In the twenty-sixth year of Yongli's reign, March 25, China's largest trading port, Macau Port.
The armed merchant ship Great Eastern led nine old lock boats, rolled up snow-white waves, and slowly sailed into the Qianshan Waterway.
The terrain and place names of Macau are somewhat similar to Da Hao of the big brother Fai's family. Macau's original name is Hao Jing'ao, which also has the character "Hao". It is also a small island close to the mainland.
On the west side of Macau Island there is a Qianshan Waterway connecting the Xijiang River, on the north side of the island there is a Guanzha River, and on the southeast side of the island are Modaomen Haikou and Jiuliangyang.
Although Macau Island is surrounded by water, there is no place suitable for building a good harbor on the southeastern side of the island. Although the Guanzhao River in the north of the island can berth ships, it is too narrow after all. Therefore, the most important ports on Macau Island are located on the west side of the island, a piece of water that belongs to the Qianshan Waterway, but is called the Haojiang Inner Harbor.
If anyone wanted to attack Macau by water, they would have to break through the mouth of the Qianshan Waterway and enter the Haojiang Inner Harbor.
However, the water surface at the entrance of the Qianshan Water Channel is less than one mile wide, and the water channel is very close to the St. Paul's Fortress of Macau. The straight-line distance between the west bank of the water channel and the Macau Fortress is less than four miles.
In other words, the entire Qianshan Waterway is within the fire coverage of the twelve-pound bronze cannon on the Macau Fort!
In addition to the St. Paul's Fort, the patron saint of Macau, the Portuguese Macau fleet is also an extremely difficult opponent.
It's not that this fleet has many strong ships and guns, but that this fleet is equipped with small galleys that are very suitable for activities in narrow waters.
Moreover, these galleys are also equipped with many mercenaries who are good at fighting gangs... These people are either adventurers from the West or Japanese mercenaries who have been fighting on the battlefields of Southeast Asia for many years. only.
If a large sea-going ship coming from the outer sea is blocked by these desperate boats at the entrance of the waterway, it will become a living target for the twelve-pound cannon on the St. Paul Fort, and it will be a dead end!
Without the British Great Eastern to lead the way, it would be simply wishful thinking for Zhu Heji's fleet to enter Macau's Haojiang Inner Harbor through the Qianshan Waterway!
Now, accompanied by Ji Dabao, Da Boling, and Zhou Chaoxian, the stupid official of the Qing Dynasty caught in Jieyang County, Zhu Heji was standing on the stern deck of the Great Eastern, holding up a telescope and looking at everything. The Macau Fortress in the distance.
"Your Majesty, the location of the St. Paul's Fort in Macau is very tricky. It is located exactly between the entrance of the Qianshan Waterway and the inner harbor of the Haojiang River. The Hongyi cannon mounted on the fort can both block the Qianshan Pass and target the Haojiang River. Jiangnei Port is really difficult to deal with..."
The person who was explaining the terrain and defense situation of Macau to Zhu Heji was the ninth-rank sesame official Zhou Chaoxian.
This guy and the county magistrate Wu Xiaobao are probably corrupt officials who are not very greedy for money. They have not raised a ransom of only 10,000 taels for several months!
Moreover, this Zhou Dynasty was even worse than Wu Xiaobao. Wu Xiaobao was very gentle and refined, and he claimed that he had a lady of fifteen or sixteen years old who could be offered to King Zhu Tian, so he released her without paying a ransom and became the clerk of Prince Ding's Mansion.
And Zhou Chaoxian was so dark-looking that it didn’t look like a lady in his family!
So Zhu Heji planned to tear up the vote, no, he planned to kill him to sacrifice the flag. Everyone mentioned Da Hao, and he was about to kill him. When he was still verifying his identity, the home address he reported saved his life.
This Zhou Chaoxian turned out to be from Cuiheng Village, Nanlangdu, Xiangshan County!
According to him, his family has been in business for generations, and his father is one of the richest men in Xiangshan County. Logically speaking, it would be a piece of cake to spend 10,000 taels of silver to redeem him... But after waiting for several months, the money just didn't arrive!
So this Zhou Chaoxian had no choice but to work hard to save himself!
And his way to save himself is to work hard to lead the way. He is familiar with Xiangshan and Macau! Before he bought it, no, before he was admitted to the Juren Examination, he often smuggled it between the two places!
However, Zhou Chaoxian would never have thought that Zhu Heji was more familiar with Macau than he was. I don’t know how many times I’ve been here in my previous life. With my eyes closed, I could walk around twice under the fort, and then go to the Lisboa Hotel to play twice...
Just as Zhu Heji was holding up his telescope and carefully observing the familiar yet unfamiliar Macao in front of him, the Great Eastern had slowly sailed into the Qianshan Waterway.
Two Portuguese galleys came up to them as usual. The ships of the British East India Company could freely enter and exit the Qianshan waterway without restriction. But this time the Great Eastern was also carrying a long list of old lock boats, which was a bit unusual.
Seeing the Portuguese ship coming to inspect, Zhu Heji turned around and said to Ji Dabao: "Mr. Ji, go and watch Smith and the others and tell them not to talk nonsense. If the Portuguese want to inspect, let them go to the Haojiang River." We’ll check again at the pier in the port. If you need any money, just ask me for it!”
"Grass people obey orders!"
Ji Dabao did not accept the official position of Zhu Heji - in his view, Zhu Heji, Zhu's third grandson, was untrustworthy, unruly, and particularly capable of inciting hatred. He was not only the number one enemy of the Qing Dynasty, but also included Spain, Portugal, The four "world empires" of England and the Netherlands were all offended.
Such a master is not worthy of allegiance, so now he just calls himself a commoner.
After receiving Zhu Heji's words, he bowed and went to the bow of the ship to meet Smith, Gough, and Jones.
"Master," when Da Bo Ling saw Ji Dabao leaving, she came close to Zhu Heji and whispered, "Do you really believe this fake foreigner? I see his eyes twinkling, there must be something wrong in his heart!"
Zhu Heji smiled and said, "Where there are ghosts, there are ghosts. Anyway, I can't understand Portuguese. Sister Ling, do you understand?"
Da Boling shook her head. She was just about to say that she didn't understand, but Zhou Chaoxian beside her spoke first: "Master, I can speak some Portuguese...I'll help you listen."
Zhu Heji looked back at him and nodded approvingly, "This is learning from both China and the West! Very good! But... you don't have to listen to what they say, because the Gu family is not afraid of the twelve pounds on the fort. Long gun fire!”
Not afraid?
Zhou Chaoxian thought to himself: "Is it possible that Zhuge Liang has passed down some tips for avoiding artillery fire? It must be like this... It seems that I got a blessing in disguise this time, and I can be a founding hero in the future!"
"Sister Ling," Zhu Heji did not explain to Zhou Chaoxian, but said to Da Bo Ling, "go give orders to Zhao Hongkui and Su Zhanshan! Let him prepare smoke bombs and incendiary bottles!"
It turns out that Zhu Heji's real trump card is smoke bombs and Molotov cocktails!
Smoke bombs are also sugar bombs, but the ratio of sugar to saltpeter is different. No rust is added, and they are not afraid of getting wet. The more it is damp, the more smoke will be produced! The ship was of course covered by the smoke. The artillerymen on the fort couldn't see the target clearly, so they could only shoot blindly with their eyes closed.
As for the Molotov cocktail, it is easier to make. Light crude oil is thickened with gum arabic, and you can also add some sugar. Then stir it up and pour it into the porcelain bottle. When it's time to use it, pull out the stopper and replace it with a special cloth strip, light it on fire and throw it away... The Portuguese sailing boats will be finished with a Molotov cocktail!
While Zhao Hongkui was commanding his brothers to prepare smoke bombs and incendiary bottles, three British guys, Smith, Charlie Gough and Jones, were "forced" to coax the Portuguese who were blocking the Great Eastern.
Because they were "forced", the foreigners of all colors on the Great Eastern were bare-handed and did not carry any weapons.
And every foreigner is accompanied by at least one Jin-clad soldier with a sword!
Smith, Charlie Goff and Jones were of course followed by the Jin Yiwei, and they also suspected that the Jin Yiwei following them were all high-level talents proficient in English, Portuguese, Spanish and Latin, so they could only be forced to be honest. Real cooperation to avoid unnecessary sacrifices...
"Yes, yes, the Great Eastern plus nine old lock ships, a total of ten ships, are all the property of the British East India Company. According to the treaty, they can enter the port without inspection."
"The boat was loaded with sugar and Teochew rum..."
"Yes, ten shiploads of sugar and rum!"
"We have a great ship of Teochew black and gold rum, and we will sell a batch of rum in Macau and then load it up with supplies. We can send you a few barrels of black rum then! That would be great Rum, maybe the best in the world!"
I don’t know whether the friendship between the British and the Portuguese is really that strong, or whether the few barrels of black rum promised by Charlie Gough played a role.
Anyway, the two Portuguese galleys blocking the road were released soon, and one of them personally led the way, leading the Great Eastern into the narrow Qianshan channel. Then we drove all the way to the Haojiang Inner Harbor Pier, which was full of large and small wooden boats...
