It is said that the Thor's journey from Sendai to Nagasaki was not smooth. With the ship's navigation radar, the Thor kept sailing close to the offshore. As a result, the journey of nearly a thousand nautical miles went slowly and leisurely, and it also experienced a storm during the period.
This storm made several modern people who had always thought that the Thor was invincible finally realized how dangerous it was to go out to sea in an era without satellite positioning and weather forecasts.
Kakuzo Shibata, the Mesuke from Sendai Domain, and the two business owners were extremely shocked by the results of this boarding visit!
They didn't expect that this big iron ship was speeding on the sea as if it were on flat ground. It only took five days to get from Mutsu to Hizen, and they only lost a day to avoid the storm on the way. At this speed, Zhao
The Lord actually keeps saying "slow", I really don't know what he thinks of "slow"!
Kakuzo Shibata wanted to find out the secret of the Thor's power along the way. When the Thor left Ishinomaki Port before, he couldn't see clearly because it was too far away. But this time he finally discovered that there were no sails on this big iron ship.
None! 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 had thousands of people who could row for me wholeheartedly, I would have liberated Ningguta and chewed ginseng. So, he asked Liu Sheng to take the three of them to the engine room for a look, and they could only stand at the door.
Look outside.
When Liu Sheng returned to the cabin with three sweaty visitors, he winked at Zhao Xin.
"What do you guys think?" Zhao Xin asked with a smile.
Katsuyama Densan's face was stained with sweat, and he said with a smile on his face, "It's amazing, it's amazing!"
Well, the three of them couldn't understand it at all.
Looking at the backs of the three people who were anxious to go back 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 came to the door and looked at it for a while before they couldn't bear the heat. I asked Pingtai to ask them what they wanted to see, but the three people asked Pingtai where the rowing sailors were.
where."
When a modern ship is sailing, the most difficult condition is the engine room, with an average temperature of about 50 degrees Celsius. The Thor's engine room is usually where Deng Fei and Liu Sheng take turns taking two sailors to do maintenance. Because it is too hot inside.
It's easy to catch a cold if the cool breeze blows after you come out, so no one else goes.
Five days after leaving Ishinomaki Port, Zhao Xin finally saw Nomo Gaga at the southern tip of the Nagasaki Peninsula through his telescope. He had been to this place once in another time and space, and also stopped by Gongenyama Park south of Nomo Gaga.
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". Regardless of what others would do after visiting, Zhao Xin went to have a big meal of seafood after the visit.
, to express one's pleasure.
At this time, Zhao Xin informed Liu Sheng to reduce the speed and he would hold a mobilization meeting before entering the port. After all the crew members gathered, Zhao Xin asked all personnel through the ship's broadcast to be on alert to prepare for the upcoming battle.
You must know that since the "Zhengde New Order" was promulgated in 1715, some Qing merchant ships without credit cards have anchored in the offshore waters of various island countries on the grounds of "avoiding wind and waves" and "temporarily anchoring", waiting for opportunities to conduct private trade. Of course, this
Some of them were really "drifted", but the shogunate did not make any distinction at all in order to crack down on smuggling.
The Eighth Generation Shogun Yoshimune adopted a tough "burn and beat" policy against the smuggling trade. The three feudal clans of Choshu, Chofu, and Kokura often dispatched troops to carry out expulsions. Or they sent officials to the scene to command; or they used "baits" to
Chinese ships were lured out to carry out large-scale maritime operations; at the same time, they severely cracked down on those island businessmen involved in smuggling, and some businessmen were sentenced to death.
The most famous one among them is the "Susaka Ship Expulsion Incident" fifty-eight years ago.
In September 1726, a Qing ship from Nanjing encountered wind and waves and drifted near Susana, Abu County, Choshu Domain (north of Kyushu, west of Hiroshima). Local fishermen immediately reported it after discovering it, and local official Ito Hanzaemon
The matter was then reported directly to the feudal city, and Changzhou feudal clan Yongdai family elders sent a ship to conduct reconnaissance.
The next day, the Nanking ship was brought into Susana. The bow (captain) of the ship submitted a request to the Choshu Domain, saying that there were 42 people on board because it had drifted here due to a storm, and he hoped to receive supplementary food and water.
As usual, Choshu Domain officials asked the Nanking ship to submit a letter plate. Later, Choshu Domain asked the ship for two more hostages.
However, the Choshu Domain expressed doubts about whether the ship was a legitimate trading ship. After some identification, they finally believed that the letter plate submitted was a forgery. So they decided to immediately expel it by force.
In order to prevent the Nanjing ship from being suspicious and leaking the expulsion plan, the Choshu clan made very covert preparations. First, the Choshu clan pretended to accept the Nanking ship's request for funding and carried water, wine, dishes, etc. to the ship; in private, they worked intensively
In preparation for launching a general attack, they sent a large number of domain troops from Hagi Castle to Susana.
In the evening of the same day, while the Nanjing ship was not paying attention, the Changzhou soldiers launched an attack. They surrounded the Nanjing ship in dozens of large and small boats and bombarded it with artillery and muskets. The Nanjing ship immediately resisted and put out the fire on the ship.
On the next day, the Choshu clan 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 attack of muskets and iron cannons, the crew held hands and jumped into the fire, killing all of them. The two Chinese hostages were also secretly captured
kill.
Afterwards, when the Choshu clan reported to the shogunate, they concealed the contents of the Nanjing ship's request for food and water, as well as the fact that it had asked for hostages, and presented the incident as an incident in which the "unknown" ship was defeated, thus making its own behavior
It became self-defense.
This was the first time that Zhao Xin told Liu Sheng and others about this matter, which aroused strong indignation from Liu Sheng and others. Even Zhao Liang believed that he could no longer be kind to these warriors.
After exposing the ugly faces of the shogunate and the feudal lords, Zhao Xin took a sip of water and continued: "If they dare to use force, we must resolutely fight back! Even though we are small in number, you have all seen the weapons on the Thor.
There is no force stronger than ours.
I ordered that after entering the harbor and anchoring, no hostages or supplies should be handed over! If the Nagasaki Army wants to send troops on board to monitor the ship, we will let them go!
Remember, we are Beihai Town, not those untouchables who are allowed to be bullied! If the shogunate wants to send ships and troops to attack us, we will send them all to the bottom of the sea to feed the fish and shrimps!"
"Victory!!!" Dozens of sailors and soldiers on the deck raised their arms and shouted loudly, their faces flushed with excitement.
During these days on the ship, as long as he had time, Zhao Xin insisted on convening sailors and soldiers every night to talk and complain. Through this form of "brainwashing", everyone became aware of the inaction of the shogunate and the vassals during the famine years, as well as the more cruel cruelty.
The exploitation was abhorrent; during this period, some people even called for overthrowing the Tokugawa family and making Lord Zhao the general of the island country.
This made Kakuzo Shibata and the two businessmen who had been participating in the audience feel frightened and their ears buzzed.
However, Zhao Xincai was not interested in being the general who wasted his time. He was only interested in the gold in the general's pocket.
After the mobilization meeting, everyone on board the Thor began to get busy. Lu Shoushan, Ping Tai, Hu Ji and ten others, who had just recovered from a serious illness, received newly issued lever rifles; other soldiers and sailors also received long guns.
Bows and arrows and other cold weapons.
Speaking of which, Lu Shoushan was really unlucky. From the day he first arrived in Ezochi, he got dysentery and started to have a fever. Even though he was as strong as a cow and rarely got sick, once he got sick, he almost died. Zhao Xin gave
It took Lu Shoushan two days of slinging to save him.
After leaving Ishinomaki Port, Zhao Xin, who had already planned, selected ten soldiers and sailors with outstanding performance, and together with Heita, Torayoshi, and Lu Shoushan, they practiced shooting lever rifles against the sea every day.
In a few days, under the training of Ding Guofeng and Zhao Liang, these thirteen people fired nearly a thousand rounds of bullets, and their shoulders were almost swollen; but their shooting skills improved quickly.
The eight M2HBs on the deck were all loaded with bullets, and in order to avoid being noticed, they were all covered with gun jackets.
The plan discussed by Zhao Xin, Liu Sheng and others was that once the Thor was besieged, the eight M2HBs and thirteen of them, Ping Tai, would be responsible for attacking the small morning boats and Guan boats; as for the large troops assembled by the shogunate on the shore, they would use artillery to deal with them.
Although corruption was rampant within the shogunate and the vassals in this era, the ability of the army to assemble should not be underestimated.
In order to prevent foreign ships from knocking at the gate, the shogunate built two military camps (military camps) at Tomachi at the entrance to Nagasaki Port and Nishibo on the other side, and garrisoned them. The two military camps were manned by the Nabeshima family of the Saga clan and the Fukuoka clan.
The Kuroda family is specifically responsible for the guarding, which takes turns every year. At the same time, when necessary, Nagasaki has the right to mobilize the various vassals on Kyushu Island to send troops to support.
(In the fourth year of Shoho (1647), two Portuguese warships suddenly sailed into Nagasaki Port. The shocked shogunate mobilized the troops of all the vassals of Kyushu and the four countries, and a total of 50,000 troops were stationed in Nagasaki.)
His eyes turned to the Yemuxia lookout point.
The official on duty today received a report from his subordinates that a boat seemed to be coming on the sea in the distance. Why did he say it seemed like? Because the subordinate was also confused. If what he saw was really a boat, it would probably be bigger.
It's scary.
The official of the observation station slowly took out the monocular telescope given by the Dutch. When he walked to the observation platform and looked at the target, his hands suddenly trembled and he almost dropped the telescope.
The disbelieving officer of the execution office raised his telescope and looked for a long time, and found that the big ship was sailing in the direction of the port, and its speed was faster than the Dutch sailboat.
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.
"Hurry! Get the horse!" The official shouted to his men at the top of his lungs. After saying that, he stumbled down the watchtower, mounted his horse and galloped towards the port. Something big is going to happen now!
An unidentified foreign giant ship has arrived, and it seems that it is coming to knock on the gate!