his vacation and immediately take over the cruise ship in the name of the commander of the People's Guard and the Imperial Qin Cha, and become the supreme commander of the Princess Yong'an. Then, immediately direct the cruise ship to sail to Singapore as soon as possible at the highest speed.

Regarding further orders, they will continue to be delivered within two hours.

Xiang Xiaoqiang put down the telegram and looked up stunned.

What does that mean? Flying to Singapore as soon as possible? Originally, I had to go through the Strait of Malacca, and I must have passed through Singapore. What does this mean, do you want to stop in Singapore? There is no need to make such a big move, and it is the minister of the Fengqin mission and the takeover of the cruise ship...... Is there some coup d'état in the country?

Xiang Xiaoqiang studied the telegram again and was sure that he had not misunderstood. He showed the telegram to the three old men and asked for their opinions. Because taking over the ship at sea, this is no small matter.

The three old men studied it and thought that since it was His Majesty's will, it had to be followed.

Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded and decided to do what he was told. He folded the message and put it in his pocket, confessed to Alfred, and then called Qiu Yu and the two guards to ask the waiter to take him to the captain. The reason why he brought Qiu Yu was that he felt that this kind of maritime affairs, with a naval officer present, would be much better.

came to the captain's room, explained the intention to Xiaoqiang, and showed the empress's message to the captain.

The captain was an old man in his sixties, gray-haired, but very energetic. After reading the message, he smiled and said:

"Lord Xiang, it's really good that Your Majesty has arranged it like this. Now we need a shrewd and decisive person like Lord Xiang to support this matter. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang still didn't understand, and looked at the captain as if he had already counted. He wondered:

"Your Excellency, to be honest, I have just received a telegram from Your Majesty, and I still don't understand what is going on."

The captain sighed, picked up a telegram from the table, and handed it to Xiang Xiaoqiang.

Xiang Xiaoqiang saw that this telegram was jointly telegraphed in the name of the Minister of Maritime Affairs, the Minister of the Navy, and the Chief of the General Staff of the Navy of the Ming Empire. It was ordered that 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 should immediately sail to Batavia at the fastest speed. Two hours earlier, there had been another large-scale anti-Chinese riot, estimated to be the largest. The local aborigines are attacking all Chinese homes, shops, and factories by massacring, killing, raping, and burning, and Batavia has fallen into a pool of blood.

All nearby ships must sail unconditionally to Batavia to help the local Chinese escape and transport them to Singapore, Malaya, the Philippines and other places. The Wing On Princess had to drop off all its passengers in Singapore in order to free up space to transport local Chinese.

Batavia is the Jakarta of later generations. During the Dutch colonial period, it was called "Batavia". The island of Java in later generations is now also known as "Batavia".

Xiang Xiaoqiang felt a sharp pain in his heart, and put down the newspaper tremblingly.

The old captain shook his head and sighed:

"This kind of thing is ...... again This is already the second time in the twentieth century. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang didn't say much, he was no stranger to this kind of thing. He just asked in a deep voice:

"When will it arrive?"

"The fastest speed, to Singapore tomorrow afternoon, to Batavia tomorrow night."

In other words, in the middle of more than 20 hours, thousands of heads will be cut off and thousands of women will be raped and defiled. As for the property that was burned and looted, it has been ignored.

Xiang Xiaoqiang took a deep breath and said in a trembling voice:

"Let's get on the boat, please."

……

Five minutes later, on the dance floor, banquet hall, casino, cinema, auction house, and other parts of the ship, the music suddenly cut off, and a voice sounded over the radio:

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am the captain. I'm so sorry to interrupt you. After ten hours, you must disembark in Singapore...... I repeat, in ten hours, you must disembark in Singapore......"

In all parts of the ship, the passengers were noisy, and they didn't know what was going on, whether the captain was crazy or what. But the next words made everyone quiet.

“…… The Princess Yong On had just received orders from Her Majesty the Empress and the Imperial Minister of Maritime Affairs to leave the port of Singapore and sail at full speed to Batavia to take part in the evacuation of the local Chinese...... Please cooperate with ......"

Everyone immediately understood what was going on, and the whole ship was boiling at once. All the passengers rushed out of the place where they were having fun, rushed back to the cabin, turned on the radio and listened to the news.