"It's a big ......," Shen Yourong gasped.

The height of the Tiangang-class 'heavy' cruiser exposed to the waterline is comparable to the city wall of Quanzhou Mansion, no, I am afraid that it is higher than the city wall of Quanzhou, and the volume is even larger. He didn't care about the name of the iron ship, after all, there was a warship wrapped in iron armor in the Li Dynasty during the Renchen War, and in Shen Yourong's mind, the so-called iron ship was probably the same, at least after observing the hull of the black ship in front of him at close range, he trusted his judgment even more, in fact, the Tiangang-class cruiser was indeed only an iron 'armor' ship.

What made him gasp was the power of the ship, which was a large splint ship with a lot of shortcomings, and it had an indescribable beauty, but it could be carried through the waves without relying on the wind and the current. He could see that although there was a mast on the big iron ship, it did not hang sails, and what this ability to move in the sea by relying on its mysterious own power meant in actual combat, Shen Yourong, who was well versed in the way of water warfare, would not fail to understand.

In front of this seemingly behemoth, his own sailor warship is more like a dead fish floating in the sea.

Moreover, he had seen from the deck of the great ship a greater formidable firearm—a cannon—a cannon than before—and a mighty cannon he had never seen before, he thought so, and the sailors who stood on either side of the ship with their chests held up, or, as the owner said, the Fubo Army. If when he saw the sailors on the cruiser, he felt that the Australians had considerable combat power, then now his feelings can be summed up in eight words, the most brilliant sentence in his "Shifting Shu Generals and Soldiers".

——The army of kings, there is no battle.

If the power of the guns on the ships is no less powerful than the Hongyi cannons of the Francophiles, then the sailors of Fujian Province may not be enough for the Australians.

If one of the veterans of the navy was present at this moment, and told Master Shen that these two ships were only two of the six Tiangang-class ships newly launched this year, the same cruiser Fubo Army already had as many as eighteen ships, and the 'light' patrol of the Disha class had also made an ordinary number, and as for the real big iron ships, they were all in the South Seas and had never gone north, I am afraid that Master Shen would drop his jaw on the spot, and then he would not have to go to Dengzhou to take up his post again.

However, fortunately, both the Boundary Breaker and the Traveler were only doing sea trials, and the people on board were not aware of the special identity of the guests on the 'small' ship not far away.

In this way, as soon as the warship passed, the lucky ship was able to pass smoothly, which was a false alarm for everyone.

Because of this 'accident', Shen Yourong became more careful, and then kept staring at the shore to see, "Is there a fort?" ”

He suddenly pointed to a prominent peak near the sea on Dagou Mountain in the distance.

The people looked in the direction of his finger, and sure enough, there was a man-made structure on the top of the mountain, which could not be seen from a distance, but the metal pipe on it did look like a fort, but at such a distance, if it was really a cannon, I am afraid that its size had reached a staggering point. It's just that the Australians set up a fort here, Shen Yourong can't figure it out, this place is not close to the port, and the bandits will not land on the coast of such a reef. He continued to observe carefully, and found that the view of this place was indeed good, regardless of the terrain that protruded into the sea or the height of the reef mountain, he could observe the Kaohsiung Harbor in front and the water camp that he had just passed.

However, just to be able to observe, it is enough to scatter some secret spies and patrols on any nearby peak, and it is difficult to put a fort up to really protect two ports, and now Kaohsiung Port is already in sight under the guidance of the shipowner, with Shen Yourong's previous sea experience, the distance is at least six or seven miles, and the harbor that has already been left behind is probably ten miles away. Can you really shoot at such a distance? In the past, he had also seen the saying that Hongyi was eroded for more than ten miles with a cannon in the recital of civil officials, and to be honest, he didn't think so, even if it was a Hongyi cannon, he might not be able to do it if he wanted to hear it for ten miles, and it was naturally difficult for a naval army general with actual combat experience like him to perfunctory.

But if it weren't for such power, Shen Yourong really couldn't figure out why the Australians would set up a fort here, and the cost of such construction on this kind of terrain was not a small amount.

Fortunately, Master Shen's thinking did not last long, because Kaohsiung Port had already arrived.

Like other merchant ships, Shen Yourong's lucky ship soon docked at the wharf of Kaohsiung Port - the natural stone embankment has been renovated and stretched out into the harbor with more than 10 wooden trestle bridges, as Kaohsiung's passenger and cargo wharf, small and medium-sized ships can directly lean on the side of the trestle to get on and off passengers and load and unload goods, and their lucky ship is no exception.

Shen Yourong stood on the deck, looking at Dongfan, who suddenly became thriving, his eyes were a little confused-he had never been to Dog Gang in the past, and he still heard from Chen Di, but it was by no means the vision in front of him. In Chen Di's mouth, the women there are not clothed, although they love Han women's clothes, and even a piece of cloth will be treasured, but they will never be passed on to the body, whether it is a deer skin or a grass skirt, it is just a slight cover of the lower body. Men make a living by fishing and hunting, and the utensils they make are only a kind of darts, and salt and iron depend on the Han people. And the Han people here are not much better, but they are broken settlements from the desert on the other side of the sea, at most they are better at farming than the Fanren, and the rest are not very good. For example, Shen Yourong, the port here in Dagou, has also been to some of them in the east three times over the years, although they have not gone deeper, but only from the coastal situation, it is roughly as Chen Di said.

However, he has broken his own perception more than once since his journey east.

There are many boats in the harbor, but they are very neatly arranged, one after the other moored on both sides of the pier. He noticed that although the water was not large, the mooring of ships was clearly divided into zones, and the water was drawn with colored floats, and the ships entering and leaving the harbor had their own routes, which seemed to be in order.

Looking towards the port, the rows of towns have long since lost the shadow of the wild land, and they are not inferior to some private ports along the coast of Fujian. And it seems to be even more regular, as the estuary leading to the interior is dammed with planks and stones on both sides, and the town looks like a square with its own function.

Because it is a short distance in Fujian, the quarantine of Shen Yourong and his entourage is relatively simple, as long as no one on the ship is infected with the epidemic or dead people, there is no need to quarantine for several days to weeks for observation, and they can get ashore after routine disinfection measures.

However, it is also necessary to count and search the goods, and if the ship is equipped with firearms for self-defense, it must be sealed as a whole, because although the ship has hung up the Kanhe flag of the Navy early, there will still be Fubo Army on board to check again before arriving at the port for customs declaration, for such a thing, although the owner of the ship will be fine, but Shen Yourong still maintains a little vigilance.

Watching a group of Fubo troops on the deck was quite orderly, and the people on board the ship were scattered to the exit handles all over the cabin, and then a few people who looked like calligraphers came up with pen and paper to register one by one.

"Shen Junmen?" When Shen Yourong was carefully observing the actions of the people on the boat, a voice suddenly sounded beside him.

Shen Yourong turned his head to look, but it was a short-haired Australian soldier talking to him.

"You are ......" was knocked out, Shen Yourong was shocked, but when he looked at the person, he felt a little kind, but he couldn't remember it for a while.

The Australian soldier saw that Shen Yourong didn't recognize him, but he was not angry, and hurriedly reported to his home, "The clumsy one is Akashi Daoyou, can you remember the military gate?" ”

"Is that you? Why are you dressed like this? Shen Yourong looked at it for a while before he was sure that the man in front of him with short hair was the 'Waiko' Akashi Daoyou who had dealt with him back then, but at this moment, his clothes were clearly the ones of the Australians' Fubo Army.

In confusion, the Fubo Army officer, who claimed to be Akashi Daoyou, had already signaled that he was now on official business, and asked Shen Yourong to tell him where he was staying in the harbor, and he would visit him after he was on duty in the evening.

As the owner of the ship said, the Fubo Army who went on the ship to inspect the goods did not take bribes, but the owner of the ship was surprised that this old man Shen actually knew the officers of the Fubo Army. In addition, when he entered the port, he saw a damaged ship that was dragged in, and Akashi Michiyu told him that it was a North Korean merchant ship that had recently been shipwrecked at sea, and it happened to be rescued by the patrol ship of the Fubo Army, which made the image of benevolence and righteousness of the Australians deeply imprinted in the hearts of Shen Yourong and his party.

Master Shen felt a little ashamed again, he, the nominal supreme general of the Fujian Naval Division, was actually able to manage very limited places, he remembered that nine years ago, when the three merchant ships of the Annan merchant Pei Guangpao were caught in a storm and drifted to the Phoenix Ocean in Fujian, those dozens of cronies who knelt on his division's ship, if he hadn't insisted on not allowing it and made a strict order, I am afraid that the more than 100 Annan merchants and sailors would have been regarded as 'Japanese Kou' and made the credit for the promotion of their subordinates.

Even if the family around him is like this, let alone the island guarding sergeant on the offshore island, and the Fubo Army in front of him opened his eyes, even the water battalion under his own command can never be compared with it, and from the perspective of Akashi Daoyou, it is obviously not Australian, since the so-called 'Fubo Army' is mostly indigenous or Wako, how did the Australians manage to train these people to be so regular? This couldn't help but make him a lot of curiosity. Thinking about it, although he has not entered the East for several years, the news about Haidong has never been cut off, how long has it been, and even his various ears and eyes have not had time to react enough, there is already a port market of such a scale here, and it seems that the Australians have gained a firm foothold here, which is very different from the forces that have entered this place in the past.

At least that year, he led the army into Dongfan to expel the Japanese invaders, in addition to beheading the shipwreck, but also rescued more than 370 captive men and women, after the victory, even the Dongfan natives offered deer and wine to congratulate, but looking at the momentum of Fujian immigrants flocking to Dongfan and the life of the Australian in Hong Kong City, such a scene does not need to be thought about.

Speaking of this Akashi Michitomo, he is also a person with a great background, he was originally a retainer of Nagasaki Daikan Murayama and other Yasu, and Murayama and other Yasuhara were also Kishitan daimyos, but after the first year of Motowa (1615), the shogunate's ban on religion became stricter, and the Murayama family was affected by the Okamoto Daihachi Incident.

Originally, Murayama and other An's move was a two-headed bet, and he could manage the island of Taiwan on behalf of the shogunate, which was considered a credit, and if it was because of the story of the religion, there would be a place to retreat. In March of the following year, he ordered his son Qiu'an to lead thirteen ships south, but the sky was not beautiful, and the fleet was scattered everywhere in a storm, and the two warships led by Akashi Michiyu fell to the Fujian Ocean, because the ships on the lost sea could only entrench themselves at sea and plunder everywhere for supplies.

Three years ago, it was Shen Yourong who went to Wangqiao alone to negotiate trade with Akashi Michitomo, and during the negotiation, he personally wore a knife for Akashi Michiyu to show his sincerity, and escorted Daoyou and others to Dinghai Qianhu with his own boat, which greatly moved Akashi Michitomo. And Shen Yourong also felt that Mingshi Daoyou was quite upright, and even borrowed his letter to force the rest of the widows to retreat without a single soldier, so there was some affection between the two.

It's just that he still has a lot of doubts about why this person appeared here, and he also changed into an Australian military uniform.

It seems that everything can only be said after nightfall, at least it seems that there is no curfew here, but it can be observed.

[References]

1, "Daming Huidian"

2, "Records of Emperor Mingshen Zongxian"

3, "History of the Late Ming Dynasty" Fan Shuzhi

4, "Wanli Ye Ed" Shen Defu

5. "Examination of the Origin of Science in Fujian, Volume 75, Mr. Situ He Jingshan, Qiao Yuan"

6, "History of the Ming Dynasty • The Biography of Shen Yourong"

7, "History of the Ming Palace"

8, "Chronicles in the Middle" Liu Ruoyu

9. "Research on Folk Literature in the Ming Dynasty" Zhang Bo

10, "Records of Emperor Mingguang Zongzhen"

11, "Book of Min" He Qiaoyuan

12, "Quanzhou Mansion Chronicles"

13, "Dongfanji" Chen Di

14, "Minhai Gift" Shen Yourong

15, "Shen Yourong's Three Entry into the East "Annihilation of the Japanese and the Lotus" Examination" Chen Jiuru, Yao Yongsen