Chapter 193: A Mosquito Bites an Elephant

A little over an hour later, the Yuan Dou, weaving erratically across the sea, had the European-style ship opposite in sight through its telescope.

The moment the Spanish royal flag — gold and red, emblazoned with lions and castles — leaped into the lens, Pan Mingzhong immediately shouted to Lei Jian, who was on duty in the stern cabin: "Send a message, send it now, tell them to send people."

While Pan Mingzhong observed his opponent from the Yuan Dou, Ensign Diego Sandoval — wearing a white shirt and blue short coat, a broad-brimmed hat on his head, copper buttons sewn onto his rolled-up sleeves — stood on the forecastle of the Alicante, observing that black dot on the sea through a classic brass single-tube telescope.

The Alicante was a galleon displacing only 180 tons. As a supply ship running exclusively between Taipei and the Philippines, the Alicante had set out on this trip as an empty vessel from Jilong Bay in Taipei.

Apart from a pitifully small quantity of sulfur, some cloth, and porcelain, the galleon carried nothing.

In this period of 1628, the Spanish in Taipei were enduring harsh times. Whether it was San Salvador City, built at Jilong and Peace Island (Sheliao Island), or the recently begun Santo Domingo at Tamsui, both were surrounded by hostile native tribes.

The Spanish could not obtain supplies, and their early plundering of native lands and villages had created terrible repercussions — after this, the natives refused to sell grain to the broad-faces. Due to the supply ship's delays, the soldiers in the fortress had at one point been reduced to eating dogs and rats to stave off hunger.

At present, all supplies needed in Taipei still had to be shipped from the Philippines. Moreover, because of pirates and the lack of trade goods, the number of Fujian merchants coming to Jilong Bay to trade was also gradually declining.

..... So, the captain of the Alicante, Ensign Diego Sandoval, upon seeing the flat-bottomed junk approaching from the opposite direction, had no desire to have any dealings with them.

Whether this junk was a merchant ship heading to trade in Japan or a pirate ship heading to plunder Japan, Sandoval was prepared to pass them by...... The Alicante's mission was to reach the Philippines in time and then bring supplies back to Jilong; other options did not fall within the ensign's considerations.

However, things did not go as one wished. God was probably scrolling through TikTok at that moment and had no time to bless his flock. So, twenty minutes later, when Sandoval saw that junk begin to make strange maneuvers — coming straight at them against the wind — he knew trouble had arrived.

"I need the gunners to be ready! You, go kick those bastards in the cabin up onto the deck. Also, three men on standby at the mainmast at all times, everyone else grab a weapon, and the helmsman keep our heading steady!"

Under the command of the experienced Ensign Sandoval, the Alicante swiftly completed its battle preparations. And at that very same moment, the strange junk opposite had, from an angle, entered within five hundred meters off the galleon's port bow.

The Spanish ship was at that moment sailing straight south, following the coastline of Tai Island on its starboard side.

Although all the crew, including the ensign, found it very strange that a junk was charging against the wind — some even looked up deliberately at the wind vane — the ensign still ordered the ship to hold its course. Whatever the opponent intended, the galleon, now running full sail with the wind, was in optimal condition and fully capable of meeting the challenge.

When two ships sail toward each other, the distance closes very quickly. A few more minutes passed, and when the junk closed in to a distance of three hundred meters off the port bow, it finally turned: it began to level its course parallel to the Alicante.

Seeing this situation of passing by each other, Ensign Sandoval naturally did not think the other party had come just for amusement. Sure enough, very soon, the galleon received flag signals from the other side.

"Heave to... submit to inspection..."

The ensign fell into confusion.

At a distance of three hundred meters, one could see very clearly through a telescope. Although Sandoval could not read the unique hand-embroidered brocade art-style Chinese character surname banner on the junk, that was unimportant. What was important was that he could clearly see the armament on the approaching ship... there was no armament.

There was only one row, roughly ten or so crewmen, standing behind the bulwark holding something resembling bird blunderbusses, their upper bodies exposed. Nothing else.

Sandoval failed to identify the machine gun nest atop the sand ship's sterncastle, or the M2HB heavy machine gun with only a section of its barrel exposed. So, the ensign had now completed his assessment: stripping away their astonishingly superb sail-handling skill, this was nothing but a damned pirate ship.

..... The Alicante's displacement was not high, only 180 tons, slightly more than the junk opposite. However, the Alicante's armament included four half-serpentines.

Two 8-pounder cannons and two 6-pounder cannons were now in position on the port side, solid shot and grapeshot were also ready, and the gunners only awaited the ensign's order to teach these East Asian monkeys a good lesson.

The distance of three hundred meters, in the early 17th century, was a very awkward distance.

Due to factors in craftsmanship such as cast iron quality, gunpowder mixture, and bore precision, early 17th-century Western-style cannons were far inferior in range and accuracy to the naval cannons of the Opium War period.

Although the range of these cannons on the Alicante generally exceeded five hundred meters, that was the maximum range where one could not find the impact point of the cannonball. On the heaving sea surface, to achieve an acceptable hit rate with the iron balls fired, the enemy ship had to close to a distance of at least 150 to 200 meters before it was possible.

So Ensign Sandoval did not order a bombardment at this moment. He was a professional soldier; completing the return voyage mission was the most important thing. He could fully accept an outcome where both sides passed each other by — as long as the mad pirates on that ship did not try to get closer.

The junk seemed to know what the ensign was thinking. Apart from continuously sending out terse flag signals, it made no other moves. The two sides just passed each other by like this, maintaining a distance of three hundred meters.

There's a saying, isn't there: a cake always lands butter-side down...

Just as the ensign breathed a sigh of relief watching the junk sail away, the thing executed a smooth turning radius and came back.

Everyone on the Alicante was dumbfounded.

They watched helplessly as that junk showed off a radius turn, and then watched helplessly as it chased after them...... Alright, now everyone was running with the wind. The comical scene appeared once again: two ships, three hundred meters apart, advancing in parallel.

Ensign Sandoval, even up to this point, had not guessed his opponent's intent, which was very frustrating.

What were they waiting for? Reinforcements ahead, or a surprise attack after nightfall? One had to know, it was not yet noon, still a long way from nightfall.

Other than being certain the opponent would not charge in for a boarding fight, the Alicante now knew nothing, and could do nothing, about this self-invited neighbor three hundred meters away...

And the ongoing flag signal exchange between the two sides was not sufficient for the Spanish to figure out the other party's identity: because simple flag signals could not express the concept of an Exploration Team, nor could they explain the Crossing Faction on Dayuan Island.

This kind of confusion in self-representation had, in fact, existed among the Transmigrators for a long time. Nothing could be done; everything had developed too fast, causing the entire group to always lag behind the situation regarding philosophical questions like "Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going?"

Simply put, the regime lacked a mature theoretical system as support, which, when reflected in reality, resulted in institutional chaos.

Walking the streets of the Republic era, one could see merchants in long robes and mandarin jackets, and also see elites in Western suits and leather shoes, old loyalists with queues, and Eastern exchange students wearing stand-collar student uniforms — such situations arise when social change is too rapid.

From the first group of Transmigrators appearing in Hangzhou City, to the present day with Dayuan Island beginning to take shape, all of this had taken only one year.

The Transmigrators were equally overwhelmed.

Whether in thought or in institutions, as their power base expanded explosively, everyone, while desperately adapting to the actual situation, could only chaotically put forth some temporary identities as a front. In fact, until the great debate on constitutional monarchy, the Transmigrators had no unified external representation at all.

From the initial nameless merchant gang, to the pirates who plundered Dayuan, after this to the immortal soldiers and generals descended from West Kunlun, then to the exiled nobility emerging from a remote region of the Ming Nation, and recently adding the subordinates of Coastal Defense Mobile Corps Commander Cao Chuan, plus the identity and system after the constitutional monarchy...

To the Great Ming, to the Europeans, to their own subordinates, to the explanations within the Transmigrators themselves — these chaotic masks, inside and out, interwove together, and the consequence was confusion. A department like the Exploration Team, even now, could not clearly state to outsiders where they came from or what faction they belonged to.

As for a solution, at least on this day when the Yuan Dou was intercepting the galleon, there was still no news of one.

— The Rules Committee, controlled by the Imperial Han and responsible for solving these tactical problems, had recently been busy tearing into the Conservative Party Constitution Committee over the constitution, the national flag, and the previously decided national title, and had no time to care about these matters.

So, the poor signalman on the Yuan Dou could only, today, repeatedly send signals to the galleon demanding it stop, until noon, when both ships reached Kending.

The distance the Yuan Dou had covered sailing against the wind for an entire night had taken less than half an hour this morning to return to the starting point: Kending, at the southernmost tip of Taiwan.

And by this time, Pan Mingzhong and his men naturally would not allow the galleon to continue sailing south any longer. Their objective was to hijack the galleon and take it to Dayuan; everyone should be turning a corner and heading north now.

So, the Yuan Dou finally changed its flag signal the next moment: Heave to, or open battle!

Ensign Sandoval remained unmoved; the galleon continued its straight course.

Not long after, the junk pulled away further, widening the gap. Now the distance between the two ships was four hundred meters.

The next moment, from the junk's gunwale, a row of white smoke erupted in unison.

"Hahaha"... Seeing these stupid Ming Nation pirates actually firing bird blunderbusses at four hundred meters on the sea, the crew collectively burst into mocking laughter.

The bird blunderbusses indeed had no effect. After the white smoke rose, the sea surface was calm; nothing happened.

However, in the very short time that followed, another row of white smoke sprayed from the muzzles of the opposing crewmen's guns.

"These bastards actually prepared backup firearms!" a big-nosed Catalan named Puyol shouted loudly.

Before his words faded, a series of "whoosh-whoosh" sounds suddenly swept past everyone's heads.

Just as the broad-faces revealed puzzled expressions and looked at each other in dismay, from the junk, another row of white smoke erupted. This time, Puyol's big nose was smashed to pieces by a lead bullet, and fresh blood splattered all over his broad face.