~~~~~~

After the meeting with the officers, it was already late at night. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

After working all day, Li Yuanqing was also a little tired, and was about to ask Xiaohe to come out to rub his shoulders and get some food to fill his stomach, but Niu Gensheng came to Li Yuanqing's side quickly, and reported in a low voice: "General, we have already got the schedule of those eldest ladies." ”

As he spoke, he hurriedly handed a secret letter to Li Yuanqing respectfully.

Li Yuanqing opened it and glanced at it, and a faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and said with a smile: "Gensheng, it's hard work." You go to the kitchen and ask the firefighter to fry a few side dishes, get more meat, and let's have a drink. ”

Niu Gensheng couldn't help but be overjoyed, what a great honor it should be to be able to drink with Li Yuanqing, so he nodded busily and went to do it.

Playing with the secret letter in his hand, Li Yuanqing's eyes couldn't help narrowing slightly.

According to the information from the Governor's Palace in Manila, this Miss Megane will stay in Manila for half a year, and then, if things go well, she will accompany the Spanish prince back to Europe, and then go to the New World to accompany the prince to take up his post in the New World.

But if things don't go well, Megane doesn't like the prince, and two months later, the prince will return to Europe to take up his post in the New World, while Megane will stay in Manila to accompany her father, Valen da Gama.

Although not a word has been said to Megane.

But Li Yuanqing already knew that she and this prince would definitely stay in Manila for half a year, and then go to the New World together.

Valen da Gama, the old dog, has a shrewd abacus.

There is a saying in later generations, "There is never a free lunch in the world." ”

If things are on the normal track, it is impossible for Li Yuanqing to have too many opportunities for contact with this Miss Megane in his life, but ~, everything is man-made!

Niu Gensheng quickly brought the wine and food, and Li Yuanqing was also a little hungry, so while eating, he chatted with Niu Gensheng about his feelings over the past few days.

Niu Gensheng, as Li Yuanqing's pro-soldier leader, in many cases, assumes the role of an implementer, and he does not have many voices.

But Li Yuanqing valued him very much and listened carefully to him about his feelings.

Niu Gensheng drank a glass of wine, looked at Li Yuanqing respectfully and said: "General, I think that no matter how much training you have, it may not be as good as a real battle." Our fleet, even if it is outdated, but it is large enough, just like ants, it may not be able to eat elephants! ”

Perhaps feeling the gap with Western technology and humanities, Niu Gensheng's words were a little impulsive, obviously extremely unwilling.

After all, he has followed Li Yuanqing for so many years, and it has always been their immortal camp that catches others to do it, when did he become so entangled like now, and he had to look ahead and look backwards in everything?

Li Yuanqing took a sip of the wine in the glass lightly, and nodded slowly, "Gensheng, go on." ”

"Yes."

Niu Gensheng hurriedly said: "General, I think that the time for our trip is very tight, if we blindly buy warships in the South Seas, silver is secondary, but it will cost us a lot of time!" If there is another war on the Liaodi side, and the dog Tartar is restless, we will be passive! As for combat training, we can't beat the regular army of these white-haired monkeys, but we can take the surrounding pirates! It's like when you were in the Sancha River. ”

…………

Niu Gensheng went back to rest, but Li Yuanqing fell into deep thought.

At this time, he also showed that he was a 'fan of the authorities', and he was too careful about everything, but he forgot his priorities.

According to the current market, the cargo of the fleet must be sold to the Persian Gulf area, which is the guarantee of maximizing profits.

But because of the problems of the ships, including negotiations with the Dutch and the Portuguese, it must have wasted a lot of time.

It's always hard to have both!

Especially in shipbuilding and cannon casting, it is also a slow time job, and it is obviously impossible to achieve immediate benefits.

The French blacksmith recommended by Ed Staffft was called Marc Veron.

Now he is serving in the Dutch shipyard in Jakarta, and his annual salary is converted into silver, about fifty or sixty taels of silver, and it is not too difficult to dig him up.

But Li Yuanqing understands that if you want to solve the fundamentals, it is by no means something that can be solved by one or two craftsmen, but you need a whole and a team!

Especially in terms of big strategy, he must make adjustments as soon as possible!

…………

Time flies, in a flash, seven or eight days have passed, the time has come to the end of May, and it is about to enter June.

Thanks to the hard work of the shipwrights and shipwrights, these newly purchased second-hand Spanish warships have basically been repaired and are ready for deep-sea sailing.

On the other hand, the trade deal with the local area has also ended, and these wealthy businessmen in the civil cabin are also reminding Li Yuanqing openly and secretly that it is time to set off and make a fortune in another place.

After all, a day on the dock is a day of leisure, and all this burns is white silver!

After careful and careful consideration, Li Yuanqing finally decided to 'divide the fleet'.

The first team, carrying half of the old warships of Changsheng Island and 3,000 soldiers, led by Yang Xiaochuan, plus all the gentry's civilian ships, went to Jakarta first, met with the Dutch, and traded first.

Li Yuanqing led the remaining warships, half of the cargo, and the twenty-one Spanish warships, to continue to stay in Manila to rest, and after the ships were completely rested, they would transfer to Brunei, and then the two sides would meet in Malacca.

In order to further ensure the safety of Yang Xiaochuan and their first team, Li Yuanqing specially handed over the Portuguese pilot ship to Yang Xiaozhou to guide them.

Then, at a high price, he hired another pilot ship from the side of Valen da Gama to open the way for the side of the young boat.

Early in the morning of May 29, Yang Xiaochuan's fleet began to leave the port of Manila and headed for Jakarta.

Li Yuanqing sent them ten miles away, and then ordered the Spanish warship to sail back.

Back at the dock, it was already afternoon, and Li Yuanqing was about to inspect the repair of the remaining Spanish warships, when the soldiers who had been staying near the Governor's Palace in Manila brought Li Yuanqing an extremely important news.

Just this evening, Megane and the Spanish prince are going on vacation to a small island about twenty miles from Manila, and they will soon depart.

Li Yuanqing didn't expect that the opportunity would appear so quickly.

As the old saying goes, 'No one is rich without a windfall, and a horse is not fertile without night grass!'" ’

Hold up the bold, starve the faint-hearted.

If he didn't use some extraordinary means, he would not have had the opportunity to kiss Megane Fangze in his life.

However, whether the matter is too serious, to attack his precious daughter under the nose of Valen da Gama, and a Spanish prince, Li Yuanqing will never dare to rush into this kind of thing.

But these days, Li Yuanqing has not been idle, and he has obtained a lot of surrounding terrain, including the distribution of forces, and brief navigation charts.

At this time, for the European mainland, although there are opportunities everywhere in the overseas colonies, everyone can get rich, but ~~, not everyone can have such good luck, just come to the colonies to do something, you can get rich.

Especially these European sailors and soldiers, because of the perennial seafaring, most of them are drunkards, eating, drinking, prostituting ~ gambling, everything.

It doesn't take much effort to get the news from them.

Not long after, Niu Gensheng brought Li Yuanqing detailed information about this small island.

"General, this small island is called Coconut Leaf Island, and its circumference is about ten miles. It is located about 20 miles southwest of Manila. Coconut and sugar cane were abundant on this small island, and Valen da Gama had a plantation on this small island, and there were about three or four hundred indigenous and black slaves, all of whom were his private property. This small island is no longer on the waterway, it is very secluded, and the scenery is excellent. Valen da Gama fishes there every year. ”

Li Yuanqing nodded slowly, pondered for a moment, and said, "Are there any pirates around this Coconut Leaf Island?" ”

Niu Gensheng was stunned for a moment, and after a moment he understood what Li Yuanqing meant, and hurriedly said: "General, there are so many pirates in this South Sea. Where are there no pirates? However, Coconut Leaf Island was guarded by about thirty or forty indigenous soldiers, all of whom were personal slaves of Valen da Gama. However, if Miss Megane and the prince had passed, there would have been many ships, and the number of guards would not have been too small. ”

Li Yuanqing nodded, but suddenly smiled: "Gensheng, what do you think about this matter?" ”

Niu Gensheng smiled and said busily: "General, this matter is actually very simple, let's take advantage of the darkness to rush over as quickly as possible, cut the mess quickly, and leave no chickens and dogs!" Varun da Gama, too, could not find a thorn. ”

Li Yuanqing nodded, but said, "Valen-da Gama can't get by?" Can they get their specific number of troops? ”

"General, this matter may have to wait, they haven't set off yet. We've got some of us watching. ”

…………

Night fell quietly, and after a busy day's work on the docks, the hustle and bustle dissipated, and gradually began to enter the tranquility of the night.

The weather tonight is not too bad, the moonlight is not too bright, but it is soft, and the visibility is not too low, at least you can see a few dozen steps away.

On the sea, a large Spanish ship, escorted by seven or eight medium ships and small boats, was slowly sailing southeast of Manila.

On the bow of the ship, an extremely pretty figure, wearing a traditional beige Spanish dress and a delicate round hat, is leaning on the deck, facing the quiet sea breeze, quietly looking at the deep sea.

From Europe, thousands of miles away, she came to Manila, less than ten days, and she didn't even get to know her father completely, but her father asked her to go to the island for a 'vacation'.

Megane really didn't understand her father's thoughts.

Especially, with this pesky prince by his side.

Who doesn't know that in Madrid, he's a notorious playboy!

The reason why Megane came to Southeast Asia to find her father was to avoid his harassment, but she didn't expect that at this time, her father wanted to push her into the 'fire pit'!

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