Daming Yinghua

Chapter 439: Fatten and then Kill (Part )

It was also a few days after the beginning of spring, and while the city of Beijing was still filled with cold air from time to time, the humid air inside and outside the southeastern coastline of the empire was obviously warm.

Ningbo Prefecture, outer sea, Shuangyu Island.

Spanish Father Mores, holding his grandfather Diego, stood under the small stone church.

"Mores, seventy years ago, westward from here, closer to Ningbo Prefecture, there were two small islands facing each other. Those were the real Shuangyu Port. And where we are standing now is the king's It was named after the fleet occupied it, haha, it was also called Shuangyu Island, probably to mock the Portuguese.”

"Grandpa, please speak Mingguo dialect more slowly." Morais, who was wearing a black priest's robe and a cross on his chest, said apologetically.

His face, which has some Chinese characteristics, has a solemn and respectful expression.

Morais was a clergyman who traveled far and wide to preach in the East. He had a positive need to understand and speak the language of other countries as soon as possible. The fact that his grandfather was from Ningbo who was kidnapped by the Spanish fleet many years ago became Morais' advantage and the reason why he was selected by the church and sent to the East to preach.

Diego, an old man with yellow skin with deep grooves, gave his grandson a loving smile, but the smile quickly faded.

"Mores, my child, I was only ten years old at that time, working as a handyman on a smuggling ship. I remember that one morning in spring, many Ming warships suddenly arrived from all directions and surrounded Shuangyu Island. They used The paper on which the arrow was shot said that the emperor sent a high official to ask the Portuguese on Shuangyu Island to surrender. The Portuguese refused, and the war began."

In fact, Morais has heard his grandfather's experience many times since he was a child.

He knew that his grandfather's Chinese name was A Niu, and that he was a survivor of those days of fierce fighting. He was taken as a slave by the Portuguese who escaped, and then transferred to Spanish soil, where he became a servant of a priest. A Spanish name: Diego.

Many years later, when Diego's grandson Morais was no longer a humble servant but a priest, he was able to gain a clearer understanding of the past events his grandfather told about by consulting nobles and reading materials.

Ningbo was in the Zhejiang Province of the Ming Dynasty. The official who came to attack the Shuangyu Island smuggling fleet had the same surname as the Ming Dynasty emperor, and his name was pronounced "wan". The powerful Ming Dynasty navy destroyed the Portuguese smuggling base, and used their offshore sand barges to tirelessly transport stones and discarded wood to fill up the waterway, making Shuangyu Island no longer able to accommodate large transoceanic ships. In this way, the Ming government no longer had to garrison troops to guard it.

Mores’s superior, a priest who had deep friendships with the king and noble generals, told Mores with disdain for the Portuguese: “If our Spanish Armada was there at that time, victory would definitely be on our side. , the people of the Ming Dynasty will learn a lesson that they will never forget for a long time.”

Morais didn't have any objectionable emotions at the time. To him, the Ming Kingdom was just a piece of land on the other side of the ocean, and the quarter of the Ming Kingdom blood in his body was just an objective but distant fact. Compared with his reverence and loyalty to the church, it is nothing worth mentioning.

However, at this moment, when his grandfather looked to the west and slowly talked about old memories, Morais seemed to be touched by the pious and compassionate color in the old man's eyes, which was like holy light.

"Grandpa, do you hate the Portuguese?"

"A long time ago, I cursed them every day," Diego said with a wry smile. "Your great-grandmother, my mother, must have been in pain and sorrow for losing me. But hate, what's the use? The Portuguese are hateful, but the emperor of the Ming Dynasty was not Is it hateful? If the emperor of my childhood, ah, yes, I remember, his name was Jiajing, if he could allow Ningbo merchants to trade openly with the Portuguese, how could there be that war? was swept away."

Morais' eyes turned to the undulating sea again.

He really wanted to tell his grandfather that the Portuguese may not treat slave trading as a get-rich-quick business like the Dutch, but even in Guangdong, which has been officially allowed by the Ming Dynasty to conduct sea trade, the Portuguese still kidnap slaves from time to time. The young men of the Ming Dynasty went to Europe to work as coolies.

But he held back. He has regarded himself as a Spaniard, a Spaniard who should hate and despise the Portuguese, but grandpa is not a Spaniard.

Grandpa always said that he was a man who only had a hometown but no motherland.

"Morais, I am a little ant. I will die at any time, whether in the soil on land or in the wind and waves at sea. I have been able to live so long in my life. You will send me back to the seaside of my hometown. This ant, Already luckier than many ants."

Morais suddenly felt a little sore in his eyes, but before the tears could well up, the bell suddenly rang on the watchtower not far away, which surprised both him and his grandfather.

"There is a fleet, there is a fleet approaching! It's not our Spanish merchant ship!" The commander of the island, the guards of Fleet Admiral Lucas, ran around shouting, "The soldiers immediately boarded the gunboat and drove outside the merchant ship."

Morais helped his grandfather into the chapel, opened the cellar, and warned: "You hide here and don't come out."

Diego squinted his cloudy eyes and asked, "Is it an official ship from the Ming Dynasty calling again?"

"I don't know, probably not. If they want to attack, they should have done so two years ago. They may be the Japanese or the Dutch. They came to negotiate and want a share of the pie here. No matter what, please don't come out."

The filial grandson closed the iron bar lid of the cellar to ensure that air could enter, but not to allow rocks to fall into the cellar if the church was attacked by artillery fire.

Morais ran out of the church, but he could no longer catch up with General Lucas.

"Father Mores, let's hide over there on the island!" A Spanish businessman passing by in a hurry called to Mores loudly.

"Where did the ship come from?"

"They are from the Ming Dynasty. They raised flags and asked us to surrender."

It turned out to be an official ship of the Ming Dynasty.

Morais was still muttering, and a few more Mingguo words drifted into his ears.

"Fortunately, if the Spaniards don't obey, they should go to the imperial court. If they surrender, the imperial court will try it and our master will be finished!"

After Morais tried hard to understand the general meaning, the two people who spoke were left with only his back escaping in a hurry.

That is a Ming Dynasty person from Ningbo Prefecture.

……

Zheng Zhilong seemed to have returned to the scene of facing the Spanish in Luzon Island or the Dutch in Liaoluo Bay.

But today, it is more like an upgraded version of those two wars.

Although Brother Yan did not come in person, he sent Yang Tiansheng and ten main warships from Taiwan.

Yan Siqi has been in Taiwan for seven or eight years. Under the lenient policy of the Ming Dynasty, he and Yu Zigao used Xu Xinsu as an intermediary to collect flag money in different regions, and the maritime trade of Bengang became prosperous.

The emergence of Zheng Haizhu allowed him to guard Taiwan earlier than in history. For this maritime tycoon, a more important impact than making money was that he could rely on the geographical and trade route advantages of the entrepot trade port to gain an international perspective and learn from This generational update of ship-borne guns in the Age of Discovery helped to timely complete a maritime fleet that was not inferior to the Spanish and Dutch. "Brother Yilong, look at Yang Tiansheng's ship. Not only is there a dragon on the bow, but there are rows of guys in the side gun windows. The caliber is not small!"

Next to Zheng Zhilong, Xu Yilong, who was also holding a telescope, was also excited.

Zheng Ziying spent more than three years in Chongming to recuperate, recruit and train troops. Although he was also asked by Zheng Haizhu to lead the instructors Xu Yilong and Qi Jin, he often returned to the land to fight against small groups of bandits to train troops. However, the naval camp It was the first time that he brought an infantry battalion to the waters of Zhejiang to fight a battle.

No matter how good the relationship between Zheng Zhilong and Xu Yilong is now, to the point where they are ready to get married, they still cannot hide the cautious evaluation style of a veteran of naval battles.

Most of Chongming's soldiers are Liao civilians. No matter how good their foundation is, no matter how well trained Yilong and others are, they are the first brothers in the battlefield after all, and they need the help of veterans to charge forward.

"Yilong, the soldiers of your three ships, don't be in a hurry to join us later. I'll let my ship and Lao Yang's ship get on first."

Xu Yilong did not show any unconvincing resistance.

Before the encirclement and suppression of the Spaniards off the coast of Ningbo, Zheng Haizhu wrote a separate handwritten letter, telling him that in terms of combat command, he must listen to Zheng Zhilong and Yang Tiansheng, who had rich experience in naval warfare. The purpose of Chongming Zheng Ziying's expedition was mainly to allow these earliest Liao civilians to gain combat experience against professional soldiers, rather than to compete with Yang Tiansheng or Zheng Zhilong's battleships for credit. Otherwise, in the subsequent battle against the Tatars, Yilong would not be allowed to lead the battle.

Xu Yilong did not dare to disobey this instruction. At this time, he said to Zheng Zhilong very simply: "Okay, let's bombard with artillery first. When we are within the range of bows and arrows and matchlocks, we Chongming will shoot a few rounds, and then join your gang."

Zheng Zhilong nodded, but did not put down the telescope in his hand: "Yilong, among your Liao people, bring those with the best archery skills over here and stare at the turrets on the island."

……

When General Lucas heard the first gunshot, which came from the southeast of the island, a trace of fear flashed across his gray-blue eyes.

"How many official ships does the Ming army have?" he asked loudly.

"Sir, there are twenty large ships carrying artillery." The captain of the command ship standing next to him turned back and stared at the flag signal on the island's watchtower, interpreting it at an unusual speed, "and there are a series of ships. Charge, charge the boats more." many."

Lucas' head buzzed.

As a member of the Armada Generals, Lucas had of course heard of the Battle of Liaoluo Bay between the Ming Dynasty and the Netherlands. At that time, the Dutch sent only seven battleships.

Although these ships of the Ming Dynasty were not as big as the Dutch ships, their artillery fire was denser and their speed was faster.

Lucas couldn't figure out why the Ming Dynasty had turned a deaf ear to the movements of Shuangyu Island in the past three years since it actually had such a powerful navy.

Is it true that as the retired officials in Ningbo who are richer than the lords said, these naval forces are mainly deployed in the north and south to defend against the Japanese and Dutch?

"Launch, launch!"

After hurriedly completing the formation, the Spanish command ship kept giving orders to the firepower points of the island and surrounding warships.

Suddenly, on the sea surface of Shuangyu Island, the sound of cannons was loud, and the firelight, white smoke and waves were intertwined, like canvases with different textures and shades, and on top of this canvas were the warships of the two armies that were constantly approaching. , among the high and low shapes of the ship, the sides of the ship, masts and even human bodies were shot up from time to time.

Father Morais retreated towards the church in horror until he leaned against the stone wall.

Beside him, the two Ming people who had first fled to the south of the island and were preparing to make small sand boats to return to Ningbo turned back and huddled at the base of the wall. One of them held the copper cross in his hand tightly, trembling and praying.

In order to please the Spaniards, the head of the family made all his subordinates who were working on errands believe in Catholicism.

The gentleman didn't say a few words before his companion spat on the ground: "Bah, you are so godless. It's because of doing business with these godly bastards that we are afraid of losing our lives today. What god is this? Niu, why didn’t he show up at the critical moment?”

After he finished speaking, he glared at Morais who was staring at them, took off the cross from his neck and threw it away. He knelt on his knees and wailed into the smoke-filled sky: "Mother Mazu, ancestor of Tianfei, please The old man showed his spirit and quickly silenced the Ming Dynasty's artillery. Or simply rain down a few thunders and kill most of the imperial army."

Morais looked at the Ming man who cursed the soldiers of the motherland in shock, but then he thought about it, let him confess his evil thoughts later, saving their lives first was more important.

"Two gentlemen, come in..." Morais greeted them, but he didn't know how to say "cellar" in Mingguo dialect, so he could only point to the church door.

The Ming people who worshiped Mazu fiercely threw away his hand and cursed: "Go into this shabby house and expect to be killed by the falling rocks?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a huge iron bullet exploded near the breakwater not far away. The broken stones and even some of them landed only about ten steps away from them.

It turned out that the Ming army already had three warships, which broke through the Spanish warships' line. While they were preparing to fight with cold weapons, the cannons on the bows of the ships also fired towards the island.

The two Ming people jumped up and shouted.

They had lost their sense of control and actually ran towards the fort on the island, only thinking that the wider stone wall could be used as a bunker, but they did not know that this kind of firepower point was the attacker's first target.

Sure enough, as soon as they ran under the turret, there was a scream of "Wow" from above their heads, followed by a "Boom", and a black shadow fell in front of them.

It was a Spanish gunner with an arrow nailed to his chest.

On the sea, Zheng Zhilong took off his binoculars and punched the Chongming infantry beside him in surprise.

"His archery skills are amazing!"

That infantryman was Hua Er's brother, Hua Da.

He didn't seem to believe that he could hit the Spanish gunner. He looked left and right and asked blankly: "No, it wasn't one of you who shot it? Yes, was it me?"

"It's just a big mistake. It's not Nong, it's Saning?" His brother-in-law from Songjiang came up to him and scolded him with a smile in Songjiang dialect.

Hua Da also became happy.

"Hey, my sister and I are both promising. When we go back to Liaodong, we will shoot the Tatars in the same way."