Weiss raised his binoculars. Three thick wooden poles were built diagonally in the parapet of the fort. The wooden poles stood diagonally, and the tops were fixed together with iron tools. A set of pulleys hung from the top, with a hook hanging at the end. The Spaniards were
The commanding coolie installed a winch pulling a rope next to it. He studied the lifting frame attentively for a while, and then turned to the beach under the fort. The most eye-catching thing is that the beach is paved with wooden planks.
Along a road, colonial soldiers in colorful clothes gathered beside the wooden boardwalk. Some of them held spears, while more waved bamboo whips and matchlock sticks to drive away a large group of local coolies. The coolies wore "chiluo"
", the ropes that are carried or pulled lead the observer's eyes to the heavy load they are pulling. A black cannon, this is definitely no longer an old Spanish bronze cannon that has been boring and transformed. It is better than Macau or Manila in this time and space.
The artillery on any fortress or ship is huge, probably only comparable to the main gun installed by the Australians on their steam battleships. The black iron gun body presents a peculiar shape curve, like an enlarged
Soda bottle. Compared with the thick and stocky gun body, the triangular bracket made of girders is extremely simple, with four pitifully small iron wheels installed underneath. If it hadn't been covered with wooden boards, such a clumsy and extremely uncoordinated thing would have
Stuck in the sand on the beach and unable to move.
"When did you discover it?" Weiss asked.
"Before sunrise, at 5:15, a ship was discovered." The special reconnaissance team said. Weiss looked in the direction he pointed with a telescope. Sure enough, a sloop with its sail lowered was anchored near the coast on the southwest side of the fortress.
"Since then, the Spaniards have been busy laying simple roads. They set up the crane an hour ago, and the cannon was just unloaded from the ship on a pulley."
The telescope turned back to the cannon being towed. The soldiers yelled, and bamboo whips and forked sticks fell on the coolies' heads and backs from time to time. The coolies' skin was covered with scars, and the pain continued to show under the whipping and heavy pressure.
Weiss was indifferent to this cruel scene. He searched in his mind. It was already a distant memory that his father took him to the Fort Golden Gate Fort when he was a child. However, he clearly remembered that he was in the Army training camp at Fort Jackson.
I once went to Charleston to visit Fort Sumter and Moultrie. That time, recruit Weiss Lando was stunned by the huge Dahlgren cannon. Now he was surprised again by similar artillery and gun mounts.
.Despite his lack of professional knowledge about antique ordnance, Weiss at least knew that those Civil War-era fortress cannons were made for sinking armored ships. If the Esmeralda happened to be hit by one, the consequences were easy to imagine.
"If I give the order now, can you kill one of them?" Weiss asked suddenly.
"No hit. The target is more than two thousand meters away," the sniper replied. "But if you occupy a position there, it will be fine." He was referring to a sparse shrubbery south of the villa.
Weiss shook his head. He couldn't give up the excellent surveillance post in the tower. Now he regretted not adding a few Barretts or .50 MacMillans, or even an M2 heavy machine gun, to the Mackerel's cargo hold. He
He opened the cover of the wall microphone and rang the bell again: "Mimi, is that you? Send the big telescope and camera to the top of the tower. We need them now."
"God knows when these bastards are going to start firing." He muttered as he turned off the intercom.
When the count returned to the shooting room, Captain Pilar and several of his colleagues were completely drunk, lying on the couch and snoring loudly. Andrade was talking enthusiastically about the East with the mayor.
On the topic of art and idolatry, from time to time the treasurer could be heard casually quoting the famous judgments of St. Augustine and Aquinas. The count motioned to the servant to bring a bench and sat down on the balcony next to Alfonso.
Weiss casually looked at this new celebrity who had been talked about everywhere in Manila recently. The gold-embroidered uniform was newly made, which made his newly obtained medals and ribbons very dazzling. Alfonso spoke first.
There was already a hint of drunkenness in his voice.
"Count, is this way of drinking a masterpiece of your genius? Rum and iced juice, drinking it is so refreshing, it's like a refreshing cloud."
"Someone once said in my hometown that if I changed my career to be a hotel manager, I would be better than fighting the infidels." Weiss made a gesture and ordered the servant to put the cocktail shaker and the well water into the cooler.
Gas came over, "Tell me about natural philosophy, sir."
"Natural philosophy? My dear Vananova, I am not a doctor or a scholar. I am a soldier who fights to win the favor of God, just like you."
"No, did you hear what Pilar said? Since how to kill one person faster with bullets and swords is natural philosophy, then how to kill a hundred people with one cannonball should belong to the category of natural philosophy.
"
"You mean the Paul Cannon? That's a pleasant thing indeed. Just like your wine. As long as you don't happen to be standing in front of the muzzle yourself."
"Then tell me."
"What are you talking about? Paul the cannon, or Paul the cannon?"
"Tell me everything, dear Alfonso, tell as much as you know." Weiss put a large cocktail into his hand, "These things are really interesting, who doesn't want to make more meritorious deeds on the battlefield?"
"
"Speaking of Mr. Paul, he is really mysterious..." Major Alfonso was talking animatedly under the stimulation of alcohol.
"Have you ever worked with him and he's still so mysterious?"
"Of course, of course, I did work with him. But to be honest, this is really a person who you can never know what he is thinking in his heart - maybe he is really, as the priests said, so pious that he does not care about the outside world.
Already."
"No, this wonderful man didn't even attend the triumphal ceremony - it's really puzzling to give up such a great honor."
"He doesn't care about this. Besides, he boarded the clipper and left soon after returning to Manila. No one in the Philippines except the Governor knows where he went. He can do whatever he wants, and the Governor always has no conditions.
To express support - Mr. Paul is now the Governor's closest friend," the major said with a slightly lewd smile, "However, every time he comes back, there will always be some surprising new tricks. Just wait and see.
Bar."
At this time, hundreds of nautical miles away from Manila, on the deserted west coast of the northern tip of Samar Island, the sound of coolies' trumpets and curses in Spanish mixed with local dialects were echoing in the air.
On this desolate coastline, which is full of dangerous rocks and shoals, there are three sailboats of different sizes moored. On the top of one of the small dhows, Evaristo Okamoto is watching
The coolies were struggling hard in the shoals. They were crumbling under the scorching sun and the ruthless whipping of the supervisors, but they had to use all their strength to drag the ropes that were ruthlessly rubbing against their skin.
On the shoal where the sea water submerges a person's waist, there is a huge pile of debris. Rusty iron bones, covered with dead sea creatures, are messily piercing into the air. On these iron bones, there are still seventy
There are pieces of boards with no visible color attached to them.
The wreckage of the Type 901 gunboat "Nong Tide", which was capsized by a typhoon and sank on the west coast of Samar Island's North Cape during Operation Hunger, was washed up on the coast in a recent typhoon.
Evaristo Okamoto was very interested in Operation Hunger. He learned many details about the operation from the Spanish prisoners who returned to Manila after ransom and his "fiancée", and also learned that an Australian ship sank.
On Samar Island.
For Evaristo Okamoto, a boat is a treasure trove. Especially for a person like him who came to this time and space with nothing. He immediately took people to Samar Island and soon found the ship that sank in the tide.
location.
However, the Navy's thorough handling of the tide left it helpless to deal with the wreckage. The wreckage of the tide lay on the underwater beaches and reefs. Even at low tide, it was three or four meters deep from the water. And the huge damage from the hull
It can be seen that the structure of this ship has been damaged. It is impossible to salvage it with the technical strength he possesses - even if it can be salvaged, it will not have any repair value, and he does not have the ability to repair it at all.
After several explorations with a diving bell, Evaristo Okamoto didn't get anything useful. He could only return in despair. However, the Tidemaker that sank in the waters of Samar Island was always the object of his thoughts.
.
Evaristo Okamoto has no doubt that this group of so-called Australians have sabotaged the tide. However, this damage was done after the tide capsized and sank, which means that they destroyed and dismantled the ship.
It's impossible to do it thoroughly. In other words, this ship is still a treasure trove - provided that you can touch it.
Paul Hare's salvage conditions were very unfavorable. He did not have any diving equipment, and using a primitive diving bell to dive could do very little.
However, God seems to be favoring his career. Shortly after a recent typhoon passed, a ship passing near Samar Island brought news that a strange shipwreck was pushed onto the beach by the storm -
The ribs of this ship are actually made of iron!
After hearing the news, Evaristo Okamoto immediately set out with a fleet. He shipped hundreds of coolies, a large number of ropes, winches and pulleys, and even a complete blacksmith shop with him to prepare.
Completely dismember the wreckage of the ship on Samar Island to see what can be gained from it.