The palace of Manchu has become a place for the Franc machine at this time.

Today is a formal European banquet, so most of the food used is made by the Europeans themselves, but the tableware is not the bronze ware commonly used by the Europeans, but the gold and silver vessels and Chinese porcelain of the royal family.

The staple food of the Europeans was, of course, bread, but wheat was the lowest of all the major crops in which the best bread was made, so white bread was a food that could only be enjoyed by the wealthy, nobles, and the privileged of the church, who added milk to the flour and used brewer's yeast to make a delicious white bread, called the queen's bread, which was now placed at the back of the long dining table.

Inukai Shoichi sat at the end, picked up a piece of black bread made of rye and oats, threw it back on the plate with a bang, and muttered dissatisfiedly to Konokoda next to him, "Ridiculous banquet, golden plate, but this kind of thing, I can use it to knock your head in one fell swoop."

Ono Koda turned sideways and said in a low voice: "Don't complain, under the eaves of people, how can you not bow your head?" We now have to rely on them to survive, I heard that the people who stayed in the Ming Dynasty have been almost killed, and the people who fled to the mountains eat wild vegetables and eat bruised faces, and even die of bloating, at least we still have food and wine."

He took a sip of low-quality whiskey and frowned, "Why don't you use local wine?" This wine is like vinegar."

"Shhh

Sure enough, Ezeger had already stood up, bowed to everyone politely and smiled, and said, "Gentlemen, you are very welcome to this luncheon's feast. ”

He was dressed in a bodice made of oriental silk, and on his expensive shawl was a Portuguese love poem woven with tiny, round pearls, which glittered in the candlelight, giving him a sense of honor.

"Gentlemen," Ezeger smiled and gestured to everyone, "Tonight's feast, please drink as much as you want, without scruples." At the same time, I need to ask for everyone's opinions on some things."

He said as he looked around at the guests sitting around the long dining table.

It was a large and complex team, including the officers of the Portuguese fleet he led, the Spanish pirate Captain Pedro and his men, the Miyamoto Hiroshi and his Oriental samurai, the local chieftains who had defected to him, and the leaders of the mercenaries recruited during the eastward journey.

Various dishes were served by the servants who belonged to the palace of Manchurian, and of course the most exquisite food was placed on the side of these chiefs. In addition to fish and vegetables, pork is also the main meat.

The Europeans of the Middle Ages did not have the same aversion to animal offal as the Europeans of today, and in fact they did not spare every inch of what they could eat, including the uterus and bladder of pigs. However, whether it is drinks, bread or dishes, they all have to be dyed, and the oily dark red color makes people very appetizing.

Due to the different eating habits, some of these people use knives and forks, some use chopsticks, and some directly grasp them with their hands, making this palatial palace-style feast look a little weird.

Ezegg took a sip of brandy made from white wine, grabbed a napkin with a smile, wiped the corners of his mouth, and said, "Everyone, please come with us today, in addition to having lunch together, it is about our way out." The question of whether we can stand our ground in Manthorna is a matter of the future of each and every one of us. ”

This sentence immediately attracted the attention of all the factions, and everyone stopped their knives, forks and chopsticks and listened intently to his speech.

"To be honest, I didn't expect the Ming army to be so good at fighting, judging from the news that Captain Pedro told me, the combat power of the Ming army's naval division was originally underestimated by us, no, no, not underestimated, but completely miscalculated. Now, the Ming army has solved the East China Sea, and soon the target will be pointed here, and the news from the secret spy that Mr. Miyamoto Hiroshi left on the border of the Ming Dynasty has returned, and the signs of the Ming army's movement also confirm this. ”。

He spread his hands, shrugged his shoulders and said, "Then the question is, are we going to fight, retreat, or find a way to reconcile with Daming?" Gentlemen, please express your views".

The banquet room suddenly became noisy, and people from various factions began to talk to each other. Ezeger held the table and quietly observed the reactions of the crowd, then looked deeply at Archbishop La Mario.

His army was not pirates, but a regular Portuguese navy, subordinate to Albuquerque, the local governor of India, known as the 'Portuguese god of war'. The Viceroy was a devout and mad believer and profit-seeker, and since he had established himself in India, his ambitions had begun to look at the Far East.

According to Albuquerque's observations, he believed that Manchurian was the choke point for trade in the Indian Ocean and the Far East, and that the capture of Manchu would establish Portugal as a maritime trading empire in the East. From this as a foothold, he can also seize places such as Colombo, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and the Maluku Islands.

On his first trip to India, he threw himself into the conquest of the East with the momentum of a storm. Not only did they attack Arab cities one after another, destroying and burning them, but they also sank some Arab ships. Conquered Goa and Malacca, swept Arab ships out of the Indian Ocean, established maritime supremacy, and gained enough power from the King of India to become the Viceroy of India.

But as for whether the God he believes in can also become the master of the East, this crazy believer and wise general does not have such a strong confidence in the certainty, for the Ming Dynasty, the first power in the Far East, he has always had some wariness in his heart.

Ezeg's fleet was his first attempt, capturing Manthorna to test the Ming Dynasty's reaction to it before deciding on his further deployment to the Far East.

Now it seems that the Ming Dynasty was not willing to lose Manchu and was ready to use force. As commander of the expeditionary force, Ezeger found that he had misestimated the strength of the Ming army, and had no time to receive further instructions from Albuquerque, so he had to discuss countermeasures with his collaborators.

La Mario came to Manchurka on the orders of the King of Portugal, and the King of Portugal was against the use of force against the Ming Dynasty. Adeney's uncle and other radical naval officers rebelled, and he had to begin to pay attention to the opinion of the naval department.

Albuquerque was known as the 'God of War' and had a great reputation in the navy, and his opinion could not be ignored. Therefore, Archbishop La Mario, when he learned of his plan, came to Manchurian in person, wanting to present his views to the king after a field trip. Since he was a member of the peace faction, Ezeger was polite to him on the surface, but in fact he was quite hostile.

Sure enough, La Mario coughed and began to speak, he glanced around at everyone and said: "Everyone, you should know that as early as more than a hundred years ago, Zheng He, the admiral of the Ming Dynasty, once went to the Western Ocean seven times, he went to the Persian Gulf, to Aden, to the Red Sea, and the detachment he sent even went to the east coast of Africa.

Moreover, the size and number of ships of the Ming army, as well as the total number of crew members, are the sum of our current naval fleet, and there is no doubt that the Ming army has a strong ocean-going strike capability. Now that Captain Pedro has confirmed that the artillery of the Ming army is no less inferior to ours, I think that His Majesty's opinion is correct, that we should be allies with this powerful country, not enemies, and that would be a dream for us."

Azeger's deputy, Sander, immediately retorted: "Your Excellency, I think you are a bit alarmist, Mr. Miyamoto Hiroshi has been fighting with the Ming army for many years, and from what he knows, the Ming army does not have the super firepower cannon that Captain Pedro said."

He glanced at Pedro contemptuously, and added: "The failure of Captain Pedro's two warships may be due to improper command, or perhaps the Ming army relied on the geographical advantages and the number of ships to make up for the shortcomings, as for the bullet marks on the ships, hehehe, the soldiers are not tired of deceit, give me two ships, I can disassemble them into sampans to prove the strength of my artillery fire."

He stood up and said proudly: "As the Captain of the Royal Spanish Navy, I swear to the Lord Almighty: give me ten warships, and I will destroy all the Ming army and sailors that appear in the South China Sea, fight for the supreme glory of the Portuguese royal family and the Royal Navy, and let the power of His Majesty the King and the grace of His Majesty the Pope spread all over the East!" ”

Azeg patted him on the shoulder excitedly and said, "Manthorn Jia must ensure that in our hands, with this trading port, our merchant ships will be loaded with the wealth of the Ming Dynasty and fill their goods onto the mast." ”

"Papa" Two crisp applause, Lamario applauded gently, and sneered at each other: "Very beautiful, Your Excellency." But don't forget, this place is at the feet of Da Ming, it is as huge as a giant elephant, and it can smash this place by raising one foot. We only have ten ships, and of course, if you count the ships of Captain Pedro and Mr. Hiroshi Miyamoto, where are our supplies and soldiers? And the Ming army can mobilize 100,000 troops in a day and night."

"Mr. Bishop," Miyamoto stammered, "As far as we know, the Ming Dynasty people were not warlike and not good at using weapons, and we could sack a city of 30,000 people with two hundred people." Fifty people can chase after a thousand Ming troops and escape."

La Mario shrugged his shoulders and said, "Then I'm curious, why didn't Your Excellency lead your more than 2,000 men to occupy ten rich cities, and squeeze us into a small Manchurian Ghargya?" ”

Miyamoto Hao's face turned red, and he forcibly held back his anger and said: "This official of the Ming Dynasty [***] and the low combat effectiveness of the army are well known, not only the army, Captain Pedro has been in the Ming Dynasty for three years, and he should also be very clear about the combat power of the Ming army's naval division."

Our defeat this time was mainly due to the loss of our home base, and the fact that we were forced to carry our families with us greatly affected our combat capability. At the same time, Yang Ling, the general of the Ming army, was resourceful, this person was not only good at fighting, but also very good at encouraging the morale of the army. But the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty had a very bad habit."

He smiled slyly, took a sip of a glass of wine, then frowned, grinned before saying, "They like to be angry with others, and they like to take credit." Generals who have made great contributions will be tabooed by the monarch and eventually cause themselves to be killed. A general who loses a battle will also become a scapegoat for the monarch, even if he has won a hundred battles.

Now that Yang Ling has violated the first article, it has caused some officials to be uneasy, as long as he violates the second article again, he will immediately be attacked by others, as long as he is forced to leave this position, the army of tigers and wolves led by a male lion will immediately re-disperse into a herd of cattle and sheep to be slaughtered."

Sander smiled and said, "I asked to fight hard for this purpose. As for the supply and replenishment of troops, my specific plan was: First, I would requisition an army of 4,000 to 6,000 men from the Indian governor-general, first occupy Guangdong Province as a base, and then completely annihilate the Ming army and naval divisions to gain sea supremacy, and then gradually infiltrate into the interior.

As for the question of follow-up soldiers, another 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers could be recruited from the mainland, and another 10,000 or so mercenaries could be recruited in Libon and Luzon. When the sea supremacy is obtained, the guns on the warships can be unloaded and used as field heavy artillery, and the cannons transported in front and behind can reach thousands of guns, and under such firepower, we will not encounter any large-scale resistance. ”

Pedro is a Spaniard, but he was forced to temporarily throw himself into the Manchurian to seek safety, he knew the strength of his two warships that were destroyed on Dulong Island and Fernando's command ability, so he firmly believed that the Ming army had powerful artillery, so he was very reluctant to take the initiative to attract the Ming army's warships to this shelter.

However, due to his special status, he didn't want to express his opinion, but when he heard Sander's whimsical words, he couldn't help it, shrugged his beard, and said lightly: "Colonel Sander, I have no doubt about the combat effectiveness of six thousand Portuguese regular soldiers, but the Ming Dynasty can send 30,000 sailors to sail to the Western Ocean, and whether it is Portugal or Spain, who can support the ocean-going supply of tens of thousands of navies?"

With 4,000 soldiers from India, I think India will no longer belong to you, and General Albuuk will not agree to this plan. A fleet of tens of thousands sailed south from the Iberian Peninsula to the Cape of Good Hope to India, and no country could afford to support such a large army. In addition, how to repair ships and prevent diseases? ”

La Mario also mocked: "This is not the most important thing, you must know that war cannot always be smooth sailing, in case of disadvantage, how can such a large army retreat?" You said that you want to recruit nearly 10,000 mercenaries, how can so many people be recruited? How to train? How do I work together? Once the army crusades eastward and the country is empty, if other countries take the opportunity to fight against our country at this time, how should we deal with it? ”

A series of 'how' questions left Sander speechless, and he said angrily: "Even if we don't attack the Ming Dynasty itself, at least we can protect the safety of Manchu Thorn, right?" Why ask for peace, this is the only way for the spices, porcelain, silk, and tea of the East to flow, and as long as they have absolute trading rights here, Cairo and Mecca will be completely bankrupt, and Venice will not be able to get the spices and silk it needs, unless they send their merchants to Portugal to spend a lot of gold coins to buy them. ”

The vengeful Hiroshi Miyamoto did not mind that the Portuguese had sunk a few of their warships, but he was obsessed with the defeat on the land of the Ming Dynasty, and strongly encouraged Ezeger and Sander to go to war against the Ming, while Ramario and Pedro were opposed, and the two sides quarreled, and the mercenary leader Alonso looked at his nose and nose, like an old monk.

The two sides were arguing, and an Oriental man hurriedly walked in and whispered a few words to the waiter, who hurriedly led him to Miyamoto Hao's side, Miyamoto Hao listened to him whisper a few words, and his face suddenly became extremely ugly.

Both sides of the argument stopped, and Ezeger asked strangely, "Mr. Miyamoto, what happened?" ”

Miyamoto Hao put his hands on his knees and said word by word: "Your Excellency, I just received the news that the Franc machine people of Haojing were forced to flee to Huzhou Island because they killed the sea envoy who asked for bribes, and they have been defeated by the Ming army.

Ezeg was surprised, "How so? I know those people, although they are smugglers, but the force is not weak, their four main battleships, the firepower is not much worse than ours, I am about to send people to contact them, hoping to join forces with them, how many warships did the Ming army dispatch, and how long did they fight? ”

Miyamoto Hao hesitated for a moment and said: "The large warships in Fuzhou Port did not go to sea, so my people can't figure out how many ships they dispatched, but we know that the military camp transferred troops to the sea, they set off in the early morning and returned at dusk, and it only took one day to go back and forth."

The noise in the hall was completely gone, and even a needle could be heard falling to the ground. After a long time, La Mario stood up and said loudly in a high-pitched tone: "Generals, gentlemen, we must make a decision immediately, we can't wait for the Ming warships to come under our noses to negotiate, I think the most correct way is to get in touch with the Ming court immediately and solve the Manchurian problem through negotiations." ”

He pointed to the door and said loudly: "The combat strength of the Ming army's sailors is already obvious, and their ability to capture rather than kill our immigrants as much as possible also shows that they have the sincerity to negotiate peace." The opportunity is fleeting, and we can't wait any longer, gentlemen. I don't want when our feast is over, and soldiers in Ming armor rush in through the door, and then take us from the table to the cell and negotiate with them at the behest of His Majesty! ”

Ezeg and Sander looked at each other, and after a long time, Ezeg sat down and said, "Okay, Sander, send someone to get in touch with Yang Ling, and we will negotiate." We are willing to pay tribute to the vassals of the court in order to obtain freedom of trade and possession of Manchurian in accordance with the old practice of the vassals of the court."

He looked up again and said to Sander: "Send someone to inform the Governor of Albuukerk at once, and transfer as many warships and troops as possible, as many as you can, and be sure to reinforce Manthorn as soon as possible in case of emergency."

Yang Ling was very satisfied with the resolution made by the 'three-person military team' of He Zongbing, Cheng Qiyun, and Adney, and was even more satisfied with the results. However, the fact that Adney also landed on the island to fight still made him afraid.

As soon as Yang Ling, who was still palpitating, returned to the room, he applied family law to Adney, and his tight and elastic little ass was slapped a few times, in exchange for a sad and pitiful appearance, but he refused to beg for mercy and admit his mistake.

Yang Ling had nothing to do, so he turned to punish Cheng Qiyun. The same slap fell, but the eyebrows were delicate and the body was as crisp as a snake. Cheng Qiyun, who was beaten with a youthful face, was like a vine wrapped around him, Yang Ling was made skinless to play, and he wanted to be a big booster, but in the end it turned into a heart-wrenching battle, and Cheng Qiyun was finally begged for mercy by the war.

However, this incident, which did not leave any trouble, still gave Yang Ling a wake-up call: family affairs, national affairs, and world affairs, there are light and heavy, slow and urgent. Sometimes family affairs should be given up, and children's feelings should be let go.

If his subordinates made the wrong decision in his absence, and used a brutal killing poke to lure the Manchu pirates to launch an offensive in advance, then the poorly prepared Ming army was likely to fall into passivity, and at least pay more casualties, because of his selfishness, he had killed countless innocent people in vain.

After interrogation, Yang Ling learned that the West had now begun the black slave trade, and there were already pirate ships that specialized in capturing people from other places and trafficking them for profit. The black slaves in this smuggling fleet were purchased from Western pirate ships.

At the same time, because they live in Macao, although they rarely resell people from Macao, they also do the dirty business of abducting and selling Western people to the East, and then abducting women and children from the East to the West.

On this morning, a Fujian businessman came to the Governor's Mansion and asked to see Lord Yang Ling Yang by name. The governor's mansion has become accustomed to some indiscreet people coming to see the governor, and they also know that most of these cats and dogs are not small, so they dare not slack off at all, and hurriedly welcome him into the living room, and go to report to Yang Ling.

When Yang Ling heard the news, he hurried to the living room, and the merchant saw Yang Ling and politely saluted: "Grass Folk Jia Qingyou greets the Governor."

Yang Ling smiled and said, "Mr. Jia doesn't have to be polite, are you?" ”

Jia Qingyou didn't dare to sit down, and said with a smile: "The grass people are businessmen, and they often go to Nanyang to buy and sell some medicinal materials."

When Yang Ling heard that he was a real businessman, his curiosity was gone, and he couldn't help but be a little slack, he lazily sat down on the chair, and said lightly: "Oh, don't be too polite, you sit down and talk back, what do you want to see Bendu?" ”

Jia Qingyou still didn't dare to sit down, he wiped his sweat, stood there in a proper manner, and said: "The grass man is a businessman, and when the cargo ship passed through Manthorn, it was hijacked by a group of ghost pirates there, and they detained the grass people's boat and asked the grass people to send a message to the adults, and when the news came, they were willing to return the cargo ship." ”

"Huh?" Yang Ling leaned forward suddenly, and said, "Full of thorns? Franc pirates? What message do they want you to bring? ”

Jia Qingyou ate and said: "They said that the Buddha Lang Ji defeated Manchu and ruled that place, and now they know that the Ming Emperor is quite dissatisfied with this, so they are very frightened." Francois did not want to go to war with the Ming Dynasty over this matter, so he wanted to negotiate with the Ming on the issue of Manchuria. If your Excellency agrees, please sign a decree to me, and the grass people will bring it back to Manchuga, and the adult will specify a date, and they are willing to send an embassy to negotiate with your Excellency in Xiamen. ”

(To be continued)