Chapter 269: Virtue And Talent
In the year 2105 of the Xian Han calendar, Xuan Chong returned from Jianye and, upon returning to the Naval Headquarters, saw his military rank rise straight up like taking an elevator.
In three months, he completed the internship captain process, transferred to acting brigadier general (sixth rank), then to brigadier general (fifth rank), and then to martial guard general (fourth rank)—this generally meant he could command a destroyer.
Rising rapidly to this rank before reaching twenty years old, everyone could see that he had been specially promoted from above.
The reason this promotion still followed procedure, advancing level by level, was to grant him a real position.
Xuan Chong stayed at each rank for two months, and upon arriving at each post, he immediately participated in a military exercise, where during the exercise he knew which people were useful.
Note: Only when promoted, by bringing along a wave of one’s own selected “lackeys” to rise together, can it match a real position; because the “lackeys” will act as the perception nerve when the promoted person needs to mobilize the system’s power, understanding the pros and cons of where one’s “policy efforts” are applied. In the late-stage selection of great presidents in America, because it was a sudden election without die-hard loyalists in the system, it was left hanging in the air.
In the East, if someone is suddenly promoted but doesn’t stir up any dust, that’s a promotion in name only with a real demotion.
At the navy dock, Xuan Chong saw his first ship in life, a three-thousand-ton old ironclad ship.
On the deck, the previous captain of this warship paced back and forth as he introduced to Xuan Chong: “The ion shield is from the previous generation, with a stealth level of fifty percent.”
Xuan Chong had seen the slides. For the refitted ship, there was still a hazy ship shadow in the initial startup. It still needed to coordinate with ultrasonic excitation of water mist.
While four hundred meters away, another latest ironclad ship, after activating its electromagnetic equipment, had completely blended into the air, leaving only tail waves.
After this old predecessor disembarked, Xuan Chong held both of the old predecessor’s hands and gifted a batch of wild ginseng, saying: “The gift is light, but the sentiment is heavy!”
The old predecessor was straightforward too, saying that in the future he would still need to rely on Xuan Chong’s care.
Xuan Chong: “Of course, of course.”—In the future, when he received the “recommendation name card” sent by this old captain, he would have to acknowledge it.
…Black Technology era…
Near the port, Xuan Chong confirmed that the era he was in was still the late nineteenth century; the streets showed old photographs of steam trains and mule-horse carts running side by side, and even automobile engines had exquisite clock-like automobile structures.
But the current naval military level at sea opened Xuan Chong’s eyes; in this plane, electromagnetic technology had developed fancy tricks!
Originally on Earth, the Tesla phenomenon was uncontrollable. That is, the phenomenon of tip discharge breaking through the atmosphere was irregular forked lightning. But in this world, electricity could be evenly distributed in a space, forming a magnetic layer.
Phenomenon connection: The existence of “true qi”-like nature that can be cultivated as internal force in the human body is essentially the same as the underlying principle of this technology. In carbon-based life, it is “true qi”; in the military industrial domain, it is “controllable magnetic field”.
Special physical conditions lead to different development trajectories in military technology compared to the previous life. Stealth technology exploded before aviation technology.
The military combat rules in this spacetime are completely different from the previous life. First, the current airship system has not been eliminated by airplanes, and there are even signs of it eliminating airplanes in turn.
In the current first industrial revolution stage, aviation technology is just emerging; airplanes are still biplanes, airships are still ordinary rubber-skinned wooden frames, but the airship’s load capacity dooms it to be the first to carry the Tesla field energy phenomenon ahead of airplanes.
Under the electric field effect, the danger of electric spark discharge is eliminated, ensuring the safety of hydrogen in airships.
On the sea side, it has already entered the “magnetic layer protection” era; in current naval battles, opposing fleets deploy magnetic field stealth against each other.
In the year 2096 of the Xian Han calendar, that is, the year of Jiawu, a naval battle occurred between Assyria in the north and Greece in the south.
Due to the ironclad ships of Suden State being equipped with electromagnetic generation devices provided by Xian Han, they gained the initiative in the confrontation with the navy of Ai State.
Ai State (Greece), although also having ironclad ships—eight-thousand-ton heavy cruisers procured from Rhine Steel—had advantages in tonnage and armor; but they were at a disadvantage in observation and aiming.
In the fifteen-hour naval battle, Ai State’s multiple salvos failed to hit the semi-transparent ships hiding in the water mist; meanwhile, they themselves were outmaneuvered by the Suden State navy into a T-position ahead.
The Suden State fleet opened fire with rapid-fire guns at three thousand meters, and the picric acid-charged cannonballs ignited the upper structures of Ai State, forcing the Ai State fleet to withdraw from the battlefield.
After that naval battle, the naval forces of the universal powers began to standardly equip magnetic layer technology and allocated massive resources to research it. Even previous old warships underwent modernization retrofits.
Nowadays, combat with both sides having “magnetic layer stealth” technology often requires destroyers carrying magnetic storm emission devices to approach within ten kilometers of enemy ships, using magnetic storm scans to make “aurora”-like phenomena appear on the enemy’s magnetic layer facilities, and then battleships engage in main gun duels.
Of course, battleships also have magnetic storm devices; when opposing destroyers “probe ahead,” the battleship’s electromagnetic equipment can also make the destroyer’s magnetic layer show aurora phenomena. Consequently, the destroyer formation will suffer concentrated fire.
…The electromagnetic confrontation here is quite marvelous…
Xuan Chong had researched the current integrated “magnetic storm” “magnetic shield” equipment.
This equipment hidden at the stern weighs a full fifteen tons, occupying the installation position of a main turret; among it, the magnetic shield looks like a Tesla coil mounted on the mast from the outside. The magnetic storm device resembles a “large iron pot”.
Xuan Chong’s evaluation: Similar to a microwave oven structure, the iron pot focuses electromagnetic energy, radiating magnetic storm suppression at distant targets.
After Xuan Chong unfolded his pencil case device for measurement, he discovered that this planet’s magnetic field was probably different from what he knew.
Habitually measuring the planet’s internal magnetic field, Xuan Chong felt like he had seen a description of “magnetic field” somewhere before, so he raised his hand, and true qi overflowing from his acupoints distributed around his body to form a net, controlling a ball of water.
Xian Han physiologists claim: “Heavenly Harmony and man correspond.” Some martial arts manuals require a perfect model for the qi field of the great heavenly circulation of qi, and this model is precisely the current heaven-and-earth magnetic field model.
In their research, every part of the human body corresponds to heaven; when sitting upright, the huiyin acupoint corresponds to the South Pole, and the baihui at the top of the head corresponds to the North Pole.
With interest piqued, Xuan Chong took out measurement tools, measuring himself microscopically on one side, and extending to the firmament on the other.
Half an hour later, Xuan Chong sighed: “As expected, it is symmetrical.”
…My captain, my ship…
Xuan Chong boarded the deck of this light cruiser codenamed “Patrol 032”. Its outer layer is iron armor, but its upper deck is still tung oil wood; this quality wood is excellent material for furniture and construction.
In Jianye, ordinary people might have just a few tables that can feed the family, passed down through generations; how many such tables could these wooden planks make? One can only say the navy is a money pit.
For this warship nearing retirement, Xuan Chong inspected it up and down under the lineup of soldiers.
It must be said that this old ship was maintained very well; the deck was cleaned spotlessly without dirt accumulation causing decay; as for the several metal turrets, there was rust at the edges, but the mechanisms inside the turrets were all coated with oil, in very good condition.
Reviewing the ship’s log, artillery techniques and other projects were mediocre to below average, and even achievements in maneuvers like navigation tactics turns were unsatisfactory.
This is human nature; after all, artillery techniques and rapid navigation belong to combat subjects that require spending money; related training is currently done on cutting-edge warships.
When cannons fire, ten thousand taels of gold are spent—it’s no joke; the Xian Han navy has a long history. And a navy with a long history is characterized by having a large number of old warships.
Moreover, in the recent decades, military development has been very rapid; eighty years ago the mainstay was still sailing battleships, ironclad ships only appeared fifty years ago, and the oldest batch of sailing battleships was fully retired forty years ago.
In the era of military progress, to ensure the navy’s combat power keeps up with the times, funds must be poured into cutting-edge warships.
Old warships undertake patrols of sea borders and occasionally fighting pirates; as for firing, they often use secondary guns or machine guns to sweep at pirates, without using main guns.
Xuan Chong sized up this warship, and those thirty- or forty-year-old veteran sailors on this warship were also sizing up Xuan Chong.
This group of seasoned sea dogs was initially relaxed seeing this overly young superior, but upon seeing Xuan Chong pick up their joint exercise achievement records, they felt uneasy inside, not knowing what demands this new boss would make.
Xuan Chong’s age was too young, looking about the same age as the first mate’s son. At this age, most people are ambitious. So the sailors on this old ship feared some mischief.
Half a shichen later, Xuan Chong put the combat exercise achievement sheet back in the drawer, which let the first mate and second mate on the ship breathe a sigh of relief.
Xuan Chong did not, like some leaders after taking power, demand harshly “I must change your appearance.”
Xuan Chong’s inner ruler: To achieve results, it should be himself (Xuan Chong) and the forty new people he brought who take responsibility; no need to mess with the veteran team.
Xuan Chong tallied the ages of all crew members and found that veterans over thirty-five occupied seventy percent; at this age, in later internet tech giants, they would be optimized out, so? Change? Change what?
In his previous life, Xuan Chong had led military teams and presided over military revolutions. For an army to undergo revolution, the grassroots age should be maintained at twenty, mid-level cadres at around thirty, and high-level at around forty.
If grassroots exceed thirty, it means from starting work until now, basically a decade without seeing “blood reward” (status advancement).
Similarly, if mid-level little section chiefs are over forty and confused, they all know they can’t rise further in the system.
In such a team where everyone knows they “can’t rise,” a leader cannot make the subordinates enthusiastically participate in revolution just by urging.
Especially now, on the ship, stability is most important. Just like programmers in the previous life taking over code from old programmers, the only requirement is that it runs, no playing with innovations.
…Seek stability…
In the captain’s quarters, Xuan Chong had a tea chat with the veteran crew members.
Xuan Chong took out their nautical chart, which was densely marked with some key points in pencil. After inquiring, some were reefs, others were seafood fish schools. Xuan Chong praised the first mates for having ideas.
However, just as the first mate thought he had muddled through, Xuan Chong knocked on the table: “You earning money is not impossible, but you can’t earn in a way that leaves even me, your captain, in the dark.”
Xuan Chong of course knew that the things marked on the sea chart also included some smuggling points.
Facing these old guns twice his age, Xuan Chong’s gaze was very serious: “Category one contraband cannot be touched, because I can’t cover for it.”
The first mates immediately dropped their underestimation, hurriedly swearing to the new young commanding officer in the name of Mazu that they absolutely would not touch that stuff.—Xuan Chong’s subtext was: As long as I know about your old dealings, I will cover for you and not sell you out.
The whole ship was most worried about how to preserve their little business, because they were unsure if they could pull the new captain into the water; after all, the new captain was young with boundless prospects. If it was a one-size-fits-all cut, everyone would suffer.
Regarding the gift package sent by the first mate, Xuan Chong accepted it: “I’ll keep the items on the ship for now; we’ll talk after confirming if your business really has risks.”
Xuan Chong: “Communicate more during this time. The people I brought need to grab exercise achievements, requiring your cooperation. As for your business, if it affects you, I will find channels to compensate you.”
Xuan Chong did not say “carry on as usual, I don’t care”; on a ship, you can’t say you don’t care—saying you don’t care means you don’t want to take responsibility; if you really want to control this ship, you must take responsibility for the sailors’ daily livelihoods.
In the captain’s quarters, in a few moves, Xuan Chong completed the first confrontation with these crew members.
After Xuan Chong left, the first mate muttered: “Holy crap, this is seventeen? Damn, he’s practically an old dragon king.”
Second mate: He’s dragon seed, you gotta submit.
…Shrimp and crab eat mud…
The first mate and second mate valued those smuggling points not for importing or exporting goods, but for “money laundering”. The navy secretly doing some transport side businesses is tacitly approved from above, and within this “tacit approval” scope of gray income, some ships, like the one under Xuan Chong’s feet, are secretly washing “black money” into “gray money”.
Ten days later, Xuan Chong used connections from navy colleagues to check the relations between those gambling dens and regional high-level figures.
Xuan Chong cut ties with two high-risk casinos among them.—These two had their backers collapse, and next they would be fat pigs to be slaughtered by the local officials.
So he had to first clear the connections. As for the other casinos, Xuan Chong passed messages through black gloves, having them send more business shares.
Speaking of fishing money from black-gray industries, the most important is having timely information; Xuan Chong’s probing was a channel that the original captain of that warship couldn’t buy no matter how much money he spent.
Throughout the process, Xuan Chong only handled probing information; just a few handwritten letters sent to the province handled it, without spending a single penny, but the accounts received by the crew on the ship were one point three times more than before.
With the money accounted for, the original operating mechanism on this ship did not fall into great disorder.
Xuan Chong led the young team to start familiarizing with the electromagnetic equipment on this old ship.
And Xuan Chong’s related actions naturally fell into the eyes of the big shots paying attention to him.
At the General Command, Liu Kehua, after confirming that the new and old personnel integration in the ship was normal, couldn’t help sighing: “This kid does have some capability.”
From a comparative perspective, Xuan Chong’s approach was “virtue and talent both possessed”.
…Marshal’s perspective…
Inside Xian Han, it’s not just Xuan Chong’s one old cruiser that needs “electromagnetic” retrofitting. According to the navy bigwigs’ ideas, they wish to load all old warships with new equipment to form new quality combat power.
Technical “electromagnetic” retrofit plans exist in several routes, but personnel training is a quite big problem.
Can’t expect a group of people unqualified in electrical studies to operate electromagnetic equipment. It’s like giving a nuclear submarine to the Indians; they would mess up a series of disasters.
Old warships all use steam engines; ten years ago, when Xian Han dispatched a fleet for a global voyage to show off military might, these current old ships were undoubtedly the “stars of the show” at the time.
The young people back then were also high-spirited, seriously learning the full process of coal-adding maintenance for steam engines; but before they could establish merit, the armaments were upgraded.
Five years ago, at the Xian Han imperial court, some bureaucrats had raised the matter of “old ship retrofitting”.
The reason was: Old-style warships lacking stealth capabilities are extremely vulnerable to being caught by enemy battlecruisers in major sea battles, lacking survivability.
In the navy’s latest tactical formations, old cruisers do not follow the main fleet. With airship scouting technology maturing in recent years, old fleets may become hatred-attracting targets.
The navy faced numerous obstacles in specifically implementing “old ship transformation”.
Five years ago, the navy selected a batch of old cruisers; after loading magnetic storm furnaces, but due to design incompatibility and personnel mismatch, the first batch of old ships frequently had fires and all sorts of accidents.
And from the investigation, during the process of retrofitting old ships with new equipment, coordination between the two sides’ personnel was very poor. There was no integration at all in work between the old crew and the new crew boarding!
After all, there was an age gap between both sides; the new crew demanded the boiler run twenty-four hours for power supply, but the old crew wouldn’t allow it.
The new crew demanded the old crew learn electromagnetic norms, but the old crew stalled and obstructed.
Narrator: Similar situations occurred in Xuan Chong’s previous life mining industry; modern mining safety norms have a series of equipment to ensure safety, but in the eyes of new safety personnel, old miners would rather keep rats than learn this stuff.
How to make new and old personnel fuse! Without erupting contradictions? This is what gave the Xian Han navy department bigwigs headaches.
Appropriations? If appropriations could solve it, then appropriations require an amount. Without a clear bill, just wait for “each ship’s specialists to skim”, with very low military spending efficiency.
Xuan Chong did not ask for appropriations from above. Instead, he started directly from gray interests, grasping the “oil-stealing” links of those rats on the ship; on one hand filling the “oil bottles with oil”, on the other pinching the oil-sucking straws. Controlling the whole ship to cooperate with him.
Xuan Chong did not spend a penny of the navy’s money, yet promoted the old ship’s members to accept new operation modes. This is “talent”.
And while grasping the gray income, Xuan Chong himself did not touch a bit of “dirty oil”, this is virtue.
Liu Kehua had investigated; the money Xuan Chong collected himself was separated into a special account; this account was used for shore meals for soldiers. To this grand marshal: As long as Xuan Chong doesn’t take a single wen, no matter how irregular the operations, he could cover for it.
This shows that in the future, when reaching higher positions, Xuan Chong can interface with “big resources” to get things done.
Liu Kehua: Bookish scholars with virtue but no talent are many, but need a specially carved environment to use; people with talent but no virtue exist, but using them requires attention to risks. People with both talent and virtue are rare.
He slightly placed Xuan Chong’s file into a separate drawer, clearly meaning Xuan Chong had passed some test.
