Chapter 227: Avoid the reef
As a veteran pirate, Liu Xiang pays great attention to his own safety. There are guard boats around Wailingding Island, disguised as fishing boats, reaching thirty miles away, equipped with binoculars bought from Macau, constantly. Observe the surrounding sea conditions.
The warning ship located in the east found a large number of masts rising. After watching it intently, it burst into cold sweat and hurriedly raised three smoke pillars to warn, and then rushed back all the way back.
Soon, the lookout post on the upper part of Wailingding Island also issued an alarm: "The splint boats of the Southeast Ghost Mansion, many!"
In Taiwan, Yan Changwu and the others claim to be the Southeast Military Mansion.
On the mainland, outsiders call them Southeast Mansion.
And hostile elements like Liu Xiang call them Southeast Ghost Mansion.
The pirates are in a commotion, no matter how proud they are, they know how powerful this ghost mansion is.
They are all splint boats, fast, capable of ocean navigation, and mainly use side guns to attack (there are many gun positions, and the Ming Dynasty officials and bandits are both bow guns and stern cannons. The side can not be said to be guns, but large Musket), the firepower is extremely fierce, and the military discipline is strict, the style is tenacious, and it is better than the official army. (Previously played with Li Kuiqi P, so the prestige is played out)
Fortunately, it was discovered early, but during the sailing period, when you saw a mast rising from the sky, it may take four to five hours for the opponent to get to the spot to see, or even more time if the wind is not in the right direction.
Liu Xiang calmed down and sent an order, letting about 20 water boats **** the Dafu ship carrying grain to go along the southeastern edge of the island first and retreat.
The other half of the slower warship also retreated in advance, retreated from the northwest, and left Wailingding Island.
As for the other ships, they waited unhurriedly. When it was almost noon, they saw the traces of the Southeast Fleet.
"One and two (battleships), one and two (five-tier cruise ships), one and two..." The pirates counted and exclaimed from time to time.
Many people have seen Hong Maofan’s splint boats, but they have not seen the splint boats of Southeast Mansion so that they are shocked!
Ordinary Hong Maofan’s splint boats bulge high against the big RU house (forehouse) and big buttocks (forehouse), looking a bit awkward, which is as smooth as the current Southeast ships, and runs clearly. Compared with Hong Maofan's splint boat, it came faster.
The speed is average, their numbers are large, and the ship is tall, giving people a great sense of oppression!
They only feel that their breathing is quickened, their palms are sweating, and their intestines are squirming with tension. This is the feeling of Orientals, because Orientals eat a lot of vegetables and have good gastrointestinal function. They will feel this way when they see the situation is not good. , Really deserved it, man, who caused them to provoke such a powerful enemy!
Liu Xiang, Li Kuiqi and other leaders looked at the large ships of the Southeast Mansion through the binoculars with hatred. None of their ships can compare to them!
And Li Kuiqi felt even more: "The Southeast Ghost Mansion is stronger than before!"
He had been with the Southeast Fleet P before. At that time, the Southeast Fleet’s guns could not penetrate its "composite armor" warships, but this time it was a bit hanged because the opponent dispatched two fast battleships and two large cruise ships. Look The caliber of their artillery made Li Kuiqi afraid.
The pirates all know about Hong Maofan’s splint, and they want to own it too, but it’s not that easy to get it!
Although Hong Maofan is very stupid and naive (when they deal with Ming officials, they are often deceived, deceived, deceived, and slaughtered is the normal way of doing business with Ming people), but they also have a bottom line, that is, they will not easily sell splint boats. To Ming people, let alone the technology of making splint boats.
The reason why Southeast Mansion was able to make splint ships, and even battleships, was because Southeast Mansion had a strong bargaining chip!
For example, the British now get the white sugar, cigarettes, milk candy, deerskin, rum, porcelain, tea, etc. from the Southeast Province, especially white sugar. The sugar in the Southeast Province is large in quantity and good in quality, and it cannot be obtained from any other sugar producing area. It's as white as the sugar of Southeast Mansion, and it looks so good! (They don't have activated carbon filtration) The sugar-related business has developed extremely prosperously. It is a big business that has reached more than two million silver dollars.
One difference from other sugar-producing regions in Southeast Asia is that the supply of sugar in Southeast Province is quite stable. They have a huge site that cannot be violated. The key is that Yan Dashao has the spirit of contract that ordinary Ming people do not have, and speaks more reliably than Ming people. , Acting strictly in accordance with the contract, anyone wants to deal with such a stable supplier.
Tea is a rising star in East-West trade. It should have been until 1662 when Charles II of England married Princess Catherine of Portugal. Princess Catherine, a mainland girl, had a hobby of drinking tea, which drove Charles II to drink with them and then to the British subjects. Drink, the British colonies followed a good tea time. Yan Changwu vigorously promoted to the British, the British brought high-quality tea back to the country to offer Charles I (the unfortunate British king whose head was shamefully cut off by the tyrant Cromwell). It is said that Charles I had a happy heart after drinking tea. The order volume of the British from the Southeastern Government increased sharply in the year, and it is likely to reach a huge trade volume of one million silver dollars within a few years!
With so many interests, the British selling battleships and shipbuilding technology is not the same thing, even Sir Simon Fox who made this business (the commander of the British fleet ~www.wuxiaspot.com~ the good guy who sold warships to Yan Changwu) He was highly praised, saying that he made a decisive deal and made a good deal! ,
The reason is simple, they don’t sell it, and the staunch patriot who has a high position in the Dutch will sell it too!
It is definitely not groundless. The Dutch have tried the Southeast Mansion and asked what interests them... As long as the Southeast Mansion transfers the sugar trade to the Dutch, the Dutch will underwrite all kinds of goods.
To be more ugly, the Dutch can even sell their wives and daughters to Xiaoyan, as long as he wants those big Yanmaes.
Yan Changwu’s success cannot be replicated. If a splint ship is built on the mainland, the Ming government will come after it is built. With the shameless face of the gang of officials, they will happily accept the splint ship built and will not say thank you. !
……
The fork was far away. Seeing that the Southeast Fleet was about to arrive, the pirate fleet did not rush to engage, but left the anchorage and retreated along the island to the northwest.
After chasing and fleeing, the sea is magnificent. The fleet that escaped is large in number, while the fleet that is chasing has a small number of ships but is big and powerful.
The pirate ship crossed the northwest waters of Wailingding Island.
The atmosphere is tense, and the binoculars of the pirate leaders standing on the big ship are watching the enemy's course closely.
The Southeast Fleet chased, and then the two leading cruisers bypassed this sea area, slanting upwards to the northeast, and chasing down to the southwest!
The battleship group behind followed their course and did not enter that sea area.
The pirate leaders were disappointed, and they made waves of curses and curses.
There is a reef underwater in the Northwest Sea!
The pirate ship can pass by with shallow draft, and the splint ship will hit the rocks with deep draft. The pirates deliberately attracted the enemy to pursue, but the Southeast Fleet warships avoided this dangerous sea!
