The Black Sails of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 29 Ricochet
Half an hour ago, in the wheelhouse of the large sailing ship.

The rudder lock, with one side nut removed, was stuck in the stern frame, leaving the crew helpless.

No matter how hard you try to pry it with an iron bar or pull it with pliers, the rudder lock doesn't budge an inch.

The large sailboat had been moored for nearly five months, and the rust in the rudder lock had perfectly filled the gaps between it and the wood, making it look as if it had grown onto the wood.

Lin Qian instructed two boatmen: one to hammer the side of the rudder lock with an iron hammer, and the other to nail pulleys to the wall of the wheelhouse.

This is a spare anchor chain pulley, which Lin Qian had Jose and his men find in the warehouse. It is about the length of an arm in diameter and made of extremely sturdy materials.

It can be fixed to the hull using multiple ship nails similar to expansion bolts.

After securing the pulley, Lin Qian had someone remove the rope that had been placed in the captain's cabin. One end of the rope was already fixed to the winch.

After the other end is sent down, it goes around the pulley and is tied to the nut on the left side of the rudder lock, thus converting the longitudinal tension into lateral force.

After the boatmen's strenuous hammering, the rudder lock finally moved a little to the left, just enough to tie the rope to it.

Then, Lin Qian left the wheelhouse with two boatmen.

After Lin Qian left the control room, she tugged on the rope. The person on the other end understood and slowly turned the winch. The rope instantly taut, making a creaking sound that sent chills down one's spine.

The winch rotated once, and the rope was taut like an iron rod, emitting very faint white smoke.

Lin Qian pulled the two boatmen back a bit, all the way to a corner of the officers' mess, where they hid behind a kitchen cabinet.

At this point, the force gathered on the rope is probably three or four tons. Once it breaks, the broken rope could easily whip the ox to death.

The winch continued to turn, and Lin Qian could already hear the cracking sound of wooden planks breaking in the control room. The sound grew louder and louder, and then there was a loud bang, and the pressure on the cable was instantly relieved.

The entire rope instantly coiled together like a snake, and a plume of white smoke filled the air.

Lin Qian didn't have time to check the rudder lock; instead, she rushed to the rudder wheel on the stern and shouted, "Hard to port! Change the sail!"

Then, using all his strength, he turned the rudder.

……

Ten minutes later, the large sailboat left the shallows and straightened its rudder.

A crew member went down to the wheelhouse and climbed back up a moment later, carrying a solid cast iron bar.

The iron bar was rusty, covered with threads, and covered with sawdust. One side was tightly screwed with a heptagonal nut, while the other side was empty.

Upon seeing the culprit who had tormented everyone on board all night, the crew members let out excited shouts.

After demonstrating the rudder lock, the boatman was about to throw it into the sea when Lin Qian stopped him, saying, "Put this thing in the captain's cabin."

The rudder lock was the perfect souvenir of this hijacking operation, and Lin Qian planned to treasure it.

"Boom! Boom! Boom..."

The sound of cannon fire came from the port side. Lin Qian looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the Holy Justice was firing its cannons. Thick white smoke from the explosion of black powder enveloped the entire ship.

"Third Brother, you came from the Divine Machine Battalion, do you know how to operate cannons?" Lin Qian asked loudly.

Lei Sanxiang: "I've used the Tiger Crouching Cannon."

"Go to the gun deck and return fire!" Lin Qian shouted, then said to Chen Jiao, "Find two anchors to take the helm."

On Fujian-style ships, the captain usually took the helm, hence the captain was called the "helmsman".

These days, there aren't many labor-saving mechanisms for ship rudders. The bigger the ship, the more strenuous the steering becomes. The previous Fujian ships were around 200 tons, which Lin Qian could handle on her own.

The Manila Galleon was almost five or six times the size of that three-masted Fujian ship. If Lin Qian hadn't insisted on exercising, she wouldn't have been able to turn it even with the rudder fully to port.

Now that the crisis is over, it's natural to need to change people, and one person isn't enough; two people need to work together to steer the ship.

The anchor handlers on the Fujian ships were responsible for raising and lowering the anchors; they were the strongest and the most suitable candidates.

Chen Jiao called two anchormen to take over the helm from Lin Qian. Lin Qian didn't have time to massage her sore arms. She quickly walked to the port side, took out her binoculars, and looked towards the Sacred Justice.

Following Lei Sanxiang's retaliatory fire, the Holy Justice dared not approach, maintaining a distance of approximately 500 meters and exchanging fire with the large sailing ship.

Ironically, after several rounds of intense firing, with shells landing in all sorts of bizarre spots, neither side was hit.

Lin Qian's only subordinate who knew how to use artillery was Lei Sanxiang, a former soldier of the Shenji Battalion, and the amount of ammunition they could launch was severely insufficient.

The Holy Justice, for some unknown reason, fired all its shells into the air, with very few landing between the two ships.

It seems that the main purpose of firing a cannon is simply to make a sound.

Seeing that the Sacred Justice was not a threat for the time being, Lin Qian ordered, "Unfurl all sails and sail out of the bay at full speed!"

"Understood," Chen Jiao replied, then directed the sailmen to climb up the support cable onto the boom and unfurl the sail.

Lin Qian looked at the mainmast that pierced the sky. The handles on the middle bar were already the size of a palm, and the people on top of the bar were as small as grains of rice.

Climbing to such a terrifying height without any protection, and then operating ropes on the boom, is something that not everyone can do.

Lin Qian had already thought of this, so when Chen Jiao recruited crew members, he focused on selecting those who had worked on Spanish ships.

The people climbing up and down now are these newly recruited crew members.

Thinking of this, Lin Qian walked to the main anchor winch on the starboard bow, reached into the anchor chain, and pulled out a copper wire.

The corrosion was significantly stronger at the copper wire-wrapped anchor chain area than at other locations.

This copper wire was tied on by Bai Langzai when the ship docked at the port of Manila. At the time, seaweed was used as camouflage, but the seaweed has since fallen off, though the copper wire is still firmly tied. (Chapter 11)
To prevent rust from hindering further reaction, Lin Qian also had Bai Langzai apply vinegar to the anchor chain every few days to create an acidic environment that corrodes the rust and continuously exposes the fresh cast iron surface.

It was precisely by using this galvanic corrosion method that the left anchor chain was so easily broken.

Although the anchor chain on the right side was not broken, the copper wire entanglement was severely corroded, and its strength was greatly reduced. It must be replaced and repaired after the ship docks.

At this point, Lin Qian had completed the third step of her plan and successfully hijacked the large sailboat!

The large sailing ship was only damaged by an anchor chain and a plank at the stern; the entire ship was basically intact, so the outcome was quite fortunate.

Of course, this is under the premise that the Sacred Justice maintained an impressive 0% hit rate throughout the subsequent sea chase.

"Helmsman!" a crew member shouted, "The Frankish ship has stopped."

Lin Qian took out her binoculars and, sure enough, saw that the Sacred Justice was furling its sails and its speed was slowly decreasing.

Although the hit rate was appalling and the cannons were small-caliber, even if hundreds of shots hit, they wouldn't stop the large sailing ship from going out to sea, but it shouldn't have been enough to give up the pursuit so quickly.

Lin Qian searched the surrounding sea and indeed saw a two-masted triangular sail merchant ship heading towards the Holy Justice. The ship's deck was filled with Spanish soldiers in red and yellow uniforms, and a messenger stood at the bow, signaling with flags.

It's obvious to anyone with a toe that there must have been a high-ranking Spanish official on board, whose status was at least higher than that of the captain of the Holy Justice.

Lin Qian smiled and said, "Left rudder!"

Chen Jiao gave the order, and the two strong helmsmen worked hard to turn the rudder, and the large sailboat gradually turned to the left, creating a good shooting angle for Lei Sanxiang.

From the gun deck came Lei Sanxiang's arrogant laughter: "Hahaha, you bastard, take a shot from grandpa!"

"Boom!" A cannon shot rang out.

On the distant sea, a splash was made by the starboard bow of the Holy Justice.

It's a pity we didn't hit anything, but there's nothing we can do about it; that's just how accurate naval guns are.

But then, the Sacred Justice stirred up another splash on its starboard aft side.

It's a ricochet!
The shells entered the water at high speed and low angle, bouncing up like skipping stones and creating a bouncing effect on the sea surface.

Judging from the location of the two splashes of water, the cannonball was heading straight for the merchant ship!

(End of this chapter)