Although the weather was cold, fine beads of sweat still oozed from Lu Ming's forehead. This was frightened by this group of fanatical Indian "shopaholics", but fortunately these Indians had no bad intentions, and they seemed to be simply coming to trade.

At this point, the transaction has been closed. Looking at the messy objects such as animal skins, air-dried animal meat, animal bones and teeth placed everywhere under his feet—oh, and a yellow vicuña, Lu Ming felt a little headache, how to deal with these things. To tell the truth, these Indians are quite kind, at least they didn't take everyone's salt for nothing, but gave what they thought was the most precious thing in exchange. But the problem is that these "most precious things" are really of little use to Lu Ming and them, on the contrary, they are still a burden.

Alas, you should spend money to make a good marriage. At least it didn't make a hostile situation with these Indians, so it was already good, Lu Ming thought with some sadness.

This unexpected trade with the Indians lasted only about half an hour, and the Indians traded most of the salt that they carried, and they did not look at anything other than salt. Half an hour later, the neatly packed Lu Ming detachment started to hit the road again. They threw away the strangely shaped bones and teeth, the dried meat was left with some that didn't look so suspicious, and the hides were all left. Matthias, the cook, packed the items into categories and placed them on the yellow vicuña. Fortunately, these things were not heavy, and the vicuña just barked a few times in dissatisfaction. Matthias laughed and was quite happy with the live exchange item, because it meant that he no longer had to carry heavy items such as iron pots and horse spoons.

At noon the troops stopped. After ordering the soldiers to rest on the spot and prepare lunch, Lu Ming led a few people up a small hill next to him. The hillside is not very high, it looks like it is only seventy or eighty meters, and the side facing the sea is a cliff, and the side facing the inland side has a certain slope that can be climbed.

The area of the top of the mountain is not small, but it lacks a natural shelter for people to shelter from the wind, and because this is a stony mountain, it is not easy to dig fortifications, so Lu Ming gave up after looking at it for a while, this place is not suitable for a secret observation post.

After lunch, the group continued to explore, and the group staggered through the hills and mountains under the light rain and strong winds. By four o'clock in the afternoon, when it was dark, Lu Ming finally identified two suitable places for setting up observation posts.

"The two locations are not far apart. The one to the west has a natural grotto, which can be used as a good observation point with a little trimming; The other one to the east is open and has a good view, and the top of the hill is still muddy and can be excavated. Lu Ming took a sip of wine, and said after driving away the cold air on his body a little, "These two observation points are set, this is less than two days away from the east entrance and exit of the Strait of Magellan, and the time is just right." As soon as we get the word out in time, the navy will immediately go out and sink or capture the Spanish ships at the exit of the channel. ”

"How does the news get out?"

"According to the pre-departure plan. During the day, you use signal flags, and tomorrow you go find some tall wooden poles, and then find a fixed spot at the foot of the hill on the inland side of the observation point to set up the poles. Matthias, I'll give you the little colored flags we've brought. If they find an enemy, they hang the flag on the top of the pole so that the next person will understand, and then they will follow the same method and relay the signal out of the pole. At night, light a fire to transmit the signal, note that the location you choose to transmit the signal must be open and suitable for others to observe from a distance, and each signal point must not be changed once it is determined. ”

"At night, the light of the fire can travel very far, and this is easy to observe. However, it is not easy to observe the signal flag during the day, and sometimes rain, snow or cloudy weather may interfere with our vision, and even the telescope may not be able to see clearly, so what should we do? "Questions were raised.

"That's a good question, and I'm here to solemnly remind you that if you can't see clearly or can't confirm whether your superior signal point is transmitting a signal to you, then it's as if nothing happened, that is, there is no hostile situation." Lu Ming said solemnly: "In this case, at most, we will let go of some lucky Spanish ships, and we will not lose much." However, if the signal is mistransmitted, the navy may encounter a large fleet of enemy ships and suffer losses. ”

After hearing this, everyone nodded their heads, this matter is indeed sloppy.

Early the next morning, after leaving some people to repair the fortifications at the two observation points, Lu Ming and the remaining people began to determine the route of signal transmission in the vicinity according to the map. It was hard work, and they had to walk back and forth between the mountains and the meadows without stopping to determine the best route. From the lookout observation point in the strait to the northeast coast of Dingo del Fuego, the entire signal transmission distance is more than 30 kilometers, and 7-10 signal transmission relay points should be arranged in between. How to transmit signals more efficiently really requires careful study and efforts.

After several days of tossing and turning, it was finally decided on the process and location of the entire signal transmission. Lu Ming discussed it with everyone, and finally decided to leave six people at each signal observation point and divide them into three groups to take turns to observe; In addition, 8 signal transmission relay points are set up in the middle, leaving two people at each relay point; Together, a total of 28 people need to be arranged.

After the manpower and location were determined, Lu Ming distributed a batch of telescopes he had brought, and then everyone took enough equipment and food and scattered. They will continue to work here until the mission is canceled or the war is over. As for how efficient this seemingly complex but fragile system will be, only God knows.

A week later, Lu Ming appeared on the coast with two soldiers. They found the dinghy hidden on the shore and rowed towards the Galician Exocet, which was moored in the bay. The sea was bitterly cold, and Yu Lian, who had been waiting anxiously, found them as soon as possible and hurriedly pulled them onto the deck.

The sailor brought Lu Ming and the others some spirits to ward off the cold. After Lu Ming poured a few sips, the blood color came back to his face. "Ahem... It's really hard to fight this time. I never imagined that I would dare to travel long distances into the barren land to do such a complicated thing, haluha. Yu Lian, bring us some hot soup, this ghost weather is too cold. By the way, let's hurry back. When we get back, the East Coast Eagle should be out. ”

At the same time, in the Dayuhe Naval Shipyard, the Yunsheng No. 1 passenger and cargo dual-purpose ship has completed the most refit. Three sails were hung from the high mast, and a cable-stayed sail was attached to the bow with a cable. This is to increase the speed of the boat downwind, but also to save fuel. Since it is a passenger and cargo wheel, there is not a lot of spare space on the deck. The designers of the Admiralty tried their best to install only 24 guns on the deck, including 4 24-pounder guns, 8 18-pounder guns, 8 12-pounder guns, and 4 8-pounder guns. It can be seen that in order to compensate for the lack of the number of artillery, the caliber has been greatly enhanced.

This time, Yunsheng No. 1 made a strong attack and attracted the attention of many people. Xiao Bailang, who was far away in Dingyuan Fort, ran into the office of Wang Qinian of the Admiralty as soon as possible, and strongly demanded that he, the former captain of Yunsheng No. 1, personally drive the ship to attack this time. Wang Qinian listened to his request, and there was no reason to object, after all, he was the former captain. Moreover, Yunsheng No. 1 is symbolic, and it really needs an official at the level of an executive committee member to take command, so the matter is decided.

Captain Xiao Bailang came forward, and all the crew members of the former Yunsheng No. 1 gathered again. The first mate Wang Tiehammer, chief engineer Han Dezhi and other idle crew members who were so idle that their bodies were about to mold that they were soaking in the ship all day these days, maintaining the equipment of the entire ship inside and out, and even scrubbing the deck several times, and then waiting for the sailing.

In addition to the original crew of more than a dozen people, the modified Yunsheng No. 1 also needs some manpower to operate the sail cable. In addition, gunners and a certain number of handymen were also essential. The 30 students of the 32nd class of the Sailing School have long been on standby, and they have mastered the basic skills quite well. As for the gunners, 24 guns also needed at least 100-120 gunners. This number is a bit large, and the navy simply cannot muster so many gunners, because there is also a shortage of gunners in the coastal defense batteries at present. However, it is not necessary for all of the people to be able to handle guns, and some menial tasks such as carrying shells and resetting artillery can be done by coolies. In this way, it was possible to save one-third to one-half of the number of regular gunners.

On 1 April, the Executive Committee conducted the third movement, and 120 militiamen were selected from among the militia trained in artillery. Of these, 80 were assigned to the Yunsheng No. 1 as gunners, and the remaining 40 were assigned to the naval coastal defense batteries as usual. In addition, 50 Charuya, who usually performed well and were strong, were also sent to Yunsheng No. 1 to serve as coolies such as cannonball carriers in various artillery crews, and they were still capable of performing tasks that did not require any technical content.

After replenishing supplies, on April 2, Yunsheng No. 1 also slowly left the port and sailed to the vast South Atlantic. Over the next few days, they will train and build up their ranks as they sail in order to build up their combat effectiveness as soon as possible.

First stop – Malvinas Islands.

http://www.biquge.info

Starting Point Chinese www.biquge.info welcome the majority of book friends to come and read, the latest, fastest, and most popular serialized works are all original at the starting point! For mobile phone users, please read it on m.biquge.info.