Chapter 032: Nautical Charts

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"Oh my God..."

Huang Yigong, the original craftsman of Longjiang Shipyard and a descendant of Huangshi, the participant in the manufacture of treasure ships, was looking at the treasure ship construction drawings handed to him by Chen Cao, and after looking at them for a long time, he muttered: "My ancestors have always said that building treasure ships is the right way, and that thing is big," he said and looked at Chen Cao: "My lord, with this drawing, I believe that a treasure ship can be built within a year." ”

"Don't rush yet." Chen Cao stopped Huang Yigong's thoughts: "This drawing is not only the construction drawings of treasure ships, but also horse ships and many other sea warships, and the largest sea ship in my dynasty is only 800 materials, which is not even a fraction of others compared to the sea ships of the Taixi countries." ”

Huang Yigong nodded: "What my lord said is reasonable, Xiao had built a boat for the Portuguese in Fujian a few years ago, and their warships were all three-masted soft sails, and each ship had more than 2,000 materials, and the naval battle was a giant." ”

"That's not good," Chen Cao waved his hand: "Now the shipyard is reopened all up to Wei Guogong, there are 1,000 sea ships inside, and now there are maps, based on it, directly build 3,000 sea ships, first build three, and it will be useful at the end of this year." ”

"Yes..."

"You are now a shipyard ambassador, do a good job, and your benefits are indispensable."

"Lord Xie..."

Zou Weilian was acquitted, and these people were hiding under the instruction of Qi Boyu before, and now there is Jinyiwei who confirmed that someone made false accusations, which made some people in the Yamen of the Ministry of War panic, after all, when they came to get people, others said that the report within the Ministry of War was made.

Qi Boyu appeased Zou Weilian and let him leave, there have been a lot fewer rumors about himself in the past few days, and Qi Boyu has also begun to take the value, the most important thing is to find out who falsely accused Zou Weilian.

Chen Cao has not been idle, he has been studying the navigation charts at home for the past few days, but he has not made any progress at all.

"What a bad thing..."Chen Cao didn't dare to throw it, this nautical chart is the original map, and it has not been imitated, but thinking that the development of modern powers depends on maritime colonization, and the hegemony of this sea must all be in the hands of the Ming Dynasty, and the key is that he really doesn't know anything about navigation.

'You have to find someone who understands the sea. Chen Cao thought alone in his heart.

Out of the study, Chen Cao walked outside the door, called Zhao Xin close and asked, "How many of our Daming Sailors exist?" ”

Zhao Xin frowned: "The subordinates only know the Caojiang Water Division, Chaohu Water Division, Longjiang Water Division, Poyang Lake Water Division, Guangdong and Fujian Water Divisions, and the rest have to go back to the Yamen to check the files." ”

"Forget it, I have to go to Boss Xu and ask."

Xu Guangqiguan is tall and age-appropriate, Chen Cao opened his mouth when he saw him: "Ask the boss, do we have any more famous generals in the Ming Water Division?" ”

Xu Guangqi frowned: "The Daming Sailor has declined since orthodoxy, and the famous sailor generals have to be only when Emperor Taizu and Emperor Chengzu are in power." ”

"Lately? Or is it the Wanli Ye period? ”

Xu Guangqi thought for a while, and then said: "During the Eastern Expedition to Korea, the main general Chen Lan and the deputy general Deng Zilong, one was the admiral of the navy, and the other was the deputy general. ”

Chen Cao felt that it made sense, so he asked, "Then do these two generals have children who are officials in the court?" ”

"I don't know about this old man, but I'm sure they will have a water fight," Xu Guangqi looked at Chen Cao and smiled: "The old man knows what you mean by asking this." ”

"Hehe..." Chen Cao snorted, excused himself and left, turning his head to look at Zhao Xin: "Immediately let me check on Chen Lu and Deng Zilong's family." ”

...

"The Eastern Expedition to Korea, at that time in North Korea they called the Imchen War, the Japanese army had almost 200,000 people, all well-equipped, they had arquebuses more advanced than our Ming Dynasty," in the Qianhu Office, a forty-year-old Baihu official was telling Chen Cao a story: "At that time, the subordinates were just the small banner of the Nanzhen Fusi, and they were ordered to go to North Korea to spy on the military situation of the Japanese army, these people fought bravely, from the landing of Pusan to the fall of North Korea, it took less than a month, they were advancing by land and water, and they took Seoul on the nineteenth day of landing. The subordinate was in the general flag department at that time, and there were six people left by the end of the war, and not only the subordinate general flag department, but also many brothers in the Beizhen Fusi died in North Korea. ”

North Korea is a pig teammate This matter is recognized in later generations, otherwise it would not have been beaten so badly by the Japanese army, and it took 19 days to defeat North Korea during the cold weapon period, which can be regarded as Toyotomi Hideyoshi's courage is big enough, and the Japanese army's combat effectiveness is strong.

"The commander-in-chief of the Japanese army is Ukita Hideie, the army is headed by Yukinaga Konishi, and the navy is commanded by the nine ghosts Yoshitaka, headed by Fujido Takatora;" The Baihu official also said: "The Korean military has been abandoned for nearly two hundred years, and the army of the whole country is only 30,000 people, and it is impossible to defeat the army. ”

"I didn't expect the Korean War to be so interesting," Chen Cao's previous understanding of the Korean War was only one-sided, and now he has a survivor who has participated in it: "By the way, how is the command of our Daming Naval Division?" ”

Baihu thought for a while: "Admiral Chen Lan and Deputy General Deng Zilong, both of them are commanders of the naval division, they are quite familiar with water warfare, and they are from Guangdong and Fujian. ”

"My lord, it's gone..."Xu Kaixian walked into the middle hall with the file: "Chen Lan posthumously presented the crown prince Taibao, the family is hereditary and hereditary 100 households, the eldest son is dead, and the eldest grandson Chen Maoxiu is now commanded by thousands of households in Yun'an County; There is also Chen Yongsu, the fifth grandson of Shu, who is now the captain of the Navy Patrol School in Yongping Town, Liudu County; Then he flipped it again: "After General Deng's death, his son Deng Guang is now the 100 households of Poyang Lake." ”

"I'll go to my grandfather tomorrow for help, and in the name of Cao Jiang Shui Shi, I will promote Chen Maoxiu, Chen Yongsu and Deng Guang, and let them come to Cao Jiang Shui Shi to serve."

...

On the fifth day of the first month of April, the first general inspection of the Nanjing Right Guard School, with a total of 5,600 generals and soldiers in the whole guard.

Chen Cao was dressed in drape, standing majestically on the general's platform, on the left was Song Che, who knew Tongzhi, and then went down to be the commanding generals of several right guards such as Qi Xianzong and Bei Tianhua.

Qi Xianzong stepped forward and shouted loudly: "Nanjing Right Guard, the martial arts exercise begins..."

There was no cavalry on the right guard of Nanjing, all of them were infantry, and after the training of the 'Chen's Drill Code', they had a clear eye, and they were kicking to catch up with the army of later generations.

Chen Cao nodded with satisfaction: "Qi Xianzong has done a good job. ”

Qi Xianzong was in charge of the basic training and battle formation training of the whole guard, and Song Che was mainly responsible for the training of muskets.

"The thousandth house, maintenance..."

'Stamped, stamped, stamped...' There was a trot, and more than 1,000 people from the 1,000th household were in full formation at the front of the shooting range, and the commander commanded the thousand households to draw their knives and shout: "Raise the gun... Preparation... put..."

'Bang bang bang...'

After several months of improvement, the smoke fired by the paper shell bullet is obviously much smaller, and there is no need for arquebus ignition, let alone three-stage shooting.

Chen Cao was very satisfied, and then the remaining thousand households were inspected, and it was not until the end, after the three hundred families belonging to Chen Cao had finished firing their guns, Chen Cao patted Qi Xianzong and Song Che on the shoulders and said, "He is rich and noble, and the two of you are with me." ”

"Lord Xie..."

"That's right," Chen Cao looked at Song Che and said: "The battlefield is full of shouting and killing, in order to make the order can be conveyed in advance, make some iron whistles, and use the whistle to represent the military order, as for how to arrange it, I will write it to you after I think about it, and you will train according to this." ”

"No problem..."Song Che nodded.

...

"YCIS, I heard that your Nanjing right guard training is over?" Xu Hongji drank tea, looked at Chen Cao, who was sitting farther away from the lower one, and said, "When can I go to sea?" ”

"Grandpa, you can go to sea at any time, but there are three warships with 800 warships in the Jiangshui Division, and if you really fight, you have to try your luck." Chen Cao did not hesitate to express his concerns.

"Do you have any proposals for water wars?" Xu Hongji frowned.

"The door can go directly to the sea, and the sea ships of Longjiang Shipyard are now building a large ship of 3,000 materials, and it will be launched in June at the earliest." Chen Cao gave his hand.

Xu Hongji let out a sigh of relief, and then said: "I won't hide it from you, the imperial history of the DPRK impeached my Wei State Mansion, and said in front of Your Majesty that my Xu family has been guarding Nanjing for generations, and should be removed from the post of Caojiang Admiral, and now the DPRK is discussing this matter, Yaozhong, if you can't go out to sea to fight a battle to give us prestige, I'm afraid I will have to take the initiative to submit my resignation before September." ”

"The Donglin Party can't tolerate grandpa like this?" Chen Cao was a little angry, and then gave his hand: "Grandpa, don't worry, when you go to sea in three days, you will use the three warships as the foundation to meet the pirates for a while." Don't worry, grandfather, they want the people of the Donglin Party to come to the commander to Cao Jiang, and they don't have that ability..."

Chen Cao left the Deguo Mansion, and immediately instructed Zhao Xin beside him: "Take 20,000 taels of silver tickets, and send them to the capital immediately to send them to Wei Zhongxian, he has another courtyard in the capital, and he will send it directly to the other courtyard." Hand over my letter to them. ”

"Yes..."

After speaking, he instructed Zhang Fengnian beside him: "From now on, you will command the three hundred families around me, go back and tell them to get ready to go to sea." ”

"Yes..."

"Xu Kaixian..."

"The subordinates are here."

"You immediately go to the barracks, tell Song Che and Qi Xianzong, gather seven hundred people, distribute ammunition, and go to sea to fight pirates in three days."

"Yes..."

...

On the tenth day of the first month of April, it is advisable to do everything

Xu Hongji, the hereditary Duke of Wei, sent an official letter to the Ministry of War, saying that the coastal areas of Zhejiang are infested with pirates, attacking ships from all over the country, in order to ensure coastal tranquility, three warships of the special naval division, and more than 1,000 soldiers went to sea to fight pirates.

Chen Cao had never been on a boat, and after getting on the boat, he felt a little uncomfortable, and after vomiting more than ten times and sailing for two days, Chen Cao finally relieved himself.

"The difference between a sea boat and a river boat is really big..."Chen Cao stood on the side of the boat, blowing the sea breeze, and said to Zhao Xin beside him.

Zhao Xin estimated that he was born with the ability to take a boat, and there was no vomiting after getting on the boat: "The river boat is stable, the sea boat is bumpy, the difference is too big, half of the brothers on the boat have seasickness, and like adults, they are much better after vomiting." ”

"Tell my brothers that this battle is the first time our right guard has played, and we can only win and not return empty-handed." Chen Cao said and looked at Zhao Xin: "How is the news over there in Daqushan?" ”

"Lord Hui, according to the previous intelligence reply, Daqushan was originally under the jurisdiction of Dinghai Zhongzuo, there are more than a dozen fishermen on the island, a group of pirates occupied Daqushan Island the year before last, Dinghai Zhongzuo sent troops to go, defeated and returned, the general soldier Li Rulong also sent troops to go, still failed and returned." Zhao Xin said and took out a copy of the navigation chart, which clearly marked the pirates around Daqu Mountain: "My lord, please see, among this group of pirates there are not only Japanese pirates, but also my Ming people, there are more than 1,000 pirates on the island, and more than 100 ships of various kinds. ”

"Where's the warship?" Chen Cao was thinking about the warship: "How many are there?" ”

Zhao Xindao: "According to the spies who entered the island, there are four warships with more than 1,000 materials, the flagship is a 2,500-material Franc machine ship, and there are 25 building ships with 500 materials. ”

"Ahh ”

Zhao Xin stared at Chen Cao with wide eyes: "Why don't we withdraw?" ”

"Bastard thing..."Chen Cao stood up straight and scolded: "The persimmon still has to be pinched softly, our ship can't fight in the sea, but this group of pirates in land warfare is not necessarily our opponent, put the flag and call Song Che and Qi Xianzong to me." ”

The two commanded on the other two ships, got the news of Chen Cao, and took a small boat to Chen Cao's command ship.

"My lord, do you have any orders?" Qi Xianzong asked.

Chen Cao sat on a chair on the deck, pointed to the nautical chart, and said: "There are two small islands on the north side of Daqu Mountain, and the fishermen who led the way on the boat said that the boat would run aground when the tide was low, but that was the only place to enter Daqushan Island. ”

"YCIS, why don't we climb up the cliff to the south." Song Che pointed to the map.

"This plan is okay, but it's just a part of my whole plan," Chen Cao stood up, looked at the sea and said: "The pirates are cunning, but they also know that my Daming sailors are useless, so they look down on our sailors, during the day, we disguise ourselves as civilian merchant ships, at night, you lead three hundred people to climb up from the cliff, and I will lead the team to get off the boat on the island in the north, and wait until the low tide at night to take people to the small boat to touch the island, Qi Xianzong, you take three ships and ambush at the east exit, as long as the pirates run out by boat, you will beat me hard." , but remember one thing, if you can't beat it, run away, don't give Lao Tzu a hero, we only have these three ships, if something happens, if the grandfather of the country asks for the guilt, I will take you to blame. ”

"The last general commands..."Qi Xianzong arched his hand with a serious face.

Chen Cao smiled evilly: "We are all infantry, there are not enough naval battle ships, and we don't have Li Sunsin's naval bravery, so we have to do some sneak attacks, otherwise how can we be the king and hegemon on the sea in the future?" ”

"Your Excellency still knows about Yi Sunsin?" Zhao Xin also laughed.

"you—" Chen Cao kicked over.

Daqushan Island is considered to be the largest in the whole outer islands of Zhejiang, there are mountain springs on the island, and there is a flat land, some simple crops can be planted around, surrounded by mountains on three sides, only the Nantou Mountain in the south is the highest, and there are rocks everywhere.

Zhao Tianlin usually lived in the Satsuma Domain in Japan, and occasionally put on makeup and went ashore to live in his hometown in Zhejiang for a few days, because a few days ago he heard that there were a large number of merchant ships heading north from Fujian, so he simply set out from Zhejiang with people to prepare for the robbery.

The original more than a dozen fishermen on the island were all killed, after the reconstruction of the pirates, the dozen or so houses were connected into a piece, and a dozen large mansions were created according to the architectural style of Zhejiang folk houses, surrounded by a fence cage, and each section of the wall also has a small watchtower.

The tide of Daqushan Island recedes every night, and once the tide recedes, the pier of Beibu Gulf will be surrounded by the rocks and reefs of the two small islands that are lined up outside, forming a natural protective barrier, and the boats outside must wait until the tide rises during the day to enter, which is also an important reason why Zhao Tianlin built his base camp on Daqushan Island.

Chen Cao personally led 300 families, under the cover of night, to take a dozen small boats to the outer island, and the spies in charge of answering were already waiting on the island.

"Liu Shouwen, the small banner of the South Town Fu Division, has seen the Lord of the Town Fu Envoy." Liu Shouwen was dressed as a pirate, he was ordered to put on makeup and join the pirates after the Japanese retreated last year, and came to this Daqushan Island from side to side, relying on his extraordinary courage to mix up a small leader, and was responsible for the guard of this small island.

The sea water at night is cold, Chen Cao has a phobia of water, if he is allowed to stand here alone, he is guaranteed to be scared and his legs are weak, but now a large group of people behind him naturally have the courage to step on the sea water and slowly walk onto the beach, Chen Cao took advantage of the moonlight that had just shimmered, and asked: "Liu Shouwen, you simply tell me the details of this island." ”

"Yes..."Liu Shouwen clenched his fists: "There are two small islands on the periphery, this island is called Nanwa Island, and the one over there is called Beiwa Island, there are more than a dozen people guarding this island, and there are a few people on this island, and the rest are all killed by me. ”

Chen Cao looked around, this Nanwa Island, except for the pier at the beachhead, the rest are all rocky mountains, which are overgrown with trees and weeds: "By the way, what is the situation on the island?" ”

Liu Shouwen handed the topographic map that had already been drawn to Chen Cao with both hands: "There are a total of 732 pirates composed of my Ming fishermen on the island, more than 100 pirates, 224 ronins, and more than a dozen Franc machine red-haired ghosts, who were captured in Fujian waters at the beginning of the year and specially made cannons for pirates. ”

"Cannons?" Chen Cao frowned: "They have cannons?" ”

Liu Shouwen nodded: "Yes, there are four Franc machine guns they built on the flagship, and there are many Franc machine guns." All of them had iron cannons. ”

"It's trouble..."Chen Cao couldn't imagine that these pirates were so well-equipped, and tonight's night attack was not worried enough with these people: "By the way, how are they fighting?" ”

"The pirates and ronins are more troublesome, and the rest of the pirates are simple, and there are still two or three hundred people on the island who were captured from Zhejiang last time." Liu Shouwen replied.

"What's the name of their leader?"

"Zhao Tianlin..."

Chen Cao didn't know him, but he thought that it was the widow who retreated from Zhejiang last time, and he should have fought with him compared to the person who had fought with him, so he took a deep breath at the moment: "Lead the way, touch it." ”

Liu Shouwen said: "Now that the tide is receding, all the boats are parked on the pier, the surrounding area is full of reefs, and the boats have to stop at most half a mile. ”

Chen Cao nodded: "Liu Shouwen, you did a good job this time, after you go back, you will be promoted to the chief flag officer, and you will be rewarded with a hundred taels of silver..."

"Humble Thanks..."

After the south beachhead receded tide, the reef was all exposed on the sea, Chen Cao quietly came to the beachhead not far from the beach under the leadership of Liu Shouwen and got off the boat, stepped directly on the reef and passed slowly, everyone did not dare to light the torch, marched with the faint moonlight, and when they arrived at the beachhead, it took nearly an hour.

"What the hell... It's our turn to do this, grass..."

"Okay, don't scold my mother, when the time comes, let's go in again?"

"Hey old Wu, this girl just died, and her body is still hot, why don't we have two of them? Hey..."

"Okay, boy, it's okay, there's a lot of people inside, after that guy has a large group of people, those girls are all dirty underneath, and they don't wash, and I'm also afraid of getting sick, this girl just died, no one has touched it, let's two brothers..."

Chen Cao's brigade walked in a line on the beachhead against the scorched rock overhead, and when he heard these words from time to time, he stopped, maybe there was a sea breeze, the two pirates above did not hear the movement of the beachhead below at all, Chen Cao only heard the man's exhalation, and there was no movement in the end, followed by a rustling sound.

With a bang, the woman's body was thrown off the beach, and the pirate on it spoke: "Let's go, tomorrow when the tide rises, I will rush to the sea to feed the fish, I am too lazy to bury it." ”

The corpse fell in front of Chen Cao, the woman did not look at her until she died, Chen Cao was on fire, waved his hand to Zhao Xin, who quickly rushed out with four or five people, and shot a sleeve crossbow from top to bottom towards the two pirates who turned to leave.

The two pirates fell in response, and Zhao Xin turned over and rushed up to mend the knife, cutting off the heads of the two and taking them down.

Chen Cao ordered someone to dig a simple pit at the beachhead, put the woman in it, and then filled in the soil and put the heads of the two pirates in front of the tomb, and gave them a military salute with a respectful expression: "Girl, you and I don't know each other, but I am a Ming official army, you should rest assured that I will avenge you tonight." ”

The people behind him all saluted towards this tomb, Chen Cao clapped his hands, and then let Liu Shouwen lead the way and continue to move forward.

There are many caves around the house, and some low-level pirates live in the caves, Chen Cao counted them by the light of the surrounding fires, and there were at least seven or eight: "How many pirates are in each cave?" ”

"No more than fifty." Saying that, Liu Shouwen pointed at Nantou Mountain with a knife: "There is a cave on the mountain, and the treasures captured by Zhao Tianlin are basically in it, and there are more than 100 people stationed on Nantou Mountain." ”

"All of them, muskets ready..."Zhang Fengnian shouted loudly after receiving Chen Cao's order.

Since he dared to speak out, it meant that Chen Cao and the others had approached the perimeter of the house, Chen Cao was wearing armor and a helmet, and the lightning rod on it showed that his identity was not ordinary: "Pass the order, those who surrender will live, and those who resist will die..."

Zhao Tianlin's group of pirate leaders are all eating and drinking and playing with women in the center of the house, where can I hear Chen Cao's shouting outside the house, plus the house itself is big, and it takes at least a minute or two to run if you really report it.

"Thirty men from each hole, muskets in turn, cripple them, and immediately after the battle is over, they come and surround the house..."

"Yes..."

After Chen Cao gave various orders, he let people pull off the signal flare, and a special red fireworks bomb was ignited and shot into the sky, exploding in the sky...

How colorful the fireworks on the sea are...