Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 108 Knocking off Nagasaki ([-])

It is said that the Thor's journey from Sendai to Nagasaki was not smooth.Relying on the nautical radar on board, the Thor has been sailing close to the offshore.As a result, the journey of nearly a thousand nautical miles was slow, and there was a storm during the journey.

This storm made the few modern people who always thought that the Thor was invincible finally realize how dangerous it is to go out to sea in an era without satellite positioning and weather forecast.

Mezuke Shibata Kakuzo from the Sendai Domain and the two business owners were extremely shocked by the results of the visit on the ship!
They didn't expect that this big iron ship was speeding on the sea like walking on flat ground. It took only five days to get from Mutsu to Hizen, and it only took one day to avoid the storm on the way.At this speed, Mr. Zhao still keeps talking about slowness. I really don't know what kind of speed he has in mind!

Shibata Juzou wanted to find out the secret of Thor's power along the way.When the Thunder God left Ishinomaki Port before, it could not be seen clearly because it was far away.But this time he finally discovered that there was no sail on this big iron boat!Could it be that Tang Yi arranged thousands of people to paddle below the deck?

With this question in mind, the three of them consulted Zhao Xin shortly after leaving Ishinomaki Port.

Zhao Xinxin said that if I want thousands of people to paddle for me wholeheartedly, I would have liberated Ningguta to eat ginseng long ago.So, he asked Liu Sheng to take the three of them to the engine room to take a look, but they could only stand outside the door to watch.

When Liu Sheng returned to the cabin with three sweaty visitors, he winked at Zhao Xin.

"How do you guys see it?" Zhao Xin asked with a smile.

Katsuyama Densan's face was stained with sweat, and he said flatteringly with a smile all over his face: "It's amazing, amazing!"

Well, the three of them couldn't understand it at all.

Looking at the backs of the three people who were anxiously returning to the cabin to take a shower, Zhao Xin asked Liu Sheng, "What did you show them?"

Liu Sheng burst out laughing. "I didn't do anything. The three of them couldn't stand the heat after watching it at the door for a while. I asked Pingtai to ask what they wanted to see, but the three asked Pingtai where the oarsman was."

When modern ships are sailing, the most difficult condition is the engine room, with an average temperature of about 50 degrees Celsius.In the engine room of Thor, Deng Fei and Liu Sheng would take turns taking two sailors in for maintenance.Because it is too hot inside, and the cool breeze blows after coming out, it is easy to catch a cold, so no one else goes there.

Five days after leaving Ishinomaki Port, Zhao Xin finally saw Yemuxia at the southern tip of the Nagasaki Peninsula through the binoculars.He had been to this place once in another time and space, and he also stopped by Quanxianshan Park to the south of Yemuxia to have a look.

But the main purpose of his coming here that time was not to see the cherry blossoms, but to visit the "Atomic Bomb Museum".Anyway, no matter what happens to others after the visit, Zhao Xin went to eat a big seafood meal after the visit to express his joy.

At this time, Zhao Xin informed Liu Sheng to reduce the speed of the ship, and he would hold a general mobilization meeting before entering the port.After Zhao Xin gathered all the crew, he asked all the crew through the broadcast on the ship to strengthen their vigilance in order to deal with the upcoming battle.

We must know that since the promulgation of the "New Order of Zhengde" in 1715, some merchant ships of the Qing Dynasty without credit cards have been mooring in the coastal waters of various parts of the island country on the grounds of "avoiding wind and waves" and "temporarily mooring", waiting for opportunities to conduct private trade.Of course, some of them were really "drifted by the wind", but the shogunate did not make any distinctions at all in order to combat smuggling.

The eighth-generation general Ji Zong adopted a tough policy of "burning and fighting" against the smuggling trade.The three feudal clans of Changzhou, Changfu, and Xiaokura often dispatched troops to expel them.Or send officials to the scene to command; or use "bait" to lure Chinese ships out to carry out large-scale maritime operations; at the same time, severely crack down on those island country businessmen involved in smuggling, and some businessmen were sentenced to death.

Among them, the most famous one is the "Susa Tang ship expulsion incident" 58 years ago.

In September 1726, a Qing Dynasty ship from Nanjing encountered wind and waves and drifted near Susaura (north of Kyushu, west of Hiroshima) in Awu County, Changzhou Domain.The local fishermen reported it immediately after discovering it. The local official Ito Hanzaemon then reported the matter directly to the feudal city.

The next day, the Nanking ship was brought into Susanura.The head of the ship (captain) submitted a letter of request to Changzhou Fan, saying that due to a storm and drifting here, there were a total of 42 people on board, hoping to get food and water supplements.According to the usual practice, the officials of the Changzhou Domain asked the Nanjing ship to submit a letter card.The Choshu Domain then demanded two more hostages from the ship.

However, the Choshu Domain expressed doubts about whether the ship was a legitimate trading vessel. After some identification, they finally believed that the letter plate submitted was forged.So it was decided to expel by force immediately.

In order to prevent the suspicion of the Nanjing ship and the disclosure of the expulsion plan, the preparations of the Changzhou Fan were very covert.First of all, the Changzhou Fan pretended to accept the request for funding from the Nanjing ship, and carried water, wine, dishes, etc. to the ship; privately, they were intensively preparing for a general attack, and they sent a large number of Fan soldiers from Hagi to Susaura.

In the evening of the same day, while the Nanjing ship was not paying attention, Changzhou soldiers launched an attack.They surrounded the Nanjing ship with dozens of ships of various sizes and bombarded it with artillery and muskets.The Nanjing ship immediately resisted and extinguished the fire on board.

On the second day, the Changzhou Fan began to increase its troops and intensify its attack, sending hundreds of small boats to besiege.

On the third day, the Nanjing ship finally couldn't resist and was forced to set fire to the ship.Under the blow of muskets and iron cannons, the crew held hands and jumped into the fire, and all died.The two Chinese hostages were also secretly killed.

Afterwards, when the Changzhou Domain reported to the shogunate, it concealed the content of the negotiation of the Nanjing ship's request for food and water, as well as the fact that its own side asked for hostages, and stated the incident as an incident of defeating the "unknown" ship, thereby making its behavior became self-defense.

This was the first time that Zhao Xin told Liu Sheng and others about this matter, and it aroused strong indignation from Liu Sheng and others. Even Zhao Liang thought that he could no longer show kindness to these warriors.

After exposing the ugly faces of the shogunate and the feudal vassals, Zhao Xin drank his saliva and continued: "They dare to use force, we must resolutely fight back! Regardless of how few of us there are, you have all seen the weapons on the Thor. There is no force stronger than us.

I ordered that after entering the port and anchoring, firstly, no hostages will be handed over, and secondly, no supplies will be given!Nagasaki insists that he wants to send troops on board to monitor, so we will let them go!

Remember, we are Beihai Town, not those untouchables who are bullied by others!The shogunate wants to send ships and troops to attack us, so we send them all to the bottom of the sea to feed fish and shrimp! "

"Wan Sheng!!!" Dozens of sailors and soldiers on the deck raised their arms and shouted vigorously, their faces flushed with excitement.

During these days on the ship, as long as Zhao Xin had time, he insisted on convening sailors and soldiers to talk and complain every night.Through this form of "brainwashing", everyone hated the inaction of the shogunate and the vassals during the famine and the more cruel exploitation; during the period, some people even shouted to overthrow the Tokugawa family and make Mr. Zhao the general of the island country.

This made Shibata Kakuzo and the two businessmen, who had been participating in the observation, be terrified, and their ears were buzzing.

However, Zhao Xincai is not interested in being that Lao Shizi's general, what he is interested in is the gold in the general's pocket.

After the mobilization meeting was over, everyone on the Thor began to get busy.Lu Shoushan, Pingtai, Huji and ten others who had just recovered from a serious illness received newly issued lever rifles; other soldiers and sailors also received cold weapons such as spears, bows and arrows.

Speaking of it, Lu Shoushan was really unlucky. From the day he first arrived in Ezo, he suffered from dysentery and started to have a fever.Although he is usually as strong as a cow and rarely gets sick, but once he gets sick, he almost dies.Zhao Xin beat Lu Shoushan with a bottle for two days before he was rescued.

After leaving Ishinomaki Port, Zhao Xin, who had planned a long time ago, selected ten bitter and bitter enemies with outstanding performance from the soldiers and sailors. Together with Pingtai, Huji and Lu Shoushan, they practiced lever rifle shooting against the sea every day. .After a few days, under the training of Ding Guofeng and Zhao Liang, these thirteen people fired nearly a thousand rounds, and their shoulders were almost swollen; however, their shooting skills improved rapidly.

The eight M2HBs on the deck have all been loaded with bullets, and in order to avoid being noticed, they are all covered with gun jackets.

The plan discussed by Zhao Xin, Liu Sheng and the others was that once the Thor was under siege, eight M2HB Hepingtai and thirteen of them would be responsible for attacking the small boats and closing ships; as for the large forces assembled by the shogunate on the shore, they would use artillery to deal with it.

Although corruption was rampant within the shogunate and the vassals of this era, the ability to assemble the army should not be underestimated.

In order to prevent foreign ships from knocking at the customs, the shogunate built two bansuo (military camps) in Tomachi at the entrance of Nagasaki Port and Saibo on the opposite bank, and garrisoned them.The Nabeshima family of the Saga domain and the Kuroda family of the Fukuoka domain are in charge of the two military camps, and they take turns guarding them every year.At the same time, when necessary, Nagasaki has the right to mobilize the various feudal clans in Kyushu Island to send troops to support.

(In the fourth year of Zhengbao (1647), two Portuguese warships suddenly sailed into Nagasaki Port. The shocked shogunate mobilized troops from the Kyushu and Four Kingdoms, and a total of [-] troops were stationed in Nagasaki.)
The line of sight turns to Yemuxia Lookout.

The officials of the enforcement office on duty today received a report from their subordinates that a ship seemed to be approaching the distant sea.Why do you say like?Because the men were also confused.If what he saw was really a boat, the boat would be too big to scare people to death.

The officials of the observation station slowly took out the monocular binoculars given by the Dutchman, and when they went to the observation deck to look at the target, their hands trembled suddenly, and the binoculars almost fell.

The unbelievable officials of the enforcement office raised their binoculars and watched for a long time, and found that the big ship was sailing in the direction of the port, and it was faster than the sailing ship of the Dutch.

After a while, when he finally saw the appearance of the big ship clearly, he was so frightened that he fell down on the watchtower.

"Quick! Lead the horse!" The official shouted at his subordinates at the top of his lungs.After speaking, he stumbled and ran down the watchtower, mounted his horse and galloped towards the port.Now something big is going to happen!

An unidentified foreign giant boat has come, and it seems that it is coming to knock on the pass!
(End of this chapter)