"What a great artillery!"

Looking at the smoke and dust rising from the rocky island, Li Hongyu's brows frowned slightly, and then Youlan couldn't help but sigh, she had also seen a lot of artillery in Jilong Harbor, but compared with these Western artillery, the performance gap was far behind.

Li Hongyu secretly recked when he heard this, it seems that Foreman and Bastian have indeed put a lot of thought into this business, and they have obtained the latest weapons and equipment on the market.

However, compared with the powerful artillery, Li Hongyu is more concerned about the technicians and scholars who came to the East with Foreman this time, some people came to the East to pan for gold, and some people were full of curiosity and yearning for the East, and these people were what Li Hongyu needed the most.

"If you can hit that island on the move, I'll reward you with a hundred pounds, do you have that confidence?"

After a deep groan, Li Hongyu came to the microphone and said to the sailors in the gun compartment that he wanted to see how powerful these gunners were.

Judging from the effect of the salvo just now, Li Hongyu already knew that the sailors who operated the guns were all veterans, otherwise it would be difficult to hit such a long-distance target.

But the naval battle was a target in motion, so he wanted to see if the gunners could hit forbidden objects in motion, and only then could he expect them to pass on the experience of the Ming army's naval division soldiers in operating guns.

The reason why Li Hongyu did not hesitate to spend a huge amount of money to get Bastis weapons and equipment and technicians from Europe was not to form a mercenary army, but to take it for his own use to drive the military and technological exhibition of the Ming Dynasty.

"Boss, get a hundred pounds ready!" As soon as Li Hongyu's words fell, a rather proud voice came from the microphone.

Li Hongyu heard that a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, he liked the other party's confident reaction, and an image of a person appeared in front of him.

If he had guessed correctly, the man on the other side of the microphone was the sturdy white man who had led the crowd to ask Forman for his salary, and now it seemed that he was indeed the head of the sailors.

"Set sail and go around the island ahead!" Li Hongyu gave orders to the sailors in the power cabin of the lower deck through a microphone.

Then, the four-masted sailing ship parked on the water began to circle around the rocky island, and on the deck of the bow, Yang Li'er, Youlan, and Sakurako Yamashita covered their ears and waited with interest for the gun bay to shoot.

Not long after, with the trembling of the hull, ten black cannonballs came out of the gun compartment **** in a dull roar, drew a somewhat inclined parabola and landed on the rocky island, making the island fly again with stone chips and thick smoke.

"Good!" Li Hongyu smiled and applauded when he saw this, he was very satisfied with the shelling this time, although the rocky island was stationary, but since it could be hit, it meant that the gunners in the gun compartment knew how to calculate the lateral relativity between the two sides, which was the most important thing.

The reference point for naval engagements is the enemy's ships, and although the enemy's ships are moving, in the eyes of the gunners, they are as stationary as rocky islands, and it is a great science to convert the absolute degree of the enemy's ships into the relative degree.

"Lee, one thing I must tell you is that many of these people have been pirates in the past, and their tempers are not very good." Seeing that Li Hongyu was very satisfied with the sailors on the ship, Foreman hesitated and reminded.

With the advent of the Age of Discovery, the profession of piracy flourished, but there was no clear line between pirates and sailors, even merchant ships that were engaged in business sometimes robbed the cargo of other merchant ships.

"It's just some pirates, and they don't dare to mess around here."

Li Hongyu smiled disappreciatively, he was not even afraid of those treacherous and cunning old foxes in the officialdom, could he not deal with a few Western pirates? In terms of strategy, the Ming Dynasty is the first in the world, and the "Art of War" left by the ancestors alone is enough for those Westerners to study for a lifetime.

While talking and laughing, some sailors were brought in front of Li Hongyu's Li Hongyu and Foreman, who were gunners in the gun compartment, and the leader was the sturdy white man who had taken the lead in the bargaining.

"Lee, this is York, the boatswain of this ship and the best gunner on board." Foreman pointed to the sturdy white man and introduced him to Li Hongyu.

"I'm the translator of the Ming Empire's ocean-going fleet, you can call me 'Li'." Li Hongyu smiled and stretched out his hand to York.

"Boss, I'm York."

York was slightly stunned for a moment, but he didn't expect Li Hongyu to shake hands with him, you must know that the hierarchy of Western society is also very strict, and those elites look down on them sailors at all, and then shook Li Hongyu's hand and replied seriously.

Although Li Hongyu behaved politely and virtuously, York had self-knowledge and could not be rude to Li Hongyu, no matter how arrogant he was, he couldn't break the rules of the road, after all, Li Hongyu was their boss, and he still had a little self-knowledge.

"According to the market price, three hundred taels of silver is worth a hundred pounds, and this is thirty taels of gold, which is worth three hundred taels of silver, and now it is yours." Li Hongyu saw York's cold attitude and knew that he was not someone who could be settled easily, so he waved his hand and said to York with a smile.

An attendant came to York with a tray containing three gold bars, each ten taels.

"Gold?" The eyes of the sailors behind York immediately lit up at the sight of the gold bars on the tray, and gold was a luxury item only used by the aristocracy in Europe, which was rare in ordinary times.

"Thank you, boss." York was a little surprised to forget to glance at the three gold bars, he didn't expect Li Hongyu to be so generous and fulfill his previous promise so quickly, and then bowed to Li Hongyu to thank him.

"Thank you, boss." The sailors behind saluted, and a young sailor standing beside York excitedly took three gold bars from the attendant and distributed them to the rest of the sailors with great interest.

"York, are you willing to sign a ten-year labor agreement with me, join the navy of our Ming Empire within ten years, I will give you one hundred pounds a year, and the rest of the people will come according to their ability to come fifteen to thirty-five pounds a year."

Li Hongyu smiled slightly, looked at York and said quietly, he gave York and others a lucrative recruitment condition, which is not a small amount in Europe.

"Thirty-five pounds!" Hearing this, the evil sailors who were checking the gold bars suddenly burst into a commotion.

In addition to receiving a handsome salary for a year, after becoming the navy of the Ming Empire, they will no longer have to live those fearful days, these sailors know that the Ming Empire is the most powerful country in the East, and the territory and national power surpass the Mughal Empire, which is already very great in their opinion.

In this way, few countries dare to clash with the Ming Empire, and the number of naval battles is undoubtedly much less than that of their sailors as merchant ships, and I don't know how many sailors died in the vast sea during the Age of Discovery.

"Why are you giving us so much money?" York was a little surprised by this, and asked Li Hongyu suspiciously, his eyes showing a vigilant look, and he couldn't understand Li Hongyu's purpose in doing this.

"Because you hit the target in those two rounds of test guns just now, and you are the person I need, so I am willing to pay a high price to hire you."

Li Hongyu immediately laughed when he heard this, and said to York, "I think this is enough to express my sincerity, York, you can put forward any conditions, as long as I can do it, I will definitely satisfy you." ”

"I need to advance my salary for five years." York felt that Li Hongyu was reasonable, so he said solemnly after a while.

"I can advance your wages for ten years if you need it." Li Hongyu thought that York was going to make some harsh requirements, and it took a long time to advance his salary, so he agreed with a smile, as long as it was something that could be solved with money, it would be easy to do.

"You're not afraid that I'll take the money and run away?" York didn't expect Li Hongyu to be so generous, and looked at Li Hongyu in surprise and asked, you must know that the two of them have never known each other in their lives, and he can walk away when he gets the money.

"We have a saying in the Ming Dynasty, called 'no suspicion of employing people, no need to suspect people', which means that as long as the person who enables it will fully trust him, and those who don't believe it don't need to be appointed."

Li Hongyu smiled and replied lightly, "Besides, since you advance your salary, you must have some unavoidable hardships, otherwise you wouldn't have traveled thousands of miles to the East to pan for gold." ”

"Five years of salary is enough, thank you boss for your trust." York was stunned when he heard this, he never expected Li Hongyu to be so generous, and then shook his head and said.

"Are you willing to join the navy of the Ming Empire?" Li Hongyu then looked at the sailors behind York and asked quietly.

"I do." Soon, one of the sailors raised his hand and shouted loudly.

"I would too." Seeing this, the rest of the sailors raised their hands one after another, and the treatment offered by Li Hongyu was too tempting to refuse.

The corners of Li Hongyu's mouth suddenly showed a hint of imperceptible smile, although outsiders thought that the price he offered was too high, but in his opinion, it was completely worth the money, with the professors of York and others, the Ming Sailor would soon be able to form a combat power at sea.

In the final analysis, the Ming Dynasty has not had any decent naval battles since Zheng He went to the West, so both tactics and operational thinking have lagged behind Western countries, and York and others are actually Li Hongyu's teachers for the sailors.

Moreover, if Li Hongyu wants to attract those capable people in the West to Daming, he must come up with a gimmick, and he has known the allusion of buying horse bones since he was a child, so he used York and others to advertise.

It is conceivable that as soon as the ship docks, the news that Li Hongyu hired York and others with a lot of money will be spread by those sailors, and there will definitely be people who will recommend themselves to take refuge, so that the purpose of Li Hongyu's move will be achieved.

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