After completing the speed test, the "Wannian Qing" began to test the gun. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Although the "Wannian Qing" had five gun doors on each side and could install 10 guns, due to financial constraints, only three 24-pounder breech guns were installed on each side for the time being. At this time, under the command of Chen Anming, the gunners skillfully manipulated the cannon and began to shoot.

Lin Yizhe, who was standing on the flybridge, was carefully watching the firing scene of the three guns on the port side of the "Wannianqing".

The gunners first pulled back the gun mounted on the wheeled gun carriage, loaded a long shell with a solid pellet and a powder pack connected to the muzzle, and when they were ready to fire, they pushed the gun into the gun door and fired.

The three guns took turns firing outward, and the muzzles of the guns spewed out long columns of white smoke with a low roar, and after a while, columns of water rose from the sea in the distance, which looked quite spectacular.

Watching the gunners laboriously manipulating the artillery to shoot at what can be said to be "turtle speed", Lin Yizhe couldn't help but sigh secretly in his heart.

Such firepower and rate of fire are really far from the battleship in his mind.

After a short time, the test was successfully completed, and Lin Yizhe saw that the first sea trial voyage of the "Wannian Qing" was basically a complete success, and Wu Zhongxiang and other shipping officials were relieved.

Lin Yizhe noticed that Zhou Kaixi's face was a little pale standing on the flybridge, so he stepped forward and asked, "Lord Zhou, is he a little unwell?" You're too tired these days, why don't you go to the cabin to rest first? ”

"Maybe it's a little seasick, don't worry." Zhou Kaixi smiled reluctantly and waved his hand, "It's even more uncomfortable to go back and lie down, it's better to breathe outside here." ”

Seeing that Zhou Kaixi insisted on accompanying Shen Baozhen and them outside, Lin Yizhe had no choice but to stop persuading.

At this time, the "Wannianqing" has completed all the test items and began to return, now the sea waves are calm, the breeze is blowing, watching the "Wannianqing" break the waves between the blue sea and blue sky, Lin Yizhe is also with everyone, the mood is very comfortable. It's just that Zhou Kaixi looks sullen no matter how he looks at it.

While the "Wannian Qing" was moving, there was a sudden sound on the sea in the distance in front of it.

"It's ...... Gunshot! Lin Yizhe's heart suddenly tightened. He thought for a moment, turned and ran briskly off the flybridge and headed straight for the cabin.

Shen Baozhen and other shipping officials stopped chatting, and they all gathered on the flybridge, staring ahead.

"Clairvoyance!" Shen Baozhen said in a deep voice.

A personal attendant handed over a monocular, and Shen Baozhen opened the telescope to look in the direction where the voice came from. The rest of the shipmasters, who had telescopes, also took out their telescopes and observed the situation in the distance.

At this time, Lin Yizhe carried a long cloth bag and returned to the flybridge, at this moment, everyone's eyes were focused on the sea in front of him, and no one noticed what he was doing.

As the "Wannian Qing" continued to sail forward, it got closer and closer to the sea where the sound came, and after a while, several small boat shadows appeared on the sea.

Shen Baozhen stared at the ships that appeared on the sea, and soon, he saw clearly that some small boats were besieging a galleon!

"Pirates!" A sailor shouted, "It's a pirate!" They are robbing merchant ships! ”

Lin Yizhe heard the sailor's shout, and immediately opened the cloth pocket in his hand, revealing a glittering spear inside.

In appearance, the gun resembles a long-barreled shotgun, and somewhat like an old-fashioned lifting gun, with a copper barrel with a polished wooden butt that glistens in the sun. And the most different thing about this gun is that in the middle of the gun body, there is a copper monocular similar to the one held by Shen Baozhen.

This gun is a sniper rifle made by Lin Yizhe from the barrel of the "Montigni" platoon gun.

Seeing Lin Yizhe come out with such a guy, Pei Jinquan and the first mate Shen Renfa couldn't help but be startled.

Lin Yizhe raised his gun, added it to the railing of the flybridge, put his eyes in front of the scope, and observed it carefully.

In the scope, the merchant ship with its bow painted green is trying to dodge the approaching boat.

(Author's note: In the summer of 1723, in order to prevent fishing boats in the southern seas from operating beyond the region and going to sea to communicate with thieves, and also to facilitate the control of order at sea, Emperor Yongzheng ordered that "the civilian ships going to sea should be numbered in order, engraved with large characters, and the bow mast should be decorated with oil markings.") And stipulated, "Fujian ships are decorated with green paint, red hook lettering; Zhejiang marine white paint decoration, green hook lettering; Guangdong marine red paint decoration, cyan hook lettering; Jiangnan boat with clear paint decoration, white hook lettering. The names of "Fujian" green-headed boats and Guangdong "red-headed boats" come from this. ）

Lin Yizhe clearly saw the frightened expressions on the faces of the sailors on the ship. The pirates with scarves wrapped around the head of the boat stood on the bow of the boat and shouted, the bright steel knives in their hands were clearly visible, and some of them shot at the merchant ship with muskets in their hands, and some people on the merchant ship also returned fire with guns, but it seemed to have no effect, the boat was still approaching rapidly, and the pirates above were eager to jump on the ship as soon as they got close.

Seeing that the combat mode of pirates in this era was exactly the same as that of the famous "Somali pirates" in later generations, Lin Yizhe couldn't help but be secretly frightened.

Civilization and barbarism are the two wheels of human history. Civilization drives history forward, and barbarism also records the trajectory of history. Pirates are not only a unique fantasy story in the history of European navigation, but Chinese pirates have also been active in history. With the great discoveries of human geography, marine transportation and trade activities are frequent. China's traditional maritime concept has seriously lacked the awareness of coastal defense, and various maritime policies have lagged far behind the progress of the world, and even when piracy was active due to the boom in maritime trade, China's imperial courts have not been able to effectively combat it. Fujian is blessed with the most tortuous coastline in China and the Taiwan Strait to the east, making it an important maritime trade route in Southeast Asia. This provides the conditions for the long-term development of piracy. In modern China, foreign trade along the southeast coast of China gradually flourished, and social problems such as piracy and opium smuggling along the coast of Fujian were intertwined, which had a certain impact on the modern Opium War and the maritime trade around Fujian.

Since the Song Dynasty, China's southeast coastal areas have prospered with social industry and commerce, and Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, and Chaozhou have become trade hubs along the southeast coast. As the contradiction between the private free trade and the official policy of controlling trade intensified, the merchants of Fujian and Guangdong armed trading ships to resist the control of the imperial court. On the other hand, due to factors such as the government's expropriation and extortion, the poor people on the southeast coast often have "existential crises" and are forced to embark on the road of piracy with "no capital business". In the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, "in recent years, there have been many pirates on Guangnan and Fujian roads, plundering coastal counties, towns and villages, foreign seaports, and cities to pay tribute to treasures, and the gains have been huge...... There are many ships that have been plundered, and the foolish people are greedy for profit and chaos, and many of them have become immersed in great troubles...... while a large number of people in the coastal areas have received money, sold stolen goods, and traded for pirates, relying on pirates for their robberies for a living, and regarding pirates as "food and clothing", so piracy is also a kind of "predatory" action. "Song Hui Yao Ji" recorded: "Guangzhou, Quan, Fuzhou, there are many pirates gathering, the beginning of which by the residents to stop Tibetan funds, the sun and the moon for a long time, the party gradually blazing, so for the harm of the sea way." ”

By the Ming Dynasty, trade in Southeast Asia became more frequent. However, the Ming court implemented the well-known "sea ban" under the idea of valuing agriculture and suppressing commerce. As a result, there was a serious contradiction between the economic policy of the Ming Dynasty and the actual economic demand for foreign trade. As the beneficiaries of the southeastern economy and trade, the coastal poor resisted the imperial court by force. As a result, "economic pirates" engaged in smuggling and other illegal maritime activities have appeared along the southeast coast of Fujian. "Fujian people have food and clothing in the sea, and they suddenly lose heavy profits, although the scholar's family is also inconvenient", "The poor people in Fujian's border sea live on the sea, and the sea is forbidden to cut off their way of life, so the more forbidden it is, the more chaotic it is." ", "If the city is general, the business will turn into a business, and if the city prohibits, the business will turn into a businessman. ”

After the Qing Dynasty, China's trade with Western countries flourished beyond all previous dynasties. In the 21st year of Jiaqing (1816), the Qing Dynasty government stipulated that foreign merchant ships were allowed to trade in Guangdong and were not allowed to sail to other provinces. In order to make huge profits, pirates from other provinces participated in opium smuggling activities, trafficking goods to the sea and trading with foreign merchants. It has even formed alliances and cooperated with foreign businessmen to form a smuggling trade gang with a complete supply and marketing system in the southeast Fujian Ocean, which has become more and more intense. The Qing Dynasty government adopted a policy of exterminating and recruiting Fujian pirates. During the Jiaqing period, the Qing Dynasty government spent a lot of troops to exterminate the rampant pirate gang led by Cai Lian, a pirate from Quanzhou, Fujian. Petty pirate gangs, on the other hand, often returned to the country shortly after receiving severance pay from the Qing government. Eventually, the Qing government was unable to cope with more pirates, so much so that it sought help from the British and Portuguese navies. In the 14th year of Jiaqing (1809), an agreement was reached that the Qing court would ask the British naval fleet to escort the convoy and the Portuguese naval fleet to patrol the southeastern sea.

On the eve of the Opium War, in order to encourage civilian maritime forces to resist the British, the Qing Dynasty government issued licenses to pirates along the southeast coast, and distributed sufficient weapons and equipment such as guns and ammunition. Unbeknownst to me, this turned out to be a double-edged sword. This move directly improved the armed combat effectiveness of the pirates on the southeast coast, so that the Qing government needed to spend more energy to exterminate the pirates in the future, but it was a scourge that the Qing government could not take into account. As a result, the entire coast of Canton and Fujian was effectively under the control of pirate henchmen, to whom passing merchant ships and fishing vessels paid regular black fees.

And this time, it is not surprising that the "Wannian Qing" encountered pirates on its first trial voyage in the open sea.

"Quick! Rush over to save the merchant ship! Defeat those pirates! Shen Baozhen said urgently.

Hearing Shen Baozhen's order, Bei Jinquan did not dare to slack off, and the leader issued a combat order, and the whistle of the "Wannian Qing" sounded for a long time, like a galloping horse, and the drum wheel rushed straight towards the pirate ship.

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Trying to update! The protagonist's first battle, hehe, I hope you can enjoy it! Collect! Ask for recommendations!