Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1157 Seizing the Day and Night ([-])

In the early morning of April 1658, 4, the rainy season in Xinhuaxia Island came to an end, and the Mozambique Channel gradually returned to calm.This morning, the double-decked battleship "Fubo Wanli" of the Second Fleet of the Navy hurried to the mouth of the Tsilibishina River, looking in vain for the ship that set off from the port of Mianhe but tragically sank at sea. supply fleet.

"Have you found it this time?" Lieutenant Morley Eel stood on the deck of the ship, and asked the diver who was coming out of the sea with his probe: "According to the surviving sailors, the shipwreck is here, so it should be correct. "

"Sir!" The diver exhausted a lot of physical strength underwater, and at this moment he gasped and said: "I saw a mast from a distance, and it is indeed a medium-sized single mast produced by Xinhua Shipyard in terms of shape. mast fishing boat. But the underwater current is very strong, I tried several times, but I couldn't get close to this boat. If you need it, I will try again after a short rest..."

"We must confirm whether the ship sank due to bad weather or other reasons. Gather all the divers and divide them into three teams to go to sea in turn to confirm." Morie said without doubt, "But you don't have to force it, we didn't salvage it." The obligation to sink the ship is just a routine confirmation."

The divers nodded silently, then closed their eyes to rest and prepared to go into the water.

The "Fubo Wanli" stopped in the sea area where the accident occurred for several days, until the early morning of April 4, after exhausting all the efforts and finally found all five sunken medium-sized fishing boats, Morie eel ordered The whole ship fired cannons in mourning to see off the sailor brothers of the East African Transport Company who died.

At noon that day, when Mo Lieel ordered the boat to be taken back and was about to turn around and return to Xinhua Port, the lookout standing in the top-mast lookout post suddenly reported that he had found a ship of unknown nationality, which made everyone pay attention immediately. .Mo Lieel and other officers immediately went to the deck of the third-story bridge and used binoculars to observe the distant sea surface—unfortunately, due to the influence of the curvature of the earth, they didn't even see the top of the mast at this time.

However, this is not a problem. As the distance between the two sides approached, a towering mast soon appeared in Morley's telescope, followed by the second and third...

"Raise the battle alarm and be ready to intercept this ship at any time. If the other party refuses to accept it, then open fire in the name of fighting pirates!" The people on the east coast are already quite skilled in handling such things. The Second Fleet of the Navy had only one battleship at the time. Dare to establish hegemony in the Mozambique Strait.Now that they have three battleships and several escort gunboats, it is the time when their troops are strong and their horses are strong, so they will naturally act more arrogantly than before.

According to common sense, only Portuguese and British ships often take this route. Dutch ships generally sail directly to the Sunda Strait because they have mastered a short-distance route across the Indian Ocean that the captains of other countries have never discovered.But now this ship seems to have a large tonnage. It is not like the 200-300-ton ships that are common in Portugal and England. On the contrary, it looks like a 650-ton flute-shaped ship built by people on the east coast who like to build big ships. This is strange So, could it be a French ship?

The two ships quickly approached within a range of several hundred meters. A 12-pound cannon on the bow of the "Fubo Wanli" fired a test projectile and landed on the sea surface right in front of the incoming ship. There was a certain confusion.There was a faint shout on the deck. Morie and the others listened carefully, and it sounded like French!This made everyone's faces darken.

How presumptuous!A flame rose in Molie's heart. If it was a ship from another country, it would be fine. As a Frenchman with a criminal record, the purpose of coming here is very interesting.Damn, who doesn't know that you French have done many trades with the Sakarava people before, and sold a lot of matchlock guns to those natives, which caused our soldiers on the Great East Bank to shed a lot of blood for nothing.You better not let me find any ammunition on your wrecked ship today, or I will sink you all to the bottom of the sea!

"Go up and stop, and shoot if they refuse." Moreel's order was very clear, and it was quickly conveyed.At this time, the steam boiler in the engine room of the "Fubo Wanli" began to heat up gradually, the steam propeller, which was originally used as auxiliary power, began to rotate slowly, and the whole ship adjusted its course and sailed towards the incoming ship.

The suspected French ship coming from the opposite side was a little hesitant, because everyone could see that the "Fubo Wanli" had malicious intentions, but their ship was sailing against the current (Mozambique warm current), and the wind direction was also from the Indian Ocean. The southeast wind blowing from the depths made it difficult to turn around.Of course, even turning around is useless. The east coast warship equipped with dozens of cannons on the opposite side is obviously extremely fast, which is beyond their comparability.Once attached by them, everyone is not arrogant enough to rely on the only 8 cannons on the ship to deal with them-so, let’s be honest, I hope they still uphold the moral bottom line of civilized people and will not kill people indiscriminately.

The captain of the "Fubo Wanli" climbed onto the opposite ship with more than [-] fully armed sailors, and then drove all the sailors on board to the bilge and imprisoned them.After finishing these things, he began to assign manpower to check the cargo on the ship, and made rough statistics.

Naturally, the statistical results were sent to Morley Eel immediately, and after the young East Coast Navy captain only read the first page, he angrily threw the statistical report into a ball on the deck: "Detain this ship and sail to the nearby Cotton River Port, and let the intelligence officials over there interrogate them overnight!"

The two ships quickly sailed to Cotton River Port one after the other, and then docked in its newly built deep-water pier.The National Intelligence Agency has an office here. An older intelligence officer and two or three young men sit here all the year round, and are responsible for analyzing and processing the knowledge collected by the crew of some East African transportation companies from Portuguese East Africa. The Second Navy stuffed them with more than 20 foreign sailors in one breath, which is also very new to them.

The interrogation process is naturally not very difficult. In fact, most of the sailors who go out these days are not unyielding and righteous patriots. At the time of the threat, he explained everything without any resistance at all.

……

"Crack!" Mo Lieel slammed his right hand on the table, causing the water in the teacup to splash out, and he said angrily: "It really is the French who are playing tricks! I heard it when I was chatting with the army last time." They said that the musket shooting of the Sakarawa people has not decreased at all, and they suspected that someone was exporting weapons to them, and this time we finally caught it. French, you are too deceitful!"

"Let's report this matter to Captain Ma quickly." Former Ma Wanpeng's secretary and current Mianhe Port Defense Commander Liu Wanquan said cautiously, he was well aware of the sensitivity of this matter.If it hadn't been for the French, the people from the east bank would have called on them long ago, especially after they issued repeated orders to prohibit foreign businessmen from going to the territory of the Sakaravas to trade, the French actually committed crimes against the wind, which is indeed arrogant To a certain extent.It's just - how to deal with this matter needs to be carefully considered. After all, France's national strength is too strong and its market is broad enough. The economic losses caused by the full-scale hostility between the two countries are not small.You know, there are many local big shots who have been doing business with France all the year round.

"Report what a fart! Called the soldiers of the navy and army to call the door directly!" Mo Lieel glared at Liu Wanquan angrily, and said: "It is best to take the opportunity to take the French in Fort Dofan and Saint-Louis Town in the southeast of New China. , I saw that the two nails were out of sight a long time ago, so I just took the opportunity to pull them out. Anyway, the French sent all the handles to their door. Damn, 12 matchlock guns, [-] bronze cannons, and a lot of ammunition, these weapons If it falls into the hands of the Sakarava people in the Kingdom of Manab or Boyla, how much blood will our officers and soldiers on the Great East Coast pay? How can this be endured! Forget it, no matter what you think, I will also Report to Commander Guo of the Navy, excuse me."

After finishing speaking, Morie Eel hurried out of the office of the National Intelligence Agency and headed towards his own ship.And after he left, a motor-sail tuna fishing boat belonging to the Ma family quietly left Mianhe Port and headed for Xinhua Port with two confidential letters, which were written to Ma Wanpeng by the intelligence department and the local government of Mianhe Port. Report.

The report arrived at Ma Wanpeng's desk a few days later, and at this time he had just sent away Guo Zili of the Navy's Second Fleet.After unpacking the letters sent by Mianhe Port and looking at them casually, Ma Wanpeng sighed and leaned back on the chair: "Sure enough, both the army and the navy are belligerent to some extent, and they don't think about the consequences at all. Gathering and gathering troops, and then cooperating with the main force of the Second Fleet to besiege the French stronghold, this workmanship is too trendy."

"However, this time the Frenchman slapped us naked in the face, but we can't let it go easily." Ma Wanpeng pondered, "I heard that they have had a relationship with the Bala people (nomadic people, extremely sturdy) in the south of New China in the past two years. Very bad, conflicts broke out every three days. Moreover, their relationship with the natives near the colony is also very tense. There have been several wars, large and small. We were too lazy to take care of them before. This time it is time to give them some eye drops Last time, the native tribe in the southeast invited us to set up a commercial station or a colonial stronghold there, but we declined for various reasons. This time, I think we can go there and set up a small stronghold. Shi Bishen, we can also arm a bunch of natives to attack the French. It is best that the French are killed by the angry natives like in history, so that we can justifiably receive the inheritance. Other than that In addition, um, you can also send the Second Fleet of the Navy to blockade the local sea in the name of combating piracy, reduce the flow of supplies from the French, and objectively create conditions for the natives to attack."

After figuring this out, Ma Wanpeng quickly wrote up his disposal opinions, and planned to send them to various departments for them to follow suit.After doing this, he casually picked up another letter on the desk—this was a letter sent from his close friend and comrade Wei Boqiu of the Action Party (the association they formed spontaneously) from the Heishui area in the Far East.Ma Wanpeng had some vague guesses about the contents of the letter, because Wei Boqiu had already vaguely stated many things in his previous letters, and Wei Boqiu actually wrote another letter after a few months, which made Ma Wanpeng a little curious. What has this guy done in Heishui?

(End of this chapter)