The bow of the Liaodong ploughed a snow-white wave, and the track went straight to the east, aiming at Nagasaki, which was only 1,600 miles away from the port of Baoshan. The sailors and midshipmen of the Ming Navy on the deck, under the command of the newly appointed French instructors, were nervously carrying out various trainings, some were sailing, some were handling guns.

These Ming sailors and midshipmen looked very young, and the midshipmen among them had studied for a year or two with Dutch, English instructors, and old shipwrecks invited from the Nanyang Trading Company at the Chongming Island Naval Academy, and they could understand English and Dutch passwords. I didn't expect to change to French again. Although I hurriedly made up for the lesson, I still don't understand it very well, and I am in a hurry and keep making mistakes. Fortunately, the military gate of Codontanko did not come to work here by Li Yat-sen, he also brought seventy or eighty French naval officers, sailors and craftsmen, and with these people, there was no major problem for the Liaodong, a first-class battleship, to sail on the sea.

If it really comes to a time when it is necessary to fight, those sailors who have studied in the Chongming Island Naval School (one year for sailors and two years for non-commissioned officers) and midshipmen who have studied in the Chongming Island Naval Academy will be able to cope with the gunners. After all, they have all practiced the skills of handling artillery, but there are still some problems in communicating with the French instructors in charge of command.

On the stern deck of the battleship, Leibniz Ley's military officer, speaking fluent Chinese with a slight Cantonese accent, was teaching other midshipmen the use of the latest "rod projection quadrant," a tool for measuring the Earth's dimensions while sailing. It's a very simple design, but very practical tool. In the hands of Leibniz, the "all-day genius", he can easily calculate the dimension of the Liaodong's location to "minutes", and then use the "time measurement method" or Baoshan County as the base point to estimate the approximate longitude by calculating the course and speed. By crossing the latitude and longitude on the map, you can know the approximate location of the Liaoning. And this set of methods for measuring dimensional longitude, of course, in Leibniz's mouth, is "very simple, not difficult, and can be learned by fools".

But even if you learn to measure and calculate latitude and longitude, it doesn't mean you can't get lost at sea.

In these years, navigation is not only a matter of positioning, but also what monsoons, trade winds, windlessness, and ocean currents. One-third of these things depend on information, one-third on experience, and one-third on character.

Even if you have been adrift at sea for a lifetime, it is very likely that you will die on the last voyage.

Of course, if the information is insufficient and the experience is not enough, then no matter how high the character is, it will be lifeless!

Therefore, this "century-old navy" is not only about shipbuilding, ship management, and artillery operation, but also has too much to accumulate.

Li Zhongshan took Yang Xiaohuan out with him this time, after all, she is Yang Qilong's sister-in-law, how many days have you not seen her? It's time for their brother and sister to meet. It's a pity that Empress Yang, who is the regent of the Great Qing Kingdom, can't come, otherwise it will be even more lively if the sisters meet.

Although the Liaodong is a "giant ship" with a displacement of more than 2,000 tons, it is still a light boat on the vast sea, and it is very bumpy, so after leaving the mouth of the Yangtze River, Yang Xiaohuan is seasick and has been lying in the cabin to rest. However, Li Yat-sen was in good spirits, standing on the aft deck and watching with interest Leibniz teach the midshipmen how to calculate latitude and longitude in Chinese, with a Cantonese accent. While thinking about the Netherlands, England, Spain, Portugal, Japan, the Qing Dynasty, and the Great Zhou. And Yang Qilong, the North Korean supervisor who stepped on two boats, what will be bad next?

It is said to be the "Eleven-Nation Alliance", but Sweden, the Holy Roman Empire, Hindustani, and Persia should be the four that should be made up, among which Persia itself may be invaded by Wu Shicong, and it is estimated that it was for the sake of weapons aided by the Dutch and the British that they joined the "Eleven-Nation Alliance".

But the Netherlands, Britain, Spain, Portugal, Qing, Zhou, and Sunday must be real, and Yang Qilong is not easy to say!

On the Ming side, Louis of France is obviously full of sincerity, but he is too far away, and he does not control the Indian Ocean, so it is estimated that both sides are fighting separately!

If Da Ming and France want to win, it seems that they have to be prepared to beat a few of them, and they have to be prepared to beat their opponents down.

It seems a little hard!

As soon as he thought of this, he suddenly heard a Tianjin accent shouting: "It's not difficult, it's not difficult, it's really not difficult at all, Laijunmen, or you explain the truth clearly!" ”

Li Zhongshan looked back, it turned out that it was Yu Qilin who spoke, this kid is a "double one" seniority, and he didn't even learn the basic skills of measuring latitude and longitude!

It seems that the management of the Naval Academy is still too lax, and the curriculum must be too shallow.

No, we must let Leibniz grasp it well, and test those scumbags with a little more questions that he thinks are quite simple!

Just as he was thinking about grasping the education of the Chongming Island Naval Academy, he suddenly heard a piercing bell, and then a voice opened his throat and shouted: "Land. Discover the land right ahead! ”

Then I heard Leibniz's voice: "Nagasaki has arrived. Nagasaki right in front of you! The dimension and longitude I personally calculated, you must be right, you learn from me, it will not be easy to get lost when you go to sea in the future! ”

Nagasaki arrived?

Li Yat-sen hurriedly turned around, raised his binoculars, and looked straight ahead, and what he saw was a peninsula deep into the sea and countless small islands dotted around. Those small islands are scattered on the west side of the peninsula that juts out into the sea, and in the middle of these small islands and the peninsula, they form excellent sheltered anchorages, and they are easy to defend and difficult to attack!

Yang Qilong found a good concession for his sister-in-law!

Thinking of this, Li Zhongshan suddenly ordered loudly: "Lower the Sun and Moon Flag!" ”

The sun and moon flag represents the Ming Dynasty, and the gold iris flag on a white background represents the Bourbon royal family.

The sun and moon flag was lowered before entering the port of Nagasaki to make others think that the battleship still belonged to King Louis XIV of France. In fact, Daming's purchase of the Royal Sun has been kept secret until now. I have never seen the newspaper, nor have I ever discussed it at the parliamentary meeting, and the procurement cost of 500,000 taels is also the account of the "special expenses" of the General's Mansion - now many ways of struggle between the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, and the Great Zhou Dynasty cannot be discussed at the parliamentary meeting, let alone the newspaper. For example, who was bought, and who was paid to hire a killer to kill!

If this is discussed at the council, then who would dare to accept Daming's silver? The targets of Daming's assassination are also hiding, and it is difficult to kill.

Therefore, in the budget of the General's Palace, there is a "special fee" of one million taels every year, and if you can't spend it, you can save it for the next year.

Li Yat-sen spent 500,000 yuan from the special fee this time to buy the Royal Sun, but it was still strictly kept secret from the outside world.

When the Liaodong slowly sailed into the port of Nagasaki, Spearman, the governor of the Dutch East India Company, and Carlos, the governor of the Philippines, who were standing on the top of the Nagasaki Peninsula, were holding a telescope and watching the fleet sailing slowly on the sea.

Li Zhongshan did not only bring one Liaodong this time, but a whole nine ships. One battleship of the first rank, eight armed Galen ships.

Among them, on the Liaodong, the white background gold iris fluttering, and the other eight Galen ships are all the sun and moon with the flag waving in the wind.

"The eight British armed Galen ships all fly the flag of the Ming Kingdom, they should be the capital ships of the Ming Navy, right?" The Spaniard Carlos put down his binoculars, exhaled lightly, and half-jokingly said to Spearman beside him, "It's a pity that our Armada is still in Manila. If they had already arrived in Japan, today would be the end of General Li Yat-sen! ”

"Governor," Spearman was not as optimistic as the Spaniard, "didn't you see the Royal Sun?" That's a first-class battleship with a displacement of more than 2,000 tons, and its single strength is more than any Dutch battleship! ”

Carlos smiled: "Governor, who doesn't know that the third-class battleship of the Netherlands is the most powerful third-class battleship in the world? Even against the enemy's first-class battleships, they will not be left behind! ”

In fact, the cost performance of a first-class battleship was very low, and the shrewd Dutch never built such expensive and luxurious things. The Dutch navy really won the favor of the three-class battleships that were durable and economical. Moreover, the Dutch third-class battleships did not seek to be big and strong, with a light load displacement of 1000-1200 tons, and relatively few guns, usually under 60 guns. However, the guns of the Dutch third-class battleships were quite heavy, and they took a fierce route with few guns and heavy shells!

This time, the Dutch sent two third-class battleships with ten fourth-class ships and one flag to join the Spanish Armada, and now they have also arrived in Manila!

Spearman also laughed proudly when he heard Carlos's compliments: "One first-class ship, one second-class ship, five third-class ships!" It was enough to sink Louis XIV's Royal Sun, but unfortunately they weren't there! Or else."

Governor Carlos smiled: "Just give this great general another chance, and our motherland has now ceased war with Louis XIV's France, and the risk of sinking the Royal Sun is still too great." If the Sun King is provoked, the war in Europe, which has finally ended, may be fought again. Sooner or later, we don't have to deal with two powerful enemies at the same time. Only by breaking each one can it conform to the laws of war! ”

Spearman nodded: "That's right, each break is in line with the laws of war. So there is no reason for Li Yat-sen to be at war with the Qing Dynasty, the Great Zhou, Japan, and us at the same time, right? ”

"That's certain," Carlos said with a smile, "Now that the Great Qing Dynasty and the Great Zhou have joined the 'Eleventh Alliance', it is clear that they want to oppose the Great Ming If Li Zhongshan is not crazy, he will definitely be eager to compromise with us, after all, there is not much time left for him!" ”

Spearman sneered: "This Li Zhongshan is not a madman, on the contrary, he is just a sinister and cunning rational person. So he will definitely choose to defeat his enemies on the East Asian continent first, and then turn back against us! ”

Carlos snorted, "But he never thought of it. We will not let him go under any circumstances a ruler who has the potential to dominate an entire continent, whether in Europe or Asia! ”

In the name of clearing the concession, but in fact, the port of Nagasaki, which was under the actual control of Yang Qilong, is really lively now, and ships from various countries are moored everywhere on the sea. There are all kinds of specifications. There are Western-style galen boats with soft sails, old lock boats that combine Western-style hulls and Chinese-style hard sails, pure Chinese-style bird boats, fortune boats, and fast crab boats with oars and sails, as well as some strange-looking Japanese-style fishing boats or other boats.

The construction of the castle walls, forts, and forts for the defense of Nagasaki had already begun, and the area around the port area and the towns in Nagasaki's modest area was full of busy construction sites, and the construction sites were full of very short Japanese coolies with white cloth belts on their heads, and shorts when the weather was quite cold, and they were working under the bayonets of the heavily armed soldiers of the new Korean army.

This face. The North Koreans can blow for about 1000 years, right?

Led by a fast crab ship, the battleship Liaodong slowly navigated the narrow waterways of Nagasaki, and Cotentin and his French men were clearly two-hit, and the huge battleship was almost as active as the fast crab ship leading the way. As the ship's speed slowed down to the point where it was finally forbidden to move, the Liaodong had docked at a rather remote pier in a corner of Nagasaki Harbor.

Li Zhongshan looked near the wharf, and what he saw was a "formation house", that is, a big house with a trench outside and a high wall inside. And the high wall was made of stone, and it was unusually strong.

A big banner with the word "Zheng" is hunting and fluttering above this mansion!

Outside the mansion, a large number of mercenaries of the Nanyang Company wearing white robes and wearing Fan Yangli on their heads were standing guard, all carrying flintlock pistols with bayonets on their shoulders. Just look at it and be well-trained!

The owner of the house was Zheng Jing's uncle, Tagawa Nanaemon, who, although following the surname of Zheng Zhilong's Japanese wife, Tagawa, was always a Chinese, and his main job in Nagasaki was also in the service of the Zheng Ming authorities, who owned a large number of vermilion ships and had a large share of Japan's foreign trade. In the years when the Qing Dynasty implemented coastal relocation, Japan's foreign trade became a very important source of income for the Zheng family.

In addition, the Zheng family, who had retreated to the islands, had a limited population at hand and could not afford to maintain a huge industry, so they had to import materials from Japan to maintain the situation.

It can be said that the Zheng family can persist on the island, and Tagawa Nanaemon is indispensable!

After Yang Qilong took control of Nagasaki, the Tagawa Mansion became a large stronghold of the Zheng family in Nagasaki, not only reinforced and expanded, but Zheng Jing also sent 1,000 elite mercenaries to the Nagasaki Tagawa Mansion, and also bought the dock and several other mansions near Tagawa's house. Now those mansions are already occupied by the officers and soldiers of the Shanzi Battalion who arrived earlier.

Li Yat-sen himself, on the other hand, would stay at the Tagawa Mansion, where he would meet with Yang Qilong, the leaders of the Satsuma Domain, Choshu, Tosa, and possibly the Dutch and Spanish envoys.

Li Zhongshan withdrew his gaze again, swept the dock, and found that there were already some people waiting there. Those who wore their heads, dragged big braids, and wore mending clothes, needless to say, were all people of the Qing Dynasty, Yang Qilong and Yang Sanye were among them, surrounded by the stars and the moon.

Standing with them, there are also some characters wearing Ming Dynasty style official uniforms, some of them are wearing new-style official uniforms without complements, they must be Zheng Jing's people, and some are wearing Ming-style mendling clothes, which must be North Korean officials.

These people were all stunned and looked at the battleship Liaodong like a city wall!

The size of the Liaodong does not look like much to Li Yat-sen, but it is really shocking to the people of East Asia in this era.

The Liaodong stopped, and immediately skilled sailors dropped anchor and lowered the cable. Li Zhongshan and Yang Xiaohuan immediately stepped off the boat one after another. Yang Qilong on the shore had already smiled and saluted with his fists from afar: "General, it's hard work from afar. Xiaohuan, you're here too! ”

Li Yat-sen also returned the salute with his fists, and when it came to his face, it was another flat salute. Yang Qilong said with a smile: "The journey was hard and hard, and when my brother received a report from the clipper of Nanyang Company, he took care of Brother Shikai. It's finally here! How bumpy is it along the way? Why don't you go to Tagawa's mansion for a few days and then meet people from all walks of life? ”

Li Zhongshan said with a smile: "Third brother, I can't hide it, I came to Nagasaki this time mainly to find you!" ”

He hadn't mentioned Fuquan's withdrawal to Yang Qilong, nor did he say in a letter to his "pen pal" Yang Xiaomi that her ex-husband ran away from Kangxi, and he got married again, and he wanted to take the army of hairy bears back to the Qing Dynasty, and if the matter of taking Kangxi's bird position was really done, Yang Xiaomi would be embarrassed!

"Looking for me?" Yang Qilong nodded with a smile, and then pointed to the Tianchuan mansion behind him: "General, it's windy here, let's talk about it in the house. Mr. Tagawa has prepared a banquet for you, which is made by the best chefs in Nagasaki. ”

The best chef in Nagasaki? It can't be sashimi or something, right? This Nagasaki fish fillet. Can you eat it?

Li Zhongshan muttered as he followed Yang Qilong towards Tian Chuan's mansion. And those officials from all walks of life who were supposed to salute Li Zhongshan on the dock followed them to the mansion.

After a while, Li Zhongshan and Yang Qilong finally entered the door of the house and sat down in a lobby, while Yang Xiaohuan went to settle down first under the leadership of a maid arranged by Yang Qilong.

Zheng Zhilong's second son, a small man who looked to be nearly fifty years old and was born gentle, was led by Feng Xifan, who was sent by Zheng Jing to come with Li Zhongshan. Then Tian Chuan and Feng Xifan sat down in the lobby and acted as escorts.

And Sival, the messenger of Fuquan, also came in with him and took a seat in the corner.

"General," Yang Qilong said with a smile, "you just said you were looking for me. Don't know what's important? ”

Li Zhongshan asked: "Third brother, did Fuquan save 10 million taels of silver from you?" ”

(End of chapter)