"The Imperial Navy has made sufficient preparations for this." A young officer next to Deng Ming replied on behalf of Prime Minister Huang Ming.

Five years ago, Deng Ming opened the Imperial Naval Officer Academy in Zhoushan, and officially renamed the Navy and Inland Fleet, and the cadets were recruited from western Sichuan and alliance areas.

From the beginning, the students were told that their goal was to protect China's maritime trade line. The empire would never tolerate that the ocean lifeline was always under the threat of Western powers, especially the motherland of these Westerners was thousands of miles away. This was undoubtedly a huge shame for China. After Deng Ming's unremitting publicity, the naval officers and soldiers regarded this situation as their own shame, and Deng Ming also tried his best to use his influence to draw resources for the navy. This expedition was regarded by the new naval officers and soldiers as a war of shame. The ten years of education starting from young people made them believe that the Spanish and Dutch opened colonies near China was a deliberate humiliation of China, and they blocked their doorsteps to curse the streets.

"Since Mr. Jing said that, it is of course the best." Although he knew that this young officer was just a naval major, Feng Xifan did not dare to be rude and respectfully called the other party's title.

But the major didn't appreciate it, and his face turned slightly red: "Guard Feng, I became the captain by relying on his abilities rather than family sternness."

"Of course, of course." Feng Xifan realized that it was inappropriate and hurriedly corrected: "Major Li is right."

Deng Ming's flagship captain was named Li Siming, who was the eldest son of Duke Lin Guo Li Laiheng. His name was given to Emperor Yongli fifteen years ago, just like the prince of Jin Li Siye.

After the war in northern Sichuan, Chengdu's attractiveness to the alliance also increased significantly. Zhang Huangyan once intentionally gave up his independence and went to western Sichuan to take over He Daoning's position as the Supreme Court - the latter also wanted to change his administrative work, but the Council clearly stated his refusal, claiming that this would have an adverse impact on the Anti-Qing alliance, causing the alliance to misunderstand that western Sichuan was trying to annex the allies. In the end, Zhang Huangyan, who had not succeeded, sent his son to Sichuan to go to school and now he has entered the Imperial Ministry of Justice.

After repeated psychological struggles, Yuan Zongdi finally gave up the idea of ​​maintaining independence. He sold his territory to Chengdu on the condition that the imperial government paid him a large amount of pension and the appointment of his son as the prefect of Kuizhou Prefecture. Now the Yuan family's cousins ​​have mastered the positions of two prefects, which can be said to be the best family in the empire. When Yuan Zongdi retired to Chengdu, he actually brought fifteen concubines with him in one breath, bought a large piece of land and began to enjoy his happiness.

After redeeming Wanxian, the Council refused Wang Guangxing, Ma Tengyun and others' requests for redemption of territory, saying that they would no longer consider spending huge sums of money to acquire the land of these alliances in the short term - at least wait for Chengdu to take a few breaths and transform Kuizhou before considering this matter. Because purchasing these land not only requires money, but also requires huge sums of money to implement the laws and rules of the empire, and avoid misunderstandings of the alliance.

Even Liu Tichun, who was originally more ambitious, is now busy organizing military camps and producing goods needed in western Sichuan to make money. His eldest son doesn't have to worry about it, so Duke Liu was thinking all day long how to earn some furniture for his other sons and save some dowry for his daughter. Although he would definitely get a sum of money when he sold Yiling in the future, he would never be too much money.

Hao Yaoqi and his neighbor Di Sanxi and his gang still attached great importance to military construction. They did not stuff all the money they got from scraping the ground into their own pockets, but continued to buy arms. However, there are rumors that their wishful thinking is to go to Henan to build a territory in the future and sell a lot of money to Chengdu.

Compared with these people, although Li Laiheng had the deepest friendship with Deng Ming, his relationship seemed relatively distant, and he still did not show 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 the navy, Li Laiheng also wrote to Deng Ming, asking his eldest son to join the navy in order to become the veteran of this new mountaintop that is likely to rise. Li Siming, who died in the battle against the Qing Dynasty with his father in his previous life, was able to stand out in this world, rise up all the way and become the captain of Deng Ming's flagship, of course, not entirely relying on his personal ability. However, this is also the current situation within the empire, and feudal warlords still have huge influence that cannot be matched by civilians.

The relationship between King Jin and Deng Ming in Yunnan seemed even more distant. After Wu Sangui seized Guangxi, he handed over Guizhou with the secret agreement with King Jin at the cost of Hunan. Since Hunan has not obtained it, Wu Sangui certainly would not fulfill the contract. With Deng Ming's support, Li Dingguo and Wu Sangui had already begun to get closer, but Wu Sangui easily defeated Guangxi and suddenly pulled the strength of both sides. Faced with the dangerous terrain of Wu Sangui, the old fox and Guizhou, even Li Dingguo was not sure to defeat the dangerous force with his disadvantaged forces.

The guards of the Guizhou Army; Besides, Wu Sangui's attitude also made Xiying have some fantasies, thinking that in the future, Wu Sangui could completely convince Wu Sangui to turn against each other, and there was no need to fight each other. Therefore, the mutual restraint between Wu Sangui and Li Dingguo is still continuing. Now, Li Dingguo is still on par with Prime Minister Deng Ming in etiquette, but he also sent his son to Chengdu. Deng Ming immediately changed the Xichuan Xingdusi to Jianchang Prefecture for him, and appointed Li Siye as the prefect of Jianchang, and he was also responsible for the material transportation between Chengdu and Kunming.

Although he knew that Feng Xifan and others still had doubts, the Ming army was also moving on the sea while maintaining communication with the envoy, looking for the best opportunity to start the war. Deng Ming looked up at the sky. Since yesterday, the clouds above his head have become thicker and thicker. It seems that a large cloud is floating towards here. It is early June. Even if there are no clouds, the moonlight will be dimming. It is the most popular battle period for the imperial army.

...

Following the Ming army's envoy ship for ten days, he sailed to the west at first, but after making several curves, the envoy ship finally led the Spanish fleet to the direction of the strait. General Mario has always been very patient, and the other party constantly changes directions to get rid of tracking was also expected. In order to further paralyze the other party, the Spanish reconnaissance ship had changed several of them and was replaced very cleverly. Many times, they used to predict the enemy's possible turn based on operating on the charts. Then, after the previous reconnaissance ship kept its course and left the messenger ship, another "merchant ship" met the Ming army's envoy ship again and kept its sight contact.

Although the Ming army's maritime power rose rapidly and the maritime hegemony of the Spanish Kingdom also went downhill after hundreds of years, Mario was still very confident in his own maritime technology. This kind of hundreds of years of maritime accumulation was by no means the Ming army could catch up in the short term. According to Manila's intelligence, the Duke only established a naval school about five or six years ago to conduct systematic training for Chinese naval officers. However, five or six years is too short. This kind of maritime tracking and counter-tracking skills of fighting wits and force is even more difficult to master than a marching naval battle.

And the unstoppable sailing for several days is not a problem for the Spanish Navy. Perhaps the declining Spanish Navy cannot maintain most of its combat effectiveness after a month of unstoppable sailing like Britain and the Netherlands, but this ten-day slow sailing in the coast will not weaken their combat effectiveness. If the Chinese think this will make the Spaniards feel tired and greatly narrow the combat level of the two armies, Mario can say contemptuously: "That devil has made a completely wrong idea."

The sky above the Babyan Strait was covered with clouds, so before the sun set, General Mario ordered the fleet to be anchored. This is not an offshore sea, and it is easy to be dangerous to sail on a moonless night. The general now has a feeling that he has approached the prey on this trip, and within a few days, it may even be possible to find the duke tomorrow. If he encounters the duke at night, it is likely to make the duke realize the danger and land in urgent need. Although the threat of Chinese landing here will greatly reduce the threat to Manila, the Spanish plan to quickly decide the Spanish. And what if he sank the duke's flagship in the night battle and causes the devil to die? They are not fighting for war, but for trade. The duke's death is likely to lead to a complete interruption of East Asian trade, and they will also be criticized by Madrid at that time.

According to General Mario's order, thirty warships fell anchored in place. They would stop the ship and rest for a night. Even if the Chinese messengers continued to sail on a moonless night, tomorrow they would still be able to catch up with its tail easily. The Spanish fleet formed a circular deployment, and General Mario once stood in the position of the Chinese to think that if the other party did not use armed merchant ships to fight regular warship formations, the arson tactic seemed to be the only feasible method. Therefore, the Spanish fleet could not be arranged too closely. Even if the warships on the periphery were so careless that they were hit by the enemy ship, the other warships still had time to react.

The clouds covered the entire sky without a trace of moonlight. Even if the Chinese suddenly encountered the Spanish, they could not launch an attack in such weather. However, the vigilant Spanish soldiers still arranged the on-duty personnel meticulously, and the rockets used for lighting were placed in the appropriate position. After arranging the officers on duty, Captain Leonardo and other officers had dinner with General Mario in the captain's room.

"I hope it won't rain tomorrow." Captain Leonardo chewed the food while eating, while saying with some concern. Now the Spanish are most worried about it. The Duke's fleet is not able to find it, and the longer they have left Manila, the more they are worried about it: "Will the Duke have not set out yet, just scare us?"

"It would be great if this is the case. But we cannot pin our hopes on the duke's bluff." Mario believes that at least he should continue to follow the Chinese envoy's ship for half a month until he is convinced that he is going to return to China to report the news. In that way, the Spaniards can have enough warning time as long as they do a good job of alerting and sending ocean-going reconnaissance ships to Taiwan. However, judging by the repeated circles of the Chinese envoy ships these days, the duke should be nearby, and the number of Chinese expeditionary forces may be as high as tens of thousands may launch an offensive at any time.

While the Spanish were discussing the battle at the dinner table, Deng Ming, Li Siming, Feng Xifan and others stared at the looming firelights on the sea with a telescope.

Through contact with the messenger ship, the Ming army had already known the weather conditions around the Spanish fleet. After the sun set, the Ming army fleet, which had been waiting for a long time, quietly sailed out from the sea level and drove towards the enemy. Now the Ming army commander was able to use a telescope to capture the light coming out of the windows of the captain's room of various Spanish warships. The dim lights were like some blurry stars, looming in the telescope. Although they were blurry, they could provide the Ming army with the general direction of the enemy fleet.

"We will have contact with the enemy at about the second minute of midnight." Li Simingman said confidently.

"Let the officers and soldiers go to sleep for two hours first." Deng Ming put down his telescope. On the dark sea, a night-raid fleet of 120 ships lined up in two columns to approach the Spaniards.
Chapter completed!