In England, with many rains and mists, blue blue sky is rare. The warm spring sun drives away the wet and coldness, the gentle sea breeze brings refreshing, and the rippling sea is refreshing. At the mouth of the Thames, the busy channel reflects the peak glory of the world empire from a small side, and the famous buildings standing on both sides show the profound foundation of the ocean power. At this time, Great Britain is like a middle-aged man with high spirits, with the accumulation of experience and wealth reaching an ideal level within, the country is rich and the people are strong, and the order is well-ordered; outside, the status is consolidated, and there are many servants. For a country, there is probably no more ideal state than this.

In the Great Wickerling, east of the Thames estuary, the coast is crowded with people and bustling, with colorful flags waving on the water and motors roaring. The boats waiting for the competition form a super hodgepodge here. According to the grouping decided by the lottery, nearly 700 boats competed in batches in batches. Due to the uneven performance of the boats, most of the groups are not very competitive, but the scene is quite interesting and collision caused by unavoidable avoidance. They overturned by forced explosion speed. They continued to break down and insisted on running the entire journey. The hull leaked and sunk, which gave people a feeling of a black comedy, without the tension and excitement of the racing race.

The championship prize has increased ten times more than in previous years, and the competition system has also been temporarily adjusted, but the route of the British Cup of REE competition has not changed much. The whole process is still running back and forth along the flat coastline of Greater Wakeling. The shortest time of the 10 nautical mile wins. After two days of noisy, the engineering grand group preliminaries finally ended. Among the 60 boats entering the finals, the minimum preliminaries were 16 minutes and 40 seconds, that is, the complete range was run at an average speed of 36 quarters, and the Steam Clippers were fully performed at the same time.

This speed can be easily achieved. The highest preliminaries are the Philip Brothers from the United States. Their rowing has a very novel appearance, low, wide and flat hull, like a large shell. This large shell drives four underwater propellers with four engines. It is a huge noise source when driving at full speed. It will sway left and right when encountering wind and waves. This strange-looking guy only took 11 minutes and 47 seconds to complete the journey, and the average speed has exceeded 50 knots. At the same time, no steam-powered ship can reach such an amazing speed.

The second in the preliminaries was the winner of the last British Cup RE, Prince Gustav from Sweden. He personally drove the "Nilde" speedboat to an average speed of 48.7 quarters, which was only half a minute slower than the big shell from the United States. He ranked third in the total preliminaries, and the fourth in the preliminaries were the participating speedboats from Italy and France. The British local rowers ranked fifth, while the participating speedboats from Friedrich's Royal Shipbuilding Factory in Germany ranked sixth with an average speed of 45.5 knots. For this seemingly uncompetitive preliminaries,

, Xia Shu was not disappointed at all. Given that there was no pressure in the preliminaries, he specially arranged two drivers to take the yacht and put the speedboats in full fuel load to race. The reserved performance also saved the "Simon" from being too early to become the focus. Among the 60 speedboats entering the finals, only three were two-person yachts, one ranked last and was destined to be the foil of the finals, one was the "Simon" who won the sixth place, and the third was the Philip brothers' big shell. They obviously needed two or even more crew members to manipulate this rather complicated monster.

On the day of the final, the Thames estuary was covered by thick fog early in the morning. With British royal family members and many distinguished guests on the scene, the organizer had no choice but to postpone the final from 9:30 am to 9:30, and then from 9:30 to 10:00. During this long hour, everyone tried their best to stay patient, but apart from the vendors selling cigarettes and snacks, few people could truly be calm. After 10:00, the fog on the sea finally began to dissipate. The organizer issued a third and last live notification that the final will be held at 10:20, and those who missed it will automatically lose their qualification for the competition.

Due to the heavy fog on the sea surface before, the 60 boats qualified for the finals could only wait for instructions in the designated parking area. When the notification from the speaker was released, the roar of the engine starting suddenly came one after another. In the middle of one of the mooring treks, Uncle Weizel, wearing a black suit, watched his assistants make a last check on the "Simon" speedboat. At this moment, the person sitting in the front seat of the cockpit was not the chief driver Gold or his first substitute Emir, but the youngest son of the German emperor, the talented Prince Joachim. With auxiliary control equipment, the cockpit can cope with some emergencies is empty in the back seat of the cockpit, the speedboat fuel tank is half loaded, and the ballast tanks on both sides of the hull are empty. This is the lightest state of the "Simon" among all those who can control the "Simon", Prince Joachim is the lightest.

Before the speedboat set off, the dedicated Uncle Weizel made his last effort: "Your Highness, the record is irrelevant. We can win anyway, and you don't have to take this risk at all."

Xia Shu smiled at him: "Don't worry, I can handle such a game. If an accident occurs on the way, I promise not to show off!"

Looking at the boy's confident and full smile, the solemn expression on the uncle's face finally eased. He nodded. When the boy drove away from the pier, he kept tying crosses on his forehead and chest with his right hand, lying words in his mouth.

Just as the organizer wanted the effect of the storm, the preliminaries of this year's Cup of DE have become the hottest topic in London in the past two days, and even mainstream newspapers have been published in detail. However, this does not have any substantial impact on the upcoming finals. Sixty rows are listed on the starting line in any order. When they see the starting signal, all they have to do is to rush forward straight, wait until the half-way buoy turns and turn around, and the first to return to the starting line is the champion of this event.

The organizer's arrangements certainly reflect the principle of fair and just competition, but when the rowing is sailing at high speed, a subtle negligence or uncontrollable accidental factor of the driver may lead to collisions between the rows. Judging from the preliminaries, the probability of accidents after a half-time turn is particularly high. In order to avoid these unexpected factors affecting the normal performance of the "Sirens" and for the sake of their own safety, Natsuki deliberately chose the farthest departure location from the coast.

I don't know whether it was for the same consideration or wanted to have a face-to-face contest with me, Gustav drove his "Nilde" to the nearest Xia Tree.

Through the tempered glass hatch, also made by Siemens, the two princes looked at each other and smiled kindly.

At 10:20, three green signal flares slowly emerged from the coast.

The sea surface is instantly filled with mechanical roars of different tones.

With a completely consistent operating mode and almost the same power output, "Sirman" and "Nilde" are activated together. Xia Shu is not distracted from the position of other rowers, and only looks at Gustav's "Nilde" from the corner of his eye. Since winning the first trophy of the racing race, the Swedish prince has enjoyed joining it, and he is not willing to miss the events held on the other side of the ocean. In just a few years, the trophy he won almost filled the entire house, and his experience in operating speedboats was very rich. In the past year, Xia Shu has spent most of his time on the Naval Academy's academic studies and boat design. The number of sailing boats is far less than before, and he is bound to be inferior to his opponent in the integration of man-boats.

As expected, the "Nilder", which is based on "Thunder" took the lead in the initial stage. When he saw the square stern of the "Nilder" from the corner of his eye, Xia Shu did not get confused because of this, but calmly increased the gears and speeded up calmly. He listened to the roar from the "Nilder" clearly different from the later Navy "Thunder" speedboat of Daimler's 125-horsepower six-cylinder engine, and it was also the initial configuration of the "Nilder". Given that Daimler's new engine was launched a month ago, Xia Shu tried every means to win the first batch of engines for the Royal Shipbuilding Factory. The Swedish prince should have purchased high-power engines from other countries to upgrade the "Nilder". In the field of internal combustion engines, the Germans are not far away. The technological development status of the United States, Britain and France is generally similar and has their own advantages.

As the speedometer's pointer crosses the 50 mark, the cockpit where the Xia tree is located is filled with powerful roar. From the appearance, the "Simon" and the thunder and lightning, the Thunder series have almost nothing in common. Its hull is short and honest, and the two-seater cockpit with a narrow cross section is located in the middle of the hull. Two weird long cylinders are placed on both sides of the hull. When sailing at high speed, the skateboard-like shape in the lower part of the hull proudly raised the entire bow. When encountering waves, the whole boat rises up like a dolphin leaping on the water and falls down. The stirring white waves surround most of the hull except the bow, forming a beautiful and spectacular wave breaking scene.

Driven on the calm sea, this new speedboat that imitated the F1 rowing shape and equipped with two 140-hp six-cylinder gasoline engines quickly showed its extraordinary skills. Its superior high-speed performance allowed the Neilder to maintain a weak lead for only half a minute. In a blink of an eye, the tail, bow and bow of the Neilder all retreated from Xia Shu's sight. The empty sea surface in front made Xia Shu's mood suddenly clear. He calmed down, put aside the distractions in his heart, and focused on the boat to move rapidly. In a short while, the pointer on the speedometer had quietly stepped over the red marking corresponding to the 60, and the "Simon" who sailed lightly reached its peak. After a few times, Xia Shu even felt that the speedboat had flew away from the sea for two or three seconds.

Unconsciously, a half-way float with colorful patterns came into view. Xia Shu gently waved his head and glanced to the left. There was no trace of a speedboat on the water between the "Simon" and the coast. His mouth was slightly raised, and he loosened the accelerator slightly. He controlled the steering wheel and made the "Simon" pass through the two floats in front of him to the left, then completely loosened the accelerator, directly lowered a speed gear, and at the same time turned the steering wheel right by 90 degrees. The extremely agile "Simon" hull suddenly leaned to the right of more than 45 degrees, and the synchronous centrifugality was like an invisible hand pressing Xia Shu onto the seat. At this moment, the glass hatch on his right hand had almost been attached to the sea where the water was rolling. This was definitely an ingenious sensory experience for ordinary people.

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Chapter completed!