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 New Year's Eve 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 to the boat. His thin body seemed unable to withstand the 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 cannons mounted on the ship were even more impressive. shudder. 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 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, There has never been a "giant ship" of this scale.
At the same time, the thousand-ton Western-style sailing ship riding the wind and waves - the steam-sail hybrid warship "Haitian" with a chimney erected on the deck, did not pay any attention to the surprised looks on the small fishing boats. Just continue driving 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 before finally conveying it to the guard captain, who came forward to give advice to Huang Shi, who was meditating with his sword on the deck, "... ...Report to the commander! This ship has passed the Shengsi Islands! Should we go directly to Liaodong?"
"...No, according to the original plan, we will go to Jeju Island in North Korea first and investigate the situation of this scheduled transfer station!"
Huang Shi pondered for a moment, then turned around and ordered, "...Also, raise my military flag! No need to be secretive now!"
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Following the order from Marshal Huang Shihuang, 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 "Haiten" 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 changed the name of 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 guns (the predecessor of machine guns, or small-caliber machine guns). Triling gun), on the seas of Northeast Asia in this era, it can be said that it is almost 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 the suffering, hungry and cold Dongjiang Army veterans. Knowledge, 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 to East Asia all the way from North and South America, and the 10,000-ton modern sailing ship of the "real" Australians came to 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 to be reduced to Lingao, not only as a precaution, but also to show off their power and show off their power to other continents. The Chinese traveler shows 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 make any big moves.
But the problem is that the Dongjiang soldiers and civilians who are currently caught in the chaos, including many Huangshi acquaintances, 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 on to the idea of "rescuing an old friend is the only one", turned down the Lingao conference seat, did not even spend the New Year at home, and personally led a group of An elite guard team 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 vigilant, according to common sense, the "compatriots" who travel through America and Australia should not have any ill intentions towards Lingao...
——Looking 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, as well as their colonies in southern Africa, and the Australian Crossings who occupied the later Derby Port, Like clusters of sparks, lighting up 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 for travelers, but also crisis and burden! No matter which group of them founded their country, it was a remote corner of the entire civilized world, far away from the main wealth and cultural centers of the world at that time. 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, so the only immigrants that can be easily introduced are Europeans and Africans - in most cases, of course, Europeans are the majority. 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. There is no such thing as "multiculturalism" in Europe these days, only the firm belief that "God rules everything" and the glorious mission of "burning the heretics" - in this way, the so-called conflict of civilizations is inevitable, and the entire ruling class As if sitting on the crater of a volcano, the resistance of the indigenous residents and the turmoil of European immigrants, coupled with the help 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 won’t hesitate!
Even if the friendship between fellow travelers is not considered, under such circumstances, how can they dare to offend the Lingao travelers who have blocked the immigration channel?
In comparison, the Lingao Chuanchuangzhong entrenched within the southern gate of China are in a much more comfortable situation - they can not only effectively utilize the Ming Dynasty's market, but also more easily interfere with the situation of the Ming Dynasty without the need to do so like in the Americas. The two powers are the same, and they have to travel thousands of miles across half the world. Even attracting immigrants is much easier - after all, Lingao is still within the traditional territory of the Ming Dynasty, but America is 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, not the other way around - China and the East Coast countries in the Americas cannot affect the development of the situation in the Ming Dynasty, and they have no power to turn the flames of war Spreading comes to the doorstep of Lingao Senate...
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 give them a little more sense of security - so the Liaodong rescue operation was ultimately shelved.
And Huang Shi had no choice but to leave Lingao with a belly full of depression and helplessness, and sailed northward alone on the "Haitian".
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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 already full of "New Year 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: it is too late to make dumplings, but the chef still puts them on the ship A large pot of bacon and shelf-stable vegetables such as radishes and onions is cooked, plus authentic Longkou vermicelli, sprinkled with spices, and stewed until the aroma 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 posted 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, which attracted everyone to come over and watch... …Another moment passed, and then, just like the lookout on the mast, the other people on the ship 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 vision are 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!
Compared with it, the Haitian Ship under their feet was like a toy!
For a moment, the oppressive feeling of overlooking all sentient 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 appear on the East Asian sea in the seventeenth century. The existence of steamships in the 19th century was also a surprise to everyone.
Then, Marshal Huang Shihuang 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 this possible? Is it possible that this ship The ship has traveled back to modern times! And I can go see my parents!”
——Unfortunately, the reality may not be as beautiful 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 - a summit of travelers from distant America and Australia. The "Visiting Fleet" has already set sail from Batavia...