The sky is clear and the waves are clear, but there is no bump in the cabin.

After thirty hours of sailing, Wang Yue, who was having lunch on the foredeck, faintly saw the gray-blue coastal outline on the west side from a distance in the direction of the bow of the ship.

He picked up the walkie-talkie and asked, "Report our speed, direction, and position." ”

Immediately, Wei Xiaoliang's voice came from the walkie-talkie: "Report to the commander, our fleet is currently sailing at 2.2 knots and in the direction of 28.6 degrees, and we have entered the Korean Strait, with the Korean Peninsula on the west side and Jeju Island on the east side. ”

Wang Yue put down the walkie-talkie and felt more satisfied. Along the way, he constantly tested the observation and operation skills of the officers and men of the navy, hoping that they would improve as soon as possible during the voyage. The maritime surveillance vessel has a high degree of automation, and all the data is very intuitive and not difficult to operate.

Because it was the first long-distance voyage, the fleet sailed inshore because the offshore wind and waves were smaller.

He learned from his chat with Zhang Han that at this time, Japan was controlled by the third generation of the shogunate established by the Tokugawa family, because it was built by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the general of the Seiyi more than 30 years ago, in Edo, Japan, so it was called the Edo shogunate. Although the emperor was nominally the supreme ruler, in reality it was the shogun and the shogunate who ruled the country.

At this time, the Edo shogunate had passed into the hands of the third shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, Tokugawa Iemitsu was about thirty-six years old this year, the eldest son of the second shogun Tokugawa Hidetada, and he now pursued a policy of seclusion, only opening Nagasaki and Hirado as a foreign trade port, and prohibiting trade with merchants from Catholic countries such as Portugal and Spain, and only allowing Protestant Dutch and Chinese merchants to come to trade, so as to prevent some feudal states from taking the opportunity to increase their strength and challenge the authority of the shogunate due to trade with foreign countries.

The Tokugawa shogunate did not manage the country centrally like the Ming government, and there were many feudal vassals under the Tokugawa shogunate. These Japanese princes, known as the daimyos, were highly autonomous and small at the local level, wielding military, judicial, and administrative powers.

Nominally, these daimyo were under the orders of the Tokugawa shogunate and were subject to the various institutional arrangements of the Tokugawa shogunate. Hiradoban is also one of the daimyos, and it is considered to be the daimyo with a relatively small control area among these daimyos, but because it is the only treaty port in Japan, it is prosperous for maritime trade.

In the afternoon, Wei Xiaoliang suddenly reported: "Report to the commander, there are two big ships one hundred and twenty-five degrees in front of the right, and nine .2 kilometers away from our fleet. It is expected to be in about 20 minutes

Along the way, I also encountered a number of boats, mostly fishing boats, and the size of the boats could be seen from the radar.

It's already the Sea of Japan, and it's very close to Hirado, so ships from the north and south have to pass through, so it's a golden route.

Hearing that it was a big ship, Wang Yue came to the scene and ordered, "Come over and take a look." At the same time, the order was given to fly the drone over to observe, and after several months of training, the soldiers have learned to operate.

This is a multi-rotor police UAV, the take-off mode is catapult, equipped with a 30x zoom camera, the maximum ceiling is 2,000 meters, the air time is 12 minutes, the flight radius is 35 kilometers, and the weight is 5.5 kilograms.

As the drone took off, the fleet, led by the lead ship Dingyuan, deviated from the original course and headed for the two big ships.

Of course, the speed of the ship is not comparable to the flight speed of the drone, and it will soon fly over the two big ships.

Wang Yue took the flat panel monitor handed over by the soldier, and it was clear from the display that these were two European ships. It was indeed a Western-style ship, with a low bow and a tall stern, huge bow sails and sails, and several rows of gun windows on both sides of the ship.

He called Zhang Han over, put the tablet in front of him and asked, "Old Zhang, look at which country's ship this is?" Is this a battleship? ”

In the past few days, Zhang Han has also adapted a little from countless shocks, and such monitors are everywhere on the ship.

"Lord Wang, this is the Red Maoyi, that is, the armed merchant ship of the Dutch." Zhang Han said.

Wang Yue asked, "How many cannons does such an armed merchant ship have?" ”

Judging from the video, there are many side windows of the Dutch's merchant ships, but they are all closed, and it is difficult to determine how many guns there are, only the bow of the ship can be seen with cannons.

Zhang Han said: "This is a medium-sized armed merchant ship of Hongmaoyi, with a displacement of about 1,000 tons, usually 36 guns on both sides, one at the bow and one at the stern, a total of 38 guns. Such an armed merchant ship usually had three or four hundred sailors, more than three hundred gunners and musketeers. ”

Then he kindly reminded Wang Yue: "Lord Wang, let's take a detour, our boat is fast, they will definitely not be able to catch up." ”

Wang Yue felt amused and asked, "Why are we running?" ”

Zhang Han said: "Lord Wang, don't look at them as merchant ships, but once you meet a ship worthy of their robbery, these red haired Yi are no different from pirates. Our ship has no cannons, and it is better to stay away from it than its opponents. ”

He had been on the Coast Watch for several days, and had not seen a single cannon except for a few small cannons that looked very delicate. Although he doesn't understand the advanced facilities of the maritime surveillance ship, he also knows that it is very valuable, and it must be fat in the eyes of the Hongmaoyi people.

Even the side of the broadside battle has to suffer, a sea surveillance ship has less than sixty people, and it is not comparable to the armed merchant ships of Hongmaoyi, but fortunately, although this ship has no sails, it runs fast.

Wei Xiaoliang snorted beside him and said, "It should be the red-haired man who is going to run, and our ship has also sunk it." ”

Wang Yue said to Wei Xiaoliang: "Xiaoliang, this is our first opportunity to observe Western ships at close range, and we will prepare for video recording in a while." ”

Wei Xiaoliang said: "Yes! ”

Wang Yue knew that this era was the most glorious era of the Dutch, and they were called sea coachmen by Europeans.

Now the shipbuilding industry of the Netherlands is the first in the world, the total tonnage of merchant ships accounts for three-quarters of the total tonnage of merchant ships in Europe, and most of the merchant ships in Europe are made by the Netherlands, so the Netherlands is called "the coachman of the sea". From the end of the 16th century onwards, the Netherlands began a large-scale colonial expansion abroad, mainly by penetrating the East and crowding out the power of Spain, Portugal and England. The Dutch also invaded Japan, becoming the only Western power to enter Japan between the seventeenth and early nineteenth centuries.

The Dutch boom reached its peak in the middle of the 17th century, which means that now is the time when the Dutch state is at its strongest.

Three years ago, due to the battle for Penghu, there was a naval battle of Liuluo Bay between the Ming Dynasty and the Netherlands, and the Netherlands is still relying on Taiwan to stay, so Wang Yue has no good impression of this country.

However, he was very interested in what the most powerful Western-style warship of this era looked like, so he ordered the fleet to continue to observe the video as a familiar information for the officers and men of the fleet.