Acapulco, the largest trading port on the west coast of Asia.

In the past, this Spanish galleon, which carried the voyages of China and the South Seas, was loaded with silver, but now it is undoubtedly the most important port on a par with Lima, Peru, as it connects New Spain with Peru.

But stripped away from this glamorous identity, this is a small fishing village, a small fishing village with armed batteries and garrison guards.

Five miles north of the port of Acapulco, close to the shore where Shao Tingda landed, the Ming army that came over this time still chose this place as the landing place.

Any continental coastline in the world is vast, but finding a suitable landing site is not so easy.

On the deck of the tall warship, the flagmen gathered on the starboard side, laboriously pushing rolls of blue tent cloth off the side of the ship, covering the hull and hanging into the sea.

Taking advantage of the high tide at night, two warships with their sails lowered stopped near the shore end to end, pulling out a shelter line thirty zhang long.

One by one, spears poked into the sand, holding up the yellow tent, blocking the view from the south, and a small flag officer led his men to take off the green shawl wrap from the bushes at the end of the beach, and then led his men to dig a bunker to accommodate the body at intervals to the south of the beach tent, facing the direction of Acapulco.

Behind them, more guerrilla flag troops from Lin Manjue's subordinates worked in the dark, unloading the wooden stakes and wooden fences carried on the ship, and arranging the blocking line and retreat points on the spot.

Approaching early in the morning, the low tide stranded the two huge warships on the beach, and the resting flag soldiers let out a low-pressure cheer, and the tent cloth on the starboard side of the warship was dragged up, but a few flag soldiers seemed to be in trouble, looking at the color of the beach at the bottom of the ship again and again, and finally decided to spread the blue brick tent cloth produced from the Jizhen Ordnance Bureau on the starboard side of the ship.

The color is not the same, but it is the closest thing to the color of the beach after the tide has just receded.

On the port side of the warship, the situation was much better, the flag army laid wooden piles of different depths as support in stages outside the beach at the bottom of the ship, the wide wooden bridge used in the broadside battle was laid on it to form a slope, and the heavy naval guns weighing more than 2,000 catties on the ship were mounted on the gun carriage and slowly slid down with ropes that lifted the sails.

Without a trestle, it would be difficult for the artillery to follow the flag army smoothly to land, so this was the only way, but then the two warships would have to run aground on the beach for a whole day.

The charcoal ash was blowing in the face with the salty sea breeze, Lin Manjue turned his helmet upside down, blocked the fire ash with a blue cotton iron sheet embroidered with the sun and moon dragon on the outside, and looked away from the unloaded cannon and looked at the not dense forest four hundred steps away.

Passing through the hundred-step dense forest, on the other side is a wide official road, which allows artillery to be quickly dispatched to the vicinity of the port under the tow of mules and horses.

He did only two things throughout his day's work, moving thirty-six guns ranging from 600 to 2,500 pounds at five hundred paces, and setting up defenses with his men in case the movement was discovered by the harbor defenders.

Although it looked dangerous, in fact, this job was very easy, if it weren't for the fact that the nearest landing place near the trade port was five miles away in the north and Chen Mu's hopes were safe, Lin Manjue even planned to propose to Chen Mu that his subordinates take advantage of the night to land one mile north and south of the harbor.

Even if there is no suitable landing site, a small boat can land, and landing can launch an attack on the port.

But Chen Mu chose a more prudent decision, first bombarding the port tower and shore battery with naval artillery from the sea, creating conditions for Lin Manjue's troops to attack the port, and if it was discovered on the way, it would be salvo by land artillery, and then the guerrilla flag army could sweep it.

The black King Kong, who had a golden gourd hanging from his waist, got off the boat, held a stack of clothes in both hands, came over and carefully put it to the side, and then sat on the sand and whispered: "General, you can change your clothes when the sun comes out in a while." ”

Lin Manjue bowed his head, raised his hand and poured a handful of wet sand on the fire, the temperature difference between day and night here is large, especially in the coastal beach overnight It is very cold, but the thick military uniform cannot be worn during the day.

"General, we are going to attack Mexico City, Da Ming, will we continue to enslave and enslave them?"

Lin Manjue turned his head: "Them? ”

Black King Kong learned Chinese, lived in Ming for a few years, and wore the Ming army's standard armor, using Ming golden melons, but Lin Manjue never thought that Black King Kong would use the word 'they' to describe the Asian natives.

"We have many tribes, and my people have died in war and disease, and my subordinates are those who believe in the gods of the West after their conquest."

The Aztecs seem to be more like the Spaniards, and in the eyes of the Ming, believing in anything is their own freedom, and China has been separated from church and state since ancient times, but this is not the case with the indigenous people of this land, who believe in gods and seem to understand the conquest of Europeans better.

In a land that has not been connected to the outside world for thousands of years, they conquer each other, and the conquered will lose their own gods and believe in the gods of others, a tradition that makes it natural to be conquered.

It also objectively makes them easier to conquer.

Any nation in the world can be defeated, but conquest is not the same as defeat.

"Or can they be like me, believe in the emperor, do things for the Ming army, and pay military salaries?"

Lin Manjue was very similar to say something, but he couldn't say anything, he silently covered the fire with wet sand piece by piece, patted the sand on his hand and said, "I don't know either." ”

"I'm just a general who acts on orders, maybe after this victory, I will become the deputy commander in chief stationed in one place? What you said is something that the adults of the DPRK and China are considering, and I can't influence it. ”

"But the Westerners want your land, soul and life, whether you want it or not, the Ming will be better—in a way that is more acceptable to you."

Black King Kong has not been able to learn to flexibly use the self-proclaimed names such as 'subordinate, lowly, subordinate' and so on, and it is not so easy to talk, "Better? ”

"Well, it's better, Da Ming doesn't want your soul, Your Majesty wants these thousands of miles, if the battle goes well, it will be a good thing for you, at least you will be people, not slaves."

"Da Ming is not their kind of dirt buns, as if there is no one else but them, we will treat livestock as people, but we will not treat people as livestock."

"Don't think about it."

Lin Manjue pulled his slightly gray beard and smiled at Black King Kong: "This attack on the Westerners' Mexico City will rely on your guidance, and then the old man will show you Chen Shuai's merits, and I hope you can continue to fight in this land as a Ming general." ”

"As for the future, I'm afraid Chen Shuai hasn't thought about what to do now, maybe you can decide when the time comes, how they will choose and live."