Seventy percent of all the warships of the navy affiliated to the China United Company appeared around Macau in the summer of the 34th year of Wanli. The local scattered pirate gangs were immediately recruited by the China Company and actively joined the ranks of the siege of Macau. The same At that moment, spies from the Military Intelligence Department who had been operating in Guangzhou, Macau and other places for more than a month showed up one after another. They led small teams. They drove fishing boats and small merchant ships to the outskirts of Macau. They became the carriers of drinking water and water for Chinese companies. Food supply ship.
Ten warships of the Second Battle Fleet, under the command of Commander Fan Tao, first broke into the inner harbor. The flagship of the Second Battle Fleet, the "Haiyan", was a warship with three cannons. The sixteen-pound cannon on the bow Fire first.
"Boom." The rumbling sound of artillery rolled over the city of Macau. The artillery shell stirred up a large amount of dust on the harbor beach. Then it jumped up from the beach and hit the outer wall of the Garth Lan Fort. It hit a white mark on the dark gray outer wall. point.
Subsequently, six war fleets with a total of 60 warships filed in. They passed in front of the port in the light breeze. They took turns to fire at Macau with the bow cannon. After the whole warship fleet turned around in the bay, the tall and tall warships The mighty battleship Feilong and the battleship Feihu, which had just been launched not long ago, appeared on the sea surface of the port together.
The two battleships have the characteristics of a combination of European and Chinese structures. The tall mainmast is empty and there is no flag. Although the heavy guns on the bow are inconvenient to aim and move, the two battleships have densely packed gun windows on both sides. It's not just a display. The two ships have a total of more than 80 cannons.
Macau originally had about fifteen armed merchant ships and small warships. At this time, five ships went to encircle a group of Chinese pirates near Hong Kong Island. There were only ten small warships left in the harbor. Sheriff Dias of the Macau City Hall I originally thought about letting the Portuguese warships attack. But when I saw the enemy's neat formation, skillful operations, uniform movements, and fierce artillery fire, I suddenly lost the courage to fight.
At this moment, two battleships, which were almost the same as the main battleships of the general European powers, suddenly appeared. This short-circuited Diaz's brain. He parked on the dock of the port area in a daze. Fortunately, his subordinates were relatively sober. In Feilong Before the Flying Tiger approached the cannon range, it dragged Diaz into the Garthlan Fort in time.
Garth Lan Fort is one of the oldest forts located in the lobby area of Macau. During the Portuguese colonial period, the fort was one of the important strongholds of military defense. In the past, Garth Lan Fort was the first line of defense along the coast. Together with A-Ma Fort, The Count Jen Fort, St. John's Castle and San Ba Fort are connected to each other and defend the coastal area in the southeast of Macau. The adjacent Garth Lan Barracks is located next to Songshan to the east of Nanwan. It is on the hillside opposite the Lisboa Casino in Another Time and Space. Yin Feng lost a lot of money there back then.
However, the overall structure of the Garthlan fortification built by the Portuguese has not yet been completed. The scale of the fort and the number of cannons it possesses are not large. Historically, this fort was not completed until 1622.
Under the violent bombardment just now by the Chinese Company, the walls of the Garthlan Fort had collapsed and everything was in pieces. Fortunately, the fortifications of several main heavy artillery forts were not destroyed. They still continued to fire shells to fight back against the enemy on the sea. Chinese Company Fleet. However, there were no regular army soldiers in Macau at this time. The armed personnel were mainly composed of white volunteers and conscripted black slaves. If it were not for some Portuguese veterans who played a backbone role in the team, Macau's defense force might It had long since collapsed. As soon as Dias took a breath in the fort, he heard a continuous, deafening roar; the Feilong began to bombard the dock area.
An old Portuguese gunner lay on the muzzle of the gun and looked at the sea. He shouted in surprise: "God, what is this? Is it a battleship? When did the Chinese have such a battleship? Is it... God..." He turned He turned around and shouted to Dias: "Sir, come quickly and take a look. The Dutch..."
Dias rolled over and ran over. He looked at the sea in shock: behind the two huge battleships, two schooners flying the Dutch flag were slowly sailing; "This is... the Dutch's." warship."
"It's an armed merchant ship. The cannons on these two Dutch ships are on the upper deck. There are no gun windows on either side." The experienced gunner said: "No matter what it is, this is a joint operation between the Dutch and Chinese pirates."
"So disciplined. So well-equipped. This is a fleet, sir. Not pirates." Dias corrected the gunner. He shook his head worriedly and quickly sent a messenger to report to the ongoing citizens' meeting.
…
Amidst the thunderous sound of artillery, Colonel Coutre and Luo Aquan led the special team to escort Bernardo to Xiangshan County. Of course, the Jewish motto: "There is no door that money cannot open." is also common in China; The Chinese proverb "Money can make the world go round" must also be true in the eyes of the Jews. Bernardo smuggled out a large sum of money from home and bribed the Ming Dynasty officials and soldiers guarding the checkpoint. Successfully succeeded Escaped from Macau City.
Luo Aquan led people to escort him to see Yin Feng. Kutre led a few people to stay in the besieged Macau City, determined to find Li Lihua's whereabouts.
At this time, at the Macau Citizens' Meeting held amidst the roar of gunfire, all the members and representatives looked ugly. There was another person who was on duty as the Sheriff this month: Riccardo. He was the son of a big Portuguese businessman. Born in Macau, he is probably the first generation of Macauese. Now, he is making a report to all members of the meeting.
"...Ten minutes ago. Sheriff Dias reported that in addition to nearly a hundred armed military ships, the enemy also owned two main warships, each with 30 to 40 cannons. They had bombarded the Garthlan Fort. Three The Ba Fort was also bombarded; the facilities in the dock area were also damaged by enemy artillery. At the same time, the monks of Guia Monastery reported that a large number of Chinese pirate ships also appeared on the sea west of Macau City. This means that Macau City Already under siege."
Riccardo sighed. He raised his head and said to all the participants: "Our armed merchant ships and fast ships were unable to break out of the docking area under the opponent's gunfire. Five of them have been destroyed. The enemy knows very well the dangers of fast ships and armed merchant ships. Parking location. They must have already investigated the situation. What should we, the municipal guard, do?"
His last question was addressed to the speaker who is taking turns today.
The royal prosecutor suddenly spoke: "Has the identity of the enemy been determined?"
Another burst of thunderous gunfire sounded. The whistling shells could almost be heard clearly.
Riccardo waited for the sound of gunfire to subside temporarily. Then he said: "According to the judgment of our experienced naval personnel and merchant sailors, although the other party did not fly any flags, the color of the ship's exterior painting and we observed that the other party's crew members all It is Chinese. Based on this, it can be basically determined that it is the fleet of the China United Company. On the southeast coast of China, no other Chinese has such a large maritime power. Moreover, Sheriff Dias reported that two Dutch ships participated. attack."
"Dutch people. Dutch people again." Some members shouted loudly: "These Dutch people must be here to take advantage of the fire. What happened? Mr. Speaker, why did the Chinese company attack us? We have been fighting with them. It’s normal trade.”
A citizen representative said directly to the royal prosecutor: "Dear Judge Dias, we have received news that you have detained the wife of the largest shareholder and general manager of China Company. Is that what happened?"
Royal prosecutor Dias stood up angrily. He pointed at the questioner and said, "What do you mean? I am performing the duties of a judge entrusted to me by His Majesty the King. And it is the Chinese Company that provokes the war."
Seeing that there was about to be a conflict between the Macau City Hall and the judges sent by the King of Spain, the Speaker quickly stood up to smooth things over: "Everyone, the opponent's artillery is bombarding our city right now. Now is not the time to investigate the war crimes. We have to decide quickly; what should we do now? manage."
…
Under the crucifix of St. Augustine's Church in Macau. Li Lihua knelt in front of the shrine and prayed silently. This crucifix is one of the most famous religious relics in Macau. It is enshrined in St. Augustine's Church on the first weekend of Lent every year. The crucifix will be paraded to the main cathedral and then moved back the next day; the Chinese are commonly known as "The Big Jesus". It is one of the important religious activities in Macau. In addition, there is a procession of the crucifix on Good Friday (also known as the Stations of the Cross). ). The crucifix in front of you will be worshiped in front of countless believers.
Today, the sound of artillery is roaring outside St. Augustine's Church. The shells have even fallen on the nearby streets. There are panic shouts everywhere. Some people want to hide in St. Augustine's Church for refuge. But the church is very rare. The door was closed tightly. Several black-robed monks were not far behind Li Lihua, monitoring her every move. One of the monks was tall and had a gloomy face. He stared at Li Lihua with a pair of blue eyes.
A black-robed monk walked in and whispered in front of him: "Dear Father Janillo, the bishop still disagrees with your request; he said that the Goa Inquisition has no jurisdiction over the citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Therefore, he refused Your request that Elizabeth be transferred to the cathedral."
Father Giannilu was the special commissioner sent to Macau by the Inquisition.
Today Father Giannilu took Li Lihua away from the Macau prison. It was purely a coincidence: the Inquisition entered the prison through the back door of the secret passage through the relationship of Judge Diaz Ricardo. The reason why Li Lihua was taken away was because of an important issue: Li Dan's property .
The power of the Spanish Inquisition has long been extended to Portugal's Asian colonies. This is not the first time that Jews have been persecuted for no reason. But this time it has a very complicated background relationship. Among them, the trade dispute between Chinese companies and Portugal is the most important one. The reason; at the same time, someone in the Spanish and Philippine colonies entrusted Judge Diaz to trace Li Dan's property. Both of these incidents involved Li Lihua. Therefore, she suffered a disaster and was imprisoned. She also suffered corporal punishment in prison. torture.
Poor Li Lihua had lived an aristocratic life since she was a child. She had never suffered such a crime. In a dark prison, she even had thoughts of suicide. Fortunately, the Catholic education she received since she was a child allowed her to endure the pain. .I didn’t seek death.
The Inquisition and the judges were in cahoots. They both wanted to make a fortune from Li Lihua's huge fortune. So on this day, they secretly took Li Lihua out for interrogation. However, the rescue operation of Luo Aquan and others unexpectedly failed.
After the Chinese Company began to attack Macau, Father Giannilu's men took Li Lihua back to the Macau prison. They were frightened half to death by the dead bodies on the ground. By this time, everyone already knew that the enemy attacking Macau was the Chinese United Company's fleet. This is great. Miss Elizabeth has become a hot potato in the hands of Father Giannilu. No one is willing to take over.
Father Giannilu, who originally wanted to leave Li Lihua to extort some money, was very disappointed. He said coldly in Latin: "In that case, just lock this prisoner in the back hall. How long will those barbaric Chinese pirates stay in Macau? How long will you keep her in jail?"
Li Lihua received a complete Spanish education in Manila and knew some Latin. Therefore, she could basically understand the conversations of several people in the Inquisition.
She stood up in pain. Although her bruised body made her tremble, the continuous roar of cannons outside made her even more excited. She turned around, sneered and said loudly in Portuguese: "You just wait. My husband will Lead his army and turn the entire Macau into ruins. You will not be able to escape his punishment."
Janillo's face was ashen. He approached her with a sneer and said, "You are a sinner. How dare you say such blasphemous words in the temple of God. Can your husband fight against God?"
Li Lihua wanted to shout, but she really had no strength. She just answered the Inquisition commissioner in a low tone: "My husband is a hero. He is not afraid of anyone. God will bless him. God will use his hand to punish you." These sanctimonious hypocrites."
Janillo was stunned. He had never heard such bold remarks in front of the prisoners of the Inquisition. He couldn't help but became furious: "Take this damn witch down and lock her in the basement."
"boom."
Amidst the sound of cannons, the walls and roof of St. Augustine's Church were shaking slightly.
Li Lihua's heart grew hope little by little with the rumbling sound of cannons. The sound of cannons represented Yin Feng and represented hope.
In the hearts of most Portuguese people in Macau, this endless sound of artillery represents devil and despair. Yin Feng commanded the fleet and did not communicate with the Portuguese people in Macau at all. He simply started uninterrupted bombardment. He stipulated that Each warship had to fire five rounds of artillery shells before it could turn around and rest near the port. The Feilong and Feihu anchored directly at the port. The sound of artillery continued all night long. However, the shelling at night was no longer a continuous salvo. . Instead, shots came from three to five intervals. Continuous shells blasted the Garth Lan Fort into ruins bit by bit.
At this time, the Garthlan Fort was still a simple fort with a stone and wood structure. It was equipped with only five cannons in total. The two warships could fire at the fort at the same time with a total of 40 cannons. The firepower of the two sides was too far apart, so the addition of Three hours after the artillery battle began, the Silan Fort had basically lost its ability to counterattack. Early the next morning, the fort had basically returned to its original appearance using the raw materials for its construction.
A night of shelling made it impossible for many Portuguese people in Macau to sleep. Many people were complaining: Do the people in the Chinese Company have too much money? The shells can't be used up or something.