The 164th Fort of the Gregorian calendar is 3 stories high, and a half-moon fort is attached to the southwest and southeast directions facing the open sea and inland rivers. On the back of the northeast, a small turret was built to cover the flanks.

Orderly summons René in the conference room of the Nanhai. Allemand, realignment of the fleet.

The fleet captured two warships in Keelung, one of which was a small three-masted battleship named Keelung, which had 18 guns and six 6-pounder guns on the single side of the continuous gun deck. 2 6-pounder tail guns. There were 2 upper foredeck guns, 2 aft deck, a total of 4 4-pounder side guns, and 8 swing guns. The sails are relatively simple, each mast has no upper sail, the rear mast has only one spinnaker, and the nose mast has only one crosssail. The hull is small, there is not much room for modification, and there is only the potential to add 2 front support sails.

Another six-gun sloop, named Tamsui, could only be fitted slightly. The Tamsui has been on a relatively high schedule lately, and the short upwind voyage from Fort Tamsui to Tainan was run by the two schooners Storm and Tamsui. Keelung relies on them to transport some supplies between Tainan and Tamsui.

For the time being, the Taipei Squadron has only these two ships. Shou Xuan said to Allem, "Excuse me, take the Keelung as the flagship for the time being." We don't have enough officers, and you have to be the captain of the Keelung. ”

Allem said: "Admiral, it doesn't matter if the flagship is smaller, but you can leave me some sailors, with the current personnel situation of the Taipei Detachment, for the time being, I only have the Tamsui available." ”

Orderly: "You also know the situation of the fleet, the shortage is very serious, and I have now let the marines work part-time as sailors. Of the more than 200 Chinese fishermen who have just arrived, I can only allocate 60 of them to you, and I will take the rest with me. ”

In fact, during this time, there were many immigrants accepted by Chicken Coop Tamsui one after another, but out of concern for Zheng Zhilong, Shou Xian only dared to incorporate the Zhejiang people into the fleet.

The two warships of the Taipei Squadron need at least 160 or more crews to form a full combat strength. The Order left Allem with 60 veterans, accompanied by 60 new sailors. Both the staffing and training of the Taipei detachment are problems.

"Alright, map, then I'll have to concentrate my manpower to put the Tamsui into service," Allemand sighed, "we can only rely on it now." ”

In fact, it was not as miserable as the commander of the fleet said, Wang Huizhi left more than 130 people, except for a few people in poor physical condition who worked in Keelung Port, and the remaining 130 people were assigned to another 8 ships. These 8 vessels are offshore galleys and sail vessels purchased by the Grand Staff. The three largest of them are also called horn bluff ships in China, and they are produced in Fujian Fenghuomen. The ship has a single sloop, with a keel, 4 zhang long and 1 zhang wide, and there is a small official hall at the stern. There are 10 oars on each side, and a long board on each side of the deck serves as a seat for the oarsmen. The remaining 5 are ordinary eight-oared boats, with no sloop and no deck, which is a large sampan. The eight-oared boat is obviously more versatile, and it can patrol the sea off Keelung, and it can also connect in Keelung Port. The horn bluff warship is even more useful, not only has a certain combat effectiveness, but also can run a short-distance transportation task between freshwater Keelung.

"Do a good job, I'll recruit some sailors after I leave, and finish the training course as soon as possible." Shou Zhi took Allemand's hand and walked up to the deck of the South Sea. Allemand didn't say anything, saluted and dismounted.

The weather was fine and there was no wind in the harbor. The guests of the fleet gathered on the deck at this time, and they shook hands one by one.

"Mr. Meng, thanks to your assistance for months."

After Meng Da shook hands, he clenched his fists with both hands, "The lord of the country is polite, Meng and the adult really have a feeling of hating each other." Please rest assured, if there is anything that Meng needs to do in the future, just say hello. ”

Orderliness smiled and nodded. In fact, Munda faced the same problem as Shou Order, and was unable to leave for a while after heading north to Taiwan during the southwest monsoon. Shou ordered him to travel back and forth between Taipei and Fujian, mainly to buy grain, and brought more than 300 immigrants and a few farming cattle with him. Maiden arranged these Fujian Chinese near the Jiannei community on the other side of the Bachimen Channel.

Shou ordered Munda to inquire about how much money his ship would make during a monsoon season, and paid it as ordered. However, he was not paid for silver, but spices seized in Borneo. Spices are lightweight and highly valuable, making them one of the most popular goods besides silver. But spices were a trophie for the order, and he did not want to get involved in the open and secret battles between the Portuguese, the British, and the Dutch in the spice trade. Simply pack it all up and give it to Munda so that he can take it back to Batavia and sell it to the Dutch.

Behind Munda was Witherling, a junior merchant of the East India Company. Withering was appointed by Trodenius as the first resident officer of the Tamsui Merchant House.

"How's the construction of the Tamsui Merchant Hall?" Shou ordered to greet him casually.

"Thank you for your concern, everything is going well."

In fact, of course, Shou Zhi knew the progress of the project image of the Dutch Tamsui Merchant House. It is a complex with a large area and includes warehouses, warehouses and office buildings. It is surrounded by a wall and has a watchtower. The Dutch applied to Order, and for the sake of the safety of the warehouse, the merchant house was equipped with nine armed security guards, and Orderly agreed. A few arquebuses were just a few muskets, and even if he didn't agree with the Dutch, he could bring them in under other names.

Order prepares a gift for Witherine.

Witherling opened the gift box and closed his mouth in surprise, it was the gun of Portinho, the Spanish chicken coop administrator. It's only slightly more elaborate than a regular flintlock pistol, but it's a different story.

"Your Excellency, I deserve this gift."

Shou Xuan waved his hand, "You risked your life to deliver a surrender to the commander of the Spanish fortress, just a gun, this is the honor you deserve." ”

Witherling helped Order, and Order, of course, gave him no less money. But he felt that for a young man like Witherine who still had a sense of mission, it would be more memorable to give some honorable gifts.

A streak of blood crept up on Weatherine's face, "Thank you so much, Your Excellency." ”

With a smile on his face, Shou Xuan approached Witherine's ear and whispered, "Mr. Witherling, God testifies, if there is even the slightest possibility, in the future you will no longer work for the United East India Company, and the gates of the Golden City will be open for you at any time." ”

Witherling was a little surprised at first, but quickly regained his composure. The United East India Company was a company, and no matter what the company, there were employees who changed jobs. Soon, a member of the United East India Company would join the French East India Company and take over as the head of the French East India Company in Asia.

Weatherine said calmly, "Your Excellency, only God knows what will happen in the future. ”

"Yes, God." Shou Zhi walked away, and said in his heart, "And me." ”

Finally, Lu Congxian. He was the leader of the four ships that Munda had hired.

"Captain Lu, have you thought about it?" Shou Zhi will need capacity to go north this time, and he is currently short of ships. Munda will stay in Taiwan for the time being, doing some business from Fujian to Taipei during the southwest wind period. When the northeast wind rises, he will return to Batavia.

Lu Congxian was a person who didn't talk much, "We can follow you, but there is one condition." ”

"Land, women, silver, or something else," Orderly smiled, "just asking. ”

"Money and women are necessary and reasonable remuneration," Lu Congxian said, "In addition, I want cannons, Hongyi cannons." ”

After thinking about it, now the Nanhai, Raphael, and Storm have removed a total of 25 guns for the battery and the Taipei squadron, and the original 70 guns of these three ships have been removed by one-third, and the firepower has been greatly reduced, but it seems that they will not encounter a dangerous enemy for the time being. He nodded, "I promise you, to complete this voyage and send you 4 Hongyi cannons." ”

Pan Xuezhong was also in the chicken coop, but it was rare that the weather was better these days, so he hurried back to earn a business and left in a hurry yesterday.

The Taiwan Strait is sometimes stormy and rough, and sometimes there is no wind at all, and how much time it takes for sailing ships to travel to and from the strait is completely up to fate. Smoothly set off from Anhai and Tongshan to Tainan, and arrived in two or three days. If it doesn't go well, it will take eight days to get from Xiamen to Penghu alone. The most unsmooth thing is that it takes more than a month to wait for the wind and run on the road for more than ten days. There are also some unlucky people who spent seven or eight days in Taiwan, but the wind was strong and they could not enter Hong Kong, so they could only turn around and go back to Fujian to come back another day. In the most bizarre cases, when going to sea and encountering a storm, he was blown all the way across the South China Sea by the northeast wind, and he rode the wind and waves very quickly, and completed the voyage from Penghu to Quang Nam in 12 days.

This happened to both the junk and the Dutch. During the Battle of Liaoluo Bay, several Dutch warships were anchored in the harbor when their anchor cables were blown by strong winds and disappeared in front of the fleet. Everyone thought they were finished, but God blessed, they were blown to Vietnam by the wind, and finally stumbled back to Batavia. Of course, their luck was not bad, because the northeast wind blew the route from Taiwan to Vietnam with two terrible archipelagos, the Dongsha Islands and the Xisha Islands, but all the unlucky ships were smashed on the terrifying coral reefs.

Wang Huizhi was also not on the ship, and Shou Xuan told him about the plan to go to Liaohai, which aroused his interest in meeting the Tatars for a while, and agreed. Overjoyed, he gave him 6 ships.

Recently, Orderly has gotten several junks. 2 ships were seized at the chicken coop and 3 No. 2 ships were purchased in Tainan. Not long ago, Pan Xuezhong used two boats to transport the first batch of Zhejiang fishermen, received the migrants in an orderly manner, and bought one of the bird boats. Shou ordered to give all these 6 ships to Wang Huizhi. The junk ship needs few sailors, and Wang Aozhu now has nearly 500 people, and originally took 6 ships to maintain a surplus combat strength in addition to the sailors, but now there are 12 ships, and the sailing manpower is enough.

3 lucky ships, 1 bird ship, plus 8 galleys, a total of 5,000 taels worth of silver and goods were spent. From the faces of Fujian businessmen, the words "making a lot of money" can be seen in an orderly manner. The 3 Fu ships are more than 8 zhang long, double masted, pine and fir wood, no bamboo truss support, stone anchor brown cable, with a load of about 80 tons.

Although Zheng Zhilong's battleship was also broken, he used a four-clawed iron anchor, and the hard sail was supported by bamboo trusses.

If you talk about the Junk ship, it is still the original 6 ships of Wang Huizhi, and the comprehensive hull of the Fu ship on the Xiaguang ship. Tieli wood is also a hull made of teak, a fuship-style superstructure, with a war tent and a hard sail that can be divided into two wings. Although there are no iron anchors, they are equipped with both stone anchors and teak anchors.

The V-shaped bottom of the Guangzhou ship has a large roll amplitude, small side drift, and slightly better handling. The bottom of the Fu ship is similar to a U-shape, and the roll is acceptable.

Fujian lacks the tropical hardwood of Guangdong, and the fir and pine trees used for shipbuilding are eaten by maggots after the flood. But at this time, the warships of the Ming Dynasty all liked to use the Fu ship type, because the Fu ship had a war shed and the Guangzhou ship did not. There will also be a bamboo shed on the hull of the Canton ship, which is flammable in case of fire. The cedar pine planks of the Fuchuan are too broken, and the soldiers don't care, anyway, the officials have wood and artificially built new ships.

After seeing off the guests, he set sail again on the journey. The fleet includes the South Seas, the Raphael, the Melville, and the Tempest. After Allemand was transferred, he could only concurrently serve as the captain of the Nanhai.

The fleet set sail from Keelung, the southwest wind was downward, and several Fu ships could not sail to the mouth of the Minjiang River, so that the intention of observing the Mawei of the Minjiang River in order was frustrated, and they could only come again next time. The fleet passed the sea off Funing and sailed directly to Wentaiyong. Several fortune ships could not be fast even if they were downwind, so Shou Xuan took this opportunity to carry out some preliminary surveying and mapping work on the coastline of the Ming Dynasty.

If the route from China to Manila is an Oriental route, and the route to Jincheng is a Western route, then the route from Guangzhou to the north along the coast is called the Beiyang route. The history of the Northern Sea Route is as long as that of the Western Sea Route, and the ancients of the Celestial Empire did have geniuses. During the Three Kingdoms, there were monographs on the study of tides, and the study of tides in the Tang Dynasty was quite mature. By the time of the Song Dynasty, the Chinese ancestors had already fully familiarized the route from Guangzhou to Dagukou and had detailed charts. The Song and Song states relied on sea routes, and the system of the Song Dynasty was already very perfect, with a series of beacons built along the coastline, and torches would be lit at night to provide navigation signs for sea ships.

In the Ming Dynasty, Mao Yuanyi, who had served as the deputy commander-in-chief of Liaoxi, included the "Zheng He's Navigation Chart" in his book "Wubei Zhi", which was engraved and printed in Nanjing in the first year of the Apocalypse. As long as there was money, people in the late Ming Dynasty could see the map of Zheng He's Xingcha fleet, and the navigation skills of the Ming Dynasty were never lost.

Of course, only nautical charts are not enough, but also sea meridians.

At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, Jin Luxiang suggested sending troops to land at the intersection of the road by sea and attack Youyan. This plan was later obtained by the Yuan army, and the opening of sea transportation in the early years of the Yuan Dynasty relied on this scripture a lot. Starting from Jin Luxiang's Haijing, it was supplemented by an unknown number of Chinese navigators in the Yuan Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty, and in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the book "Haidao Jing" was formed.

Shou Zhi stroked the rare book of "The Book of the Sea" in his hand, and the booklet of only a few dozen pages was condensed by the wealth of countless anonymous ancestors, and even his life.

The origin of this precious scripture is that when China fell for the first time, several unwilling Chinese warriors at sea who sank in the iron hooves of the Tatars tried to use the sea to save China. With the technical conditions of the last years of the Southern Song Dynasty, there was indeed no hope of success.

Behind every sentence in this book may be a story that has been obliterated by history, maybe it is passionate and exciting, or it may be so tragic that it makes people cry.

The orderly trip to China began with this book of the sea scriptures engraved with the painstaking efforts of the soldiers of the dead country.

Note 1: "The bottom is a wide boat type, and the upper part is a blessed boat surface, and the atmosphere is also sold when wading through whale waves." Identifying ancient Chinese ship types from their outwards may be futile.

Note 2: It is estimated that there is a reason for the foundation of the Spanish castle, and the Dutch built the freshwater fort very quickly in history. Construction began on October 14, 1642,