As a former gunner commander, Luo Yuan has a special liking for naval artillery battles. Although he has actually only fought once in actual combat so far, the artillery battle on the "Civet" gave him a great shock, and this shock turned into a kind of fanatical passion, which made him only want to fight in front of him. One option was an artillery battle, a temptation he would find hard to resist.
As soon as Takagi San's order came, Luo Yuan immediately became energetic and asked all members of the ship to take action. The bells on the "Light Hussars" were ringing loudly, and the deck was busy.
The gunner commander opened the gun door, moved the prepared ammunition from the ammunition compartment to the deck, placed it separately in a special position next to the artillery emplacement, and simply fixed it.
Although the warship is not yet in a suitable position, and it is not even certain which side of the gun will fire, the gunners already need to be in place.
One of the features of the artillery produced by Jinghua is that the height of the muzzle can be adjusted slightly, and a simple and easy-to-use sighting device is installed. Although these equipments are very crude in Gao's pragmatic view, in any case, having them is definitely better than not having them, so Jinghua Artillery Factory has always insisted on equipping them with them.
Now the gunners need to make some adjustments in advance and ensure that the equipment is intact and usable. The gunnery commander even asked the auxiliary gunners to start warm-up exercises - they are responsible for delivering and loading solid projectiles, loading gunpowder, cleaning the gun barrel and other physical tasks. It would be very bad if cramps occur after the battle begins.
The captain of the sails and ropes is obviously not idle. He is asking all the sailors responsible for the operation of the sails and ropes to check all the sails and ropes again, and move the sail and rope accessories that are most vulnerable to attack and damaged to a position below the deck very close to the hatch. .
The "Light Cavalry" is an experimental reconnaissance ship. Although there are a group of "Engineers" and a "Chief Engineer" on the ship, the sailmaster does not dare to put all his hopes on them.
As a reconnaissance ship, the most critical performance is speed and observation distance. Therefore, the "Light Cavalry" not only has a single-person small observation tower built on the mainmast that is extraordinarily high, but also the mainmast uses a whole fir tree with southwest characteristics. .
Warships at this time were all made of wood, and anyone who entered these warships would find themselves completely surrounded by all kinds of wood: under their feet were pine or teak floors that were nearly a foot wide each, and above their heads were wide wooden floors made of oak. Nearly two feet of horizontal plank.
In addition, you can also see a towering, huge mainmast - it is made of a whole trunk of a fir tree, a specialty of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau.
This huge specialty fir tree must be collected from the plateau mountainous area in the west of Yunnan, transported to the upper reaches of the Red River (the Red River originates from Ailao Mountain in Yunnan) through extremely difficult land transportation, and then downstream from the northern part of Annan to the sea, and finally transported to Qinzhou The shipyard carries out processes such as drying and manufacturing.
All in all, this kind of wood itself is not expensive (Jinghua has a special status and western Yunnan is under the jurisdiction of Yunnan Tusi), but the transportation cost is surprisingly huge. It can be said that looking at the whole of East Asia, only wealthy owners like Jinghua will use it - and only on a few classes of warships.
This specially ordered whole fir tree is not the ordinary three- to five-foot-tall fir tree. It is as high as twenty feet (that’s right, sixty meters high) and is so thick that even an adult man can’t hug it. The mast penetrated the deck and was connected to the wooden keel and even the bottom of the ship.
The sailmaster first asked to check the mainmast, which is the watchtower, and the watchman on the watchpost also checked whether the small flags on his body were all ready. During the battle, the cannons rumbled, and the people below may also make various roars. His voice on the watchtower It may not be heard below, so the observation results must be reported with the help of semaphores, so the flags must be complete and intact.
The sailors of the other masts cannot relax. A series of inspections must be carried out in accordance with the regulations. Otherwise, in addition to the inherent fine system and confinement for the servants of the Gao family, what awaits them is flogging, that is, whipping with a whip. ——The sea is different from the ground. Sometimes there is really no deterrence if you don’t take action.
The busiest people below the deck are the chief engineer and the engineers. They are the "guinea pigs" that the entire Beijing-China fleet is concerned about. Whether this "high-speed reconnaissance ship" can be high-speed depends on their variables.
In addition to being concerned about the artillery battle, Luo Yuan himself was most concerned about the performance of the engine crews, or the performance of the propeller. Jinghua has spent so much effort, time and money, so naturally it hopes that it can pass the actual combat test.
According to the standards given by Gao Pragmatic, the speed of Jinghua's other warships is probably around 7-8 knots. The speed of European warships fluctuates greatly in different sea conditions. It can be roughly regarded as 6-9 knots. In case something happens, Damage, even the minimum value will be lower.
The reason for this has been mentioned before. Hard sails are not afraid of headwinds, and the speed difference between downwind and headwind is not very big, while soft sails can pull the hips upwind and high speed.
Due to the artificial drive shaft propeller bonus, this "Left Wing Hussars" once ran more than 13 knots during the trial voyage in the Bohai Sea. What's more, it should be noted that the wind force is not very strong in the sea conditions of the Bohai Sea. Although due to manpower reasons, this speed cannot be maintained for too long, generally speaking, its ability to temporarily escape should be unparalleled in the world.
Historically, China built a Chinese-style sailing ship "Qiying" at the end of the Qing Dynasty. The ship set off from Hong Kong from 1846 to 1848, passing through the Cape of Good Hope and the east coast of the United States to the United Kingdom, setting a record for the longest sailing voyage by Chinese sailing ships. distant record.
This Qiying is made of teak, has three sails, and has a displacement of 800 tons. The British are very interested in the level of the shipbuilding industry around the world, so they have worked out the technical parameters of the Qiying.
Under the attention and research of the British, they believed that the maximum theoretical speed of the Qiying reached 15.3 knots, but this was just a theory. Its best recorded speed is less than 8-9 knots, its best average speed is 5-6 knots, and its average long-distance speed is 3.5 knots.
Don’t underestimate this record, because the previous statements about the speed of other Jinghua warships at 7-8 knots and the speed of European warships at 6-9 knots are actually equivalent to the "best record speed", and they will definitely not be reached during the voyage. so tall.
There is a big difference between the "Left Wing Ranger" and the "Left Wing Ranger". What can be seen at a glance on the surface is the clipper bow and the ultra-high mainmast (the main mast of the "Left Wing Ranger" is only half as high as the "Left Wing Ranger") The difference is that there is propeller power below the deck, or to be precise, in the cabin below the water level, so the "best record speed" of the "Left Wing Ranger" reaches 8-10 knots.
If this boat is put into the Atlantic Ocean, where there are often strong winds, it is very likely to reach a high speed of 12 knots. Moreover, the tonnage of this high-speed reconnaissance ship is not small, with about 2,000 tons of material (approximate displacement of 1,000 tons), which is slightly larger than an armed transport ship.
The sailors in the engine room were all warming up. The chief engineer personally brought two technical craftsmen from the shipyard to check the main shaft. Except for the inevitable water seepage in the extended part, everything else was normal.
After receiving reports from all parties, Luo Yuan ordered: approach the Spanish treasure ship formation, open the left and right gun ports in advance, put the artillery in position, and read the flag saying "requesting your ship to stop and undergo inspection" - but he knew that the Spaniards may not see it. Gotta understand.
The reason is simple: the most complex semaphore of this era is the semaphore of Jinghua, which itself was created by the Ship Department under high pragmatic insistence. It was first implemented within Jinghua, and then extended to the northern and southern fleets and the fleets that followed them to sea. Civilian merchant ship.
Europeans have not yet become popular with this thing, or it is still in an extremely primitive stage.
The high degree of acceptance of semaphore by the navigators of Beijing and even the Ming Dynasty even surprised Gao Pragmatic. Later, he thought about it and found that this probably had something to do with China's history.
According to historical records, "semaphores" as a means of communication existed in early ancient China and were used for communication. The oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty contain records about flags. At that time, they were mainly used to indicate identity or indicate direction. They were the most authentic flag language.
The Military Book "Six Taoist Tiger Tao" records: "People hold the flag, look at each other outside and inside, and give orders with the number, and do not make a sound." This shows that flags have been used in military operations in ancient times.
During the Three Kingdoms period, which is most familiar to future generations, semaphore communication has been applied to warships. "Taiping Yulan·Zhuge Liang's Military Order" records: "When you hear the sound of beating drums and raise white flags and crimson flags, all large and small ships will enter the battle. Those who do not advance will be killed. When you hear the sound of gold and raise the green flag, all ships will stop. Those who do not stop will be killed."
The land division of the Ming Dynasty also used various flags to command operations, and the navy also flew flags. However, before Jinghua launched a special flag language, no one had ever seen the use of flags to express such complex meanings.
On the contrary, the recorded history of semaphores abroad - mainly in Europe - is not very long. Until 1684. The Englishman Robert Hooke used hanging several obvious symbols to communicate. This is the birth of the naval semaphore.
In 1793, Frenchman Claude Chappe used the position and angle of the left and right wooden arms of the cross moving up and down to represent each letter, called Semaphore. This is the origin of the English word for semaphore. This can be regarded as the "previous life" of today's Jinghua semaphore. origin.
It is said that in 1814, the news that the exiled Napoleon escaped from Elba Island and returned to Paris used this method to spread quickly throughout Europe.
But before that, there was a more famous thing. That was in 1802, Britain and France, exhausted by the long war, signed the "Peace of Amiens". However, the two sides tore up the treaty the next year and resumed the peace treaty. hostile relationship. When the British heard that Napoleon was going to invade Britain, British Admiral Nelson was ordered to contain the French Rear Admiral Villeneuve's fleet stationed in Toulon.
In the spring of 1805, Villeneuve got rid of Nelson's blockade and assembled with the Spanish fleet in Cadiz. Nelson pursued him all the way. On October 21 of that year, the two sides faced off at Cape Trafalgar in the Strait of Gibraltar.
As the fleets of the two countries gradually approached, Nelson sent one of the most famous flags in the history of British naval warfare to his ship "Victory": "England requires everyone to do their duty."
In fact, Nelson's initial order to his communications officer was that "England confides that everyone will do their duty." However, the communications officer suggested using "expects" instead of "believes" for a simple reason: the former is used in the semaphore. It can be found in the manual, but the latter has to be spelled out letter by letter. Nelson agreed to the change, hence the famous quote above.
Nelson's words were meant to boost morale before battle, so they were not commonly used as semaphores, so the communications officer suggested changing the words. Luo Yuan's order at this time was different. "Requesting your ship to stop and undergo inspection" was a flag frequently used by Jinghua.
To put it bluntly, in the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, the Sea of Japan, the South China Sea, and even in the Bay of Bengal off the coast of Myanmar, Jinghua often uses this semaphore, and the reason is very simple: I have the biggest fist. If I want to check you, I will check you. .
The Spaniards have also encountered this situation, but usually in the South China Sea. It is not clear whether anyone in this Spanish fleet has seen Jinghua's semaphore.
However, from Luo Yuan's point of view, that is nothing. The entire sea of East Asia is our Jinghua territory. On our territory, you don't understand our flag language... Haha, then don't blame me for not saying hello if you get beaten. That is the Chinese famous saying: "Don't say you don't predict what you say!"
The Spanish treasure ship formation had always been aware that the "Left Wing Ranger" was following them, but when they saw it suddenly and boldly approaching, opening the gun doors and sending out a semaphore, they quickly reacted.
Coincidentally, many members of this Spanish fleet traveled the hemispheric route all year round - from Mexico to the Philippines, and then through the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean around the Cape of Good Hope back to Spain, stopping mainly at Portuguese colonies for supplies. For this reason, they could understand the simple semaphore of the "Left Hussars".
However, despite understanding it, the Spaniards’ reaction to this semaphore was not very friendly. Perhaps it is because there is only one Jinghua warship in sight, and this warship looks rather strange, and its tonnage does not seem to be large. It is at least one size smaller than the six large treasure ships of their own. Therefore, not only did the Spaniards not Planning to stop the ship, they even quickly adjusted the formation's course and began to sail towards the "Left Wing Hussars".
The "coming" was obviously not to proactively meet the inspection, because Luo Yuan didn't even need to report from the watchtower. He could see clearly with a telescope: the Spanish treasure ship also opened its gun doors, and from the Judging from the movements of Rotating Sail and Zhang Quanfan, it was obvious that they were coming to fight.
Six 1,200-ton Galen warships came together, which obviously had a strong deterrent effect on the "Left Wing Hussars" which was only 1,000 tons. Even though Jinghua's sailors had already developed the mentality of "I am the biggest at sea", they still subconsciously stared with bated breath as they watched the approach of the Spanish Galen formation.
Luo Yuan snorted softly and ordered: "Signal: If your ship refuses to be inspected, you will be responsible for the consequences." After a pause, he continued: "Our ship turned ninety degrees to the left (the ship was instructed according to Gao Pragmatic Guidance) , has been promoted), the starboard artillery is ready, and all personnel in the engine room are on standby to prepare for acceleration.”
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