The "Peng" fat sailor reached out to grab Youlan, but was hit by a punch from Huang Ping, who reacted, and staggered backwards and fell to the ground.

"Bastard, tie him up!" The first mate was very angry, and came to the fat sailor and kicked him twice, incomprehensible.

No one pleaded for the fat sailor, and after a few kicks, the first mate ordered two sailors to tie him up, while Huang Ping and the others were escorted to the bottom of the cabin to wait for the punishment tomorrow morning.

The conflict was successfully defused, and more than a dozen sailors who were drunk on deck were ordered back to sleep, and calm returned to the sea.

In the sea outside the coolie, an armed ship hidden in the darkness quietly observed the Inderwood not far away.

"My lord, do you want to quietly lean up and capture this merchant ship." At the bow of the armed ship, a lame man stared at the coolie in his binoculars and suggested.

"No, we have entered the South Seas, here is only two days away from the Straits Settlements of the British, and the disappearance of a merchant ship for no reason will alert the British, more is better than less, let them go, and we will move on."

Sun Bin explained, staring at the ships lit with oil lamps on the sea.

"Yes, my lord." The lame man nodded and did not refute.

The armed ship continued to hide in the darkness, and after some time, the coolie ship moved farther and farther away, and finally disappeared from the sight of Sun Bin and others.

After the coolie was gone, the armed ship was lit up, and the surrounding sea suddenly became bright.

"Brother Ah Chen, send a signal to the two ships behind and let them come up."

"Hey." The lame man answered, turned his head to a sailor beside him, and came to Sun Bin's side again.

"My lord, how long do we have to get to our destination?"

"It's coming." Sun Bin took an oil lamp with a glass cover and spread out the nautical chart by the light: "Natuna Island is to the east of us, and we can reach it after dawn." ”

Ah Chen stepped forward, followed the spot pointed by Sun Bin's finger, found a small dot, and said with a smile: "After a few months of turbulence on the sea, it is finally almost over." ”

With a journey of tens of thousands of miles from Rio Grande do Sul to Nanyang, and the three-month sea voyage was boring, it was no wonder that Ah Chen smiled when he heard that he was about to arrive at his destination.

"The ports in southern Africa and the Indian Ocean region are all the territory of foreigners, if it weren't for the dozens of Germans on our ship, those ghosts might have to ask for more benefits."

After a 1,000-ton displacement and two 600-ton three-converted steam engine ships sailed out of South America, they disguised themselves as Brazilian merchant ships, and more than 20 German foreign sailors on board served as the head of the fleet.

"The Brazilians were defeated by the world, and we still have to act in the skin of Brazilians when we leave South America, which really makes me feel uncomfortable."

"Brother Ah Chen, don't worry, the Principality of Rio Gran do Sul is originally part of the Brazilian Empire, and there is nothing wrong with us under the banner of Brazilians." Sun Bin joked with a smile.

"That's right, but looking at those foreign devils, I can't swallow this breath."

"Natural selection, survival of the fittest. If we want to gain the respect of foreigners, we must have enough strength, otherwise we will only usher in foreigners' cannons and giant ships. ”

Rio Grande do Sul is tens of thousands of miles away from the mainland, isolated overseas, and surrounded by foreigners, not only makes Li Mingyuan vigilant, but also the other Chinese workers who have followed him also have a sense of crisis, always worried that the Brazilians will come back and regain their land. In this sense of crisis, the Wehrmacht, from senior officers to ordinary soldiers, understood that in order to protect the hard-won land and daughter-in-law, it was necessary to sharpen the muskets in their hands and be ready for battle at all times.

The Chinese in Rio Gran do Sul were all from the lowest level of coolie Chinese laborers, and a small number of scholars like Sun Bin were oppressed by the Manchu government to participate in the rebellion, so naturally they would not support the Manchu government and accept the idea that the enslaved gentry were honest slaves.

Sun Bin's eyes were resolute, looking at Ah Chen, who had lost a leg, and said seriously: "Rio Gran del Sul is too far away from the foreign powers, if we want to catch up with them, we must humbly learn their military technology and technology. ”

"What the adults teach me is that Ah Chen understands."

Ah Chen nodded and stopped complaining.

"Hehe, Brother Ah Chen is an old brother of the Heavenly Kingdom, and he has seen the power of foreign warships in Tianjing City, right?" Sun Bin saw that the two ships behind him had not yet arrived, so he said a few words to Ah Chen.

"When defending Tianjing, the foreigners' warships sailed into the Yangtze River, and a single shell could hit ten miles away, and the shell fell on the top of the city, killing dozens of people at once." Ah Chen recalled.

"The foreigners' artillery warships were extremely ferocious, and the Manchu government looted a lot of money, but they did not show the foreigners in the large warships. Ah Chen: Why didn't the Manchus buy large warships? ”

"The Manchus are not good at sea warfare, and they are afraid that the warships they bought will fall into the hands of the Han Chinese." Ah Chen thought for a moment and replied.

"You're right and wrong. One reason for the Manchus to guard against the Han mastery of warships, and another reason was that the Manchus and those Han landlords and gentry who read the Four Books and Five Classics were in power in the mainland areas, and they did not understand science and technology, and even if they bought warships, they could not find sailors who could operate warships. ”

Sun Bin was telling the truth, the Manchu Qing Dynasty purchased warships to establish the Beiyang Fleet seven or eight years later, the current mainland has just put down the Taiping Rebellion, the northwest region is in rebellion, the southwest region is facing external interference, and the crisis on land occupies the main energy of the Manchu government, so the purchase of large warships has been consciously neglected.

There is no navy development in the mainland for the time being, and Rio Gran do Sul is different, three captured ironclad ships are included in the naval service, two ironclad ships customized from the British are under construction, on the surface, Rio Gran do Sul already has a large naval force, but in fact, the core personnel who operate the naval warships of Rio Gran do Sul are still invited Prussian officers and some captured Brazilian sailors, and the Chinese sailors have studied with them for nearly a year and still have not reached the level of piloting warships alone.

The navy is an aristocratic branch of the army, and piloting an ironclad ship and ocean voyage requires the knowledge and skills of changing jobs, and problems such as discerning the course, exploring hydrogeography, and avoiding storms during a long voyage cannot be learned overnight, so Li Mingyuan not only invited foreign naval officers to come on board to teach the newly established naval officers and men navigation knowledge, but also more than 20 foreigners on the three steam engine ships that sailed to the South Seas were responsible for guiding the Chinese sailors.

Listening to Sun Bin's words, Ah Chen turned his head to look at a few Germans who were busy on the ship, and understood: "The navy of foreign devils is powerful, when will our own navy be like them." ”

"Don't worry, you'll see it one day." Sun Bin smiled and patted him on the shoulder. ……

After the two ships sailing behind met Sun Bin, several fleet leaders reported the situation of each ship, and the three ships accelerated their sailing speed under the cover of night, and in the early morning of the next day, Great Natuna Island appeared in Sun Bin's sight.

"Ah Chen, there are several small fishing boats on the sea, you bring a boat to come up, bring them on the boat, and ask about the situation on the island."

Although Ah Chen was lame, his body was very strong, and after receiving the order, he crossed the small boat into another boat and sailed towards the small boats in front of him.

The three or five small boats sailing on the sea were all driven by ordinary local Chinese fishermen, and when they saw three large boats coming in the distance, they thought that they were foreigners, and they rowed desperately to catch up with them in fright.

The armed merchant ship piloted by Ah Chen, powered by a steam engine, quickly crossed the fishing boat behind and sailed in front of the fastest fishing boat, stopping them.

"Don't be afraid, we are all Han Chinese, don't panic."

Ah Chen stood at the bow of the boat and shouted, and the fishing boats below didn't dare to move when they couldn't run away, and honestly gathered together according to the instructions of the people on the big boat.

"Little brother, we are merchants of South American running boats, we won't hurt you, don't be afraid."

Sun Bin looked at the panicked young fisherman with a gentle mouth and explained: "I invited you to ask you a few questions, and after asking questions, I will let you go, so there is no need to be so alarmed." ”

"Sir, please speak." Sun Bin gently persuaded him, and the young fisherman's fear was alleviated by half, and he said respectfully.

"Are you fishermen on the big island ahead?"

"The villain's family is a Guangxi native who immigrated to the island ten years ago and has been living on the island ever since."

"Oh, that's a coincidence, I'm also from Guangxi, and everyone is a fellow countryman." Sun Bin chatted a few words about his hometown experience and continued to ask: "How many residents are there on the island, but there are outsiders who occupy the island?" ”

"There are about three or four thousand people on the island, most of them Han Chinese, and only some of the indigenous people live in the mountains and forests, and they often come out of the mountains to harass us."

After the young fishermen answered, Sun Bin asked several other fishermen, and after receiving similar answers, the fleet continued to approach Natuna Island.

On the northern coast of Natuna Island, more than 400 Chinese people, old and weak, gathered together and watched vigilantly at the three large ships moored in the harbor.

"Do you want to send someone to explain?" Ah Chen looked at the old and weak Han people on the island holding various weapons, and couldn't help but speak.

"Well, we are here to help our compatriots in Nanyang, we can't let them misunderstand, send two brothers and the fishermen who just got on the boat to make a small boat together, and explain to them our intention."

Two Han sailors armed with muskets accompanied five or six fishermen to the shore, and after the two explained their origins to the people on the shore, there was a commotion in the crowd, and more than thirty young men gathered the two sailors together, while the old men at the head were arguing, apparently not having made up their minds.

"Don't wait any longer, order the troops on board to disembark, and the three armed ships will fire warning shots at the sea."

Salute first and then soldiers, Sun Bin explained that he wanted to bring Natuna Island under the rule of Rio Gran do Sul, which naturally violated the interests of the original ruling class on the island, and they did not reach a consensus within themselves, so Sun Bin had to show his real strength to suppress them from submission.

The sound of artillery rang out, and more than 300 soldiers waded down the water, and soon landed ashore, and rows of soldiers armed with advanced muskets adjusted one by one, approaching the other side step by step.

"Master Chen, retreat, we are not their opponents, just agree to their request!"

"Yes, Dad, they have a lot of guns, we can't beat them."

The approach of the sailors posed a great threat to the Han people on the shore, and most of the gathered people had already retreated, not daring to confront the people on board.

"Alas, it's all gone, and they will have the final say in the village in the future, and the old man doesn't care." The leading village chief waved his hand helplessly, and the others heard him loosen his mouth and dispersed, not daring to block the sailor's way.

Sun Bin single-handedly broke the resistance of the Hansen villages in the north with a simple and crude direct threat, successfully landed on Natuna Island, and then used the same tactics to subdue the other five or six Han villages on the island in the next few days, unify all Han forces on Natuna Island, and establish a preliminary basis for rule.

In the process of unifying the forces on the island for a few days, some small obstacles were encountered, and a Han village relied on the fact that there were two or three hundred young people in the village, gathered a crowd to resist, but was defeated by the more than 100 troops who arrived at the scene, and the village chief who took the lead in the resistance was shot in public, and all his land and property were confiscated.

After the decisive execution of the head of the rebellious village, the remaining Han villages immediately accepted the reality of the new ruler and did not dare to resist.