Chapter 229: The Manchus and Hans’ North-South Pincer Attack (Part 3)
The iron-framed and wooden-hulled ships were built very quickly. As early as the first year of Yongzheng's reign, Huo Chong's ironworks, in addition to making bearings and other mechanical equipment, began to secretly try to cast large castings. After Huo Chong started the rebellion, he didn't care about the large investment in new technologies and new equipment.
When gas hot ball engines began to replace steam engines and provide various power for reflective iron smelting furnaces with a furnace volume of more than three cubic meters, the production of large iron castings reached a new peak.
In May of the sixth year of Yongzheng's reign, half a year after Yongzheng's death, the first iron-framed wooden-hulled ship was launched with ready materials and parts. The iron keel was 15 meters long, one meter longer than expected. A pair of iron ribs was installed every two feet. The width of the wooden boards used for the entire ship's hull was no more than about 10 centimeters. The hull was a double-layer shell, and the proportion of the sealed cabin below was larger than that of a pure wooden hull ship.
A rifled 10-jin gun was installed on the bow of the double-deck upper deck, and ten rapid-fire guns with 1-jin shells were installed on both sides of the deck. Four 5-jin guns with slide rails were installed on each side of the middle deck.
The power comes from a double-masted hard sail, the sails are woven from sisal fiber, and paddle wheels are installed on both sides of the ship.
The boat was put out for a few days of sea trials, and Feng Yukuan and other sea veterans were so happy that they jumped on the deck. The sails were light and strong, and no matter how strong the wind was, there was no problem. The paddle wheel could provide good steering assistance and even provide power when the wind was against you.
Even though they were still unfamiliar with operating the new boat, these brothers felt great just by sailing.
Four ships were built at the same time. One of them had many problems and could only be adjusted. Feng Yukuan hurried back and asked to take advantage of the summer southeast wind to go to Japan.
Huo Chong had just received news that seven or eight Qing strongholds had been destroyed in Liangshan, so he had to agree to Feng Yukuan's request.
Japan has a lot of good stuff, such as rosin, sulfur, copper, and mercury, which are all war materials.
Although the Manchus were backward, they were not stupid. They took advantage of the fact that Huo Chong was not strong enough to capture Liangshan and built many fortresses. Even the rottenest fortresses had considerable defensive power. The Han Dynasty used great technical strength to transport a 10-jin cannon to the mountains and knock down the stone walls.
Although the loss of manpower has been reduced to a minimum, the consumption of materials is huge. It is imperative to quickly obtain a replenishment channel.
After receiving the order, the Han fleet immediately set out. Because they were heading to Japan, more than 50 people were crammed onto each ship.
The ship hoisted the Ming flag and sailed on the route that sea merchants were accustomed to. Even though he hadn't sailed here for ten years, Feng Yukuan was still familiar with the route. The captain and the staff officers beside him held small notebooks and recorded everything Feng Yukuan said.
Feng Yukuan was in high spirits, recalling the glorious days of his youth. After a few days of bragging, he finally had the mood to talk to the young man who behaved completely differently. However, he saw that the young man was mostly fiddling with various sailing equipment.
After asking, I found out that this was a complete set of navigation equipment obtained from the Spanish, such as sextant and longitude measurement.
Feng Yukuan had received a lot of geography and celestial knowledge training with young people before. After all, he had traveled so many sea routes. He always saw the mast first and then the hull, so Feng Yukuan was able to accept the concept that the earth is a sphere.
The law of gravity can also be understood. The astronomical tides on the full moon night can be caused by the gravity of the moon, which pulls up the sea water.
But Feng Yukuan could never understand why a sphere like the Earth could float in the void. Wouldn't the sphere fall down?
Seeing the equipment operated by the young people, Feng Yukuan sighed in his heart. He was really old and couldn't understand what the young people were doing.
The destination of this trip was Nagasaki, which was also the most important seaport in Japan at that time. Whether it was Chinese ships, Dutch ships or other ships, they all had to stop at Nagasaki Port.
This important trading port is located west of Kyushu, Japan, only 900 kilometers from Shanghai.
The fleet headed straight here, and Feng Yukuan soon saw the familiar terrain. He happily guided the ships to the usual handover location.
As soon as we arrived at the place where the Japanese ships were supposed to be coming to guide the water, we heard the alarm bells ringing in Nagasaki Harbor, and many people and horses were already running on the shore. There was even movement on the running platform.
Feng Yukuan was shocked. He had never heard of a war between Japan and China. The ships had been fine when they arrived here before. Why did they suddenly resort to fighting today?
The crew members had never seen such a scene before. Most of the young people saw the land of another country with their own eyes for the first time, and they didn’t even know that Japan was making military preparations.
He ordered the sails to be lowered and the boat to stop. Feng Yukuan decided to wait.
At this time in Nagasaki Harbor, the Nagasaki Bugyo was really frightened by the new news. He ran to the gun platform and opened the telescope. As his subordinates said, the fleet preparing to enter the port consisted of three ships. The shape of the ship itself was very strange, very different from ordinary Chinese ships. On the contrary, it was somewhat similar to European ships.
That was all. On the mast was a flag fluttering in the sea breeze, with large Chinese characters on it: "Ming"!
The style of the flag and the words on it. This is a Ming ship! Sixty years have passed since Zheng Zhilong, the Ming leader in Japan, left Japan, and the Ming ship has arrived outside Nagasaki Port again.
"Sir, could it be... the Ming navy?" the subordinate asked nervously.
The wording and sentence structure are completely in the Japanese style. The so-called "Da Ming Navy" is definitely not the official navy of the Ming Dynasty. If the Japanese language is translated into Chinese, it is "Da Ming Pirates".
Nagasaki Bugyo heard this and thought it made sense. The Ming dynasty had been destroyed for decades, and many of its remaining officials had fled to live in Japan. Bugyo had seen this when he was a child.
Now suddenly there is another fleet of ships flying the Ming flag, which is suspicious. Thinking of this, Fengxing suddenly had an idea and ordered: "Fire a few shots!"
If the enemy was pirates, they would have known they were discovered when they saw Nagasaki firing at them, and would have left in disgrace.
In Japan, it doesn't matter what the matter is. What's important is not to bother others. If you report the matter to others, you will undoubtedly bother others. If you bother your peers, they will hate you. If you are unfortunate enough to bother your superiors, you can probably prepare to commit seppuku.
As Feng Yukuan waited, he felt something was wrong. How come the cannons on the Japanese artillery platform were pushed out of the tower?
The naval personnel accompanying him were also puzzled, so they asked Feng Yukuan, "Master Feng, what do the Japanese mean by this?"
"I'm afraid they want to fire at us?" Feng Yukuan's explanation was not very confident. It was also the first time for him to see the Japanese artillery react in this way.
"Fire?" The fleet commander was a young man named Mei Qian, who had been with Huo Chong for five years. Upon hearing this, Mei Qian immediately shouted, "Steam engine! Start! Artillery, get in position. Once the Japanese fire, we will overturn their artillery positions!"
The sail-powered steamships immediately took action. When all the ships were started, the gunners were ready for the artillery battle. The Japanese artillery fired the first shot.
The shell flew to a position about fifty meters away from the Han fleet ship and fell into the water. Mei Qian was a little confused. This fifty meters, it would take another fifty meters to hit the Han navy ship.
As a member of the artillery, Mei Qian knew that fifty meters was not a negligible distance for a cannon. Judging from the splashes caused by the Japanese shells when they entered the water, the shells were probably three pounds.
The range of a three-jin cannon shell is only 400 meters, and it has to be a cannon as carefully made as the Han Dynasty's. Is this the only range of this cannon?
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Seeing the Ming fleet leave, Nagasaki Bugyo breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "Souga! The other side is indeed a navy!"
As soon as the words fell, the bow of the "Ming Navy" suddenly spit out a strange look. It turned out that the strange-looking thing on the bow was actually a real cannon. The "Ming Navy" began to fight back.
Feng Yukuan felt uncomfortable with the loud noise and vibration of the artillery, so he could only retreat to the stern and watch the young people fighting enthusiastically.
The three cannons fired very accurately, and the shells landed near the Japanese artillery. Just as Feng Yukuan was wondering how long it would take to hit the Japanese artillery, he saw thick smoke suddenly rising from the Japanese artillery. He could even see something flying away from afar.
The young men of the Han navy cheered. Mei Qian ordered, "Collect! Go to Edo!"
Led by Spanish sailors, the fleet left Nagasaki and entered the Seto Inland Sea, crossed the relatively calm sea, and sailed into the Pacific Ocean. Then they headed north carefully and finally saw a huge bay.
"Inside is Edo," said the Spanish sailor.
Mei Qian gathered everyone together and took out Huo Chong's order again, "Comrades! The governor has given an order. If the port of Nagasaki allows us to enter the port for trade, we will trade with them. If Nagasaki does not allow us to enter the port, we will fight to Edo and seek justice from the shogunate!"
Feng Yukuan had heard about it once, and had also seen the document with the seal of the Han governor himself. But hearing this method of "reasoning" again still made Feng Yukuan very uncomfortable.
From the Chinese perspective, this is not a reasonable argument, but rather a sense of being unreasonable. And after all, we are facing Japan, a country. With just three ships, we are going to block the gate of the capital. Is it really possible?
"Do you guys trust the governor?" Mei Qian asked loudly.
"Faith!" the young soldiers responded in unison.
"The governor said that when the day came to go to Beijing to kill Yongzheng, he personally led his brothers to Beijing. He killed Yongzheng and avenged everyone! Now the governor told us in the warrant that if we block outside Jiangwai, we will fight them. Then Japan will agree to do business with us. I trust the governor, do you believe me?"
"Believe!" the young soldiers continued to shout.
Feng Yukuan said nothing. However, he saw that the surroundings were an environment he had never seen before. According to the sea chart, the ship had sailed hundreds of miles, or even thousands of miles.
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