Volume 1: The Empire Awakens Chapter 1 Naval Officers
At the Ningbo Imperial Naval Academy, 590 young men dressed in uniform naval officer uniforms stood in a huge square formation.
In front of them were ten of the six hundred cadets of the 192nd class of the Imperial Naval Academy. They were the best among the six hundred and were the ten most outstanding students in this class.
Among them, the young man standing third from the left is 1.8 meters tall, with an upright figure and a resolute look. His name is Tan Renhao.
A navy vice admiral in his sixties walked up to Tan Renhao. His name was Nie Renfeng, and he was the president of the Imperial Naval Academy. He was a respectable old man who had fought for the Imperial Navy and trained tens of thousands of outstanding officers for the Imperial Navy in more than 20 years. He was also respected by almost all the officers of the Imperial Navy, a kind old man.
Nie Renfeng took the epaulettes of a naval lieutenant from the adjutant behind him and pinned them on Tan Renhao's shoulders. Then, he picked up a dark yellow Sea Lion Medal made of pure copper, which was specially awarded to outstanding graduates of the Imperial Naval Academy and young officers who would become the future pillars of the Imperial Navy.
Nie Renfeng pinned the medal on Tan Renhao's chest, and then patted him hard on the chest.
"Thank you, Principal!"
Like the two graduating students before him, Tan Renhao immediately raised his right hand with his palm facing forward and his middle finger pointing at his eyebrows, and saluted Nie Renfeng with a standard naval salute.
"Second Lieutenant, do a good job!"
Nie Renfeng took a half step back and returned a naval salute.
As in every year for the past twenty years, Nie Renfeng would personally award titles to the top ten students in each class and give them the Sea Lion Medal.
In the past twenty years, Nie Renfeng has sent out two hundred elites of the Imperial Navy. Now, many of them have become senior officers, holding important positions in the Imperial Navy's major fleets, major bases, and various main battleships. There is also a shortage of young brigadier generals and major generals among them.
That being said, Nie Renfeng already has many students all over the world, and this year, he will send the last batch of talents to the Imperial Navy. Next year, he will be able to leave here, leaving this cradle of officers that has trained tens of thousands of talents for the Imperial Navy in its nearly two hundred years of history!
After Nie Renfeng pinned the Sea Lion Medal on Lei Shaoqing, who was standing at the end, more than fifty senior instructors (officers) of the academy put epaulettes on the other 590 cadets.
When the military band played the Imperial national anthem "The Dragon Flag Flying" and the Imperial Navy's anthem "The Sea", the two Imperial Navy honor guards raised the Tenglong Flag and the Zhenhai Flag, which were the Imperial national flag and the Navy's flag respectively.
At this time, everyone faced the national flag, raised their right hands, and silently sang the national anthem of the empire.
As the music slowly faded away and finally disappeared , under the leadership of Nie Renfeng, hundreds of people simultaneously recited their oath as soldiers of the Empire: "We are willing to contribute our lives, blood, and sweat to the Emperor, the Empire, the Empire's territory, the Empire's subjects, and the Empire's navy..."
On the playground, solemn and dignified, this oath witnessed the vicissitudes of the empire and the rise and fall, honor and disgrace of the imperial navy.
At this moment, every soldier of the Imperial Navy facing the fluttering Tenglong flag deeply realized that in the past 1,300 years, in the past 300 years, how many soldiers of the Imperial Navy have silently recited this oath and rushed to the battlefield and the sea, contributing their lives, blood and tears for the prosperity of the empire, for the prosperity of the empire, and for the strength of the empire.
A vow can be kept by an imperial soldier for a thousand years. Similarly, this vow will spur these six hundred young officers of the imperial navy to follow in the footsteps of their fathers, head to the vast ocean, and guard every piece of territory of the empire.
The playground became quiet, the sun disappeared from the western horizon, the sunset covered the earth, and the surrounding lights lit up.
This will be the last night of six hundred young imperial officers at the Imperial Naval Academy. Now, they are still classmates and friends, and tomorrow, they will each go to their respective posts.
Some will become navigators, chief engineers, gunnery officers, etc. on warships, some will become staff officers of the naval fleet, and some will go to naval bases.
They all received the notice a few days ago.
However, there was one exception.
When the party started, Tan Renhao shrank to the edge of the playground.
He doesn't like such noisy occasions very much, he prefers to be alone in silence.
When thinking back on his three years in military school, Tan Renhao felt as if he had just reported to the academy yesterday.
Three years passed in a flash, and the seventeen-year-old boy grew into a twenty-year-old young man.
For many people, twenty years old may still be very young, but for Tan Renhao, he has matured. Three years of military school life have made him a thorough imperial soldier, an imperial naval officer that he had hardly thought of before.
"Renhao, are you in a daze again?"
Lei Shaoqing came over with two glasses of champagne. "Are you in a bad mood because you didn't get the gold medal?"
Tan Renhao smiled and shook his head.
The gold-embellished maritime medal is awarded to the best graduating officer, and only one person each year has the opportunity to be awarded this medal by the principal.
Among those who received the Gold-embellished Sea Lion Medal, more than 80% became generals of the Imperial Navy!
"Hey, that means you have bad luck!"
Lei Shaoqing patted Tan Renhao on the shoulder and said, "However, I believe that you are the best. You can get the third place after suffering such a huge blow. To be honest, I envy you very much!"
Tan Renhao smiled and punched Lei Shaoqing on the chest.
Lei Shaoqing was not only his classmate and roommate, but they were also fellow villagers and childhood friends.
Three years ago, the two childhood friends secretly applied for the Imperial Naval Academy together, were admitted together, and then "ran away from home" together to come to this military academy known as the "Cradle of Imperial Naval Officers", and spent three years of military academy life in the same room.
"Okay, stop being so depressed, or else people will think you're heartbroken!"
Lei Shaoqing smiled and held Tan Renhao's shoulders. "I heard that the graduates of Hangzhou Nursing School will attend the party today. Maybe you can meet that girl from last time!"
"who?"
Tan Renhao looked at his friend with some confusion.
"Have you forgotten? The nurse who took care of you in the hospital for a month!"
Lei Shaoqing went on to explain: "I heard that she is from the Nursing College. When you were in the hospital, she happened to be doing an internship in that hospital. She will also graduate this year. Don't play dumb, kid. Don't I know what you are thinking? If you hadn't met her, would you have stayed in the hospital for a month?"
Tan Renhao laughed awkwardly. Only now did he remember that he had not asked the other party's name in a month!
The two greeted the alumni they knew along the way and walked towards the center of the venue.
There was a large dance floor, and tables with drinks and food were placed next to it.
Imperial Navy banquets all have a European style, rather than the local style adopted by the Imperial Army. This is closely related to the history and nature of the Imperial Navy.
"By the way, have you received the notice?"
The two came to the dining table. Lei Shaoqing picked up a piece of cake while talking. In order to prepare for the graduation ceremony in the afternoon, he spent the whole morning getting a haircut, shaving, and dressing himself up. He didn't even have time to eat lunch.
However, this is probably more for evening activities.
"No, but maybe it will arrive in the next few days!"
Tan Renhao shook his head and saw this year's top scorer Fan Peikun and runner-up Jiang Zhongmin looking at him. Tan Renhao smiled and nodded at them.
"Don't be so polite to them. At least, they won't treat us as the same kind of people!"
Lei Shaoqing was obviously dissatisfied with those two people.
The reason is very simple. Fan Peikun and Jiang Zhongmin are both descendants of imperial naval families, while Tan Renhao and Lei Shaoqing are of commoner origin. The difference in their backgrounds alone is enough to divide these two different types of imperial naval officers into two major factions, and this is also a major feature of the imperial navy.
"If you want to make up your application, have you decided where to go?"
Tan Renhao shook his head.
When filling out his post-graduation application, Tan Renhao was lying on a hospital bed. According to the rules of the Imperial Navy, he still had one chance. Of course, he could only choose one of the remaining positions from others, rather than determining the order of selecting positions based on his graduation grades.
"How about you come with me to the Southwest Fleet. Although the Southwest Fleet is a local fleet, you know my third uncle, who is currently serving as a combat staff officer there. If you go there, there will be someone to take care of you, which is at least better than going somewhere else."
Lei Shaoqing picked up another pine nut biscuit. It seemed that he was already very hungry.
"I'll consider it, but I don't even know where to go right now!"
Tan Renhao sighed, "Okay, let's stop talking about these boring things. When are you leaving?"
"Tomorrow morning, but I don't need you to see me off!"
At this moment, the venue suddenly became lively. The new officers, who were originally in groups of three or five and each forming their own camp, all rushed to the west side of the venue.
"Here we are, Renhao, tonight's protagonist is here!"
Lei Shaoqing immediately put down the half-eaten biscuit in his hand, wiped the crumbs from his mouth, and followed the crowd to run towards the group of nurses.
Tan Renhao smiled and shook his head. When he was trying to catch up with Lei Shaoqing, a sergeant officer came over. Tan Renhao recognized him at a glance. He was the orderly of the principal, General Nie Renfeng.
