When it was time to light the lanterns the next night, two carriages, escorted by more than thirty people, quietly arrived at the south bank of the Mongolian River, which was already ten miles away from the Qing army's camp.
The Mongolian River was originally not wide. After the Qing army stationed on the south bank, a large number of people were recruited to work desperately to widen and deepen the river channel. Over the past few years, it has become a moat from the entrance to the sea more than 20 miles away to the Mongolian River camp 20 miles west.
It is said that Xiangyang City is the widest moat in the world. As early as the Song Dynasty, its average width exceeded 180 meters, and the widest point reached more than 250 meters. Although the Mongolian River is not as wide as the moat of Xiangyang, it is almost as wide as the moat of the Forbidden City, reaching 50 meters.
The group of people arrived at the river. Chang Wu, who was accompanying them, took out a flashlight from Beihai Town from the quilt on the horse's quilt. According to the method agreed the day before yesterday, he pressed the switch three times towards the opposite side, one breath apart each time. Not long after, the lights on the other side of the river also lit up three times, and Chang Wu breathed a sigh of relief.
He walked to the carriage and whispered to the people inside through the curtain: "Sister, don't worry, we've contacted the other party."
A soft "hmm" came from the car, followed by the child's constant coughing.
After almost a cup of tea, a black rubber boat slowly came from the other side of the river. Because it used an electric motor instead of a diesel motor, the sound was not loud.
As soon as the ship docked, four heavily armed Northern Navy soldiers wearing dark green camouflage jumped ashore. One of them walked a few meters away from Chang Wu and the others and whispered: "Who is Mr. Chang?"
"Here you are." Upon hearing this, Chang Wu hurriedly came over with a lantern, and then a faint light shone, frightening him and taking two steps back.
These people from Beihai Town all have their faces painted like melons, and they look fierce and sinister, which is really eye-catching. Chang Wu had heard rumors that Beihai knew sorcery before, but now it seems to be true.
"Where is the patient? Come on board."
"Sir," Chang Wu said in a polite and respectful manner, not knowing the identity of the other party, "there are not one, but two patients here."
"Two?" The Northern Navy soldier on the opposite side was stunned for a moment. There was only one patient mentioned before.
"That's right. Little Gege at home also got the same disease. I didn't know until I went back to pick her up."
"Whooping cough" is an acute respiratory infectious disease and is highly contagious. People in Qitai's family thought that the younger brother had caught a cold and the medical level in Hunchun was poor, so they didn't take it seriously. As a result, Qitai's four-year-old daughter followed Fujin to visit her younger brother, and she was also infected a few days after returning. She only started to get sick a week ago.
Bei Haijun, who was responsible for picking up the people, nodded and then used the walkie-talkie on his body to contact the other side. The people on Chang Wu's side heard the other party whisper a few words in the dark, and then said "yes, yes" a few times. They felt very strange in their hearts, and they didn't know who they were talking to.
After a while, Bei Haijun came over and said to Chang Wu: "Your Excellency agrees, let's go quickly."
Chang Wuyi hurriedly bent down to thank him, and then hurried to the leading carriage and whispered a few words. Then two people wearing dark crane cloaks got out of the car, and then carefully took out two tightly wrapped children from inside.
Everyone hurriedly walked to the river bank and got on the kayak. The kayak sent by the Beihai Navy can seat up to ten people. In addition to the patients and family members, Chang Wu already occupied four seats, including himself, so he could only choose two of the escorts he was following. Na Qitai's personal servant got on the boat. As for the others, they watched helplessly as the kayak disappeared into the darkness. It wasn't until ten minutes later that the other shore was illuminated by flickering lights again, and then they quietly left.
On the second night, Chang Wu sent a house slave back to the south bank of the Mongolian River to report to Na Qitai, who was already furious.
After seeing his master, the slave parroted the doctor's words. In summary, the younger daughter has just entered the onset of illness, and the son has already had a lung infection, but the problem is not major. It would be troublesome if it really was a brain infection. It's just that the two children's illnesses are highly contagious, so they need to be isolated and treated separately. The fifth wife and the nanny sent by Fujin also went to the hospital for examination because they were with the child every day.
Only then did the stone hanging in Qitai's heart finally fall.
Fujian, off the coast of Xiamen.
On the vast blue sea, the wind was calm and the sun was shining, and a few white seagulls were circling and chirping above the deck. A British third-class sailing battleship with the Huanglong flag flying on the main mast is undergoing shooting training.
When Fukang'an received Qianlong's edict in March, he was still in Guangzhou negotiating with the British and French about the purchase of weapons through the Thirteenth Party. He immediately gave Qianlong a note of gratitude and asked to wait until he had reviewed the training of the naval camp before heading north. Qianlong readily agreed.
Marshal Fu, who had already fought against the Beihai Navy twice, was now becoming more cautious. He was not blindly moved by the victory of the "Platform Battle". In his opinion, to fight Zhao Xin, one must plan good tactics, and the other is to prepare new weapons, both of which are indispensable.
Although the Manchu Qing Dynasty lost many generals after several battles with the Northern Navy, with the suppression of Lin Shuangwen's rebellion, a large number of Eight Banners and Han generals emerged who dared to fight and attack.
"Commander, it's almost time, can we start?"
"Yes." The thirty-five-year-old Fukangan stood on the side of the ship, put away the telescope, and then returned to the steering wheel at the stern of the ship. He took an apricot-yellow flag from the soldiers, waved it vigorously, and shouted: "Start!"
"Dong~~~dong~~dong~~"
As the Qing drummers on the deck began to beat slow and low drums, the deputy general of the water camp of the Qing army who was in charge of commanding the warship drew his Yanling sword and shouted: "Everyone is ready for war!"
Not long after, when each artillery position reported the preparation command, the deputy general walked up to Fukangan, knelt down on one knee and said: "Commander, all artillery positions are ready! Please give the order to fire and release, commander-in-chief." drill!"
Fu Kang'an was already sitting on the Grand Master's chair in front of the steering wheel, nodded and said in a deep voice: "Start!"
The officer held his fists and accepted the order, then walked to the middle of the deck and shouted loudly: "Every gun position on the port side, starting from No. A, fire in order!"
At this time, the drumbeat sounded again, becoming more and more dense. When the rhythm reached its climax, a shout was heard from the first gun position on the port bow: "Fire!"
"Tum! Tum! Tum!"
The 13 12-pound guns on the first gun deck opened fire one after another like popping beans, followed by the 13 24-pound guns on the lower gun deck. Soon, the entire third-level battleship was enveloped in thick smoke.
On the sea two miles away, a somewhat dilapidated large sailing boat rose and fell alone with the waves. Suddenly, an iron bullet flew from a distance and punched a big hole in the side of the shuttle boat. The iron bullet immediately passed through the deck, penetrated a tent frame on the deck, and then cut a large hole in the opposite side of the ship.
Immediately afterwards, dozens of iron bullets flew in one after another, leaving holes in the entire shuttle boat, and the main mast became shaky.
The third-level battleship in the distance circled on the sea, and then turned its starboard side towards the dispatch ship.
"Starboard 24-pounder gun emplacements, loaded with shells!"
On the 13 gun positions on the lower gun deck, all the Qing gunners looked like they were facing a formidable enemy and did not dare to slack off at all. Following the gunner's order, at the gun position closest to the bow of the ship, the gunner in charge of loading first lit the seal on the cannonball in his hand with incense, and then put it into the muzzle. When he heard the cannonball rolling to the bottom, he was responsible for loading it. The gunner who fired the gun thrust the double-headed firefork into the fire door.
"Boom~~~Boom!" A fire suddenly appeared at the stern of the shuttle boat in the distance.
Subsequently, other gun positions on the lower gun deck fired shells one after another, and the shuttle boat as the target ship had been blown up and burst into flames, and the main mast was also broken into two pieces. When the last two guns were fired one after another, the explosive shells finally ignited the gunpowder barrels that had been placed in the lower cabin. Then the entire ship let out a huge explosion. As the fireball rolled, countless pieces of wood were blown into the air. The boat broke into two pieces and began to slowly sink into the sea.
"Long live! Long live! Long live!"
The Qing troops on the sailboat immediately shouted in unison, and for a while, drums, suonas, and human voices were mixed into one. Fukang'an put away the telescope, nodded and smiled with satisfaction, and shouted loudly: "Well done! Each gunner will be rewarded with ten taels of silver!"
"Thank you for the reward, Marshal!"
At this time, a blond, blue-eyed Westerner wearing a British captain's uniform and a three-cornered hat bowed slightly to Fukang'an and said in a strange Mandarin accent: "Your Majesty, I would like to congratulate you! Unexpectedly Your gunners are so good."
Fukang'an, who was sitting on the Grand Master's chair, smiled slightly, nodded and said, "Mr. Morrison, I am very satisfied with your training over the past six months. I will write to the Emperor to ask for your credit."
After hearing what the translator said, the British captain Morrison from the East India Company suddenly smiled and bowed: "Thank you very much, Your Majesty the Duke for your kindness!"
On the lower gun deck, the British man responsible for training the gunners loudly said to the gunners: "Boys, your speed is still too slow! I want you to finish loading all the guns within one minute and twenty seconds. The cannonballs were fired! But it took you a full minute and thirty seconds, it was too slow!"
After listening to the interpreter's translation, several Qing gunners muttered dissatisfiedly: "Is this foreign devil still finished? I'm almost exhausted."
"That's right, the commander-in-chief said we did a good job, but these foreigners are so fucking nosy."
"You! I want you more! What were you talking about just now?!" The British noticed the sailor's muttering, and immediately pushed aside the crowd, walked up to the gunners and shouted.
A gunner in his thirties came over and said with a flattering smile: "No, you guys are right, sir! We need to practice harder in the future."
Blakeney, an employee of the East India Company in his fifties and responsible for training Qing gunners, glared at the gunners before turning and leaving the lower gun deck. After the British gunnery commander, who had a straight face all day long and wore a guerrilla rank, left, the Qing gunners breathed a sigh of relief and felt relieved.
Blakeney understood that these Qing gunners had been trained very hard and had good results; however, he still hoped that he could train better gunners so that this trip across the ocean would not be in vain.
In 1788, that is, after the tea trading season began in May, the 53rd year of Qianlong's reign, a sailing ship named "Fox" from Bangladesh arrived off the coast of Guangzhou. This is a third-class battleship with a double-decker gun deck. There are 26 24-pound guns, 26 12-pound guns and 12 6-pound guns on board, for a total of 64 guns.
Sun Shiyi, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, reached a ship purchase agreement with the British in the 51st year of Qianlong's reign. One of the provisions was that the East India Company would first sell a third-class sailing battleship to be built within five years and send personnel for training so that the five second-class sailing battleships could arrive. After that, the Qing army could quickly form combat effectiveness.
As mentioned before, the largest warship of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties on the coast of Guangdong was the Dazhou Zeng Ship. After the Xiangshan Xie Navy Camp was crushed by the Thor, the Qing government learned from the painful experience and built several Tongan ships from Fujian to strengthen the Guangdong Navy.
The problem is that the Tong'an ship is only equipped with ten cannons at most. Not to mention compared with the third-class battleships, it is even inferior to the bird ships of the Kangxi period.
In order to attack Taiwan, Shi Lang built more than 80 bird ships. They were generally about 15 feet in length, carried more than 20 guns, and had metal wrapping on the bottom of the ship.
Since none of the water camps under the Admiral's Office of the Guangdong Navy could dock such a large warship, the British had no choice but to sail the "Fox" into Macau and dock, waiting for the handover with the Governor's Office of Guangdong and Guangxi.
However, due to Lin Shuangwen's rebellion in Taiwan at that time, all parties in the Qing court mobilized troops to suppress it. Sun Shiyi led his troops to Chaozhou, and Fukang'an was also preparing to lead an army across the sea at that time, so the matter of accepting the warship was postponed until Sun Shiyi returned to Guangzhou. Only then did the handover begin.
When a new ship arrives, the first thing to do is to give it a name. The "Fox" was absolutely unacceptable to the Manchu officials, so after Sun Shiyi formulated it and reported it to Qianlong for approval, this third-class battleship used for training was renamed "Dingbei", which means pacifying Beihai Town.
What happened next was one after another, leaving the British from East India stunned.
The first is the issue of docking camps. It is impossible for the military and state weapons of the Qing Dynasty to be placed in Macau. Sun Shiyi had previously asked Qianlong for approval to expand the Xieshuiying Pier in Xiangshan. At the same time, a large house was built near the dock to house the training personnel sent by the East India Company, and it was equipped with cooks, servants and other service personnel. In order to prevent the British from wandering around feeling lonely, Sun Shiyi specially arranged a theater troupe.
So you know, a group of British people eat and drink in the house every day, and then the troupe starts singing gongs. The problem is that it was fine for a day or two, but it was like this every day for several months. The British people almost vomited after listening to the opera. In the end, they simply asked the magic troupe to leave, and we didn’t want it anymore!
Next, the first thing the warship did after entering the port was not to start training, but to decorate it. After looking at the interior furnishings of the "Dingbei Hao", people from the Governor's Office of Guangdong and Guangxi and the Admiral's Office of Shuiying thought it was really vulgar, so they began to change the decoration.
On the outside of the sailboat, a group of painters painted a large number of colorful paintings on the bow and stern according to the style of Chinese ships, including dragons, eagles, lions, water-splitting patterns and so on.
In the captain's cabin at the stern, the original chart table and corresponding furniture were all replaced, and all the Baroque-style doors and windows were replaced. When the British boarded the "Dingbei" again two months later, they were shocked to find that the captain's cabin was decorated with carved beams and columns, and incomprehensible Chinese ink paintings hung on the walls. The furniture had also been replaced with extremely complicated and exquisitely carved paintings. There are rosewood beds, Taishi chairs and Eight Immortals tables, and the floor is also covered with extremely gorgeous and precious animal skins and carpets.
Fortunately, there were two weapon racks placed against the wall on the right side of the bed. There were many weapons with no names on them, and they looked murderous. Otherwise, the British would have thought they were on a yacht.
Then there was the waiting for the arrival of the crew, and the British waited for several months.
Different from the warship configuration of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, according to the requirements of European sailing battleships at the same time, the rated crew number of a third-level sailing battleship is 490 people, and the rated crew number of a second-level battleship is 750 people. Of course, not all of these crew members are working on the ship at the same time, but are divided into two shifts.
The Manchu Qing ordered five second-level battleships and one third-level battleship. The sailors alone needed to be manned by more than 4,240 people, and the ships were equipped with nearly a hundred cannons, so the captain of each ship must be at least a first-in-command.
Since each ship is a mobile artillery fortress, which is an important military weapon, Qianlong specially arranged for all the Eight Banners generals to serve as captains, first mates, and gunners of each ship. It took a lot of time just to select these people from the Eight Banners. For a long time, because of the good treatment and heavy responsibilities, all the forces in the court wanted to break their heads for these positions.
While determining the candidates for the generals, Qianlong also ordered to select strong and brave soldiers from the water camps in Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang to form a naval force of 8,000 people, which was trained by the British sent by the East India Company.
In order to facilitate communication during training, the Governor's Office of Guangdong and Guangxi recruited a group of translators through the Thirteen Lines.
After finally getting through more than half a year, when the British felt that they could finally start training, something they couldn't understand happened again.
The bronze bell used to sound the alarm on the deck was removed. The Manchus believed that "bell" meant "finished playing", which was too unlucky, so they replaced it with a drum and bugler.
Here they shouted "all hands on guard", and there they started beating drums and blowing suonas; the ship's dispatch was changed to blowing the conch horn, and the retreat was changed to beating gongs. When the drill first started, there was a chaos on the deck!
The drums and music are loud, the flags are fluttering, and the firecrackers are all going off...
This is so embarrassing for the British! It took more than a month to get used to it. After that, I repeatedly negotiated with Manchu officials and finally streamlined some parts.
However, what is most incredible to the British is that most of these senior generals who were dispatched from various places by the Qing emperor to serve as captains could not even swim!
By this time, the more than 100 people from the East India Company had completely lost their temper, and they could do whatever they liked.
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