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Chapter 778 The golden cicada escapes from its shell
The Northern Four Islands, which later became the Russian Northern Four Islands, are located next to Hokkaido. The fleet raised its full sails, and driven by the biting north wind, it sometimes went under the waves and sometimes jumped out of the water, like a submarine formation sailing on the sea, staggering but tenaciously moving forward.

After continuous practice in the past few days, the sailors had made significant progress in operating the new sailing equipment. The flagship's speed gradually increased from 13 kilometers downwind to 15 kilometers, and then to 20 kilometers.

After rushing for a long time, we finally passed through the strait between the islands at noon the next day and entered the boundless North Pacific Ocean. Then we turned southwest and headed straight into the South China Sea along the south side of the Japanese archipelago, arriving at the Da Nang Naval Base 25 days later.

"Set sail in three days and replenish supplies according to this list."

Standing on the dock, Hong Tao did not make any comments on this naval base, which he visited for the first time. Instead, he took out a document from Wang Chengen's briefcase and handed it to Huang Nanping separately.

"…Your Majesty, are there any errors in the goods and personnel on the list?"

Huang Nanping was waiting for the emperor to praise the Da Nang base, which was his masterpiece. But he didn't wait for a word. He took the list and scanned it, and immediately lost his composure.

Two ships of wood, two ships of cement and explosives, 600 craftsmen on board, and various tools and livestock. Not to mention Da Nang, even the warehouses in Luzon Port could not be assembled in a short time. It seems that these things are not needed to inspect overseas territories, unless they are to build a palace there!
"The construction materials and craftsmen will arrive tomorrow. You just need to prepare the supplies for the escort fleet. From now on, all the sailing personnel cannot leave the base. Oh, by the way, besides Rodri, are there any other land warfare commanders here?"

Hong Tao left the palace this time under the pretext of a southern tour, with destinations including Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Da Nang and Manila. But in fact, he was going to lead the fleet across the ocean to the Cape of Good Hope. This plan was kept secret, and no one except the Chief of Staff and some staff officers were not informed in advance, including Huang Nanping.

"...May I ask you one more question, did Captain Luo make a mistake?"

Huang Nanping didn't think it was too strange. When the navy sets sail on a mission, they usually don't notify the plan in advance. Only the captain and senior staff know about it.

Generally, only when the troops are close to the destination will they inform the middle and lower-level officers of the specific itinerary and arrange the mission details. Sometimes when the soldiers arrive at the destination and encounter the enemy, they have already opened fire, but they still don’t know where they are or what to do. All they have to do is follow the orders.

But this time he couldn't help but speak out. Although Rodri was a Spanish prisoner and his father had fought against the Spanish, he had performed very well since joining the navy. If he suddenly changed the generals before the battle, he had to give a reason.

"There is nothing wrong, but this time we may have to face Europeans, and I am worried that he will not be able to do it because of the old friendship." Hong Tao thought about whether he should take Rodri to the Cape of Good Hope and felt a bit dilemma.

If he is not taken with him, after the Cape of Good Hope plan is exposed, the fact that he is not trusted by the emperor will no longer be concealed. And if he is taken with him, there is really no way to guarantee that there will be no accidents. I don't want to send someone to watch him and be ready to kill him on the spot at any time. No matter how you look at it, this is a shame for the navy.

"...I am willing to guarantee him!" Huang Nanping frowned and thought about it after hearing the emperor's answer, and suddenly made a very inappropriate request.

"On what basis can you vouch for him?" Through the contact during this voyage, Hong Tao did not have a very high opinion of Huang Nanping.

His navigation skills, combat skills, and commanding ability are all fine, but his personality is too straightforward. He is a good captain, but not suitable for commanding the overall situation. This is an example. He casually vouched for others, and they were not his direct subordinates. He was too righteous. "Captain Luo participated in the siege of Manila. At that time, he was only a trial captain, responsible for commanding the Annan mercenaries. According to post-war statistics, the mercenaries under his command had the least casualties, the strongest combat effectiveness, and the best military discipline.

After his negotiation, the last Spanish troops who were entrenched in the Governor's Palace surrendered en masse, and he was therefore promoted to centurion for his meritorious service. I saw all of this with my own eyes, and not a single word of it is false.

He was also very knowledgeable about musket tactics. In order to cope with the humid and rainy climate, he also used whale skin to make a waterproof cover for the flintlock mechanism. After many trials, it really worked well. "

As if he didn't hear the reproach in the emperor's words, Huang Nanping actually listed Rodrigo's merits. And they were not hearsay, but his personal experience when he commanded the Battle of Manila.

"...What about his shortcomings?" Ever since Hong Tao boarded the ship at Dagukou, he had only two things in his mind: how to improve the crew's ocean-going capabilities as quickly as possible, and what kind of troubles they would encounter when they reached the Cape of Good Hope.

I didn't think much about whether Rodri was qualified, nor was I willing to spend time and energy to observe and understand. Now after listening to Huang Nanping's description, I think it makes sense, so I might as well learn more about it.

"...As far as I know, his Chinese is not very good. He can listen and see, but he can't speak fluently, which may have a bad impact on commanding in battle. Otherwise... he should be very qualified as a soldier. When he heard that he was going to Dagukou to welcome His Majesty, Li Rumei specially selected him to go with the ship."

"Well, since you are so sure, I will give him a chance. Let him come to the boat after dinner. I have something else to ask." Should he give Huang Nanping this face? Hong Tao chose to trust him, but in the end, whether to take Rodri with him on the trip, he had to ask in person before making a decision.

Hong Tao did not live on shore in Da Nang, but used the Han 001 flagship as a temporary residence. The main reason was that he did not want to cause trouble to the officers and soldiers at the base. Why would he make such a fuss if he was only going to stay for two days?

Da Nang has a monsoon tropical climate. December is the rainy season, and the highest temperature is only over 12 degrees. Living in the cabin will not feel stuffy. And there is an additional benefit, you can avoid mosquito harassment and it is safer.

And Hong Tao had another matter to deal with, a substitute! No matter how convincing the lies about the southern tour of overseas territories were, he couldn't suddenly disappear for many days in a certain place, and going to the Cape of Good Hope, even at the fastest speed, would take three months to go back and forth.

It is obviously not reliable to continue making up lies. Now is the time to say a famous saying: when you are idle, you can use it when you are busy! When Wei Zhongxian went to Liaodong for training, he secretly brought back a stand-in who looked like him.

After so many years of secret training on Qiong Island, except for leaving the palace to meet Ruan Xiangjiang, he was basically not used. He had been eating and drinking well to consolidate his acting skills.

Now it's the actor's turn. Tomorrow he will have to let three geckos accompany him to live on shore, and then either his buttocks will hurt or his head will hurt.

Anyway, as long as we don't leave the Da Nang base, there won't be any big problems. And the three geckos are the guardians of the actors. If any unexpected situation occurs, they will kill the fakes first.

(End of this chapter)