Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 327 The Great Voyage ([-])

On February 1642, 2, the two expedition ships finally arrived at the port in the South African River after chopping the waves.During this 26-day voyage, the two-ship formation commanded by Li Yi did not take the old road of going south to Baleen Whale Harbor, then eastward, and north to Hezhong Harbor; During the period, neither the wind direction nor the ocean current were very smooth. The ship could only use the crosswind as a boost for a limited few days. The entire voyage mainly relied on steam power. When it finally arrived at the destination They spent a total of about 26 days, and the calculated average speed was just over 30 knots.

Unlike the 5600-nautical-mile voyage of the southern route, the voyage of the northern route is only more than 4000 nautical miles, which is much shorter.But the disadvantage is that they cannot take advantage of the current and wind direction of the South Atlantic Ocean, which leads to their average speed of only a little more than 6 knots, which is about the same as the average speed of the southern line of about 6 knots during the last voyage.But it is worth mentioning that the speed of 6 knots refers to the speed of ordinary transport and escort gunboats on the east coast, not the speed of clipper ships.In fact, the last time when the "Broken Wave" sailed to the south line with full sail, the average speed reached about 13-14 knots, and the highest speed even reached a super high speed of nearly 16 knots.

Therefore, we can see from it that if the two ships take the south route and make full use of the ocean current and wind, although the distance is 40% farther, the speed can be doubled.In the end, the time they spent would not exceed 20 days even if they stopped at Baleen Whale Harbor halfway for supplies, which was more than 6 days faster than the northern route, and they could stop for a day or two for supplies halfway.It can supply food, add coal and water, and maintain machines in a day or two. Its reliability is many times stronger than that of the northern line.

After this field verification, Li Yi and others finally understood the actual situation of each route.In their minds, the northern line has basically been sentenced to death so far, because compared with the southern line, it has greater disadvantages in any aspect.Similarly, they also proved that the advantages of the flying clipper ship will be infinitely magnified in a smooth environment. The ultra-high speed is matched with almost unlimited endurance, and the maintenance and operation costs are much lower than that of the steam ship. These ships are still extremely competitive on fixed routes.For example, Li Yi suggested that in the future, the local government will vigorously build large-scale flying-shear cargo ships, and run transportation on fixed routes between the mainland and South Africa. Its competitiveness must be much stronger than that of motor sailing ships such as the "Breaking Waves". After all, their operating costs are extremely high. Low.

On February 2, after resting and replenishing at Hezhong Port for a day and a half, the two ships raised their sails again, fired their boilers, and headed towards the New China region.From the mainland to Hezhong Port, the two ships consumed a total of more than 28 tons of coal. Although Hezhong Port has built a warehouse with a certain amount of coal, Li Yi and others did not plan to add coal here.Only a little over 160% of the coal in the cabin was used up, and the rest was enough for them to sail back and forth to Fort Xinhua.And it is said that there may be high-quality coal with high combustion calorific value, so who would use the low-quality coal produced by the Ping An Mining Bureau in the cabin that only accounts for tonnage?

Instead of adding coal, they stuffed a total of 500 carefully selected Eight Banners warriors into the two ships according to the plan.These [-] people almost crushed the two ships, but at the moment they can only endure it. Anyway, the voyage is only about ten days, and the physical fitness of these Eight Banners warriors is considered strong. It should not be a big problem to survive to Xinhua Port.

The 500 Eight Banners warriors were led by Mo Dayong, who was born in Zhenghongqi. The 500 people were organized into two squadrons, which was similar to the standing team in Tacheng area.These 2 people were carefully selected from the Eight Banners, and their combat power was quite impressive.Speaking of this, I have to mention that since the end of the "Battle of Blood River" with the Kama tribe, the South African pioneer team of the East Coast Republic under the leadership of Mo Ming has successfully completed the construction of Gundam Fort, and completely restored the lush water and grass in the South Lake area. The land is in the bag.Not only that, these days, Mo Ming personally led the army's 104nd company, [-]th company, South African cavalry company and other troops to attack in turn, killing almost all the indigenous tribes that could be found on the east side of the mountain.

After more than half a year of fighting, they captured a large number of people, livestock and property. The total population of the Eight Banners Tribe also increased steadily at this time. As of the beginning of this month, its total population has reached a record high of about 2.You know, this is the population figure reached when the local people asked them for a large number of new laborers. If you count the over ten thousand South African laborers who are currently active in the local area, the strength of the Eight Banners tribe may be even higher. new level.

The [-] most "elite" Eight Banners warriors will set off with the people from the east coast to the New China area, and then depending on the situation, they will take them to continue exploring eastward and open up a new route to Daming.Because if you sail eastward, many sea areas are extremely unfamiliar to the travelers, and the local climate, hydrology, geography and other information almost everyone has only a vague impression, which is very unfavorable for exploration.There may still be some natives in some areas, and the attitude of these natives towards outsiders is also unknown. In many cases, they may still need to fight, so it is necessary to bring these hundreds of Eight Banners warriors.

According to the plan, these 500 people will be equipped with sophisticated weapons and equipment, including armor, sabers, spears, bows and arrows, etc., and even 500 of the 100 people have been trained in how to use firearms, and some have been trained How to use artillery.When it really comes to a critical moment, such as when encountering European pirates or the Dutch, just putting the weapon in their hands can play a role.

On March 3, after crossing the stormy waters of Cape Agulhas with difficulty, the two-ship formation waded up against the warm Mozambique current under the blowing of the southeast wind, and finally arrived at the calm sea in the early morning of March 1. Xinhua Bay, the entire voyage lasted more than 3 days, with an average speed of about 15 knots.After more than a month of long-distance voyage, the two ships consumed a total of nearly 15 tons of coal, accounting for about one-third of the total coal carrying capacity.At the same time, some spare parts of the steam engine and its transmission system were consumed. Fortunately, when they went to sea, Li Yi and others carried a considerable number of spare parts, especially those vulnerable parts, and prepared about ten or twenty sets for backup. Replace anytime.

It is not the first time for the "Broken Wave" to visit Xinhua Port.As early as October last year, the "Breaking Wave" had already transported silver dollars under Zhang Xiao's command.However, when they arrived here again after five months, the captain of the "Broken Wave" had been replaced by Lieutenant An Chu.As for her original captain, Zhang Xiao, due to the nature of a cameo, he has now returned to the modern special shipyard in Hekoubao to concentrate on serving as a senior engineer, and is working hard to develop more advanced propeller propeller ships.

The rainy season in New China has come to an end, and the weather is gradually turning sunny.The fort at the cape mouth and the various facilities of the land defense fortress have improved a lot compared to the last time they came. It can be seen that even in the rainy season, everyone is still working overtime on construction.Especially the coastal defense fort, which can be called a key-level defense facility, no one dares to be sloppy.After making a semaphore with the soldiers on the east bank on Fort No. [-], the two ships passed through the narrow waterway at the mouth of the cape without any hindrance, and entered Xinhua Bay smoothly.

The turquoise sea water in Xinhua Bay gently slapped the coast, a few seagulls soared in the distant sky, and seven or eight fishing boats were catching fish on the slightly undulating sea.The accent seems to be that some fishermen from the southern Zhili area of ​​Ming Dynasty hummed unknown tunes at the bow, and occasionally pulled up a heavy fish, and everyone's cheerful laughter could be spread far and wide on the sea.

According to regulations, after the fish caught by these fishermen are handed over to the seafood processing factory, the factory will return 20% of the fish in cash to these fishermen, which can be regarded as the "commission" they get from fishing.This return system has effectively increased the enthusiasm of fishermen, making the catch of each fishing boat have been in a steady increase in the recent period.

Today, the number of immigrants from the Ming Dynasty in the New China region has reached more than 3800, and most of them are still waiting for ships from the mainland or South Africa to carry them.Naturally, Shi Qingjie, the local chief executive, would not watch these people do nothing all day long. He arranged work for almost everyone.The fishermen in front of me are examples. The local [-]-ton small fishing boats produced by local ship repairers are all complete with sails and cables, and they are almost miniature sail transport ships.Shi Qinjie doubled the number of manpower on each ship, and asked them to take turns to steer the ships to familiarize themselves with the performance of the ships and various sailing techniques, which objectively served the purpose of training reserve sailors.

In addition to the fishermen, in fact, after discussing with Wang Tiehammer, Shi Qinjie also selected a large number of Ming people to serve as trainee sailors on his own ships of the Sino-Portuguese United Fleet.Later, in order to train more sailors, after communicating with the Portuguese, Shi Qinjie even sent more than 100 people to the Portuguese ships to receive training as trainee sailors.In this way, the entire United Fleet has almost become a practice place for people on the east coast to train sailors, which is something that everyone did not expect at the beginning.

Now after all the calculations, it is estimated that more than 1200 of the more than [-] immigrants from the Ming Dynasty will be detained by the New China region. Except for some people who can only settle on the spot due to physical reasons, most of them will be detained locally. Play as various workers, fishermen, local troops and sailors.

(End of this chapter)