Chapter 356: Falcon-Wing Swift Ship

Lin Qian immediately noticed that the Swallow Ship's hull was unusually slender. Conventional wooden sailing vessels typically had a length-to-beam ratio below 6:1; once that ratio was exceeded, the ship became highly prone to capsizing or being snapped in two by waves.

The Swallow Ship's length-to-beam ratio was at least 8:1, even approaching 9:1—this already surpassed the material limits of wood. Of course, the Swallow Ship was small in size, which provided a significant strength advantage and minimized the possibility of breaking apart amidships, but capsizing was a problem that could not be solved no matter what. He wondered what method Xiao Jiu and the others had used.

At this moment, Xiao Jiu also heard the commotion, climbed onto the deck, and stood at the side railing. The sailors on deck also gazed out toward the sea together.

The Eagle Ship's maximum speed was approximately eleven knots—already like a speedboat among sailing vessels—but the Swallow Ship was faster still, trailing a white wake as it caught up to the Eagle Ship in short order.

The sea bandits were riding in small boats known as kobaya, which resembled miniature versions of sekibune warships. They were about four zhang long and six chi wide, with very shallow draft, low freeboard, a single mast with soft sail, and more than ten oars extending from each side of the hull, paddling continuously.

In the Japanese navy, kobaya were generally used for reconnaissance, message relay, and surprise attacks.

Because of their small size, agile turning, extreme speed, simple structure, and ease of construction, Japanese sea bandits also mostly used this type of vessel. And all oared ships shared a common trait: their instantaneous speed was very fast—after all, if you wanted to accelerate, you just paddled harder.

So when it came to instantaneous speed, pure sailing vessels generally could not match oared ships.

During the Battle of Malacca, when the Aceh navy paddled in unison for a full sprint, the Grand Xia navy could only use their coordinated turning maneuver to temporarily avoid the onslaught.

At this moment, the sea bandits aboard the kobaya had not yet exhausted their strength; their oars slid swiftly and the boat flew across the water, leaving the Eagle Ship struggling somewhat to keep pace behind them. Yet the Swallow Ship caught up with ease.

He Sai praised: "So fast!"

It was only when the different types of vessels came together that the disparity became apparent.

The Swallow Ship's length was nearly twice that of the Eagle Ship, and slightly smaller than the kobaya.

Because the Eagle Ship was small, it carried no cannons, whereas the Swallow Ship had one swivel Folangji cannon at the bow and one at the stern. Since the hull was slender, there was no distinction between port and starboard—the two cannons were mounted in the middle of the deck and could rotate freely in any direction.

In the blink of an eye, the Swallow Ship sailed alongside the kobaya. On the kobaya's deck, many sea bandits poked their heads out wielding wakizashi blades, chattering away in Japanese, their expressions fierce.

Xiao Jiu said through gritted teeth: "Wokou indeed!"

Soon, wokou produced yumi bows and matchlock muskets and began firing at the Swallow Ship.

Both vessels were moving at considerable speed; arrows shot out were blown off course by the wind, and at such a distance, the muskets could basically only make noise for show.

The Swallow Ship immediately counterattacked. Its two Folangji cannons blasted furiously at the kobaya. This type of small-caliber cannon was like a tickle against a large ship, but against a small ship it was just right. The Swallow Ship first fired a dozen or so shots to sweep the kobaya's deck clean—those wokou who had been shooting arrows and firing muskets were instantly struck, collapsing behind the bulwark with screams. Then the cannons turned toward the cabin, blasting repeatedly at the rowing area. The kobaya was a classic thin-shelled dumpling—its hull was extremely fragile and could not withstand grapeshot at all. After a few volleys, wood splinters flew everywhere, and the kobaya's oars gradually ceased their motion.

After circling the enemy vessel a few times to inspect it, the Swallow Ship sailed away, and the Eagle Ship moved in, throwing ropes to board.

It was not that they coveted the bandits' broken vessel—it was because Han Chinese captives were often held aboard pirate ships, and they had to be rescued.

Meanwhile, Lin Qian watched the Swallow Ship as it swaggered about, cruising ceaselessly, his eyes showing approval.

Viewed from the side, it was not obvious, but from the front one could see that the Swallow Ship had one pontoon extending from each side of the hull, just like the two training wheels added to a child's bicycle.

These two pontoons sat slightly above the waterline in normal posture. But if the ship tilted left, the left pontoon would dip into the water and support the hull from capsizing; if it tilted right, the right pontoon served the same function.

The tendency of a ship to heel and capsize was mainly influenced by the Bernoulli effect, which could be simply understood as: the faster the ship, the more prone it was to capsizing. That was why small fast vessels like the Eagle Ship could not be made infinitely slender.

And the thicker the hull, the greater the wave-making resistance, and the slower the ship.

Ultimately, a perfect balance was struck between relative wind speed, Bernoulli's principle, wave-making resistance, and air resistance, which locked in a vessel's maximum speed. Once maximum speed was reached, even a Force 10 gale could only blow the ship over—it could hardly accelerate it further.

The Swallow Ship's design externalized the stability system, trading an extremely small water-contact area for an enormous righting moment, breaking the constraint between length-to-beam ratio and speed to achieve high velocity.

This design was in fact identical to the trimaran used in racing sailboats of later generations.

But then again, as the saying went, understanding the principle and being able to build it were separated by a chasm. For Yandun to have tinkered this vessel into existence on their own was truly no small feat. Who said agrarian civilizations were no good at seafaring? Wasn't this a ready-made counterexample right before their eyes?

Lin Qian smiled and said: "This Swallow Ship—tell me about it in detail."

Xiao Jiu had already been waiting nearby with the blueprints in hand. Upon hearing this, he had someone unroll the drawings and introduced: "The Swallow Ship's overall length is three zhang six chi, waterline length three zhang three chi, maximum beam at the waterline of the main hull four chi, and laden draft three chi three cun.

Including the outer edges of the gǔ wings on both sides, the maximum overall width is two zhang eight chi..."

"Gǔ wings?" Lin Qian interrupted.

Xiao Jiu pointed at the two pontoons beside the main hull on the blueprint: "These are the gǔ wings, connected to the main hull by two cantilever beams. Each cantilever beam is one zhang two chi long, made of teak. The gǔ wings themselves are made of pine, so they're light enough for the cantilever beams to support."

Just as they were speaking, the wind direction on the sea shifted, and the unrolled blueprint was nearly torn apart by the gust. Lin Qian had Xiao Jiu put the drawings away. Out on the distant sea, due to the change in wind, the Swallow Ship's windward and leeward sides swapped—the starboard gǔ wing lifted clear of the water while the port gǔ wing dipped in—and on the slender deck, the sailors shifted sails in unison, steady and sure.

Gǔ meant falcon. Falcons circled in the sky in normal times, and when they spotted prey, they tucked their wings and dove in a streamlined shape.

And the pontoons, built to minimize drag, were also shaped like flying shuttles—the name "gǔ wing" was quite apt indeed.

On the distant kobaya, the surviving wokou had their hands bound and were being led out of the cabin—these were the desperately needed laborers of Grey Society.

As for the wounded wokou, most had been hit by gunfire or cannon fire and could not be healed at all; they were directly brought to the ship's edge, bled out, and disposed of.

The wokou captives who had been shouting and clamoring moments before now witnessed this scene of killing men like slaughtering pigs, and all felt a chill run down their spines. They fell silent in tacit agreement, no longer making a racket. Xiao Jiu said: "Adding the gǔ wings to this ship was Captain Huang's idea. When he was under the Spaniards, he passed by an island of some Chamorro people, and the local natives sailed this kind of vessel—except they only had a gǔ wing on one side.

That single gǔ wing always had to be on the leeward side, so their ships had no bow or stern—whenever the wind shifted, they would reverse ends and change tack. It sounded foolish, yet they could fly across the sea—truly remarkable."

Lin Qian sighed: "The world is truly vast and full of wonders. Building ships behind closed doors will never do. One day, we too should go out and see the world for ourselves." Xiao Jiu continued: "In our Grand Xia waters, the wind direction changes frequently, so using only one gǔ wing would never work. That's why we added another gǔ wing to the Swallow Ship, making a pair..."

Lin Qian interrupted: "Since they're already called gǔ wings, and you've added cannons as well, why not just call it the Falcon Ship? Keep the naming consistent."

Xiao Jiu laughed: "Hahaha, we originally planned to call it the Falcon Ship too. But Master said the King's design was called the Eagle Ship, and a ship we tinkered together ourselves didn't dare share the same prestige as the King's vessel, so we changed it to Swallow Ship."

Lin Qian couldn't help but smile: "You lot certainly have many scruples."

Xiao Jiu continued: "The Falcon Ship has an effective cargo capacity of sixteen shi. The ship carries a crew of ten. Its main armament is two swivel Folangji cannons.

The main keel, ribs, and crossbeams are all made of teak, while the bulkheads, hull planking, and deck are made of Fujian fir.

Originally we planned to install the Bermuda rig that Your Majesty invented, but on a hull this size, the large sail simply couldn't hold—it tore apart the moment we went to sea. So we switched to two masts with gaff rigs.

Later we thought, since we had two gǔ wings, there was no need to reverse bow and stern like the natives did, so we added a raked foremast, added a jib on the foremast, and added a topgallant sail—forming the current sail configuration."

Xiao Jiu paused, then said proudly: "We've measured it—the Falcon Ship's maximum speed can reach fourteen knots!"

At these words, even Bai Qing and He Sai could not help but be moved.

Fourteen knots—this had already broken the ceiling for sailing vessels and set a new record.

Xiao Jiu shifted the topic: "However, the Falcon Ship sacrificed cargo space in pursuit of maximum speed, so its endurance is only half a month. If we don't carry cannon and ammunition, it can stretch to twenty days. Additionally, this ship doesn't turn as nimbly as the Eagle Ship.

But for chasing down sea bandits around Chiwei Islet and the Ryukyu area, it's very convenient."

He Sai nodded: "Right! The wokou in these waters all pilot light, agile little boats disguised as merchant ships or fishing vessels. Using our warships and ships of the line against them is like using a cannon to swat a mosquito.

And even if the Sea Wolf ships or Cangshan ships spotted them, they might not be able to catch up. The Eagle Ship is too small, has too few crew, and no cannons—even if it caught them, it couldn't win the fight. This Falcon Ship is just right!"

In suppressing sea bandits across the vast, boundless ocean, the hardest part was not the suppression itself, but finding them. And once found, the hardest part was not fighting them, but chasing them.

After all, wokou were not fools—they would not be so blind as to voluntarily approach a warship. So by the time a warship spotted a pirate vessel, there was generally a gap of over a dozen nautical miles between them, requiring one to four hours or even half a day of pursuit.

Pirate ships mostly operated only in coastal waters where they knew the terrain well. Taking advantage of that time, they would hide in sea caves or inlets and slip away. It was precisely to address this pain point of pursuit that the Yandun Shipyard had been commissioned by the Navy Ministry to develop the Falcon Ship.

This drastically cut down the pursuit time—the sea bandits couldn't escape now.

But Lin Qian also saw another value in the high speed: communication. The falcon ship's shallow draft made it as unable to cross oceans as the eagle ship, but hugging the coast was no problem.

From Guangzhou to Batavia, there were four Great Xia ports along the way—Hoi An, Xinquan, Patani, and Palembang—more than enough to resupply the falcon ships. During the expedition to Batavia, using falcon ships to relay messages between the expeditionary force and Guangzhou would be much faster.

Moreover, in this era, determining one's position at sea relied on the sextant and the navigation log. The shorter the voyage, the smaller the accumulated error, which made it easier for falcon ships to locate themselves at sea and reduced the chance of drifting off course.

Its weakness of poor endurance was perfectly compensated for by its high speed and short voyage times.

And its weakness of poor wave resistance—caused by an overly long hull and overly shallow draft—was compensated for by its shallow draft and coast-hugging navigation.

In other words, once it encountered wind and waves at sea, the falcon ship could put into shore at any time to take shelter without worrying about running aground. In an emergency, it could even beach itself.

Moreover, compared to the three-hulled gyrfalcon-wing hull form, that fore-and-aft sail shape had broader adaptability and would also be useful for building small two-masted ocean-crossing vessels in the future. Lin Qian was very satisfied. He called for his personal guard to fetch honey wine from the cabin and clinked a cup with Xiao Jiu to celebrate the successful development of the falcon ship.

The honey wine carried a burnt note and a faint fragrance of sugarcane. One cup down, warmth surged up, and the ship's rocking suddenly felt less pronounced. Lin Qian asked, "How much does one falcon ship cost, and how long is the build time?"

Xiao Jiu said in a low voice, "Five hundred taels per ship, at least a month and a half."

Both the price and the build time were high and long, but there was no helping it—after all, it was a new technology.

The gyrfalcon wing and cantilever beam looked simple, but striking the balance between strength and weight was difficult. They required large amounts of wrought iron parts and were laborious to build. Lin Qian waved his hand generously and said, "Order twenty first, to give the shipyard some practice."

The accompanying Navy Department official immediately pulled out a notebook and recorded it.

Lin Qian said casually, "The falcon ship is well built. It would be even better if there were a breakthrough in warship technology."

Xiao Jiu assured him, "The shipyard colleagues will definitely redouble their efforts!"

Bai Qing said, "It's not as if there's been no breakthrough at all. Compared to the Battle of Poyang Lake, the Candle Dragon has been fully refitted with heavy cannons."

Lin Qian looked at Xiao Jiu.

Xiao Jiu hurriedly said, "That's right. The Candle Dragon's upper gun deck has been fitted with twenty-six eighteen-pounders, and the lower gun deck has twenty-six twenty-four-pounders."

This restored the Candle Dragon's designed firepower. Twenty-four-pounders were nearly the standard for coastal defense guns of this era—mounting them directly on a ship, and twenty-six of them at that, meant a single broadside volley would surely be devastating.

Of course, the weight and recoil of twenty-four-pounders were also formidable. The Candle Dragon only had the external form of its prototype, HMS Agamemnon, but not the structural strength of the Agamemnon. Whether it could withstand the heavy cannons was uncertain.

Lin Qian asked, "Have sea trials been conducted?"

Xiao Jiu said, "Yes, they've been done—it holds up completely. Oh, and six fourth-rate ships have also all completed copper-sheathing on their hulls and had lightning rods installed." Because the fourth-rate ships were mass-produced, their design redundancy was very low. Equipped with twenty-five twelve-pounders and twenty-five eighteen-pounders, they had no room for firepower upgrades—but copper-sheathed hulls and lightning rods were also combat power.

If they happened to encounter a thunderstorm while fighting the Dutch, a performance of "surviving the thunder tribulation" might just scare the Dutch fleet into scattering. Lin Qian did some mental arithmetic: currently Great Xia had eight fourth-rate ships, three fifth-rate ships, eleven sixth-rate ships, plus the Candle Dragon—twenty-three ships in total that could form a line of battle.

In total ship numbers, they were certainly far behind the Dutch.

But the Dutch East India Company was essentially still a commercial enterprise, and its vessels were mostly armed merchantmen like the yacht ships.

When it came to the tonnage of ships of the line at fifth-rate and above, Lin Qian was confident he could outclass the Dutch.

After all, judging from the 1633 Battle of Liaoluo Bay, the Dutch had deployed only twelve warships, and apart from the flagship, they were all yacht ships—their total tonnage was crushed by today's Great Xia navy.

The last time Lin Qian had received military intelligence on the Dutch was when he was pitching black tea to the Englishman Victor.

At that time, Victor had said that, spurred by Coen's death, the Dutch had sent nine large galleons from the homeland to reinforce Batavia—the largest reinforcement in the history of the Dutch East India Company.

Even counting this reinforcement, their warship count was probably only around twenty to thirty, and their total tonnage would at best tie with Lin Qian. Thinking of this, Lin Qian remembered the topic that had just been interrupted and looked at He Sai, saying, "Right, you still haven't told me about Dutch military strength." He Sai suddenly realized, "Ah yes. Ever since Your Majesty instructed me to gather intelligence on the Dutch, I've sent people to question Dutch sailors, asked merchants who trade at Palembang, and verified things with Spanish captains. Additionally, there's also—"

Lin Qian interrupted, "Give me the numbers first, then we'll discuss the reliability of your information."

He Sai paused with considerable theatrical effect, then said, "Batavia has roughly fifty or so warships of various types.

Additionally, there are forty to fifty armed merchantmen that can join the fight.

Combined warship count—at minimum, close to a hundred ships. And if the war drags on, large numbers of armed merchantmen will come rushing in from the Spice Islands, India, and elsewhere…"

Bai Qing frowned slightly and was about to speak when He Sai quickly made a shushing gesture: "Wait, wait.

Batavia is a commercial port, not a naval port. These ships don't just sit idle in the harbor—they all have to carry cargo, and even warships have to escort convoys.

The Dutch don't have just Batavia as their only stronghold; there are too many places that need their navy.

So theoretically, there's an optimal time to attack—every year in March!"

Bai Qing frowned, skeptical. "Is this intelligence of yours reliable?"

He Sai said indignantly, "I've asked Dutchmen, Spaniards, and the Han Chinese of Palembang, plus Japanese, Mataram people, and Luzon folk…" "Fine, fine, I believe you." Bai Qing conceded.

He Sai huffed, "Even the Great Xia Military Intelligence Bureau probably doesn't have more accurate intelligence than I do."

And He Sai had actually hit the mark—if it weren't so, Lin Qian wouldn't have come specifically to consult him.

He Sai hadn't earned his position as fleet leader of this merchant convoy for nothing. Besides knowing how to do business, he also had to serve as Great Xia's eyes and ears overseas.

He Sai continued, "To be specific, there are two major fleets plying between Batavia and Rotterdam. One is called the Christmas Fleet, which departs in December of the Western calendar—that's around our November…"

Bai Qing interrupted, "What do you mean 'our November'?"

He Sai gritted his teeth and threatened, "Do you still want to listen or not?"

Bai Qing shut his mouth and clasped his hands in a gesture of apology, signaling He Sai to continue.

He Sai curled his lip and went on, "The other fleet is called the Easter Fleet, departing in April to May of the Western calendar. It's a replenishment fleet with fewer ships.

Both fleets sail from Rotterdam, taking the Brouwer Route—that's the Southern Hemisphere westerlies Your Majesty mentioned—and reach Batavia in half a year. They wait in Batavia for four to five months, loading and unloading cargo, repairing hulls, then sail back to Holland.

The Christmas Fleet's return voyage is in January to February of the Western calendar. That's when the northwest monsoon blows at Batavia, so the fleet can ride the wind south, pass the southern tip of Sumatra, catch the Kuroshio Current, and cross the Indian Ocean to the Cape of Good Hope.

At that time, although the Easter Fleet is in port, it's a small fleet.

Add to that the fact that our February and March are the harvest season in the Spice Islands—large numbers of ships go to buy spices, and at the same time a batch of ships is sent to the Mughal Empire to purchase saltpeter.

So March is our best time to strike!"

After hearing this, Lin Qian patted He Sai on the shoulder and said approvingly, "Not bad! Old He, with skills like yours, you could come to the Military Intelligence Bureau as a staff officer."

He Sai quickly waved his hands: "I'd rather stick to business."

Bai Qing asked, "So in March, how many ships do the Dutch have?"

He Sai said, "That's hard to say. Sometimes the Christmas Fleet departs late and there are more ships in port; sometimes the fleet leaves early, and with a bountiful spice harvest, Batavia might have only a dozen or so ships.

But according to Dutch sailors, in recent years the port has never had fewer than thirty ships—the piers at Batavia have never sat empty." By this time, the fighting on the sea had subsided, and the falcon ship carried the prisoners to dock at Grey Isle.

That riddled-with-holes ketch was hitched with towlines and slowly dragged toward Grey Isle by two eagle ships.

The ship's structural strength was too poor—useless as a warship and barely seaworthy. Fortunately, its shallow draft meant it could still haul volcanic ash along the freshwater river. Seeing there was no more excitement to watch, Lin Qian pulled He Sai and Bai Qing back to the meeting room, and also had Huang Beigui return to Nan'ao Island.

Bai Qing sat down, poured himself another cup of honey wine, and said: "We beat the Dutch that badly, so how come their business is getting better and better? Where are they getting all these ships from?"

He Sai, meanwhile, ordered a cup of black tea, and the way he used the lid to brush aside the tea leaves was truly identical to a scholar-official.

Only to hear him say with a faint smile: "The Dutch simply have plenty of ships and plenty of money — otherwise where would the title 'Wagoner of the Seas' come from?

Amsterdam alone has over sixty shipyards. Under normal circumstances, the Dutch can build four hundred armed merchant ships like the Achat-class in a single year."

Lin Qian nodded and said: "To put it bluntly, the Dutch East India Company is just a tool the Dutch sent out to rake in money. Their fleet and army's main strength are all in Europe. We can't assume that just because we can take Batavia, we've thoroughly defeated the Dutch — the road to global supremacy is still long."

He Sai said: "Besides, while we beat the Dutch badly, we also let the Dutch earn quite a bit. Those raw silks and porcelains at Hoi An were all transshipped by the Dutch."

Bai Qing raised his cup and asked in surprise: "Wasn't it the English?"

"Haha, with the English's meager finances and those few broken ships, how could they compete with the Dutch? If not for the king's support, even Victor's last pair of underpants would have been bought off him by the Dutch." He Sai took a sip of tea as he spoke, just like a civil official at court, then sighed and said: "Come to think of it, the Dutch really live up to being infidels — they always do the sort of thing where they pick up chopsticks to eat the meat, then put down the chopsticks and curse the cook."

Bai Qing poured himself another cup of wine and asked: "What do you mean by that?"

He Sai hesitated for a moment, then said: "Better not say. It's all just upsetting business. Once we take Batavia and drive the infidels out of the South Sea, the world will be clean and quiet."

Lin Qian said: "It's fine not to say it now. When we get back to Guangzhou, we'll say it at the pre-war mobilization meeting."

Yahei

Tofu

Pen