The Soul of the Han Dynasty in the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 624
Liu Xiang, who was on the road with the huge fleet of the Longwu Navy, would not be idle along the way. Of course, he led the fleet to the busiest route.

In the past, most of the sailing ships on this route were junk ships under the protection of Zheng Zhilong, followed by the Dutch East India Company, Spanish and Portuguese deck warships and armed merchant ships.

The Galen ships of Xiyi are basically not the largest type on this route. Generally, the displacement is between 60 tons and [-] tons, the length is [-] meters, there are several long decks, and they are equipped with more than ten or twenty artillery pieces The door does not wait.

On the Asian route, as long as they are not ambushed by too many enemy ships with absolute superiority, Galen ships with such firepower are invincible, so they are arrogant and domineering.

Without any warning, a huge fleet with more than [-] ships appeared on the route, and the red flags and dragon flags fluttered in the wind...

As long as there are warships and merchant ships in the field of vision of this brave man, they will never let them go, regardless of their nationality or which sphere of influence they belong to, they will directly rob them. In a few days, they robbed more than [-] ships, most of which were foreign warships. and armed merchant ships.

Huang Yong didn't eat alone, and he gave Liu Xiang [-]% of the spoils. This senior pirate leader was almost dizzy, because he had robbed many merchant ships in his life, but he had never robbed Xiyi's deck warships.

The "Red Banner Army" gave him two Galen ships equipped with more than fifteen Hongyi cannons. These two warships were more than twice the size of the flagship of Liu Xiang's pirate gang.

After receiving such a great benefit, Liu Xiang knelt down directly, swearing that in the future, the "Red Banner Army" Longwu Navy Division will lead the way, and Dongping Hou will be Liu Xiang's patriarch from now on.

Seeing that it was safe and efficient to follow the "Red Banner Army" to rob, Liu Xiang became more active. He had been in the South China Sea for 20 years and was too familiar with the camps and dogs in this area.

Liu Xiang was familiar with the performance of artillery, and was overjoyed after seeing the range and power of the new "Hongyi Cannon" equipped by the Longwu Navy. He thought it was enough to attack forts and fortresses with such firepower.

When the fleet approached Luzon through the Taiwan Strait, Liu Xiang offered a plan to ask Huang Yong to send troops to attack the lair of an old pirate gang active in the Balintang Strait.

The island inhabited by pirates is called Fugajia, which is more than [-] miles long from east to west and less than [-] miles wide from north to south. lair.

When Huang Yong went to Japan for the first time, he participated in the attack on the old nest of pirates for several generations. The harvest of that time was so great that Huang Yong still remembers it so far.

It's just that it's not easy to find the pirate's lair. In recent years, Huang Yong hasn't had the chance to do another good deal like this.

Liu Xiang's rhetoric asserted that the pirate lair in the north of Luzon was extremely rich, and it was estimated that the cash seized there would not be less than 200 million taels.

With the addition of gold, jewels, emeralds, agate, and more than 500 warships, the income from one robbery should exceed [-] million taels of silver.

In order to successfully confuse Huang Yong, who is prudent, he agreed to take a detour to attack. Liu Xiang not only expressed his willingness to drive his subordinates to be pioneers on the island, but also stated that he would not want all the gold, silver and treasures that he had seized. He only wanted to get the cannons and armor of the pirates. , weapons and [-]% warships, armed merchant ships.

In fact, Liu Xiang had another request, but he didn't make it.

Because this kid is a thief, he knows that it is impossible for the Longwu Navy to station in Luzon North, which is thousands of nautical miles away from Liaodong, and he will leave sooner or later. At that time, he, Liu Xiang, will naturally be able to obtain Fugajia Island as his home port.

The benefits are so great, Huang Yong is of course very excited, besides, Fugaga Island, where the pirates are entrenched, is only two days away from the route, not far away.

The fleet turned to the east and deviated from the course, and Liu Xiangle led the fleet to lead the navigation.

The team of more than [-] warships and armed merchant ships was very large, and it was impossible for anyone to be unaware of it. When they approached Fugaga Island, there were continuous encounters.

That was when more than [-] ships were robbed by pirates leaving and entering the port by the partnership of Liu Xiang and Huang Yong.

After the fleet arrived at Fogga Island, all the battleships put down the sentry horse boats. The sentry horse boats can only carry 50 people at most. When they are on a long voyage, they are loaded on the battleships. They can be used not only as scouts, but also as lifeboats. .

As long as the old lock-boat battleship with paddles has a displacement of more than [-] tons, it will be equipped with one or two sentry boats that can carry fifty adults, and at least four small sampans that can accommodate eight to ten people.

The rest of the life-saving equipment is a wooden sealed buoy with a buoyancy of 150 catties. When this thing is thrown into the sea in the event of a shipwreck, it can keep three or four people buoyant and prevent them from sinking into the sea.

Sealed buoys also have a great use. They can be spliced ​​into one piece and covered with fir boards that have been dried and soaked in tung oil for many times. On beaches without ports, wooden planks can be laid and extended to deep sea areas to become warships and merchant ships. Temporary unloading dock.

In the season when the Liaodong coastline is frozen, the warships of the "Red Banner Army" can also use a large number of sealed buoys and wooden boards to assemble temporary docks as long as they choose a landing point.

The function of the sealed pontoons is somewhat similar to the steel pontoons used by the pontoon bridge troops in later generations to quickly build pontoon bridges, except that the Ming Dynasty did not need to have a pontoon bridge that could carry a hundred tons of tanks across the river, and it could carry one ton.

Each sealing buoy is designed with a pull ring. When the position needs to be fixed, a small iron anchor can be dropped and tied to the pull ring. Three or five buoys are connected with one iron anchor for positioning.

The fir boards used to match the sealed buoys are not stacked on the ship, but are used to reinforce the command cabin and the upper deck. They are designed with card slots for easy splicing and disassembly. They will only be disassembled when splicing temporary docks.

The "Red Banner Army" will inevitably encounter disasters at sea. In the past few years, it has lost two battleships and more than a dozen merchant ships.

Fortunately, when the battleship sank into the sea, the soldiers who fell into the water were rescued in time. It was also the lifeboats, sealed buoys, and fir boards with high buoyancy that played a role, and [-]% to [-]% of the crew survived.

When Liu Xiang visited Huang Yong's flagship "Jiulitai", he saw a small lifesaving sampan, a sentry boat, and saw a hundred sealed buoys and 200 yuan. The size is two feet wide, two steps long, and three inches thick. It was very strange at that time.

Later, when Lin Minghai told how these things were used to deal with maritime affairs, he laughed secretly. He thought that the "Red Banner Army" was too cautious. Is it worth it?It's too troublesome, and it is possible that these spare things will never be used in a lifetime!

Liu Xiang has grown stronger, owning more than [-] warships and armed merchant ships. He eagerly wants to be the vanguard of the "Red Banner Army" and take down the Foggaga Island that once made his mouth water.

(End of this chapter)