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Volume 3: The Wind Rises in the South, Chapter 34, Chapter 34: Conspiracy

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    The quarrel became louder and louder, and Michel frowned. As an aristocratic officer, things like confiscating goods and expropriating ships are usually done by the chief mate and the sailors on the ship. He  I am not willing to personally participate in such despicable actions.  But it was already past five, and if we delayed any longer, we would miss dinner time when we returned to the dock. Thinking of this, Major Michel reluctantly walked to the side of the ship and shouted loudly: "Warrant Officer Downer"  , I¡¯ll give you five more minutes to pack up these yellow-skinned monkeys!¡± Major Michel¡¯s shout was like a signal, and with the sound of a gunshot, there was a burst of fire from several ships boarded by British sailors!  There were shouts and fights, and two Burmese businessmen who had just been very tame on the cargo ship that had docked on the "Pharaoh" took out revolvers and daggers that they didn't know where they came from, and rushed towards the "Pharaoh".  "It's a trap!" Major Michel's reaction could not but be said to be very astute. He immediately pulled out the pistol from his waist and shouted loudly while shooting at the enemies rushing towards the "Pharaoh" along the steps.  : "Push off the pedals, cut off the cables, start the ship, and quickly control the Gatling cannons on the bow and stern of the ship!" The distance between the two sides is too close. The eight-pounder cannon on the "Pharaoh" can no longer be used, but the Gatling cannons on the bow and stern of the ship can no longer be used.  The cannon is an absolute killer at this distance.  But today was obviously not Major Mitchell's lucky day. As soon as he finished speaking, a bullet shot through his shoulder. The heavy impact knocked him down on the deck. The British sailors who lost their commander were even more shocked.  In the chaos, several sailors rushed to the Green Cannon. They hurriedly opened the gun jacket, but as soon as they shook the handle, it jammed.  Before they could remove the jammed bullets, the tough attackers rushed onto the deck and started a fierce but short boarding battle with the British sailors on the "Pharaoh".  Five minutes later, the "Pharaoh" was occupied by the attackers - the attackers seized the Gatling gun on the bow of the ship, turned it around and fired more than a dozen rounds above the deck, and the British sailors put down their weapons one after another -  ¡ªThere is no point in continuing to resist.  The attackers immediately seized all the British weapons and concentrated them on the bow deck, and then began to clean up the blood stains and bullet marks left by the battle on the ship.  The British officers and soldiers looked at these mysterious and busy enemies, worried about their future fate.  Michelle was lying on the deck. The wound on his shoulder had been bandaged with torn shirts and handkerchiefs, but blood was still seeping out from inside, dyeing his white shirt red. His pet dog  "Gadot" lay beside him, looking at his master with hurt eyes.  The excessive blood loss made Michel feel weak, but his mind had never been so clear. He had served in the squadron in Hong Kong for three years and heard many familiar words from the shouts of the attackers.  Obviously the "Pharaoh" has fallen into a huge conspiracy.  Michelle's orderly Tom was a boy who was only seventeen years old. He asked Michelle tremblingly: "Major, are these bandits going to push us into the river to feed the crocodiles?" "No, these people  They are not robbers, they are Shunguo people!" Michelle said weakly: "I think as long as we don't cause trouble, it will be fine!" "That's great!" Tom breathed a sigh of relief and asked: "Major,  "How do you know they are Shun people?" "I served in Hong Kong for three years and can hear a few words of Shun! The Shun army is about to attack Burma, so they used deception to seize the "Pharaoh".  If I guessed correctly, they will then drive the Pharaoh pretending to be us and attack the dock!" As if to confirm Michelle's guess, several attackers who looked like leaders came over, including  One person said in somewhat accented but very standard English: "I don't want to carry out meaningless killings. The boiler workers will now go to work below the deck. The rest of the people will take off their clothes and go to the shore. Do as we say, and there will be no  "Hurt!" The man repeated it again, as if to strengthen the effectiveness of his words, a dozen soldiers with rifles with bayonets surrounded them, and the Gatling guns on the side also turned towards the British prisoners.  After a while, a British sailor walked out of the crowd, raised his hand and said: "I am a boilermaker!" "Very good!" The man who spoke nodded, and two soldiers gathered around and took the British man below the deck.  An example was set, and soon all the British were doing as ordered.  As expected, the man kept his promise, and all the wounded were taken care of.  It was already half past seven in the evening, and the sun had completely set. Only the bright red sunset on the horizon still brought some light. The black mountain shadows on both sides of the river were reflected on the river, giving it a somewhat eerie feeling. Plus, there was a faint sound coming from the woods in the distance.  The chirping of birds and beasts that came out was even more chilling to the bones.  The river turns westward here, and the concave part of the river bank forms a natural??A small bay.  The Burmese built a 100-meter-long wooden plank road from the shore into the river, so it became a dock.  Since this place is not far from Bagan, the old capital of Myanmar, after the old king Mengji escaped from Mandalay, he made Bagan his base. British weapons were transported here by water from Yangon, and then transferred to  Bagan, the camp of the New Army is also nearby. At the request of the British, the Burmese also built a small coaling station and ship repair yard nearby so that the "Pharaoh" and "Priest" could dock and refuel here.  Coal blocked the nearby river, so the place gradually became prosperous.  A small boat, not much bigger than a canoe, slowly rowed towards the "Priest". The British sentry on the boat looked at the boat lazily. The Burmese woman on the boat raised a bamboo basket filled with eggs and fruits and spoke in rough English.  The sentry shouted: "It's cheap, can you buy it?" Seeing the sentry on the ship waving his hands impatiently, the Burmese woman rowed toward the "Thebes" not far away and continued his sales promotion.  The sentry looked greedily at the gorgeous skirts of the Burmese women on the canoe, and was about to whistle to call her back to see if he could pass the time, when suddenly there was a familiar sound of a steam engine in the air.  "Oh, the 'Pharaoh' is finally back!" The sentry looked towards the sound. Sure enough, in the dark mountain shadow, he could vaguely see the outline of a vague ship. It was vaguely the "Pharaoh", but behind the "Pharaoh"  Behind the "King", there are more than a dozen boat silhouettes, trying to drive slowly over from this side of the dock.  "These lucky guys! No wonder they came back so late. They caught so many smuggling boats! I must ask Old Jack to buy me a drink tonight!" The sentry's eyes widened in envy. It has been a long time since the British began to block the river.  After encountering so many seizures, the smugglers all knew that the British steam gunboats could run fast and the cannons could fire far and accurately. They did not dare to use the water route anymore, and would rather take the more difficult land route.  The speed of the "Pharaoh" is very slow, only three knots at most. Perhaps it is because it is about to dock. The deck of the "Pharaoh" is full of people, and they are busy with something.  However, the British sentries on the other two ships and the new Burmese troops at the dock did not take it seriously. After all, no one on the water dared to challenge the authority of the British Empire, and most of the sailors and officers were having dinner at this time.  At present, there are only a few soldiers and sailors left on the ship.  Zhang Qi stood on the front deck of the "Pharaoh", using his telescope to try to identify the other two gunboats and the fortifications on the shore from the dark background.  Judging from the current situation, everything is going smoothly. There are very few people on the two gunboats. Except for the sentry at the ladder entrance, there is no one around the Gatling gun and the eight-pounder gun on the deck. The boiler is not heating up. Once it is fired,  The "Pharaoh" was definitely no match for them in a battle, but Zhang Qi did not intend to use guns and cannons to solve the problem. He planned to seize the two British gunboats completely just like he did with the "Pharaoh".  "Let's move toward the one on the right, and let the three boats of Guangjia, Guangyi, and Guangbing move to the left. When the light on my bow lights up, we will start seizing the ships together. Do you understand?" Zhang Qi lowered his voice.  He raised his voice and ordered to several Jun army officers beside him.  "Understood!" "It's good to understand. You guys should go back to your ship quickly and be careful. Things have come to this point and nothing can go wrong!" Looking at those capable figures disappearing at the end of the rope ladder, Zhang  Kai turned around and said sternly to the men behind him: "Aim the Gatling gun at the ship we are approaching, and the eight-pounder gun at the other ship. Let the brothers below fix the bayonets and load the bullets. Without my order, who will  You can't fire either!" The British sentry on the "Priest" looked at the approaching ship with envy. As the distance shortened, he could now clearly see the waterline of the "captured" ships near the ship's side.  This meant that it was filled with all kinds of valuable goods, and he could almost see banknotes and gold coins.  At this time, the sentry couldn't help but resent why he was not on the "Pharaoh"?  "Is old Jack on the ship? I'm 'One-Eyed' Charlie on the 'Priest'. Tell him for me that we'll meet at 'Mrs. Tunba' at nine o'clock in the evening. Pay me back the money you owe me, otherwise  I'll stuff his head into his butthole!" Zhang Qi frowned. At this time, he couldn't help but regret having locked all the British people in the bottom cabin.  He was a little overwhelmed by the shouts of the sentry on the opposite side. He looked back at his men and saw nervous expressions on the faces of the Shunguo soldiers, and a few of the junior ones even pulled the bolts of their guns.  "Ignore him, just lean over!" Zhang Qi said fiercely.  "One-eyed" Charlie looked at the "Pharaoh" more than a hundred yards away with some confusion. Something was wrong. The "Pharaoh" was too quiet, and it didn't look like a Royal Navy that had caught a few big fat fish.  gunboat, although Major Michel is a very stern homeMan, he often uses the nine-tailed whip to educate the rude sailors under his command, but he is not unreasonable. The rude noises of the sailors when docking are within his tolerance.  Judging from his more than ten years of service experience at sea, this kind of sudden silence is often not a good sign.  "One-Eyed Charlie" picked up the rifle placed aside and shouted loudly to the approaching "Pharaoh": "Loyalty and justice, password!" The water surface of One-Eyed "Charlie" spread far across the empty river, but  The "Pharaoh" on the opposite side still showed no response. Now Charlie was able to determine what happened. His one eye, which had experienced the fog of the North Sea, could already see the shadowy black shadow on the deck of the "Pharaoh".  There is a lot of shine to the metalwork.  "One-eyed" Charlie could swear by the virginity of the Virgin that those lights must be sharp spear thorns. He turned around and ran towards the forecastle behind him without hesitation.  ¡°Dang, Dang, Dang!¡±
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