Chapter 16 The Hongzehu Alarm Defeats the Spaniards

When the news of the reconquest of Macao reached Yaogang, Chen Yufeng and Ouyang He were of course very happy, but their happiness was not exactly the same as Zhang Zhimu's, they didn't know how much humiliation Macao and Hong Kong had brought to the Chinese people in their previous lives. Zhang Zhimu felt a little regretful that the governor of Macao was also killed, and it would be nice if he could capture this person alive. For Chen Yufeng and Ouyang He, beating away foreigners is just beating away an opponent of a foreign race who has not fought before. I don't think it's a big deal. For foreigners, they don't think it's a big deal.

However, the telegram sent by the Hongzehu suddenly made everyone feel good. The telegram said that on their way back from Sulu, they were stopped by six Spanish warships.

When Mu Yi and the others saw that the overall situation of Annan had been decided, they thought that the draft of the two 5,000-ton ships in Yaogang was too deep to enter the Red River at all, so it was better to take the opportunity to go to Sulu. First, the 5,000-ton ship has not gone too far, and now it is very close to Sulu, so it is good to go there and familiarize yourself with the sea conditions over there, and besides, Fan Song's rubber and other goods on their side are transported by their own ships, which also saves freight.

Originally, I wanted to let the Gaoyou Lake pass, because the Hongzehu was a command ship, and the configuration of the radio station was different, but the Gaoyouhu was a new ship, and I was afraid that something would go wrong, so I still let the Hongzehu go for the sake of safety. The ship that went with the Hongzehu originally wanted to let the Xiurong pass, but considering that the tonnage of the Xiurong was a little smaller than that of other warships, the Fenzhou escorted the Hongzehu to Sulu together.

The Hongzehu and Fenzhou left the port of Haiphong and, with a tailwind, arrived in Sulu in a few days. Fan Song and Lu Qi heard that Yaogang's own ship was coming to Sulu, and they had been waiting anxiously for a long time. This is Yaogang's own steam-powered ship. The wharf they bought was built with a deep-water wharf, and they waited for their own big ship.

The two-megawatt generator that Fan Song brought with them from the kiln brought a new atmosphere to Sulu. At night, Fan Song and his family lit an iodine-tungsten lamp on the pier, and when people were fine, they would gather under the lights on the pier. Later, Fan Song and his family spent money to build a lighthouse on the pier, so as to show the way for ships at sea at night. Sulu's Dongwang Mansion also used electric lights, and those wealthy families in Sulu also paid their own money to set up wires and lead wires to their homes.

Later, as soon as Fan Song and Lu Qi discussed, they decided to set up a wire network in Sulu and distribute the wires in the urban area. With electricity, Fan Song and Lu Qi installed tower cranes on their docks to load and unload the ship's goods. In this way, Fan Song and their wharf lined up to dock the ship, because even if the queue delayed waiting for the berth, the speed of loading and unloading goods was much faster. Although it costs a little more to load and unload, but it can buy time, and it is much safer to load and unload the cargo, the shipowners are still willing to lean on their docks. There is also Fan Song's attention to business, honest not to bully, not to be honest and not afraid, to treat everyone equally, to win everyone's trust.

I heard that the ship that came this time was mainly loaded with guano, and Lu Qi and they had already started to prepare for it. Since it was difficult for the big ships to get close to the bird islands, at first they wanted to bring guano from the islands and load them when the ships came. But bird droppings on the dock are really not good, the smell is too great. Besides, it often rains here, and bird droppings are not good enough to let the rain wash everywhere. I had no choice but to wait for the ship to come.

When the big ship approached Sulu, they contacted Fan Song by telegram, and agreed to dock at dawn. The Fenzhou also slowly approached the dock, at this time, the dock was already surrounded by people, and it was the first time for everyone to see such a ship roaring with black smoke. Fan Song and Lu Qi discussed with the captain and decided that the big ship would stop for two days and let everyone go on board to visit, on the condition that they board the gangway from the bow of the ship and get off the boat from the stern, and they could not walk around.

This was something that everyone never expected, and everyone cheered and lined up to board the ship, all wanting to see this rare ship. Of course, Fan Song and Lu Qi did not forget to inform Dongwang. Dongwang also brought his family to visit the two kiln ships. He was so happy that the king of the east had to invite the two captains to the palace as guests. The king of the east hosted a banquet for the two captains who came from afar.

During the feast, the king kept asking, how did you let the steam drive the ship? The captains also tried their best to explain this to the East King.

Dongwang listened to the translation of the translator, and he didn't understand anything, but he also nodded directly.

However, when the king heard that they were going to use such a large ship to transport guano back, he couldn't stand up with a straight smile. When the princesses of the East King heard this, they also laughed and ran out of the house.

Lu Qi explained: "King Dong, our land there lacks the contents of guano and the grain does not grow well, so transporting some back can improve the land and make our grain a little more." ”

"Good! We have countless guano here, and you Shangbang countries can bring it back as much as you need if you need to. "The king of the east has shown great generosity in this matter.

It took a lot of effort to load the ship with bird droppings. The big boats were as close to Bird Island as possible, but not too close for fear of running aground at low tide, and then hired many locals to carry guano to the big boats in small boats. It took a long time to fill a boatload of guano. Lu Qi and Fan Song loaded some rubber on the deck of the ship, and some rubber on the Fenzhou. There were still a lot of kapok, so Lu Qi and the others hired a boat, loaded it with other goods such as kapok, and followed the two ships in Yaogang.

Before leaving, Lu Qi and Fan Song told the captain that the next time they came, they would choose an island with a lot of guano and build a deep-water pier, so that it would not be so troublesome to install guano.

The kiln gang people just cared about the guano and didn't pay attention, and some people were also concerned about them. The Spaniards' eyes in Sulu have been keeping their every move in check.

As soon as the ship of Yaogang docked, the Spaniards of Luzon knew about it. They were very concerned about steamboats. In particular, how well the steamships are fighting, they are more concerned. But they only got on the big ship, and there were no cannons on the big ship. The sailless ship was covered with canvas, and outsiders were not allowed to approach, and they could not tell how many cannons there were.

The Spaniards already knew that a dozen Dutch ships had suddenly disappeared at sea, a matter of great concern to those who had come from the West. They analyzed that only the kiln people had the ability to completely sink these ships, but there was no evidence. There are many people who are also skeptical of this, and this is the case of these Spaniards in Luzon, who do not believe that the warships of the Ming Dynasty will suddenly undergo such a miraculous change. Their navy has been cultivated for many years to have the combat power it has today, and the navy cannot be built overnight.

However, they heard that the ship of the Kiln Gang had arrived in Sulu, and that the largest ship had no cannons, which they thought was a little strange. In fact, they want to know more about how the kiln people used steam to drive the ship.

The arrival of these two ships was a good opportunity that the Spaniards did not want to miss. They thought that the stupid kilnmen filled the ship with guano was something they were not interested in, that it was used by the stupid witchcraft of the Orientals, but they were interested in such two ships.

After careful study, the Spanish governor agreed with everyone's opinion, and for the sake of safety, they sent out six warships to intercept the kiln people on the return channel, and the combat goal was to capture at least one kiln gang ship, and only the ship that captured the kiln gang people alive could unlock the secret of the kiln gang people's steam-driven ship.

In the eyes of the Spaniards, it was very safe for the invincible Spaniards to have six ships against two kiln ships.

When the ships were ready, the wind changed direction, so the captains decided to take advantage of the good wind and set sail the next day. Immediately the dock began to load vegetables, fruits, fresh water, etc. The eyes of the Spaniards understood that this was to go, otherwise they would not have served vegetables and fruits now, and immediately sent someone to inform the Spaniards in Luzon.

As soon as the morning dawned, the hired sailboat was the first to set sail, followed by the whistle of the 5,000-ton ship Yaogang, and the last Fenzhou warship also set sail. Lu Qi and Fan Song both waved to Yaogang's boat on the dock and saw them off.

The weather was very good, the sun was shining, and the wind was tailwinding, and out of the port, the sailboats were full of sails and moving forward at high speed. The Fenzhou is also almost full power to keep up with the speed of the sailboat.

The captain of the Hongzehu sent a telegram to Mu Yi, and Mu Yi called back that the ships in Haiphong Port had also set sail separately and had agreed to meet the Hongzehu at sea. The captain of the Hongzehu was also busy last night and didn't care about resting, and when the ship reached the sea, he felt that it was time to rest. Back to the captain's own room, the cool breeze from the air conditioning was very comfortable, the captain just lay down on the bed and wanted to sleep for a while, suddenly the phone rang, the captain picked up the phone, it turned out to be the first mate on duty to report, the lookout post reported that a group of Spanish ships were found in front of us on the channel in front of us. The first mate felt that the situation was not right.

When the captain heard that something was wrong, he hurried to the wheelhouse. At this time the lookout post reported: "The Spanish ships have discovered us, and they have formed a line as if to intercept us." ”

The captain knew that trouble was coming, and just wanted to use the radio to contact the Hongzehu, at this time, the captain of the Hongzehu used the radio to contact him, and the Fenzhou also discovered the situation ahead at the same time. They agreed to immediately signal the sailboat ahead of them to stop first, but the sailboat did not see the signal. It turned out that this ship was going to sea with the warship of Yaogang this time, and it was very powerful in his heart, and he was no longer worried about encountering pirates when he was going to sea before. So Yang Fan, who was relieved, moved forward, but also ignored the connection with the ship behind. The lookout post on the mast of the ship did not see the signal of the ship behind.

There was no way, the Hongzehu had to slow down by itself and let the Fenzhou go to see what was going on with the Franco. The Fenzhou sped up and chased after the sailboat in front. Not to mention, the sailboat is really not slow to move forward with full sails downwind, and when the Fenzhou finally caught up with the sailboat, the sailboat also found a row of Spanish warships in front, at this time, they found that the huge Hongzehu behind them was far away from them, but they saw the Fenzhou catch up, and kept signaling them to stop the ship.

The captain of the sailing ship scolded the lookout post on the mast, apparently he did not see the kiln ship behind him signaling them, and he had to order the sail to be lowered immediately. Let the Fenzhou overtake.

At this time, the Fran robot warship in front was already very close. They divided two warships to meet the Hongzehu, they already knew that there were no guns on the Hongzehu, and they knew that the two warships were enough to deal with the toothless lion, and the huge Hongzehu retreated, which explained the problem. The other four warships faced the Fenzhou together. In fact, the Fenzhou has no sails, the ship's side is not high from the water, and it looks very thin, in fact, the tonnage of these Dutch warships is not as good as the Fenzhou, but they are all sailing ships and look very mighty.

The Fran machine people looked at the smoking Fenzhou, and they all felt very strange, they had heard it before, and they really saw it today, it was really smoking, and they first fired a warning shot, wanting to stop the Fenzhou.

The Fenzhou sent a telegram to the family, and the family quickly replied that if anyone attacked us, we would immediately fight back without asking for instructions.

Just when the Fenzhou was still more than 1,000 meters away from the four warships, the Fenzhou suddenly turned its rudder and came over the ship. The crew of the West Tooth warship on the opposite side laughed, usually the ship turned sideways to open fire with the ship's gun, but it was a joke to turn so far away, some people said that the ship on the opposite side didn't turn and escape, right?

However, the two 130 guns on the foredeck of the kiln gang man were aimed at the second ship on the left of the opposite fleet, and the two 130 guns on the rear deck were aimed at the third ship. Four shots and four hits, two wooden boats to watch the lively Spaniards were blown into the sea, and the boats were also scattered and piled up on the sea. Then the second round of firing was fired, and one of the other two Spanish ships began to sink slowly on the surface of the sea, and the other also fell apart and floated on the sea.

The Fenzhou sped up on the four piles of marine garbage, scattering the garbage piles. Seeing that there were still many Spaniards struggling at sea, the captain had some sailors throw down the ropes and pull them up, and then locked them up in the bottom warehouse.

There were still some people who couldn't care about saving them, and the Fenzhou turned around and chased after the two Spanish warships.

The two ships thought they could catch the big ship today, and although they were disappointed to know that it was loaded with guano, it was not bad to be able to catch the ship. They knew that it was a ship without cannons, so they felt that this time it would be a slow ship with a deep draft.

But what made them a little depressed was that the ship on the other side, going against the wind, kept a distance from them, and they were sailing ships that could not travel against the wind, which made them very hard to believe. But when they heard the sound of cannons coming from behind, and when they looked back, they were a little dazed, the four of their own warships that were majestic just now were gone, and they only saw a few piles of floating objects floating on the sea, could it be our warship. The two ships did not bother to chase the great ship they thought was like a lamb to the slaughter, and were ready to turn back against the warship of the kiln people. But without them looking for the warship of Yaogang, the Fenzhou accelerated and rushed towards them. Before the two ships could coordinate, the guns on the foredeck of the kiln gang people rang out, and one ship received two shells at the same time, and this time the other ship could see it clearly, and this ship disintegrated after two explosions. The captain of that ship found out that it was not good and wanted to surrender under the flag. But there was no chance, two more cannon shots, and the ship was blown to pieces. The Fenzhou came over and picked up a lot of Spanish sailors, plus a total of more than 30 people.

The captains and sailors on the sailboat they hired were eye-opening, and they witnessed the battle firsthand from beginning to end. In their opinion, this was not a sea war at all, but a one-sided massacre.

Although the officers and men on the Fenzhou were very happy to be able to fight a battle, they were not overly excited about such a victory. While continuing to advance in formation with the two ships, it was also very troublesome to clean up the shells on the ship and re-wipe the gun chambers.

The news was transmitted back to the Yaogang Command Center, and Chen Yufeng said: "This Westerner is like this. Let's finish the affairs of Liaodong first, and then go back to the affairs of Luzon in Taiwan. ”

Ouyang He said: "You should send a telegram back to reward them!" Morale is important! ”

"Mu Yi and their ship are also leaving for the future, and when they come back, they should prepare for Liaodong." Zhang Zhimu said, "By the way, we sank the ship of the Spaniards, even if we were tied with them." Send a report to Fan Song and Lu Qi to inform them of this matter, and let them take precautions. But we told them to keep it a secret, and now we still don't admit that we did it, and the newspapers and radio don't report it. It's best to ask the crew of the ship we hired to keep it from talking either. ”

"They went to Huai'an to unload the cargo, and I saw that our people sent a report to let the crew of that ship receive a little secrecy before they disembarked. I see it as much as it goes. Anyway, we just don't admit it. I don't think the Spaniards will openly investigate this matter, these unsightly things, they can only swallow them in their stomachs if they knock out their teeth. Ouyang He said.

"Mr. Ouyang is right, it's just that our sailors have repeatedly performed miraculous feats, but they can't be publicly commended and wronged them." Zhang Zhimu said, "But we should report this matter to the emperor by secret telegram." I estimate that it won't be long before the emperor will know about the affairs of Macao and the whole of Guangzhou. Let's give the emperor a report on the battle at sea first, so that the emperor can be a little prepared. ”

"Huh! These are easy to say, but what is not easy to say is the matter of Liangguang. Chen Yufeng said with a smile.

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New progress in "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty": the Battle of Yashan, the defeat of the Yuan army, the counterattack of the Song army, and the landing in Fuzhou.