In the 12th year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, in December 1639, Manila Port.

A wide ship with a pointed head and long body, wide and narrow body at the top and bottom sailed out of the Manila Bay stained with blood. Behind this wide ship called "Yongjin'er" is a port with fire. The "rift" where the Chinese live is already shrouded in a blaze of fire. Houses and ships are burning. In the fire, there are Chinese people crying in despair everywhere. They run away and shout...

Not far away, the orange flames kept lit up. The Spanish colonists were bombarding with cannons. At the port, the Chinese were running around, chasing them with Spanish people holding a mezzanine, the Japanese Chezhidan samurai wielding Japanese swords, and the native Philippine people who took advantage of the fire. They held sharp swords and wolves, swept over like beasts and wolves, chopped down the Chinese, piercing them, and drove them into the sea. The fire shone on the earth, dyed the ocean red, and turned Manila into a hell of the human world for the Chinese. Even in the dark, it was difficult to cover up this demonic sin.

"Avenge...Avenge us..." The Chinese who were chased to the shore saw the Yongjiner who had escaped from the port and shouted in despair.

In the stern of the Yongjin boat, Captain Lin Cheng's knuckles were white, but he did not order to return. He covered his eyes and forced himself to turn his head.

In the winter of 1639, the Spaniards in Manila massacres the Chinese for the second time. Because the massacre more than 30 years ago did not pay any price, this time the massacre was even more unscrupulous and lasted for four months. At least 20,000 Chinese died in this massacre, including many Chinese who had converted to Catholicism.

Crunch...crunch...crunch...crunch...

Li Mingxun's ears were covered with the crunching sounds caused by the friction of wood. The air was mixed with urine, sweat and moldy smell. His body was shaking with the waves, like rootless duckweed, but his mind recalled his life for more than a month.

A month ago, Li Mingxun, a historical military enthusiast, graduated from Dalian Naval Ship Academy and became a member of the Navy. He sailed with the fleet to the Gulf of Aden. However, when he passed by the Philippines, he was blown off the ship by the sudden wind. When he woke up, he had already traveled to Manila, which was in the twelve years of Chongzhen.

The rough food, heavy labor and harsh living environment tortured the ambition of a time traveler. Just as he was about to stay calm for a while and then find a way to change, he encountered the massacre that occurred in the winter of 1639. It was because Li Mingxun risked the beheading warning to Captain Lin Cheng that he was spared from the fate of being killed. However, the sudden incident only saved the Yongjin Ship.

In the last of the memory, Li Mingxun was hit in the head by a broken mast from a solid shell and fell into a coma.

"Revenge...Revenge...!" A mess of voice penetrated into Li Mingxun's head, making him unable to keep quiet anymore. The voice was extremely miserable and full of reluctance, and gradually faded away.

Li Mingxun woke up instantly, sat up suddenly, but directly hit a wooden board. The severe pain on his forehead made him scream, completely driving away the flames and howls in his memory. He sniffed the smell of the air and confirmed that he was on the sea boat, but his eyes were dark, and his body was trapped in a narrow area. He reached out and touched it. There were wooden boards in all directions. He pushed it up hard, and then pushed open a gap and rushed in with even more dirty air. In front of him, he appeared with eyes as big as a cowbell...

"Am I dead?" Li Mingxun muttered in his heart, but his perception was so clear. Then in the faint light, he saw the big eyes staring at him clearly. These eyes were not the size of a cowbell, but were clearly the eyes of a cow.

At this time, a noisy sound rang out, and a faint light came from afar, and then a smiling face appeared in front of Li Mingxun. It was a twelve or thirteen-year-old child, grinning: "Mr. Li, you are not dead. We thought you were dead, so we put you in my uncle's coffin."

This child, Li Mingxun, knew him the nephew of the sea lord Lin Cheng who rescued him from the bay. He had the same surname as him, but because he was young and had no big name, everyone called him Ah Hai or the shopkeeper. In more than a month in Manila, Ah Hai took care of Li Mingxun the most. Although his purpose was to learn from Li Mingxun's skills, he really helped Li Mingxun a lot.

After being helped up by Ah Hai, Li Mingxun realized that he was really placed in the coffin. After asking, he realized that he was knocked out by the mast. Everyone thought he was dead, but after all, Li Mingxun informed him in advance and escaped from the devil's claws. He couldn't bear to abandon the sea of ​​corpses, so he placed it in the coffin prepared by the sea owner Lin Cheng himself. The coffin was in the bottom cabin, surrounded by either the stones in the bay or some cattle and sheep raised in captivity.

"Little shopkeeper, the big shopkeeper heard that Mr. Li woke up, so he asked him to come over." A man in a short suit walked down the bottom cabin and said.

Ah Hai smiled and said, "I know, I'll pass in a short while."

After the man was perfunctory, Ah Hai got busy and brought hot porridge with a few and a half-year-old boys, mixed the milk that had just been squeezed in, and threw in an egg. Ah Hai said, "Sir, let's drink it first, this is for my uncle. If you don't eat it, it will be gone in a while."

Li Mingxun smiled and was in a coma for a day and night. He was really hungry. He swallowed it quickly. Although the milk was slightly fishy, ​​it was a rare delicacy at the sea. Everyone knows the hardships at the sea. In the 17th century, especially at the sea, only a few senior officers such as the captain could enjoy the chickens, ducks, and eggs and milk produced by cattle and sheep on ships, which were surprisingly similar to those in the East and West.

After eating, Li Mingxun climbed over the narrow staircase and climbed up the upper deck with gold. Seeing the vast ocean, Li Mingxun felt a little more relaxed.

Lin Cheng was originally an ordinary maritime businessman in Guangdong. Later, because Zheng Zhilong dominated the coastal areas of China, Lin Cheng was unwilling to defect to Manila, and had to go to Manila. He spent many years running boats between Zhangzhou, Manila and Dayuan Port. Over the past decade, he had accumulated a lot of wealth and his fleet was even expanded. He owned more than a dozen sand ships, lucky ships and Guangzhou ships. He was considered a strong sea owner among the Chinese.

During this Manila massacre, Lin Cheng only robbed one Yongjin ship, and the rest of the ships were destroyed in Manila. The Guang Ship was one of the few good ships in the Ming Dynasty in this era. But compared with the Fu Ship, the Yongjin Ship was the best among the Guang Ship, which was twelve meters long and four meters wide, with three layers above and below. The sail area was huge and wider than the wider, so it was more suitable for long-distance voyages than ordinary Fu Ship. As for the bird ships along the coast of the Ming Dynasty, the sand ships were even more incomparable to it.

Li Mingxun walked up the stern of the boat, saw Lin Cheng, bowed and said, "Thank you, the shopkeeper for helping you."

Lin Cheng is one of the few tall and burly figures among the southerners. He waved his hand and said, "If it weren't for you, the lives of the entire ship would be broken in Manila, so don't say thank you."

Li Mingxun nodded slightly and asked, "I don't know what the shopkeeper has to do?"

Lin Cheng turned his body and said, "This is exactly what I want to ask Mr. Li. After more than a month of getting along, I also know that Mr. Li is not a thing in the pool. He often talks about the war between the Donglu and the court, and is also a righteous man who is worried about national affairs. I also promise to send you to Jiangnan, but now he has undergone a major change, and I am afraid he will slow down."

"Aren't you going to the Ming Dynasty?" Li Mingxun was a little surprised. Although he knew that the Ming Dynasty was in turmoil and did not care about the massacre of overseas Chinese, the Zheng family of Anping is the overlord of the South China Sea. Such a big thing happened, at least the court and Zheng Zhilong should know.

Lin Cheng shook his head slightly and said, "I have a grudge with Zheng Zhilong. I have committed a crime in Guangdong and I am unwilling to take risks in the mainland. Therefore, the Yongjin Hotel will go to the official to avoid it for a while. I have some industries there, so I can settle down."

Then, Lin Cheng changed his subject and said, "Mr. Li is very talented and wise. If he does not abandon him, I want to appoint you as the shopkeeper. When he arrives at the senior official, he will be able to give you three or five boats and a man of 3 or 400 in two years. If Mr. Li has other considerations, when he arrives at the senior official, I will send you to Fujian again, what if he arrives at the senior official?"

It is definitely false to say that Lin Cheng is not moved by such a direct recruitment. In the past month, Li Mingxun had already considered it. He knew very well that in five years, the Ming Dynasty would come to an end. Although the Southern Ming, Yongli regime and Zheng family resisted for nearly 40 years, it was a mess, attacking each other, and even a civil war broke out. It can be said that the Ming Dynasty is now ruined. He has no official title or financial resources. Even if he has the ability, it is difficult to achieve great things. It is better to use his strength overseas and establish a foundation. In the future, the troops will be strong and the Central Plains will be attacked again to turn the tide and save the Chinese civilization.

Although he was determined to move, Li Mingxun refused. He knew that he had no prestige and had not shown enough talent. Now that Lin Cheng's forces were damaged, he suddenly got a high position and would inevitably be suppressed by the elderly under his command. After all, Li Mingxun only had the advantage of knowledge and vision as a time traveler, but he was very disadvantageous in officials and personnel employment. After all, he was just a young officer who had just joined the company in his previous life.

Li Mingxun smiled slightly and said, "I appreciate the kindness of the shopkeeper. I am really talented and virtuous. If I can't take on the big responsibilities, I'd better wait until I'm settled down before I talk about it."

Lin Cheng was able to establish such a foundation at the age of 40, so he naturally understood and said with a smile: "You are more considerate than me. Since that's the case, let's do things by my side first. After you get familiar with the matters at sea, you will talk about it. Oh, I see Mr. Li is a skilled person. Ahai's children respect you very much, so let's take care of them for me first, so they can save them from being ignorant on the boat."

Li Mingxun smiled and said, "Thank you for your understanding. I'm so important to you, so I'll be the king of children and take care of Ah Hai and the others."

Lin Cheng nodded and praised him very much. He knew that Li Mingxun was not only able to write and calculate, but also had many skills. Not to mention it, Ah Hai played with him for a month without having to make abacus, and settled the accounts faster than many old accounts. He said that he had learned some formulas, and naturally he learned it well with Li Mingxun.

Since Li Mingxun's future has been linked to himself, Lin Cheng, who is generous in character, will naturally not be slow to treat him, so he asked the chef to prepare some wine and dishes. The two of them talked deeply. Although the dishes were only one pot of stewed chicken, it was extremely rare at sea, which means that before the senior officials, Lin Cheng could not eat eggs.

In fact, even if the family was destroyed, many people on the ship did not want to return to the mainland. The reason was very simple. They either had a lawsuit in the court, or they were unable to bear the oppression and escaped, and the Yongjin Hu had no conditions to return to the mainland.

When I escaped from Manila, because of the urgent matter, I didn’t even have time to transport a lot of goods on board, let alone bring food and drinking water. In this season, it takes at least eight days to travel across the South China Sea to Guangdong. The supply will not last at that time. It is different to go to Dayuan Port north. Although the journey is similar, Lin Cheng took this route more and can be found with his eyes closed, which is much safer. Along the way, you can get supplies through Luzon and Taiwan’s indigenous tribes, which is extremely cheap.

After leaving Manila Bay, the Yongjin continued north along the coastline of Luzon. After two days of travel, he obtained supplies from a tribe called Ifugao. The men of the tribe rowed a sampan to deliver tropical fruits, meat and aquatic products to the Yongjin on the offshore in exchange for iron arrows, axes, salt and sugar.

Because Lin Cheng ordered the supply of food that exceeded twice the demand, the indigenous sampans were not enough, so Lin Cheng sent people down the boat and transported it back and forth.

The supply was very smooth. It only cost less than one hundred taels of cargo. The silver liang was given food for more than 200 people on the ship for half a month. It was very cost-effective, but the situation was not optimistic when it continued to move north. First, there was a problem with the wind and stopped at times, which reduced the navigation speed a lot. On the sixth day of taking out Manila, it rained for two hours. The rain was not heavy and drizzling, and eventually turned into thick fog that did not dissipate on the sea. The speed of the Golden Race dropped to less than two knots, and slowly advanced in the thick fog to avoid hitting the reefs.

On the seventh day, after Li Mingxun got up, he found that the fog around him had faded a lot. Looking from the stern of the boat, the sailors were distributing food with exhaustion. He grabbed someone and asked. Only after he found out that Lin Cheng directed the sailors to control the rudder and drove the boat out of the thick fog area, preparing to head north on the edge of the thick fog to increase the speed.

"Where is the big shopkeeper?" Li Mingxun asked.

The sailor said, "I have been busy all night and must have been asleep."

Li Mingxun nodded and started to work lightly. Although as a naval officer, his theoretical knowledge of the ocean far exceeds that of anyone in this era, he is helpless about the old-fashioned Guangzhou ship in front of him. He has never manipulated such a ship, so he naturally has to rely on Lin Cheng and the old sea dogs on the ship.

"Mr. Li, Mr. Li..." A familiar voice sounded from his head.

Li Mingxun looked up and saw that it was Ah Hai. He was sitting on the crossmast at the top of the main mast and acting as a lookout role. Seeing that he was only pulling a cable, Li Mingxun immediately stopped and said, "Be careful."

Ah Hai's voice was a little anxious, pointing to the thick fog area on the side of the stern of the boat and shouting: "Mr. Li, there is movement there, I hear a sound."

Ah Hai's scream woke Lin Cheng up. He walked out in his clothes and looked in the direction Ah Hai pointed at. There was only a thick fog there, and half of the inside and outside could not see anything. Lin Cheng handed the telescope to Li Mingxun and said, "You are young, have good eyes, let's take a look."

Li Mingxun adjusted the telescope, observed carefully in the direction pointed by Ah Hai, and listened quietly. Although he could not see anything, he could faintly hear the sound of a bell ringing.

After observing for a while, Li Mingxun didn't see anything. Just when he was about to give up, a shadow suddenly flashed in the torn thick fog. Taking advantage of this gap, Li Mingxun saw the square sail on the main mast of a tall sailboat and the bow mast that pierced into the air obliquely!

Li Mingxun immediately said: "The big shopkeeper is Spanish!"
Chapter completed!