A group of knights galloped in the wilderness, guarding a light carriage pulled by two horses in the middle.
Lin Yueru and her adoptive father were sitting in the carriage. Lin Yueru had tears in her eyes and was crying softly.
"Chi'er, what's the point of crying? I'll give you a letter when my father is settled."
"Dad, now that I'm gone, I don't know if we will see each other again in this life. You have to take care of yourself."
"Oh, I'm lucky to be able to escape unscathed. What else can I be dissatisfied with? I've never been to Japan before, so I just happened to go and have a good time, hahaha."
"Once dad leaves, this Ming Nantian Broken Pillar won't be able to hold on for long. Those who persecuted dad will reap the consequences sooner or later. My daughter will be watching from Ming Dynasty." Lin Yueru cursed through gritted teeth.
"Hahaha, watch him build a tall building, watch him entertain guests, watch his building collapse. Hahaha, it's okay, you can watch it for your father and see if they are doing the same thing or dad is doing the same thing. Okay." At this time, Wei Zhongxian was light-hearted without an official position, and his body and mind were relaxed.
"Hahaha, I have been in a cage for a long time, but today I am free. Hahahaha."
A knight galloped into the Beitangkou Shipyard.
The Star, which was on trial voyage, has returned and is undergoing maintenance.
Ming Yan, Chen Liang, Chen Zuwang and others are studying various problems exposed by this trial voyage.
"I suggest that all sharp corners on the ship should be rounded. In this storm, too many people were injured due to collision with these sharp corners." Chen Liang said.
"Yes, this problem is very prominent and can be avoided. In addition, I think the storage method on the deck needs to be further studied and optimized. This time the barrel was not fixed and rolled around, injuring many people. The rope The cables and cables were not stored properly and were blown all over the floor by the strong wind, tripping many people." Ming Yan also said.
"I have no other suggestions, but to further improve the steering wheel and rudder. One is to replace it with a balanced rudder, and the other is to make holes in the rudder surface, so that the force required to turn the steering wheel can be reduced. The steering wheel is still too tight. The easier and more flexible the better.”
Several people were discussing when suddenly the guard came in and reported: "Six hundred miles urgent, there is an order coming."
"Let the messenger come in," Mingyan said.
The messenger came in, gave Mingyan a military salute, and then handed over the document bag.
Mingyan checked that the paint was intact, then stamped the receipt and gave it to the knight.
"You go down and rest first. I have a reply to the master here. When I finish it, I will give it to you to take back."
"Here" the messenger went down to rest.
Mingyan glanced at the envelope. There were three red horizontal lines and five stars. This is the highest level of urgency and the highest level of confidentiality.
I want to burn it after reading it.
Mingyan opened the letter, and the content was very short. After dark tonight, a team of cavalry escorted a carriage to the shipyard. There was a guest in the car, and Mingyan was asked to leave before midnight to take the guest to Nagasaki. Later, some things to be done and personnel arrangements were explained.
Li Huaishu was assigned to lead his Marine Corps team to be stationed in Nagasaki to protect this noble man.
Mingyan knew that the shorter the master's words were, the more important they were.
He immediately ordered, "All members of the Star will gather immediately, replenish supplies, simply repair the ship, and prepare to sail. Let Li Huaishu come see me immediately."
The messenger immediately went out to deliver the order.
Mingyan turned around and explained to Chen Liang and Chen Zuwang: "The master has given an order to set sail tonight. It may take a few days. I have to go in person. During this time, Mr. Chen, you will be responsible for the management of the factory. Zu Wang and I Let’s sail together.”
Seeing Mingyan's serious expression, the two people quickly said that there was no problem.
After a while, Mingyan summoned Li Huaishu alone in the conference room.
"This is the master's secret letter. You should read it first." Mingyan handed the letter to Li Huaishu.
Li Huaishu was a typical soldier. After reading it, he only asked one sentence, "Should we detain this person or protect him?"
"First, we must not let this person escape our control, but do not restrict his freedom too much. He must be protected by more than four people wherever he goes. Second, you must also protect him, and there must be no accidents. Otherwise, there is no way to explain it to the master. Third, Miss Xiangyi will separate your military expenses in Nagasaki and send them there on our own ship. Fourth, you must have a good relationship with the lady over there, and at the same time Collect information on ships from Japan and the West. Regularly submit the information to the trading company we set up in Nagasaki. Finally, if you have spare time, if the lady needs it, you can help them train a regular force. Army. Do you understand? If you have any questions, ask me now. We will set off at midnight," Ming Yan said.
"No, I will go back to gather the team and prepare for the voyage." Li Huaishu replied loudly.
"In order to ensure safety, install the three steel Folan cannons and six squatting tiger cannons that the factory has just received. There are three basic ammunition belts." Mingyan explained.
"Here" Li Huaishu saluted, turned and left.
After Li Huaishu returned, he immediately blew the whistle and everyone gathered urgently.
This team was selected from group training and moved very quickly. All members were fully equipped and lined up within ten minutes.
"After receiving the order from above, we will take a boat to Nagasaki at midnight today. We need to be stationed there for a period of time. Our mission is to protect the safety of a distinguished guest. Now put the three Fran cannons and six Tiger squat guns in the warehouse Install it on the ship and prepare three bases of ammunition. Do you understand?" Li Huaishu shouted loudly.
"Understood"
"action"
The dock at the shipyard immediately became busy, with preparations being made nervously for the voyage.
The Marines used ropes to pull the Franco machine gun to the deck. Rotatable metal pillars for fixing the cannon are reserved at the bow, stern and in the middle of the ship.
The Folang machine is a light artillery. These three Folan cannons were cast from Xinghe Iron Works with open-hearth steel, and there have been certain improvements in technology.
Each door weighs three hundred kilograms, and its performance exceeds the level of Ming Dynasty equipment of the same period. The range can reach about 600 meters. It is very accurate within one hundred and fifty meters.
The projectile weighs five pounds. It is a steel-core lead ball, which is very destructive to enemy ships.
Three gun barrels are installed on the pillars at the bow, middle, and stern of the ship, and a steel plate shield is installed on each side.
A Franco machine gun with a gun mantlet that can rotate and pitch is installed.
Each Franco machine gun is equipped with ten rounds of muskets, which can be loaded and fired quickly. It is a breech-loaded gun that fires very quickly.
Three tiger crouching cannons are arranged on each side of the ship. This kind of gun is small, but has a large caliber, like a squatting toad. The range is within fifty meters, and it mainly fires shotgun shells to deal with enemy gang-hopping.
Three Franco cannons were deployed, and six Tigers squatted behind the cannons. Based on the experience gained from the last naval battle, the Marine Corps installed angle steel extending diagonally outward on the outside of the bulwark, and then hung up barbed wire to prevent the enemy from joining forces.
This setup is very tricky.
In naval battles, the two sides often end up close together and then engage in hand-to-hand combat. This kind of barbed wire will prevent your opponent from jumping over it, or they will hang on the barbed wire alive.
There are a lot of muskets and artillery on the Star, so they naturally have an advantage in shooting.
Just after dark, a group of cavalry drove into the factory with a two-horse carriage.
After entering the factory, he went straight to the dock. When entering the gate of the dock, the leading cavalryman showed a waist badge, and the guards immediately let him go.
Finally stopped at the pier.
Lin Yueru helped Wei Zhongxian out of the carriage, and the two spent a day and night on the carriage, traveling three hundred miles non-stop from Beijing to Beitangkou.
After changing horses several times in the middle, people can get off for convenience. The road conditions in this era were really bad. Both of them were exhausted from the bumps. Riding in a carriage was simply more painful than riding a horse.
When Lin Yueri came down, she saw that the entire dock was under martial law. There was no one around, there were soldiers all around.
After handing over to the people here, the escort took the carriage out of the dock and parked outside without saying a word.
Lin Yueru knew that these people would send her back soon.
There were three people waiting for them on the opposite side.
Lin Yueru knew one of them. This person was Ming Yan, Yang Fan's book boy. I had seen it before when I was in Zunhua.
"Mingyan has met Aunt Lin," Mingyan stepped forward and saluted.
It seems that Yang Fan has already explained his matters in advance.
Lin Yueru nodded.
"This is Captain Chen Zuwang. This time he is responsible for driving the ship to send the distinguished guests to Nagasaki. This is the general flag of Li Huaishu. He has thirty elites under his command and will go to Nagasaki with the distinguished guests to be responsible for future security work."
"Where will you place your distinguished guests?" Lin Yueru asked.
"Let me tell you this. The living conditions in that place are very good and it is absolutely safe. Aunt Lin can rest assured. If there is nothing else, just get on the ship. We are all ready. After all, the nights are long and there are many dreams."
Lin Yueru looked at Wei Zhongxian, who nodded.
At this time, Lin Yueru and others turned around and saw a very beautiful white sailboat moored sideways on the pier.
Not particularly big, but quite long.
Dozens of carbide lamps on the dock illuminated the ship like daylight.
Lin Yueru and Wei Zhongxian looked at it in amazement that a sailboat could be so beautiful. Although they didn't know how to sail, their first impression was that this boat must be very fast.
