I

  Chapter 700 697 [Foreign Lord]

  The battleship made of century-old oak was officially launched in autumn.

  The first batch of warships consisted of two ships, both of Galen type. One is 650 tons, the other is 500 tons, with four masts and square sails.

   Galenic sailing with square sails, this practice began thirty years ago, also known as "forgate sailing". The later sail frigate was also named "Fogate Sailing Ship", but the two are not the same thing.

  In addition, the deck superstructure is deliberately reduced during design, and the forecastle is also shorter than that of ordinary Galen ships.

  This change is to make the hull lighter and lower the center of gravity of the hull. Not only is it more flexible when sailing, but it is also less likely to be capsized by storms. It's just that from the appearance point of view, it is not as tall and mighty as before the improvement, and those with proper appearance are deduction items.

  Europe is also making this kind of improvement, even moving the foremast aft to the top of the forecastle, so that the mast distribution is more reasonable and efficient.

   "Good boat!"

   Before boarding the ship, Kuang Hong couldn't help admiring.

  Kuang Hong is the eldest son of Kuang Lu. His father used to be the Zuo Buzheng of Guizhou, and now he has been transferred back to Nanjing to serve as the Zuo Shilang of the Household Department.

  Kuang Hong himself joined the court of Datong early. He was good at poetry, music, riding, and swordsmanship. In history, he recruited soldiers to fight against the Qing Dynasty and died in the eastern suburbs of Guangzhou.

  After Zhang Dai and Liu Xiangke were promoted, it was impossible to go on foreign missions in person. Kuang Hong was appointed as a negotiating envoy this time and went to Batavia with the heads of Dutch prisoners of war.

"These two ships were designed and built by Dutch shipbuilders and Han-made shipbuilders," Hong Xu introduced with a smile. Use soft sails. The Han-made shipbuilders needed to add stalks of water to the bottom of the boat, but the Dutch shipbuilders didn’t know about it. After making a fuss to His Majesty, the Han-made shipbuilders won this time.”

  Geng Mizuki is the anti-rolling keel, which relies on the hydrodynamic effect when the ship rolls to generate a stabilizing moment to reduce the ship's roll. It can play a miraculous effect when encountering a storm, and it can also make the ship more stable when sailing in normal times.

  China's ship anti-rolling device is at least 700 years earlier than that of Europe (subject to the unearthed objects), and it has been used from the Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. In Europe, it was not invented until the end of the 18th century.

  The two new ships of the Datong Navy combine the advantages of Eastern and Western ships, and not everything is decided by the Dutch shipbuilder.

   Kuang Hong led people aboard the warship, and the heads of the Dutch prisoners of war were all packed in wooden boxes.

Hong Xu introduced while walking: "The Spanish ship captured before was named 'Datong', and now it is changed to 'Taiwan'. The largest new ship is called 'Guangzhou'. The one next to it is slightly smaller. The new ship is called 'Fuzhou'. On the 'Guangzhou', there are more than 40 large and small artillery pieces, the largest one is a 6,000-jin cannon."

  Kuang Hong was full of pride when he heard this: "With this giant ship, I can sail all over the world!"

   Kuang Hong is a native of Nanhai, Guangdong, and has been accustomed to seeing sea ships since he was a child. Now that I am on the 650-ton Guangzhou, I suddenly don't want to be a civil servant, and I want to become an admiral in the navy.

  Naval fleet, starting from Taicang Port.

  There are several small boats ahead, pulling and guiding the large naval ship, avoiding shoals and reefs all the way, and entering the sea smoothly from the Yangtze River.

  The navigator holds a nautical compass in his hand, which can be used in conjunction with the "Haidao Needle Classic".

   "Hai Dao Needle Classic" is a collection of the painstaking efforts of countless Chinese navigators, and it has been accumulated since the Song Dynasty. At the beginning, only the waters near China were recorded, until Zheng He's voyages to the Western Ocean, and the other side of the Indian Ocean was also recorded.

Although most of Zheng He's voyage materials are lost, his "Hai Dao Jing Jing" has been circulated. The "Zibao Shipyard Sails from Longjiang Pass to Foreign Lands" published in the Wanli period is a set of Zheng He's voyages to the West. needlebook.

  The "Haidao Needle Classic" used by the Datong Navy collected and sorted out a large number of needle routes, and at the same time asked the maritime merchants in various provinces to contribute their own nautical charts. After summarizing, the "Datong Haidao Needle Classic" is engraved, and private maritime merchants can also buy it at a high price.

  Heavenly stems, earthly branches, and gossip divide the nautical compass into 24 equal parts.

  Follow the positioning of Zheng He's voyages of needles: set off at Taicang port, use Danyi needles, and level the Wusong River after one watch. Use Yimao needle, one shift, to Nanhuizui.

   Translated into human words: Set sail from Taicang Port, travel along the direction of 105 degrees, and pass ten miles (some say twelve miles) to Wusong River. Then drive in the direction of 97.5 degrees, passing ten miles, to Nanhuizui.

  All the routes of Zheng He’s voyages are all accurately positioned, such as in the South Seas—

"When sailing from Sumatra, use dry needles. At twelfth watch, the boat levels Longsiyu. Forty watches, the boat uses Xinyou needles. At fifty watches, the boat sees Mount Ceylon." (Departing from Sumatra Port, along 307.5 Sailing in the direction of 277.5 degrees, after 120 miles, you can reach Ambergris Island. Continue to advance for 400 miles, turn to sail in the direction of 277.5 degrees, and you can see Mount Ceylon after advancing 500 miles.)

   Such needle positioning can be called the ancient version of fool's navigation.

  Of course, the sea is changing rapidly, and a gust of wind can blow off the course, so it is necessary to use the "star-crossing-sea technique" together.

   It is recorded in literature that Ma Huaide in Suzhou in the late Ming Dynasty collected a set of star-leading boards. This set of star-leading boards is often praised by later generations as an ancient Chinese navigator. But in fact, Ma Huaide's set of starboards can't measure the height of the stars in Zheng He's nautical chart at all.

  In Zheng He's nautical charts, the height of the star is often fourteen or fifteen fingers, while Ma Huaide's star-leading board can measure twelve fingers at most, and the number of star-leading boards has to be increased.

   What Zheng He used may be the sky-measuring ruler, or the star-leading ruler, or the star-leading board with increased volume.

  The Datong Navy directly adopts the European rectangular meter, but the principles are similar. Moreover, the method of using the right angle meter appeared in China very early, but Shen Kuo used a bow and crossbow at that time.

  Following the cold current and monsoon, Kuang Hong soon arrived in Guangzhou. After resupply there, he joined five warships of the Guangzhou Fleet.

   There are a total of twenty warships, in addition to logistics supplies, they also carry some cargo. The profits from trade are divided into 30% by the navy, 40% by the national treasury, and the remaining 30% by the royal family.

  Navy’s trading activities are allowed, but they have to be reported every time, and they have to pay taxes to the customs in accordance with the regulations.

   Moreover, the number of trades and the amount of trade each year are strictly controlled. Even the officials who preside over the transactions are sent by the Ministry of Commerce, and Datong Bank sends people to supervise the finances. Such trouble is to prevent the navy from completely losing control, and to prevent the navy from competing with private maritime merchants for business.

  In December, the fleet arrived near Batavia, but did not dock directly, but continued sailing to Banten Port.

   "The Chinese fleet has come over?" Van der Lin is still the governor, but because the sea is far away, the dismissal order has not yet arrived.

  Vander Laan said: "A total of twenty warships, two of which are large ships over 500 tons."

  Van der Lin worried: "Does the Chinese want to occupy Batavia?"

  Vander Laan said: "Probably not, they continue westward, and they should be going to Banten Port."

   "Are they going to form an alliance with Britain?" Van der Lin frowned.

  The Netherlands is in Batavia, and the United Kingdom is in Banten. The two port cities are very close.

  At the beginning, the Netherlands was unable to capture Batavia, because the Banten Kingdom itself was very strong, and it formed an alliance with the United Kingdom to deal with the Netherlands.

  As a result, the Netherlands resorted to a divorce plan, saying that the prince guarding Jakarta (Batavia) was going to rebel, and the Sultan actually called the prince back. The Netherlands resorted to divorce again, causing the Sultan of Banten to force Britain to sign a special relationship agreement, and the alliance between Banten and Britain broke down.

  So, the Netherlands captured Jakarta in one fell swoop and changed its name to Batavia.

  The Sultan of Banten was very remorseful, and quickly repaired relations with the United Kingdom, and joined forces with the local aborigines to attack the Netherlands. The Dutch couldn't stand it and asked for peace talks several times, but finally they waited for reinforcements.

  Now, the relationship between Banten and the United Kingdom has become very close again, because they have a common enemy.

   Kuang Hong arrived at Banten Port by boat and found that it was unprecedentedly prosperous.

  Different from Batavia next door, there are only Dutch and Chinese there, while Banten Port has everything except the Dutch. This is a free port, especially with the most businessmen, many of whom are from the Arab region.

  Datong Navy is approaching, and merchant ships from various countries are dodging one after another.

  As for the Banten Navy, there are only a few small sampans, all of which were left by the Dutch fleet.

   Kuang Hong went ashore under the **** of naval soldiers, and said loudly: "Kuang Hong, the Chinese envoy of Datong, is here to visit Banten!"

  The translator hurriedly shouted, shouted several times, and finally the port tax collector from Banten came over.

   "I am the Chinese envoy, go and report to your king." Kuang Hong said.

  The tax collector looked constipated: "The old sultan died of illness, and the new sultan has not yet succeeded."

  Kuang Hong was taken aback for a moment: "What a coincidence?"

   What's more coincidental, while talking, there was a sudden gunshot in the city, followed by bursts of shouting.

   Not long after, a large number of nobles and merchants fled from the city in panic.

  Kuang Hong didn't know what happened, so he immediately returned to the warship.

   After about an hour, officials from Banten finally came to invite him to the city to meet the Sultan.

   Accompanied by naval soldiers, Kuang Hong headed all the way to the city. There is no city wall here, just a residential area, and the palace is in the castle in the center of the city.

   After entering the city, Kuang Hong found blood everywhere, and some Banten soldiers were cleaning up the corpses.

  Go all the way to the castle, there are more bloodstains in the castle.

  Finally, Kuang Hong met Ban Dan's new Sultan—A Geng.

  This Ageng Sultan just killed his brothers and seized the throne of the king by force. Next, he will work hard to build an elite navy and set up a caravan to sail to the Philippines and India.

  Unfortunately, after the death of Sultan Ageng, his sons competed for the throne, and the Netherlands took the opportunity to support one of them and controlled the state affairs of Banten from then on.

Standing in the blood-stained ground, Sultan Ah Geng smiled and saluted Kuang Hong: "Welcome the envoy from China, you are the most honored guest of Banten. The hateful Dutch are the enemies of Banten, and the Netherlands is also the enemy of China." .We have the same enemies, so we are meant to be friends."

   Kuang Hong looked at Ah Geng standing in the blood, and heard the translation of the speech, and immediately made a judgment: The person in front of him must be a foreign hero!

   (The easter egg chapter of the previous chapter was reviewed by the card.)

  (end of this chapter)