"This is a great idea! I wonder who came up with it?"
After hearing Feng Xifan's suggestion, even a villain like Geng Jingzhong couldn't help but admire him.
Zheng Zhilong actually learned this method of controlling the entire fleet by concentrating most of the rations on the flagship and another warship controlled by the fleet commander's cronies.
There are very few good and law-abiding people going to sea these days, especially in the West. There are very few good people there. Therefore, crew mutinies often occurred in the fleets of Western colonists at that time, and from time to time, crew members seized the ships and used them as pawns. Pirate.
The commander of the Western fleet does not have enough resources to bribe enough confidants to control the entire fleet, so he can only concentrate on controlling two ships, sometimes even one ship, and then control the rations of the entire fleet through this ship. to coerce other ships to obey orders.
However, this approach often causes unnecessary losses. For example, after a fleet is blown away by a storm at sea, a lone ship often starves to death because it only carries a few or ten days of rations. Of course, this loss is nothing compared to the huge profits from overseas trade and overseas zero-dollar purchases. So those feudal lords and capitalists who don't have to go to sea personally don't care, isn't it just human life!
According to the statistics of the early Dutch marine insurance giant Van Os, the failure rate of ocean trading voyages in the 16th century was 20% (he charged 25% of the premium). Failure means that there should be no There's no going back!
Although by the seventeenth century, with the improvement of navigation technology, the failure rate of ocean-going trade voyages had been reduced, the risk of going without returning was still very high.
In addition, a successful voyage does not mean that the crew will not die from various reasons (if the ship does not sink, scurvy is the biggest cause of death). In short, traveling across the ocean these days is basically risking your life!
Of course, the Zheng family's merchant ships sailed in the coastal waters of East Asia and Southeast Asia. Except for going to Japan, Luzon, and crossing the Taiyuan Strait, they basically sailed along the coast, and the risks were not that great.
However, the place Geng Jingzhong was going to this time was the vast Pacific Ocean, and there was no place to dock to replenish fresh water. Moreover, there is wind or no wind in the Pacific Ocean, and the waves are big and small. Where is the wind blowing? I don’t know much about this. So Geng Jingzhong didn’t know anything. He only knew that there was no place in China, so he dared to dream of going to the New World to avoid the limelight.
Those people under him probably don’t understand anything either! Otherwise, Geng Jingzhong should be kidnapped and sent to Li Datou now. Isn't it better than following him to the Pacific to die?
But this Geng Jingzhong was lucky enough to meet this noble man Zheng Jing!
According to Zheng Jing's "actuarial calculation", without his help, Geng Jingzhong's mortality rate on this voyage to America would have been 90%, a true narrow escape!
With his help, Geng Jingzhong's survival rate will skyrocket by 400%, reaching five deaths and five lives!
Therefore, the kind-hearted Zheng Jing must help with this task.
"Such a good idea was certainly thought up by our Highness the King Yi's grandfather, Yiguangong!" Feng Xifan said with a smile, "Your Majesty, our Highness the King Yi has traveled across the sea for three generations and knows how to sail best!"
Geng Jing said loyally: Zheng Zhilong was indeed the inventor of this evil and smoking bad move. No wonder he didn't get any good reward!
I thought so in my heart, but of course I couldn't say it out loud. Who asked Geng Jingzhong to ask Zheng Jing for help now?
"Feng Sima, don't call me emperor. I haven't been emperor for some time. Please call me general." Geng Jingzhong smiled with a smile on his face, and then followed Feng Xifan's thoughts and asked, "Since His Highness King Yi knows best Sailing, then he must know where I should go to find Han Chinese sailors who can truly sail the ocean and the two ocean-going ships they can skillfully control, right?"
"What a coincidence!" Feng Xifan said with a smile, "King Yi happened to have a group of Han sailors who could travel across the ocean and two British-style Galen ships that they could operate. These sailors were all from England hired by King Yi at a high price. They were taught step by step by teachers, and those two boats were also built by English craftsmen with the help of His Royal Highness King Yi's shipyard. They are big, strong, and have extremely powerful firepower."
Zheng Ming had always been enemies with Spain and the Netherlands, but they also had foreign friends. The British East India Company had always been Zheng Ming's partner. Today, the tea that British gentlemen drink, the candy they eat, the silk they wear, and the porcelain they use are all supplied by the Zheng family.
Earlier, the British East India Company had a commercial store on Taiyuan Island, but now this commercial store has been moved to Zhangzhou.
As Zheng Jing is such a smart guy, he certainly knows how to continuously improve the core technology of zero-yuan shopping on the sea! Therefore, after the situation of resisting the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty was very good, he turned his business focus overseas and spent a lot of effort to poach the crew and craftsmen of the British East India Company.
This Zheng Jing is not only extremely rich, he is also the King Yi of the Ming Dynasty, and he can recommend others to become nobles! Who among those English adventurers who wandered to the East would not want to be the "Nobles of Seris"?
In the eyes of Europeans in the 17th century, Chinese aristocrats were comparable to the aristocrats of the English islanders, who were high-end, grand and classy.
In addition, in recent years, "Tian Xia Da Gong Lun", "Ming Yi Waiting for Interviews", and "Celestial Land Acquisition System", and the original monarch, original ministers, countrymen, countrymen discussing government, and countrymen's republic sounds very progressive. All the theories were spread to the West. In the eyes of a group of European intellectuals, this was simply the Roman Lighthouse Republic in the East!
Therefore, due to the high salary offered by Zheng Jing and the favorable conditions of the Ming aristocracy, the job-hopping rate of the British East India Company has remained high. With the help of these blond and blue-eyed Ming aristocrats, the Yiguan School opened by the Zheng family in Zhangzhou has trained many professionals in navigation. The Zheng family's shipyards in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou have also built a fully loaded ship each. A five-hundred-ton British galenic ship.
Now these students from Zhangzhou Yiguantang have boarded the British Galen ship, accompanied by the old sailors of the Zheng family and the blond and blue-eyed nobles of the Ming Dynasty. They can now go to sea to do business.
And such a good ship and crew had better get off to a good start and take on a really big deal, such as finding a route to the other side of the ocean!
"Then I wonder if Zheng Jing can lend me these two boats and the sailors on them?" Geng Jingzhong immediately followed Feng Xifan's wishes and made the request.
"Of course you can borrow it. But, general, how do you plan to capture the Spanish galleons?" Feng Xifan asked another very professional question.
"Isn't that easy?" Geng Jingzhong smiled, "I have 7,000 brothers on Ryukyu Island. The Spaniards have seven or eight sailing ships with 800 people in the sky. I have 7,000 people and they have 800 people. Are you afraid that you won’t be able to take it?”
Feng Xifan waved his hand, "I can't take it! Eight hundred people won't go ashore together. Even if they are loading goods, they will be heavily guarded. The Spanish have been fighting and killing on the ocean for almost two hundred years. It's not that easy to control!"
Geng Jingzhong frowned: "What should we do? Feng Sima. As far as I know, generations of the Yi Wang family have made fortunes at sea. They must be very good at this, right?"
Feng Xifan nodded and said with a smile: "General, you are right! The Yi Wang family is good at this business. To be honest, I have been ordered by Yi Wang to help you. As long as you are willing to listen to my arrangements, We have the Englishmen under King Yi who know how to seize Spanish galleons best!"
"Oh?" Geng Jingzhong had already guessed Feng Xifan's intention, and immediately smiled, "King Yi is really a good friend! But I can't let King Yi Bai help me, right? Feng Sima, if King Yi has any request, just ask him directly Tell me?"
Feng Xifan said with a smile: "As long as you can bring thousands of elite troops across the ocean to New Spain, you will have done King Yi a big favor. There are many other things to talk about when you get there. Haha, this New Spain can be everywhere. It’s a mountain of gold and silver! That’s why the Spaniards are watching closely and won’t let us in!”
"Really?" Geng Jingzhong sneered, "I want to break into this dragon's pond and tiger's den!"
"good!"
On the third day of March in the fourth year of the Republic of Ming Dynasty, due west of the capital of Ryukyu Kingdom, Naha Port.
The Spanish galleon San Juan, which carried a load of 500 tons, led seven other smaller Spanish galleons. Then a westerly wind blew from the vast continent to the west, stirring up snow-white waves, and slowly sailed in. In the harbor. The port of Naha is not built in the bay, but faces the vast East China Sea. The waterway is wide and it is very convenient to enter and exit.
The eight ships were all filled with sailors, poor adventurers from New Spain or Old Spain in Europe, who were all on deck. When they arrived in Manila this time, they heard that the Ryukyu Kingdom, located on the sailing route, had gotten rid of the rule of the anti-Christian Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan and returned to the jurisdiction of the Ming Empire on the Asian continent, which was in continuous war. Down. The man sent by the Ming Dynasty to regain the vassal state of Ryukyu was a general who was quite enlightened and very friendly to Catholicism.
It is said that the general also planned to transform the Ryukyu Kingdom into a trading hub on the East Asian sea open to Catholicism, and also as a base for his conquest of Japan!
A Chinese general who is quite friendly to Catholicism, an open maritime trading city, and a war to conquer Japan, the golden country of anti-Christ, sound very pleasant to the ears!
The commander of this Spanish sailing fleet, Juan Lopez, and the former New Spanish consul in Guangzhou are now returning to Gonzales, New Spain by boat. At this moment, they are standing tall on the San Juan. On the stern of the ship, they held up binoculars and looked at the port in front of them that was both familiar and unfamiliar to them.
Naha Port lay before them.
With blue water and white sand and surrounded by tall black and gray stone walls, Shuri Imperial Castle stands to the east of the port and shopping mall, looking majestic and magnificent. Most of the buildings in ports and shopping malls are in Chinese style, with a small part in Japanese style.
But what attracted the attention of Juan Lopez and Gonzalez the most were the two forts made of sacks filled with sand or mud that stood on both sides of Naha Port at an unknown time. I know when a new Chinese-style commercial street was built, and there was also a Chinese-style temple-style building with a huge cross on the roof!
“Father, is that the cross?”
Juan Lopez was a very devout Catholic. When he saw the temple with the cross, he was very excited and quickly crossed himself on his chest.
"Yes, it's a cross. When I came to Naha Port last time, the temple was still enshrined with a Buddha statue. Unexpectedly, it has been converted into a church now!" Gonzalez also looked very excited.
As a diplomat sent by the New Spanish government to East Asia, he successfully promoted the spread of Catholicism, which is a very impressive achievement!
"It doesn't seem right!" Juan Lopez raised the telescope at this time and looked around.
Gonzalez also raised his telescope and looked again and again at the temple with the cross on it, "Yes, it's a cross!" He then turned the telescope to Shuri Royal Castle, took a closer look, and became excited again, " There seems to be a cross erected on the side of Shuri Imperial Castle, that’s the Imperial Castle!”
There is a cross on the royal castle. Does it mean that the king of the Ryukyu Kingdom has become a child of the Heavenly Father? This credit should be attributed to Gonzalez, the capable diplomat sent to East Asia by New Spain and who was very devout to his Heavenly Father, right?
Juan Lopez put down the telescope and said to Gonzalez next to him: "Mr. Consul, haven't you noticed that Naha Port is very deserted and there are no people on the streets!"
"No one is there?" Gonzalez raised the telescope and took a closer look. "It seems a little deserted. Is it Sunday today?"
"No, today is Wednesday." Juan Lopez.
"Where have all those people gone? Such a big and prosperous commercial port. No, why is there not even a single merchant ship in the port?"
Just when two Spaniards, Juan Lopez and Gonzalez, were troubled by the question "Where have all the people gone?", people came! But not many came, only a few civil servants wearing red and green robes and black gauze hats, a few soldiers carrying flintlock rifles and a few dock workers in short clothes, striding from the two sandbags. He walked out of the fort and a government office and walked towards the direction where the San Juan was docked.
When someone finally arrived, Juan Lopez quickly ordered the San Juan to dock and anchor, and then lowered the gangplank. He, Gonzalez, and several others were wearing plate armor, carrying swords, and carrying flints. The soldiers who fired the guns disembarked together.
Gonzalez can speak some Chinese and can communicate with officials from China and the Ryukyu Kingdom without the need for a general manager. He first bowed politely to a polite middle-aged civil servant who came towards him, and then introduced himself in Chinese: "I am the envoy of New Spain, Gonzalez, a friend of General Geng Zhengdong, and I and the Spanish Galleon Together, we were invited by the general to come to Ryukyu."
The official cupped his hands and replied in Chinese: "My subordinate is Feng Xifan, the chief secretary of the Zhengdong General's Palace. I was ordered by the general to stay in the Ryukyu Kingdom to assist the monarch and preside over government affairs. When the general left, he said that you would come to Ryukyu in the spring. Trade, let me take care of your interests."
At this time, Gonzalez suddenly noticed that the official named Feng Xifan and several other officials had a cross hanging on their chests! He immediately became excited, crossed himself on his chest, and asked, "Excuse me, are you a believer in Heavenly Father?"
Feng Xifan immediately made the sign of the cross, very skillfully, "Yes, it was Father Hong who introduced General Geng and all of us into the embrace of Heavenly Father."
"Father Hong? His Christian name is"
"Ruowang, Hong Ruowang."
Gonzalez remembered that this Hong Ruowang was sent to China by French King Louis XIV to preach to Wu Sangui. It is estimated that this Wu Sangui is not religious, otherwise he would not be blessed by Heavenly Father and lose the battle all the time.
Thinking of this, he asked again: "Where is Father Hong Ruowang? Is he in Ryukyu?"
"No," Feng Xifan shook his head, "He followed General Geng to conquer Japan!"
"What?" Gonzalez was stunned, "General Geng has already gone to attack Japan?"
"Yes," Feng Xifan said, "Most of the soldiers and strong men from the Ryukyu Kingdom have gone out to fight. I think you have also seen that there are not many people left in the whole of Naha."
"Yes, but the second batch of arms I promised to provide him has just arrived!" Gonzalez said, "This batch of arms includes ten siege cannons. Without them, General Geng can capture the Japanese fortifications." The fortress?”
"The general got the cannon he wanted, and the officers who were good at siege and using artillery were all brought by Father Hong." Feng Xifan said, "Those people were originally going to help Wu Sangui, but they were blocked in Guangdong. They had no choice but to return to their warship anchored on Xiangshan Island. Then they heard that the general had been ordered to attack Japan, so they came to Ryukyu. Because of the help provided by Father Hong, the general led all of us to believe in Catholicism. Now the general is in Heavenly Father fights!”
It all fits!
Everything Feng Xifan said matches everything Gonzalez knows!
Gonzalez was excited now. Although General Geng converted to the Father in France, the Father in France and the Father in Spain are the same Heavenly Father. This is undoubtedly the first time that Catholicism has appeared in the East Asian world. A major breakthrough!
Just when he was extremely excited, Feng Xifan spoke again: "Mr. Gonzalez, before leaving Ryukyu, the general has already purchased the silk you need. They are all the finest Lake silk, as well as some porcelain. Of course. , as well as the rations, fresh water and rice wine prepared by the Ryukyu Kingdom for you, are all stored in the warehouse on New Street. You only need to hand over the silver to the merchants coming from Ningbo, and then you can transport the silk on the ship. But we There are really not many coolies available now, so all the strong men have gone out with the general to serve as oarsmen."
"Oh, wait a minute." Gonzalez turned around and spoke in Spanish, telling Commander Hu of the large sailing fleet the good news and the lack of labor in Naha Port and the inability to carry goods, rations, and fresh water onto the ship. Ann Lopez, and then he said to Lopez, "Commander, let all our sailors get off the ship to help carry the cargo. There are a lot of things to carry this time!
(End of chapter)
