After sailing on the sea for two days, the "Haitian" arrived at the waters near Nan'ao Island. The Haitian was filled with white sails, like a seagull, gliding gracefully across the sea. The waves were splashing,
The weather here has been sunny recently, and the sea is a clear blue. A few fluffy white clouds are floating slowly in the distant sky. The setting sun in May casts its gorgeous afterglow onto the open and wide sea without any obstruction.
Green islands emerge on the sea. Green waves hit one after another, tirelessly lapping the red coast, making a terrible sound like heavy thunder. This is Nan'ao Island. It is located at the junction of the three provinces of Fujian, Guangdong and Taiwan.
, 118 nautical miles from Shantou, 160 nautical miles from Kaohsiung to the east, 97 nautical miles from Xiamen to the north, and 180 nautical miles from Hong Kong to the southwest. The geographical location is very advantageous. Since ancient times, Nan'ao has been a must-stop and transit station for trade along the southeast coast. As early as
The Ming Dynasty already had the title of "maritime mutual market".
Not only are there traces of the small court of the Southern Song Dynasty here, but there is also the so-called "gold hiding place" of the Japanese pirates.
The Haitian came here, of course, not to dig for gold. The Haitian, a navy reconnaissance and mapping ship, is responsible for collecting a series of intelligence work such as coastal sea conditions, landforms, and measuring the water depth of the harbor. When conducting long-distance operations,
, also serves as a pilot ship.
The Navy is a money-burning service. The Haitian is a vivid example. During last year's Battle of the Pearl River Estuary, the Haitian was still a 100-ton Guangzhou ship. Now, the old "Haitian" has become the new "Haitian"
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The original "Zhenhai" ketch gunboat of the Navy. Zhenhai was the first European-style ketch built according to the drawings of the Chuanchuan Navy. It was based on the famous "America" in history: a displacement of 170 tons and a total length of 30
meters, 7 meters wide and 3 meters deep.
The sailing performance of this ship is excellent, and it can sail quickly even in headwinds. However, it also requires certain operating skills of the crew. It can reach a high speed of 18 knots when sailing in strong winds, but it is slightly
If you are not careful, you will be overturned.
Since its launch in 1629, Zhenhai has participated in almost all the military operations of the Senate, and also served as a large number of escort, patrol and even cargo transportation tasks. After the second anti-encirclement and suppression campaign, Zhenhai did not participate in the Pearl River Estuary Campaign and served as
A stage of Lingao-cruise transportation mission in Sanya.
Shortly after the start of the first shipbuilding maintenance plan, Zhenhai entered the dock at Bobu Shipyard for repairs and modifications. In addition to cleaning and maintenance of the hull, the hard sails were replaced with soft sails, the bottom was clad with copper, and a steam power system was installed.
Modification to install a radio station.
The Navy was quite satisfied with the use of Zhenhai, but believed that as an ocean-going warship, its tonnage was too small and its firepower was insufficient. Therefore, it finally decided to rename Zhenhai to Haitian. The old Haitian, which replaced the old Guangzhou ship type, became the new reconnaissance and exploration ship.
The New Haitian dismantled most of the weapons and equipment on the ship to reduce weight. All 6 mortar guns and 2 70mm rifled guns were removed. The early manufactured 70ma rifled guns had some defects in performance and production technology, but they were not serious at the time.
After being put into large-scale production, only a few experimental ones were manufactured and installed on naval ships. Naval ships are widely equipped with various smoothbore guns. Lin Shenhe has already made a report on developing and manufacturing a new generation of artillery to replace these early artillery.
This special caliber artillery has been included in the list of elimination.
After dismantling all the artillery, the new "Haitian" reinstalled a 48-pound smoothbore cannon and a 4-ting "typewriter" as self-defense firepower. These weapons are enough to deal with sporadic pirate harassment.
The mission of the Haitian is "reconnaissance". There is no need to bombard the shore or participate in naval battles. Speed is the weapon and shield of the Haitian. Not only is the use of sails superior to traditional sails in this time and space, the Haitian is also equipped with a steam engine-propeller power
·You can also use full power to escape when necessary.
The advantage of this kind of ship is that it requires very few sailors. It can be operated by at least 9 people. With the support of additional steam engine power, the number of required sailing personnel can be kept at a low level, freeing up enough sailors.
The space is used to arrange more comfortable living spaces. In order to ensure that the veterans who perform reconnaissance and technical support work can live relatively happily at sea, the living facilities have also been modified to ensure the quality of life of the veterans at sea to the greatest extent.
In order to facilitate landing and exploration in inland waters, the Haitian is also equipped with a small boat rack to carry rowing boats and small launch boats.
The first mission of the Haitian after completing the modification work is to set sail from Hong Kong to explore the coastal hydrological conditions and maritime safety conditions along the coast from Hong Kong to Shandong.
The captain of the New Haitian is served by Li Ziping, a veteran naval officer. Li Ziping, like Chen Haiyang, is a retired naval officer from a former PA. He has received a formal military school education and has rich experience in navigation work and weapons management. He has also been to Kuznetsov
Received short-term training at the Navy Zhiyuan and was influenced by the spirit of the Red Navy.
Li Ziping served as a fisherman navy for a period after D-Day, driving 8154 fishing boats to patrol outside Bobu Port to protect the Senate.
After the Ministry of the Navy was established, he refused to be appointed to serve in the navy. He served as a naval captain for a long time and practiced various sailboat maneuvering and sailing naval warfare tactics. After he got a steam engine, he often visited the steam engine power workshop to master the special skills of steam engines and boilers.
New equipment, hard training of new tactics", this is his mantra. Taking up the role of captain of the new "Haitian" this time is also his own request. He hopes to accumulate more intuitive feelings about future theaters through this voyage - although he knows
This captain's appointment won't be long. When 1631 is officially launched and put into active service, he will go to receive the new warship.
Under the command of the captain, the Haitian set sail from Hong Kong and sailed northward along the coastline. The focus of this trip was to explore the Pingtung and Kaohsiung areas of Taiwan. Later, it also inspected the coastal areas of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shandong to find out whether there was a place to stay.
Sheltered harbors, small islands, and accurate coastlines were drawn. Although they had detailed charts in their hands, the changes in the coastline were too great in hundreds of miles. They were very different from the charts and maps of the old time and space.
The distribution of reefs and shoals is also different and must be corrected on the chart in advance.
Another mission of the Haitian is to observe the safety of maritime navigation on the spot. Although Dabo Shipping's ships have sailed between Zhejiang and Hong Kong several times before, no danger occurred except for a few encounters with small groups.
Apart from the pirate attacks, neither Liu Xiang nor Zheng Zhilong initiated any interception of Da Bo Shipping's cargo voyages. It seems that Da Tu Piao Astronomy's ambition does not lie in this. Neither Liu Xiang nor Zheng Zhilong are concerned.
They all have a monopoly on foreign trade. Those who really frequently commit robberies in coastal areas are small and medium-sized pirates.
This time, the Haitian sailed openly flying the morning star flag and the navy flag. The purpose was obvious. How strong was the sea power consciousness of the sea owners in China, and how strong were their abilities to fulfill their wishes.
"Pay attention to the sea surface!" Li Ziping raised his telescope and observed the sea area around the island. On the sea surface, fishing sails were scattered dots. There are excellent fishing grounds near Nan'ao Island, and there are many fishing boats here. But he was more concerned about it.
It's Liu Xiang's ship.
After Liu Xiang withdrew from the Pearl River Estuary, he never appeared nearby again. The General Staff and the Foreign Intelligence Office conducted a map deduction based on various intelligence materials and roughly determined: If Liu Laoxiang escaped from the Pearl River Estuary, where would he be likely to be?
Locations from west to east: the first is Daya Bay, the second is one of the two peninsulas of Shanwei Port, and the last is one of the three harbors in Dongshan County. Among these three general locations, only the Shantou and Shanwei areas
Nan'ao Island is the most ideal.
In this time and space, most of Shantou and Shanwei are still a tidal flat, where local Hakka fishermen set up huge fishing arrays. The Hakkas call them "Shantou", which is where the two place names come from.
If a large group of pirates with tens of thousands of people are looking for a place to hide, Nan'ao Island is perfect: the island is large enough to cover 130 square kilometers, and there is abundant fresh water and fuel on the island. In the old time, there were more than 70,000 pirates.
As long as the permanent population can stably import food, a group of tens of thousands of people can live on the island without much pressure. There is a harbor and a bay, and it is only 1 mile away from the mainland, so it is convenient to import materials. Moreover, the land is a mountainous area with a radius of several hundred kilometers, Chaoshan
It is also a Hakka area, and information for Guangdong society is quite limited. Moreover, according to the judgment of the Big Library: Liu Laoxiang was probably a Hakka from the Chaoshan area. So arriving at Nan'ao Island is equivalent to returning to his hometown. Not only is it safe
Guaranteed, it is also very convenient to obtain personnel and material supplies.
However, the historical data group of the Great Library quickly rejected this possibility. Nan'ao Island in this time and space is the residence of Chen Ting, the deputy commander-in-chief of the Guangdong Association. Although the Ming army generals and the sea masters colluded to some extent, he believed that Chen Ting
Ting would not openly admit a gang of tens of thousands of pirates to live under his residence. This is not consistent with officialdom habits, but also poses a great threat to himself.
The agents dispatched by the Foreign Intelligence Service and the navy's camouflaged reconnaissance ships conducted a series of reconnaissance operations along the coast. It was finally determined that the Sanwei-Chaozhou area was Liu Xiang's hometown. However, his large ships were basically not in this sea area.
Obviously, his main force is elsewhere. The Intelligence Bureau determined that it is probably on the Fujian-Japan route!