In April of 1608 (the thirty-sixth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty), Ye Hua's fleet caught the tail of the monsoon and finally set off from Malacca.

The fleet was divided into two groups. Fei Long took the main ship and carried 100 Portuguese soldiers from Malacca to Salian in the Irrawaddy River Delta.

On the other side, the Xinxing and a modified three-masted Fuchuan-type warship sailed south to Sumatra and met with a Dutch fleet in the Sino-Dutch jointly controlled area southwest of Kota Ratcha, the capital of Aceh. Originally, the Xinxing would Together with the Dutch, they marched westward through the Sunda Strait and attacked the Bay of Bengal. However, the newly appointed Sultan of Aceh, Iskandar Muda, twice attacked the southwestern port of Aceh. The Dutch were unable to escape, and the plan to cooperate in the attack on Salian was ruined. , however, the temporary captain of the Emerging Ship still recruited three sailors from the Dutch who were familiar with the shipping routes. Not all the Dutch in Aceh belonged to the Dutch East India Company, and some were "port merchants", that is, they came to Asia sporadically. The Dutch, who were engaged in business and challenged the East India Company's monopoly, were happy to cooperate with the Chinese to break the East India Company's monopoly on trade in Asia.

The Feilong and other ships led by Ye Hua arrived at the Santiago Castle in Salian half a month later.

The Chinese were shocked by the scene in front of them: thousands of small Malay-type sailing ships with triangular sails were densely packed at the mouth of every river in the delta, and thousands of dark-skinned Burmese people were constantly making rafts. wooden rafts, and then launched repeated attacks on Sha Lian hanging alone on the delta.

The Burmese learned the firearms brought by the Portuguese and were considered a powerful army in Southeast Asia at that time.

The Burmese army lined up dozens of cannons on the sandbank north of Salim and bombarded Salim Castle continuously, but it seemed to have little effect. A large number of Burmese soldiers were killed around Salim Castle, and their bodies floated on the water, surrounded by They almost formed a circle around the castle.

The area around Salian Castle for more than ten miles is covered with rivers, water networks and plains. No matter what kind of army it is, attacking a tall castle with a large number of artillery guns in this large open space will undoubtedly be as close as death.

Ye Hua's fleet flew the Portuguese flag and opened the way with the Feilong. The two three-masted fortune ships came behind and rushed towards Salim Castle. Along the way, there were countless Malay-type sloops that were as small as ants compared to the Feilong. Unwilling to confront this behemoth, they gave way one after another. The unreasonable Ye Hua ordered all the artillery fire. Dozens of Malay ships were destroyed and sunk in one time. The Chinese also used the latest improved straight rockets. After this rocket showed its prowess in the Battle of Fengguiwei on Penghu Island, it has become the standard equipment of the Chinese company's navy fleet.

Although the rocket was not very accurate after launch, King Anabilon's fleet was too densely packed with ships, and even if the rocket exploded after falling into the water, it could still burn on the water because it was filled with oil. Therefore, it was short-lived. Within a short period of time, the Burmese fleet fell into a sea of ​​fire, causing Ye Hua to have no choice but to order the fleet to stop attacking, turn the rudder and lower the sails, and wait for the Burmese ships in front to burn out before rushing over.

In the evening, the Chinese ships sent 100 Portuguese reinforcements into the Santiago Fort of Salim. Anabilon's Burmese army had exhausted their food, grass and ammunition under the city of Salim. In addition, the Chinese company's fleet was intervening, and they were really insisting. Unable to go any further, we had to withdraw our troops back to Bago a few days later.

Ye Hua waited at the foot of Shalian City for several days, but the Portuguese never fulfilled their promise. After the Xinxing Ship came to Shalian to join him, Li Dan, Zeng Shan, Bernardo and others all felt impatient with the Portuguese. Although the Xinxing had brought Dutch guide sailors from Aceh, the attitude of the Portuguese was intolerable.

That night, Ye Hua ordered the fleet to surround the Shalian Castle, and sent the sailors and musketeers ashore to raid and occupy the east gate of Shalian. Since the Portuguese supplies were also transported by the Chinese, the Feilong docked at the dock The sailors seized the city gate very successfully.

When the Portuguese woke up, the Chinese had occupied half of the castle and the entire dock area. Philippe de Brito, the Portuguese governor of Salian, quickly came out to negotiate with the Chinese in person and apologized to Ye Hua: explaining that the breach of contract was not his own. It means that the Governor of Malacca made a small move in private. He generously provided the best guides and sailors in the fleet under his jurisdiction. At the same time, De Brito had to agree to advance a sum for the Governor of Malacca. The cost of transporting troops; this was Li Dan's suggestion. He believed that Yin Feng's always advocated the purpose of never doing a losing business, so transporting troops to the Portuguese could not be in vain.

Since Li Dan mentioned Yin Feng, all the Chinese fleet management had no objections; so the Chinese stayed in Shalian for another ten days, and when De Brito had collected the money to transport troops, the Chinese slowly evacuated. Castle, De Brito almost turned against the Governor of Malacca and went to collect debts. Once the old mercenary gained power, he was a little contented and contented with the immediate benefits. Although Philip de Brito successfully prevented the threat from the Burmese, due to his personal ability and temper problems, things did not develop smoothly for him and Portuguese India. It was unfortunate that he failed to unite with the other Portuguese in the Irrawaddy delta and the mestizos in the Arakan and Chittagong areas, who could have supported De Brito the next time the Burmese besieged Salim .

In the fourth year after the Chinese left Salian and continued their westward journey, in 1612, King Anabilon of the Taungoo Dynasty of Burma, with the aid of "a Moor wearing a skullcap" and Muslim reinforcements from India, came from land and On the water, he launched an attack on Salian; De Brito, who still had only a few hundred men, fought to the end, and the fortress was captured. De Brito was tied to an iron pillar and impaled. At the same time, many of his companions were Brought to Ava as a prisoner, he became a military expert bound by a hereditary king.

At that time, the Portuguese suggested that Goa immediately send a fleet of 10 light clippers to assist De Brito, but by the time Goa took action, it was too late, and Salian had already fallen into trouble. , Portugal had fewer and fewer important strongholds in Asia, and the financial difficulties of the colonies became increasingly difficult. In order to maintain the operation of the colonial government, the Portuguese gradually realized that they could adopt a very distinctive method used by Spain in its Americas, that is, auctioning public offices.

This is a story later. Our Chinese first fleet heading to Europe has already embarked on its journey to India. Because it missed the best monsoon season, they were forced to berth at Trincomalee Port in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). It lasted nearly two months, and then anchored in Goa for another three months. Although the Chinese had the firepower not to be afraid of any pirate fleet, they were still unable to withstand the wind and waves of nature. When they arrived in Goa, Ye Hua's fleet lost A two-masted fortune ship drowned and more than 100 sailors died of illness.

While Ye Hua's fleet was stumbling toward Europe, Yin Feng was constantly receiving bad news from Batavia on the island of Taiwan.

Starting from the beginning of this year, a Chinese force named "Huatian Company" emerged in Nanyang. They used force to compete with Chinese companies for territory, and directly confronted the Dutch, Portuguese, and British with force, and violently Treating the local indigenous people, at the same time, they sell Chinese goods to the Dutch, Portuguese, British, and French at ultra-low prices, and at the same time, they use high prices to purchase Chinese products in Siam, Pattani, Annam and other places that Chinese companies cannot fully control. goods.

Although the Huatian Company suffered losses from receiving goods at high prices and shipping goods at low prices, they robbed merchant ships from various countries in various parts of Southeast Asia. They robbed all merchant ships indiscriminately, including the Chinese merchant ships themselves. They took the stolen goods. It was sold in Batavia at a low price, which seriously hit the Chinese company's market.

Yin Feng had a headache; because the Military Intelligence Department and the company's Business Information Department had already verified the leaders of Huatian Company: Li Huayu, Yuan Jin, and Li Zhong.

"They can gather so many people and have so much financial resources in a short period of time. This is impossible for Li Huayu's family to do. There must be a bigger backstage," Yin Feng was talking to Lin Xiao in his study room. Confidential conversation: "Brother Guangzhuang, the Military Intelligence Department reported to Miss Li that Li Dan may be involved, so she has stopped processing Nanyang's overseas intelligence. Therefore, from now on, Nanyang's intelligence will be handled by you."

Lin Xiao sat across from Yin Feng's desk, opened her mouth, but hesitated. Yin Feng smiled bitterly and said: "I know what you want to say, I trust Lihua, but others may not completely trust her, so forget about it for now, Mai Xiao Information came from Liu that Li Dan did meet with Li Huayu in Malacca, but he did not go to Batavia with them. And Brother Li himself should be in Tianzhu at the moment, and it is impossible to have contact with Li Huayu and the others. If If he wants to join forces with Li Huayu and others to deal with China Company, he should get off the ship in Malacca and go with Li Huayu and others."

Lin Xiao flipped through the information at hand, sighed and shook his head: "Shipowner, I don't think you should let Li Dan go to Nanyang... You are good at everything, but you are too soft-hearted."

When Yin Feng heard the words "too soft-hearted", he couldn't help laughing. It took him a long time to suppress his laughter: "Brother, if you follow your approach, at least half of our company will have to be locked up. I know that in Taiwan, "Shang, there are many people across the Taiwan Strait who are dissatisfied with me, but it's not easy for us to get to this point. Sometimes I don't know what to do next, but no matter what, I still don't like to do things that go against my conscience."

Lin Xiao also laughed: "Yes, this is the reason why you became Captain Yin. It's better to do this. Let us do the disgraceful things." Lin Xiao sneered at himself: "Anyway, my reputation is not good to begin with. Okay; in Yazhou, everyone is afraid of me, a scoundrel, but here, they all call me the ship owner's 'dog'... I'll just stop being evil to the end,"
Chapter completed!