Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 318: Naval Forces (Part 2)
Yan Siqi, the general of Zhaoqing Town in the Ming Dynasty, led his sixty Jinling-class warships (twenty of which were assigned to Li Guozhu) and had been wandering in the South China Sea for nearly a month.
At first, he led his fleet directly south to the Mekong Delta, first plowed the Saigon Port that the Siamese were building, and then turned north, robbing a Siamese transport team that was transporting food to Hainan Island.
Next, the extremely bold Yan Siqi disguised himself as a Siamese transport team and headed towards Hainan Island in a swagger.
His original intention was to get closer and observe how many enemy ships were gathered on Hainan Island. However, when he arrived at , he found that there was not a single warship in the waters near Hainan Island except for the Siamese transport ships!
Yan Siqi immediately realized that there was a huge problem with his initial strategy - the ambition of the Siamese was far beyond his imagination: they had no intention of relying on Hainan Island to further invade Guangdong Province, but wanted to directly seize the foundation of the Ming Navy, the Changsha Shipyard!
Although he also knew that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had ordered the strengthening of the Changsha Shipyard's defense force and the construction of large-scale artillery last year, but as a hero who made a living on the sea in his early years, Yan Siqi knew that if there was no fleet to assist in the port defense war, it would still be very difficult for the port itself to cope with it.
So after sinking all the Siamese transport ships near Hainan Island, Yan Siqi hurriedly led his fleet northward.
When passing through the Fujian waters, he reconnected with Sun Chengzong, who told him that the spies he had sent to Taiwan in early April had been withdrawn to Xiamen. The reason, of course, was that the Three Kingdoms' combined fleet also used Taiwan Island as a transit base.
At the same time, since Yuegang in Fujian had been attacked by an enemy fleet before , Sun Chengzong also clearly told him the size of the enemy fleet. The spies returning from Taiwan clearly told him that this time, the enemy fleet was so large because the three countries formed a joint fleet, and the ultimate goal of this fleet was the Changsha Shipyard...
After receiving the above intelligence, Yan Siqi decisively divided the sixty warships in his hands into three teams. One team turned back to the south to harass and blockade the Gulf of Siam. One team cruised near Hainan Island. He personally led a team and headed straight to the north of Taiwan Island.
Then he naturally captured the Siamese transport supply fleet.
However, this time, Yan Siqi, who was eager to rescue the Changsha Shipyard, showed a rare kindness: after he moved all the supplies on the opponent's transport ship, he did not kill any sailors on the opponent's ship, but stuffed them all onto a ship, and then took them to the Chongmingsha Sea area and asked them to deliver a letter to him.
When a Siamese warship responsible for outer perimeter surveillance appeared ten kilometers away from Nansha Island, Yan Siqi led his men to fire two demonstrative shots and then withdrew.
He just patted his butt and left in a very cool manner, but after listening to was really furious.
In this letter, Yan Siqi first expressed his "admiration" in a mocking tone for the fact that such a small country like Siam dared to take the initiative to invade the Ming Dynasty. Then he listed how many Siamese grain ships he had robbed, and expressed his sincere gratitude for the abundance of grain, vegetables, and fruits carried in the grain ships. Finally, he said arrogantly: Yes, you have many large ships, and it is not easy for me to fight a decisive battle with you at sea for the time being, so I will destroy your transportation lines on the periphery. Come and catch me! Come and catch me!
Oh, by the way, I heard that there are Spaniards in your fleet. Please tell them that my colleague Li Guozhu has led our main fleet to capture your treasure fleet. In addition, please also tell the Japanese in your fleet that our Ming Dynasty is now mobilizing the main force of the army to gather in Liaodong. At this time, why is the Japanese navy still hanging around here if it doesn't go back to help your army withdraw...
In the small tent, first Chinese was translated into Thai, then Thai into Japanese, and then Thai into Spanish. The different rhythms of the three countries' translations filled the small, enclosed space with a noisy and irritating buzz.
"Oh my God!" Alfonso was the first to jump up after hearing the translator's retelling. "The Ming people are so crazy that they want to go directly into the Pacific Ocean to intercept our treasure fleet? This is a big deal. Your Majesty, General Yagyu, I need to lead my fleet back immediately!"
"Mr. Alfonso, please calm down. This may be a trick by the Ming people. It is very likely that they did not send a fleet to search for your treasure fleet."
"No, no, no, no, your majesty, you don't understand!" At this time, Alfonso changed his noble reserve a few days ago and became very panicked and flustered: "Your majesty, because we knew in advance that your country and Japan would jointly launch a war against the Ming Dynasty, we began to vigorously purchase drugs such as penicillin, streptomycin and sulfonamide last year. This batch of materials will be the only drug inventory for our country and the entire Western European Justice League in the next one to two years. According to rough statistics, this batch of drugs alone is worth 8 million double pillars! If shipped back to Europe, their value will soar to 80 million double pillars! Your majesty, I am just a viscount. I don’t know how much our country’s treasury can earn every year, but no matter how it is overestimated, it will not exceed 30 million double pillars. From this, you can imagine that if there is a problem with this batch of fleets, it will be light for me to be hanged! My entire family will suffer great harm!
...So, Your Majesty, General Yagyu, I am very sorry, I must lead my fleet away as soon as possible, no! Immediately!"
"Sir, will you listen to me?"
"General Yagyu, what do you want to say?"
"According to our intelligence, the Ming Kingdom has at least 20 first-class warships and more than 60 (actually 80) second-class warships on the sea. Now, after many battles, our three-country joint fleet has only 45 first-class warships and 119 second-class warships left. If you withdraw first now, our strength will be severely weakened. Your fleet will only have 18 first-class warships and 45 second-class warships. If you are unlucky, on the way back to Manila, when your soldiers are exhausted after traveling thousands of miles, they will encounter the Ming Kingdom fleet that is waiting for them..."
"Oh, General Yagyu, you don't understand! As a noble, as a navy, I have never been afraid of dying heroically in battle. What I fear is bringing shame to my family and losing the inheritance of this title of our family."
After saying this, Alfonso didn't say anything more. He gently grasped the brim of his hat, saluted, and then walked away on his own.
Seeing Alfonso leaving without caring about the overall situation, Luojifutu's chest rose and fell violently for a while, and then he said to Yagyu Kanbei: "General Yagyu, you are not going to lead the team to leave too?"
"Your Majesty, Spain is far away from the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty does not pose a threat to their survival. Therefore, for them, they can help us when it does not affect their fundamental interests. But now, we really can't force others, so please calm down."
After comforting Luo Jifu Tu, Yagyu Kanbei sighed softly: "Japan and Siam are both small countries. Since we have embarked on the path of jointly challenging the Ming Dynasty, I will definitely faithfully carry out the orders of His Highness the Duke of our country and lead our fleet to work closely with you!"
"Huh~" Hearing Yagyu Kanbei's reasonable and well-organized words, Luo Jifutu breathed a sigh of relief, and his depressed mood improved a little.
However, Liu Sheng's next words made his mood plummet again: "Your Majesty, our food supply is now cut off, what should we do? You must know that our army in Korea still needs your country's food support!"
