Chapter 244 Thousands of Sails Cover the Sea (Part 1)
Soldiers are expensive and fast. Although the most pragmatic person, down to the ordinary people who sent troops to Annan, did not think that the Myanmar side could know in advance that Annan would have the courage to bypass the entire Malay Peninsula to surprise southern Myanmar, but Huang Zhiting still did not
I'm not willing to delay even one more day.
Therefore, after the military parade on this day, and on the second day after consulting Gao Jing about the recent sea conditions, he decided to set sail immediately. More than 20,000 fleet sailors and 20,000 army troops, a total of more than 40,000 troops, took 126 large ships from Jinport.
Set off, aiming directly at Malacca.
Thousands of sails cover the sea, and thousands of miles are covered by waves.
Huang Zhiting himself and Gao Jing, the ship was the "Lang Son", the flagship of the Annan Squadron of the Beijing-China Nanyang Fleet that had only been commissioned for half a year.
The Lang Son was originally named to commemorate the first great victory in the Battle of Lang Son in the Battle of Annam. It happened that the commander-in-chief of this battle was Huang Zhiting. Everyone in the fleet felt that the omen was very good, especially the battle on the Lang Son.
The sailors were even more excited.
In fact, the navy may be the most "superstitious" branch of the military. This has been true at home and abroad in ancient and modern times. Because fighting at sea is not as good as on land, the impact of luck is particularly huge. Not to mention that a gust of wind may determine the direction of the battle. Sometimes even a wave can affect the outcome.
, so both at home and abroad, there are various "superstitious" ideas that are not the same.
For example, in Chinese history, especially before modern times, there were very few naval generals named Chen. This is not because Chen cannot produce naval warfare talents, but because "Chen" and "Shen" have the same pronunciation, up to the emperor
Even sailors find it unlucky to scream.
It was not Huang Zhiting's first time to go to sea on a boat, but it was her first time to go to sea with Gao Jing, and it was also her first time to observe the conductor of a boat at sea at close range.
She originally thought it was a very busy job. After all, the entire fleet had more than a hundred large ships. When she left the port, she stood on the bridge and looked around, and found that even the professional giant port like Golden Port was almost full.
Although it was clearly on the sea, it always reminded her of the four words "blocking out the sky and blocking out the sun".
But she never expected that after arriving at sea, Gao Jing didn't seem particularly busy. He usually just responded to reports sent by other ships - these reports were almost always reported in semaphores, and the language sounded
Extremely simple and direct.
The person who really controls the navigation of the ship is the captain of the Lang Son, and the person who controls the entire route is the pilot ship.
As for Lang Son and the other three secondary cruisers, they have always been located in the center of the fleet. The four ships formed a diamond-shaped formation, with Lang Son being the sharp front corner of the diamond.
After three days and three nights of sailing, on the morning of the fourth day, Huang Zhiting, who had gotten up very early, found that Gao Jing had finally entered "working mode" and started to get busy.
However, his busy schedule is also quite weird, as he is actually writing at his desk.
Or to be precise, it records the sea state reports one by one, mainly sent by the pilot ship.
This situation was beyond Huang Zhiting's expectation. She unexpectedly stepped forward to see what Gao Jing was up to.
At this time, Gao Jing was sitting behind a large fixed table. There were many manuscripts, pictures, and albums on the table. Each stack was held down by a paperweight to prevent it from being blown away by waves or sea breeze.
Huang Zhiting walked up and asked curiously: "Sir Gao, are you studying?"
Gao Jing raised his head in surprise and saw Huang Zhiting. He was a little surprised and asked with concern: "Du Tong felt uncomfortable at sea? There are various drugs to suppress sea sickness here..."
Huang Zhiting smiled and shook her head: "I'm not seasick. I just wanted to see what you were busy with... Prime Minister Gao Gao said that you are an expert in navigation and asked me to ask you for more advice."
"How dare you, how dare you." Gao Jing had already stood up at this time, personally moved a chair for Huang Zhiting and asked her to sit down, and then said: "Actually, when it comes to sailing on the sea, practice makes perfect, just like reading, 'read a hundred times'
, Its meaning is self-evident. What you eat when sailing on the sea is experience."
He smiled and picked up a few pages, handed them to Huang Zhiting, and said: "Commander, please take a look. These things are divided into several categories. The most important of them is the logbook sent by the captain of each ship. This is the smallest one."
You should check everything as much as possible to see if there are any abnormalities that require attention. The pilot ship's logbook is especially important, because the pilot must use it as a model to write down the entire fleet's logbook and draw pictures to record the waterway.
"
Huang Zhiting was a little surprised: "Do you have to watch it every day?"
"Of course, I have to see it every day and record it every day." Gao Jing said: "Dutong, the sea is different from the land. Sometimes we sail continuously for a long time and can't see anything except the sea water and the sky.
Where you are and how far you are from your goal, someone who has never been to sea would probably have no idea.
But for those who have been sailing all year round, they can have a certain number in their minds, but this is not enough. For captains and even fleet commanders, they must record in detail when the ship or the fleet has turned, accelerated, decelerated, and detoured.
, snake-like advancement and other actions, as well as the wind direction and ocean currents at the time, not to mention if there are islands, reefs, etc., they must be recorded clearly, and no carelessness can be allowed.”
"Are these records so that we can predict risks in advance or choose a safe channel next time we go here?"
"Yes, but it's more than that." Gao Jing said: "There are many differences between the sea and the land. For example, the roads on the land are fixed. You will take this road in the spring and the same road in the winter.
This road is remarkable for growing grass and flowers in the spring, and covered with ice and snow in the winter, but this road is always there and will not be moved anywhere else.
But it’s different when it comes to the sea. In different seasons and months, the wind direction will be different, and the ocean currents will also be different. The sailing route at sea will also need to change. Firstly, it is to make better use of wind and ocean currents to save time. Secondly,
It is also to avoid different risks at different times to ensure safety. Slight changes in region, month, etc. may make a big difference."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Huang Zhiting asked: "Changes in region and month have a great impact?"
Gao Jing nodded seriously and said: "Of course, for example, when sailing in the north, you need to be careful of ice floes in winter, as well as storms caused by the cold and warm winds from the north and south. But when sailing in the south, you need to pay more attention to the heat flow in spring and summer.
Dangers such as storms, dragons spitting water (tornadoes), sea eyes, etc. are all different. These things require a lot of experience to avoid or deal with."
Huang Zhiting frowned and said: "Doesn't that mean that if we come here in the spring and don't go back until the autumn, the sea conditions we encounter may be completely different?"
"It must be different, maybe even far different." Gao Jing said decisively: "In the Nanyang region, the weather in spring and autumn is not much different, but the difference in wind direction is quite big. As for the sea conditions... this is not the case.
Maybe, but at least the ocean currents are changing."
Huang Zhiting thought to herself: This is really much more complicated than fighting on land. No wonder Gao Lang was so cautious and had to gather such a huge fleet before letting me set off.
However, when she thought that Gao Pragmatic was so careful, and one of the most important things was that he was worried about his own safety during this trip, she couldn't help but smile at the corner of her mouth.
Gao Jing did not understand the meaning of Deputy Dutong Huang's smile, and thought she was affirming her work. He immediately said: "But don't worry, Dutong. The Nanyang Fleet has not gone south to Malacca once or twice, although it has been done before.
Mainly engaged in business, the journey is not too far, usually only as far as Malacca City, but we have recruited some maritime veterans in Malacca and surrounding areas in advance, all of whom have traveled to the West, and many of them have been to Tianzhu.
There are even a few who have even been to Dashi, and this time we have brought many such guides with us. Xiao Xiao is confident that we can safely send the army to Bago and successfully bring it back to Annan at any time."
Huang Zhiting praised a few words, and then changed the subject: "Just now you mentioned Malacca, which reminded me that Gao Cheng has been worried about the Folangji people in Malacca, fearing that they will hinder our operation... What do you think about the Folangji people?
Will you do this? In other words, if there is a fight with the Fo Langji, are you confident that you can deal with it? "
Gao Jing seemed to have expected Huang Zhiting to ask this question, or he had already thought about this issue countless times. In short, as soon as Huang Zhiting asked, he immediately replied: "According to the master's instructions, for the Folangji in Malacca
People, our Nanyang Fleet has always regarded it as the number one imaginary enemy, so the monitoring of the ships of Malacca's Franji fleet has never been interrupted. To be specific, as small as one month, it can take as long as one month, and as short as half a month.
We will definitely receive a report on the size of the Malacca Franji fleet and other conditions. The last report in my hand right now is about the situation in Malacca City twenty-three days ago."
Huang Zhiting said in surprise: "With such an intensive investigation, aren't you afraid that the Fo Langji people will become suspicious?"
Gao Jing smiled and said: "Don't forget, the capital, that the Folangji people are not natives of Nanyang. They came all the way from the far west. Their number is actually very small compared to the natives.
Therefore, they need the help of the natives to solve their expenses in Malacca, especially for food and drink. This gives us enough opportunities to inquire about various information at close range."
Huang Zhiting asked with some surprise: "Jinghua also controls some natives in Malacca?"
"With such a large scale of trade in Beijing, of course there are trading houses in Malacca, and many small countries in the Nanyang region have been vassals of the Ming Dynasty long ago. When they went to the Western Seas in the past, many Ming people stayed in Nanyang... We, the people of the Celestial Dynasty, stayed in Nanyang...
In the local area, how can those native people compare? Nowadays, most of them are wealthy businessmen and celebrities, or at least their families are well-off. It is normal for some native people under their command to be effective.
In this case, I, Jinghua, went to Nanyang, and naturally quickly got in touch with these people, and gradually controlled some of them, so that I could use the natives to find out the information about the Folangji people... By the way, the Folangji people have no idea about them.
The control of fleet intelligence itself is not strict, especially those sailors, who are mostly dissolute people, and it is actually quite easy to obtain some seemingly unimportant information from them."
This is somewhat beyond Huang Zhiting's expectations, but it is actually a true portrayal of the European maritime powers of this era, because except for a few missionaries, the European colonists during this period basically had few good people. Gao Jing used "
"Prodigal" was used to describe the Portuguese sailors, and it was even used euphemistically because Huang Zhiting was a girl after all.
For this group of people, perhaps the best adjective should be scum.
Since they are all "dissolute people", of course Huang Zhiting will not ask in detail, but just nodded slightly and asked: "So how strong are the Fulangji people in Malacca now?"
This time Gao Jing became serious and said: "Du Tong, before answering this question, we'd better divide the names of Franji. According to the master, they can be divided into Portuguese and Spanish or Castilian.
people."
"Oh sure."
Gao Jing then said: "The French people we usually call, that is, the people who currently control Malacca, are the Portuguese. These people currently - the small one means twenty-three days ago - only have four ships in Malacca.
Warships, and three of them are armed transport ships. As for their merchant ships, there are not many left in Malacca, eleven in total. Three of them were seriously injured and are being repaired in the harbor, and two light ships
The injury seems not serious and may not affect possible operations."
Huang Zhiting said happily: "Doesn't that mean... the Portuguese can only have twelve ships at most for fighting? Our fleet is ten times larger than theirs. Even if we really have to fight this battle, we are sure to win, right?"
"
Gao Jing said seriously: "If there are only Portuguese in Malacca, that's for sure, and I think they will not dare to fight as long as they see the size of our fleet. But there are two unknown factors at the moment..."
He paused and said: "First of all, although the Portuguese are not very strong in Nanyang, they are very strong in Goa - well, Goa is located in Tianzhu, which is Portugal's largest country in the east.
The base has a governor, whose status is much higher than that of the governor of Malacca. If we have a war with Portugal in Malacca, I don’t know if Goa will choose to fight on a large scale."
Huang Zhiting frowned and said: "Suppose they come - can we win?"
Gao Jing shook his head and said: "Sorry, Commander-in-Chief, we only know that the size of the Portuguese fleet in Goa is far larger than that of Malacca, but we still don't know the specific situation, so I can't answer this question."
Huang Zhiting was silent for a while and then asked: "What about another unknown factor? Is there another Goa?"
"Of course there is no other Goa." Gao Jing said with a bitter smile: "But the king of Spain is now also the king of Portugal, so the Spanish fleet in Luzon may also become the helper of the Portuguese. About a month and a half ago, the little
I have received news from Luzon, saying that a Spanish fleet happened to arrive in Luzon from a place called Mexico. This fleet... I heard that it was originally sent to send money to the Spaniards in Luzon, but the fleet
It is very large, with at least forty Galen ships."
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