The news that the Spaniard's fleet suddenly appeared behind him made both Huang Zhiting and Gao Jing nervous.

Their nervousness, in fact, is to blame Gao Pragmatic, because according to Gao Pragmatic and what they have introduced before, if Portugal is the hegemon of the South Seas, then Spain is the king of the four seas in this era.

In this highlight-reel moment for Spain, no one can afford to play against Spain without carefully considering the consequences, especially at sea.

According to Gao Shishi's authorized instructions on the possibility of war at sea: whether to fight or not to fight is up to Huang Zhiting, and how to fight is up to Gao Jing, so as soon as he got the news, Gao Jing turned his attention to Huang Zhiting's face.

Huang Zhiting didn't speak immediately, but walked to Gao Jing's command table, opened the chart on the table and looked at it, turned his head and asked: "Commander Gao, if I'm not mistaken, the current situation is that we are in the center, Malacca in the southwest, and the Spanish fleet in the northeast, and we are about the same distance from these two sides?" ”

Gao Jing didn't need to look at the chart to know the location, but he still walked to the chart, took out three paperweights with small flags and placed them in the corresponding positions, and said, "Yes, please see them all." ”

This is done in accordance with the habit of high pragmatism, the paperweight with the small red flag represents the fleet, and the small blue flag represents the enemy or the target side, which is also very in line with the tradition of the Ming Dynasty.

Gao Jing also explained: "The wind was strong in the first two days, and the speed of our fleet was very fast, and according to the general situation, the speed of the Spanish fleet should also be very fast. But if we assume that the Portuguese fleet in Malacca is going to come out to intercept our fleet at this time, it is just against the wind, and it cannot be fast - I mean, at least about twice as slow as it is when it is downwind. ”

Huang Zhiting said: "In other words, under the current circumstances, if we stay on Wanshengyu and do not move, it is impossible for the Portuguese and the Spaniards to arrive at the same time and fight with us?" ”

"Yes." Gao Jing replied very simply.

Huang Zhiting paused, and then asked: "Then if we go back and fight Spain first, how much time can we spend at war?" ”

"Is it on the assumption that the Portuguese will send troops to intercept it?"

"Not bad."

"At least three or four days, enough time for us to find the enemy and fight."

In the era when there were no radars and satellites, although there were waterways on the vast sea, those waterways were only used for safe sailing in ordinary times. In wartime, both enemy and enemy fleets may not follow the usual course, so finding the enemy becomes a very important matter, and sometimes a lot of time is wasted.

However, Gao Jing said this very confidently, it only took three or four days, and he thought that he could complete the two major tasks of finding the enemy and fighting. The reason for such self-confidence is that the fleet is large enough to divide into several "two-two formations" to investigate the enemy's situation.

Huang Zhiting asked again: "What is the strength of the forty large Galen ships of Spain, and has the South Sea Fleet made an assessment before?" If we talk about strength on paper, how does our strength compare to theirs? ”

Gao Jing replied: "The Great Galen is just a general statement, in fact, according to the calculation method of our Nanyang Fleet, the Western Galen ship with more than 2,000 materials (displacement of 1,000 tons) is called the Great Galen. As for the big Galen in Spain, as far as I know, it is generally around 2,400 materials. ”

Huang Zhiting's brows suddenly furrowed, and he asked, "Half the size of our armed transport ship?" ”

The Jinghua armed transport ship is not small, it is a large merchant ship of 1,600 materials. Especially in the Nanyang region, even the Portuguese merchant ships are usually not so large, most of them are about 800 to 1,200 materials, and Jinghua's armed transport ships have an advantage in size, so Huang Zhiting couldn't help but be surprised when she heard that Spain's big galen was as high as 2,400 materials.

But this is true, because the Spaniards are now the dominant sea and are very dependent on the gold and silver of the Americas, so most of the Spanish treasure fleets are the huge load-carrying Zhen Grand Galen, which is an evolution of the Carrac sailing ships of a hundred years ago.

In fact, the ultimate version of the Galen ship has not yet come out, and that honor belongs to the Spanish flagship "Holy Trinity", also translated as "Santa Trinidad", which was built in 1767, with a displacement of nearly 5,000 tons (4,950 tons), and was the only giant ship in the world with four deck guns at that time, with up to 140 guns.

However, even if we don't talk about these "future" things, let's just say that the current Spanish Grand Galen is also amazing in terms of the number of shipborne guns - at least they are two-deck guns, and the main armed transport ships of the fleet on the Jinghua side are only open-air deck guns.

Of the four "professional warships" of the Jinghua Expeditionary Fleet, three second-class cruisers had one-deck guns, and only the flagship Lang Son had two-deck guns.

Gao Jing briefly introduced these situations to Huang Zhiting, Huang Zhiting couldn't help but be a little shocked and worried after hearing it, and said secretly: No wonder Gao Lang told me before that if he could fight with Spain, he would not fight, such a powerful fleet is only one of its treasure fleets, who knows how many such treasure fleets they have?

At present, the fleet in Gao Jing's hands is already eighty percent of the Nanyang Fleet and nearly half of the entire Jinghua Two Ocean Fleet. In this case, whether it is cost-effective to fight with Spain and what consequences it will cause, this is what Huang Zhiting has to consider for Gao Pragmatic.

Facing Gao Jing's inquiring gaze, Huang Zhiting suddenly asked, "You said before that this fleet originally came from that place called Mexico to send silver to the Spaniards in Luzon?" ”

Gao Jing was slightly stunned, and then nodded: "Yes, this news should not be wrong, because the news from Luzon said that as soon as they arrived in Luzon, they began to unload silver, a total of thousands of boxes of silver, to say the least there are four or five hundred thousand taels." ”

"Oh yes." Gao Jing added: "At that time, the main force of the fleet stationed at Quanzhou Port was also in Luzon, and it was to trade with the Spaniards, bringing with them a lot of silk, silk, and some porcelain. Now that I think about it, they should be going to make a deal with this Spanish fleet. ”

Huang Zhiting breathed a sigh of relief: "That is to say, this group of Spaniards should not be coming for us, most of them are on the way - by the way, they usually go to Malacca when they return to Europa?" ”

"No, it wasn't before." Gao Jing's words made Huang Zhiting a little nervous again: "At least before this time, after the Spaniards' treasure fleet sent the silver to Luzon, they generally had to wait for several months, and when the monsoon changed, they would return to Mexico, and they could not go to Malacca. ”

Huang Zhiting noticed Gao Jing's wording and asked, "Not 'can't' go?" ”

"Yes, because the Portuguese did not agree with their return from Malacca." "Portugal and Spain were only merged last year – not even a merger, except that Philip II was also king of Portugal – and before that, Portugal and Spain did not seem to be friends or partners, but rivals, so the Portuguese did not allow the Spanish fleet to transit through their territory at all," Gao explained. ”

Huang Zhiting frowned and said, "Then what is the situation this time?" Because now both are the same king, so the Spaniards can go Malacca? ”

"This ...... Perhaps. Gao Jing didn't dare to say too much.

In fact, they didn't know that Spain's choice to go to Malacca this time was itself a temptation, because at this time, Portugal itself was not completely subordinated to Philip II from top to bottom, from the mainland to the colonies.

Although Philip II had proclaimed himself King of Portugal in Lisbon, there was still much opposition in Portugal, and many Portuguese colonies across three continents had not taken a stand, or had no time to do so.

The reason why the Spanish treasure fleet changed to Malacca was that it relied on the huge size of its own fleet to semi-forcibly test the Malacca side, and even test the reaction of the Goan side, and to a certain extent, it could be regarded as an attitude in forcing Portugal's Asian colonies at the same time.

If Gao Shishi himself was here, he might be able to deduce the true meaning of the Spaniard's move based on his understanding of his previous life, but he was not here, and Huang Zhiting could only judge for himself.

Huang Zhiting took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "Tell Zeng Yongcheng that we won't get off the ship, ask him to replenish fresh water, fruits and vegetables for us as soon as possible, and the fleet will buy it with money as appropriate." Give another order to the fleet, and immediately set off for the northeast after replenishment—we'll meet the Spaniards for a while! ”

Gao Jing didn't know whether he was happy or worried, Huang Zhiting's decision made him feel the word "female general" changed. According to his original idea, Huang Zhiting's battle for fame, the Battle of Langshan, is actually the decision of his own master in the final analysis, and Huang Zhiting is just the executor.

In other words, whether or not to fight the Battle of Langshan and when to fight that battle is actually a highly pragmatic decision, and Huang Zhiting's task is only to "fight" itself.

Therefore, in Gao Jing's view, Huang Zhiting's situation at that time was very similar to his now, where power and responsibility were limited to execution, not decision. And given that she is a woman after all, usually in this uncertain situation, she should choose to be cautious and wait and see, but who knows that she chose to turn her head and meet it.

Even if the wolf soldiers are rebellious, who knew that their female toast was also so tough?

For a moment, Gao Jing even suspected that if his master was here, he probably wouldn't have made such a decisive choice to face it directly.

Is it because my introduction to the strength of the Spaniards is not in place, so Huang Vice Capital has misjudged the strength of the two sides?

Gao Jing asked himself in his heart.

However, in any case, Gao Jing felt that although the Spaniards' single ship combat effectiveness might be stronger, the size of their own fleet was still far superior to that of the other party, and if this battle really had to be fought, it would not be impossible to fight.

He took a deep breath and nodded vigorously: "Okay, since Dutong has made a decision, let's try the Spaniard's jin liang and see how good this king of the four seas is!" ”

The actions of the Jinghua fleet changed, Zeng Yongcheng was also inexplicable, and thought that his mistake in dealing with it made the deputy commander angry, so frightened that he ordered someone to do the same, and personally boarded the ship to apologize.

However, although Huang Zhiting and Gao Jing's expressions were very serious when they received him, from their words, they were not dissatisfied with him.

Zeng Yongcheng carefully discovered that the Lang Son not only had the intention of setting sail immediately, but even seemed to be preparing for battle. He didn't dare to ask more, but he was worried that the "Ming Fleet" was going to war with the Portuguese - it was just a good fight, and if it didn't fight well, they would be in big trouble for the islanders in the future.

There is even more trouble, even if the fight is good, but the habit of the Ming is there, in case it is retracted after the fight, if the Portuguese come to retaliate in the future, they will be the first unlucky to do it.

But Zeng Yongcheng could only keep these worries in his heart, and he didn't dare to say it at all.

By the time he was gone, about two hours later, the fresh water had already been replenished, and some fruits and vegetables had been replenished, which was not sufficient, but certainly enough for the time being.

So with Huang Zhiting's order, Gao Jing commanded four warships to leave the port, and the main force of the fleet anchored outside the port has also begun to form. After a short while, the entire fleet turned en masse and headed northeast.

At the same moment, the Spaniards, who had a more leisurely mentality all the way, finally got rid of the gloomy weather, and took advantage of the dawn to find two Jinghua ships monitoring their movements from afar.

"Is it a pirate?" Sir Diego looked at it for a moment, then asked Justo, the captain and commander-in-chief of the fleet beside him.

Husto shook his head: "It doesn't look like it, their tonnage is not small, and ordinary pirate ships will not use ships of such tonnage as reconnaissance ships." And, please note that their very distinctive sail layouts look very similar to those of the armed merchant ships of the Jinghua Company that we have seen in Manila. ”

Sir Diego was a little surprised and a little curious: "The ship of the Jinghua Company? Why are they spying on us? He frowned, then turned to Alfaro and asked, "Your Excellency, have you heard of any piracy practices by Jinghua Company in the Nanyang region?" ”

"Sir, I can answer you with certainty: no." Alfaro shook his head and said, "The Jinghua Company itself is the largest trading company in the Ming Empire, and they have a need for maritime tranquility in this region, so they have been committed to eliminating pirates in this region for nearly ten years. Just two years ago, they had annihilated a large pirate alliance in the waters of Fujian, thus gaining control of the northern part of the South Seas. ”

Sir Diego frowned, "And what do you think of their spying on us?" Or do I need to see this as disrespectful to Spain? ”

Alfaro was silent for a moment, shook his head and said, "This is the first time that the Spanish treasure ship fleet has appeared on this route to Malacca. Sir, I'm more inclined to think that the fleet of the Jinghua Company is doubting our purpose. ”

"The Spanish Navy is all over the world, and it is our freedom to go wherever we go." Sir Diego lifted his chin proudly, and then, as if remembering something, took out a gold coin from his pocket, handed it to Alfaro with a smile, and said, "Your Excellency, look at this commemorative gold coin in my hand that has not yet been officially issued—especially the inscription on the ribbon under the king's head. ”

Puzzled, Alfaro took the gold coin and flipped to the side of the king's head on it.

Below the portrait of Philip II floated a ribbon with an ambitious Latin motto:

NONSUFFICITORBIS

The world is not enough for me. [Note 1]

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[Note 1] "The world is not enough for me" first appeared in 1583 on a Spanish medal, but unlike the "commemorative gold coins that have not yet been officially issued" in this chapter, it has a portrait of King Philip II and the inscription on the obverse: "Philip II, King of Spain and the New World". THE OPPOSITE SIDE IS AN EARTH, AND THE PHRASE "NONSUFFICITORBIS" – THE WORLD IS NOT SELF-SUFFICIENT.

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