The reason for this decision is that both Harald and Xie Qinggao said that this situation is actually very common, and it is common for the fleet to be broken up when there are wind and waves on the sea, and the wind and waves encountered last time are relatively small.

In view of this situation, Zhou Lang felt that time was pressing, and it was no wonder that Magalny's fleet couldn't wait to rush to Malacca, probably out of the same consideration. It is better to wait in Malacca than to delay so as not to delay the wind season. If it is really delayed, it will not be a month or two, and it may delay the trip until next year. At that time, the Swedish East India Company's Gothenburg had to wait in Batavia for more than a year because of the delay in the wind season.

It turned out that Zhou Lang's decision was correct, when Zhou Lang entered Malacca to anchor, Magarni and his party had already left, although it was only March, but the wind direction was very ideal, Magalny's fleet set off early, and Zhou Lang delayed on the road for a few days, causing both sides to miss.

At this point, there is no need to think about it, and even if you have not planned to act separately before, you must make this decision at this time. Because for Zhou Lang, the benefits that can be obtained by following the Magalny fleet are enormous.

In this way, Xie Qinggao can only take people to Borneo to trade and exchange where to exchange gold, Zhou Lang can only continue to chase after Magalny's trip, the two met in Malacca, Zhou Lang's plan is like this, he catches up with Magalny, and then smoothly enters Guangzhou under the banner of the British mission, first pay a part of the deposit to purchase goods, and wait for Xie Qinggao to pay the rest of the payment after the arrival of the ship, so as not to affect the procurement, and do not delay the convenience of the British mission.

Only rested for three days, so that the sailors could get used to the fatigue of the journey, and at the same time purchase some fresh vegetables, many people on board, especially some new sailors, have been malnourished, Zhou Lang knows very well that this is because of the lack of vitamins, the solution is to purchase a large number of oranges, and at the same time almost clean the kimchi made by the local Chinese in Malacca, Zhou Lang knows that kimchi contains certain vitamins, and beans are an artifact, which can be convenient for cannon bean sprouts, and there are no vitamins in dried beans, However, after sprouting, it is like a fresh vegetable, rich in vitamins, and this knowledge Westerners did not discover until a hundred years later, during the Russo-Japanese War, the Russians had a large number of black beans to feed horses, but they were sealed by the Japanese in the port of Arthur and got a large number of sepsis.

Since Zhou Lang is a ship, and Magalny is a whole fleet, Zhou Lang's speed is faster.

Harald's skill in sailing was unquestionable, and as a veteran who had grown from apprentice to captain at the age of fourteen, he was well versed in any position on board, and he was well acquainted with the route as he sailed China many times in the East India Company's fleet.

Everything went well, they sailed at sea for about a month, and they saw the flag of the Magalny fleet in the Nansha Sea, the two sides did not make contact, according to Zhou Lang's instructions, when overtaking the Magalny fleet, they released a salute to show friendship, which was opposed by Harald, who was worried that it would cause misunderstanding on the other side.

After surpassing the Magalny fleet, Zhou Lang was down-to-earth. Because he knew that this meant that he would arrive in Canton before the Magarni fleet, Harald told Zhou Lang that according to the East India Company's practice, the Magarni fleet would not sail directly to China, but should be replenished in Manila and then sail directly to Macao.

Because Zhou Lang had a large number of oranges and kimchi on the ship, as well as bean sprouts soaked in rainwater collected in rainy days, the crew's physical condition was currently very good, and there were no diseases such as sepsis, and the Magalny fleet did not even prepare citrus, although this method had been discovered by the British medical scientist Linde, but his doctrine was not taken seriously, and only a few navigators such as Captain Cook had practiced it, and the British Navy had not yet adopted it. As far as Zhou Lang knew, the Magalny fleet did not take any real action. The reason for this is that in the regular British fleet, the captains and other management are fed differently from ordinary sailors, and the captains eat alone, and they all like to use fresh food, which makes sepsis not hit by the upper echelons of the fleet, and they have no motivation to solve the problem urgently.

Zhou Lang can now arrive in Chinese waters in advance, his plan is to dock in Macao, which is controlled by the Portuguese, wait for the Magarny fleet, and arrive in Guangzhou together at the right time, and also stock up in advance during his stay in Macao, in short, no matter how much tea and other specialties he buys, he can sell them when he returns to India, and he can guarantee a considerable profit. You must know that a few decades ago, when the Gothenburg returned home, it was directly intercepted by the Dutch to Batavia, not to rob them, but to hope that they would sell their goods in Batavia, and the general lack of Chinese goods is the big problem.

Zhou Lang only needs one successful trade that can bring shareholders a good return, and the first step is successful, and then he can take advantage of the opportunity to issue more shares, build a larger fleet, and recruit more armed men. As for the way of relying on the slow accumulation of profits, Zhou Lang, who has seen the advantages of capital operation, will never consider it.

In his own plan, he planned to build a fleet capable of crisscrossing Chinese waters in three years, and this speed of expansion could only rely on capital, not accumulation, so he did not plan to do business well from the beginning.

According to Harald's logbook, it was already June, and they were about to enter the waters of Macao, and everyone's hearts were relaxed.

Now the condition of his ship is quite good, because it is a French ship that was once captured, and no one mentions the name of the old ship, and according to the management company, the ship was given a new name, the Oriental Dawn, and compiled into the archives. The ship had three decks, the lower deck was the cargo hold, and the middle deck housed twenty-five guns, and it was an armed merchant ship with equal firepower.

The Oriental Dawn also encountered many suspected pirate ships along the way, but the other party quietly stayed away when they saw the appearance of the Oriental Dawn. However, Zhou Lang was very interested in communicating with those "Xishan pirates", but there was currently a lack of sailors on the ship who could understand Chinese, and it was impossible for him to venture into a small boat by himself, so the plan to establish contact with the pirate group had to be abandoned.

When he has the opportunity, he will definitely connect with these people, for him, these pirates in China's waters are a force worth wooing.

There are still plenty of supplies on board, after all, this is almost an empty ship, and there is too much space to stock up on supplies. The crew was already disgusted with the sour, stinky oranges, but they gradually fell in love with bean sprouts, but limited by the shortage of fresh water, they did not dare to let go of their hands and feet to soak bean sprouts, and now they were about to go to the waters of Macao, under Harald's suggestion, Zhou Lang also agreed to let the Chinese chef hired in Malacca make as many bean sprouts as possible, so that everyone could have a good meal, saying that the meal is just boiled bean sprouts, put some salt and sesame oil, but this is already a rare delicacy for sailors at sea.

Joy and sorrow, everyone had a big meal, but the storm was foreseen in the evening.

The storm at sea, people who are used to living a stable life on land are unimaginable, Zhou Lang found that the sky was almost pressed, and there were various sounds in the wind, which made people think of the roar of the devil. The sea seemed to turn over, and everywhere he could see was seawater, as if the ship had sunk, and for him, a novice at sea, he could not even distinguish between up and down, left and right, and several times he thought that the ship was sinking, but suddenly the sky dawned, and he found that they had been thrown on the waves.

It would be a lie to say that he was not afraid, Zhou Lang only felt that the muscles in his whole body were tense, he didn't know what he should do, in fact, he couldn't do anything, and his mind was blank. Harald, the calmest of all, the old captain was now holding on to a rope wrapped around the mast, tied one end to his waist, and yelled in the ship, so that he could hide the wind, curse, and beat people, and he used every means to make the crew move. The old sailors were calm, the novices shivered, some knelt on the ground, some clinging to the mast or whatever they could, some weeping bitterly, some praying to the gods they believed in, and in short, the scene on board was very chaotic.

Zhou Lang only saw the old sailors put away the sails under Harald's command, and then he didn't know the scene on the deck, because Harald had Zhou Lang tied up and tied to the chair in the captain's room, and the chair was fastened to the deck with rivets.

After a night of turbulence, it was not until the next day that the anger of the sea subsided, and Zhou Lang was released from the captain's room, at this time he couldn't tell the time, the sky was still very dark, he didn't know whether it was morning or evening, or noon.

Harald said that he didn't know where the ship was and couldn't tell the direction, but he was sure that it was noon, and he told Zhou Lang that they hadn't gotten out of the storm area yet, and that there would be a violent storm at any time. After explaining these basic knowledge, he left Zhou Lang and went to admonish the new sailors.

Most of these new sailors were Indians, from all walks of life, and even most of them were untouchables, and the untouchables would engage in this risky trade. Naturally, there are translators on board, and there is no need to hire them, and several old Indian sailors can do this job.

The novices trembled at Harald's angry roar, and they really thought it was a demon, because not long ago, in front of everyone, Harald threw three Indian sailors who had behaved extremely badly yesterday into the sea.

The reason was that the three men had refused to obey his orders yesterday, and had rebelled against the captain when he tried to force them to work.

Zhou Lang didn't have time to stop Harald, when he threw people, Zhou Lang was still tied up in the captain's room, and after punishing the disobedient sailors, Harald remembered that there was also a high-ranking official of the company on the ship. In fact, even if Zhou Lang came out early, he may not be able to stop Harald, and the captain of the ship has absolute authority.

Under the rare calm, everyone's hearts are not calm, and they are all a little nervous waiting for the storm that may hit again. The people who ate the calm lunch were panicked, and the table in the captain's room was very depressed.

A total of three people ate, the captain Harald, Zhou Lang, and the overseer sent by the East India Company.

The faces of the three of them were very calm, but Zhou Lang was sure that only Harald was really calm, and the superintendent was the same as he estimated, and his mood was definitely not so calm, Zhou Lang thought that no one could be so calm after just experiencing a storm at sea, this was not a matter of psychological quality, it was purely an instinct.

Zhou Lang didn't like this overseer, because he suspected that this person was a spy specially sent by the East India Company, which was also a thief, if he was a serious person who planned to do business well, he would not have this kind of suspicion, but he had different intentions, and he didn't plan to cooperate with the East India Company from the beginning, so it was normal to suspect the identity of this person.

Because this person was not an ordinary person, the East India Company sent to supervise Zhou Lang's fleet was neither a financial officer, nor a business person, nor a translator who was proficient in law or knew Chinese, but a military personnel.

"Lord Colin, I wonder how your soldiers are doing?"

The atmosphere at the table was really oppressive, and Harald, who had the best mentality, intended to ease the atmosphere, and the first two were not something he could offend, one was his employer, the other was a captain officer of the East India Company, or a nobleman, although he did not inherit the family title, nor did he have the qualifications to inherit, but he was still a nobleman, and the honorific title of Lord (My Lord) was preferred by these nobles who did not have a title.

"The situation is good, my mercenaries are all experienced soldiers, half of them have participated in the war in North America, and have experience in sailing."

He suspected that the other party had a special mission, so he could not say many things to him, but this person was the most powerful man on the ship at present, and forty well-armed Hessian mercenaries gave him the ability to decide the life and death of everyone on board.

When the East India Company sent him, he was shown to have a wealth of combat experience, leading an infantry regiment of 300 Europeans to repel an Indian army of 2,000 men during the Mysore War.

"That's good. I'm worried about pirates immediately after the storm hits. ”

"Captain, rest assured, my forty soldiers are the best gunners, even if you encounter the French Navy, you don't have to worry."

Zhou Lang continued: "Lord, I heard that these forty soldiers are not British, is their loyalty guaranteed?" ”

Colin laughed, "It's up to you?" ”

"Look at me?"

Colin nodded, "There's only one situation they'll mutiny, and that's when no one pays them." ”

These were mercenaries, not the famous Swiss mercenaries, but Hessian mercenaries.

In fact, Zhou Lang knew that he had chatted with those old mercenaries a lot, and in his opinion, it was very important to have a good relationship with these people. Because in his future plan, military strength is crucial, and if these few people can pull a few, they are good officer seeds.

But he still pretended not to know and asked, "They're mercenaries, aren't they?" Just recognize the money. I'm a little worried, what if our enemies on the battlefield give more money? ”

In fact, mercenaries are not as unreliable as ordinary people think, Europe has been fighting for hundreds of years, and most of the time it is mercenaries who play the main role, if they are really unreliable, those noble lords will not hire them. Let's talk about the Swiss, if the Swiss mercenaries are really so unreliable and often turn against them on the battlefield, who would dare to hire them. Most of the time, these mercenaries are quite reliable as long as their employers pay them in a timely manner. Even most of the time on the battlefield, the opposing sides are mercenaries from Switzerland, who can fight to the death. The only unreliable thing is their military discipline, a group of soldiers killed for money, killing people and goods is inevitable, after the Thirty Years' War, the population of the German region fell by half, this proportion of population reduction, it can no longer be a pure war killing, it can only be a massacre after looting.

After history entered the age of firearms, the Swiss mercenaries who civilized Europe with a phalanx of spears declined, and the more militarized Hessian mercenaries came to the forefront, during the Seven Years' War, Britain armed 90,000 people, of which only 20,000 were British, and most of the others were mercenaries, and the mercenaries from the Hessian region accounted for half, more than the British soldiers. During the American Civil War, a large number of Hessian mercenaries fought for both sides, and the famous American Headless Horseman was a Hessian mercenary.

The Hessian mercenaries were all hired by the British to fight in North America, and even once the main force of the British army in North America, after all, Britain, with a population of less than 10 million, could not form a too large army. However, many of these soldiers from the German Hesse region were bought by the U.S. government when they arrived in the United States, and the U.S. government promised them fifty acres of land as compensation if they were willing to stay in the United States and join the U.S. Army as German-Americans.

There were many mercenaries who turned out to defect in the formation, and even some officers deliberately sent their soldiers to death in order to get more land, which eventually led to more than half of the casualties of these mercenaries, which were higher than the casualties of the American and British armies.

Therefore, it is not unreasonable for Zhou Lang to express his concern that these people will be bought by the enemy.

"If you pay your salary in a timely manner, they will definitely not defect," Colin said. Because not only do they have agreements with us, but their countries have agreements with our countries. ”

"Oh?"

Zhou Lang didn't expect this.

Then Colin told him something he didn't know before.

Unlike Swiss mercenaries, Hessian mercenaries were not hired by some mercenary leaders, but were personally sent to other countries by the Duke of Hesse, which means that Hessian mercenaries help other countries to fight, which is a state act. So these Hessian mercenaries didn't just fight for money, they fought for their dukes, for their country. And their country has an agreement with the British, which greatly restricts their personal choice power, so that they do not dare to defect at will.

According to Colin, the Duke of Hesse's agreement with the British government was the most favorable, and the British agreement with the other German states included a large pension, while the Hessian agreement did not include a pension. This was seen as a gesture of goodwill on the part of the Duke of Hesse towards Great Britain, because in the case of the Duchy of Hesse, which rented out soldiers for a living, they regarded the act of renting out soldiers as diplomatic in nature. The Duke of Hesse received a promise of protection from the British, who promised to come to the aid of Hesse if they were attacked by other countries while they were on loan.

After understanding these circumstances, Zhou Lang finally understood why Hessian mercenaries were able to replace Swiss mercenaries, not only because they were more familiar with firearms and more adapted to the war of the firearms age, but also because Hessian mercenaries were a state act, and Swiss mercenaries were the business of large and small mercenary groups.

But this made Zhou Lang even more uneasy, he admired the professionalism of those Hessian mercenaries, he found that these soldiers were not only proficient in the use of various rifles, but also handy in the operation of cannons, and most importantly, many of them were also educated, simply the best officers. If you can also hire a group of such soldiers from Hesse, you can form combat effectiveness as quickly as possible.

But I didn't expect them to fight for Britain because their government had an agreement with the British government, and because of such an agreement, the Hessian mercenaries helped Britain fight, helped Prussia fight, helped Austria fight, but didn't help the most powerful France, because their dukes firmly did not agree to fight for the Catholic countries.

This blocked Zhou Lang's way to hire credible mercenaries from Europe, because the French at least still believed in God, and the Chinese believed even further, and it was probably more difficult to get the support of the Duke of Hesse. Even if they are hired and confronted by European countries, the ghost knows if these soldiers will directly tie up Zhou Lang.

As soon as a few people chatted, the nervousness gradually disappeared, and they chatted for a long time, anyway, it was very dark outside, and I felt from the biological clock that it should be late at night at this time.

When I woke up, it was very bright, and the storm that I had been fearing did not come again, but by noon the observers cheered from the mast and saw the land.

Zhou Lang also saw the land with his own eyes not long after, and as for what place, even Harald was not sure, but according to the results of mathematical calculations, he estimated that the ship had sailed through the waters of Macao, and it was probably a few degrees to the northeast. As for whether the land you see in front of you is an island or a continent, it is not yet certain.

This analysis made Zhou Lang feel relieved, the northeast of Macao can only be the coastal area of Guangdong, and in the northeast of China, it will not go to Japan, as long as it lands on the land of China, then it will be easy to do next. He was a little worried about Xie Qinggao, who was separated from him, and wondered if Xie Qinggao had also encountered this storm.

If Xie Qinggao's shipment in Borneo goes well, and then chases all the way, this situation is very likely to happen, as for Magalny, there is no need to worry, since they successfully came to China in history, the appearance of Zhou Lang cannot change this history, so Magalny will definitely succeed in coming to China.

Magarney's itinerary was inquired about by Zhou Lang, and it was the credit of Henry Pitt, who knew very well that Magarny would anchor in Macau, then enter Canton, and finally go north to Beijing under the arrangement of the Chinese government in Guangzhou.

Now Zhou Lang is going to land, find a bay to dock, replenish, and repair the damaged ships at the same time, and then hurry to Macao to wait for Magalny.

The ships finally found a bay as planned, and then Harald sent people called boats to look at the nearby terrain, and continued to measure the data and calculate the approximate position of their position, the results of which were astonishing.

Harald told Zhou Lang that they may have deviated a little too much, and that it is very likely that they have sailed through the entire eastern part of Guangdong, and that the place where they are currently located is very likely to be near the Taiwan Strait, and that the land they are on may be Formosa, which is the island of Taiwan.