The North Atlantic is windy throughout the year, especially in autumn and winter. Tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic in autumn transform into strong extratropical cyclones, bringing strong winds to the northern North Atlantic, and some of the stronger extratropical cyclones can also cross the Atlantic, bringing strong winds and heavy precipitation to northwest Europe. In winter, extratropical cyclones intensified, and cold fronts from the Arctic also frequently moved southward, bringing winds of more than force 10 to most of the North Atlantic.

On November 14, 1725, on the rough sea, more than a dozen ships lined up in two loose columns, violently undulating. All the ships dropped their mainsails, and a few of the side masts were only half-sailed, drifting with the strong sea breeze.

At this time, it is already early winter, the wind is cold, and there is a cold humidity. Several officers on duty, wrapped in thick woolen military coats, held binoculars and looked around at the tumbling sea.

"It's been four days and no prey has been found. Are the English all cowering on their broken islands, afraid to go to sea? Captain Renyong (Lieutenant) Shao Xiangsheng put down the binoculars, rubbed his hands vigorously, and then looked up at the lookout post on the mainmast, "Hey, anyway, Lao Hu shouldn't be frozen on it, right?" For so long, there was not a single movement. ”

"Sir, do you need to call him?" Captain Zhou Hengdao also looked at the lookout post on the main mast.

The wind up there is a lot more than on the deck, so is it really freezing people?

Just when the two of them were in doubt, they saw the lookout post on the mainmast suddenly wave its flag, and a sharp whistle sounded, and then a head poked out and roared loudly to the deck.

"Ship found! …… The number is about nine,...... Southwest orientation! …… The distance is about ten kilometers! ”

"Discover the ship! The location is southwest, ten kilometers away. ”

"Order the bilge to start the steam engine and burn the boiler!"

"Turn the rudder and sail to the southwest!"

"Raise the two sidesails at an angle of 25 degrees!"

"The guns are ready to fight!"

“……”

Several other warships also spotted their prey, and immediately flags were constantly issued on the flagship, ordering the ships of the fleet to prepare to intercept the target. For a while, the entire sea area was filled with a thick aura of slaughter, and on the surface of the huge waves, they began to turn one after another, and rushed towards the southwest with a very wide fan-shaped surface.

An hour later, seven steam engine sail warships took the lead in killing the merchant fleet, and then blocked the direction of the opponent's advance, and began to continuously intimidate it by force, ordering the other party to drop the sails and stop the ships, and surrender to the Qi fleet on its own initiative.

Unexpectedly, the convoy of nine merchant ships did not panic at all, and some of the crew members stood at the bow of the ship, constantly waving the flagpole, as if to identify themselves.

"Spaniards, like?" Shao Xiangsheng held the telescope and said with some uncertainty: "The white background twill cross flag should be the symbol of the Kingdom of Spain, right?" ”

"Could it be that the English merchant ships were impersonated? …… In the past few months, so many merchant ships intercepted have also found the English flying the flag of another country, trying to get by. ”

"It's hard to say. However, the sea is so stormy, it will not be possible to send someone to inspect it for a while! ”

"There was a mistake in killing, and I didn't let it go! Control them first, wait for the wind and waves to subside, and then board the ship for inspection. ”

“……”

Just when several sail warships could not determine the ownership of the merchant ships and confronted them, the sail ships behind arrived one after another, lined up in a loose arc, forming a semi-encirclement posture for the entire merchant fleet.

After a stalemate of more than an hour, the sail battleship "Shaohao" spewed billowing smoke and cautiously approached the merchant ship, preparing to engage the other side to verify their true identity. All the battleships showed their black holes, watched on guard, and covered the "Shaohao" to approach and inspect.

Leonardo Ferreira, captain of the "Celia", watched as the sailors pulled several Qi naval officers and sailors from the side side, and then greeted them with a smile.

"Our fleet, all belonging to the Kingdom of Spain, has been ordered by His Majesty the King to sail from Havana to return to the port of Cádiz, our homeland." Captain Leonardo Ferreira handed a document in his hand to the officer of Qi led by him, and said solemnly: "In view of the traditional friendly relations between our two countries, it is an extremely rude and offensive act for your navy to intercept us for no reason. ”

Shao Xiangsheng handed the document to Xi Chengsong, a Hispanic interpreter and Navy Captain next to him, and asked him to verify the authenticity of the document.

In fact, when he climbed aboard the Spanish galleon at great risk, he had already confirmed in his heart that this fleet was not an English ship. Although, in his eyes, these faces all looked almost the same, but the other party behaved unusually calmly when they encountered the interception of their fleet, and then carefully observed the shape of the ships in this fleet, it was clear that they were typical Spanish galleons built by the Havana shipyard.

This type of ship has a high broadside and a high stern, with a low foredeck, a flat stern, a protrusion at the bow that resembles the ramming angle of an oar, and a separate gun emplacement. The sides of the hull slope inward from the bottom to the top and take on an equilateral trapezoidal shape, a silhouette somewhat similar to that of ancient gold ingots, and this slope extends all the way to the stern.

Their ships had bow masts, foremasts, mainmasts, and aftermasts, on which were hung with square canvases, and some of the oversized galleons often weighed more than 800 tons, and usually had two masts, known as the fourth mast. A square canvas is hung on the bow, three square canvases are hung on the foremast and mainmast, from top to bottom are called upper mast, mid-mast and mainsail, and a large spinnaker is usually hung on the backmast.

From the outside, the lines of the galleon are very graceful, and the stern is surprisingly exquisite, thus dwarfing its somewhat drab ship. The traditional European Clark sailing ship had a length-to-width ratio of about 3:1, while the length-to-width ratio of the galleon of this period was 4:1, which gave the Spanish galleon an advantage in speed.

In recent decades, the Spanish government has increasingly preferred to use armed galleons rather than ordinary merchant ships for the transportation of precious metals, an arrangement that is more conducive to the protection of precious goods from the Americas, thus reducing the risk of plunder by pirates or hostile nations.

It is said that the Caribbean Sea was not very peaceful at this time, and it was full of pirates from all countries, including some privateers from some countries who targeted their Spanish treasure ships.

"Sir, these documents bearing the seal of the Governor of Spanish America should be authentic and reliable." Xi Chengsong handed the document in his hand to Shao Xiangsheng and said in a low voice: "Moreover, observing their faces, they are all Spaniards, which are fundamentally different from the English. ”

Shao Xiangsheng listened, nodded, returned the document to the bearded captain opposite, and then politely gave a military salute.

"I'm sorry to delay your trip. In view of the fact that our country of Qi and England are in a state of war, in order to contain and combat the sea transport of the English, our army has to intercept and inspect any ships that pass through this sea area. ”

"I understand very well this kind of military action by your country against England." Captain Leonardo Ferreira's face was slightly pale, he took the document from the other party's hand, nodded and said, "However, your actions have frightened all of us. Yes, we almost thought we had encountered a group of vile and murderous pirates. ”

"I apologize once again for the trouble my Qi Navy has caused you." Shao Xiangsheng ignored the other party's cynicism at all, and said with a smile: "However, I want to tell you the news that your Kingdom of Spain has broken out into a fierce armed conflict with England in order to recover Gibraltar more than two months ago. So, judging from the current situation, our two countries should be in the same camp. England, already our common enemy. ”

"What, has our Kingdom of Spain already declared war on England?" Captain Leonardo Ferreira couldn't help but be taken aback when he heard this.

"Whether war was declared or not, I don't know. However, your country is already in a de facto state of war with England. So, when you return to Spain, be vigilant. As far as I know, in the waters of the North Atlantic, in addition to us, the number of warships of the English was also very large. You, perhaps, will also be the target of their attacks. ”

Captain Leonardo Ferreira nodded solemnly when he heard this.

After giving some gifts to the Qi people, the Spanish fleet raised its sails one after another and sailed in the direction of the Spanish mainland.

The people of Qi were disappointed, and sailed away, continuing to swim in this sea area, looking for possible prey.

In the evening, as the sun set, a storm struck. The waves were even more rough and fog and rain enveloped the entire sea, making visibility very limited.

The Qi fleet then hung up its full sails and sailed quickly to the northeast, hoping to avoid this sudden storm.

As everyone knows, in the sea area 300 kilometers northeast of the Qi fleet, a huge fleet is sailing in a very slow direction, also in the northwest direction, faintly aiming at the deserted waters of the Faroe Islands.

The sails were shadowy, and the bows of the ships were marked with bright water marks, and the sea breeze carried salty and cold moisture, constantly patting the cheeks of the heavily armed crew. The towering mast of the ship was hung with the flag of the voyage, and in the distance was a vast sea, while the fleet persistently marched towards the countless unknown distances.

Light blue St. George's flags fluttered on high masts, as if to show their fearless courage to face any fierce enemy.

(End of chapter)