Daming pirates

"How many No. 8 cannons have been cast at the Keelung Artillery Factory so far? Are there any problems?" Yu Xiaotian immediately asked the manager here as soon as he arrived at the artillery factory.

The steward here is now the apprentice brought by Blacksmith Zhang. He learned a good craft from Blacksmith Zhang. Not only can he make muskets, but he also has considerable knowledge in casting. Every teacher must have his apprentice.

He is also the kind of person who likes to study very much. Despite his young age, his understanding of many mechanical aspects far exceeds that of most craftsmen.

So after Yu Xiaotian discovered him, he decided to use talents in an eclectic way. First, when he was on Nanyue Island, he asked him to work in the cannon factory. He first learned how to cast cannons, and soon he was working in the cannon factory.

His craftsmanship stood out among the craftsmen in the craftsmanship, so when the artillery craftsmanship was established in Jilongzhai, he was asked to work here as a manager. In fact, he was the factory director and chief engineer here.

Being given such an important responsibility by Yu Xiaotian at such a young age, this young man named Zhang Tong was naturally very grateful to Xiaotian and worked very diligently. After arriving at Keelung Fort, almost all his food and accommodation were made.

, very few people saw him wandering around to see what was new. This was recognized by Heitou, Sun Baoqiang, and everyone in Keelung Fort.

Among the Sea Wolf tribe, whether it is the military system or the logistics system, including the military industry such as the Ordnance Institute, Yu Xiaotian has always deliberately implemented a strict superior-subordinate system. No matter how old or senior you are,

No matter how old you are, as long as your level is lower, you must obey and respect those who are higher than him.

Under the leadership and instructions of a superior person, you can keep your opinions and make reasonable complaints, but they must be implemented. Disobeying the instructions of the superior leader is a serious crime among the sea wolves, and it can range from being slapped with a military stick to being sent to a labor camp.

If you stay there, it will cause serious consequences, and it is not impossible to move your head.

So now in various systems of Sea Wolf, this kind of atmosphere has been developed. Although Zhang Tong is very young, just twenty, all his craftsmen are older than him, and even some apprentices are older than him, but

His craftsmanship is superb and his skills are much better than others. None of his craftsmen and apprentices dare to disapprove of him.

Zhang Tong is dark and thin, but very strong. When Yu Xiaotian arrived at the artillery work, he was busy working here, wearing a thick protective canvas coat and a big dirty and torn apron, with a look on his face.

He was covered in black ash, and his white eyes were still bloodshot, as if he had just emerged from a pile of coal. He didn't look like the boss of a workshop at all, but more like a kid.

After hearing Yu Xiaotian's question, he quickly replied: "Thanks to the boss! The younger ones don't dare to neglect here. In the past few months, new cannons have been cast every month, and now the No. 6 cannon (

A total of six No. 5 cannons were cast, eight No. 5 long cannons were cast, and four No. 7 heavy cannons (twenty-four-pound cannons) were cast! A total of eighteen cannons were cast!

There are still a few cannons whose bores have not yet been bored, and some of the rest have been handed over to the fort. A few are still being gunned, waiting to be mounted on the gun mounts, and then they can be handed over to the fort!

And now in the work shed, the gun scope of a No. 6 gun has been put on the casting platform. It can be cast in two days at the earliest and can be bored within seven days.

There is also a No. 7 cannon, which is currently being cast in the work shed. I still have to keep an eye on it because I can’t live without it. I also hope that the master will forgive me. After this cannon is cast, I will come to see the master again!"

As soon as he said this, Zhang Tong's buttocks were on fire, which didn't mean Xiaotian had anything to say, so he rushed back to the work shed. Standing at the door, you could feel the heat coming from the work shed, and Zhang Tong was there.

With a loud shout, he called to his craftsmen and apprentices to quickly continue to collect the molten iron and send it to the casting platform for continuous casting without delay.

Yu Xiaotian opened his mouth, but before he could stop Zhang Tong, the guy ran away and disappeared. The angry guards wanted to go in and grab Zhang Tong. There was even a black line on his forehead. He felt that Zhang Tong was too

Not taking Yu Xiaotian seriously was really too negligent, and I couldn't help but want to lose my temper.

Yu Xiaotian raised his hand to stop them, laughed and said: "Okay! Good boy! The world is huge and the job is the biggest. I chose this person right! Haha! Okay, let him go ahead and let's not give him anything here.

They made trouble.

Heitou, please remember, you must be polite to Zhang Tong and don't trouble him because of this matter today. He is right to do this. It is being cast at the moment. Don't dare to make any mistakes, otherwise

If so, this cannon will be scrapped accidentally, so I certainly won’t blame him!

You have to remember that what he did today is for our own good. The cannons he has made are now being used directly by you. If you are not grateful, then you are really ungrateful!"

With Yu Xiaotian's words, who dared to say anything? So everyone agreed and followed Yu Xiaotian out of Paozuo.

Yu Xiaotian didn't hesitate. He briefly learned about various recent situations in Keelung Fort, and then went to each fort to check the conditions of the forts in person.

There are now a total of thirty-two artillery pieces of twelve-pounders and above on several forts. Among them, there are four twenty-four-pounders that have been installed. There is also one that is still under construction and has not yet been shipped.

The fort is installed, and the fort on Heping Island is equipped with three cannons, and another one is installed on the opposite fort. These cannons, plus more than ten 18-pound cannons and 12-pound cannons, form the entire chicken coop.

The defense line outside the bay firmly held Jilong Bay.

In addition, each fort is also equipped with some small cannons, including six-pound cannons and squatting tiger cannons. They are mainly used to prevent enemy landing personnel from attacking the fort, because once the enemy approaches the fort, those twelve-pound or larger cannons will

It loses its effect because the firing angle is too low and it can no longer be bombarded, so it needs to be strengthened with some small cannons.

There are many battle cases in history where the forts only had cannons but lacked close-range firepower, allowing the enemy to take advantage of the opportunity and approach the forts from the side or the back. In the end, the seemingly impregnable enemy was easily defeated.

Therefore, for cannons, bigger is not necessarily better. When necessary, small cannons must be used to protect them as auxiliary, so that the defense of the fort will be more complete.

It's just this number of artillery that makes Yu Xiaotian a little uneasy, because he is very familiar with the current firepower intensity of Western sailing warships. Generally, armed cargo ships are equipped with at least a dozen cannons, and there are many with twenty cannons.

Four or even thirty-two pounders.

The structure of the Galen ship itself has very good advantages. The dedicated warship is slightly larger in tonnage and can be divided into two or even three artillery decks, carrying dozens of cannons. A few decades later, the British first-class warships were even equipped with

There are more than a hundred artillery pieces, the smallest artillery piece is also a twelve-pound cannon, and there are thirty thirty-two-pound heavy artillery pieces alone. The firepower has reached a very terrifying level.

Of course, it is certainly impossible for the Spanish and Dutch warships in Asia to reach that level. Their main warships are now in Europe, staring at each other, and no one dares to move.

But the Spanish and Dutch gunboats in Asia, even if they are smaller, can now be equipped with at least dozens of cannons.

If the Spaniards come this time and bring a large fleet, the firepower will be quite terrifying. But now there are only more than 30 cannons on the fort, and they are still with 12-pounders and 18-pounders.

As the main weapon, there are only four twenty-four-pound cannons, which are the most powerful weapons. The firepower is indeed a bit weak.

If we were to deal with our counterparts, there would certainly be no problem with such intensity of firepower, but if we were to have a big showdown with the Spanish fleet, I don't know if we could withstand it.

Once the defense at the entrance of the bay is breached, the number of artillery in Keelung Fort will not be able to suppress the enemy's ship-based firepower. Blackhead and the others will definitely suffer a big loss by then.

Therefore, Yu Xiaotian was a little worried and ordered Zhang Tong to continue to increase the number of twenty-four-pound cannons cast as soon as possible, and to cast as many more such heavy cannons as possible before they are needed, even if the Spanish fleet comes over.

, if they want to capture Jilongwan, they will probably have to break their big teeth!

Yu Xiaotian had just returned to Nanyue Island. Before he could enjoy playing with the two little ones who had been separated for more than two months, he received a lot of messages.

The main news is the information about Zheng Yiguan that Yu Xiaotian has been paying close attention to recently. After Zheng Yiguan's attempt to secretly intercept the gun purchase money delivered to Sea Wolf by Yan Siqi was exposed, he did not dare to neglect and immediately wiped the soles of his feet and fled from Bengang.

, slipped to an island among the Penghu Islands, and temporarily used it as his old camp.

Because of this incident, Zheng Yiguan hated Yu Xiaotian for ruining his good deeds, and officially ordered his subordinates to regard Sea Wolf as their enemy, and must find opportunities to retaliate and regain this face.

As a result, the friction between Hailang and Zheng Yiguan has gradually increased recently, especially in the Quanzhou area, and there have been frequent exchanges of fire.

However, the result of friction between the two sides is that Sea Wolf usually takes advantage. Unless it encounters Zheng Yiguan's large fleet, otherwise, Zheng Yiguan's men will not be able to get even the slightest advantage if the two sides are right.

Several of them were killed by Sea Wolf's patrol boat, and dozens of their subordinates were captured and sent back to Nanyue Island.

After being tortured and extorted from the torture hall, Sea Wolf learned about Zheng Yiguan's current lair. In accordance with Yu Xiaotian's original instructions, Liu Laoliu ordered Sea Wolf's fleet not to trouble Zheng Yiguan for the time being.

Let Yan Siqi handle it in advance.

So the news that Zheng Yiguan was currently entrenched in the Penghu Islands was passed to Yan Siqi.

After Yan Siqi learned of Zheng Yiguan's whereabouts later in the year, he immediately mobilized dozens of ships and more than a thousand subordinates, and personally led his team to the Penghu Islands to settle the score with Zheng Yiguan.

After Yan Siqi purged his subordinates, he purged those who were friendly with Zheng Yiguan and had defected to Zheng Yiguan openly or covertly, thus stabilizing his situation.

In addition, after Seawolf delivered to them a batch of six-pound cannons, tiger crouching cannons, prisoner-killing cannons and other artillery pieces years ago, they were quickly armed into Yan Siqi's fleet.

(Without further ado, thank you to brothers Ke Daowu and wdj1972 for the reward again! My son’s condition has not improved significantly yet. Today I will switch to imported antibiotics. I hope the condition can be controlled as soon as possible!)