Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 367 New Reinforcements

On August 1643, 8, in Lonely Hills Harbor, Australia, a fleet of six ships moored slowly at the pier after crossing the waves of the southern Indian Ocean.An armed transport ship, a fast cruiser, an escort gunboat, and three flute-shaped transport ships, they seem to have fought fiercely with wind and waves. Many ships are not in good condition. The front mast of the fast cruiser in the fleet even Broken, it looked miserable.Upon seeing this, the workers of the ship repair yard on the shore immediately vacated the dock and picked up tools to prepare for repairs on the ships in this fleet.

"We will repair the armed transport ship 'Galicia Flying Fish' and the transport ship 'Hump Cow' first, and then they will go to Jinshan Port." Lieutenant Huang Yang, who led the team, roared loudly as soon as he got off the ship. With a voice, the "Hump Cow" transport ship from the East African Transportation Company slowly drove into the vicinity of the dock, and then with the assistance of a large number of dock workers and ship repair workers, it took a lot of effort to drive into the storage area. Water in the dock.

Afterwards, the workers on the platforms on both sides of the dock immediately hoisted many heavy ship boards, masts and other objects onto the deck through large pulley cranes. In the dock, some craftsmen and apprentices had already climbed up the "hump bull" "The deck of the ship began intensive maintenance work.

The transport ship "Hump Cow" belongs to the East Africa Shipping Company, and it is also the second flute-shaped transport ship produced by Xinhua Shipyard.This time the mainland sent the second fleet to the east, and when they docked at Xinhua Port for supplies, they announced that the executive committee had requisitioned the "Hump Cow" they had just built, which made Shi Qinjie, an honest man, a little annoyed However, Shi Qinjie's anger dissipated when he saw that the executive committee decided to support another group of shipbuilding technicians to come to Xinhua to expand the scale of Xinhua Shipyard.There is no way, the arm can't hold the thigh, and the sadly urged East African Transportation Company has once again become the bare commander. The "Hump Cow" was assigned by the Executive Committee to the dispatch fleet of the Far East Heishui Port, and will be stationed there in the future.

There are two old ships that have the same fate as the "Hump Cow", namely the armed transport ship "Galicia Flying Fish" and the escort gunboat "Red Trout" originally captured by the Spaniards.These two ships will also be sent to the east as part of the Blackwater Temporary Dispatch Fleet directly under the Ministry of the Navy.At that time, the newly established Blackwater Temporary Dispatch Fleet will have the size of four steam engine sailboats, two flute-shaped transport ships, two armed transport ships and one escort gunboat, a total of nine ships. They compared each other.After these ships head to the east, the remaining fast cruiser and two flute-shaped transport ships will return to the New China base, waiting to join a group of fleets from the mainland at the end of the year, and then sail to the lonely mountain in Australia port.

At this time, there is a motor sailing ship moored in Gushan Port, which is the "Breaking Wave" of the newly promoted Lieutenant An Chu.At the end of last month, he stuffed a thousand North Koreans on board, and then traveled westward along the south coast of Australia. It took him more than three weeks to reach Gushan Port in the southwest corner.So far, all the North Korean immigrants transported from Heishui Port to the south are here. Of course, there are less than 200 North Koreans left in Jinshan Port. Sailing away.Therefore, Anchu deregistered them in the local area, and simply stayed there to farm and graze, and then replenish the passing fleet in the future.

"1500 people went south from Heishui Port, and now only 1000 people have returned to New China with me. Hehe, this ratio is a bit low." Second Lieutenant Huang Yang said with a smile at Chao'an, "It will take them nearly a month to get back to New China. Arriving at Xinhua Port, and then from Xinhua Port to Hezhong Port, and from Hezhong Port to the mainland, these voyages are all hellish, and in the end, I don’t know how many people will survive to the mainland.”

"So we need faster ships." After drifting for a long time, Lieutenant An Chu's collar was covered with dust, and he continued: "One is the need for larger tonnage, faster speed, and more spacious space. The larger the ship, the less likely it is to be bumpy, the less people suffer, and the survival rate can be improved; the other is that we should choose the right sailing season, for example, this time we chose to go to the northern hemisphere in early summer. It is very unwise to sail south. The wind direction is wrong most of the time, whether it is the southern hemisphere or the northern hemisphere! Li Yi and I summed it up and think that we should choose to go south when the north wind blows in the northern hemisphere in October. At this time, whether it is the northern hemisphere Still, the northern half of the southern hemisphere has tailwinds, and the sailing speed will be greatly improved. Moreover, there are no severe weather such as cyclones and storms in the North Pacific this season, and the survival rate of ships has greatly increased.”

"Speaking of bad weather, when we took the route at 40 degrees south latitude this time, the wind was so strong that we even encountered floating icebergs on the sea that we hadn't encountered in previous voyages. The 'Kongtong' The flute-shaped transport ship unfortunately hit an iceberg while sailing at night and sank..." Huang Yang lit a pipe for himself, took two puffs, and then said.

An Chu was also a little silent when he heard the words.This is the first time that the transport fleet of the people on the east coast has sunk. Maybe everyone has used up all the good luck before, and this time finally a ship sank.

"What the Portuguese said before, no ship can safely return to Europe from the Far East three times in a row. We are much luckier than the Portuguese. Of course, our sailing conditions are much better than theirs, thanks to the ocean we have mastered And climate knowledge. This time it was just an accident, don’t worry, man of the sea, nothing can knock us down.” An Chu patted Huang Yang on the shoulder and comforted him.

The two of them worked together as staff officers in the Admiralty, and later they went to the fleet together. They had a very good relationship. Of course, he didn't want his old friend to have any shadow because of this matter.Of course, he didn't ask about the fate of the crew on the "Kongtong", because there is no need to ask about it. The crew hit an iceberg and sank during the night voyage. up.

"Men on the sea, all have this awareness." Huang Yang, who is already in his 30s, is quite open-minded. He smiled and said, "If one day I die, just help me take care of my three children. The shares of the East Shore Company will be inherited by my eldest son, and you will help me take care of him until he grows up. It is a pity that the 'Kongtong' is a new ship, and it is full of sorghum shipped from South Africa. Now it is full of fish. ,Pity."

"That's a pity. There are hundreds of tons of grain and more than a dozen sailors." An Chu also sighed and said.

"This time there are also some soldiers from the army, the 104th company of the army, the second battalion of the first standard of the Eight Banners New Army, and some supplementary soldiers and gunners. There are more than 200 people in total. They will go to the Far East with the ship. Join the Blackwater Dispatch Army and accept Mo Ming's command and deployment." Huang Yang pointed to the other two flute-shaped transport ships, and said with a smile, "The horse dung of this army is lucky, I would rather they were the ones who hit the iceberg ..."

"Isn't the 104th Company of the Army a South African unit? How did you transfer this unit? What about South Africa's defense?" An Chu was a little puzzled.

"Oh, you don't know here. The Ministry of the Army has expanded its army. The 104th Company in South Africa was renamed the 5th Company of the Army. In addition, the Ministry of the Army has newly formed the 104th Company of the Army in Ping'an County. Most of the officers and veterans of this company are They were transferred from the 4th company, and some new recruits were added. After two months of training, they were transferred to the Far East. Didn’t Mo Ming write a letter asking for an increase in the number of troops in the Heishui area? This time the Ministry of the Army spent a lot of money Yes, not only dispatched a company of the army and a battalion of the Eight Banners New Army, but also sent an additional [-] supplementary soldiers and [-] gunners to strengthen the strength here." Huang Yang curled his lips and used He said in a teasing tone: "This kid is really the godson of the Ministry of War, no one else can compare, haha."

"Hehe." An Chu smiled casually, and didn't say anything else.If you count the reinforcements this time, the total strength of the East Coast people in the Heishui area has reached an unprecedented 300 people. If you count the servants recruited locally, the number may be even more.With these people, the Yantai Fortress under construction will no longer look so empty. If they train a large number of qualified gunners, this fortress will face tens of thousands of Qing troops. There is no possibility of falling in a short period of time.

"Oh, by the way, don't forget to take Mo Ming's work report back to the Executive Committee." An Chu took out an envelope from the leather briefcase, handed it to Huang Yang, and said, "He told me that in the letter Request the executive committee and the Ministry of the Army to continue to increase troops, it is best to send some cavalry from the mainland. If it is really difficult, you can find a way to recruit some cavalry from Egypt. Those Mamluk leaders have taken so many benefits from us on weekdays. It shouldn't be difficult for them to send out some mercenaries."

"He's asking a lot." Huang Yang muttered, took the envelope, and put it in his briefcase.

Not far from them, Mao Desheng, the new commander of the 104th company, is organizing troops to disembark to rest, and following them are dozens of European immigrants who were exiled here, and about a hundred Guarani, Malay people.These people will serve their sentences under the supervision of the local military and police. After serving their sentences, they will automatically settle in the local area and become residents of Gushan Port.And local officials will also allocate houses, land or pastures to them to enrich the sparse population here.

On September 9, the rest of the three ships were fully loaded with soldiers and some weapons and ammunition, left Gushan Port, and headed for the next target, Jinshan Port.They will berth there to rest and wait for the arrival of the second local fleet.

(End of this chapter)