Chapter 1508: Teacher, Welcome to Surrender

September 12, 1673, in the Western calendar, morning.

North Bay, Jinmen.

On the calm sea, nine massive ships of the line were blazing fiercely, their smoke columns shooting straight into the clouds — a truly spectacular sight. Around these nine burning warships stood a ring of other ships of the line, all of them belonging to the Ming Dynasty and the United Provinces, among them Zheng Jing's flagship, the Fengyang.

Besides these great ships, many light sloops and sampans shuttled back and forth across the water, and one light sloop was speeding toward the Fengyang from a nearby beach. And that beach — it was quite a sight — at least two thousand men were packed onto it, with several white flags fluttering in the wind.

Raising a white flag means surrender. The present Ming navy had been trained hand in hand by the Dutch and the Portuguese, so of course they knew what a white flag meant, and they did not open fire. They had even sent a light sloop to inquire about the situation, and now that sloop had brought an enemy envoy back to the Fengyang.

Zheng Jing and a dozen or so senior officers of the Eastern Ocean Fleet and the United Provinces Fleet were at that moment standing in a row on the deck of the Fengyang, solemnly welcoming the Dutch officer who had come to surrender on behalf of the combined fleet of France, Holland, and Spain.

What? The enemy is coming to surrender, and the Ming side is giving them such a grand reception?

Of course — do you not see who is coming? David Jones! The former chief advisor of the Naval Academy, and still a count of the Ming Dynasty, the Count of Overcoming Hardship!

Most of the senior officers of the present Ming navy were David Jones's students! Without the strict demands of the Dutch instructors led by David Jones, these Ming naval officers would never have reached their present level.

With their honored teacher arriving, how could they not line up to welcome him?

Where would the virtue of respecting one's teacher and revering the Way have gone?

Besides, most of the Ming navy's officers came from the southeast sea merchants. Sea merchants, you see, moonlighted as pirates, and their main aim was profit — if not for profit, who would be a pirate? As a rule, when they caught a rival's men, they rarely killed them outright and fed them to the fish; they allowed the other side to pay ransom for them!

With more than two thousand men here, they could surely be exchanged for several hundred thousand or even a million, could they not?

This was all extra income for the fleet. Moreover, France, Holland, and Spain still had naval strength. This time their main fleet had tried to steal a chicken and ended up in a wolf's den, but those three countries could still turn to privateers and go raiding as sea bandits, and the Ming navy's sailors and seamen would inevitably be captured too.

So these two thousand-odd prisoners had to be kept for a future exchange.

As for the matter of them burning nine warships before surrendering, Zheng Jing did not care in the least — those ships could all be counted as sunk by his fleet anyway!

Sunk or captured, there was not much difference (in this age of explosive shells, captured warships were generally riddled with holes and of little use), and the Ming navy was not short of warships in any case!

And even if they were short, they could buy from the shipyard run by Zheng Zhilong!

"Instructor Dai, you must have had a terrible fright!" Zheng Jing said when he saw David Jones, now an old man, step onto the deck of the Fengyang. He hurried forward two steps, cupped his hands toward David Jones, and said with a cheerful smile of consolation: "Victory and defeat are common in war; the instructor need not take it to heart. Your student has already arranged a banquet to calm your nerves. Please, come inside."

David Jones smiled bitterly. War is not a dinner party — where was the sense in an enemy prisoner being invited to eat first thing upon arrival? Still, come to think of it, he was indeed a little hungry.

Since he was hungry, he might as well go along and eat. Eating was better than eating lead, was it not?

In the luxurious officers' mess of the Fengyang, Zheng Jing and a dozen or so naval officers had already taken their seats, accompanying the surrendering David Jones at the table.

As the dishes and wine were brought out one by one, Zheng Jing poured wine for David Jones and asked: "Teacher, who exactly led this Battle of Jinmen? France, Holland, or Spain?"

David Jones thought to himself: Is this little pirate trying to find out who to demand ransom from?

"The leader of the Catholic nations of Europe is now France. Although our Republic of the United Netherlands professes the Protestant faith, we too acknowledge France's leadership."

The nominal leaders of the Catholic camp in Europe had always been the Pope and the Emperor (of the Holy Roman Empire), but now the Sun King of France already had the air of riding on the necks of the Pope and the Emperor and flaunting his power.

When they heard that France was the ringleader, everyone was rather disappointed — France was poor!

"However—" David Jones's tone shifted, "however, Pope Clement X has issued a decree calling on the Catholics of Europe to throw themselves into a holy war to defend New France and New Spain. He has also decided to build a New Rome at the mouth of the Mississippi River, as the foundation of Catholicism on the great plains of North America."

In truth, Louis XIV was very shrewd — if he were not shrewd, he could not have become the Sun King, and in history he even got his hands on the Spanish throne. Though he did not take it himself, the Spanish House of Bourbon still existed into the twenty-first century!

The King of Spain in the twenty-first century still bore the name Bourbon — he was a direct descendant of Louis XIV!

And the American war directed by Louis XIV was also something he had carefully calculated.

Although France took the lead and proclaimed how many troops it would send, what it actually committed to the American theater was nine ships of the line and a little over ten thousand army troops. Moreover, those army troops were all stationed on New France's territory, which could in fact be seen as a French measure to strengthen the New Spain colony.

And the military expenses for the expedition were sponsored by the Roman Curia!

In addition, the Roman Curia contributed more than two million gold louis to build New Rome on New France's territory.

Although this New Rome nominally belonged to the Curia, being the Roman Pope's domain in New France!

But the Pope had only priests in the New World, while Louis XIV had an army of more than ten thousand men. Who would the future New Rome belong to? Was it not obvious?

"So the Pope is the leader!" Zheng Jing laughed. "The European powers have always taken the Holy Roman Emperor as their head — this responsibility belongs to the Pope!"

This blame had to fall on the Pope, because the Curia had money!

Zheng Jing said with a smile: "Teacher, rest assured — our Great Ming Empire is a land of benevolence and righteousness, and we do not kill prisoners. If you wish to surrender, we naturally welcome it, and we can guarantee the safety of your persons and of the property you carry. By the way, you burned your ships in quite a hurry — did you all manage to bring your personal property with you?"

"We all brought it," David Jones nodded. "I cannot speak for the French, but we Dutch all disembarked with our personal belongings."

"Then all is well!" Zheng Jing nodded and smiled. "We also captured quite a few Spaniards over at South Bay, and some Dutch at Middle Bay. Added together with your group, that makes roughly four or five thousand men. Jinmen Bay is not convenient for housing them, so we will arrange ships later to send you to America Bay. There are many small islands there, the climate is comfortable, and there is plenty of produce. We will arrange an island for you to stay on for now. Once you are there, you can write home to report that you are safe — and to ask for money."

David Jones sighed. It seemed that in this Battle of Jinmen Bay, the entire force had indeed been wiped out — no, not necessarily wiped out. There were still some mortar boats near Jinmen Fortress; who knew whether any had slipped through the net?

Someone had to get back to report the news. The main force of the Ming navy had all come — it seemed the Ming was about to strike hard here in the Americas!

And indeed, there were fish that had slipped through the net!

That Barbossa, who had fought the Ming troops below Jinmen Fortress for an entire night, had taken most of his men and, just before the sky fully brightened, seized the chance of the ebbing tide to slip away aboard the mortar boats.

Although four of the eight clipper ships blockading the mouth of Jinmen Strait immediately gave chase, several boats ultimately escaped, and one of them was the one carrying Major General Barbossa.

After sailing for a day and a night, the mortar boat he was aboard encountered the landing fleet loaded with large numbers of New Spain army troops, which was hovering off the coast of California. He reported to the commander of the landing fleet that the allied fleet had encountered a large Ming fleet in Jinmen Bay and had been completely annihilated.

(End of Chapter)