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Volume 3: The Wind Rises in the South Chapter 33 Chapter 33: Raid Battle

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    At this time, the carriage had arrived at its destination. Gillings accompanied Theson and the two of them out of the carriage, carefully stepped up the steps, and led the way for Theson. In the living room of this gorgeous mansion, a seven-course meal was served.  Waiting for them both.  Gillings was in a surprisingly good mood at this time.  Gillings did not expect that it would be so easy to reach an initial consensus on the Myanmar issue with such an important figure as Theson.  Of course, he understood that for a true British gentleman, the informal discussion just now did not mean anything in a strict sense. After all, Tessen did not make any promises as a special envoy. Everything he just said  It's just a personal preference, but in any case, this is a good start, isn't it?  "Gillings, this tuna is so good, I swear to God, you have a great cook!" Theson stroked his belly with satisfaction, which was already filled with all kinds of delicacies.  "Terson! How about some more sweets?" Gillins smiled: "This is made with coconut milk, milk and several local berries. It tastes great!" "Oh! I believe what you say, but I  I really can¡¯t eat any more!¡± Tessen shook his head, raised his hand slightly, so that the Burmese servant on the side could deftly clear away the plate full of food scraps in front of him, and said with a smile: ¡°You are living like this here.  A true king, now I understand why you are so keen on conquering this colony." "Tessen, don't say that, as if I conquered a country just for gluttony!" "What's the matter?  Didn't Magellan go around the Cape of Good Hope in search of spices? There is no necessary connection between the greatness of the goal and the nobleness of the motive!" Theson stood up and glanced at the gorgeous furnishings in the room. The walls of the dining room were filled with various items.  A variety of Burmese-style precious utensils and weapons fill the entire room with an exotic atmosphere.  Gillings walked up to Theson, casually took down a long snake-shaped sword with a gold handle from the wall, pulled out the scabbard, handed it to his opponent, and whispered: "This Malay Keris sword, the usurper  One of the gifts given to me is said to be the sword of the last king of the Toungoo Dynasty. If you can help him return to Mandalay, I believe he will not be stingy. " The sun shines on that Malay Keris.  The curved blade of the sword reflected brilliant light. Theson played with it twice and handed it back to Gillings. He just smiled and said nothing.  At this moment, there was a burst of hurried footsteps outside. An officer quickly walked into the dining room, gave Gillings a military salute, and said in a hurried voice: "Your Excellency, the Shunguo people have taken action. Their troops  We have entered the Mingqi area and are approaching Bagan, the temporary capital of King Mengji of Myanmar. "What? How dare the Shun people take action first? Didn't our squadron already blockade the water of the Irrawaddy River and express neutrality to prohibit civil war?"  Does any party use the water to transport personnel, weapons and food? " "Your Excellency, the Shunguo people have captured our 'Pharaoh' and announced to the Empire's Irrawaddy Squadron: As the highest representative of Burma's suzerainty in Burma, he  I have the obligation and the authority to eliminate the usurper on the soil of Myanmar, and will protect the lives and property of British expatriates in accordance with the provisions of the 1861 Treaty of Hong Kong, in view of the fact that the operation of the "Pharaoh" has actually helped.  The usurper, he decided to temporarily confiscate the ship. After the usurper is eliminated, the ship will be returned to the British Empire in its entirety." After listening to the officer's statement, Gillings knew that he was at this time even if he did not look in the mirror!  His expression must have been very exciting. He turned around and stared directly at Tessen.  Teson's face was very calm. He made a gesture and whispered: "Let Mr. Gillings and I stay alone for a while!" "Gillings, it seems that your judgment of this country is very prophetic.  Sexual!" Tessen's voice was not loud, but it seemed clear to everyone in the restaurant where there were only two people left.  He casually pulled out the Malay Keris sword from its sheath, waved it twice, and said: "Civilization must not show weakness to barbarism!" The time went back to five days ago.  Major Michel was lying lazily on a wicker chair on the back deck of the "Pharaoh". The five o'clock sun in Myanmar passed through the awning above his head and had weakened a lot, shining warmly on his body.  Very comfortable.  Next to the wicker chair lay a very fat Scottish shepherd dog. This dog named "Gabby" was Michelle's pet. He was panting with his tongue sticking out and licking the owner's hanging right hand from time to time.  A noncommissioned officer quickly walked up to Major Michel and saluted: "Major! The 'Pharaoh' has reached the northernmost patrol point. Do you want to turn around and go back?" Michel stood up and, as this pocket-sized  Commander of the squadron, he had three steam gunboats under his command - the "Pharaoh", the "Thebes" and the "Priest".  The displacement of these three lines is only 150 tons and 100 tons respectively.A thirty-ton iron-hulled wooden ship, each equipped with three eight-pound rifled guns and two 11-millimeter Gatling guns.  Major Michel's order from his superiors was to command these three ships to block water traffic on the Irrawaddy River, prevent grain and salt from being transported to Mandalay in the middle and lower reaches, and at the same time cut off all their transport ships if the Sunni people's force went south.  team, forcing them to abandon the invasion.  In the eyes of the arrogant Major Michel, it couldn't be easier to complete this task. After all, compared to the ships that the Shunguo and the Burmese may have that are completely outdated, these three lonely ships are now in the  The water surface of the middle and lower reaches of the Irrawaddy River is already the undisputed king.  So he separated the three boats and took turns patrolling this section of water. After all, one boat was enough to complete the task, and both the boilers and the ships needed to be overhauled.  Michelle walked towards the side of the ship: she saw that the wide level of the Irrawaddy River was completely calm, not even a small boat could be seen, and even the water plants on the shore were silent.  He shook his head in boredom - this is really a boring task. It would be nice if those Shunguo people came with a few ships, and he could use eight-pound cannons to educate them and let these yellow-skinned, slant-eyed guys  Know who is the real owner on the water.  At this time, Gabi barked twice, and Michelle knelt down and lovingly scratched the fur on the dog's neck twice, smiling: "It's almost dinner time, are you hungry too?" Gabi seemed to  After understanding what the owner meant, he barked twice more. Michelle stroked the dog's fur twice with a smile, stood up, and ordered: "Go to the mouth of the Liangjiang River and turn the bow around."  "Go back to the dock!" "Yes, Major!" The "Pharaoh", as its name suggests, is a pharaoh patrolling his empire, moving slowly northward on the Irrawaddy River at a speed of three knots, with the sound of steam engines following the silence.  The sound spread far away from the water surface.  The British soldiers and sailors on the ship were also lazing around. Most of them were thinking about the curry rice and pineapple wine on the dock. In front of them was the Liangjiangkou that the major mentioned, where a tributary merged into the Irrawaddy River.  .  The first mate looked at the sailors on the deck and was about to turn around when he blew the whistle. Suddenly a cry came from the lookout post: "There is a ship!" The first mate hurriedly ran to the bridge and pulled out the monocular from his waist.  , looking in the direction of the lookout hand, I saw a dozen small boats rowing along the tributary into the Irrawaddy River. The distance between the two sides was only three or four miles away. Through the telescope, the first mate could even clearly see that side.  The panicked faces of the sailors on the deck clearly revealed his presence.  The first mate quickly ran to Michelle and shouted: "Major! We found a target, it should be a smuggling ship!" The rebellion and the British blockade cut off the normal economic ties between north and south Myanmar, but the teak wood that is abundant in Myanmar  , jade, and tin mines are still a steady output, and rice and salt from Lower Burma are also needed. Therefore, many businessmen hire desperadoes to smuggle products from Upper Burma to Lower Burma in exchange for rice and salt and transport them back to Upper Burma.  Get huge profits.  Michelle took the telescope and looked in the direction of the first mate's finger. The ships had already turned around and headed towards the way they came.  Michelle turned and rushed into the captain's cabin, pulled the whistle fiercely, and shouted loudly: "Speed ??is eight knots, heading northwest!" The "Pharaoh" was like a toy that was wound up, and it acted quickly. The sailor  They put shovelfuls of high-quality anthracite into the boiler, and the energy generated by the combustion of the anthracite is transferred to the propeller at the tail through the water vapor in the boiler.  The "Pharaoh" was like a lion that had been awakened, speeding up faster and faster, chasing in the direction of those ships.  Although the people on those boats rowed hard, raised the sails, and even threw some cargo into the water to reduce the load, the distance between the two sides continued to shorten, and it seemed that the distance between the two sides had shortened to only about one thousand meters.  Michel turned around and ordered to the gunner: "The bow cannon, aim three hundred meters in front of the enemy ship and fire a test shot as a warning!" With a sound of cannon, the shell pierced the sky above the escaping ship and fell into the enemy ship.  The water surface less than two hundred meters in front of them was filled with water splashes.  Without any words, the escaper understood what the pursuer meant - if he didn't stop immediately and get checked, the next shell wouldn't hit so crookedly.  "Major, the first few boats are loaded with tin ore, and the ones at the back are filled with teak. These people should be smuggling tin ore and teak to lower Burma in exchange for rice!" A sailor reported to Michelle with excitement.  Every sailor can get a share of these plunders. Of course, the officers get the lion's share, but the sailors on the ship can also receive a subsidy equivalent to 10% of the total value of the goods. The goods on these dozens of ships are not a small amount.  The amount was at least worth half a year's salary, and it was considered a small fortune.  "Very good!" Michelle cautiously stroked the smooth fur on the neck of her pet dog. When he was about to return, he got this unexpected reward, which made him feel better.Come: "Seal up all the goods and tell the children on the ship to work hard and return to the dock. I will treat everyone to a drink at 'Mrs. Tunba'!" "Yes, Your Excellency!" The soldier stood up straight.  To the body, 'Lady Tumba' was the name of a tavern on the dock, and just like the dock taverns where the vast majority of the main customers were sailors and soldiers, the wine there was expensive and poor, but in view of Major Michel's performance in 'Lady Tumba'  'The tavern has 15% of the stocks, so the major naturally instinctively puts the rewards for the soldiers there.  At this time, there was a fierce quarrel on a ship. Although the British on the ship could not understand Burmese, it was not difficult to guess from the fierce shouts and cries that they should be the merchants on the ship and the British sailors who came to seize the goods.  Clashes occurred, as was common in their missions of this period, but there was only one final outcome, and with the "help" of the eight-pounders and Gatling guns on the deck of the Pharaoh, the British were always the last.  winner.  The remaining British sailors on the "Pharaoh" watched their companions arguing with the Burmese captain on the adjacent ship as if watching the fun, and even the gun jackets of the two Gatling guns were not removed.
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