"Is this your answer, Mr. Collina?" Sir Diego lit the pipe in his hand, which had only begun to rise in Europe in the past twenty years, and blew out a puff of smoke: "If my observation is not wrong, the pipe you command
The tonnage of the deportation formation is about 1.5 times that of the opponent. As a result, you are telling me now that you were unable to effectively expel them, but instead gave up the mission and retreated because you were afraid of suffering more serious losses? Mr. Collina, with all due respect
, Such words should not come from the mouth of a knight from the Kingdom of Castile."
Captain Collina's face was calm, neither happy nor angry. He just said: "I have said what I need to say, Sir. If you still have doubts about my command, you can temporarily remove me from my post. This is your responsibility."
power. But I also want to declare that if I need to be tried after returning to China, I will truthfully state the cause and effect of the entire incident."
Sir Diego's eyelids twitched slightly, he grabbed the pipe and took a deep puff, and then said: "Captain Collina, I am not questioning your command. As a man who has served in the Royal Navy for more than thirty years,
You are an excellent soldier. I believe that all your command actions can withstand scrutiny. What I question is the issue you mentioned about the performance of the Ming fleet or their ships."
Captain Collina's voice also softened a little: "So, do you suspect that I misjudged their speed and firepower? I can't guarantee that my judgment is completely accurate, but I think the six ships on our side just now
Officers, soldiers and sailors should have similar judgments. If you ask them about the situation out of a sense of responsibility, I will not be offended, but will fully recognize your prudence."
"Very good." Sir Diego nodded vigorously: "You are a true knight. I take back my presumptuous words. Now you can go and rest first. Goodbye."
"Goodbye." Captain Collina said and walked out with a normal expression.
Sir Diego took another puff of tobacco from America.
Alfaro, who had been sitting aside and listening, sighed and said: "Although Corina is only a knight, his brother is the Count of Badajoz. I believe you should know this."
Sir Diego said angrily: "Of course I know, Your Excellency, the mead of the Earl of Badajoz family is well known in Iberia. Of course, the mead is not the key. I guess you want to remind me, Earl
Your Excellency is the current Governor of Milan - of course I know that."
[Note: After 1500, Milan was occupied by France several times, and was "liberated" by Charles V. Finally, in 1535, Spain simply took Milan into its own hands. However, during the "Italian War", Italy
The northern territory is changing rapidly and rapidly, and it also likes to repeat itself, so I won’t go into detail here.]
Alfaro raised his eyebrows slightly: "What I want to say is that His Excellency the Count is not only the Governor of Milan, but also has good personal relationships with many bankers in Genoa... Sir, you know that although His Majesty the King is rich in the world, but
The friendship of these bankers is often needed."
Sir Diego's face became even more disgusting, and he tapped his pipe on the table: "Your Excellency, President, your reminders are enough. I am very grateful. But please forgive me for being rude. Now we can turn the topic back to
Come to the current problems we are facing?”
"Of course." Alfaro smiled slightly: "But what do you think is the problem now?
"What problem? The first question is: the Spanish fleet cannot be beaten in vain!" Sir Diego's face darkened: "I know you have high hopes for peaceful trade with the Ming Dynasty, and you are also full of confidence in going to the Ming Dynasty to spread the gospel of the Lord.
, but I still want to say: The glory of the Spanish Navy cannot be desecrated!"
Alfaro unexpectedly did not refute, but raised his head slightly and asked: "Then what do you want to do? Mr. Collina has made it very clear, at least in the waters north of the Spice Islands, our fleet is
The speed cannot match the fleet of the Ming Dynasty. So, if you want to catch up with them and take revenge, I think it will be difficult."
Of course this makes sense, but since Sir Diego was able to sneak into Philip II's secretarial team, he was obviously not a loser. He raised his eyebrows slightly and said: "Judging from the sea area where the opponent's fleet appeared and the direction of escape.
, I think they were originally planning to go to Malacca."
Alfaro frowned slightly, pondered for a moment, and said, "You want to attack them in Malacca?"
"I am His Majesty the King's special envoy. If I need it, the Portuguese Governor of Malacca will not dare to refuse my request." Speaking of "King's Special Envoy", Sir Diego suddenly looked confident.
"Maybe." Alfaro shrugged slightly and said, "But what happens next? What you just faced was just Jinghua's six armed merchant ships, and it was already so difficult. As for Jinghua's strength, I have already told you before
You. How do you think Jinghua will react after their ship is 'handled' by you in the Malacca harbor?"
Sir Diego's face suddenly darkened and he said coldly: "No matter how powerful Jinghua Company is, I don't think it is enough to compete with Spain and Portugal at sea."
Alfaro did not comment on this, but asked: "Are you really going to let His Majesty the King send the main force of the Armada to the Far East to fight the Ming people when he is worried about the situation in the Netherlands?
"
As soon as he heard about the Netherlands, Sir Diego's face suddenly became ten times uglier, and he cursed: "These damn Protestant heretics, the damn lowland beggars, and that damn William... If it weren't for these traitors, Spain would
The glory has already shone on the whole world!"
Alfaro said: "Sir, I appreciate your devotion to the Lord, but what we are talking about now is another matter."
Sir Diego calmed down, took a long breath, and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. President, I get so angry that I can't control myself when I think of the terrible situation in the Netherlands."
These words are sincere, because as early as four years ago, the United Provinces Republic had been established, and the northern Netherlands had announced that Philip II had been deposed. Now the Netherlands is in a stage of confrontation between the north and the south.
At this time, Philip II or the Spanish Empire, its energy was greatly restricted in the Netherlands, and many things were out of order. When the crisis of the Portuguese throne occurred, if it were not for the close proximity to the Spanish mainland, Philip II
Even the world would have no time to deal with it. As a member of Philip II’s secretarial team, Sir Diego certainly hated the Dutch.
But after Alfaro reminded him like this, Sir Diego finally lost his temper and sighed: "Damn it, can't we find an effective way to warn the people of the Ming Dynasty?"
"Why should we warn them? Oh, I mean, what should we warn them about?" Alfaro shrugged: "Warn them not to monitor our fleet? With all due respect, the sea area we are currently in,
Theoretically, it should be regarded as the territorial waters of the Ming Dynasty, because all the nearby islands and reefs belong to them, and they will have the Guangdong local navy to patrol it every once in a while."
Sir Diego frowned and said: "I don't think there are sea areas where the Spanish navy cannot navigate freely."
"Really? Will the Spanish Navy sail its ships into the Dardanelles to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Constantinople—no, I should say Istanbul?"
"Uh, this..." Sir Diego was suddenly speechless.
Although the Holy Alliance composed of Spain, Venice and the Papal States won a victory over the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Lepanto twelve years ago, the problem was that the Ottoman Empire was also at its peak at this time.
Not only did the Ottoman navy quickly regain its strength, but just two years later, it forced Venice to sign a city-wide alliance that was humiliating and humiliating the country. The Holy Alliance immediately collapsed. The Spanish won the battle, but lost the war.
Even the failure of the naval battle of Lepanto caused almost no disturbance within the Ottoman Empire, because although they lost that naval battle, the island of Cyprus was still firmly in their hands. The Holy Alliance could not win Cyprus at all, and could only declare victory after
Then withdrew.
So as soon as Alfaro brought out the Ottomans, Sir Diego sat on the wax.
If you can't even capture the island of Cyprus, which is isolated in the sea, why go to the Dardanelles Strait to seek death? Although the Urban cannon more than a hundred years ago is a thing of the past, the artillery development of the Ottomans is now no worse than that of Western Europe. Spain
I am afraid that before the fleet enters the Dardanelles Strait, it will be beaten up by the huge coastal defense artillery at the mouth of the strait.
Since the territory of the Ottomans is a forbidden area for the Spanish Navy, why can’t the territory of the Ming people become the same forbidden area? The ancestors of the Ming people drove the ancestors of the Turks from the Far East all the way to Central Asia, and finally fled to Europe!
Turks can do it, and so can Han people.
Sir Diego finally gave up and was about to speak with a helpless expression when a knock on the door suddenly sounded.
"Who?" Sir Diego asked in a bad tone.
"It's me, Captain Rivera." The people outside seemed very anxious. Before Sir Diego could further say "please come in," they said directly: "No sir, a very large Ming fleet is heading towards us.
Here they come! According to preliminary visual inspection, there are at least hundreds of armed merchant ships similar to the six Ming Dynasty ships before!"
"What!" This was Alfaro's surprised voice.
"This is impossible!" This was Sir Diego's voice that was filled with disbelief and fear.
"Nothing is impossible, Sir, the other party has already appeared!" Captain Rivera's voice was not afraid, but urgent.
Sir Diego and President Alfaro looked at each other and suddenly ran towards the door in unison, without caring about any gentlemanly behavior.
When they ran from the lounge at the stern to the bridge, both of them were stunned by the sight in front of them.
The size of the opponent's fleet is really larger than their treasure fleet that almost spans the earth. Captain Rivera's math skills are not in vain. The size of this fleet must be more than a hundred ships.
Takagi San's earlier record helped Huang Zhiting and Gao Jing a big favor this time - Sir Diego's math skills were not in vain: in the previous six versus six, his side was actually at a disadvantage of being passively beaten when the total tonnage exceeded the opponent's.
Now that the situation has reversed and the opponent's fleet has overwhelmed our own, is there any need to predict the outcome of the battle?
Although the opponent's single ship tonnage should be smaller than our own, if their armament situation is basically unified, they must have a clear advantage in long and heavy artillery. As long as they continue to fight according to the previous tactics, the Spanish fleet has no chance of winning!
But Sir Diego still hasn't figured out a key question until now: Why did the Ming people appear here with such a large and country-destroying fleet?
Alfaro couldn't help but said with a gloomy face at this time: "Sir, it seems that you have indeed provoked an enemy that you shouldn't provoke - more importantly, the other party is originally our partner, not an enemy."
Sir Diego's face was a bit uglier than Alfaro's, and he gritted his teeth and said: "Your Excellency, President, now that things have happened, don't you doubt why a fleet of this size appears here?"
"Why do you think they are here?" Alfaro asked.
"There are only two possibilities." Sir Diego said categorically: "Either they have been targeting us for a long time, just like the English pirates, and want to rob our treasure fleet; or they just want to sneak attack Malacca,
Seize the throat of this seaway!"
After he finished speaking, he stared at Alfaro closely and said: "Do you think they fell from the sky? How long has it been since the naval battle just now? Even if the Ming people came from their nearest seaport, they would not be able to reach this position so quickly!
"
Alfaro frowned, and he had to admit that Sir Diego's analysis was reasonable. The Mingguo seaport closest to the current location should be Annan's emerging seaport Jingang, but from Jingang to here, even if the wind direction is suitable and the wind is strong,
It will take at least two or three days. What's more, if the results of the battle just now are reported to Jinggang, it will take another three days.
Therefore, the opponent's fleet must have been nearby, and it could never have set off from Golden Port. Even if we count from the time our fleet discovered the Ming people's ship, the time does not match up.
The two of them were still using their politicians' thinking to wonder why the Beijing Fleet appeared here and now. Rivera, the captain of the fleet's flagship "Galicia", couldn't help but remind him: "Sir, Father, now is not the time to consider these issues!
Sir Diego, if we want to fight, we must immediately order preparations now. Look around us, every ship is signaling and asking us what to do!"
"Accept the challenge! For the glory of Castile!" Sir Diego roared.
Captain Rivera didn't ask why, but just nodded. Just as he was about to give the order, Alfaro's voice came to mind.
"Please wait a moment..." Alfaro said suddenly.
Sir Diego suddenly looked towards him and narrowed his eyes slightly: "Your Excellency, President, in this situation, don't you still think that the other party's appearance here and now is just a coincidence?"
"Of course not, I also have serious doubts about this." Alfaro did not speak slowly this time, but spoke quickly: "But if this battle breaks out, our situation may be very bad. I think now
It is necessary to find a way to save it.”
Sir Diego said coldly: "I hope that when you talk about saving, you don't mean surrender."
"Of course not. Sir, please rest assured. I just want you to prepare a small boat for me. I want to negotiate with the people of the Ming Dynasty first - I know many senior managers of Jinghua Company serving the southern region of the Ming Empire. I think it's okay.
We can make one last effort for peace."
Sir Diego immediately replied: "If you think this is necessary, then I agree with your request - Captain Rivera, please lower the escape boat immediately and prepare a few oarsmen and a white flag for the president."
He turned to Alfaro and said: "Your Excellency, President, I wish you a smooth meeting, but please know that our preparations for war will not stop until you reach an agreement with the other party, and we will never accept surrender."
"I understand." Alfaro replied solemnly.
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