After destroying the Potbelly Kingdom, Zhu Cihong did not have a sense of accomplishment, on the contrary, there was an inexplicable sadness.

The other ethnic groups that also live here, such as the Pingpu tribe (Gaoshan tribe), they can contact with the outside world and develop together, but the big belly kingdom cannot, stubbornly resisting outsiders, and engaging in a primitive society.

In the growing tide of the world, such tribes bear the brunt of colonization.

A few years ago, if it weren't for the fact that the Dutch people were too small in force and unwilling to sacrifice too many soldiers, they would never have easily ceased fighting after sweeping the thirteen villages including the Big Belly Society, and would have taken them as slaves.

The same is true of the country, which is stubbornly conservative and will only continue to be poor and weak, bullied by others, and even in danger of losing the country.

The reason why European countries were able to start the Age of Discovery was not because they liked seafaring expansion, but because their geographical location determined that they had to go through the ocean.

Europe is so big, so many resources, how many countries and forces, they themselves can't count, especially in the sixteenth century, the European continent entered a tragic zero-sum game (the gain of one side necessarily means the loss of the other).

In order to be able to eat in the fierce competition and gain more resource advantages, every country is racking its brains to seek a strong country.

However, plundering through war has to pay a terrible price, and the bigger the poorer.

The poorer the poorer the country is and the poorer the country has no pants to wear, the poorer it will be, and the more it will be, it will go to the sea to expand its territory and grab resources.

For example, Portugal, the first country in European history to expand overseas, when they went to the sea, the population was only about one million, and there were a few broken boats, which was the poorest and weakest existence in Europe.

Because of the Great Voyage, Portugal went out to rob in less than 20 years, and set up bases all over the world, establishing the first world-wide maritime empire.

Subsequently, most countries in Europe successfully fought out, and became stronger and bigger, such as Spain, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

On the contrary, France, the strongest in Europe at that time, was basically still messing around on land, and was the last to join the Great Voyage, more than a hundred years later than its neighbors.

The same situation is also true in the current Taqing Dynasty, the living space is extremely compressed by the Ming Dynasty, and the poor think about change, Hong Chengchou draws on the "Franc Machine Experience", and is also ready to play a wave of routines to go out and grab money and make a fortune.

With the shipbuilding technology provided by the Spaniards, the conditions of the Tatar Qing were much stronger than those of Portugal, which had only a few broken ships more than a hundred years ago.

As for the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Cihong can only take the initiative to promote the Great Voyage, if he waits for the conditions, he will not be able to walk this road for another hundred years.

The current people don't have that kind of idea, and they don't have the motivation.

The purpose of the "Tianxia Times", co-founded by Zhu Cihong and Yu Xiandi, is to establish this concept.

Zheng Chenggong in history had this idea, after conquering Taiwan, the national surname found that Taiwan was not as good as imagined, many places are underdeveloped areas, not as good as Luzon, so he began to plan south to defeat the Philippines occupied by the Spaniards.

In the end, the idea was there, but the person was gone, and Zheng Chenggong died in the second year after recovering Taiwan. (There are many theories about the cause of death, and most people think it was murder.) ）

After the death of Guo, his son Zheng Jing twice prepared to send a fleet to conquer Manila, but because of the rebellion of the three feudatories, Zheng Jing led his army west to Fujian to support Geng Jingzhong, but did not send troops to the Philippines.

Not to mention whether the Zheng family has the strength to defeat the Spaniards and take the Philippines, at least they have this concept, and there should not be such a disparity in strength, and it is impossible to know nothing about the Spaniards in Manila who have been mixing at sea all year round.

On May 11, three quarters in the morning, Daming Sea.

In the waters near Ryukyu Island, southeast of Kaohsiung Prefecture (not Ryukyu), three Spanish battleships lined up in a triangular formation, dragging long white marks, were marching towards the city of Geranza.

The three Spanish warships came from Manila, Luzon, and the purpose of this time was to pay attention to the war between the Ming army and the Netherlands, looking for opportunities to reap the benefits.

If the Ming army was defeated, the Spanish navy could bring in a fleet from Manila to forcibly expel the devastated Dutch and regain control of Taiwan.

If the Dutch were defeated, Spain tried to mediate with the Ming and leased the city of Geranza to trade with the Japanese instead of the Dutch.

In short, the three Spanish warships had come to inquire about the news.

It's just that they don't know that the war here has long ended, and even the Ming Emperor DìDū came to take a walk around, ready to leave home to get married and have children.

Not long after, a Ming patrol ship cruising near Ryukyu Island spotted them and hurriedly rushed back to report.

At this time, Zhu Cihong was patrolling around Kaohsiung, planning to turn this place into a military port as a springboard for the Nanyang Fleet (renamed the Pingfan Fleet) to enter Luzon.

Kaohsiung is located in the southwest of Taiwan, at the southern mouth of the Taiwan Strait, and is the sea gate of southern Taiwan, and its location is very important.

"Returning to the country, three Franc warships appeared near Ryukyu Island and are heading here!"

A sailor hurried in and reported in a loud voice.

Ryukyu Island is far away from the main island of Taiwan, hanging alone, like a ball floating on the sea, so it is called "Ryukyu Island", and the Ming army has just established an outpost on it.

"Franc man? What are they going to do when the battle is over? ”

Zhu Chenggong muttered, turned his head and ordered: "Go find a Franc machine to interpret and let him shout, this is the Daming Sea area, please get out!" ”

After speaking, he looked at Zhu Cihong and wanted to ask for instructions, how about this operation?

Zhu Cihong waved his hand and said: "Don't be so troublesome, just warn us in the official language of the Ming Dynasty, if they ignore the warning and continue to move forward, they will directly open fire and sink it!" ”

Hearing this, Zhu Chenggong was stunned for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, what if they can't understand our Chinese?" ”

"Don't understand?"

Zhu Cihong's face sank: "It's their business if they don't understand!" Who told them not to learn Chinese? ”

The surrounding officials were obviously stunned, and secretly said that this son of heaven really couldn't live with ordinary people.

Zhu Chenggong was the first to react and immediately ordered the Nanyang Fleet to send ten large warships to block them.

In the vicinity of Ryukyu Island, the sky is overcast, the sea is relatively rough, and the visibility is not high.

The captain of the USS Manila, Caroussi, stood in the command room, looking out at the gray sky with binoculars, fearing that there would be a sudden next storm.

In fact, the storm in the sky did not come, but the storm on the sea was coming.

On the gray sea, under the dark clouds, ten warships appeared, not as large as the Manila, but not much different from the other two Spanish ships.

"Captain, it's the battleship of the Ming army, they shouted to us!"

Carousi took a look through the binoculars and saw a large number of Ming warships in front of him.

"It seems that Mingguo won, which is really bad news."

Karosi sighed and said calmly: "Leave them alone, tell them that we are sailing freely, let them not get in the way!" ”

The two sides were getting closer and closer, and the shouting could be heard clearly, and a Spanish interpreter said: "Captain, they said that this is the Daming Sea, let's leave quickly, otherwise you're welcome......"

Caroussi frowned and said: "What is the sea area of the Ming Dynasty, as soon as my Spanish fleet goes to sea, it is a free world, there is no royal law, only absolute freedom!" ”

The three Spanish warships came slowly, not paying the slightest attention to the warnings of the South Sea Fleet.

The first mate suddenly hurriedly said: "Sir, they are in a fighting posture and surround us, do we shell to warn?" ”

Karosi grabbed the telescope on his chest and hesitated: "We have not officially declared war, and we cannot take responsibility for provoking war in the first place. ”

The first mate hurriedly said: "Sir, what if they take the initiative to fire?" We are surrounded by them! ”

The words of the first mate obviously touched Carrosi, and he immediately ordered: "Warning shots!" ”

As soon as the order was delivered, it was suddenly found that the Ming warships that had already lined up sideways around them collectively spewed out tongues of fire, and the large and small caliber artillery opened fire together, and the sea area roared.

The battleship Manila was in shambles, the gunner who was about to give the signal was covered in blood from sawdust, and the people around him were pierced by a solid bullet.

Karosi's mind was already starting to get a little dazed, and she muttered, "What's going on?" ”

There was another dense loud bang, the bridge shook, and the guns of more than a dozen Ming warships began to fire salvos again.

The air hissed, huge black iron balls flew in, and the second salvo of the South Sea Fleet arrived.

The Spanish officers in the command room all subconsciously raised their heads and looked in horror at the Ming warships surrounding them.

The captain of the Manila, Caroussi, turned pale and immediately shouted: "Retreat!" ”

The observer huddled tightly in the cockpit, the pilot jerked the rudder, and the bulky battleship slowly leaned its hull, desperately dodging the shells and getting out of the airspace.

With the whistling of the air, a few dozen meters from the starboard side of the two Spanish cruisers behind, large and small white water columns rose.

"Right full rudder!" Captain Manila stared at the water column in the distance and commanded loudly, "Full speed ahead!" Return! ”

"Yes! Full rudder right! Burn the wind! Return! ”

As if they had been rehearsed, the three Spanish warships collectively turned around and ran, soaring to the highest speed, and the stern dragged out a long white wave towards Luzon.