Sir Thomas Roy's' Amsterdam 'raised its sails on the surface of the sea. The strong southeast wind blew the sails full. The huge ship began to accelerate and left the coast. Fan Wencheng boarded the thousand-ton sea behemoth with the help of a small boat. He could not help but marvel at the incredible shipbuilding technology of the Taisi people.
"Mr. Roy, your ship is really big." Fan Wencheng stood on the deck and could not find many words to describe it. Although the ship was very stable, the huge steering force caused him to stagger a few steps and almost fall.
Roy was tall, and he looked down at Fan Wencheng with a condescending posture. He sneered disdainfully at the Oriental man with the shaved head and long, thin braids. The other party's insignificant compliments did not interest him at all. He said lightly to the translator, "Tell this clown that I hope his master has prepared enough gold and silver. Otherwise, I'll make him regret it."
The translator was from Southeast Asia. He was dark and skinny and was used to the arrogance of these white people. He sent Sir Roy off respectfully before turning back to say a few perfunctory words to Fan Wencheng. Fan Wencheng did not dare to act rashly. He quickly asked the translator, "When will the Taisi fleet arrive in Liaodong?"
"About five or six days. It depends on the direction of the wind." The translator said.
"Five or six days." Fan Wencheng had been out for more than a month. He did not know the situation in the north. A few days ago, a messenger on a crane flew to Jiangnan and brought news of Nurhachi. Right now, he was not confident that the Taisy Fleet would be able to cooperate with the battle.
The translator saw Fan Wencheng's worry and could not help but smile. "Mr. Fan, don't worry too much. Sir Roy's fleet is invincible in this area. His' Amsterdam 'was huge. It had three decks and dozens of heavy cannons. It was a warship specially built by the Dutch. This kind of ship is the best even in Europe.
In addition to this flagship, Sir Roy has six other armed merchant ships under his command. They are also equipped with 20 to 30 cannons. Any one of them can defeat Daming's navy. It will definitely not be a problem to deal with the rebels in your country. In addition, we have dozens of Mr. Li Dan's ships and hundreds of ships from the wealthy merchants in Jiangnan. We will definitely win. "
The Amsterdam was followed by six armed merchant ships from Nagasaki, Macau, and Batavia. These were all big guys that weighed more than 500 tons. None of them were easy to deal with. In addition, Li Dan and the officials of Jiangnan had also pieced together some ships. These ships were big and small, and there were all kinds of strange ships. Some could not even keep up with the speed of the fleet, so Sir Roy ignored these broken ships.
With such a huge fleet, it seemed that there was indeed no need to be too afraid of the Revolutionary Army's naval power. Especially Zhou Qingfeng, who had risen to power for such a long time, only heard that his land troops were powerful. At most, there were transport ships running around on the sea. Steam ships that emitted smoke were strange and scary. He had never seen any powerful warships.
"Did you just say that there are a lot of cannons on this ship?" Fan Wencheng was the representative of a 'big client' after all, so he had his own private space after boarding the ship. Although the air in the cabin was turbid and the sailors were rude and unruly, a single room was already a super VIP treatment. The translator who accompanied him could only sleep on the floor of the single room. This was already preferential treatment.
"There are 48-pound long-barreled heavy cannons on the bottom deck. Those things are used as longsong cannons on the shore. They are heavy and heavy, but very powerful. It's great to have one or two in the port. There are 12 cannons on this ship.
There are 32-pound cannons on the middle deck, and 24-pound short-barreled cannons on the upper deck. There are more than 20 of each. In addition, there are some small cannons on the top deck. They are all big guys on land. "The translator was very familiar with the configuration of the ship and was very proud.
Fan Wencheng did not know much about weights, and it was not good to ask in detail. Otherwise, he would appear too ignorant. He only said embarrassedly, "My Khan also has heavy cannons."
"It was the Dutch who sold them to you. If it weren't for Sir Roy's generosity, you would have been defeated long ago. "The translator mocked a few words and did not pay much attention to Fan Wencheng. He tidied up his mattress and got ready to sleep.
It was Fan Wencheng's first time on such a big ship. He lay on the ship and could not fall asleep. He kept feeling that the ship was shaking and the cabin was very noisy. He did not know what kind of fate he was facing, and only closed his eyes when it was very late. Just as he fell asleep, Nurhachi, who was far away in Liaodong, could not fall asleep. It was late at night, and the slave chief was still frowning in his study.
As a slave master who came out of the deep mountains and forests, the population that Nurhachi ruled in the past was at most 500,000. He had never thought that governing a territory with a population of millions would be so troublesome. And now, he was in deep trouble.
Governing a country was not just about fighting wars. There were a lot of messy things about the national economy and the people's livelihood. Even the internal balance of the Jurchen power had become more and more complicated. In order to solve these problems that he had never thought of, Nurhachi could only use the ability that he was best at, which was war — to solve internal problems externally.
Win the battle. Win the battle non-stop. This was Nurhachi's way of solving problems. It had been like this since he started, and it had always been effective. Why change? In history, he had done this. The rise of Jianzhou was built on the destruction of the various Jurchen tribes. Coupled with the powerful background of the Ming Army, it was simply a wonderful method that had never failed.
The rapid rise of the Revolutionary Army had blocked the path of the Jin Kingdom's continued plundering. Would Boar Skin change his mind and engage in peaceful development because of this? Forget it, Boar Skin believed in miracles. He would only feel that he had not mobilized enough troops, and that he was not ruthless enough.
The destruction of the 'Tian You' army, and a small setback for Mangurtai's advance. None of this was enough to change Nurhachi's mind. On his table was the large caliber smoothbore flintlock that Mangurtai had sent back by the crane-riding messenger, as well as the judgment of the Third Beilei on the situation.
Several Han craftsmen knelt on the floor of the study, and they were dismantling the seized flintlock. This gun had been demonstrated before, and its power had greatly shocked Nurhachi. Naturally, it needed to be replicated. He felt that since the craftsmen could make matchlock guns, they could naturally make a better flintlock.
But the kneeling craftsmen whispered to each other for a long time, and the gun had already been dismantled into a pile of scattered parts. Every part had been discussed, but the craftsmen had not replied.
"If there's any difficulty, just say it. Do you think this Khan will make things difficult for you slaves?" Nurhachi had waited for a long time, and was beginning to get impatient.
The craftsmen were instantly terrified. They did not dare to believe the words of the slave chieftain. In Daming, if they did not do their work well, they would at most be scolded. But in Great Jin, if they did not do their work well, they would lose their lives. What 'not difficult', it was clearly 'very difficult'.
However, this gun did not look easy to make. Every part was extremely fine and smooth. The metal parts like the gun barrel were also of excellent quality. They were thin and light, and the inner and outer walls were well-proportioned. This was not easy to achieve.
It would be fine if the parts were exquisite, and skilled craftsmen would still have a way. But there was really no way to overcome the difficulty of materials. Great Jin's matchlock guns were limited by the inferior quality of steel, and the barrel had to be thicker and heavier. This was at most a little cumbersome, but this flintlock gun's action was extremely flexible. Where did this flexibility come from? This was puzzling.
The gun's action was not flexible enough, and the gun would be soft and unable to fire. Behind this was the huge improvement in raw materials and heat treatment in the steel industry. The Kennu craftsmen could not even obtain high-quality wrought iron in large quantities, let alone steel. If Zhou Qingfeng was here, he would definitely laugh himself to death. Wild boar skin, go ahead and replicate it. If you can replicate it, I will change my surname to yours!
But the craftsmen did not dare to say that they could not make it, and they did not dare to say, 'Master, you are making things difficult for us'. They could only tactfully say, "This flintlock gun is quite ingenious. Our skills are too shallow, and we cannot understand it in a short period of time. Please give us more time, Khan. We will definitely try our best to decipher its mysteries. "
Nurhachi frowned as he listened. This was not the answer he wanted.
"Hmm …. Go and work hard. As long as you succeed, I will not be stingy with your rewards. "Nurhachi waved his hand. The craftsmen felt as if they had been pardoned. They quickly kowtowed and retreated.
This was all they could do for the time being about the flintlock gun. But there was another problem, and it was a real threat. The Jin Kingdom was very proud of their ability to fight in the field, and they were even more proud of their cavalry. But now, an opponent had appeared, and he was even stronger than them.
"Did Zhou Qingfeng really get a strong horse?" Nurhachi looked at the report sent by Mangurtai. The description of the Han cavalry took up most of the space, and there was a detailed description of the Arabian horse. Even the cause and effect of Mangus' defeat and many other details were clearly described.
"Father, I've just asked the Han officials in the library. They've checked the newspaper of the Revolutionary Army that they've recently received overnight, and it's indeed mentioned that Zhou Qingfeng went on an expedition to Tianfang and obtained an Tianfang warhorse from thousands of miles away. This kind of horse appeared when the capital of the Ming Kingdom was captured, but we did not expect it to be so powerful. "
Hwang Tae-gil was serving in the study, and he was bowing his back to serve his father. After reading the battle report from Mangul 'ertai, he was also extremely shocked. Ever since he fought with Zhou Qingfeng, he had come up with more and more new things. The Jin Kingdom would be able to keep up with the development of breastplates, muskets, and cannons. Although the quality and quantity were not as good, at least they could solve the problem.
But now, the things that this kid came up with were beyond the capabilities of the Jin Kingdom. The craftsmen were whispering to each other for a long time, and Hwang Tae-gil knew something was wrong. The new guns looked good, but he was afraid that they could not be made.
Maybe a miracle would happen if they made the flintlock gun. Maybe the craftsmen could turn stone into gold tomorrow. But there was nothing they could do about the strong horse. From the top to the bottom of the Jin Kingdom, from the Zhenren to the Han, no one knew where the Tianfang Kingdom was. Even the Taixi people who worked as gunners and instructors in Shenyang were extremely astonished when they heard about this.
After fighting for so long, they felt that they could not keep up with Zhou Qingfeng's pace.
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