Chapter 99 Navigation School

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Captain Loben Barker staggered up from the ground, and several of his men were beaten to a bruised face. A group of Dutch sailors sat in front of them with disdain, eating the stolen potatoes and talking in low voices.

Loben Barker felt his eyes turning dark and his steps sluggish. He knew that this was because he was hungry because he had not eaten enough for a long time.

Ever since he and a group of Dutchmen were assigned to work in this mining area, he and several of his old brothers have fallen into a nightmare.

Perhaps this group of Dutch people had long been dissatisfied with the British. They used their strength in numbers to torture Loben Barker and his group in various ways. Not only do the most dangerous jobs have to be borne by oneself, but even the food and drinking water distributed are often robbed.

The unruly and unruly temperament that he had when he was galloping on the sea has now been almost smoothed away. Those glorious past are really unbearable to look back on.

If they had not taken the wrong route, they would not have encountered a huge storm, let alone end up on this large island in the northwest corner (most European sailors now despise Taiwan), and encounter those extremely vicious people. People from the Ming Dynasty were ruthlessly dragged to mine.

Captain Robben Barker sat back against the stone wall, breathing heavily. Yesterday, while quarrying, Graf fell from the mountainside due to exhaustion and died on the spot. Maybe he would end up like this sooner or later.

Just when Captain Robben Barker was lamenting his bleak and hopeless life, he did not know that a turning point in his life was about to come.

When Qin Hao officially decided to establish the navy, a naval officer and a navigation academy were both urgently needed. Qin Hao planned to hand over the former to Zhao Chang. As a Nord guard, his ability to sail showed his greatest value, and Not following him as a little guard.

As for the latter, Qin Hao also had a headache. Where can I find schools and teachers for you, so he waved his hand and delegated power to him to set up a navigation academy on his own.

After Zhao Chang was appointed as the chief officer of the navy, he did not want the navy he would form in the future to be all Spanish sailors brought by Amorim.

Non-my family, its heart must be different.

He once said this to Qin Hao in private, which made Qin Hao dare to agree. This was also one of the driving forces for him to become the chief officer of the navy.

There is nothing else on Taiwan Island, with a lot of wasteland. He has already thought of the school address. The key problem is that he can't find suitable teachers. He can't let the group of fishermen on Taiwan Island teach students how to fish.

Finally, Zhao Chang found Zhuge Xuan. He was a political affairs officer and had some ideas. Zhuge Xuan didn't mess around. Knowing that he had captured a group of Dutchmen before, he showed him the way to the mine.

So Navy Chief Zhao Chang rushed to the miners' lounge in the mining area with a group of guards.

"Is this the British pirate captain?" Zhao Chang looked at the unkempt, bruised and swollen Robben Barker and was speechless.

Wang Jiu, the mine supervisor who was standing behind him, stepped forward and grabbed Robben Buck by the collar of his prison uniform, imitating the official accent and said: "Xi Yi dealer, now there is an opportunity for you and your loyal men to To get out of this place, I think you'd better seize this opportunity, you know what I mean!"

"Yes, sir!" Loben Back nodded weakly, glanced at the Dutchmen who were cowering aside, and said: "No matter what you ask me to do, now I just want to leave this damn place."

"Very good." Zhao Chang nodded and said, "Now take your hands and go to the bathroom in the lounge to take a hot bath to clean off the damn stinky smell and fleas on your body.

Then put on the clothes we prepared for you and wait there. Someone will come find you soon. Do your best from now on, I don't want to see you back here again. "

Robben Barker and his five men took a comfortable hot bath in the bathroom. After coming out, they found that there were suddenly a few more people in the lounge.

"Mr. Robben Barker, M. Ruben Demel, M. Julien d'Ablore, and gentlemen..."

Zhao Chang stood up from his chair and said: "I am Zhao Chang, the chief officer of the Taiwan Navy. Do you understand Spanish? It doesn't matter if you don't. You can find someone to relay my words."

Julien d'Ebrol and Robben Back nodded.

"I hate irrelevant nonsense, so I will tell you the key points directly."

Zhao Chang continued, “We are planning to establish a new navigation college to teach all kinds of navigation knowledge.

I also admit that we have indeed not accumulated much experience in this area, and you have either received systematic naval theoretical education or have rich navigation experience and maritime knowledge. You are exactly the talents we need.

Now you have two choices: first, to work as a teacher in the newly established navigation school, with a monthly allowance of two taels of silver; your subordinates can also serve as practical navigation instructors, with a monthly allowance of one tael of silver;

Although it is not as good as you at sea, it is enough for you to live here; you will be free after teaching for five years.

Second, you can choose to continue to return to the dark and desperate mine to report to Commander Wang Jiu again after finishing this dinner. Well, gentlemen, tell me your choice and don't keep me waiting too long. "

Anyone who is not a fool knows how to choose. So, after some low-spirited conversation, everyone chose the first option.

"Very good." Zhao Chang smiled.

Then he shouted to the outside, and several soldiers came in holding some clothes. These clothes were made of cotton cloth from Zhulin Village, which were many times better than the tattered linen prison uniforms they were wearing.

A group of people quickly changed their clothes, and then Zhao Chang took them to the newly established Navigation School.

The Navigation College is located on a small island opposite the coast of Keelung, with several wooden houses facing each other across the sea, and the environment is beautiful; the first batch of 350 students of the Naval Academy are mostly refugee children brought back from the Ming Dynasty this time, some are seven or eight years old, and even more are eleven or twelve years old, and the others are children of nearby fishermen.

There is no such thing as child labor in this era. Taking them to Taiwan Island and giving them food and drink naturally requires them to devote their blood.

As for why children were chosen, Zhao Chang has his own ideas.

First, children are highly malleable and learn things quickly;

Second, these children have suffered and know who is good to them, so they will naturally be attentive when they grow up;

Third, they can be sent directly to the ship to fight after two or three years of training, and they will be formed quickly.

At this moment, the children were sitting on two long tables in an orderly manner. There was fragrant food on the table in front of each person. Although the children could not help swallowing their saliva, they all put their hands on their knees, looked forward, and sat upright on the chairs.

"Stand at attention!" Zhao Chang shouted loudly after entering the cafeteria. All the children stood up at the same time in an instant, and Zhao Chang motioned Julien and others to sit at the officer's table next to them.

Then he walked to the children and patted their shoulders affectionately, asking them to sit down every time he patted them, until the last person's shoulder was patted.

"Let's eat!" Zhao Chang ordered. As his voice fell, a group of students and children immediately picked up wooden bowls and chopsticks and started eating.

The dinner was very rich. There were wheat cakes, salted fish, prawns, clam tofu soup, vegetables, and even eggs that were rarely enjoyed by people in the mainland of the Ming Dynasty. The students ate very quietly, and no one whispered during the meal.

After eating, most of the students returned to the brick dormitory opposite the cafeteria to rest. A small number of students stayed behind to clean the table and do the cleaning.

"These students have been training for almost a week."

After taking the incoming teachers such as Loben Buck to their dormitories, Zhao Chang talked about these students: "In the future, you will be responsible for the teaching tasks of this school. Students will take classes here in the morning to learn theoretical knowledge.

In the afternoon, they will go to the shipbuilding workshop for practice, and in the evening they will learn political and cultural knowledge. You should hurry up to organize a teaching material, and the formal class will start tomorrow. I hope you will not let me down."

"Finally, I warn you again on two points. First, this place is thousands of miles away from your Dutch East Indies. Don't try to escape;

Second, teach these students well. Their achievements are related to your treatment. If you teach well, I don't mind reducing your sentence."

After that, Zhao Chang closed the door and left the Navigation College, and asked the guards to keep an eye on these Dutch and British people. Now he has to follow Qin Hao to Daming again, and he can take over the Navigation College after returning.

But this did not prevent him from getting everything in order before the trip.

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