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Chapter 335: Twenty-Six, Twenty-Seven Moments in the Four Years of Chongzhen (Twenty-six)


Chapter 26, Twenty-seven moments in the four years of Chongzhen twenty-six Moment 26: The lone ship heading north At the end of December in the fourth year of Chongzhen, early in the morning, in the northern part of the East China Sea, in the waters near the mouth of the Yangtze River Although today is approaching the end of the New Year and the sea is rough and rough, the poor fishermen, who are overwhelmed by exorbitant taxes and soaring food prices, are forced to make a living and can only take the risk of sailing out to sea early in the morning.

Now He was struggling to pull the few fishing nets onto the boat.

His thin body seemed unable to withstand a gust of sea breeze, but he was like weeds in the strong wind, struggling to survive among the waves.

On a certain fishing boat, a child of about five or six years old, wearing a shabby coat, was sitting barefoot on the bow, holding a paper windmill in his hand, and a long cloth belt tied around his waist. , the other end is tightly wrapped around the bow pillar.

I don't know why, but this naughty child always looked into the distance from time to time at the end of the misty sea level.

There seemed to be some blurry images that attracted his attention.

Then, a towering white sail slowly appeared on the sea.

The huge hull hidden behind the fog was something that the ignorant fisherman had never seen in his life, and the black cannon mounted on the ship was even more terrifying.

Although the ship in front of me is still far away, the unparalleled hull has stunned the fishermen who have been drifting at sea all their lives.

There is such a big ship in this world.

Although Western-style large sailing ships of this tonnage are not uncommon along the coasts of Fujian and Guangdong, and fortune ships of several hundred tons are even more common, on the coastline of mainland China north of the Yangtze River Estuary, ever since the treasure ships disappeared during the Zheng He period, they have never been seen again.

There has never been a "giant ship" of this scale.

At the same time, the steam-sail hybrid warship "Haitian", which was riding the wind and waves with a thousand-ton Western-style sailing ship and a chimney erected on the deck, did not pay any attention to the surprised looks on the small fishing boats and just continued along the way.

Head north along the coastline of mainland China.

On the deck of the sailboat, several officers wearing blue stand-up collar military uniforms, with slender swords hanging on their waists, each holding a monocular, were talking about something.

In front of them, a Ming Dynasty general wearing Mingguang armor and a scarlet cloak was standing majestically with a sword, standing steadily on the slightly undulating deck, facing the howling winter wind, squinting.

He raised his eyes and looked thoughtfully at the sea of ​​mist ahead.

He is the Ming Dynasty's Fujian Army Commander, the Army Commander-in-Chief of the "Kung Thieves", the legendary general who once defeated Liaodong's invincible opponents: Huang Shi, Marshal Huang At the end of the fourth year of Chongzhen's reign, the East China Sea was still filled with mist.

It first turned pink like a fairyland, and then gradually turned white.

The sun was wrapped in this morning mist, gradually rising, emitting a weak and feeble light.

Thick fog blocked the sailors like a wall, cutting through the bow and closing at the stern.

The officers standing on the deck also felt that water was almost dripping from the air.

As the sun rises, the fog on the sea gradually thins, and the western coastline emerges clearly from the fog.

The lookout on the mast used a speaking tube to shout below, and several naval lieutenants ran to the chart room to make calculations.

Finally, they were conveyed to the guard captain, who came forward to advise Huang Shi, who was meditating with his sword on the deck, "Report."

Commander, our ship has already passed the Shengsi Islands.

Should we go directly north to Liaodong?"

"No, according to the original plan, we will first go to Jeju Island in North Korea to investigate the situation of this scheduled transfer station."

Huang Shi pondered for a moment, then turned around and said, "Also, raise my military flag.

Now there's no need to cover it up anymore."

Following Commander Huang Shihuang's order, the deck of the battleship Haitian suddenly became busy, with beeping sirens and tinkling copper bells everywhere.

The sailors were running around hoisting and reefing the sails and adjusting the cables.

The black smoke emitted from the chimney became thicker and thicker.

It was obvious that the stoker was burning the boiler desperately and preparing to turn and accelerate.

A general's flag with the words "Ming Dynasty Fujian General Soldier Huang", a green snake flag of the fire-fighting camp of Marshal Huang's direct troops and the blue and white Qiming cross star flag of the Lingao Senate were raised on the mast at the same time, fluttering in the sea breeze. .

At the same time, Marshal Huang, who had been enjoying the sea breeze for a while, slowly walked back to his cabin under the stern deck to take a rest.

In the establishment of the Lingao Traveler Senate Navy, the name "Haitian" first belonged to a 100-ton Guangzhou ship, which once served as a transport mission during the "Kun Bandits" raids at the Pearl River Estuary.

Next, as the old Guangzhou Shipyards were gradually decommissioned, the name "Haitian" was transplanted to a 170-ton European-style ketch, which was executed during the battles in Taiwan and Japan.

A series of reconnaissance and mapping missions.

However, during this year's expedition to the Satsuma Domain, the "Haitian" unfortunately ran aground and was unable to be repaired for a while.

So the Senate simply gave it to the allies of the Choshu Domain, and then named the "Haiten" Transferred again to a newly launched steam-sail hybrid warship.

The "Haitian" III that Huang Shi is currently riding on has a full load displacement of 1,050 tons and is powered by two steam engines of about 300 horsepower.

It is driven by propellers and can reach a speed of 18 knots under tailwind conditions.

As a warship, the hull of the "Haitian" is covered with copper.

The ship is equipped with three rotary rifled cannons, sixteen smoothbore cannons and several "typewriter" rotary-bore machine gun predecessors, or small-caliber GATs.

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Lin Pao, on the seas of Northeast Asia in this era, can almost be said to be an invincible behemoth.

But Huang Shi was not satisfied with this lonely battleship.

He was supposed to take a huge fleet including transport ships, hospital ships, battleships and marines to Liaodong to pick up those old friends of the Dongjiang Army who were suffering, hungry and cold.

By the way, teach the Tatars a lesson.

Rather than like now, at the end of the year, we only brought one boat and sailed north, which at best could only bring a way out to a few dozen refugees, which was better than nothing.

Under Huangshi's efforts, the Senate had already made a complete plan for the "Liaodong Retreat".

It planned to first occupy Jeju Island in North Korea as a transit point, import and hoard the rations needed by the refugees from Japan, and then Repeated transfers between Liaodong, Jeju, Taiwan, Fujian, and Hainan Island, striving to rescue at least 100,000 people from Liaodong at once, allowing our country's national strength to explode to another level.

But as the expedition fleets of the East Coast countries, China and the United States rushed from North and South America to East Asia, and the 10,000-ton modern sailing ship of the "real" Australians arrived at Batavia Port, the entire Lingao Traveler The group suddenly felt as if it was facing a formidable enemy and no longer had the intention to pay attention to matters in Liaodong.

This large-scale rescue and immigration operation has been put on hold indefinitely.

Most of the fleets and troops under the Senate have been reduced to Lingao, not only as a precaution, but also to show off their power and show off their power to China on other continents.

Travelers show strength: Any diplomacy needs to be backed by force Therefore, at least until this unprecedented "Global Traveler Summit" ends successfully, Lingao will not be able to take any big action.

But the problem is that the Dongjiang soldiers and civilians who are currently trapped in the crisis, including many acquaintances from Huangshi, may not be able to survive this winter.

Huang Shi was anxious about this, but could not convince the senators.

In the end, the Senate just looked at his face and sent a "Haitian" warship to perform a reconnaissance mission northward to prepare for the possible relaunch of the "Liaodong Retreat" in the future.

Action to gather intelligence, if conditions permit , you can also bring a small group of refugees back.

So, the frustrated Huang Shi held the idea of ​​​​"rescuing an old friend is one", turned down the Lingao conference seat, did not even spend the New Year at home, and personally led a group of The elite guard took the Haitian to the north, preparing to go to Liaodong to rescue old friends.

No matter how many people can be rescued in the end, at least he must try his best, otherwise Huang Shi simply doesn't know how to explain to the old Liaodong troops around him.

In fact, from Huang Shi's point of view, the Lingao Traveler Senate was so nervous that they were actually scaring themselves.

Even if Lingao is not on guard, according to common sense, fellow travelers from the Americas and Australia should not have any ill intentions towards Lingao.

From the map, the "Chinese America" ​​with New York as its capital in North America, the "East Coast Country" with Uruguay in South America as its core, their colonies in southern Africa, and the Australian Crossings who occupied the later Derby Port, are like a group.

Group after group of sparks illuminated all the wild corners on the edge of the civilized world.

However, the reason why they are called sparks is because their foundation is not solid and they are in danger of being extinguished at any time: the total population of these three "distance traveling forces" may not even be one million.

The Australian group is in the worst situation.

Although they have a modern sailing ship that is proud of East Asia, they have almost nothing else: no population, no market, no army, not even wood suitable for shipbuilding and life-sustaining food.

Scarcity.

If they were unlucky, it would only take a natural disaster or even a group of pirates to strangle the small colonial city-state they established in their infancy.

The two groups of people from America have been in this world for ten years, bumping and bumping along the way, and now they have finally managed to gain a foothold.

However, the East Coast Republic is located between the colonies of Portugal and Spain.

In order to develop and expand, it is impossible not to start a war with Spain.

There is no way to spare too much energy to intervene in other corners of the world.

Even if it develops global shipping routes, it is just to South America and Spain are locked in service.

The Chinese American Republic in the north accounted for the basic base of the United States in later generations.

Behind it was the vast and fertile North America that could be developed.

The development space and environment were relatively ideal, and it had little interest in other overseas territories.

But on a very fatal issue, it is as embarrassed as the East Coast Republic.

The Americas and Australia, sleeping in the wilderness, not only mean huge wealth to the travelers, but also crisis and burden.

No matter which group of them founded the country, it was the border corner of the entire civilized world, far away from that time.

A major center of wealth and culture in the world.

There is almost nothing but nature, and they can only rely on them to start from scratch, overcoming thorns and obstacles little by little.

But this requires constant immigrants from the civilized world to join in order to raise the most basic labor force for development work.

However, the Americas are separated from Europe and Africa across the Atlantic Ocean, and the immigrants that can be introduced relatively easily are naturally only Europeans and Africans.

In most cases, of course, the majority are Europeans.

It just so happens that the rulers of these two time-traveling groups are later Chinese, the official language can only be Chinese, and the mainstream culture must also be Chinese culture.

In Europe these days, there is no such thing as "multiculturalism".

There is only the firm belief that "God rules everything" and the glorious mission of "burning the heretics."

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In this way, the so-called conflict of civilizations is inevitable, and the entire ruling class seems to be sitting on the fence.

On the crater, the resistance of the indigenous residents and the turmoil of European immigrants, coupled with the fueling of enemy forces, may overthrow their country at any time.

From this point on, unless the travelers are willing to switch to speaking English or Spanish and convert to Christianity collectively, a large number of immigrants from the Ming Dynasty must be introduced to balance the domestic situation, even if it is just to maintain the country's survival.

Even if it exhausts the national treasury, we will not hesitate Even if the friendship between fellow travelers was not considered, under such circumstances, how could they dare to offend the Lingao travelers who had blocked the immigration channels?

In comparison, Lingao Chuanzhong, who is entrenched within the southern gate of China, is in a much more comfortable situation.

It can effectively utilize the market of the Ming Dynasty and can more easily interfere with the situation of the Ming Dynasty without having to do anything like the two companies in the Americas.

The power is the same, but it has to travel thousands of miles across half the world.

Even attracting immigrants was much easier.

After all, Lingao was still within the traditional territory of the Ming Dynasty, but America was already a place beyond the imagination of the Ming Dynasty people.

In short, the current situation is that the traveler forces in the Americas and Australia rely on the Lingao Travelers, rather than the other way around.

China, the United States, and the East Coast Country, which are far away in the Americas, cannot affect the development of the situation in the Ming Dynasty, and they have no power to spread the flames of war.

Arrive at the doorstep of Gao Yuan Lao Yuan Huang Shi mentioned the above principles at the plenary meeting in Lingao and was recognized by many people.

But the problem is that even though they know that it is basically impossible for people coming from America and Australia to have malicious intentions, most of the elders still insist on using their military power as much as possible based on the idea of ​​"not afraid of ten thousand, just afraid of the worst".

Assembling them in Lingao would provide them with a greater sense of security.

Therefore, the Liaodong rescue operation was ultimately shelved.

Huang Shi had no choice but to leave Lingao with a belly full of depression and helplessness, and sailed northward alone on the "Haitian".

Due to the unfamiliar sea route and unfavorable wind direction, it was not until New Year's Eve in the fourth year of Chongzhen that the "Haitian" arrived in the waters near Jeju Island.

At this time, the ship is full of "New Year's flavor".

Even if they have to drift away during the New Year, the Chinese people still try their best to put together a decent New Year's Eve dinner: there is no time to make dumplings, but the chef still cooks the salty food on the ship.

Meat and shelf-stable vegetables such as radishes and onions are cooked in a large pot.

Authentic Longkou vermicelli is added, sprinkled with spices, and stewed until it is fragrant.

The soldiers also received a special ration from the Division Chief: two ounces of rum, two cigarettes, a pastry and a few pieces of fruit candy.

Couplets were pasted on the cabin door, lanterns were hung in the canteen, and everything was full of joy.

However, just when everyone on the ship found opportunities to come to the kitchen door to smell the aroma from time to time, waiting for the meal to begin, there were waves of panicked screams from the lookout post, causing everyone to come over to watch and watch again.

After a while, just like the lookout on the mast, the other people on the ship also fell into a messy state in the wind.

The corners of their mouths twitched as if they were having epilepsy, and they could no longer speak.

Even Marshal Huangshi, who has always been known as "Taishan collapsed from the top without changing his expression", was also confused and dumbfounded.

In front of their field of vision were the sea, islands, and ships.

But the problem is that the unknown ship that appeared in front of the battleship Haitian in the waters off Jeju Island of the Kingdom of Korea was not the simple merchant ship or fishing boat commonly seen along the way, nor was it the wooden house ship or turtle ship of the North Korean navy, but a An incredibly large, terrifyingly large steel ship The Haitian Ship under their feet looked like a toy compared to it.

For a moment, the oppressive feeling of overlooking all living beings penetrated deeply into everyone's pores.

Little did they know that the people on the big iron ship opposite saw a ship that was supposed to exist on the sea of ​​East Asia in the seventeenth century.

After the steamships of the 19th century, everyone was astonished.

Then, Marshal Huang Shi Huang looked at the five-star red flag on the top of the mast of the "Crocodile" landing ship opposite, and couldn't help but burst into tears.

"That is the five-star red flag of New China.

How is it possible that this ship has traveled back to modern times?"

I can also go see my parents.”

Unfortunately, the reality may not be as good as Marshal Huangshi imagined.

After getting in touch with the landing ship on the opposite side, preliminary understanding of the other party's origins, and confirming that he had not returned to modern times, Huang Shi's mood dropped.

When his Haitian was "escorted" by two iron-hulled armed fishing boats of the Far East Company and sailed into the port of Jeju Island, and after he found many Dongjiang Army acquaintances wearing Russian military uniforms here, Huang Shi's mood became even more embarrassing.

I don’t even know how to complain.

At the same time, because there is no radio installed on the Haitian, the senior members of the Lingao Traveler Senate, who know nothing about it, are still busy preparing for the Global Traveler Summit and "visits" from distant America and Australia.

Fleet", which had already set sail from Batavia oshow7: