Li Mingxun focused on the key points, no longer politely, and clasped his fists and said, "Since that's the case, Mr. Li will not be polite."

As he said that, Li Mingxun pointed to the Western bell on the table and said, "It's already the end of the hour and it's almost noon, and the wind is getting stronger. It's about half an hour to an hour, and the fog should be dissipated. Without the cover of thick fog, we will be in danger."

The old sea dogs were sitting in the room, so they naturally understood this truth. From the thick fog to the darkness, it was about three hours apart. It was bright during this period. If the San Juan caught up, everything would be over.

Lin Cheng gently tapped the table and spread out a hand-painted chart. Li Mingxun's face was as usual, but he was extremely despised by the chart. Although neither East nor West in this era could accurately locate and survey, at least the Thais' sea charts were well-known and focused on scales. The painting in front of him was completely abstract. It was not so much a chart as a graffiti of a captain. Of course, this is nothing in normal sailing. After all, everyone is sailing along the coastline, and you can walk with your back to the needle road. (The needle road refers to the reference object of landmarks that travel between ports. They are generally recorded in the form of songs and jokes, passed on by word of mouth, and some are also recorded.)

"I have walked this sea route more than ten times, and it is only a dozen miles away from this place, and the reef area will be in danger if the Spaniards have the advantage of speed, but we will not be able to do anything." Lin Cheng said, pointing to a region.

Ma Wei raised his eyebrows and said, "Big shopkeeper, that ghost place is very evil and dangerous."

Lin Cheng smiled slightly: "No matter how dangerous the reef is, it is not as dangerous as the Spanish. It is worth taking some risks." After Lin Cheng finished speaking, he thought for a while and said: "Immediately arrange for someone to repair the torn sails, and then let the sailors throw away all the stones and iron ingots in the bay, and the useless things on the boat. You can throw them away at the same time. It's a little lighter, and the fog will dissipate later, and you will be killed."

A subordinate arranged to do it, and soon the whole boat became busy. Although the sound was as low as possible, it was still a little noisy.

"Mr. Li, what should we do after nightfall? We can't go around the Spaniards in this reef area, right?" Lin Cheng asked.

Li Mingxun pointed to the coastline of Luzon Island on the chart and said, "Everyone, with the current situation of the Yongjin, you can only choose to continue northward or turn southward. When you go south, you may encounter other ships sent by Coquila, so going north is the only option. I know this, you know, and I think the captain on San Juan should also know it."

Lin Cheng nodded slightly. Although there are smooth roads everywhere on the sea, there are only those real waterways. Even if the San Juan loses its target in the thick fog, even if it dares to enter the reef area, it can still go north and ambush the waterway between Taiwan and Luzon. Anyway, the Yongjin can only go to Dayuan Port. If the captain of San Juan is brave, he can even go to ambush outside Dayuan Port.

After listening to Li Mingxun's analysis, Song Laoqi opened his mouth wide, showed his yellow teeth, and smiled: "Mr. Li said this, there must be a way."

"My method is to lure the tiger away from the mountain, but you still need to work with me in good faith," said Li Mingxun.

"The fog is about to dissipate, it is about to dissipate." The young man Ahai ran in from outside, his face flushed and his voice was rapid.

Lin Cheng ran to the window and looked at the increasingly thinning mist. He wet his index finger with saliva, measured the wind speed, and immediately ordered: "Ma Wei, go to the helm, Song Laoqi, assist Li Mingxun, everyone else takes their place and go to the reef area."

With Lin Cheng's order, the Yongjin Rouge immediately became busy. Lin Cheng personally ran to the bow of the ship, observing the sea, and constantly sent signals to the steward Ma Wei. The repaired sail rose again and worked together with the small boat pulled by the bow toward the reef area. At this time, a low trumpet sound sounded, and Ah Hai, who had climbed onto the main mast, quickly discovered the San Juan Garen sailboat on the left backside of the Yongjin Rouge. It was more than three miles away. It was obvious that in the thick fog, the San Juan also drew.

After the San Juan discovered the Yongjin, as the horn sounded, the entire ship entered the battle preparations. Under the command of the long cable, all the sails rose, wrapped around the wind that was getting stronger and stronger, and rushed towards the Yongjin. The Yongjin, who was desperately running away, seemed a little embarrassed. Things were constantly thrown into the sea from the ship to reduce the weight of the ship. In the end, even the bodies that were beaten to death this morning were thrown down.

After half an hour, the distance between the two sides was less than two miles closer. Lin Cheng threw the telescope and could see the captain with a big belly on the forecastle of the San Juan ship. The San Juan began to zigzag to facilitate the cannons on both sides to open fire. However, after three rounds of volleys, the San Juan did not make a tactical move to turn, but continued to turn the rudder and widen the distance from the Yongjin.

Lin Cheng sighed regretfully, if the San Juan advances even a hundred steps, it will hit the reef.

However, the San Juan did not give up the pursuit, but put down three small boats, one in front and two in front of the side, with seven or eight people on each. They held the depth pole and measured the water depth in front of the San Juan, constantly sending signals to guide the San Juan bypassing the reefs and shallow waters and continue chasing.

When entering the reef area, the speed of both sides slowed down. Even though the draft of the Yongjin was much shallower than the San Juan with a displacement of more than 500 tons, in such a complex terrain, the Yongjin was more dangerous, because the Yongjin was sailing completely according to the experience of Lin Cheng and several old seahorses, and could strand or hit the reef at any time. The San Juan's travel method was much more scientific, avoiding many risks.

However, Lin Cheng was not easy to mess with. What he wanted was to drag time. Before entering the completely unfamiliar sea, Lin Cheng changed his strategy. He chose a huge and towering group of reefs and turned around the group of reefs. The group of reefs did not cover a wide area, making it more complicated to operate the two huge ships. The San Juan fired several guns, either knocked away during the violent hull movement, or hit the reef directly. Both sides chased each other around an unknown reef, like a puppy biting its tail, and enjoyed it. As time went by, the sky finally became dark.

On the deck, Song Laoqi and a dozen craftsmen were busy. They used nails and ropes long with palms to make the four beams removed from the bottom deck into a "feng" shape, and then used various wooden boards and horizontal strips to strengthen them as support for the bottom layer. Then they connected them with lightweight and lightweight fir to create a mast as high as 100 feet high, nailed the mast and made a sail with spare canvas.

All the buckets and leather bags on the ship were fixed under the support. In order to increase buoyancy, even the coffin prepared by Lin Cheng for himself was lifted out. When it was completely dark that day, the simple sailboat was slowly descended to the side of the Yongjin and followed the side of the ship to the stern.

Lin Cheng looked at the simple sailboat following the Yongjin roster. He raised his hand to order, but Ma Wei said, "Big shopkeeper, I think this method is a bit mysterious. If the Spanish see through it, the shopkeeper must have a problem."

"Hmph, if the lure is failed, we will simply rush ashore and go to Luzon Island to be a savage. Anyway, we can't afford those foreigners." Lin Cheng glared at Ma Wei. He knew that his old subordinate was not persuasion, but was jealous of Li Mingxun's strategy, and was unwilling to accept tens of thousands of taels of silver.

"Mr. Li, don't take any risks. Let's take out a hundred taels. Some of them are kids who want to fight for their lives. Why do you have to take risks?" Song Laoqi looked at Li Mingxun and tied the rope to his body and said.

Ah Hai also stood up and patted his chest: "Sir, let me go for you. I am well-behaved and skilled in mast climbing."

Li Mingxun rubbed Ah Hai's chaotic head and said, "Ah Hai is still young and has a weak body. I'd better go there yourself. I'm not relieved if someone else goes there. If something goes wrong, it's all."

As he said that, Li Mingxun took off his robe outside and jumped into the sea. It was December. Although the water temperature along the coast of the Philippines was still twenty degrees due to latitude issues, which was not cold and bone-black, the temperature far below the body temperature caused Li Mingxun's physical strength to be quickly lost. He found the link rope between the simple sailboat and the Yongjin Ship, swam along, and successfully boarded the hull made of wooden boards, wine barrels and coffins, and then sounded the trumpet.

Li Mingxun stood under the mast and briefly judged the wind direction. It was the southeast wind that was blowing deep into the South China Sea in the northwest. Li Mingxun first tied the mast and support together with a rope. After the determined wind speed, Li Mingxun affirmed that he could only raise two-thirds of the sail to ensure that he would not be blown down by the wind. He also raised a few thin wooden boards in front to take advantage of the wind power.

After doing all this, Li Mingxun blew two long and one short three times. On the Yongjin Row in front, Lin Cheng immediately ordered the sailor to control the sails and go completely with the wind. The direction changed and headed towards the depths of the South China Sea. The San Juan, chasing behind, did not expect that the Yongjin Row would change the course. Seeing the lights in the distance, he immediately fired his gun. However, the sky was already dark. The only evidence for the San Juan to determine the location of the Yongjin Row was the lights on the Yongjin Row. The two sides were more than two miles apart, so no shells hit him, but the San Juan immediately changed his course and chased after him.

In fact, if you walk with the wind, San Juan has more advantages. It has three masts and bow masts. It has more scientific sail shape and sailing technology and larger sails that can bring the highest efficiency of wind power utilization. When the wind is sufficient, San Juan can easily run to ten knots. Although it cannot be compared with later ships, compared with ships with a maximum speed of only six knots and generally only three or four knots, it is a rare high speed. Even though the wind power is insufficient now, San Juan still reaches a high speed of seven knots with the rich experience of sailors and reasonable canvassing of ships.

Li Mingxun naturally knew that his side was more obvious in the use of wind, but this was exactly what he wanted.

Woo woo woo woo woo!

Li Mingxun blew three long whistles. After the whistle sounded, the mast light hanging on the mast of Yongjin was extinguished, while Li Mingxun lit the mast light in front of him at the right time, then climbed down the mast, and blew three more whistles. The tail light on the stern of Yongjin was extinguished, and Li Mingxun immediately lit the light on the right hand side, and then the light in the room in the stern of the boat.

After doing all this, the Yongjin had completely disappeared into the night. Li Mingxun pulled out the axe at his waist and cut off the rope between the Yongjinx and the simple sailboat. He raised two-thirds of the sail, checked the fixed rope again, threw the axe into the water, raised his hands, stood at the stern of the sailboat, and then blew the whistle.

Suddenly, a strong force came from the rope around his waist, and Li Mingxun was dragged directly into the water. The force pulled him forward north. After struggling in the water for a quarter of an hour, Li Mingxun, who was in a mess, was pulled onto the deck!

"Sir!" Ah Hai hugged Li Mingxun and cried bitterly.

Li Mingxun covered his mouth with his fingers in front of his lips, signaling everyone to stop moving forward. Lin Cheng had already issued a silence order, and the entire boat was silent.

A group of people stared at each other and waited quietly. Li Mingxun stood up and observed the lights in the northwest facing the sea breeze. There were only a few lights swaying in the wind. The distance was too far to tell the difference between us and us. Li Mingxun took the telescope from Ah Hai and observed carefully. The whale oil lamp used by the Spanish was obviously brighter, and the mast light, warning light and navigation light were on. After clearly distinguishing, Li Mingxun calculated the distance between the simple sailboat and the San Juan. Nearly a quarter of an hour, there was no obvious approach, indicating that the speed of the two was about the same.

At this moment, balls of orange-red flames suddenly lit up, and the rumbling sound of cannons came from the northwest of the Yongjin. People instinctively bent down, and the timid people even lay directly on the deck. But after a moment, everyone stood up suspiciously and looked at each other, because they did not hear the sound of shells falling into the water or flying over their heads, everything was so calm.

Soon, there was another round of cannon sound, but the sound was a little smaller than before.

"It's successful, we're successful!" Lin Cheng punched the side of the side, hugging Li Mingxun beside him and laughed.

The others cheered, and Li Mingxun struggled out of Lin Cheng's thick arms and said, "You should be careful and keep silent. You are forbidden to hold the lights in the middle of the night."

"Yes, yes, Mr. Li is right." Lin Cheng and several leaders were busy.

In the distance, the San Juan chased the fake ship and sailed into the depths of the South China Sea, while the Yongjin turned to continue chasing along the coastline of Luzon.

"Mr. Li, we'll be safe this time." Lin Cheng lowered his voice and asked when everyone dispersed.

Several leaders, including Ma Wei and Song Laoqi, also gathered over. Li Mingxun took them into the room, covered the doors and windows with curtains, and then lit the lights. He spread a piece of paper on the table, then casually calibrated the position, and said: "At present, our speed is about five knots, which forms an angle of about sixty degrees with the voyage of the San Juan pursuit. The speed of the San Juan pursuit is seven knots. The distance between us is expanding at a distance of every quarter of an hour, even if they find that the ship is fake..."

While explaining, Li Mingxun drew pictures with a quill and a wooden board, and calculated them aside. Everyone around was shocked and stunned. Not only did they not understand what Li Mingxun said, such as the speed in the joints and angles in degrees. Even the Arabic numerals written by Li Mingxun on paper were read into heaven. After Li Mingxun finished speaking, Lin Cheng swallowed his saliva, wiped the sweat on his forehead, and said, "Hehe, Mr. Li is really a god!"

"But... I didn't understand what you said at all, just say what the result is." Lin Cheng said honestly.

Li Mingxun smiled. The homework and function calculations on the diagram just now made him a little selfless. He forgot that these were all rude and ignorant words. So he said: "Unless the Spaniards discovered that the ship was fake within an hour and a half, it would be impossible to catch up with us."

"I'm relieved." Lin Cheng breathed a sigh of relief, sat on the chair, and waved his hand: "Since that's the case, let's go and rest."

After everyone left, Lin Cheng pulled Ah Hai and said, "Explain and explain to me what Mr. Li said just now, what is trigonometric function and what is relative distance..."

Ah Hai scratched his head: "Uncle, I can't understand either."

"How could you not understand? Haven't you studied with him for more than a month in Manila?" Lin Cheng asked in surprise.

Ahai looked embarrassed and said, "Uncle, I have told you a long time ago that Mr. Li is a man from heaven. If you have great knowledge, you can't do it. How can I learn profound knowledge in a month? Besides, why should I teach me? This knowledge can determine the life and death of hundreds of people in just a few breaths."
Chapter completed!