Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1435 Arson
Victims are quickly stripped naked.The two murderers quickly disposed of the military uniforms and weapons, and carried the body into the dock.Towed all the way to the side of the Nautilus diving boat.The maintenance of the diving boat has just started, and the surrounding area is full of ship materials, planks, copper and iron parts, and wooden barrels filled with tar and pitch are lined up on the stone steps on the inner wall of the dock.A Chinese climbed onto the deck, opened the hatch, and slipped in. The agility of his movements was enough to amaze Captain Fernand.After a quick inspection, he also turned the joystick twice to observe how the propeller works. After noting the main points, he opened all the hatches and openings on the ship that could be opened, and the other partner immediately Pass the prepared wooden barrel and pour the pungent wood tar into the cabin.The two were very busy for a while. All kinds of flammable ship boards and linoleum, and abaca thread used to fill the seams were all piled up under the diving boat. When the fuel was piled up, holes were carefully reserved for ventilation. Barrels of pitch and tar poured from the ship's decks and flowed over the hull, saturating the accumulated flammables.Finally, two vandals found a strange black ribbon among the debris, which gave off a bad smell.They did not know that it was buckskin impregnated with wood tar, to be used as a watertight seal on the hatch, but they wrapped the soldier's body in it and threw it into the funeral pyre specially prepared for the Nautilus.

A saboteur climbed back into the cabin.He opened a paper bag, revealing two small tin tubes.In the moonlight, one can be seen painted white, and the other red is the same thickness but longer, with threads engraved on the end like a fountain pen, and the other end is sealed with a celluloid waterproof cap.He took out a few copper alloy discs from the paper bag, observed for a while, picked out a piece of appropriate thickness, carefully placed it flat in the iron pipe and installed it properly, and finally screwed the two iron pipes together tightly.A pair of special pliers clamped firmly at a certain position of the white pipe. Seeing that the iron sheet was sunken, the cracking sound of the glass ampoule and the sound of liquid flowing could be heard inside. The iron pipe was left in the cabin filled with tar.His companion did the same, and another iron pipe was placed in the firewood pile under the Nautilus.They also left a few similarly treated iron pipes in the timber piles and shipyards where they worked.After finishing all the work in an orderly manner, the two saboteurs took off their tar-stained underwear and cloth shoes and threw them into the dock, completely removed their camouflage, jumped into the sea, and swam towards the east. Waiting for them by the rocky beach.

The unnoticed chemical reaction continued in the iron pipe, and the slight hissing sound of the copper alloy sheet being corroded by acid was completely covered by the noise of the tide hitting the coast.After nearly four hours, the copper sheet was finally corroded. Concentrated sulfuric acid seeped into the red half of the iron pipe, and the content made of sugar and potassium chlorate inside exploded into a violent spontaneous combustion reaction. The flame instantly burned through the celluloid cap and sprayed onto the boards that have been allowed to soak in the tar.Within minutes, the Nautilus was a gigantic torch.Sparks exploded everywhere, blazing tongues of flame flew upward, and soon the wooden shed on the dock was also ablaze.The entire shipyard was shrouded in a trembling red light, and black shadows were scurrying across the ground.The workers who were awakened by the fire either sat on the ground and howled at the top of their lungs, or ran around, panting desperately, shaking so that they could not speak a word.

Genolino Pagno turned pale with fright, as if to congratulate him for coming in haste, with a bang, the roof of the dock collapsed, red flames flew up, and the head of the fire rose to a height of two paso.He yelled for his men to put out the fire, but no one paid any heed to his orders. They just ran around, pushed each other, fell down, and became a mess.

The chaotic situation lasted until the officers of the Fort St. Philip arrived at the shipyard with a detachment of soldiers.Genolino divided his men into two groups, all the way to fight the burning lumberyard; all the way to the dock where the diving boat was.There was a strange scene there. Although a huge brazier had been burned in the dock, there was sea water accumulated in a low-lying channel at the dock head, and the flames could not fill it. intact.But when Genolino ordered the gates to be opened and seawater to be put out to extinguish the fire, it was discovered that the ingenious machinery Paul Alpine had built to open the heavy gates seemed to have been deliberately sabotaged, and that the gates would not budge no matter how they were pulled.I hurriedly found several water pumps, but after carrying them over, I found that the water hose had been cut off in advance.In this way until the fire was extinguished, the only remaining part of the "Magic Ship of Manila" Nautilus was the deformed propeller and several twisted and blackened copper skeletons.

Several pieces of charred human bones were cleared from the ashes in the dock, and a Chinese cloth shoe was found in the stagnant water at the head of the dock.Undoubtedly, these things are the last remnants of two poor Chinese craftsmen in the world.As for the two missing Pampanga soldiers, they were initially thought to have deserted, and a few days later their spears and arquebuses were fished out of the sea near the dock, as well as their uniforms wrapped in a ball, soaked in blood. color.Although no bodies have been found, it can be concluded that they have been murdered by murderers who deliberately set fire.Genolino Pagno was summoned by the Manila Prosecutor's Court.Although the final result of the interrogation was that he was not responsible for this and was released, but since he was hit by this blow, his spirit has collapsed.He never said anything but murmured a prayer to the Virgin to himself.

The vacant post of director of the shipyard was sold under the administration, and the governor offered a price of one thousand pesos, after several heated competitions, by Carlosi, nephew of Mr. Genolino Pagno and his assistant at the shipyard. Opaño bought the position for [-] pesos, and it was widely rumored that Calucio Panio had received funding from Takayama to spend such a large amount of money.Calucio is a close friend of Takayama and often visits his estate and factory.

The spotlight on the new head of the shipyard didn't last long, as new murders drew attention.On the second night of the fire at the shipyard, Captain Fernand, the most avid cockfight gambler among the whites in Manila, was assassinated in Parian District.The night watchman reported that they found the captain lying in a gutter by the roadside, and the smell of alcohol on his body even overwhelmed the smell of blood.What took the captain's life was a strangely shaped curved-edged dagger stuck in the chest-a weapon that the Malays love to use.Apparently the drunken captain had also fought the murderer, and his right hand was clenched into a fist, clutching a small piece of cloth torn from the enemy's clothing: a scrap of Dutch sackcloth.

A search of the captain's quarters was a disappointment, and the drunkard and gambler captain had left nothing in his inn room, not even a penny, which the priests said was a crime of gambling.

Rumors that Dutch villains hired Malay assassins to infiltrate Manila to sabotage were all over the city for a while, but a few people except the governor were worried about it. These rumors were only stimulated by most Spaniards for their too leisurely and lazy life.For most of the self-proclaimed Iberian nobles in the Eastern Islands, a ship burned in a shipyard; compared to?

However, the work of the shipyard did not stop because of this destruction. Since the Nautilus had been burned, it allowed the shipyard to concentrate its manpower and material resources on the construction of patrol ships.Lando found that the Spaniards showed unprecedented efficiency. The newly appointed director personally supervised the workers and dispatched many native soldiers to "supervise" him and the coolies to work.A week after the dock burned down, the coolies drained the dock, repaired the locks, cleared out all the rubbish, and brought in new ship materials.According to the reports of Gimide and others, the shipyard does not seem to restart the construction of submarines, and puts all its energy on those patrol boats.

Even a person like Lando who knows nothing about shipbuilding and sailboats can see that these gradually formed sailboats are very similar to the two-masted patrol boats equipped in batches by the Lingao Navy.Even the reserved gun positions are exactly the same as the original version.Lando soon realized that Zheng Zhilong did not own the patrol boat that was taken away by the navy at the time. It was most likely taken by Hale and brought to Manila.

What was he building submarines and these patrol boats for?Meaningless.Lando thought to himself that although this could indeed strengthen the Spanish rule in the Philippines, it was only a wish to stop the Senate from dealing with it.

When he was thinking about how to write his new report, there were rhythmic knocks on the door of the study room, and it was Mimi who came.

"Come in!"

"Chief, Jimmy De has just returned from the pier, and he has something to report." Mimi reported in a low voice.

"Call him in."

Gimmead reported that seven or eight ghosts got off the boat with a lot of luggage.

It is not uncommon for foreigners to come to Manila, but it is very special for the servants of the Governor's Mansion to greet them specially.

"What color is your hair, and where are your eyes?"

"Black, yellow, and red! I didn't pay attention, there were blue and green, and there seemed to be black..." the young man said,
"What do these people seem to do?"

"It doesn't look like a rich person, but it looks solid, and it's not a poor person." Jimmy gestured, "I looked, and some of them have thick fingers and wrists, like craftsmen!"

"A craftsman? That's a craftsman." Lando thought to himself.It is not surprising that there are European craftsmen in Manila. The problem is that the Governor's Palace sent people to welcome them, which shows that they value these craftsmen very much.

(End of this chapter)