On April 15, the fifth year of Chongzhen, with a clear breeze and a gentle breeze, ten clippers, 35 cruisers, five Sui-class warships, Huang Zhong, Wei Yan, and Zhao Yun sailed out of Jeju Pier one after another. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Qi Wei stood on the deck of the Zhao Yun and looked around the entire Jeju Military Port, and couldn't help but be full of pride.

Eight Song-class and five Tang-class ships have just been launched, and the twelve patrol ships that have been launched are already fully manned, and the prototype of the Grand Fleet has just appeared.

And he, Qi Wei, is the deputy commander of this large fleet, and he reached this position at a young age, and he really has nothing else to ask for.

This is the first time that he has been inspected in the waters of the Wa Kingdom and the Ryukyus, so Qi Wei also personally led the team to the expedition, so he must make a good start.

Patrolling the sea and collecting taxes is related to the great cause of Lord Zhao Lie, and it is really sloppy.

After forming a group in the open sea, the whole fleet headed south, hidden in the vast ocean.

The Dutch merchant ship, the Mother Tracy, is a 300-ton merchant ship, ten years old, but it is well maintained and can run at six knots in the backwind.

Captain Tremes was sitting in the bow cabin drinking Indian tea, thinking about the harvest of the trip.

There were 10,000 taels of gold and 50,000 taels of silver, as well as Japanese porcelain, folding fans, garments, and knives.

When he arrived in Nagasaki, he unloaded spices, Ming silk, porcelain, raw silk, and muskets, and made a profit of 40,000 taels of silver, but the return trip was a large amount.

Just 10,000 taels of gold back to the Netherlands is half of the benefits, although the price of silver in Europe is not high, but there is also the Ming ah, in Formosa unloading silver and can be traded with the Ming merchants, this is also the income of two or three percent of the transfer.

That's the lucrative ones.

As for other miscellaneous goods such as Japanese knives, porcelain, and silk, some people also buy them in Europe, and they can also have a profit of three or four percent. This trip made a lot of money.

Come to mind. Trimes couldn't help but think of the Spaniards and the Portuguese, who had previously dominated the maritime trade of the Japanese kingdom. The profits in the past 100 years have been very huge.

It's a pity that the money earned by the Spanish royal family is not good for the development of the navy, and after losing to England and France one after another, it deserves to decline now.

Trimes had just put a piece of hard bread in his mouth when the boatswain walked in outside.

"Captain, the lookout sounded the alarm and found three Galen ships." The boatswain said grimly.

In this vast sea, force is power, in fact, there is no law and discipline. If you're strong, you can rob anyone, which is why many pirates and navies in this period couldn't tell the difference at all.

The Dutch, Portuguese, and Spaniards were able to travel the seas in a single ship because of their large ships, their fierce guns, and their speeds, all compared to the stiff-sailed sea-going boats of the natives.

Now there are three Galen ships, which is no small threat, and the biggest threat in this area of the sea is the Portuguese and Spaniards.

Tremes swallowed the bread, grabbed his hat and went to the deck with the boatswain.

"Mr. Tremes, it's the West." The boatswain pointed to the western sky.

Tremes held up his telescope to take a closer look.

I saw a sail shadow appear in the lower corner of the camera.

Still can't see the size of the ship. It's a soft-sail galen without a doubt.

At this moment, a very small, tiny sail shadow appeared.

"Tell the crew to get ready for battle." Tremes gave the order with a blank face. It seems that preparedness is common all over the world.

The boatswain hurriedly ordered the lookout to fire warning shots.

The ship's crew hurriedly rushed out of the lower deck, and some rushed to the gun emplacement, after all, the guns of merchant ships were on the upper deck. Some prepared muskets, knives, shields.

They are all veterans, but they are also prepared in an orderly manner.

In the time of a stick of incense, the three sea ships were clearly revealed in the lens.

They turned out to be warships, and their identities were clearly indicated by their slightly narrower shapes and the muzzle portholes on the sides.

"Oh God." Trimes couldn't help but shout.

Because he found that one of the warships was very large, much larger than his own ship, and it was the first time that Tremes had encountered such a large battleship in this sea.

"Oh God." The boatswain's hand holding the telescope trembled, "Oh God. ”

Trimes looked at the boatswain irritably, "Mr. Nimes, could you please say something else?" ”

"I'm sorry, captain, look at their flags, oh God." Nîmes stumbled.

Trimes rolled his eyes and raised his telescope to take a closer look, he thought to himself, he didn't find that Nimes was such a timid and cowardly guy on weekdays, and when he encountered the Ming and Japanese ships alone, he plundered more than anyone else.

Then Tremes' arm froze there, for he saw a huge flag with the head of a sea eagle flying on the mainmast of the three ships, with a beak curved and powerful, and an eagle's eye untamed.

Nima, this is the battle flag of the Jeju Ming people who escorted the Portuguese in Macau.

The two families fought with great ferocity, this time when the big man stopped to load the goods, I heard that the latest ambush of these Ming people, almost succeeded, you can imagine the grievances of the two families.

Although they are not big ships, they are Dutch merchant ships after all, and they can let us go.

"Prepare for war, prepare for war." Tremes trembled when he heard his own voice, he was really scared.

All the sailors on the Tracy sped up their work, putting on armor, checking the firearms, and preparing the cannon projectile propellant, and soon they were all ready.

It's just that the warships of the Ming people also approached, and they were only a few miles away.

The sailors on the ship are all veterans with many years of experience, and when they saw the three warships surrounding, they knew that they were completely at a disadvantage, and they watched each other's movements silently, because now the strong side is the opponent, and the strong side has the full strength to take the initiative, and the weak side is looking for death if it moves.

When the opposing ship approached two miles, the boatswain asked, "Captain, do you want to open fire?" ”

Tremes glanced at him, shook his head, and said in his heart, I won't stop you if you look for death, but don't pull me either.

Trimes made up his mind that as long as he didn't clash until the last minute, he would have no luck.

The opposing warship did not fire any guns, and drove straight over.

When the two ships were more than half a mile away, they could already see each other's faces, and they were all Ming soldiers.

Above them were neatly arranged a small military formation, all of them wearing iron armor and holding muskets and spears in their hands.

Compared with the Ming people I have seen before, these people are very strong, and they no longer have the thin appearance of Ming people.

Someone in the bow of the other boat shouted, "Stop the ship for inspection, stop the ship for inspection." ”

There were Ming people and Japanese interpreters on board the Tracy who accompanied the ship to interpret the words of the Ming people.

Tremes shook his head and told the Akito, "Tell them that we can hand over five hundred taels of silver and let us leave." ”

He can still take out one or two thousand taels of silver at the bottom line, but this has to be said slowly, and he can't take it out all at once.

But he really didn't dare to let the other party board the ship, because what if the other party took control of the whole ship and killed people, to be honest, this is a common thing at sea.

The Akito interpreter shouted loudly.

The other party still shouted that if the boat didn't stop, it would attack.

Tremes gritted his teeth and didn't answer.

The smaller ship on the other side turned its bow and left, while the largest ship continued on its way, soon approaching less than a mile.

"Captain, let's shoot." The boatswain's trembling voice came.

Tremes was struggling when he saw that the portholes on the side of the opponent were all open, and the muzzle of the black hole leaked out.

There were twenty cannons, facing the Tracy.

The two of them have forgotten what to fire, and will this battle still be fought.

At this moment, the sound of a bang sounded, and several cannons on the other side emitted flames and smoke.

Then the two of them slammed down and almost fell, and they knew they had been shot.

The planks were scattered with dust, and there was an exclamation from the lower deck, and the two of them looked from the side side, only to see three large irregular holes exposed.

Nima, this is too powerful, even a twenty-four-pounder naval gun is greatly inferior.

"Thirty-six pounder." The boatswain's face turned pale immediately, and the other party's cannons were still so powerful, and they were finished.

Tremes turned around and shouted in a dejected manner, telling them that they could board the ship and that there was no point in resisting.

The interpreter hurriedly shouted, even waving his arms and gesturing.

The other side also understood what they meant, or rather, they were waiting for them to surrender, and they had no intention of continuing to fire at all.

A smaller ship regrouped.

After adjusting the direction several times, they finally got closer, and the Ming soldiers hooked Tracy's side with iron hooks, and more than 40 Ming soldiers boarded the ship one after another.

They disarmed the Dutch and put them in custody.

Akito had their men led into the lower deck and began to take a rough inventory of the goods.

Tremes slumped on the bow of the ship in despair, knowing that the gold and silver of the ship were a talisman, and that without it, they might lose some money, but it could cost them their lives.

A few hours ago he had thought that he had too little gold and silver, but now he felt that there were too many to bear.

For the next half hour, Tremes and the sailors awaited their unknown fate in agony.

And on the largest warship in the back, Qi Wei has already received it, and this time the goods are about 100,000 taels of silver.

Thinking of so much gold and silver, he couldn't help but sigh that it was a pity, but he still ordered the tax to be collected and released.

"What, leave five thousand taels of silver and leave." When Tremes heard this, he jumped up from the deck in excitement.

His excitement frightened several Ming soldiers and immediately pointed their knives and guns at him.

"Oh oh oh, you tell them I am, I'm happy." Tremes spoke incoherently to the interpreter.

The interpreter hurriedly translated them one by one.

"When you go to Japan to do business in the Ryukyus, you must pay us a tax of twenty and one tax, and you must not be in arrears, otherwise the whole ship will be seized." A Ming military leader shouted.

Tremes understood this time, and the sea route here was the final say of these Ming people, and after paying taxes, he could travel unhindered, and if he didn't pay, there would be no people or ships. (To be continued.) )

ps: Today is the fifth day of the new year, I wish you a happy new year, and there is no rest for the New Year in the middle of the night, and I finally got through it, thank you for subscribing to the reward recommendation.