North America 1849, from Gold Rush to Warlord

Chapter 145 Witnessing an Era!
Just after leaving the San Diego naval port, the "Taishan" left the paddle steamer patrol boats that had set off with it far behind.

Moreover, the Taishan was getting faster and faster, and the paddlewheel patrol boats behind it soon became tiny black dots desperately chasing after it!

Through his binoculars, Brigadier General Paparo Kim gazed into the distance at the patrol boats billowing black smoke behind him and couldn't help but sigh, "I think we are witnessing the arrival of a new era!"

His staff officers, also looking through their binoculars at the patrol boats in the distance behind them, said, "General, perhaps in just a few years, this revolutionary steamship will completely replace all sailing ships and paddle steamers!"

"A new era has begun for our navy and for all our ships!"

General Jin, accompanied by his staff, returned to his luxurious cabin. After everyone was seated, he asked, "Why is this ship we're on so fast? Have you naval staff officers figured out the principle behind it?"

Pacific Fleet Chief of Staff Wayne Hunter replied, "Based on information from Mr. Lee and the Huamei Company personnel, as well as our divers' actual reconnaissance, this ship is propeller-driven."

That's right. Last night, while General Jin was giving a grand reception to Azu and his men, naval divers went underwater and made a preliminary understanding of the propulsion principle of the "Taishan".

"Propeller?" General Jin seemed to understand. "The British have been researching propeller propulsion, but even they don't have a single ship that can reach such a high speed."

“Yes!” Chief of Staff Hunt replied, “The British’s fastest ships haven’t even broken twenty knots yet!”

"Besides the propeller, this ship also has an extremely powerful steam engine!"

Chief of Staff Hunter continued, "There are now compound impulse steam turbines on the market, which are smaller and more powerful. This ship should be equipped with this new type of steam engine."

General Jin added, “It’s not surprising that it can break through the 20 knot speed limit by relying on the new propeller and steam engine! But to be able to reach a crazy speed of 28 knots, this ship must have other secrets.”

Brigadier General Paparo Kim was right!

The hull of the "Taishan" adopted the bulbous bow configuration most common in later ships, which played a significant role in reducing resistance and increasing speed.

In particular, the modeling configuration of the curved blade propeller is far more advanced than the propellers of the British at that time.

All these factors combined are needed to propel this ship to achieve an incredible speed for this era.

However, even if these details were presented to them from the perspective of this era, they would not understand them at all.

While General Jin and his staff were having a heated discussion about the ship in the cabin, two armed merchant ships bearing the name of Huamei Industry had already quietly departed from Monterey and headed south towards San Diego.

The two fleets, traveling in opposite directions, met head-on at sea that afternoon.

Because of a hangover from last night, Ah Zu was still resting in his cabin at this time.

The rest of the employees at Huamei Company also mostly took a break.

Only the exceptionally energetic Shi Dakai and the captain, who personally steered the ship, stayed in the bridge.

Having recently arrived on this continent, Shi Dakai found everything novel and fascinating.

On this vast and boundless sea, he is learning to sail from Captain Kent of the Taishan.

"Battalion Commander Shi, would you like to try sailing the boat yourself?"

Faced with the captain's invitation, Shi Dakai, who had already learned the basic operations, was eager to try: "This...is this okay? As a novice at steering the boat, will there be any problems?"

"Haha!" Captain Kent laughed heartily, "What problems could possibly arise on the open sea? Don't worry, I'm watching from the sidelines!"

"Then... let me try?"

"Come on, come on!"

Captain Kent handed the helm to Shi Dakai.

With his hands gripping the ship's rudder, Shi Dakai was surprisingly excited!
But he soon got bored!
Just holding the rudder like that, making occasional slight adjustments, is completely pointless!

Captain Kent noticed Shi Dakai's boredom and said, "Battalion Commander Shi, you can try turning the rudder a little more. Don't worry, with me here, there won't be any problems!"

"Okay, I'll give it a try!"

As expected, Shi Dakai began to slowly turn the rudder, and under his control, the "Taishan" began to zigzag across the sea.

"Hehe, this is starting to look interesting!"

Shi Dakai finally found a sense of how to steer the large ship, and the rudder spun more and more under his control.

Meanwhile, the turning radius of the "Taishan" is getting larger and larger!
"Battalion Commander Shi, take it easy, don't turn too fast!"

"Okay, okay, hahaha...!"

"Watch out, there's a ship on the other side...!"

As the captain pointed out, Shi Dakai indeed saw two sailboats suddenly appear on the opposite side, one on the left and one on the right, sandwiching the "Taishan" in the middle.

The three ships quickly approached, and Captain Kent couldn't help but say, "Commander Shi, let me handle this!"

Captain Kent was terrified that the Taishan, under Shi Dakai's command, would collide head-on with the other ship.

Shi Dakai did not try to show off and returned control of the helm to the captain.

Soon, two sailboats, one on the left and one on the right, passed by the "Taishan".

"Hey, that's an armed merchant ship from our Huamei Industry!"

In the fleeting moment as they passed each other, the sharp-eyed Captain Kent spotted the ship's name painted in both Chinese and English on its hull.

"It's the 'Indomitable' and the 'Raging Sea'!"

With that, Captain Kent sounded the ship's horn to greet his colleagues.

But the two ships passed each other silently, without making any announcement.

There wasn't even a soul in sight on the deck!

"Strange, what are these guys doing?" Captain Kent couldn't help but mutter.

Shi Dakai, watching the two ships pass by, couldn't help but ask, "Captain Kent, are you sure these two ships are ours?"

Upon hearing this, Captain Kent turned and examined the two ships more closely, then frowned slightly and said, "Judging from the names, they are indeed our armed merchant ships, but...!"

"but what?"

"But something feels different, I can't quite put my finger on it!"

Captain Kent was a veteran of the Huamei Shipping Company. He was loyal, experienced, and one of the company's original captains.

That is why Azu entrusted him with such an important ship as the "Taishan".

Captain Kent was quite familiar with most of the ships of the Huamei Shipping Company, so after taking a few more glances, he noticed something was wrong.

Captain Kent's words alerted Shi Dakai, who then pressed, "Captain Kent, look closely, what exactly is different?"

Captain Kent then looked at them more closely and suddenly realized: "These two ships are too new!"

"Yes! The Unyielding and the Raging Sea are both old ships that were taken over from the Cameron family; they're over ten years old!"

"These two ships look exactly alike, but they're too new! They're definitely no more than ten years old!"

Experienced captains like Kent can almost instantly tell the age of a ship.

Upon hearing this, Shi Dakai quickly asked, "Are you sure?"

"Very sure!"

"Alright, Captain Kent, steer the ship well, I'm going to find the boss!"

With Shi Dakai's keen senses, he almost immediately felt that something big was about to happen!

Without a moment's hesitation, Shi Dakai strode out of the cockpit and knocked on Azu's cabin door.

Awakened by the noise, Azu opened the door and saw Shi Dakai looking flustered. He asked, "Brother Shi, what's wrong?"

Shi Dakai then quickly recounted what had just happened.

Ah Zu, whose mind was still foggy, instantly regained his senses after hearing this.

"You mean, someone is disguising themselves as our armed merchant ship and trying to cause trouble?"

Shi Dakai nodded emphatically: "Besides this reason, I can't think of any other reason why someone would disguise themselves as our ship!"

Azu quickly dressed and said in a deep voice, "Go and call General Jin. We'll meet in the driver's seat."

"it is good!"

A moment later, Azu, General Jin, and a group of staff officers appeared in the cockpit.

Azu and Captain Kent recounted what had just happened. General Jin, after hearing this, frowned deeply: "You mean, someone disguised themselves as a Huamei Company ship? What are they trying to do?"

Ah Zu replied, "Whatever they're planning, it will definitely be detrimental to our Huamei Company!"

With that, Azu ordered Captain Kent, "Turn around and follow those two ships!"

"Follow them?"

Captain Kent hesitated slightly and said, "Boss, they are armed merchant ships with cannons! Our ship is unarmed. Isn't that too risky?"

Azu replied, "There will be no danger. We will just follow them from a distance. Even if they want to deal with us, they will never be able to catch up with our ship."

"That's true!"

Captain Kent had absolute confidence in the speed of his ship, so he began to turn the bow as instructed, leaving the two armed merchant ships far behind.

Meanwhile, on the armed merchant ship "Indomitable," in the bridge, the captain was reporting the situation to Lieutenant Nicholson.

"Captain, that black ship that was moving so fast just now turned around and caught up with us. Should we take it out first?"

Nicholson casually propped his legs up on the porthole and said nonchalantly, "Don't forget our target. If that black ship wants to follow, let it follow. They can be our witnesses!"

Even Nicholson had no idea what a golden opportunity he had just missed!
He had no idea that his primary target had always been that incredibly fast black ship!

In that split second when they passed each other, if his two armed merchant ships had suddenly opened fire, there was a high probability they would have killed that damned Chinese guy!
Unfortunately, he really didn't know!
What he saw was just a strange-looking, incredibly fast merchant ship, completely unrelated to what he was looking for.

He led two disguised armed merchant ships southward with the goal of finding naval vessels, preferably damaging them, killing or wounding a few sailors and officers, and then framing the whole thing to the China-America Company and that damned Chinese.

As for the black ship following behind, although it was fast, it was unarmed, and Nicholson didn't take it seriously at all.

On the contrary, I feel that having an observer as a witness is actually a pretty good thing!
As evening approached, the lookout on the high mast spotted black smoke on the sea ahead, and then spotted a naval paddle steamer patrol boat.

"A paddle steamer patrol boat? Heh... a perfect target!"

Upon hearing the lookout's report, the drowsy Captain Nicholson sprang from his chair: "Order the Fury Sea to prepare to flank the naval patrol ship!"

"Yes Sir!"

The order was relayed to the nearby Nuhai via flag signals. Soon after, the two ships were fully prepared and headed towards the paddlewheel patrol boat in a pincer movement.

The navy's paddle steamer patrol boats were mainly used for escorting ships and fighting pirates. They were slow, had few cannons, and only had thin armor in their core areas.

Such a goal is simply too perfect!
A moment later, the two sides finally collided head-on.

In the instant they passed each other, the two armed merchant ships suddenly opened fire on the unsuspecting naval patrol boat!
"Boom, boom, boom...!"

More than a dozen cannons on the sides of the two armed merchant ships, one on each side, opened fire simultaneously on the paddlewheel patrol boat a hundred yards away.

"Boom, boom, boom...!"

At such close range, most of the dozen or so shells hit the unprepared paddlewheel patrol boat.

The paddlewheel patrol boat, which only had armor in a few key locations such as the cockpit, engine room, and powder magazine, had more than a dozen large holes immediately pierced through its hull!
Caught off guard by the sudden attack, the sailors and officers were thrown into a panic. Several unlucky sailors and officers were hit by cannonballs and ship debris and fell into pools of blood!

"What happened...?"

The captain of the naval patrol boat staggered toward the cockpit, not understanding what had happened until after the attack.

"Captain, we're under attack...!"

"What kind of ship is that? How dare it attack the U.S. Navy...!"

"It looks...it looks like an armed merchant ship of the Huamei Company...!"

Huamei Shipping Company is the largest shipping company in all of California.

Huamei Shipping Company owns more than 100 ships of all sizes, accounting for more than half of all merchant ships in California.

Therefore, these naval officers and soldiers were particularly familiar with the ships of the Huamei Shipping Company.

It was precisely because they recognized the ship as belonging to the Huamei Company early on that the naval patrol boat was completely unprepared.

"Fuck...! How dare the Huamei Company's ship attack us...!"

"Damn Huamei Company, I just had drinks with their big boss last night...!"

"Boom, boom, boom...!"

Before the captain could finish speaking, another round of shelling blasted the naval patrol boat full of holes!
Many more naval officers and soldiers fell in pools of blood during this round of shelling.

"Fight back! Fight back now...!"

By the time the unfortunate naval captain had organized his men and loaded the cannons, the two armed merchant ships that had passed by had already sailed away, giving them no chance to retaliate!
The naval paddle steamer, riddled with holes from being bombarded, was constantly being filled with surging seawater.

The paddlewheel patrol boat, with a displacement of several hundred tons, began to slowly sink after taking two rounds of shells.

"Quickly, turn right and speed toward the coast! We can't hold out much longer, we need to get ashore as soon as possible!"

Under the captain's command, the naval paddle steamer patrol vessel, battered and bruised, hurtled toward the beach several nautical miles away.

Meanwhile, the "Taishan" was following far behind the two armed merchant ships.

In the cockpit, Brigadier General Paparo King witnessed it all through his binoculars!
"Fuck...Fuck...!"

General Jin's eyes instantly turned red with rage, and his hair stood on end: "Who on earth is it? How dare they openly attack a naval patrol boat?"

Not only him, but also a group of staff officers from the Pacific Fleet witnessed this scene.

Everyone was instantly furious!
"Li, tell me, was that a ship from your Huamei Company?"

General Jin grabbed Azu by the collar, spitting as he roared furiously, "If that were a ship from your Huamei Company, I would immediately send all the warships in my fleet to bomb you and your company into the sea to feed the sharks!"

"Calm down, General, calm down!" Azu remained unmoved: "General, don't you realize you've already been tricked?"

"I was tricked?" General Jin roared, "What trick could I have fallen for?"

"What reason would our Huamei Company's ships have to attack the navy?" Azu said calmly, "We followed them precisely because we noticed something was wrong with these two ships!"

"Now, we are witnessing firsthand someone posing as a Huamei Company ship and openly attacking the U.S. Navy."

"General, someone is trying to use you to deal with me and my Huamei Company!"

General Jin, consumed by rage, was unable to listen to anything anyone said at that moment.

"Li, you say that's not your ship, prove it to me!"

General Kim continued to roar, "If you can't produce evidence, why should I believe that it wasn't your ship?"

"Evidence?" Azu calmly replied, "Fine, then I'll give you the evidence!"

"Captain Kent, full speed ahead!" Azu ordered without hesitation.

"Boss, what are you trying to do?"

Captain Kent asked, his voice trembling with fear.

"Charge them! Sink them!"

"what……?"

Azu said coldly, "Captain Kent, didn't you hear my order?"

Captain Kent snapped out of his daze and quickly said, "Understood, Boss! Just watch me!!!"

With that, Captain Kent brought his mouth to the brass megaphone and roared, "I'm the captain! Everyone listen up! Fill the coal tank immediately! Open all valves to full speed! We're going to sprint at full speed!!!"

"Yes, Captain!"

"Okay, Captain!"

"Roger that, Captain!"

……

Excited responses came from crew members in every position on the ship.

A moment later, the 1,500-ton "Taishan" began to spew thick black smoke from its chimneys and started to accelerate wildly, its sharp bow cutting through the waves as it charged straight toward the two armed merchant ships two thousand yards ahead.

Upon seeing this, General Jin's eyes widened: "Li, you don't really want to rush up and ram the ship, do you?"

(End of this chapter)