Fifty-eight, soldiers force Nanjing

Fifty-eight, soldiers force Nanjing

The blue sky is like washing, and the scorching sun is like fire on the Yangtze River, a piece of water vapor rises, reflecting the rippling waves.

In early autumn, the two sides of the Yangtze River are always so magnificent, quiet and peaceful.

If in ordinary days, when the sun begins to appear, fishing boats will appear hazy on the river surface of the morning mist, and dull sounds of horns will sound. The hard-working fishermen who get up early and go to bed together will drag the heavy fishing nets onto the boat, then squat in the narrow cabin, sorting and picking the harvest of this net, and throwing some debris such as aquatic plants and branches back into the river from time to time.

On the river surface around these fishing boats, you will see passenger ships and cargo ships shuttle back and forth, as well as the wooden rafts placed down the upstream drifting by. The lives of fishermen are so simple and boring: watch the sun rise from the water in the east and then fall to the water in the west, and play naughty jokes with each other during the gaps of labor, bragging about the strange stories they have seen... and the river water is always as quiet and peaceful as ever.

However, in the lower reaches of Nanjing these days, the noisy and prosperity of the past are no longer there, and it seems much more desolate and deserted.

The fishermen at the port along the river did not dare to go out to the port to catch aquatic products as usual. Instead, most of them struggled to have no income for a day, hid their fishing boats in the reed marsh, and then gathered on the dam or hills on the shore, staring at the strange things that suddenly appeared on the river in fear, and praying to the gods and Buddhas to bless their unknown destinies.

——In the lower reaches of this vast Yangtze River, an invading fleet from a distant foreign country had entered from the sea outlet and came on the waves like a brave knight, thus breaking the tranquility and tranquility on the river surface that seemed to remain unchanged for thousands of years.

At this moment, they were lined up in a straight line, riding on the strong east wind, filled with layers of white sails, and flowing upward towards the west. The sharp head of the ship splits the river like a sharp sword, and the colorful military flag on the mast often shines with dazzling light in the sun.

The dark green turbid river water was surging in the wind, swaying one after another on the dark side of the ship, and then quickly turned into white scattered foam, slowly retreating, helplessly watching the foreign fleet continue to advance and deepen.

This fleet consists of 16 three-masted battleships, cruisers and ten double-masted fast ships. According to the standard of Western maritime powers pulling out hundreds of gunboats to form battle lines in this era, it should only be considered a medium-sized fleet. However, in the long-term sea-banned country, the Eastern countries, which have never had any contact with the outside world, and are extremely fragile at sea, are already invincible troops that are shocking!

From entering the estuary of the Yangtze River to reaching the surface of Zhenjiang, the invading Far East Fleet of the Naserel Empire never encountered any strong resistance.

Divide-Separation-Line

On the temporary flagship "Clock", which replaced the Xiangrui, Admiral Ferry Taylor stood at the top of the tail building with a railing, narrowing his eyes slightly, looking at the ripples on both sides of the ship and the golden rice fields on both sides of the river, and the long-term contemplation and speechlessness.

If he sits in a narrow cabin for a long time, he will always feel stuffy and even feel uncomfortable all over. However, after he arrives on the deck, he feels that the bright summer sun is too dazzling, making him dizzy.

The Xiangrui, which was tonnage, was too large, had to be too deep for water, and was inconvenient to transfer, so it had to stay on the Shengsi Islands and was unable to participate in the assault. Feili also changed the flagship and hung up his double bear underwear flag on the battleship of the three-masted sailing ship "Clock".

However, it was not until this time when he left the Xiangrui that Feili truly realized that the so-called sailing life in the sailing era was completely different from the colorfulness written by those romantic poets, and there would definitely be no much fun.

——The real ocean-going sailing career is absolutely nothing to do with words like "romantic" and "stimulation".

In the eyes of many laymen, the Navy is a noble army full of dreams. Next to the majestic artillery and on the spacious and smooth teak deck, the handsome and handsome generals were wearing gorgeous and straight military dresses and smiling appropriately, or raising glasses with visiting dignitaries, or dancing gracefully with the admired ladies, enjoying the wonderful cocktail party and singing and dancing.

Unfortunately, for ordinary sailors, the only things they can truly enjoy after joining the navy are boring high-intensity training, harsh living environment, hard work, and bad food that is as difficult as pig feed: rotten and smelly salted fish, long-changed orange juice, bacon that is harder than mahogany, hard bread with maggots, and ru cheese that can make people chew teeth like stones...

——In the navies of all countries, there have always been clear ranks: officers are nobles, and soldiers are animals!

Therefore, those well-dressed fleet officers may be well-fed and have a prominent wealth. However, most ordinary sailors at the grassroots level were born in the poorest families, and getting on the boat and going to sea was just a helpless way to make a living. To say that they would like to sail, they were mostly lies that were too fake!

In fact, even the naval officer Zuo’s elegant and luxuriousness is usually superficial, and their life at sea is also very difficult.

Imagine that during a long voyage that lasted for months or even years, hundreds of strong men were squeezed into such a narrow space, and they could not be separated from eating, drinking, defecation and urination. Even when many warships were built, they were decorated locally by craftsmen, which could be compared with works of art. But the problem is that these complex reliefs of shipboard, bright colorful paint, gorgeous ship statues, and giant badge patterns on the sails were actually not very helpful in improving the living conditions of sailors at sea.

On most ocean-going sailboats, their living environment is probably worse than that of the slums in the city. The space for ordinary sailors is usually limited to the main deck, the front deck and the cabin under the deck. The stern and the rear deck on it are traditionally exclusive territories for senior crew members. Unless they are summoned or performed tasks, ordinary sailors are absolutely not allowed to enter this area, otherwise they will be whipped.

In addition to the Xiangrui, which has a magical ventilation system, almost all ordinary sailboats in this era, especially in the cabins located under the deck, the air is always abnormally turbid, full of the smell of sweat and vomit, and it is particularly humid. No matter the weather outside and the sea conditions, no matter how the hull is repeatedly sealed with tung oil and asphalt, the wooden boat boards can never completely block the sea water, and it is more or less leaky. If there is a bad weather, the surging waves will hit the deck, break the hatch and pour it into the inside of the hull!

In this way, the bottom cabin and the supplies accumulated inside will be submerged or at least soaked by seawater. Since most of these cabins are under the waterline, they are dark all year round, and once they become wet, it is difficult to recover from dryness. So the poor sailors have to endure the choking smell of mold and to survive the torture of colds. The clothes on their bodies are always wet, and they are prone to various rheumatism and skin diseases. They also have to polish the decks endlessly, pull ropes, lift sails, and suck sewage... They always make everyone exhausted and miserable.

Since there was not enough fresh water on the boat to take a bath, most sailors were always dirty and smelly, and those more sophisticated officers could only use perfume to cover up the odor. Before modern féi soap was produced cheaply, poor sailors could not afford the early féi soap made of wood ash and goat oil, and could only use their own liquid to soak dirty clothes in their dirty cabins - this was entirely because the sea water could not clean the clothes... It is naturally conceivable that the odors on the sailors were worn by washing clothes like this.

Even now, only on the large ocean-going warships with the best treatment and the most comfortable conditions will there be a specially separated laundry room, and some wounded soldiers with broken arms and few legs will be recruited to serve as laundrymen, and use large buckets filled with féi soapy water to wash clothes for everyone to save fresh water consumption.

When the weather is good, sailors usually like to sleep on the deck, because the conditions in the dormitory in the cabin are really terrible - not only the space is narrow, but also dirty and dark, with a pungent smell of sweat and mold everywhere. The "luxury" sunshine and fresh air will only penetrate through the hatch doors and occasionally open portholes in good weather. As for the low and depressing ceilings, as well as the debris and clotheslines that fall from time to time, some tall guys often make their noses and swollen faces and heads full of bags.

In addition, due to insufficient space in the cabin, when people encounter poor weather and sea conditions, they can only squeeze into the cabin to rest. Often, only sailors with higher levels and unfortunate illness can enjoy hammocks hanging on crossbeam hooks. Most ordinary sailors can only crowd on the wet and moldy floor and use a dirty blanket that also absorbs sea water to keep warm.

Because the cabin is so wet, what is even more fatal is that in order to maintain the center of gravity, most supplies have to be piled in the wettest bottom cabin. As a result, the white bread that the officers eat always has mold spots. As for the hard bread and sailing biscuits that the sailors enjoy, there are often bugs swaying. There are also traces of rat gnawing between bacon, sausage and cheese. The squeaking rats are almost the nightmare that all sailors linger in the era of wooden sailing. These things will not only swallow the supplies and cargo on the ship, but also directly chew the important beams and pillars supporting the hull, and even chisel through the ship's board, causing a catastrophe to the people on the ship.

To this end, many captains have tried to raise cats and rats on the boat, and they have also moved the masses in every way. According to the "Navigation Regulations" these days, if any sailor can pay five rat tails after sailing, he can reward canned fruits or a glass of light sweet wine...

Divide-Separation-Line

With such harsh living conditions, the daily work of sailors is not easy at all.

Every day when the day is dawn, sailors will blew harsh whistles and shouted loudly to "all gather together". The sailors must also hold the hammock, put on their clothes quickly in the shortest time, hurriedly cross the base deck, and pour out the dark cabin. Due to the narrow passage and the hatch in and out of the deck, they often bump into each other and roll into a ball.

After the sailors boarded the deck, they had to devote themselves to all kinds of stressful labor.

First, flush the deck, and then use something they call "holy stone" to polish the irregular cracks on the deck - the reason why this thing is called "holy stone" is because it usually happens to be as big as the sacred scriptures.

When doing this work, sand must be sprinkled on the surface of the deck so that it is easy to polish and smooth. In this way, in order to avoid damaging the clothes, sailors usually have to roll up their trouser legs, so that thick calluses always appear on their worn knees.

After a hard work that can drain the whole body of energy, the sailors' whistle will ring again, allowing the exhausted sailors to have breakfast - usually only oatmeal that is too rough to grind the throat, and sailing biscuits as hard as stones. Lunch and dinner will have a little more of mainly bacon and dried fish, occasionally a little ru cheese and butter. Senior seamen can drink a glass of wine, while ordinary sailors can only use strong soju like rum to get themselves drunk... This is usually the most pleasant enjoyment in their sailing life.

Of course, sailors who have on duty are absolutely not allowed to drink alcohol to keep their minds clear. If they are dereliction of duty due to drunkenness, they will be severely punished depending on the severity of the situation, ranging from tight closure to whipping.

In addition to climbing up the mast like an acrobatic walking tightrope, and tidying up the canvas at a height of seven or eight floors from the deck, Shi Ye is probably the hardest job for sailors. Generally, shifts are changed every four times, and in addition to affecting sleep, they will also be frozen to death. If you meet a stingy captain who does not prepare a thick coat for Shi Ye, to cover the thin sailors' suit to resist the cold wind in the sea late at night, Shi Ye can only wrap a blanket and pray tremblingly that the gods will bless themselves not to be frozen.

The above is almost the life of sailors every day, dull and boring. Every day, there is only the company of sea water and the sky, and I always look forward to seeing six places. Even if I just see a seabird flying from nowhere, it will often make them excited for a long time.

Divide-Separation-Line

Compared with ordinary sailors, the living treatment of fleet officers at sea is indeed better, but it is also limited.

Each warship is a fortress on the sea, with its strongest cabins occupied by artillery and ammunition, as well as supplies for the long-term lives of so many seamen, as well as swords and muskets used to board the Sixth Battle. The remaining living space that can be allocated to people is quite limited. Usually, in addition to the captain and the fleet commander can have his own rest companion, ordinary middle and low-level fleet officers can only be assigned to a fixed bed for their own, and they also have to accompany mice, bed bugs, and the unpleasant odor.

Even the most respected captains could not find a bathroom in their rooms, because the freshwater was a precious thing on the ship except artillery and ammunition. If they were on the ocean voyage, from the commander to the trainee sailors, all officers and soldiers had to pray for the gods to give the rain, and then they could take off their clothes on the deck and take a shower happily.

So, there are often some unfortunate unlucky people who just hummed and prepared soap bubbles all over his body, but the rain stopped at this time... As a result, he had to apply soap bubbles all over his body and continue to work dejectedly.

If the hardships and harsh living conditions are a training that any aspiring person must endure, then the huge financial pressure will be a terrible trigger for the mental disorder of the officers.

In this era when productivity is not yet reached, the naval fleet is a gold-eating beast that the finance and taxation department hates extremely. The construction and launch of each warship requires cutting down hundreds of high-quality oak and fir trees, consuming countless copper, iron, manpower, as well as canvas and ropes; every long voyage on the sea, consumes a large amount of tung oil, asphalt, food and wine; the lead bullets and gunpowder consumed during each round of artillery can match the income of ordinary people for several years. And usually after 2 to 30 years of service, this wooden warship is already decayed and must be replaced, scrapped old ships, and built new ships... This is also the reason why many countries have to seal and sell their proud fleet after the war, or switch to merchant ships to sell them - they really can't afford it!

Therefore, for any captain, the military expenditure allocated by the relevant departments is always insufficient. Not only do they have to pay out their own pockets for emergency relief, but they also have to learn how to do business while fighting, so that their ships can be properly maintained and maintained after entering the port, rather than creaking and taking the next dangerous sea adventure.

Because not everyone is good at doing business, the captains often carry various incredible contracts and debts on their backs. The wage arrears caused by a serious investment failure are likely to lead to a terrible sailor mutiny, or to let the ship be detained in the repair dock of the shipyard, and they become bare commanders... This is also the reason why many captains become pirates in despair.

Fortunately, due to the lucrative silk, tea export trade, and gold and silver minerals in the Japanese archipelago, the financial situation of the Far East Fleet of the Naserel Empire has always been quite good. Now others owe the fleet a lot of debts, rather than turning it backwards as usual.
Chapter completed!