I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 864: Your name is Drake!

Wang Fengju looked through the telescope for more than a minute. The sea in the distance was rough, empty and quiet, and he could not see anything unusual.

He turned around and ordered: "Immediately send the frigates Black Goose, Kingfisher and Goat to see what's going on.

The battleships Zitong, Qujiang and Longyan lined up and were ready to provide support.

The six cruise ships, Qingshuihe, Flounder and Tuna, expanded their patrol range to 60 nautical miles to guard against sneak attacks from other directions.

The rest of the warships should speed up the cleaning of the battlefield, and once the prisoners and valuable cargo have been transferred, the seriously damaged enemy ships should be set on fire with rockets."

"Yes!"

After more than ten minutes, Wang Fengju saw that the ships were scattered on the sea in an orderly manner and were busy cleaning up the battlefield, and he felt relieved.

Raise the telescope and continue looking in the direction where Clover is sending the signal.

The frigates Brent Goose, Kingfisher and Goat were seen setting sail at full speed, one after the other, heading towards that direction.

The battleships Zitong, Qujiang and Longyan were spread out in a V-shape, with their sails half-opened. Their speed was relatively slow, and they fell behind by more than a nautical mile.

Huangfu Tan walked up to him and said, "Admiral, it's okay. The Shamrock is a reconnaissance ship. Although its firepower is weak, if you can't defeat it, you can just run away.

Its speed is so fast that few ships can catch up with it in the Ruoshui Sea area. Besides, the Sika Deer cruiser has gone up to meet it, so it will be fine."

"Director Huangfu, in the Rushou Sea area, the Spanish were frightened by our attacks and basically fled at the first sign of trouble. Those who dared to ambush our ships were probably other forces."

"The Spaniards were beaten so badly by us that they were unable to take care of themselves. The other Western countries were eager to take advantage of the situation and tear off a piece of meat from the Spaniards.

The Western Barbarians have no knowledge of benevolence and righteousness, are wild and barbaric, and will not do good deeds such as helping others in need, but will only do evil deeds such as kicking someone when he is down.

However, these Western naval forces were scattered, weak, and inferior to the Spanish in strength, and could only commit petty thefts.

Admiral, they are not a threat."

"Director Huangfu, flies are not fatal, but they are very annoying. Our navy patrols in teams, and we dare not provoke these flies, but what about the merchant ships passing by?
Only a thousand days to be a thief, how can a thousand days to guard against thieves!
Later, when we build more ports in the Rushou Sea area, expand land and revitalize the industry, and make it prosperous, they will come out, bombard the ports, and intercept merchant ships, just like the Japanese pirates who harassed the southeast in the past. Our navy will be exhausted and unable to take care of one thing while focusing on another.”

Huangfu Tan's face became serious, he nodded and said: "The admiral is right. Now we have to focus on the management of Genxunzhou. The Rushou Sea area is connected to Genzhou in the north, Xunzhou in the south, and Shangzhou in the west. The location is very important.

This place is not only a strategic point on the sea route, but also an excellent place to grow cash crops such as sugarcane and tobacco. It is an important pillar for Genxunzhou to be self-reliant and develop its economy.

If the Western Barbarian pirates occupy the island and harass us at will, the trade routes will be blocked, the industry will stagnate, and the economy will be in a difficult situation. Then the grand plan that the emperor has set for us to manage Genxunzhou will be seriously hindered."

Wang Fengju pointed to the sea ahead and said with a sigh: "This sea, the East and West Islands, form a ring. There are hundreds or even thousands of islands, and the situation is very complicated. It is beneficial to the Western pirates but not to us.

The attack on the Shamrock shows that these Western pirates dare to attack unscrupulously as long as they encounter a lone Ming ship. Even if they fail, they can hide in these islands and escape naturally.

If evil goes unpunished, it will only make the evildoers more arrogant and fearless."

Huangfu Tan had read the Qinglong Fleet's action reports in the eastern part of Xunzhou and the Ruoshou Sea area in recent years and understood the situation. He nodded and replied, "Yes, the most rampant pirates in the Ruoshou Sea area come from England and France. Spanish captives said that these pirates were also funded and encouraged by the English and French royal families.

It is unthinkable that a country like the imperial court would commit robbery and banditry. "

"The Western Barbarians were divided into dozens of countries, and they have been fighting each other for hundreds of years. They have committed countless beastly acts. They cannot be eliminated by believing in a religion or chanting a few words of "I am guilty".

This time, the admiral wants to see which pirate dares to challenge the emperor."

As he was speaking, four flares rose up in the sky over there.

"There are four enemy ships, fighting fiercely."

Wang Fengju immediately raised the telescope and looked over there.

There was no sign of the Brent Goose, Kingfisher, and Goat.

In the slightly swaying halo of light in the telescope, sailors were standing on the masts of the Zitong, Qujiang and Longyan. They were busy standing on the crossbars, and soon they saw all the sails were spread out, and they were accelerating towards the direction of the sending signal at full speed.

Wang Fengju put down the telescope, turned around and walked to the other side of the stern deck, then raised the telescope again to observe the situation on the battlefield.

The burning Spanish ship had been abandoned and left to burn like a torch on the sea.

The sailors on the ship jumped into the sea. The Ming army had a transport boat sailing on the sea, which rescued the Spanish sailors and sent them to an armed transport ship for custody.

The Ming warships around were on full alert, their guns were not covered with gun covers, and their muzzles were facing the sea. The 60mm short-barreled cannons on the masts and the smoothbore rifles on the sides were all facing the sea.

If the Spanish sailors dared to act rashly, bullets would be rained down upon them at no cost.

There was no fire on the Spanish ships or the fire had been extinguished. The Ming armed transport ship, under the cover of its brother warships, slowly approached and threw over a dozen ropes. The Spanish sailors there tied the ropes honestly.

The two ships were connected side by side and covered with wooden boards. The Ming sailors, fully armed and in battle formation, carefully climbed over the wooden boards to the opposite ship.

After controlling all the key positions, the Ming sailors supervised the Spanish sailors to move the valuables in the cabin, such as gold, silver, jewelry and other soft goods, to the Ming ship opposite.

Other bulk cargoes, such as sugar and ore, remained in the Spanish ships.

The Spanish sailors were transferred over, and twenty or thirty Ming sailors were left to take charge of the operation. The Spanish sailboat was then tied behind the Ming armed sailboat and towed back to Chunmu Port in Jumang County.

Of the fourteen Spanish ships, six were sunk, caught fire, or were abandoned, one escaped, and the remaining seven were dealt with in the same way.

Wang Fengju saw through the telescope that the ships were handling the situation in an orderly and smooth manner, so he felt relieved.

He looked up to the northeast, wondering when the war over there would end and whether the ambushed Shamrock would be okay.

At around three o'clock in the afternoon, news finally came that the fighting over there was over. The Shamrock was only slightly damaged. With the support of its brother warships, it defeated the ambushed English pirates, sank and destroyed two ships, captured two, and pulled back the Spanish ship that had escaped.

Wang Fengju breathed a sigh of relief and asked the communications officer to send a signal, asking the captains of the Clover communications ship and the Sika Deer cruiser to reach the Pingliang as soon as possible. He wanted to hear a detailed report.

At dusk, Captain Wang Yiping of the Shamrock and Captain Li Zi of the Sika Deer arrived on the deck of the Pingliang on a transport boat and were then taken to the captain's room.

Wang Fengju stepped forward to greet the two: "Captain Wang, Captain Li, let's eat and talk." "Yes, Admiral!"

Wang Yiping and Li Zi sat down among the officers, and a dinner plate was quickly placed in front of them.

The wooden long oval plate had three depressions in it, two small and one large. In the small depressions were placed tomatoes and eggs and bacon and potatoes, and in the large depression were two pancakes and a wooden bowl filled with dried vegetable and sea fish soup.

Wang Fengju said: "We replenished some tomatoes at the Portuguese Little Bay Port. It is said that this thing is the favorite fruit and vegetable of the Xia and Shang survivors of the Obsidian Kingdom.

Some Portuguese and Spanish people love to eat it, while others fear it is poisonous, but our chefs in Xiazhou have found after research that scrambled eggs with tomatoes are the most delicious. "

Everyone laughed softly.

"These dozen eggs were secretly hidden by Chef Zhang. After more than ten days at sea, the hens on the boat were seasick and became listless, and stopped laying eggs.

Today, our cooking squad leader, Chef Zhang, generously gave it to entertain you two."

Wang Yiping and Li Zi expressed their gratitude to Chef Zhang who was standing next to them.

Everyone started eating with a smile on their face and finished the meal in less than five minutes.

After the dishes were cleared away, the cook served each person a cup of dry lemon tea.

"Captain Wang, Captain Li, tell us about the war with the English pirates."

Wang Yiping and Li Zi looked at each other, and Li Zi said modestly, "Captain Wang, please speak."

Wang Yiping was not polite and said, "Admiral, Director Huangfu, captains and comrades, I am leading the communications ship Shamrock to chase the fleeing Spanish sailing ship, the Mayalunsa.

The 'Mayalensa' was the fastest ship among this group of Spanish sailing ships, and its captain was the smartest among the dozen or so Spanish captains. When he saw something was wrong, he took advantage of the cover of the smoke on the battlefield, quietly moved to the periphery, and ran away when the time was right.

Our ship was ordered to monitor and guard the periphery. We saw it trying to escape, so we sent a signal and chased after it.

It was only a dozen nautical miles away. Although my ship was faster than the 'Mayalunsa', it still took some time to catch up.

Our ship caught up with the "Mayalunsa" more than two hours later, more than 200 meters away, and fired demonstration shots with the forecastle deck gun.

The captain of the Mayalunsa also accepted his fate and ordered the sails to be lowered. Just as our ship was about to take over, four ships rushed out from the middle of the nearby islands, flying pirate flags, and surrounded us.

When we saw it, we were shocked. Hey, there are actually people who dare to play tricks on our Ming Dynasty Navy.

We quickly signaled, turned around and took advantage of the situation to fight them."

Wang Yiping spoke brilliantly and vividly, and the officers listened with great interest.

"Our ship is fast, flexible in turning, and has good artillery configuration.

After fighting for more than an hour, the four pirate ships were unable to do anything to us, so they gave up and turned around to surround the "Mayalunsa" and prepare to tow it away.

We were furious at the time. They really dared to rob our fellow thieves.

The Sika Deer also arrived in time. I immediately ordered it to send a signal, asking it to make a detour and encircle the enemy so as not to let these bastards escape.

We cooperated very well with the Sika Deer.

If a pirate ship tried to escape, we would stare at it and fight it to death. If they wanted to besiege one of our ships and outnumbered us, we would turn around and swim away, not giving them a chance.

After fighting for more than an hour, the frigates Barnacle, Kingfisher and Goat arrived. We immediately took the upper hand and launched a siege on the four pirate ships.

More than an hour later, one of the four pirate ships was sunk, one was hit by a rocket and burned, and the remaining two, including the flagship Pelican, surrendered immediately.

We went up to take charge and captured them, and interrogated them on the way back. They were English sailors, funded by their king, and came here to make a fortune.

We will split the money we steal with the king fifty-fifty."

Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but curse: "Barbarians are barbarians. The king is leading the way in becoming pirates. What kind of imperial government is this?"

"How can a government composed of pirates treat the people? Isn't it like telling a group of wolves to protect the sheep?"

Wang Fengju waited for a while, then waved his hand to signal everyone to stop, and asked, "What's the name of their leader?"

"What's your name? Drake."

"Drake? This name sounds familiar."

"Yes, the Spanish captives said that this was the most rampant pirate among the English pirates. He was also one of the first to obtain a letter of marque from the King of England, which allowed him to rob legally."

"Yes, it is said that he is very cunning, well versed in astronomy and geography, has very advanced navigation skills, and is very brave in combat. He strikes fear into the hearts of the Spanish, and is also very familiar with the French pirate captains here."

Wang Fengju narrowed his eyes.

very familiar!
He asked, "Did you bring Drake?"

"Report to the Admiral, I have brought it."

According to convention, such enemy leaders would be handed over to the political department for interrogation and custody.

"Bring it up."

"Yes."

Soon, a red-faced and bearded man was brought to the captain's room. Seeing a group of Ming Dynasty naval officers staring at him, his Adam's apple couldn't help but shake up and down, and he was very nervous.

Wang Fengju stared at him and suddenly asked, "Your name is Drake!"

(End of this chapter)