"Major General, I think the Spaniards should know within a few days that we have begun to attack their merchant ships in Batavia. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info" In Zheng Sen's room, Old Jack pointed to the chart and said to Zheng Sen, "Then considering our lineup, it may take them more than half a month to gather a fleet that is enough to deal with us. At present, the Spaniards have a total of about ten professional warships in the Far East. These warships are much slower than our Endeavour, but not much different from our other three cruisers. ”

"Our other three cruisers have also been refitted and have increased their speed." Zheng Sen said.

"Yes, but the Rear Admiral, the same ship can run a knot or two faster or a knot or two slower under the control of different sailors. Our sailors were not very good, and of course the situation of the Spaniards was not very good. Certainly not as good as the sailors who remained in the home fleet, but in estimating them, we would do well to leave some leeway. So we have to estimate that they are not inferior to us in speed. Old Jack said.

Originally, Old Jack and Zheng Sen didn't need a translator to talk, but Gu Jiang was here, and Zheng Sen didn't want Gu Jiang to feel that he and Old Jack were hiding something from him, so he asked Liu De to play a cameo role as a translator. Liu De also studied Latin and Spanish seriously for a period of time, while Old Jack is British, but he has been wandering in the East for so many years and is also used to using Spanish. So Liu De can barely take on this job.

"It's right to be lenient with the enemy." After listening to Liu De's translation, Gu Jiang also nodded and said so.

"Of the ten warships, there are actually only four of our professional warships." "The other eight were converted from fast whaling boats. The firepower and speed of these ships are not bad, but the ability to resist strikes is much worse. If the whole fleet does not have an advantage in speed, we do not have much advantage against the ten specialized warships of the Spaniards by relying on these twelve ships. ”

"There are still advantages." "Our artillery is far superior to the Spaniards," said Old Jack, "and our eighteen-pounder is already close in power to their twenty-eighteen-pounderers, and at a noticeably longer range." Of course, at sea, too far a range is actually of limited use, because the hit rate is too low. However, our rate of artillery is also significantly better than that of the Spaniards, because of our extravagant tactics, I estimate that our gunners will only be able to fire two shots before the Spaniards can fire one. ”

The so-called extravagant tactics refer to the tactics of using custom-made silk medicine bags. This tactic greatly increased the speed of reloading gunpowder and other things, but in Old Jack's opinion, it was a bit of a luxury to use precious silk as a disposable.

"So, Mr. Jack, do you think we can beat them?" Gu Jiang couldn't help but ask.

"We can beat it, after all, we have the invincible 'Endeavour', but we will also pay a lot of sacrifices." Old Jack said, "So, we have to find a way to avoid a direct confrontation with the Spanish fleet." ”

Zheng Sen nodded, he looked at Gu Jiang again, and found that he didn't seem to understand this very well, so he explained: "Brother Ningren, that's the case. If we had a big battle with the Spaniards, even if we could win, our fleet would have suffered so many losses that it would be incapacitated for a long time, so that our interception of Spanish merchant ships could not continue. ”

"There are many other warships in Lingzun's hands, but the Spaniards have no warships to use." Gu Jiang said, "It's like playing chess, after everyone has no car, we still have horses and cannons." ”

"Brother Ningren, those warships can't outrun the Spanish merchant ships in the trade wind belt. Therefore, it is almost impossible to rely on them to cut off the sea transportation. Moreover, in a war of attrition, we are not afraid of other losses, but the losses of sailors are something we cannot afford to lose. We have too few sailors who can use the Tessie sailboats. This time, in order to organize the battle, we used almost all the sailors we could draw, so that the fleet could attack in shifts. In the event of a lose-lose battle, the loss of skilled sailors would be even more difficult to make up for than the loss of ships. Even a ship like the Endeavour can be built in a little more than a year as long as the materials are ready. But it takes years, if not decades, to train a skilled sailor. ”

Gu Jiang listened, nodded, and stopped talking.

"And the Major-General, if the Spaniards are willing to wait a little longer, they may get more warships." "Every year, a fleet of ships comes from Mexico to Manila and brings Mexican silver to Manila to buy the luxury goods of the East," said Jack Sr. Then wait until the second half of the year to return to Mexico. Loaded with white Mexican silver dollars, these ships have always been the target of all pirates to drool over at the sight of it, second only to the golden fleets in the Atlantic.

Of course, the Spaniards did not take the safety of these fleets lightly. The ships were escorted by the Spanish Navy. I've fought their ideas before, but the four cruisers in the escort calmed me down. ”

Speaking of this, Old Jack smiled, "At that time, I only had a merchant ship converted into a pirate ship, and against the cruiser, it was like a beagle against a lion. According to custom, these silver ships should not be long in time, a month at most, to reach Manila, that is, if the Spaniards were willing to wait, they would have fourteen professional warships on their hands, half of which were high-speed cruisers. If this is the case, we will lose very badly in a naval battle with them. ”

"And Captain Jack, do you mean we'd better get ahead of the Spaniards, get out of the waters, get out of the waters, get out of the east of Manila, and get rid of those silver ships first?" Zheng Sen asked.

"Major General, that's exactly what I meant. We have now drawn the attention of the Spaniards to this side, and then we will go around and attack their silver ships. We have four cruisers, one of which is the Endeavour, and with the help of our armed whaling ships, we should be able to defeat the Spaniards in a relatively decent exchange ratio. And in one fell swoop captured the armed merchant ships laden with silver. And this blow should put more pressure on the Spaniards. ”

"A good suggestion. But how do we get away from the Spaniards? Zheng Sen asked.

"Major General, given the time of the voyage, we can only ...... from here Over here...... Here, this is the past. Captain Jack pointed the course on the chart. The route actually passes through the Bass Strait and turns east of Luzon.

"This part of the voyage," Zheng Sen said, pointing to the charts, "is too close to Manila to be easily discovered." ”

"Yes, Major General. But if we're going to stop the Spanish silver fleet before it reaches Manila, we'll have to go here. Other routes, too time-consuming. As we pass through this section, we can pass through at night and spread our clippers out to keep on guard, and if any ship is loaded, the Endeavour will catch up and capture or sink it. That shouldn't be a big problem. ”

Zheng Sen thought for a moment, nodded and said, "Then follow this plan." How much time does the fleet need to prepare before it can depart? ”

"It won't take long." Old Jack replied, "We didn't have a fight in the last interception, and there was no need to repair the ship, just replenish the supplies, do the necessary inspection of the ship, and let the sailors rest by the way, and then we can set off, I estimate that in three days we will be able to depart." ”

……

A few days later, the Governor's Palace in Manila.

"Mr. Governor, the Zheng family's fleet intercepted our merchant ship, in the waters near Batavia." Colonel Nelson said to Governor Aquila.

"Is the message exact?" Governor Aquila asked.

"The news should be reliable, our men saw four merchant ships that had been captured—the Zheng family came to the door and were selling the goods to the Dutch in Batavia."

"These damn pirates! And those damned Dutchmen! What is the strength of their fleet? Aquila asked.

"According to the information, there were 12 ships, all of them European style sailing ships, three of which were captured by Dutch warships, and apparently the pirates repaired them. In addition to this was the same warship that had once docked in our harbor, and in addition to that, there were eight smaller armed merchant ships. I reckon they were converted from whaling ships. ”

The Zheng family's whaling ships are often encountered by the Spaniards, and they are quite familiar with these ships.

"So much? In this way, just our warships in Manila are not necessarily enough. It seems that the detachments of Cebu and Zamboanga will need to be recalled. Colonel Nelson, how long will it take for our fleet to be concentrated? Governor Aquila asked.

"It will take about ten days, and then it will take a few more days to get everything ready, but I think that in fifteen days, our fleet will be ready to attack." Colonel Nikkor replied.

"Well, if we hand over this fleet to you, do you think we can defeat those pirates of the Zheng family?" Governor Aquila asked.

"As long as we don't go to the waters near China to fight, we have as many as ten regular warships, and we can definitely easily defeat their pirate fleet." Colonel Nikkor replied without hesitation.

Nichol didn't say this because he wanted to follow the Chief's will, but in his opinion, it was almost unquestionable. Using ten regular warships to fight four regular warships plus eight armed merchant ships is a clear advantage in itself. What's more, he felt that his sailors and gunners must be much stronger than those pirates of the Zheng family.