open sea

Chapter 321 Chen Lai
Chen Mu intends to transport this unbroken prow elephant back to Nanyang, which is a good trophy.

In fact, his booty is much richer than imagined.

The archipelago is scattered from Taiwan to Luzon. Today, this sea area and waterway are named Chen Lai Gorge because of the naval battles that took place here and the significance to Chen Mu.Among the islands in Chenlaixia, the largest island is called Chenlai Island, which is only [-] miles away from the northernmost tip of Luzon. If you leave in the evening, you can land in Luzon the next morning.

Therefore, the Southern Expedition Fleet decided to take a break here to repair the warships damaged in the naval battle, and the Banner Army and Lin Feng's subordinates will take the fleet to continue southward, land in northern Luzon, and find a suitable place for landing to establish a frontier Check out the surrounding situation.

Chen Lin dispatched three fleets to set sail northward, and most of the food and blessing ships returned to five or six islands between Taiwan and Chenlai Island after unloading their luggage. The second batch of luggage.

The remaining grain ships will set off northward after arriving at Hawksbill Harbor or Manila, so that the transport of luggage can be reduced to once every half a month or even less.

Of course, this must be under the condition that the Ming army controls Chen Laixia.

Controlling Chenlai Gorge means that no one from the north of Luzon Island can pass through here. This year's passive trade in Kyushu, Japan should be greatly affected.

The Chen Lai Archipelago is composed of various volcanic islands. The largest volcanic island is also called Chen Lai from now on. The huge volcanoes allow them to be seen in the vast sea. Except for volcanoes, forests and beaches, almost Nothing, and of course the people living here.

Hundreds of people live scattered on the beach at the foot of the volcano on the north side of the island, and they are all descendants of mixed blood between local residents and Chinese people.Some people's ancestors were merchants who traded in Luzon Island during the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and some people were unwilling to mention the identity of their ancestors to the Ming army.

The coming of Ming people to the north is nothing new to the residents of the island. Since Emperor Longqing opened the sea, the number of merchant ships from Yuegang to Luzon has increased by dozens every year. Before the opening of the sea, there were hundreds of ships.

A huge amount of goods arrived here from the Ming Dynasty, and then arrived in Luzon from here. Sometimes merchant ships would dock on the shore, ask residents for help and buy and sell some goods, and more often merchant ships would not dock at Chenlai Island. Mr. Chen said, when they came here, they were all downwind, and they could drive directly from here to Tortoiseshell Harbor or even Manila in one day and night.

No need to stop here.

However, the Ming army landed on the island, and thousands of Ming troops landed on the island with large ships, which caused panic among the local people.

The men from the neighboring villages retreated to the mountains with their families, bows, arrows and spears. After seeing that they were from the Ming Dynasty, they picked out a few bold old men who had buried their feet in the ground to inquire about their intentions. .

The military adviser is too arrogant, the soldiers are too murderous, and the person in charge of receiving the local elders is Zhao Shizhen, a famous calligrapher who mistakenly got on a pirate ship with a crooked skill tree, so the problem arises.

Mr. Chen Laidao was originally from Fujian in the Song Dynasty. He spoke a different Hokkien dialect from the current Hokkien, but Zhao Shizhen, a Wenzhou native, could understand it; but whether he spoke Zhejiang or Beijing Mandarin, the old man could not understand it at all.

Later, Long Junxiong, a Fujianese, was sent there, and the two sides were barely able to communicate normally.

Although it is located in a remote area, the living customs are almost the same as those in Fujian, only a little behind.This is due to the fact that Zheng He appointed Xu Chailao, a native of Jinjiang, Fujian, as the governor of Lusong when he went to the West more than 100 years ago. He took charge of the politics, economy, military and culture of Lusong for 20 years. Business technology brought to Luzon.

"Minggong, they said that the south is at war, and it hasn't stopped all these years. The king purchased warships and weapons through Fujian merchants, and it was through Minggong's joint prosperity that he relied on these to fight against Xiyi, but under the artillery of Xiyi's big ships, they kept fighting. This year, someone in Manila betrayed the king and opened the city gate to welcome the Xiyi into the city, and the king is now fighting a bloody battle with the Xiyi in the northern part of Luzon Island."

Zhao Shizhen said so, sighed and said: "The king of Luzon summoned all the young and strong people on the island who could hold spears and bows to the north of Luzon Island to resist the western barbarians. There are not many people who can use weapons along the coast. They all wear small knives, because they are afraid that Xiyi will come by boat to plunder them."

The king...has started to fight guerrillas?
"They said that the Cebu Island south of Luzon Island was the camp of the Xiyi. The leaders of Cebu Island formed an alliance with the Xiyi to attack the north. There were Japanese and Malay soldiers as accomplices. The Ming maritime merchants sold silk and utensils to them; King Song relied on sea merchants to sell warships, weapons, and food, and there were also pirates fighting south under the command of King Luzon, but they still couldn't stop the defeat."

Chen Mu sat upright on the Chihai, watching the sergeants on the shore not far away unloading the luggage, and rubbed his face.

To be honest, he didn't even know that He Xingsheng was so promising. He not only sold silk utensils with the Spaniards, but also went to Luzon to sell boats and knives, became an arms dealer, and even had pirates fighting under the command of the King of Luzon.

"Sell it, now those silks and satins are back in our hands."

As for those who sell boats and knives, Chen Mu does not intend to stop them. Before departure, the merchants in Hexingsheng had already received the news that there was a war in Luzon and they could not do business. Not to mention that Chen Mu's original words had a certain influence on them. , Now that the Ming Dynasty is going south, these maritime merchants who are good at drilling are more aware of the benefits of the south than the court officials, and they are vying for the opportunity to make an appointment to attract business after they win.

With the help of Dongfeng, Chen Mu's words are better than the imperial decree for them.

But it is right for them to continue to sell lucky boats, knives and bows. The suzerain country should now stand with the tributary country, although Luzon's tribute to Ming was cut off for a while.

But isn't Master Chen here because of this?
At least on the official side of the court, the purpose of Nanyang Minister Chen Mu's overseas tour with his army is to reorganize the tributary state and re-establish the authority of the emperor outside the emperor's country.

"Let's prepare well. When the advance fleet finds out the news, our ship should have been repaired. After fighting this battle, we will send it to the imperial court. There will be military expenses for the next few years!"

Chen Mu’s words are really not a joke. Spain only travels once a year on the route from Manila to Mexico. On one trip, all the special products of the Ming Dynasty purchased this year and the gold and silver purchased by Japan in the east are loaded on board. These East Asian goods are sold in the Americas. It can be sold at a good price, which is what the prisoners on the ship said.

And Chen Mu traveled southeast all the way from Nanyang, and captured more than ten large Clark ships. The things in those ordinary merchant ships were not too precious, mostly raw silk and other things, and the ships were not all fully loaded; but the St. Pablo's The fleets were different, the captured four large ships were all fully loaded, and the Pablo alone counted more than [-] shi of cargo.

This is the reason why the Pablo's guns are not full, and they are all used for loading.

The sum of many seizures is being counted. Raw silk is no less than 15 catties, nearly 190 pieces of various silks and satins, and nearly [-] pieces of cotton cloth; [-] boxes of porcelain have been counted, and pearls and gemstones are also weighed by the kilo.

It's a pity that this is not a silver ship from America, otherwise the harvest will be even greater.

Chen Mu rubbed his chin, leaning against the side of the boat, thinking greedily.

(End of this chapter)