Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1428 Cannon
Weiss holds up the binoculars.Three thick wooden poles were erected obliquely in the parapet of the fort. The wooden poles stood obliquely, and the tops were fixed together with irons. A set of pulleys hung from above, and a hook was hung at the end. The winch is installed next to it.He studied the derrick intently for a moment, then turned to the beach below the battery.The most striking thing is that a road is paved with wooden boards on the beach. Colonial soldiers in colorful clothes gather beside the boardwalk. The fork stick drove a large group of local coolies.The coolies are naked from the upper body, and the ropes they carry or pull draw the observer's attention to the heavy load they are pulling.A black cannon, this is by no means an old Spanish bronze cannon that has been boring and modified. It is bigger than the cannons on any fort or ship in Macau or Manila in this time and space. It is probably only erected by the Australians on their steam battleships. That main gun can compare to that.The black iron gun barrel presents a strange shape curve, like an enlarged soda bottle.Compared with the thick and solid gun body, the triangular bracket formed by the girders is extremely simple, and four pitifully small iron wheels are installed underneath.If it hadn't been for the planks, such a clumsy and incongruous thing would have been stuck in the sand and sand of the beach.

"When did you find out?" Weiss asked.

"Before sunrise, at [-]:[-], we found a ship." The special investigation team member said, Weiss followed the direction he pointed and looked through the binoculars, and sure enough, a sloop had lowered its sails and was moored near the coast on the southwest side of the fortress. . "Since then the Spaniards have been busy laying the improvised road, and an hour ago they erected the derricks, and the cannons were just unloaded from the ships by tackle."

The binoculars turned back to the cannon that was being towed. The soldiers shouted, and the bamboo whips and forks fell on the coolies' heads and backs from time to time.The skin of the coolies was covered with scars, and they kept showing painful expressions under the whipping and heavy pressure.Weiss was indifferent to this cruel scene.He searched in his mind, and it was too distant a memory to be taken by his father to the fort of Fort Golden Gate when he was a child; but he clearly remembered that he had visited Sumter and Moore in Charleston when he was in the Army training camp at Fort Jackson. Fortress Terry, that time the recruit Weislando was stunned by the huge Dahlgren Cannon.Now he was again amazed by similar guns and mounts.Despite the lack of professional knowledge of antique ordnance, Weiss at least knows that the fort cannons of the Civil War era were made to sink armored ships. If the Esmeralda was accidentally hit, the consequences would be easy to imagine.

"If I give the order now, can you kill one of them?" Weiss asked suddenly.

"No hit. The target is more than 2000 meters away," the sniper replied, "but you can take a position there and you'll be fine." He was referring to the sparse bushes to the south of the villa.

Weiss shook his head, the tower, an excellent surveillance post, cannot be given up.Now I regret not adding a few Barretts or .50 McMillan to the cargo hold of the Mackerel, even if there is an M2 heavy machine gun.He opened the cover of the microphone on the wall, and rang the bell again: "Mimi, is that you? Send the big telescope and camera to the top of the tower, and I want it now."

"God knows when these bastards start shooting," he murmured as he closed the mouthpiece.

When the count returned to the shooting room, Captain Pilar and several of his colleagues were completely drunk, lying sprawled on the couch, snoring loudly.Andrade was having a lively discussion with the mayor on the topic of Oriental art and idolatry, and from time to time the treasurer could be heard casually quoting the famous thesis of St. Augustine and Aquinas.The count signaled to the servants to bring a daybed, and sat down on the veranda next to Alfonso.

Weiss inadvertently looked at the new celebrity who had been talked about in Manila recently. The uniform embroidered with gold thread was newly made, and his newly obtained medals and ribbons were quite dazzling.Alfonso spoke first, and there was already a hint of alcohol in his voice.

"Count, is this drinking method a masterpiece of your genius? Rum and iced juice are extremely refreshing to drink, just like a cool cloud."

"Someone in my hometown once said that if I changed my career to be a hotel manager, it would be better than fighting the heretics." Weiss made a gesture and ordered the servants to put the bartender and the cooling grid with well water. Gas sent over, "Talk to me about natural philosophy, sir."

"Natural philosophy? My dear Vananova, I'm not a doctor or a scholar. I'm a soldier who fought for God's favor, like you."

"No, did you hear what Pilar said? Since how to kill a man faster with a bullet and a sword is natural philosophy, how to kill a hundred with a cannonball should belong to the category of natural philosophy. "

"You mean the Paul Cannon? It's a delight indeed, as is your wine. So long as you don't stand right in front of the cannon yourself."

"Then talk to me."

"What? Paul the Cannon, or Paul the Cannonmaker?"

"Tell me, dear Alfonso, tell me as much as you know," Weiss stuffed a large glass of cocktail into his hand, "These things are really interesting, who wouldn't want to make more achievements on the battlefield? "

"Speaking of this Mr. Paul, it's really mysterious..." Major Alfonso talked very excitedly under the stimulation of alcohol.

"Are you still so mysterious when you worked with him?"

"Of course, of course, I did work with him. But to be honest, this is really a man you can never know what he thinks in his heart-maybe he really is as religious as the priests say, so pious that he doesn't care about the outside world. gone."

"No, this wonderful man didn't even take part in the triumph - it's puzzling to give up such a great honor."

"He doesn't care about that. Besides, he boarded the clipper boat and left shortly after he returned to Manila. No one in the Philippines knows where he went except the Governor. He can do whatever he wants, and the Governor is always unconditional." Mr. Paul is now the governor's closest friend," the major said with a wretched smile on his lips, "however, every time he comes back, there will always be some surprising new tricks. Just wait and see Bar."

At this moment, on the deserted west coast of Samar Island, which is hundreds of nautical miles away from Manila, the horns of coolies and curses mixed in Spanish and local vernacular are echoing in the air.

On this deserted and uninhabited coastline full of dangerous reefs and shallows, three sailing ships of various sizes are moored. On the tower of one of the small dhows, Evaristo Okamoto is watching The coolies struggling hard in the shallows.Under the scorching sun and the merciless whipping of the supervisor, they were crumbling one by one, but they had to exert all their strength to drag the rope that was rubbing against their skin mercilessly.

On the shoal where the seawater submerged people's waists, there was a huge pile of waste.The rusted iron bones covered with dead sea creatures pierced into the air messily. On these iron bones, there were pieces of colorless plates attached here and there.

The wreck of the Type 901 gunboat Nongchao, which capsized during Operation Starvation and sank off the west coast of Samar's North Cape, washed ashore in the latest typhoon.

Evaristo Okamoto was very interested in the starvation operation. From the Spanish captives who returned to Manila after the ransom and his "fiancée", he knew many details of the operation, and also learned that an Australian ship sank in the Samar Island.

For Evaristo Okamoto, a boat is a treasure trove.Especially for a person like him who came to this time and space with nothing.He immediately took his people to Samar Island, and quickly found the place where the tide sank.

However, the Navy's thorough handling of Tide left him helpless with the wreckage.The tidal wrecks lie on the underwater beaches and reefs, even when the tide is low, they are three or four meters deep from the water surface.Moreover, it can be seen from the huge breach on the hull that the structural part of the ship has been destroyed.With his technical strength, he couldn't salvage it at all-even if he could salvage it, it wouldn't have any repair value, and he didn't have the ability to repair it at all.

After a few probes with the diving bell, Evaristo Okamoto found nothing useful.I can only return bitterly.However, the Nongchao, which sank in the waters of Samar Island, has always been the object of his concern.

Evaristo Okamoto has no doubt that this group of so-called Australians have already damaged the Tide, but this kind of damage was carried out after the Tide capsized and sank, which means that they did not destroy and dismantle the ship. Possibly very thorough.In other words, this ship is still a treasure house—provided that he can touch it.

Paul Hale's salvage conditions were very unfavorable. He didn't have any diving equipment, and he could do very limited things by diving with a primitive diving bell.

However, God seemed to be looking after his cause, and shortly after the latest typhoon passed, a ship passing near Samar Island brought news of a strange wreck of a large ship that had been pushed ashore by the storm—— The ribs of this ship are actually made of iron!

Evaristo Okamoto, who heard the news, immediately set off with a fleet.He shipped with the ship hundreds of coolies, copious amounts of rope, capstans, and tackle, and even an entire blacksmith's shop.Get ready to dismember the wreck of this ship in Samar and see what you can get out of it.

(End of this chapter)