"Dangdangdang."

Almost at the same moment, a piercing alarm bell sounded on the battleship Liaodong.

Vice Admiral Cotentan, who had just finished inspecting the deck, walked briskly onto the back deck of the first-class battleship, where Yu Qilin, the captain of the Liaodong, was already standing, holding a monocular and looking at the sea to the south.

"Colonel, how's it going?" Lieutenant General Cotentin asked.

"Still caught up. It seems that it is impossible to run back to Guangzhou unharmed! Yu Qilin frowned and said, "Our only first-class ship and most of the fourth-class ships are painted, and a considerable number of warships have damaged their masts and sails, and their speed will inevitably be damaged!" And they still have a lot of undamaged battleships on their side, which can be put together to form a fast formation to pursue! ”

I have to say that the Spanish Armada with the help of the Dutch and the English is indeed a lot stronger! At least by virtue of numerical superiority, it can chase the ocean-going fleet of the Ming Navy and fight hard. Although their own losses were not small, many of the battleships were also hung up, and their speed also decreased. However, the Spanish Armada already had a numerical advantage, so it was still possible to gather more than 20 battleships of the fourth rank and above to form a fast formation to pursue.

Before the British joined, there was one first-class ship, two second-class ships, five third-class ships and twenty-one fourth-class ships. Later, William III successfully entered England and became the king of England, so he used his position to send an English third-class battleship and twelve fourth-class battleships to the Spanish Armada. In this way, the Spanish Armada had a total of forty-two battleships of the fourth rank and above! Twenty-six of them also came from the Netherlands and England, two of the world's top maritime powers in the 17th century.

In the face of such a strong enemy, it is completely normal for the ocean-going fleet of the Ming Navy, which only has one first-class ship and thirty fourth-class ships, to be chased and beaten by others, and it is already a great achievement to be able to hold on until now without suffering a devastating blow.

But it seems impossible to get rid of this British, Dutch, and Spanish Spanish armada and run back to the port of Guangzhou!

But it seems that you can't beat it!

"I can't run, I can't fight." Codontan pondered and said, "Can we only disband the formation?" ”

Disbanding the formation is just a few that can run!

Yu Qilin shook his head: "We can disband the formation and run away separately, and they can also disband the formation and pursue separately!" It is about 2000 miles away from Guangzhou. There will be many ships that will be overtaken, and we will lose 20 ships! There are thousands of experienced sailors on these 20 ships! ”

Daming now has no shortage of warships, 40 dry docks and hundreds of slipways, working overtime there to build them! Moreover, after several years of running-in, the four major shipyards have now built fourth-class ships, and third-class ships can be regarded as mastered, and even the most difficult first-class battleships have also been trial-produced.

So there is absolutely no shortage of warships in the Ming Navy!

But it took more time to train a good sailor than it took to build a first-class battleship. It took the French only 12 months to build the Royal Sun, which is not enough time to produce a good sailor in any way.

And the Daming ocean-going fleet now has more than 50 warships, armed Galen ships, and nearly 15,000 sailors, including more than 14,000 Han sailors!

The sailors, whether officers, soldiers, or craftsmen, endured nearly 20 months of intense combat duty – 20 months in the Pacific, including months of hide-and-seek and chase with the Spanish Armada.

Moreover, during these 20 months, the soldiers of this group of sailors also took turns to serve as the three "professions" of sailors, deck sailors, and gunners, and the officers were even more proficient in the skills that naval officers must master, such as "ship maneuvering", "gunnery", and "navigation", and even the craftsmen on the ship were trained to become proficient.

If this group of people can be divided into 200 or 300 warships and let them act as the backbone, even if the Ming Navy is supported, it may not be comparable to the three first-class naval powers of the Netherlands, Britain, and France, but it will definitely be invincible in the Pacific Ocean.

Cotentin frowned: "Colonel, I understand that you are reluctant to lose thousands of excellent sailors. But you have to understand that this is war, a war at sea! As long as there is war, there will be sacrifices! In fact, it is already a miracle that our fleet lost less than 1,500 men in this 20-month combat and long-distance mission! In the end, if 10,000 people can return to Guangzhou, it will undoubtedly be a huge success! ”

When he spoke of "miracles" and "great successes", an expression of excitement already appeared on his face.

Because the Daming ocean-going fleet has experienced several "ultra-long-term sea voyages" in this long-term mission, it has already broken through the "scurvy limit"!

Although the Navy Directorate of the Ming General's Office advertised that "lemon tea" could prevent scurvy, Cotentan did not believe it very much. Therefore, when the Ming ocean-going fleet made an ultra-long-term sea voyage between the islands of the South China Sea in order to avoid the pursuit of the Spanish Invincible Fleet, Cotentan was very worried about the outbreak of scurvy in the fleet.

But until now, there has not been a single case of scurvy in the Ming ocean-going fleet. Not a single case!

So Cotentan now also has to believe in "lemon tea" to prevent scurvy. And this discovery cannot be overstated for the value of the Ming and French navies!

Because for the sailors of all countries in this era, naval battles and shipwrecks are not the most dangerous, scurvy is the most dangerous enemy of sailors! If the navies of the Ming and France can defeat this enemy, but the British, Dutch, and Spanish sailors cannot defeat this enemy, then will the balance of victory in the battle for supremacy at sea be on whose side?

As for the loss of a third of the sailors on a 20-month voyage with few shore rests, it is not an outrageous statistic when the threat of scurvy cannot be overcome.

"But the soldiers," Yu Qilin said, "but what if we can keep these thousands of people?" ”

"Paula?" Codontan glanced at Yu Qilin, "How can you protect it?" ”

"We are only more than 600 miles away from Da Nang, Quang Nam, and now it is a tailwind, and we can get there in a day and a half to two days." Yu Qilin said, "Da Nang was built as a naval port, as long as we drive the fleet in, we can keep it!" ”

"Da Nang." Cotentan knew about the port, but didn't know much about its topography, "What is its topography?" Can we keep our fleet? ”

"It's hard to keep the ship!" Yu Qilin said, "The entrance to Da Nang is very wide, almost 15 li, and although a water camp was built in a relatively narrow part of the interior of Da Nang, there was no strong fort to cover the water camp. So it was difficult to withstand the attack of the Spanish Combined Fleet! ”

"You mean to abandon the ship and keep the sailors?" Ke Tang Tan frowned: Da Ming is too wide, right? More than 50 warships and armed Galen ships said they didn't want it?

"No," Yu Qilin shook his head, "I mean to protect the ship to lure the enemy, change the ship to break the enemy!" ”

"Protecting the ship to lure the enemy? Changing ships to break the enemy? Cotentan muttered, "How?" How to break? ”

"We can do this, first of all, our fleet sails into Da Nang, and borrows a little from the general army of Hoi Ninh, and prepares to fight a naval 'positional battle' in Da Nang," Yu Qilin said, "At the same time, we will send a ship to Guangzhou to inform the Nanyang Fleet and ask them to go south to Thanh Hoa Port." And let's send a group of backbones from the ocean-going fleet to Thanh Hoa Port and join the Nanyang Fleet."

"Admiral, the Ming fleet has turned to the northwest, and they seem to want to take refuge off the coast of Quang Nam Kingdom."

Admiral Zabala, hearing the report of his staff officer, immediately walked to the chart table, and his staff officer immediately took a candlestick and lit it for him.

Admiral Sabala stretched out two fingers and swiped lightly on the chart table, and he rowed to the coastal area of the "General Nguyen Thi Quang Nam Kingdom", and then he saw the two important ports of Da Nang and Hoi Ninh marked on the map.

His fingers tapped lightly on the countertop, thinking, "Do they want to retract into Da Nang and Hoi Ninh?" What about those two ports? ”

The reply was a staff officer sent by the Dutch East India Company, who knew the situation in Da Nang and Huining very well.

He said: "Hoi Ninh is a commercial port and fortress that the Ming Dynasty has operated for many years, and the Ming Dynasty has set up a general military palace in Hoi Ninh, but Hoi An is a river port, and the port is small and shallow, and it can't fit into the entire Ming ocean fleet, so most of them will go to Da Nang."

And Da Nang is a military port under construction, and it is also under the jurisdiction of the Daming Huining General Military Office, where the entrance to the harbor is open, and the shore defense batteries cannot cover the channel at all! And according to intelligence, the battery in Da Nang was not completed either. ”

"Shore artillery could not cover the fairway, and the batteries were not completed? Is the message reliable? Admiral Zabala asked.

"Very reliable!" The Dutch staff officer said, "We have always had spies in Quang Nam. ”

"And what else do they have to defend the port?"

"They chose a small bay inside the bay that was very shallow and had a narrow entrance, and connected some wooden boats in series with iron chains to form a fortification similar to a water fortress."

"Haha!" Admiral Sabala laughed, "I seem to have thought of the Battle of Tangsi...... Back then, in the Tang Division, our Spanish Armada was anchored in a similar berth that lacked battery arch guards, and it was again by the Dutch, but this time it was good, the advantage was mine! ”

"Admiral, you are so wise!" The Dutch staff officer immediately complimented.

Hearing this Dutch staff officer, Admiral Sabala also felt that he was quite wise.

"Pass my orders!" The admiral began to give combat orders, "The first detachment is moving at full speed and closely following the enemy fleet."

Another speedboat was sent to inform the second detachment, ordering them to go to the Cham coast to collect some fresh food and fresh water. At the same time, we will look for some small ships suitable for fireboats, and pull them together to Da Nang to meet with the first detachment. ”

"Yes, sir!"

Located on the edge of the Quang Nam General's Mansion (also known as Quang Nam State), the town of Huining was an enclave of the Ming Dynasty. The site is not large, it is a narrow coastal strip from Hoi Nyeong in the north to Da Nang in the south.

As the chief soldier of Huining, it was Qiu Hui of Zheng Jing's system, he was the leader of the anti-Qing rebel army in the Dahao area of Chaozhou, and he was once the last hero to hold high the banner of the Ming Dynasty on the entire continent, and Zheng Jing also made him the prefect of Chaozhou.

After Li Fuchen and Li Yat-sen's father and son unified Guangdong, Qiu Hui ostensibly proclaimed himself a vassal to the Li family, but in fact he was still Zheng Jing's person.

Later, Li Fuchen sent troops to Quang Nam, forcibly occupied Huining, the merchant port of the Ruan clan in Quang Nam, established Huining Town, and arranged for Qiu Hui to go to Huining to be the emperor of the soil! And this arrangement is also very beneficial to Zheng Jing, who is based on maritime trade.

So Qiu Hui was instructed by Zheng Jing to lead his Dahao rebel army to move to Huining, and began to operate Huining, the first commercial port in Annam and Quang Nam, and later took advantage of the opportunity of the Guangnan General's Mansion to send troops to annex the city, and extended his influence to Da Nang.

Although the territory from Hoi Ninh to Da Nang is not large, it is actually a prince because it occupies an important maritime trade node, and Qiu Hui is named the chief soldier.

He has great autonomy in Huining General Soldier Town, so the Qiu family has really made a lot of money over the years!

In the past two years, the Ming Dynasty has torn its face from maritime powers such as the Netherlands, Spain, England, and Portugal. The routes to and from Southeast Asia have been greatly affected, and Huining Town has also changed from the original trade transit station to the frontier town of coastal defense of the Ming Dynasty.

As the lord of Huining, Qiu Hui also had to vigorously reorganize the coastal defense, build cities and forts, and expand the army. Although the General's Mansion sent some silver down, Huining Town was "self-financing" after all, and the commercial taxes they received were all at the disposal of his old Qiu family, so there was no need to go to the household department. Therefore, the General's Mansion will not give him much silver this time, but Lao Qiu has put a lot of money into it.

At the same time, the income of Huining Town has decreased by seventy or eighty percent, and it is simply beyond its means, and it has been sticking to its old capital.

On this day, when he was pulling the abacus beads in his mansion in Huining City, he suddenly heard his son-in-law, Zhu Qipao, the town guard of Da Nang, shouting loudly: "The head town, the head town has good news, a big deal is coming!" ”

"Big deal?" Qiu Hui hurriedly looked up, and saw that Zhu Qicang, who looked fierce and looked like "subduing people with virtue", was leading a foreigner who looked very broad and a small Chinese who looked like Wishing you prosperity and walked in quickly.

The one who looks like "convincing people with virtue" is Zhu Qicang, the foreign devil is of course Lieutenant General Ke Tangtan, and the little man is Yu Qilin. They all arrived in Hoi Ninh on fast horses from Da Nang.

"This is the Dutch? Or the English? What do you want to buy? And what is there to buy? ”

Qiu Hui thought that Cotentan was a smuggler from the Netherlands and England! These days, Dutch and English merchants can't openly come to Huining to do business, but business still has to be done, so they can only smuggle.

"No, no, no, I'm French!" Ke Tangtan was able to understand Qiu Hui's Teochew official dialect and answered in Chinese fluently.

"French? Hello Frenchman! Qiu Hui smiled, "Welcome, welcome to this official Huining Town, the chief military officer, lieutenant general of the army, loyal and brave uncle Qiu Hui, I don't know what this French boss is called?" ”

Yu Qilin said with a smile: "Uncle Zhongyong, this is the Admiral of the Ming Navy's ocean-going fleet, the military gate of the Tang Tanke!" This officer is the captain of the Liaodong ship, the chief of staff of the ocean-going fleet, and the captain of the navy Yu Qilin. ”

That Zhu Qipao had already come to the old man's side at this time, and said in a low voice: "This colonel is the prince of Anguo!" ”

An Guogong is the title of Yu Deshui!

Yu Deshui is a terrible character for Master Yu! is the number one henchman of the Li family's father and son, and now he is the governor of Shandong, which is the head of the feudal territory!

"Ouch," Qiu Hui hurriedly clasped his fists and saluted, "It turned out to be Kejunmen and the little grandfather. I don't know which gust of wind blew the two of you to Huining? ”

"Old Tarzan. It's going to war! Zhu Qipao replied for Ke Tangtan and Yu Qilin, "More than 50 warships of the ocean-going fleet have entered Da Nang, and the Spanish Armada is almost here!" Now our opportunity to make meritorious contributions in Huining Town is here! ”

"Meritorious?" Qiu Hui was stunned, "How can this be established?" ”

Yu Qilin said: "Mr. Qiu, how many war horses and walking horses do you have?" We're going to send some sailors to Thanh Hoa Harbor, and besides, we're going to need a few thousand strong men who can board the ship. If you can help us with this, when we win the Invincible Armada, you will have a great achievement! ”

Qiu Hui patted his chest: "What is the merit or not?" The dog Qiu Rong is also a navy, and now he is serving in the South Sea Fleet! The old man helped with this favor. Boy, let your father lend all the horses and mules to the little grandfather. Mobilize some pickers and prepare enough food rations for 3,000 people for 10 days.

In addition, you will personally go to the Huining Merchant City to recruit people, where there are many unemployed sailors. Recruit 5,000 people first, all of them must be young and strong and have been on the boat! ”

(End of chapter)