Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 1309

The few remaining people were not as ruthless as the Japanese, but they all said that they would die and were willing to work hard.

Although Gao Yihuan had been to Nanyang, he had never experienced a fierce battle. He hired thirty guards this time, just to strengthen the combat power on board.

Now it seems that the three selected by Gao Lao are not bad, especially the five Japanese. It is said that they belong to the Changzhou Domain, and they draw their swords when they disagree with each other.The other men are also very strong, only the three North Koreans are a little short.

After Gao Yihuan gave his orders, he asked them to return to their respective positions, and then went to the cabin to rest.

Luzon Bay is five or six days away from Sulu, what we need to do now is to recharge our batteries, but the guards who are new on board are a little excited, asking around the old sailors, while Chen Baogui touched The pitch-black body of the Hongyi cannon.

Sea voyages are very boring, and the old sailors are also willing to talk to the rookies, bragging, telling dirty jokes, and the sky is completely dark before they know it.

At night, the dark cabins and decks were full of men sleeping, and the snoring was mixed with the sound of waves outside the cabin and the creaking of the hull.In the ship building, the lights were still on, and Gao Yihuan was talking to Shinjiro Watanabe. Watanabe's Chinese was not very good, so he talked with Gao Yihuan in writing if he didn't understand something.

In the circles influenced by Chinese culture, North Korea, Japan, Annan, etc. mostly use Chinese characters, so even if the language is sometimes difficult, they can still talk in writing. It's just that Gao Yihuan's handwriting is really ugly, but Watanabe Shinjiro's handwriting is very beautiful.Chinese warriors had been completely separated in the Song Dynasty, and civil and military were separated, while Japanese samurai focused on martial arts, but they had the characteristics of before Tang Dynasty.

This Watanabe Shinjiro was a samurai of the Changzhou Domain. After the Japanese Edo Shogunate signed a trade treaty with the Ming Dynasty, Kyushu, Shikoku and southern Honshu were the first to suffer from the impact of Ming Dynasty commodities.

Although the feudal clans in southern Japan sent a large amount of supplies to the Ming Dynasty, they still could not reverse the trade deficit.Because the Ming Dynasty had the right to negotiate tariffs, the vassals could not raise taxes to ensure the development of their own handicraft workshops, which made the Japanese handicraft industry develop slowly under the suppression of Ming Dynasty commodities.

In addition, many businessmen from the Ming Dynasty took advantage of the defects of the Japanese currency system to extract a large amount of wealth from Japan, causing the financial bankruptcy of the Changzhou Domain, which was already suppressed by the shogunate.

The exchange between gold and silver in Japan is one to four or one to five, while in the Ming Dynasty it was one to ten. Many merchants in the Ming Dynasty took advantage of this and exchanged 5 taels of silver coins from the Ming Dynasty for one or two taels of gold in Japan. The gold is then shipped back home.

The combination of these circumstances caused a serious financial shrinkage of the daimyo in the south, and some low-level samurai were unable to receive their salaries and wandered in all directions, causing turmoil in Japanese society.This made many low-level samurai dissatisfied with the shogunate, destroyed the originally stable pyramid structure of Japanese society, and caused many social problems.

Of course, Shinjiro Watanabe didn't understand these questions. He was just a low-level samurai. Gao Yihuan came to him to ask if he had any companions, and hoped to introduce some more people to Sanhe Company.

The two communicated until midnight before going to rest.After dawn, the sailors on the deck woke up, and there was noise on the ship. After Gao Yi cheered up, he came to the deck and looked at the chart. The ship had almost reached Mindanao and entered the Sulu Sea.

At this moment, more than 200 ships with black flags on the left suddenly changed their course, sailed along the coast into the strait between Mindanao and the Visayas, and sailed along the archipelago.

The Luzon Islands (Philippines) can be divided into three parts, with Luzon in the north, Visayas in the middle, and Mindanao in the south.

The crew on board also saw the left-wing fleet separate from them and enter the strait. After a while, they hid behind the island and disappeared.

From the time Zheng Chenggong's main warship left the fleet to the departure of the left wing fleet, everyone on board realized that the battle was about to start, and the noisy fleet immediately settled down.

At this time, the right-wing fleet continued to sail southward, and arrived at Mindanao Island in the south of the strait after half a day. within a bay.

There are more than 200 ships on the left and right wings, hiding on both sides of the strait. Gao Yihuan can guess the battle plan of the Luzon Navy without the explanation of the people above.

Sulu Island is just southwest of Mindanao, and the plan of the Luzon Navy must be to introduce the Spanish warships into the strait and then besiege them on three sides.

If you add the Ming Dynasty navy who is said to be coming, it will be surrounded on all sides, and the Spanish warships will be unable to fly.

In fact, counting the number of ships and tonnage of artillery, Spain's Far East fleet is not too much. The Ming Dynasty Navy and Luzon Navy combined are five or six times his, but they have not been able to completely defeat the Spaniards. A big reason is that Because they are fast and a single warship has strong firepower, often three or four Luzon warships cannot catch a Spanish warship.

The Dutch gave up their advantage and went to defend the fortress on land. They let the ships nest in the harbor and were blocked by the Ming Dynasty. In addition, the Ming Dynasty Navy also had more than ten fast ships, so they failed. If they gave up Malacca, sailing on a boat, maybe the battle of Minghe is not over yet.

After the fleet entered the harbor, everyone, including Gao Yihuan, became nervous.

The seagoing ships lowered their sails, and more than 200 lucky ships stopped together. Gao Yihuan stood on the ship tower and looked around. The sailors on other ships began to throw spears, claws, Japanese swords, shields and other weapons on the deck. The gunner moved the wooden box containing the projectiles and gunpowder packs to the artillery.

Seeing this, Gao Yihuan immediately ordered: "Everyone, prepare quickly and check the equipment to see if there are any mistakes."

At that moment, the crew members on the Sanhe also began to make their own preparations. The black donkey also got down from the watch bucket, took a self-propelled gun and ammunition, climbed up and put it in the watch bucket, then climbed down again, and took a bow and a pot Arrows were also thrown into the lookout.

Everyone was so busy that the sky became dark again, and the sky full of stars appeared in the sky. Gao Yihuan looked up for a while before returning to the ship building to rest.

For the next few days, the fleet stayed in this unknown seaport. They never waited for Zheng Chenggong's fleet to arrive, nor did they see the shadow of the Spaniards. Everyone's spirits were in high tension.

The space on the boat was small and there were so many people. After a few days, there were several fights and fights, all because of trivial matters.Gao Yihuan knew that it was due to everyone's mental depression, and it was the same with the other ship. He didn't impose too heavy a punishment when the deck was beaten into a mess.

The time slowly came to the night of the seventh day, and Gao Yihuan slowly fell asleep. At about five o'clock, there were sudden bursts of rumbling outside the ship building.

He thought it was thunder and it was going to rain, so he put on his unlined clothes and walked out. He ran into Chen Baogui who was looking for him, "Master, there is something wrong in the west!"

Gao Yihuan's complexion changed, and he hurried out of the boat building. The sky was full of stars, and there was no sign of rain. He was turning to the west, and there were continuous bangs, and with the sound, red light could still be seen in the west sky sparkle.

"It's a cannonball!" Gao Yihuan exclaimed, "Here we come!"

The movement has awakened everyone in the harbor, regardless of size, and they all came out of the cabin to look to the west, but hearing the sound, the artillery battle should still be more than ten miles away.

Gao Yihuan has also seen the scene in Malacca, but this time he participated in it personally. He was excited and nervous at the same time. He looked at the sky and guessed that it would be dawn soon, and he couldn't sleep, so he hurriedly ordered: "Third brother, Hurry up and get some food, it's time to start the war at dawn!"

At this time, the decks of the ships in the bay were full of sailors and guards. Everyone stood in their own positions, with various weapons around them, mainly muskets and knives. They are all loaded with ammunition, and then the gun is pushed to extend the muzzle out of the gun window.

The black donkey had already climbed onto the watchtower and looked westward, but because the mountain peak blocked him, he couldn't see the sea to the west. He could only see the front of the bay, where there was a pitch-black sea.

At this moment, dozens of huge black monsters were moving on the sea surface. From time to time, their black bodies sprayed out streaks of orange-red flames, making booming noises, which made the sea tremble, and the scene was very grand.

As the black object moved, the bay got closer and closer to the sound of gunfire, and the sky brightened.

Gao Yihuan took his binoculars and climbed up to Wangdou. At this time, about six or seven miles away from the entrance of the bay, more than 40 warships flying the Luzon flag fled eastward, and a three-masted Dafu ship broke in the shelling. The mast slowly distanced itself from the main force, and was quickly set on fire by the Spanish fleet behind. The ship was smashed to pieces, and slowly sank into the sea in Gao Yihuan's circular vision...
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(End of this chapter)