open sea

Chapter 345 Dagang
In mid-August, the first large-scale Chinese-style temple in Manila, Tianfei Temple, broke ground. It is located at the foot of the mountain on the southwestern coast of Manila.

Stonemasons in Manila took stones on the spot to carve the statue of the concubine who is four feet high in the mouth of the Nanyang Marshal.According to the design drawing, the Empress Dowager Tian has a kind face, and sixteen cannon temples are built on the back of the mountain. Because Chen Mu hasn't figured out how big the cannons will be here, the reserved cannon positions are very long and large.

The caliber of shore cannons is generally larger than that of ship cannons, but his ship cannons are now the largest caliber artillery in Ming Dynasty. The largest artillery shells that can be made in Nanyang weigh only 24 catties. Wish it was bigger.

The people on the island lived and worked in peace and contentment. With the recovery of Luzon Island by the Ming army, merchants from Fujian and Guangzhou brought a lot of job opportunities.Under Chen Mu's instruction, led by Li Yuxi, they set up sulfur mines and excavated nitrate holes and nitrate factories on the island. A large number of mines and forests sprung up in Luzon and Chenlai Islands like mushrooms after rain.

There are cheaper labor costs here. At the request of the Nanyang government, merchants hired a large number of local workers, leased land for planting, and opened factories, forming a preliminary industrial division of labor.

Luzon Island provides raw materials, which are transported back to Guangdong for production and processing. Some products are dumped all over the country, and some appliances that are not used in China or produced too much are sold back to Luzon.Across the sea, the two places are connected.

For a while, the best-selling products in Luzon were not silk and cotton cloth, but wheelbarrows, mining picks, and large saws.

Luzon is really a treasure land of geomantic omens. The mountains and tropics are full of nitric acid, the volcanic areas are very yellow, and it has its own inexhaustible wood, which can greatly enhance the war potential of Ming Dynasty.

At the end of August, Lin Daogan sent back the battle report from Sanyu. His men had successfully landed on the island. The Xiyi stationed on the island seemed to have no fighting spirit. Except for being blocked on the shore at the beginning of landing, there was almost no resistance In the eyes of Xiyi, the three islands that did not mean much changed hands completely.

However, during the resistance, Lin Daogan once again mentioned the high combat power of the team composed of Xiyi. Even in the face of pirates ten times their size, they could still retreat in an orderly manner, relying on the cover of the local natives to land in a dignified manner. The boat withdrew to Cebu Island.

In the battle report, Lin Daoqian speculated that the Spaniards were shrinking their troops.

The scouts who followed back to Manila confirmed Lin Daoqian's guess. These Luzon people had been trained by Balang for more than a month, and then went south to spy on the military. They followed the people who fled Luzon after the outbreak of war to the south of the archipelago. , Then a handful of people passed through the defense line and brought back the news of Cebu Island.

They said that the number of Xiyi soldiers on the island was increasing day by day, and they only defended a few landing sites, leaving a large unguarded coast.

"Marshal, Cebu Island can only attack Dagang by force."

Just when Chen Mu was preparing to lead the fleet to attack Cebu Island, which was heavily guarded by Regaspi from the undefended coast of Xiyi, Xu Wei and Pinto came hand in hand.Xu Wei was ordered to translate Xiyi letters in previous wars. Due to the slow progress, he borrowed Pinto from Chen Mu and completed the translation together.

However, even if the two work together, the progress of the translation is still very slow. There is no correct answer for the same word. Phrases and metaphors.

In this regard, the translation of naval warfare books is much easier than the translation of daily letters.

"In the past, there was a Portuguese, respected general, his name was Magellan, you may not know his name, but he was the first person to sail around the world, although he died halfway, but his fleet completed the voyage." Pinto lifted his fingers to hold his eyes on the bridge of his nose, and said to Chen Mu: "Unfortunately, he was employed by the Spaniards, and he died on Cebu Island."

How could Chen Mu not know about Magellan, but he did not know that the place where Magellan died was so close to him. He asked: "He died on Cebu Island, what does it have to do with the need to attack Cebu Dagang?"

The population of Cebu Island is not as large as that of Luzon, and the settlements are not as large as that of Luzon Island, but the port there is more developed and larger than that of Manila Port, and the accumulation of decades is stronger than all the new appearances in Manila.

Because of this, Chen Mucai was even more reluctant to storm Cebu Port. Facing the complete port defense, the bigger the ship, the faster it sank, and the small boat did not have enough firepower, especially the coastal defense guns designed by Westerners who play with geometry. Even if Chen Shuai has more ships and more soldiers, he still hopes to sneak up behind Regasby and kill him.

"For more than ten years, letters have recorded that the Spanish fleet has run aground on the shore of Cebu Island many times. If Regaspi did not set up defenses on the shore, then there must be a hidden reef area, where the general's ship will encounter and first land on the island. the same predicament as the Spaniards."

"This is useful news, Mr. Pinto."

Chen Mu nodded heavily, then got up from the seat a little irritably, and looked at the bay through the window of the castle.

It's hard to imagine—in the entire Luzon Island, the person with the most experience in attacking ports is actually the one who has only led an army to attack Manila!
Chen Lin has no such experience, and neither does Deng Zilong.

Lin Feng does have some experience in attacking ports and walled cities, but that is a port in Fujian, and the situation in Cebu Island is very different, let alone: ​​"The news brought back by the scouts, Legasby brought a team from India There are 300 mercenaries employed by Portugal, and they have landed on Cebu Island."

"The enemy has shrunk its forces. Although we have defeated, routed, and surrendered thousands of enemy troops, most of them are Luzon troops without guns. Now they will not fight us at sea. The Spaniards themselves have not hurt their vitality. , in Cebu, we may have to face nearly a thousand Westerners including mercenaries, but we can’t wait any longer.”

"Regasby will try his best to mobilize all the troops that can be mobilized to guard against our attack and delay the time until next year. If we wait until next year, the Spaniards will be supplemented with troops. By then we will face a whole army." Xiyi army."

To be honest, Chen Mu didn't want to meet the established Spanish Legion too early, the one with 3000 troops, "Just a few years ago, I wanted to take Mindoro and Cebu and drive the Spaniards to Sulu Kingdom, when our large fleet arrives next year, the war will return to sea."

This is actually Chen Mu's only advantage over the Spaniards. He knows his strength and potential, and how long it takes for his potential to turn into strength, but the Spaniards don't know.

"Deng Zilong was ordered to lead five fleets of [-] flag troops to capture Mindoro Island, and ordered Lin Feng to continue to advance southward, take the entire territory of Luzon Island, and attack the islands in the south. Mr. Xu, wait for Luzon to make up Huqi After the Republic of China, according to Dingkou, it is appropriate to set up several commanders on the staff island, at least five or six commanders, right?"

　Push a book "The Empress of Ming Dynasty", the author has a super beautiful chow lion.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)