1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2624
The rivers in Jiangsu and Zhejiang are densely covered, and water transportation is one of the most convenient transportation methods. The Beijing-Hangzhou Canal and Qiantang River adjacent to Hangzhou City are the main arteries of the water transportation network in this area. People are sent everywhere.

The Beijing-Hangzhou Canal meets the Qiantang River in the east of Hangzhou. This estuary is also one of the busiest water traffic arteries in Hangzhou.However, early this morning, the river estuary was officially under traffic control. The Beijing-Hangzhou Canal is only allowed to leave but not enter. All ships planning to transfer from the Qiantang River to the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal must stop on the Qiantang River and wait for the release notice.For this reason, the government also dispatched several ships to direct civilian ships to dock at the mouth of the river to the north bank of the Qiantang River.

In fact, this is not the first time that this kind of thing happened, so most of the civilian ships obeyed the command and docked to the shore with great interest.Occasionally, a few unknown ships wanted to go into the canal, but they were immediately blocked by official ships.

The reason for implementing traffic control is simple. The waterway at the mouth of the river is narrow. If important people enter the Qiantang River by boat through the canal, in order to avoid being squeezed by civilian ships, the boats on the Qiantang River will be temporarily prohibited from entering the canal to protect the waterway. unimpeded.

After waiting for more than an hour, a fleet of ships flying the double-color flag of Haihan finally sailed slowly out of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal and entered the Qiantang River.The first is an expedition-class sailing warship.Anyone who is a little familiar with Haihan Navy ships can immediately deduce from the conspicuous chimney that this ship is also equipped with a steam propulsion system, and this is at least an improved model after the Expedition-Class Type C, and there are not many in the East China Sea Fleet See advanced battleships.

Followed by more than [-] heavy-duty cargo sailboats in succession, this kind of Yugong-class cargo sailboat is not a rare thing, you can often see it on the Qiantang River, and it is famous for its large cargo capacity and good seaworthiness .However, these ships sailing into the Qiantang River at this time had crenels for placing artillery on their sides. Obviously, they were not ordinary civilian ships, but comprehensive supply ships belonging to the military.And judging from its waterline, it is obvious that they are loaded with a lot of goods.

It is not common to see such a huge military transport fleet appearing on the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal. The ship bosses who were dissatisfied with the traffic control of the waterway before, automatically shut down when they saw such a scene.If they sailed into the canal rashly and accidentally blocked the way of this fleet, they might be charged with "delaying the military plane" or something like that.

And behind this transport fleet, there are two expedition-class warships in line, which shows how much the military attaches importance to it.

It was not until this long fleet sailed into the Qiantang River that the official ships at the mouth of the river raised their flags and resumed normal traffic order at the mouth of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal.

"Next, let's go to Dinghai Port first, join the fleet over there, and then set off for the next destination. When we arrive at Dinghai Port, we will arrange to transfer to a larger ship with better conditions." After the fleet sailed into the Qiantang River Only then did Wang Anguo announce the upcoming itinerary to everyone.

At this time, their group is on one of the battleships at the end of the fleet, and they use it as the fleet's temporary headquarters.According to the standards of the navy, the equipment on this ship can be considered advanced. In addition to the steam propulsion system, there are also breech-loading naval guns and short-wave radio stations. The combat capabilities must be considered superior among warships of the same level.

Although Tao Hongfang and others are not affiliated with the navy, they are no strangers to naval warships. They have had many opportunities to board large and small warships since they were young, and they have boarded many times on the way to Hangzhou this time Warships, so they have no objection to Wang Anguo's arrangement.

Among them, Zhu Zi'an was the only one who was riding a Haihan warship for the first time. He felt very novel about everything on board, but he had to keep a reserved attitude so as not to be looked down upon by the noble children of Haihan.

Zhu Zian has heard many rumors about Haihan's maritime armed forces over the years. He knows that Haihan is based on sea power, and its naval fleet is invincible all over the world.In fact, when he was sensible, Haihan had actually controlled most of the coastline of Daming, and the Denglai Navy in Shandong had long existed in name only, but his scope of activities was always limited to the territory of Jinan Prefecture, so he had no chance to really contact them. To Haihan Navy.

When he went from Shandong to Liaodong to meet Chen Yixin, he had actually seen the warships of the Haihan Navy from afar in Dengzhou and Lushun. But at that time, because of his sensitive status, he was arranged to take a private boat to and from Liaodong.It was not until today that he was finally fortunate enough to board the Haihan warship himself.

Zhu Zian didn't have much knowledge about ships. Based on his observations, he calculated that the ship he was on was about [-] materials, which would definitely be considered a first-class ship in the northern region.In his early years, he had seen some information about the Southern Navy, and the large warships listed were often only four or five hundred Fuchuan, and their displacement and hull size were much smaller than the current Haihan warships.

Of course, the history of the Ming Dynasty was not without large warships. According to historical records, Zheng He even built a large treasure ship of [-] materials when he sailed to the West, but such huge ships were quickly lost after Zheng He's era. Construction techniques can only exist in historical materials.

However, although the expedition-class warship has a mighty appearance, its design purpose is to ensure the combat effectiveness of the ship as much as possible, so the consideration of the comfort of the crew is not so sufficient. The living space is very narrow, just Even military officers are no exception.Even if this group of people are all descendants of nobles, they can only hold back for a while before arriving in Zhoushan.

Starting from Hangzhou is downstream, so the voyage on the Qiantang River is much faster than when it came. Even if the fleet is mainly composed of slower cargo sailing ships, it only takes one day and one night to reach Dingzhou, Zhoushan. The harbor is gone.

Fortunately, the official ship carrying Tao Hongfang and others from the South China Sea to Zhejiang has rushed to Zhoushan Dinghai Port to stand by. The living conditions on that ship are much better than those on warships.At that time, they can choose to transfer to the official ship or the flagship as the fleet command center.

But Zhu Zian can't choose freely like others. As the secretary of the mission, one of his tasks is to keep a continuous record of the daily activities of the mission, so he must follow the actions of the chief and deputy envoys.And Shi Chengwu and Wang Anguo obviously wouldn't choose an official ship with superior conditions just out of greed for enjoyment. At that time, Zhu Zian could only stay with them and stay on the flagship the whole time.

However, this is a satisfactory arrangement for the curious Zhu Zian. He can just use the time of his envoy to learn more about the equipment level of the Haihan Navy.

(End of this chapter)