When it was time to light the lanterns the next night, two carriages, escorted by more than thirty people, quietly arrived at the south bank of the Mongolian River, which was already ten miles away from the Qing army's camp.
The Mongolian River was originally not wide. After the Qing army stationed on the south bank, a large number of people were mobilized to widen and deepen the river channel. Over the past few years, from the entrance to the sea more than 20 miles away to the 20 miles west of the Mongolian River camp, it was simply
It became a moat.
It is said that Xiangyang City is the widest moat in the world. As early as the Song Dynasty, its average width exceeded 180 meters, and its widest point reached more than 250 meters. Although the Mongolian River is not as wide as the moat of Xiangyang, it is also as wide as the moat of the Forbidden City.
It's almost wide, reaching 50 meters.
The group of people arrived at the river. Chang Wu, who was accompanying them, took out a flashlight from Beihai Town from the quilt on the horse's quilt. According to the method agreed the day before yesterday, he pressed the switch three times towards the opposite side, one breath apart each time. It didn't pass.
After a while, the lights on the other side of the river also lit up three times, and Chang Wu breathed a sigh of relief.
He walked to the carriage and whispered to the people inside through the curtain: "Sister, don't worry, we've contacted the other party."
Immediately, a soft "hmm" came from the car, followed by the sound of the child coughing non-stop.
After almost a cup of tea, a black rubber boat slowly came from the other side of the river. Because it used an electric motor instead of a diesel motor, the sound was not loud.
As soon as the ship docked, four heavily armed Northern Navy soldiers wearing dark green camouflage jumped ashore. One of them walked a few meters away from Chang Wu and the others and whispered: "Who is Mr. Chang?"
"Here you are." Upon hearing this, Chang Wu hurriedly came over with a lantern, and then a faint light shone, frightening him and taking two steps back.
These people from Beihai Town all have their faces painted like melons, and they look menacing and really infiltrating. Chang Wu had heard rumors about Beihai Navy practicing sorcery before, but now it seems that they are.
Like real.
"Where is the patient? Come on board."
"Sir," Chang Wu said in a polite and respectful manner without knowing the identity of the other party, "there are not one patient, but two patients."
"Two?" The soldier from the Northern Navy on the opposite side was stunned for a moment. There was only one patient mentioned before.
"That's right, little Gege at home also got the same disease. I didn't know until I went back to pick her up."
"Whooping cough" is an acute respiratory infectious disease and is highly contagious. People in Qitai's family thought that the little brother had caught a cold, and the medical level in Hunchun was poor, so they didn't take it seriously. As a result
Qitai's four-year-old daughter went with Fujin to visit her younger brother, and she was also infected a few days after returning. She only started to get sick a week ago.
Bei Haijun, who was responsible for picking up the people, nodded after hearing this, and then used his walkie-talkie to contact the other side. The people on Chang Wu's side heard the other party whisper a few words in the dark, and then said "yes yes" a few times.
The voice sounded very strange, and I didn't know who he was talking to.
After a while, Bei Haijun came over and said to Chang Wu: "My lord, I agree. Let's go quickly."
After hearing this, Chang Wuyi hurriedly bent down to thank him, and then hurried to the leading carriage and whispered a few words. After that, two people wearing dark crane cloaks got out of the car, and then carefully hugged each other from inside.
Two children came out, wrapped up tightly.
Everyone hurriedly walked to the river bank and got on the kayak. The kayak sent by the Beihai Navy could seat up to ten people. In addition to the patients and family members, Chang Wu already occupied four seats, including himself.
So he could only choose two of Na Qitai's personal slaves from the following guards to board the boat. As for the others, they watched helplessly as the kayak disappeared into the darkness until the lights on the other side flickered again ten minutes later.
The light and shadow then quietly left.
On the second night, Chang Wu sent a house slave back to the south bank of the Mongolian River to report to Na Qitai, who was already furious.
After seeing his master, the slave parroted what the doctor said. In summary, the daughter had just entered the onset of the disease, and the son had already had a lung infection, but it was not a big problem. It would be troublesome if it was a brain infection. But it would be a big problem.
Because the two children's illness is highly contagious, they need to be isolated and treated separately. The fifth wife and the nanny sent by Fujin also went to the hospital for examination because they were with the children every day.
Only then did the stone hanging in Qitai's heart finally fall.
Fujian, off the coast of Xiamen.
On the vast blue sea, the wind was bright and sunny, and a few white seagulls were circling and chirping above the deck. A British third-class sailing battleship with the Yellow Dragon flag flying on the main mast was undergoing shooting training.
When Fukang'an received Qianlong's order in March, he was still in Guangzhou negotiating with the British and the French through the Thirteenth Party to purchase weapons. He immediately gave Qianlong a thank you note, and at the same time asked to wait until the review of the navy was completed.
The training of the battalion continued northward, and Qianlong readily agreed.
Marshal Fu, who has already fought against the Beihai Navy twice, has become more cautious now. He has not acted blindly because of the victory in the "Platform Battle". In his opinion, fighting against Zhao Xin requires firstly planning good tactics, and secondly.
Just prepare new weapons, both are indispensable.
Although the Manchu Qing Dynasty lost many generals after several battles with the Northern Navy, with the suppression of Lin Shuangwen's rebellion, a large number of Eight Banners and Han generals emerged who dared to fight and attack.
"Commander, it's almost time, can we start?"
"Yes." The thirty-five-year-old Fukangan stood on the side of the ship, put away the telescope, and then returned to the steering wheel at the stern. He took an apricot-yellow flag from the hands of the soldiers, waved it vigorously, and shouted: "Start
!”
"Dong~~~dong~~dong~~"
As the Qing drummers on the deck began to beat slow and low drums, the deputy general of the water camp of the Qing army who was in charge of commanding the warship drew his Yanling sword and shouted: "Everyone is ready for war!"
Not long after, when each artillery position reported the readiness command, the deputy general walked up to Fukang'an, knelt down on one knee and said: "Commander, all artillery positions are ready! Please give the commander's order to fire.
drill!"
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Fukangan was already sitting on the chair in front of the steering wheel, nodded and said solemnly: "Start!"
The officer clasped his fists to accept the order, then walked to the middle of the deck and shouted loudly: "Every gun position on the port side, starting from No. A, fire in order!"
At this time, the drumbeat sounded again, becoming more and more dense. When the rhythm reached its climax, a shout was heard from the first gun position on the port bow: "Fire!"
"Tum! Tum! Tum!"
The 13 12-pound guns on the first gun deck opened fire one after another like popping beans, followed by the 13 24-pound guns on the lower gun deck. Soon, the dense smoke enveloped the entire third-tier battleship.
.
On the sea two miles away, a somewhat dilapidated large shuttle boat rose and fell alone with the waves. Suddenly, an iron bullet flew from a distance and punched a large hole in the side of the shuttle boat.
The iron bullet immediately passed through the deck, penetrated a tent frame on the deck, and then cut a large hole in the opposite side of the ship.
Immediately afterwards, dozens of iron bullets flew in one after another, leaving holes in the entire shuttle boat, and the main mast became shaky.
The third-level battleship in the distance circled on the sea, and then turned its starboard side towards the dispatch ship.
"Starboard 24-pounder gun emplacements, loaded with shells!"
On the 13 gun positions on the lower gun deck, all the Qing gunners looked like they were facing a formidable enemy and did not dare to slack off at all. Following the gunner commander's order, the gunners in charge of loading ammunition were placed on the gun positions closest to the bow.
First, he lit the seal on the cannonball in his hand with incense, and then put it into the muzzle. When he heard the cannonball rolling to the bottom, the gunner in charge of firing the cannon slammed the double-headed fire fork into the fire door.
"Boom~~~Boom!" A fire suddenly appeared at the stern of the shuttle boat in the distance.
Subsequently, other gun positions on the lower gun deck fired shells one after another, and the target ship, the shuttle boat, had been blown up and burst into flames, and the main mast was broken into two pieces. When the last two guns were fired one after another, the shells were fired.
Finally, the gunpowder barrel that had been placed in the lower cabin was ignited, and then the whole ship let out a huge explosion. As the fireball rolled, countless pieces of wood were blown into the air, and the boat was broken into two pieces.
Slowly sinking into the sea.
"Long live the Emperor!"
The Qing troops on the sailboat immediately shouted in unison, and for a while drums, suonas, and human voices were mixed into one. Fukang'an put away his telescope, nodded and smiled with satisfaction, and shouted loudly: "Well done! All the gunners every
The reward is ten taels of silver!"
"Thank you for the reward, Marshal!"
At this time, a blond, blue-eyed Westerner wearing a British captain's uniform and a three-cornered hat bowed slightly to Fukang'an and said in a strange Mandarin accent: "Your Majesty, I would like to congratulate you! Unexpectedly
Your gunners are so outstanding."
Fukang'an, who was sitting on the Grand Master's chair, smiled slightly, nodded and said, "Mr. Morrison, your training in the past six months has been very effective. I will write to the emperor to ask for merit and reward for you."
After hearing what the translator said, the British captain Morrison from the East India Company suddenly smiled and bowed: "Thank you very much, Your Majesty the Duke for your kindness!"
On the lower gun deck, the British man responsible for training the gunners loudly said to the gunners: "Boys, your speed is still too slow! I want you to finish loading all the guns within one minute and twenty seconds.
The cannonballs were shot out! But it took you a full minute and thirty seconds, it was too slow!"
After listening to the interpreter's translation, several Qing gunners muttered dissatisfiedly: "Is this foreign devil still finished? I'm almost exhausted."
"That's right, the commander-in-chief said that we fought well, but these foreign devils are just fucking like rats and meddling in their own business."
"You! And you! What were you saying just now?!" The British noticed the sailor's muttering, and then pushed aside the crowd, walked up to the gunners and shouted.
A gunner in his thirties came over and said with a flattering smile: "No, you guys are right, sir! We need to practice harder in the future."
Blakeney, an employee of the East India Company in his fifties and responsible for training Qing gunners, glared at the gunners before turning and leaving the lower gun deck. Waiting for this man who had been working all day long.
After the British gunnery commander with a stern face and a guerrilla rank left, the Qing gunners breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed.
Blakeney understood that these Qing gunners had been trained very hard and had good results; however, he still hoped that he could train better gunners so that the trip across the ocean would not be in vain.
In 1788, after the tea trade season started in May of the 53rd year of Qianlong's reign, a sailing ship named "Fox" sailed from Bangladesh and arrived in Guangzhou. It was a third-class battleship with a double gun deck.
, there are 26 24-pound guns, 26 12-pound guns and 12 6-pound guns on the ship, for a total of 64 artillery pieces.
Sun Shiyi, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, reached a ship purchase agreement with the British in the 51st year of Qianlong's reign. One of the provisions was that the East India Company would first sell a third-class sailing battleship to be built within five years and send personnel for training so that the five second-class sailing battleships could arrive.
Afterwards, the Qing army could quickly form combat effectiveness.
As mentioned before, the largest warship of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties on the coast of Guangdong was the large warship. After the Xiangshan Xieshui Division was crushed by the Leishen, the Qing government learned from the painful experience and built several Tongan ships from Fujian to strengthen it.
Guangdong Navy Force.
The problem is that the Tong'an ship is only equipped with ten cannons at most, let alone compared with the third-class battleships, even the bird ships of the Kangxi period are not as good. In order to attack Taiwan, Shi Lang built more than 80 bird ships, and their lengths were generally
It is about 15 feet long, carries more than 20 guns, and the bottom of the ship is covered with metal.
After the "Fox" arrived at the sea off Guangzhou, since the water camps under the Guangdong Navy Admiral's Office were unable to dock such a large warship, the British had no choice but to sail the "Fox" into Macau and dock temporarily to wait for the meeting with the Governor's Office of Guangdong and Guangxi.
handover.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! However, because Lin Shuangwen rebelled in Taiwan at that time, all parties in the Qing court mobilized troops to suppress it. Sun Shiyi led his troops to Chaozhou, and Fukang'an was also preparing to lead an army across the sea at that time, so he accepted the battleship
The matter was postponed until Sun Shiyi returned to Guangzhou, and then the handover began.
When the new ship arrived, the first thing to do was to give it a name. "Fox" was absolutely unacceptable to Manchu officials, so after Sun Shiyi drafted it and reported it to Qianlong for approval, this third-class battleship used for training was renamed "Dingbei".
"No." means pacifying Beihai Town.
What happened next was one after another, leaving the British from East India stunned.
The first is the issue of docking camps. It is impossible for the military weapons of the Qing Dynasty to be placed in Macau. Previously, Sun Shiyi asked Qianlong for approval to expand the Xieshuiying Pier in Xiangshan. At the same time, a large house was built near the terminal for
It housed training personnel sent by the East India Company and was equipped with cooks, servants and other service personnel. In order to prevent the British from feeling lonely and wandering around, Sun Shiyi also specially arranged a theater troupe.
So you understand, a group of British people eat and drink in the house every day, and then the theater troupe begins. The problem is that it is okay to do this for one or two days, but if it is like this every day for several months, the British people will almost vomit after listening to the play.
Finally, we simply asked the magic troupe to leave because we didn’t want it anymore!
Next, the first thing the warship did after entering the port was not to start training, but to decorate it. After people from the Governor's Office of Guangdong and Guangxi and the Admiral's Office of Shuiying looked at the interior furnishings of the "Dingbei", they thought it was really vulgar, so
Then began to change the decoration.
On the outside of the sailboat, a group of painters painted a large number of colorful paintings on the bow and stern according to the style of Chinese ships, including dragons, eagles, lions, water-splitting patterns and so on.
In the captain's cabin at the rear, all the original chart tables and furniture were replaced, and all the Baroque-style doors and windows were replaced. When the British boarded the "Dingbei" again two months later, they were shocked to find the carved beams and columns in the captain's cabin.
, there are incomprehensible Chinese ink paintings hanging on the walls, the furniture has been replaced with red sandalwood beds, Taishi chairs and Eight Immortals tables with extremely complicated and exquisite carvings, and the floors are also covered with extremely gorgeous and precious animal skins and carpets.
Fortunately, there were two weapon racks placed against the wall on the right side of the bed. There were many weapons with no names on them, and they looked murderous. Otherwise, the British would have thought they were on a yacht.
Then there was the waiting for the arrival of the crew, and the British waited for several months.
The difference from the configuration of the Manchu and Qing warships is that according to the requirements of European sailing battleships at the same time, the rated crew number of a third-level sailing battleship is 490 people, and the rated crew number of a second-level battleship is 750 people. Of course,
Not all of these crew members work on the deck at the same time, but are divided into two shifts.
The Manchu Qing ordered five second-level battleships and one third-level battleship. The sailors alone needed to be manned by more than 4,240 people, and the ships were equipped with nearly a hundred cannons, so the captain of each ship must be at least the first-level lieutenant.
Since each ship is a mobile artillery fortress, which is an important military weapon, Qianlong specially arranged for all Eight Banners generals to serve as captains, first mates, and gunners of each ship. It took a lot of time just to select these people from the Eight Banners.
For a long time, because of the good treatment and heavy responsibilities, all the forces in the court wanted to fight for these positions.
While determining the candidates for the generals, Qianlong also ordered to select strong soldiers from the water camps in Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang to form a navy force of 8,000 people, which was trained by the British sent by the East India Company.
In order to facilitate communication during training, the Governor's Office of Guangdong and Guangxi recruited a group of translators through the Thirteen Lines.
After finally getting through more than half a year, when the British felt that they could finally start training, something they couldn't understand happened again.
The bronze bell used to sound the alarm on the deck was removed. The Manchus believed that "bell" meant "playing over" and was too unlucky, so they replaced it with a drum and bugler.
Here they shouted "all hands on guard", and there they started beating drums and blowing suonas; the ship's dispatch was changed to blowing the conch horn, and the retreat was changed to beating gongs. When the drill first started, there was a chaos on the deck!
The drums and music are loud, the flags are fluttering, and all that's left is the firecrackers...
This really confuses the British! It took more than a month to get used to it. After that, we repeatedly negotiated with Manchu officials and finally streamlined some parts.
However, what is most incredible to the British is that most of these senior generals who were dispatched from various places by the Qing emperor to serve as captains could not even swim!
By this time, the more than 100 people from the East India Company had completely lost their temper, and they could do whatever they liked.