4332 (the eighth year of Chongzhen), May 5th, Guangzhou Wharf.
Fifty-eight cargo ships are docked near the dock.
There are ten cargo ships loading goods at the dock.
A large number of horse-drawn carriages brought the goods to the dock, all packed with ropes.
Steam crane on the dock, the hook is constantly moving.
Steam cranes are gantry cranes, and cargo ships and carriages are located below the gantry crane.
The steam engine drives the hook to move on the steel frame, making it very convenient to transport half a ton of cargo directly from the carriage to the ship.
Li Shengli looked at the loading speed of the steam crane and said with emotion: "This is the steam engine introduced in the newspaper. This kind of machine is so advanced.
With the steam crane, loading and unloading that usually takes an hour can now be completed in less than a stick of incense. "
While the cargo ship is loading, the tax police from the Municipal Shipping Department are also checking whether the goods are consistent with the tax bill.
For temporary replacement of goods, you can apply for back taxes in advance.
Once discovered, it will be treated as tax evasion.
The ten steam cranes worked with great efficiency, and ten cargo ships were filled.
They were being towed by tugboats and were moving out of the dock.
Wang Fucai followed Yang Wencai, and he muttered dissatisfiedly: "My boss, if these later maritime merchants hadn't jumped in, we would have all set off now."
Yang Wencai glared at him and said: "Don't talk nonsense. If you miss one day at sea, what impact will it have?
The larger the fleet that goes out to sea, the better. The more people there are, the more powerful it is.
Once an accident occurs at sea, one more person means more strength. "
Wang Fucai heard what Yang Wencai said, and he also saw their ship raising its sail.
He kept chanting: "Mazu bless you for a smooth sailing, Mazu bless you..."
Wang Fucai looked at the boat moving outside, and then looked at himself standing on the dock.
"Master, we haven't boarded the ship yet, why did the ship leave?"
Yang Wencai slapped Wang Fucai on the head.
"I told you a long time ago, I slipped away again.
We loaded up the cargo and wanted to make way for the dock.
Later, General Manager Yu Fuyun will hold a small meeting for us. After the meeting, we will take a boat to get off. "
Yu Fuyun, general manager of the Guangdong Maritime Trading Company, called all the maritime merchants who went to sea with them for a meeting.
Yu Fuyun looked at these people and said with sharp eyes: "Before going to sea, I have a few things to make clear.
If any of you disagree, you can apply to withdraw after listening to what I have to say.
The first thing is that ships going out to sea are forced to add cold bean sprouts to the menu.
You can choose soybean sprouts, mung bean sprouts or other bean sprouts according to your taste.
But this dish must be served cold, and every ship must have this bean sprout dish. "
Many maritime merchants don’t understand why the government requires this?
The government still has to control what kind of food they eat.
But this matter is extremely simple. Soybeans and mung beans are relatively cheap beans.
These beans are also shelf-stable, and only a handful of soybeans or mung beans are needed to produce plenty of sprouts.
It's just cold bean sprouts. This dish may not be delicious.
But they Cantonese people can't eat anything, just a dish of cold bean sprouts.
Yu Fuyun didn't understand either. King Su He of Qin wrote to him specifically and solemnly explained the reason why he must eat this dish when going to sea.
But when they went sailing, they originally had bean sprouts as a dish.
But most of them are fried or boiled, or served cold with bean sprouts. This way of eating is rare.
Yu Fuyun saw that the merchants did not respond, so he agreed to his request and continued:
“Everyone is willing to follow the fleet of our Guangdong Maritime Trading Company, which shows your trust in our company.
But I have promised you in advance that if you encounter pirates or a storm, our company's armed merchant ships will try their best to rescue you.
However, our company is not responsible for compensation for losses caused by other reasons.
If someone leaves the fleet privately and any accident occurs, we will not be responsible for it. "
Li Shengli cupped his hands and said, "Manager Yu is too polite. We are unlucky when encountering natural disasters and pirates.
Until then you can only hope for the best and your fleet will not be blamed. "
Yu Fuyun saw that the attitude of the sea merchant was very good. He stood up and said, "You all board the ship. When you are ready, we will go to sea."
The merchants all boarded their own cargo ships.
Yu Fuyun did not board the ship. He was waiting for someone at the dock.
After waiting for a while, I saw a capable officer, followed by two guards, walking towards the dock.
He was wearing an active military uniform, a garment that Yu Fuyun greatly envied.
After taking it off, it is very difficult to put it back on.
"Consultant Cao, you are welcome to come to our company for guidance."
Cao Zhengyuan said politely: "Manager Yu, you are so polite. I, a little person, can give you some advice? You are my senior, and I want to learn from you."
Cao Zhengyuan was very polite. He was a little later than the agreed time today because he was waiting for an instrument to arrive.
He is a fourth-generation student of the military academy, majoring in drafting in the Staff Section, a major with very few personnel.
Starting from the fourth phase of the military academy, the military academy began to be divided into public courses and professional courses.
Professional courses deeply cultivate a certain ability of officers.
The two guards behind Cao Zhengyuan said nothing, holding a large wooden box in their hands and looking around warily.
They are the guards of Li Qingmu, the governor of the Nanhai Fleet.
These people were not trying to protect Cao Zhengyuan, but the instruments in the wooden box.
Cao Zhengyuan is just a staff officer of the South China Sea Fleet. The staff officer does not have a leader and does not speak loudly.
"Manager Yu, can you wait a moment while we change these clothes?
It's not good to wear a military uniform. "
"There happens to be our company's conference room next to the pier. There's no one there right now. It's a good place for you to change clothes."
Yu Fuyun immediately led them to the place where the meeting had just been held.
He knew that Cao Zhengyuan came with a secret mission.
He hurried to the dock without even changing into his military uniform, probably because he was afraid of missing the time to go to sea.
When Yu Fuyun saw them changing into ordinary clothes and coming out, he asked Cao Zhengyuan:
"Commander Cao, what do you need on the ship?"
“Manager Yu, give us a room near the deck.
We would be out on the deck frequently during the day and at night.
You will also often be asked about the location of the fleet, and it is best to have a guide who is familiar with the sea routes. "
When Yu Fuyun heard these two requests, he breathed a sigh of relief.
These two requirements of Staff Officer Cao can be easily fulfilled.
Yu Fuyun quickly took Cao Zhengyuan aboard his flagship Hongyun.
This is a rather special armed merchant ship.
It is more than twenty meters long and has only a single mast and a single deck.
But on the deck, there are more than 40 artillery pieces, four of which are naval guns.
There are also two rocket launchers on the bow and stern of the ship.
There are four rocket launchers on each side of the cabin.
Equip rockets with heavy fire bombs and delayed fuses. Calculate the distance and the warheads will explode directly on the ship.
A large amount of fierce fire oil falls in the air and burns, and the sea of fire can cover an area.
If the wooden hull gets a little bit of it, a big hole will be burned.
The rockets only have conventional black powder rockets, which can only hit close targets.
Those special rockets can only be used by the military, and their fleet belongs to civilian armed forces.
The use of this more dangerous ammunition is not allowed.
When Yu Fuyun saw that everything was ready, he gave the order to go to sea.
"Raise the sails and set sail."
The leading armed merchant ship, the Lucky Fortune, sounded a loud whistle on the ship.
This is the sound made by a small boiler on the ship, ejecting steam.
There is also a steam engine on the ship, which mainly controls the raising and lowering of the sail.
It can also provide some power for the ship, such as room fans and naval gun traction.
The Hongyun took the lead, and fifty-eight cargo ships followed the Hongyun.
There are also nine armed merchant ships slightly smaller than the Lucky Fortune, guarding both sides of the fleet.
On the mast of each ship, there is a flag with a silver coin pattern.
This is a flag issued by the Municipal Shipping Department. If a ship has this flag, it will not be intercepted by armed merchant ships of the anti-smuggling team and Qin Navy warships.
Yang Wencai saw that the armed merchant ships had raised their sails, and he ordered the cargo ships to follow the government's fleet.
He had already written a suicide note, and he also asked everyone on his crew to write a suicide note.
Every time I go to sea, I am working hard to explain my funeral arrangements.
He is already in his forties, and if he doesn't work hard, he won't have a chance to work hard.
This time I must be willful and fight in this great era.
If he works out the results, he will be able to leave a huge fortune to his family.
Even if the fight fails, with his son Yang Tengfei leading the family, their Yang family will not decline.
The fleet advanced slowly, leaning on both banks and heading toward the ocean.
Wang Fucai stood on the deck and introduced the situation on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to Yang Wencai.
"My boss, this is Xiangshan County. The place in front is Haojing, which was previously occupied by the Xiyi people.
Now it has been recaptured by the government.
The government is building a fort here, probably to defend against the Ming Dynasty Navy.
Boss, what is the purpose of this cement pool on the shore?
Cement is a very good material for building roads and docks.
I saw some people building houses out of concrete. The houses they built were very strong and they no longer had to worry about typhoons blowing them down. "
Yang Wencai took one look and recognized this facility.
“This is a salt farm built on the seaside, and the layout is exactly the same as the Zigong Salt Farm.
When the salt factory on the seaside is built, I believe that under the rule of King Qin, there will no longer be a shortage of salt. "
It is May and the wind is mainly southwesterly on the sea.
The fleet headed south, sailing against the wind.
The crew of the fleet are all veteran sailors who have sailed many times and know how to adjust the sails to make the fleet sail against the wind.
Cao Zhengyuan looked at the fleet's special route and said:
“When a sailboat is traveling against the wind, it needs to turn its hull sideways so that the sails and hull form a certain angle.
One side of the sail is filled with wind, and the other side is under less pressure.
The hull uses this pressure difference to move forward.
When moving forward in this way, the ship's direction of travel deviates from the direction of its destination.
Therefore, after a sailboat has been sailing for a period of time, it is necessary to adjust the direction of the sail to change the course and move forward in a zigzag manner. "
Cao Zhengyuan watched the fleet move and wrote down information with a pencil from time to time.
Occasionally, some wooden balls are thrown into the sea to check the direction of the flow of the wooden balls along the ocean and record the direction of the ocean current.
From time to time he took out a strange instrument, through which he observed the position of the fleet and recorded it on his chart.
This is his main task, recording the nautical charts and hydrometeorological information of the fleet's passage.
The instrument he took was a sextant invented by Lu Lingxiao, the son of Lu Yuanshan, the admiral of the First Fleet of the South China Sea Fleet.
This peculiar instrument is used in conjunction with the longitude and latitude charts produced by the Academy of Sciences.
It can determine the position of the ship at any point on the sea. This instrument can navigate on the sea.
When Cao Zhengyuan was studying in Hanzhong, he didn't believe that such an incredible instrument existed.
After using it, he discovered that this instrument really had this magical effect.
The sextant he is using now is the latest version of the third generation and is very easy to use.
With sextant navigation in navigation, the fleet will never get lost again.
The two guards beside him were also responsible for protecting the sextant and would never allow it to be obtained by the enemy, especially the Xiyi people.
In an emergency, these two guards will die together with the sextant.
…………………………
Li Shengli stood on the deck and looked out, and the shopkeeper next to him asked in confusion: "Master, why do you think the government people chose to go to sea in May.
Heading south at this time, there is mostly a headwind.
Why don't they wait for the north wind to come before they go south again.
In this way, we can use the wind to reach Luzon Island in the shortest time. "
Li Shengli also had some doubts, and he couldn't guess the government's purpose.
“It’s okay, it’s just that the speed is slower and the damage to the hull is a bit high.
We can still reach our destination.
As long as our trip goes well, there will be a favorable wind when we come back.
This way no time is wasted. "
As Li Shengli spoke, he used his newly purchased telescope to look around on the sea.
He soon discovered that more than twenty warships appeared in front of the fleet, many of which were scarred.
When he saw the flags hoisted by the fleet, his pupils immediately tightened.
"We encountered pirates. This is Liu Xiang's pirate fleet."
Soon a small boat came near the Li family fleet.
"You stay close to the fleet. The armed merchant ships will fight the pirates. Don't get close to the battlefield."
When Li Shengli heard this order, he immediately commanded his fleet to approach the official fleet.
He looked at the government's armed merchant ships, lined up hand to tail, and went to fight Liu Xiang's pirate fleet.
…………………………
"Master, we bought a large warship from the Portuguese this time.
This means that if you go north, you will definitely defeat Zheng Zhilong and completely control the sea in Guangdong.
Regardless of the brotherhood of Shiba Zhi, Zheng Zhilong has annexed most of the brothers' influence, leaving only us who are still resisting.
Zheng Zhilong even drove us to Guangdong and still pursued us.
He will definitely not end well. Even if he is surrendered by the Ming Dynasty, it will not change his identity as a pirate. "
Liu Xiang had an evil look on his face, he opened his arms and said confidently: "With my ship Tulong, it is not difficult to defeat Zheng Zhilong.
When we defeat Zheng Zhilong, I will be the master of this vast sea area.
When the time comes, I will take my brothers to eat and drink spicy food.
Some people will send us beautiful women, and some people will send us a lot of money. "
Liu Xiang was extremely confident, looking at his ship Tulong.
This not-so-old two-mast, double-deck warship has been plying the sea for decades.
He believed that there was no warship on the sea near Guangzhou that could be the opponent of Tulong.
“We would also like to thank the Qin Army for their occupation of Macau, an important colony of the Portuguese.
The Portuguese, who look down on us, will not sell us powerful warships.
This is also our life-saving money.
This is after going north to defeat Zheng Zhilong, we still have to complete the Portuguese mission and teach the Qin army an unforgettable lesson. "
"Master, we can go ashore and plunder again.
The little lady on the shore tastes better, so let the brothers eat meat. "
A pirate suddenly jumped down from the mast and said in a joyful tone: "Master, a huge caravan is coming from the north, it looks like there are more than fifty large cargo ships.
If we grab this fat sheep, we won’t have to worry about it in the next year. "
Liu Xiang asked in a calm tone: "Have the traffic flags we issued been raised on the ship?"
He is unruly in some things, but he is very disciplined in this matter.
He is already a big pirate, but he still doesn't know how to kill a goose to lay eggs.
"Boss, they didn't fly our flag."
Liu Xiang used a simple telescope to carefully observe the opponent's fleet and found that there were no powerful warships. He could win this fleet.
"You are very brave. You dare to go to sea without coming to my dock."
Liu Xiang took out the knife from his waist and shouted loudly: "Hang up the war flag and tell the brothers to get to work.
No need to hold anything back, everyone except the women on the boat threw me into the sea to feed the fish.
We must let the maritime merchants on this route remember that they will not be able to move forward without sending us money. "
Liu Xiang led his pirate ships to attack the fleet.
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