The next morning, the weather quietly changed, the clouds in the sky slowly piled up, and the originally gentle southeast wind rose and fell, getting weaker and weaker, and the temperature became much colder.

The officers and men on the ship, who were overhauled and maintained, wore two sets of thick black cotton military uniforms and delicately made leather armor, but they still felt that it was difficult to withstand the increasingly cold temperatures.

Zhu Daolin and others on the shore realized that the sky was about to change, and immediately took out the navigation charts drawn by hand for several days to determine the route, and at the same time ordered the officers and men to speed up the preparations before setting sail.

"How far is it from Liugong Island, where we are located, to Dengzhou Port?" Xu Wenjue asked.

Zhu Dao did not raise his head to continue to calculate: "About 130 kilometers, the straight-line distance may be shorter, normal driving for 8 to 10 hours, but the wind direction has changed, sometimes southeast wind, sometimes northeast wind, very unstable, plus we are not familiar with the coastal routes in this area, in order to avoid hitting the reef or stranding, we can only stay away from the coast and take the channel in the middle of the strait." ”

Zhao Huaizhong took the lead in agreeing: "It's good to go in the middle, Lushun in the north is very unstable after the autumn, the Tartar army has been attacking Jinzhou Wei, without Mao Wenlong, the remaining thousands of soldiers in Dongjiang Town don't know if they can hold it; And Dengzhou in the south has been occupied by Kong Youde's rebels for a long time, and it is likely to be dangerous if we get up, so it is most stable to take the middle route. ”

"The 50,000-strong army besieged the city of Dengzhou, which was occupied by more than 10,000 rebels, for more than two months, it stands to reason that it should have been defeated a long time ago, and the new governor of Shandong, Zhu Dadian, does not seem to be the material to lead the troops." Chang Yanjun complained in a low voice.

Zhao Liben's father Zhao Zhilong is the commander of Jinling City Defense, he has heard and seen since he was a child, and he understands the way of attack and defense, and he knows that the city wall of Dengzhou is not only very high, but also very strong, so he said his opinion:

"Dengzhou City is easy to defend and difficult to attack. To the north of the city is a wide water city leading to the sea, where most of the naval warships captured by the rebels are parked, and they can fire artillery to bombard the besieging armies on the east and west sides, so no matter how many people besiege the city, they can only attack the north of the city from the south of the city and the south of the east and west city gates. ”

Everyone nodded frequently, and Chang Yanjun suddenly asked, "If the warships in the north water city of Dengzhou City are destroyed." Will the rebels in the city be in turmoil? ”

Everyone was in high spirits, and Xu Wenjue shook his head: "Do you still need to ask?" The only way for the rebels to retreat has been cut off, how can the morale of the army not be chaotic? But what did you do to destroy the warships in the water city? ”

"As far as I know, due to the continuous war with the Manchu Tartars for more than ten years, among the major naval divisions under the Great Tomorrow, only the Dengzhou Naval Division is the most well-preserved, and more than a dozen 4,000-material warships have been added in recent years, which is equivalent to a 500-ton warship according to the new standard of our Jiangnan Naval Division. It was equipped with 8 to 10 guns, plus the large and small warships and large cargo ships that were preserved before, the number was not less than 100, and no one could do anything unless the hundreds of warships of the Zheng family in Fujian were transferred. ”

Zhao Huaizhong shook his head again and again: "Don't think about the Zheng family in Fujian, since the beginning of this year, the Holy Lord has issued orders three times to ask Zheng Zhilong to lead his troops to clean up the Liu Xiangxiang bandits who burned and killed the looted Liu Xiangxiang bandits along the coast of Guangdong. So far, he has not seen any movement, and the governor of Fujian and the governor of Liangguang are so anxious that they are jumping. Then Zheng Zhilong still delayed for one reason or another, not to mention the extravagance of transferring him to Dengzhou, which was thousands of miles away. ”

"Can our Jiangnan Sailor come over and fight?" Chang Yanjun suddenly asked.

When everyone heard this, they immediately looked at Zhu Daolin.

Zhu Daolin weighed for a moment, and also shook his head: "It's very difficult, first of all, the Jiangnan Sailor under the command of Grandpa Guo is still recovering, and he has been working hard for more than half a year." The number of warships with a displacement of more than 300 tons has increased to 11, and even if I add the 8 warships that I have purchased and built myself, there are only 19 warships in total, which is too different in number compared to the warships of the rebels; Secondly, the fleet went thousands of miles north to fight. It is very dangerous to have no supply base, and even if I have four large cargo ships full of food, grass and ammunition, I will not be able to last long. ”

"19 warships and 4 large cargo ships required at least 4,200 sailors and 2,000 musketeers for close combat...... More than 6,000 officers and soldiers eat and drink every day, and after entering the war zone, at least two warships must be assigned to protect the transport ships transporting gunpowder and projectiles at all times, and only 17 large and small warships are left for combat, how can they fight hard with the more than 100 warships of the rebels? ”

After listening to Zhu Daolin's real analysis, everyone suddenly lost their spirits, and Zhu Daolin saw this and ordered everyone to make preparations quickly, and rushing to the capital as soon as possible was the first priority of this trip.

Everyone dispersed, calling for their entourage to return to their respective tents to pack their bags, but Zhu Daolin did not move, staring at Dengzhou City on the white cotton map and thinking hard.

At ten o'clock in the morning, the two ships that were ready set sail again.

As the clouds were constantly accumulating to obscure the sun, the warship circled the northeast corner of Weihaiwei and turned to the northwest, sailing forward unwaveringly on the turbulent sea in front of the strait.

At 3:10 p.m., the waves gradually increased, and both the "Cypress" and the "Tsubaki" that followed it fell into a disordered wind direction.

The bitter north wind and the humid south wind collided with each other, forming an unpredictable and slow air current, and the two fast warships were scattered by the sudden wind many times as the waves continued to rise and fall.

The officers and men on board had only been training for two months in the calm middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and few of them had experience in sea navigation.

Fortunately, Zhu Daolin on the "Cypress" quickly summed up the lessons and lessons, and after retrieving the lost "Chunshu" for the third time, he decisively ordered the longitudinal sails on the main mast to be lowered, so that the two warships floating on the top of the wind and waves that were about to get out of control successfully slowed down, and under Zhu Daolin's calm command, they gradually broke away from the storm area that set off the storms and waves, and resumed their attitude again and continued to drive westward.

Most of the officers and men who had recovered their souls were drenched by the waves rushing in layers, and one by one they were so cold that their faces were innocent, and their teeth were fighting, and under the orders of their respective officers, they began to take turns to go down to the bottom cabin to change their clothes, and the non-commissioned officers who did not have their turn had to endure the cold and quickly wipe down the deck, inspect the sail ropes, lifting equipment, and the 16 guns fixed to the sides of the ship.

Chen Xuan, the captain of the "Chunshu", who had his hands free, picked up a few finger-sized hailstones on the deck and handed them to Zhu Daolin and Xu Wenjue, who were drenched:

"It's the first time in my life that my subordinates have encountered such a dangerous turbulence, and this ghost weather is just changing, and it crackled and fell such a big hailstone, which frightened my subordinates at the time, but fortunately, no one was hit in the head, otherwise it would have to be opened."

"Who's to say no? Look at our Captain Guo's forehead, haha! Zhu Daolin laughed after speaking.

Guo Zhongjun touched the big bag on the right side of his forehead that was smashed by hailstones, and was annoyed: "If it is on flat ground, no matter how much hail falls, you can dodge it, but it is difficult to stand firm on a boat that is up and down, and with layers of big waves rushing onto the deck, where is there still the ability to dodge?" I can't even open my eyes! Not to mention that I didn't see the hail falling, and even if I did, I couldn't dodge it, but fortunately it didn't hit my eyeball. ”

The crowd laughed, and then marveled.

Zhu Daolin stood in the middle of the deck from beginning to end, holding the mast, constantly observing, constantly giving orders, Xu Wenjue followed him closely, and the hailstones that lasted for several minutes fell, beating the officers and soldiers on the deck to the deck and wailing, and the two of them had nothing to do except get soaked.

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PS: Thank you Sea Warrior, yesterday's Fenxiang big reward, thank you yesterday's Fenxiang, 77 White Bear, Yunzhi, and Sea Warrior's monthly pass! Xiaohuo continues to ask for subscriptions, tips, referral tickets, and monthly pass encouragement! (To be continued.) )