Struggle in Russia

By 1847, Symonds' life was already very difficult. More and more Royal Navy officers who had supported him began to complain about him and began to despise him. And with the advancement of science and technology, academics are increasingly able to slap him in the face with scientifically verified facts.

This caused Symonds to sit on a crater, day after day, enduring the scorching of lava under his buttocks. This is very uncomfortable, but Symonds is unwilling to admit defeat. He is the kind of traditional British old stubborn, even if he is criticized by thousands of people, he resolutely refuses to admit his mistakes and refuses to admit defeat.

But Symonds' time is really running out, and the Admiralty Committee has no patience with him. If it weren't for the fact that he still has some very prestigious supporters, it would be difficult to expel him directly. Otherwise, the Admiralty would have told him to pack up and leave.

That's the case, Symonds' job as chief designer is actually over. The Admiralty no longer trusted him and no longer entrusted him with any warship design tasks. Instead, the design work was delegated to the Assistant Chief Designer. In fact, he was forced to resign automatically.

But Symonds was not willing to just get out of here in such a disgruntled way. He felt that he could still save him a little more, and the sudden appearance of Li Xiao made Symonds see hope. Even without the encouragement of old Adlerberg, he would They will also aim at Li Xiao and fire.

why?

The reason is very simple, persimmons should be picked soft!

In Symonds' view, Li Xiao is undoubtedly a persimmon. First of all, Li Xiao is Russian. This means that he will not have supporters in the UK, and even Symonds' opponents will not speak for Li Xiao out of anti-Russian needs.

Secondly, Li Xiao was previously unknown. With no shipbuilding experience and no professional college education, he was born like a shooting star. It looks beautiful, but Symonds thinks that Li Xiao is a rootless duckweed. As long as he focuses on Li Xiao's qualifications, he can question all his conclusions.

In the end, Li Xiao rose rapidly, wrote many professional articles, and won praises from many professional experts. If such a foreign academic could be defeated, then all of Li Xiao's reputation would be added to Symonds. At that time, the position under his buttocks would be secure!

Symonds felt that Li Xiao was an angel sent by God to save his career. As long as he ate up this angel, he would be the chief designer for at least ten years.

With the addition of many factors, Symonds fired at Li Xiao without hesitation. Attacking Li Xiao has no experience in designing ships, attacking Li Xiao has no qualifications in designing ships, attacking Li Xiao is a vulgar Russian polar bear.

Anyway, this one scolded very badly, and he was domineering and bossy, as if he was teaching elementary school students.

Then, poor Symonds hit the iron plate. Objectively speaking, the unfavorable factors listed by Symonds are indeed very unfavorable to Li Xiao. At the beginning of the debate, it was indeed very unfavorable to Li Xiao, but as the debate continued to deepen, when Symonds got rid of the title and the so-called experience bonus was completely refuted by Li Xiao, the chief designer was a loser. The phoenix is ​​not as good as the chicken.

The only regret is that these debates mainly took place in British publications. After one or two months of debates, Li Xiao's reputation in the UK has risen sharply, and he is a bit like a folk scientist and a folk academic expert. But these reputations rarely spread back to Russia, and the closed and conservative Russian Navy Department did not realize the value of the debate between Li Xiao and Symonds.

Those supporters of Menshikov, those most conservative old and stubborn in the Russian Navy refused to believe that there could be no better Russian than the chief designer of the British warship. They blindly believe that the moon in foreign countries is rounder, and superstitiously believe that foreign authorities are more professional.

So it's dumbfounding that when Li Xiao won a big victory in England, he was ridiculed, ridiculed and despised in Russia instead.

"Have you heard that a small company commander in the 748th Naval Infantry Regiment went out of his way to provoke the chief designer of the British Royal Navy!"

"Ha ha,

This is the funniest joke I've ever heard. Who gave that idiot the courage and confidence to be so arrogant! "

"Can you not be crazy. He is the grand duke of the noble family of heaven, so naturally he is superior to others and does not take the world seriously."

"Oh, it's that bastard grand duke! Did I say that he can make a fuss too much? The city was full of disturbances before, and now it's going abroad again. This kid is really a shit-stirring stick!"

"I don't know if it's a shit-stirring stick. Anyway, this kid is really annoying, so no one can cure him! It's really annoying!"

"Hurry up, I heard that the kid hit an iron plate this time. Think about the level of the chief designer of the Royal Navy. How can his embroidered pillows be compared? I think he will do it with three times and five divisions. If he can make him look ashamed, he can only run away in embarrassment with his tail between his legs!"

"Haha, you are absolutely right. I heard from my brother-in-law in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the chief designer of the Royal Navy has the upper hand and that bastard is about to die!"

I have to say that Menshikov has been in the Navy Department for more than 20 years and has no other skills, but he is quite good at forming cliques. Under the old eunuch's management, the Admiralty was full of conservatives and moths. Because of Li Xiao's relationship before, Grand Duke Constantine had the upper hand, which greatly damaged their interests.

At this moment, the wind is like rain, and all kinds of rumors about how unbearable and embarrassed Li Xiao is are widely spread.

"Your Excellency, don't you care?"

Nikolai Milutin heard many similar rumors on the way into the Admiralty Building, which made him look very bad.

Although he didn't like Li Xiao either, he didn't like the British guy even more. I can't see where these people's jokes are at all. Are you so happy and happy when our Russian Grand Duke lost to the British? Which side are you from?

"Why bother?" Grand Duke Constantine asked calmly without raising his eyelids.

Nikolai Milutin frowned, and said, "That William Simmonds not only attacked Grand Duke Andrei Konstantinovich, but even criticized your naval reform plan, no matter what you say, he is an enemy... ..."

Grand Duke Constantine's face suddenly turned ugly. He was very angry when he mentioned this. The reforms here are booming, but who would have thought that a British guy thousands of miles away would suddenly point at him and scold him. , Is that guy crazy?

[I'm promoting steamships in Russia, what the hell are you doing! 】

Grand Duke Constantine felt that he had been implicated by Li Xiao, and he cursed angrily: "It's that bastard Andre who is causing trouble. If he didn't stimulate that British guy, the British guy would make trouble? Now come to me It would be a pleasure to have him, but it will interfere with my innovation plan, this bastard is completely intentional, I think he is my worst enemy!"