Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 252 The British who poked the hornet's nest

When Liu Zheng and his companions were hoisted from the Thunder God to Fuchuan, the space on the deck of Fuchuan was reduced by more than half. The sailors put in a lot of effort, and with the help of a crane, they loaded the wooden boxes into the cabin.

At this time, it was time for Liu Zheng to say goodbye.Zhao Xin, Liu Sheng, and Ding Guofeng all came to the deck to say goodbye to Liu Zheng and the others.

Liu Sheng smiled and hugged Liu Zheng, then patted each other on the shoulder and said, "Men! Take care all the way, the hope of the entire Chinese people rests on you! No matter if you are a foreigner or a Manchu, who dares to follow you?" You're stabbed, you're dead! Don't tell anyone, Mr. Zhao can kill you in minutes. So no matter how difficult it is, you must bear it. Thousands of female compatriots in Beihai Town are waiting for you to go back!"

"Hehe, brother Liu, look at what you said, you are asking me to pick things up." Liu Zheng was dumbfounded by Liu Sheng's teasing, and his originally nervous and reluctant mood suddenly faded a lot.

Ding Guofeng also hugged and shook hands, and said: "Don't listen to Liu's nonsense, safety first. If it doesn't work, send a report, and I will sail to pick you up."

Liu Sheng scolded with a smile: "See what you can do! Your captain's internship is not over yet."

Zhao Xin laughed, put his arms around Liu Zheng's shoulders, and said in a low voice, "Do you remember the few things I said?"

Liu Zheng patted Zhao Xin's back knowingly, expressing that he had written it all down.Just listen to Zhao Xin continue to whisper: "I won't say anything superfluous. Remember, the most terrible thing is not a hard knife. There is nothing to be afraid of in Thirteen Lines. Foreigners have nothing to be afraid of. The surname is Cai."

When the two shook hands, Zhao Xin chuckled and said, "A person usually only needs to deal with seven or eight people. If you deal with these people well, then there is nothing difficult."

Liu Sheng interjected, "He didn't mean you to find seven or eight wives!"

Several people laughed again.

Afterwards, Zhao Xin and the others bid farewell to Liu Zheng's guard platoon and the two correspondents, and told them to protect Liu Zheng's safety, and at the same time, be more careful.

The platoon leader had participated in all the battles from Xiongdao to Fuerdan City. After the reorganization of Beihai Town, he gave himself a Chinese name, Li Sihai.Everything that needs to be ordered has already been ordered, and Zhao Xin and the others only said things like pay attention to safety and take care all the way; after paying a military salute to each other, Liu Zheng and his men disembarked from the gangway, passed a springboard, and boarded. Fuchuan.

At this time, the sailors on the Fuchuan untied the cables and hoisted the hard sails.Zhao Xin and the others stood on the side of the boat, waving goodbye to Liu Zheng and others who were gradually going away.Cai Shiwen and his men bowed their hands to Wang Ping on the Thor.

Wang Ping did not go with Fu Chuan. His mission was to send Zhao Xin and the others to Macau first, and then go to Guangzhou by boat.

Wailingding Island, where the Raytheon is now located, belonged to Xin'an County in Guangdong at this time, while Macau belonged to Xiangshan County.Whether it is the Cai family's lucky boat or the Leishen, they have to sail from Wailingding Island to the west and north, and only after crossing Rongshutou can they enter the waters of Xiangshan County.

Because Cai's boat had the command flag and token issued by the Guangdong Customs, they didn't need to stop along the way. After passing the banyan tree head, they turned north and headed for the Humen Fort.

The Thor is different.According to Wang Ping, it is necessary to anchor off the coast of Macau first, and wait until the Macau Tongzhi Yamen and the Macao Portuguese Council send people to negotiate, before they can find a place to dock, and then change ships to enter Macau.As for mooring directly into Macau Port, let alone whether the officials of the imperial court allow it, there is no berth in Macau Port that can accommodate the Thunder God.

Coming to Macau was not a sudden whim of Zhao Xin, but a long-planned plan.He planned to use the Thunder God to make a round trip to Macau, in order to deter those foreigners who came to China for trade, and let them know that on the waters of China, there is still a big Han Chinese ship far surpassing the Qingshui Division patrolling everywhere.

Just like what Liu Sheng said to Liu Zheng, whoever dares to stab them will kill them!
Ding Guofeng waited for Cai Jiafu's boat to be completely invisible on the sea before he raised anchor and sailed.Afterwards, the Raytheon crossed Wailingding Island and headed west all the way, first passed Rongshutou, then passed a small island called "Changzhou Shit", and soon came to the vicinity of Jitou Island at the east end of Tanzai Island. The ocean between Jitou Island and Tanzai Island in the west is the place where all the ships coming to Macau drop their sails and drop anchor. This place is also called Jijing Ocean.

60 years ago, in the third year of Yongzheng, in order to limit the number of Portuguese coming to China and the outflow of Chinese, Kong Yuxun, then governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, made a statement and limited the number of Macao trading ships to 25. This is the origin of the "capacity ship".In other words, except for these 25 fixed merchant ships, all other foreign ships coming to China can only berth in the open waters of Jijing Ocean if they want to enter the port; if the goods or people on board want to land in Macau, they must be transshipped by these 25 quota ships. .

Because the banknotes of the forehead ship are two-thirds cheaper than those at the Humen Fortress Customs, and the Qing court does not collect goods tax at the time of importation, the goods can be directly moved into the warehouse, and the Chinese merchants who buy the goods will pay taxes to the Guangdong Customs when the transaction is made. ; Therefore, even if there is a quota of ships, many foreign merchants will still choose to disembark their goods from Macau and pay a fee to Macau and Portugal.

At this time, dozens of large and small sailboats from India, Malacca, and Luzon were moored on the Jijing Ocean.On these ships, there were Englishmen, Frenchmen, Dutchmen, Portuguese, and Spaniards, and the sailors on board were also of various races.

Seeing the sailboats in the binoculars, Ding Guofeng asked Zhao Xin, "Whistle?"

Zhao Xin nodded and said, "Four short beeps, whistle!"

As the rapid siren sounded, the calmness of the chicken neck ocean was broken.

"Oh my God! What's that! Look that! Look! It's a monster!" On the observation deck of the mainmast of an English-style three-masted merchant ship, the blond sailor shouted loudly pointing to the east.

On the Reliance from the East India Company, Captain Marquis, who was notified by the star officer, came out of the captain's cabin, walked to the left side of the bow, and pulled out the telescope.

After a while, he looked at the first officer next to him in disbelief, and found that the other side was also staring at him, so he hurriedly put his eyes in front of the binoculars to watch.

"Buck, is this a hallucination?"

"Captain, I don't think it's possible for everyone to hallucinate together." The first mate Buck said while patting Marquis on the shoulder.Marquis looked along Buck's fingers, and saw that there were also people's heads surging on other sailboats on the ocean.

"My God! There is such a big ship in the world! Buck, have you ever heard of such a ship?"

"Captain, to be disrespectful, I think Noah's Ark is only this big."

"Mr. Barker, can you see the muzzle on the hull? Why can't I see it?"

The first mate Buck looked at it for a while before replying: "It seems that there is no muzzle."

The big ship in Marquis' field of vision gradually became clear. He looked carefully for a long time, but he couldn't find a muzzle. "A huge ship with no gun ports, the guy who designed this ship must be crazy!"

At this time, a star officer asked: "Captain, do you want to beat the drums to prepare for battle?"

First officer Buck said: "Harlan, you idiot, this is the waters of the Qing people, we are not here to fight!"

Captain Marquis suddenly turned his head and said, "Jack! Take the gun and go up there!"

"Yes! Captain!" The sailor with the best marksmanship on board climbed up to the observation deck with a brown bass rifle, but he could only see the Thor's bow and poop.

After a while, Jack on the top beam of the mast shouted down: "Captain, their ship tower is at the stern! It's as high as a mountain! I can't see if there is anyone on the bow, this ship is too big !my God."

Marquis continued to look at the huge white boat through the binoculars, thinking that it must not be a British Empire ship, could it be a new American ship?If it is true, the East India Company must be notified immediately.Obviously, the appearance of such a huge ship will pose a serious challenge to the East India Company's trade in the South China Sea.

On both sides of them, there were already crowds of sailors looking around, and a few guys felt that they couldn't see clearly, and even turned around and climbed onto the mast.At this time, all the people on the sailboats on Jijingyang went up to the deck, looking at the approaching Thor at a loss.

Zhao Xin put down the binoculars, pointed to a three-masted galleon not far away with the British flag flying on the top of the mast, and said to Ding Guofeng: "Keep honking! Drive there to scare them!"

"No problem, let's see!" Ding Guofeng was in high spirits at this time, and pressed the yellow button representing four short whistles, and then turned the rudder.

Listening to the siren sound from the sea, Buck, the first mate of the Trust, watched the big white ship suddenly change its course and head towards him, and asked Marquis: "Captain, what are they doing? "

"Well, I guess they want us to make way for them?"

As soon as these words came out, Marquis and Buck put down the binoculars in a daze, looked at each other, and suddenly turned their heads and shouted at the sailors.

"Ring the bell! Lift the anchor! Raise the sails! Quick! Quick!" Then he shouted to the lookout above his head: "Jack, fire the warning!"

The sailor named Jack held his gun and aimed for a long time, but couldn't see the deck of the ship at all, so he fired a shot at the top of the bow.

"Boom!" The Thunder God on the opposite side did not respond.

The crisp bell rang on the deck of the Trust, and everyone jumped up and down.Panicked sailors climbed to the top of the mast and began to lower the sails, while other sailors rushed to the bow and turned the capstan to raise the anchor.

"God! They're coming!" cried a young sailor in panic. He even left the position of the capstan, crossed his chest and prayed: "Eternal Father in heaven, please look down on me from heaven. Fallen sinner, hopeless and powerless of heart and mind."

The first mate, Buck, rushed over, got up with a big mouth, and cursed: "Shut up your stinky mouth! Go back and push me hard! Everyone work harder, hurry up!" With seven or eight sailors working together, the heavy The iron anchor slowly rises in the sea.At this time, Captain Marquis desperately turned the steering wheel, trying to turn the Trust.

At this time, everyone on the boat heard a loud rumbling noise, and two huge iron anchors dropped from both sides of the bow of the huge white boat; after a while, the thick anchor chain continued along the anchor hole. slipped into the sea.

On the Trust, which was turning hastily, Marquis saw the big white ship getting closer to the Trust, and all the crew members shouted hoarsely.

"Stop! Stop!"

On another British merchant ship, the Eliza, 400 meters away, an 18-pound iron cannon under the hull let out a puff of white smoke with a bang, and the 8-kilogram iron bullet roared into the side of the Thor. bow.

Seeing another British ship suddenly fired, people on merchant ships from other countries were dumbfounded. Are the British crazy?

Immediately afterwards, everyone heard a loud "boom", and the 18-pound shell hit the outside of the bow of the huge white boat, and then fell into the sea and flew away!
"My God! Is the hull covered with a layer of iron?!" Not only the gunners on the Eliza, but everyone on the sea who could clearly see this scene was dumbfounded.

These days, everyone has seen the bottom of a three-masted ship clad with copper, but no one has heard that even the hull is clad with iron plates.Although compared with the 30-inch thick hull of the 2th-century sailing ship, the shell steel plate thickness of the Thor is only 400 cm, but at a distance of more than 8 meters, an 500 kg iron ball with an initial velocity of 320 m/s, It was hit on a special marine steel plate with a yield of [-]Mpa, and that was it.

The captain of the Eliza didn't know how serious the consequences of his actions would be. Five minutes later, two M5HBs on Thor's starboard side opened fire.

The sound of "bang bang bang" machine guns reverberated on the sea surface of South China for the first time in this time and space. I saw a series of water columns suddenly appearing on the sea surface near the Eliza, and then burst out from the ship. Countless sawdust.

In the lower cabin of the gun deck, several sailors were hit by sawdust flying around.And several mango wooden wooden boxes placed on the bottom layer were hit by several .50 armor-piercing incendiary bombs, and were immediately smashed; immediately, the wooden boxes above also fell down one after another.In this mess, black opium balls rolled to the ground; an extremely unpleasant smell, like urine that had been retting for many days, permeated the entire cargo hold.

As the point of impact continued to move upward, dozens of armor-piercing incendiary bullets penetrated into the gun deck layer.The bronze cannon with "Lucy Joe" engraved on the gun carriage just fired at the Thor, jumped up immediately after being hit, turned down 90 degrees in the small cabin, and then slammed down hard On the cannon on the left, there was a loud "Duang".The sailors on the gun deck were beaten up; a few lucky guys lay dead on the deck, not daring to move.

The sawdust was still flying, so Eliza's starboard ship railing was smashed, and soon caught fire; at the same time, ghosts and wolves were howling on the main deck.Just as everyone on the Eliza felt that the end was coming, the gunfire on the Thor stopped.

At the bow of the Thunder God, Zheng Yi and the others, who had already escaped from the collective bondage, stretched their necks and looked at the two "fast guns" that roared on the deck just now under the supervision of a dozen soldiers, and their jaws dropped in shock. .

God!What kind of weapon is this? !Zheng Yixin said that if Lao Tzu had two, no, one such fast gun, no foreigner from the government would be a match for him at all!

At this time, the speed of the Thunder God had slowed down, but in the eyes of everyone on the Trust, it still ran at an unstoppable speed.Some sailors on the Trust jumped into the water from the other side of the deck in fright, and swam desperately towards other ships.Reluctantly, Marquis let go of the rudder, hurriedly hugged the mast, and shouted to everyone on the boat: "Be careful of the impact! Be careful of the impact!" After speaking, he closed his eyes in despair, and other people on the boat also grabbed the cables , I kept praying to God to live.

Amidst the exclamation of thousands of people on the sea, Thor's red bulbous bow that was half above the water stopped at a position ten meters away from Trust.

"Appreciate~"

On the Chicken Neck Ocean, people on sailboats from all over the world let out a long sigh of relief watching this thrilling scene!Although the Trust is a [-]-ton three-masted sailing ship, it is as weak as an ant in front of such a huge ship that has never been seen before; let alone the Eliza, which is still on fire on the deck. .

The air on the sea seemed to be frozen for a few seconds, followed by the bells of the sailing ships of various countries that sounded like a torrential rain.

"Height anchor, hoist sail! Run! The devil of the sea is out!"

"Hurry up, weigh anchor, let's go to Macau! We need to report to Hong Kong immediately!" This was a plan to fish in troubled waters and enter Macau.

On the Trust and the Eliza, the two captains and all the sailors were so frightened that they almost peed, their backs drenched in cold sweat were blown by the breeze, and goose bumps appeared all over their bodies again.In their hearts, they were all struggling with a question, where did this ship come from?
"My lord, let's avoid it as well?" On a French merchant ship, a Macao Tongzhi Yamen (Macau Coast Defense Military and Civilian Tongzhi Yamen of Macau, Guangzhou Prefecture) who was leading people to board the ship for inspection told the general and the subordinates of the Macao Portuguese Council Officer, Looking at the huge white ship two miles away, he was so frightened that his complexion turned pale and he was out of his wits.

"Wh-Which country's giant ship is this? How dare you run so domineeringly in our Daqing waters!" After a long while, after thinking about it, he slapped the boss on the table and said angrily: "Come on!"

"Take it! My lord orders." Several officers and soldiers of the Haiphong Yamen knelt on the deck tremblingly.

"Quick, quickly escort me back to Macau and report to Mr. Chen."

"My lord, wait for me, I'll go back with you." The accompanying Australian Portuguese councilor hurriedly followed, and he also rushed back to report to Governor Faria immediately.

And the captain of the French merchant ship chased to the side of the ship and shouted: "My lords, I haven't finished the inspection procedures yet!"

The Macau-Portuguese council officer boarded the big boat, turned around and spread his hands helplessly: "Your Excellency, Captain, you have to wait for something like this to happen. Take care!"

"Damn it! I've been waiting for 20 days!" The French captain yelled angrily as the ship drifted away, but unfortunately no one responded.

On the big boat, when the captain kept urging his men to paddle, a soldier beside him suddenly shouted: "My lord, look!"

At this time, no matter whether they have already lifted the anchor or are preparing to raise the sails on the sea, everyone can see on the bow of the huge white boat, a huge rectangular red-bottomed white five-star flag is slowly rising along the mast, blowing with the wind. Vigorously fluttering.

　Ship banknotes refer to the direct collection by the customs of the Qing Dynasty according to the size of the ships. Ships are divided into first-class ships, second-class ships, third-class ships, and fourth-class ships.The tax amount is: "First-class ships (length seven feet five feet wide two feet four feet, about 400 tons) are levied 260 taels (100 taels in the Ming Dynasty), and the following are reduced to 600 taels for second-class ships. 400 taels for waiting ships, [-] taels for fourth-class ships. This concept leads to the term "chaoguan", which is the tax customs for collecting boat bills.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)