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East India Company, Caribbean Squadron Group. 【Read full text】
A sealed leather cylinder was dropped from the tall flagship and fell into the small boats waiting around the flagship. Since there was no perfect semaphore in this period, communication between fleets still relied on shouting. If it is too far, this kind of communication boat must be used to convey it.
There are now more than a dozen small boats following the flagship, passing orders back and forth.
The captain of the boat who received the order first picked up the cylinder and checked that the paint and wax seal on it were intact. "It's the Margarita! Damn it, we picked up a good job, it's going to be a long way down there. Guys, speed up! The Margarita is always generous!" he shouted, taking the lead. Swinging the stern rudder in his hand, he turned the boat around and left the flagship.
The six men on the boat worked together and shouted slogans to make the boat move quickly.
On the flagship, San Juan Governor Richard covered his hat, turned around and hurriedly left the edge of the deck. No one even knew he had been there, and he even dropped a leather wallet.
…
"Margarita! Your orders were given a quarter of an hour ago!"
Before approaching the "Margarita", the captain on the signaling boat shouted loudly to the ship and waved the leather tube in his hand. The officer on duty on the other side had obviously noticed the approach of the messenger boat and had lowered the basket early.
as the skipper of the boat approached the basket. Found a nice bottle of rum inside. He happily took it out and waved his thanks to the "Margarita". "I wish you good luck!" Then he put the leather tube into the basket, and happily left with a few of his men with the rum.
The leather tubes were passed layer by layer to the captain of the "Margarita". This is a tall middle-aged man. It was his idea to put rum in the basket of the communication just now, so as long as the order was issued to the "Margarita", it was never delayed. This is a very popular guy.
"...immediately conduct an armed reconnaissance in the direction of Port-au-Prince..." After he read out the order, he looked at the officers who were listening.
"What are you doing! The Margarita is a Galen ship! We are fully loaded now and are as stupid as a fat snail. How can we possibly go on a reconnaissance mission?!" The Marine Corps officer first complained dissatisfiedly. . The "Margarita" was a supplementary troop carrier specially prepared for boarding battles, and it was filled with a total of seven hundred Saint Martin mercenaries. With a speed of just over ten knots, such a ship is really not suitable for armed reconnaissance.
"Shut up, you idiot!" The captain glared at the guy and suppressed him temporarily. "It seems that Lord Aldrich wants to invite his opponents to a sea duel. The meaning of this order is to keep us troublemakers away! Do you understand?! Our ships have poor combat effectiveness, and naval battles cannot help. But if being sunk is the result of the opponent's battle, then your achievements will be compromised."
He saw that no one had any objections. Just hand the order to the first mate and say, "Execute it!"
The first mate quickly walked out with the order, and then the "Margarita" hull creaked and turned around with difficulty. Sailing in the direction away from the battlefield. With the entire fleet shrinking towards the flagship, this one ship was the only one to leave like a deserter, so it stood out extremely.
On the flagship. When the officer on duty reported the unusual movements of the ship to "Shadow Governor" Aldrich, he just frowned. Signal the clerk to record. "I didn't give any orders to the Margarita. He was running away. Remember after the war...remind me to punish the cowards! Okay. That's it! Don't let these little things bother your admiral anymore. !”
After saying that, he turned back to the captain's cabin and locked himself up again.
…
Seeing the unusual situation of going out in a boat by himself, the captain of the "Margarita" was not without doubts.
He found the order and the leather wallet again, looked over them over and over again, and he breathed a sigh of relief until he was sure that this was what he usually used to deliver orders, and that the font and paint seal were all correct.
With this thing in hand, at least he doesn't need to worry about being wronged.
"Click, click", when he shook the leather tube, a strange sound came from inside. He opened the messenger box and finally pulled out an old bronze badge from the inner wall. This badge was originally sewn on the inside of the leather barrel, and it made a sound because it was a little loose.
"What is this?" He took the bronze badge and looked around. He could only observe that it was a woman's head, shaped like a holy badge. "Blasphemy!" He was upset and threw the badge on the table as if it were trash.
He didn't feel that the whole sea seemed to shake when the bronze badge fell on the table.
The "Margarita" sailed slowly into the thin fog and never appeared again...
…
"The wind is blowing, Admiral!"
A signal soldier knocked on the door of "Shadow Governor" Aldrich and shouted.
He was in the room, drinking blood-like wine, and didn't answer.
*******
"The wind's picking up, Captain!"
Jacques's delighted voice came down from the mast.
"The wind is blowing?" Lu Yuan looked at the anemometer on the mast in disbelief. The four blades there were all rotating rapidly, and it seemed that the wind was indeed blowing.
Coral Island and the battle on that stormy night seemed as far away to him as a century ago.
"That bitch is crazy?! No! Check quickly to see if there is enough ballast in the bottom bin! Prepare fifty barrels of seawater for me immediately! This bitch must have changed her tactics. ! There has never been a wind before, but this time it will definitely be a typhoon! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Move!"
Lu Yuan did not hesitate to speculate on the intentions of Poseidon Corybusso with the greatest malice.
As soon as he finished speaking, the wind speed really got louder. More than a dozen snow-white sails were inflating to a degree visible to the naked eye, bulging with air for the first time in a month.
*******
"Admiral". A simple man with loose long hair and straight clothes. A very tough-looking man came behind Li Huamei and reported respectfully. "got windy!"
Li Huamei ignored the true meaning hidden in the words of Al, the real captain of the ship. She just raised her right arm, put two green fingers together, and pointed at one-third of the joints of the Far East Fleet like a sword, "Full sail, attack there!"
Before Al could tell him, the crew members, who had long been conquered by Li Huamei's charm, took action! They turned the mast and rocked the ship (at this time, the wheel rudder had just been invented less than ten years ago and had not yet spread to the Far East.), the gunners pushed the cannons out of the gun ports, and the infantry stood on the side of the ship's railing with their muskets...
"Admiral..." Al pointed to the opposite side depressedly, but Li Huamei directly interrupted.
"I know, I know, there are dozens of British ships on the opposite side, right? Thanks to the fellow who informed me in advance, I think the fleet behind is already prepared... We are thousands of miles away from home and country, and we still don't have to change Chicheng! The hearts of Ming merchants are not all black." As the admiral of the fleet. The eldest daughter of the Li family and the spiritual leader of the Jiangnan navigation industry. Li Huamei fired the map cannon without changing her expression, which could make the merchants who went to sea cry to death on the bow of the ship. "But it is precisely because the enemy has brought reinforcements that we have to take a risk! This is very possible. This is our last chance to save the third prince! It is an opportunity that cannot be missed, and it will never come back!"
"But……"
"I know, I know. You think there are so many princes in the royal family anyway, and overseas feudal countries are fighting for you to death every year. It doesn't matter if one of them dies, right? But this prince is an interesting guy! In the entire royal family, he is the person I am most optimistic about One. You can see that he is less than twenty years old. If you dare to go to Nanyang alone, you will know that this guy will become a great person sooner or later. The emperor knows it, our Li family knows it, and the Lin family also knows it... Otherwise, he will be kidnapped by the British. Go, how is it possible to dispatch the navy to chase all the way to Europa to rescue!"
"Then please..." Al could only clasp his fists, but was intercepted by Li Huamei again.
"I know, I know, but I will not leave Al's ship!" Li Huamei stubbornly grabbed the hilt of the sword at her waist, "I still like to fight with you on the sea... My level is about command. A few ships are okay, but commanding the entire fleet is really boring. When I go back this time, I plan to resist the entire punishment, leave the government and the public, and let those scumbags have their own fun!
Moreover, don’t you think that Vice Admiral Lin is more suitable for this position than me? The people in the Navy were stepped on by a woman on their heads. I don’t know how long they have been feeling uncomfortable! "Then why do you pronounce the word "vice" so strongly?
"The surname is Lin...!" Al said angrily, but was cut off by Li Huamei.
"Call the admiral!" Li Huamei glared at Al with almond-shaped eyes and scolded lightly. "My surname is Lin... Ahem, Deputy Admiral Lin is a bit rigid, but as long as we rush forward, he will definitely help us clear the way back... He is still a companion worthy of being entrusted with our backs. He is one of those in Jiangnan. Representatives pushed out by people, but how can those people in Jiangnan control a fierce tiger?! It’s just a dream! If I leave in the future, if I can leave the ocean navy and you to his care, I can rest assured to do what I like... …”
"Admiral!" Al shouted anxiously.
"I know, I know, you are still so impatient. If you want to leave with me when the time comes, I welcome you. I don't want to leave so many outstanding subordinates with the surname Lin... where is Deputy Admiral Lin! But, what do you think I will do when the time comes? Should we take Yi An away or keep him? It seems... it will be very interesting." Li Huamei showed a sinister smile.
"Admiral..." Al said weakly.
"Ah, I know..." Li Huamei was stuck for a moment, and then looked at Al with hatred, and said dissatisfied, "You have been nagging for so long, what do you want to say!? Hesitating, procrastinating, or not man!"
Lar wanted to cover his face, I didn’t even finish a word!
He really wanted to take the admiral and withdraw from the battle, because as long as Li Huamei was injured, his friends who had taken adventures together, whether it was Shiraki Yukijiu or Yi An, would not let him go. But as long as Li Huamei is on which boat. That ship must attack in the most dangerous direction. This is tradition.
He also wanted to ask Li Huamei to return to his flagship. If we don't involve the admiral, Al is actually a super radical guy. Now his pleasure was taken over by the Admiral. Then threw a bunch of worries back to him.
"Admiral, what I want to say is that the merchant's ship opposite did not escape, but instead launched an attack on the Far East Fleet alone..." He smiled sheepishly and said embarrassedly. "The key is that the British fleet is also heading in his direction... He may fight the British one step ahead of us... "
"Before us?!" Li Huamei fiercely grabbed Al's collar and dragged him in front of her, "Others are about to steal your prey, and you are still here chatting with me?! Are you still a man?! You are a man Just find a way to speed it up for me!"
****
Just when Lu Yuan and Li Huamei were scrambling to rush the warships towards the enemy's formation, they were essentially their biggest pillar. The huge Ming fleet behind Li Huamei also started making big moves.
At first, these ships scattered like wild ducks that suddenly exploded in a flock. But a quarter of an hour later, the fifty warships re-formed into two rows of flying geese on the left and right. It was the "power of separation and separation, the shape of gathering and dispersing" in Li Gong's art of war!
Once the fleet array moves forward, the killing momentum that soars to the sky surges out instantly, becoming uncontrollably hot.
"Cough~cough~!" In the middle of the fleet, on the flagship of the largest ship. A man wearing a big cloak but with a sick face stood there. He held a thorn knot (a kind of bifurcated wooden staff wrapped with a thin rope). Just by waving it left and right, the army separated left and right like arms and fingers to form a battle formation.
Just like most Ming Dynasty men in this era. This man also had long hair, just in a bun and without a crown. This person has a square face. Thick eyebrows and big eyes. It is estimated that people who have been in high positions for a long time are not angry at this. Moreover, he is extremely tall and has a broad frame. He originally had the posture of a strong man. But now his face, tortured by the disease, turned blue-grey, and his body was skinny and skinny. Hair and beard are all dry and dull.
Even though it was sunny and spring weather, and he was still wearing a bearskin cloak, his body was still trembling slightly, he was coughing violently, and he was crumbling just standing there.
Lin Nanxuan, Lin Beiyuan's super vindictive brother, is also the deputy admiral of the Ming Dynasty Ocean Fleet.
"Coward!" Standing behind him was an extremely beautiful Slavic woman. She didn't care about him, a seriously ill person, and directly accused him: "The admiral is still charging ahead. We should respond with a sharp attack. ! Could it be that you have some motive?"
Although this woman said this, she had fulfilled her duties as an adjutant perfectly before, breaking down Lin Nanxuan's command into countless decomposed orders and conveying them through various methods without any delay. If it weren't for the woman's superb cooperation, his command would have been nothing more than a patient waving a wooden stick randomly twice.
Now that I have finished my business, I can only complain a few words.
Lin Nanxuan expressionlessly threw the handkerchief to block his cough into the sea, and took a new silk handkerchief from the hand of the maid on the side, as if he had not heard the woman's accusation. The woman glared at him angrily from behind, but she could do nothing about his dead fish look. In fact, there has long been a rumor in the fleet that "Admiral Li Huamei can defeat a thousand ships with five ships!" That refers to the fact that Li Huamei's five warships conquered the waters of Southeast Asia.
But what was not said was that if Admiral Li Huamei was given command of fifty warships, she might command them to be completely annihilated in a single exercise. Admiral Li Huamei's ability to command large armies... is unfathomable - that is to say, no correct method has been found to measure it yet.
Therefore, when the army pursued the British Far East Fleet into the Indian Ocean, with repeated frictions between various forces, the command had to gradually shift to the hands of Deputy Admiral Lin Nanxuan, who was better at commanding the large fleet.
This also involves the Ming Dynasty's maritime strategy, the battle between land and sea, the battles between princes in overseas feudal countries, the change of power in the ocean fleet, the Lin family's infiltration of the navy, Li Huamei's failure to reward his achievements after successively pacifying Japan and Southeast Asia, and so on.
Therefore, all of Li Huamei's subordinates are now very dissatisfied with Lin Nanxuan's group and often make bad remarks to each other...
Lin Nanxuan continued to wave the Jing Jie without saying a word, dividing the fleet into more levels. If you look carefully, you can see that the wild goose formation that used to be the character "human" is still in the shape of the character "human" now, but there are another group of groups in it. The three-ship combination looks like flying geese in the sky. Such an array may not have enough impact, but if it is a defensive counterattack, even a fleet several times larger can handle it.
Until this moment, Lin Nanxuan, who had changed several handkerchiefs, coughed and explained to the woman: "Yi An, the admiral is driving the boat... cough~ cough~... why should I worry? Just... cough cough cough... I'm afraid, wait for the water The division's main staff comes forward, the admiral...cough~cough~...has already cut down the enemy chiefs and left. The flying geese formation can be encircled and turned into a square formation, or...cough cough...or...cough cough cough~~"
Seeing Lin Nanxuan coughing heartbreakingly, the woman named Yi An couldn't bear it. She interrupted Lin Nanxuan directly and said arrogantly, "Okay, okay, you are the smartest! You are the only one who knows the art of war!" If you are coughing so badly, just... stop talking...! You are a cunning, despicable and shameless person. Even... even if you explain... you won't make me treat you any better!"
Although he said this, his tone was obviously gentler, and Lin Nanxuan finally had a smile on his rigid face.
He nodded and said no more. Since leaving Quanzhou, Lin Nanxuan has suffered from typhoid fever, tuberculosis, seafaring disease... various diseases have come one after another, and have tortured the seven-foot-long man into this skeleton. The ship's doctor brought by Hangzhou has long been wiped out! If it weren't for Yi An, she not only used Arab methods for herbal treatment, but also threw the doctor who only knew bloodletting into the sea. It is estimated that Lin Nanxuan would have died long ago!
Therefore, he told Yi Anmo about "three matchmakers and six appointments".
"Look at Admiral!" Yi An suddenly shouted in surprise. Not far ahead, Li Huamei did as Lin Nanxuan said, charging into the enemy's formation with arrogance and completely destroying a large ship with the first salvo!
"You, cough~cough~go to the cabin quickly! Change into...cough~cough~...change into admiral's clothes and come out! I want red ones! Hurry!" Lin Nanxuan gave an urgent order. I was thinking about Yi An just now, and I almost missed the point!
Yi An is actually extremely convinced of Lin Nanxuan now. When she heard Lin Nanxuan's words, she went immediately without thinking about it!
On the way, she figured out Lin Nanxuan's intention.
Along the way, during pursuits and escapes of tens of thousands of miles, the Ming Dynasty's ships and artillery were able to crush them all the way, and the British were able to take advantage of their familiarity with the ports along the way. The two sides have played against each other no less than a dozen times, and it can be said that they are very familiar with each other. Just like Li Huamei's understanding of the British Far East Fleet, he can instantly discover the gaps in the fleet. The British also know that the woman who likes to wear a red shirt is the commander of the fleet behind!
Now that the admiral is alone in the tiger's mouth, if he is recognized, he will be surrounded in the blink of an eye! If the other party tries to sink Li Huamei's ship at all costs, then the admiral will be in trouble.
Yi An wore Li Huamei's clothes and stood on the bow of the ship disguised as an admiral, which would probably have the effect of deceiving others.
Who would have thought that a general would be dishonest enough to command from his own flagship?
The layout has just been completed here, and the battle situation ahead has changed again... (To be continued...)
