Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 409 The Britons Who Have Been Shocked
When it was time to light the lights on the second night, two carriages, escorted by more than [-] people, quietly came to the south bank of the Mongolian River, which was already ten miles away from the Qing army camp.

The Mongolian River was originally not wide. Since the Qing army entered the south bank, a large number of people were recruited to widen and deepen the river.Over the past few years, from the mouth of the sea more than 20 miles away to the west of Daying [-] miles west of the Mongolian River, it has become a moat.

It is said that Xiangyang City is the widest moat in the world. As early as the Song Dynasty, its average width exceeded 180 meters, and the widest part reached more than 250 meters.Although the Mongolian River is not as wide as the moat of Xiangyang after widening, it is almost as wide as the moat of the Forbidden City, reaching 50 meters.

When the group arrived at the river, Chang Wu, who was accompanying him, took out a flashlight from Beihai Town from the saddle on the horse's quilt, and pressed the switch three times in the opposite direction according to the method agreed the day before yesterday, with an interval of one breath each time.Not long after, the other side of the river also lit up three times, and Chang Wu breathed a sigh of relief.

He walked to the carriage and whispered to the people inside through the curtain: "Sister, don't worry, the other side is in touch."

Immediately there was a soft "um" in the car, followed by the child's incessant coughing.

After about a cup of tea, a black rubber boat came slowly from across the river. Because it used an electric motor instead of a diesel motor, the sound was not loud.

As soon as the boat touched the shore, four North Navy soldiers in dark green camouflage and fully armed jumped ashore.One of them walked up to Chang Wu and the others a few meters away and whispered, "Who is Mr. Chang?"

"It's next." Chang Wuyi hurried over with the lantern in his hand, and when the faint light shone on him, he was scared back two steps.

These people from Beihai Town all had their faces painted like melons, and they looked like menacing gods, really permeating.Chang Wu had heard the rumors that Beihai would practice sorcery before, but now it seems to be true.

"Where is the patient? Get on board."

"My lord," Chang Wu didn't know the identity of the other party, and said politely and respectfully: "The patient is here, not one, but two."

"Two?" The Beihai soldier on the opposite side was stunned for a moment, and there was only one patient mentioned before.

"That's right, Little Gege at home also got the same disease. I didn't know until I went back to pick him up."

"Pertussis" is an acute respiratory infectious disease, which is highly contagious.The members of Na Qitai's family thought that the little elder brother had caught a cold and the medical level in Hunchun was poor, so they didn't take it seriously.As a result, Qitai's four-year-old daughter followed Fujin to visit her younger brother, and was infected a few days after her return, and the disease only started a week ago.

Bei Haijun, who was in charge of picking up the people, nodded, and then used his walkie-talkie to contact the other side.The people on Chang Wu's side heard the other party say a few words in a low voice in the dark, and then said "yes" a few times, feeling very strange in their hearts, and they didn't know who they were talking to.

After a while, Bei Haijun came over to Chang Wu and said, "My lord agrees, let's go."

Chang Wuyi hurriedly bent over to thank him, and then hurried to the leading carriage and whispered a few words.After that, two people wearing dark crane cloaks got out of the car, and then carefully carried out two tightly wrapped children from inside.

Everyone hurried to the river bank and got on the kayaks.The kayak sent by the Beihai Navy can seat up to ten people. Apart from patients and family members, Chang Wu already occupies four seats, so he can only choose two of the guards following him. Na Qitai's personal servant boarded the boat.As for the others, they watched the kayak disappear into the darkness helplessly, and left quietly until the flickering lights and shadows lit up on the opposite bank again ten minutes later.

On the second night, Chang Wu sent a house slave back to the south bank of the Mongolian River to report to Na Qitai who was already in a hurry.

After seeing the master, the house slave parroted the doctor's words.In a nutshell, the youngest daughter is just entering the onset of the disease, and the son already has a lung infection, but the problem is not serious. If it is really a brain infection, it will be troublesome.It's just that the two children's illnesses are highly contagious, so they need to be treated separately.The fifth wife and the nuns sent by Fujin also went to the hospital for examination because they were with the children every day.

The stone hanging in Qitai's heart finally fell down.

Fujian, Xiamen Waihai.

On the vast expanse of blue sea, the wind is sunny and sunny, and several white seagulls are circling and singing above the deck.A British three-tier sail battleship with the Yellow Dragon flag fluttering on its main mast was undergoing shooting training.

When Fukang'an received Qianlong's edict in March, he was still negotiating with the British and French through the Thirteen Banks in Guangzhou to purchase weapons.He immediately gave Qianlong a thank you note, and at the same time asked to wait until the training of the naval battalion was inspected before going north, and Qianlong readily agreed.

Marshal Fu, who had already fought against the Beihai Navy twice, became more cautious now, and he did not move blindly because of the victory of the "Battle of Platforms".In his opinion, to fight Zhao Xin, one must plan good tactics, and the other is to prepare new weapons, both of which are indispensable.

Although the Qing Dynasty lost many generals after several confrontations with the Northern Navy, a large number of Eight Banners and Han generals who dared to fight and rush emerged as the Lin Shuangwen Rebellion was eliminated.

"Marshal, it's almost time, can we start now?"

"Well." The 35-year-old Fukang'an stood on the side of the ship, put away the binoculars, and then returned to the front of the steering wheel at the stern.He took an apricot-yellow flag from his own soldiers, waved it vigorously, and shouted: "Start!"

"Boom~~~Boom~~Boom~~"

As the drummers of the Qing army on the deck began to beat the slow and low beats, the lieutenant general of the Qing army's water battalion in charge of commanding the warship drew out his Yanling knife and shouted: "All prepare for battle!"

Not long after, when each artillery position reported the ready password, the deputy general walked up to Fukang'an, knelt down on one knee and said, "Marshal, all the artillery positions are ready! Please order, commander, to start shooting." drill!"

Fukang'an was already sitting on the master chair in front of the steering wheel, nodded and said in a deep voice: "Start!"

The lieutenant held his fists to accept the order, then walked to the middle of the deck, and shouted an order: "All gun positions on the port side, starting from No. A, fire in order!"

At this moment, the drumbeat sounded again, and it became denser and denser. When the rhythm reached its climax, a loud shout was heard from the first battery on the port bow: "Fire!"

"Tom! Tom! Tom!"

The 13 12-pound gun positions on the first gun deck fired sequentially like popping beans, and then the 13 24-pound guns on the lower gun deck fired sequentially.Soon, gunpowder smoke enveloped the entire third-tier battleship.

On the sea two miles away, a somewhat dilapidated large chasing boat undulates alone with the waves.Suddenly, an iron bullet flying from a distance punched a big hole in the ship's side board.The iron bullet then passed through the deck, penetrated a tent frame on the deck, and then cut a large hole in the opposite side of the ship's side board.

Immediately afterwards, dozens of iron bullets flew in one after another, and the entire driving boat was riddled with holes, and the main mast also became crumbling.

And the third-tier battleship in the distance made a circle on the sea, and then turned its starboard side towards the chasing boat.

"Each position of the 24-pound gun on the starboard side, load the shells!"

On the 13 gun positions on the lower gun deck, all the gunners of the Qing army looked as if they were facing a big enemy, and they did not dare to slack off at all.Following the order of the gunner, at the gun position closest to the bow, the gunner in charge of loading first lit the Indian incense stick on the shell in his hand, and then put it into the muzzle. When he heard the shell roll to the bottom, he The gunner who fired the gun slammed the double-headed fire fork into the fire door.

"Boom~~~Boom!" The stern of the driving boat in the distance suddenly burst into flames.

Afterwards, other gun positions on the lower gun deck fired shells one by one, and the chasing ship used as the target ship was blown up into flames, and the main mast was broken in two.When the last two cannons were fired one after the other, the blooming bomb finally ignited the gunpowder barrels that had been placed in the lower cabin, and then the whole ship made a huge explosion. As the fireball rolled, countless pieces of wood were blown into the air, The boat broke in two and began to slowly sink into the sea.

"Long live the emperor!"

The Qing army on the sailing boat immediately shouted in unison, and for a while, the sound of drums, suona, and human voices mixed together.Fukangan put away the binoculars, nodded and smiled with satisfaction, and shouted: "Good job! All gunners will be rewarded with ten taels of silver each!"

"Thank you, handsome!"

At this time, a blond western man wearing a British captain's suit and a three-cornered hat bowed slightly to Fukang'an, and said in a strange Mandarin, "My lord, I would like to congratulate you here! Unexpectedly Your gunners are so good."

Fu Kang'an, who was sitting on the grand master's chair, smiled slightly, nodded and said: "Mr. Morrison, your training in the past six months has been very effective. I will write a letter to the emperor to ask for your merits and rewards."

After listening to the translation, the British captain Morrison from the East India Company put on a smile on his face, bowed and said, "Thank you very much, Lord Duke, for your kindness!"

On the lower gun deck, the British who were in charge of training the gunners said loudly to the gunners: "Boys, your speed is still too slow! I want you to load all the shells in one minute and 20 seconds They all typed out! But it took you a whole minute and 30 seconds, which is too slow!"

After listening to the interpreter's translation, several gunners of the Qing army muttered dissatisfiedly: "Is this foreign devil finished? I'm almost exhausted."

"That's right, the commander-in-chief said we fought well, and this foreign devil is really a fucking dog meddling with mice."

"You! And you! What were you talking about just now?!" The British sensed the sailors muttering, and then pushed aside the crowd, walked up to the gunners and shouted.

A 30-year-old gunner came over and smiled flatteringly, "No, the young ones said that you are right! You have to step up your drills in the future."

An employee of the East India Company in his 50s, Blakeney, the gunner responsible for training the gunners of the Qing army, glared at the gunners twice before turning around and leaving the lower gun deck.After the stern-faced British gunner with a guerrilla title left all day long, all the gunners of the Qing army breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed.

Blakeney understood that these Qing army gunners had been trained very hard and their grades were good; however, he still hoped that he could train better gunners, so that it would be worthwhile to travel across the ocean.

In 1788, after the tea trade season began in May 53 of Qianlong, a sailing ship named "Fox" sailed from Bangladesh arrived in Guangzhou.This is a three-tier battleship with a double-layer gun deck. There are 26 24-pounder guns, 26 12-pounder guns and 12 6-pounder guns on board, a total of 64 guns.

Sun Shiyi, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, had one item in the ship purchase agreement reached with the British in the 51st year of Qianlong. The East India Company first sold a third-level sailing battleship built within five years, and sent personnel to train, so that after the arrival of the next five second-level sailing battleships, The Qing army can quickly form combat effectiveness.

As I said before, the largest warships of the Manchu Qing along the coast of Guangdong were Dachaizhuan.After the Xiangshan Xie Navy Battalion was flattened by the Thunder God, the Qing court learned from the pain and built several Tong'an ships from Fujian to strengthen the Guangdong Navy.

The problem is that the Tong'an ship is equipped with at most ten cannons, let alone compared with the third-tier battleship, even the bird ship in the Kangxi period.In order to attack Taiwan, Shi Lang built more than 80 bird ships, the length of which was generally about 15 feet, carrying more than 20 guns, and the bottom of the ship was covered with metal.

After the "Fox" arrived in the sea off Guangzhou, the British had no choice but to drive the "Fox" into Macau to temporarily dock, waiting for the meeting with the governor's office of Guangdong and Guangxi. handover.

However, because of the Lin Shuangwen rebellion in Taiwan at that time, all parties in the Qing court mobilized troops to suppress it, Sun Shiyi led troops to Chaozhou, and Fukang'an was also preparing to lead an army across the sea at that time, so the acceptance of the warship was delayed until Sun Shiyi returned to Guangzhou. That's when the transfer started.

When the new ship arrives, the first thing is to name it. The "Fox" was absolutely unacceptable to the officials of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, so after being drafted by Sun Shiyi and approved by Qianlong, the third-class battleship used for training was renamed "Dingbei", which meant to calm Beihai Town.

What happened next stunned the British from the East India.

The first is the issue of docking camps. It is impossible for the Qing Dynasty's military weapons to be placed in Macau.Before that, Sun Shiyi asked Qianlong for approval to expand the Xiangshan Xieshuiying Wharf.At the same time, a large house was built near the wharf for the trainers sent by the East India Company to live in, and it was equipped with cooks, servants and other service personnel.In order to prevent the British from running around feeling lonely, Sun Shiyi also specially arranged a theater troupe.

So you know, a group of British people eat and drink in the house every day, and then the babbling troupe starts.The problem is that it’s okay for a day or two, and it’s like this every day for several months. The British are almost sick of listening to the opera, and finally they simply ask the trick troupe to leave, we don’t want it!

Next, the first thing after the warship entered the port was not to start training, but to decorate it.After looking at the interior furnishings of the "Dingbei", people from the governor's office of Guangdong and Guangxi and the admiral's office of Shuiying thought it was really vulgar, so they began to change the decoration.

On the outside of the sailing ship, a group of painters painted a lot of colorful paintings on the bow and stern according to the style of Chinese ships, including dragons, eagles, lions, water-split patterns, and so on.

In the captain's cabin at the rear, the original nautical chart table and all the furniture are replaced, and the Baroque doors and windows are replaced.Two months later, the British boarded the "Dingbei" again. They were surprised to find that the captain's room was decorated with carved beams and painted columns. There were incomprehensible Chinese ink paintings on the walls, and the furniture was replaced by extremely complicated and exquisite sculptures. There are rosewood beds, Taishi chairs and Eight Immortals tables, and extremely gorgeous and precious animal skins and carpets are laid on the floor.

Fortunately, there were two weapon racks on the right side of the bed against the wall, with many unnamed weapons stuck on them, which looked murderous, otherwise the British would have thought they were on a yacht.

Then there was waiting for the arrival of the crew, and the British waited for several months.

The difference from the configuration of warships in the Qing Dynasty is that according to the requirements of European sailing battleships at the same time, the rated crew of a third-tier sailing battleship is 490, and the rated crew of a second-tier battleship is 750.Of course, these crew members are not all working on deck at the same time, but are divided into two shifts.

The Qing Dynasty ordered five second-tier battleships and one third-tier battleship. The sailors alone required more than 4240 people, and the ships were equipped with nearly a hundred cannons. Therefore, the captain of each ship must be at least the rank of lieutenant.

Since each ship is a mobile artillery fortress, which is a military weapon, Qianlong specially arranged for the generals of the Eight Banners to serve as the captain, first officer, and gunner of each ship. For a long time, because of the good treatment and heavy responsibilities, all the forces in the court wished to break their heads for these positions.

While confirming the candidates for the generals, Qianlong also ordered to select elite and brave soldiers from the water battalions in Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang to form a naval force of 8000 people, which would be trained by the British sent by the East India Company.

In order to facilitate communication during training, the Yamen of the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi recruited a group of translators through Thirteen Lines.

After finally going through more than half a year, when the British felt that they could finally start training, something they couldn't understand happened again.

The bronze bell used for alarming on the deck was withdrawn. The Manchus thought that "bell" meant "finishing", which was too unlucky, so they replaced it with drummers.

One side shouted for all staff to be on guard, and the other side began to beat drums and suona; the ship's dispatch was changed to blowing the conch, and the retreat became beating gongs. When the drill first started, there was chaos on the deck!
The drums and music are loud, the flags are flying, and the firecrackers are all fired.
This fucker can make the British awkward!It took more than a month to get used to it, and then repeatedly negotiated with the Manchu and Qing officials, and finally streamlined a part.

However, what surprised the British most was that most of the senior generals dispatched by the Qing emperor from various places to serve as captains could not even swim!
By this time, the more than 100 people from the East India Company have completely lost their temper, so let's do whatever they like.

(End of this chapter)