On land, it is said that "looking at the mountains and running a dead horse" has a similar feeling at sea.

Obviously, Jinghua's grand fleet was discovered by the lookout of the Spanish warship for a long time, but it wasn't until Alfaro's lifeboat quickly went out, and was finally picked up by Jinghua's people and sent to the flagship, the distance between the two fleets seemed to be a lot closer, but in fact, it would take half an hour to really get in touch.

After a while, on the flagship of the Jinghua Expeditionary Fleet "Lang Shan", Gao Jing walked quickly into the bridge command room where Huang Zhiting was - in fact, it is not called a bridge in this era, because the bridge itself is a noun that appeared during the paddle steamer period in the steam era, but because the people in Jinghua were affected by Gao Pragmatic's title, and Gao Pragmatic was a half-hanger, so it appeared early.

"Dutong, the other party sent a messenger over, who claimed to be a missionary, and said that he knew Commander Gao and the third master, do you want to see him?"

"Gao Commander" refers to Gao Mengnan, the general leader of the three towns of An, Hue and Quang Nam, and the third master refers to Gao Wuqin - he originally did three in the sixth room of the Gao family, and all the highly pragmatic family members, according to the habits of this era, called his younger brothers "a certain master", a certain line.

However, this "third master" is just a habitual title, because after Gao Wuguan was passed to Gao Gong, Gao Wuqin should actually be the "second master".

Huang Zhiting didn't really want to see any envoys, even if the other party really had something, she felt that Gao Jing could just talk. However, since the other party claims to know Gao Mengnan and Gao Wuqin, the situation is different, and it is necessary for her to meet her, which is determined by the principle of "identity reciprocity".

Another point is that Huang Zhiting thinks that Gao Shishi's attitude towards missionaries seems to be good, and she does not want to be inconsistent with Gao Shishi in this kind of matter.

"Then let's see you, but I don't know how to speak, does the fleet have an interpreter?"

"They all laughed, and the minimum number of people in the expeditionary fleet who could serve as interpreters was not less than 100." Gao Jing laughed.

Huang Zhiting was stunned: "What are you doing with so many Franc machine interpreters?" ”

"Well, it's all misunderstood, it's not that I brought so many interpreters, but that there are so many people who can be used as interpreters." Gao Jing explained: "The Nanyang Fleet itself is mainly engaged in maritime trade, and there are many people in the fleet who can speak Castilian and Portuguese, plus the ships of the more than 30 Guangdong and Annam bosses who came with us this time are also indispensable to such people, and it is very conservative to say that there are no less than 100 people." ”

"I see." Huang Zhiting understood, nodded and said, "Then let's find one on the Langshan nearby, does the other party speak Spanish?" ”

"I guess so." Gao Jing spread his hands and said: "Most of these missionaries can speak more than one language, and the one who comes now calls himself 'Alfaro', and is the president of the 'Franciscan Acting Province of Manila', but the conversation he just had with Xiao was in Chinese...... It's just not very skilled, probably new. ”

Huang Zhiting nodded and said: "It's not strange to know Chinese, the priest Luo Mingjian who met with Gao Gao Cheng before, he speaks Chinese well, I heard that he has also practiced calligraphy in the past two years, and the third master once praised him, saying that he writes a little like it." ”

Although Gao Zhiqin is just a "student level" in the mouth of his eldest brother Gao Shishi, the style of study in the Xinzheng Gao clan is there, and his handwriting is still good. Since Gao Shiqin can praise Luo Mingjian's calligraphy as "a little bit like", it is really a bit of a look, so Huang Zhiting is not surprised that the Alfaro priest who came today can speak Chinese.

Gao Jing then sent someone to invite Alfaro to the bridge, and at the same time arranged a translator - although Alfaro can speak Chinese, his level is not as good as Luo Mingjian, who came to the Ming Dynasty earlier, who knows if he will not be able to express things clearly?

Alfaro had been looking around since he got on the ship, he was not unfamiliar with sea ships, but he found that the Jinghua ship was very different from the Jinghua "armed merchant ships" he had seen before.

The biggest feature is this: this is definitely a battleship, a battleship through and through.

Of course, it would be too simple to find out, as the Lang Son was the only ship in the entire Jinghua Expeditionary Fleet with two deck guns. No country has the luxury of treating such a powerful ship as a merchant ship, and the flagship of the Spanish Treasure Fleet does not carry cargo.

Alfaro noticed that the ship's armament was very special, and it seemed to be leaning towards a certain type of gun—at least the open-air deck guns he could see so far were of the same class and shape.

Although Alfaro was not a soldier, he was obviously not a military blind, and he could tell from the appearance of these guns that they were all long and heavy guns, and they were well-made, well-maintained, and even very new, perhaps not long after they had just been in service.

He couldn't help but feel a little strange in his heart, because in Europe at this time, even a warship could not be equipped with only one artillery, especially not only one long and heavy gun. He judged that either the other light guns were not mounted on the deck gun, or that the warship had not been built to deal with small ships, and had not even considered broadside gang fighting.

"Could it be that this warship will not carry out the mission alone at all? Never encounter pirates? How could his designers, builders and owners have such confidence? ”

Alfaro's train of thought was off, in fact, the Lang Son class warship had other guns, and the deck guns on the lowest deck were mainly light guns, which were designed to target pirate ships. The middle deck and open-air deck guns are all long and heavy guns - the higher the ship's position can hit farther.

However, when Alfaro came aboard the ship just now, he noticed that the deck guns at the bottom of the battleship were too low, only more than a meter above sea level.

This design is rare in Europe, unless it is a galley warship in the Mediterranean, if it is in the Atlantic, it will be easy to enter the water if the gun is set up in this position, it seems that the sea conditions in the South Sea should be relatively gentle, otherwise the other party cannot design it like this.

But this design also has the advantage that it can make the center of gravity of the whole ship press down, and the hull building will not be too high, which not only strengthens the seaworthiness of the battleship, but also reduces the possibility of being hit in naval battles.

All in all, this battleship is designed in all respects for the sea conditions of the South China Sea, and can only exert its full combat effectiveness in the sea area with less wind and waves, and it will definitely not be good if it goes to Europe.

Alfaro also noticed that the deck of the warship was neatly arranged with shell boxes, but the powder boxes were not laid out. This shows that the other party is ready for battle, but does not plan to start a war immediately, which makes him a little lucky, and he also feels that he has come to the right place this time.

The last thing he noticed was the rigging of the warship. When he saw the Lang Son mainmast rigging, he was inexplicably surprised: why was their rigging so simple?

Indeed, compared to the unbreakingly complex rigging of the European soft sails, the rigging used by the "Gao's Hard Sail" was so simple that he was speechless.

If the rigging of the European soft sail is a college math problem, then the rigging of the Gao's hard sail is definitely not beyond the level of junior high school in terms of complexity, and may even be in the elementary school stage.

But the more complex the rigging, the better, on the contrary, in the case of ensuring the effectiveness of use, the simpler the better, because whether in wartime or peacetime, complex rigging will only bring trouble. The rigging is easy to operate, which in itself is a big advantage of the hard sail system - because the characteristics of the hard sail ensure that it does not have to be watched by the people below all the time to enjoy the wind.

This is like saying that if a soft sail is full of sail marks, the overall attribute may be counted as 100 points, but the upper limit of the hard sail may only be 90 points.

The problem, however, is that the vast majority of soft-sailing users are unlikely to achieve a perfect score, with a score of 60 being considered a passing grade and a score of 70 being good. And in the actual battle, it can still guarantee the level of 70 points, which is even rarer, and it is definitely the performance of the elite navy.

The hard sail is different, although it may only have a full score of 90, but the passing mark in normal operation is 80 points, and it is not difficult to maintain a score of more than 80 in battle - as for the hard sail to have to go to the Atlantic to fight, that is another matter, a problem with the production materials.

In fact, in later generations, the sail warship has become a legendary era, and the sailing competitions at sea have all been used in hard sails, but the use of new chemical materials, which also proves that as long as the materials are passed, in fact, hard sailing ships are the best sailboats.

Of course, Gao pragmatic can't get the chemical materials of later generations, he just relied on the accidental discovery when he was in Guangxi and strengthened the attributes of the hard sail, not against the sky, and it is estimated that it is not very suitable for going to the Atlantic, but at least in the South China Seas, Jinghua's sail must be the best sail.

It was a pity that Alfaro did not have a chance to observe it up close, and he did not even have time for him to study it, because he was quickly invited into the command room.

When he found out that the supreme commander of the opposing fleet (misunderstanding) was actually a woman in military uniform, Alfaro was shocked. Europe has various "ranks" of monarchs, such as queens, duchesses, countesses, etc., but female generals ...... That's really less.

He didn't even know how to bow for a moment.

Fortunately, the interpreter beside him knew the "ghost" very well, and immediately introduced him in Castilian: "Father Alfaro, this lady in front of you is Huang, the deputy commander of the Ming Empire's Annan Metropolitan Department. She is a nobleman with a hereditary domain of about 10,000 square kilometers, and her family has a long history of hereditary nobility that stretches back hundreds of years. Today, the total hereditary territory of the Huang family is about more than 40,000 square kilometers, with nearly a million people in the territory, and more than 40,000 people in the standing army of the family who can fight well. ”

Alfaro was taken aback and asked in a confirmed manner, "There are more than 40,000 people in the standing army of Ms. Huang's family?" ”

The young man, who was acting as a temporary interpreter, smiled elegantly and casually, and nodded, "Yes, priest." I know you're surprised, because when the Italian War broke out, the King of France almost turned the whole of Italy upside down with 20,000 troops. But I can make sure that what I just presented is exactly what I have said. In fact, there were almost 20,000 men in the standing army directly under the Vice-Commander of Huang, and the fighting power of these people had already been demonstrated in the War of Conquest of Annam, if you knew the Battle of Lang Son, because that battle was personally commanded by Vice-President Huang. ”

Alfaro looked shocked, then hurriedly stepped forward, walked directly to Huang Zhiting three steps in front of him, knelt down on one knee under the suddenly cold gaze of the wolf soldiers, lowered his head, and humbly and loudly praised: "With my most respectful greetings from Pedro de Alfaro, I dedicate to Joan of Arc of the East." Your lineage is incomparably noble, your achievements are incomparably dazzling, and your beauty is unparalleled, and it must be the Lord's greatest grace to me to be able to see your face. ”

In the command room, even those who did not know Castilian could see the politeness, but they were a little unhappy that the person who came was just kneeling on one knee.

And Huang Zhiting couldn't understand why this person muttered a long sentence with a flattering look, but he just knelt down on one knee, couldn't help frowning slightly, and asked the interpreter: "Just meet you, why did he talk for so long?" ”

The interpreter was a little embarrassed and asked, "This...... All the same, do you want to translate all the small ones? ”

Huang Zhiting suddenly misunderstood, and her face became a little serious: "What, what did he say?" All translated. ”

And as her tone turned stern, the surrounding wolf soldiers and guards suddenly put their hands on their weapons, and the air in the command room seemed to be a little colder.

The interpreter did not dare to delay, and quickly translated it word for word. As a result, the people in the entire command room couldn't hold back their laughter, and Huang Zhiting herself couldn't cry or laugh.

What's the matter with this priest? Look, I'm afraid that if it's not a good year, how can I speak so frivolously, and actually say to a girl who has not left the cabinet that your beauty is unmatched, and it is God's gift to me to see your face?

She was suddenly worried that if she didn't punish this matter with a serious attitude, would Gao Lang be angry if she found out?

But fortunately, just when her beautiful eyes began to show murderous intent, the interpreter seemed to realize something, and quickly explained: "Dutong, can you let Xiao Xiao say a few more words?" ”

Huang Zhiting was temporarily stopped by him, glanced at him, and replied coldly: "Say." ”

The Joan of Arc that the priest is talking about is a heroine of their Europa, just like Mulan and She Taijun, who has a very high status among the people, and is called a saint (at this time, the Vatican has not canonized Joan of Arc). In addition, the customs of these people are very different from those of my Daming, and when they praise female nobles, they often praise each other's appearance, which is not disrespectful to them. If you ...... Belch. ”

As the interpreter spoke, he suddenly realized something and hurriedly stopped.

Huang Zhiting listened to his explanation, and her face was much better, but in the end, she was suspicious and asked, "What if?" ”

The interpreter suddenly stood up and set his eyes on Gao Jing. Gao Jing looked very inexplicable, frowned, and said: "If you have something to say, just say it, look at what I do, I don't understand what they say." ”

The interpreter couldn't think about it, so he had to bite the bullet and say, "If you ...... Well, if you're willing to do what they do, just reach out your right hand and let him kiss the back of your hand. ”

It seems that the level of this interpreter is not completely in place, because the kiss ceremony actually has a lot of exquisiteness, and it often depends on the situation.

For one, it usually only happens in high society, which is fine; Second, it is rarely targeted at unmarried women, of course, this is not absolute, especially when the age difference between the two parties is so big; Third, if the woman's status is higher, the man not only needs to kneel, but also can't actually kiss the back of the other's hand, just make a show; Finally, generally speaking, whether to kiss the hand depends on whether the woman takes the initiative to reach out for a drooping pose, and if he does not take the initiative to drop his hand, the man cannot take the initiative.

But this interpreter is obviously also half-witted on this issue, or has heard or seen it from elsewhere, and has not really understood it.

As a result, Huang Zhiting's tone suddenly became as cold as ice, and he said coldly: "I'd rather go to war." ”

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