Luo Dagong, who has been a local official in Shanghai for more than ten years and became a rich man due to rising land prices and high land rent income (he was originally a big landowner in Shanghai, some of the first batch of land occupied by commercial ports was

His family had seen many Western beauties, and there was a white slave girl in his own mansion who was said to be from the Ottoman Empire.

But of all the Western beauties he has seen, none can compare with the beauty in front of him. The difference is not only in appearance, but also in temperament and upbringing. This Western beauty is definitely not the kind who was trained by the slave traders of the Ottoman Empire.

Yes, female slaves who only know how to run away from good men can be compared.

If he had to find a comparable foreign girl in Grand Duke Luo's mind, probably only the Western young lady Li Shaoyou hooked up in the Holy Roman Kingdom could compare with her.

But that foreign girl looks a bit fierce, not as delicate as the one in front of me

"Mr. Mayor, your city is so big! It's bigger and more prosperous than Paris."

When Mr. Luo was admiring the beautiful woman, the beautiful woman spoke, and she started speaking in Chinese. Although her pronunciation was not accurate, she was quite fluent.

The prefect of Luo University himself had studied Latin and French, but foreign languages ​​were not easy to learn! This French girl (actually Italian) can speak such fluent Chinese, which is obviously not something that can be accomplished in a day!

Why is she, a French girl, learning Chinese? She’s weird!

"Ah," Grand Duke Luo put away his vigilant loyalty and replied with a smile, "Shanghai has indeed developed rapidly in recent years, but when it comes to historical background, it is still not as good as the capital of France, Paris, where it was fourteen years ago.

It’s a piece of countryside!”

"Really?" Mary Mancini blinked her bright eyes and said in surprise, "Only fourteen years? God, this city is not even older than me, Mr. Mayor. This city is developing so fast.

, it must be because your leadership is particularly successful, right? You are such a great mayor, you can do better than all the mayors in France!"

"Hahaha" Grand Duke Luo laughed loudly after being flattered by the little foreign horse, "I don't dare to be greedy for God's merits! The reason why Shanghai can be so prosperous is because of the unique vision of the current emperor. On the Yangtze River, which is thousands of miles away,

I chose this treasured place.”

"The Holy One today refers to His Majesty the Emperor?" Xiao Yangma asked uncertainly.

"Yes, yes," Grand Duke Luo smiled, "That's His Majesty the Great Emperor!"

"What kind of person is he?" There was a hint of expectation in the little Yangma's eyes.

Grand Duke Luo watched her expression in his eyes and already had some idea in his mind that this little foreign girl was the French Prime Minister's beauty trap!

No, we cannot let the Emperor of Heaven be deceived by this Western witch!

"Of course the Great Emperor is the hero who conquered the barbarians in the Weijia Sea!" Grand Duke Luo's face darkened, "Of course a hero has a majesty that makes people afraid to look directly at him!" He thought for a moment and added,

"If you want to find a similar king in the West, it would be Mohammed II who destroyed the Eastern Roman Empire!"

In the little Yanma's mind, Muhammad II was of course a barbaric and cruel man. His maternal uncle was a Roman Catholic cardinal. In the education provided to the little Yanma, he certainly would not speak well of the "conqueror" Muhammad II.

But the little Yanma laughed: "Muhammad II could not build such a prosperous city in such a short period of time. This shows that His Majesty the Great Emperor is more amazing than Muhammad II!

Mr. Mayor, I am already looking forward to meeting this great conqueror of the East!"

"Meet?" Grand Duke Luo was stunned, "Miss Mancini, under what name do you plan to meet the emperor?"

"Actually, I came to Laoshan Middle School and Nanjing Academy to study," Mary Mancini said to Grand Duke Luo with a smile. "Mr. Mayor, I heard that middle schools and universities in Ming Dynasty will recruit girls. There is such a thing.

Son?"

Studying? Grand Duke Luo laughed, just pretend!

"It is true that female students are admitted," Luo Dagong said, "but they need to be recommended and pass an exam before they can be admitted. Miss Mancini, do you have a letter of recommendation?"

"Mr. Mayor," Mary Mancini cast a pleading look at Archduke Luo, "you will definitely write a letter of recommendation for me, right?"

"this"

Mary Mancini smiled: "If a woman like me asks to see Mehmed II, any mayor in the Ottoman Empire will definitely be happy to introduce him.

Even if I am a spy with ulterior motives, I should be interrogated by His Majesty himself.

So the mayor of Mohammed II would only write a report of his suspicions and send it to His Majesty the Sultan!"

Grand Duke Luo thought to himself: This woman is not simple! But what she said is that a Western woman of this kind of appearance is coming to her door. As a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty, don't you report it to your father as soon as possible? Do you want to embezzle it for yourself?

Besides, I am not a lustful person today, and I will never be deceived by a Western witch with ulterior motives!

"Okay!" Thinking of this, Grand Duke Luo nodded slightly, "I will report your request to the emperor!"

On the same day, Emperor Zhu Cixiang of the Ming Dynasty was listening to the naval commander Huang Binqing and the admiral of the Yangtze River Fleet Gu Rong report on the investigation results of the Battle of Dinghai Anchorage in Laoshan Palace.

"Your Majesty, we can confirm that there are four Spanish warships that were sunk, two of which sank in the Dinghai anchorage, two of which sank in the waters outside the Big and Small Moshi Islands, and the two Spanish warships that sank outside the anchorage should have been scuttled by them themselves.

Heavy."

"Your Majesty, the Western prisoners of war have been tested one by one, and there is no doubt that they are Spanish. The battle process they described is similar to the report of the Dinghai General Army Yamen. Their warship was destroyed by our explosive shells! And ours

The ship was attacked while at anchor and burned down!"

"Your Majesty, according to the training plan of the Dongyang Fleet, the ships in the fleet all go to sea in turns, and the crew members of the twelve destroyed warships who take turns on vacation are on vacation and are not in Dinghai. The remaining crew members are also on vacation.

They were allowed to go ashore to rest. Therefore, there were not many people on board at the time and it was impossible to organize resistance."

"Your Majesty, the Navy Department has also received reports from the Toyo Fleet that the Spanish fleet has now withdrawn from the Ryukyu Kingdom and moved to Kagoshima Bay in the Satsuma Domain of Japan."

"What? Went to Kagoshima Bay? So the Satsuma Domain has surrendered to the Spanish?" Zhu Cixiang interrupted the report and turned to Zheng Zhilong who was present.

Zheng Zhilong’s face is quite solemn!

"Your Majesty, the Spaniards are going to engage in privateering!" Zheng Zhilong said, "The terrain of Kagoshima Bay is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and the strength of the Satsuma clan is not weak. If the Spaniards use Kagoshima Bay as a stronghold, they can use their ships to raid.

, there will be no peace in Southeast Haikou, and tomorrow’s trade will be unsustainable!"

"What should we do?" Zhu Cixiang asked.

"convoy!"

"Only escort!"

"The merchant ships must be organized into a group and leave the port together, and then be followed and protected by war ships!"

Zheng Zhilong, Huang Binqing, and Gu Rong all agreed, but they all looked unhappy.

Because they all know that it is much easier to rob at sea than to escort! Otherwise, before the founding of the Ming Dynasty, why did the Dutch East India Company pay tribute to Zheng Zhilong every year?

Zhu Cixiang let out a breath, already complaining a little bit about Zheng Jiangong in his heart. How come this guy can't succeed in anything he does?

If he had destroyed all the Spanish Eastern Armada, wouldn't he be able to sit back and relax now?

"In addition to escorting, is there any other way?" Emperor Zhu asked.

"Secure Kagoshima Bay!" Zheng Zhilong said, "Marine plunder also requires strongholds, and the closer the stronghold is to the waterway, the better. There are many ships in the Spanish Eastern Armada. It's not that the big bay port can't accommodate it. Now Manila Bay is blocked by us.

, the Spaniards cannot go back, and Kagoshima Bay is the best stronghold they can find. If Kagoshima Bay is taken by us, the Spaniards will have nowhere to go in the western part of the Pacific!"

Zhu Cixiang frowned: "Who will attack Kagoshima Bay? How?"
Chapter completed!