Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1084 The world is not enough for me
The news that the Spanish fleet suddenly appeared behind them made both Huang Zhiting and Gao Jing nervous.

Their nervousness can actually be blamed on Gao Yushi, because according to Gao Yushi’s previous introduction to them, if Portugal is the overlord of Southeast Asia, then Spain is the king of the world in this era.

At this bright moment for Spain, if you want to play against Spain on the battlefield, no matter who you are, you have to carefully consider the consequences, especially in sea battles.

According to Gao Yushi's authorized instructions on the possibility of a battle at sea: whether to fight or not depends on Huang Zhiting, and how to fight depends on Gao Jing. Therefore, the first time Gao Jing got the news, Gao Jing turned his attention to Huang Zhiting's face.

Huang Zhiting didn't speak immediately, but walked to Gao Jing's command table, opened the chart on the table, looked at it, then turned her head and asked, "Commander Gao, if I read correctly, the current situation is that we are in the middle, the Southwest The direction is Malacca, the northeast is the Spanish fleet, and we are about the same distance from both?"

Gao Jing actually didn't need to look at the chart to know the location, but he still walked to the chart, took out three paperweights with small flags on them, placed them in the corresponding positions, and said, "That's right, please take a look at them all."

This is done in accordance with the high-practical habit. The paperweight with the small red flag represents the fleet, and the paperweight with the small blue flag represents the enemy or the target side, which is also in line with the tradition of Ming Shanghong.

Gao Jing explained at the same time: "The wind was strong in the past two days, and the speed of our fleet was very fast. Generally speaking, the speed of the Spanish fleet should also be very fast. But if it is assumed that the Portuguese fleet in Malacca will also come out to intercept As far as my fleet is headed against the wind, its speed cannot be fast—I mean, it must be at least twice as slow as when it is with the wind.”

Huang Zhiting said: "That is to say, in the current situation, assuming we stay in Wansheng Island, it is impossible for the Portuguese and the Spaniards to arrive at the same time and fight us?"

"Yes." Gao Jing replied simply.

Huang Zhiting paused, and then asked: "Then if we go back and fight Spain first, how much time do we have for fighting?"

"Is it on the premise that the Portuguese send troops to intercept?"

"good."

"At least three or four days are enough for us to find the enemy and fight."

In the era without radar and satellites, although there were waterways on the vast sea, those waterways were only used for safe sailing.If it is a time of war, no matter the enemy or our fleet, they may not take the usual course. In this case, finding the enemy becomes a very important thing, and sometimes a lot of time will be wasted.

However, Gao Jing said this very confidently. He only needs three or four days, and he believes that the two major tasks of finding the enemy and fighting can be completed.The reason for such confidence is that the fleet is large enough to separate out several "two-two formations" to investigate the enemy's situation.

Huang Zhiting asked again: "What is the strength of Spain's forty large Galen ships? Has the Nanyang Fleet made an assessment before? If we only talk about paper strength, how does our strength compare with theirs?"

Gao Jing replied: "The Great Galen is just a general term. In fact, according to the calculation method of our Nanyang Fleet, a Western Galen ship with more than 1000 materials (displacement [-] tons) is called the Great Galen. And As far as Galen the Great in Spain is concerned, as far as I know, it is generally around [-] materials."

Huang Zhiting frowned suddenly, and asked, "Half bigger than our armed transport ship?"

The armed transport ship of the Jinghua standard is not small, it is a large merchant ship of 1000 materials.Especially in the Nanyang region, even the Portuguese merchant ships are usually not so big, most of them are about [-] to [-] or [-]. Jinghua's armed transport ships have an advantage in size, so when Huang Zhiting heard about the large Spanish ships Lun couldn't help being surprised that it was as high as [-] materials.

But this is indeed true, because the Spaniards are now the overlord of the sea, and they are very dependent on the gold and silver in the Americas. Therefore, most of the Spanish treasure ship fleets use the real Galen with a huge load, which is considered to be the original carrack sailing ship a hundred years ago. Evolved version.

In fact, the ultimate giant ship version of the Galen ship has not yet come out. In the original history, that honor belonged to the Spanish flagship "Holy Trinity" built in 1767, also translated as "Saint Trinidad", with a displacement of nearly 5000 tons. (4950 tons), it was the only giant ship with four-deck guns in the world at that time, with 140 guns in the whole ship.

However, even if we don't talk about these "future" things, the current Spanish Galen is amazing in terms of the number of shipboard artillery-at least they are two-deck artillery, and the main force of the fleet on the Jinghua side Transport ships, but only open-deck guns.

Among the four "professional warships" of the Jinghua Expeditionary Fleet, three second-class cruisers have one-deck guns, and only the flagship Lang Son has two-deck guns.

Gao Jing briefly introduced these situations to Huang Zhiting. After hearing this, Huang Zhiting couldn't help but feel a little shocked and worried. She thought to herself: No wonder Gao Lang told me before that he could fight Spain if he could. Such a powerful fleet is just his treasure ship. One of the fleets, who knows how many such treasure ship fleets they have in total?

Right now, the fleet in Gao Jing's hands is already [-]% of the Nanyang Fleet and nearly half of the entire Jinghua Liangyang Fleet.Under such circumstances, Huang Zhiting has to consider whether it is cost-effective to fight Spain head-on, and what consequences it will cause.

Facing Gao Jing's eyes asking for instructions, Huang Zhiting suddenly asked: "You said earlier that this fleet originally came from that place called Mexico to deliver money to the Spaniards in Luzon?"

Gao Jing was startled for a moment, then nodded: "Yes, this news should not be wrong, because the news from Luzon said that they started unloading the silver as soon as they arrived in Luzon, and they unloaded thousands of boxes of silver in total. , at least four to five million taels."

"Oh, that's right." Gao Jing added: "At that time, the main force of the fleet stationed in Quanzhou Port was also in Luzon, and they went to trade with the Spaniards. They brought a lot of silk, silk, and some porcelain. Now Thinking about it, they should be doing a deal with these Spanish fleets."

Huang Zhiting breathed a sigh of relief: "That is to say, these Spaniards probably didn't come here against us, they probably dropped by - by the way, they usually go to Malacca when they return to Europe?"

"No, it wasn't like this before." Gao Jing's words made Huang Zhiting a little nervous again: "At least before this time, after the Spanish treasure ship fleet sent the silver to Luzon, they usually had to wait for several months. If you want to return to that Mexico afterward, you cannot go to Malacca.”

Huang Zhiting noticed Gao Jing's wording and asked, "Can't you leave?"

"Yes, because the Portuguese did not agree with their return from Malacca." Gao Jing explained: "Portugal and Spain were only merged last year—it wasn't even called a merger, but Philip II also served as the king of Portugal—here Before, Portugal and Spain seemed not only not friends and partners, but rivals, so the Portuguese did not allow the Spanish fleet to pass through their territory at all."

Huang Zhiting frowned and said, "Then what's the situation this time? Because now the two are the same king, so the Spaniards can go to Malacca?"

"This...maybe it is." Gao Jing didn't dare to speak too much.

In fact, they don't know that Spain's choice to go to Malacca this time is itself a temptation, because at this time Portugal itself has not completely surrendered to Philip II from top to bottom, from the mainland to the colonies.

Although Philip II had declared his enthronement as King of Portugal in Lisbon, there were still many opposition groups in Portugal, and there were still many Portuguese colonies that spanned three continents that did not express their views, or had no time to express their views.

The reason why the Spanish treasure ship fleet changed to Malacca was because of the huge size of its own fleet. It was semi-forced to test the reaction of Malacca and even Goa. To a certain extent, it was also forcing Portugal and Asia The colonial side gives an attitude.

If Gao Wushi himself was here, he might be able to deduce the true meaning of the Spaniard's move based on his previous life understanding, but he is not here, Huang Zhiting can only judge by himself.

Huang Zhiting took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "Tell Zeng Yongcheng that we will not disembark, and ask him to replenish us with fresh water, fruits and vegetables as quickly as possible, and the fleet will pay for the purchase as appropriate. Then give the fleet an order, and the replenishment is complete." Immediately after that set off to the northeast—we'll meet the Spaniards!"

Gao Jing didn't know whether he was happy or worried. Huang Zhiting's decision changed his feelings about the word "female general".According to his original thinking, Huang Zhiting's battle for fame - the battle of Lang Son, was in the final analysis the decision of his master, and Huang Zhiting was only the executor.

In other words, whether or not to fight the Lang Son battle, and when to fight it, are actually highly pragmatic decisions, and Huang Zhiting's task is just to "fight" itself.

So in Gao Jing's view, Huang Zhiting's situation at that time was very similar to his current situation, power and responsibility were limited to execution, not decision.And since she is a woman after all, usually in such an uncertain situation, she should choose to wait and see cautiously first, but who knows that she chose to turn her head to meet her.

It's fine for the wolf soldiers to be unruly, but who knew their female chieftain could be so stubborn?

For a moment, Gao Jing even suspected that if her master was here, she might not have chosen so decisively to face him directly.

Is it because my introduction to the Spaniard's strength is not in place, so that Huang Fudu has misjudged the strength of both parties?

Gao Jing asked herself.

But no matter what, Gao Jing felt that although the Spaniard's single-ship combat power may be stronger, his own fleet is still far superior to the opponent's. If this battle is really going to be fought, it is not impossible.

He took a deep breath and nodded vigorously: "Okay, since the governor has made a decision, let's try the Spaniard's weight and see how good this king of the world is!"

The actions of the Jinghua Fleet changed, and Zeng Yongcheng was also baffled. He thought that he had made a mistake, which made the deputy capital commander angry. He was so frightened that he ordered people to do so, and at the same time boarded the ship to apologize.

However, although Huang Zhiting and Gao Jing received him with serious expressions, from what they said, they were not dissatisfied with him.

Zeng Yongcheng carefully discovered that the Lang Son not only had the intention to set sail immediately, but even seemed to be preparing for battle.He didn't dare to ask too much, he was just worried that the "Da Ming Fleet" was about to go to war with the Portuguese - it was all about fighting well, if not, they, the islanders, would be in big trouble in the future.

Even more troublesome, even if they played well, but Daming's habit is there, in case they retreat after finishing the fight, if the Portuguese come to retaliate in the future, they, the islanders, might be the first unlucky ones .

But Zeng Yongcheng could only keep these worries in his heart, and dared not say anything at all.

After he left, about two hours later, the fresh water has already been replenished, and some fruits and vegetables have also been replenished. Although it is not enough, it is definitely enough for the time being.

So following Huang Zhiting's order, Gao Jing commanded four warships to leave the port, and the main force of the fleet anchored outside the port has also begun to form formation.After a short period of time, the entire fleet turned around and headed northeast.

At the same time, the Spaniards, who were more relaxed all the way, finally got rid of the gloomy weather. Taking advantage of the dawn of the sky, they spotted the two Jinghua ships monitoring their movements from afar.

"Is it a pirate?" Sir Diego looked at it for a while, then asked Justo, the captain and fleet commander beside him.

Justo shook his head: "It doesn't look like it. Their tonnage is not small. Generally, pirate ships will not use such a tonnage as a scout ship. And, sir, please pay attention, from their very unique sail layout. Look, it seems to be very similar to the armed merchant ships of the Jinghua Company we saw in Manila."

Sir Diego was a little surprised, but also curious: "Jinghua Company's ship? Why are they spying on us?" He frowned, then turned to Alfaro and asked, "Your Excellency, have you heard of Jinghua Company?" Is there any piracy in the Nanyang region?"

"Sir, I can answer you with certainty: no." Alfaro shook his head and said, "The Jinghua Company itself is the largest trading company in the Ming Empire. Pirates in this region have been going on for nearly ten years. Just about two years ago, they wiped out a huge pirate alliance in the waters of Fujian, thus gaining the right to rule the northern part of the South China Sea.”

Sir Diego frowned and said, "Then what do you think of their monitoring of us? Or should I regard this as their disrespect to Spain?"

Alfaro was silent for a while, then shook his head and said: "Our operation is the first time that the Spanish treasure ship fleet has appeared on this route to Malacca. Sir, I am more inclined to think that the fleet of Jinghua Company is suspicious of our purpose. .”

"The Spanish navy roams all over the world. No matter where we go, we are free." Sir Diego raised his chin proudly, then seemed to remember something, took out a gold coin from his pocket, and handed it to Alfaro with a smile: "Your Excellency President , take a look at this commemorative gold coin in my hand that has not yet been officially issued-especially look at the inscription on the ribbon under the king's head."

Alfaro took the gold coin doubtfully, and turned it over to the side of the king's head.

I saw a ribbon floating below the profile of Philip II, and an ambitious Latin motto was engraved on the ribbon:

NON SUFFICIT ORBIS
The world is not enough for me. 【Note 1】
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[Note 1]: "The world is not enough for me", first appeared on a Spanish medal in 1583, but it is different from the "commemorative gold coin that has not been officially issued" in this chapter. Its front is the portrait and inscription of King Philip II : "Philip II - King of Spain and the New World".On the other side is an earth, and the phrase "NON SUFFICIT ORBIS" - the world is not enough for me.

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(End of this chapter)