Chapter 1750 Folk Rumors
The reason why Fei Cexian was angry was that this opening poem was not written by the storyteller himself, but was a farewell poem written by Emperor Jiajing of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty when Mao Bowen, Minister of War, went on an expedition to Annan. Although the poem was written a hundred years ago, and ordinary people may not know its background and significance, Fei Cexian, as an official in the Ministry of Rites, naturally could not hide the storyteller's tricks from him.
The storyteller's opening poem only read the first four lines, which are more appropriate to the theme. The poem actually has the last four lines: There is a species of unicorn in the sky, how can the ants in the hole escape. On the day when the imperial edict comes back in peace, I will take off my shirt with my husband.
Of course, the last four sentences mentioning the word "I" are obviously inconsistent with Haihan's system, so they have been omitted. However, using the imperial poems of the Ming Emperor to describe the Haihan Army's expedition is, at best, nondescript and forcibly pieced together, and at worst, it is an insult to the Ming Dynasty. Fei Cexian could have protested at the diplomatic level. Let Haihan officials investigate this misconduct.
But this is no longer the first time Fei Cexian arrived in Sanya, and he has a relatively deep understanding of some conditions among the local people. For example, the content of these storytellers who performed in teahouses and restaurants has actually been reviewed by the Haihan Propaganda Department, which means that everything including the opening poem should have received official approval. If Fei Cexian wanted to lodge a protest, he would most likely be kicked back and forth between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Propaganda Department, and the matter would eventually be left unsolved.
Fortunately, the storyteller did not use this opening poem to write other articles. After reading it, he got to the point. The foreign war that took place at the beginning of this year had a great impact on the South China Sea. Haihan and Spain can be said to be the two countries with the most powerful military forces in the South China Sea. However, in the two confrontations in the past few years, Haihan occupied the Got the upper hand. And this battle, which determines the title of the powerful man in the South China Sea, naturally attracts the attention of other countries.
During the Battle of Manila, the progress of the war at the front could only be reported to Sanya through the military's radio station, and then the military and the Propaganda Department screened some of the information and released it to the public through newspapers. Although it is often just a few words of information, the "Haihan Times" on the market is almost out of stock every day, so much so that there were scalpers hoarding goods and raising prices. Later, when the public voice became too loud, the propaganda department began to gradually release more information and strengthened publicity activities by reading newspapers among the people. This slightly alleviated the people's desire for victory news.
However, official news is often similar to "On a certain day of a certain month, a certain unit of our army captured a certain stronghold in Manila City, capturing and annihilating several enemies", or "On a certain day, the Western Army launched a counterattack against our positions but failed." Simple and stereotyped patterns such as "capture enemy commander XX in front of the battle today". Of course, such news cannot satisfy the people's desire to know the battle situation on the front line, so under the instruction of the Propaganda Department, private creators will also write some stories based on the progress of the war and interpret them through the mouths of storytellers.
Of course, these unofficial publicity channels are not so rigorous, and there are many exaggerations and even conjectures in them. However, the Haihan publicity department is not very strict in this aspect. As long as the content is positive and uplifting, most of them can pass smoothly. Official review. As for whether these various interpretations have official instructions, it's hard to say. From Fei Cexian's point of view, Haihan has always been strict in monitoring publicity, and it should be inevitable that some officially required content must be added.
After the Battle of Manila, the details of the battle process were gradually revealed, and the content of the folk storytellers' performances gradually improved. They no longer had to rely solely on imagination as they did in the previous two months. The restaurant owner said earlier that there was news from the military, but he was not necessarily bragging. After all, many troops participating in the war have returned to Sanya and will participate in the National Day military parade tomorrow. When these soldiers come back to meet their relatives and friends, they will more or less talk about the fighting situation in Manila. It is not surprising that some news from the front line leaks out.
The storyteller hired by the Cantonese restaurant was talking about the Haihan Navy's attack on Manila Port today. Haihan officials have actually disclosed a lot about this battle, but the thousand-character article in the newspaper was not as clever as the storyteller. The eloquent performance was interesting, so the guests present were still very enthusiastic about it.
"Everyone, although the Spaniards suffered two defeats at the hands of our Haihan Army before, they are not simple characters. I think that Luzon Island was originally under the rule of the Ming Dynasty. When the Sanbao eunuch went to Nanyang, he used the name of Emperor Yongle The edict appointed the local Han leader Xu Chailao as the governor of Luzon. However, after the Spanish arrived in Luzon, they took the place as their own. In terms of combat power, before our Han army took action, no country in the South China Sea could. Compete with it.”
Su Keyi couldn't help but snorted when he heard that the storyteller deliberately praised Spain's fighting power. Of course he knew that this was to pave the way for the Haihan Army's achievements in the future, but if no country could compete with it, the East India Company would not accept it. When the Dutch East India Company was established in 1601, its capital was already 44 times greater than that of the British East India Company, which was established three months earlier. In the thirty years after its establishment, the Dutch East India Company returned an average of 22% of annual income to shareholders. This performance was much better than Spain's operating level in the Far East.
Of course, the economic rivalry was only part of the dispute between the two countries. The real conflict lay in the Dutch War of Independence that began in 1568 - which the Spanish Empire called the Low Countries Rebellion. After many naval battles, the two countries signed a 12-year armistice agreement in 1609. However, after the armistice agreement expired in 1621, the war between the two countries restarted again. Until now, they are still in a state of war, with overseas colonies in the Far East Naturally, they have always been hostile. Therefore, when it comes to Haihan's attack on Manila, the Dutch attitude is that they are happy to see the results and hope that the Spaniards will suffer as much as possible.
Although the two parties did not have many direct confrontations in the Far East, they both happened to have a head-on conflict with Haihan. The Spaniards were defeated again and again. Now they even exported Manila, while the Netherlands only lost the island of Ambona. , at least Taiyuan Port on the west coast of Taiwan Island has been well preserved, while the stronghold built by the Spanish in Taipei has long since become Jilong Port under Haihan's rule. Which one is strong and which one is weak is obvious to Su Keyi. Where do the Spaniards have the qualifications to claim to be second in the South China Sea?
When Su Keyi was dissatisfied, the storyteller had already gone on to introduce the defense situation of Manila Port. The Spanish had invested a lot of resources to build coastal defenses, which were enough to make any enemy who invaded Manila Bay fearful, even Haihan. The Navy is no exception.
These introductions aroused Fei Cexian's attention. If the coastal defense line can be built with solid coastal defenses and powerful artillery, then even a strong enemy like Haihan will have to avoid three points. This may be the key to defending against Haihan in the future. One solution is to launch an attack from the sea - of course, the premise is that Ming Dynasty can get enough large-caliber coastal defense guns.
However, the war in Manila has long ended, and Fei Cexian also knows that the Spanish defense strategy did not play its due role in the end, so where the Spanish failed was also something that he needs to carefully understand. . Of course, the Haihan Army's method of defeating the enemy does not seem to be complicated. It is to actively bypass the port defenses on which the Spaniards have high hopes, land far away from Manila, and choose another direction on land to attack Manila. Go on the offensive. But this is easier said than done. To accurately judge the defensive deployment of the defenders and adjust their tactics accordingly, not just any army can do it, not to mention that Haihan is thousands of miles away from the homeland. It is not easy to collect intelligence when fighting in an unfamiliar environment. It is even more difficult to know oneself and the enemy well enough to arrange troops in a reasonable manner.
Of course, the storyteller didn't know how far in advance Haihan's intelligence work started before the war. He didn't even know how Haihan got the Spanish's city defense deployment information, so that he could choose the south of the city as the focus of the attack. But it doesn't matter if there is no inside information. He has his own way to attract the audience's attention.
"The Western thieves have laid a heavy defensive trap in Manila Port, waiting for our Haihan fleet to crash into it. However, our Haihan army has conquered all over the world and is invincible. Our combat experience is far superior to that of the Western thieves. How can these evil tricks defeat our army?" Deceived? Commander Wang sent his general Wu Sen to sail to Manila Port to find out.”
"Everyone, this general is not an ordinary person. He is a stranger who was conquered in Hue, South Vietnam by the leaders in the early years. It is said that General Wu is the reincarnation of a dragon in the South China Sea. He can stay in the water for seven days and seven nights, and he is even more capable. Discerning the wind and clouds, the fleet can avoid bad weather at sea. After General Wu joined our Haihan Army, he made many military achievements, so he can serve as the navy's vanguard in the Battle of Manila..."
Fei Cexian was secretly amused when he heard this. He had access to much more information than ordinary people, and he happened to have checked out Wu Sen's information in the municipal library. He knew that this man was not a stranger reincarnated by a dragon. It was just a naval officer of the small court of South Vietnam who chose to change camps and join Haihan after being captured. He was not as miraculous as this storyteller claimed. Of course, there are a lot of exaggerated elements in storytelling interpretations. Everyone just listens to it, and few people will examine whether Wu Sen really has special powers.
Then I heard the storyteller continue to spit and say: "The ship driven by General Wu also has a certain background. It is a warship specially built for him by the Sanya Shipyard, named 'Black Shark'. This ship not only has high speed at sea It is as fast as lightning, and the hull is covered with steel armor, which makes it extremely strong. Ordinary artillery can't damage it. The most powerful thing is that the ship is equipped with two extremely powerful thunder cannons, which can sink a ship with one shot! At this point, you will definitely ask, which one is the Navy's top combat power compared to the Black Shark and the Navy's Majesty-class battleship? Hehe, I personally asked the Navy's military commander about this. Take some tea to moisten your throat, and then continue.”
The storyteller stopped there, picked up the tea cup and pretended to taste the tea. At this moment, someone came out with a tray and started collecting rewards from the table. Of course, the audience here has already received a tea fee, so this reward is not a mandatory consumption. If you think you are happy, you can pay for it. The more rewards from the audience, the more excited the storyteller will be during his performance.
Fei Cexian and Su Keyi were the shopkeepers who took the initiative to keep guests, but they didn't pay for the tea table before. Seeing the tray of rewards coming over, Su Keyi rushed ahead and took out the money and put a one-yuan Haihan coin into the tray. The man quickly responded, "Thank you for the reward, sir!"
Fei Cexian said: "It seems that Mr. Su was very happy to hear it."
Su Keyi laughed dryly and said: "Although this man talks a lot of nonsense, I also want to hear his comments on the advantages and disadvantages of the Black Shark and the Majesty-class battleships."
Regarding the situation of "Black Shark", Su Keyi, who has been stationed in Sanya for a longer time, knows much more than Fei Cexian. This battleship made its debut in the 1635 Leapfrog military exercise, and attracted the attention of various countries because of its terrifying performance. However, in the following period, this battleship did not enter service as quickly as various countries expected, but was very It continues to conduct trial adjustments in some secret sea areas in a low-key manner. It wasn't until Haihan's expedition to Manila that the warship finally officially joined the Haihan Navy under the name "Black Shark".
Regarding the performance of the "Black Shark" in Manila, there are only a few words in the official report, that is, the number of enemy ships sunk and damaged by the warship during the battle. But if someone like Su Keyi had made the effort to compile official statistics on battle results, he would have discovered that the performance of the "Black Shark" accounted for an astonishing proportion of the naval battle results. In Su Keyi's view, there are only two possibilities for such a result. Either the Spanish warships lined up to be bombarded by the "Black Shark" to improve their record, or the combat efficiency of this warship is too high, and the combat effectiveness of one ship is too high. It can be regarded as half a fleet.
The answer is obviously the latter, so Su Keyi is also very interested in knowing whether this new type of battleship will replace the existing Majesty-class battleship in the Haihan Navy. Since this storyteller claims to have comments from people in the military, it is certainly worth listening to.
After collecting a round of rewards, there were two or three yuan in the tray. The storyteller saw that it was almost time, put down the tea cup, patted the wake tree, and continued the previous topic: "Everyone, there is a junior here. My relative is on duty in the Navy, and this time he went to Manila to fight. He just returned to Sanya two days ago. Some topics cannot be discussed publicly, so I won’t talk about them in case the Propaganda Department comes later. But there are some. I can tell you something, but I want to share it with you. It’s not in vain that you donated your money just now.”
(End of chapter)