Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1022 Growing Ambition ([-])

On November 1653, 11, Xiaoxue.

Bo Qiu just arrived at Kushiro Port by boat from Dabo County.This year's weather was very cold early, and it really is the end of the Little Ice Age. Although the inflection point of temperature rise is coming, it also means that this is the coldest period of the entire Little Ice Age, and the temperature is about the same at this time. It has reached the bottom, and it is much colder than that at the end of Ming Dynasty when Marshal Mo first came to Shandong in 1643.Wei Boqiu only stayed in Dabo County for a short time, and some small ice floes appeared in the harbor, which surprised him, so he left there by boat in a few days and arrived at Kushiro Port - he spent the whole winter Will be staying here.

The ship he was on was naturally a flute-shaped ship rented by a Japanese company. This 650-ton ship built on Xinhua Island was indeed first-class in the Far Eastern Ocean at this time, and it did bear the responsibility of Japan. The company's large number of important transportation tasks have made outstanding contributions to the company's development.

And it was precisely this that gave Wei Boqiu the idea of ​​building a large ship in the Far East.Due to various reasons, Heishui Shipyard has not been able to build large commercial ships so far, and the application for the transfer of professional shipbuilding talents from the local area has also been rejected. This made Wei Boqiu understand that everything can only be done by himself.After Liang Xiangjian took office as head of Heishui County, Wei Boqiu used various means to transfer a group of technicians from Heishui Shipyard to Kushiro Port, and then restarted here and built a small shipbuilding/ship repairing yard.

However, a small shipyard is a small shipyard after all, and it can only make some small fishing boats for a while, and it is impossible to build large ships in a short period of time.And to build a Western-style galleon suitable for sailing, there are no such talents in China at this time, which really makes Wei Boqiu very worried.He once searched for some shipbuilders or technicians in Ming Dynasty, and found that the skills of these people were really terrible, and they could not build sea ships with a slight tonnage. Wei Boqiu even suspected that these people were not as good as the shipbuilders of Ming Dynasty in the Sanbao eunuch period. Woolen cloth.

Of course, Lao Wei's luck was pretty good to be honest.After the end of the Battle of Yuanshanjin a while ago (Old Wei got an arrow in his ass in this battle, and the chrysanthemum almost lost his life), Wei Boqiu, who was recuperating in Kushiro Port, accidentally ran into a man who hid in Kushiro because of the bad weather. A Spanish ship in sheltered harbor.The 400-ton "Pablo" merchant ship was loaded with some raw silk and porcelain collected by the Spaniards after asking their grandparents to tell their grandma.

After learning about the route of the Spaniards, Wei Boqiu immediately understood that this ship was actually the famous Manila galleon, and the Kuroshio route they traveled was also a famous trade route—of course, only the Spaniards had exclusive access to it at this time , but there is no doubt that Wei Boqiu, as a traverser, still knows the general situation of this route.

To be honest, this is not a good route.The ships of the Manila galleon trade set sail from Manila in about June every year, and first go northward by the southwest monsoon prevailing in summer and autumn. At this time, there are often severe weather such as typhoons on the ocean, and the shipwreck rate is extremely high. Dare to set sail in this season and It doesn’t make much difference to die—after the ship travels along the southwest wind to the sea at about 42 degrees north latitude, it catches a weak westerly wind on the ocean east of Hokkaido, and then sails eastward along this westerly wind and the Kuroshio current , and finally turned around in the sea about 300-400 kilometers away from the North American continent and headed south, following the sudden northwest wind and the North Pacific Ocean Current, to the final destination Acapulco.

Spanish merchants began to take this route in 1565, and went back and forth once every two years. While earning a lot of income, the shipwreck rate was astonishingly high.First of all, during the voyage from Manila to Ezodi and the east of the Thousand Islands, you will often encounter bad weather. If you are unlucky, the ship may sink first; If the time to reach the sea east of the Thousand Islands is delayed, they will have to cross the Pacific Ocean in late autumn and early winter. This is undoubtedly a near-death situation.

You must know that in the North Pacific Ocean (especially the waters near the Aleutian Islands) every October, the weather starts to become violent, the wind speed on the sea is frighteningly strong, huge waves follow one after another, and violent storms are commonplace.Navigating in such sea conditions, unless you have the blessing of the sea god, is really extremely dangerous.In fact, everyone, think about it when Tadashi Nagumo led the fleet to attack Pearl Harbor. At that time, the latitude they traveled was not as high as the Manila Galleon, and it was still powered by steam. Covering the route, one can imagine how helpless a small-tonnage sailing ship would be when navigating in more violent sea areas than this.

In fact, if you really want to count, the month that is really suitable for crossing the North Pacific Ocean is only the month at the turn of summer and autumn-of course, this is only in relative terms. During this month, it is very normal to encounter bad weather. It depends on your character.Therefore, the Spaniards generally try to reach the sea north of 42 degrees north latitude before September, and then cross the Pacific Ocean. When October comes, the Siberian high pressure and the Aleutian low pressure control this area, and the north wind begins to cover the sea. People must do their best to quickly go south to escape the increasingly dangerous North Pacific Ocean at the beginning of the sudden weather change in October, and finally reach Acapulco smoothly.

Therefore, this route is an out-and-out death route. Any accident during the voyage will cause the souls of the sailors to return to the sea, and everyone knows how low the possibility of no accidents during the voyage is, so Wei Boqiu still Great admiration for these brave Spanish navigators.

But admiration is all admiration, but the guilt of entering Kushiro Port without authorization is unavoidable. The ship and cargo have been detained by port officials before, so there is no need to mention her at this time.In other words, these crew members may also have to stay in the Kushiro Coal Mine for labor reform. It is completely unclear when they will be pardoned-but more than a dozen ship repair technicians on board the ship were pardoned by Wei Boqiu and obtained some limited freedom.

These more than ten technicians are all Han Chinese in Southeast Asia and come from the port of Cavite in Luzon.Although they are ship repair technicians, their skills are not bad to be honest. Most of them have even built ships, and they are still Western-style sailing ships - which means that they have systematically learned how to build Galen ships.And the reason why they appeared on this Manila galleon was mainly because the Spaniards considered that this was a route of death, so every time they sailed, they would recruit some technicians to board the ship at the port of Cavite (where the Manila galleon was also built). So that someone can come and fix the ship if it breaks.

Of course, they have all been detained by Wei Boqiu, who has found a treasure. Most of these technicians who have believed in foreign religions and have little affection for Daming have been prisoners before. Build a ship for Mr. Wei.Ezo Island is rich in wood resources (of course, only a part is suitable for shipbuilding, and the wood used for shipbuilding on the east coast is quite particular), these technicians from Luzon and the workers from the Black Water Shipyard, if they bring With a group of apprentices, the skeleton of the Kushiro Shipyard will be built, and the Japanese company will leap to a new level from then on.

However, Deputy Commander Wei's harvest during this period is obviously more than that.After the Battle of Wonsanjin a while ago, Wei Boqiu, who defeated Gu Sheng and led thousands of North Korean soldiers, recruited hundreds of North Korean remnants on the battlefield, and then mixed them with the troops of Chang Chun and Hua Bende , the total force expanded to about 200 people, and the designation was still issued by Shao Shude as the first independent garrison brigade.But as far as the current situation is concerned, this garrison brigade is really poor. Even if Wei Boqiu doesn't know much about military affairs, he understands how unstoppable this army is. It's probably at the same level as the original Yuyuan Army.

"It is said that those who run away from thieves are 'Shangyong'. Although my First Defense Brigade is more than that, it is probably stronger than those 'Great Qing Warriors'." Wei Boqiu observed the members of the First Defense Brigade once. After the training, I expressed such emotion.Such an army, I am afraid that the Matsumae family can defeat it in one fell swoop with only 300 people, it is really too bad.You still have to practice, and at the same time, it is best to add some sturdy Shandan people. If it is not enough, the Aizu people are barely acceptable. There is no way to fight a battle.

"However, some soldiers from the Qing army will probably be sent over in a few days, and many of them are good fighters from Shaanxi and Gansu. If you choose the strong and strong ones to join the army, it shouldn't be a problem." Wei Boqiu quickly thought of a wild goose plucking its hair The method, that is, at the end of this month, there will be some prisoners of war carried by naval warships, most of whom are Qing army green battalions captured in the southern theater (most of the green battalions in the early Qing Dynasty were reorganized from the northern Ming army and the Shun army and went to Jiangnan. Not many of the Ming army in the south were reorganized into green battalions), the total number of these people exceeded 2000, and they were organized into four regiments, all of which were planned to be sent to wild lands.One of the regiments ([-] people) will be resupplied and rested at Kushiro Port, and then exiled to Ituru Island to open up for the people on the east coast. This is Wei Boqiu's opportunity.

"After finishing the training of this hard-won army, we can almost start the next step. The devils of Matsumae Fan, hehe, are just turtles in the urn. Sooner or later, we will find a way to train and obey them." Wei Boqiu said at this time. The heart is full of fire, he is patient, passionate, decisive, and has the ability to act. Maybe in the near future, he will be able to put his plan into practice.

(End of this chapter)