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Chapter 567 Bystanders understand
"Last time it was the Chen family, this time it's the Lin family, you are all so good! Those who are not from my race will have different hearts, oh my! Long live the Lord is right, at the critical moment, internal ghosts are often more hateful than external enemies! "

Listening to the long bells coming from the castle, a young man with a Japanese ronin bun left the poop with his hands behind his back. He found an angle that could avoid the view of the castle, leaned against the mast, and took out the A small notebook as big as a palm, written hurriedly under the bright moonlight.

"Who! Hmm..." Suddenly the ronin stopped writing, his left hand still holding the small book, but his right hand quietly touched the short knife at his waist, gently opened the pressure spring, turned around and shouted.

"Keda, don't be nervous...it seems I'm not the only one who can't sleep." The hatch under the poop was half open, and a sturdy figure walked out slowly, holding a huge pipe in his mouth, and the fire flickered. Dark, reflecting a weathered face.

"Captain Alfonso, the moon is very full today, and it will be the fifteenth again." Seeing this face, the Japanese Ronin loosened his hand holding the handle of the knife, put the small book into his arms, and looked up as if nothing had happened. head looking at the sky.

"We have been here for a month and a half. I don't know if Boss Huang can really come back with more cocoa powder. Kameda, I'm wondering if we should return. This is not a place to stay for a long time. The smell of war It’s getting thicker, what do you think?”

Alfonso is the captain of a Portuguese merchant ship of the same name. He followed his brother to Hao Keng O when he was 20 years old. It has been years now. The brother returned to Portugal, but he stayed.

Two months ago, a Japanese ronin named Kameda came to the door and brought a big business, two hundred cans of cocoa powder, and the price was very reasonable. It’s just that this batch of goods is not at Daming Port, but has to be picked up at Manila Port.

The business was indeed real. After the Alfonso arrived at the Port of Manila, the owner sent twenty cans of cocoa powder, but the remaining goods would have to wait for a while. There was no specific time, only one to two months. deadline.

At that time, Captain Alfonso didn’t think much about it. He just waited. In this era of maritime trade, you can’t be in a hurry. Because of shortages of goods, sudden changes in climate, regime changes, wars, plagues and other accidents, it can take just a month or two. It's past. As long as there is profit, who cares about this time?

But there is something wrong with waiting. As a middleman, Kameda enjoys leisurely travels every day. Whenever he gets a chance, he drags the sailors on the boat around. He has traveled all over the banks of the Pasig River without noticing anything. I was a little anxious and didn't even ask about his commission.

Alfonso has come into contact with many Japanese ronin and businessmen. In the past few years, there were Japanese ronin living in Haojingao, but from this young man named Kameda, he could not feel much ronin style.

"You don't want the rest of the goods? That's nothing else. It's a whole 180 cans of cocoa powder. Even if you don't travel a long way back to your country and auction it directly in Haojing'ao, the money you earn can build another Alfonso. Right? Listen, this ship is old."

Facing the captain's inquiry, Kameda crossed his arms and looked in disbelief. In order to increase his persuasion, he simply took out his short knife and tapped the side of the ship and the mast hard with the handle of the knife.

"I'm afraid that if we delay for too long, we will be blocked by the Ming Emperor's navy in the port and eventually become spoils of war. It's hard to explain our intentions at this time and in this place. If we are misunderstood, we may all be treated as Spanish spies and executed.

In fact, the return of these 20 cans of cocoa powder to Hao Keng O is enough to make up for our loss for one and a half months. We won't lose money if we leave now. If we continue to wait, the risk will be high. "

But Captain Alfonso was not blinded by the huge benefits. It was good to make money and build new ships, but the prerequisite was that the new ships would not be seen before. Only by destroying the old ships and preserving the capital could there be any profit. "Are you sure Daming will win?"

"I was not sure before I came here, but now there is basically no doubt. The Spaniards are no match for the Ming Navy, and the Ming Emperor will definitely not accept an apology or compensation. What he wants is this port!"

Although there were only two people on the deck, Captain Alfonso still looked around before giving the answer. He spoke with certainty and confidence, as if he knew something inside.

"...Can you tell me specifically how you saw it? Why didn't I see anything?" Kameda fell into silence. He raised his head and looked at the moon. He was very puzzled and couldn't help but want to get to the bottom of it.

"Basil told me."

"Basil...the gunner on your ship? How could he know this?" This answer made Kameda even more confused. He rubbed his slightly funny big head and was puzzled.

"That's right, don't get me wrong. He is a German and has nothing to do with the Spanish. But his artillery skills are very good. He was employed by the Ming Navy a few months ago and went to a place called Songjiang Mansion in the north to participate in His Majesty the Emperor's war. counter-insurgency battle.

There he saw a huge fleet of eight black sailing ships and more than a dozen armed merchant ships equipped with deck guns. There is also a huge shipyard, with five black sailboats on the slipway that were completed almost at the same time.

As we all know, the main base of the Ming Navy is in a port further north, very close to the Emperor's Forbidden City, so they would definitely not send out all their forces. However, there are still no less than 4 black sailing ships outside the ports of Guangzhou and Fuzhou, and a little calculation can give a rough number.

If the Ming Emperor's navy wanted to attack Manila Port, it would have no less than 20 black sailing ships and even more armed cargo ships. But the number of black sailing ships and armed cargo ships currently docked at Guangzhou Port is far less than this number. Where are the rest and what are they doing?

Many people may not know the answer, but Basil does. He said that many of the soldiers who went north with them were from Annan. According to those soldiers, there was a large port somewhere in the south occupied by the Ming Navy.

I think the warships and armed cargo ships anchored outside Guangzhou Port are probably just pretending. The fleet that is really going to attack Manila Port is currently anchored in a secret port in Annan.

You see, the governor here has been deceived three times. He must have spies who can get information about Guangzhou Port, such as Chinese businessmen on the north bank of the river who have converted to Christianity. It's a pity that if the governor can think of it, the commander of the Ming Navy must also have thought of it. "

When talking about this issue, Captain Alfonso was a little proud, dancing and spitting foam in the air. Obviously, the Governor of the Philippines and the commander of the garrisoned fleet have all been kept in the dark so far. It is indeed worthy of pride to be able to see further than these professional military generals.

(End of this chapter)