"What? Pirates are coming to attack us? Xiao Mingli shouted a little out of shape.

"Yes." Gaumo nodded heavily, "Captain Kouyt heard from him when he was moored in Guyana to repair his ship. Actually, it's not pirates anymore, to be precise, some smugglers, some French smugglers who are interested in our porcelain and don't want to pay. ”

"Why are you coming to beat us?" Xiao Mingli still didn't digest the news.

"Not everybody wants to do business by the rules." Wang Qinian said coldly, "We have porcelain, and it seems that there are quite a few of them, and not many people can resist such high profits." If it weren't for the fact that we were more or less powerful, and that he wanted to monopolize the profits of the porcelain trade, I think he would have had the same thoughts as those French merchants. ”

"Lao Gao, is this news reliable?" Ma Ganzu asked solemnly, "This matter is very important, because it means that we will adjust the focus of our work in the next period of time. ”

"Captain Kouyt told me that this news is not a secret in Guyana and Pernambuco. The flotilla of French merchants (or pirates) has assembled two large ships, and they are waiting to see if more will be willing to join. But in any case, they will move south by January at the latest, when the trade winds rise. We have to be prepared, and the good news in the bad news is that these bandits don't know anything about our strength. Gao Mo replied with the same serious face.

"I think we have to take this seriously." Ma Ganzu pondered for a while and said: "We can't afford to gamble on whether we believe it or not, and the army and navy must start preparing for war in advance." Existing projects are to be thoroughly reviewed, suspended unless necessary, and resources to be pooled in the service of a possible war. In addition to this, I propose that the plenary meeting be convened earlier. After speaking, Ma Ganzu raised his right hand. The General Assembly is held once a year and is scheduled to be held in December every year.

Soon, the eleven members of the Executive Committee also raised their hands in agreement.

As soon as the Executive Committee decided on the policy, it began to spread the message to every corner, informing every plenary delegate (i.e., all the delegates who passed through the crowd). ）。 At the wharf, on the fishing boats, in the fields, in the stables, in the brick caves, in the workshops, on the guard towers, and in front of the forts, every person who received the notice hurried back, and of course the various units also left the necessary personnel on duty; The traversal of Dingyuan Fort organized a team of dozens of people to rush back by boat, and of course, this team was authorized by the representatives of all the people in Dingyuan Fort.

This is the second time that the general meeting has been held in an ad hoc or early manner, and the last time was when the Orange River suddenly broke into the Big Fish River in the first half of the year.

The conference hall is close to the residential area, and the lighting is not very good. More than 400 people were crammed into the small conference room, and it suddenly seemed a little crowded. Liu Weimin, director of the plenary congress, who had not appeared in front of everyone for a long time, personally presided over the meeting, and Liu Weimin first briefly introduced the topics of today's meeting, and then the heads of various departments carried out in detail.

The first few topics were nothing more than this year's work summary, next year's work plan, and so on, and everyone also passed by, and soon, today's drama came, and Ma Qianzu, chairman of the executive committee, put forward a proposal on preparing for war and dealing with possible attacks.

This proposal immediately detonated the venue, and it was the first time that the people really faced an external threat. The heated discussion lasted a full half hour before the vote began.

Almost all of the more than 400 people present voted in favor of the proposal, and the proposal was passed.

On 17 November, after paying an additional 100,000 ducats worth of cash, Captain Kuayt returned to Amsterdam with 316 sets of porcelain, and began his frantic preparations for the war.

The first is to count their own war materiel. Counting the supplies brought by Captain Kuette this time, there are currently 10 24-pounder guns, 12 18-pounder guns, 10 12-pounder guns, 8 8-pounder guns, 2 6-pounder guns, 4 4-pounder guns, and 4 3-pounder guns, for a total of 50 guns of various types.

The number of artillery pieces is sufficient, but skilled gunners are in short supply. There was no way, and while continuing to install large-caliber naval guns of more than 12 pounds on the three batteries in the harbor, they also began to train more gunners. In addition to this, the former gunners among the immigrants are also the focus of attention. The Executive Committee promised that if they participated in this possible war, they would be given the status of freedmen and a good reward immediately after the war. Even if the war does not break out, they will receive a sizable bonus.

Thus, when the garrison of the port fortress was formed on November 18, there were no more than 100 experienced gunners, and no more than sixty or seventy of them. Luckily, there is still some time, and the Travelers have recruited a large number of new gunners among the immigrants to start training.

In addition to artillery, the garrison of the fortress also had an infantry unit expanded on the basis of the garrison, and the establishment was tentatively set at 250 people. The unit had 200 Sur arquebuses, 50 new dog-lock brake muskets (early flintlock muskets), and a number of high-precision hunting crossbows.

This force was formed to defend the city and forts, and was mainly composed of the first Swiss immigrants who had crossed the congregation. This group of immigrants has been here for more than half a year, and their loyalty is much higher than that of the later batches. Of course, pirates have always had a bad reputation, and killing them all is their favorite thing to do, and I believe that no sane person will go to pirates.

At present, the population of "Tatan Port" and Dingyuan Fort is 1,985, of which 568 are crossing. Among the previous immigrants, the first batch of Swiss immigrants of 182 (1 deceased) is more reliable; The second group of 227 immigrants from Finland and Livonia is considered to be basically reliable; The third, fourth, and fifth groups of immigrants were numerous, and the time was still short, and the influence of the Crossing Crowd in them was still very weak.

Of course, just because they have little influence doesn't mean they will have any problems, after all, they are all poor people who can't get along in the Old World, and they come to the New World just to have enough to eat. And the traversers didn't treat them badly in this regard, plus the enemy this time is a notorious pirate, so there is no need to worry about someone defecting or defecting or something.

The wall surrounding the main city was built two months ago, and the 1.5-metre-thick brick wall is capable of withstanding most army light artillery shells. The southern, northern, and western gates are sturdy oak gates, covered with iron sheets, and also have a certain degree of protection.

The installation of artillery on the battery continued. Passing through the horses, the horses carried it, and they put one cannon at a higher arm's pace. After some efforts, by the end of November, the firepower of all three batteries had been strengthened. Among them, the No. 1 main battery has 10 24-pounder guns, 4 18-pounder guns and 2 12-pounder guns with super sea firepower; Battery No. 2 had four 18-pounder guns and four 12-pounder guns; Battery No. 3 also had four 18-pounder guns and four 12-pounder guns.

These guns are installed in semi-enclosed bunkers, each corresponding to an area, and as long as a large number of test firings are carried out in advance, and the performance and design parameters of each gun are well known, then the enemy fleet will be very sad.

In addition to the sea artillery, the three batteries also installed a number of land defense gun emplacements. These gun emplacements are mainly installed with light artillery for the army, but there are not many of them. The remaining army artillery was installed at the gates of the city and was used to deter the enemy's infantry.

Since that day, the pier of the "port of Tatantan" has been filled with the sound of artillery all day long. It was the gunners who were training with live ammunition, taking into account the measurement of various shooting parameters. At this time, the executive committee was worried about the money, it was a bad pen, the gunner, like the gunner, was fed with shells, and the more training in peacetime, the more accurate the fight could be in wartime.

The three-year-old full-body armor began to be manufactured in full force, and at present, the weapons workshop can make almost seventy collars of armor a month, and with some inventory, by January, it is conservatively estimated that the number of armor will be more than one hundred and fifty. This kind of armor, which can protect against arquebus bullets from a long distance, is very popular among the crossers and immigrants, and it can have one more piece of this life-saving equipment, which will greatly improve the morale of the troops.

On November 20, 150 acres of potatoes outside the city were harvested, and a total of nearly 300,000 catties of potatoes were harvested.

Although it was on the eve of the war, the Executive Committee did not delay agricultural production in the slightest, and the new 400 acres of potato fields were sown in the following week.

In addition, the daily training has been carried out overtime. All unnecessary entertainment was cancelled, and tension hung over the "port of Tatan".