Xiang Xiaoqiang was about to organize people to interrogate the two pirates. The sailors came to ask him to go to the command room. A telegram was sent from China. Xiang Xiaoqiang first had the two pirates handcuffed to the railing of the ship and asked the sailors to guard him, and then ran back.
Bridge command room.
The captain showed him a telegram, which was sent by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs. After reading it, Xiang Xiaoqiang found out that Ming Dynasty cargo ships were hijacked in Malacca every year, and the year before last, a luxury cruise ship was hijacked, which was the famous
"Hong Kong" incident.
The telegram focused on describing the whole story of the "Hong Kong" incident. The "Hong Kong" was a 24,000-ton luxury cruise ship that departed from Guangzhou Port for Europe on June 22, 1934. It disappeared in the waters of the Strait of Malacca in the early morning of June 24.
When the Xiangjiang disappeared, there were 523 passengers and 225 ship staff on board, and none of them returned. More than a year after the incident, a wealthy Chinese businessman accidentally saw a teenage Chinese in a brothel in Surabaya.
She looked very much like the second lady of his business partner Zhang Boss of the "Zhangji" trading company. Boss Zhang's whole family disappeared in the "Xiangjiang" incident. He immediately informed the Ministry of Maritime Affairs after returning to China, and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs immediately organized
With the passenger information of the Xiangjiang in hand, they went to various brothels in Surabaya to search. As a result, in more than ten days, they found 8 female passengers of the Xiangjiang who had been working as prostitutes for more than a year.
But because Surabaya is a Dutch territory, the personnel of the Ming Dynasty Maritime Affairs Department were helpless. Two days later, the Ming government sent personnel to Surabaya with a large amount of checks and cash in an attempt to redeem them. But in the end, only four were redeemed, and the other four were in
He was quickly sold out in the past two days, and there was no chance of being rescued back to the country. This incident was reported in the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming government organized more people to carry more money to major cities in Southeast Asia.
:Batavia, Semarang, Bandung, Palembang, Medan, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Brunei, Bangkok, Saigon...
This large-scale redemption and rescue operation has not stopped yet. The latest woman was found and redeemed in May last year. She was the 73rd. When these former female passengers of the "Hong Kong" were found,
Without exception, all of them have been reduced to **. After the Ming army captured Batavia Island, 9 more female passengers of the "Hong Kong" were rescued from several cities, bringing the number of rescued passengers to 82.
After returning to China, 23 of these 82 women have committed suicide one after another. Another 15 have varying degrees of mental disorder.
Among the 523 passengers and 225 ship staff on the Xiangjiang, 305 are women, which means that so far, 223 female passengers have not been found. It can be said that the hope of finding them again is very slim. But these 223
Among the female passengers, 96 were older, all over forty years old. According to the traditional way of Malacca pirates dealing with passengers on passenger ships, it is basically certain that they were killed by the pirates along with the male passengers at that time.
His body was buried in the sea.
Xiang Xiaoqiang was holding the telegraph newspaper, and his hands were shaking when he saw this. He was filled with the urge to kill all the pirates. He wanted to run to the deck immediately, peel off the skins of the two pirates, and throw them into the sea.
Feed the shark. Then he felt a sense of fear again, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
There were only 523 passengers on the Xiangjiang, while there were 735 on the Wing On Princess...
He continued to read the telegram, which was personally signed by the Minister of Maritime Affairs. He asked the Kuimu Lang to do its best to search and prevent the tragedy of the "Xiangjiang" from happening again. He said that the Kuimu Lang was the only one of the Ming Dynasty in that sea area.
We can only rely on them for strength in a short period of time.
At this time, the second telegram came. This was sent by the Naval General Staff. The Naval General Staff repeated the statement of the Maritime Affairs Ministry that the Kuimu Lang was the only Ming warship in this sea area. Now the Kuimu Lang
shouldering a heavy responsibility. The Songkhla Naval Base has an "Albatross" twin-engine water transport aircraft, which can take off soon. It can fly to Singapore Port in the morning, add fuel in the port, and then conduct an aerial search of the southern tip of Malacca. If Princess Yongan is found
No., the Kuimu Lang needs to rush there immediately to rescue and destroy the pirates.
Since the Xiang Xiaoqiang delegation is on board the ship, and the Kuimulang is a warship and cannot enter the Port of Singapore, their safety must be guaranteed.
In addition, the General Staff of the PLA Navy asked the Kuimulang what additional equipment it would need if it carried out such a mission.
Xiang Xiaoqiang raised his head and asked the captain:
"What equipment is needed?"
The captain hesitated for a moment and said:
"If the Yongan Princess is really discovered, then...it will most likely depend on the sailors to fight the pirates. We have 204 officers and soldiers on the ship, and about 120 people can disembark to join the battle, but we lack land warfare guns, most of which are pistols
, there are only a dozen submachine guns. Sir Xiang, you have rich experience in land warfare, can you give us a list of the weapons we need?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded and said, "No problem."
Then he asked for paper and pen, went to the captain's room, turned on the light, and made a list of some small weapons. For the 120 people who could disembark to join the battle, these 120 people should be equipped as well as possible. The 120 people can be organized into 4 platoons.
Each platoon has one light machine gun, 18 submachine guns, 10 rifles, and 60 grenades. This adds up to 4 light machine guns, 72 submachine guns, 40 rifles, and 240 grenades.
He thought about it and added 40 smoke bombs, four ropes with anchor claws, and four rope ladders. Such a pile of things was already a lot, and he had to ask the ship's military doctor to write down some more medicines. I wonder if the transport plane can be packed.
Gotta get it.
Originally, to deal with targets such as pirate nests, it would be ideal to have one or two small mortars. However, it requires specialized gunners, and these sailors will definitely not be able to do it. As for light machine guns, Xiang Xiaoqiang thinks it is absolutely possible. Although these sailors have not received light machine gun training
, but the standard light machine gun of the Ming Dynasty army is an imitation of the Czech light machine gun. The famous Czech type can be said to be the best light machine gun in the world. In addition to accurate shooting, a major advantage is that it is easy to use. It is often a machine gunner.
If you die in battle, the ordinary soldiers next to you can take it over and you will quickly get into the state, and you can usually fight well.
"It doesn't matter, these can be loaded completely," the captain looked over the list and nodded in confirmation, "I know the Albatross is a large water transport aircraft, and there will still be a lot of space after loading these. Even if you add medicines,
Same thing. Medicines don’t take up much space compared to guns.”
"Well, in that case, that's good..."
Xiang Xiaoqiang took the list again and added: one 60mm mortar, two gunners, and as many shells as possible.
The telegram was sent back to the General Maritime Staff. Another telegram was sent to the Ministry of Maritime Affairs to report on the capture of the two pirates.
After a while, the General Staff of the Sea called back and ordered the Kuimulang to arrive at a point 30 nautical miles southeast of Bintan Island at 7:30 in the morning and wait for rendezvous with the "Albatross" water transport aircraft.
The captain found the point on the chart, which was about 40 nautical miles away from Kuimulang's current position. And it was already five o'clock.
"Right rudder," the captain ordered, "new course 112, two-thirds speed ahead."
The telegram from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs was also sent back. The Ministry of Maritime Affairs said that the pirate organizations operating in the waters of Malacca are very familiar with each other. They must let the two pirates tell the specific location of their lair, number of people, and equipment as soon as possible, and hijack the Yongan Princess.
Is it their organization, and how long does it usually take to start "processing" passengers after hijacking a passenger ship?
The Minister of Maritime Affairs emphasized that they must confess as soon as possible, because time is of the essence now, and the pirates may soon start to massacre the men on the ship and "dispose" the women on the ship. Many of the human traffickers from various parts of Southeast Asia are often near Malacca.
Station, every time pirates hijack a passenger ship, they will get the news and pick it up immediately. Once it is resold, it will be difficult to find it.
Xiang Xiaoqiang put down the telegraph newspaper and asked the captain:
"How long will it take for us to get to our designated location?"
The captain looked at the chart, did a simple mental calculation and said:
"We can reach the designated location in one hour and forty minutes. Sir, during this time, we can interrogate the two pirates."
"That's right," Xiang Xiaoqiang's eyes burned with anger again, and he shouted, "Let's pry their mouths! Damn it, if you answer slower, we'll peel them off!"
…
On the deck, it was already dawn. Two pirates were shirtless and sitting on the deck leaning against the railing. Each had one hand cuffed to the railing. There were two sailors watching them.
Xiang Xiaoqiang walked over with red eyes, followed by a Malay translator and a sailor holding a tool box.
The two pirates were both in their thirties, with tanned skin, muscular bodies, and very ferocious looks. They looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang with a look of indifference. They were used to dealing with the Dutch navy, and they had already
They are extremely slick. They know that being caught by a warship is not terrible, as long as they make sure that the other party has no evidence of their piracy.
The two pirates knew very well that they were not hijacking the ship when they were caught, but were driving normally. Although the fishing boat was equipped with a diesel motor, it was not illegal to install a motor. Although there were several guns on the boat at the time, they were
When it crashed, it sank to the bottom of the sea. The two of them were caught empty-handed. In addition, it was true that he threw the grenade at the destroyer. When he was interrogated, it could be said that he threw it in panic out of fear.
Hand grenades. As for why the fishermen have hand grenades, this is simple. Anti-Dutch armed activities are frequent on Pazia Island, and the Dutch army exchanges fire with them, which will inevitably cause the loss of some ammunition. In this case, the maximum sentence is a few years in prison, but not a felony piracy.
.
While they were making their wishful thinking, they saw the young man in casual clothes staring at them with a smile, while the sailor behind him placed the boxes on the deck with a bang, and then moved them one by one.
Set on the deck.
Vise, screwdriver, electrician's knife, hammer, fire ax...
These metal guys were placed on the deck "bang bang". Every time they put one piece on the deck, their bad premonition increased.
Xiang Xiaoqiang stared at them, took a deep breath, and said calmly:
"Listen up, you two. I know you will definitely say that you are not pirates, but it doesn't matter. I have determined that you are pirates, so don't bother saying otherwise. Now I want to ask you a few questions. If you don't answer
, the answer is untrue, the answer is too slow, or the answer makes me dissatisfied, I will use a vise to remove one of your fingernails. I will only warn you once, I hope you will take it seriously."
The translator spoke again in Malay later. The faces of the two pirates changed a little and looked at each other. They looked at the ship again and determined that it was a warship, and common sense in the past told them that,
No regular navy would be so reckless.
They were basically sure that Xiang Xiaoqiang was trying to scare them. Of course, it was inevitable not to mention that he might get some beatings. But if he could avoid being charged with piracy, a beating would be nothing.
A pirate smiled at Xiaoqiang and said something.
The translator said: "He said they were not pirates and we had to let them go."
Xiang Xiaoqiang also smiled at him, and then ordered:
"Hold him down."
Immediately, two sailors rushed over and held him down, and one of them broke open his hand that was handcuffed to the railing.
Xiang Xiaoqiang motioned to the third sailor. The sailor was a corporal, a tall man with a cold expression. He was a gang member before he joined the army. He was cruel and ruthless. He was usually a bitch on the ship. Now the captain specially singled him out.
, responsible for torture.
The corporal reached out and took the vise, clamped the pirate's index finger nail, and after clamping firmly, turned to look at Xiang Xiaoqiang, waiting for orders.
The pirate was now frightened, struggling hard and shouting. The translator quickly said:
"Sir, he said they are really not pirates, and he will go to the governor to sue you."
"Governor?" Xiang Xiaoqiang said with a smile, "The governor was escorted back to our country yesterday. He will be hanged in a few days."
When the pirate heard this, he was so frightened that he shouted again.
"Sir, he said they are not pirates, but fishermen."
Xiang Xiaoqiang shook his head and sighed:
"I didn't ask if you were a pirate. I just said that I hope you take my warning seriously... It seems that you didn't take it seriously."
After the translator spoke in Malay, Xiang Xiaoqiang signaled to the corporal. The corporal exerted force in his hand, and a heart-rending scream suddenly sounded on the deck.
Several sailors around him couldn't bear it when they heard the screams. The translator turned pale and murmured:
"Xiang... Sir Xiang, it seems that we can't do this... this... this must be illegal..."
illegal?
Xiang Xiaoqiang thought about the tragic "Hong Kong Incident", in which 539 passengers and crew were sunk into the sea, and 209 young female passengers were sold to various places in Southeast Asia, becoming sex slaves forever and never being able to see their families...
There are also many whose whole families were on board. In other words, many women watched their relatives being killed before being sold... Of the 82 people who were rescued and returned to China, 23 committed suicide and 15 became insane...
…
If it were "legal", these two people would not even admit their pirate identities, let alone identify the location of the lair! Soon, there will be a "Yong'an Princess Incident"!
Xiang Xiaoqiang turned to look at the translator and asked calmly:
"What did you say?"
"I said..." the translator swallowed and said with difficulty, "doing this... should be illegal..."
Xiang Xiaoqiang was no longer too lazy to reason with him. He just said coldly:
"As long as you ask, it won't matter if you die. I'll take care of it... In Batavia, we tortured hundreds of dead natives like this."
The pirate whose nails had been ripped off was half leaning on the railing, holding his right hand tightly, twitching all over, and was in so much pain that he couldn't scream. The pirate next to him had a face as white as a piece of paper, and his legs were already weak from fear.
None of them thought that it was obviously a warship and a regular navy, but it could be more ruthless than their pirates.
…
Xiang Xiaoqiang returned to his smiling expression and slowly walked to the other pirate.
The pirate was so frightened that he could hardly stand. He looked at Xiaoqiang as if he were a devil. He tried to hide back and mumbled something in his mouth.
Xiang Xiaoqiang asked:
"Are you ready to answer the questions?"
The pirate listened to the translation and nodded vigorously.
"Very good," Xiang Xiaoqiang said, "The first question is, are you pirates?"
After hearing the translation, the pirate didn't hesitate for a second and immediately nodded one after another.
Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled and said:
"You said so? Why do you want me to believe that you are a pirate? Show me the evidence."
The pirate looked at him dumbfounded, with a mix of horror, confusion, and depression on his face, and he seemed at a loss what to do for a moment.
Xiang Xiaoqiang said:
"Second question: If you were a pirate, what were you doing tonight and which ship was your target?"
After listening to the translation, the pirate moved his eyes slightly, paused for two seconds, and said something. The translator said:
"Sir, he said he wouldn't do anything tonight, just wander around."
Xiang Xiaoqiang shook his head and signaled. The three sailors immediately pounced on him and held him down. The cold corporal clamped the nail of his index finger with a vise, which looked like Xiaoqiang.
The pirate was so frightened that he struggled desperately and shouted loudly.
The translator quickly said:
"Sir, he is willing to tell the truth, he is willing to tell the truth..."
"It's too late," Xiang Xiaoqiang said coldly, "I told you that I would only warn you once. It was he who didn't take my warning seriously."
The screams resounded through the deck again. The three sailors let him go, and he hung on the railing with his right hand and rolled around. He was so painful that he lost his voice.
Xiang Xiaoqiang turned to the first pirate again. The first pirate was half-sitting on the deck, his whole body was limp, his face was pale, and he was dripping with cold sweat. He hugged his right hand tightly with his left hand, his whole body was trembling, and he looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang almost dying.
Xiang Xiaoqiang squatted in front of him and asked calmly:
"Second question: What are you doing tonight and which ship is the target?"
The pirate held his right hand, blood oozing from between his fingers, and his throat was grunting, but he still did not dare to neglect for a second in the severe pain, and tried his best to say a few words through gritted teeth.
After hearing this, the translator immediately became ecstatic and said:
"Sir Xiang, we are so lucky. They are the same pirates who robbed the Yongan Princess! He said that when we caught them, they had just finished robbing the ship and were returning."
Xiang Xiaoqiang was also overjoyed and immediately asked: "Where is the boat? Where is the boat?"
The translator asked, and then said to Xiang Xiaoqiang:
"Sir, he said that they were only responsible for sending people off. They sneaked next to the Yongan Princess, and then others climbed up with ropes to rob the ship. After they succeeded, they drove the ship back."
"How many people were there who hijacked the ship? Where is the ship now?"
The translator asked, and then said:
"He said there were two small boats. There were 25 people in his small boat and 20 people climbed onto the big boat. He didn't know how many people were in the other small boat, but there were probably about twenty."
Both pirate ships had about twenty people on board, so there were more than forty pirates in total. If these forty pirates wanted to control the Yongan Princess, which has more than 700 people, they would definitely not be able to do it with just machetes. There must be something wrong.
Fewer guns.
Xiang Xiaoqiang asked:
"What about that small boat? Where did it go? What weapons did the pirates on board have?"
The translator asked and said:
"Sir, he said that this ship robbery was carried out by two groups of pirates. The small boat belonged to the other group. After the ship was successfully robbed, they separated and went back. Those who boarded the ship were led by their leader.
, the leader held a light machine gun, eight held rifles, four held pistols, and the remaining seven held machetes. He didn’t know the twenty or so people in that group.”
Xiang Xiaoqiang was a little surprised that the pirates actually had light machine guns! In this case, their equipment level was really unexpected. These were definitely professional pirates, even pirates controlled by anti-government armed forces.
He asked again:
"What kind of light machine gun is it? Where did it come from? How many people are there in their group? What weapons do they have?"
"Sir," the translator said, "he said it has a disc on it and a small bell at the muzzle. He doesn't know its name. The light machine gun was bought from the guerrillas. The guerrillas have
Once they robbed a Dutch army convoy, which contained many light machine guns. The guerrillas couldn't take them, so they took the new machine guns and left them with the old rotary machine guns currently in use. Those guerrillas came to collect protection from them every month.
It's free. There are more than thirty pirates in their group, which means about a dozen rifles, a few pistols, and this light machine gun. The rest are used with knives."
That is an imitation of the Soviet-style rotary machine gun. Not to mention, that kind of gun has a simple structure, is thick and durable, and has a large ammunition capacity. One magazine has more than 40 rounds, which is really suitable for pirates. The imitation of the Ming army standard
Czech style, one magazine only holds twenty rounds.
Such a guy is really a big threat to the lives of the sailors on the Kuimulang.
Xiang Xiaoqiang began to miss his beloved "woodpecker" again.
The following is the most important question.
“Where is the Wing On Princess now?”
After listening to the translation, the pirate's face quickly turned paler, and he murmured something with a hint of despair.
After listening, the translator knew that he would inevitably hear screams again, and said with a trace of unbearability:
"Sir...he said he didn't know...and said he really didn't know."
Xiang Xiaoqiang took a deep breath, anger and frustration filled his chest again. He closed his eyes, shook his head and said:
"No, I'm not satisfied with this answer."
The pirate immediately begged loudly, his voice almost crying. But the three sailors were already familiar with the rules and held him down again. The corporal skillfully pulled off the nail of his middle finger.
This time it was obviously not as loud as the last time, but the voice was even more pitiful, almost crying, revealing an accusation of unfair fate.
Then Xiang Xiaoqiang turned to another pirate. The pirate slumped by the railing, huddled up, and looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang pleadingly. This muscular man had tears streaming down his face.
Xiang Xiaoqiang squatted down again and repeated the question "Where is the Yong'an Princess?" The pirate shook his head in despair. Then, the screams sounded again.
…
Xiang Xiaoqiang became furious. He was very annoyed that such a crucial question was stuck here. In the next moment, all the nails on the right hands of the two pirates were pulled off. One pirate had passed out, but he still didn't know.
The only thing I asked was that after hijacking such a passenger ship, they would be taken to a secret place for "processing", and little guys like them didn't know about that place.
It seems that this is really unknown.
So, he retreated to the next best thing and asked where their lair was. This time the question went smoothly, and the pirate who was still unconscious from pain cooperated and told the story. This place is more than fifty nautical miles to the west from here.
, a place at the mouth of the Gamba River on Pazia Island, where he could lead the way.
Xiang Xiaoqiang smelled the smell of blood all over the deck and stood up. He looked into the distance, licked his lips and said:
"Very good. A monk who can run away cannot run away from the temple. Let's make peace with the seaplane first and bring down the weapons. Let the Yong'an Princess be found by the plane. We will turn around and head west to raid their lair."
He suddenly remembered something, lowered his head and asked grimly:
"Your boss's wife and children are all in the lair, right?"
The pirate huddled on the deck, listened to the translation, and nodded with a pale face.