Lu Ming

In the plan of the crossing crowd, the standard armed transport ship of this faction will be based on this hybrid ship in the future, and the new ship model will be re-adjusted by the ship designer of later generations.

Therefore, the Dafu ship that Du Dewei drove could only be used as a short-distance transport ship on low-risk routes because the ship's shape and tonnage could not be modified.

And even so, the service life of this ship will not be too long: for a certain force that emphasizes standardization in everything, all these miscellaneous ships that do not meet the assembly line standards will all be sold to Ming people in the future object.

Ever since, the big blessing ship that accompanied Du Dewei for many years was soon "pickled" by the workers of the shipyard.

...The so-called pickling means to use a large amount of lime to seal the entire boat, not leaving any corners alone.After a while, after all the rats, cockroaches and all kinds of bacteria are dead and run away, the ship will be unsealed again, and then it will be filled with cargo for a short-distance route between Dayuan and Fuzhou.

Chapter 236: The Completion of the Talents ([-])

Du Dewei now finally knows what those barrels in the shipyard are used for.A large number of wooden barrels were lifted onto the deck, and workers with white gauze masks on their mouths and noses began to spread the lime in the barrels to all cabins.

In fact, not many of the 18 boats can enjoy this kind of treatment: only the 5 largest ones, and the rest, including those dilapidated fishing boats, will be sold on the spot, and they are not even eligible for repairs.

So in the rest of the day, Du Dewei first drove 18 hard-earned belongings to the Qingshi Wharf with his own hands, and then watched them being auctioned off on the spot with mixed feelings...

What shocked him was yet to come: the next day, after inexplicably signing a few more documents, Du Dewei got another ship payment of more than 4 taels...

After looking at the depreciation clearly written on the document and the various expenses of the auction, he fell into confusion again.In the end, when he was sure that this was not a trick to lure snakes out of their holes and kill donkeys, someone happily took the silver and went to those little shopkeepers to share the money.

Du Dewei's happiness only lasted for one day, and then he realized the famous saying of Confucius: "When friends come from afar, don't be careless." - Early the next morning, when he saw about 10 broken boats sailing into the Mawei Water Village, There was an ominous premonition in my heart.Soon, the premonition came true... A man with big ears and a simple and honest face stood on the bow of the boat and shouted to him: "Dewei, my brother is here to join you!"

The position of the general manager of the foreign committee is equivalent to the preparatory section chief in later generations. It is a temporary position lower than the ninth rank, and there is no lower official than this.However, even so, the two generals of the new Foreign Affairs Committee still cherish this official position very much.You know, this seat was bought with the wealth I accumulated over the years.

Therefore, even though Du Dewei and Cao Hu dislike each other in their hearts, since everyone has put on the official skin and become the general manager, some grievances and grievances have to be put aside for the time being.

With the arrival of Du Dewei and Cao Hu, in July 1628, the Maweishui camp accepted more than 7 scattered pirates to join them.The number of these latecomers is generally not large, there are five or six boats, and there are one or two boats.

Traveling through the crowd naturally welcomes these people.

The new manpower has effectively reduced the difficulty of managing the defectors: mixing sand is the best management method.

The latecomers are treated the same as the old-timers.The recruits will also be diverted and resettled, most of the ships will be sold, and a small number of qualified ones will be bought by the crossing forces.In short, each boat will be turned into silver and returned to the shopkeepers after discount.This is an established step, and the property rights of all property must be clear-private persons are not allowed to own shares in any items of the army.

Regarding the future path, if the shopkeepers are unwilling to continue to serve as soldiers, they can also choose to develop as senior officers, or they can be dismissed on the spot...Of course, such people are rare.

……

When the recruits were "tricked" into isolation in the Maweishui camp, the outside world was becoming more and more exciting.

First of all, on August 8, half a month after Xiong Wencan posted the notice, Youguang swaggered into the mouth of the Minjiang River in the eyes of all the people.

The streamlined You Guang with white soft sails and a row of cannons on the deck caused a sensation as soon as Pu appeared on the stage.Chinese boats large and small on the Minjiang River all screamed when they saw the strange boat gliding past at high speed.

A large number of troublemakers quickly followed Youguang in small boats.Fortunately, the troops around Fuzhou were greeted in advance today, so apart from some sensational scenes, there were no other accidents.

The Youguang ship soon stopped at the official wharf at the south gate of Fuzhou, at the same place where Zheng Zhilong docked at Fuzhou.

Next, a large number of officers and soldiers began to pour out from the south gate, and then a certain master surnamed Huang from the governor's yamen came out in a row, and after greeting each other with Zhang Dongdong who got off the boat, the two sides walked arm in arm and rode together on the top of the eighth boat intimately. Lift the big sedan chair and walk away.

And the melon-eaters who formed crowds of people around the pier quickly spread the first-hand information: it was Caochuan, the "giant canal" on Dayuan Island on the other side of the sea.This person has 5000 elite monk soldiers under his command. This time, he came to discuss the matter of recruiting after seeing the list posted by Xiong Futai.

... Accurate information is naturally not known to the people who eat melons: the news spreaders mixed in the crowd are all pre-installed by the Fuzhou station.

As a result, there was a lot of talk in Fuzhou that day: beautiful sailing boats, monks and soldiers wearing short jackets with shiny scalps, the governor's yamen's big fights, and so on.

At this moment, Zhang Dongdong and his entourage, who had finally turned from the dark to the bright, were talking and laughing happily with the governor in Fuya, expressing their love for each other.

It's not easy for everyone to say.

Since Xiong Wencan left Beijing after his majesty's resignation until today, in the words of later generations, this is considered to have completed the phased results.Although the old bear has always been pushed behind the back of the crossing crowd, but after all, he is the governor, and all the steps of the two sides still need him to endorse and take responsibility, so to be honest, the old bear has been under a lot of pressure all the time. of.

There is another reason why Lao Xiong is particularly happy today: he has sent back to the capital the memorial that Zheng Zhilong, the enemy of the imperial court, and other pirates "fighted to death".In the middle, Lao Xiong used various spring and autumn brushwork to hint at his contribution to sowing dissension, which can be regarded as a phased report of the intersection.

And after discussing with Zhang Dongdong today, Lao Xiong can roll up his sleeves and start working officially, completely opening the curtain of destroying bandits in Pinghai.So Master Futai is still quite excited at the moment.

……

10 days later, on August 8, outside the sea of ​​Fuzhou, the repertoire in which Cao Chuan, a high official, accepts Fujian Governor Xiong Wencan's recruitment will be staged soon.

More than 150 ships of various types gathered on the sea, forming a dark ship formation, which was overwhelming.

The first ships in this formation are naturally under the banner of the crossing forces: the destroyer fleet headed by "Youguang" and its sister ship "Zhengfeng".There are also 6 "Taijiang" class frigates in the main fleet - after the 400-ton Youguang entered service, the 150-ton Taijiang returned to their original class: frigate.

After the main fleet composed of 8 machine-sail gunboats, there is a large number of Fuchuan teams led by the machine-sail Fuchuan "Gouyan" and "Yuandou".These two lucky boats that were first purchased by the traversing congregation are now different things: the one that inherits the names of these two glorious ships is a new mixed-breed ship produced by Taijiang Shipyard.

This mixed-breed ship has both Chinese-style hard sails for catching the wind, and a European-style hull with better seaworthiness, and the line shape of the entire ship has also been improved, making it an excellent transport ship.

Today's actions can be said to be an all-out force for the time-traveling forces.Due to the need to support the scene, all the 150 ships include not only warships, but also all the merchant ships purchased and built by the crossing people since they occupied the big people. The pirate ships that have recently surrendered are all included in the team.

In addition, at the end of the team, there are 5 western-style sailboats.

This special formation is the Dutch fleet led by the naval training ship "Chengfeng" sail training ship.In order to avoid being too shocking, the tonnage of this group of Dutch ships is generally not large, and they are all small boats of about 200 tons. If there are too many red hairs, it is easy to deviate from the theme.

But even so, Mr. Hans Putmans, who was standing on the "Heerenveen" and kept using the telescope to observe the surroundings, was already very excited.

You must know that, except for those damn Portuguese who can enter and exit Guangzhou City during the trading season, other powerful forces such as the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, so far no merchants have been authorized to enter this ancient city.So Putmans, who has received the promise of the crossing crowd, is very excited. He is about to make history today.

At 6 o'clock in the morning, at the same time as when Xiong Wencan sent Zheng Zhilong off, the mighty fleet started to move.Naturally, the Gunboat Squadron took the lead, followed by the Fuchuan Squadron, and the European-style boats followed at the end.

In order to take care of the slow troops, the gunboats slowed down after entering the Minjiang River.Today's Minjiang River is exceptionally quiet - yesterday the government ordered that boats are prohibited in the Minjiang Estuary this morning.

The large troops arrived at Fuzhou Nanmen Wharf on time at 7 o'clock sharp.

A similar scenario began to play out again: Lord Futai dispatched his entire army to the south gate to meet the [-]-strong pirate brigade who had come to surrender.

Unlike Zheng Zhilong's time, today's Fuzhou City does not prohibit people from entering and leaving.It's just that at this moment, the south of the city pier has already been cleaned up, and a large number of elite Fubiao soldiers have surrounded the pier area, and the people watching the excitement have been isolated.

But this blockade can't stop the enthusiasm of the people who eat melons: at this moment in Fuzhou City, the South Gate Tower is already densely packed with onlookers, and Mr. Ding, who watched the tower, made a fortune today.

……

After seeing the fleet entering the port from a distance, the eight-carried sedan chairs parked in the city gate and resting immediately went to the pier.And not long after the "Caochuan" boat Youguang stopped at the pier, Lao Xiong's sedan chair also arrived at the pier.

Next, Comrade "Cao Chuan" in a white robe stepped off the boat steadily first, and Governor Xiong Wencan of Fujian, wearing a red official robe, also walked out of the sedan chair at the same time.

The perfect order of appearance and speed of movement of the two drama masters not only interpret the most fundamental high and low in the officialdom, but also express Xiong Wencan's broad mind and thirst for talents, which can be described as superb acting skills.

The next moment, the white-robed man took a few steps forward, and under the gaze of thousands of eyes, he clasped his fists with his hands, knelt down on his knees, and shouted, the hero has mercy... Wrong, it was a shout: "Cao Chuan, see Lord Governor!"

At the same moment, the sailors on hundreds of ships also crossed their hands and saluted at the same time, shouting "See you, my lord!"

And Xiong Wencan stepped forward quickly, bent over and helped someone Cao up.

At the same time, those rhythmic people who had already been placed in the melon-eating crowd raised their arms and began to cheer.

The melon-eaters who didn't know what to do, naturally started to cheer at the same time... For a while, the scene was as enthusiastic as a tide, just like a real estate sale scene.

Chapter 237 Peeling Onions ([-])

Zhai Dazhong was sitting on a rough wooden chair, with his hands on his knees, leaning forward slightly, and was listening attentively to Sha Zhengming's assignment.

Zhai Dazhong is a native of Fujian, and he is currently a guerrilla in the Shuibiao Camp in Fuzhou.This position is theoretically the same as that of a certain fake time traveler who has just been publicly appointed as a guerrilla general.

However, the official title is the same, but the real power is very different: for military officers, the number of soldiers and horses is directly proportional to their status to some extent.Compared with "Cao Chuan", the soldiers and horses under Qu Dazhong's guerrilla battalion are far from enough.

Not to mention that the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses that the pirate leader showed up in the city of Fuzhou a few days ago were those strange ships and the red-haired barbarians who came to help them. Qu Dazhong, who is proficient in water warfare, also knew that he was not an opponent.

You know, some time ago, the officers and soldiers fought with Zheng Zhilong in a series of battles, but in the end the officers and soldiers were defeated.This defeat not only sent Yu Zigao, the commander-in-chief of Fujian Province, to the sky prison, but also from Yu Zigao onwards, many generals of the imperial court were killed in battle, a large number of warships were damaged, and soldiers suffered heavy losses.

The defeat not only caused the overall hard power of the Fujian Navy to be greatly damaged, but also its soft power is not optimistic: at present, there is only one deputy commander, Zhao Tingyuan, who was originally stationed in the center and left, and now he has lost his old nest. Since then, the officers and soldiers below this person have been panicked and have no fighting spirit.

Therefore, when General Xinke Guerrilla called all the people from all walks of life to come to Mawei Water Village for a battle meeting, Qu Dazhong came honestly - he had no airs to put on in front of these powerful pirate chiefs.

……

Like all the people who have dealt with time-traversing people for the first time, when Qu Guerrilla came to Maweishui camp, the first thing he saw was all kinds of shocks: the clean and tidy barracks, the boilers that were emitting black smoke, and the recently opened fire in Fuzhou city. Glass windows became popular.

Qu Guerzilla knew that these people made the glass in Dayuan.But he couldn't understand how to install such an expensive thing on the windows of the barracks.

But once it's time for the official meeting, people feel the benefits of the glass window: the bright room is full of light, and any mark on the map can be clearly seen.

There are quite a few people attending the meeting today.

There is the new guerrilla general Cao Chuan in official robes, the actual host of the meeting Sha Zhengming, Sha Qianzong, the guerrilla Qu Dazhong, five or six foreign commissioners including Du Dewei and Cao Hu, and three striking Dutch And translators are also present.

All kinds of participants quickly focused their attention on the detailed topographic map of Xiamen on the wall.The natives who had never seen the satellite map style of later generations all opened their eyes wide at this moment.

Not to mention the strange ideas such as "his aspirations are not small" and "premeditated" that popped up in the minds of Ming people like Qu Dazhong and Du Dewei. When the curtain on the wall was drawn, the majestic Sha Zhengming picked up the With a pointer, he began to explain to the map on his own.

Attendees are captivated by the innovative approach to strategy sessions.

Sha Zhengming first introduced the historical background of the entire battle to the map.This includes the current strategic situation of the two sides, as well as the resumes and numbers of the enemy's major leaders from Li Kuiqi down.

After introducing these backgrounds, Sha Zhengming began to explain the campaign draft in detail.

The campaign plan drawn up by the cross-crowd is called "Peeling the Onion", and it is an extremely simple plan for suppressing bandits - these miscellaneous reinforcements here are unable to complete complex tasks.

The core of this plan is: the fast fleet will attack the enemy first, and when the enemy's strength is weakened to a critical point, the large force will dispatch to wipe out the opponent.

So at the end of the meeting, Sha Zhengming concluded: "After our main fleet destroys the bandits, everyone can rush forward."

Although the current situation of Shuibiaoying is not good, Qu Dazhong is an elite military officer of the imperial court who just passed the front of the pirates, so he can't understand this truth: how can 8 ships destroy the pirate gang with a total of thousands of ships? ... Although the 8 strange ships are very fast, although many of the pirates are broken fishing boats.

So Qu Dazhong smiled, a mocking smile with the corners of his mouth slightly upturned.

Then his smile was seen by "Cao Chuan" who was sitting on the side: "General Qu, does the other party have a slightly higher opinion? You might as well speak up."

"Don't dare to dare, General Sha's strategy is grand, and Qu admires it!"

Naturally, Qu Dazhong wouldn't pretend to be forced by some master tactician at this juncture... Right now, this gang of pirates is at a time when they are burning, and the ponytail is their territory. The ghost knows who they are trying to hurt by throwing their heads out. General Qu will naturally not accept this.

Hearing someone's seemingly admirable words, Sha Zhengming, who had already put down his pointer and came back, sneered, "General Qu probably hates evil, and doesn't want others to brag about it. Well, let's go out to sea tomorrow and have a drill, and the general will be satisfied."

……

The so-called parade, of course, is not to pull out and beat the officers and men's boats through the fleet of the crowd, but the real live ammunition shooting.

Early the next morning, off the coast of Fuzhou.

A large number of ships are gathering here.The largest number of them are the pirates from the Mawei Barracks.These new recruits who know what military discipline is under the stick education are now densely packed on 10 brand new blessing boats, waiting to observe the exercise.

And Qu Dazhong's fleet is not far away.The general only brought 5 ships out from the water mark this time, and on them were all the officers and some officers and soldiers under his command—he did not bring those who were really in bad spirits.

In the end there were three solitary Dutch ships.

Mr. Putmans has finally fulfilled his long-cherished wish since his visit to Fuzhou City.But today he actually came to bid farewell: the Dutch have a terrible understanding of the force of the traversers, and they have seen a lot of the power of these destroyers in the Taijiang River, so they are not interested in the so-called exercises... ah exercise When it's over, they will go back to the army to prepare for the war, and they don't have time to waste here.

All the viewing fleet faintly formed a large circle on the sea, and in the middle of the circle were five or six dilapidated Chinese sailboats.

The next moment, the exercise began.

I saw a white dragon rushing over from a distance.After showing the audience the high speed of more than 12 knots, the white dragon began to approach the target ship, followed by standard shelling at a distance of 1000 meters.

The combination of 2 destroyers + 6 frigates, a total of 44 Napoleon guns fired at high speed in sequence, made the onlookers open their mouths.

After the entire fleet fired two rounds of artillery at a distance of 1000 meters, two target ships were already slowly sinking.Next came the grand finale: the next moment, the entire fleet lowered their sails, and then after two rounds of 360-degree rotation around the target ship at high speed, they fired three salvos with extremely short intervals at a distance of 500 meters.

"There is such a god in the world?!" Comrade Qu Dazhong saw everything clearly with the binoculars presented by the traveler, his hands were trembling at this moment and he couldn't stop.Now he fully understands the meaning of the "peeling onion" plan, and agrees with it from the bottom of his heart.

The pirate recruits were equally as shocked as Qu Dazhong.In addition, the shock of these recruits also contained fear.As long as they are not stupid, they will have already figured out a certain logical relationship: if they did not follow the shopkeepers to surrender, then they would soon be sent to the Zhongzuo Institute by these strange ships without sails and paddles. The bottom of the sea is in a box...

The exercise went quickly.

Counting from the moment when the distant fleet appeared, it took less than 20 minutes for the artillery to send all the target ships into the bottom of the sea.

In fact, the shorter the time, the more shocking it is.Looking at the distant figures of those melon-eaters who were full of worries, Zhang Dongdong and the others standing on the flagship could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

This exercise was actually planned a long time ago.Because if the crossing crowd doesn't show their strength, then these new recruits and veterans of the water standard will shrink back in future battles and will be tied up.

And when they found out that they were actually holding a golden thigh, presumably these unscrupulous guys would think more about it before doing certain things.Especially this group of officers and soldiers who want to turn in at any time: If General Cao returns from victory, can those who fled before the battle still have a good life?

……

With the end of the exercise, the southward attack operation with the crossing fleet as the main force, officers and soldiers, and the Dutch assistance also began to enter the countdown state.

In fact, the time-travelers couldn't drag it any longer, because Li Kuiqi wanted to do it.

You know, it has been more than a month since the pirates of the Zhongzuo Institute broke up for the first time.

And this kind of situation is actually a kind of competition: through the crowd and the pirate gang headed by Li Kuiqi and Zhong Bin, they are desperately fighting for the time to integrate.Whoever successfully integrates first can make the first move.

And because of the existence of Yuegang Xu Xinsu, the time travelers have always had an intelligence advantage, which is why they can spare more than a month to train pirate recruits: Li Kuiqi is also integrating.

However, just the day before everyone held the military meeting, a telegram from Yuegang said: Li Kuiqi is already in the "meeting ministers" and is going to make a big vote in the next few days.

So Zhang Dongdong and the others hastily held a military meeting, and then hastily held an exercise—Li Kuiqi cannot be allowed to go ashore to plunder on a large scale, otherwise Xiong Wencan and "Cao Chuan" will have no good fruit to eat.

Fortunately, after more than a month of integration, both the soldiers and the logistics, including the Dutch who came to help and the officers and soldiers, have been coordinated. Therefore, the second day after the maritime exercise, Zhang Dongdong secretly Farewell to Xiong Wencan: There are too many eyeliners in Fuzhou City, so there is no need to hold a grand expedition ceremony with great fanfare.

... The first to set off was naturally the main fleet consisting of 8 gunships. The commander of this fleet was Sha Zhengming, and the deputy commander was Mu Longcheng.

In fact, because all the family property of the navy is here, except for Comrade Liu Zhe who is still staying in the Dayuan town house, most of the navy crossing people have come to Fuzhou with the last large force and are stationed in the Horsetail Barracks.