The battleship made of 100-year-old oak wood has been officially launched in the autumn.

The first batch of warships consisted of two, both of which were of the Galen type. One 650 tons, one 500 tons, four masts, with a cross sail.

Galen sails were hung with square sails, an operation that began thirty years ago and is also known as the "Vergate Sailing". Later sail frigates, also called "Vergate Galleon", but the two are not the same thing.

In addition, the deck superstructure was deliberately reduced at the time of design, and the bow tower became shorter than that of a typical Galen ship.

This change is to make the hull lighter and lower the center of gravity of the hull. Not only is it more agile when sailing, but it is also less susceptible to storms. It's just that from the point of view of appearance, it is tall and mighty before it is not improved, and the appearance is a minus point.

Europe is also making this improvement, even moving the foremast back to directly above the bow tower, so that the mast distribution is more rational and efficient.

"Good ship!"

Before Kwong Hong boarded the ship, he couldn't help but admire.

Kuang Hong is Kuang Lu's eldest son, and his father, who previously served as the political envoy of Zuobu in Guizhou, has now been transferred back to Nanjing to serve as the Zuo Shilang of the household department.

Kuang Hong himself served the Datong court early, good at poetry and books, music, horsemanship, swordsmanship, recruited troops to resist the Qing Dynasty in history, and died in the eastern suburbs of Guangzhou.

After Zhang Dai and Liu Xiangke were promoted, it was impossible to personally send envoys to foreign countries, and Kuang Hong was appointed as a negotiator this time and went to Batavia with the heads of Dutch prisoners of war.

"These two ships were designed and built by Dutch shipbuilders and Han shipbuilders together," Hong Xu introduced with a smile, "The two gangs almost fought, and the Han shipbuilders had to use hard sails for life and death, and then used soft sails after His Majesty's decision." The Han shipbuilders wanted to add stalks to the bottom of the ship, and the Dutch shipbuilders didn't know about it, and after making trouble with His Majesty, this time it was the Han shipbuilders who won. “

Terrier Mizuki is a stabilizer keel, which relies on the hydrodynamic action of the ship when it rolls to generate a stable moment to reduce the ship's rocking. It can work wonders in the event of a storm, and it can also make the boat more stable when sailing in normal times.

This kind of ship anti-roll device in China is at least 700 years earlier than that of Europe (subject to the unearthed objects), and has been used from the Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. Europe, on the other hand, was not invented until the end of the 18th century.

The two new ships of the Datong Navy combine the advantages of Eastern and Western sea ships, and not everything is decided by Dutch shipbuilders.

Kwong Hung led people aboard the battleship, and the heads of the Dutch prisoners of war were all contained in wooden boxes.

As he walked, Hong Xu introduced: "The Spanish ship that was captured before was named 'Datong, and now it is changed to 'Taiwan'. The largest new ship is called the Canton. The slightly smaller new ship next to it is called the Fuzhou. On the Canton, there are more than 40 large and small cannons, the largest of which is a 6,000-pound cannon. “

Kuang Hong listened with pride: "With this huge ship, you can sail all over the world!" “

Kuang Hong is a native of Nanhai, Guangdong, and has been accustomed to seeing sea ships since he was a child. Now that he is on the 650-ton Canton, he suddenly doesn't want to be a civilian official, and wants to become a naval admiral across the ocean.

Naval fleet, departing from the port of Taicang.

There are several small boats ahead, towing and guiding the big ships of the navy, all the way to avoid the shallows and reefs, and smoothly enter the sea from the Yangtze River.

The navigator holds a nautical compass in his hand, which can be used with the "Haidao Needle Sutra".

The "Haidao Needle Sutra" is a collection of the painstaking efforts of countless Chinese navigators, and has been accumulated since the Song Dynasty. At first, it was only written about the seas near China, until Zheng He went to the Western Ocean and recorded the Indian Ocean.

Although most of Zheng He's navigation materials have been lost, his "Haidao Needle Classic" has been circulated, and the "Zhufan Map of Sailing from Longjiang Pass to Foreign Countries from Longjiang Pass" published in the Wanli period is a set of Zheng He's needle book for going to the West.

The "Needle Classic of the Sea Road" used by the Datong Navy collected and sorted out a large number of needle paths, and at the same time allowed the maritime merchants of various provinces to contribute their own navigation charts. After summarizing, the "Datong Haidao Needle Sutra" was engraved, and private maritime merchants could also buy it at a high price.

The heavenly thousand, the earthly branch, and the eight trigrams divide the nautical compass into 24 equal parts.

Follow Zheng He's needle road positioning in the West: Taicang Port to open a ship, use Danyi needle, a watch, and level the Wusong River. With a Yi Mao needle, a watch, to the Nanhui mouth.

Translated as human words: Taicang Port set sail, drove in the direction of 105 degrees, and passed through ten miles (some say twelve miles) to Wusong River. Then drive in the direction of 97.5 degrees, pass through ten miles, and arrive at Nanhuizui.

All the routes of Zheng He's voyage are all accurately positioned, such as in the waters of the South China Sea-

"Sumatra drove the boat, with a dry needle, twelve watches, and the boat was leveled on Ambergris. Forty watches, the ship used a Xinyou needle again. Fifty watches, the ship saw the mountains of Ceylon. (From the port of Sumatra, sail in a 307.5-degree direction, 120 miles to Ambergris.) Continue for 400 miles, turn to

Sail in a direction of 277.5 degrees, and after 500 miles, you can see the Mount Ceylon. )

Such a needle path positioning can be called an ancient version of fool navigation.

Of course, the sea is changing rapidly, and a gust of wind can blow off course, so it is necessary to use the "star-pulling technique".

It is recorded in the literature that Ma Huaide in Suzhou at the end of the Ming Dynasty collected a set of star-drawn plates, which were often praised by later generations as ancient Chinese navigation navigators. But in fact, Ma Huaide's set of star-pulling plates could not measure the height of the stars in Zheng He's navigation chart at all.

In Zheng He's navigation chart, the height of the star is often fourteen or fifteen fingers, and Ma Huaide's star-pulling board can measure up to twelve fingers, and the number of star-pulling plates must continue to increase.

Zheng He used a measuring ruler, or a star-pulling ruler, or an increased star-pulling board.

And the Datong Navy, which directly uses the Europeans' rectangular instruments, is actually similar in principle. Moreover, the use of the rectangular instrument appeared in China very early, but Shen Kuo used a bow and crossbow at that time.

Following the cold snap and monsoon, Kwong Hung soon arrived in Guangzhou, where he resupplied himself and joined five more warships of the Canton fleet.

A total of twenty warships, in addition to logistical supplies, also carried some cargo. The profits from trade were divided into 30% by the navy, 40% by the treasury, and the remaining 30% by the royal family.

Although the navy's trade practices are allowed, they must be reported every time and must be taxed according to the customs regulations.

In addition, the number of trade times and trade quotas each year are strictly controlled, and even the officials who preside over the transactions are sent by the Ministry of Commerce, and Datong Bank has sent people to supervise the finances. The purpose of such trouble is to prevent the navy from completely getting out of control, and also to prevent the navy from competing for business with civilian maritime merchants.

In December, the fleet arrived near Batavia, but did not dock directly, but continued its voyage to the port of Banten.

"The Chinese fleet has been killed?" Van der Rin was still the governor, but because the sea route was far away, the dismissal order had not yet arrived.

Van der Laan said: "There are twenty warships, two of which are large ships of more than 500 tons. “

Vanderlin worried: "Do the Chinese want to occupy Batavia?" ”

Vanderlaan said: "Probably not, they continue westward, it should be to Banten Port. “

"Are they going to make an alliance with the British?" Vanderlin's brow furrowed.

The Netherlands is in Batavia and the UK is in Banten, and the two port cities are close together.

At first, the Dutch could not afford to take Batavia, because the kingdom of Banten was very strong in its own right, and it allied with the British against the Dutch.

As a result, the Dutch resorted to a discordant plan, saying that the prince who was guarding Jakarta (Batavia) was going to rebel, and the Sultan actually called the prince back. The Dutch resorted to a divisive strategy, causing the Sultan of Banten to force Britain to sign a special relationship treaty, and the alliance between Banten and Britain broke down.

As a result, the Dutch captured Jakarta in one fell swoop and renamed it Batavia.

The Sultan of Banten was remorseful, and hurriedly repaired relations with the British, and joined forces with the local natives to attack the Dutch. The Dutch could not resist and asked for peace talks several times, but in the end they waited for reinforcements.

Now, the relationship between Banten and Britain has become very close again, because they have a common enemy.

Kwong Hung arrived at Banten Port by boat and found it prosperous like never before.

Unlike Batavia next door, where there are only the Dutch and Chinese, Banten Port has everything but the Dutch. It is a free port, especially with the largest number of green merchants, many of whom come from the Arab region.

The Datong Navy sailed in, and merchant ships from various countries took refuge.

As for the Banten Navy, there were only a few small sampans, all of which were left over by the Dutch fleet.

Kuang Hong landed under the escort of naval soldiers and said loudly: "Kuang Hong, the Chinese envoy of Datong, has come to visit Banten!" “

The interpreter hurriedly shouted, shouting several times, and finally the port tax collector from Banten came.

"I am a Chinese envoy, go and tell your king." Kwong Hung said.

The tax collector had a constipated expression on his face: "The old sultan has died of illness, and the new sultan has not yet succeeded to the throne." “

Kuang Hong was stunned: "Such a coincidence? “

Coincidentally, while he was talking, there was a sudden sound of gunfire in the city, followed by a burst of shouting.

After a short time, a large number of nobles and merchants fled from the city in panic.

Kwong Hung didn't know what was going on and immediately returned to the warship.

After about an hour, an official from Banten finally came and invited him to come into the city to meet the Sultan.

Accompanied by naval soldiers, Kwong Hung made his way to the city. There are no walls, just a residential area, and the royal palace is located in the castle in the center of the city.

Upon entering the city, Kwong found blood stains everywhere and some Banten soldiers cleaning up the bodies.

Make your way to the castle, where there is even more blood.

Finally, Kwong Hung met the new sultan of Banten, Ah Geng.

This Aggen Sultan had just killed his brothers and seized the throne of the king by force. Next, he will work hard to build an elite navy and build caravans to sail to the Philippines and India.

Unfortunately, after the death of Sultan Agen, his sons competed for the throne, and the Netherlands took the opportunity to support one of them and control the state of Banten from then on.

Standing in the midst of the blood stains on the ground, Sultan Ageng smiled and saluted Kuang Hong: "Welcome to the envoy from China, you are the most honored guest of Banten. The hateful Dutch, the enemy of Banten, and the Netherlands are also the enemy of China. We have the same enemies, so we are destined friends.

Kuang Hong looked at Ah Geng, who was standing in the bloodstain, and listened to the translator relay the content of the speech, and immediately made a judgment: The person in front of him must be a foreign hero!

(The easter egg chapter of the previous chapter was reviewed by the card.) )

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