Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 926

After sailing in the sea for two days, the "Haitian" came to the waters near Nan'ao Island.Haitian is covered with white sails, like seagulls, gliding briskly across the sea gracefully.spray splash,

The weather here has been sunny recently, and the sea is as blue as a wash.A few floc-like white clouds floated slowly in the distant sky.The setting sun in May throws the gorgeous afterglow into the open and wide sea without any cover.On the surface of the sea, green islands floated.One after another, the emerald waves beat tirelessly against the naked shore, making a terrible sound like thunder.

This is Nan'ao Island.It is located at the junction of Fujian, Guangdong and Taiwan provinces, 11.8 nautical miles away from Shantou, 160 nautical miles away from Kaohsiung in the east, 97 nautical miles away from Xiamen in the north, and 180 nautical miles away from Hong Kong in the southwest.Since ancient times, Nan'ao has been a necessary berth and transit point for trade along the southeast coast, and it has been known as the "maritime market" as early as the Ming Dynasty.There are not only the footprints of the small imperial court of the Southern Song Dynasty, but also the so-called "gold storage place" of the Japanese pirates.

Haitian came here, of course not to dig for hidden gold. A reconnaissance and mapping ship of the "Haitian" Navy is responsible for collecting coastal sea conditions and landforms.A series of intelligence work such as measuring the water depth of the harbor.In long-distance combat, it also serves as a pilot ship.

The Navy is a money-burning service.Haitian is a vivid example.At the time of the Pearl River Estuary Battle last year, Haitian was still a 170-ton Guangzhou ship.Now, the old "Haitian" has become the new "Haitian" - the brigantine "Zhenhai" of the former Navy.Zhenhai is the first European-style two-masted schooner built according to the blueprints of the cross-country.Its prototype is the famous "America" ​​in history: a displacement of 30 tons, a total length of 7 meters, a width of 3 meters, and a draft of [-] meters.

The boat is extremely seaworthy, tacking fast even in headwinds.However, there are certain requirements for the crew's operational skills.It can reach a high speed of 18 knots when sailing in a strong wind, but it will be overturned if it is not careful.

Since it was launched in 1629, Zhenhai has participated in almost all the military operations of the Senate, and also served as a large number of escort, patrol and even cargo delivery tasks.After the second campaign against encirclement and suppression, Zhenhai did not take part in the battle at the mouth of the Pearl River, and took on the task of cruising and transporting Lingao-Sanya for a period of time.

Shortly after the start of the first shipbuilding and refurbishment program, Zhenhai entered the dock at Bopu Shipyard for repairs and renovations.In addition to cleaning and maintaining the hull, the hard sails were changed to soft sails, the bottom of the ship was covered with copper, the steam power system was installed, and a radio station was installed.

The Navy was quite satisfied with the use of Zhenhai, but felt that it was too small for an ocean-going warship and its firepower was insufficient, so it finally decided to change the name of Zhenhai to Haitian and replace the old Guangzhou-type old Haitian as a new reconnaissance and exploration ship.

Most of the ship's armament was removed from the Xin Haitian to reduce weight. All six 6-pound mortars and two 2mm rifled guns were dismantled—the early-made 2mm rifled guns had some defects in performance and production technology, and they were not put into large-scale production at that time. Only a few experimental ones were manufactured and installed in the On naval ships, various smoothbore guns are widely equipped on naval ships.Lin Shenhe has already made a report on the development and manufacture of a new generation of artillery to replace these early artillery.This special caliber gun has been included in the obsolete list.

After dismantling all the artillery, the new "Haitian" reinstalled a 48-pound smoothbore cannon and 4 "typewriters" as self-defense firepower.These weapons are enough to deal with sporadic pirate harassment.

The mission of the Haitian is "reconnaissance", and it does not need to bombard the shore or participate in naval battles. Speed ​​is the weapon and shield of the Haitian.Not only is Haitian better than the traditional sails of this time and space when using sails, but it is also equipped with a steam engine-propeller power, and can escape at full power when necessary.

The advantage of this kind of ship is that it requires very few sailors, and it only needs 9 people to operate it. With the support of additional steam engine power, the number of sailors required can be kept at a low level, freeing up enough sailors. The space is used to arrange a more comfortable living space-in order to ensure that the veterans who perform investigation and technical support work can live relatively happily at sea, the living facilities have also been remodeled to ensure the quality of life of the veterans at sea to the greatest extent.

In order to facilitate landing and exploration in inland waters, Haitian also installed a small boat hanger to carry rowboats and small boats.

The first task of the Haitian, which has completed the refitting work, is to set sail from Hong Kong to explore the hydrological conditions along the coast from Hong Kong to the coast of Shandong and the safety situation at sea.

Li Ziping, a veteran naval officer, served as the captain of the Xinhaitian.Li Ziping, like Chen Haiyang, is a retired naval officer from the former PLA. He has received formal military school education and has extensive experience in navigation and weapons management. He also went to the Kuznetsov Naval Academy for short-term training and received the influence of the spirit of the Red Navy.

After D-Day, Li Ziping served as a fisherman's navy for a period of time. He drove 8154 fishing boats to patrol outside Bopu Port to defend the Senate.After the establishment of the Ministry of the Navy, he refused to be appointed to the navy. He served as the captain of the navy for a long time and practiced various sailing maneuvers and sail naval warfare tactics. After getting the steam engine, he often went to the steam engine power workshop to master the characteristics of the steam engine and boilers. "Master new equipment, practice new tactics hard", this is his mantra.This appointment as the captain of the new "Haitian" is also his own request. He hopes to accumulate some intuitive feelings of the future theater through this voyage-even though he knows that the appointment of this captain will not be long, and he will wait until 1631 to officially launch After entering active service, he was about to receive a new warship.

Under the command of the captain, Hai Tian set sail from Hong Kong and sailed north along the coastline.The focus of this trip is to explore the Pingtung and Kaohsiung areas in Taiwan, and then to inspect the coastal areas of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shandong.Find out if you can settle down.Sheltered harbors and small islands, drawing accurate coastlines—although they have detailed sea charts in their hands, the change of coastlines is too great within hundreds of miles, which is very different from the sea charts and maps of old time and space. The distribution of reefs and shoals is also different, which must be corrected on the chart in advance.

Another task of Haitian is to observe the safety of sea navigation on the spot.Although before this, the ships of Dabo Shipping had sailed between Zhejiang and Hong Kong several times, and there was no danger-except for a few attacks by small groups of pirates, neither Liu Xiang nor Zheng Zhilong Interdiction of cargo voyages of large wave shipping was initiated.It seems that the conclusion of the historical research team of the Great Library is correct: these sea lords are not capable of organizing a strict sea blockade network - and their ambitions do not lie in this.Both Liu Xiang and Zheng Zhilong are concerned about monopolizing foreign trade.Those who really and frequently carry out robbery in coastal areas are small and medium-sized pirates.

The Haitian sailed openly with the Venus flag and the Navy flag this time. The purpose is obvious. Let's see how strong the sea power awareness of the legendary sea masters is, and how strong their ability to fulfill their wishes is. .

"Pay attention to the sea surface!" Li Ziping raised his binoculars and observed the sea area around the island.On the sea, there are dots of fishing sails scattered——Nan'ao Island is an excellent fishing ground, and there are many fishing boats here.But he is more concerned about Liu Xiang's ship.

After Liu Xiang withdrew from the Pearl River Estuary, she never appeared nearby again.The General Staff and the Foreign Intelligence Department conducted map deduction based on various intelligence materials, and roughly determined that if Liu Laoxiang escaped from the Pearl River Estuary, the possible locations are from west to east: the first is Daya Bay, and the second is Shanwei One of the two peninsulas of the port, and finally one of the three harbors in Dongshan County.Among these three general locations, only Nan'ao Island in the Shantou and Shanwei area is the most ideal.

In this time and space, most of Shantou City and Shanwei City are still tidal flats. Local Hakka fishermen set up a huge fishing enchantment array here. The Hakka dialect is called "Shantou", and these two place names come from this.

If a large group of pirates with tens of thousands of people is looking for a place to hide, Nan'ao Island is perfect: the size of the island is sufficient-the island has 130 square kilometers, and the island is rich in fresh water and fuel.In the old time and space, there were more than 7 permanent residents. As long as they can import food steadily, a gang of tens of thousands of people will not have much pressure to live on the island.There are harbors and bays, and the distance from the mainland is only 12 nautical miles, so it is convenient to import materials.Moreover, there are mountainous areas with a radius of several hundred kilometers on the land, and Chaoshan is a Hakka area, so the news for Guangdong society is quite closed.And according to the research and judgment of the Great Library: Liu Laoxiang is likely to be a Hakka from the Chaoshan area.Then when you arrive at Nan'ao Island, you are going back to your hometown.Not only is the safety guaranteed, but it is also very convenient to obtain personnel and supplies.

However, the historical data team of the Great Library quickly rejected this possibility. In this time and space, Nan'ao Island was the residence of Chen Ting, the deputy general of the Guangdong Association. Ting will not openly accept tens of thousands of pirate gangs to live underground in his residence.This is not in line with official customs, and it is also very threatening to him.

The special agents sent by the Foreign Intelligence Service and the Navy's camouflaged reconnaissance ship successively carried out a series of reconnaissance operations along the coast.In the end, it was determined that the Shanwei-Chaozhou area was Liu Xiang's lair.But the big ships under him are basically not in this sea area.Obviously, his main force is elsewhere.The intelligence agency judged that it was likely to be on the Fujian-Japan route.

(End of this chapter)