While Liu Ziguang was studying Zheng Zhilong, the lights were brightly lit in the cabin of a large warship on the sea in Quanzhou. The Zheng brothers were sitting around the table, listening solemnly to Zheng Sen, who had returned from the capital, about the new Southeast Governor.
There are several books scattered on the table about the master's deeds: "The White-robed General Destroys the Chain Horse", "The Flying General Courageously Captures the Tartar King", "The Spy Shadow of the East Factory", and "The Surprising Case of Zhen Wu Bo Judgment".
It was a popular book that Zheng Sen had people bring back from the capital. The stories recorded in it were a bit too graphic, so the Zheng brothers didn’t pay much attention to it after reading it. But now that they heard Zheng Sen personally speaking about Uncle Zhenwu’s abilities, these men
They couldn't help but look at each other.
Zheng Sen and his uncle Zheng Zhibao were involved in the Fengtian Temple Incident. They remembered Liu Ziguang's personal bravery and the sharp weapons of the Red Shirt Regiment. When everyone heard that the Red Shirt Regiment had technical weapons that could fly in the sky, Zheng Zhilong's
His brows couldn't help but frown: "With such a sharp weapon, the naval battle will be won! Sen'er, the airship you are talking about is the big cigar-shaped thing that floats above the supervisor's ship?"
Zheng Sen said: "It is exactly this thing. The airship is located high up, overlooking hundreds of miles. When the enemy is approaching, it can also throw fire starters, but the enemy is helpless."
"Isn't there no way out? Brother, send a few brothers to watch. If the officers and soldiers send airships to attack us at night, we will be in trouble. Oh, it hurts." Zheng Zhihu groaned while lying on the bed, his
Several ribs were broken by Liu Ziguang's kick, and he is recovering from his injuries.
"Why are you panic? Now we are also officers and soldiers, and the navy of the imperial court. This Lord Liu is not going on an expedition to eradicate our Zheng family, at least not now. Everyone can go back to sleep peacefully. When the supervisor inspects us tomorrow, give it to me
Be energetic." After Zheng Zhilong said this, he waved everyone away, but left Zheng Sen behind.
"Sen'er, this time I asked for reinforcements from the imperial court to save our Zheng family from danger. You have done a great service. You are worthy of being the great horse of my Zheng family." After the others had dispersed, Zheng Zhilong poured his son a cup of Fujian Iron.
Guanyin said kindly.
Zheng Sen was flattered. His father was rarely treated so kindly by him, and most of them were severely reprimanded and scolded. Now his sudden change of attitude made him a little confused: "Sen'er doesn't dare to take credit. Those things were all guided by my uncle.
"
"Zhibao told me that it was all your idea to win over the courtiers, accept the generals, state the interests, and finally prompt the court to send troops. Dad is very pleased that you are so successful at such a young age. You will have a bigger responsibility in the future.
Let me choose for you." Zheng Zhilong patted his son's solid shoulder and said.
"Dad, I will never let you down." Zheng Sen's height is similar to that of his Japanese mother. He is not as tall as Zheng Zhilong, but he also stands upright and has a heroic spirit.
Zheng Zhilong nodded with satisfaction and said: "Very good, Sen'er, how is your personal relationship with Inspector Liu..."
Early the next morning, Southeast Superintendent Liu Ziguang inspected the naval division surrounded by generals. It was a rare sunny day, the sun was shining, the sea breeze was blowing, and the colorful flags on the warships were blown by the wind.
Liu Ziguang's ship sailed past, and the navy officers and soldiers in full armor stood neatly on the side of the ship, clasping their fists and saluting to the Commander-in-Chief.
The Fujian Navy has been exhausted after years of fighting with the Zheng family, and only a few small sampans are left. Therefore, the main force of this review is the Southern Expedition Fleet brought by Liu Ziguang and the "Fujian New Navy" acted by the Zheng Family Army.
People on both sides were holding back their energy and wanted to show off, so they put on their best clothes and armor.
The armor of naval officers is different from the armor used on land. There is a fundamental difference in materials. The salt spray and moisture are strong above the sea, and metal objects are easy to rust. Moreover, it is difficult for soldiers wearing iron armor to save themselves if they fall into the sea. Therefore,
Most people's armors are made of paper armor, cotton armor, leather armor and bamboo wood armor. Paper armor is made of non-toxic and extremely soft paper, which is hammered until soft. It is stacked three inches thick and has four square-inch nails. If it is stained with seawater or rainwater, it will
It is more protective and difficult to penetrate with crossbow arrows; the cotton armor is sewn with silk floss, soaked in water, then spread on the ground and kicked hard, dried and used. It is light and tough, and the leather armor is made of rhinoceros skin and shark skin.
, hard boards line the chest and back, which can block swords and guns. Bamboo armor is a popular armor in Southeast Asia and Japan. It is painted on the surface and looks very glamorous. In fact, its protective capabilities are limited; Zhejiang Navy wears many armors.
It is cotton armor and paper armor, while the Zheng family's army mostly wears bamboo and wood armor.
"General Zheng's men are indeed well-trained. They are really the strongest army in the South China Sea." Liu Ziguang sat on the large rattan commander's chair and turned to praise Zheng Zhilong who was standing beside him.
"Commander Miao Zan." Zheng Zhilong smiled faintly. A skinny camel was bigger than a horse. Although after being attacked by Xiyi, his troops were only one-third of their original size. However, compared with the Zhejiang Navy, in
The momentum was not inferior at all, and the unruly pirate style that traveled across the sea was compared to Shi Lang's dedicated navy officers and soldiers.
After dozens of warships rode the wind and waves in front of Liu Ziguang, they neatly formed a long snake formation on the sea, with masts like a forest, war flags fluttering, and war drums beating. The momentum was impressive.
The last ship to pass the viewing platform was the Shanghai Flying Mothership, the main force of the Southern Expedition Fleet. I saw this huge paddle-wheel warship rolling over with splashes of water. The sailors on the ship were not wearing armor. They were only wearing blue and white striped cotton jackets.
It is covered with a colorful vest with writing on it, ranging from red, green, blue, yellow and black. The words "mechanical", "oil", "military" and "turbine" are written on the vest according to the different colors. There is a uniform rattan on the head.
The helmet is embellished with brass sun, moon and star military ranks, and a series of fully armed paragliders are parked on the deck. When passing by the viewing platform, there are a swarm of cluster rocket launchers at the front of the deck and temporary melee weapons installed amidships.
The steam machine gun simultaneously raised its muzzle and turned to the generals in review to salute. The airship also flew over the viewing ship. Its huge hull completely blocked the sun, making the people below feel a strong sense of oppression.
With the feeling, a huge red ribbon was thrown out of the airship cabin at the right time, with a vertical row of large characters written on it: "Use me in the first battle, and you will win if you use me."
"What a heavenly army! With Lord Governor's mighty troops here, there is no need to worry that the Western barbarians cannot be defeated, Taiwan cannot be conquered, and all kinds of bandits will not surrender and surrender." Xiong Wencan excitedly raised his beard on his chin and complimented Liu Ziguang while saying.
At the same time, he glanced at Zheng Zhilong with ulterior motives.
"Although this heavenly army has impressive momentum, I am afraid that it will not be able to handle the task if it faces the enemy. You must know that Xiyi's ships have strong arrows and powerful crossbows that can shoot a mile away. This airship has a soft shell and cannot be used as a sharp arrow. Let's talk about it.
In naval battles, the iron ships of our Zheng family army are the most powerful." The speaker was Zheng Zhibiao, Zheng Zhilong's younger brother.
Liu Ziguang smiled slightly when he heard this. Zheng Zhibiao's words showed that he was a smart man who was good at analysis. The airship was made of a fragile skin and could not be compared with a sturdy warship. This was naturally considered by Liu Ziguang.
"What the general said is absolutely true, but do you think that I will expose the airship to the striking distance of enemy ships? While everyone is here today, we might as well compare it to see who is Commander Zheng.
My iron ship is more powerful than my airship."
There were all cheerful people present, and no one pretended to refuse. A competition was held on the sea during the review. The competition was between the airship of the Southern Expedition Fleet and the warship of Zheng Zhilong's men. The target was a dilapidated cargo ship two miles away.
Whoever can sink it first will win.
Dozens of warships, under the gaze of tens of thousands of eyes, an air-sea battle began. The Zheng family's competitor was a paddle-wheel clipper made of a thousand materials. The key parts were equipped with iron plates, so it was also called
It is an iron ship, the backbone of Zheng Jun's navy, and its role is equivalent to the destroyer of later generations. The contestant of the red shirt group is the giant airship. This huge airship incorporates all the latest technological achievements of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. It is the pride of Liu Ziguang and also
The pride of the Red Shirts.
The airship and the iron ship were located on the left and right sides of the target, two miles away. The command flag was waved from the command podium, and both started to move at the same time to see who could hit the target first. The iron ship's boiler was already boiling, and the paddle wheel was steaming.
Driven by it, it rotated wildly, pushing the sea water forward, and the steam-driven crossbow also raised its head. As soon as the distance got closer, it shot first and sunk the target.
The propeller of the airship didn't turn at all and remained motionless. Tens of thousands of spectators were shocked. Didn't this big guy flying in the sky not want to bring glory to the Governor? How could he be so calm?
The captain of the airship, Masaiu, was not in a hurry at all. He had never thought about sinking the enemy ship in close combat. The airship was so fragile that it could not withstand the rocket attack, so his strategy to defeat the enemy was to strike from a long distance.
The YJ-3 anti-ship missile carried sank the target.
The crew got busy. The observer measured the wind direction and speed, and then reported it to the weapon operator. The operator adjusted the missile's rudder and horizontal wings, and aimed according to the distance and angle between the weapon launch platform and the target.
"The missiles are ready." The operator squatting on the weapons platform made of bamboo grabbed the microphone on his chest and shouted into the microphone. The sound was transmitted to the command room through a thin rope. Captain Masaiu looked at it contemptuously.
Taking a look at the Zheng family iron boat, which was puffing out thick smoke and running with increased power, he picked up the microphone and ordered loudly: "Launch."
"Yes, launch." As soon as the operator loosened the wrench, the two Eagle Strike III missiles were ejected by the powerful steel wire bowstring and flew towards the target. As soon as they left the weapon platform, the three-thousand-turn cowhide band in front of the missile began to release.
The force drives the bamboo propeller at the front to rotate, providing power to this small airplane-like missile.
The distance of two miles by sea is not that far even for a warship. The Zheng family's iron ship opened at full power and quickly approached the target. It was about to reach the effective shooting range. However, before they could start aiming and shooting, two big bird-like missiles
It passed over their heads and flew towards the target with a strange scream. The speed was jaw-dropping.
The Eagle Strike III missile uses three types of power to fly. When it takes off from the weapon platform, it relies on the power of a steel wire bowstring. During the flight, it relies on the power provided by the cowhide band propeller. At the end of the flight, the exhausted cowhide band and propeller naturally
It falls off, causing the clockwork mechanism at the rear of the missile to rotate the steel saw teeth, which rubs the flint to ignite the gunpowder. It makes a final sprint under the gunpowder jet. When it hits the target, the spring firing pin at the front of the missile is impacted and hits inward, triggering fulminant and gunpowder.
The explosion achieves the effect of sinking the target.
The Eagle Strike III missile is the crystallization of the technology of the Ming Academy of Sciences. The unit price of each missile exceeds a hundred taels of silver. Such a valuable, novel, and incredible weapon can only be produced by Liu Ziguang, and he is not willing to equip it.
Before the missile hit the target ship, the generals on the viewing platform were already deeply shocked. Their hands holding telescopes moved quickly, tracing the traces of the missile, and murmuring: "What is this...
"
The two missiles were adjusted to withstand crosswinds before being launched, and the aiming direction was slightly changed. However, the distance of two miles was still too far, and the target ship kept shaking with the wind, so only one hit the target.
The needle hit the mercury fulminate, detonating the high-explosive gunpowder in the missile shell. After a loud noise, a large hole was blown out of the target ship where it was hit, while another missed missile fell into the seawater at the stern of the target ship.
Here, the huge impact still triggered an explosion. A very high water column rose from the water. The sea water rose into the sky. A huge vortex naturally formed on the sea surface, attracting the target ship directly. The stern of the ship fell into the sea, and then the water column
It turned into a big wave and beat down the target ship that had been blown to pieces again. The already old and decayed target ship disappeared on the sea in an instant.
When the weapons operators on the airship two miles away saw this scene, they high-fived each other proudly and congratulated each other. Then they took off their goggles and went back to the cabin to rest. However, the sailors on the Zheng family's iron ship were still looking at the empty sea in disbelief.
The crossbowman came out of the cabin and shouted: "Where is the target ship? Why is the target ship gone?"
The entire sea was silent, with hundreds of warships and tens of thousands of eyes staring silently at the rough sea. This weapon was too terrifying. Every Zheng Army soldier was thinking, if one day they would fight again
The imperial court was an enemy. If they launched these two big birds from miles away in the middle of the night, then they would not even know how to die. The officers and soldiers of the Zhejiang Navy were more excited than afraid.
After a moment of silence, they began to cheer and shout: "We must win! We must win!"
"Your Majesty the Superintendent's heavenly army is indeed brave, and you are humbled by your humble position." Zheng Zhilong put down his telescope and praised after calming down his mind.