Chapter 1510 Pirates with thoughts, depth and ideals
Like many captains of this era, Alvin Grant usually worked as a merchant and robbed. If he encountered a war, he would change his identity and become a member of the Royal Navy of England to participate in the war.
He still thought about participating in the war one day, and then getting a noble title and becoming a great hero in England.
So Alvin Grant cannot be regarded as a simple pirate, he is a complex, thoughtful, deep, and ideal pirate!
As a pirate, maritime merchant and captain of the Royal Navy of England, he was naturally like many merchants and wanted to purchase a batch of Datang commodities that were most in demand in the European market in South Africa, and then make a fortune.
Nowadays on the European continent, who doesn't know that the goods of the Tang Dynasty are the best-selling and are in extremely short supply. As long as you can purchase a batch of goods from the Tang Dynasty and transport them back to Europe at this time, you will definitely make a fortune.
Well, the premise is that the goods can be transported back to Europe smoothly without being robbed on the way!
Of course, as a thoughtful and in-depth businessman and pirate, he had made two plans when he came to South Africa. He would buy goods from Datang if he could, but since his family knew his own affairs, he probably couldn't buy it with his money.
A few pieces of perfume, so even if he could successfully purchase the goods, he could only buy a few box bottoms at most, but such a large carat ship could not return to England empty, that would be too embarrassing.
So he also made a second preparation, which was to see if he could rob a few ships on the way back and fill up his cargo warehouse.
As a glorious English pirate, a great captain with a royal license to plunder cannot be allowed to go back empty-handed after going to sea. Besides, even if he is willing, the sailors under him will not agree.
.
These sailors went to sea with him, but they didn't get paid. These sailors were eagerly waiting to grab a piece and get rich loot.
However, as for robbing the ship, that was a matter of return journey, and he was not prepared, or rather would not do it, in the waters near South Africa.
Before coming here, he had unfortunately inquired about those Tang people from the east, who were a group of extremely wealthy demons!
They are rich because they possess countless goods that make Europe covetous, such as silk, porcelain, perfume and even ordinary spices and other things, which are enough to make every European in this era look greedy.
How rich the people of the Tang Dynasty were. You only need to look at how rich the Portuguese people who have done business with them for more than ten years have become. In the past ten years, the Portuguese royal family has stolen the limelight on the European continent. It is said that in
The King of Portugal, who had earned countless gold and silver treasures from the Eastern trade, was so extravagant that the King of Spain was envious of him.
As for the people of the Tang Dynasty being demons, this can also be proven by the Portuguese. In just a few years, the Portuguese, who had occupied the Indian Ocean and even the South China Sea for many years, were driven back to the Atlantic Ocean by the Tang Dynasty like dogs.
In the major and minor wars that took place in 2007, it is said that the Portuguese suffered tens of thousands of casualties.
These rich demons are also arrogant and unreasonable.
Any ship heading to South African waters and crossing the Cape of Good Hope needs to obey the instructions of the Datang Navy patrol ships and sail according to the fixed sailing schedule. If you are not allowed to pass, you will not be allowed to pass.
As for entering the port of South Africa, you need to undergo multiple inspections and hand over all gunpowder and muskets and other light weapons on the ship. You can only get them back when you leave the port. For this, you have to pay a large sum of money.
weapons storage fees...
Throughout the entire process, if someone didn't obey even a little bit, they would immediately start bombarding them without even giving them a chance to defend themselves!
In the past few months, it is said that several European merchant ships did not obey the rules of the Tang Dynasty and were sunk directly on the sea, with the ship destroyed and people killed!
Aler considers himself a ruthless person, but compared with the Tang Dynasty Navy, he feels that he is still quite kind.
Furthermore, he came to South Africa to seek money. Even if he wanted to rob, he was not planning to rob the Tang Dynasty Navy, but other European merchant ships. For example, the Spanish and Portuguese merchant ships were his best targets.
.
So although he is a pirate, he is extremely honest in the South African waters. He has already accepted the boarding inspection of the Tang Navy more than ten nautical miles away, and has honestly registered all the cannons, guns, swords, etc. on the ship.
Weapon, then closed the gun window, and continued to the South African port under the surveillance of Datang Navy offshore patrol vessels.
When approaching the port of South Africa, his ship was led to a temporary dock outside the port, where all gunpowder, guns, swords and other light weapons were handed over.
Confiscating light firearms such as gunpowder and muskets was a way for the Tang Navy to control merchant ships from various countries and not cause trouble in the port.
After all, almost all merchant ships in various countries are armed merchant ships. They would not dare to go to sea without carrying dozens of artillery pieces.
But for these armed merchant ships with so many artillery, and who knows if they have any malicious intentions, what if they want to sneak attack the South African port?
Therefore, even if the Tang Navy was brave, they would not dare to let them enter the port casually.
But business still had to be done. If these ships were not allowed to enter the port, how could they do business? So in the end, a compromise was adopted, that is, they could enter the port, but small weapons such as gunpowder and matchlock guns needed to be confiscated.
Alvin is an old captain. He has never seen any big storms. This is just a collection of gunpowder. It is nothing. As long as he can buy enough Datang merchant ships in South Africa, then find the right target in the port, and do something conveniently when he returns home.
If you buy tickets, you can make a lot of money when you return to England.
But obviously, he still didn’t know that the timing of his arrival was not right!
All kinds of goods for export in South Africa's cities were sold out a month ago, and now the warehouses in South Africa's cities are empty.
So whether Alvin wants to buy goods from the Tang Dynasty or wants to find a fat sheep here, I'm afraid he will have to wait in South Africa City for a long time.
Because even if you are a fat sheep, you will have to purchase goods from Datang before returning!
So after Alvin entered the port of South Africa, the scene he saw was a lot of ships in the port, but none of them set sail back to Europe.
However, Alvin still didn't know the situation at this time.
After entering the port, his ship slowly sailed to one of the berths under the guidance of the port guidance ship. At this time, he saw the kind of ship of the Tang Dynasty Navy that was emitting black smoke and could move forward automatically without sails.
.
He travels all over the country and is considered a knowledgeable person. Naturally, he knows that this kind of ship is called a steam ship, which is a unique ship type of the Tang Dynasty. Many people say that this kind of ship is driven by devils, but he knows that this kind of ship
There is no devil inside at all, just a coal-burning machine.
He also knew that this kind of machine was called a steam engine.
However, he only knows that this kind of machine is called a steam engine. If you ask him to explain the principle, he will not be able to explain it.
The steam engines of the Tang Empire are no longer a secret in this world. The Tang Empire has long adopted steam engines on a large scale in the domestic industry. The Portuguese also obtained a small number of steam engine samples through dishonorable means many years ago, and even
I'm still trying to imitate it.
But until now, the Portuguese have not been able to successfully imitate it.
When the Tang Empire put steam engines on ships, although the Portuguese were surprised, they were not surprised.
Through the Portuguese and Spanish, various deeds of the Tang Dynasty gradually spread to Europe, including the steam engine.
Rumors say that the Tang Dynasty people had mastered the power of the devil and could make machines emit black smoke to propel ships forward.
Alvin doesn't believe in any devil, he believes in cannons and muskets, and the pirate sword in his hand!
Compared with ordinary people, he is more acceptable to the steam ships of the Tang Dynasty.
When he was outside the port of South Africa, he had already seen a Datang Navy steam engine ship emitting black smoke from a distance. At that time, he was very calm.
But now, the steamship he saw in the port was only a few hundred meters away from him.
In sight, the ship in front should be a professional warship of the Tang Dynasty navy, because this type of ship can't carry much cargo at a glance. It is good for speed, maneuverability and combat, but it is definitely not a good choice for a merchant ship.
Nowadays, the navies of various countries do not all use armed merchant ships. In fact, several large maritime countries basically have professional warships, but the number is relatively small. England, as a rising star of the navy, has been in recent years.
Vigorously develop professional warships.
However, the number of professional warships in these countries is still relatively small, and they still rely more on ordinary armed merchant ships.
The professional battleship of the Tang Navy in front of him was obviously larger than the battleships of the English Navy that he had seen, and it was not a little bigger, but a lot bigger.
The battleship of the Tang Dynasty that Alvin saw was the "Battleship Fujian" in the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Datang Navy. As the last batch of pure sailing battleships in the Datang Navy, when it was first completed and put into service, Datang
The Navy has already entered the steam age, so within a few months of service, it returned to the shipyard to install steam engines.
They are one of the relatively large number of battleships in the Tang Dynasty that have been modified with steam engines!
The battleship Fujian has been modified with a steam engine. Its standard displacement has reached 1,450 tons. It is equipped with a two-cylinder steam engine with an output power of 500 horsepower.
Although it was modified relatively early, the steam engine above is relatively weak. The mere 500 horsepower can only be used as auxiliary power, such as for accelerating during battle, or for driving slowly in no wind.
The biggest use is actually to use it when entering and leaving the port.
Now, the battleship Fujian that Alvin saw was slowly leaving the port driven by steam engines!
When the battleship Fujian slowly sailed out of the port and passed Alvin's ship, the tall hull required Alvin to raise his head to take a look, making him involuntarily take a step back and hold on to the railing.
As far as the eye can see, there are densely packed gun windows, and the huge chimney on the ship is still spewing out thick black smoke. The entire Fujian automatically sails out of the port without wind!
Alvin's eyes widened, trying to see more, trying to understand why this steam engine machine could push such a huge ship forward.
It's a pity that he still didn't understand it until the battleship Fujian left the port, raised its huge sail and rode away in the wind!