Obviously, this was their first time seeing such a nighttime artifact as a searchlight.
Even their little minds couldn't even imagine what it was.
But once they are discovered, the ending will naturally be tragic.
But what shocked the sentry was that the strong men, instead of running away when illuminated by the light beam, knelt on the deck one by one, kowtowing repeatedly, as if they regarded the light beam as some kind of miracle.
The next thing will be solved easily.
Several groups of infantrymen went over in lifeboats and easily captured these strong men who were frightened to death.
After a brief interrogation, Wang Haitao learned that these were just a group of fishermen and pirates transformed from salt people.
Most of the time they are honest little people, but when they gather together, they will transform into ferocious pirates.
Since they were pirates, Wang Haitao had no intention of letting them go.
Besides, Building Commissioner Mi Hong-shim is currently suffering from a lack of labor.
Of course, if we just talk about normal naturalized labor, it is basically enough.
But in places like mines, it can be said that there is never enough labor.
No way, even if there are steam engines, medicine and other tools, it is difficult for the railway to be laid into Jinniuling.
To put it simply, the distance from the mine to the train station is about five to six hundred meters, and for the time being we can only rely on manpower.
To put it bluntly, the more labor invested in the mines, the greater the output of iron ore, and the greater the output of iron ore, the faster the Xinghai Kingdom's industry will develop, thereby producing more firearms.
Artillery, various commodities, and even iron ships!
These more than fifty pirates were immediately imprisoned in the bottom warehouse of the Wavebreaker.
In the early morning of the next day, before the sun had risen from the sea level, the Breaking Waves slowly set sail towards the mouth of the Zhujiang River.
Although the invasion of the Qing army affected the economy of Nanming to a great extent.
But the Zhujiangkou is still the most complicated waterway in this plane.
Every day, a large number of merchant ships depart from here, loaded with various commodities and go to ports in various places. There are also a large number of merchant ships that come all the way from ports in various places and enter Zhujiangkou.
However, even in this era, the size of the Breaker was almost larger than that of the Thousand Material Ship.
Coupled with its different ship shape from this era and the strangeness of its self-propelled movement without sails, the Breaking Waves attracted countless gazes as soon as it entered the Zhujiang Estuary.
As for the fact that the Breaker is made of steel, not many people have noticed. After all, the current Breaker has been repainted. Just looking at the surface, it is difficult to tell that it is made of steel.
Some passing merchant ships saw it and carefully avoided it.
But there are always some people in this world who don’t know what is good or bad.
More than ten kilometers after entering the Zhujiang estuary, a speedboat carrying the flag of the Zhujiang Inspection Department came up to us. Someone stood on the bow of the ship in the distance and shouted: "Stop the incoming ship and accept inspection!"
"
How could Wang Haitao listen to the other party's words? A group of riflemen immediately ran onto the deck.
After taking a slight aim, a row of fire flashed, and a scream came from the clipper less than two hundred meters away.
The ninth-grade patrol officer in the official uniform of the Qi Dynasty at the bow of the ship was the first to fall, and several soldiers around him did not escape death either.
However, after the volley of guns was fired, Wang Haitao did not order the official ship to be sunk, but continued up the river.
On the contrary, those ships that were watching the excitement from a distance were so frightened that they immediately ran away under the gunfire.
No way, in this era, anyone who only knows how to watch the fun and doesn't know how to keep his life safe will go to his grave early.
The diesel engine of the Breaking Waves released a surging power, so that the warship was not affected by the retrograde movement at all, and easily ran a speed of 12 knots on the river.
Even those merchant ships traveling down the river can only travel at a speed of 7-8 knots at most.
Therefore, the Wavebreaker attracted more attention along the way.
But not only because of its sailless autonomy, but also for other reasons, no merchant ship dared to approach it.
It was not until the Breaking Waves approached Bailongtan outside Guangzhou Prefecture that the two forts attracted Wang Haitao's attention.
Probably because it had been peaceful for too long before, or maybe because I didn't believe that anyone could get here, there was still no movement on the two forts even though the Wave Breaker had reached less than 500 meters.
Naturally, Wang Haitao could not wait for the people on the fort to react before making a decision.
Soon, the naval guns on the Breaker began to fire.
Five shells landed on a fort in an instant.
Since the distance is very close, there is enough time to calculate the shooting elements and adjust the shooting angle.
This first wave of artillery shells achieved results.
The two bronze cannons on the fort were immediately smashed into the air.
At this time, there was movement in the two forts. Some soldiers ran out from behind the forts, and some soldiers, under the scolding of the officers, rushed to the unhit forts in preparation for a counterattack.
But just as they had filled up the gunpowder and cannonballs, the sound of cannons came from the Breaker again.
It should be said that the effect of solid cone-shaped cannonballs like this when attacking turrets is far inferior to round cannonballs.
The reason is very simple. Once the pointed cone shell hits the target, it immediately pierces into the target. It is far unlike the round shell that can bounce in the turret, causing greater secondary and tertiary damage.
However, this does not matter. Due to the short distance, calm river surface, no wind and no waves, the breaking waves' naval guns can achieve a very high hit rate.
After just five rounds of shooting, there was no resistance left on those two forts.
After all, there are only a dozen old Crouching Tiger cannons on the fort here, and there are only four more advanced Folan cannons in total.
This has taken into account the defense needs of Bailongtan.
Otherwise, according to the governor's opinion, all artillery should be brought to the anti-Qing front line. Only there can the power of these artillery be exerted.
The two forts were destroyed, and the Breaking Waves passed the forts without any obstacles and sailed into Bailongtan.
When the two forts were shelled, the defenders on the city wall saw it and sent people to report it early.
After receiving the news, the governor, the chief envoy, the envoy, the Guangzhou Military Preparation Road and other senior officials all went up to the city wall at this time and looked at the strange ship in the White Dragon Pond from a distance, with expressions of panic and confusion.
With their knowledge, they simply could not understand how that strange ship could move without sails.
Wang Haitao didn't give them any more time to think. After the Breaking Wave sailed into Bailongtan, he immediately faced the city wall horizontally and opened fire from a distance of five to six hundred meters.
Those senior officials were not even aware that the strange ship was firing.
On the contrary, the lieutenants, guerrillas and other officers following them realized this.