1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3604

Although Li Zhencheng was eager for the supply fleet to complete loading and unloading in a few seconds and then set off on the return journey immediately, the actual operation could not be as smooth as he expected.

After two days of unloading, some supply ships needed to be repaired and maintained to ensure safe return to Manila. However, there were no professional institutions such as shipyards in Beimen Port, so carpenters and crew members had to do it themselves. This process could take a long time or a short time, and it was not uncommon to take ten days or half a month.

The Taiwan fleet must escort the supply fleet back to the safe zone in the north before it has a chance to turn around and fight its way back into the battlefield. The war is almost over, and if it is delayed for a while, it may not even be able to get the leftovers.

Li Zhencheng was helpless and sent shipwrights from his fleet to help, hoping to complete the repair work of the supply ship as soon as possible and shorten the stay here as much as possible.

Beimen Port is not a big place, and Li Zhencheng had nothing to do, so he visited the whole place in just two or three days.

In addition to visiting the local development progress under the guidance of the local civil affairs officer, he also visited the camp where prisoners of war were held.

This was a relatively new place for Li Zhencheng. When he was born, Taiwan Island was already under the rule of Hai Han, and there had been no wars on the island since then, so there were no prisoner-of-war camps.

The conditions in the Beimen Port prisoner-of-war camp were naturally very simple. The prisoners all lived in huts built with tree branches. Even the fences surrounding the camp were sparse, and it seemed that they could not keep people out.

However, up to now, the escape rate of prisoners of war held here is quite low. Because according to investigation, the area within a radius of 100 miles near Beimen Port is uninhabited. Even if someone successfully escapes from the prisoner-of-war camp, it is difficult to survive in the wild environment for a long time without any survival supplies.

At first, some people tried to escape, but the garrison troops later brought back several bodies of prisoners who had died in the wild. In addition, the authorities also arranged for these prisoners to work outside, so they gradually understood the dangerous environment around them. Although there were no wild beasts nearby, there were numerous snakes and insects that could kill people, and they were hard to guard against. Most of those who escaped from the prisoner-of-war camp died from these poisons.

After a while, no one would think of escaping. The older prisoners would tell the newcomers about this situation and tell them not to run away. Being detained here would at least allow you to survive, but escaping would be a life-or-death experience.

The vast majority of these captives were immigrants captured from various colonial settlements after the start of the war. They were of various ethnicities, with Spanish accounting for only about one-third. The number of military personnel captured on the battlefield was actually not that large.

The prisoners that will be brought back to Manila by the supply fleet are mainly military personnel. After taking away these more dangerous personnel, the pressure on the local prisoner-of-war camps will be greatly reduced.

Li Zhencheng reviewed the confessions of these prisoners of war, hoping to find information about the Spanish fleet they encountered on the way, but unfortunately he found nothing.

Unwilling to give up, Li Zhencheng simply applied to interrogate the prisoners of war in person, hoping that there might be omissions in the previous interrogation, and he might be able to find flaws.

After two days of interrogation day and night, he actually found some clues.

A sailor who had served on a Spanish warship claimed to know about the secret port and hoped to use the information he had to exchange for freedom from Li Zhencheng. Li Zhencheng did not trust the sailor. If he really had such information, why did he not confess when he was interrogated before?

This was either a deliberate cover-up or a fabrication to get released. Either way, this guy couldn't be trusted.

The most crucial thing is that this man was rescued by the Hai Han army after escaping from a sunken warship. He was the only survivor on the entire ship, and no one else in the prisoner-of-war camp knew him, so there was no way to verify what he said.

But after Li Zhencheng had interrogated everyone he could, he found that only this sailor had a chance to be a breakthrough, so he had to interrogate him again. Even if it was a last resort, he had to listen to what information he could provide.

"As long as we verify that what you said is true and that it is a port we have not yet discovered, you will be free. But if we find that you are making up information, you may have to work as a hard laborer here until you die. Think it over carefully and tell me in detail what you know."

After listening to the translation, the man did not confess immediately, but asked Li Zhencheng to guarantee that he would have a reasonable way to return to Spain after being released.

This concern is not unreasonable. If he is released on the spot, there is no way to go to Spain. He can't swim all the way back to Europe thousands of miles away, and there is not much point in regaining his freedom.

Li Zhencheng was well prepared for this: "We will first send you to Manila, and then take a boat to Sing Tao Island. At that time, we will give you a safe identity and hand you over to the Portuguese. You can take a Portuguese merchant ship back to Europe."

This is undoubtedly an extremely troublesome route, but Hai Han and Spain are currently at war, and the two sides have no mechanism for exchanging prisoners. If this guy wants to return to Spain, he can only achieve it through this tortuous way.

As for pretending to be a Portuguese, this should not be a difficult task for him as a Spaniard. After all, the language, culture and ethnicity of these two neighboring countries are very similar. As long as he does not take the initiative to admit it, it is basically unlikely that he will be exposed.

Although he might feel a little depressed psychologically, he wants to return to faraway Europe, and this seems to be the only feasible solution at the moment.

After the terms were agreed upon, the sailor began to tell Li Zhencheng what he knew.

His fleet was originally deployed in Central America and was not transferred to the East until the middle of this year. He clearly remembered that the transoceanic route passed through a series of islands in the South Pacific, and then went west along the north coast of Papua Island into the Maluku Sea, which is the sea area where the fighting is most intense.

While sailing along the northern coast of Papua Island, the fleet stayed at a port for three days, and he was sure that was the secret port that Li Zhencheng was looking for.

Although the specific location of the port was not marked even on the nautical charts used by Spain itself, the sailor claimed that he could infer the approximate location of the port through the speed and course at the time, and pointed out the corresponding location on the nautical chart provided by Li Zhencheng.

Of course, the range he drew was not accurate. If converted according to the scale of the nautical chart, Li Zhencheng estimated that it was at least two or three hundred miles in radius.