Yinzhen's most urgent thing at present is to open up the Americas route, he knows very well that the so-called New Spain is Central America in the Gulf of Mexico, and the Qing Dynasty must establish a stronghold in this section to open up the territory of the Americas, so that it can expand the territory of South and North America in the north and south.

Spain's main colony in the Americas is Mexico, the so-called New Spain, and the Qing Dynasty wants to establish a stronghold here, which is tantamount to grabbing food from the tiger's mouth, and there will be a fierce war with Spain, which is why Yinzhen is eager to know the details of New Spain.

The sailboat crossing the Pacific Ocean, Yinzhen didn't know anything, but he knew that only relying on sailors who were familiar with this route to lead the team across the Pacific Ocean, it was purely a blind man riding a blind horse, and the danger was not ordinary.

After a long silence, Governor Mairodin asked expectantly, "May I ask the prince, what are you going to do with these more than 10,000 Spanish prisoners?" ”

Yinzhen said without hesitation: "It depends on the attitude of your Spanish king, Daqing is based on fighting, of course, we can also talk while fighting, after all, fighting is to die, if negotiation can solve the problem, Daqing is also happy." ”

As soon as he heard that the war was going to kill people, Mai Ruoting's heart couldn't help jumping, this fourteenth prince was threatening, once the war started, he would slaughter the prisoners! However, it can also be seen from this that the Qing Dynasty really wanted to negotiate, he secretly thought to himself, Spain is now in the succession war, and it is simply unable to send a fleet to the Far East, when the Far East Fleet was formed to come to the South Seas, not only to compete for spice territory, but also to threaten the Netherlands to withdraw from the anti-French alliance, but he did not expect that the whole army was destroyed in the hands of the Qing Dynasty.

In the current situation, it is naturally the most ideal to sit down and talk, and after a little thought, Mai Ruoting muttered: "Our great Philip has always been peace-loving, and the Spanish Far East Fleet going north is purely a misunderstanding, I believe that Philip is very willing to negotiate peace with the Qing Empire." ”

Spain is an aggressive, peace-loving bull? Yinzhen couldn't help but smile slightly, he didn't know the current situation of Spain, and he was also skeptical of Mai Ruoting's words, it was naturally good to be able to gain a foothold in Central America through negotiations, but he also knew that this possibility was not very large, for New Spain, it must be based on fighting, and he groaned slightly, and he said: "Okay, is it time to talk about the situation in New Spain?" ”

Mai Ruoting changed his tone and said in a very sincere tone: "Your Royal Highness, the silver mines of New Spain have been completely depleted after more than a hundred years of continuous mining, and besides, the distance from Manila to the port of Acapulco is so far that even the most outstanding captains who often run this route are often shipwrecked, and it is simply unthinkable to reach the port of Acapulco by relying only on sailors. ”

After Zhang Tiansheng finished translating, he continued: "Report to the dean, at the end of July and early August every year, Manila has a fleet from the port of Acapulco, if the prince wants to open up this route, it is enough to control this fleet. ”

Yinzhen's eyes lit up when he listened, how could he forget this stubble, these years, communications are not developed, Spain does not know that the Qing Dynasty has declared war on him, let alone that Manila has fallen, and the new Spanish merchant ships in the Americas will definitely arrive in Manila as scheduled, just wait for the rabbit.

Smiling and nodding, Yinzhen asked again, "Do you know how long it takes to get from Puerto Acapulco to Manila?" ”

"Back to the dean, it's usually about four and a half months." Zhang Tiansheng replied respectfully.

That is to say, at the beginning of March, the merchant fleet in the Americas has set off, Yinzhen put his mind at ease, and glanced at Zhang Tiansheng with great appreciation, for Zhang Tiansheng, he has heard Zheng Qingyuan's introduction, and knows that when he conquered Manila, Zhang Tiansheng entered the city alone to persuade him to surrender, this kid is brave and knowledgeable, knows Spanish, is a good seedling, and is a good seedling, he groaned slightly, and then he said: "You are a Han native of Manila, are you willing to be the king's guard?" "..., Zhang Tiansheng was blindfolded when he was born, and he was the dean's guard? Zheng Qingyuan, who was standing like a log on the side, couldn't help but scold at this time: "What else? Why don't you hurry up and thank you? ”

"Thank you for your grace, mark your willingness." After coming back to his senses, Zhang Tiansheng hurriedly stood up and gave a beautiful military salute.

Yinzhen nodded, and glanced at Mai Ruoting again, this guy didn't cry when he saw the coffin, and he even dared to lie to himself that Mexico's silver mines were exhausted, Mexico was known as the silver kingdom, with the current manpower and mining capacity, how could the silver mines be so easily depleted? Moreover, there are countless energy sources in the Gulf of Mexico, and even if there is no silver, it must be occupied!

It is estimated that this guy will not leak the situation of New Spain in a short period of time, so he has to let him taste some bitterness first, and groaned slightly, before Yinzhen said: "Translate what you just said to him, leave him this rotten lotus leaf, and this king will still wrap zongzi." Tell him that from today onwards, he will only be supplied with two or two meters a day, and when he is willing to speak, he will resume his treatment. Take him down. ”

Hearing that only two or two meters were supplied every day, Lieutenant Commander Monterey couldn't help but be startled, the food in the prisoner of war camp was already poor, and if it was only supplied two or two meters a day, it would definitely starve people to death. ”

"Treat the captives preferentially, and you can't be raised for nothing." Yinzhen chuckled and said, "Are there officers and soldiers from the Americas in the navy?" ”

"No, the officers and men of the Far East Fleet are all drawn from the Spanish mainland." Monterey said honestly.

This kind of thing, Yinzhen forgave him and didn't dare to lie, and after a slight groan, he said: "In the future, your food must be bought with silver, and if you don't have silver, you will wait to starve to death." ”

Spend money to buy? We are captives, we have long been looted, where is the silver? Monterey looked up at Yinzhen suspiciously, and secretly wondered, are you trying to starve us to death? Or is there another plan?

Yinzhen stared at him and said, "Three thousand soldiers, release one thousand at a time, divide them into ten squads, and give me to the nearby islands to catch slaves in exchange for your rations." ”

Hearing that it was a slave capture, Monterey breathed a sigh of relief, this was not a difficult task, and he hurriedly put forward the condition: "We need weapons." ”

"That's fine, I'll give you some muskets. However, there had to be regular substitutions and slaves to be turned in. Yinzhen said with a smile, sent to the nearby islands, and he was not afraid of how big a wave they could make.

After staying in Manila for four days, Yinzhen led the fleet south to Karopa.

Karopa, also known as Batavia, that is, Jakarta in later generations, is a very beautiful city, of course, it is also a city with a long history, located at the mouth of the Chirion River, this historical city has been famous for exporting pepper and spices hundreds of years ago, our country has had trade with this city during the Song Dynasty, the locals call this city Sunda Galaba, which means a place where the coconut groves are dense, and it is also known as the coconut city.

In 1610, the Dutch East India Company bought a plot of land in Jakarta for 2,700 guilders to build houses and warehouses. In 1617, the East India Company built a fortified wall and military fort around Jakarta. The British were also active in Jakarta at that time, setting up an office not far from the East India Company. The Dutch clashed with the British, causing a war that ended up being won by the Dutch and completely occupied Jakarta in 1619. As a result of this fighting, Jakarta has suffered a lot. So the Dutch rebuilt Jakarta and renamed it Batavia. Since then, Batavia has been a stronghold of Dutch invasion and domination of Indonesia.

Thirty years later, the Dutch created the world-shocking 'Red Creek Massacre' in Batavia, killing nearly 10,000 overseas Chinese, and the blood of overseas Chinese stained the water of Red Creek outside Batavia. After the Hongxi incident, overseas Chinese in Java expressed their desire to avenge the victims. Nearly 20,000 overseas Chinese gathered outside Jakarta, and the East India Company immediately dispatched 3,000 reinforcements to defend the city gate, making it difficult for overseas Chinese to attack. ..., however, with the capture of the Karopa by the Nanyang Fleet, the hundred-year-long colonial rule of the Dutch in the South Seas has come to an end, and the 'Red Creek Massacre' is unlikely to happen again.

The reason why Yinzhen wanted to capture the Karopa was not only the need to fully occupy the South Seas, but also the need to occupy and develop Australia.

There were many Han people in the Karopa, and the Dutch were the same as the Spaniards, who wanted to use the Han people to exploit them, but also feared that the Han people would greatly endanger their rule, so they also strictly controlled and exploited the local Han people, and the Qing navy captured the Karopa and won the strong support of the local Han people.

On the fourth day of the first month of June, Yinzhen led a huge fleet to arrive at Karopa, and was also warmly welcomed by the local Han people.

After the two of them greeted each other, Yinzhen said solemnly: "The emperor has issued an order to establish the Admiralty, formally establish the Qing Imperial Navy, and initially form two fleets in Beiyang and Nanyang, and both of you will be awarded the rank of admiral." ”

As soon as they heard that they were really on the rise, and they had suddenly risen from a white body to a third-grade general, although Liu Zhisheng and Lin Wei had already been mentally prepared, they couldn't help but lose their minds slightly, and after a slight pause, the two of them knelt down and thanked them: "Dean Xie has cultivated carefully." ”

Yinzhen nodded with a smile and said: "At present, there are only two fleets, led by Yande and Liu Zhisheng, Lin Wei does not need to be frustrated, after the end of the First World War in the South Seas, the Australian Fleet and the American Fleet will be formed immediately, and the naval conquest is the beginning, the admiral, the deputy general, the chief soldier, the admiral, I hope you will step by step, and the Qing Navy will also develop into the most powerful navy in the world step by step." ”

Both of them were enthusiastic when they heard this, and saluted: "Mark is determined to live up to the expectations of the dean, and vow to build the navy into the strongest navy." ”

Subsequently, Liu Zhisheng and Lin Wei made a detailed report on the situation after going south.

After the battles of Manila and Karopa, the Nanyang Fleet only seriously damaged five warships, but captured 28 warships, including two second-class ships, six third-class ships, eight fourth-class ships, and 12 auxiliary ships. In addition, there were sixteen armed merchant ships of 1,000 materials. More than 4,000 Dutch were captured, but after these two battles, the casualties were nearly 500.

Yinzhen listened to a heartache, the naval soldiers of the Nanyang Fleet are all veterans, which can be called the precious wealth of the navy, when he heard that the navy only killed more than 120 people, and the others were all green battalion soldiers, he was slightly relieved.

However, after hearing that there is still a Mataram Kingdom in the eastern and central areas of Java Island, and there are many Turkish kings and sultans, such as the Banten Sultan, the Sultan of Cirebon, the Sultan of Yogyakarta, the Sultan of Solo, and the sultans of Palembang and Machen near Java, Yinzhen's brows furrowed, but he did not have the slightest good impression of the indigenous people of Indonesia.

After the two of them finished reporting, Yinzhen said in a slight silence: "Karopa is not as complicated as Luzon, not only is the situation much more complicated, but its geographical location is also quite important, and you don't know about the discovery of Australia." As he spoke, he briefly explained the situation in Australia.

As soon as they heard that there was such a rich new continent near Karopa, Liu Zhisheng and the others were inexplicably excited, and in this way, the imperial court's emphasis on the navy would inevitably rise to a new height.

Yinzhen continued: "The imperial court will soon occupy and develop Australia, the importance of Karopa is self-evident, the islands of the South Seas must be firmly in the hands of the Qing Dynasty, not my race, its heart will be different, all the kings of the Sultan, including the Mataran Kingdom, must be completely wiped out, let them all go to Australia to mine." …,

The Spanish soldiers and captives in Tianjin and Manila were all brought to the South Seas to fight the natives, and the Dutch captives were the same, and they could not be raised for nothing. ”

Liu Zhisheng and the others were shocked when they heard it, the dean was even more ruthless than the Dutch, this move drove the tiger and devoured the wolf, and it was completely to exterminate the indigenous people of Java.

After resting for one night, early the next morning, Yinzhen convened a meeting of the generals and sent a fleet led by Yande, Del Xu, and Lin Wei to attack Manchurka (Malacca), and specifically pointed out that it was necessary to occupy Temasek (present-day Singapore) in order to form an upward and downward trend with Manchurka.

On the same day, two small fleets of 12 captured auxiliary ships also rounded the Sunda Strait and began their voyage to Australia.

Fu Anding led 3,000 marines to start the conquest near Karopa, and Yinzhen was not idle, and organized manpower to start preparing for the construction of a factory workshop at the Karopa.

Since he has fully captured the South Seas and wants to occupy and develop Australia, the position of the Karopa is much stronger than that of Manila, and Yinzhen is determined to build the Karopa into a slightly larger naval base in order to control the South Seas.

With Yande's absolute superiority in troops and firepower, Temasek surrendered, and most of the Dutch fled after learning of the fall of the Karopa, and the remaining 600 men surrendered after only one day's stubborn resistance, and the good news of the capture of Manchurka reached the Karopa in less than half a month.

In order to prevent the impact on domestic overseas trade, although the Qing navy occupied the Strait of Malacca, it did not prohibit the passage of merchant ships from Western countries, and the Qing Empire fully captured the South Seas, officially declared war on Spain, captured the entire Spanish Far East fleet, captured Manila, Batavia, Manchuria, Temasek, and slaughtered 9,000 Spanish prisoners, and the news spread throughout Europe with the monsoon in the Atlantic.

Kangxi 51st winter, Shanghai.

Honggang, since the establishment of the Royal Navy of the Qing Dynasty in May, after the craftsmen of the factories and workshops in Shanghai were rewarded extensively, Honggang has become a holy place in the hearts of all craftsmen in the entire Qing Dynasty.

Countless craftsmen came here, and many even fled to Honggang, Shanghai, and many miscellaneous talents also came to invest, and people continued to flow into the factories and workshops every day.

Zheng Qinghai, the chief financial manager of Liuchun Garden, knew that the Fourteenth Master wanted to establish naval bases in Tianjin and Nanyang, and that the factories and workshops would also set up branches, so he informed the factories and workshops to recruit people vigorously, and the silver flowing out of his hands every day was like flowing water, and he didn't care about this idea, and it was not worth it if he missed the big thing of the Fourteenth Master.

In just half a year, the scale of Honggang has nearly doubled, and the factories and workshops have also expanded again and again, and the supervisors who have been awarded the head of the Ministry of Industry are now walking with the wind and are full of inexhaustible energy, although there are more and more craftsmen under them, they do not dare to slack off at all.

The most stressful, is the number of cannon foundries, only the battle of Penghu, the navy captured more than 30 Spanish warships, the guns on these battleships are all to be replaced, and Nanyang sees that it is another big war, God knows how many warships will be captured back, not a little inventory, then it will inevitably be flustered, and the fourteenth master also asked to cast sixty pounds of heavy artillery, Tianjin, Nanyang are in a hurry, and the work is too busy.

The gunpowder workshop is also working day and night, the more warships, the greater the gunpowder consumed, the consumption of Nanyang is now amazing, not to mention that the newly recruited 10,000 trainees have completed half a year of step training, and they are about to carry out live-fire training, and the consumption of gunpowder is even greater.

The ironworks, firearms factories, and clothing factories are all the same, the navy is expanding too fast, and the consumption of all kinds of material weapons is quite amazing, and the only thing that is a little easier is probably the shipyard, after all, there are so many docks, and the navy has captured more and more warships and merchant ships, and their pressure is not great.

Naval Academy, all the bigwigs have gone to the South Seas, Captain Fu Han was named by Yinzhen to take on the task of recruit training, he also figured it out, knowing the importance of this errand, which is very beneficial to his future development, and he has no regrets and conscientiously picks up this burden.

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