Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 385 Patrol Ship

"If you don't eat lobsters in the sea, why not eat them?" Wu Nanhai expressed contempt. "If you really like them, there are freshwater crayfish in Australia. You can go to Australia to eat them later. But I still want to eat real lobsters in the sea."

Then came the question of the mariculture industry.There are many tidal flats in Lingao, especially in the three harbors of Bopu, Ma Niao, and Hongpai. There are large areas of tidal flats, which are the main areas for tidal flat farming in modern Lingao.These three areas are currently under the direct or indirect control of the Transcend Group.There is a basis for carrying out mariculture.

"We don't know anything about marine farming. No one has ever learned it, and no one has done it before." Wu Nanhai said, "I'm afraid we have to find a book and learn it by ourselves first. Besides, I think that in terms of the level of fish production in this time and space, Expanding the fishing fleet makes more sense than engaging in mariculture.”

"Let the fishermen do it. The early mariculture was explored by the fishermen themselves. The cultivation of oysters and kelp is mainly about raising seedlings and artificially creating an environment. The feed is very limited, and the output is quite impressive."

No specific results have been discussed in terms of mariculture, because mariculture is also a kind of fishery, which involves coordination with the Ministry of Maritime Forces.Wu Nanhai thought for a long time, it is better to ask the Ministry of Maritime Forces to charge more "fishing tax".If possible, organize a fishery association to carry out group fishing in the open sea.

But at this time, the situation in the Qiongzhou Strait became turbulent.Chen Haiyang, the People's Commissar of Maritime Power, was staring at the chart on the table in the captain's room of the Fengcheng ship.This giant ship has been moored here for almost a year, and it has become a symbol of the power of the Transit Group from the very beginning.Even when they were huddled in the dirt enclosure of Bopu, the Fengcheng wheel made everyone around them feel intimidated.

In the past six months, except for the two attacks by Zhu Cailao and Liu Xiang, no one has dared to challenge their presence in the Qiongzhou Strait.The small group of unscrupulous pirates who used to be active in the ocean near Lingao were wiped out by them long ago.

But now, the sailors on the Fengcheng ship began to feel the pressure.

In the Qiongzhou Strait, small groups of pirates began to appear continuously, they would rob ships whenever they saw them, and they would often land to harass and rob villages.

It's not that such things didn't happen before, but that they never happened so frequently in the past.Now it has developed to Yanchang Village, and there are 1 or 2 alarms of invasion every week, and the number of people who land each time ranges from 20 to 50.As a result, the entire Yanchang Village was often exhausted, and the militia team in Yanchang Village had to be on guard all day, seriously affecting production.In order to protect the production of the salt people, the army has dispatched a platoon to garrison the salt field village.Ships transporting salt from Yanchang Village to Bopu were also threatened.The Ministry of Maritime Forces lost a ship carrying salt in early June. The loss of a few thousand catties of sea salt was not counted, and five or six people were killed or injured.By June, the attacks had become more frequent.The Ministry of Maritime Forces began to equip each salt transport ship with sailors, and adopted the escort system. The transport ships of Maniao-Bopu were transported in a team of 10 ships, and each team was equipped with escorted armed sailboats.Finally, the pirates who intended to rob the salt ship were suppressed.

Although the escort battles were not intense, many times the escort soldiers fled as soon as they shot at the opponent.But if the opponent has four or five ships, they may switch to a resolute attack, especially the fleet transporting sea salt.In order to ensure safety, the armament on the escort sailboat was upgraded to artillery. It was difficult to repel these red-eyed pirates who had not eaten for a long time without using shotgun.

Chen Haiyang soon discovered that the Ministry of Maritime Forces did not have much power to use to maintain maritime hegemony over the high ocean.The number of ships owned by the Ministry of Maritime Forces is already quite a lot, but these ships are basically a hodgepodge of various ships on the Guangdong ocean. The general characteristics are relatively small, with a displacement ranging from 15 to 100 tons, and the condition of the ships is also different. Same, for better or worse.Because most of the ships undertake the task of transportation, basically there is no artillery loading.What can be called warships: only four 8154 fishing boats as the core force of the navy, the self-renovated tugboat "Dengyingzhou", the first self-built fast sailing ship "Zhenhai", and the double-sided boats rebuilt by pirates captured The masted sailing ship "Fubo".The latter three are equipped with diesel engines.

Chen Haiyang mobilized the main force to launch several patrols to clear up the sea, and also carried out fishing law enforcement many times. He sank and captured more than [-] ships of various kinds, and killed hundreds of prisoners. From the interrogation of the prisoners, he learned: Most of the sea gangs from the Fujian ocean side retreated and fled to the Guangdong ocean side because they couldn't bear the joint suppression by the government army and Zheng Zhilong.Since the Pearl River Estuary was also the focus of the Ming army's suppression, the Portuguese were worried that the waterway would be blocked, so they dispatched large ships to patrol the Pearl River Estuary.Many small groups of pirates couldn't stand their ground, so they had to continue to come to the western ocean where the pressure was less.

The Executive Committee learned the latest maritime developments from the captives: After confirming that Zheng Zhilong was in custody, Xu Xinsu and Yang Liu were killed at the end of 1628. As for Chen Shengyu, Wednesday and other small and medium-sized pirates, most of them were eliminated or annexed by him.The battle between Li Kuiqi and Zheng Zhilong is still going on.Mr. Zhucai, who is most concerned by the Crossing Group, went to Fujian to wade through the muddy waters, attacking Tong'an several times, as if he was planning to take a piece of the chaos in Fujian's ocean. According to the pirates, Mr. Zhucai took in the scattered troops of various families along the way. , the momentum has expanded a lot, and it has made a lot of money to wait for an opportunity to rob foreign ships on the coast of Fujian.

Chen Haiyang thinks this is probably a kind of chain reaction.Zheng Zhilong fought with various maritime groups in the ocean of Fujian. In the process of eliminating and annexing these groups one by one, more and more scattered ships will inevitably flee to the Qiongzhou Strait.

This is a good opportunity to annex these people and ships.Chen Haiyang had already figured it out at this time, he still didn't like the ships, but these experienced sailors were extremely useful naval soldiers.It is not as good as these native sea people to train farmers recruited from land to become sailors.

As for whether these pirates can become qualified naval fighters, Chen Haiyang is not worried. This is a matter for Wei Aiwen of the Political Department-this brand-new organization was proposed by Ma Qianju. Work——Wei Aiwen was nominated for this new position because of his outstanding work in political propaganda in the teaching camp.He is also the battalion commander of the recruit training camp directly under the General Staff.After recruits join the army, they first receive 90 days of basic training and political education here.

However, to achieve this goal, he still needs to strengthen the patrol forces on the Lingao ocean. Zhenhai and Fubo were originally responsible for the long-range armed transport missions to Changhua and Yulin, but now they are put into public security patrols. It's not big, and it will affect the transportation around the island after a long time-especially the supply of coconuts and timber.

"What we need now is not a fleet, but a sufficient number of patrol vessels to maintain maritime security tasks along the Lingao coast."

"Choose some ships in better condition from the miscellaneous ships in hand, and add artillery to serve as patrol boats." This is actually the form of the current armed sailboat, "Add a diesel engine to increase mobility"

"No, these ships are too small. It would be a waste to install diesel engines—I'm not even willing to give up artillery." Chen Haiyang quickly abandoned this suggestion. More equipment greatly expanded his ambitions.

"I want a small but professional standing patrol fleet." He clearly put forward his request at the meeting of the executive committee. "The current hybrid navy has only deterrent power in the Qiongzhou Strait, but no execution power."

Because this kind of miscellaneous ship has no advantage in performance, and there are not as many experienced sailors as its opponents.Just rely on superiority in firearms to offset opponents.However, these miscellaneous ships did not consider the need to install artillery at all when they were built. It is difficult to install multiple artillery, and it is extremely inconvenient to use.

Finally, the Executive Committee passed an emergency shipbuilding project, ordering Bopu Shipyard to concentrate all manpower and material resources to immediately build five triangular schooner patrol boats, which imitate the concept of pirate hunting ships built by the British Royal Navy in the 17th to 19th centuries .It adopts a single-masted vertical triangle sail and a shallow draft ship type, which is convenient for fighting in rough coastal terrain and shallow waters.In order to facilitate rapid maneuvering in an environment with no wind or an unfavorable wind direction, there are also multiple pairs of paddles.

The British pirate hunting ship can displace 113 tons, but the standard displacement of the ship designed by Wen Desi is only half of it-just borrowing from its concept, not imitation.These ships must be used only in the Qiongzhou Strait, and most of them will be along the coast of Hainan Island in the future.Voyage performance does not need to be considered too much.

The displacement of the new patrol boats has been reduced to 60 tons to speed up construction.The single-masted spinnaker design has been retained because it is very suitable for the changeable wind direction in coastal areas. The sail cable operating system is all imitated from the yachts brought by the North American rudder—except that the electric motor is replaced by a hand hoist.Three pairs of long sculls are also installed on the ship to provide additional propulsion and speed up steering.

The whole ship adopts the island layout.There is a 12-pound M1857 smoothbore cannon modified naval gun on each of the front and rear decks, which adopts the same deck exposed gun outline installation method as the Zhenhai.According to Wen Desi's calculations, even if the gunner's training is not sufficient, each cannon can be fired once per minute.Based on the experience of several naval battles, the artillery shell configuration is more equipped with incendiary bombs, grenades and shotgun shells, as well as chain bombs specially used to shoot masts.

Because the pirates faced by the patrol boats like to use gang-to-board battles as the main fighting method, the small number of small ships is unavoidable. A special weapon for dealing with dense combatants is installed on the ship: a multi-barreled gun.

A multi-barreled gun is not a machine gun. Although it can fire continuously for a short time, there is no automatic device on the gun body.In essence, it is a weapon that integrates many rifles and fires them sequentially to achieve a burst effect.This strange weapon was once very popular in Europe.

The weapon designed by Li Yunxing basically copied the structure of the past. It consists of 16 barrels. In order to reduce manufacturing costs, the barrels are made of seamless steel pipes drawn in batches in a rolling mill and then engraved with rifling.It is loaded with Mini paper packaged ammunition, and the cap is fired.Caliber 14mm——This size is inherited from the seamless boiler tube used as the barrel of the Mini rifle brought by modern time and space.The maximum range is 400 meters, and the effective range is 100 meters.

The major disadvantage of multi-barreled guns is the difficulty of reloading, making it almost impossible to reload this weapon in combat.So later, a whole ammunition system was developed.The gun body is divided into two parts, the barrel and the magazine, and the magazine part can be disassembled as a whole.This allows quick reloading of ammunition.The idea is similar to changing the revolver directly when reloading a revolver.

As a result, the finished product became so heavy that those who wanted to use this gun as a "machine gun" felt that it was impossible to equip the army when they saw its huge size.Historically, this kind of multi-barreled gun had to use a double-wheeled gun mount when maneuvering on land. It weighed nearly a light artillery, but its power and range were not as good as artillery.So it was quickly eliminated in the field army.

Naval ships are relatively insensitive to weight.Multi-barreled guns use a universally-jointed gun mount on the deck of the ship, which can easily fire in all directions.There is a sliding track on the gun rack, and the stroke is used to offset the recoil after part of the fire.An improved firing device was also installed: a hammer firing device similar to a typewriter keyboard can control the frequency of firing under the control of the shooter.After Li Yunxing operated it a few times by himself, he was able to shoot in bursts.This weapon was nicknamed "typewriter".Each multi-barreled gun set carries 12 magazines as standard.To protect the shooter, an iron machine gun shield was also mounted on the multi-barreled gun.

In addition to this fearsome melee weapon, patrol boats are fitted with an ancient but effective method of guarding against enemy jumping, with protective netting on either side of the ship's sides.As for the hand-held shotgun, which is quite effective in the battle against bandits, it is also equipped with ships as standard equipment, and is used as a melee weapon for deck combat.

There is no engine installed on the ship for the time being. Considering the needs of future upgrades and modifications, the space and structure for modifications were reserved during shipbuilding.The planned engines will be single-cylinder or twin-cylinder diesels, which can start quickly and are suitable for patrol boats.

Some people questioned the effectiveness of this kind of boat. After all, the boat is too small, and the crew of the whole boat is no more than 30 people.However, Chen Haiyang believes that such ships are sufficient for security and security tasks such as escort and patrol in the Qiongzhou Strait-no one can expect to use them for fleet decisive battles.

At the beginning of June 1629, Bopu Naval Shipyard placed five iron keels on the berth in sequence and started construction at the same time.It is the first time that the patrol boat adopts the structure of iron frame and wood hull.The joists and ribs are all rolled iron.According to the design drawings, the steel factory rolls the keels and ribs on the ship in batches.The entire construction period is reduced by more than two-thirds of the time compared with the original wooden keel ribs.

Many modern design concepts were introduced during the construction of the patrol boat.The exterior of the hull was completed on the computer by Wen Desi and several ship model enthusiasts with the help of virtual shipbuilding software and a huge fluid test database.The Workers' Energy Commission tried to promote standardized construction.The various wooden boards used in shipbuilding are unified in size and shape, and are mass-produced in the workshop with woodworking machinery.Wen Desi even made a preliminary attempt at modular construction. Some large components on the ship were built on the ground, and then hoisted onto the ship for installation.The spinnaker was ordered in Macao through the relationship of the Society of Jesus.The Jesuits sent a letter to inform them that the sailmakers they needed were on their way to Macau from Europe. If all goes well, these people will arrive in a year and a half if they do not encounter storms, diseases or pirates on the way.

The Ministry of Maritime Forces builds ships and prepares the army for war——Chen Haiyang seizes the time to do training instead of fighting, and puts the navy's trainee officers, non-commissioned officers, and recruits on the armed sailboats one after another. Anyway, there is no need to consider water for short-term sailings. It's okay to pack some people.Zhenhai and Fubo also maintain combat readiness, patrolling the strait between Lingao and Xuwen every day.For a while, there were many sails and masts along the coast of Lingao, which seemed to me like Wu Weiyang.

Soon the first five patrol boats were launched.The whole construction period is less than 20 days.Wen Desi ordered to concentrate on outfitting one as a verification boat, and put it into actual combat as soon as possible, so as to find problems and make further improvements.

Le Lin is now sitting on the bridge of this brand new patrol boat. Under the awning is a rattan high-backed bench seat fixed on the deck, and it can still rotate—this is Wu Kuangming's careful design. A gift to the Ministry of Maritime Forces, part of the shipbuilding standardization effort.The chair, which was so comfortable in high climates, quickly became a symbol of naval power.So much so that "sitting on a rattan chair" later became a slang term in the Navy of the Traveling Kingdom—meaning becoming a captain.

His command flag was flying from the mast.The newly built patrol boat No. 101 is the flagship of this patrol formation.The beautiful triangular sails are fully stretched, and the sailors on duty on the deck are marine soldiers who have recently been equipped with navy-type Mini rifles. The navy-type is characterized by a relatively short barrel, which is suitable for use on the deck.The front and rear two exposed gun profiles that are the same as the "Zhenhai" protrude from the black gun muzzles.

There is also an experimental weapon installed at the rear of the bridge, that is, Li Yunxing's "machine gun"-"typewriter" has produced several sets and is being loaded for testing. The 101 patrol boat is honored to be the first to install this weapon. vessel.

"It finally looks like a warship." Lelin said with satisfaction.He shifted his gaze from the cannon to the ships lined up on both sides of him. Although they were all slightly worn-out fishing boats with hard sails full of patches, the formation of three ships lined up on the sea. The posture still has the meaning of a naval formation.In the hallucination, he saw himself wearing a white gold-rimmed admiral's uniform, with Korean-style medals on his chest, standing on the bridge of a battleship. On the sea beside him, there were battleships lined up with wild goose wings. Riding the wind and waves under the light...

(End of this chapter)