"That's a good idea! I don't know who came up with it? ”

After listening to Feng Xifan's proposal, Rao is Geng Jingzhong, a wicked man, couldn't help but admire.

This method of concentrating most of the rations on the flagship and another warship controlled by the commander of the fleet, so as to control the entire fleet, was actually learned by Zheng Zhilong from the Western colonizers.

In these years, there were very few good people who obeyed the law and obeyed the law, and even more so in the West, where there were few good people, so at that time, the fleets of Western colonists often had crew mutinies, and from time to time there were crew members who took ships and became pirates.

And the commander of the Western fleet does not have enough resources to buy enough henchmen to control the entire fleet, so he can only concentrate on controlling two, sometimes even one ship, and then control the rations of the whole fleet through this ship to coerce the other ships to obey the command.

However, this practice often causes unnecessary losses, such as after the fleet is blown away by a storm at sea, the lone ship will often starve to death because it only carries a few days or ten days of rations, and the tragedy of starvation occurs on the whole ship, of course, this loss is not worth mentioning compared to the huge profits of overseas trade and overseas zero-dollar purchases. So those feudal lords and capitalists who don't have to go to sea in person don't care, it's not human life!

According to the statistics of Van Ouss, an early Dutch marine insurance magnate, in the 16th century, the failure rate of ocean trade voyages was 20% (he charged 25% of the premium).

Although by the 17th century, with the improvement of navigation technology, the failure rate of ocean trade voyages had decreased somewhat, the risk of no return was still high.

In addition, a successful voyage does not mean that the crew will not die for a variety of reasons (scurvy is the biggest cause of death if the ship does not sink). In short, running the ocean these days is basically equivalent to playing with life!

Of course, the Zheng family's merchant ships run off the coast of East Asia and the South China Sea, except for going to Japan, Luzon, and crossing the Dayuan Strait, they are basically coastal sails, and the risk is not so great.

However, Geng Jingzhong is going to the vast Pacific Ocean this time, and there is no place to dock to replenish fresh water. And there is no wind in the Pacific Ocean, the waves are big and the waves are small, where is this wind blowing? It's not very clear. So Geng Jingzhong didn't know anything, he only knew that there was no place in Huaxia, so he dared to dream of going to the New World to avoid the limelight.

The gang of people under him probably don't understand anything! Otherwise, it would be time to tie up Geng Jingzhong and send it to Li Datou. It's better than following him to the Pacific Ocean to die, right?

But this Geng Jingzhong still came to run from time to time, and met Zheng Jing, a nobleman!

According to Zheng Jing's "actuarial calculation", if it weren't for his help, Geng Jingzhong's mortality rate on this voyage to the Americas should be 90 percent, and the real nine deaths would be a lifetime!

And with his help, Geng Jingzhong's survival rate will skyrocket by 400 percent, reaching five deaths and five lives!

So this is busy, the kind-hearted Zheng Jing must help.

"Such a good method, of course, our Royal Highness the Wing King's grandfather, an official and his old man, came up with it!" Feng Xifan said with a smile, "Your Majesty, the three generations of our Royal Highness the Wing King have been crisscrossing the sea, and we know how to sail best!" ”

Geng Jing said loyally: This loss of virtue with smoke was indeed invented by Zheng Zhilong. No wonder he didn't get a good report!

Thinking so in his heart, of course he can't say it on his lips, who made Geng Jingzhong ask Zheng Jing now?

"Feng Sima, don't call me the emperor, I haven't been the emperor for a few days, you call me a general," Geng Jingzhong smiled all over his face, and then followed Feng Xifan's thoughts and asked, "Since His Royal Highness the Wing King knows navigation best, then he must know where I should go to find a Han crew who can really run the ocean and the two ocean-going ships that they can skillfully control, right?" ”

"Coincidentally!" Feng Xifan said with a smile, "The Winged King has just a group of Han seamen who can run the ocean and two English-style Galen ships that they can handle, these seafarers are all taught by the teachers of England hired by the Winged King at a high price, and those two ships are also built by the craftsmen of England with the help of His Royal Highness the Winged King." It's big and strong, and the firepower is very strong. ”

Zheng Ming and Spain and the Netherlands have always been rivals, but they also have foreign friends, and the British East India Company has always been Zheng Ming's partner. Nowadays, the tea that British gentlemen drink, eat sugar, wear silk, and use porcelain are all supplied by the Zheng family.

Earlier, the British East India Company also had a trading house on Dayuan Island, which has now moved to Zhangzhou.

And Zheng Jing is such a monkey spirit, of course he knows that he has to continuously improve the core technology of sea zero yuan purchase! Therefore, after the situation of the anti-Qing Dynasty and the restoration of the Ming Dynasty was very good, he turned his business focus overseas, and spent a lot of effort to dig up the crew and craftsmen of the British East India Company.

This Zheng Jing is not only very rich, he is also the king of the Ming Dynasty, and he can guarantee others to be nobles! Who wouldn't want to be the "nobles of Seris" among those English adventurers who wandered to the East?

In the eyes of Europeans in the seventeenth century, the Chinese aristocracy was more high-end, magnificent, and high-grade than the nobility of the English islanders.

In addition, in recent years, the "Treatise on the Great Duke of the World", "Mingyi Interview Record", "Heavenly Dynasty Tianmu System", and what kind of original monarchs, former ministers, Chinese people, Chinese people, Chinese people, and Chinese people republic, this set of theories that sound very progressive have been transmitted to the West, and in the eyes of a group of European intellectuals, this is simply the Roman Lighthouse Republic of the East!

Therefore, under the high salary offered by Zheng Jing and the favorable conditions of the Ming aristocracy, the job-hopping rate of the British East India Company has been high. With the help of these blonde and blue-eyed Ming nobles, the Zheng family's Yiguan Academy in Zhangzhou has trained many professionals in navigation, and the Zheng family's shipyards in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou have also built a five-hundred-ton British Galen ship.

Now these students from the Zhangzhou Yiguantang have boarded the British Galen ship, and the old sailors of the Zheng family and the blonde and blue-eyed Ming nobles have taken them, and now they can go to sea to do business.

And with such a good ship and crew, it is better to get off to a good start and take on a real big deal, such as looking for a way to the other side of the ocean!

"Then I wonder if Zheng Jing can lend me these two boats and the sailors on board?" Geng Jingzhong immediately made a request according to Feng Xifan's meaning.

"Of course you can borrow. But, General, how are you going to take down the Spanish galleon? Feng Xifan asked another rather professional question.

"Isn't that easy?" Geng Jingzhong smiled, "I have 7,000 brothers on Ryukyu Island, and the Spaniards are seven or eight sailing ships, and there are 800 people on top of the sky, and I have 7,000 people to take 800 people, and I am afraid that I will not be able to take them?" ”

Feng Xifan waved his hand, "I can't take it!" Eight hundred people will not go ashore together, even if it is to load goods, they will be heavily guarded, the Spaniards have been fighting and killing on the ocean for almost two hundred years, and it is not so easy to handle! ”

Geng Jingzhong frowned: "What should I do?" FENG Sima. As far as I know, the Yiwang family has been making a fortune at sea for several generations, so it must be very good at doing this, right? ”

Feng Xifan nodded and said with a smile: "General, you are right!" The Yiwang family is good at doing this. As long as you are willing to listen to the arrangements below, you can keep the galleons that can take down these Spaniards, and there are English people under the command of the Winged King who know how to snatch the Spanish galleons! ”

"Oh?" Geng Jingzhong had already guessed Feng Xifan's intention, and immediately smiled, "The Wing King is really a friend!" But I can't ask Wing Wang Bai to help, right? Feng Sima, what are the requirements of the Wing King, can you just say it? ”

Feng Xifan smiled: "As long as you can cross the ocean with thousands of elite soldiers to reach New Spain, you have already done the Wing King a great favor. Others, when they arrive in the place, some are to talk about, hehe, this new Spain is full of gold and silver mountains! That's why the Spaniards watched us tightly and didn't let us in! ”

"Really?" Geng Jingzhong sneered, "I'm going to break into this Longtan Tiger's Den!" ”

"Good!"

On the third day of the third month of the fourth year of the Ming Dynasty, the Ryukyu Kingdom Shuri Castle was west of Naha Port.

The Spanish galleon with a deadweight of 500 tons. The Juan led seven smaller Spanish galleons as the westerly wind, blowing from the vast continent to the west, rolled up the snow-white waves and slowly sailed into the harbor. Naha's harbor is not built in a bay, but faces the vast East China Sea, and the waterways are wide and easy to get into.

All eight ships were full of sailors, poor adventurers from the old Spain of New Spain or from Europe, who were on deck. When they arrived in Manila, they heard that the Ryukyu Kingdom had been freed from the rule of the anti-Christian Tokugawa shogunate of Japan and had returned to the rule of the Ming Empire, which was at war on the Asian continent. The one who was sent by the Ming to recover the vassal state of the Ryukyus was a rather enlightened and Catholic-friendly general.

It is also said that the shogun intended to transform the Ryukyu Kingdom into a trading hub on the East Asian seas open to Catholicism, as well as a base for his conquest of Japan!

A Chinese general who is quite friendly to Catholicism, an open maritime trading city, and a war to conquer Japan, the anti-Christian country of gold, sounds pleasant!

The commander of this Spanish sailing team, Juan Brown. López and the previous consul of New Spain in Canton are now returning to González in New Spain by boat. The Juan was high in the stern, holding a telescope and looking at the port in front of them, which was both familiar and unfamiliar to them.

The port of Naha was in front of them.

Surrounded by tall black-gray stone walls, the Shuri Imperial Castle stands majestically and majestically to the east of the port and trading market. Most of the buildings in the port and commercial market are Chinese-style, and a small part are Japanese-style.

But it was most appealing to Juan. López and Gonzalez are still looking at two fortresses that stand on both sides of Naha Harbor at an unknown time, stacked with sacks filled with sand or mud, two Chinese-style shopping streets that were newly built at an unknown time, and a Chinese temple-style building with a huge cross erected on the roof!

"Father, is that a cross?"

Juan. López was a very devout Catholic, and when he saw the temple with the cross, he was so excited that he quickly drew a cross on his chest.

"That's right, it's the cross. The last time I came to Naha Port, the temple was still dedicated to Buddha, but now it's a church! Gonzalez also looked excited.

As a diplomat of the New Spanish authorities in East Asia, he succeeded in promoting the spread of Catholicism.

"Doesn't seem right!" Juan. López raised his telescope at this time and looked around.

Gonzalez also raised his binoculars and looked at the temple with the cross erected, "Yes, it's a cross!" He then turned his binoculars to Shuri Castle, looked at it carefully, and became excited again, "It seems that there is a cross erected on the side of Shuri Castle, and that is a royal castle!" ”

Does the fact that there is a cross on the royal castle mean that the king of the Ryukyu Kingdom has become a child of the Father? Isn't that a credit to Gonzalez, the able diplomat sent by New Spain to East Asia who was very devout to the Father?

Juan. López put down his binoculars and said to Gonzalez, "Mr. Consul, haven't you noticed that there are no people on the very deserted streets in Naha Port!" ”

"No one?" Gonzalez held up his binoculars and looked at it again, "It seems to be a little deserted. Is it Sunday? ”

"No, it's Wednesday." Juan. Lopez.

"Where did all those people go? Such a large and prosperous commercial port. No, why don't there even have a single merchant ship in the port? ”

Being Juan. López and González, two Spaniards, were struggling with the question "Where have all the people gone?" However, there were not many of them, only a few civil officials in red and green robes and black gauze hats, a few soldiers with flintlock pistols on their backs, and a few dock workers in short clothes, strode out of the two sandbag forts and a yamen to make a pilgrimage. The Juan came in the direction where it was docked.

Finally here, Juan. López hastened to order St. The Juan anchored and lowered the gangplank, and he disembarked with Gonzalez, along with several soldiers in plate armor, swords, and flintlock muskets.

Gonzalez spoke some Chinese and could communicate with officials in China and the Ryukyus without the need for a general affair. He first politely saluted a middle-aged civil official who was polite and polite, and then introduced himself in Chinese: "I am Gonzalez, an envoy of New Spain and a friend of General Geng Zhengdong, and I have been invited to Ryukyu by the general along with the Spanish galleon. ”

The official arched his hand and replied in Chinese: "The lower official is Feng Xifan, the chief secretary of the Zhengdong General's Mansion, who stayed in the Ryukyu Kingdom on the orders of the general, assisted the monarch, and presided over government affairs. When the shogun left, he said that you would come to the Ryukyus in the spring to trade, and let the lower officials take care of your interests. ”

At this time, Gonzalez suddenly noticed that this official named Feng Xifan and several other officials had a cross on their chests! Immediately became excited, drew a cross on his chest, and asked, "Excuse me. Are you a believer in Heavenly Father? ”

Feng Xifan immediately drew a cross as well, and his movements were very skillful, "Yes, it was Father Hong who led General Geng and all of us into the arms of Heavenly Father. ”

"Father Hong? His Christian name is "

"John, John."

Gonzalez remembered that John Hong had been sent to China by King Louis XIV of France to preach to Wu Sangui. It is estimated that this Wu Sangui is not religious, otherwise he would not have been blessed by his Heavenly Father and would have been defeated.

Thinking of this, he asked again, "What about Father John Hong?" Is he in the Ryukyus? ”

"No," Feng Xifan shook his head, "he followed General Geng to the east to conquer Japan!" ”

"What?" Gonzalez was stunned, "General Geng has already gone to attack Japan?" ”

"Yes," said Feng Xifan, "most of the soldiers and the strong men of the Ryukyu Kingdom have gone on the expedition, and I think you have seen it as well, and there are few people left in the whole of Naha. ”

"But, but the second batch of munitions I promised him has just arrived!" Gonzalez said, "This batch of ammunition includes ten siege cannons, without which General Geng would have been able to capture the Japanese fortifications?" ”

"The general got the cannon he wanted, and the officers who were good at siege and use artillery were all brought by Father Hong." Feng Xifan said, "Those people were supposed to help Wu Sangui, but they were stopped in Canton and had to return to their warships anchored on Xiangshan Island, and then they heard that the general was ordered to crusade against Japan, so they came to Ryukyu." Thanks to the help of Fr. Hong, General Sou led all of us to Catholicism. Now the general is fighting against the Father! ”

It's all right!

The things that Feng Xifan said can match all the things that Gonzalez knows!

Gonzalez was thrilled at this time, although General Geng converted to the French Heavenly Father, but the French Heavenly Father and the Spanish Heavenly Father are the same Heavenly Father, which is undoubtedly a major breakthrough for Catholicism in the East Asian world!

Just when he was extremely excited, Feng Xifan spoke again: "Mr. Gonzalez, the general has already purchased the silk you need for you before leaving the Ryukyus. It's all the finest lake silk, and there are some porcelain. Of course, the rations, fresh water, and rice wine prepared for you by the Ryukyu Kingdom are stored in the storehouse of Shin-Main Street. All you need to do is hand over the silver to the merchants who have arrived from Ningbo and the silk will be loaded onto the ship. But we don't have a few coolies to use now, and all the strong men have followed the general on the expedition and acted as oarsmen. ”

"Oh, wait," Gonzalez said, turning back in Spanish, to tell Juan, the commander of the galleon fleet, the good news and the lack of labor in the port of Naha to carry goods and rations, and the lack of fresh water boats. López, and then he said to López, "Commander, let all our sailors get off the ship and help carry the goods. There's a lot to carry this time!

(End of chapter)