I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 873 Will they become autistic?
Standing on the forecastle and looking into the distance, the sky is blue, the clouds are white, the sun is red, the sea is blue, and the Ming Dynasty's escort fleet is setting sail.

Farnese turned around and asked Juan unwillingly.

"General, are you just going to let them go?"

Juan asked back, "What do you want?"

"General," Farnese leaned forward and whispered, "Lunedaan's fleet is waiting thirty miles behind us, which is the only way to Lisbon."

Juan said nothing.

Farnese was anxious. "General, we must act quickly. The Ming people's ships are fast. If we are any later, we will not be able to send the letter in time."

Seeing Juan's face change slightly, as if he was tempted, Farnese continued, "General, if we don't even try, no one will take Spain seriously in the future."

Juan looked at Farnese, leaned forward, put his hands on the railing, and silently looked at the Ming Dynasty escort fleet in the distance. After more than ten seconds, he finally nodded.

Farnese pumped his fist with joy, ran down the forecastle, and excitedly gave orders to his adjutant.

Soon, a speedboat with full sails came and sailed quickly to the rear.

After more than three hours, the Ming escort fleet bypassed the Spanish fleet and headed northeast.

After sailing for more than an hour, the adjutant reported to Wu Guanhai.

"Report! The Spanish fleet has been following us, about ten nautical miles away."

Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji, who were standing on the stern deck, turned around, raised their binoculars and looked back. They saw the Spanish fleet. The densely packed sailboats were like the eyes of hyenas on the grassland.

"These Spaniards have bad intentions. Commander Wu, we have to be worried."

"Your Excellency, we have entered the first level of alert. No matter whose ship it is, Spanish or Portuguese, if they dare to provoke us, we will resolutely fight back."

Wang Yongji said approvingly: "That's right! This is the heartland of the Western Barbarians, we must be on our guard!"

After a while, the Xiquan communications ship sent a signal.

"Three ships are coming, two in company, flying the French flag. One is a mile behind, flying the English flag. It is turning to follow us, southeast, two miles away."

After entering European waters, the Ming escort fleet worked hard to learn from the Portuguese, and first learned to recognize the naval flags of various countries.

"Stay alert."

Another half hour passed.

"Report! Three ships spotted, flying the flags of Venice, Genoa, and the Papal States. Turn and follow us, southwest, two miles away."

"Stay alert."

Wu Guanhai turned to Shen Wanxiang and Wang Yongji and said, "Envoy, Deputy Envoy, Marquis Ma and Baron Leon are right. This sea area is the main route for the Western Barbarians to travel from south to north, east to west, and there are ships from all countries.

What a gathering of barbarians! "

Shen Wanxiang turned around and deliberately asked, "Commander Wu, from what you said, you are not afraid at all?"

"Afraid? What are you afraid of?"

"This is the heartland of the Western Barbarians. There are so many Western Barbarian ships surrounding us, at least forty or fifty of them. Aren't you afraid?"

"Envoy Shen is making fun of me. What's so great about this little boat? What am I afraid of?
When the Emperor met with our naval officers and soldiers, he once said that the Ming navy should have the courage to go wherever the invaders go. The ships of the Western barbarians can sail across the sea to the doorstep of our Ming.

Now our Ming Navy can also come to their doorstep.

If any of them dare to show their teeth, we will knock out their fangs with artillery!"

Wu Guanhai pointed at the ships following behind him with high spirits and said, "Envoy Shen, Deputy Envoy Wang, I really hope that there are a few Western barbarian ships behind us that will jump out and give us a good beating.

A barrage of artillery is more powerful than a thousand words!"

"Haha, Commander Wu wants to kill the chicken to scare the monkey!"

The sea breeze continued to blow, making the Ming naval flag on the mast of the Yunyang flutter.

The flag has a white background with a Yan-style Ming character on the top, like the sun and the moon shining brightly. Below it are four blue wavy lines rippling and undulating, representing the four seas of the east, south, west, north and south as mentioned by the Ming Dynasty.

easy to understand.

In the European geographical system, there are seven seas, namely the China Sea, the Red Sea, the Green Sea (now the Persian Gulf), the Damascus Sea (now the Mediterranean Sea), the Venetian Sea, the Pontic Sea (now the Black Sea) and the Caspian Sea (now the Caspian Sea).

But that is their rule, the Ming Dynasty has its own rules.

The three of them stood on the poop, looking through the deck and sails to the vast sea.

The sun shines on the sea, making it golden and sparkling.

"What does the sea look like to you?"

Shen Wanxiang asked.

Wang Yongji stroked his beard and replied, "It's like the golden rice fields in my hometown. When the breeze blows, the rice waves rise and fall like golden waves on the sea. It carries the fragrance of the harvest and is full of hope."

"Vice Envoy Wang said it very well. When you said that, I also thought of the wheat fields in my hometown. The wheat fields in Shandong are also like this, stretching as far as the eye can see.

In autumn, it is also golden and heavy."

"Report! The HMS Corgi has received an urgent report."

"explain."

"A fleet has been spotted ahead, a total of eleven Carrick sailboats, heading straight for us from the northwest, with an unknown flag!"

"The flag is unclear! That must be pirates." Wu Guanhai shouted excitedly.

Shen Wanxiang laughed and said, "Commander Wu, you were just talking about it, and now the chickens are here."

"Okay! Pass the order, all ships deploy, form groups of two, cover each other, and prepare for battle."

The sound of a trumpet sounded, and the Tanghu cruiser immediately approached the Yunyang and became its wingman.

Another cruiser, the Bailizhou, approached the Lund and became its wingman.

The two frigates, the Koi and the Hibiscus, moved closer to each other and served as each other's main escort ships.

After completing its reconnaissance mission, the Xiquan quickly turned the rudder, sailed to the outer sea, and cruised outside the battlefield.

Marcelo and Leon were on the Prince Henry and their faces changed when they saw the Ming escort fleet changing its formation.

What are the Ming people trying to do? Why are they forming a battle formation?
Soon, a fleet appeared on the sea to the northwest.

Marcelo observed carefully through the monocular telescope. When he saw the skull and crossbones flag on the mast and looked at the shape of the ship carefully, his face turned pale.

Leon also saw this sudden fleet clearly. The two held the telescope and had bad thoughts in their hearts.

"This is the Valencia privateering fleet from Spain!"

Privateers, or licensed pirates, exist in every country.

Britain, France, Portugal, and Spain all have them. They take on all the tasks that are inconvenient for the navy to do.

Marcelo and Leon recognized that the fleet appearing in the northwest was the most powerful privateering fleet in Spain, which often operated between Crete, Malta and Sicily, looting Ottoman caravans.

Sometimes merchant ships from France, Venice and Genoa were also robbed.

Who to rob and who not to rob depends entirely on who Spain is in bad relations with at the time!
Looking around, they saw that the Spanish fleet had caught up, and the Santa Maria, on which Juan and Farnese were aboard, stopped next to Prince Henry and the Rebelo.

Marcelo and Leon looked through the telescope and saw Juan and Farnese standing on the forecastle, observing the battle ahead through telescopes.

Looking more closely, we saw that the French ships, the British ships, the ships from Venice, Genoa and the Pope had all gathered around and each occupied a favorable position.

A rare opportunity!

The top "gangster" thug of the No. 1 Navy in Europe, against the vanguard of the Ming Navy, which is said to be invincible in the world.

Everyone was discussing who would win and who would lose.

The British and French, who were fond of gambling, immediately started gambling against each other.

When the news reached Venice, Genoa, the Papal States, Portugal and Spain, sailors from these countries' ships began to place bets.

The odds are 4:6.

The Ming Navy has a 40% chance of winning, while the Valencia privateer fleet has a 60% chance of winning.

The Ming navy was powerful, but it was only powerful in legend. Except for the Portuguese and Spanish navies, the navies of other countries had not experienced it in person.

There are always some stubborn people in this world. If you tell them to go east, they just won't believe it and insist on going west.

How powerful the Ming navy is is just nonsense from you Portuguese and Spanish people!
How great can you be?
Eleven ships versus seven ships, who has the advantage?
Moreover, the strength of the Valencian privateer fleet had been witnessed or personally experienced by many of the ships present. They were all elites selected from the Spanish Invincible Armada, and had been rampant in the Mediterranean, with rich combat experience and a brutal and ruthless style.

We bet on the Valencian privateer fleet to win!

Most of the people who bet on the Ming fleet were Portuguese and Spanish. They had either witnessed the strength and power of the Ming navy with their own eyes or heard about it from their relatives and friends, so they believed it was very credible.

Although the Valencia privateer fleet is powerful, it cannot break through the ceiling!
Others were from the British, French, Venetian and Genoese fleets. They were people with extensive experience in naval warfare and realized that the essence of naval warfare was big ships attacking small ships and that artillery was king.

No matter how many sheep there are, they are still weak when facing tigers and wolves!
As they were placing bets enthusiastically, a naval battle began in the distance.

The Yunyang and Tanghu moved forward one after the other, covering each other as they rushed towards the center of the Valencia privateer fleet.

The Yunyang ship is tall and large, and looks as fierce and aggressive as a tiger descending from the mountain.

The four main battleships of the Valencia privateering fleet were all carrick sailing ships of six or seven hundred tons.

They once dominated the Mediterranean with ferocity and arrogance, and the ships of the Ottomans, North African pirates, Venice and Genoa trembled in fear before their sharp fangs.

But in front of the Yunyang, it immediately turned from a wolf into a husky.

In front of the Yunyang's sixty guns, the four battleships of Valencia immediately became clear-eyed and their stupidity was clearly visible.

The captains shouted loudly and turned the rudders to avoid the attack of the Yunyang.

The Yunyang stared at the privateering fleet's flagship, the Knight Roland.

As the captain and sailors of the "Roland Knight" were terrified, the Yunyang rushed to a distance of less than fifty meters from it, and then the starboard guns fired in turn.

Fires flickered and thick smoke filled the air.

The rumbling sound of cannons tore through the air and reached the surrounding ships behind, causing everyone to fall silent.

"How can a single ship have so many cannons? They are almost equal to the cannons of an entire fleet." A captain murmured.

Through the telescopes of Marcelo, Leon and Juan, they could see that the "Roland Knight" was shaking after being hit by nearly thirty projectiles, blood and flesh were flying on the deck, and flames were everywhere in the cabin.

Juan was startled.

Not only do the Ming warships have a large number of cannons, but their firepower is also so strong!
Marcelo and Leon knew that the Ming people used a big move right from the start and used explosive bombs.

This type of shell can exert its greatest power when it explodes in the sealed space of a cabin. The pellets inside can effectively kill sailors and gunners, and the flying ignition materials can ignite the cabin, which is the most brutal thing.

In contrast, the Spanish and Portuguese were still using red-hot iron bullets as hot "incendiary" bombs. It was too dangerous to set up a brazier to burn red-hot iron bullets in a cramped cabin full of gunpowder. If you were not careful, the gunpowder would ignite and the whole ship would go down with it.

And the power is very poor.

Neither the Spanish nor the Portuguese navies would use it unless it was absolutely necessary.

The Ming Navy actually developed more effective and powerful explosive bombs.

Don't talk about martial arts!

The Yunyang and the "Roland Knight" passed each other, leaving the Spaniards in disarray in the wind amid thick smoke and blood.

But their nightmare did not stop. As soon as the Yunyang left, the Tanghu rushed up.

Just now, the "Knight Roland" and the Yunyang were engaged in a bombardment. Now the sailors on the ship are loading ammunition nervously in panic, and cannot pose a threat to the Tanghu for the time being.

The Tanghu was able to rush to a distance of about 20 meters and calmly fired four rockets at the "Roland Knight".

When using naval rockets to attack enemy ships, the closer the distance, the higher the hit rate.

The hit rate at 100 meters is even worse than that of a smoothbore rifle. The hit rate at 50 meters is about 50%. At a distance of 20 meters, it can almost be said that 100% of the shots are accurate.

But the closer you get, the more dangerous it is.

Spanish and Portuguese warships also had cannons. At a distance of twenty or thirty meters, no matter how inferior the gunpowder was, the destructive power was great enough.

So when fighting, you need to make a trade-off.

Now, the "Knight Roland" had just exchanged fire with the Yunyang. With the speed of the Spanish Navy's gunners, it was impossible for them to fire a second round within five minutes. That was why the Tanghu, which was following closely behind, dared to be so bold and rush so close.

The power of the four rockets was immediately apparent. Four balls of fire rose from the "Roland Knight", which quickly merged into one large ball of fire and completely engulfed it.

Seeing the "Knight Roland" burning like a huge torch, the other ships in the Valencia privateer fleet were terrified.

How cruel!

The watching ships in the distance, including those from Spain, Portugal, Britain, France, Venice, Genoa, and the Papal States, all fell into silence.

It’s just that their silence is too deafening!
(End of this chapter)