"Okay, after the scanning, you can install the copper pipe with sound, give you a set of construction drawings, you can clearly mark, where to drill, how to arrange the pipeline, how to fix, all positions on the ship can be connected to the bridge. A total of 500 meters of thin copper pipes were required, and a number of large copper pipe amplification devices and bell mouths with similar functions to microphones. “

"How many coins do you need?" asked Li Jing anxiously, hoping it wouldn't be too expensive.

"The host doesn't have to worry, the system is obligated to protect your safety, and the design is free, after all, it is related to the safety of the ship. However, the material cost will be charged 30 yuan. ”

Li Jing let out a sigh of relief. Fortunately, this is really not expensive, it is considered a conscience price.

"Shoot, please send it directly to the warehouse"

"No problem, in a quarter of an hour, the trading platform will send it to me, and I will teleport it directly to the cargo hold."

Li Jing withdrew from the light curtain and discussed with Zhang Boss and the carpenter, there is a brass sound system on the ship that is approved to be used elsewhere, which can be installed on the ship first, so as to facilitate the command of the bridge, Li Jing explained the principle in detail, so that the bridge is connected with the main functional departments of the whole ship, Zhang Laoda said that it is too good, so it is too convenient to command.

Then Li Jing took the sailors to the bottom warehouse, asked Bai Yu to open the door of the cargo hold, moved the copper pipes and installation tools out, and instructed the sailors and carpenters where to fix the copper pipes, where to punch holes in the deck, and how to close the vertical holes on the deck for waterproofing.

By noon, a row of eight sound horns had been installed in the front of the center of the bridge, and the quality of the light curtain was really unspeakable, not only the quality of the copper pipe was excellent, but also the words on the bell were carved to explain where it leads.

Boss Zhang was busy debugging with the correspondents arranged by various positions, experimenting with the transmission of orders, and each post was reporting the situation. Boss Zhang said excitedly, how did you come up with it, young master, it's so convenient.

Li Jing looked around and found another problem. There are only railings around the bridge, which is very unsafe to fight, and should be added with a strong bulwark, at least sandbags. After discussing it with Boss Zhang, it was decided to put the rice bag up as a sandbag and surround it, and the cook on the boat was a little reluctant to be afraid of leaking into the sea, and afraid that it would get wet and moldy, and the rice was not cheap.

Li Jing enlightened him, no matter how expensive food is, life is precious, and waterproof can be wrapped in canvas and then covered. It's already noon after finishing these, Li Jing didn't sleep all night, he was doused with soup chicken by the heavy rain, and he was busy for most of the day without eating, and he was tired. So I hurried back, the four maids hurriedly boiled water, helped Li Jing wash, dry his body, changed into clean clothes, Xiaomei sent hot soup and steamed buns, and fell asleep after eating. Just wake up and go ashore in Penghu at night to repair.

I had just slept for less than two hours, and in the evening, the brass pipe in the room suddenly sounded Boss Zhang's hoarse voice, "Young master, get up quickly, come to the bridge for a while, and find a ship in front of us, it seems to be an armed merchant ship of the Dutch." ”

Li Jing was excited. Hurry up and scold while running to the bridge, these two goods from the Dutch lowland swamps are not good to stay in Batavia, and come to the Taiwan Strait to make trouble, scolding and scolding, but he remembered that this year is the first year of the Apocalypse, that is, in 1621 AD, the Dutch will invade the Penghu Islands next year, a total of nine armed merchant ships. Being repelled by the sailors, if it were really the Dutch who came early, it was really not fun.

Li Jing came to the bridge, and from the copper pipe leading to the lookout, there was a constant transmission of what the lookout had observed with a gun mirror. "It's a big ship, about six hundred tons in the young master's words, two of us long, and the shape of the ship is very strange, it seems to be big under the water and small on the water. The bulwarks are tilted inward, with three main masts, one forward diagonal mast, and three tiers above and below the quadrangular sails. The lower part seems to be cylindrical, the deck area is small, two decks, you can see from the side, there are 12 broadside gun windows on one side of the gun deck, the guns have been able to push out, they have found us"

Li Jing hurriedly took out the binoculars he had just bought 6/4 and observed them with Boss Zhang. Boss Zhang said beside him, "The Dutch, that's right, it's them, I've been in Batavia for eight years, I won't be mistaken, this is the Dutch's 24-cannon frigate, but it looks very novel, I haven't seen it." How did they run to the vicinity of the Penghu Islands?"

"Frutt sailboat," Li Jing said affirmatively. "It's the Dutch, they've always wanted to get a foothold off the coast of China, like the Portuguese."

Li Jing shouted into the horn of the lookout post: "How many boats are there in total, and are there any other boats behind?"

"No, just a boat, and now it's full sails and rushing past us, and they're downwind,"

Li Jing scolded: "It's really a special brew, I didn't look at the yellow calendar when I went out, and if it wasn't for the tailwind, we couldn't run this kind of Frute sailboat." ”

Boss Zhang asked: "What is the Frutt sailboat, Batavia calls this kind of 24-gun ship a frigate?"

"It was the time when the Spanish galleons were king and sailed between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and the Spanish Francos used the ship's heavy guns to do business and rob. And these Dutch red-haired devils faced these old foxes who had already opened up markets and trade routes, and they had to have a trick to get the merchants to choose their ships instead of Spanish ships, so they created this killer weapon to win the business war.

"And so came the Dutch Flut. It is a branch ship of the Galen ship that appeared after the Spanish galleon, and is based on the earlier version of the Spanish galleon that I mentioned that has just appeared, and the maneuverability is improved, the hull is lighter, the number of men and crew is reduced, and the cargo hold below the waterline is coarsed as much as possible to form a barrel-shaped underwater hull.

It is said that this idea of increasing the space below the waterline was due to the fact that the maritime powers such as Spain and Denmark levied navigation taxes based on the deck area of merchant ships. With these extreme designs, reducing the deck area can evade taxes. The Dutch merchant marine has achieved the goals of high speed, light weight, low cost and high cargo. The Dutch unique corporate contracting system reduces costs, and the timber required to build and repair ships is already cut into pieces and stored in the port warehouse, and it takes less than 2 years to build a Dutch ship and is half the price of a Spanish ship. This led to a massive increase in the number of Dutch ships, and in the last fifty years it became the largest maritime empire in terms of total tonnage. They had more ships than the Spanish and Portuguese combined. ”

Boss Zhang asked puzzledly: "Isn't the thick resistance of the underwater hull also beaten, how can it be faster?"

"The biggest resistance of the boat is not the resistance of the water and the ship's board, but the resistance of the waves, which is the resistance caused by the waves, and the hull on the water is small, so the resistance will be smaller."

"I haven't repaired such a ship and don't know about it"

"Of course you won't understand, it's been almost twenty years since you left Batavia, and I've seen the pattern of this ship in the hands of a missionary, and it has appeared in the last ten years, and the Dutch are afraid that they have bad intentions in sending such an advanced ship."

"Is there any weakness in this boat, can we fight it?" Boss Zhang continued

Li Jing smiled bitterly and said: "We are not opponents, but do we have a choice, do you know what happens when we are captured by the Dutch." My grandfather may redeem me, and you will probably have to work as a coolie to repair the castle, and my two sisters are still on the ship. ”

However, the ship also had a number of fatal problems, such as the deep draft, the thin hull, and the reduced space above the waterline, which limited the number of guns it could have, which was certainly far inferior to that of the large Spanish galleons with 60 guns. Their guns were six-pounderers, and the Fran cannon we had just installed was a three-pounder gun, and with the pointed cylindrical body that we had just made this time, it was only five and a half pounds, which was still lighter than them. And the range will decrease. ”

"Young master, since they haven't been to Penghu before, this time a boat may have come to feel the situation, they must not know the situation in Penghu, there are many reefs over there, they have a deep draft, we insisted until dark, and they led them over to hit the reef."

"This is a solution, we can consider that our boat is at least three meters shallower than their draft, we can get by, they can't. But we must first provoke them to pursue us, and then lead them to Penghu to run aground when it gets dark. ”

"Young master, I have a way, let's hide the artillery first, load it, put it under the bulwark, drop the sails, raise the white flag to indicate that we are unarmed merchant ships, and when they are close to us, quickly set up the loaded artillery and fire,"

"Okay, pay attention to this, put all the ammunition under the deck, you can quickly transport it to the deck, put the loaded guns next to the Franco cannon, put the ammunition of the flying thunder cannon on the gun position, and prepare the ammunition for the ballista. These are covered with canvas. Wait for help to fire quickly, find a few strong men, such a close distance, you can ignite the shells of the flying thunder cannon and throw it directly on the opponent's ship, I also want to see if the European oak deck is strong, can withstand the blasting of twenty catties of black particle gunpowder.