Revisiting Azur Lane

"Well, the direction of the door's opening... is it okay to face this way?"

At this point, Zhou He stopped hesitating and began to discuss the location of the manor gate with Hu De and others. After some hesitation, they finally chose the old orientation of facing north and south - although it would be okay to have its back against the mountain in the east, the mountain was at least a few thousand meters away and could not be relied upon at all, so they rejected this orientation and chose an orientation with better light and ventilation.

"Then I'll start."

After everything was discussed, Zhou He opened the box of self-selected furniture from the warehouse. The Tiexue mansion could still be said to be a house to some extent, but the large royal buildings, Zhou He looked through them and felt that they were all castles of different styles and specifications, and they were the kind of castles with their own outer and inner courtyards. Just from the small pictures, one could tell that this thing probably occupied an absurd amount of land.

After some hesitation, he chose a manor that looked most like a "residence" and previewed it. He closed his eyes and opened them again, and the virtual manor appeared before his eyes: first, there was a wall with unique patterns, and looking inside was a large and very simple courtyard, and finally there was a long spire building with strong European style. In the middle was a main house of about three floors, with houses extending to the left and right. The outermost part was two and a half stories high, and the middle was two stories high. The edges extended inwards, eventually forming a square.

Zhou He's favorite foreign architectural style is the Northern Union style. Europe seems to have some similarities with the Northern Union's architectural style. The manor in front of him is like this, and it also incorporates a little modern style to reduce the heaviness brought by time. He feels it is barely acceptable.

As for the floor area, the central building is at least 1,500 square meters. Taking into account the surrounding courtyards and iron walls, Zhou He estimated that it is around 2,500 square meters.

It looked huge to the naked eye, several times larger than the command building, and surpassed the Iron Blood's mansion in terms of courtyard, but the courtyard was not as exquisite as the Iron Blood's - it was just a flat lawn that needed to be taken care of by oneself.

"That's outrageous."

Zhou He secretly clicked his tongue. If he were to use his Homeland Coins to buy this thing, it would cost at least two hundred and fifty.

Despite his sighs, he chose 'Confirm Placement' after confirming that this place could accommodate the manor. In an instant, a large number of blue light spots emerged and began to print from bottom to top at an extremely fast speed. In half a minute, the huge and magnificent royal manor appeared in everyone's sight.

Chapter 164 Training Project

"Well."

After the manor landed, Ms. Hood stroked her chin with one hand and walked around the door twice, then walked into the yard and walked around inside twice, and came to the conclusion: "It's much smaller than expected. It shouldn't be this small considering the layout of this building?"

"Well, I can only say that our current resources can only complete a manor of this scale, so I have to inconvenience you."

Zhou He looked around. To him, this two thousand square meter manor with a courtyard was already a very luxurious house. However, it was still far inferior to the royal and orthodox style of Hood that he had actually seen.

"Ah, Commander, don't worry about it. I'm just a little confused about the architectural style of this manor. How can you compare a manor on an island with a manor on land? The Commander is already amazing to be able to achieve this level without any resources."

Hood also realized that there was something wrong with his speech, and quickly supplemented it. Then he smiled and pointed to the large open space outside the yard that extended to the mountainside: "Also, if we really want to calculate the size of the territory, the nearby area should also be included in the calculation."

"It's okay, that's what I planned."

Zhou He tilted his head and glanced at the open space on the side of the bay: "Next, I will develop the area near your base. Hood, if you have any ideas of your own, you can come and discuss with me. I will try my best to satisfy you."

The 'size' of the manor was not a problem for him, because he could expand it later by knocking down the outer walls and building two smaller side halls. It could be as grand as he wanted - but Hood's remarks made him realize that this self-selected furniture box was not as versatile as he had imagined. It seemed that he could only choose buildings worth about 300 Home Coins at most.

To build a real "mansion", he still needs to use his home currency to select building components and design it step by step.

Ultimately it's just a matter of capital investment, well, a matter of capital.

"..."

Zhou He raised his hand and touched his chin. He had been thinking of using the self-selection box to take pictures of the greenhouse and the amusement park. Fortunately, he didn't do so. If he had taken the picture, it would probably have been a 'children's version' of the playground, and he would have been criticized by more than just Hood.

"Commander, don't be impatient. We will be stationed here for a long time. Whether it is the size of the fleet or the development of the port area, we can take it slow."

As an old member, Hood naturally understood that Zhou He was troubled by the development speed of the port area. Although Zhou He would use such competition rewards to build their bases from time to time, in fact, the development resources of the port area must be very tight. This can be seen from the fact that there are only a few buildings in the port area.

"Yeah, I understand."

Zhou He listened to the advice and quickly shifted his attention to other places. He smiled and spread his hands to Hood and London and said, "I don't know much about the royal architecture and decoration style, so I won't accompany you to visit. Just like what I said above, if there are any unreasonable designs inside, you can come to me to deal with it."

His job today was not just to build a yard for the royal family. He had to first determine what Bismarck wanted in order to see if there were any rewards to be redeemed, and then spend the home coins to pave and decorate the yard.

"Commander, please take some rest too."

Hood did not stop him, but instead, while chatting, he and others sent Zhou He out of the manor gate.

"Hurry up."

After leaving the royal manor, Zhou He looked back at the situation nearby and had a rough decoration plan in his mind. Then he walked straight to the harbor to look for Bismarck. But what surprised him was that Bismarck did not seem to be on the dock watching Huteng and the others training today?

There was no one on the dock.

He walked while looking towards the dock. He was so focused that he didn't notice Bismarck coming out of the command center next to him. The latter followed Zhou He for a while, and found that it seemed not going well, so he quickened his pace and followed and said, "Commander, I'm here."

"what?"

Bismarck's voice was very distinctive. Zhou He reacted immediately. He turned around and looked at Bismarck, who seemed to be smiling but not smiling. He put his hands behind his back and clenched them vigorously. He nodded calmly and said, "Good morning. I'm here to redeem the reward. Bismarck, you don't have to be polite. I'm also prepared to hold such an event."

"understood."

Bismarck thought for a moment and then looked at the sea not far away: "I hope the commander can set up a training ground for new recruits inside or outside the bay."

"A training ground at sea?"

Zhou He frowned slightly. He didn't know much about these military matters. He just repeated it in a low voice and threw the question back to Bismarck: "Tell me about the specific training matters."

"Unlike the battleship era, after observing these days, I found that as ship girls, the areas where we need to train for each model are very similar, which can be divided into three aspects: 'maneuverability', 'hit rate', and 'air defense and air control'."

Bismarck had already prepared the relevant content, and gave a brief explanation as he accompanied Zhou He near the dock:

The training of maneuverability, first of all, allows the ship girls to know their normal speed and explosive speed through repeated tests, and secondly, to conduct impromptu evasion in complex terrain, which includes avoiding shells attacking from a distance.

This training is aimed at everyone from destroyers to aircraft carriers, but the difficulty level varies depending on the size and weight of each ship type.

Hit rate training is easy to understand. It is the two basic trainings of "fixed-point bombardment" and "mobile bombardment" for the ship girls when facing the enemy.

Air defense and air control are even simpler, referring to the reactions and air defense measures of the ship girls when facing enemy air raids. Air control refers to the control training of aircraft carriers over carrier-based aircraft, and finding the most suitable tactics for killing the enemy through mutual training.

"I have considered adding a training program for mutual cooperation, but this is not something I can implement unilaterally. It would be more appropriate for you, the commander, to implement it."

Bismarck's narration was very detailed and easy to understand. Just by looking at the distance from the lawn to the dock, Zhou He already understood Bismarck's need for a training ground.

As for the last collaborative training, Zhou He was reminded of the disastrous cooperation between Sakura Empire and White Eagles that he saw two days ago. He thought for a moment and gave an answer: "I will find a time to promote the "collective combat exercise" as a monthly or quarterly assessment activity."

In terms of collaboration, Zhou He had no way to force it. It was impossible to quickly increase the cooperation of his own ship girls in a short period of time, because understanding each other was a very difficult thing. Comrades in the same camp could understand the battle rhythm of others through days of joint combat, but this did not work for people from different camps.

If you want the ship girls from different camps to understand each other, you can only let them constantly practice with each other, thoroughly study the opponent's action habits and tactics, and achieve an alternative understanding of each other.

"can."

Bismarck also quickly understood Zhou He's thinking. Her influence was limited to within the Iron Blood. The core users of the training ground she set up this time were their Iron Blood members. Whether members of other camps participated in the training depended on their autonomy. Even Zhou He could not force everyone to train.

"Have you booked a training ground?"

After reaching a consensus with Bismarck, Zhou He began to search the Home Mall while asking questions: furniture boxes can only select single items. For example, it can choose a complete gym, which will have many fitness equipment, which can be called a set. However, there is no corresponding kit for Bismarck's needs this time, so he can only assemble it himself.

For example, in mobility training, he found a piece of black technology in the home system that could take root directly on the ground and the seabed. It was a black cylinder with patterns. The system called it the Dinghai Shenzhen. It was a decoration and sold for 1 home coin.

Taking into account that the speed of the ship girl is different from that of normal people, and the route needs to be curved, he used 25 to 50 meters as a node for calculation. A runway needs to have both sides, so he directly bought 40 of them and spent 40 Home Coins.

Why was he so generous? It was because the last two trainings didn't cost much. According to Bismarck, artillery training and air defense training would be carried out at the same time as mobility training. So Zhou He spent 10 home coins to buy 10 durable artillery targets, which were very ordinary furniture in the Home Mall.

As for the site - since it was the first design, Bismarck and Zhou He decided after discussion to place it in the bay first. The specific location was about 5 meters from the lighthouse on the dock into the bay. The target would be installed facing the outside of the bay to avoid shelling friendly forces (about km away from the headquarters).

After the discussion, Zhou He took a small speedboat while Bismarck unfolded the ship equipment. The two of them fiddled with the selected range, and using the first "Dinghai Shenzhen" as the coordinate point, they designed a 5-meter straight road, followed by a -meter curve. The curve had turns along the way, which was not a sharp turn, but the passage was only five meters wide, which was quite difficult for battleships and aircraft carriers.

During the design process, there were only two pillars as starting points for the straight track, and the subsequent 38 pillars were all used on the curves. Several empty areas were intentionally left for future secondary design.

After completing the general task, Zhou He bought two rolls of red and blue rubber wire, and Bismarck, Elbe and Hutten, who came to help, stretched and tied the entire channel.

The total cost of the entire training ground is 54 Home Coins.

It doesn't seem expensive, but this is just an unfinished version of the training track. If you want to complete it, you will have to invest at least hundreds of home coins, and you also have to design new tracks and obstacles. Zhou He just counted on his fingers, and the cost figure was already incomprehensible to him.

"..."

Sitting on the boat, he tilted his head to look at Bismarck who was talking to Yi Bei. Although the training ground was still in its infancy, this man was quite active and it was obvious that he had been thinking about this job for a long time.

"How about trying harder?"

Zhou He retracted his gaze and took a look at his balance of 141 Home Coins. Including the daily 34, he still had 175 Home Coins.

Just now, when he was looking for decorative items that he could use, he took note of the prices in the shops. The starting price in the small shop was fifteen Home Coins, and the prices going up were twenty, thirty, fifty, and one hundred. According to the mall he imagined, he would have to buy something that started at at least a hundred Home Coins, and then buy some clothes to put in there. It would cost thirty-four Home Coins for each person to buy a set to hang.

Add to that the fact that he would have to pave the road near the royal estate and the reserved living expenses, and he could only say that he was unable to do anything.

Zhou He searched his pockets but couldn't find even a thread. He could only bow to reality and said: "Next time, I'll save more next time."

Every time he wants to do something new, he is full of ambition at the beginning, but starts to babble halfway through. Then he must control his mouth, keep a low profile, and save money hard!

As for why not use the remaining self-selected furniture boxes to open a mall?

There are only two of them in total. The sisters and sisters of White Eagle and Sakura Empire are still waiting for him to help build their hometown. Next, he will find an opportunity to photograph these two strongholds and build all the cubes into ship girls. His daily income will increase rapidly, and the cost-effectiveness is definitely higher than changing the mall.

As an old game player, he naturally knows when to be impulsive and when to be patient.

"Commander, this is basically done. Do you want to see the effect together?"

While Zhou He was struggling over whether it was more important to make his own ship girl happy or to have a better value for money, Bismarck had already completed the arrangements and returned: looking at Zhou He with a conflicted look on his face, a smile appeared in her eyes and at the corners of her mouth, and the sea breeze blew towards her, lifting her golden hair and covering up the small arc.

"Ah, who shall do the test?"

Zhou He came back to his senses and asked while sitting on the side of the speedboat. Bismarck raised his hand and pointed at Hutten and Yi Bei: "It's just right to conduct three tests at the same time."

It’s so difficult right from the start, are you serious?

Zhou He stared at Bismarck, but could not see any flaws. His heart was pounding, and he could only ask with a smile: "Yibei's plane will not drop bombs, right?"

"Of course, I only allow her to use the machine gun to shoot. It's enough to add some sense of danger."

Bismarck answered as a matter of course, which made Zhou He look back at Huteng and Yi Bei again, adding a sense of crisis? This is a live bullet? Even if the ship girl will resonate with the armor when she deploys the ship suit, the danger of this bullet hitting her body is still very high.

Zhou He was a little embarrassed, but he didn't know what to say. After all, Bismarck must have sought the consent of Hutten and Elbe. He could only start the speedboat with a beep and return to the dock to land.

Bismarck did not go ashore, but stood on the water in front of Zhou He and gave instructions to Huteng and the other man.

Hu Teng began to move on his dragon, the surrounding water surface surged wildly, but the Dinghai Shenzhen and the dividing lines on both sides were not affected at all - when passing by the gun targets beside the straight road, Hu Teng controlled the ship's equipment and fired loudly. The huge caliber brought powerful power. The gun targets that were originally floating on the sea surface quickly flew backwards in the black smoke of the explosion, and then the huge noise reached Zhou He's ears, making him frown.

Looking at the target in the distance, it was shockingly solid. There was no sign of breakage after being hit by a 406mm missile, just a dark patch.

And this was just the first step. Before Huteng started, Elbe, who had run far away, had already started releasing carrier-based aircraft. She didn't have many carrier-based aircraft, but it was more than enough to target Huteng alone. When Huteng entered the curve, Elbe's dived fighter jets began to attack. The surrounding water surface splashed a lot of water because of the bullets, and sparks were visibly popping out from the ship-mounted armor rotating around Huteng.

Even for a battleship, being hunted unilaterally by an aircraft carrier is a terrifying thing. Hu Teng began to fight back, but it was basically ineffective. She could not hit or shoot down the aircraft carrier, so she was chased and attacked by planes all the way. This desperate scene was seen by everyone who was attracted by the sound of artillery fire. Some people were surprised at what was happening, while others were secretly amazed at the boldness of the Iron Blood camp.

Fortunately, the 300-meter curve was not long for the ship girl. Hu Teng failed to run at his normal level, but left the track within two minutes. Yi Bei also stopped attacking at the same time.

'This training is too hardcore.'

Zhou He was greatly shocked. For the first time, he felt the horror of war. The bullets that were just scratches for Hu Teng were fatal to humans. A single thought could mean life or death.

"Well, it really is unqualified."

Before Zhou He above could come to his senses, Bismarck below had already started giving Hutten a score.

Chapter 165 Living together

"How do you feel, Commander?"

After giving Hu Teng a not very ideal score, Bismarck turned sideways to ask Zhou He. The height difference caused by the dock forced her to look up, and Zhou He had to lower his head. However, when he lowered his head, his pupils trembled, because Bismarck's military uniform was not actually wrapped that tightly...

Fortunately, Zhou He also received strict special training from Yudachi. He is no longer an ordinary boy who will be controlled by the northern hemisphere. He frowned slightly and said, "It is better to proceed step by step with this kind of training. At least you have to run once before starting to cooperate with the training."

"It can be used as a reference, but not every battle will begin after full preparation."

Bismarck put his finger to his chin and hummed. In fact, from Zhou He's answer alone, one can judge his general character. He is a conservative who does not like to argue. To put it more harshly, he is a bit timid. However, judging from Zhou He's various active arrangements against the enemy before this, such an evaluation does not apply to him.

Perhaps because his training targets are them, Zhou He is so steady.

"Yes, Bismarck, you are right. Quickly adapting to changes on the battlefield is also an important ability."

Zhou He really felt sorry for Hu Teng and other trainees who had to be hit by live ammunition during training, but after listening to Bismarck's words, he suddenly came to his senses. He realized that undergoing rigorous training outside the battlefield was to prepare for stepping into a battlefield with a difficult environment. Many solid things began to break from tiny cracks.

Even for him, it is impossible to carry out on-the-spot repairs every time.

So he changed his tune and agreed with Bismarck.

"exactly."

Bismarck's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at Zhou He, whose expression had turned stern. He couldn't help but marvel in his heart that his commander was so good at listening to advice and understanding.

However, she didn't know that Zhou He was sweating profusely because she was staring at him seriously. She wondered if her sneak glance at the northern hemisphere had been discovered. She stretched out her hand and pressed it naturally: "I will improve the matters of the training ground later. Bismarck will be in charge of this place for now, but don't overtrain."

"Yes!"

Bismarck's voice was sonorous and powerful, like the sound of a bell that dispelled the distracting thoughts in Zhou He's mind. He secretly spit out a word, nodded and smiled at Bismarck, then turned around and disappeared into the building complex.

Shortly after Zhou He left, many people who were interested in the training here gathered together and signed up enthusiastically for this new project.