Rybedov's joy did not last long. When the sailors on the mast of the Nicholas saw a tall white building with countless windows suddenly emerging from the exit of the lagoon in the distance, they quickly shouted to the people on the deck to announce it.
Rybedov handed the rudder to the officer on duty and opened his telescope to check. He saw a huge red and white strange ship in the distance.
"Oh God! What did I see?! That was, that was a ship?" At this time, everyone on the deck of the Nicholas was frightened. They had never seen such a huge ship, and there was not a mast, let alone a sail, visible in the middle of the deck.
"Have you ever heard of such a ship?" Rybedov turned around and asked.
Everyone on the deck shook their heads in confusion. If this happened back to Kamchatka, it would be an anecdote to the people in the tavern.
"Captain, what should we do?" The first mate of the Nicholas suddenly woke up and shouted to Rybedov eagerly.
"Maybe it's just an illusion?" Rybedov quickly rejected this idea as soon as he came up with it. Even if it is a hallucination, it is impossible for everyone to have hallucinations. "Ignore him, hoist the full sail and rush over! Get your artillery ready!"
After hearing this, the first mate immediately walked back and forth on the deck, pushing the stupid sailors one by one. "You lazy pigs! Didn't you hear what the captain said?! Lower the sails!"
In the lower deck, more than thirty sailors began to load the artillery on both sides and prepare for firing.
Ten minutes later, as all the sails were lowered or raised, the sails were rattled by the strong sea wind. The Nicholas continued to increase speed and rushed towards the exit of the lagoon.
The Nicholas is a third-class load-carrying ship among sailing warships. It was built in 1755. It was originally supposed to be equipped with 64 naval guns, with a total of 26 32-pound guns, 26 18-pound guns, and 12 9-pound guns. But in order to transport more coal, Rybedov removed most of the 32-pounder guns and 18-pounder guns, and only retained all the 9-pounder guns. He felt that these guns were enough to deal with accidents at sea, but this decision made him Regret for life!
The range of artillery during this period was not far. Taking the 24-pound or 32-pound artillery as an example, when the firing angle was raised by four degrees, the firing range could reach 1,350 meters; when the firing angle was raised by eight degrees, the range could reach 2,250 meters. rice. Of course these are just theoretical values and ideal results.
In a real naval battle, sailing ships often fire quickly at a horizontal angle within a distance of one or two hundred meters. In this day and age, rate of fire is much more important than range. At a distance of 100 meters, a solid shell fired from the 24-pounder can penetrate 5 feet of oak.
Therefore, the gunners on the Nicholas will not fire at a distance of 500 meters unless they need to scare the opponent. Sure enough, when the Nicholas was one kilometer away from the Thunder, Reberdorf ordered the ship's 18-pounder gun to raise its muzzle and fire once, intending to shock the Thunder and make it move away from the exit of the lagoon.
The 18-pounder gun, which was padded with a few pieces of cork, opened fire in the direction of the Thunder!
"Boom!" There was a loud sound, and a stream of white smoke erupted from the bottom of the starboard side of the Nicholas. The whistling iron ball flew across hundreds of meters of water and made a big splash 200 meters away from the Thunder.
The effective range of the PKM general-purpose machine gun equipped on the deck of the Thunder is one thousand meters, and the sight range is one thousand five hundred meters. Deng Fei didn't know that there weren't even a few heavy artillery pieces on board the Nicholas. Instead, he was worried that once the enemy's firepower was fully unleashed, the big iron ball would smash a big hole in the hull. Although it can't sink, it's still disgusting!
(Note: The thickness of the hull steel plates of modern ocean-going cargo ships is generally 2 to 5 centimeters. The Thunderbolt belongs to the 60,000-ton class, and the thickness of the steel plates is 4 centimeters. The larger the ship, the thicker the shell.)
"All heavy machine guns on the port side, fire according to the preset targets!"
This shot from the Nicholas was like poking a hornet's nest. Following Deng Fei's order, eight streaks of purple-red lightning began to shoot out from the left deck of the Thunder. Under the guidance of tracer bullets, hundreds of 7.62mm bullets hit the Nicholas, and there was a sudden howl of ghosts and wolves on the deck.
On the sea, the roar of machine guns continued to sound, and Deng Fei on the compass deck couldn't help but cover his ears.
On the deck of the Nicholas, countless oak splinters flew up with flames and shot in all directions. Rybedov and a group of sailors squatted or lay on the deck with their heads in their hands to avoid the flying wood. And Rybedov also tried to control the rudder in order to continue rushing outward.
In the gun deck on the lower level, several naval guns fired by four electric beams shot out sparks, and occasional ricochet bombs flew in and danced in the cabin. The screams of the shot sailor were ignored at all, and the other gunners clung to the floor, not daring to move.
"God, they are enemies!" the first mate shouted to Rybedov.
"Oh my god! What kind of artillery are they? How can they fire so densely!"
"Idiot! This is not a cannon, this is the devil's whip!"
On the Thunderbolt, Deng Fei looked at the flaming sailboat and thought to himself that he would still have to use armor-piercing incendiary bombs to attack such an oak ship. A few minutes later, a fire broke out on the main mast that had been hit continuously, and the flames raged randomly on the huge sail.
The sailors on the Nicholas tried to fetch water to put out the fire, but as soon as they got up, they were hit by several bullets and were covered in blood. They fell to the deck like a ball of rotten meat.
"Woo~~Woo~~" A huge whistle sounded from the Thunder, and a man's voice speaking in Russian began to sound: "Ships ahead, listen! Anchor immediately, stop the ship for inspection! You have no way to escape! I repeat, there is no way for you to escape!”
After a while, when the sailors on the Thunder began to replace the barrel of the PKM and reload the bullet, a white flag slowly rose on the foremast of the Nicholas. At this time, the fire had ignited the main mast. The surviving sailors, including the captain, began to fetch water from the sea in an attempt to extinguish the fire on the deck.
"Zhao Xin, Zhao Xin! The escaping boat has been intercepted by us! The other party has surrendered with a white flag! Over."
On the dock, Zhao Xin, who had been waiting anxiously for more than an hour, finally received news about the Thunderbolt. He couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, they were all caught, and none of the Tsarist Russians escaped.
At this time, more than a hundred migrant workers under him had just begun to salvage the Tsarist Russian sailors who had been shot and fell into the water on the dock; and the captain of the Natalia, who was shot by Zhao Xin with a point shot, had already been drowned.
Several migrant workers injured by muskets have received rapid treatment from Zhao Xin. Zhao Xin has done everything he can. Except for one who has injured his internal organs, the rest are not serious. As for the injured Tsarist Russian...I'm sorry, Zhao Xin said that he was exhausted mentally and physically and had no energy to care anymore.
The Natalia, which was basically unscathed, was captured, but when Zhao Xingang wanted to enter the cabin to take a look, he was driven out by the strong smell of sweat and rats inside.
"Nima, this won't be usable without some disinfection and cleaning!" Zhao Xin pinched his nose and fled the Natalia in a hurry.
Over there in the coal mine, a scene of identifying criminals is taking place. Ukanbe and several soldiers dragged the Cossack who was shot in the thigh, first identifying the dead bodies one by one, and then searching among the living.
"It's him, and that person. The other side we went to together..." Cossack endured the severe pain of the wound and weakly pointed at a dead body on the ground and a guy squatting among the prisoners.
Ukanbe couldn't bear it anymore. He rushed over, raised the butt of his gun and hit the prisoner on the head.
The Cossack soldier fell to the ground screaming and kept shouting: "It was Orlov who asked us to go, it was Orlov! Orlov!"
Ukanbe didn't care about this. He took the rope from a soldier and tied the Cossack's hands and feet like a prey.
"Orlov?" Liu Sheng understood that the other party was calling a name, and then shouted sharply to the prisoners: "Who is Orlov! Come forward!"
At this time, a prisoner suddenly raised his hand. Liu Sheng walked over and asked, "Are you Orlov?"
The prisoner stood up, pointed to the camp in the distance, and kept talking. Liu Sheng scratched his head and thought to himself, who can understand this? He suddenly had an idea and said to several soldiers: "Take this guy to the camp and see those dead bodies."
At this time, Wu Kanbei walked up to Liu Sheng and knelt down. His eyes were red and he said: "I, Wu Kanbei, will follow you to the death in this life! If it weren't for you and Master Zhao, I would have no hope of revenge in this life!"
Liu Sheng helped Wu Kanbei up and said, "The enemy has been found. How do you want to take revenge?"
"Rip out their hearts to pay tribute to my wife and children!"
Liu Sheng swallowed his saliva and thought, "Why are you more violent than me?" However, there is really no way to persuade this kind of thing. Thinking of what happened to Wukanbei, Liu Sheng nodded helplessly and said: "Let's take them outside the coal mine and find a place to do it. I won't accompany you."
Wu Kambei saluted Liu Sheng gratefully and said to the comrades around him: "Which brother is willing to help me? I, Wu Kambei, will remember his great kindness!"
"I'll go with you." A soldier came out. Liu Sheng took a look and saw that it was the soldier who touched the whistle with Wu Kambei.
"And I!"
"Count me in!"
Liu Sheng took a look and saw Mergu'a and others coming over.
"Brother Wukanbei, we Hezhe people are one family no matter where we go. I will help you with this. As for the favor, you can keep it for the master!"
Ukanbe gratefully clasped his fists at Mergua and handed them over. Several people immediately stepped forward, dragging the two Cossacks out.
The two Cossacks knew something was wrong, but they were tied all over, and one of them was injured and couldn't struggle at all. They had to scream and beg all the way as Ukanbe and others took them down.
Liu Sheng didn't want to stay here, so he ordered his men to tie up all the prisoners, string them together and take them to the dock. But before everyone had gone far, a heart-rending scream came from the depths of the woods, and everyone who heard it felt numb. And the dozens of prisoners were so frightened that some even peed their pants.
The prostitute Liu Basia was also crying and walking among the prisoners. Now she was covered in bruises, with several big bumps on her forehead, the corners of her mouth were torn, and the skirt she was originally wearing was torn to pieces. These are all the work of those Feyaka women.
After a while, the soldiers who took the prisoners to identify the bodies followed. One of them said to Liu Sheng: "Chief, Orlov has been found. He was the one who was shot to death by you first."
Fine! Liu Sheng nodded and motioned for the prisoner to be escorted to the dock.
When they arrived at the dock, all the prisoners were put under centralized custody, and several soldiers began to count the number of people. At last count, there were fifty-two prisoners, excluding Ukanbela's two enemies, which made up exactly one.
"What are you going to do with these people?" Liu Sheng asked Zhao Xin.
"We can't let them stay here, and none of us understand Russian. They are all taken back to Beihai Town to work as coolies, just to keep the two priests company."
"The coal mines are all ready, what are you going to do?"
"We will bring a few thousand people over later, and build the road between the two places before winter, so that the carriage can be used. On the other boat..." Zhao Xin pointed at the Natalia. , said: "Tow it back to Beihai Town, clean it up, add a motor and propeller, and it can be used as a sailboat."
Two hours later, the Thunder approached the dock, towing the Nicholas, whose main mast was burned off. However, because the Thunderbolt could not dock, it took a long time for the Nicholas to dock. Deng Fei also took the rubber speedboat on the Thunder and went ashore.
Rebedov and a group of sailors, escorted by the Thunder's armed sailors, also disembarked. A dozen migrant workers were waiting by the gangplank, and they got off and tied each one up.
"I protest! We are a merchant ship under the command of the Governor of Irkutsk. You attacked us without any reason, killed and wounded my crew, and seized two merchant ships! This is an offense to Her Majesty the Queen! "
Deng Fei smiled coldly: "For no reason? This is our inherent territory of China. Who gave you the right to mine here? And who gave you the right to wantonly massacre the border residents on the island?!"
As soon as he said these words, Zhao Xin and Liu Sheng's jaws almost fell to the ground in shock.
"You speak Russian? Why didn't you speak earlier!"
Deng Fei spread his hands and said, "I said it before."
Zhao Xin patted his head and thought that this seemed to be the case. But it’s been so long that I’ve long forgotten about it! "Come on! I leave all the task of interrogating the prisoners to you!"
"How can I have this free time? I still have to go back and sail the boat!"
Zhao Xin smiled and patted Deng Fei on the shoulder: "Help me! Let's do a general interrogation first, and then take them all back to Beihai Town for further interrogation."
Deng Fei nodded helplessly and agreed.
At night, everyone in Beihai Town set up tents near the pier to spend the night. At this time, Wukanbei, who returned to the station, had avenged his great revenge and was relieved of his worries, so his face was no longer gloomy and his mental state was much better.
However, Liu Sheng and Zhao Xin did not ask about the fate of the two prisoners and pretended not to know.
Zhao Xin was still worried about the other prisoners. So he took out a bunch of plastic binding tapes, asked the soldiers to add another lock to the prisoners, and then stuffed them into the cabin of the Nicholas and imprisoned them.
After Deng Fei had dinner, he began to bring the prisoners one by one to the office on the dock for interrogation. Because it was only a preliminary interrogation, only each person's name, age, and identity before being captured were recorded.
Only then did he and Zhao Xin know that most of these prisoners were from Siberia, and they were habitual thieves and robbers; and the only woman among the prisoners, Liu Basya, was actually a death row prisoner!
"This woman used to be a minor nobleman. According to her own words, because her husband always drank and beat her, she poisoned her husband to death in a rage." Deng Fei explained to the two gossip men.
"I'll go! Isn't this Tsarist Pan Jinlian!" Liu Sheng expressed his amazement.
Zhao Xin thought for a while and then said: "If Pan Jinlian is not included, it should be considered domestic violence. But if this happened in the Qing Dynasty, he would be beaten with a hundred sticks first and then executed in Lingchi!"
At night, while most people were asleep, Zhao Xin and Liu Sheng quietly went to the coal mine together and swept away the excavated coal.
At dawn the next day, the migrant workers in Beihai Town first dug a big pit outside the Tsarist Russian camp and disposed of the bodies. Then they searched the camp from house to house and took away the captured long and short flintlocks in addition to the Cossack sabers. As for the clothes and bedding left by the Tsarist Russians, they were all left to Mergu and the others.
The Thunderbolt towed two sailboats and left with the prisoners. Its next stop was Beihai Town, and when it returned, it would bring more refugees.
Zhao Xin and Liu Sheng did not leave. They returned to the Oha camp with their troops and brought Zhang Bo much-needed coal. Zhang Bo, who was overjoyed, arranged for people to build an earthen kiln and prepare to start the earthen coking method.
In late May, the Thunder returned to the mouth of the Oha River with the next group of 3,000 refugees. At this time, Zhao Xin learned that the two battalions stationed in Fuldan City had gone south and returned to Beihai Town. So he ordered the guard company to be renamed "Oha Garrison Battalion" and set up a shelf first. At the same time, the guard battalion was responsible for conducting military training among the arriving refugees.
The Tsarist Russians will not give up, they will come again!
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