"The Imperial Navy is well prepared for this." A young officer beside Deng Ming replied for Prime Minister Huang Ming.

Five years ago, Deng Ming opened the Imperial Naval Academy in Zhoushan, and officially renamed the naval division the Navy and the River Fleet, and the cadets were recruited from western Sichuan and the allied region.

From the very beginning, the trainees were told that their goal was to protect China's maritime trade routes, and that the empire would never tolerate the eternal threat of the maritime lifelines of the Western powers, especially since the home country of these Westerners was thousands of miles away, which was undoubtedly a great shame for China. After Deng Ming's unremitting propaganda, the officers and men of the navy regarded this situation as their own shame, and Deng Ming also tried his best to use his influence to draw resources for the navy. The expedition was regarded by the new naval officers and men as a shameful battle—a decade of education that began with their youth convinced them that the Spanish and Dutch colonies near China were a deliberate humiliation of China, a barricading of their own doorsteps.

"Since Marquis Jing said so, it is naturally the best." Although he knew that this young officer was only a naval lieutenant, Feng Xifan did not dare to be rude, and respectfully addressed the other party with his title.

But the major didn't appreciate it, and his face was slightly red: "Guard Feng, I became the captain of the ship by virtue of my ability rather than my family's strict relationship." ”

"Of course, of course." Feng Xifan realized that something was wrong and hurriedly corrected: "Major Li is right. ”

Deng Ming's flagship captain was named Li Siming, the eldest son of Li Laiheng, the Duke of Linguo, and his name, like Li Siye, the son of the Jin dynasty, was given to him by the Emperor of Yongli fifteen years ago.

After the war in northern Sichuan, Chengdu's attractiveness to the alliance also increased significantly. Zhang Huangyan once intended to give up his independent status and go to western Sichuan to take over He Daoning's position as the first official - the latter also wanted to change his administrative work, but the Yuan Council made it clear that it refused, declaring that this would have an adverse impact on the Anti-Qing Alliance, so that the alliance would misunderstand that Western Sichuan was trying to annex the allies. In the end, Zhang Huangyan, who did not make the trip, sent his son to study in Sichuan, and now also entered the Imperial Ministry of Justice.

After repeated psychological struggles, Yuan Zongdi finally gave up the idea of maintaining his independence, and sold the land to Chengdu on the condition that the imperial government would pay him a large pension and appoint his son as the governor of Kuizhou. Now that the cousins of the Yuan family hold the positions of the two prefects, they can be said to be the best mixed family within the empire. And when Yuan Zongdi retired to Chengdu, he actually brought fifteen aunts and wives in one go, bought a large piece of land and began to enjoy happiness.

After the ransom of Wanxian County, the Yuan Council rejected the requests of Wang Guangxing, Ma Tengyun and others to buy the land, saying that it would not consider spending huge sums of money to acquire the land of these alliances in the short term -- at least until Chengdu took a few breaths and renovated Kuizhou. Because the acquisition of these lands not only costs money, but also spends a lot of money to enforce the laws and regulations of the empire, and more importantly, to avoid misunderstandings with the alliance.

Even Liu Tichun, who was originally more ambitious, is now busy organizing military tuns and producing goods needed in western Sichuan to make money. His eldest son doesn't have to worry, so Liu Guogong thinks about how to earn some furniture for his other sons and save some dowry for his daughter. Although there will definitely be a sum of money to sell Yiling in the future, the money is always not too much.

Hao Shaoqi and his neighbor Di Sanxi and his gang still attached great importance to military construction, and did not put all the money they got from scraping the land into their own pockets, but continued to buy arms. However, it is rumored that their wishful thinking is to go to Henan in the future to lay down a piece of land and sell it to Chengdu for some money.

Compared with these people, although Li Laiheng has the deepest friendship with Deng Ming, his relationship is relatively distant, and he still has not revealed any temptation to join the empire. However, Li Laiheng also sent his eldest son to western Sichuan for education. After discovering that Deng Ming had begun to build a navy, Li Laiheng also wrote to Deng Ming, asking for his eldest son to join the navy in order to become the patriarch of this new hill that was likely to rise. Li Siming, who died in the war against the Qing Dynasty with his father in his previous life, was able to stand out in this world and rise all the way to become the captain of Deng Ming's flagship, of course, not completely relying on his personal ability. However, this is also the status quo within the empire, and the feudal warlords still have a huge influence that the common people cannot match.

And the relationship between King Jin and Deng Ming in Yunnan is even more estranged. After Wu Sangui seized Guangxi, he handed over Guizhou at the expense of Hunan under the pretext that the secret agreement with the King of Jin was handed over, and since Hunan did not arrive, Wu Sangui would certainly not fulfill the contract. Originally, with the support of Deng Ming, the strength of Li Dingguo and Wu Sangui had begun to get closer, but after Wu Sangui took Guangxi lightly, the strength of the two sides was suddenly pulled apart. In the face of Wu Sangui, the old fox, and the treacherous terrain of Guizhou, even Li Dingguo was not sure to defeat the Guizhou army defending the danger with inferior forces; Besides, Wu Sangui's attitude also made Xiying have some illusions, thinking that it would be possible to persuade Wu Sangui to defect in the future, and there was no need to fight each other, so Wu Sangui and Li Dingguo's mutual containment situation continued. Now Li Dingguo, as the prince of the fake Huang Yue, is still on an equal footing with Prime Minister Deng Ming in etiquette, but he also sent his son to Chengdu. Deng Ming immediately changed the Xichuan Xingdu Division to Jianchang Mansion for him, and appointed Li Siye as the prefect of Jianchang, and he was also responsible for the transportation of materials between Chengdu and Kunming.

Although he knew that Feng Xifan and the others still had doubts, the Ming army had been moving on the sea surface when they were in communication with the envoys, looking for the best time to start the war. Deng Ming looked up at the sky, since yesterday, the clouds above his head have become thicker and thicker, and it seems that a large cloud is drifting towards here. It is the beginning of June, and even if there are no clouds, the moonlight will be relatively dim, which is the favorite combat period of the Emperor ** team.

……

The envoy ship of the Ming army has been sailing non-stop at sea for ten days. At first it sailed westward, but after several twists and turns, the messenger ship finally led the Spanish fleet in the direction of the strait. General Mario has always been patient, and he expected the other party to keep changing direction to get out of the track. In order to further paralyze the other side, the Spanish reconnaissance ships had already changed several times, and they were also very skillfully replaced, and many times they were based on operating on the charts to predict the enemy's possible turn, and then after the previous reconnaissance ship maintained its course and separated from the envoy ship, another "merchant ship" again happened to encounter the Ming army's envoy ship and maintained eye contact.

Although the Ming army's maritime power rose rapidly, and the maritime supremacy of the Kingdom of Spain declined after hundreds of years, Mario was still confident in his own seafaring skills. This accumulation of hundreds of years of navigation is by no means something that the Ming army will be able to catch up with in a short period of time. According to Manila's intelligence, the Duke had only established a naval school about five or six years ago to systematically train Chinese naval officers. Five or six years is too short, and this kind of naval tracking and counter-tracking skills of wits and fighting power is even more difficult to master than a naval battle.

And a few days of non-stop sailing is not a problem for the Spanish Navy, perhaps the declining Spanish Navy cannot maintain most of its combat strength after a month of non-stop sailing like Britain and the Netherlands, but this ten-day slow sailing of the coastal sea still does not weaken their combat effectiveness. If the Chinese thought that this would make the Spaniards tired and greatly reduce the level of combat between the two armies, then Mario could say contemptuously: "That devil has completely mistaken the idea." ”

The sky over the Babuyan Strait was cloudy, so before the sun went down, General Mario ordered the fleet to anchor. This is not an open sea, and navigating at night without moonlight is prone to danger. The general now had a feeling that he had approached the prey of the trip, and that within a few days, it might even be tomorrow that the Duke would be found. In the event of an encounter with the Duke at night, it is likely that the Duke will be aware of the danger and make an emergency landing. Although the threat of the Chinese landing here in Manila would be greatly reduced, it would also make the Spaniards' plans for a quick victory come to naught. And what if the duke's flagship is sunk in the night battle, and the devil dies? They were not fighting for war's sake, but for trade, and the Duke's death was likely to lead to a complete disruption of East Asian trade, and would have been condemned by Madrid as well.

By order of General Mario, thirty battleships dropped anchor in place. They would stop the boat for a night's rest. Even if the Chinese envoy continued to sail on a moonless night, the fleet would still be able to catch up with its tail tomorrow by taking advantage of its speed. The Spanish fleet formed a circular deployment, and General Mario once stood in the position of the Chinese and thought that arson tactics seemed to be the only feasible way if the other side did not use armed merchant ships to fight a regular battle with the battleship formation. Therefore, the Spanish fleet could not be lined up too closely, and even if the battleships on the periphery were paralyzed and accidentally hit by enemy ships, the other battleships would still have time to react.

Overcast clouds obscured the entire sky, and not a single trace of moonlight came through. Even if the Chinese suddenly encountered the Spaniards, they would not be able to attack in such weather. However, the vigilant Spanish soldiers still meticulously arranged the personnel on duty, and the rockets used for lighting were also placed in the right places. After arranging the officers on duty for the night, Captain Leonardo and the other officers had dinner with General Mario in the captain's quarters.

"Hopefully it won't rain tomorrow." While eating, Captain Leonardo chewed his food over and over again, and said with some concern. Now the Spaniards were most worried about not being able to find the duke's fleet, and the longer they left Manila, the more worried they became: "Could it be that the duke has not set off at all, just to scare us?" ”

"It would be great if that were the case. But we can't pin our hopes on the duke's bluff. Mario believed that he should continue to follow the Chinese envoy's ship for at least half a month until he was sure that he was going to return to China to report the news, so that the Spaniards would have enough warning time as long as they were on guard and sending ocean-going reconnaissance ships in the direction of Taiwan. However, judging from the repeated circles of the Chinese envoy ships these days, the Duke should be nearby, and the Chinese expeditionary force, which may number as high as tens of thousands, may launch an offensive at any time.

While the Spaniards were discussing the battle situation at the dinner table, Deng Ming, Li Siming, Feng Xifan and others stared at the looming fires on the sea with binoculars.

Through the contact between Guò and the emissary ship, the Ming army already knew the weather conditions around the Spanish fleet. As soon as the sun set, the long-awaited Ming fleet quietly sailed out from behind the sea level and headed in the direction of the enemy. The Ming commander was now able to use his telescope to catch the light coming through the windows of the captain's quarters of the Spanish warships. The dim lights were like some vague stars, looming in the telescope, and although they were indistinct, they could provide the Ming army with the general direction of the enemy fleet.

"We'll come into contact with the enemy at about midnight." Li Siming said with confidence.

"Let the officers and men go to sleep for two hours first." Deng Ming put down the binoculars. On the pitch-black sea, a night raiding fleet of one hundred and twenty ships lined up in two columns and quietly approached the Spaniards.

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