Wild North America 1846

383 - Inferior

Nov. 1862, 7

National Day

When the first rays of morning light dispersed the darkness of the night, the majestic and majestic Chang'an City was revealed. On both sides of the straight and wide streets, tall buildings of different styles lined up, extending far to the end of the line of sight...

The faint sound of military horns could be heard in the city. It was the daily routine morning exercises of the Royal Guards. On this National Day of the Tang Empire, which was celebrated together, it aroused people's anticipation.

After breakfast, the people participating in the National Day celebrations in the city freshened up, put on grand dresses and went out with their families.

On such a big day, who would not want to witness the mighty and majestic military parade of the victorious imperial soldiers?

Countless city residents flocked to Danfengmen Street like a confluence of rivers. Along the way, soldiers of the Royal Guards in full uniform could be seen diverting traffic and guiding residents to avoid the core area of ​​the celebration centered on Danfengmen Square. Ordinary people watching the ceremony It can only extend to the streets on both sides.

On the 37-kilometer-long Danfengmen Street, the 8-kilometer area with Danfengmen Square as the core is the celebration area. Noble guests and friends, diplomatic missions and representatives from all walks of life in the military, political and economic circles, and ordinary people are difficult to enter.

You can only watch this grand and enthusiastic National Day military parade on both sides of Danfengmen Avenue outside the celebration area.

When it was daylight, it was about eight o'clock in the morning.

The 37-kilometer-long Danfengmen Street is already crowded with crowds. More than 60 Chang'an residents gathered on both sides of the road, eagerly looking forward to it.

Danfengmen Street, which used to be bustling with people, is now empty. The flowers placed along the street merge into a long sea of ​​flowers. There is no scrap of paper to clean the asphalt road. Lanterns set off a strong Chinese festival atmosphere.

Whenever the brightly armored Royal Guard cavalry lined up neatly and galloped through the street, there would be bursts of cheers from the crowd.

Many people hold the golden double-headed dragon flag in their hands. This is the national flag with the royal logo printed on it. .

The dragon has five claws, one claw holds a royal scepter, one claw holds a knife, one claw holds a sword, one claw holds an olive branch and one claw holds heavy golden ears of wheat surrounded by white curtains with golden border decorations, golden wheat Spike bottom.

The royal coat of arms looks majestic and impressive.

just after eight o'clock

From the Grape Valley Shanhaiguan, a heavily lined military parade came out, which aroused wild applause from the onlookers along the way, waving flags desperately to cheer.

They carried the King's rifles with shiny blades on their shoulders. All the officers and soldiers were wearing long leather boots, and they walked neatly.

after a while
The parade troop walked a long way along Danfengmen Street, and soon approached Fangcaodi. Along the way, there were already more than a dozen infantry phalanxes and artillery phalanxes, with bright armor and neat steps.

"Crack, click..." The footsteps of leather boots seemed to be stepping on people's hearts, which made the crowd excited inexplicably, and began to wave their flags and shout loudly, wave after wave.

From Shanhaiguan to the ceremony site on Danfengmen Street, the total length is about 13 kilometers. Except for the 4 kilometers of the core area, which is under control, the rest of the area is allowed to watch the ceremony along the street for Chang'an residents to appreciate the mighty military power of the Tang Empire at close range.

More than 85 people have poured into both sides of the entire Danfengmen Street. The black crowd can't see the side at a glance. They occupy the tall houses on both sides of the street, from windows, balconies, roofs, walls and all places where people can stand. , excitedly waving his arms and shouting.

The warm atmosphere was contagious like a relay, causing many people in front who did not see the troops to be paraded to shout, as if only in this way could they vent their deep sense of pride and patriotic enthusiasm.

At this moment, the strong sense of belonging to the Tang Empire is deeply engraved in everyone's heart.

"This is a festival that belongs to the Tang Dynasty, and they are entitled to enjoy such victory and glory. Looking at these crazy crowds, the emperor of the Tang Kingdom has obviously successfully brainwashed the Chinese immigrants into pious believers who believe in swords and expanding colonies, It's not going to be good for London, the world will become more crowded and bustling."

On the VIP seat on the side of Danfeng Gate
The British special envoy, Marquis François Bowman, raised his head arrogantly, looked at the empty Danfengmen Street in the north, and commented in a condescending tone.

Beside him were a group of distinguished guests from the British mission who stood more proudly than roosters, most of them were representatives of British merchants living in the Tang Empire and some noble families, especially those white ladies who were dressed like peacocks.

Rear Admiral Richard "Harold" St. Maore, commander of the Royal Navy Fleet in Canada, is a tall and thin typical Englishman, dressed in a decent Royal Navy dress, with a particularly conspicuous hooked nose on his face, making the whole His demeanor is gloomy and cold, with the air of a schemer.

He interjected: "Honorable Lord Fronson, although I am not a believer of the former Prime Minister Mr. Temple, I do not want to see the further expansion of this Eastern Empire. Just like what Mr. Temple said, never use A piece of fat to test the moral standards of the wolf."

"Is Tang Guo just a hungry wolf in the eyes of the Royal Navy?"

"Much more dangerous than hungry wolves. The Royal Navy carefully evaluated the performance of the Tang Empire's expeditionary fleet on the east coast of North America. Judging from more than [-] large-scale naval battles, the performance of the Yankees is simply a mess. Like a bitch who still welcomes, the Orientals succeed every time."

"Wow, this is really a very interesting and rude formulation, but I like it. Oh... By the way, I heard that Earl Pan Hengchen, the commander of the Expeditionary Fleet of the Datang Empire, recently made the Royal Navy blow up. This Is the interesting news true?"

"That's right, the lord of Whitehall Street was so angry that he broke his beloved Falang colored pencil holder, and immediately proposed a new naval equipment bill, saying that if it is not passed, the chiefs of the Royal Navy Department will submit their general resignations."

"Wow, tell me in detail?"

"It's no secret that the United States of America, which is heavily indebted, established a special ironclad warship bureau during the war and spent a lot of money to build a huge fleet." On the senior representative of the United States, there was a gloating smile on the corner of his mouth, and he continued;
"By the end of the war, the Northern Navy had developed from a poor to a huge sea force with more than 600 warships. It was not only equipped with the latest ironclad ships, torpedoes, mines, early submarines and other new weapons, but also woven a The strict blockade network has created an unprecedentedly powerful illusion.

And all this

As the Tang Empire's all-steam armored expedition fleet arrived in New Orleans, it was smashed to pieces.

After the war, in order to reduce their heavy debt burden, the Yankees proposed to send a batch of cutting-edge ironclad warships that had just been built and entered service to Tang, but they were flatly rejected.

Earl Pan Hengchen, commander of the expeditionary fleet, said bluntly; "I'm sorry, gentlemen, the Royal Navy doesn't accept trash."

The news reached London just as the Minister of the Royal Navy was receiving British battleships at Portsmouth Royal Naval Dockyard;

米诺陶级“阿金考特”号，这艘强大的风帆蒸汽动力战列舰排水量10812吨，主要武备：4门9英寸229mm线膛前装炮和24门7英寸178mm线膛前装炮，具备毋庸置疑的海洋统治力。

coincidentally;

The "Agincourt" uses the power configuration of sails and steam simultaneously, and also adopts the front-loading artillery system. This series of Armstrong artillery is exported to the United States and equipped on many warships.

These cutting-edge steam ironclad battleships in the United States are imitated from the United Kingdom, but with a smaller displacement.

After the chief of the Admiralty heard Earl Pan Hengchen's harsh evaluation, his mentality inevitably exploded.

Therefore, the new proposal of the Ministry of the Navy will reduce the sailing fleet on a large scale anyway, and redefine the development direction of the Royal Navy's ships. This is a headache for those gentlemen in the parliament.

Lord Huntel, Minister of the Royal Navy, said angrily; "The Tang Dynasty's naval fleet doesn't accept rubbish. Will the Royal Navy of the British Empire accept these junk?"

Look... Earl Pan Hengchen's harsh evaluation has already blown the minds of the chiefs of the Admiralty. "

"Congratulations to the Royal Navy, this is indeed an excellent reason to attack." As a veteran who has been in London politics for many years, the British special envoy Marquis François Bowman sees the problem from a different perspective.

As soon as he said this, Rear Admiral Saint Maurer looked over sharply, the two of them met for a moment, and then laughed in unison...

A little lower in front of the VIP area of ​​the British Mission is the delegation from the United States of America. The current President Marmont, Secretary of State Henry Jones and other top officials are all present, but their faces are not good-looking.

As a defeated country, none of them wanted to see the victorious Tang Empire showing off its military power, but they couldn't refuse, and they were not qualified to say "no".

At this moment, they can only be used as a qualified background board to set off the glorious victory of the Tang Empire and the invincible military power. The feelings in my heart can be said to be mixed, with inexplicable sadness and desolation.

It can be seen from the setting of the VIP seats that in the slope-shaped VIP area, the VIP area of ​​the United States of America is one level lower than the world powers such as Britain, France, Russia and Austria, and the heads of the guests on the highest level are also under the feet of others .

Undoubtedly, this is a naked humiliation.

The VIP seat of the United States of America can only be mixed with Guatemala, Dominica, Colombia, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, which are small countries in Central and South America, which is obviously one level lower.

And on the other side of the VIP viewing platform

As a friend of the Tang Empire, the Confederate States of America were able to sit in the VIP seats on the top floor. Jefferson Davis of the Confederate States of America sat in the VIP seats with a red face, looked around and spoke loudly with Frey, the special envoy from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. On the other side was the delegation of the Kingdom of Italy, led by Prince Felipe himself to observe the ceremony, with a very high diplomatic level.

If you are afraid of comparison, the gap will come out.

(Reporting a message, the author has a staphylococcal fever of over 38 degrees, and there is a high probability that it will be positive. I have no confidence in whether I can update it on time tomorrow, try my best.)
(End of this chapter)