Chapter 17 Tortoiseshell
The scouts who returned from Luzon Island confirmed the confessions of the noble prisoners.
After a few days of rest on Chenlai Island, the warships were repaired. In late June, Chen Mu led the fleet to continue southward to Daimao Port in the northwest of Manila, which is now the territory of King Suleiman, Luzon.
Chen Lin's fleet still stayed on Chenlai Island, but he spread the fleet out of the sea to patrol the Daimao Port, especially sent two fleets to penetrate directly into the southwest waters of Daimao Port to prevent the Spanish from sneak attacking.
The two galleys sent by Chen Mu carried sailors and military doctors along with them.
Just one hundred days ago, King Suleiman fought a war with the Spaniards. He was seriously injured during the war. The army was defeated in the jungle without a doctor and lacked medicinal materials. It was hard to cook without Chinese medicine without Chinese medicine. The flag army that investigated received this news from the local overseas Chinese leaders who supported Suleiman's war to restore the country.
Chen Mu had nothing to say, and only had a pair of hands that helped him in time, growing on his arm.
His fleet had only more than 3,800 flag troops. Even if Chen Lin and Lin Afeng were included, they were only over 10,000, and the strength of the Western Air was still seriously insufficient. But this was not a problem. When his fleet drove towards Luzon, with the words "The Unbounded of the Heavenly Dynasty" on the Chihai ship, Chen felt that he had to tell the Philippine Governor under Philip II a cold fact-the Philippine Islands were already surrounded.
"What a beautiful country."
The fleet sailed along the northwest coast of Luzon Island, with sunrise and sunset, and the continuous tropical forests and mountains were all visible. The strong men on the island were recruited by the king to fight further south. The fishermen along the coast knew that the Ming fleet would pass by here, but they were not surprised, but they were only more and more worried.
There are tall palms that are growing through typhoons and tilted northward. For the huge islands, there are too few residents. The northern part of Luzon is relatively backward and poor. Most of the settlement villages along the coast are hundreds of thousands of Dingkou villages, and there seems to be no trace of the city.
Some beaches are fine white, some are gravel beaches, and sometimes you can see coral islands not far from the coast. The guide who guides the boat said that coral islands are magical and even when they are exposed to sunlight, it will be cool.
Chen Mu didn't care about these things. He just wanted to know which coast and mountains were suitable for laying mines, digging trenches, Chen Budding artillery, and then blowing the fucking Spanish into the sky.
These beaches are not the best choice and can be guarded without any danger.
Until his fleet arrived at Hawksbill Harbor.
The turtlesh port does not produce turtlesh. It is neither the commercial center of Luzon nor the best port in Luzon. Even the fountain merchant Li Yuxi, who often runs here with the ship, does not know why it is called this name. The biggest possibility is that most of the fleets heading to Manila will dock here for the first time.
Hawksbill is a type of sea turtle, with a very hard shell, just like this bay, which is between two huge mountains, with huge mountains to the east and tall and endless volcanic ridges to the south. The northernmost end of the volcanic ridge is Hawksbill Port, and the southernmost end is Manila Bay, which runs through four hundred miles.
The harbor can still be seen in the past prosperity. If it weren't for the newly repaired wood of different colors, some places could see the edge of carbonization after the flames were burned, and the low Song and Ming buildings in the port were still scars after bombardment by artillery.
The most docked on the shore are damaged blessed ships, as well as local warships that Chen Mu cannot name. Luzon soldiers curled up or slept in the open under the eaves of the streets in the distance. Most of the soldiers under the command of the Luzon King were walking, including Chinese, Malays and local warriors.
Of course, except for a few local warriors who do not wear armor and carry barefoots and bows with dark skin and dangerous eyes, other ethnic groups are almost no different from those of Ming people in terms of appearance, and at most they can see some differences in their clothes.
The most common soldiers who can pick up weapons in Daimao Port are Ming people, but they are the most vigilant about the visit of Chen Mu's fleet. They held the weapons carefully, and saw the huge fleet of flags and flags coming from the port, but they had no choice.
With Shiqi, he led the fleet to dock in advance, and the port's defense was taken over.
Chen Mu witnessed all this through a telescope on the warship. He guessed that the Ming people's vigilance towards him should be due to their identity. The Ming people who invested manpower to support the King of Luzon when they were at a disadvantage should be pirates, because the maritime merchants should be happy rather than alert to his arrival.
"Have you beaten these people?"
When he got off the boat, Lin Feng followed Chen Mu and shook his head at the teasing of the young coach, "I don't know that there are too many people driven from the sea by Lin over the years. If these people hate Lin and the coach, and are not Lin Daoqian's people, then it should be Shi He."
Half of the servants on the Chihai ship had already disembarked. The dock flag army held guns and arranged ceremonial guards to spread out into the port. The boundless flag of the Heavenly Dynasty stood up at the port. Chen Mu stopped and said in confusion: "Shi He?"
"Well, a native of Qiongzhou, he should be very old. He was a seaman in his early years. Lin had no contact with him. Li Mao knew him. He had never done anything big. Seven or eight years ago, the Franchise man plagiarized travel, plundered merchant ships, and lured women. The court ignored it. Shi He led his men to break the masts of three Portuguese ships at sea."
Chen Mu was surprised by this and asked, "What happened later?"
"The Portuguese warship was damaged, and there was no other way. Go to Qiongzhou Port to seek refuge. Qiongzhou commander attacked Shi He with the Portuguese. Although he designed to ambush the officers and soldiers, Shi He was also seriously injured and could not do some business at sea."
"Later, Duke Zhuang saw his ship on the sea and was on the way to Manila, trying to grab the Hexingsheng maritime merchants, but at that time there were not many people, so he retreated before he started fighting."
Chen Mu nodded, and led the Luzon envoy and his flag army to continue to walk to the camp where King Suleiman was recovering from his wounds. After a while, he said to Lin Feng: "Don't worry, at present, as long as the pirates do not do evil to the Ming Dynasty and the tribute countries, the days of being attacked from both sides will never be returned."
"What is Lin Daoqian doing recently?"
Lin Afeng was supported by her side and took over Lin Daoqian's territory in Taiwan, but Chen Mu did not forget the pirate leader, "I heard that he was doing well in Fujian."
"It's not that good. The court did not trust him when there was no war. At the beginning of the year, Lin asked him to build dozens of white-haired boats for him in Taiwan for the sake of the same surname. He wanted to go to Siam, and probably he would lead the fleet through Luzon in a few days."
Chen Mu smiled and went to Siam? What about Siam? "He has no grudge against you?"
"What kind of grudge can that be considered a grudge? Lin did not kill others, and did not destroy his ship. It was just that he took out a place that was not available after recruiting him. Chen Shuai wanted to use him?"
Chapter completed!