Chapter 26, Twenty-seven Moments of Chongzhen's Four Years (26)

Moment 26: The lone ship heading north

At the end of December in the fourth year of Chongzhen, early in the morning, in the northern part of the East China Sea, near the mouth of the Yangtze River

Although it was close to the end of the year, and the sea was stormy and stormy, the poor fisherman, who was overwhelmed by the excesses of taxes and the soaring price of food, was forced to take the risk of sailing out to sea early in the morning, and was now laboriously pulling the little fishing net he had caught into the small boat.

On a fishing boat, a child of about five or six years old, dressed in a shabby gown, was sitting barefoot in the bow of the boat, holding a papier-mâché windmill in his hand, with a long cloth belt tied around his waist, and the other end tightly wrapped around the bow pillar. For some reason, the mischievous boy always looked into the distance from time to time—at the end of the misty sea, there seemed to be some blurry image that caught his attention.

Then, a towering white sail slowly appeared on the surface of the sea...... The huge hull hidden behind the fog was something that the lonely fisherman had never seen in his life, and the black cannons on the ship were even more chilling. Although the ship in front of me is still far away, the incomparable hull has stunned the fishermen who have been adrift at sea all their lives, in this world, there is such a big ship

- Although it is not uncommon for Western-style galleons of such tonnage to be found along the coast of Fujian and Guangdong, and it is even more common for fortune ships of several hundred tons, on the coastline of China's Big 6 north of the mouth of the Yangtze River, since the disappearance of the treasure ships in the period of Zheng He, there has never been a "giant ship" of such a scale.

At the same time, the 1,000-ton Western-style galleon, the steam-sail hybrid warship Haitian, which also had a chimney erected on its deck, did not pay any attention to the surprised eyes of the small fishing boats, and just continued to sail north along the coastline of China's Big 6. On the deck of the sailboat, several officers in blue standing uniforms, slender swords hanging from their waists, each holding a telescope, were chatting about something.

In front of them, a Ming Dynasty general wearing bright light armor and scarlet scarlet on his shoulders was standing majestically with his sword in hand, standing steadily on the slightly undulating deck, facing the howling winter wind, squinting his eyes, and looking thoughtfully at the sea of mist in front of him.

He is the Fujian General Soldier of the Ming Dynasty, the commander-in-chief of the 6th Army of the "Thief", and the legendary general who fought all over Liaodong in the past: Huang Shi, Huang Dashuai

At the end of Chongzhen's fourth year, the East China Sea was still foggy, first pink like a fairyland, and then gradually turned white. The sun was wrapped in this morning mist, and gradually rose, emitting a faint light. The thick fog stuck in front of the sailors like a wall, cut open by the bow and closed at the stern. And the officers standing on the deck also felt that water was almost dripping from the air.

As the sun rises, the fog on the sea surface thins out, and the western coastline is clearly visible from the mist. The lookout on the mast shouted down with a microphone, and several naval lieutenants ran to the chart room to calculate, and finally Yang Zhiyuan, the captain of the personal guard, came forward and said to Huang Shi, who was contemplating with a sword on the deck, "Tell the marshal that this ship has passed the Shengsi Islands, is it going directly north to Liaodong?" ”

“…… No, according to the original plan, let's go to Jeju Island in North Korea first and survey the situation of this scheduled transit station."

Huang Shi pondered for a moment before turning his head and commanding, "...... Also, raise my flag and don't have to hide it now."

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With the order of Huang Shi Huang Dashuai, the deck of the Haitian suddenly became busy, and there were beeping whistles and tinkling copper bells everywhere. Sailors were running around hoisting and reeling the sails, adjusting the cables. The black smoke from the chimney was getting thicker, and it was clear that the stoker was desperately burning the boiler, preparing to turn and add. A general flag with the words "Ming Fujian General Soldier Yellow", a green snake military flag of the fire battalion of Huang Dashuai's army and the blue and white Qiming cross star flag of the Lingao Senate rose on the mast at the same time, facing the hunting sea breeze.

At the same time, Huang Dashuai, who had been blowing the sea breeze for a while, slowly paced back to his cabin below the aft deck and rested for a while.

——In the establishment of the Senate of Lingao Traversal, the name "Haitian" originally belonged to a 100-ton ship, which once served as a transportation mission in the "thief's" sweeping operation at the mouth of the Pearl River. Next, with the retirement of the old Canton ship, the name "Haitian" was transplanted to a 170-ton European-style brig schooner, which carried out a series of reconnaissance and mapping missions during the war between Taiwan and Japan. However, during this year's expedition to the Satsuma Domain, the "Haitian" unfortunately ran aground on the reef and was difficult to repair for a while, so the Senate simply gave it to the Choshu Domain's allies, and then transferred the name of the "Haitian" to a newly launched steam-sail hybrid warship.

The "Haitian III" that Huangshi is riding on now has a full load displacement of 1o6 tons, powered by two steam engines with about 3o horsepower, and is driven by propellers, which can reach 18 knots at the fastest in a downwind state. As a warship, the hull of the "Haitian" was wrapped in copper skin, and the ship was equipped with three revolving rifled guns, sixteen smoothbore guns, and if it was the predecessor of the "typewriter" rifled gun, or the small-caliber Gatling gun, it was almost an invincible behemoth in the waters of Northeast Asia in this era.

But Huang Shi was not satisfied with this lonely battleship - he was supposed to take a huge fleet of transport ships, hospital ships, warships and 6 warbands to Liaodong to pick up the old acquaintances of the Dongjiang Army who were suffering and hungry and cold, and by the way to teach Tartar a lesson丨 instead of sailing north with only one boat at the end of the year, at best, it could only bring a way to survive a few dozen refugees, which was purely better than nothing.

Under Huangshi's strenuous efforts, the Senate had already made a perfect plan for the "great retreat from Liaodong", planning to first occupy Jeju Island in North Korea as a transit point, import and hoard the rations needed by the refugees from Japan, and then repeatedly transfer them between Liaodong, Jeju, Taiwan, Fujian, and Hainan Island, striving to rescue at least 100,000 people from Liaodong at one time, so that its own national strength would once again explode to a higher level.

However, with the expeditionary fleets of the East Coast countries, China and the United States rushing all the way from North and South America to East Asia, and the 10,000-ton modern sailing ships of the "real" Australians arrived at the port of Batavia, the entire Lingao Traverser Group suddenly felt like a great enemy, and no longer had the intention of paying attention to the affairs of Liaodong. This large-scale rescue and resettlement operation was put on hold indefinitely - the vast majority of the fleet and forces under the Senate had to be reduced to Lingao, both as a precaution and as a show of strength to the other big 6 Chinese traversers: any diplomacy needs to be backed by force

Therefore, at least until the end of this unprecedented "Global Traverser Summit", Lingao will not be able to make any big moves.

However, the soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang, who are now in the midst of a great famine, may not be able to survive this winter

Huang Shi was anxious about this, but he couldn't convince the elders, and in the end, the Senate only saw his face and sent a "Haitian" battleship to carry out a reconnaissance mission to the north, to collect intelligence for the "Liaodong Retreat" operation that may be relaunched in the future, and if conditions permit, it can also bring back a small group of refugees...... So, the frustrated Huang Shi held the idea of "it is one to save an old friend", pushed down the conference seat in Lingao, and was not even at home for the New Year, and personally led an elite guard team to take the Haitian to the north, preparing to go to Liaodong to rescue the old friend. - No matter how many people he can save in the end, at least he must do his best, otherwise Huang Shi simply doesn't know how to explain to the old Liaodong department around him.

In fact, in Huang Shi's opinion, the Senate of Lingao was so nervous that it was actually scared of itself. Even if the Lingao side is negligent in guarding, according to common sense, the "compatriots" of the travelers in the Americas and Australia should not have any ill will towards the Lingao side......

-- From the map, the "China and America" with New York as the residence in North America, the "East Coast Country" with Uruguay as the core in South America, as well as their colonies in southern Africa, and the Australian Crossing Crowd that occupied the port of Derby in later generations, are like sparks one after another, illuminating every wild corner of the edge of the civilized world. However, the reason why they are called sparks is because their foundations are not strong and are in danger of being extinguished at any time: the population of these three "distant crossing forces" combined, I am afraid that there may not even be a million

The Australian gang was in the worst situation, with a modern galleon that rivaled East Asia, but almost nothing else: no population, no market, no army, and even a lack of timber and life-sustaining food for shipbuilding. If you're unlucky, a natural disaster or even a group of pirates can nip the small colonial city-state they have built into its infancy.

The two groups of people from the Americas have been in this world for ten years, bumping and bumping along the way, and now they are finally on their feet. However, the East Coast Republic was located between Portugal and the Spanish colonies, and it was impossible not to fight with Spain for the sake of expansion and expansion, and it was impossible to spare too much energy to go to other corners of the world, even if it was to make round-the-world routes to serve South America and Spain.

The Chinese American Republic in the north occupied the basic territory of the United States in later generations, and behind it there was a vast and rich North America to develop, and the space and environment for development were relatively ideal, and there was little interest in other overseas territories. But on a very serious issue, it is as embarrassing as the Republic of the East Coast.

- The Americas and Australia, which slept in the wilderness, meant not only great wealth but also crises and burdens for the travelers, and wherever they were founded, they were the periphery of the entire civilized world, far from the main wealth and cultural centers of the world at that time. There is almost nothing left except nature, so they can only rely on them to start from scratch, little by little, overcoming obstacles and making a blue thread. But it will take a constant flow of immigrants from the civilized world to raise the most basic labor for jobs.

However, the Americas are separated from Europe and Africa across the Atlantic, and the only immigrants that can be easily brought in are Europeans and Africans – in most cases, of course, Europeans. However, the rulers of these two crossing groups are later Chinese, the official language can only be Chinese, and the mainstream culture must also be Chinese culture. In those days, there was no such thing as "multiculturalism" in Europe, only the firm belief that "God rules over one qiē" and the glorious mission of "burning the infidels" - so that the so-called clash of civilizations was inevitable, and the entire ruling class seemed to sit on a crater, and the revolt of the indigenous population and the agitation of European immigrants, coupled with the impetus of the enemy powers, could overthrow their country at any time

As a result, unless the travelers were willing to switch to English or Spanish and convert to Christianity en masse, they would have to bring in a large number of immigrants from the Ming to balance the domestic situation, even if it was just to maintain the survival of the country. Even if the treasury is exhausted for this, it will not hesitate

Even if they don't consider the friendship of fellow travelers, in such a situation, how dare they offend the Lingao crossers who are stuck in the immigration channel?

In contrast, the Lingao Crossing Crowd, which is entrenched in the southern gate of China, is in a much more comfortable situation - it can not only effectively use the market of the Ming Dynasty, but also relatively easily deal with the situation of the Ming Dynasty, without having to cross half the world like the two forces in the Americas. Even it was much easier to attract immigrants - Lingao was still within the traditional territory of the Ming Dynasty, while the Americas were already out of the imagination of the Ming Dynasty.

In short, the current situation is that the forces of the Americas and Australia have a desire to go to the heights of the people, not the other way around. China, the United States and the East Coast countries in the Americas, could not affect the situation of the Ming Dynasty, let alone have the strength to spread the flames of war to the doorstep of the Lingao Senate......

The above truths were mentioned by Huangshi at the plenary meeting of Lingao, and they were also recognized by many people. But the problem is that although they know that it is basically impossible for people from the Americas and Australia to have malicious intentions, in line with the idea of "not afraid of 10,000, just in case", most of the patriarchs still insist on gathering their military forces in Lingao as much as possible, so that they can have more sense of security - so the Liaodong rescue operation was finally declared aground.

And Huangshi had no choice but to leave Lingao with a stomach full of depression and sail north on the "Haitian" alone.

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Due to unfamiliar routes and unfavorable winds, it was not until Chinese New Year's Eve, the fourth year of Chongzhen, that the "Haitian" arrived in the waters near Jeju Island.

At this time, the ship was already full of "New Year's flavor" - even if they had to drift away during the New Year, the Chinese should try to make a decent Chinese New Year's Eve meal: the dumplings were too late, but the chef still boiled a large pot of shelf-stable vegetables such as bacon and radish and onion on the ship, plus authentic Longkou vermicelli, sprinkled with spices, and stewed to the aroma. The soldiers also received a special ration from the chief of the division: two taels of rum, two cigarettes, a pastry and a few pieces of fruit candy. Couplets were pasted on the hatches, lanterns were hung in the cafeteria, and there was a jubilant mood everywhere.

However, just when everyone on the boat was looking for an opportunity to come to the door of the kitchen from time to time to smell the fragrance, and wait for the meal to be opened like a cat's scratch, there were bursts of panicked screams from the lookout post, which attracted everyone to come over to watch...... A few more moments passed, and then, like the lookout on the mast, the rest of the ship was also in a state of confusion in the wind, and the corners of their mouths twitched like ram's horns, and they could no longer speak.

Even the Huangshi handsome, who has always been known as "Mount Tai collapses on the top and his face does not change", is also stunned and stunned.

- In front of their vision, there was the sea, islands, and boats.

But the problem is that what appeared in front of the Haitian, in the waters of Jeju Island in the Kingdom of Korea, was not the simple merchant ships or fishing boats that were common along the way, nor the banya boats and turtle ships of the North Korean sailors, but a huge steel ship of surprisingly large and terrifying size

The Haitian at their feet was like a toy compared to it

All of a sudden, the sense of oppression that overlooks all living beings seeped deep into everyone's pores - but the people on the big iron ship opposite were also surprised and inexplicable after seeing a steamship that should have been stored in the 19th century on the East Asian seas in the 17th century.

Then, Huang Shi Huang Dashuai looked at the five-star red flag on the mast of the Hyundai Deng-6 ship opposite, and suddenly couldn't help but burst into tears, "...... Is that...... New China's five-star red flag? But how is this possible? Could it be that this ship has traveled back to modern times? Can I go see my parents too? ”

- Unfortunately, the truth is not as rosy as Yellowstone imagined.

After getting in touch with the boarding 6 ship on the other side, initially figuring out the origin of the other party, and confirming that he had not returned to modern times, Huangshi's mood was low. When his Haitian was "escorted" into the port of Jeju Island by two iron-hulled armed fishing vessels of the Far East Company, and many acquaintances of the Dongjiang Army wearing Russian military uniforms appeared here, Huangshi's mood became even more solid.

At the same time, because the Haitian was not equipped with a radio, the Senate of Lingao Travelers, who knew nothing about it, were still in full swing preparing for the Global Traveler Summit, the "Visiting Wèn Fleet" from the distant Americas and Australia, which had already set sail from Batavia......

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