prosperous age

In the South China Sea, more than 30 ships of various sizes are breaking through the waves and heading south.

The southeast wind was blowing at this time, and this wind direction was actually not conducive to the ships going south. All the sails on the ships were tilted, and they relied on the rudders to correct their course and gain that little bit of forward momentum.

In front of the fleet, there were six double-decker gunboats leading the way, and more than twenty large Fujian ships in the middle behind them. Judging from their deep draft, one could tell how much cargo was loaded on the Fujian ships.

And at the end, there were five single-decker gunboats leading the rear, guarding the safety of the entire fleet’s rear.

On the leading ship, an old man in a scarlet official robe stood at the bow, staring at the sea ahead with his bright eyes.

Beside him, two generals in armor stood, surrounded by more than a dozen guards.

"There are no traces of Japanese pirates in Southeast Asia now, right?"

After standing for a long time, the old man slowly spoke.

“Your Excellency, the Japanese pirates have basically disappeared from the South China Sea. Although there are occasional reports of pirates being encountered by merchants, no pirates dare to set foot on the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

But as you can see, the South China Sea is still very vast, and it is actually very difficult to distinguish pirates from merchants here."

A general stepped forward, bowed and spoke in front of the old man.

“Haha, I’ve heard that when these sea merchants are faced with an evenly matched opponent, they are all in the same boat.

But once they find a fat sheep, they will transform from merchants into pirates. "

The old man smiled happily.

"Well, this"

The general didn't know how to answer for a moment.

"We have been away from Luzon for a day. Luzon should be to our east, right? It should be occupied by the Spanish now?"

The old man pointed to the left side of the ship and asked in the east direction.

"Yes, sir. We should have left the Ming waters and entered the waters controlled by the Spanish."

The deputy general replied immediately.

"Aren't they said to be very powerful on the sea?

How come we didn't see any other ships along the way except for a few Yi people's ships near Yuegang?"

The old man raised the question in his mind.

"Lord Yin, the ocean is vast, and the chances of encountering other ships at sea are slim.

Generally, they can be seen in waters near ports, where there are more concentrated ships.

Once we leave the port a little further, even if the ship deviates by just one degree, after a day of sailing like we did, the two ships will be a hundred miles apart, so it will be difficult for us to meet each other. "

The other general was obviously more familiar with the situation at sea and immediately answered.

In fact, naval generals do not want to encounter other ships on the sea, because that means you have to be on high alert, even if they are warships of the Ming Navy.

If they encountered ships from the South Sea countries or the Ming Dynasty, it would be fine. But if they encountered merchant ships from the foreigners, their combat power would be no less than that of the double-decker gunboat under their feet.

Unless you have a numerical advantage and attack from three sides, your chances of winning are unlikely to be great.

As for surrounding the enemy, well, don't forget that warships in this era fire at both sides, and surrounding the enemy will only allow them to open fire at full power, which is not the best way to fight.

If the warships are concentrated on one side, the enemy can only use half of its firepower to fight. With the advantage of numbers, the Ming navy has a chance to gain the upper hand.

In fact, in the previous war with the Portuguese, the Ming Dynasty also used countless large and small warships and relied on numbers to achieve victory.

Use large ships to attract enemy firepower, and use small boats to rush close to the enemy ships and set fire to them.

"No wonder. I was wondering, when entering and leaving the port, I could see ships from time to time, but from this morning till now, I haven't seen a single ship."

The old man was Yin Zhengmao, the envoy on this voyage to the West. He was in good health and did not get seasick, so he was still full of energy after arriving in Luzon from Zhejiang.

The fleet rested in Luzon for only one day, unloaded some supplies, and replenished some Luzon specialties, then hurriedly set sail south to Old Port.

By this time, Yin Zhengmao had some understanding of the hardships of the navy.

It can be said that after the ship goes out to sea, the only people who can chat are the crew on the ship, and no one else.

People can only walk around on this boat, and the space is very small, which makes him feel a little uncomfortable.

"Lord Yin, the sea wind is very strong outside, would you like to go into the cabin and rest?"

The general next to him whispered a reminder at this time.

After leaving Zhejiang, Yin Zhengmao was very active because it was his first time going to sea. He often stood on the deck to watch. After being blown by the sea breeze, he felt uncomfortable within two days.

Fortunately, Lord Yin was in good health and recovered after a day's rest.

Now that the wound has healed and the pain has been forgotten, he has run out to enjoy the sea breeze again, so he had to remind him just now.

Looking at the empty sea, Yin Zhengmao also felt a little bored. He nodded and said, "Yeah, there's nothing to see outside. Let's..."

As he was talking about this, he suddenly heard the lookout on the mast shouting, "We have spotted a barbarian ship on the port side at 60 degrees, heading in the same direction as us."

Yin Zhengmao had been planning to go back, but when he heard the lookout's report, he knew that the barbarian ships were gradually appearing behind the left side of their fleet, so he stopped again and looked to the left to the east.

"Sir, that should be the direction of Manila City. The Yi people's fleet may have come from there."

A general hurriedly explained to Yin Zhengmao.

"Oh, I see. Manila is the royal city of Luzon in the past."

Yin Zhengmao had read Yu Dayou's battle report, so he naturally knew something about this city. The pirate group brought by Lin Feng almost took over this city.

From this we can see that the Spanish were not actually very strong on Luzon Island.

As for why the capital did not allow Yu Dayou to lead his troops to occupy the entire Luzon Island, Yin Zhengmao also understood that Wei Guangde still hoped to do business with the Spaniards. They had countless silver to pay for goods to the Ming Dynasty.

Once the Spaniards are driven out of Luzon, who knows whether these wealthy people will come to Ming Dynasty to do business again.

When they were approaching Yuegang, Yin Zhengmao heard that this group of Yi people not only bought large quantities of porcelain and silk, but also began to purchase raw silk in large amounts.

Their purchasing actions caused a significant increase in the price of raw silk throughout the southeast.

Yes, the purchasing power of the barbarians is too strong. They have so much silver in their hands that it seems like they have endless money to spend.

Thinking of this, Yin Zhengmao couldn't help but think of a piece of gossip he heard in the capital. There is a continent in the east with countless gold and silver mines. These barbarians are developing the gold and silver there to do business in the Ming Dynasty.

"You have been at sea for many years. Is there really a mountain of gold overseas?"

Thinking of this, Yin Zhengmao suddenly asked curiously.

"The Jinshan you are talking about is..."

The general was thinking about the Spanish warships that suddenly appeared here, so he didn't understand the meaning of Yin Zhengmao's words at once.

"The kind where gold is piled up like a mountain, like an island, is there one?"

In the capital, some people believed, based on miscellaneous books, that such mountains of gold and silver might really exist overseas, and they were naturally very yearning for them.

“I’ve never heard of it, but Japan has gold and silver mines, and most of them are on islands. The output is not small, so they call these mines gold mountains and silver mountains.

But I only heard about it from some sea merchants in my early years, but I have never seen it with my own eyes. "Now the Ming Dynasty has banned trade with Japan. Even if he knows, he can only say that he heard it from others, and he doesn't know who it was. It was a long time ago.

"Japan? I think I've heard such news as well."

Yin Zhengmao was also very interested in this. As long as one was an official of the Ming Dynasty, there was no one who was not interested in gold and silver.

Perhaps Hai Rui was one of them. At least there was no public document showing that Hai Rui had plundered people's wealth. He only received salary and various subsidies from the government.

Although many of these subsidies are obtained through levies and taxes.

But compared with most Ming Dynasty officials who wantonly plundered people's wealth, he could be considered a rare honest official in those days.

"Four. There are four foreign ships on the port side. One of them is extremely huge. It seems to be a foreign treasure ship."

At this moment, the lookout shouted again.

After hearing the report from above, Yin Zhengmao carefully searched the eastern sea, but still saw nothing.

At this point, he almost wanted to climb to the top of the mast to take a look himself.

"What is a treasure ship?"

Hearing the words "treasure ship" and "huge", Yin Zhengmao really wanted to see with his own eyes how big this treasure ship was. Could it be bigger than the tribute ship of the Ming Dynasty?

Yin Zhengmao had also seen tribute ships in Nanjing.

A few years ago, the Ming Dynasty sent an envoy to Ryukyu, and the tribute ships sailed along the Yangtze River all the way to Nanjing.

The huge hull of the tribute ship left a deep impression on Yin Zhengmao.

"The treasure ship is a super-large Spanish ship, estimated to be three to four thousand tons."

The general immediately introduced.

"Three or four thousand?"

Yin Zhengmao asked in surprise: "If it is really that big, then it must be twice as big as the tribute ship."

If we don't take into account Zheng He's treasure ship, the largest ship in the middle and late Ming Dynasty was the Fengzhou, which is the tribute ship mentioned by Yin Zhengmao, a sea-going ship of about two thousand tons.

If the calculation is adjusted according to the normal ratio, it would probably be a large ship with a displacement of 500 tons in later generations.

Of course, this value may not be accurate. After all, "liao" is a unit of capacity or weight in ancient China, used to measure the size or carrying capacity of a ship. Usually one liao is equal to a certain volume of grain or a certain weight of cargo, but the specific value varies with the times and technology.

If the barbarian treasure ship weighs three or four thousand tons, then it would be even bigger than the huge tribute ship he had seen.

"Come over, let's take a look."

Yin Zhengmao suddenly gave the order.

"Sir, this."

The general wanted to say something, but Yin Zhengmao rejected him outright: "Right now, the Ming Dynasty and the barbarians have not started a war. Our fleet is so huge that I don't think they would dare to take action."

There are only four boats on the opposite side, but there are thirty boats around me. There is nothing to be afraid of.

"Left rudder."

The general had no choice but to turn around and give orders to those behind him.

Then, the bow of the ship moved slightly to the left, obviously meaning to move closer.

When the other ships behind saw the flag signals from the pilot ship, they also adjusted their courses and sailed to the left.

Soon, at the end of the sea and sky, masts and sails appeared first, and then a huge hull appeared in Yin Zhengmao's eyes.

However, at this time, three smaller barbarian warships had sailed to the middle of the two fleets. Two of the barbarian warships just blocked the treasure ship, while the other one was sailing slightly behind.

As soon as Yin Zhengmao stretched out his hand, the general beside him immediately took out a telescope and handed it to him.

Yin Zhengmao took it, pulled it open directly in front of his eyes, and carefully observed the opposing warship through the telescope.

There were no people on the deck of the barbarian warship, but the tightly closed portholes below told him that the people inside should have loaded the cannons with ammunition and were ready to go to war at any time.

You know, if there is nothing to do, there will usually be many crew members active on the deck.

But at this moment, there were very few people on the deck. They should be the people responsible for adjusting the sails, and the lookout on the top of the mast, who was also watching every move of the Ming Navy.

In fact, the treasure ship that Yin Zhengmao marveled at was the famous Manila Galleon in later generations, a large transport ship responsible for transportation on the Pacific route.

The so-called treasure ships actually refer to large fleets organized by Spain since the 16th century that regularly traveled between Spain and its overseas colonies to transport precious metals and other special products. The transported goods included gold, silver, gems, spices, tobacco, silk, etc.

Treasure fleets usually consist of two fleets: one is the Caribbean treasure fleet, which sails from Spain to the New World of America.

The other fleet traveled between Manila in the Philippines in Asia and Acapulco on the west coast of Mexico. It was called the Manila Fleet and was responsible for delivering goods from Asia to Mexico.

Once goods from Asia arrived in Mexico, they would be transported to Veracruz and eventually shipped back to Spain by the Caribbean Treasure Fleet.

"The ship we are standing on is based on the double-decker warship on the other side?"

The warships of the barbarians in front of them were not tall warships with several decks. They were the same double-decker ones used by the Ming navy now, but seemed slightly larger.

"Yes, my lord."

A general introduced in a low voice: "These three escort warships are relatively small, all of them are double-decker gunboats, but the navy has seen three-decker warships before.

I heard from some sea merchants that Spanish merchants once boasted to them that in their own country, there were already large warships with four or five decks, and that they were the overlords of the sea.

It was for this reason that Admiral Yu asked the shipyard to find ways to build larger warships.

However, the shipyard said that with our current shipbuilding methods, it is difficult to build a warship that is too tall, and it is easy to capsize in strong winds, so they are conducting research on the barbarian warships. "

"Let's go, no need to get too close, just take a look."

Yin Zhengmao had other tasks to do, so naturally he didn't want to go to war with the Spaniards here.

Having seen it, it’s natural to leave.

"Such a big ship, how many valuable things must be on it?"

However, before leaving, Yin Zhengmao still murmured something reluctantly.

"Admiral Yu also said that if we find this kind of ship, we must record it."

"Ok?"

The general beside him whispered, and Yin Zhengmao was very surprised.

"Admiral Yu seemed to have said that the barbarians are best at robbing at sea, but if you are not absolutely sure, don't act rashly."

That general must have been following Yu Dayou for a while and heard some things.

But Wei Guangde was actually wrong. He thought that Western privateers were already rampant in the oceans at that time.

In fact, the Spaniards have a solid base, and the Spanish Navy disdains these petty tricks.

Even if Spanish merchant ships participated in piracy, it was mostly spontaneous behavior of the crew.

It was the late-developing European countries that were keen on privateering at sea to accumulate capital. (End of this chapter)