On the fourth day of June, the grand and grand expedition ceremony of the Ming Dynasty's Invincible Fleet was held at the West District Military Port Pier.
Colorful flags were fluttering and amidst the roar of gongs and drums, the local indigenous people played silk and bamboo and danced, making it extremely lively.
King Suduan Mamo of Manlajia and his princes and ministers attended the event in their best attires and bid farewell.
Seven armored warships and three supply ships slowly sailed out of the military port. The tall hulls were like mountains and the slender hulls were like dragons. The dark armored hulls glowed coldly in the sun, making them extremely majestic.
The fleet turned towards the East District Pier, which triggered a crazy commotion among the people watching in the East District. Many people saw the Ming Dynasty's mighty iron-clad treasure ship for the first time. When they saw this behemoth warship, they thought it was a miracle. This way
In their eyes, the big ship was like a ship descending from heaven, and they were so excited that it was hard to express in words.
Some people knelt on the dock and kowtowed as if they were pounding garlic, which triggered a wave of kowtows. As a result, all the people knelt on the flat ground, on the hillside, and on the stone steps above and below the dock, kowtowing. They prayed and worshiped the fleet as a miracle.
.
Indeed, they have also seen the warships of the Folangji people. And there are a lot of them. However, compared with the armored treasure ships of the Ming Dynasty, the shape and posture of the warships of the Folangji people are far different. The Ming Dynasty treasure ships only have a layer of blackness on the outside.
The cold light flashing on their armor was enough to make them feel the majesty of heaven and the soul-stirring power of the artifact.
After the fleet made a turn, it turned around and headed west toward the vast sea. Liaoyuan and Datong were the leaders, with the flagship Xingchen in the middle, followed by two armored escort ships. This was the first echelon, and also
A fleet ready to fight at any time.
Later, two armored warships were used as escorts, and three Kunpeng supply transport ships were guarded in front and behind the sides to form the second echelon.
This time, due to the vastness of the ocean and the complicated enemy situation, the three transport ships cannot be allowed to sail behind. Although the three Kunpeng ships also have artillery, they are only for self-defense in emergencies. In a real battle, the three Kunpeng ships are afraid
It's a living target.
Transport ships loaded with supplies, carriages, horses and artillery were very slow to sail, not to mention fighting. They were very cumbersome to turn around and had to be escorted by armored warships. The Yansui and Ningxia were responsible for this task.
The task of delaying the escort.
The location of the Manchuria Seaport is actually on the west side of the Manchuria Harbor, which can almost be said to be the western exit of the strait. Because the Manchuria Strait is narrow in the east and wide in the west, at the location of the Manchuria Seaport, the width of the strait is actually
It has reached fifty or sixty miles, which is basically open sea.
But in fact, in terms of the entire strait, it is still more than two hundred miles away from the Strait of Malacca before it officially enters the ocean. Although the Malay Peninsula on the north side of the strait cuts all the way north after leaving the Strait of Malacca,
The land is also getting further and further away. However, Sumatra Island on the south side continues to extend westward until it disappears two hundred miles away. At this moment, the Strait of Malaka has also reached its true end.
After two days of sailing, the fleet came out of the Malacca Strait and was surrounded by the vast ocean, full of sea water. The east wind was strong, and it was the best time to set sail and sail westward quickly, but all the ships suddenly received a call.
Zhang Yanling issued an order to stop heading west and turn to the southeast.
The generals on other armored warships a few miles away thought they had misread the signal. It was not until the changing signal flags on the flagship conveyed the same signal three times that they confirmed that the order was correct.
The southwest direction is not the direction to Ceylon Island and the Indian mainland, but to the sea area west of Sumatra Island. We have just left the range of Sumatra Island and are heading to the sea area west of it. What on earth are we going to do? Everyone is really worried.
Fog.
But the flagship Xingzhen turned around, and all the generals had no choice but to follow suit. The military orders were overwhelming, and even if they had doubts in their hearts, they could only follow them.
After sailing for an hour, the fleet arrived in the waters to the west of Sumatra Island. Sumatra Island, which had been invisible, now appeared in the east sea. It means that the fleet turned a right angle after coming out of the strait and circled to the side of Sumatra Island.
.
The sun was setting in the west, and the sea was golden. The sun had already set on the sea level, and twilight soon began. The Star went straight forward and entered a narrow sea area between a few uninhabited islands in front of it, and finally anchored.
All the ships were ordered to move into the sea area between the islands and berth. Soon the order was conveyed, requiring all ships to control the lights. The captains of each ship came to the Star. The Duke of Guo will host a banquet for you tonight.
Everyone obeyed the order. In the dark twilight, the generals rowed boats to the Star and climbed onto the deck from the gangway.
On the deck, a table of drinks, dried fruit and meat shop and other items have been set up, and chairs, wine glasses and dishes have also been set up.
Wang Hong was confused and asked the others. No one else knew what kind of medicine the Duke of Guo sold in his gourd. When he saw Tan Changshun coming over with a jar of wine, Wang Hong pulled him and asked quietly.
"Brother Changshun, what is the Duke doing? A fleet of ships has arrived here, and what banquet is it mysteriously inviting us to have?"
Tan Changshun cupped his hands and said with a smile: "Master Wang, I don't know about this. I just serve the Duke. Even if the Duke told me these things, I don't understand."
Wang Hong rolled his eyes and thought to himself. Changshun is still a young boy, so I asked him what he was doing. Even if he knew, he wouldn't dare to talk nonsense. Besides, this boy has a very strict mouth.
Wang Hong turned to look at the others and saw Zhang Yin sitting on the chair with his usual expression, legs crossed and shaking, looking confident. He whispered: "Brother Zhang, you must know what is going on?
"
Zhang Yin smiled and said: "Master Wang, I don't know what's going on. What do you want to do? Lord Guo invites you to drink, and we can just come and drink. What Duke Guo wants to do, he will naturally tell us, and he can also hide it from us.
Can’t we make it?”
Wang Hong thought for a while and said with a smile: "That's right, I'm in a hurry. It's rare to have wine, and the Duke of the country is treating me. What should I think about? I'll know."
While talking, Zhang Yanling walked slowly down the side of the ship in a robe, followed by Catherine in a long skirt. Catherine was holding a bamboo basket in her hand, which was full of things.
In fact, everyone was not surprised when they saw Catherine. They had already known that the Duke of Guo had taken in this Flemish girl. Although they felt that there was something wrong, after all, the girl was a Flemish girl. But the Duke of Guo was a
It is not a secret that the passionate seed is quite sympathetic to the girl. Moreover, it is not a bad idea for the prince to want to have a taste of the blonde girl. Everyone also knows what happened to Catherine, and they are not worried that this woman will be harmful to Zhang Yanling.
"Brothers, I've been waiting for a long time. The weather was hot and dry, so I took a shower and changed into light clothes. Hahaha, this is much more comfortable. The night breeze is cool, and it's so comfortable to cool off and drink on the deck." Zhang Yanling said with a smile.
Everyone had already stood up to salute and nodded in agreement. Catherine followed Zhang Yanling to the table, put down her basket and bowed to everyone.
"Catherine has met the generals."
"Hello, girl, you are polite." Everyone hurriedly returned the courtesy.
Everyone looked at Catherine's appearance and thought in their hearts: "She is indeed very beautiful, and her skin is really white. No wonder the Duke likes her."
"Sit down, sit down, why are you standing? Catherine, bring the food." Zhang Yanling said with a smile.
Catherine smiled and agreed, taking out seven or eight oil paper packets from the basket, opening them one by one and placing them on the plate.
"Brothers, these are some pastries and snacks that I brought from my house. I forgot to give them to you to try. They are all pastries and snacks from the capital. They are not good at all, but they should taste better than our dry food butcher shop. It's just right. Bring it to go with the wine. By the way, this is a bun baked by Catherine herself. Not to mention, the buns from France are more delicious than our steamed buns. This is wine. I know you are not used to it, but this It doesn’t matter whether you are drunk or not. Let’s drink some white wine and then some wine, and the idea will be settled. It’s not good to be drunk. The soldiers saw it and said it didn’t make sense.” Zhang Yanling said with a smile.
Everyone was overjoyed. After the voyage, the food plummeted. After staying in the port for a few months, I had a lot of food in my mouth and couldn't adapt to it for a while. The pastries brought by the Duke's family from the capital are absolutely unmissable. They must be five The time-honored and expensive dim sums of Fangzhai and Liuweiju are expensive and the taste is first-class. It is rare to try them even in the capital, let alone thousands of miles away on the sea.
Everyone reached out in unison, and the plates of pastries were cleared instantly. Catherine was stunned for a moment, and then she laughed. She thought to herself: These generals are not polite, they just wiped them all away.
"Master, what's going on? Bring the boat here and park it. Won't this waste time? There are still two thousand miles to go." Wang Hong was impatient and couldn't help but ask.
Feng Mazi, Liu Tan and others also nodded while chewing snacks.
Zhang Yanling took a sip from the glass of wine that Catherine poured for him, and said with a smile: "I know that all of you are anxious and unwilling to use your brains. You don't want to think about why I want to do this."
Feng Mazi stretched out his hand to grab a piece of sweet-scented osmanthus cake, and said in his mouth: "It's just a matter of the Duke telling us directly. Why do you want us to be so pretentious?"
Zhang Yanling was speechless and said with a smile: "General Feng, if you don't use your brain for anything, you will end up being a partial general in the Beijing camp and you will never be able to act alone. How can you do it if you don't use your brain?"
Feng Mazi said with a sneer: "I, Feng Mazi, don't have any great ambitions, so I can just follow the Duke and be a soldier leading the horse."
As he spoke, he threw the sweet-scented osmanthus cake into his mouth.
After Wang Hong heard Zhang Yanling's words, he started to think seriously.
"My lord, you don't want us to hide from someone here, right? We ran to this deserted island to hide, it seems we are trying to hide from someone," Wang Hong said.
Zhang Yanling nodded and said: "Mr. Wang is amazing, he guessed the clues. Guess again, who am I hiding from? Why should I hide?"
The generals were lost in thought. They drank one glass after another and kept their mouths busy, but no one dared to guess. It would be good if they guessed right, but it would be a loss of face if they guessed wrong.
Zhang Yanling chuckled and said: "That's all, I'm telling you. We are here to hide our traces in order to kill someone who has turned around."
"A turnaround?" Everyone asked in surprise.
"Oh, I seem to understand. Could it be that the Duke is trying to trick them because of those pirates?" Wang Hong slapped his thigh fiercely, stood up and shouted.
Zhang Yanling laughed, raised his finger and praised: "Master Wang, you are indeed a general. You guessed it right."
Feng Mazi and others didn't understand. They stared at Wang Hong blankly and said, "What do you mean? What does this have to do with those pirates?"
Zhang Yin said in a deep voice: "Lure the enemy from the airport to show up and attack, then turn back and block them in the strait, annihilate them in one fell swoop, and eliminate future troubles forever."
Zhang Yanling laughed and raised his glass, saying to Zhang Yin: "Here's a toast, that's exactly what it is."