In the South China Sea, east of Xin'an, a fleet of seventeen battleships and thirty-six armed merchant ships was heading east with sails.

"Dear Fernando, look at our powerful warships! Look! How charming they are! Just like the most beautiful girls! With them, the Far East will become the paradise of the Portuguese Empire. What the Dutch and the Spanish failed to do will be done in our hands! Cheers! Give to His Majesty the Great King! Honor the Governor and General! Honor our invincible Portuguese navy and warships!"

On an armed merchant ship, a drunk guy holding a bottle of rum in his hand, shaking his swaying towards the Portuguese warships walking with both sides, and standing next to him was a tall and thin young man, the young man who was the drunkard in the mouth of Fernando.

Fernando and the drunk Gustavo were partners, but compared with Gustavo, who was a sailor, Fernando was a declining nobleman. Fernando's family could be traced to the Avish dynasty. During the reign of Alfonso V, the Fernando family was named earl for their merits, thus moving towards glory.

The family continued to the end of the Habsburg dynasty. Because Fernando's patriarch stood in the wrong team at that time and was deprived of his rank of count, the family was in a slump. By the time Fernando took over the family, the former huge Fernando family had already died in name only. Apart from a small baron title, there was only a piece of dilapidated farmhouse outside Lisbon.

In order to revitalize the family business, Fernando tried his best to take out the farm and borrowed some money to follow the merchant ships to the Far East to try his luck. In this way, Fernando went from a declining nobleman to a small merchant heading to the Far East, but he was lucky. With his noble background and his knowledge and wisdom, he made a fortune soon. When he returned to Portugal, he not only paid off his debts, but also bought 80% of the new armed merchant ships with his friends, transforming from the initial small merchant to the real maritime merchant.

Gustavo was a friend of Fernando's father. He served in the Imperial Navy in his early years and served as the captain of a merchant ship after retirement. Due to this relationship, Fernando specially found Gustavo when he decided to buy a ship. After discussing it, the two decided to join forces.

Gustavo is proficient in navigation and familiar with Far East routes. Fernando is flexible and has business talent. Their cooperation is the most appropriate from the beginning. And this is true. The cooperation between the two brought them huge wealth, allowing Fernando to see hope of revitalizing his family business.

Originally, they came to the Far East this time to trade the same as before, but who would have thought that their armed merchant ship was recruited by Macau Governor Jia Shidu. Under the order of the Governor Jia Shidu and General Andrad, the commander of the Imperial Fleet, they had no chance of opposition at all. Therefore, this time the Imperial Fleet went to the Ming Navy, and their armed merchant ships were incorporated into the battle sequence.

Compared with the fanatical and simple-minded Gustavo, Fernando had no favoritism for this sudden battle. Although he admitted that the fleet of the Empire in the Far East was powerful and unrivaled, Fernando was not optimistic about the future to fight against the thriving Ming Navy in the Far East.

Fernando learned about the Far East when he was a teenager. When he became a merchant, he went to Macau many times, and he actually came into contact with this mysterious and vast place. The power and population advantage of the Eastern Empire were incomparable to the small Portuguese Empire. Moreover, since the newly rising Ming Dynasty could tie the Qing Empire and even launch a fierce offensive in the south, it was enough to prove their powerful strength.

Portugal is too far from the Far East. Although Portugal owns the land of Macau, it is too hasty to make such a decision without deciding the outcome in the Far East war. Fernando believes that if the empire wants to seek benefits in this war, it should not intervene too early, but wait patiently for the result. Only by standing on the side of the final winner can we truly achieve our goal.

Like now, before the dust settled, he couldn't wait to join the Qing Empire to launch an attack on the Ming Navy. So what if he defeated the Ming Navy? Fernando had learned about the rise of the Ming Dynasty in Macau and knew the power of the Ming Dynasty today. Without the South China Sea Navy, the Ming Dynasty still had a fleet in the north, and the other side had hundreds of thousands of troops. Even if the strategy of attacking Guangdong ultimately failed, the Ming Dynasty still had a vast territory and a terrible population advantage.

It’s still unknown who will win, but I’m just anxious to get into such an opponent. Is the Portuguese Empire right or wrong to do this?

"Gustavo, what do you think this war will be like?"

"Then you need to say, look at our warships! Dear Fernando, do you think the small sampans of the Orient can compete with such a powerful navy?" Gustavo laughed, as if Fernando had asked a stupid question.

"No, I don't doubt that our fleet will win, but Gustavo, what will come after this victory? What will it bring to us?" Fernando frowned slightly and said, "The decision of the Governor and the General is too hasty, and they are too anxious. The war in the Far East has just begun, and the Portuguese Empire should not take action so quickly. If the Qing Empire is finally replaced by the Ming Dynasty, then our actions will attract a terrible opponent and bring us disaster. At that time, we will not only lose the promises made by the Qing Empire to the empire, but even the Macau place will be lost. Without these, the Portuguese Empire will lose everything in the Far East. What does losing the Far East mean? Don't you understand this?"

"Hahaha, these are all issues that big men think about. Fernando, you're thinking too much." Gustavo said with a smile, then reached forward and pointed: "As long as we help the Qing Empire win this war, how could the Ming Dynasty replace the Qing Empire? And don't forget that in the Far East, the Qing Empire is the real giant, and the new Ming Dynasty is so weak. It is certain that they will destroy the Ming Dynasty with the strength of the Qing Empire. So, Fernando, nothing you said will happen."

"I hope..." Fernando nodded slightly, but his eyes were still looking into the distance, as if he wanted to see from the other end of the sea what the unknown future was.

Portugal is a maritime power. General Andrade, who commanded this fleet, is a brave and warlike general in the Portuguese navy. Before that, General Andrade had led the squadron to find out the situation in this sea area and successively attacked the Ming Navy.

Under the artillery fire of powerful Portuguese warships, the Ming Navy was simply vulnerable, which brought great confidence to General Andrade.

After completing the fleet assembly, General Andrad did not wait and directly led the fleet to take the initiative to fight. His goal was very direct, which was the Ming army port in South Australia. According to intelligence, the Ming Navy is now gathering in South Australia. As long as the Ming Navy is completely defeated in South Australia, General Andrad's mission will be completed.

The distance from Macau to South Australia is not too far. The Clippers can arrive in two days. In order to prevent the Ming Navy from slipping away from his nose, General Andrad commanded the fleet to advance at a cruise speed, and at the same time released several Clippers to shuttle around to find a target.

The road was calm and the early morning of the third day, the Portuguese fleet was not far from South Australia. If we continue to move forward at the current speed, we will arrive in about five more hours.

"Order the ships to maintain their formation and tell everyone that the goal will arrive in a few hours. Let me cheer up!" General Andrad looked ahead with a thousand eyes and quickly issued an order.

The order was issued from the general's flagship, Enrique, and the well-trained Portuguese ships adjusted their formation at the fastest speed, and at the same time began to prepare for pre-war preparations.

General Andrade did not want to give the Ming Navy too much reaction time. He was planning to launch an attack immediately as soon as he arrived in South Australia. With the power of the Portuguese warship, it would not take long to end the battle. In General Andrade's view, the goddess of victory was already waving to him, and his name would be known to the whole world at this moment.

"His Excellency General! I'll find the fleet ahead!"

After only half an hour, suddenly the mast's lookout hand sent a signal. General Andrad hurriedly walked to the heights a few steps, took out his eyes and looked east. At first, there was nothing but the waves on the endless sea, but after just a few minutes, sails began to rise from the sea level.

"Send a signal! Get ready for battle!" General Andrade saw that there were many ships appearing from a thousand miles away. At first glance, almost covered most of the sea area in the east. It seemed that there was no need to rush to South Australia, the Ming Navy itself had already come out. This was just right, and it would be more pleasing to his appetite for action here, so let these stupid orientals taste the power of the Portuguese Navy.

"Master! Discover Western warships!" At the same time, on the flagship of the Ming Navy, Wang Dong also discovered the Portuguese fleet that appeared to the west. When he saw the Portuguese warships lined up in an orderly manner, Wang Dong immediately issued an order to prepare for the battle.

"Damn red-haired ghost, I have come to you before I even went to find you? Today I have to let you taste my power!" Wang Dong gritted his teeth and was secretly shocked when he looked at the huge battleship in Portugal through his eyes.
Chapter completed!