The bombed transport ship was lying on the beach, surrounded by three layers of people. Fan Wencheng, with his money rat tail, was particularly eye-catching. He pulled the translator and followed behind a few westerners with high noses and deep eyes, smiling.
"Mr. Roy, you don't have to stay here. We have a port nearby and have prepared all the supplies you need. You can head north after loading the ship. "
"Mr. Roy, this ship has been bombed. It's not worth your time. There are many ships like this in the north. If you want it, you just need to take over the port of the Revolutionary Army. "
"Mr. Roy, Mr. Roy …. Translator, did you pass my words on to these ghosts? Why is he ignoring me? "
Fan Wencheng trotted behind the foreigners. He was so anxious that his forehead was sweating. Behind him were many officials and merchants from the fake Ming court of Jiangnan, but they were not as impatient as him. For better or for worse, they were a bit more reserved.
Through Liu Fucheng's connections, the Kennu forces in the hinterland of Liaodong established a relationship with the small court in Jiangnan. With the help of the merchants in Jiangnan, Nurhachi got the help of the Dutch in Japan. This time, several ships arrived at the sea off the coast of Songjiang Prefecture. The reason was similar to what Zhou Qingfeng had guessed. The Portuguese in Macau and the Dutch in Japan rarely worked together.
The headquarters of the Dutch East India Company in Batavia received information from Japan last year. Sir Thomas Roy, who was in charge of East Asian affairs, was very interested. But just as he was planning to expand more extensive trade routes, bad news came from Goa. The Portuguese were in big trouble!
No one knew how the Easterners managed to occupy Goa. News from thousands of miles away was always unpredictable. But businessmen had a keen sense of smell. When Goa could have all kinds of high-quality and cheap goods, the business in the Far East immediately became depressed.
The Dutch East India Company was immediately divided into two groups. One decided to cooperate with the Chinese who occupied Goa, while the other emphasized that the company's interests could not be violated. It was clear that Sir Thomas Roy's interests had been violated. The goods he purchased in the Far East were too expensive. He could not compete with the Revolutionary Army, which had low logistics costs. He was going to go bankrupt.
When he had a premonition that his power would disappear with the passing of money, Sir Roy did not hesitate to use force to protect it. He responded quickly and joined forces with the Portuguese who had similarly suffered losses. Both sides sent a total of seven warships and armed merchant ships with the 'Amsterdam' as the flagship. Under the guidance of the Jiangnan merchants, they came to Song Jiang Prefecture.
"It's this kind of ship." The pirate merchant Li Dan followed behind Sir Roy and marveled at the destroyed transport ship. "When I saw this ship, I couldn't believe that it could sail on the sea. But it can indeed run, and it can run very fast. It doesn't need the help of the wind at all. "
Li Dan had come from Nagasaki, Japan, with more than fifty fleets. Although his ships couldn't compare to the Dutch's giant sail ships, there were still quite a few hundred-ton ships. In the current China coast, this was already a force that couldn't be underestimated. The officials and sea merchants of Jiangnan, the barbarian traitors of Liaodong, and the ocean colonists of the West, these three forces were integrated together.
When Sir Roy's fleet arrived at Song Jiang Prefecture, they suddenly encountered a small fire ship that was delivering supplies to the southern guerrillas on the sea. This kind of ship that could sail freely with black smoke shocked all the Western captains. The priest on the ship even had to raise a cross to calm the sailors' emotions. This was because this ship could run at a speed of six knots regardless of whether the wind was with or against it.
Initially, Sir Roy's fleet was very restrained. They only wanted to approach and greet the other party. However, the sudden escape of the transport ship made them change their minds. These guys who bullied the weak and feared the strong immediately decided to surround this magical ship. The ship that shouldered the task of transport finally hit the beach. When it was discovered and surrounded by the Ming Army, the people on the ship lit up the gunpowder magazine.
"There's a lot of coal on this ship." Sir Roy, who was in uniform, naturally refused to let this ship go. He boarded a small boat and went ashore to check the wreckage of the transport ship with the other captains of the fleet. The first thing they saw was the coal that was blasted everywhere by the blast from the explosion.
"This ship seems to be burning coal." Fan Wencheng understood Sir Roy's doubts with the help of the translator and showed off his knowledge.
"Burning coal? How? "Sir Roy took the lead. The other Western captains turned their heads to look at Fan Wencheng.
After the translator passed this question, Fan Wencheng was immediately speechless. He only knew a bit of information through the spy planted at the Tianjin port. How would he know how the steamship was powered by burning coal?
"You need to ask the craftsman who built the ship. There are such craftsmen in Tianjin. As long as you go to Tianjin and take down the port, you will naturally know. "Fan Wencheng had to give a perfunctory reply. He moved forward and tried his best to show off. However, these Taixi foreigners were always at sea. It was impossible for them to take a bath. It was impossible for them to take a bath in this lifetime. The sour smell on their bodies was really suffocating.
Sir Roy, who could not get an answer, obviously would not give up easily. He continued to investigate the wreckage of the transport ship in front of him and found that the explosion came from the rear of the ship. At least one to two hundred kilograms of black gunpowder had completely destroyed the entire rear of the ship. A large amount of coal was thrown from here, and the internal structure of the hull could be seen at a glance.
"The construction of this ship is rather crude." Sir Roy had been dealing with ships all year round. At a glance, he felt that the ship's construction skills seemed to be very low. The other captains beside him used their hands to break off a few pieces of broken ship boards and found that the hull was actually ordinary fir and pine. Such low-quality shipbuilding wood was really rare.
Westerners liked to use oak to build ships. After being cut down, it had to be placed for many years to dry. This kind of wood was tough, thick, waterproof, and resistant to corrosion. If a ship was well maintained, it would be at least a few decades, and at most a hundred years. Even if there was no oak, teak, or rowan would be fine. What was the point of using pine wood? Was it going to be thrown away after a year or two?
Not to mention, Uncle Zhou's ship really did not intend to be used for long. The technological progress of the 'Revolutionary Army' was like a leap. Building a ship was like buying a phone. There could be several new models in a year. If someone told him that a ship would be used for decades, he would definitely stare back at them. A poor ghost would use a few decades. After a few decades, it would be a problem if he still used wood to build a ship!
This transport ship actually had a barge structure. The interior was quite simple. Although the materials used were inferior, the design was quite perfect. This was something that Zhao Ze built in batches. It focused on less work time, low cost, and simple maintenance. The most valuable part of this ship was not the hull, but the 100-horsepower steam engine at the stern.
Sir Roy dug out the fragments of the blown up steam engine from the pile of coal. The iron boiler, cylinder, crankshaft, and other parts had been completely twisted and deformed, and the original appearance could not be seen. A group of Westerners still very carefully collected the broken parts from the hull, trying to piece together its original appearance. Among them, only the propeller and the transmission shaft were mostly intact.
"This part seems to be placed below the water line at the stern." Sir Roy and several captains discussed with each other. He had used a telescope to observe the ship while chasing. "Its stern keeps splashing, and it seems that this part is stirring."
A ship that could run on its own by burning coal had broken these Westerners' understanding of ship power. They collected everything but still could not restore the secret of this transport ship. Their minds were already a mess. In the end, they could only put down the difficult problems in frustration and turn to examine things they could understand.
The entire stern of the transport ship was blown up, but the front part of the hull was still intact. A lot of supplies were stored in the cargo hold. Due to the lack of time, Ouyang Jun and Luo Lie were the first to transport weapons, medicine, and funds, leaving behind a lot of food that could be collected on the spot.
Sir Roy opened a few sealed boxes and found out that they were all clay jars stuffed with straw for shock resistance. The jars were sealed, and when they were opened, they were all pickled meat and vegetables. He bravely tasted these food, and as if he had opened up a new world, he exclaimed, "Delicious!"
Fan Wencheng was worried that the food of these Zhou thieves might be poisonous, so he specifically asked the interpreter to remind him. In the end, Sir Roy rolled his eyes and retorted, "I don't know what mission this ship is performing, but I don't think the owner of this ship is risking his life on the sea just to transport some poisonous food. If you want to talk about poison, the ones I usually eat are the ones that are poisonous. "
Sir Roy's words made the accompanying captains laugh. A group of people reached out and took some of the Revolutionary Army's standard field pickled food from the opened clay jars. The pickled vegetables, in particular, made their appetite increase, and they were extremely happy. One of the captains sighed, "If my sailors could eat this kind of food, they would definitely be willing to drift on the sea every day."
Although this was a bit exaggerated, several captains agreed. These days, the food on the sea was even worse than pig's food. Therefore, they divided the field food on the spot, stunning Fan Wencheng and the others. When they saw those huge sail warships, they almost thought that these Taixi foreigners were immortals who did not need to eat.
There were also some matchlocks and medicine in the remaining goods. Sir Roy and the others were not unfamiliar with matchlocks. As for the medicine, they could not understand the words on it, and they did not know what it was used for. There were also some grenades for the guerrillas that were very novel to them.
The shell of the grenade was made of cast iron with prefabricated grooves, and there were some steel balls inside. This thing was ignited with a fuse, and when it exploded, the power was not small. After experimenting, a group of Westerners avoided Fan Wencheng and the others to discuss privately, trying to find more information from the back of this transport ship.
"It is said that this ship belongs to the 'Revolutionary Army.' We need to re-evaluate this force."
"To be able to defeat Governor Cordino in Goa, the strength of this' Revolutionary Army 'is not too small. But judging from this coal-burning ship, their shipbuilding technology is not strong. "
"Yes, they actually use pine wood to build ships. Even the Batavia natives know not to use such inferior wood. "
"What I find the most strange is that this ship is not small, but it is not armed. It is completely a pure transport ship. This is too strange for a ship. "
After discussing for a long time, Sir Roy and the others did not reach a certain conclusion. But they were more interested in the 'Revolutionary Army,' and finally decided to go to the north to take a look. For the colonists, 'take a look' had two meanings. If the opponent was strong enough, then they would really take a look; if the opponent was not strong, then they would be embarrassed.
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
