Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 226 Jane is in the Emperor’s Heart (·Final Chapter)

Twenty miles northwest of Keelung, near Meirentou, which was named Mazu Bay by Lin Hai, thick morning fog shrouded the sea and was only slightly dispersed by the sun at noon.

The scorching sun at noon in midsummer should have been scorching, but in the lingering sea fog, it showed a soft orange-red color, and the colorful halo was like the looming shadow of the Yao Palace.

On this fairyland-like sea, a sloop was passing through the mist. The hull of this ship is less than six feet, and its speed is as fast as flying on the water. Its white sails are like glimmers in the fog, making people wonder if it is a creation from the fairy world.

This ship really should not appear in the world at this time. It was designed by Lin Hai himself and Pan Xuezhong. When he refitted the Dingyuan, he had already made the ship model. It was built not long ago by the Pan family and his son. It only took a month to come out.

Lin Hai named this type of ship the Slupp ship. No one knew what the meaning of this strange name was. In fact, this ship cannot be called a sloop in the strict sense. The latter specifically refers to a sloop with only one triangular sail on the bow, but this ship has three stay sails on the bow.

In addition, there is a fore-and-aft sail and two square sails hung on the mast, so this ship should be called a top-masted square-rigged schooner. The only mast is a three-section spliced ​​type. It is not that there is no suitable large wood, but to make the weight distribution of the mast more reasonable, and at the same time, the height of the mast can be flexibly adjusted according to sea conditions.

The main sail on the bottom mast is naturally an upper-edge gaff sail. Like the Dingyuan's modified mizzen main sail, it also has a sail pole. The sail surface is also sewn with heavy weight cotton cloth. , but the area is much smaller.

Smaller square sails are hung under the beams of the topmast and topmast. The sail hung under the top beam is made of soft linen, which is easier to open in the breeze and can be better deployed in the wind. Improves sailing performance in light winds.

Of course, this upper sail cannot be opened when the wind speed is high. High winds at high altitudes can easily tear the light sail made of linen. At the same time, the shaking of the hull will also intensify as the wind increases. The upper sails at high places naturally shake the most violently, and the thrust will be largely consumed by the shaking.

When Lin Hai landed on Sheliao Island, Father Maulie, who had been waiting in Keelung for more than a month, had just finished lunch. He set out from Manila during the monsoon transition period. He wanted to find a suitable wind direction to return, but ended up waiting until the southerly season.

"Thank you, General. I have brought you another gift this time, a rifled flintlock gun." Father Maulie continued.

"Of course. Although I can't shoot, my servant can serve General Lin." Father Maulie pointed to an entourage beside him and said. This man is a Pampanga man who converted to Catholicism and is very strong.

Immediately afterwards, he took out the purge and poured the lead bullets in as hard as a toilet. The entire loading process took more than three minutes, even longer than a heavy matchlock gun with a much longer barrel.

The southwest monsoon in mid-summer has been very stable. This boat started from Tamsui and sailed to the northernmost tip of Treasure Island in a comfortable cross-tail wind. Then it sailed 50 miles to Meirentou at a 60-degree windward angle. It only took a total of For an hour and a half, the average speed exceeded nine knots.

The Pampanga people carried the rifled gun given to Lin Hai by the Dominicans and came to the school grounds of the War Department. He took out a lead bullet and placed it on the muzzle of the gun. The caliber of the lead bullet was obviously slightly larger than the inner diameter of the gun, just like the large lead bullet in Gongsun's bullet.

These craftsmen are mainly engaged in flintlock machine manufacturing, rifling drawing, and flint processing. After joining the Firearms Bureau, they have the production capacity of flintlock guns and rifled guns. The only trouble is flint. Lin Hai didn't know where there was a suitable flint mine, so he simply imported a batch from Manila and used it temporarily.

In comparison, there were more than a thousand matchlocks seized, half of which were heavy matchlocks. Although there were several different shapes, it was still no problem to pick out more than two hundred of them for the same shape. .

"It should be much better to wrap lead bullets with hard paper or leather. The Firearms Bureau will conduct relevant experiments later to see what material is best." Lin Hai said to He Liangtao beside him.

"Thank you Father, then as you wish, I will pay the bill with raw silk." Lin Hai fulfilled Father Maureen's wish. The Dominican Republic indeed brought the craftsmen he wanted three months later, so why should he be stingy? How about some raw silk?

In order to prevent the bow from getting into waves, this Throop sailboat adopts a hollow bow with an outward curve. The inclined bow post is recessed into the bow, which is shaped like a scissors. It is the flying scissor type that was invented more than two hundred years later. The bow of the ship will shorten the sailing time like scissors.

Of course, the range has indeed been improved a lot, and the lead can better utilize the energy of gunpowder. The maximum range of this rifled gun is only slightly closer than that of the Big Mushtek, but the weight of the gun is less than half of the latter. .

The reason why I did not directly buy a ready-made flintlock pistol was mainly because I was worried about the degree of standardization. Philippine flintlock pistols are mainly used by naval officers. Among the dozen or so seized by Lin Hai, none had the same caliber. They were probably customized by these officers according to their own ideas.

"Oh? We happen to have a shooting range here. I wonder if the priest can show me a few shots for this general." Lin Hai became interested after hearing this. He wanted to see how the rifled guns of this era were loaded.

Seeing this scene, Lin Hai could already imagine the next scene. Sure enough, the Pampanga man pressed the lead bullet down with his thumb, and the veins on the back of his hand popped out, and he pressed the lead bullet into the muzzle of the gun with all his strength.

What he was talking about was the coated bullets used by the French light infantry during the war. The leather and cardboard were softer than lead bullets, but they were also embedded enough in the rifling to allow the bullets to rotate while sealing the barrel.

The next voyage was only about twenty miles. The Slupp boat sailing far into the wind could still run at a speed of nearly seven knots. It only took less than half an hour to sail into the channel on the west side of Sheliao Island.

What's even more terrible is that due to the long moment arm of the top sail, it will increase the risk of the hull capsizing when violently shaking, and it will also increase the risk of sinking into the waves. Burying your head will lead to a sharp reduction in speed, which will further reduce the rudder efficiency, which will lead to yaw, which is also fatal in high sea conditions.

The final shooting accuracy is not much better than that of the heavy matchlock gun. Obviously, the lead bullet deforms too much. Although it can rotate after being embedded in the rifling, it still cannot achieve high accuracy in long-distance shooting. The biggest advantage of the rifled gun Didn't work out.

In view of this, when the wind speed is higher, not only the top sail must be furled, but also the top mast and top yard must be lowered. Correspondingly, the stay sail connected from the upper girder to the jib fly mast must also be furled.

"Dear General Lin, I have brought you the flints and craftsmen you requested. According to the price we agreed on, you can choose to pay in raw silk or silver. Of course, I will be more willing to accept raw silk." Father Mao Lie met. After arriving at Lin Hai, he said respectfully.

This method is easy for modern people to think of, but it was difficult for Europeans at this time, because people at that time did not know why rotation can improve accuracy. There is even a widely circulated saying that inaccurate shots are the devil. Making trouble, and the devil can't get a foothold on the spinning bullets.

For this reason, some people began to conduct anti-evil experiments, but no matter whether they prayed, blessed or used holy water to exorcise evil spirits, it was useless. Later, they even engraved prayers on the bullets or switched to silver bullets, but the result was that the accuracy of the musket was still not improved.

The final conclusion is that the devil is actually in the rifling, and the reason why rifled guns are more accurate is because the devil is deceiving people.

At present, only the Danish army in Europe is equipped with a batch of rifled guns. Other than that, they are used by the rich for hunting. Lin Hai is not sure whether the Danish army uses coated bullets, but he knows that the mainstream rifled guns in the era of muzzleloaders are Used like this. Of course Lin Hai also knew about the later Mini Bullet, but that thing required very high processing accuracy. Lin Hai felt that the Firearms Bureau was tough enough to produce it, so he didn't mention it for the time being.

As for the Braunschweig rifle and the Tuwennan rifle, Lin Hai had never heard of these two rifled rifles that were not well-known, so naturally he was unable to give better suggestions.

"Father Maureen, regarding the war horses mentioned last time, you might as well quote a price and I can consider it." After watching the rifle performance, Lin Hai talked about the Andalusian horses, which are now in Jeju Island. Already in the palm of his hand, it’s time to introduce a group of stallions...

After returning from Keelung, another person was waiting to be received by Lin Hai. This person was Huang San sent by Liu Xiang from Yingang.

It was a favorable wind for Huang San to come from Singang, and one day was enough. He was discovered by a patrol boat off the coast of Tamsui, and was then placed in Guandu City to wait.

After meeting Lin Hai, Huang San explained his purpose of coming. Lin Hai pondered for a moment and then asked: "How many people does your leader Liu have now? How many can he bring out?"

This question was expected by Liu Xiang. Huang San answered according to his elder brother's instructions: "The total number is more than three thousand. There should be no problem in bringing out two thousand people."

Lin Haiping withdrew, leaving only Huang San present, and continued: "If Leader Liu wants to maintain a semi-independent status, our Huiyou Company will not be able to accept it. But Lin has a place to go here, and I don't know if Leader Liu is willing." go?"

Huang San heard the words and said: "General Lin, please speak. Huang San can only take the lead. In the end, Leader Liu will make the decision himself."

"There is Jeju Island in North Korea. There are 50,000 to 60,000 Koreans on the island. This island is now occupied by the giant pirate Yuan Jin. This person is secretly following orders from Lin..." Lin Hai is not afraid that Liu Xiang will know about this. Anyway, he The pirates couldn't talk to the government, and no one believed them.

During the naval battle on Dongshan Island that day, Liu Xiang's bravery left a deep impression on Lin Hai. The Battle of Ningjin is now underway. In a few months, Jin will withdraw the last army from Yiju, North Korea. By then, Jeju Island may be under greater pressure, which will allow Liu Xiang's troops to strengthen. Yuan Jin's strength.

"After Leader Liu went to Jeju Island, he could receive two thousand koku of military rations every month, and he would not be paid other than that. In this way, he could maintain his semi-independent status." Lin Hai continued, "Jeju Island is far away from Japan and North Korea. They are all very close. Leader Liu can also catch slaves and sell them to Tamsui during the north wind season. As long as the price is satisfactory to both parties, the business will be done. "

The total population of Huiyou Company in Taipei and Yilan has reached nearly 100,000. Lin Hai felt that it was time to consider starting a mine.

The company directly allocates land to immigrants from the Ming Dynasty. In this way, if the mine does not pay enough wages, it will not be able to recruit workers. The only way is to use slave labor, otherwise it will lose even its underpants.

It is not possible to buy people directly from the population market. In this era, the coolies sold overseas from Haojing cost almost ten taels of silver each. This was much cheaper than slaves in the Americas, but it was still unacceptable to Lin Hai. The mines required an extremely large number of slave laborers, and the mortality rate was extremely high.

The only way was to capture slaves. It only took a few days to sail directly from Jeju to Danshui during the north wind season. The cost of sea transportation was very low. With the population density and maritime defense of North Korea and Japan, the cost of robbing people should not be high.

But Lin Hai couldn't do this himself. It was more appropriate to leave it to Liu Xiang, a scumbag. In the future, he would also open up the slave labor trade in Southeast Asia so that he would not be restricted by the wind direction.

After sending Huang San away, Lin Hai summoned Feng Yidao and began to deploy an attack on the Daokas people in Taoyuan.

The Daokas occupied the Taoyuan, Hsinchu, and Miaoli areas of later generations. These areas are all terraces or hills with average agricultural conditions, but they are excellent for growing tea and training troops for the Jianbing Bureau.

Lin Hai has no plans to immigrate to the Taozhumiao area for the time being, so he simply doesn't need Wu Lang to come forward and just catch slaves here.

There are 400 people in the spearhead bureau. The infantry are all skilled archers. The cavalry is only equipped with sabers for the time being, but it is more than enough to deal with the Daukas. The latter has a total of less than twenty village communities, with a total population of only about 5,000, and they are distributed over an extremely wide area.

Then, Lin Hai sent Zheng Tingqiu to lead a caravan to Japan. He would bring 1,500 loads of raw silk and other goods.

After selling out the goods in Nagasaki and Hirado, Zheng Tingqiu will go to Daqingdao via Jeju before the end of the south wind season to start trade with the North Korean rebel group whose name Lin Hai still doesn't know. When the north wind season comes, Zheng Tingqiu will return to Nagasaki with a load of ginseng and marten, and then return to Tamsui after selling the goods.

The night before departure, Lin Hai had a long secret conversation with Zheng Tingqiu, but no one knew what they were talking about.

Just as the caravan led by Zheng Tingqiu left Tamsui, Lin Hai's article denounced Wei Zhongxian finally reached the capital, thousands of miles away, and soon many people in the teahouses and restaurants of the capital were whispering about his name.

East of the Forbidden City, Zhu Youjian, the Xinwang in the Tenth Prince's Mansion, also heard about this from Concubine Tian.

This concubine Tian was married into Xin Mansion on the third day of February, and her name was Tian Xiuying. At that time, there were three candidates for Princess Xin. Tian Xiuying was not selected by Queen Yi'an, so she could only become a concubine in the end.

However, this concubine was favored more deeply than Princess Xin by the Zhou family. I don't know if it was because of her superb riding skills. In short, the cautious Zhu Youjian would only speak freely in front of her.

Concubine Tian Shu was born in Yangzhou, her mother Wu was born in Yangzhou Shouma, and her father Tian Hongyu was from Shaanxi who was doing business in Yangzhou. She was much better informed than Zhu Youjian who studied behind closed doors in the palace all day long.

When Concubine Tian was talking about Lin Hai, Zhu Youjian was reading "Collection of Local Officials" by Yang Sichang, a former household doctor. After his father was dismissed from office by the eunuch party, he also resigned and returned to his hometown.

After listening to Concubine Tian's story, the seventeen-year-old Zhu Youjian was silent for a long time. After carefully confirming that no one was around, he said softly: "This man is unruly and lawless, but he is still a true husband!"

(End of this chapter)