African Nationhood

(The Dayan Dynasty, because the capital was called Hanjing, was called the Yanhan regime and the Yanhan Kingdom to the outside world. The majority of the people were Chinese, and they called themselves Yanhua people to the outside world.)
April 4, Thames Pier, London.

"Woo~~"

Amidst the sound of the whistle, a giant warship with a long hull and cannons slowly docked at the port.

The red flag with a dragon body and a double-headed lion hanging on the battleship flutters in the wind, and the two white simplified Chinese characters "中京" on the bow of the ship are particularly eye-catching.

“中京号”战列巡洋舰是南华造船厂最新的战术巡洋舰，1917年7月7日下水，于今年3月30日完工入役，整体造价接近6亿元。

With a standard displacement of 3.98 tons when completed, it is by far the largest main battleship among the ships in service in the world.

Just wait until the British "HMS Hood" battle cruiser joins active service next year, and then the "Zhongjing" will only be ranked second in the world.

This battle cruiser brings together Nanhua's most cutting-edge shipbuilding technology. For the first time, the ship uses 24 Tieniu-9 small water tube boilers, and its maximum speed reached 32 knots during the trial.

It is equipped with four Tiangong-4 turbine steam engines, with a designed output power of 15 shaft horsepower, and an actual shaft horsepower of 144000 shaft horsepower. It is propelled by four-shaft four-propellers and has a designed maximum speed of 151280 knots.

When the "Zhongjing" battlecruiser was completed, it was equipped with 4 twin turrets, 2 in the front and 2 in the rear, for a total of 8 guns.

It uses the latest British 15-inch (381 mm)/42-caliber MkI main gun.

12 single-mounted turrets, with a total of 12 5.5-inch/50-caliber BL MkI secondary guns;

单联装炮塔4座，共4门4英寸（102毫米）/45倍径QF HA MkIII高射炮；
There are four 4mm torpedo tubes on the water and two 533mm torpedo tubes underwater.

These naval guns have the same configuration as the British "HMS Hood", which is why Nanhua can use these latest naval guns.

It's because there are not just one "Admiral-class" battle cruiser designed by the British, but the Hood.

However, the British Admiralty believed that the Admiral-class battle cruiser had design risks and could not break through the ship type restrictions. In addition, the British had no money, so the construction of the other three ships was stopped.

Nanhua was able to pick up these latest naval guns, but Nanhua was very cautious and did not break the 4-ton mark.

The reason why huge amounts of money were spent to build this giant warship was mainly to accumulate experience for subsequent construction of aircraft carriers.

The large battlecruiser is a good practice piece. After it was built, it was handed over to the navy to replace the old "Three Kings" flagships.

Nanhua has many overseas colonies and must increase its investment in the navy.

In addition to the "Zhongjing", Nanhua will build three similar high-speed battle cruisers in the future, while accelerating the research and development of "Zhenhai-class" submarines, as well as new cruisers and destroyers to protect the homeland and overseas colonies.

……

A 19-gun salute sounded in the Port of London, which is a secondary standard for welcoming foreign leaders. After all, Chairman Stone is still the head of the British Dominion.

After the ship docked at the port, the gangway was lowered, and Chairman Shi Jintang walked down the gangway with Ms. Kelly Smith on his arm.

British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour and Prince Edward of Wales came together to greet Chairman Shi and his wife.

"Welcome, Marquis Henry, and Lady Kelly."

Prince Edward took the lead in reaching out to greet Chairman Shi and his wife.

Shi Jintang couldn't help but look at this Edward VIII who "loved beauty but not country" in the original time and space. He ascended the throne in 1936 after the death of King George V.

However, in order to marry his American mistress, he voluntarily abdicated and allowed his younger brother George VI to succeed.

This prince has a long face that is standard for the British royal family. He is not handsome, and his forehead tends to go bald prematurely.

Shi Jintang smiled and shook hands with the prince, "Hello, Prince Edward."

The other party smiled politely in return, continued to greet Kelly, and then kissed her hand.

……

After shaking hands with the prince, Shi Jintang smiled and stretched out his hand to shake hands with his old rival Arthur Balfour.

"Hello, Sir Balfour."

Arthur Balfour, who had a long face and a bald forehead, felt awkward looking at the smiling Chairman Shi.

If it were not for Nan Hua, Arthur Balfour's political performance would be perfect.

It was because of the existence of South China that the Balfour cabinet and the Conservative Party suffered a disastrous defeat in the House of Commons election and were ridiculed by their political opponents.

Over the next decade or so, his political career was bleak. Now that he has taken office as the Foreign Minister, he has met his former enemies, and he still has to greet them with a smile. It is really difficult for this "Bloody Belfort".

But as a professional politician, he put aside his resentment and exchanged warm greetings with Chairman Shi and his wife.

After Mr. and Mrs. Shi Jintang finished greeting the two British dignitaries, Ouyang Geng and Minister Herzog walked over quickly.

"Hello, Chairman, hello Mrs. Kelly."

Shi Jintang shook hands with Prime Minister Ouyang Geng and Minister Herzog one by one, and then the group got into the Crown car and drove towards the Nanhua Office on the outskirts of London.

It has been 1887 years since I was insulted in London in 32.

At that time, he was still a youthful young man, but now he has gray hair on his temples, and most of his former acquaintances are dead.

Queen Victoria, Sir Bannerman and Prince Leopold, he could not remember who else.

Things are different and people are different, which always makes people feel sad unconsciously.

This is not the first time Kelly has come to London. During the decades when Henry was huddled in Nanhua, she mostly came here to socialize on Henry's behalf.

She didn't have much favorable impression of this foggy city, but the clear blue and pure sky over Hanking (Pretoria) was more attractive.

……

The manor outside London felt strange to Shi Jintang.

Ouyang Geng was more familiar with it than him, "Chairman and Madam, you two take a rest first. We will come back to report to you later."

Shi Jintang nodded, then returned to the master bedroom with Kelly, and they sat on the footstool in front of the bed together.

He held his wife's hand, which was warm and soft.

"How are you? Are you tired?"

Kelly shook her head, "I'm fine. I see you look a little unhappy. What's wrong with you?"

"Me, it's nothing, just some feelings.

I have been away from here for 32 years. When I come back again, I can’t help but think about the past, and I feel a little sad unconsciously. "

Kelly didn't know why her husband thought so, "Is there anything here that you will never forget?"

Shi Jintang nodded, and then told Kelly about his detention and trial in London.

After hearing this, Kelly covered her mouth with her hands, tears falling frequently on her face.

Shi Jintang smiled and said, "Don't be sad, this is all in the past. The reason why I was not afraid of the British detention back then was because at that time, Nanhua had already grown in size and was not a dispensable colony.

That's why the British didn't dare to do anything to me. Later, it turned out that my judgment was correct. Now we have finally reached a new starting point of independent nation-building, so we should be happy, be good, and stop crying. "

After saying that, Shi Jintang stretched out his hand to wipe away his wife's tears.

Kelly let her husband wipe away her tears, then leaned her head on her husband's shoulder and said softly: "As a wife, I am very incompetent.

After so many years, I never knew that you had suffered such humiliation. "

Shi Jintang couldn't help but laugh, "That's why I gave the hush-hush order. Of course, the fewer people who know about such a shameful thing, the better."

I will tell you today because I am old and no longer care about face. "

Kelly couldn't help laughing when she heard her husband say this.

In a daze, she recalled that when the two of them were in Springfield, Illinois, Henry recovered from an illness and woke up. He was thin and was often bullied by white classmates.

Whenever he was embarrassed outside, he would hide in the basement and secretly make revenge plans.

After he got his revenge, he would inadvertently tell her the humiliation he had suffered.

Otherwise he will keep it in his heart until he succeeds in his revenge.

This scene now made her dream back to her childhood. The man beside her had not changed after so many years! (End of chapter)