Chapter 25: Rudder Lock
Lin Qian sat in the small boat, gazing at the Manila Port from afar.
By the light from the beacon tower, they could vaguely see four more identical small boats following behind them.
Each small boat had ten people, each holding an oar, rowing the small boats extremely fast.
Under the cover of darkness, they silently headed straight for the port.
The small boat rowed until it stopped in front of a huge iron chain.
This was the main anchor chain of the Manila Galleon.
“Let me say it again, after boarding the ship, no one is allowed to take torches.”
No one replied, all the crew members stared at Lin Qian with bright eyes.
Lin Qian slowly scanned each crew member with his eyes and slowly said: “Our fame begins from here, today all you gentlemen witness it together! Board the ship!”
Bai Langzai climbed onto the anchor chain first and quickly climbed upward.
Then the others followed in single file, closely behind.
When reaching the top of the anchor chain, there were still two meters to the ship’s rail. Bai Langzai took the grappling hook from his waist, threw it onto the ship’s rail, and then climbed up holding the rope.
The ship workers usually operated sail locks at sea, climbing ropes was as simple as eating and drinking for them, and they all climbed up without hindrance.
Not long after Bai Langzai boarded the ship, a squelching sound came from the deck, followed by a thud as something fell onto the deck.
“Who’s there?” A Spanish guard’s shout came from the deck.
Then screams followed.
“Enemy attack! Enemy attack!” A guard shouted in fear.
With a boom, the matchlock gun fired.
Then came the sounds of weapons clashing and battle cries, mixed with several screams and the muffled thuds of swords piercing flesh.
The battle cries on the Manila Galleon quickly alerted the port guards.
The guards picked up weapons and gathered toward the ship’s side.
When they arrived at the ship’s side, they found that the gangway connecting the ship’s rail and the pier had been chopped through by Lin Qian’s men with axes and thrown into the sea.
The guards had no way to board the ship and could only aim matchlock guns from the pier.
But the ship’s rail of the Manila Galleon was too high. The guards shooting upward basically hit nothing. Even if someone occasionally approached the ship’s rail, the light was too dim to distinguish friend from foe, so they didn’t dare shoot easily.
The crew members climbing up the anchor chain were also out of the guards’ range.
Because the Manila Galleon had two main anchors on left and right, Lin Qian chose the anchor chain far from the pier to board, using the sailboat’s hull to block the guards’ line of fire.
For a moment, the port guards could offer no help at all and could only watch helplessly from beside the pier.
……
By the time Lin Qian climbed onto the deck, the battle had basically ended.
Over a dozen Spanish guard corpses were scattered around the deck, all the torches kicked into the sea.
Bai Langzai was using a corpse’s clothes to wipe his knife.
Lei Sanxiang picked up the matchlock guns and distributed them to the crew members.
An injured Spaniard clutched his arm, kneeling on the deck with two steel knives at his neck, continuously saying: “I surrender, I’m bleeding, please treat me.”
Lin Qian glanced at him. The man was naked, his pale flesh exposed under the night sky, not like a guard but somewhat unusual, and asked: “What are you?”
“I’m just an ordinary sailor.”
It was obviously a lie. After the galleon docked, no one except guards was allowed to stay on the ship. Lin Qian indifferently said: “Kill him.”
It was in Spanish; the crew members holding knives exchanged confused looks.
The naked Spaniard panicked and quickly interjected: “No, no… My name is Jose, just a passenger. Spare my life, I’m a nobleman, my family will pay ransom…”
Being able to stay on the ship ignoring regulations showed this man had a special status. Lin Qian decided to spare him for now and casually asked: “Do you know where the rudder cabin is?”
The Spaniard looked at Lin Qian as if he had seen a ghost: “How do you know about the rudder cabin?”
The so-called rudder cabin was the cabin housing the rudder shaft.
When the ship turns, the helmsman turns the rudder wheel, which drives the rudder shaft to rotate and move the rudder blade left and right, thereby achieving steering.
Only large ships like galleons and Manila galleons have a rudder cabin.
Because it directly affects navigation safety, the rudder cabin entrance is strictly confidential, hidden behind various decorations and furniture, like a secret room on the ship.
Ordinary crew members not only didn’t know the entrance location but didn’t even know of the rudder cabin’s existence.
Historically, Han people hijacking a Manila Galleon happened only once, because they couldn’t find the rudder cabin, couldn’t remove the rudder lock, couldn’t steer the ship, and failed.
As early as when docking in Manila, Lin Qian had continuously chatted up Spanish sailors and figured out most of the ship’s secrets.
Based on the rudder wheel’s position, he could estimate that the rudder cabin entrance was probably in the stern cabin. Even without a live guide, directly chopping open the stern cabin deck would find it.
But since the naked Jose knew the rudder cabin location, having him lead the way was much more convenient.
Lin Qian gestured for him to lead ahead and instructed Bai Langzai: “Take a few good hands and go check the cabins.”
Bai Langzai nodded, took six people, and went down to the cannon deck.
Jose said as he walked: “Can you stop my bleeding first? I feel like I’m going to faint.”
Lin Qian prodded his back with the knife tip: “Don’t pretend, that little blood loss won’t harm your body.”
Prodded by the knife, Jose walked much faster and entered the stern cabin.
The first floor of the stern cabin was a conference room and officer’s restaurant.
After entering, Lin Qian felt his eyes light up.
As expected of the world’s most advanced ship today, the decorations and furniture were extremely exquisite, not like being on a ship but rather in a European palace.
Jose lifted a carpet and pointed to the floor underneath: “It’s right here.”
Lin Qian gave a look to a crew member, who stepped forward, pried a gap in the floor with a knife, then levered it up by hand, revealing the entrance to a cabin.
“You first,” Lin Qian said to Jose.
Jose made a bitter face: “I can’t climb down with this arm.”
Lin Qian didn’t reply but moved his knife-holding hand slightly forward. Prodded by the knife tip to the cabin entrance, Jose could only helplessly crawl down the ladder.
Then Lin Qian and the other crew members followed down. The cabin was pitch black; a crew member lit the candles on the wall with flint.
The dim light illuminated the extremely narrow rudder cabin.
The rudder cabin area was small, only accommodating four or five people standing, but the longitudinal space was very deep, about four or five meters high, almost reaching the bottom deck.
In the rudder cabin, besides the ladder, there was only one huge straight log, the transmission rod between the rudder wheel and rudder blade—the rudder shaft.
The rudder shaft was embedded in the stern frame, appearing visually wrapped in two rows of thick wooden boards.
At the bottom of the rudder shaft and stern frame was a reserved through hole, with a cast iron rod as thick as a baby’s arm inserted into it, irregularly shaped heptagonal bolts tightly screwed on both ends of the iron rod.
This thing was the rudder lock, specifically designed to prevent ship robbery.
Without removing it, the rudder shaft couldn’t turn, and the ship couldn’t steer.
“Once the galleon docks, the wrench is sent to the governor’s mansion. Without the special wrench, this can’t be removed,” Jose said, seeing Lin Qian’s intent and pointing to the heptagonal bolts on both sides of the rudder lock.
The rudder lock looked like just a black iron rod, but in this era, it was absolute black technology.
First, it had a threaded structure fitting perfectly with the rudder shaft and stern frame, with nuts on both ends able to withstand five or six tons of lateral force.
It was impossible to pry open with manpower and crowbars.
The teak boards around the rudder lock were extremely thick. This wood, though inferior to ironwood, was also among the hardest.
Removing the rudder lock by chopping the teak boards would take extremely long, damage the shaft structure so it still couldn’t turn, and if unlucky, damage the stern frame, risking water ingress and sinking.
The rudder lock’s design concept was that violent cracking leads to self-destruction.
Lin Qian stared at the rudder lock in thought, marveling at the Spaniards’ over a hundred years of great navigation wisdom while countless disassembly schemes flashed through his mind and were rejected one by one. At this point, he actually felt somewhat helpless.
Even though he was usually calm, sweat gradually beaded on his forehead.
