The flagship that Gao Jing was on was called the "Xin Zheng". The captain of the Xinzheng was not a servant with a different surname, but an employment relationship similar to that of Wei Ximin and Shen Li'an, and his status was equivalent to that of a general shopkeeper somewhere on land. →eight→.eight** reading,.↓.o≥
His name is Liang Sancai, and he is also from Cantonese, but his status is a bit special. He is an "individual maritime businessman" - of course this is a nicer way of saying it. In fact, this man's previous main business was piracy. To put it mildly, 90% of Ming merchants these days are pirates, or have been pirates in the past.
Of course, the "pirates" of the Ming Dynasty did not necessarily go to sea to rob, they just pretended to be pirates and engaged in maritime business - this matter is more complicated and cannot be explained clearly in 10,000 words. Anyway, the reason is that it is prohibited It was caused by the sea. Later, after Gao Gong opened the sea, many former pirates transformed into law-abiding maritime merchants. Captain Liang Sancai was one of them.
However, his family had little background. He only relied on his personal abilities to become a captain. He did not own a ship, so he later moved to higher places and accepted Jinghua's employment and became a captain of Jinghua's Guangzhou Port transportation team.
"Turn around and grab the wind!"
Following Gao Jing's order, Captain Liang Sancai roared at the top of his lungs: "Get ready!"
Under the scolding of the sailmaster, the sailors pulled hard to turn the beam rope. The pulley moved, and the beam started to rotate with a "squeaking" friction sound.
"Fuck you, grandma, use more strength! Haven't you fucking eaten yet?" As he spoke, the girder rotated greatly, and all the hard sails caught the wind together. When Liang Sancai saw it, he immediately shouted to the three helmsmen waiting beside him: "Left full helmsman!"
"Yes!" The helmsmen responded majesticly together, holding the long tiller tightly, and there were muscle bumps on the strong arms. The rudder pushed away the water, and the water splashed towards the belly of the ship, making a splashing sound.
The "Xinzheng" began to turn into the wind, all the sails vibrated in the wind, and the rigging trembled. The sailor at the stern hoisted a mizzen yard sail to help trim the stern. The bow jib also fluttered, slowly bringing the bow into the wind.
This scene may seem like nothing, but if a knowledgeable maritime veteran sees it, he will understand deeply that in that short moment just now, all the sails of the "Xin Zheng" were in the headwind state. If some of the sails are not immediately angled to starboard, the boat will be on the bow to windward side and difficult to maneuver back.
Being able to accurately grasp the timing is crucial. Captain Liang Sancai is very experienced. Although he has only been transferred to this ship as captain not long ago, he has already understood the navigation performance of the "Xin Zheng". Seeing that the bow of the ship has been brought into the wind, he makes a prompt decision. The ground roared: "Pull the mainsail!"
This is a traditional command to turn the main yard and mizzen yard. The sailors shouted in unison, and every muscle in their bodies tensed up. ℃∮八℃∮八℃∮Read the ℃∮ book, .⌒.o≈ They turned the winch, adjusted the jib rigging, and changed the direction of the yard so that the sail received the wind at a new angle.
Hard sails and soft sails are the most obvious differences in maritime technology between China and the West in the sailing era. Many people in later generations believe that the West won the Age of Navigation, so soft sails must be better than hard sails. This is actually a misunderstanding.
Just to mention a few points, first, the hard sail is supported by the ribs, and the sail surface shape becomes smaller under strong winds, so it will not lose much efficiency.
Second, the hard sail can be furled one frame at a time, and the sail area can be flexibly adjusted. Reefing is also very convenient, and it has strong adaptability to different wind speeds. Soft sails have also been divided into frames later, but the operation of soft sails is much more troublesome.
Third, the front and rear sails of a hard-sailed multi-masted sailboat change the total stress center through different reefing, thereby improving the air rudder effect and enhancing the maneuverability.
Fourth, hard sails perform better in light winds because they have ribs to support the sail surface. The soft sail is extremely ineffective when the breeze cannot inflate the sail surface. So the breeze performance of a hard sail is better than that of a soft sail.
Fifth, because there are sail bones to control the sail surface, the sail surface of a hard sail will not flap like a soft sail when sailing into the wind. Especially when the sail rope is relaxed to allow the sail to "turn with the wind", there will be no oscillation of the sail surface, and it can easily "turn with the wind" in a breeze.
Sixth, because it is supported by the sail bones, damage to the sail surface is usually localized and does not need to be repaired immediately. General damage will not have much impact on the performance of the sail. Some people in later generations even believed that appropriate damage would be beneficial to the windward performance.
Seventh, the canvas of the hard sail is supported by the sail bones, so there is no stress concentration and the requirements for the canvas material are extremely low.
Of course, hard sails are not without their shortcomings. One of the disadvantages is that the sail bones increase the weight of the sail and limit the height of the mast. Second, the existence of stays limits the addition of stays in the middle of the mast, but the fore and aft sail itself cannot be equipped with stays.
The advantages and disadvantages of soft sails are exactly opposite to those of hard sails. Generally speaking, the biggest advantage of soft sails is their lighter weight. Other aspects such as safety, maneuverability, simplicity, etc. are not as good as hard sails.
This is also the root cause of why Westerners relied on Western-style soft sails to win the Age of Navigation, but in later generations of competitive sailboats, they all switched to hard sails - Western-style soft sails were lighter and could carry more cannons, but in the competitive era There is no need to install a cannon, just simple and accurate control.
As for the issue of horizontal and longitudinal sails, Western-style soft sails can be made, as can Chinese-style hard sails - Jinghua's ship has done so.
The series of movements directed by Liang Sancai were just right. With the help of the wind, the sail yard was quickly adjusted.
The yard is turned to a new angle, the back of the sail begins to take the wind, and the sails on the main and mizzen mast push the stern in one direction. The sail on the foremast is still in the headwind state, pushing the bow of the ship from the other direction, like a brake, ensuring that the "Xinzheng" remains stable in the final stage of tacking and turning, and will not be blown by the wind and spin in place.
With the concerted efforts of the sailors, the ship slowly turned to a new course, and Captain Liang Sancai shouted in time: "Pull the foresail!"
Dong Nan, who had become an "apprentice sailor", quickly ran to the front deck with the sailors and adjusted the fore yard to the same angle as the middle and mizzen yard.
How long it takes to tack and turn depends entirely on the wind and wave conditions. For a Western-style soft sail, a pleasant breeze can help the boat gain speed at the beginning of the turn, which may only take a stick of incense. But in a light breeze it can take an hour or more. The most troublesome thing is that in stormy weather, it is even too dangerous to tack on the wind. Once you encounter that situation, you can only resort to turning downwind.
However, Chinese hard sails are only afraid of stormy days, because too strong wind may destroy the sail surface or mast. However, the difference between light wind and breeze is no different on a hard sailboat, and both can be dealt with quickly.
At this time, the battle flag was also raised on the main mast of the Xinzheng. Looking from a distance, I saw two Fo Lang warships approaching with the wind. The "Kaiping" and "Huojia" next to the Xinzheng, like arrows from the string, seized the upper hand and outflanked them to the left.
Zheng's Folangji warship also spotted them and suddenly raised its sails and turned. But it's all too late. It takes time to turn to windward or to follow the wind. Due to the complicated operation of soft sailing ships and their obviously amateurish handling skills, this time is enough for the three Jinghua battleships in the lead to enter the matchlock. Within shooting range.
Gao Jing did not choose a long-range artillery battle, he chose a boarding battle - in the case of an artillery battle, he was worried that the opponent's artillery fire would hit farther, and he very much hoped to capture the opponent's warship - he knew that Gao Jingshi had always wanted to do something Research on a red-haired warship.
In this case, it would be bad if it was sunk.
But the Zheng's Folang warship took advantage of its artillery fire advantage and opened fire first!
Since the distance was actually very close, the deck of the "Kaiping" was suddenly hit by two shots. The red-hot solid shells hit the deck, and black fog suddenly billowed.
The roar of artillery, the cracking of shipboards, the swishing of ropes, shouts and roars were endless.
"Left full rudder! Charge forward!"
The "Kaiping" became a target, and Gao Jing on the flagship was so angry that he ordered an attack.
While ordering the sailmaster to take over the ship and rush over, he called on the sailors to go up the yard and prepare to jump into a gang and start a hand-to-hand battle.
The fire team composed of sailors was divided into two and stood on the bow and stern of the "Xin Zheng", using the height to provide fire support to the jumpers.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The "Huojia" had entered the firing range, completely ignoring the tickling bombardment of Zheng Jun's boat coming from behind, passed through a series of water columns, and concentrated its firepower on a Franco machine warship on the left.
After a thunderous bombardment, the mast and sail yard of the French warship broke off, entangled the sailors on the deck in canvas and cables. This ship seems to be unlucky, because the "Walker" does not have chain bombs, and it is basically luck to break the mast.
Because it was the flagship, the "Xinzheng", which was slightly cautious but arrived belatedly, also participated in this fierce battle at sea. With the command of the fire team, the fire team took turns to fire, like a shower of bullets and sharp Splinters of wood swept across the deck, and acrid smoke filled the air.
The Folangji warships fought desperately. Even though there was a river of blood on the deck, the captain and helmsman still instinctively steered the ship to avoid collision. They had received brief training from the Folangji and took collisions very seriously.
Well, this may be one of the manifestations of the petty ambitions of the Flemish people in a small country with few people, but it may also illustrate the rigor of Westerners in combat.
The battle continued in the billowing smoke, five feet...three feet...two meters...
The "Xin Zheng" was getting closer and closer to the Fo Lang machine warship. The ship's fire team completely suppressed the opponent's firepower, but the Fo Lang machine war ship, which was beaten to the point of being unable to fight back, still did not want to surrender.
I saw a man who looked like a captain, holding his injured arm, and ordered the remaining people to clean the deck, hang the foresail yard with iron chains to prevent it from being cut off, put two boxes of goods on the front deck, and put two boxes of goods on the steering wheel. Put a box of flowers on the deck.
In order to prevent Liang Sancai and the others from boarding the ship, they hurriedly spread a layer of butter on the deck and sprinkled it with dried peas and large pointed upward nails.
"For Jinghua!"
"Xinzheng" is the flagship. Although it is the same size as other armed transport ships, it has the most sailors and is the well-deserved main force.
The brother warships had attracted firepower for it and created favorable conditions for boarding battle. How could Captain Liang Sancai disappoint them? He shouted "For Jinghua", grabbed a cable, and swung over at the lead.
"For Jinghua!" Others naturally refused to lag behind at this critical moment.
As soon as Captain Liang Sancai swung out of the ship's side, he jumped over with more than thirty sailors.
There were fire barrels on both the front and rear decks. The gunfire team on the ship did not dare to fire anymore. They simply threw down their matchlock guns and jumped over one by one to join in the hand-to-hand combat.
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