Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2379 Unexpected Encounter

The weather is good today, and the Northeast Pacific Ocean is relatively calm compared to the past.But those who are familiar with this sea area know that this kind of calm is always relative.Do not believe?Take a look at the "Chukchi" drifting in the sea, it goes up and down for a while, being thrown by the waves with great joy.The sailors on the ship walked carefully, for fear of accidentally falling into the sea, which would be troublesome.In this dangerous sea area, if the "Chukchi" stops to save people, God knows whether it will be discovered.

The "Chukochi" is a small boat with a standard displacement of only 250 tons. It was specially refitted before leaving Dabo Port, and a small steam propulsion system was installed to provide it with an additional speed of two knots.But even so, the sailors still worry about being caught by the enemy, because no one can say what the technological level of the nearby civilized country is.

There is a country nearby, which is already the consensus of everyone in the expedition team.When they left Cedar Castle and circled the Aleutian Islands, they could see the lighthouse's light in the distance at night.Even in the daytime, if the weather is good and the visibility on the sea is sufficient, you can observe the other party’s villages and towns through the telescope-the Gulf of Alaska is a holy place for fishing and whaling. Naturally, there are many villages and towns, and there are obvious It is an irregular flight for transporting supplies, which is enough to explain a lot of problems.

Wei Chengwu was already mentally prepared to be discovered by the "enemy".In fact, he was already very surprised that he was able to hide in the area of ​​Cedar Castle for two voyages before, probably because the fishery resources there were not rich enough, and no one usually went there.But why didn't the whalers show up?There are many whales nearby.In addition, there are a large number of valuable animals such as seals, sea lions and fur seals on the beach, why no one comes to hunt them?Wei Chengwu thought about this for a long time, and finally he could only judge that this country may not lack high-quality leather, and at the same time, the degree of industrialization is not high, so there is not much demand for high-quality lubricating oil.In addition, its population may not be very large, and its center of gravity is on the North American continent. The Aleutian Islands are already the limit of its expansion, and its projection power is seriously insufficient here.

But no matter what the reason is, it is certain that people will eventually find out.In fact, when crossing the Aleutian Islands, Wei Chengwu suspected that he had been discovered by the other party, because the strait was very narrow, and there were lighthouses twice, and the other party had to be blind to see their ship.

"There's nothing I can do about it." Wei Chengwu sighed, and thought: "For this expedition, the superiors didn't explain whether or not to contact the other party. In short, everything is left to my own decision. If this is the case, there is nothing to be afraid of. However, It’s good to be discovered one day later, so you can use this to observe the situation more and collect some intelligence. If you do encounter it, you can deal with it.”

The "Chukotka" has sailed near the coastline of the North American continent. The coast is full of continuous islands and capped mountains. The perennial snow on the top of the mountain seems to indicate the tranquility and silence of this virgin land.However, Wei Chengwu knew that this was a lie. His uncle Wei Mingxing resolutely left Heishui decades ago, traveled across the ocean to this continent, and started his business through hardships.Ordinary people don't know about this, but as a descendant of the Wei family, Wei Chengwu still knows it from his father.

"I don't know how my uncle's career is going. Judging by the current scene here, it should not be deserted." Wei Chengwu put down the binoculars on his chest, and was about to go back to the captain's cabin to rest and drink a cup of coffee to refresh himself, when he suddenly heard The exclamation from the lookout post.

"A ship is approaching!" The navy corporal Wang Tieniu in the observation basket reported loudly, and at the same time rang the alarm bell.

Surprised, Wei Chengwu quickly took the binoculars and looked in the direction indicated by the watchman, only to see a two-masted sailboat slowly approaching there.

Yes, that's right, "slowly"!Wei Chengwu is not in the navy, but during this period of time, with the wind and waves, he has more or less understood some things at sea.In his opinion, the speed of the sailboat is really a bit slow, and the speed in still water will never exceed 4 knots. With the blessing of ocean currents, it is only a speed of 5-6 knots. Compared with "Chukchi" The numbers are simply not on the same level.Moreover, the shape of that ship is a bit strange, it is obviously a soft sail, but the hull shape has typical East Asian characteristics, that is, the characteristics of a wide-body ship.Although this feature can greatly increase the stability of the ship on the sea, it greatly affects the speed of the ship, which makes Wei Chengwu very speechless.

"The enemy ship has cannons! At least twenty!" Wang Tieniu faithfully fulfilled his accusation and said while observing.

"There are guns, but I can't tell what caliber it is, and the length of the barrel is also unclear." A naval officer said.

"Look at that big iron bastard, their cannon-casting technology is a bit low, maybe the quality of the steel is not good." Another person said.

"This country is not good. Its technology level is not as good as those of the European countries. The boats are not good, the guns are not good, and they can't catch up even if they are exhausted. Why don't we get closer and play with them."

"What's there to play? If you get hit by a shot, it will be a lot of fun. Although I estimate that their guns can't exceed 12 pounds, the 'Chukotka' is not a professional warship, and the hull is thin, so you can't take risks. "

"This is an offshore patrol ship, isn't it? Poor, there are a lot of sailors, and the crowd is crowded, indicating that there is something wrong with the design of the ship. Tsk tsk, I don't even have a unified military uniform. I wear a linen shirt and wrap a turban on my head. This is the Navy. ?”

"There are still marine soldiers with muskets on the ship. This shit is still in the era of relying on help? Do they understand line artillery warfare? Even Europeans have entered this stage, and they have been abandoned by the world trend. .”

Wei Chengwu put down the telescope in his hand.There was nothing to watch, the ship would not be able to catch up with them no matter what, so there was no need to worry about the danger of the "Chukchi".Through this encounter, we can actually see a lot of things.The technological level of this country is not even comparable to the European countries, let alone the advanced countries on the east coast.What's more, they are not even as good as the enlightened Qing and Shun countries, and they don't know how they have developed in the past few decades.

Wei Chengwu vaguely remembered that his uncle Wei Mingxing once attacked the Tanegashima military manufacturing base in Japan and kidnapped thousands of professional craftsmen on that island.Therefore, it is not surprising that this country has some iron smelting and machining capabilities.The strange thing is that decades have passed, why is the technology still stuck at the stage of the year?It is puzzling that progress is so limited.

The only explanation is probably that this country is isolated from the world and has no conditions to communicate with the outside world, so it can only work behind closed doors with its head covered.In the long run, it will be good if this technology does not regress, let alone catch up with the world's advanced trends.In addition, according to the top-secret information obtained from the Spanish expedition, they also seem to have absorbed a large number of Indians with a low level of civilization.These Indians can't even compare with those on the east coast. People there can farm, but they can only fish, hunt and gather.It is conceivable how low the overall IQ of the country will be after conquering and absorbing a large number of Indians.

In such a country, if the leaders are sensible enough, they will definitely continue to provide education for decades, open up the wisdom of the people, and improve the intelligence level of the entire country.In this way, various technologies can be passed on from generation to generation without being cut off or disappearing.Based on what they have observed during this period of time, this country seems to be doing okay in this regard, at least those houses, lighthouses, ships, and cannons cannot be faked.Although the craftsmanship is a bit inferior, it is still in the category of civilized countries, not the kind of rough and savage Indian countries.

In addition, judging from the way they fish, it is estimated that the whole country also pays more attention to the most basic but most important industry of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery.Because this is the foundation of a country, without sufficient food production, a certain population cannot be freed to engage in industry, commerce, or art.Seeing that they have boats and cannons, the problem of food should not be a big deal.The North American continent is so vast, and I heard that bison resources are also very rich, so I really shouldn't be hungry, otherwise I would not be a civilized person.

"Don't conflict with them. Order, move forward at full speed, and get rid of them." Wei Chengwu stopped the noise of his subordinates, and directly ordered: "Let's go to the south to find a suitable winter camp. There are more than two months left in this year's voyage Now, time is running out, don't delay."

Wei Chengwu gave an order, and the people below naturally had nothing to say, and went one by one.And he continued to stand on the bridge, looking at the blurry shadow of the ship in the distance, thinking about some problems.

In order to investigate the situation in this country more deeply, a remote base like Cedar Fort is obviously not suitable, and it is necessary to obtain a foothold as far south as possible.Then use this as a base, spend a voyage, and strive to build a fortress that can accommodate thousands of people.

Wei Chengwu was not at all worried that he would be found and besieged by the "enemy".To be honest, they stocked a lot of weapons and ammunition in Cedar Fort, there are hundreds of rifled guns, and well-trained Mongolian cavalry.This kind of strength is not something that a backward country can take lightly.How much does the enemy intend to spend to capture their fortress?Thousands of people? 1 people?Wei Chengwu was very skeptical, could they gather [-] soldiers across the country?If they all died here, the country would probably be ruined too, right?

At this time, he was actually a little puzzled. The East Coast Republic actually had the strength to conquer this country, but why didn't the high-level leaders take action?I'm afraid there are some unspeakable reasons.Wei Chengwu was a little melancholy, his rank was still too low to hear these high-level secrets.

Forget it, don't want those.It is important to build a winter camp as soon as possible.As long as they can successfully gain a foothold, it is not a problem whether the next step is to send a boat back to Blackwater to ask for money, or simply go south to Chile.For some complicated things, let the members of the executive committee worry about it.

I have been on a business trip in Hunan and Hubei for the past week, and the update is unstable, sorry, but fortunately it will end tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)