prosperous age

Because of the difference in hull structure, Ming warships could not move cannons into the hull like Western warships, but could only place them on the deck.

Yu Dayou thought hard about this, but the only solution he found was to build two or even three decks.

Although it looks similar to the barbarian warships, its disadvantage is very obvious, that is, the center of gravity of the hull is relatively high.

The hull's center of gravity has been raised. Perhaps on a calm day, it won't be noticeable, but once it encounters extreme weather, it will be a disaster.

The big-bellied hull structure of the West allows them to make full use of the internal space of the hull and place more artillery.

However, due to their size, the Ming Dynasty's artillery could not fit into the square grids inside the hull.

As for whether it is possible to increase the size of the grid, or increase the watertight volume and reduce the number of watertight compartments, this involves changing the strength of the hull.

On warships made entirely of wood, this seemingly minor change can actually bring about huge changes, and may very likely cause the ship to not be able to withstand strong winds and huge waves and sink.

After the shipbuilder explained the pros and cons, Yu Dayou finally changed his mind and had to use the most stupid method, which was to build a double-deck gunboat.

Three floors, forget it, it’s too dangerous to go out to sea with a boat like this.

At this time, Deng Zilong had clenched his fists. He believed that the barbarians were also looking at the Ming gunboats.

Although he was mainly communicating with Miguel, he could also sense the vigilance that the other party inadvertently revealed.

Yes, it is still just vigilance now, and it doesn't seem to have turned into hostility yet.

However, Deng Zilong is not a good man and will not show goodwill easily. He knows clearly that he is a military general of the Ming Dynasty and everything must be based on the interests of the Ming Dynasty.

In Luzon, the Ming Dynasty must intervene.

Sooner or later, our relations with the barbarians will become a falling out.

So before you get into a fight, get to know them as much as possible.

In the distance, the ships belonging to the Lin Feng pirate group were hit one by one. Some of them were directly penetrated at the waterline of the hull, and the ships sank directly due to water ingress.

In some cases, the structures on the ship were destroyed and looked shabby, with just a pile of broken wooden boards floating on the sea.

Faintly, one could still see many people in the sea, swimming desperately towards the shore.

More than a dozen attack warships sailed in a figure 8 in the bay, making full use of the naval guns on both sides and pouring fire on the ships anchored in the bay.

As for those who escaped to the shore, the coalition forces had no time to pay attention to them for the time being.

In fact, this is not because the barbarians are soft-hearted, but the power of cannons during this period was mainly reflected in bombarding dense infantry lines and buildings, and had little killing power on skirmish lines.

After all, today's cannons mainly use solid bullets, shotgun shells have a short range, and shrapnel technology is immature.

The navy does have a very powerful area-kill weapon, the chain bomb, which is two small iron balls connected by an iron chain. After being launched, it can knock down a row of enemies. In naval battles, such weapons are mainly used to attack people on the enemy decks and gun positions.

But like shotgun shells, their range was short, and they were incapable of firing at the fleeing enemies on the shore.

The dense artillery fire from the fleet in the bay and the sporadic counterattacks from ships on the shore formed a sharp contrast and had no lethality at all.

It should be said that this raid was very successful.

Outside the bay, they ambushed two pirate ships that were out on patrol, successfully sent a round of their artillery fire into the seabed, and then charged directly into the bay.

Pengaslan Bay is restricted by its terrain and there is no place suitable for building artillery batteries to defend the bay. Therefore, although it is a good deep-water port, it is definitely not a good place to station troops.

In peacetime, this area could be easily developed because the terrain near the bay is flat.

But in this age of the survival of the fittest, it is definitely not a livable place.

Because of the terrain, Lin Feng really sent his men out for patrols regularly.

On the sea, everyone would stay away from pirates when they saw them, and no one wanted to get close to them.

It is precisely because of this kind of inertial thinking that the Lin Feng pirate group suffered a devastating blow today, and almost all the warships anchored in the bay were destroyed.

Perhaps there are still some warships worth repairing, but after the superstructure was destroyed, they looked shabby, and both the Ming Dynasty and the Spaniards should have lost interest in this ship.

When the leader sent out from the city to command the city met his men halfway, they were the ones who had retreated from the Bay Wharf area.

At this time, the sky was already bright and the sun was rising slowly from the east.

They were in rags at this time, and many of them were unarmed. It was obvious that they had thrown away their weapons in order to escape.

However, there was no time to pursue accountability at this time. The leader stopped a few people and immediately asked about what happened in the bay.

"Second Commander, it was the barbarian fleet that attacked us. We were still resting when they bombarded us with their cannons. We only fired two shots in retaliation before the ship sank. We had no choice but to flee to the shore."

Soon, a small leader of the pirate army recognized the person who blocked the way and hurriedly told them in detail what happened in the bay.

"How many ships do they have?"

The leader continued to ask.

"More than a dozen ships have been wandering in the bay, firing at us. There are only a few that can move at the dock."

The chief replied with a sad face.

When the leader heard that almost all of their ships were destroyed by the barbarians, he was terrified.

What kind of pirates are they without a ship?

Without a boat, they would become landlubbers and could only become bandits and robbers, without being able to go out to sea.

From now on, whether you want to go out to rob or leave here, there is no other way.

In the distant bay, the sound of artillery fire was still coming, but the leader knew that even if he went over there, he would be powerless to save the situation.

The warships are anchored on the shore, and their combat power is almost zero, making them completely lambs to be slaughtered.

However, we are already here, and it would be difficult to explain to the boss if we just go back like this.

"Everyone, don't run. Follow me back to the shore and pick up the brothers who are still on the boat."

The second in command immediately gave orders loudly, and he sent people to run to the bay first, so that those subordinates who were still struggling to hold on could retreat to the shore.

Of course, try to take away any weapons and equipment that are still usable on the ship. We can't all run back to Daimao City empty-handed.

Suddenly, a large group of pirates turned around and returned the same way. Soon they returned to a place one or two miles away from the coast and stopped.

They knew very well that if they got any closer, they might be within the range of the barbarians' artillery fire.

  Aren't these people standing together so densely the best targets for cannons?

This distance is just right. The enemies at sea may not be able to see them clearly, but the warships are large targets, so they can easily see the movements of the enemy.

At this time, there was no resistance on the pirate ship. The occasional gunfire that had been heard before had disappeared. However, people were still swimming ashore from the sea and running towards the direction of Daimao City.

"You guys go over there and intercept those people."

The second in command immediately gave orders and sent several men to the other end of the dock to intercept the pirates who came ashore later and asked them to meet here.

The reason why he did not take action was that the second in command had only two things in mind at this time: to continue observing the enemy situation.

Those ships were already beyond saving, so what would happen next? Would the barbarian fleet dock and disembark their people?

If they came ashore and unloaded those soldiers, he would have to consider whether to launch an anti-landing operation, taking advantage of the disadvantage that they had just landed and attacking the barbarian army. If the barbarians did not come ashore and did not drop their soldiers, that would be the best of course. If he could withdraw from the bay, he could immediately organize people to return to those ships and rescue the usable supplies, including weapons and gunpowder.

Although most of the pirate group's gunpowder is stored in the city of玳瑁, they have no channels to replenish it now, so the less they use, the less they have.

You can find some on the boat. Even if they have been soaked in water, don’t worry, just dry them and they can still be used.

As for artillery, it is even more important.

In fact, as long as he could pull back a few usable cannons from these broken ships, his trip would not be in vain.

In the meeting hall of Daimao City, Lin Feng sat in the first seat, but he no longer had the high spirits he had before, and he seemed very silent.

Although he has not received any news from the Gulf yet, he still has some guesses of his own in his mind.

The result, I’m afraid, won’t be good.

Just from the slowdown in the sound of cannon fire coming from afar, it can be judged that the ships on the shore are probably in great danger.

"Boss, I think we should send a message to the surrounding villages, asking them to hurry up and harvest this crop and move to the city.

The workers who had finished harvesting the crops were also transferred back to the city first.

Now that the Spanish devils have already taken action, they will most likely not only fight us at sea, but also attack us from land.

The city dispatched an army to protect them so that they could harvest the crops and prevent them from being taken away by the Spanish devils. "

A leader suggested.

After listening to his advice, Lin Feng immediately realized the seriousness of the situation.

Indeed, the people of Manila would not be able to get through so easily.

The naval battle is over, but there may be another fierce battle to come.

Food has now become their most urgently needed supply.

As long as they have enough food and defend the city of玳細, they still have a chance to fight back against the Spaniards.

Without the warships, they could just rearm themselves and head for Manila by land and launch another surprise attack on them.

At this time, Lin Feng had already made up his mind that as long as he passed this level, he would skin all the Spaniards on the island alive.

Those warships on the coast were his hard work, developed with great effort, and yet they were destroyed in an instant.

Therefore, Lin Feng immediately dispatched personnel and sent out several groups of troops to defend on the east, south and north sides to ensure the safety of the villages outside the city.

Because the terrain here is flat, it is very suitable for agricultural production. Therefore, Lin Feng recruited local people early on to build a village in the north and south, and two villages in the east to develop the surrounding land.

However, because there were only some indigenous tribes around and the threat they posed to Lin Feng was limited, he did not take it seriously.

But now it’s different. With the threat of the Spaniards, Lin Feng is unwilling to lose manpower in vain.

Of course, when faced with manpower and food, Lin Feng still chose food first.

After all, the people living in the city are his confidants, and his relationship with those in the villages outside, even if they are those he brought from Ming Dynasty to Luzon, is not that close.

His subordinates are divided into several levels of strength.

If he didn't have enough military force to suppress others, he wouldn't be able to hold on to the position of the boss.

"Boss, shouldn't we send some people out to investigate and see if the Spaniards have landed nearby? This will help us determine the direction of their attack."

Soon, someone else made a suggestion.

They had not noticed before that the Spaniards dared to take the initiative to provoke a war, and they always thought that this should be their world.

But the barbarians are outsiders after all, so they should be cautious in what they say and do.

But they didn't know that the Spaniards had already occupied large tracts of land in America and did not take the locals seriously at all. They even looked down on them as uncivilized natives.

With such an opportunity, it would be strange if the Spaniards would be restrained.

"That makes sense. Let's send a few groups of people to explore in three directions to see where their people are hiding. Then we can deploy troops in a targeted manner."

Lin Feng nodded again. It was of course very important to figure out which direction the enemy would come from.

In the past, when there were ships at sea, when the enemy came, if they were no match for them, they would decisively choose to board the ship and escape.

But this time, the barbarians' surprise attack must have caused serious damage to their ships.

Without enough ships, it was obviously no longer possible for them to follow their previous approach of running away when they couldn't win.

Therefore, the pirate groups now can only choose the tactics they are least good at, and fight a decisive battle with the enemy on land.

Defeat them and everyone will survive.

But if we lose, none of us can do anything.

However, these words only passed through Lin Feng's mind.

It is not appropriate to say such discouraging words at this time, as it will make your subordinates lose their fighting spirit.

“Well, don’t be afraid of those yellow-haired ghosts. We all know how many of them there are in Luzon.

As for what kind of people those locals are like, I'm afraid everyone knows it.

An army of more than 2,000 locals, what kind of fighting power can they have? I'm afraid they won't be able to withstand a charge from our brothers and will be killed."

Lin Feng said loudly, encouraging his men.

"Yes, yes, those people are worse than peasants. They are all lazy and only care about their work. I'm afraid they will wet their pants when they go to the battlefield."

"Haha, the barbarians are really stupid. They actually thought of training them to fight with us."

"Haha, I am dying of laughter."

After hearing Lin Feng's words, everyone in the room burst into laughter, and then went about their own business, totally ignoring the Spaniard's training.

"Shan Dai, why do you think your Majesty is not satisfied?"

In the Forbidden City in the capital, in the cabinet, Zhang Juzheng was in his room, and it was time for the cabinet ministers to discuss state affairs.

However, it seems that what is being discussed today is not state affairs, but the trust entrusted by the Emperor.

"Your Majesty reads books, so he admires Confucius. Fortunately, he wants to meet the immortal master. I can understand his thoughts.

However, Shandai thought it was inappropriate. He heard that the current Duke of Yansheng, Kong Shangxian, was in mourning for his grandmother. Even if he was to be summoned to the capital, he should do so later. "

Wei Guangde said.

He also knew about the situation of the Confucius Mansion from the report from Shandong, but it was not a big deal, so he didn't mention it before, so it was normal that Zhang Juzheng didn't know about it.

However, he prevented Emperor Wanli from summoning the current Duke of Yansheng, which was somewhat influenced by later generations and had no good feelings towards the Kong family in Shandong. (End of this chapter)