If ten years ago, Huang Degong didn't believe that he would still be a colonial governor to command a complex war of land and water in the wild outer lands that are rumored to be by word of mouth.

In the past, as long as you muster up the courage to drill into the enemy formation and stare at the biggest blow from the official on the opposite side, now, the form of this war has become more and more detached from the war in Huang Degong's impression.

Are you really old?

Sitting in front of the white table under the parasol, blowing the sea breeze, Huang Degong groaned and picked up the ceramic cup, took a sip of the bitter but mellow black liquid in the cup, and then wiped his mouth leisurely with a napkin, and then stood up slowly like an old man.

But he, the boss, had finished enjoying today's coffee and went to work again, and his female staff officer, the shrewd and capable Liaodong military lady Gu Moyi, was still petrified, with a pair of bright and huge eyes staring round, looking down in shock.

I don't blame her, after all, in this life, when you wake up in the morning, you can see hundreds of sail battleships with cannons, pointing at your head menacingly, such an opportunity is really rare.

Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Wei, plus a Mughal Empire, a combined fleet of six countries, has been blocked outside Manila Bay, dense warships cover the sea surface, the sea breeze blows, all kinds of national flags are blown by the sea breeze fiercely floating, the shaking mast is densely packed like a forest, it is really spectacular.

At this time, the port of Manila, which used to be a lively international port, was empty like the street during the Spring Festival, and merchant ships of all sizes were nowhere to be seen, and even a fleet of East India Company escorts originally stationed here was gone, leaving only the Luzon and Pinghai, which belonged to the Governor's Palace, and the two gunboats Pinghai were alone on the edge of the cement port.

Although Chen Chuan's intelligence did not arrive in time after all, but the Manila colony is so important, after all, the Ming still has a set of early warning agencies, when the Dutch fleet took the lead in the east of Borneo Island, Manila has been given an early warning, and the merchant ships, women, children, and poor people who cannot fight are evacuated in advance.

All that's left is the Manila Garrison and the more than 10,000 strong civilians brave enough to defend their homeland, facing an army at least four times their size.

Even if he was a personal experiencer of the military meeting the night before, Gu Moyi still felt frightened when he looked at the other party's huge military appearance today, until the coffee in his hand was half cold, then a spirit woke up, poured half a cup in one gulp, and then hurriedly ran upstairs.

At the foot of the mountain, in the staircase-like city of Manila, the clanging bronze bell has already sounded.

Compared with the woman's shock, Chen Xinghua was much more excited, and his position was much higher than Gu Moyi on Fort Philip, in the area outside Manila Bay, on the tall wall of the bridgehead that had been repaired by the Ming Dynasty, facing the Western coalition army right under his nose, he was excited to smash his fist on the cold and solid fort cannon.

In two months, his service in the Manila Corps will be completed, and he will be transferred out of this newly opened and hopeful land and return to Beijing to report on his work; according to his past achievements, if he does not retire, it will be more than enough to be a corps commander, and if he goes to the northernmost Storm Army, it is not impossible to serve as a command and staff officer at the corps level.

But this is also his sad place, the positions of the various corps in the south are full, he has no chance to participate in the battle of the Ming Dynasty, the actual corps commander or corps staff officer is already the pinnacle of his achievements in this life, if according to the trajectory of other people's lives, he will work between these two positions until the age of fifty and retreat to the second line, the reserve will be mixed for another ten years, mixed to the age of sixty compulsory retirement, and then take a generous pension, fishing, drinking, soaking in the hot springs and playing cards.

This is a comfortable life for ordinary people, but for him, it is a little less passionate.

At this time, the Western coalition forces organized a group to kill him!

Maybe the pinnacle battle of this life is just around the corner, because of the excitement, his fists are smashed a little red, and he roars in a low voice of excitement.

"Dog brute, come on!"

But there is a military proverb in Rome that naval battles can ruin your whole day! It is talking about the long and boring war at sea, Chen Xinghua waited enthusiastically, lined up like cars parked in the parking lot, but these Western coalition troops did not attack, but a priest wearing a white robe and holding a cross stick took the lead in rowing a small boat to the edge of the front island.

In recent years, with the rise of the Ming Dynasty, the Chinese language has also risen like that of later generations, and there have been more Westerners who have learned.

"The two armies are fighting, and they don't come to make it! The Dutch envoy, Bishop Morpheus of Pattaa, was ordered to meet with Lord Huang, the general of your army. ”

Curt is a businessman, and it is a group of big businessmen who promote this war, all actions are naturally based on interests, the cost of war is too high, if it can be solved by mouth, it is naturally unwilling to use the knife easily, and after the Spaniards slaughtered the Ming people, the bloody revenge encountered is also a lesson from the past, this first-hand, he actually played the card of surrendering without a fight.

In the newly renovated three-story fortress building of Fort St. Philip, the door to the governor's office was creaked open, and with some uneasiness, Gu Moyi led the people in with straight military boots.

"Governor, the envoy of the Dutch Barbarian has arrived."

"Oh."

At this juncture, Huang Degong was still reading, put down the on-the-spot battle manuscript of Jilin Ula World War I compiled by the Acheng Military Academy at hand, and took off his glasses, and Huang Degong raised his head.

"What do you have to do, tell me."

"God is merciful, and you in the East also have the saying that God has the virtue of a good life, and God's people are also civilized people, so I, as a servant of God, bring a proposal from His Excellency Curt."

Obviously prepared, God has the virtue of a good life, and this white-robed "Gandalf" said that it is extremely good, seeing Huang Degong leaning on the chair and not moving, looking up at him so calmly, Morpheus is brisk and hurried to narrate.

"Our army is invincible with God's blessing! And with 43 first-class sail battleships, 155 second-class and third-class battleships, more than 7,000 cannons, as well as 5,000 French troops, 17,000 mercenaries, and 10,000 warriors of the Mughal Empire, your army can't resist our army!"

"Sir Curt suggests that the coalition forces are willing to pay your army half a hundred thousand taels of silver and a decent retreat, and how about your army give up Manila?"

A smile appeared on Huang Degong's countenance, which had aged a little, and just as Morpheus also showed a smile, Huang Degong stood up and led him outside.

"Your Excellency, Huang will take you to see a place!"

Mao Jue is an architectural maniac, so much so that his subordinates are also infected with this problem, the building of Fort San Philip was completely demolished and rebuilt after the establishment of the Governor's Palace in Manila, which is completely the architectural decoration method of the new Ming Dynasty.

I thought that he and Huang Degong were going to see something special, but he followed him out of the office building and into another two-story building next to him that looked quite spacious and bright on the outside, but he couldn't help but show a wry smile.

It's a prison here!

"I have you Sir Curt to remember, this place is built according to my first-class prison of the Ming Dynasty, please go back and tell Sir Curt that this commander will leave the best prison in Xiangyang to him."

"Our army is four times larger than Your Excellency, and your firepower is not comparable to Your Excellency, Your Excellency can't win!"

"How do you know if you don't try?"

Looking at Huang Degong's old fox-like smile, Morpheus, who was full of confidence when he came, shook his head helplessly, bowed slightly, and then exited the room, looking at him, Huang Degong turned his head to Staff Officer Gu with a strange face and asked.

"Have all the barbarians studied?"

This battle was not easy, and in the face of his coach's humor, Gu Moyi could only respond with a wry smile.

…………

At noon, Bishop Morpheus returned to the coalition forces, and immediately after, the neatly arranged sea fortresses were noticeably slightly stirred, the sails were jerked up, and the large iron anchors thrown into the sea were slowly pulled up by the metal sound of the winch, and the outermost row of imposing three-masted three-story first-class battleships rushed out in a series like a snake.

The most classic maritime formation of this era, the linear formation, was slowly unfolded by them, and this was the beginning of the official offensive.

However, what Morpheus said is really good, in terms of firepower, the two armies are not the same level, as fast as 200 battleships, more than 7,000 artillery pieces, and two or three thousand heavy artillery pieces, but Huang Degong's army field artillery plus shore defense artillery is only about 400 guns, and if you really want artillery to bombard, it seems that the defenders of Manila are in a state of being crushed.

Fortunately, Daming always has a bit of black technology!

The kind of overlord cannon independently developed by the Ming Dynasty, not only the central and southern divisions are equipped with two, there are also three here, two are installed on Fort St. Philip, and one belongs to the former enemy incisor fort, and here, this overlord cannon is a complete posture, the outer layer of the cannon is stacked with thick reinforced concrete and a wall more than half a meter thick, in the middle is an oval barrel activity area, but on the stout cannon body, there is also a huge circular baffle, just like the cannon of later generations, but this baffle is also much thicker than the cannon, Constructed of cast iron, self-sufficient after one centimeter.

Under the tight protection, the cannon body completely lost its vision, and completely relied on the observation post above the artillery fortress to measure the unit, and in the slow creeping of those behemoths of the three-story battleship, the multi-ton gun body was also in the shouting of the observation post, creaking and dragging the iron chain to adjust the gun muzzle.

Almost at the moment when the opponent's heavy extended naval guns sounded, Chen Xinghua, who was waiting impatiently, also waved his command knife violently, and on the Qianhai Fort, the earth trembled with a sound that was enough to shake, and the deafening cannon sound also erupted violently~

A muffled thunder resounded across the sea!