As for the most critical captured item, American silver, based on Sun Xiao’s calculation of the sampling points in one of the boxes, the royal subsidy carried on the St. Louis should have amounted to 130,000 pesos.
"The information the Intelligence Bureau gave us is 232,569 pesos, so almost half of it is on the San Raymondo." Sun Xiao said.
"We should try to capture this boat!" Zhou Weisen felt that it was not interesting enough.
"Be patient." Lin Chuanqing said, "We have to consider that it is July, which is the peak season for typhoons. If we continue to stay in this area, we are likely to encounter a storm."
Although intercepting the San Raymondo will bring a perfect end to the entire Hunger Operation, the loss of any ship in a typhoon will be a huge blow.
Lin Chuanqing is very familiar with the sea and knows that the possibility of encountering typhoons in the Philippine waters in summer is very high. Moreover, for the ships in their fleet, it will be difficult to escape intact once encountering a typhoon.
But for Zhou Weisen, this is really a bit little. If such a big operation only ends with the harvest of one boat and 130,000 pesos, it will definitely give an excuse for attacks by some veterans who can't stand the home party and the North American branch.
"I think we should try our best to try again." Zhou Weisen said, "At least get the silver on the second ship. Since they were separated six days ago, the San Raymundo will be arriving soon in the next few days."
"Xiao Zhou, you haven't been across the sea, so you don't know how powerful this typhoon is. We don't have satellite cloud images or weather forecasts. Staying in this hellish place like the Philippine Sea during this season is almost like suicide!" Lin Chuanqing touched it out of habit!
Touching his hair, "It doesn't matter if it's 901 or h800. Encountering a typhoon in such a narrow water area full of reefs will definitely destroy the ship and kill people."
The two sides couldn't help but argue about this. Zhou Weisen believed that the weather radar warning on the Feiyun could effectively provide early warning for the formation. Lin Chuanqingze was worried that if there was a typhoon, not to mention his silver, he might lose all his underpants and even his pants.
I can't even save my life.
Among the elders, Sun Xiao is half-hearted and full of inner conflicts - as a representative of the Planning Institute, he certainly hopes to capture as many as possible, but he is also concerned about safety; as for Lu Yang, the young man's adventurous character makes him firmly stand on
Zhou Weisen's side.
In the end, Zhou Weisen's idea prevailed, and the formation decided to continue to wait here, waiting for the San Raymundo. However, in order to reduce the risk, Lin Chuanqing suggested dividing the troops.
"Today's battle was unexpectedly smooth. A 901 can completely deal with the Galen ship. I suggest that Dai Shuang take the silver and prisoners and go first. Haifeng tows the St. Louis. Let Nongchao and Feiyun stay and wait.
A boat is enough. Just get the money. It doesn’t matter if you want a boat or not.”
"You should take away as much as possible if you can -" Sun Xiao quickly added, "I took a preliminary look today and found that there are a lot of goods on Galen, which is a lot of extra income for us."
"What to do with the coal on the Haifeng? We have to add coal when the tide comes back. Why don't we let Tai Shuang tow the St. Louis back?"
"No, this will be very troublesome if we encounter the enemy. Once we enter the battle, we will have to abandon the St. Louis. The Tide is now fully replenished with coal, which is enough for maneuvering and return. Besides, the return journey is tailwind, even if
It is possible to go back by sailing without coal."
"I think this is not bad." Zhou Weisen agreed, "Leave some supplies and ammunition as well. Leave more margin."
Lu Yang was not satisfied. In today's battle, although Nian Tide followed the flagship and fired a lot of artillery fire, because he was following the ship and could not give full play to his firepower, he spent most of his time making soy sauce.
He really wanted to continue to capture the next ship, but Lin Chuanqing was the formation commander and there was absolutely no possibility of returning first. As the captain, he could not ask to be left alone, so he had to sigh and obey the order.
"Then it's decided. We'll adjust the goods tomorrow, and then let Dai Shuang and Haifeng go back first."
The main task on the second day was to move the silver box that had been loaded on the Nongchao to the Waiting for Shuang. The navy and sailors were so busy that they worked for most of the day. Taking advantage of this time, Sun Xiao waited for Zhou Weisen.
Under the witness of the person, the baggage was opened and obtained from the stern cabin.
The most valuable wealth on the ship is often stored in the stern cabin: the funds on the ship and the personal cargo carried by the senior crew members - often high-priced commodities. Some captains will also hide the wealth gained during their voyages in the captain's cabin in the stern cabin.
inside.
As for the gorgeously dressed and noble female prisoner, she obviously also carries a lot of valuable luggage with her.
Sure enough, these boxes did not disappoint the Planning Institute. Several oak money boxes covered with iron sheets were filled with silver and gold coins.
Although it is not as good as the silver from the Americas, it is still enough to make a huge fortune.
Then came the treasures from the New World: emeralds, rubies, diamonds and saltwater pearls from the Caribbean Islands; silver nuggets, gold bars, gold chains; and various jewelry inlaid with various jewelry. Although the quantity was small, they were extremely valuable.
As for the large number of gorgeous clothes embroidered with gold and silver threads, the large number of high-grade fabrics woven from feathers and cotton yarns, high-grade woolen and silk, they are completely worth mentioning.
Sun Xiao kept counting, registering and packing the boxes, and it took him a whole day to complete the registration. The treasures obtained from the stern cabin included 25,000 pesos in silver coins, 2,000 escudos in gold coins, and more than 100 silver bars.
and 20 gold bars. Zhou Weisen estimated that most of the silver and gold bars left New Spain illegally because they did not have any stamps on them.
"If you guessed it right, these are not the only items of property. There should be quite a lot of them stored in the cargo hold of the St. Louis. When we go back and translate the loading list, we will have a very clear list. The other goods are very important to us.
There aren’t many useful ones, so we can only resell them.”
After counting and packing, this batch of treasures was also loaded onto the Taishuang. After all the trouble, there were still more than 200 prisoners who had not been buried at sea. They were taken aboard the Haifeng and locked in the unloaded coal bunker.
The Daishuang transferred some supplies and ammunition to the remaining flagship. In order to facilitate the landing, a rowing boat from the St. Louis was also left behind. Then it and the Haifeng took advantage of the breeze blowing from the southeast to Zhang.
The sails were fully hoisted, and the Saint Louis, which had lost one of its masts, was towed and sailed away to the north.
The Tide Maker stayed where it was and waited, while the Feiyun continued to sail forward to search for the San Raymundo. Since the two ships were separated six days ago, this ship will appear in five or six days.
At the entrance to the strait.
So the Feiyun continued to conduct radar searches east of the strait, and the tide slowly sailed westward along the San Bernardino Strait, measuring the channel along the way.
Early the next morning, when Zhou Weisen wanted to check the surrounding weather conditions, he found that the weather radar was broken. The navigation radar used as a sea search radar was still good. After Zhou Weisen scolded him, he was helpless. After all, he had not turned on the aircraft in three years.
Although maintenance was carried out as much as possible, the rarely used weather radar on the Feiyun could only be left to its fate. It was lucky that several parts were not removed to repair other radars.
Zhou Weisen woke up Lin Chuanqing, who was in charge of the night shift, who had just gone to bed, and told him the situation.
"I'm just afraid that something like this will happen! It's not very safe now. If the weather changes, it will be all over!" Lin Chuanqing, who had big dark circles under his eyes, was very unhappy.
"It's okay, doesn't it mean that Manila hasn't suffered any disastrous weather at this time in historical records? This plane seems to be very well behaved, and there hasn't been any big butterfly effect yet."
"After all, it's better to be safe. I think we should stop operating in the open sea and move back to the east entrance of the strait. The San Raymundo shouldn't be able to escape. At night, we might as well just stay close to the coast.
Anchor, anyway, the radar will give us a few hours of interception warning time, so there will be no problem."
"Okay, shall we send a telegram to Lingao first?"
"certainly."
Both Lingao and the returning Taishuang received telegrams. Everyone was a little uneasy. The Executive Committee sent a telegram suggesting that if they found that the weather had changed, they should not continue to wait for Manila Galen and return immediately. Lin Chuanqing felt uncomfortable.
Great, now I propose to hold a meeting to discuss the situation.
That night, the four veterans held a meeting on the Feiyun and decided to return immediately - it would be unwise to continue to stay here after losing the last warning system of weather radar.
That night, Lin Chuanqing noticed that there were scattered cirrus clouds floating on the southern skyline. He couldn't help but frown. Early the next morning, Zhou Weisen on the Feiyun felt that something was wrong. There were more clouds and the wind was stronger.
The wind reached level 4, and the wind direction changed from the southeast wind, which had not changed significantly for more than ten days, to the east-south direction.
"Could it be a typhoon?" He couldn't help but worry. After a brief meeting with Lin Chuanqing, the two decided to return immediately. If the wind strengthened further in the afternoon, they would find a shelter near Samar Island.
Before noon, the wind force was already close to level 6, blowing out long white waves. Lin Chuanqing judged that the typhoon had formed and was quickly approaching the area - they were now under the outer influence of the typhoon.
Based on the average speed of Feiyun and Nongchao of 9 knots, it is impossible to leave the typhoon circle before the arrival of the typhoon - the speed of the typhoon is at least 20 to 30 kilometers per hour, sometimes up to 200 kilometers per hour. Now the only way is to find shelter.
Take shelter from the wind.
The formation rounded the northern cape of Samar Island and anchored near a northwest-facing coast, 200 meters apart. Fortunately, the wind direction was easterly, and the waves at the anchorage were not large.