Late Ming Dynasty: Conquering the world starting from riding and cutting

Late at night, the winter sea breeze was extremely clear and biting.

Zhao Chang was wearing a sky-blue navy uniform and strolled on the deck. The "Bloodthirsty Wolf" was about to set sail secretly.

As the first self-built 500-ton three-masted sailing ship in Taiwan, the entire ship is equipped with 8 twelve-pound and 12 ten-pound steel cannons. It is currently the biggest trump card in the navy.

And this time its target is "Xiamen", the Chief Secretary of Fujian Province in the Ming Dynasty. As for why it is, there is only one reason, it is Zheng Zhilong's hometown.

After Qin Hao received Zuo Guozhu's letter, he was also greatly troubled when he knew that Zheng Zhilong actually wanted to attack him.

The maritime power of my old friend on the other side of the river is not bad. There are one or two hundred ships of various kinds. If you really go head-to-head with him, you will definitely not get any favors, so Zhao Chang made this late-night voyage.

"Sir, the food, fresh water, gunpowder, artillery shells and other supplies are all ready. Please sign for them." The voice of the Keelung Port official stationed at the dock rang not far away.

"Well, the number is correct. Thank you for your hard work." After checking some numbers, Zhao Chang started to sign his name, and then thanked the dock officials.

"May I ask, where are you going?" the dock official asked with a smile. Although he had received the message from above to prepare ship supplies, he still couldn't help but feel sad when he saw such a big ship leaving the port. curious.

A seasoned dock official would never ask such a superficial question because the answer might kill him. However, this dock official was assigned here not long after graduating from Hsinchu Political Hall, so naturally he had little experience.

"You don't want to know." Zhao Chang replied lightly, then put on his shoulder bag and boarded the boat.

The dock official was left shivering in the cold wind.

Fifteen minutes later, the "Bloodthirsty Wolf" carrying 200 land troops, 50 Spanish sailors, 10 navigation school students, and 30 gunners sailed out of the port in silence, heading south-east.

The biting sea breeze blew on the deck of the "Bloodthirsty Wolf".

Wang Qi was patrolling back and forth on the deck carrying his flintlock rifle, and with him was his captain Sun Jun.

In order to accompany the navy's attack this time, the Qi Army specially mobilized a group of elite soldiers to form a temporary first platoon, under the command of Zhao Chang, the captain of the "Bloodthirsty Wolf". He and his captain were among the transferred personnel, and they were assigned to the same cabin.

The wind and waves in the Western Pacific were a bit strong, so Wang Qi tried to steady himself while chatting with Sun Jun: "I just bought 10 acres of land before we came out, and it cost only 1 tael of silver per acre. It was all mature land that we had cultivated. It will take another month to plant. This time I will plant five acres of wheat, and the rest will be planted with potatoes. Oh my god, it will cost a lot of money to buy wheat seeds.”

"Did you spend all your enlistment and settling-in fees to buy land?" Sun Jun glanced at Wang Qi in surprise, and then laughed at himself: "I bought a few bottles of wine and a piece of cotton cloth, so I spent most of it. "

"You are so luxurious. The cotton produced in Hsinchu is so expensive, but you are willing to give it up. Why not use burlap? That stuff is very strong for making clothes." Wang Qi said. He knew that the captain was still single and was spending money lavishly, so he tried Try to persuade him.

Sun Jun waved his hand: "This cotton cloth is warm to wear. Besides, with these clothes, it is very convenient to find my mother-in-law."

The two chatted casually for a few more words, and when they were about to turn back and start the next patrol, the lookout shouted from the mainmast: "A sailing ship has been spotted on the right front! Attention, an unidentified ship has been spotted on the right front!" "After that, he pulled hard on a rope connected to the bell hanging on the mast.

As the bell rang, the sailors immediately became nervous and shouted one after another.

Zhao Chang raised his telescope and looked forward from the bridge. I saw a tall mast appearing at the end of the sea level in front of me on the right, then a second one, a third one...

"Dutch!" Spanish first mate Harley Valdez held up a telescope and saw the opponent's identity from the flags of the sailboat, castle and crown flying on the opponent's mainmast.

"Lean over and prepare to fight! Julien, go command the sailors!" Zhao Chang calmed down a little and ordered.

This time their sailing route must not be discovered by anyone, even the Spanish ship will be sunk.

This Dutch warship was also lucky to encounter a "killer" stalking in the dark.

Harley walked out of the bridge, observed the opponent's position on the wooden corridor again, and then loudly ordered: "Raise the auxiliary sail!"

"Understood! Raise the auxiliary sail!"

"Chief Gunner! Charge the bow gun!" Zhao Chang ordered after repeatedly confirming the distance between the two sides in the telescope.

"Understood, the bow cannon is loaded!"

"It seems that the other party is a supply ship." Zhao Chang smiled at Harley Valdez beside him, "We are lucky."

"Yes, poor Dutch." First Mate Harley Valdez also held up a telescope to observe. "It may be arms transported from the Dutch East Indies or it may be a ship of passing merchants."

But no matter what kind of ship it is, they must not have looked at the almanac when they went out today, and they are destined to sleep in the Pacific Ocean east of Taiwan Island.

"boom!"

A 12-pounder gun on the bow started shooting after entering the maximum range. Of course, it was inaccurate at this distance. The projectile splashed a column of water about 200 meters away from the opponent's bow.

However, this shot obviously shocked the other side. The distance between the two ships was more than 1,600 meters, and the other side actually launched a cannon attack. The range was too far.

The Dutch ships began to turn against the wind and prepare to escape.

It is obviously extremely unwise for a supply ship equipped with only a small number of small-caliber artillery to confront a warship obviously equipped with a large number of long-barreled heavy artillery.

Taking advantage of the opponent's opportunity to turn around, the "Bloodthirsty Wolf" once again closed the distance by a few hundred meters. The two 10-pound cannons on the bow fired continuously. After several rounds of shooting, one shell actually hit the opponent's ship, but it obviously did not cause any major damage.

"Lean over and shoot with the broadside artillery." Zhao Chang ordered while observing. The opponent's supply ship was slow, obviously far less than the "Bloodthirsty Wolf"'s 8 knots downwind speed.

The excessive cargo capacity and ship shape severely limited its escape speed. It only took the "Bloodthirsty Wolf" a while to catch up.

"Captain Gunner, gun crew prepare." At this time, the two ships were only a few hundred meters apart, and the panicked sailors on the deck of the other ship could be vaguely seen.

"Fire!" Zhao Chang ordered.

"Fire!" Gunnery Chief Doug Parra shouted from the port gun deck.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Six artillery pieces fired at almost the same time. Large and small projectiles flew over a short distance of four to five hundred meters and caused a large number of wounds on the opponent's ship. Some unlucky sailors screamed and fell. On deck.

"Reset the gun! Clear the chamber, charge, and reload!"

The opponent's three-pound and four-pound cannon fired some sparse projectiles towards the "Bloodthirsty Wolf". Doug Parra was unmoved and ordered to continue loading.

"Fire!" The three artillery pieces fired another salvo!

The biting sea breeze blew away the gunpowder smoke, and Zhao Chang raised his telescope. He found that the bombardment seemed to have achieved good results.

The poop at the stern of the opponent's ship was hit by two 24-pound cannon shells. The luxuriously decorated windows in the captain's cabin were shattered. It is unknown what the internal casualties were.

In addition, a gun on the opponent's deck was hit brutally. The gun barrel fell from the broken sports car and rolled a long way away. Some sailors who could not dodge were crushed by the heavy gun barrel. The bloody scenes were too horrific to watch.

"Change to heavy solid bullets!" Zhao Chang ordered, he was preparing to completely destroy the water-tight tank of the Dutch ship.

But many times things are unexpected, because the next moment the opponent suddenly lowers the mainsail and raises a white flag on the mast.

The Dutch surrendered!

"Come on!" Zhao Chang pondered for a moment before deciding to accept the trophy. His navigation school still lacked many teachers. He hoped that these Dutch people could have some real talents.

"Victory!" The sailors cheered enthusiastically.

Although the bully was a supply ship with poor firepower, this was still a victory.

Soon, two platoons (60 men) of the Army rowed their famous boats towards the other side's ship.

Wang Qi struggled to climb up the rope ladder to the deck of the Dutch ship. A dozen Dutch sailors gathered on the deck, watching the arrival of the conqueror uneasily.

They couldn't resist because the enemy's guns were still pointing right at them.

"Stay there quietly and don't try to resist." Wang Qi took off the rifle from his back, loaded it and said casually.

Soon, the other 59 Army soldiers boarded the ship one after another.

After searching the Spaniards, they tied them up and threw them into the bottom cabin, and then sent several soldiers with guns to guard them.

Zhao Chang rushed over from the "Bloodthirsty Wolf" with 10 students from the navigation school, and they will be the next ship to the Dutch supply ship.

"Ha! Rich!" Harley Valdez exclaimed as he looked at the warehouse full of matchlocks, spears, daggers, breastplates, matchlocks, gunpowder, lead bullets and cannonballs. "I wish the Dutch There is more than one supply ship, otherwise they will be in big trouble. "

Now the Dutch are fighting fiercely with the Spaniards on the sea, and the supplies on the ship must be scarce. If they rob them this time, some people will probably go hungry.

"Collect the supplies and personnel and sink him. We still have a mission, so hurry up!" Zhao Chang ordered from the deck.

"Understood, Captain!" the Spanish mate agreed loudly, climbed up to the deck, took a few glances, and said: "What a pity, if there was no mission, I would definitely take you back."

Half an hour later, the "Bloodthirsty Wolf" disappeared on the distant sea level.

The surging waves swept away several floating corpses, leaving only a pile of foam and broken boards on the sea, as if nothing had happened here.

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