prosperous age

Chapter 1037 Success

"clang clang"

The alarm bells kept ringing, spreading throughout the ship. All the sailors rushed out of the cabins, staring blankly at the scene at the mouth of the bay, where warships that were very different in shape from European warships appeared.

They knew that it was a ship built by a country called Ming Dynasty thousands of miles away, and they were already very familiar with it.

But where is this place?

This is not Manila, why would there be Ming Dynasty ships here?

With so many ships gathered together, they are not merchant ships, but can only be the official fleet of the Ming Dynasty.

"They are approaching, get ready for a fight."

The lookout shouted loudly to his stunned comrades.

Following the lookout's shout, everyone came to their senses, quickly returned to their positions, and began preparing for battle.

Although the Ming Kingdom seemed to be their ally, so many warships suddenly appeared on the other side, and no advance news was sent before they entered the port.

Those who come are not good, and those who are good don't.

The Spaniards are not fools. They have often fought with Portuguese and even English pirates before. Naturally, they are very cautious and will never trust others easily.

What's more, this is the Far East waters, a place without order.

The opposing fleet came without warning, which is not an ordinary situation.

Under normal circumstances, the two fleets would inform each other before approaching to show that there was no hostility.

"what happened?"

After the Spanish sailors took their positions, the captain finally appeared on the deck.

"my God."

Without anyone else explaining the situation, he had already seen the Ming fleet sailing in from the mouth of the bay.

"Get ready for battle, raise the sails, and the flagman will communicate with them immediately to see what they are going to do?"

The captain immediately issued a series of orders.

Raising the sails and manning the gunners are the most important combat preparations before a naval battle. A warship is not a fixed gun turret and needs to be mobile to have an advantage.

Especially in the current situation, facing the Ming fleet which has numerical advantage.

At the very least, you cannot be surrounded by the enemy and you must maintain a certain level of mobility.

  The captains of several Spanish armed merchant ships issued similar orders at this time, and the armed merchant ship flying the flagship flag lowered a small boat and sailed towards the Ming South China Sea Navy opposite.

This small boat was certainly not meant to block their progress. It would be like a mantis trying to stop a chariot. It just wanted to get in touch with the other fleet as soon as possible to avoid misunderstandings.

All the Spanish captains looked at the small boat indifferently. Although they were prepared, they did not have much time and space left.

According to their experience, the arrival of the Ming fleet was definitely not an alliance, but rather a hidden hostility, but they just needed further confirmation.

The captains who had come to the Ming Dynasty for trade also roughly guessed the origin of the Ming fleet before them. It should be the South China Sea Fleet that the Ming Dynasty had assembled and formed in recent years.

Naturally, the changes in the bay could not be hidden from the barbarians on the shore.

Every day they send out patrols to patrol near the west gate of玳瑁城, which is close to the bay.

Suddenly seeing so many Ming warships pouring into the bay, they naturally reported it to Savela immediately.

"What? A Ming fleet appeared in the bay?"

After hearing the patrolman's report, Savilla looked incredulous.

He had heard from merchants who traveled to and from the Ming Dynasty many times that the Ming Dynasty seemed to have no external ambitions, but why would their fleet appear here?

The sound of gunfire that had echoed throughout the night in Daimao City had stopped. It was obvious that the Ming army had successfully occupied Daimao City.

He was planning to send someone to discuss with the Ming generals today and let their troops enter the city to maintain order.

After all, Spain also deserves the credit for capturing this city, but they cannot allow the Ming people to occupy it for a long time, as this would be detrimental to Spain's control of the Philippines.

But at this critical moment, the Ming fleet appeared. Could it be that they came to encircle and suppress the pirates?

But the timing of this appearance seems too coincidental.

"Go and tell Lieutenant Miguel to come to me immediately."

Savilla immediately made a decision to send someone to communicate with the Ming people to see what the situation was.

Of course, he would never do nothing. After the guard left, Savilla called another guard and ordered, "Notify all officers immediately and prepare for battle against the Ming people.

Send out more patrols to monitor Daimao City and the Ming army camp, now, immediately."

"Yes, Commander."

Upon receiving the order, the guard stood at attention, turned around and left the hut to convey the order.

The news that the Ming fleet appeared in Pengaslan Bay spread throughout the Spanish military camp like a gust of wind.

Those who used to laugh at the stupidity of the Ming people can no longer laugh.

At the beginning, because of their usual understanding of the Ming Dynasty, they thought that after helping them eliminate the pirates, the Ming people would take Lin Feng away and return to the Ming Dynasty to ask for credit and reward, and hand over the entire Philippines to them.

But now it seems that this idea is difficult to realize.

When more Ming troops arrive, no one can say whether they will become interested in this place.

However, just be prepared to deal with it.

A large number of patrols were sent out, especially towards the east gate of the Ming army camp. A large number of troops had been deployed to the edge of the camp to establish temporary positions.

Also bring two cannons over there to increase the defense there.

The Spanish reaction did not exceed Yu Dayou's judgment. After Men Chongwen led his troops back to the military camp, he was immediately sent to the east side of the military camp to make defensive deployments.

However, what Yu Dayou was most concerned about was the situation at the south gate of Daimao City.

According to continuous battle reports, he already knew that most of the city of Daimao had been controlled by the Ming army, and the only one left was the South Gate.

We must take this place before the barbarians react.

Otherwise, once the pirates chose to surrender to the barbarians and opened the gate, it would become extremely difficult for the Ming army to occupy Daimao City.

Although, the probability of the pirates making such a choice is not high.

"The only way to save your life is to make the pirates surrender."

In front of Yu Dayou was a handwritten warrant, which he had just written, authorizing Deng Zilong and Chen Lin to persuade the pirates to surrender by sparing their lives.

Yu Dayou was not a general who would allow others to take the blame. Since he intended to make this decision for Daimao City, he would give his subordinates a warrant so that they could carry out his orders wholeheartedly.

"Sir, the battle report from the city is that the pirates have surrendered, and our army has taken control of the entire city."

Just when Yu Dayou was about to call someone in and hand the warrant to him, the voice of his personal guards was heard outside the tent door.

"Come in."

When Yu Dayou heard that the pirates had surrendered and the Ming army had taken control of Daimao City, he was delighted, but he immediately called people in. He was also anxious to read the battle report and wanted to know how Deng Zilong and his men had made the pirates surrender.

Soon, a hastily written battle report was delivered to him.

He knew from the handwriting that the battle report was written by Deng Zilong.

Although it was illegible, it was still recognizable, and Yu Dayou quickly learned the process of luring the pirates to surrender.

Because the pirates still controlled the South Gate and relied on many bronze cannons to resist the Ming army's encirclement and suppression, the firepower advantage they had previously relied on no longer existed, making it impossible for Deng Zilong and Chen Lin to find a quick way to deal with the pirates in a short period of time.

However, the pirates may have been concerned that the Ming army would threaten their families in the city, so they took the initiative to negotiate with the Ming army in order to save their families. Well, even if their families were all captured by them, they still had feelings for them over time, not to mention that some of them had children, so they naturally couldn't just let them go.

With more concerns, naturally, one no longer has the courage to not fear death as before.

It was precisely because of this that the pirates finally chose to surrender, rather than waiting until the situation became the worst.

Of course, the battle report also mentioned that Yan Youqian and others had made such a suggestion to them before.

All they needed to do was to ensure the lives of their families, that is, the captured women and their children.

Of course, the pirates also asked the Ming army to be lenient with them, but Deng Zilong did not agree to save their lives.

Most of the pirates’ families were captured and captured, so it should be possible for them to survive.

But pirates are different; their disposal can only depend on the imperial court’s order.

The pirates finally accepted this.

If there's no hope of escape, why bother fighting?

As long as there is a chance to survive, they will not choose to surrender.

He actually has very little to rely on.

Even the pirates themselves knew that as long as the Ming army pulled the cannons onto the city walls, their defenses would be destroyed like a rotten wood, and they would be killed without a burial place.

As for surrendering to the barbarians, well, the Han people's self-esteem made them never think of this option.

Even pirates were willing to do business with the barbarians, but they still disliked them.

Like all the people of the Ming Dynasty, they regarded the barbarians as rude and disrespectful barbarians. Even though they had all kinds of exquisite goods, it could not change the Chinese people's deep-seated disdain for them.

In fact, this attitude remained unchanged even in the early and middle Qing Dynasty, which is completely different from later generations.

In later generations, there are not many Chinese people who still maintain this attitude, or at least treat foreigners equally, and most of them are concentrated at the bottom.

After reading the battle report, Yu Dayou looked at the order in front of him and crumpled it into a ball.

Since they have made their choice, there is no need for Yu Dayou to issue this warrant.

However, his evaluation of Deng Zilong and Chen Lin has also been greatly improved. They are decisive in doing things and are not hesitant, so they can lead the troops on their own.

"Report, the navy has entered Pengaslan Bay."

Just then, another messenger came running from the door and shouted outside the tent.

"Come in."

Yu Dayou gave the order.

After the others came in, Yu Dayou asked directly, "You didn't fight with the barbarians, did you?"

"Report to the commander, no, the two sides have already started contact."

The messenger was sent out from the main camp to monitor every move in the bay.

Yu Dayou had no intention of going to war with the barbarians, but he was prepared for the worst, so he still sent people to watch on the shore.

This is preparing for the worst.

"I don't know if the people sent in the early morning delivered the order."

Yu Dayou murmured.

Naturally, he chose to pass the news of Lin Feng's escape to the navy, but it was unknown whether the news could stop them.

At least until now, there has been no news from the sea.

In fact, Wang Zhao only received the news from the shore when the fleet entered the bay and learned that Lin Feng had escaped from Daimao City.

However, he immediately thought of the small fleet before, which was almost certainly Lin Feng’s ship.

Well, it was their interference that made him think that the barbarians had discovered them, which led them to act in advance.

But there is no way to go back at this point, and we can only continue as planned.

The Ming navy's warships surrounded the foreign warships in a fan shape. After all, the bay was very small. Once hundreds of warships of the Ming navy entered the bay, they occupied nearly half of the area.

The other side, close to the mainland, was left to the Spanish fleet.

With such a small space, it would be useless even if the sails were raised.

However, for safety reasons, the Spanish fleet secretly sent out secret codes within the fleet that once the war broke out, they would have to rush to the shore and run aground.

At least, they don't have to be surrounded by the Ming army.

It can also be pushed to the shore and used as a gun emplacement.

If all else fails, abandon ship and join other Spanish troops, at least you can save your lives.

The small boat sent by Spain for contact soon brought back news that the Ming navy was tracking down Lin Feng's pirate group and had come specially after hearing that the people were surrounded here.

After hearing the explanation from the Ming general, the commander of the Spanish fleet could only send people to continue contacting while sending people ashore in a small boat to contact Commander Savella and pass on the message.

"Order each ship to allow sailors and gunners to rest in place, but do not let down their guard."

Although the Ming Navy gave an explanation, the commander of the Spanish fleet did not relax his vigilance.

It was during these repeated contacts that five or six speedboats once again sailed into Pengasilan Bay.

A few boats were left behind to guard the small boat towed behind the speedboat, and only one speedboat continued to move forward and entered the navy fleet.

The clipper was not big and could pass through the gaps between the fleet. It quickly reached the front and found the flagship.

"Sir, the clippers sent in pursuit have returned."

When the speedboat was approaching the flagship, someone whispered in Wang Zhao's ear.

"Walk."

After leaving the ship, Wang Zhao could not wait to go to the deck. Looking at the approaching speedboat, he asked the general flag on it, "Did you intercept it? Did you catch Lin Feng?"

"General, the bandit leader Lin Feng has been captured."

The general did not dare to be negligent. Although he was curious about how Wang Zhao knew that Lin Feng was on the boat, he still answered immediately.

"Good good."

Wang Zhao shouted "OK" three times, and then gave the order: "Bring your speedboat to the shore and take the people to the military camp."

Then, Wang Zhao called a soldier beside him, jumped onto the speedboat, and ordered, "Go to the military camp and tell the commander about the situation here."

The actions of the Ming army were naturally noticed by the Spaniards.

The news that some Ming soldiers had boarded small boats and gone ashore quickly spread among the Spanish army.

This is also the result of earlier discussions. The final negotiations will still be held on land, in the city of Daimao.

Now, taking advantage of the fact that he is being escorted to Yu Dayou, this scene can be performed out.

After the speedboats left, Wang Zhao ordered a part of the Ming army's Fuzhou ships to withdraw from the bay and take charge of outer perimeter surveillance and patrol, leaving only the flexible speedboats and medium and small Fuzhou ships and gunboats.

Hundreds of boats were packed into the bay, making it too crowded.

But even so, there were still more than two hundred warships crowded in the bay.

When the Spanish boat approached again, Wang Zhao sent someone to deliver the message that the Marshal had already come ashore and anyone who wanted to talk could talk to him.