Chapter 987 1078 Sea Stop

Chapter 987 1078 Sea Stop

The people of the Denglai Navy came ashore one after another. Xu Qiaoan only arranged a small number of people to stay on the ship, and the others were placed in the barracks.

This situation has happened once in Hangzhou.

It's just that the rest time is only one day, and this time in Beigang, there will not be much rest time.

"Sir Xu, this is what the admiral arranged before."

While speaking, the Beigang garrison handed a handwritten order signed by Yu Dayou to Xu Qiaoan, and said: "The admiral hopes that the Denglai Navy will get used to the work and rest of the South China Sea Navy. Generally, the navy will only rest for one day after arriving at the port for sea training, and then leave and go to the next port.

According to the admiral's intention, Sir Xu should be familiar with the main ports on Dongfan Island, so tomorrow morning, we will provide supplies for you and go to Wanggang in the afternoon."

The Beigang garrison smiled.

Although they are not subordinate to each other, the other party's main position is a lieutenant general after all, and the rank of guard commander is much higher than his thousand households, so he dare not neglect it at all.

"Wanggang, which direction is it?"

Xu Qiaoan seemed to have heard this name somewhere, but he really had no impression of where this Wanggang was.

"Sir, Wanggang is more than 300 miles south of Beigang. I will send someone to guide you there."

The Beigang garrison said hurriedly.

"Is this Wanggang also on Dongfan Island? I remember seeing this place name somewhere."

Xu Qiaoan frowned and asked.

"Wanggang is indeed on Dongfan Island. If you have heard of it, you should have seen it mentioned in the previous war reports against the Japanese.

In the past, our Ming army had never set foot on Dongfan Island, so the Japanese pirates mostly set up nests in Penghu and Dongfan Island, which were mentioned in the previous war reports.

In fact, Wanggang was also a pirate nest recovered by our Nanhai Navy when they were fighting against the Japanese. It's just that the port conditions are good and there is a foundation built by the Japanese pirates before, so the admiral also built a water fort there for the navy to rest."

Then, the Beigang garrison told Xu Qiaoan about the current situation of Wanggang that he knew, so that he would have a bottom line in his mind.

And the Nanhai Navy Admiral's Office would report every three days to the Ministry of War in Beijing at a speed of 600 miles for every move of the various units of the Ming Navy in the southeast.

Yes, although the Nanhai Navy and the Denglai Navy seem to be at sea most of the time, whenever they dock at the military port, the news will be transmitted to the Admiral's Office through the post station.

The southeastern sea area is now operating in a state of war. The Admiral's Office has a special signature to receive and send news from various places. Some news must be sent to Chaozhou urgently and handed over to Yu Dayou, while others are sent to the Ministry of War.

The southeastern coast, Dongfan Island, Penghu and other places all reported that no trace of the Lin Feng pirate group was found, and later Yu Dayou judged that the Lin Feng group might stay in Luzon or go to the South China Sea islands and reefs. The news was also sent to the capital through the Admiral's Office.

Even the news that Deng Zilong led his team to Luzon and Chen Lin led his team to patrol Shitang was brought back.

Wei Guangde saw the briefing sent by the Ministry of War in the cabinet duty room and quickly learned about the situation in the southeast.

For other cabinet ministers, seeing such news may make the president breathe a sigh of relief, but Wei Guangde instinctively felt tense, because according to the time, the estimated time for the Ming army to send troops to Luzon may be advanced.

In fact, it was not a big deal to send the South China Sea Navy to Luzon, but the Ming Dynasty court had not made any substantive decision on Wei Guangde's suggestion.

Yes, although Wei Guangde fully supported it, he also got the support of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works in the six ministries.

Speaking of which, the Ministry of War had a lot of say in it, but Wei Guangde still knew that it only supported Tan Lun. When the Ministry of War discussed matters, the assistant minister and other major officials such as the doctor below did not support the Ming Dynasty sending the navy to Luzon, let alone the action of grabbing territory there.

In the minds of Ming Dynasty officials, Luzon was a poor place with poor land and few people. What was there to conquer?

Such a broken place should not be taken over even if it was given to the Ming Dynasty. It really took a lot of effort to arrange people to develop it. Compared with the effort and the gain, it was a bit of a loss.

As for sending the navy to Luzon to wipe out the Lin Feng pirate group, everyone did not object.

But what was the significance of Wei Guangde's plan?

They thought that they could send troops to suppress the Japanese, but Wei Guangde's fundamental purpose was to carve out a piece of territory in Luzon.

They were two different things.

After destroying the Lin Feng pirate group, all the navy returned to the voyage, which was a real waste of money and manpower in Wei Guangde's eyes.

The cabinet had already convened a meeting of the cabinet, the six ministers, and the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate for the Luzon Island issue, but because of Zhang Juzheng's hesitation, only the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works chose to support Wei Guangde's opinion at that time. Others expressed their opposition, and the rest also reserved their opinions.

The most fiercely opposed was the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, Ge Shouli.

At that time, Ge Shouli was obviously in poor health and kept coughing at the meeting, but when expressing his opposition, his attitude was as tough as in the early days.

Well, coughing and opposing at the same time made Wei Guangde nervous at the time, afraid that he would die directly in the cabinet.

Without Zhang Juzheng's support, even if such a memorial was sent to the palace, Wei Guangde guessed that it would be useless.

Because such a memorial would most likely be sent back to the cabinet for further discussion, and there were too few people who supported it.

Although the palace does not necessarily judge whether to pass a proposal based on the number of officials who support or oppose it, the status of the officials will also be taken into consideration, especially the attitudes of the Prime Minister and the Second Prime Minister. If the Prime Minister does not support it and only the Second Prime Minister supports it, he will naturally hesitate.

The best result of hesitation is to send it back for further discussion, and the worst result is to reject it.

It was also because he was already familiar with the rules of approving red memorials in the palace, so at the end of the meeting, Wei Guangde voluntarily gave up on submitting the memorials, and instead asked everyone to think about it again and discuss the matter later, thus leaving a buffer.

Looking at the report from the Ministry of War, Wei Guangde knew clearly that once the navy knew that Lin Feng was still on Luzon Island, it would most likely send a request to send troops to encircle and suppress him.

At that time, if he could not get the support of most senior officials and send troops to stay in Luzon after the encirclement and suppression of Lin Feng, the matter would probably be completely ruined.

As for whether it is possible to delay time, it is almost impossible.

Now in the southeastern waters, the most famous pirates are the Lin Feng Group.

Wei Guangde thought for a long time and still felt that he could only find a way to persuade Zhang Juzheng. Only by gaining his support could he achieve his goal.

As for the reason, not only will the number of officials who choose to support in the ministry meeting increase if Zhang Juzheng supports him, and those officials who are attached to Zhang Juzheng will express their support, but also the first assistant and the second assistant have the same position, which makes it easier to get approval from the palace.

While Wei Guangde was thinking about how to persuade Zhang Juzheng, a fleet far away from the Ming Dynasty was also riding the wind and waves toward the southeast.

"General Deng, there are two merchant ships on the left front, they are fortune ships."

On the berth of a large fortune ship in front of the fleet, the lookout hand hanging high suddenly lowered his head and shouted below.

"Fuchuan? What's the speed? Can we stop them?"

On the ship building, everyone who had been doing nothing just now heard the news that there was a ship nearby, and they immediately stood on the edge of the ship building and looked towards the left front.

However, all that could be seen was the vast sea and nothing else.

Deng Zilong stood in the middle of the crowd, holding a telescope with both hands and scanning the sea in the distance, but he saw no trace of the ship.

"Move the ship a little to the right and we should be able to stop them."

The lookout observed the direction and speed of both sides from a high place for a while, and then reported to Deng Zilong.

"Sir, it may be a merchant ship sailing from Moon Harbor to the South Seas."

A general behind him spoke.

Deng Zilong nodded. Judging from the course of the merchant ship, it should be a ship departing from Yuegang.

"We still need to stop them and understand the situation in Luzon."

Because of the rush, I did not collect the latest news from Luzon in Yuegang this time.

Now that there are Ming maritime merchants, Deng Zilong naturally wants to contact them to find out what they know.

As the order was conveyed, the sailing direction of the Ming warship shifted a little to the right. Although the contact time between the two fleets would be delayed, it was more certain to stop them.

"The imperial government opened Yue Port, not because there were barbarians sailing ships to trade, so why did they go to Manila? They say Luzon has no specialties. What good can they gain by taking the initiative to go to other people's territory?"

Deng Zilong said in confusion.

After all, he had not been in the navy for a long time. During this time, he had been replenishing his knowledge of the navy's routes and command. He did not pay much attention to maritime trade, so he only raised his questions at this time.

"What the general doesn't know is that although the foreign ships can reach Moon Harbor for trade, all they can buy are the goods hoarded by the merchants at the port.

To put it bluntly, good things usually don't stay there. They are shipped directly overseas by merchants.

As long as these good things are shipped overseas, they can be sold at a good price, which is much higher than the price in Daming.

Moreover, by taking the best supplies to sea, not only can you earn high profits, but you can also choose the other party's goods.

My businessmen in Ming Dynasty have the confidence to choose their products, but they do not have this confidence.

As for Luzon Island, there really wasn't anything worth selling for businessmen there, but that was after all, that was before.

In the past, Luzon had nothing but local specialties. As for the wood produced there, it was too expensive to transport back, so no businessmen went there.

But things are different now. The barbarians have established a trading ground in Manila where they can trade.

What the merchants value is not the products of Luzon, but the things brought by the Yi people. I heard that there are many products produced from a continent to the east, including the silver coins they trade with us, which were dug out of the mines of that continent to the east.

There are a lot of things, I heard they are weird and interesting. "

The general behind him whispered the news he heard in Yuegang to Deng Zilong, letting Deng Zilong know the purpose of the Ming merchants going to Luzon.

"By the way, I also heard that they have a crop in Luzon that grows underground and has a large yield. It is something produced from the eastern continent.

Legend has it that this thing is very magical. It can be grown not only in the fields, but also on the mountains. It is drought and cold-resistant. The leaves and stems can be cooked and eaten. The dug fruits are also very filling. It is said to taste good.

Those businessmen who don't have a few acres of land want to get the seeds back and plant them themselves. After all, we don't have any here, so they should be able to sell them at a good price.

Unfortunately, I heard that the Yi people prohibited selling this thing to the Ming Dynasty. Every time they returned from Manila, the Yi people would inspect the goods. "

The general told Deng Zilong the interesting things he heard as anecdotes. In his opinion, it was just a plant. How big of a deal it was, it had to be kept secret and the exits were strictly blocked.

With the output of the Ming Dynasty, who would be interested in this kind of thing? It's just a novelty.

"Crops? Drought and cold resistant?"

If Chen Lin or Yu Dayou heard such news, they might just laugh it off and laugh at the foreigners for not cherishing their broom.

However, Deng Zilong, who had stayed in the capital, was different. He knew that Wei Guangde, the second assistant, was also in charge of a yamen, that is, the Agriculture Department, which seemed to be searching for drought-resistant and cold-resistant crops all over the world.

He also ate imperial rice when he was in the capital. Although the taste was average, he knew that it was imported and was grown as flowers in the palace.

But now the Agriculture Department has tried planting this crop in various provinces of Ming Dynasty, and there are also some in Fujian, all of which are planted in the mountains.

Because there are too many mountains and fields in Fujian, food is still very tight.

Now that he heard that the Yi people had this kind of crop and prohibited the Ming Dynasty from obtaining it, Deng Zilong's heart changed.

Obviously, the Yi people had bad intentions and had designs on the Ming Dynasty.

"Listen, take note of this. If possible, we will bring back the seeds of this plant."

Deng Zilong ordered.

"General, do you want to try something new? I heard that it is sweet and fragrant when baked. Although I have never tasted it, my mouth is watering when I hear them talking about it, haha."

The general also joked.

"Well, I want to have a taste."

Deng Zilong didn't tell the real purpose, he just said it casually.

In fact, all the Ming Dynasty businessmen who have been to Manila know this thing, have eaten it, and think it tastes good.

Unfortunately, they also wanted to bring this plant back to Ming Dynasty for planting but could not.

Because the Spanish were unwilling to spread crops from the Americas in East Asia.

Moreover, the price of such ordinary food as sweet potatoes was not low when sold to Ming merchants who came to trade in Manila.

What is being sold is, of course, cooked sweet potatoes. They prohibit selling raw sweet potatoes, sweet potato stems and leaves to merchants to take away, because these things are likely to survive if they are carefully cultivated, and then sweet potatoes will no longer be a strange thing. .

As for the businessmen, they naturally did not think about the significance of sweet potatoes to the Ming Dynasty, or to millions of Han people. They just thought that they could make money by growing them because of their novelty.

Again, things are rare and valuable.

At the moment, Wei Guangde was only thinking about "opening up the territory" for the Ming Dynasty, but he had forgotten the biggest contributor to the "Kangxi and Qianlong Dynasties" - Sweet Potato.

A few hours later, the fleet led by Deng Zilong finally rushed in front of the merchant ship and stopped them.

There is no doubt that the size of their fleet made the other party very nervous, thinking that they had encountered pirates. When the ship approached, there were already many people standing on the other side's deck, all holding things in their hands, many of them obvious. Privately owned firearms are strictly prohibited.

Yes, although in this kind of small-scale naval battle, especially in close combat, crossbows are more effective.

However, materials such as bowstrings are difficult to preserve, so firearms are more commonly used in battles at sea.

When the two gunboats, one on the left and one on the right, opened their gun windows and exposed the gun barrels inside, all the other party's thoughts of resistance were wiped out.