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Chapter 1358 Danger
Nowadays, apart from the emperor and his confidants like Wang Chengen, probably no one knows exactly how many graduates of the Haihusi Bureau are in the court and the army, let alone how to secretly investigate.

You never know, the person you entrusted with this important task might also be one of them. The next day, people from the Eastern Depot, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, or even the Advisory Office might appear at your door, very politely wanting to chat with you about whether, on a certain day of a certain month of a certain year, at a certain table on a certain floor of a certain restaurant, you accepted a gift from someone that exceeded the prescribed price.

People like Huang Taiji, the Silva couple, and many foreign officials and generals in the court and army, if traced back, should be considered mortal enemies of the Ming Empire, including the Mongol Kharachin tribe.

Some had their land seized, some had their fathers and brothers killed, some were captured and kidnapped, and some were forced to leave their homeland... Yet Emperor Jingyang still dared to entrust them with important responsibilities and even command troops in one region. Besides his great magnanimity, he probably also had the support of the graduates of the Haihusi Bureau.

His comrade-in-arms, with whom he had spent nearly ten years and fought side-by-side on a warship, turned out to be from the same Haito-ji clan. If Wu Bing hadn't brought it up, he hadn't even entertained those thoughts.

This is why he never truly opposed Emperor Jingyang and his governing philosophy, and faithfully fulfilled his duties as a naval officer. Otherwise, he would not have received Wu Bing's confession, and even without the arrest of the military police, his rise to prominence would have been a pipe dream.

Those people must have had their share of Wu Bing's around them. Despite the distance, their every move and word was under the emperor's control. The idea that "generals in the field may disobey the emperor's orders" is nonsense.

If I were to be accused of treason or treason right now, and there's no time to wait for the relevant departments to verify it, Wu Bing would most likely convene a fleet staff meeting and replace me directly. Even if that's too late or impossible, would he just shoot me? It's really hard to say!
"Actually, my real purpose in rushing here is not these three ships, nor the gold and silver in the cargo hold. This is the original interrogation transcript. The two officers involved have already been isolated and confined. Now I am the only one who knows the truth, and soon you will be added to the list!"

Seeing that Setter still insisted on upholding his principles and secretly reporting to the emperor despite the immense merit that was within his grasp, Wu Bing was not disappointed but instead smiled strangely. He slowly took out a cigar from his inner pocket, twisted it between his hands, and pulled out a small paper roll from the twisted tobacco leaves.

"...You learned this bluffing habit from the army, didn't you! Those guys are always gossiping in the barracks, frankly, they're just bored. We in the navy don't do that. We're all in the same boat, you know? If... damn, whose testimony is this!"

Faced with Wu Bing's highly unusual behavior, Setter hesitated, staring at the small roll of paper for several seconds without daring to take it. But how could a dignified deputy commander be scared out of his wits by a mere note! In the end, after opening it and glancing at it, he wasn't scared out of his wits, but he was still quite frightened, and his hands were trembling a little.

“Rosie, commander of the Silver Fleet! I’ve verified her identity with the crew on the silver transport ship, and I guarantee there are no problems.” Seeing Setter’s reaction, Wu Bing was pleased and pointed to the name on the paper to further confirm its authenticity.

"...Is there any corroborating evidence?" However, Setel was also very good at controlling his emotions. He only tensed up for a few seconds before returning to normal and began to think about the details of the whole matter.

"No, according to him, the movements of the allied forces are classified and it is highly unlikely that colonial officials will be informed. I have also inquired about this indirectly, and it seems that neither the Governor-General of Peru nor the Bishop of Lima are aware of this arrangement."

He shouldn't have known, but during his journey south to Brazil, he stopped in Cape Verde for supplies and happened to meet a fellow Italian. Oh right, this Spanish commander was Italian and served the King of Spain.

His fellow countryman, also a ship captain working for the Dutch West India Company, inadvertently revealed over drinks that six months prior, his ship had secretly transported two groups of troops to a port called "St. James." This port was located approximately 500 kilometers south of Whale Bay in southwestern Africa; it wasn't on our nautical charts, nor did he recall it existing. In reality, it not only existed but was also quite large, appearing to be newly built and still under construction.

One of the West India Company's main businesses was loading enslaved Africans off the west coast of Africa and transporting them to the Americas for sale. If the supply was insufficient or the prices were unfavorable, the crew would also act as makeshift slave-catching teams, venturing inland to capture slaves.

He had been to the west coast of Africa more than a dozen times, but the furthest he had ever been was Whale Bay. Because there were no more ports or supply points further south, the only port he could stop at if he wanted to go around the Cape of Good Hope to Asia was Nymphal Port.

If he wasn't lying and wasn't mentally unstable, Europeans had been secretly building a marina for large and medium-sized sailing ships in a bay about 500 kilometers south of Whale Bay for the past six months.

They also hired at least two batches of sailboats, each with more than 10 vessels, to transport no fewer than 5000 soldiers, along with their equipment and supplies, to the area.

The origins of these soldiers are even more interesting. Apart from a small number of Dutch and English soldiers, the vast majority came from the German regions and Spain, and they were well-equipped, possessing many cannons and horses, unlike ordinary mercenaries.

Although the confession contained the dialogue during the interrogation written in Latin, Wu Bing still explained it sentence by sentence in his own language, emphasizing several unusual points.

"European coalition! Why are they going to... wait... navigator, please bring the nautical charts for southern and western Africa... never mind, bring all the African nautical charts, quickly!"

Even without Wu Bing's explanation, one can at least see one anomaly in Settlers: the only force that can bring together the armies of the Dutch, English, Spanish, and German princes without them fighting each other seems to be the European coalition.

Furthermore, he could sense that the European coalition's presence in southwestern Africa must have some ulterior motive, with Enbird Port being the likely target. However, this stretch of coastline and sea area was extremely remote, and apart from the naval staff's exploration ships, almost no ships from the Ming Empire had ever visited it.

After the Battle of the Cape of Good Hope, even the number of voyages by exploration ships was reduced to a minimum. The fleet stationed at Enniu Harbor would regularly send warships to patrol westward, but would not sail too far north.

"It should be around here, within a 3-hour sailing distance of a European sailboat."

The navigator soon came in carrying a large stack of nautical charts, but after he left, Wu Bingcai picked up a compass and a protractor and began to measure the area. He first found Whale Bay, which Captain Rossi had mentioned, and then used the speed as a reference to calculate a rough range.

(End of this chapter)