I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 861: Zhaoming City, Lelang County, Hezhou
"There are less than 200 people left in January River Port, gathered four kilometers east of the old castle site, forming a village. The previous port facilities have been basically destroyed, and the only pier has long since rotted away."

These Portuguese people are in such a miserable state!
"Do you know the reason?"

"No, the Nine-Tailed Fox only sent this much information."

Wang Fengju, Huangfu Tan and Zhu Jingfa looked at each other.

"Captain Zhu, raise the flag to notify Changsha, Kaifeng, Jianxin and Wukang, and tell them to prepare 50 armed sailors each, lower the transport boat, and land at January River Port.

You should also be prepared.”

"Yes! Pingliang will also prepare fifty armed sailors and two transport boats."

"Director Huangfu and I will go ashore and take a look. Captain Zhu, you will take over the command temporarily."

"As ordered!"

The Second Squadron had three Class A battleships, Pingliang, Changsha and Kaifeng.

Six Class B battleships, Jianxin, Wukang, Xichong, Zitong, Qujiang and Longyan, as well as twenty-six frigates and cruisers, and twelve armed sailing ships as logistical support ships, and four communications ships.

The total number of guns on all the ships is more than 2,000.

Even if this force were to attack Spain now, it would be enough to scare the Spanish King Felipe II to death!

The Spanish Armada, which he relied on as his pillar, had a total of only 150 sailing ships and 3,000 guns.

Wang Fengju was not worried that someone would set a trap in January River Port and lure them into it.

It’s not certain who will ambush whom!
When one's strength reaches a certain level, one can ignore all conspiracies and tricks.

Wang Fengju wanted to go and see how the Portuguese lost such an important stronghold in Xunzhou.

According to the data and maps surveyed by the advance surveying team, January River Port is very suitable for development.

There is a bay there with a wide belly and a narrow mouth, calm winds, deep water and a wide bay. It is a natural deep-water harbor.

In terms of longitude, Yiyuehe Port is located at around 23 degrees south latitude, near the Tropic of Capricorn, and the Zhurong County Liyuan Port that the Ming Dynasty is about to build is at 34 degrees south latitude, which is only 11 degrees different.

In terms of longitude, Yiyuehe Port is at 159 degrees west longitude, and Liyuan Port is at 96 degrees west longitude, a difference of 63 degrees.

A preliminary calculation on the map showed that it was about 3,000 nautical miles, which would take a clipper ship 20 days to travel. It was about 5,000 nautical miles from Liyuan Port to Yanli Port, which would take a clipper ship 35 days to travel. It was 1,800 nautical miles from Yanli Port to Guangzhou Port, which would take 12 days to reach.

It only takes sixty to seventy days to transport supplies and people from Guangzhou or Xiangjiang Port to the east coast of Xunzhou.

This route is much more convenient than crossing the Pacific Ocean to the west coast of Xunzhou and then going around Cape Ping'an. The key is that it can make full use of the monsoon.

In summer, the wind on the east coast of Xunzhou blows from west to east and from north to south, all the way to Liyuan Port at the southernmost tip of Kunzhou, and then around the Cape of Good Hope into the South Ocean, where the southeast trade wind blows from south to north.

It crosses the South China Sea diagonally through the Yanzhong Strait and enters the South China Sea. It continues to head north with the southeast monsoon and reaches Xiangjiang Port.

In winter, taking advantage of the northeast monsoon and southeast trade winds, it sails from Xiangjiang Port across the South China Sea to Liyuan Port. Entering the Atlantic Ocean, it takes advantage of the southeast trade winds on the west coast of Kunzhou and heads northwest to Yiyuehe Port.

This is a perfect route planned by the Navy Department after integrating a lot of hydrological, weather survey and record data.

January River Port is a very important node and cannot be lost!

The fleet soon arrived at the waters off January River Port, which was indeed a natural harbor. On both sides were capes that stretched into the sea like long arms, and in the middle was the entrance.

Wang Fengju stood on the bow of a transport boat, Huangfu Tan sat behind him. Ten transport boats, carrying two hundred and fifty armed sailors, passed through the bay between the capes.

Wang Fengju looked down at the sea. It was deep blue and quiet, at least ten meters deep.

Looking left and right, I saw that the sea between the capes was nearly two miles wide.

The capes on both sides are strategically located, and by building fortresses and artillery batteries, it is possible to block all access to and exit from the sea and keep the enemy out of the port.

The transport boat sailed into the bay, and the view suddenly opened up. The sea inside was very wide, and the coastline was long and winding, covering dozens of kilometers in radius.

There are continuous mountains and several rivers around. Although the rivers are not wide, they can provide enough clean water.

There are several islands on the sea. The one on the left is the largest, with a radius of several kilometers.

At first glance, the sea is wide, calm, and the water is deep blue. It is indeed an excellent natural deep-water harbor.

Wang Fengju held up a telescope and looked around the bay. He saw some people running around on a beach. They should be the Portuguese living there.

The transport boat rushed onto the beach, the armed sailors jumped off the boat, stepped onto the waves to the beach, and quickly deployed.

After a while, five Portuguese men came over. They were all men in their thirties or forties, wearing tattered clothes, with pale faces and thin bodies. Two of them had gray hair and beards, and looked very old.

The five people were brought forward by the armed sailors. When they saw Wang Fengju and Huangfu Tan, they hurriedly took off their sun hats, held them tightly in their hands, glanced at the two of them, and hurriedly lowered their heads again.

"Ask them if they are Portuguese?"

Wang Fengju said to the interpreter.

"Yes."

The interpreter Balabala spoke a few words to several Portuguese people.

"Admiral, they are Portuguese and have lived here for more than 20 years."

"How many of them are there, men, women, young and old?"

The interpreter spoke again for a while and replied, "Admiral, there are a total of 176 of them, 127 women and children, and only 49 men."

“So few men?”

“Admiral, life here is very difficult. Although the land is fertile, there are a lot of indigenous people around us who often attack us, and many people are killed or injured every year.

This place is far away from other ports and not on the prosperous trade route. It is very remote and quiet, and many young people cannot stay here. Once a ship stops here, a group of people will follow and leave, and once they leave, they will disappear without a trace.

The old man said that their village originally had six or seven hundred people, but due to the attacks and conflicts with the French, many died or fled, and only three hundred people were left ten years ago.

In the past ten years, due to attacks by indigenous people and the disappearance of young men, there are only these few left.”

Wang Fengju nodded and turned to Huangfu Tan, "Director Huangfu, what should we do?"

"The elderly, children, women and children are not a threat. We are developing a new port and are in need of people."

"Okay," Wang Fengju said to the interpreter, "Tell them that this is now the overseas territory of the Ming Dynasty. It will no longer be called Yiyuehe, but Zhaoming City, and this area will be called Hezhou Lelang County.

If they want to stay in the future, they can stay, but they must be loyal to the Ming Dynasty and abide by the laws of the Ming Dynasty. If they betray the Ming Dynasty, their entire family will be killed.

Explain it to them clearly, let them think it over, and if they don't want to stay, we can take them to the Little Bay Port in the north."

The interpreter chatted with the five Portuguese for a while, then turned around and asked, "Admiral, these people are asking if the Ming Dynasty wants to build a city or a port here?"

"Yes." "Then if they stay, will they be treated differently?"

“How are we treated differently?”

“They believe in Christianity.”

"Tsk, there are many people in the Ming Dynasty who believe in Christianity. But there is one thing, you can believe in Christianity, but you must cut ties with the Roman Catholic Church. The Pope's words will not count in the future, only the imperial edict of the Ming Emperor will count."

The interpreter exchanged words for a while, then turned back and said with a complicated expression: "Admiral, they are Huguenots. They came here to escape the persecution of the Roman Catholic Church."

"What, Huguenots? A martial arts sect from the Western barbarians? Like the Huashan Sect and Wudang Sect mentioned in our martial arts novels?"

"No, no, Admiral. The Huguenots are a new sect derived from the Western Barbarians. They belong to the Reformed sect, just like the Vinaya, Zen, Tiantai and other sects of Buddhism. However, among all the sects of Western Barbarians, the Roman Catholic Church has the greatest influence and has been ruthlessly exterminating the forces of other different sects."

"So you are not on the same side as the Roman Catholic Church. That's fine. As long as your sect follows the laws of the Ming Dynasty and accepts the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites and Religious Affairs, the rest is up to you."

After the conversation, the two Portuguese elders could not believe what the interpreter said. They rushed to Wang Fengju and asked questions excitedly.

The interpreter quickly translated, "They asked, does the Ming Dynasty really have no hostility towards the Huguenots?"

"We don't know who they are, so why should we be hostile? Besides, we don't even care about the Romans, so what do these Huguenots mean to us?
As long as they behave themselves and don’t commit crimes, we don’t care what they believe.”

After hearing what the interpreter said, the five Portuguese people hugged each other and burst into tears.

Why are you still crying?

"Admiral, sir, they were abandoned by the French when they withdrew because they were Huguenots. When the Portuguese gave up this place, they also gave up on them."

“It’s really a hard life.

Tell them to relax. Our Great Ming is the beacon of human civilization, embracing all rivers. But it is not easy to become a citizen of the Great Ming. For the time being, they will be treated as temporary residents of overseas territories. "

Next, Wang Fengju and Huangfu Tan mainly did several things.

First, fortresses and artillery batteries were built on both sides of the cape. The mountain on the eastern cape was named Dongzhu Mountain, and the one on the western cape was naturally named Xizhu Mountain.

The second is to build ports and castles in suitable locations.

Fortresses, castles and artillery batteries were all built with reinforced concrete columns, and then fenced with abundant wood and filled with earth. The fleet had only four or five thousand people in total, and they could not do much work even if they took turns to build.

Besides, there isn’t that much cement and steel bars.

Just make do with it for now and wait for the Xunzhou agricultural reclamation engineer to send someone over.

The third is to send out several advance teams to survey the surrounding areas. They hired temporary residents who were familiar with the environment as guides and surveyed an area of ​​more than 400 kilometers in more than a month.

There are seven tribes in this area. The largest one has thousands of people, and the smallest one has three or four hundred people. They fight whenever they meet.

The Ming army was not polite to these remnants of the Xia and Shang dynasties who shared the same ancestry. They fired muskets, 60mm short-barreled cannons, and grenades, causing heavy casualties.

There is no way, these people have been away for too long, and have become too barbaric, so they need to be properly educated. Although the means of education are a bit harsh, but without beating, there will be no success.

If we want to be reborn and return to Chinese civilization, we must go through some pain.

When the indigenous tribes realized how powerful they were and became afraid, the exploration team changed their attitude and bribed the tribal leaders and priests with a little bit of sugar, salt and cotton cloth, saying that they would live in peace from now on.

You can use your furs, prey and food to exchange with us for sugar, salt, cotton and other good things.

Young and strong people can come to Zhaoming City to help out and earn work points, which can be exchanged for good things.

The chiefs and priests saw these newcomers, who were cruel and ruthless when they quarreled, but kind and gentle when they were spoken to nicely. When they heard such good conditions, they tried to exchange them a few times and found them very fair.

Hundreds of people were organized to help, and they could really earn work points, which could be exchanged for good things. However, the work points could only be exchanged for a few things a day, but the natives thought it was worth it.

These good things have never been seen before, let alone even thought about, but now I have the chance to get them!

Isn’t it just a little harder work, more effort and more sweat?

It's ok!
In the past, no matter how much sweat we shed or how much effort we put in, we couldn’t get these good things!

These young and strong indigenous people are shouting out loudly!
We hope to sweat more and work harder!

We demand overtime!

They work us like beasts of burden, and as long as they can give us more work points, we can exchange them for more good things.

With the help of three or four thousand indigenous cattle and horses working overtime, the construction of Zhaoming City progressed very quickly.

More than two months later, the fortresses and artillery batteries of the East and West Zhu Mountains were completed, Zhaoming City began to take shape, and a bastion with a radius of more than two miles was successfully built.

The stone and reinforced concrete base is topped with wooden fences and rammed earth. The wall is four meters high and has two gates, which is enough to defend against ordinary thieves and pirates.

Three piers were also built in the harbor, which could accommodate twelve warships at the same time.

Seeing that the situation was almost ready, Wang Fengju left behind two frigates, three cruisers, a communications ship, and five hundred defenders, and the main force left Zhaoming Port and continued to head north.

We soon arrived at Little Bay Harbor and had a friendly and cordial meeting with the frightened Governor of the Portuguese "Mahogany" Territory.

Wang Fengju solemnly told them that according to the imperial edict of the Ming Emperor, the Ming Dynasty reserved a temporary residence area for the Portuguese in Xunzhou, north of 15 degrees south latitude, south of 5 degrees south latitude, and with a coastline depth of 100 kilometers.

Wait until your King Sebastian I agrees to the Ming Dynasty's peace terms, and then we will send you to retreat to several islands in the Rushou Sea.

Your king won't agree?
Haha, that’s great!
We can even save those islands in the Rushou Sea.

After the notice was officially delivered, Wang Fengju led his fleet to continue northward. Their destination was the newly built Chunmu Port on the eastern coast of Jumang County, Shangzhou.

On March 11, the sixth year of the Wanli reign, the fleet passed through Mangzhong Island (Trinidad and Tobago).

These are actually two islands. The main island in the south is Mangzhong Island, and the smaller island in the north is called Mangzhong North Island.

They belong to the southernmost part of the Dong Rushou Islands, and were named so because their fleet was discovered passing by during the Grain in Ear solar term.

Passing through Mangzhong Island and Mangzhong North Island, you will enter the Ruoshou Sea area.

The Admiralty's plan to build a port and castle here was correct, as it was the gateway between the Rushou Sea and the east and south of Xunzhou.

"Send a signal to notify all ships to increase alert.

The Dong Rushou Islands in the north have many islands and complex waters, making them a good place for Western barbarian ships to hide. Don't fall behind and beware of any daring sneak attacks."

"Yes!"

Two days later, early in the morning, Wang Fengju and Huangfu Tan were having breakfast in the captain's room with Zhu Jingfa and the officers on the ship, when suddenly an officer on duty came running to report.

"The communications ship Swift, which is on alert and reconnaissance ahead, has sent a signal that a warship has been spotted! It's 26 nautical miles southeast of us!"

(End of this chapter)