Horatio was furious and shouted: "I'll kill you if you're not honest!"
The prisoner glared at Horatio and cursed: "Kill if you want. If I blink my eyes, I won't be you!" Although Horatio is good at Chinese, he doesn't know much about such street swear words. After hearing these words , was stunned, and said: "What do you mean? What is not me? What is I?"
The prisoner laughed loudly and said: "I made a mistake. It turns out you are my grandson!" Horatio understood this time and became furious and shouted: "I'm going to kill you!" He pulled out the sword with a clang. sheath.
"Horatio!" Nelson shouted sharply. Horatio, blinded by anger, felt a chill in his heart. Nelson asked: "What did he say, why did you kill him?" Horatio returned his sword to its sheath, pointed at the prisoner and said angrily; "This man insulted us with all his foul words!"
Nelson glanced at the fearless prisoners, but he was not too surprised, and said: "Ask him, are they the most elite army of the Ming Dynasty?" Nelson had an idea, the enemy army that he destroyed in front of him was so Strong, they should be the most elite troops of the Ming Dynasty! There are definitely not many such armies, and most of the Ming army is definitely not comparable to this army!
Horatio followed Nelson's instructions and asked the prisoner. The prisoner smiled and said: "We are the most elite army? Although I like to be flattered very much, it's a pity that I am not thick-skinned enough!" He glanced at the blond foreigners in front of him with contempt and said: "We are the Marine Corps of the Ming Dynasty. If In terms of combat capability on land, it is not even ranked high in the Ming Dynasty! Hehe, you have spent so much effort to even deal with us. What will happen to you if you encounter the direct legion led by His Majesty? Direct legion There are the assault cavalry that come and go like the wind, there are the Mo Dao army who are heavily armored and making bold moves, and there are the Ming heavy cavalry that are invincible and charge and break the formation, humph, when you meet, all of them will die without a burial place!"
The prisoner didn't say a word, so Horatio translated. Everyone present looked more and more ugly after hearing this. Everyone felt a little unbelievable. How could such a powerful army not be ranked among the Ming army? Is what he said true or false? If Ming Dynasty is really so powerful, this battle may not be easy to fight! But whether it's true or not, fortunately we are a navy and don't have to go to land to fight with the enemy's elite!
Seeing that everyone was in a daze and not paying attention to him, the prisoner immediately broke free from the grasp of the two sergeants and pulled out the long sword from one of the sergeants' waist. Everyone was shocked. The prisoner cut off the head of one sergeant with a sword, and then stabbed the other sergeant in the chest with his sword. Everyone at the scene saw the elbows and armpits transformed, and they all shouted and pulled out their swords. There was chaos for a while. The prisoner originally wanted to assassinate the enemy chief, but seeing that the enemy in the warehouse could not succeed, he rushed outside. The English generals inside the cabin did not expect to pursue him, while the sergeants outside the cabin did not expect such a thing to happen. They were unprepared. As a result, they watched him rush out without even reacting for a moment. It wasn't until the prisoners jumped into the sea that the sergeants on the ship realized what they were doing. They rushed to the side of the ship with shouts, but the man was nowhere to be seen. It turned out that the Ming soldier had already dived into the water.
Nelson and others rushed out of the cabin and came to the side of the ship to watch. Nelson shouted angrily: "He must be captured by me!" The order was immediately passed on, and the entire fleet was busy. However, I didn't know whether the Ming soldier was buried in the sea, or turned into a fish and escaped. The entire fleet was in a state of torment. By dusk, no trace of the Ming soldier was found.
Horatio rushed into the cabin of the flagship, put his right hand on his chest and bowed: "Generalissimo, there is still no trace of the prisoner." Horatio looked a little frustrated.
Nelson said: "Forget it if we don't find it. A prisoner who luckily escapes with his life will not do us any harm." "Yes."
Nelson glanced at the generals present and said: "I just received news that the fleet carrying our army has set off. We cannot delay here for too long. We must completely open the way to Bagan before the fleet can join us. The sea route! Our English navy is invincible across the sea, we can’t let others see the joke this time!”
If it had been before, after hearing Nelson's words, the generals would have shouted their slogans with confidence and force, but this time the generals were silent, everyone frowned, and looked solemn. After experiencing this small but fierce battle, everyone was a little worried about the upcoming war. I wonder if what the prisoner said is true? If what the prisoner said was true, how terrifying would the real elites of the Ming Dynasty be? Some people who came here couldn't help but fantasize about the image of the devil in the Bible, and couldn't help but be terrified.
Nelson shouted: "How can you believe what the enemy says!"
When everyone heard this, they couldn't help but be shocked, and then they couldn't help but nodded, and said to themselves: The enemy said that deliberately to scare us, how can we believe their words!
Nelson said: "I can tell you with certainty that what the prisoner said is absolutely false! The enemy we encountered on this island is their strongest elite! Now their strongest elite has been defeated by us, and their morale It will definitely be frustrating, and the next war will be much easier. Our heavenly coalition forces will surely sweep away these heretics in one fell swoop, and let the glory of God descend on the eastern land!" The generals couldn't help but get excited and roared one after another.
Nelson was relieved when he saw this, but a cloud of gloom always lingered in his heart and couldn't go away.
Bianliang, midnight. Yang Peng was sleeping soundly with Chai Yonghui in his arms, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty!..." Yang Peng opened his eyes and saw a pretty figure standing outside the gauze tent. He knew it was Chai Yonghui's personal female officer Xiaofang, and asked in a low voice: "What's the matter?" Xiaofang whispered: "There is a red military report!" Yang Peng was a little surprised, a red military report? That means an enemy is attacking! But which dog around here would be brave enough to scratch the tiger’s beard?
He looked down at Chai Yonghui, who was sleeping soundly in his arms, and couldn't help but smile when he saw a happy smile on her beautiful face. He gently moved her body away and got off the bed. Xiaofang quickly came over with a robe and put it on Yang Peng. Yang Peng put on his robe, turned around, covered Chai Yonghui with a quilt, kissed her cheek, and then left the palace.
When I came to the study, I saw Jiang Li and an officer from the Military Command Department waiting. When the two saw Yang Peng coming in, they hurriedly paid their respects.
Yang Peng walked behind the desk and sat down, looked at the officer and asked, "Have you reported to the army?"
The officer quickly handed a military report in a red envelope to Yang Peng and said, "This is the urgent military report we just received from Bagan!"
Yang Peng took the military newspaper, opened the envelope, took out the letter and read it. Jiang Li looked at Yang Peng's expression and saw him frowning slightly, knowing that something big must have happened.
Yang Peng put down the letter, thought for a moment, turned to Jiang Li and said: "Immediately summon all the cabinet members in Beijing to discuss matters in the imperial study." Jiang Li agreed and ran down.
Soon after, the cabinet members who heard the call rushed to the imperial study room one after another. Looking at the emperor standing in front of the huge map, I felt a bad feeling in my heart, feeling that something urgent must have happened.
Yang Peng turned around, glanced at everyone, and asked, "Is everyone here?"
Han Bing said: "Everyone is here."
Yang Peng said: "I just received an urgent military report from Bagan. The Pope has assembled hundreds of thousands of troops to attack us! Kunlun Island is the first to bear the brunt and should have been lost long ago!"
Everyone was shocked. Huang Qiaoyun said in disbelief: "How dare they attack us?" Others were also in disbelief.
Yang Peng said: "We are careless. We think that the Westerners are powerless because they are far away from each other. But we have overlooked one thing. Westerners may not be as good as us in many aspects, but they are very adventurous. Therefore, what we think is impossible, they It’s really done!”
Han Bing said: "Since the enemy is attacking, we should also mobilize our troops. However, given the current situation, it may be difficult to mobilize troops from the north. We can only rely on the army from the south!"
Ye Qi Guanyin said: "We have an army of more than 300,000 in the south. We have no problem dealing with that papal army. I'm afraid that Tianzhu in the west and Yue and Li Dynasty in the east will take advantage of this opportunity to cause trouble. In that case, this battle will not be easy. !”
Yelu Hanyu said: "Yes, Tianzhu and Yue Li Dynasty must be taken into consideration, otherwise I am afraid that unexpected situations will occur in the middle of the war."
Yang Peng nodded and said: "I have also thought of this. To the west, we will use Dhaka as a fortress, with 30,000 elites to guard against the Tianzhu army that may come to invade; to the east, let Duan Zhixian guard against the Yue Li Dynasty on the Salween River. Zhang Jun was ordered to guard Pingxiang Pass; Shi Liancheng led the main force to assemble at the front line of the Arakan Mountains and fight the enemy decisively. Another key to this battle is the decisive battle of the navy. If our navy cannot defeat the English navy, then on land Even if we win, we cannot completely annihilate the enemy. Even if they are defeated on land, they can still escape from the sea. Therefore, in order to completely annihilate this group of enemies who dare to attack, the outcome of the naval battle can be said to be the key! I plan to send an order to all the navy immediately The main force is gathering towards the Donglai Islands." The Donglai Islands mentioned by Yang Peng are actually the Andaman Islands at the mouth of the Bay of Bengal at the Cape of Malacca. In this era, the Andaman Islands only had some indigenous residents with very backward civilization. After the Ming Dynasty opened the maritime trade route, this area was included in the territory and became an important maritime base of the Ming Dynasty.
Since Yang Peng started maritime trade, he has established many strongholds along the trade routes. The Conlun Island mentioned above is the westernmost maritime stronghold. To the east of Conlun Island and to the west of Donglai Island, between the two is Xiou Island. Xiou Island was named by the Guan Ping Guan Shan brothers. In modern society, it also has a more widely known name, Sri Lanka. Everyone knows that Sri Lanka is a large island under India. In this era, there were two countries on this large island, one was called the Sinhala Kingdom and the other was called the Tamil Kingdom. The two kingdoms have existed since hundreds of years ago. From the beginning, there were constant battles and the relationship was very tense.
The Ming Dynasty's huge fleet came here. The monarchs and people of the two countries had never seen such a magnificent fleet. They almost thought it was the envoys and generals of the gods and Buddhas in the sky. The kings of both countries sent envoys to come to see it. Later I found out that the visitor was a legendary orientalist and not a messenger of any gods or Buddhas. However, they were still in awe of the huge fleet of Easterners. The Ming Dynasty sent people to contact the two countries, hoping to rent a piece of coastal land at the junction of the two countries for the fleet to berth and repair. The monarchs and ministers of the two countries did not dare to offend a country with such a large fleet, and at the same time they also hoped to gain benefits through trade, so they agreed to the request of the Ming envoy. So the Ming Dynasty established a stronghold on Sri Lanka, and the Guanshan and Guanping brothers named the island Xiou Island according to Han customs.
"If Kunlun Island has been lost, then the enemy's next target will be our Xi'ou stronghold. We do not have enough troops in the Xi'ou stronghold and will definitely not be able to withstand the enemy's attack. It is better to withdraw all the troops there. Come on." Zhang Xiang suggested.
Han Bing said: "The Xi'ou stronghold has limited troops, but we cannot give up easily. We need the Xi'ou stronghold to delay the enemy's advance in order to buy time for us to mobilize our troops. If the Xi'ou stronghold does not resist, I'm afraid our troops will still be Before the deployment was completed, the enemy troops had already reached the South China Sea of Bagan."
Yang Peng nodded and said: "Han Bing is right, the Xiou stronghold must not be abandoned easily, it must be defended!"...
After the meeting, everyone in the cabinet left the palace one after another, walking together in twos and threes to discuss the current affairs.
Huang Guang said: "There is a way to make Tianzhu dare not act rashly." Zhang Xiang next to him said angrily: "Since you have such a clever plan, why don't you make it clear to His Majesty?" Huang Guang said with a smile: "This method of mine is very good. Nasty, it's better not to say anything, otherwise you will definitely be reprimanded by His Majesty!" Zhang Xiang became even more curious after hearing what he said, and asked: "What is the solution you have in mind?"
Huang Guang chuckled and said, "Aren't Tianzhu's two princesses here with us? If we use them to blackmail Tianzhu, Tianzhu will definitely not dare to act rashly!"
Zhang Xiang rolled his eyes and said, "You'd better not say anything about this strategy. A hero like His Majesty would never use such a strategy! I think back then, when Your Majesty was going to use troops against Dali, not only did he not use Princess Dali, but he also Let Princess Dali go back! Your Majesty is a hero, and you must win with openness and make your opponent completely convinced!"
Huang Guang smiled and said: "Didn't I say that your Majesty will not be able to adopt this strategy of mine?"
Zhang Xiang smiled and said: "It's better not to talk about this kind of strategy!"
Tang Shidian said: "I think this strategy might as well be tried. As the saying goes, soldiers never tire of deceit, sometimes you don't have to care too much about whether the strategy is despicable or not."
Zhang Xiang shook his head and said: "That's not right. Although despicable tactics may yield great benefits in the short term, it may not be a good thing in the long run. For example, if the enemy has a hero who is respected by the soldiers and civilians, we cannot defeat him on the battlefield. We relied on conspiracy to get rid of him. In this way, although we won the victory in the short term, it made the enemy's soldiers and civilians feel sad and angry. Later, it would take a lot of effort and effort to completely pacify the enemy! On the contrary, If we defeat their heroes on the battlefield with a more heroic attitude and strength, then even if their heroes are still alive, the enemy will be destroyed within a short time! Because the enemy's spirit has been broken! What I said is the same as what we just said Although things are different, some basic principles are the same!"
Huang Guang and Tang Shidian couldn't help but nodded, and Huang Guang said with a smile, "No wonder His Majesty often said that a soldier never tires of deceit is bullshit. I didn't quite understand it before, but now after hearing Brother Zhang's words, I have completely woken up!" Zhang Xiang chuckled, "It is said that great wisdom is like foolishness, and great skill is like clumsiness. In fact, on the battlefield, many times a seemingly stupid head-on collision is the fastest way to solve the problem. Soldiers are not tired of deceit, that is just a coward's excuse!"
On the other side, Chai Yonghui sent his brother Chai Yongqi out of the palace. Chai Yongqi stopped, turned around, and said with a smile: "Little sister, just send it here, you go back quickly." Chai Yonghui smiled slightly, "Brother, go away, little sister is back." Chai Yongqi smiled, turned around and boarded After getting on the carriage, the carriage took Chai Yongqi away. Chai Yonghui turned around and entered the palace. Chai Yonghui is now also a concubine of Yang Peng, so she lives in the palace.
Xiou Stronghold is better said to be a coastal city than a stronghold. This coastal city, which is only a few years old, is adjacent to the sea and surrounded by mountains. The terrain is dangerous, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack. In just a few years, Xiou City has become a prosperous maritime city. Merchants from all over the world gather here on the business road. The city is prosperous, with merchants from all over the world and various rare items gathered. It is really a dazzling array of things. , dazzling. There are many inns and brothels in the city. Beauties from all corners of the world and beautiful women of different skin colors are posing on the street. It can be said to be a unique and beautiful scenery in Xiou City. In the midst of drunkenness and wealth, wine pools and meat forests, some wealthy young men lingered here, feeling as if they had arrived in heaven and earth, and could no longer miss Shu.
However, today's Xiguou Island does not have the cheerful and noisy atmosphere of the past. Thick clouds hang over the entire city, making people breathless. Shops were closed one after another, and merchants from all over the world, the wealthy young men who lingered here, and the beauties from all over the world who were panning for gold, all hurriedly fled the place by boat.
Guan Shan and Guan Ping brothers stood on the watchtower on the shore and looked into the distance. Guan Shan said: "According to the spies' report, Kunlun Island has been lost! All the former defenders and Wang Gu were killed!"
Guan Ping frowned and cursed: "Damn it!"
At this time, rapid footsteps were heard on the stairs behind them. A naval officer ran up behind the two men and reported: "The sentry ship just reported that the enemy fleet is less than a day's water journey away from here." The two people turned around. When he came, Guan Ping asked: "How many enemy warships have come?" The officer said with a pale face: "I heard that the sky is blocked and the sun is blocked, so I can't even count them!" Guan Ping raised his eyebrows and cursed: "Fart! How can there be so many warships!" The officer said, "That's what the scout said."
Guan Shandao: "The Jin Yiwei spies who were previously withdrawn from Kunlun Island also said the same. It seems that the size of the English fleet is not smaller than our fleet!"
Guan Ping said proudly: "There is no point in being large. If our fleet is here, we can destroy them within three days!" Guan Shan said; "Isn't this nonsense? If our main fleet is here, we are still worried. Shit!"
Another officer came up with a strong man with a beard-like face, muscular body, and dressed as a Jianghu man. He cupped his fists at Guanshan and Guanping brothers and said, "My lord, Mr. Zhang is here." It turns out that this strong man's name is Zhang Hong is the chief escort of Quanzhou Honghai Escort Bureau. When caravans travel, they often hire people from the escort agency to protect them, and the Honghai Escort Agency is one of the largest escort agencies in the maritime trade.
Zhang Hong clasped his fists towards Guan Shan and Guan Ping and said, "I have gathered all the people from the escort agency according to the instructions of the two adults. I am just waiting for the two adults to enrich themselves." Guan Shan and Guan Ping's status is somewhat special. They were originally senior officers in the navy. Commander, but later he was transferred from the navy by Yang Peng and became the deputy general manager of maritime trade. The two of them managed the maritime trade of the Ming Dynasty, and they were also responsible for all overseas strongholds. The formal official rank was not very high. However, its influence within the Ming Dynasty cannot be underestimated.
Guan Ping asked: "How many people are there in your escort agency?"
Zhang Hongdao: "There are more than 2,100 people in the seven escort agencies. They are all experts who follow the caravans on the sea all year round."
Guan Ping said: "There are many more than I expected. Is there nothing that followed the caravan back to the country?"
Zhang Hong said with a smile: "There is a big deal, everyone is willing to go back!"
Guan Ping laughed, "The transaction is not small, but I don't have any money to give you now." Zhang Hong said boldly: "It's easy to say, it won't be too late to settle the payment after the remuneration is settled." Guan Ping patted Zhang Hong. He raised his arm and praised: "Good man, so refreshing!" Then he said: "There is something I want to say. This mission is not easy. If things go wrong, we all have to stay here with our lives. You have to think clearly! If you decide to stay and then run away, I will deal with you with military law! It's still too late to run away now!"
Zhang Hong said displeasedly: "Your Majesty, you are looking down upon us! Although we are not in the army, we are all good men who lick blood with their swords. None of us are greedy for life and afraid of death!"
Guan Ping showed admiration and said: "Your task is very simple, just stay in the city and wait for my order. Without my order, no one can act rashly." "Yes!" Zhang Hongbao promised and ran down.
One day later, at dusk, a dark shadow appeared where the sea and the sky met. Gradually, the shadow became larger and larger, and finally it seemed to be overwhelming. The English fleet finally arrived. The English fleet did not launch an attack immediately, but stopped on the sea more than ten miles away from the city. All the gates in Xiou City were closed one after another, and soldiers and mercenaries boarded the city in succession to prepare for battle.
What happened after all, let’s see what happens next.
