The Ming army was celebrating the victory, but the Spanish fleet command was in a miserable situation.

After escaping from the battlefield, the Saint-Martin on which Waldo was riding finally could not hold up and sank at sea. Waldo and the ship's sailors were rescued by other ships and returned to the fleet base on the island of Sumatra.

Of the 20 warships that went to sea, only 5 came back, and the Spaniards in the base could see what the battle was like. When Waldo came down from the boat, his head and hands were wrapped in gauze, and the expression on his face was like that of a defeated rooster, and any optimistic imagination of everyone was in vain.

"Mr. Valdo, what are we going to do now?" Kevin stood in front of Waldo, timidly asking.

"It's all because of you idiot!" Waldo said angrily, "You don't have a full understanding of the strength of the Chinese, their artillery, the range of their artillery, how many ships they have, you don't know anything!" Where do you look like a soldier! Also, you lost more than a dozen ships in Reims, and it was all because of your negligence. If it weren't for this, how could we be at a disadvantage in terms of troops! If we could have five more boats today, the situation would have been completely reversed! And, and why did your St. Marien suddenly stop while it was charging! ”

"Uh...... That's because our rudder was suddenly damaged. Kevin said with a sigh of relief.

"You're lying!" Waldo roared, "It's clear that you're scared, you don't dare to charge ahead!" It is precisely because of your timidity that the Chinese have concentrated their firepower on my flagship. I will accuse you of the king, and as soon as the king's order comes, I will hang you in Saint-Martin with my own hands...... Oh no, on the mast of the St. Marian, hang you! ”

Waldo didn't actually have any evidence to prove that Kevin was lying, but on the way back, he fell into the sea and was soaked in cold water, and his mind became unusually clear, so he thought of the St. Marian's unusual behavior at sea, and guessed that it might be a sign of Kevin's evasion.

Kevin certainly won't admit it. He also knew that Valdo could not find evidence. It was not easy for Valdo to want to hang him without evidence. Kevin can be in charge of a small detachment, of course, there will be no backstage, and a senior commander like him cannot be hanged by his boss casually.

"Mr. Valdo, my ship is really having a problem with the rudder, you see, after we repaired the rudder, didn't we immediately join the battle? Of course, by that time you had already ordered a retreat. Therefore, we were the most resolute and swift in carrying out the order to retreat. Kevin said. All right. This is in the past, and I think we'd better not discuss it anymore. Mr. Waldo, what do you think we should do next? ”

"What else, now I can only write back to China. Please send another fleet to kill all the damned Chinese. Valdo said indignantly. He also knew that he couldn't punish Kevin, so he stupidly blocked the gun for Kevin, and this revenge could only wait for revenge later.

Kevin said: "If you want to send another fleet from China, I'm afraid it's a bit unrealistic. Since the defeat of the Armada to the British, the strength of our domestic fleet has been as great as before, and the existing strength is just enough to prevent the harassment of the British, how can it be sent to Asia? You know, we have a whole 20 ships to fight the Chinese. Outcome...... Not as expected. If you expect the country to send a fleet to defeat Chinese, I think it will take at least 40 ships to do it......"

"It is impossible for His Majesty to send 40 ships to Asia." Waldo also figured out that there were only fifty or sixty ships left in Spain, and 40 were sent to Asia. The country is empty. You must know that the European continent is still competing for hegemony, and although Spain has withdrawn from the competition, its ability to protect itself must still be maintained.

"Report!" Outside the door came the sound of staff officer Raphael's report.

"Come in." Valdo Road.

Raphael walked in, he looked at Kevin, then at Waldo, and said, "Mr. Valdo, I have an idea that I would like to report back to you. ”

"Say it." Valdo said.

Raphael said: "Just now I met several officers from the base, and they said that a Taoist priest came to the base not long ago......"

"Daoist?" Waldo frowned, he had been in Asia for a few years, but he knew what a Taoist was, but he didn't understand why Raphael talked about Taoist priesthood.

"That's the ......" Raphael knew Waldo's doubts and quickly explained: "They said that this Taoist priest claimed to have run away from China, and the reason for running out was that he was blackmailed by the Chinese government. This Taoist priest knew some Chinese magic, so many officers admired him. ”

"To the point, what the hell are you trying to tell me?" Waldo said impatiently, the lower-ranking officers believed in the local Taoism or other religions, which was something that the military priests should be concerned about, and Raphael came here to talk about it, obviously not just to talk about religious issues.

Raphael said: "Yes, I'm going to get to the point right away. According to the officers' exchanges with the Taoist priest, the Chinese appear to be interested in encroaching on Southeast Asia, and they are building warships on a large scale in several seaports. What we see is the first warship they built. ”

"What? You mean, the Chinese are still building more warships? "Waldo was really surprised. In the battle that just ended, they encountered 18 Chinese warships, and if the Chinese built more warships, I am afraid that it would be useless to transfer the entire Spanish fleet.

Raphael said: "According to this Taoist priest, the Chinese are ready to build no less than 100 large ships, and several hundred small ones. However, they are currently facing a shortage of timber and shipbuilders, and it is not expected that this goal will be completed within a year or two. ”

"Even if it's built in a year or two, it's pretty scary." Kevin said with a calm face.

Raphael said: "Therefore, if we want to fight a decisive battle with the Chinese, we must preempt their subsequent warships before they build." If it's just these 18 boats, we still have a way to deal with it, and more, we can't do it. ”

"They only have 15 left." Waldo corrected that he had seen three Chinese warships sunk with his own eyes, "However, we only have five warships left, and you wouldn't suggest that I let those transports fight, would you?" ”

Transports, of course, can also participate in the war, provided that the cabins are modified and the guns are mounted. But on the one hand, there was no time, and on the other hand, Valdo could not find so many guns that could be loaded on a transport ship, so the idea could only be just talk.

Raphael said: "That Taoist priest once missed a sentence, and I thought it was very enlightening to us. ”

"What?" Waldo asked.

"He said that European countries are just small countries compared to China. It is impossible for every country to win a war against China alone. But if European countries unite, China will not work. ”

"United?" Waldo grasped the key to Raphael's words at once, and couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

"But we Europeans ourselves are still at war." Kevin muttered.

Raphael said: "Mr. Valdo, Mr. Kevin, my opinion is that we Europeans are fighting each other in Europe, but in Asia, we should unite. It's like encountering a storm at sea, and no matter how big the enemy is, they will help each other, otherwise no one will survive. Now the Chinese intend to get involved in Southeast Asia, and if each of our countries fights on its own, it will inevitably be broken by the Chinese in the end. If they can unite, they will have the strength to fight with the Chinese. ”

The Chinese Taoist priest that Raphael said was naturally Chen Guanyu, a gold medal spy sent by Su Hao. The words he repeated were all gradually spoken by Chen Guanyu to the lower-level officers of the base in the name of preaching. The lower-ranking officers felt that Chen Guanyu's words were quite reasonable, so they relayed it to Raphael, who in turn relayed it to Waldo.

Neither Waldo nor Raphael doubted the Chinese Taoist priest's intentions in saying these words. In their view, Chen Guanyu may have really been persecuted by the Chinese government, so he will stand on the side of the Europeans to support the Chinese. Because Chen Guanyu's ideas are really not in the interests of the Chinese, they really seem to be wholeheartedly thinking about the Europeans.

Facilitate the union of Europeans, and then settle the European forces in Nanyang in World War I, this is Li Zhen's idea for Su Hao. Su Hao dared to put this idea into practice, out of a high degree of confidence in the strength of the Daming Water Division. The difficulty of fighting at sea lies in the vastness of the sea, and it is impossible to judge where the enemy is hiding. If you can't gather the enemy and destroy it all at once, once the European navy is broken into pieces and adopts a pirate-style combat strategy, it will be too troublesome for the Ming Dynasty.

Waldo couldn't guess the true strength of the Ming army, how could he have thought that Su Hao would have such great ambitions?

"Mr. Raphael, do you think we will be interested in discussing joint affairs with the navies of Britain, the Netherlands, and other countries?" Waldo asked.

Raphael said: "Compared with the Chinese, I think they will be more willing to accept us. We can explain the benefits to them and tell them that once the Chinese fleet is formed, no one can occupy the Chinese, and then everyone will have to withdraw from Southeast Asia, or even the whole of Asia. I think that the commanders of the fleets of the British and Dutch countries should be people who take the overall situation into account. ”

"Well, that's all we have for now." Waldo figured it out. The Spanish fleet fought a decisive battle with the British fleet in Europe, which led to the destruction of the Armadada, but in Asia, the two fleets did not clash, on the contrary, they had some tacit understanding with each other to ensure that the guns were in unison. What needs to be done now is to turn this tacit understanding into an alliance, and everyone will jointly send troops to destroy the Chinese fleet that has not yet taken shape, and Waldo believes that the fleets of other countries should be interested in this matter.