Kangxi, your Qing Dynasty is dead

Chapter 412 There is not much time left for Ming Dynasty, unless Li Zhongshan is crazy! (Please subscribe, please vote)
The bow of the Liaodong plowed through a white wave, and its track headed straight east, aiming at Nagasaki, which is only 1600 miles away from Baoshan Port.The sailors and trainee officers of the Ming Navy on the deck were undergoing various trainings under the command of the newly appointed French instructors. Some were operating sails and some were operating cannons.

These sailors and trainee officers of the Ming Dynasty look very young. The trainee officers among them have studied for one to two years at the Chongming Island Naval Academy with Dutch and English instructors, as well as old captains invited from the Nanyang Trading Company. Understands commands in English and Dutch.Unexpectedly, I changed to French again. Although I hurriedly made up the lessons, I still don’t understand it very well. I am in a hurry and keep making mistakes.Fortunately, Cotang Tanko did not come to work with Li Zhongshan alone. He also brought with him seventy or eighty French naval officers, sailors and craftsmen. With these people, the Liaodong, a first-class battleship, sailed on the sea. There is no big problem.

If there is a time when fighting is absolutely necessary, those sailors and trainee officers who have studied at the Chongming Island Naval School (one year for sailors and two years for petty officers) and trainee officers can handle it.After all, they are all proficient in the art of gunnery, but there are still some problems in communicating with the French instructors in charge.

On the stern deck of the battleship, Leibnizlai was teaching other trainee officers how to use the latest "rod projection quadrant" in fluent Chinese with a Cantonese accent. A tool for measuring the dimensions of the Earth while sailing.This is a tool designed to be very simple, but very practical.In the hands of Leibniz, the "all-round genius", he could easily calculate the dimensions of the Liaodong's location to "minutes", and then use the "time measurement method" or use Baoshan County as the base point to calculate the course, speed, and estimate the approximate longitude.By crossing the latitude and longitude on the map, you can know the approximate location of the Liaoning.Of course, this method of measuring latitude and longitude is "very simple, not difficult, and even a fool can learn it" according to Leibniz.
However, even if you learn to measure and calculate latitude and longitude, it does not mean that you will not get lost at sea.

Navigation these days is not only about positioning, but also about monsoons, trade winds, calm winds, and ocean currents. These things rely one-third on data, one-third on experience, and one-third on character.

Even those who have been drifting at sea for a lifetime are likely to die on their last voyage.

Of course, if you don’t have enough information and experience, then no matter how high your character is, you will never survive!

Therefore, this "hundred-year navy" is not only about shipbuilding, ship maneuvering, and gunnery, but there is too much to accumulate.

Li Zhongshan took Yang Xiaohuan on a long trip this time. After all, she is Yang Qilong's sister. How many days have he not seen her?It's time for them to meet as brother and sister.It's a pity that Queen Yang, the curtain regent of the Qing Dynasty, couldn't come, otherwise it would be even more lively for the sisters to meet.

Although the Liaodong is a "giant ship" with a displacement of more than 2000 tons, it is still a light boat on the vast sea, bumpy and bumpy, so after leaving the Yangtze River Estuary, Yang Xiaohuan became seasick and kept lying in the cabin. rest.However, Li Zhongshan was in good spirits. Standing on the stern deck of the ship, he watched with interest as Leibniz taught the trainee officers to calculate latitude and longitude in Chinese with a Cantonese accent.While thinking about the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Japan, the Qing Dynasty, the Great Zhou Dynasty, and what kind of evil will the North Korean supervisor Yang Qilong do next?

It is said to be the "Eleven-Nation Alliance", but Sweden, the Holy Roman Empire, Hindustan, and Persia should make up the number. Persia itself may be invaded by Wu Shicong, probably to obtain weapons aided by the Dutch and British. Just joined the "Eleven-Nation Grand Alliance".

But Dutch, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Qing, Zhou, and Japanese must be serious, and it’s hard to say for Yang Qilong!

As for the Ming Dynasty, Louis of France was obviously sincere, but he was too far away and did not control the Indian Ocean. In a real fight, both sides would probably fight on their own!

If Daming and France want to win, it seems that they have to be prepared to beat several of them, and they have to be prepared to beat their opponents to the ground.

It seems a bit difficult!

Just when he thought of this, he suddenly heard a voice with a Tianjin accent yelling: "It's not difficult, it's not difficult, it's not difficult at all, Lai Junmen, it's up to you to explain the truth clearly!"

Li Zhongshan looked back and saw that the person speaking was Yu Qilin. This guy had "double first-term" qualifications, but he didn't even learn the basic skills of measuring longitude and latitude!
It seems that the management of the Naval Academy is still too lax and the courses must be too simple.

No, Leibniz must give it a try and test those scumbags with more questions that he thinks are quite simple!
Just when I was thinking of taking advantage of the education at the Chongming Island Naval Academy, I suddenly heard a harsh bell, and then a voice shouted at the top of his lungs: "Land. Land is found right ahead!"

Then I heard Leibniz's voice again: "We've arrived at Nagasaki. Directly ahead is Nagasaki! The latitude and longitude I calculated myself are definitely correct. You should learn from me so that you won't get lost easily when you go to sea in the future!"

Nagasaki arrived?

Li Zhongshan hurriedly turned around, raised his telescope, and looked straight ahead. What he saw was a peninsula deep into the sea and an unknown number of dotted islands.Those small islands are scattered on the west side of the peninsula that stretches into the sea. Between these small islands and the peninsula, they form excellent wind-sheltered anchorages, which are easy to defend and difficult to attack!

Yang Qilong found a good concession for his sister!
Thinking of this, Li Zhongshan suddenly loudly ordered: "Lower the sun and moon flag!"

The sun and moon flag represents the Ming Dynasty, and the golden iris flag with a white background represents the Bourbon royal family. Now the two flags are hung on the mast of the Liaodong at the same time, which is actually to confuse the public.

The purpose of lowering the Sun and Moon flag before entering Nagasaki Port was to make others think that this battleship still belonged to French King Louis XIV. In fact, the Ming Dynasty's purchase of the Royal Sun has been kept secret until now.I have never seen it in the newspaper, nor discussed it in the political council. The 50 taels of procurement expenses were also taken from the "special expenses" of the General's Office - many struggles between the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, and the Zhou Dynasty. The method cannot be discussed in the political assembly, let alone published in the newspaper.For example, you bribe someone or pay a killer to kill someone!
If this was discussed at the political meeting, who would dare to accept money from Ming Dynasty?The targets of Ming Dynasty's assassination have also gone into hiding, making it difficult to kill them.

Therefore, in the budget of the General's Mansion, there is a "special fee" of one million taels every year. If you can't spend it all, you can save it for the next year.

This time Li Zhongshan spent 50 from the special fee to buy the Royal Sun, but it was still kept strictly confidential.

When the Liaodong slowly sailed into the port of Nagasaki, the Governor of the Dutch East India Company, Spielman, and the Spanish Governor of the Philippines, Carlos, who were standing on Gongen Hill at the top of the Nagasaki Peninsula, were each holding a telescope and watching the slow sailing on the sea. fleet.

Li Zhongshan did not bring only one Liaodong this time, but nine entire ships.One first-class battleship and eight armed galenic ships.

On the Liaodong ship, the golden iris flag fluttered on a white background, while on the other eight Galen ships, the sun and moon flags fluttered in the wind.

"The eight British-style armed galenic ships all fly the flag of the Ming Dynasty. They should be the main ships of the Ming Dynasty navy, right?" Carlos, the Spaniard, put down his telescope, exhaled softly, and half-joked to Si Pillman said, "It's a pity that our Armada is still in Manila. If they had arrived in Japan, today would be the end of General Li Zhongshan!"

"Governor," Spearman was not as optimistic as the Spaniard, "didn't you see the Royal Sun? That is a first-class battleship with a displacement of more than 2000 tons, and its single-ship strength is stronger than any Dutch battleship!"

Carlos smiled and said: "Governor, who doesn't know that our Dutch third-tier battleships are the most powerful third-tier battleships in the world? Even if they are up against the enemy's first-tier battleships, they will not fall behind!"

In fact, the price-performance ratio of first-class battleships is very low, and the smart Dutch never build such expensive and luxurious things.What really wins the favor of the Dutch Navy is the durable and economical third-level battleship.Moreover, the Dutch third-level battleships do not seek to be large or strong. Their light load displacement is only 1000-1200 tons, and their artillery is relatively small, usually less than 60.However, the artillery shells of the Dutch third-tier battleships are quite heavy, so they follow a fierce route of having few guns and heavy shells!

This time the Dutch sent two third-level battleships with ten fourth-level ships and one flag to join the Spanish Armada, and they have now arrived in Manila!

Spielman also laughed proudly when he heard Carlos's compliment: "One first-class ship, one second-class ship, five third-class ships! It is indeed enough to sink Louis XIV's Royal Sun. It's a pity that they are not here! Otherwise." Governor Carlos smiled and said: "Just give this great general another chance. Moreover, our motherland has now ceased war with Louis XIV's France, and the risk of sinking the Royal Sun is still too high. Big. If the Sun King is angered, the European war that finally ended may start again. Although it will be a matter of time, there is still no need for us to deal with two powerful enemies at the same time. Defeat them one by one. It is in line with the laws of war!"

Spearman nodded: "Yes, defeating each one is in line with the laws of war. So Li Zhongshan has no reason to fight the Qing Dynasty, Zhou Dynasty, Japan and us at the same time, right?"

"That's for sure," Carlos smiled. "Now that the Qing Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty have joined the 'Eleven-Nation Alliance', they clearly want to oppose the Ming Dynasty. If Li Zhongshan is not crazy, he will definitely be eager to compromise with us. , after all, there isn’t much time left for him!”

Spielman sneered: "This Li Zhongshan is not a madman, on the contrary, he is just a cunning and cunning rational man. So he will definitely choose to defeat his enemies in East Asia first, and then turn around to deal with us!"

Carlos snorted: "But he would never have thought of it. We will never let go of a ruler like him who has the potential to dominate an entire continent, whether he is in Europe or Asia!"

It is in the name of clearing the concession, but in fact, the Nagasaki Port under Yang Qilong's actual control is indeed quite lively now, with ships from various countries moored everywhere on the sea.There are all kinds of styles.There are Western-style Galen boats with soft sails, old lock boats that combine Western-style hulls with Chinese hard sails, pure Chinese-style bird boats, lucky boats, and crab boats with oars and sails, as well as some A strange-looking Japanese fishing boat or some other boat.

The construction of city walls, forts and forts to defend Nagasaki has begun. The port area and towns around Nagasaki, which is not open, are full of busy construction sites. There are people wearing white cloth belts on their heads everywhere on the construction sites. The weather is quite cold. The particularly short Japanese coolies, still wearing shorts, were working under the bayonets of the heavily armed Korean New Army soldiers.

The North Koreans can probably boast about this scene for 1000 years, right?

Led by a crab boat, the battleship Liaodong slowly passed through the narrow waterway of Nagasaki. Cotentin and his French men were obviously on their toes. The huge battleship was almost as big as the crab boat that led the way. Just as flexible.As the ship's speed gradually slowed down and finally stopped moving, the Liaodong had docked at a rather remote pier located in a corner of Nagasaki Port.

Li Zhongshan looked around the dock and saw a "formation house", which is a large house with trenches outside and high walls inside.Moreover, the high wall is made of stone and is extremely strong.

A large flag with the word "Zheng" flying above this mansion!

Outside the mansion, there were a large number of Nanyang Company mercenaries standing guard wearing white robes and carrying fan Yangli on their heads. Everyone was carrying a flintlock gun with a bayonet.It looks like he's well-trained!
The owner of this house is Zheng Jing’s uncle, Tagawa Nanasaemon. Although he takes the surname of Zheng Zhilong’s Japanese wife, Tagawa, he is a Chinese from beginning to end, and his main job in Nagasaki is to serve the Zheng Ming authorities. ——The Zheng family owns a large number of Zhuyin ships and occupies a large share of Japan's foreign trade.During the years when the Qing Dynasty implemented coastal border relocation, Japan's foreign trade became a very important source of income for the Zheng family.

In addition, the Zheng family, who had retreated to the island, had a limited population and was unable to maintain a huge industry, so they had to import supplies from Japan to maintain the situation.

It can be said that the Zheng family can persevere on the island, and Tagawa Nanasaemon is indispensable!

After Yang Qilong took control of Nagasaki, the Tagawa Mansion became a large stronghold of the Zheng family in Nagasaki. Not only was it reinforced and expanded, but Zheng Jing also sent 1000 elite mercenaries to the Tagawa Mansion in Nagasaki. He also bought the dock and several other large houses near Tagawa's home.Those large houses are now occupied by the officers and soldiers of the Shanzi Battalion who arrived earlier.

Li Zhongshan himself will stay at Tagawa Mansion, where he will meet with Yang Qilong, as well as the leaders of Satsuma, Choshu, Tosa and other feudal lords, and may also meet with envoys from the Dutch and Spanish.

Li Zhongshan withdrew his gaze again, glanced at the pier, and found that there were already some people waiting there.Needless to say, those people with tall hats, big braids, and patchwork clothes were all from the Qing Dynasty. Yang Qilong and Mr. Yang were among them, surrounded by people like stars holding the moon.

Standing with them were some people wearing Ming Dynasty-style official uniforms. Some of them were wearing new-style official uniforms without embroidery. They must be people from Zheng Jing. Others were wearing Ming-style embroidered uniforms. They must be North Korean officials. Son.

These people all looked at the Liaodong battleship like a city wall with their mouths open!

The size of the Liaodong didn't seem like much to Li Zhongshan, but to people in East Asia in this era, it was really shocking.

The Liaodong stopped, and immediately skilled sailors dropped the anchor and lowered the gangplank.Li Zhongshan and Yang Xiaohuan immediately stepped off the boat one after another.Yang Qilong, who was on the shore, had already smiled and clasped his fists in salute from a distance: "General, it's been hard work coming from afar. Xiaohuan, you're here too!"

Li Zhongshan also cupped his fists and returned the salute, and when he came face to face, he gave another flat salute.Yang Qilong smiled and said: "It's been a tough journey. When my brother received the news from the Nanyang Company's clipper, he worried about Brother Shikai. Now we're finally here! It's been bumpy along the way? Why don't we go to Taguan Mansion to rest for a few days? How about meeting people from all walks of life again?”

Li Zhongshan smiled and said: "Third brother, to be honest, I came to Nagasaki this time mainly to see you!"

He has not yet mentioned the Fuquan withdrawal to Yang Qilong, nor has he said in a letter to his "pen pal" Yang Xiaomi that her ex-husband ran away from Kangxi, got married again, and wanted to take her with him If the bear army fought back to the Qing Dynasty and took away Kangxi's throne, Yang Xiaomi would be embarrassed!

"Looking for me?" Yang Qilong smiled and nodded, then pointed to the Tagawa mansion behind him: "General, it's windy here, let's go inside and talk. Mr. Tagawa has prepared a banquet for you to welcome the wind. It's the best in Nagasaki." The cook made it.”

The best cook in Nagasaki?Isn't it sashimi or something?Is this fish fillet from Nagasaki edible?
Li Zhongshan murmured as he followed Yang Qilong towards Tian Chuan's mansion.And all the officials who were supposed to salute Li Zhongshan on the dock all followed him to the mansion.

After a while, Li Zhongshan and Yang Qilong finally entered the house and took their seats in a lobby. Yang Xiaohuan was led by a maid arranged by Yang Qilong to settle down first.

Zheng Zhilong's second son, a gentle little man who looked to be in his fifties, was brought to salute by Feng Xifan, who was sent by Zheng Jing to come with Li Zhongshan.Then Taguan and Feng Xifan sat down in the lobby and became guests.

And Fuquan's envoy Silva also came in and took a seat in the corner.

"General," Yang Qilong said with a smile, "You just said you wanted to see me. What's the important matter?"

Li Zhongshan asked: "Third brother, did Fuquan deposit 1000 million taels of silver with you?"

(End of this chapter)