Late Ming Dynasty: The Counterattack Begins with Sea Pirates

Two days later, Liu Qingjiang led his ship full of people to Haojing.

"Master!" Liu Qingjiang called out from afar.

Upon hearing Liu Qingjiang's voice, Chi Honghai quickly stepped out of the tent.

Upon spotting the master, Liu Qingjiang hurried over: "Master, Shen Er told me we've got a big ship, and he wants me to bring more men! I came over just now to ask if that ship is the one docked at the port down there?"

Chi Honghai smiled and affirmed Liu Qingjiang's answer, which made Liu Qingjiang so excited that he couldn't speak for a moment.

"Sir! The men are here! Bring them aboard! They've been discussing this ship quite a bit since they arrived."

Chi Honghai led Liu Qingjiang and the rest of the group onto the deck of the battleship.

When everyone stood on the deck, they were astonished by its height as Chi Honghai was when he first stood there.

Chi Honghai didn't waste any more words. Staying in Macau was never as comfortable as being on his own turf. After assigning the men Liu Qingjiang brought, he sailed the boat back.

Along the way, Liu Qingjiang wandered around the boat, checking the situation inside and out, and finally ran to the master's side.

"How is it?" Chi Honghai asked.

"Incredible, absolutely incredible, sir! It would take half a day just to get inside. I never imagined this ship had two decks of cannons! I just counted them, a full sixty-four cannons! All the cannons at home combined don't even have that many!" Liu Qingjiang's tone was full of excitement.

"If we ever take this guy out to hijack ships, they'll surrender before we even fire a shot! Hahaha, sir!"

Liu Qingjiang's words, though impassioned, were not without reason. This third-class battleship was relatively common in the West, but for most ships in the East, its size was terrifying enough. If all the gun ports were opened, no traditional Eastern warship could match it.

However, while large ships have their advantages, they also have a disadvantage for Chi Honghai right now: the ship requires too many crew members.

Five hundred people are needed to fully support the normal operation of this ship, but Chi Honghai currently has less than six hundred sailors available for combat.

To get this ship out, we need the corresponding combat capability. Just in terms of manpower, we would have to use up all of our current combat personnel, making the other ships useless.

While a single large ship is undoubtedly powerful, it is limited in certain areas and cannot unleash its full potential. Chi Honghai understands that he cannot allow it to set sail alone; if something were to happen to it, it would be an unacceptable loss for him at this point.

Aside from the shortage of crew, the proficiency of the ships was also a major problem. Although their own crew members had undergone various trainings from Instructor Lang and Liu Qingjiang, and had become highly proficient in the use of ships and the coordination between personnel, even more so than some of the Ming Dynasty's sailors.

However, the training used previously were all small boats, which were not very large and did not require as much manpower to operate as this large boat. Moreover, there were some facilities that the small boats did not have.

These situations all require further onboard training and practice to develop proficiency. Without this proficiency, venturing out to sea rashly might be fine if you encounter easy prey, but if you actually face weapons, you'll lose your composure first. Whether you can achieve final victory is another matter, but at the very least, countless more people will die because of this.

Chi Honghai also considered that this large ship would eventually have to go out to sea, and might be at sea for one or two months or even longer. Therefore, the ship now needs not only combat personnel, but also related logistical personnel such as military doctors, cooks, warehouse managers, and so on.

Seeing Master Chi deep in thought, Liu Qingjiang knew what Master Chi was worried about.

"Master? Master?" Liu Qingjiang called out softly.

"What's wrong? Is there anything else?"

"I'm thinking, if we don't have enough manpower to operate so many boats right now, should we recruit another batch of brothers from the island to join our team?"

Chi Honghai glanced at the various people working back and forth in front of him, thought for a moment, and said, "Let me think about it. You can go ahead and get busy."

"Alright, sir, I'm off then."

He carefully considered Liu Qingjiang's suggestion. It wasn't impossible to do so. After all, the people on the island were basically loyal to the people, and there shouldn't be any major problems in recruiting them directly into the seamen for training. In addition, the previous weekly training had given these people some basic combat skills.

There are only a little over 5,000 people on Hong Kong Island. Although young and middle-aged men make up the majority, all aspects of production, such as farming, chopping wood, and manufacturing, require people. In some places, men are even needed. If we were to recruit enough seamen, we would need to find about 1,000 people to fill the gap. But if we did, production in the rear would not be able to keep up. How could we support so many people?

This is no longer the time to rob whoever displeases you, buy whatever you can get, or use war to sustain war.

Being too arrogant as soon as you have something will definitely bring unnecessary trouble.

Chi Honghai tapped his fingers rhythmically on the edge of the boat, the soft wooden creaking echoing with each tap.

"Seaman..." Chi Honghai murmured these two words, pondering a solution to the problem.

"Sir." A voice with a Western accent came from inside.

Chi Honghai turned his head and saw that the person who had come was none other than Instructor Lang.

"Brother Qingjiang said you brought back a large ship, and asked me to come up here to find you and take a look at the ship."

Seeing Instructor Lang, Chi Honghai naturally wanted to find him. After all, the ship was purchased from their country, and Instructor Lang should know something about it. Therefore, the training on the ship would definitely rely on him.

He smiled and waved, "Instructor Lang, you've come at the perfect time. I was just about to look for you. It took me a lot of effort to get this boat from that place you call Ben."

"Lisbon, sir."

"Yes, yes, that's Lisbon. Look at this ship, I'm very satisfied. What about you, Instructor Lang?"

"This is a third-class battleship, which is quite common in our country. It is a mainstay of naval warfare. I served on one of these ships for a period of time when I was serving in the Portuguese Navy, so I know it quite well."

"Very good, very good. From now on, the brothers' training on this ship will still depend on Instructor Lang."

"It's what I should do, sir."

Looking at Instructor Lang, a different feeling suddenly appeared in Chi Honghai's eyes.

"Good! Good! Good! I've got a solution!" Chi Honghai exclaimed repeatedly, which puzzled Instructor Lang.

"Sir? What method are you referring to?"

Chi Honghai raised an eyebrow and explained to Instructor Lang the current situation of their lack of sailors, saying that he already had a good solution.

"Hiring".