Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 167
  August 1626, 8 AD, the Catholic Assumption Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is also the traditional Spanish festival of August.

The history of the August Festival can be traced back to the ancient Roman period. Augustus created this festival. It is said that he wanted his subjects to have fun, so it can be regarded as a carnival to a certain extent.

On this day, a mass was held in a temporary church on Sheliao Island to pray for the safety of the Spaniards who were blown away by the storm.

It is said to be a temporary church, but it is actually just the largest wooden house. The fortress that the Spanish are building has not yet been touched. Currently, everyone lives in the more than [-] wooden houses left by Jinbaolishe. .

Neat and low confessions, mixed with the sound of hammering on the chest, came from this temporary church: "I sin, I sin, my grave sin. For this I implore the ever-virgin Virgin Mary, the angels, the saints and all of you. Brothers and sisters, pray to the Lord, our God, for me.”

"May the Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive our sins, and grant us eternal life." Father Bartolomeo Martinez, the officiant wearing a black hood, who is the Dominican Provincial Superior of the Holy Rosary Province, muttered. , volunteered to accompany the First Fleet to Keelung.

This Martinez can be said to be the initiator of the Spanish colonization of northern Taiwan. It was he who passed through Baodao twice seven years ago, conducted a preliminary survey of the coastline, and drew a map of the coast. He then persuaded the former Philippine Governor Fernando de Chi Erva sent troops to invade and directly contributed to the arrival of the First Fleet.

The Dominicans are the most powerful Catholic religious order in the Philippines. As the provincial president of the Holy Rosary Province of the Dominican order, Martinez is probably the second-largest figure in the Philippine religious circles after the Archbishop of Manila, and the latter is a figure who can rival the Governor-General of the Philippines. .

To a certain extent, it can be said that Martinez is the highest-ranking Spaniard on Sheliao Island. Even the commanders of the two fleets, Valdes and Karen, have to look at his face to act.

The two commanders were currently attending mass in the church, but their moods were very different.

Valdez had just been appointed as the governor of Keelung, and the certificate of appointment was brought by the Second Fleet. It was a time of great success.

This position was already within his grasp, but two months ago Manila suddenly changed its governor. As usual, the new governor Juan Ninho de Tavora came from Mexico, and Valdez was not the same as him. He knew him, so he was quite worried about his future career.

Karen was a close confidant of Tavola when he was in Mexico. This time he led such a large fleet to Keelung on the order of the new governor. On the one hand, he wanted to deal with the Dutch, and on the other hand, he also wanted to stand out to a certain extent. Valdes.

If he made great contributions in the war against the Dutch in the future, it would be logical for the new governor Tavola to replace Valdes with him.

Unfortunately, God failed, and half of Karen's fleet was blown away by the storm. It was a bad start. Right now, he definitely can't compete with Valdez.

So Valdes was happy and worried, but Karen was full of depression. Both of them were full of worries and just mechanically sang along with everyone.

After a long time, the mass finally ended. Martinez came over and said to Karen: "Child, are you still worried about the missing crew members? We have already prayed to God, and the rest will be left to the Almighty. The Lord decides, it’s time for you to go to the party.”

"Okay, Father." Karen gathered his mind and put his hands together on his chest. He knew that the person in front of him was something he could not afford to offend.

"Father, I'm going too." Valdes also clasped his hands like Karen, showing respect to Martinez, who nodded slightly to him.

The uneasiness in Valdez's heart receded slightly. He still had the support of the Dominicans behind him. Why should he be too afraid of the new governor?
  The two walked out of the church one after another. A grand open-air party was being held outside the wooden house. In addition to the actors who were performing in the Moro Moro drama on the stage, the island was full of Spaniards singing and dancing.

The passionate Spaniards also infected the Luzon soldiers and sailors, and everyone was drinking happily.

"Karen, let's go see the show and have a drink by the way, right?" Valdes caught up with Karen and enthusiastically invited him to go to the party with him.

"I'm sorry, sir. I'm a little sleepy, so I'll go back to my room to sleep first." Karen declined Valdes and went back to his room to drink alone.

Seeing Karen's decadent look, Valdes was in a better mood and went to attend the carnival with a few trusted officers.

It was night, except for the sentry on the mountain, almost everyone on Sheliao Island was drunk.

At the beginning of the year, a full moon hung obliquely on the top of the mountains in the west. Its faint light fell on the calm sea of ​​Keelung Port, giving the lead-gray sea water a layer of silver light.

In the night, the Keelung Port, surrounded by mountains, was eerily quiet. Apart from the moonlight dancing on the waves, only the flags on the ship were fluttering in the whimpering sea breeze.

The most eye-catching one is undoubtedly the largest Burgundy cross flag, hung on the top of the towering mast of the Second Fleet's flagship, the Immaculate Virgin, which looks like a bloody gallows from a distance.

In this quiet harbor, three small boats suddenly moved on the side close to the main island of Taiwan. They were catamaran canoes of the natives of Guirou She, used to transport food, wine and fresh vegetables to Sheliao Island. .

These three ships are all driven by wooden oars, and their destination is the three large ships parked in the harbor. Among them, the Immaculate Virgin has a deeper draft and is docked farther away from Sheliao Island, while the two Calais ships are driven by wooden oars. The boat stopped on the shore of Sheliao Island.

Guarding the Immaculate Virgin is a trainee officer of the Spanish Navy and a dozen local Filipino sailors. Apart from the sentry ships on guard in the outer sea and the sentries on duty on the peak of Sheliao Island, they are the only ones on duty tonight. No more participating in the carnival on the island.

At this time, these ten people were also sleeping soundly, and even the mixed-race trainee officer was drunk in the officer's room at the stern of the ship.

The higher-ups on Sheliao Island didn't care whether they were fulfilling their duties seriously, because what they really wanted to guard was not the ship, but the captain's private vault to prevent natives from Guiroushe from stealing things.

Prevent them from stealing the ship? Don't be kidding, if a native can drive this thing, would he still be called a native?
  At this time, a Visayan sailor who was sleeping on the deck woke up. He may have eaten something bad today and had stomach upset several times.

As a sailor, he can only solve personal problems in the open pit under the bow of the ship. The two high-end toilets at the stern are places he can never go. They only belong to officers and distinguished guests, and ordinary soldiers and sailors. No chance.

In fact, that open-air squatting pit is quite dangerous. Once the hull of the ship bumps, people squatting there are likely to fall into the sea. So when the weather was bad, they were also allowed to poop and urinate in the bottom cargo hold, and then pumped to the gun deck and flowed out through the gun doors.

And if the weather is so bad that even the pump cannot be used, then the only thing left is to accumulate excrement and urine on the deck, and the soldiers and sailors can only live with excrement and urine - even hammocks have not become popular in this era. They sleep wherever there is space. Life on the ship is so different. Officers and other distinguished people occupy the entire stern of the ship. They have their own rooms, dining rooms and toilets, and have dedicated servants responsible for serving food and pouring wine.

Ordinary soldiers and sailors could only crowd into the crowded bow, eating bacon as hard as firewood and hard bread infested with worms. The most popular bug is the cockroach because it is said to taste like sausage, while weevils and maggots don't taste as good.

The Visayan sailor was squatting under the bow of the ship and having diarrhea when he suddenly saw a catamaran canoe heading towards the Immaculate Virgin.

"Great, someone is here to sell us food again tonight." The Visayan sailor was very happy. He had had stomach upsets several times today. At this time, his stomach was empty and he needed some food to fill it.

The food sold to them by these chicken coop natives is far more delicious than what is distributed on the ship, and the price is very favorable. Any gadget can be exchanged for a big meal.

"Hey - hey -" the Visayan sailor waved excitedly to the catamaran canoe, then solved his personal problem in three strokes, five divided by two, picked up his pants and returned to the deck, ready to put down the gangway and let the chicken coops fall to the ground. People come up.

Suddenly, he saw two catamaran canoes heading towards Sheliao Island. This rarely happened at night.

"Strange, what are they doing on the island at this time?" The Visayan sailor was only confused for a moment, and then he was too lazy to think about it. Maybe some big shot was having fun all night, so let these natives send some fresh wine and food over in the middle of the night. Anyway, it has nothing to do with you.

He quickly came to the bulwark and lowered the gangway. A native of the chicken coop carrying a bamboo basket climbed up the gangway. He stuck his head out and took a look at the bamboo basket on the native's back, and saw that it was indeed filled with cooked food, and the fragrance was coming from the sea breeze.

There was a language barrier between the two parties and there was nothing to communicate. The Visayan sailor turned around and walked back, ready to see what else he could exchange for food.

But after walking a few steps, a big hand suddenly grabbed his throat from behind and broke his neck cleanly.

"What's the sound?" This finally woke up the other sailors on the deck, and they all stood up.

At this time, several more people climbed up from the gangway, aiming their bows and arrows at the sailors. A man with curly hair shouted to them in Portuguese: "Give up the resistance, and I will protect you from death."

This man is none other than Miguel. Portuguese and Spanish are interoperable. These sailors are all familiar with Luzon or the Visayas. They all speak fluent Spanish, and most of them can speak Spanish fluently. They were baptized into Catholicism, but deep down they still worshiped elves.

While Miguel was speaking, people were still climbing up the gangway, and more and more bows and arrows were aimed at the sailors on the Immaculate Virgin.

The dozen or so sailors looked at each other in confusion, and soon fell to their knees one after another. They either did not bring any sidearms, or they only had a short knife at hand, and they simply did not dare to resist these people holding bows and arrows.

What's more, what reason do they have to resist? Their compatriots were struggling under the tyranny of the Spanish, and they themselves were at the bottom of the boat.

"How many people are there below deck?" Miguel then asked.

"There is only one man, a cadet officer," replied a Pampanga sailor.

"If you dare to lie to me, I guarantee that you won't be able to see the sun tomorrow." Under the moonlight, Miguel's face was really ferocious.

"Don't dare, don't dare. If you are willing, I will be your most loyal slave from now on." The Pampanga sailor kowtowed repeatedly.

"Stop kowtowing. Get up and take me to find that officer."

"Okay, my master. But... I don't know where he is. We are usually not qualified to go to the stern of the ship, otherwise we will be whipped."

Miguel knew what he said was true, so he took the people down personally. The reason why he was personally responsible for this operation was because no one under Lin Hai was more familiar with the Galen ship than him.

By the time Miguel dealt with the trainee officer and returned to the deck, the other two catamaran canoes had already approached the two Calais boats.

There were no people guarding the two Calais ships. The Spaniards put all their early warning forces in the open sea. They never thought that someone would attack from behind.

After all, Keelung Port is surrounded by mountains, and there are only two waterways leading to the outer sea from both sides of Sheliao Island. To reach Keelung Port from the main island of Taiwan, you either have to climb mountains or walk through a few narrow valleys. There are no waterways in these valleys.

What's more, under Miguel's suggestion, Lin Hai chose to take action on the night of August Festival, which was the time when the Spanish's early warning power was at its weakest.

Two Calais boats began to approach the Immaculate Virgin, both of which were propelled by oars and could be driven even by natives.

At the same time, on the side of Keelung Port close to the main island, the remaining canoes saw the Calais boat moving and began to sail towards the Immaculate Virgin. There were officers and soldiers of the Security Department led by Feng Yidao.

"The overall situation has been decided." Miguel thought on the Immaculate Virgin, and the next step was to use the Calais ship to transport the gunners from the shore, and then wait for the company's fleet to come in and finish.

At this time, the old lock fleet of Huiyou Company was moored near Meirentou, more than [-] miles northwest of Keelung Port, where there was a good sheltered harbor. On the shore of the harbor, there is a natural rock that looks like the head of a noble lady from a distance.

"It's time, no matter whether Miguel succeeds or not, we should set off." Lin Hai said to the stone wall, "May Mazu bring us good luck."

He decided to name this place Mazu Bay. If the beautiful head was said to be the statue of Mazu, I am afraid that no Chinese sailor would object.

　Thanks to the flying little pig for the reward of 500 taels!
  　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)