I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 321: Lure the Turtle into the Turtle
Outside the Malacca Longtou Port in the South China Sea, hundreds of ships are anchored on the vast sea.

Yu Dayou stood on the stern deck of the flagship, surrounded by a group of generals, listening to him pointing to a newly drawn nautical chart and laying out the battle plan.

"Qin Liuyue, you lead six ships as the vanguard and go out to the southeastern sea to meet the enemy. Fight and retreat at the same time, and bring them to the area between Bintan Island and Linga Island, which is here. There are many islands and bays here. I will hide the main force around them and catch them in a trap!"

"Yes!"

"Liao Yong, you lead the front team and guard Longtou Port. We have to be careful of the Spanish feinting and attacking the port. We also have to be careful of the Portuguese and Johor people stabbing us in the back. Damn, there are too many forces here, we have to find a way to deal with most of them.

Otherwise, we have to be on guard against their sneak attacks from behind. It's easy to be a thief, but you can't be on guard against thieves for a thousand days."

"Yes!"

"The rest of the arrangements are as follows. The front team will wait in this area. When the Spaniards fall into the trap, you will rush out and block their retreat.

The left team is here, the right team is here, as soon as the Spaniards arrive and see the signal flares, they will immediately rush out from the left and right upwind positions and attack from both sides. "

Yu Dayou glanced at the generals and specifically reminded them: "The Spanish ships are all carrick ships, which are small-sized prince's sailing ships.

We have practiced drills with the grandsons of the Xuanwu Navy at sea many times. We all have a deep understanding of the power of the prince's large sailing ships arranged in battle columns and thousands of cannons firing at the same time.

The Carrick ship is certainly not as good as the Prince's galleon, but it has more gun positions on a single ship than ours, the hull is relatively strong, and it can run faster than us with full sails and a tailwind!
We should not act recklessly, but think of strategies

We have more ships. Each of our ships has twenty guns, while theirs has forty. We send five ships to attack one of theirs, and we still have the upper hand.

So what if they run fast! I'll lure them here, there are islands everywhere, let's see how they run. So what if the ship is strong, it's just a matter of firing a few more shots!"

After the explanation, Yu Dayou said loudly: "Okay, all the generals, execute the military order!"

"Follow the order!"

In less than an hour, the sea was empty and only some sails could be seen in the distance, looming between the sea and the sky.

There were more than a dozen ships anchored in a bay of an island in the Bintan Islands, and Yu Dayou's flagship was parked on the sea at the cape of the bay.

He stood on the stern deck, leaning against the railing, holding a telescope and looking at the southeast sea. He watched for a long time. Except for a few seabirds flying by, the sea was empty and there was nothing else.

Song Yingchang advised: "Admiral, it won't be that fast. When the vanguard encounters the Spanish ships, they should at least pretend to fight for a while. If they turn around and run away, those Western barbarians will not be fooled easily."

"I know," Yu Dayou carefully put the telescope into the leather case and slung it around his waist. "Today is the first time we go to war with the Western Barbarians, and I feel a little unsure."

"Admiral, are you feeling a little nervous?"

Yu Dayou hesitated for a moment, but nodded and admitted, "I am a little bit timid. They traveled thousands of miles across the sea, from the other side of our spherical world, to come here. It is impossible to do that without some skills.

Song, we who have sailed the sea have experienced it firsthand. Sailing thousands of miles across the sea is not as easy as it is written in books. Especially when exploring unknown waters, there are waves, reefs, undercurrents, hurricanes, and countless things you don't know waiting ahead. It is not an exaggeration to say that you are risking your life nine times out of ten.

These Western barbarians actually kept exploring the way forward and explored our spherical world. You have to admire their ruthlessness. "

“Yes, Song also followed the admiral out to sea, from Dagu to Shanghai, and then followed the admiral to sail south, all the way to Longtou Port, and only then did I deeply understand that traveling is as difficult as climbing to the sky; the sea route is even more difficult.

The Western barbarians, however, regard the thousands of miles of sea route as a smooth journey, which should not be underestimated! "

"General Song, why do you think the Western barbarians would do this? They travel thousands of miles to run around like crazy? Who would be willing to risk their lives at sea when they have a good life to live?

If it weren't for the Japanese pirates causing trouble in the southeast, I wouldn't have switched to being a navy officer. Being a navy officer is so hard!

I can't understand why those Western barbarians would keep coming back and sailing across the sea? Are their families so poor?"

Song Yingchang smiled lightly: "Honglu Temple, formerly the Lifanyuan, specializes in collecting national conditions of the Western Barbarians. My students have seen it. It is said that they are short of spices, silk, tea, and porcelain."

"We lack everything, and it's really hard to make a living. It's true that when you're poor, you think about change."

"Yes, the national situation book says that they are greedy by nature, follow the law of the jungle, and live by plunder."

"What law?"

"Law of the jungle. The strong prey on the weak, and the fittest survive." "Oh, this law is interesting. It's the same on the sea, in the desert, and in the north and south of the desert. The strong and powerful are the superiors, and the rest are dependent on him.

Who came up with this rule? It’s very insightful.”

"The letters on the various vassal states in the Honglu Temple were all proofread by Xiyuan, and were added by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince himself, and he also wrote annotations. Then Mr. Li Zhuowu regarded it as a guiding principle and carried it forward."

"Prince Xiyuan?" Yu Dayou said with emotion, "Prince Shengming, this is God's blessing on our Ming Dynasty!"

Song Yingchang nodded: "Yes, God bless my Ming Dynasty.

In his love letters to the vassal states of the Western Yi, the prince also mentioned that there was an ancient country in the Western Yi called Greece, which was destroyed by barbarians thousands of years ago. There were also hundreds of schools of thought there, just like our Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

Mathematics and physics are very good, and a few names are listed, such as Archimedes, Euclid, and Pythagoras, who are all great talents like Zhang Heng and Zu Chongzhi. The Honglu Temple is trying to collect their documents through the Arabs and Portuguese. "

Hearing this, Yu Dayou sighed: "Back then, Eunuch Sanbao led a fleet to the Western Ocean seven times and brought back countless rare treasures and countless documents and books.

But more than a hundred years later, we retreated from the Arab Empire to Ceylon, to Malacca, to Annan, and finally to the southeast of Lingnan.

The Great Treasure Ship was gone, the fleet that sailed to the West seven times was gone, the Ming Dynasty’s coastal defense was gone, and the damn Japanese pirates continued to wreak havoc for decades!

well! "

Song Yingchang hurriedly comforted him, "Admiral Yu, isn't our Ming navy now revitalized? Maybe we can build a treasure ship soon."

Yu Dayou waved his hand and said, "General Song, I was just feeling emotional for a moment.

But I heard that the treasure ship cannot be built now, not because the blueprints are missing and the craftsmen cannot build it, but because there is no wood large enough. "

Song Yingchang looked at the southeast sea, but still saw nothing. So he turned around and asked, "Admiral Yu, are you serious? Is there such a thing?"

"I heard it from several old shipbuilders in Wusong. They said that the hull structure and construction method of the treasure ship and the prince's sailing ship are very different.

The treasure ships and the Fu ships used the same hull stacking method, which is different from the keel structure method of the prince's sailing ship. It requires large enough and long enough wood."

"I see. Since the end of the Song Dynasty, the timber supply from the Central Plains, the southeast, and Huguang has been decreasing. During the Yongle period, when the capital and the main halls were being built, large timber was cut down from Huguang and transported to the capital. During the Jiajing period, when the three main halls were being rebuilt, there was no suitable timber available from Huguang, so we had to go to Yunnan, Guizhou, and the southwest to look for it."

Yu Dayou smiled and said: "I don't know anything about shipbuilding, I only know how to sink a ship. These things are just anecdotes."

The military academy reported from the poop: "The lookout signaled that the ship is coming!"

Yu Dayou stood up immediately and said, "Pass the order, all teams should be on high alert, and no one is allowed to alert the enemy!"

"Yes!"

Half an hour later, in addition to the six Wusong ships that Qin Liuyue "fled in panic", Yu Dayou also saw six Western Yi ships through his telescope. They were not large, weighing between two thousand and three thousand tons.

"Damn it! I prepared such a big battle, but in the end, I only got six loaches! How can we eat them? How can we all be full?"

Yu Dayou put down his telescope and started cursing.

Song Yingchang also put down his telescope and replied with a smile: "Admiral, no matter if he is a loach or a turtle, we should eat it first.

Admiral Li's Suzaku Navy is searching the world for the Spanish fleet. They have strong ships and powerful guns. Once they catch the Spanish fleet, I'm afraid we won't even have loaches to eat."

Yes, I heard that the Spanish don’t have many ships in the South China Sea, probably between fifteen and twenty. If we attack one, we’ll have one less ship.

"That makes sense!" Yu Dayou immediately raised the telescope again. At this time, the six Spanish ships were no longer loaches in his eyes, but at least big yellow croakers.

After waiting for half an hour, the Spanish ship finally entered the designated sea area. Yu Dayou put down the telescope and shouted, "Send a flare, shoot for me!"

Boom, boom, boom! Three red flares rise above the surface of the South China Sea and reach into the sky!
　The scene transitions are already coming to an end, and the battle is almost over. Try a new writing style, and if readers don't like it, use it less often.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)