The news of the Navy's victory in the first battle was not very exciting. Because it was a reflection of the fact that the Spaniards were preparing for war in full swing. The Executive Committee ordered a second move, and the number of mobilized personnel was 160 men, not only the second and third posts of the army were replenished, but even the cavalry posts were expanded by one post, and the remaining 61 men were assigned to naval batteries.

Lu Ming, captain of the "East Coast Eagle," reported the trip to Wang Qinian in the Admiralty. "The port is located in a sheltered bay in the southeast of the East Island (Soledad Island), where our people are already building the infrastructure. It is expected that the construction will be almost complete after this return. ”

"You'd better leave as soon as possible." Wang Qinian said, "The Spanish ships are not sure when they will come, and it is difficult to deal with them if they are stuck at home." The "East Coast Eagle" is not like Yunsheng No. 1, and it can't break through hard, this time it brought enough personnel and materials, and after going out... Before the end of the war... Don't come back, take care. ”

Lu Ming was silent, and then smiled: "What are you talking about so sadly." Won't Yunsheng No. 1 set off together this time? ”

"Yunsheng No. 1 is doing some modifications." Wang Qinian introduced, "The vest asked people to make a big pedestal on the deck of the ship, and I was going to plant a mast here and add a few sails. At the same time, a soft sail pulled by a cable is added to the bow to add some power to the ship when downwind, which is said to save 20%-30% of fuel, and the maximum speed can reach 14-15 knots downwind. At present, the modification has not been completed, and I wanted you to wait a while longer, and everyone set off together. But it's inevitable that there will be a lot of dreams at night, so forget it. You go to Shao Shude to confirm the materials you need, and then bring enough people to set off! ”

Lu Ming saluted, turned around and left.

On the dock, 47 soldiers from the second platoon of the provisional army have been secretly assembled and are boarding the ship. John Ston, who had just been promoted to first mate of the East Coast Eagle, was directing the sailors through the final inspection, and the ship's hold was piled with all kinds of food, building materials and munitions.

The construction of two new warships is being started in the naval shipyard on the south side of the wharf, and the executive committee has accumulated a large amount of oak planks and canvas, rigging, cables and other materials over the past few years. It's just that these two ships are destined to be difficult to catch up with this war, and this war will probably be over long ago in a year.

In the evening, after watching the students of the 33rd class of the Navigation School collectively turn off the lights and rest, Lu Ming turned around and walked into the dock, and the "East Coast Eagle" cleaved the waves and sailed towards the south in the vast night.

……

The Strait of Magellan is probably the most feared strait in the world for navigators. Narrow waterways, variable currents, strong winds and foggy conditions can be found here, but it is also the most important passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

On March 10, when the "East Coast Eagle" successfully anchored in Sullivan's sheltered bay, Lu Ming immediately summoned Yu Lian, Captain John and other veterans to discuss how to sail in the Strait of Magellan. Before leaving, Lu Ming simply collected some modern hydrological data of the Strait of Magellan, and then shared these data with everyone.

After reading the information, everyone was silent, the Strait of Magellan in March was already relatively cold, foggy began to rise in some places in the eastern section, the wind often reached more than 6, and the direction of the sea flow and wind direction were changeable, so you really had to be 10,000 careful when sailing. Moreover, sometimes there will be ice floes, and if you are not careful, the ship will be destroyed and people will die. The western section is also difficult to navigate, especially the narrow waters between Clarence Island and the Braunschweig Peninsula, which are navigable at the narrowest point and are only 1 nautical mile wide. Moreover, the west wind prevails all year round, and the wind and waves in the waterway are also urgent, and navigation is also difficult.

"I really don't know how the Galician Exocet sailed here, whether they were lucky or skilled." Lu Ming stroked his forehead and groaned, "By the way, how is the situation in Drake Passage?" Is it possible to sail? Forget it, when I didn't ask! Lu Ming flipped through the information and found that the data described the Drake Passage as "perennial winds of more than 8 or more, because the sea area is wide and unobstructed, so there are many strong winds and waves, and even ice floes often appear." This description made Lu Ming shudder, and only people with brain diseases would choose to bypass South America from here.

"Actually, you don't have to be in the Strait to ambush the Spanish ships. We can cruise at the entrance and exit of the strait on the east side of Tierra del Fuego, and if we find a suitable one, we can go up and do a ticket. "The Spaniards' stockpiles of military supplies in the La Plata area are simply not enough to sustain a long-term war, and they will inevitably have a steady stream of supplies from Peru to the front." Transporting supplies by land along the Lima-Chilcas-Tucumán-Asunción-Buenos Aires line is not only mountainous and difficult, but also the volume of transportation is certainly not too large, so they will inevitably give priority to sea transportation. We can even send personnel to set up lookout points on some of the peaks on Tierra del Fuego with good sightlines, and send out signals in various ways when they encounter a suitable target, whether it's fire or wolf smoke. The main fleet usually cruises in the waters east of Tierra del Fuego, and as soon as it receives the signal, it will rush to intercept it, and with our speed, those bloated Spanish transports will definitely not be able to escape. ”

That's a solid suggestion. However, arranging people to go to Tierra del Fuego is also a troublesome matter, there are Indian tribes on Tierra del Fuego, and it is not safe to go with fewer people, and at present, Lu Ming really can't allocate too many manpower, it is really troublesome everywhere!

"If it really doesn't work, let's take the time to go to Tierra del Fuego in the next few days and conduct a field survey to see if we can establish a fixed lookout point." Lu Ming frowned and said.

Everyone looked at each other, and it took a long time for Julien de Eblol to ask, "How many people to take?" ”

"Just bring two sheds and 30 people, it's boring to have more." Lu Ming waved his hand and said, "We're not going to war. Bring more meat and liquor, which the Indians do not have, and if you can't meet them, it's best to salute them before you go. We are understaffed here, and we really can't provoke them. ”

There is no disagreement on this point.

"By the way, didn't the Spaniards try to establish a stronghold or colony in the Strait of Magellan? I remember that the Spaniards seemed to prohibit ships from other countries from passing through this strait, right? Yu Lian asked suddenly.

"Uh... In fact, they tried. Lu Ming had talked a lot about the Strait of Magellan with Gao Mo before he came, so he was very clear: "Just a few decades ago, they tried to establish a settlement on the Brunswick Peninsula and found the British pirates wreaking havoc here, but then they failed, and most of the inhabitants returned, leaving most of them dead of starvation." So, the Spaniards never really took effective control of this strategically important strait. ”

After finishing speaking, Lu Ming stood up and said to everyone: "The big guy just got off the boat not long ago, everyone should take a holiday and rest for two days." Two days later, I picked two sheds from the first row of the tentative arrangement and went to Tierra del Fuego, and Yu Lian took your 'Galician Exocet' to go. The port side of the East Coast Eagle is a bit leaky and needs to be repaired. ”

"Yes, sir." Yu Lian stood up and bowed.

……

Perhaps it was the good fortune of the East Coast Falcon, which had been sunny for two and a half days from the first day she was anchored in the harbor until now, which was not easy for the Falklands, a small island that has been covered in rain and snow for most of the year.

Taking advantage of the fine weather, Lu Ming organized more than 300 people on the island, including Spanish prisoners, to raid the construction, and successfully built a number of simple houses with mixed brick and wood structures, and finally had a storage point for the mountains of materials piled up on the ship.

On the third day, sleet came again unexpectedly. The bad weather caused some people to catch a cold, but fortunately it was not a big problem, everyone was in good health, and the food was nutritious, and these people gradually recovered after a few days of rest. Lu Ming selected a total of 30 soldiers in two sheds in the first platoon of the army's provisional formation, carried a lot of dried beef, ham, sausages, spirits and other food, and sailed west on the 300-ton galleon "Galician Exocet" captained by Lien de Eblol to conduct reconnaissance on Tierra del Fuego. As for the shore defense after Lu Ming left, it was handed over to Xie Hansan, the commander of the first platoon of the provisional army formation, in accordance with the usual practice.

The Galician Exocet is a small Spanish-built trading ship currently piloted by 15 former Dutch sailors who have joined the East Coast Falcon. These sailors were selected by Liu Yun, director of the Prison Department of the Ministry of the Interior, from the group of Dutch sailors who were captured on the "Raven", and the Dutch who were selected were all good performers in normal times and had entered Taoism. Before coming, Lu Ming promised to give them the status of freemen and pay their salaries, and the Dutch happily expressed their willingness to return to their old jobs. In addition to them, as usual, 15 students of the nautical school followed the ship.

After more than a week of arduous sailing, the Galician Exocet crossed the rough South Atlantic Ocean on the evening of 20 March and arrived at the entrance to the Strait of Magellan on the northeast side of Tierra del Fuego. Due to the high winds and rough seas, the ships could not safely dock here, so they had to continue along the coastline, and finally found a bay more than 20 nautical miles south of the entrance to the strait.

After tossing and turning for so long in such a bad sea area, when his feet finally stepped on solid land, Lu Ming, who had already been tortured by the wind and waves, turned pale, almost burst into tears.

"Sailing, it's really a game for the brave!" Lu Ming sighed sincerely.

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