open sea

Chapter 705 Poker
Fu Yuan went back with the sheep, and the merino sheep in groups left a field of sheep manure for the Governor of New Spain as a souvenir.

Poker is quite fun. All kinds of cards can easily make Fu Yuan have a basic understanding of the medieval western class, but familiarity with it is another matter, and it has nothing to do with winning or losing. Compared with Almansa who is very familiar with poker, Fu Yuan Yuan has another deck of poker that is exactly the same on his body, which is the secret to winning all battles.

In fact, Fuyuan generally does not cheat, only when you really want to win.

It's very interesting to think about it. Fu Yuan and Almansa used sheep to bet against each other, but in fact neither Fu Yuan nor Almansa owned the sheep. It didn't really matter who the sheep belonged to—at least they Neither of them cared.

Shao Tingda and Hei Yunlong are much more serious here than idle guerrillas. Hei Yunlong led his men to build the harbor while arranging fleet patrols on the east side of the peninsula near the west coast of Mexico to ensure that all their warships would All can move in the sea.

Shao Tingda had more work, but it had nothing to do with his headquarters. The aborigines who went south with the Ming army were assigned according to the number of troops sent, and Shao Tingda redefined the tribal area for them—these people originally lost all their land in the south of Zhuangyuan Bridge. Now that the land is handed over to them again by Daming, it is natural that Shao Tingda should plan it.

The former military fleet divided nine large tribal alliances with more than [-] troops according to the geographical population. At the same time, they assigned banner troops to the nine tribes to teach basic Chinese.

Of course, the aboriginal troops of the various tribes on the boundary peninsula did not withdraw either. They spontaneously followed the Ming army's hundreds of households and learned the Ming army's use of building camps, arranging defenses, and even using bird guns.

In terms of the situation, the Ming army in the southern part of the demarcation peninsula and the Spanish legion on the other side were close to the sword. Three of the four legions in New Spain were dispatching to the coast to prevent the Ming army from suddenly launching a landing battle against Mexico.

The fleets of the two sides are swimming in the sea area with a straight line distance of [-] miles, expelling each other, exploring the deployment of the other side's coastal defense, and protecting their own coastal defense from the other side's knowledge.

In this regard, the Ming army has a slight advantage. The existence of telescopes allows them to observe the opponent's general deployment from a longer distance, so as to collect information and leave the dangerous sea area before the Western Army ships are about to be on high alert or even launch a collision.

"Once there is a war, I'm afraid we won't be able to get a bargain."

In the south of the demarcation peninsula, the confrontation between the two sides has lasted for more than ten days. Hei Yunlong is still patrolling the fleet under the jurisdiction of the port on the shore. Shao Tingda and Fu Yuan held military discussions, pointing to the map and said: "At least 6000 people are stationed on the coastline of [-] miles on the opposite bank. Each other can get support within five hours at most."

"There are only four thousand of our troops, and more than 2000 of them are untrained natives. Although the morale is not bad, they are not subordinate to each other, and they are different from our fighting methods. They cannot speak the language and are difficult to train. The more than 900 people Half of the Xuanwu whistlers can't even skillfully reload the blunderbuss."

Xuanwu sentry is an aboriginal army led by long-legged bears under Shao Tingda's subordinates. It is armed with all western-style armor and armor received. It has four teams of light soldiers, heavy soldiers, blunderbuss and artillery, and has thirteen small Francois cannons. , the armament is excellent.

The light soldiers are archers and crossbowmen who don't wear armor, the heavy soldiers are spears, halberds, and long swordsmen wearing breastplates and helmets, and the gunmen are equipped with Spanish light muskets and heavy muskets.

Gunners accounted for only one-ninth of them. In fact, Shao Tingda had a lot of muskets idle, but there were no suitable people to use them.

"During the battle, the native troops cannot fight alone, let alone mix with our troops. You have [-] troops, and I have [-] troops. The total force of [-] is the entire force that can be used. Avoid a decisive battle with them, but The only chance of victory is to assemble the fleet to eat away at the enemy ships at sea."

Fu Yuan sat cross-legged on the simple log pier of the camp. He also took out a sketch and said to Shao Tingda: "I have seen the terrain in the southern part of the peninsula these days. There are many mountains running through it. If the sea is unfavorable, you can drag it on the shore for a while. .”

"It is inevitable to let the enemy go to the island instead of a decisive battle. We think it is better to sink its ship Kujo at sea. As long as the enemy's large ship Jiujo can be sunk without major losses, their warships in the nearby port Even if they gather together, they dare not attack us."

Fu Yuan didn't pay attention to these things, he waved his hand and said: "Relax, once the negotiation collapses, the second master will definitely lead the army to march down. You and I are just small vanguard officers. If you can beat them, you can fight them. Withdrawal—two thousand versus six thousand, there is no shame in withdrawing.”

"Why don't you be ashamed, Brother Mu, which time I was not a vanguard, and which time I withdrew? They have more than 30 warships, and you and I have [-] warships together, let alone two large ships. Sink nine of his ships and ten of them, and the next battle will be easy to fight."

So ideal.

Fu Yuan took a look at Shao Tingda, knowing that he was used to bullying people in Nanyang with the strength of his ships and guns, and said: "Have you seen it, big bug? Their warships are no worse than ours. The second master most recognizes Yu Shuai's warships." In other words, in sea warfare, only large ships are better than small ships, and more ships are better than fewer ships, not to mention that the gains and losses of a city or a place have nothing to do with the overall situation, so in my opinion, it is better not to confront them head-on."

"I've been playing cards with the Governor of New Spain these days, but I've found out a big secret. This will be more useful to the Second Master's strategy in Asia than to take down several coastal ports!"

Shao Tingda looked at Fu Yuan mockingly, and said, "What can you do with that fat old man playing cards? The king is bigger than the soldiers?"

"Where did you think you were? You didn't realize that we came all the way to receive the armaments of nearly four companies of the Western Army. Among them, they have a lot of matchlock guns? Some companies can account for [-]% of it?"

"If you say that, it is indeed the case. What does this mean?"

Shao Tingda thought for a while, and said to Yuan: "Where did they buy a batch of bird guns?"

Fu Yuan shook his head slowly, with a complacent expression on his face, he raised two fingers and said: "First of all, their legion organization is like our guards, but a legion usually has ten companies under its jurisdiction, and the number of soldiers in the company is between two hundred and five to three. Between a hundred and five, there is a company that specializes in using bird guns, and they use bird guns more than others."

"Secondly, they have a lot of matchlocks in their hands, because there is a general in the Western Kingdom who is as prestigious as the second master Yu Daming, known as the Duke of Avar. Six years ago, among the [-] soldiers stationed in the Netherlands, there were already [-] soldiers using birdcups."

"There are more of them now. This is the army we have to deal with...In comparison, I hope that the second master can reach a negotiation with the Westerners."

(End of this chapter)