Section 149 to Hong Kong

Shi Zhiqi suddenly came to his senses. He watched as the Xiaofa traffic boat sailed to the gangway on the other side of Linyun 11, and immediately took care of the signal corps:

"Flag to Linte No. 11, I want to report on the preparations for the flagship"

There was no large-scale ceremony for the departure of the Pearl River Estuary Task Force, and only the "March of the Warships" was played by loudspeakers as a farewell song -- although the navy very much hoped for a naval band, the 500 people could not gather all the musicians, and the indigenous musicians could only follow the television textbooks, which naturally made it difficult.

The formation consisted of four patrol boats from the 4th Patrol Boat Squadron, followed by squadron after squadron of ships set sail. Every ship was covered with military flags, with Chen Haiyang's flag of the Minister of Naval Command and Wen Desi's flag of naval adviser fluttering on the mainmast and second mast of Linyun 11. Shi Zhiqi sat on his flagship whale, and watched with some pride as the flag of his naval detachment leader fluttered.

On the coast, there are many crowds watching the excitement, and the sailing of large formations is a spectacular show that is rare to see for them. Flag-laden ships, mighty sailors standing on the slope, and a shiny cannon...... Wen Desi spared no effort to promote the concept of "naval show", only by making the public think that the army is powerful and beautiful, can people be attracted to become soldiers, rather than forcing people to become soldiers as they are now.

The policy of serving as a soldier first and then reforming is certainly good. But he wanted to form a social value of pride in service in the future empire. Therefore, he is extremely in favor of everything that enhances the sense of honor and social image of soldiers.

Shi Zhiqi had just presented a copy of the "Marine Corps Uniform, Insignia, Military Rank, and Etiquette Plan" that he had painstakingly compiled, or "plagiarized." On the surface, this is a proposal to "improve the image of the army", but in fact it is the beginning of Shi Zhiqi's "de-naturalization of the Marine Corps". Wen Desi didn't think about it so deeply, and he was quite appreciative of such a system that he had painstakingly created. This made Shi Zhiqi's mood better.

The sudden appearance of such a large fleet in the waters of Macao on 4 September caused a wave of consternation among the Portuguese in Macao, and after a brief confusion, all the large ships of the Portuguese in the harbor were hoisted and ready for battle.

The patriarchs watched the forts and ports of Macao with binoculars, and it was certainly not difficult to take Macau, but the place was too small, and even the basic supply of vegetables and fresh water was often difficult, and there was not much prospect for development. Hong Kong Island is much stronger than here.

"Leave this place to the Portuguese." Lying on a wicker chair in the rear building of Lente 11, he was slightly seasick - the ship was still too small, and it shook violently when the wind and waves were blowing. Shi Zhiqi once invited him to the Big Whale, but he declined.

"At least we have to wait until they build St. Paul's." Chen Haiyang jokingly said and put down the binoculars. From a naval officer's point of view, Hong Kong is one of the few best naval bases, and Macau's port is much worse.

The fleet left the waters of Macao and continued its voyage westward. In fact, it has entered the sea area of the Pearl River estuary - that is, Lingdingyang, which is famous because of Wen Tianxiang's poems. Neilingding Island is on the left front of the fleet.

Here is part of the so-called "inner ocean". The coastline is twisting and convex, and harbors can be found everywhere that can be concealed and ambushed. Occasionally, you will encounter a vast river estuary where freshwater and seawater meet.

The "inner ocean" is dotted with islands, some of which are inhabited, others are good places for fishermen to stop their boats and anchor to rest, but most of them are deserted islands and reefs.

These deserted islands also provided a good place for pirates to rest and ambush. The entire task force was on guard against a surprise attack by pirates as it sailed - not only Liu Xiang's ships were active, but there were also small groups of people scattered around the world. Even the fishermen themselves may come to "catch a handful" at any time and at any time.

The area was a hunting ground for pirates: there was a great deal of sea traffic, and the presence of harbors gave merchants the utmost convenience, and large quantities of goods were loaded on ships and shuttled between the coastal towns and villages. Although the cargo here is not as valuable as the cargo of a "foreign ship", the robbery of a shipload of daily necessities is also very valuable to the pirates - they can do it faster. After collecting and sorting out a large amount of pirate intelligence from the Foreign Intelligence Bureau, Xu Xu told Chen Haiyang that the pirates here want everything, not to mention low-value daily necessities such as fishing rods, rice, and salt, and even cold goods such as bricks and tiles.

"All I can say is that pirates are too poor......" Permission sighed.

Chen Haiyang said: "The water falls low, and the water rises high. At the beginning, he bribed a few bottles of wine and a few cigarettes. Later, 50,000 red envelopes can only be regarded as a small meaning. ”

"Ahead is North Lantau."

"Order the pilot ship, turn the course to 120, and each ship will follow in order and not be left behind" Chen Haiyang issued a command to turn the rudder, "We have to sharpen the sea area." ”

Chen Haiyang prepared to direct the fleet to pass through Lantau Island, through the big sharpening of knives, and then through the Ma Wan Strait, from the western channel of Hong Kong Island into Victoria Bay. Of course, this place will no longer be called Victoria Bay in the future. However, the proposal to call it Wu Zetian Bay was opposed by many people.

After the Europeans' ships set off from Macao and entered the waters of the Pearl River estuary, the sharpening of knives was their first important landmark on the charts. It can also be said that after sailing, the first step to Guangzhou was set foot after sharpening the knife.

When the fleet entered the Da Mo Dao Sea, Chen Haiyang ordered the whole fleet to go on alert - the north of this sea area is the famous Tuen Mun. The Portuguese attempted to occupy the area as their Chinese trading base, but were defeated by the Ming army, who were allowed to provide information from the Foreign Intelligence Service with hundreds of Ming troops stationed there, possibly with a small number of divisional ships to monitor and patrol the seas. The appearance of the Austro-Song Navy is likely to provoke an armed conflict.

But the fleet passed through this water area without any fighting. Chen Haiyang and others observed along the road and saw hardly any sign of the sailors' ships -- according to the historical information provided by Yu Eshui, the Guangdong sailors should have been regularly patrolled by the division's ships in this area of the Pearl River estuary.

Huang Paw commented: "The system is the system, and whether the system can be implemented is another matter." Now is the end of the Ming Dynasty. It's just a piece of paper. ”

Yellowpaw was a member of a long-range exploration team that got on board the ship—and the island of Hong Kong in this time and space also needs to be fully surveyed. Actually, he could let other people come, but Yellowpaw wanted to be a captain in the future, so he took the initiative to participate in this voyage in order to accumulate his sailing knowledge and sailing skills.

Chen Haiyang said: "It should be that there are too few boats for the sailors, and they can't take care of it." ”

"I really hope to meet the Daming Sailor, even if I can shoot a few shots" Yellow Paw was very excited, he looked far away, except for the scattered fishing boats, there was nothing on the sea. There are many large and small islands and sandbanks in this area, which in another time and space are administratively subordinate to the outlying islands area of Hong Kong.

Yellowpaw's hopes of a fight soon materialized. In the afternoon of the same day, as they passed through Ma Wan Bay, the signal corpsmen suddenly shouted:

"Avant-garde spotted suspicious vessels"

Ma Wan Strait is a north-south waterway with Ma Wan Island to the west and Tsing Yi Island to the east. And below Ma Wan Island, there is also a small island called Lantern Island. In the sheltered waters between the two islands, there are many large and small fishing boats. Lookouts on the avant-garde patrol boats were alert to the discovery that bonfires were lit on the hills of Tsing Yi Island and Ma Wan Island. Apparently in contact with something.

Subsequently, several suspiciously shaped fishing boats appeared on the surface of the sea, gradually approaching the avant-garde squadron, as if they were spying on the fleet. When the fleet was found to be large, it quickly left.

Chen Haiyang said: "This is a pirate ship. He held up his binoculars and "ordered a squadron of patrol boats to capture enemy ships."

A few minutes later, four patrol boats of the pilot patrol boat squadron left the queue and pounced on the fleeing fishing boats.

Yellow Paw held up his binoculars and watched the scene in the distance. Apparently there were not many enemies, and three small black ships were fleeing near Ma Wan Island, but their clumsy hulls could not match the speed of the brisk dhow-like patrol boats.

The patrol boat quickly clamped up the three blackboats, and at this moment, Yellowpaw saw a puff of white smoke rising from the first blackboat, and faintly heard the sound of cannons.

"Hit, hit," shouted the sailors who were watching, "the enemy ships opened fire"

Almost at the same time, a thick cloud of smoke erupted simultaneously from the two patrol boats that had been stopped in front of the pirate ship, and clusters of fire flickered in the smoke.

Immediately a number of tiny white columns of water rose on the sea around the ship, and the hull seemed to tremble, and the sails of the black ship fell.

"The enemy ship is on fire," the lookout had just shouted, when suddenly a small explosion erupted from a black ship, igniting a large fire.

"I didn't see the cannon fired, why did it explode?"

"The gunpowder on the pirate ship exploded." Chen Haiyang said casually, "The pirate's powder keg was directly left open and thrown on the deck when it was fighting. ”

The battle was soon over, and two ships were captured, and the other was too big to be saved.

According to the procedure for capturing pirates, the captured captives were not disposed of at sea, but only sent people to dismantle the cannons on them and collect the gunpowder. Then the sailors were ordered to drive the ship with the convoy and not to leave the formation.