Xiao Wanli would not have thought of what kind of light weapon design frenzy his order would set off in the entire Ming Empire, at this moment, he only thought about fulfilling his promise, at least this year to send some new guns to the Beiyang Banner Army on the expedition to Asia.

As for how difficult, how much loss, and what the problem was, the emperor didn't care, he just ordered someone to send him the account books of the inner treasury in recent years.

After simple mathematical calculations, from the honeycomb coal accumulated by his father during Longqing and the filial piety of the prince of the clan this year, even if the expenses of the past two years are cut, Xiao Wanli knows that he still has more than 930,000 taels of silver.

It is not a problem to take out less than 20,000 taels to make some new spurs for the Beiyang Flag Army.

The emperor has gone astray, and he is using the money from the inner treasury and the people of the inner court to make weapons for the banner army of the Ming Dynasty subordinate to the Beiyang Military Government - bypassing the household department, the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War, which is a very strange thing.

This is not the case with the duties of the War Bureau, their duty has always been to build ordnance for the emperor's guards and brocade guards, regardless of the affairs of the outer court.

In fact, Xiao Wanli didn't know why, compared to putting the silver in his hand into the military department, it seemed that investing in the cause of Beiyang made him feel more worthwhile.

It may be because the silver two are invested in the military department, and they are only put into it, but if they are invested in Beiyang...... The places on the map of the world that are more or less painted red will make Wanli feel that what he has done is not just to paint those lands red.

He did more for his army, and he could do more.

In the Forbidden City, the little emperor often unfolded his map, imagining the unparalleled stormy waves on the sea, and his huge and mighty fleet sailing in all directions.

It's just that the truth is often not so rosy.

Forty-three years ago, the Bishop of Panama of Spain discovered this uninhabited desert island, named Las En Cantadas, which means Devil's Island in Spanish.

Because of the huge sea turtles on the island, it is also called the Galapagos Islands, which means the island of giant turtles.

The isolated overseas inaccessible islands were especially popular in the sixth year of Wanli.

After being ordered to attack the Western fleet, the forbidden fleet in Peru and Deng Zilong's fleet encountered a storm while sailing, and unlike Deng Zilong's fleet, which could disperse the fleet at any time, it was necessary to divert the fleet to Panama, Chen Ju could not let the fleet be separated.

To die or live, they must all be with the Nantang ship.

Six days through the torrential rain caused the fleet to deviate from the voyage, with the forbidden army in the storm without stopping the curse away from the storm sea, when the storm first stopped, the soldiers of the forbidden army in the waves back to the embrace of the sun.

Chen Ju was wearing a wingless black veil on his head and looking through a telescope.

His image was long since Acapulco's voyage to sea, his scarlet python robe was stained with large areas of salt printed on the map, and his hair under the scarf was dull and dry, listless.

Although it was only six days, it was like a long year for everyone in the fleet, and nightmares plagued every lucky person in the fleet, such as the loss of seamen, the collision of ships and the destruction of the sea, and the scattering of supplies.

Among them was Chen Ju, who, after losing contact with Deng Zilong's fleet, braved the storm and went to the deck to raise his voice to boost the morale of his subordinates, so he was slapped on the bow of the ship and fell into the sea to swallow the salty sea.

The rainstorm stopped, and the fleet was once again embraced by the sun, Chen Ju clenched his teeth, tilted his head slightly, and his nose moved, his brows furrowed so that his eyes narrowed into a line.

He did everything he could to keep himself from crying and losing his temper in front of his subordinates.

Just now, the Nantang ship, which had broken off one of its masts, put down its communication boat, and there were only six warships left in the fleet with a strength of nearly 3,000 people, and the three baggage ships with a lot of load and seven large and small warships had all lost contact, and the Jingying and Jingjun on board were also nowhere to be found.

"For the rest of my life after the catastrophe, this is more bitter than the sea."

Floating and sinking in the waves, they just want to keep the Nantang ship, but they can prevent them from really saving the Nantang ship but lose more...... Chen Ju hoped that those ships would make the wrong choice at that time and follow Deng Zilong.

Liang Bozhen, the captain from the Nanyang Military Mansion, saw that Chen Ju was in a bad mood and said with relief: "Chen Gong can think about the good, maybe they follow General Deng, at least we are all still alive." ”

Chen Ju turned his head, stared at Liang Bozhen for a moment, and said, "When you are in Nanyang, will you do the same?" ”

Liang Bozhen nodded slowly, they are familiar with hydrology in Nanyang, and they can't avoid such a risk, and said: "I haven't experienced it personally, but I have also heard of it. ”

In the sky in the distance, a big bird with wings seven or eight feet long quickly dived, caught the swimming fish and then soared into the sky, which made Liang Bozhen very happy, and he hurriedly said to Chen Ju: "It's not far from the land!" ”

It's common sense, but it's not necessarily accurate, and sometimes there are exceptions, and exceptions are more common in the aftermath of a storm.

Fortunately, they were no exception, and after three days of being pushed by the waves and the wind, they finally saw the island in their field of vision, followed by the archipelago, which was known only to the Spaniards, and also opened a corner to the Ming army.

Entering this area of the sea made the Ming fleet no longer worry about running out of food without baggage - the north-south currents converged here, making it a natural fishing ground, with an abundance of marine life, whether tuna or moray eels, and the generals equipped with binoculars could even see seals and small red crabs lying on the beach in the distance.

From a distance, the large island alone overseas is lush and green, and there are black boulders irregularly distributed on the beach, and if you look closely, those stones are not black, just soaked in seawater, but the animals lying on the stones are very black, and the lizards with large bodies are so numerous that the scalp is numb, and these big creatures are lying on the stones that can almost be reached by the sun.

Lizards were exotic beasts in ancient times, and in more distant times, they were often carved on the hilt of the knife by the ancestors, because this animal, commonly known as the four-legged beast, had a 'ghost head, good sex and bloody' and was placed on the hilt.

The Praetorian fleet lacks water and must go ashore to repair ships, but at this moment they clearly have no plans to go to war with the swarms of lizards.

In desperation, the four damaged warships and warships could only anchor in the coastal waters, and the forbidden army rowed to the shore in the shade with small boats nearby, and the cavalry of the Shenshu battalion, who was trained to patrol the sentry, led the only remaining war horses, and scattered along the coast under the leadership of the general Luo Shangzhi to explore the situation on the island.

At the same time, two intact 500-gauge gunboats also set sail from the east coast around the island, and the land and water divisions thoroughly explored the island.

Only at this time did Chen Ju's heart really relax, lying flat on the deck regardless of the image, closing his eyes under the blue sky and white clouds, feeling the sea breeze and reddened eyelids blowing across the freeboard.

Until he hears the sound of cannons in the distance, pulling him back to the human world where you are fighting for me. /14_14088/