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Chapter 486 Personal command
Dagukou is named after the Dagu River. Dagu River, also called Haihe River, enters the sea from Dagu mouth. In the second year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, the emperor built a city and set up a garrison in Tianjin, and set up a fort at Dagukou to lock the waterway from the sea to Beijing.

In the fourth year of Jingyang (1608), the new naval governor Yuan Keli established a port on the north bank of the fort with barracks at the rear. It was completed in the eighth year of Jingyang and was known as Dagukou Naval Base.

There are four docks and fifteen warehouses, which can accommodate more than 20 three-masted warships and more than 40 armed cargo ships. The camp can accommodate 8,000 people for food, accommodation and training. It is the largest port of the Ming Dynasty Navy and the location of the Naval Staff Headquarters.

The opposite bank is still a construction site, which is the port and warehouse area of ​​the Maritime Yamen. On weekdays, private cargo ships can enter the Haihe River channel through the southern route, but no ships are allowed to pass through on the northern side. On the land, there are dozens of tall wooden buildings surrounding them. No one is allowed to approach without a pass from the Navy Yamen.

The naval port, which used to be heavily guarded in the past, was a different scene today. The shore was crowded with sailors and Marines in black uniforms. Two black sailboats and seven or eight fast-moving traffic ships were in the channel. Cruising.

But the real protagonist is not the crowd, nor the black sailing ships patrolling the water, but the six three-masted warships moored on the pier. They look exactly the same, even the texture of the wood is the same. Only the names outlined in white paint on both sides of the bow and stern are different, from Qin 001 to Qin 006.

At this time, the sides of every Qin-class warship were filled with sailors in short attire, except for the deck of No. 006, which had a few officials in robes. Among them was a man in his thirties, of medium build, slightly dark complexion, wearing a navy uniform but with no epaulette rank.

"Your Majesty, this is a very risky move. I think the overall situation should be taken into consideration." Yuan Ke, who was wearing a bright red flying fish uniform, stood at attention with a sad look on his face. He followed the man and kept whispering persuasion.

"Exactly, Your Majesty is rich in gold, how can you personally get involved in danger? I am willing to take command on your behalf!" Wang Xiangqian, who was also wearing a bright red bullfighting robe, followed on the other side, also repeatedly admonishing, and even volunteered to take the risk on behalf of the emperor.

"My dear friends, you don't need to say anything. I'm just sailing the boat a few times outside the harbor and firing a few cannons. Here are our loyal ministers and good generals. There are so many dangers. Come on, come on, where is the first mate? Ring the bell and set sail! Boatswain, Boatswain, please get off all the irrelevant people on the deck.

Sister Ji, come and be the gunner for me. The requirements are not high, if you can be among the top three, I will allow you to serve in the navy for another five years. If you win first place, I will make an exception and promote you to the captain of this ship. If you can't even make it into the top three, then just go to the army and become an artillery instructor. If you dare to say more nonsense, you will be kicked out of the palace prison! "

That's right, Hong Tao changed his clothes and went into battle himself. It’s not easy to travel all the way here, and if you have the opportunity to board a ship and go out to sea, you won’t give up. As for danger, if someone in the Navy colludes and plans to assassinate him on the ship, it's destiny. It's such a failure to be an emperor. He can't even control his direct army and it's a waste of time.

"Long live my Lord, the gunners on the No. 3 ship are the most powerful. How about we switch to another ship?" Jieji is the eunuch who directs the artillery on Chaoyangmen. Li Ruzhang wants to transfer him to the army as an artillery instructor. This guy is not happy with his life and death. Many times Shangshu begged for mercy and stayed in the navy to serve.

Hong Tao understood his thoughts. As a eunuch, it was not easy to gain some prestige among a group of normal people and make some friends. But suddenly in a strange environment, no matter how big an official you are, you will still be discriminated against.

But as a soldier, it is your bounden duty to obey orders. If you open this mouth yourself, should you allow it if someone asks for mercy in the future? This inspection happened to coincide with the new ship's target practice, which was used to solve the problem of personnel deployment. Win or lose depends on your ability, one by one, no one can complain.

"Stop talking nonsense and hurry up and get ready! The ship leaves the port, left-hand wind, one-third of the mainsail..." On the other hand, Hong Tao would rather have a poor target shooting result than get him into the Army. Now the Navy has entered a virtuous cycle , there are batches of reserve talents, and the newly built army lacks most mid-level and lower-level commanders with combat experience.

"The ship leaves the port, take in the bow cable... take in the stern cable... the wind is from the left, one-third of the main sail..." The first mate on the No. 6 ship was a pirate, a Fujianese in his forties, and had never thought that Because I could stand beside the emperor and share the same boat, my writing was straight from beginning to end, my eyes were not squinting, and even my loud voice was much gentler. "Did you not have enough to eat? Who can hear such a small voice! How about you be the captain and I will shout?"

As soon as he stood behind the steering wheel and stepped on the swaying ship's plank, Hong Tao felt that the blood all over his body was boiling. All the previous restraints suddenly disappeared. He stepped on the steering wheel with one leg, tilted his arms, and started to speak dirty words. .

If it weren't for the fact that there were courtiers and a group of naval officers staring intently on the shore, he would have wanted to take off his uniform as well. The navy is different from the army. It is completely a tool for aggression, so it cannot be too rigid or introverted in terms of personality.

The best state is to become a group of pirates who can abide by disciplines. Killing people is commonplace and robbing families is easy. As long as you go to sea, don't pretend to have any morals in your heart. Everything you can see must be thought of how to take it back as your own.

"Your Majesty, forgive me, common man..." This voice directly made the first mate kneel down, kowtowing like garlic.

"What the hell, get up quickly. The sailors are all waiting. If you say one more word, I will kill you!" To say that boarding a strange warship is not worrying or objective at all, Hong Tao inserted a stick in his waist. He pulled out the short blunderbuss and put it on the back of the first mate's head.

"The ship is leaving the port, take in the bow cable... take in the stern cable... Left side wind, one third of the mainsail..." Not bad, the first mate finally stood up, pulling his neck and shouting heartbreakingly.

"The ship is leaving port... left wind, mainsail one-third..." This time the sailors on the deck finally heard it clearly, and quickly shouted at the top of their lungs, and then the sailors on the boom followed, for fear that the emperor would not He was so happy that he shot himself dead.

Amid uniform and trembling shouts, Ship No. 6 slowly raised its main sail and slowly left the dock, dragged by several small boats. The other five Qin-class warships participating in the target shooting test also untied their cables one by one, and followed the No. 5 ship one after another and sailed out of the dock towards the shooting range waters.

The so-called shooting range is a piece of water surrounded by buoys on the sea. The competing ships enter from the north side and use their naval guns to take turns shooting at the vertical floating planks located 200 meters east of the ship, three on each side, and then score based on the number of hits.

It's easy to say, but not easy to do. First of all, the captain needs to adjust the sail size according to the wind strength and control the distance between the ship and the target. If it is too close, it will be illegal, and if it is too far, it will be a disadvantage.

The second is the speed at which the sailor changes the sail gear. The targets are one on the left and one on the right, and the distances are not equal. If you want to change the shooting target, the gunner can hardly help, and you have to rely on the sail operator to correct the course of the ship. If the sail gear is adjusted slowly, the distance is too far or the angle is wrong. Maybe even the shooting opportunity will be missed.

The last step is the test for the gunner and gunner. They need to calculate the distance, adjust the muzzle angle, and quickly go to the right to reload after firing on the left. Each target has only one shooting opportunity, and there are no extra shells or propellants in the cabin.

(End of this chapter)