From mid-October to mid-November, the Liangguang Governor's Office ordered the coastal army to be on full alert, and on the other hand, it urgently reported to the Beijing division for 600 li. Wang Zunde, who had passed the age of the sixtieth year, personally sat in the city of Guangzhou, stayed up all night, constantly summoned local civil and military officials every day, arranged for soldiers and horses to carry the baggage, and prepared to meet the "attack" of Miyi.

However, in such a month, I didn't see Mi Yi or a single soldier or boat appear, and the fire in Wang Zunde's heart was even more uncontrollable. In a fit of rage, Wang Zunde habitually poured his anger on the Portuguese in Macao, and in the name of "preventing the exchange of Fanyi", he sent the Governor Battalion to Macao to blockade the city and port, so that the Portuguese, who had finally resumed normal business last year, wanted to cry without tears.

It stands to reason that such a major event, how can it be notified to Xiong Wencan, the governor of Fujian, who also has to undertake the coastal defense of Fujian and Guangdong? But Wang Zunde's temper was really strange, and he didn't have a single official document sent to the Fujian Governor's Yamen, let alone count on Zheng Zhilong, the deputy general of Jin Peng's coastal defense, who held the first strong naval division on the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty, to come to support.

On November 18, a maritime merchant who was said to be from Leizhou finally forwarded a diplomatic letter from China and the United States to Wang Zunde. At the same time, a Chinese and American fleet of four warships also appeared in the ocean more than a dozen nautical miles south of Guangzhou, which made the passing Fujian and Guangdong maritime merchants tremble.

The official document was signed by the "Department of Overseas Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China and the United States of America on Pearl Island", and the diplomatic document was naturally polite with content that made Wang Zunde gnash his teeth.

“…… On behalf of the victims, you are required to compensate our nationals for medical treatment and mental damage, as well as economic losses caused by the seizure of merchant ships, in the total amount of 33,605 taels of silver, and to ensure that the above-mentioned incidents affecting bilateral trade and friendship will not occur again. If you have any other views on this, the two sides can hold diplomatic contacts off the coast of Guangzhou in the near future and handle the matter appropriately. ”

A staff member scrambled to read a beautiful diplomatic document written in simplified Chinese, many of the words not very clear, but they were relevant to the context. I can get a rough idea, too.

"Ridiculous! It's just a number of people who have forgotten their ancestors and abandoned the country to surrender. The camp is prohibited, the army is so rampant, Yelang is arrogant, and he doesn't take the Ming court in his eyes! Wang Zunde coughed while slamming the table, and all the civil and military officials in the hall looked at each other.

"Governor, there is no noise in Fujian now, and it is unknown whether the court is at war or peace. The Miyi warship came from afar and anchored in the outer ocean of Aonan. You can not respond, and if you wait for the time to run out of food, you will naturally withdraw from the army. An official stood up and said cautiously, while still looking at Chen Qian, the general soldier of Guangdong, who was nervous.

"Hmph, Xiaobang is just a bit of a bad man. Since the governor has been ordered by the emperor to be the governor of Liangguang, this Mi Yi Xiao has violated the ban, and it should be struck by thunder! Wang Zunde threw away the diplomatic documents. Directly picked up the governor's order on the table, "Chief Chen, now that the soldiers and horses are ready, you will lead the troops to the sea tomorrow for inspection." If the Fanyi military ship does not respect the ban of our dynasty, it can be killed! ”

"The last general commands." Being shouted by the governor Wang Zunde, Chen Qian seemed to have a premonition and shivered on the spot, so he could only walk to the hall hard. Get on your knees and receive orders.

……

On Tuesday, November 19, 1630, the tenth sixteenth of the third year of the Ming Empire.

The Ming Army's naval divisions led by Chen Qian, the commander-in-chief of Guangdong, finally drove to the waters near the Wanshan Islands, a dozen nautical miles southeast of Macao. Meet the U.S. Asian Fleet, which has been here for many days.

Under him is the largest warship in the naval division in Fujian and Guangdong, and it can be regarded as a first-class warship of the Daming naval division. In addition to the Dutch warships, even most of the ships of the Luzon Furrons could not match. However, it is the ship that can hold face, and the other thirty or so ships brought out by this sortie, the largest is no more than a thousand. In contrast, a few miles away, each of the four magnificent warships was larger than his own.

Chen Qian has also always had reservations about the Governor of Liangguang being fooled by the people below to target the affairs of Fanyi Maritime Merchants and Fujian. Because he himself has long accepted bribes from Fanyi merchant ships including Macao, Luzon and even Java, not to mention those Fujian-Guangdong maritime merchants who will give themselves a little filial piety every once in a while.

But Wang Zunde was angry, and he took this kind of immortal fighting temper to the extreme. If he fights, even Zheng Zhilong pretends not to see with his eyes closed, in case there is a mistake, he will be unlucky at that time, not to mention that he has already received the silver taels from Li Guozhu in Luzon. If you don't fight, the civil and military officials who have been cleaned up by Wang Zunde over the years are role models.

"Military Gate! It's less than three miles away from the ship, why don't you fire a warning first? A confidant general said cautiously on the side, and it seemed that he had secretly received the benefits of Li Guozhu, and he had already guessed the boss's thoughts.

Chen Qian pinched his beard and nodded with difficulty: "Well, this time it's just to drive away the Yi soldiers and protect the waterway out of Guangzhou, and you can't fight in waves." ”

The general understood this, immediately ran to the ship's building, and ordered someone to wave the command flag. Eight Ming warships received the order and began to turn slowly, facing the crosswind towards the Huamei Asian fleet.

On the flagship Black Crystal light cruiser, Wang Zhihua put down the binoculars with a hint of suspicion, and said to Major Kent beside him: "Isn't there someone who has a relationship, the Ming army has already said hello, won't they fight?" ”

"Maybe they got an order to fight." Major Kent was also a little unsure, because in the telescope, the opponent's main formation obviously didn't look like it was going to fight hard, but he sent a few small ships to meet the battle, no matter how you look at it, those small ships are impossible to compete with the firepower of their own fleet.

"Want to make a gesture?" Wang Zhihua turned his head to the northeast direction, and became suspicious of Li Guozhu's promise, "No matter, since it is hostile, let's fight it!" The order was as follows: the whole fleet maintained a speed of 6 knots, headed northeast, entered a distance of 1000 meters and began shelling! ”

The light cruiser USS Dark Crystal was the first to turn around, followed by 3 frigates. The gunners and observers on each ship carefully rested their heads on the combined rangefinders and calculated the distance of the Ming fleet.

Soon the order for shelling was communicated to the ships, and all four battleships fired the first corrective rounds in a matter of seconds, followed by the beginning of a long-trained salvo.

After preliminary correction, the first wave of shells fell on the Ming convoy with a whistling roar, setting off a large column of water, which frightened the officers and men of the Ming Army's naval division, who had not conducted a single exercise for many years.

"Military Gate...... There are still two miles away, and this Miyi warship will fire first! The henchman's face turned pale instantly. Because he could see at a glance that these shells that had entered the water were obviously not fired indiscriminately.

Another salvo was fired, and the water column from the shells was closer to the Ming warship, and even a small warship was bent by the water column that rose into the sky. At this time, even Chen Qian couldn't sit still, and a lot of sweat broke out in his hands.

At a distance of less than 800 meters, the third salvo of the Chinese and American fleets no longer gave the Ming warships a chance to continue playing exciting. A small boat was very "lucky" to be hit by two 90-mm high-explosive shells at the same time, and the sudden rising flames and the expanding shock wave tore apart the hull, and more than a dozen officers and men of the Ming Army's naval division with incomplete limbs flew out mixed with smoke and wood chips, and the whole ship fell apart on the spot.

Before they could get within range of their own fire, the Ming army suffered losses. Some of the Ming warships that could not hold back their temperament also began to launch a counterattack with their bow guns. It's a pity that two or three pounds of small guns with an effective range of less than 500 meters can't cause any trouble to the opponent at all.

After the fifth and sixth salvos of the Huamei fleet, the Ming outpost fleet that had gone out from the main line to meet the battle collapsed, and three of the eight small warships that attacked were blown apart, and one was also on fire, and the remaining warships completely lost their fighting spirit and changed course one after another, trying to flee the battlefield.

However, it seems that the Huamei fleet does not intend to end this "tentative naval battle" of "low-key luxury and connotation" ahead of schedule, and when the distance between the two sides is shortened to 500 meters, the artillery speed of the Huamei fleet suddenly increases by a notch.

Seventh round salvo. Another Ming warship exploded in the amidships, and the mast of the other ship was directly blown into the sky...... After the end of the tenth salvo, the Ming warships that remained in the range of the shelling were left with only the last ship that had fled back towards them.

"Forget it, it seems that they don't have the guts to press the whole army. Leave the rest to Fan Li and them. Although Wang Zhihua felt unfinished, he couldn't resist the interest of catching the other party all.

……

The naval battle of the Wanshan Islands ended in less than an hour, and the naval division led by Chen Qian, the general soldier of Guangdong, did not even touch the corners of the opponent's clothes, and lost seven ships. Hundreds of officers and soldiers were killed and wounded. Chen Qian did not retreat to Guangzhou City this time, but retreated directly to the east with the remaining warships, intending to return to his hometown of Nanao Island. Then only one garrison was sent to report to Wang Zunde, the governor of Liangguang, who was waiting for the "good news".

“…… Miyi ship strong artillery, far away from the cannon that is, although the army does not retreat, but the medicine is stubborn, it is difficult to continue, when retreat to Nanao, and then Xu Tuzhi. ”

Wang Zunde, who received the defeat in the naval battle ahead, was so angry that he vomited a mouthful of blood, and directly slapped the table and scolded Chen Qian for losing the army and humiliating the country, and his crime should be punished. If it weren't for the persuasion of the left and right staff, this old man would have pulled out his sword on the spot and went to Nanao County to chase and cut Chen Qian.

On November 20, Wang Zunde once again rejected the peace talks document forwarded by Fan Li, the special diplomatic envoy of China and the United States, and even began to issue official documents to the ports around Guangzhou Prefecture, saying that no Fanyi would be allowed to call at the port in the future.

Two days later, as if to sprinkle the last lethal salt on Wang Zunde's wounds, the Huamei Asian Fleet sailed into Guangzhou Bay again in the rain and launched an artillery bombardment on the Humen Fortress in broad daylight.

The bombardment was no longer symbolic, and the dense barrage of artillery coverage lasted for nearly an hour, and more than 1,000 high-explosive shells almost blew up the Humen Shajiao Fort into ruins, and more than 20 Ming artillery pieces were all destroyed, and hundreds of officers and men were killed or wounded. Then the Hua-US Asian Fleet sent small boats to land directly at Humen, dropping an ultimatum: if Wang Zunde continued to adopt an attitude of hatred towards China and the United States and refused to negotiate peace, he would shell the city of Guangzhou.

After learning that the Humen coastal defense fortress was completely destroyed and the Huamei fleet was about to shell Guangzhou, Wang Zunde vomited several liters of blood in the governor's line and died of illness the next day, and his death was a year earlier than the original history.

On November 26, the Fujian Jin Penghai Waterproof Division, who was "shocked to hear about the Guangzhou Incident", and the senior member Xuanwei Division, the first section of the Water Division, was "belated", and the deputy general Zheng Zhilong led this huge main fleet into Guangzhou Bay.

When Zheng Zhilong was stationed at the mouth of the Pearl River as a savior, Xiong Wencan, the governor of Fujian, also began to write to Emperor Chongzhen: "Wang Zunde, the governor of Liangguang, was sincere for the country, forcibly drove the sick body to sit in the court, vomited blood and died, and the ministers also choked their wrists...... The Fujian Sea Waterproof Division arrived, and the Xuanwei Division and the Guangdong Town Soldier Ship went out in front of the Xuanwei, and the ship fled in shock, and the Fujian and Guangdong Lishu were ......"

Fanyi was intimidated away by the Ming army, which can be regarded as a great victory in momentum. The Governor's death seemed too cheap, and the death of illness seemed even more plausible, so that it seemed that this victory was not easy to come by. The result of "the tree fell and the monkey scattered" was that the commander of the southern head of Guangzhou Prefecture was to make a few petty officials below try to extort the ship's dealers, and I don't know who found out.

Huamei's subsequent diplomatic documents underwent a 360-degree change in attitude, and he was "deeply regretful" about Wang Zunde's death and "looking forward to returning to the old good". At the same time, Chen Qian, the general soldier of Guangdong, divided part of the silver taels and began to frequently move up and down the Guangzhou Mansion.

……

On the question of who would succeed the governor of Liangguang, the center of the Ming court then engaged in a fierce debate. However, this time, Emperor Chongzhen did not leave the cabinet at his mercy, and he had already made up his mind. In Chongzhen's eyes, the trouble of Liangguang is not just as simple as facing Nanyang Fanyi, but a lot of bad things about the rebellion of the Miao, Yi, Li and other ethnic groups is the big trouble of the imperial court's henchmen in southern Xinjiang. He admired Xiong Wencan's tight and moderate external skills, and he was also good at settling down the southeast and controlling the military town, and there was no one more suitable to serve as the governor of Liangguang than Xiong Wencan?

In this way, Huamei's "tightrope walking" behavior in the Far East once again came to a successful end. On November 30, the frigate Dandelion, which had completed the combat readiness of the Asian Fleet, escorted the convoy back to the Atlantic. In addition to carrying more than 4,500 Ming refugees, the fleet also has a large number of oriental commodities and raw materials purchased by the Oriental Union Group.

A batch of gorgeous goods shipped by the Oriental Union Group to Pearl Island has been almost swept away in the frenzied buying action of merchants from all over Southeast Asia. Although Huamei goods are no longer a high-priced commodity in the Far East, the one-way net profit of the Oriental Union Group still exceeds 200,000 US dollars, and the local government of Mingzhu City also receives some taxes. (To be continued......)