The weather in the Malvinas Islands is as bad as ever. In late May, the temperature is already below freezing, and a strong westerly wind of magnitude 6-7 mixed with rain and snow hits the ground, and even if you stay inside, you will feel the biting chill that seems to be everywhere.

Several peat braziers burned, keeping the room warm and dry. Lu Ming sat on his wooden bed and wore clothes. This time, Yunsheng No. 1 not only brought a large amount of supplies, building materials and ammunition, but also brought the commendation order and promotion order of the executive committee to the meritorious soldiers who had worked the front line for several months.

Lu Ming stroked the new military uniform on his body, which was the latest three-three mechanism velvet naval captain's uniform, produced by the new hydraulic weaving factory on the bank of the Dayu River. The color of the new military uniform is a light blue color that is different from that of the army, and the design imitates the naval uniforms of several later countries, and its style can be said to be very different from the navies of European countries at this time. Of course, at this stage, there is no formal uniform in the navies of European countries, and only officers may have a decent set of clothing.

The military uniform jacket was a decent size, the epaulettes on the shoulders on each side were embroidered with the captain's logo of three short swords, and the military trousers were the same mechanism of woolen trousers. Lu Ming moved after putting on his clothes and pants, and he seemed to feel good on his body. Then there were cowhide military boots, barrel-shaped military hats, armed belts, and officer swords, all of which Lu Ming wore neatly.

"It's pretty much like it." Xie Hansan leaned on the head of the bed opposite and looked at Lu Ming with a smile. This time, he was also promoted by the executive committee, and a set of field gray army captain's regular uniform was already worn on his body, also with the rank of captain, responsible for the unified command of the four army temporary arrangements that currently accompany the naval operation.

Lu Ming chuckled lightly and did not speak. He had returned to the Falklands more than a week earlier with the East Coast Falcon. In the naval battle that took place on the afternoon of May 10, the "East Coast Eagle" broke away from the battlefield as soon as possible under the cover of Yunsheng No. 1, first fled to the southwest, then turned southeast at night, and crossed the Le Maire Strait on the west side of Estados Island, and then turned northeast with the westerly wind and secretly sailed back to the Falklands. Fortunately, the attention of the Spaniards at that time was attracted by Yunsheng No. 1, and the seven main battleships ignored the insignificant ship of the "East Coast Eagle", which allowed Lu Ming and the others to escape smoothly and return to the Falklands.

The secret supply depot on the Falklands has been built on a large scale, with housing, warehouses, canteens, prisons and other facilities, and dozens of Spanish and English captives who have been tortured to the point of inhuman form have finally been freed from heavy labor and moved into relatively warm and dry prisons. Two days ago, the "Galician Exocet" had pulled anchor and set sail for Tierra del Fuego under the leadership of Yu Lian, and his mission was to gather more than 20 army brothers scattered on the island. After all, the main fleet of the Spaniards already knew that this area was a hunting ground for the Traders, and it was feared that they would patrol here frequently in the future, and there was no longer much need to set up an observation point on the island.

Moreover, under the strong efforts of Xiao Bailang, Wang Tiehammer and others, the Admiralty had just approved a bold plan for a long-distance run through the Strait of Magellan, and I am afraid that there will be no time to play a game of hide and seek with the Spaniards near the Strait of Magellan for some time to come. In the past two days, the island has also been preparing for this operation, food, fresh water, ship boards, gunpowder and shells have been prepared, and the personnel are almost arranged, and the departure time is set for today.

"Don't lie in bed. Let's go, go have breakfast, and we'll be on our way in a moment. Lu Ming looked at his watch, there were still twenty minutes before 7 o'clock. Xie Hansan lazily sat up from the bed, took his cowhide ammunition bag, flintlock pistol, saber and binoculars, and walked out of the door with Lu Ming.

The fresh, cold air outside the door lifted people's spirits, and the residual sleepiness in my mind disappeared. Lu Ming wrapped the woolen coat wrapped around his military uniform, and walked towards the canteen with one foot deep and one foot shallow. The snow on the ground had long since been trampled on, mixed with yellow mud, splashing the cowhide boots in speckled spots.

The cafeteria was steaming with fog, and the non-commissioned officers and veterans sat around some round tables to eat, and the officers sat around several tables of eight immortals. As for the ordinary soldiers, they had to sit on the hay-covered ground or on the planks to eat. Breakfast was quite nutritious, with beef broth, steamed potatoes and salted fish. Lu Ming sat opposite Wang Tiezhu and Xiao Bailang, picked up a bowl of beef soup and drank a few sips, and then sighed with satisfaction: "The taste is really good, it would be better if I had some more chili peppers." ”

Wang Tiehammer bared his teeth and said, "The requirements are quite high. That's easy, this time let's go for a ride in Chile, just go ashore and get whatever you like, maybe there will be pepper seeds or something. ”

Xie Hansan nibbled on the salted fish, and at the same time, he didn't forget to interject: "What is the situation in Chile now, I remember that it should be regarded as the core ruling area of the Spaniards, right?" It wouldn't be dangerous for us to go around over there, would we? ”

"There must be a danger, that place in Chile is much more important in the eyes of the Spanish government than in La Plata." Wang Tiezhu said, "There are a lot of mineral resources there, the degree of development is okay, and the population is also large. Moreover, the indigenous Araucans there were still rioting every now and then, so the Peruvian governor also sent a lot of troops there. But don't worry, we're taking it by surprise this time. Naturally, the big towns that hoard heavy troops will not touch them, that is, they will go to some small villages and towns to let the Spaniards know that we are coming, weaken their war potential, and create a little shock. ”

"That's fine, but do you know anything about the situation over there?" Xie Hansan asked, "We have to figure out where the Pacific coast is suitable for landing, which targets are valuable, where are the areas that the Spaniards focus on defending, and what the enemy's naval strength is. ”

"Hmm, didn't you hit an Englishman's ship a while ago? The captive Britons had been to Chile a few times, not to do business, but to rob as pirates. "In fact, their behavior is encouraged by the British government, whether explicitly or implicitly, rest assured, they are all professional veterans, and they can save us a lot of trouble and be safer by leading the way." ”

"Hmm. Since the central government has made a decision, then we will implement it. With four platoons and some navy, we can make up more than 200 musketeers, and poke them somewhere in Chile, which should be considered a lot of military strength. Xie Hansan finished eating the salted fish, took a cloth and wiped his hands, and said.

"Don't say more, hurry up and eat, and set off after eating." Xiao Bailang urged after the most reluctance.

……

After breakfast, it was already past 7 o'clock, and the soldiers began to dress up and line up in the rain cloth after packing up their personal equipment, and then the officers of each platoon took the roll call, and after the roll call, they boarded the boat. All the army soldiers were arranged on board the Yunsheng 1, and all three ships will participate in this operation, the Yunsheng 1 carries all the army soldiers, the "East Coast Eagle" exists purely as a gunboat, and the "Galician Exocet" exists as a supply ship.

The defense of the island is completely in the hands of more than 50 Charua, and these Charuas who have been sent out are all people who have been working with the Crossing for a long time, and they have a certain degree of loyalty. The traversers safely handed over some of the remaining supplies and prisoners of the island to their care, then took all the ships with them and set sail.

At 8 a.m. on May 21, Yunsheng No. 1 and the "East Coast Eagle" slowly sailed out of Sullivan Shelter on Soledad Island in the wind and snow. Due to the terrain in Sullivan's sheltered bay, the swell is not very large. At this time, the wind in the bay has reached force 7, the rain and snow are gradually increasing, and the visibility is very low.

However, the traversal was familiar with this passage, and the two ships sailed safely out of the bay and into the vast South Atlantic. On 30 May, after a difficult voyage, the two ships joined the Galician Exocet anchored in a sheltered bay on the south side of the island of Estados.

By this time, Julien de Eblore had already brought back all 28 soldiers scattered on Tierra del Fuego. The "Galician Exocet" had already undergone some preliminary modifications when it was in the Falklands, and Xiao Bailang installed some cannons specially pulled from the arsenal by Yunsheng No. 1 to replace the original small-caliber bronze cannons with backward performance. After refitting, the "Galician Exocet", with a load of more than 300 tons, has a good firepower of 16 guns, which can be regarded as a preliminary self-protection capability.

On the night of May 31. Three ships carrying a total of nearly 500 people formed a flotilla and secretly entered the Strait of Magellan at a speed of 3-4 knots by the northeast wind.

Target: Pacific!

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