Chapter 2624
There are dense rivers in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and water transportation is one of the most convenient modes of transportation. The Beijing-Hangzhou Canal and Qiantang River adjacent to Hangzhou are the main arteries of the water transportation network in this region. Countless ships pass through them every day, constantly transporting large amounts of materials and People are sent to various places.
The Beijing-Hangzhou Canal meets the Qiantang River in the east of Hangzhou. This estuary is also one of the busiest water transportation arteries in Hangzhou. However, early this morning, the official traffic control was implemented at the river mouth. Only exits and no entry are allowed in the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal. All ships intending to transfer from the Qiantang River to the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal must stop on the Qiantang River and wait for the release notice. To this end, the government also dispatched several ships and directed civilian ships to dock at the mouth of the river to the north bank of the Qiantang River.
In fact, this is not the first time this has happened, so most civilian ships follow the instructions and dock to the shore. Occasionally, a few uninformed boats want to go into the canal, but they are immediately blocked by official ships.
The reason for implementing traffic control is very simple. The waterway at the mouth of the river is narrow. If an important person enters the Qiantang River by boat through the canal, in order to avoid being squeezed by civilian boats and unable to move, ships on the Qiantang River will be temporarily prohibited from entering the canal to protect the waterway. Unblocked.
After waiting for more than an hour, a fleet flying the Haihan flag finally slowly sailed out of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal and entered the Qiantang River. The first one is an expedition-class sailing warship. If you are a little familiar with Haihan naval ships, you can immediately infer from the conspicuous chimney that this ship is also equipped with a steam propulsion system, and this is at least an improved model after the expedition-class C type, and there are not many in the East China Sea Fleet. Advanced warships seen.
What followed were more than twenty heavy-loaded cargo sailing ships. This kind of Yugong-class cargo sailing ship is not a rare thing. It can often be seen on the Qiantang River. It is famous for its large cargo capacity and good seaworthiness. . However, the ships sailing into the Qiantang River at this time had crenels for placing artillery pieces on their sides. It was obvious that they were not ordinary civilian ships, but comprehensive supply ships belonging to the military. And judging from its waterline, it is obviously loaded with a lot of cargo.
It is not common for such a large military transport fleet to appear in the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal. Ship bosses who were previously dissatisfied with the traffic control of the waterway automatically shut up when they saw such a scene. If they sailed into the canal rashly and accidentally blocked the way of this fleet, they would probably be charged with "delaying military aircraft" or something like that.
Behind this transport fleet were two expedition-class warships, which showed how much the military attached importance to it.
It was not until this long fleet of ships all sailed into the Qiantang River that the official ships at the river mouth raised their flags and restored normal traffic order at the mouth of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal.
"Next, we will go to Dinghai Port to rendezvous with the fleet there, and then set off to the next destination. When we arrive at Dinghai Port, we will arrange to transfer to a larger ship with better conditions." After the fleet sailed into the Qiantang River , Wang Anguo announced the next itinerary to everyone.
Their group was currently on one of the battleships at the end of the fleet, and used it as the temporary command post of the fleet. According to the standards of the Navy, the equipment on this ship can be considered advanced. In addition to the steam propulsion system, there are also breech-loading naval guns and short-wave radios. Its combat capabilities are definitely superior among warships of the same level.
Although Tao Hongfang and others are not affiliated with the navy, they are no strangers to naval warships. They have had many opportunities to board warships of all sizes since childhood, and they also took them many times on their way to Hangzhou. Warships, so they didn’t have any objections to Wang Anguo’s arrangements.
Among them, only Zhu Zian was riding the Haihan warship for the first time. Everything on the ship felt very novel, but he had to maintain a reserved attitude to avoid being looked down upon by nobles like Haihan. Zhu Zian had heard many rumors about Haihan's maritime armed forces over the years. He knew that Haihan was founded on sea power, and its naval fleet was invincible in all countries, and its strength was far superior to that of the Ming Navy. In fact, when he was sensible, Haihan had actually controlled most of the Ming Dynasty's coastline. Shandong's Denglai Navy had long existed in name only, but his scope of activities had always been limited to Jinan Prefecture, so there was little opportunity for real contact. to Haihan Navy.
When he traveled from Shandong to Liaodong to meet Chen Yixin, he actually saw the warships of the Haihan Navy from a distance in Dengzhou and Lushun. However, because of his sensitive status at that time, he was arranged to take civilian ships to and from Liaodong. It was only today that I finally had the honor to board the Haihan warship in person.
Zhu Zian has very little knowledge about ships. Based on his observations, he estimated that the ship he was on was about a thousand materials, which was definitely considered a first-class ship in the northern region. In his early years, he had seen some information about the Southern Navy. The large warships listed were often only four- to five-hundred-year-old ships. Their displacement and hull size were much smaller than the Haihan warships he was currently riding.
Of course, there were not no large warships in the history of the Ming Dynasty. According to historical records, Zheng He even built a large treasure ship with five thousand materials when he went to the West. However, such giant ships were quickly lost after Zheng He's era. The construction craftsmanship can only exist in historical data.
However, although the expedition-class warship has a powerful appearance, its design purpose is to ensure the combat effectiveness of the ship as much as possible, so the crew's comfort is not fully considered. The living space is very narrow, so Even military officers are no exception. Even if this group of people are all descendants of nobles, they can only suffer for a while before arriving in Zhoushan.
Starting from Hangzhou, you go downstream, so the journey on the Qiantang River is much faster than when you came here. Even if this fleet is mainly composed of slower cargo sailing ships, it only takes one day and one night to reach Zhoushan. The harbor.
Fortunately, the official ship that carried Tao Hongfang and others from the South China Sea to Zhejiang has rushed to Zhoushan Dinghai Port to standby. The living conditions on that ship are much better than those on the warship. At that time, they can choose to transfer to the official ship or the flagship that serves as the fleet command center.
But Zhu Zian cannot choose freely like others. As a clerk of the mission, one of his tasks is to keep continuous records of the mission's daily activities, so he must also follow the actions of the chief and deputy envoys. Obviously, Shi Chengwu and Wang Anguo would not choose a business ship with superior conditions just for enjoyment. At that time, Zhu Zian could only stay with them on the flagship the whole time.
However, this was a satisfactory arrangement for Zhu Zian, who was full of curiosity. He could just use the time during his mission to gain an in-depth understanding of the equipment level of the Haihan Navy.
(End of chapter)