Daming pirates

This new type of twenty-four-pound gun still belongs to the category of cannon. It has a long range and is very powerful. If equipped with this gunboat, it will enable the ship to obtain relatively more complete firepower, which can not only attack from a distance, but also

It can engage in close combat, which greatly expands the combat effectiveness of this ship.

After careful planning, in the internal gun compartment of this ship, five thirty-two-pound carronade cannons can be arranged on the left and right sides, or three carronel cannons and two twenty-four-pound cannons.

In the cabin, ten cannons can be placed.

Ten 12-pound short guns can be placed on the deck, and two 32-pound carronade cannons can be placed on the bow and amidships decks. As for the one- to three-pound light Fran cannons mounted on the ship's sides, they can

Not included in the number of cannons.

If we do not count the light small Fran cannon used for close combat, after the transformation of this ship is completed, it can also be equipped with twenty artillery pieces of different sizes, which will become the most powerful gun in the Sea Wolf Navy.

Ship, looking at the coastal areas of China, there is no Chinese warship among the peers that can engage in firepower confrontation with this ship.

Even if we use this ship to deal with large Western-style plywood boats, as long as we don't encounter large gunboats with super powerful firepower, we can deal with ordinary armed merchant ships with the firepower of this ship.

, and may even not fall behind.

Yu Xiaotian stood in the gun cabin of the ship. He was very satisfied. He walked back and forth in the spacious gun cabin a few times, then lay down on the side of the ship at the newly opened gun door and looked outside.

He is very ambitious. If he now has dozens of these big guys in his hands, who else would he be afraid of on the China Sea? Even if he had an upright fight with the Dutch East India Company's fleet, he would not necessarily lose.

To the Dutch.

What a pity! He currently has two large ships like this. The other one is the three-masted big fortune ship that was captured by Zhang Hu. However, the condition of that big fortune ship is far not as good as that of the ship that captured Chu Cailao.

, the materials used are not very good, even if it is deeply modified, I am afraid that it will not be able to achieve the strength of this ship after modification, and the cost-efficiency ratio of the modification is not good.

So he is not going to carry out any further modifications on the ship at the moment. After inspection, he found that although the ship was a three-masted ship, the materials used were not good and it was a one-of-a-kind ship. There was no problem sailing on the sea, but he wanted to

To transform it into a gunboat, you have to replace everything inside, which would probably be much more troublesome than building a new ship.

But fortunately, after the ship was renovated, it could be used as a cargo ship at sea to transport goods, so now the ship has been allocated to the merchant fleet, specifically responsible for transporting bulk cargo.

Just when Yu Xiaotian was busy renovating the big ship, the Feizi Hao Clippers detachment sent to the sea in Zhangquan sent back the news. The news was brought back to Nanyue Island by carrier pigeons.

At the end of the year before last, when Seawolf busted the Xizhuo Trading Store arranged by Mr. Chu Cai on Nanyue Island in the Nanyue Island Commercial Store District, Yu Xiaotian discovered that they used carrier pigeons as a way to deliver messages.

So Yu Xiaotian immediately sent people to the mainland to purchase a large number of excellent breeding pigeons, and brought them back to Nanyue Island for expansion and breeding. He also searched for people who could raise and train carrier pigeons to help him establish a network using carrier pigeons as the method of transmission.

communication network.

This kind of thing cannot be done in a short time. The homing pigeons need to undergo long-term training and a considerable number of homing pigeons as a basis. In addition, homing pigeons must be raised in the main strongholds and use their own homing capabilities.

Only through habit can such a pigeon communication network be established.

After more than a year of preparation, it was not until the end of the sixth year of the Apocalypse that such a carrier pigeon communication was initially established.

Some expatriate ships began to carry homing pigeons as a fast and convenient way of communication with the wolf lair when they went out to sea. Unfortunately, this method of communication still has great limitations, because the ships carry

The carrier pigeons can only communicate in one way, bringing messages back to the wolf lair, but they cannot receive the instructions sent to them by the wolf lair.

This time, the Feizhao Clippers detachment sent to the Zhangquan area specifically to cause trouble for Zheng Yiguan sent back news that within a month of going to sea, they intercepted and killed Zheng Yiguan's men in the Zhangquan area.

There were eighteen ships, seven of which were destroyed on the spot, five of which were able to escape by taking advantage of the fog on the sea, and the remaining six were captured on the spot.

After capturing the enemy ship, the detachment originally planned to escort it back to Nanyue Island. However, when it was sailing outside the Shenhu Bay of Quanzhou, it happened to run into a fleet of Zheng Yiguan, and the two sides started a battle.

Although the detachment's ships have advantages in speed and firepower, their flexibility is far greater than that of Zheng Yiguan's fleet.

However, due to the slow speed of the captured ships they escorted, they were bitten by the enemy and unable to escape. In the end, the detachment had to set fire to the captured enemy ships and finally withdrew from the battlefield.

Yu Xiaotian is not dissatisfied with this situation. He does not expect this clipper detachment to steal many goods and ships from Zheng Yiguan. As long as they can attack Zheng Yiguan, Zheng Yiguan will never be able to easily obtain a large amount of money.

It is enough to significantly delay his development.

Now, these fast ships have temporarily gone to Meizhou Island to rest and replenish themselves, repair the damage caused to the ships by the battle, and wait for Yu Xiaotian's next order.

Meizhou Island was not actually controlled by Sea Wolf before because it is located at the mouth of Meizhou Bay and was a place directly controlled by the government in the past. Yu Xiaotian did not want to provoke the government too much, so he never actually controlled Meizhou Island.

But after he launched the battle between Puxisuo and Nanyue Shuizhai last year, he occupied Meizhou Island in one fell swoop and used it as a bridgehead for their sea wolf to the south. It could also be used to blockade Xinghua Prefecture when necessary.

The outlet of Meizhou Bay in the south could also be used as a base to advance towards the Zhangquan area, so a small-scale fortress was built at the southern end of Meizhou Island.

This time, the Zhangquan Clippers detachment used this place as a fulcrum. After resting and replenishing, they returned directly to the Zhangquan area to continue their work.

After Yu Xiaotian thought about it, he ordered these clippers to temporarily rest at Meizhou Island and wait for his next arrangement. After more than a month of cruising at sea and constant combat, the crew should be quite tired.

, this is not just a simple voyage

Shan, they have to constantly search for enemy traces on the sea and fight with them. The crew always maintains a state of tension, and they also have to face the strong wind and rain at sea. If they are not allowed to take a good rest, it is inevitable that the next step will be

The Chengren staff were overtired and had some accidents.

Originally, Yu Xiaotian planned to go to Tamsui City to see how the various projects were progressing there. However, on April 18, Yu Xiaotian received a message from Fort Keelung that a Spanish

The human fleet landed in Taipei.

The efficiency of the Spaniards was obviously higher than that of the Ming government. In early March, after the Spanish Governor in Manila, Schierva, finally made the decision to send troops to northern Taiwan, their war machine in Greater Luzon started to move.

.

One after another, ships docked at the dock and began to be repaired. Batteries of combat supplies and engineering supplies began to be gathered and transported to the dock warehouse, waiting for loading.

In the bars near the Manila pier, people began to shout loudly, recruiting sailors and soldiers. A group of adventurers or scum from Europe or other places often gathered in the pier bars, and when they had nothing to do,

Just killing time here, but mainly waiting for opportunities and taking advantage of them.

Under normal circumstances, when merchant ships sail on the sea, the mortality rate of crew members will be quite high due to various reasons. When a ship sails from Europe to Manila or from the Americas, it will lose many crew members on the way. Before the ship sails again, the captain will often

Recruit sailors in the bar to replenish the vacancies on the ship.

A large-scale military operation like this one naturally requires additional manpower. What these European maritime powers lack is not money, but manpower. After the Spanish Age of Discovery, as pioneers, ships were spread all over the world. With them alone,

Spain's own population could not organize enough soldiers and sailors, so it had to use some unwilling people from all over Europe to meet their needs.

Many European countries have some restless adventurers who want to grab a pot of gold in their lives from this era and change their destiny. They go out to sea and wander around in search of opportunities to make a fortune in life.

Among them are some criminals and scum who really can no longer live in Europe, so they have fled Europe and traveled to various parts of the world to join the ranks of adventures.

There are not many Spanish troops stationed in the Philippines, and there is a serious shortage of soldiers. To carry out such a task, a large number of additional manpower is needed. Therefore, their troops are not only composed of Spaniards, but also include soldiers from all over the country.

people join their ranks.

After a period of personnel recruitment and on-site training, Shirwa organized a fleet of six large sailing ships as the main force. Two of these large sailing ships were Spanish warships, and the largest one was a displacement ship.

The Galen ship of 500 to 600 tons is equipped with thirty-six cannons of various kinds, and the other is a Galen ship of 400 tons, equipped with twenty-eight cannons.

The remaining four are armed merchant ships, with a displacement of less than 400 tons, but their firepower is not weak. After all, they have to travel on the sea, and they often encounter Dutch and British privateers who are currently hostile to them.

Warships will launch attacks on their ships, so these armed merchant ships are often equipped with no less than ten artillery pieces, and their firepower is also quite powerful.

(Thanks to Feng Muchunjiang and stdx for the reward! Thank you for your support!)