Chapter 971: I'm Just Here to Study (Please Subscribe)

After serving as a local official in Shanghai for over a decade, Luo Dagong — who had himself become a hugely wealthy man thanks to rising land prices and high rental income (he had originally been a major Shanghai landowner, and some of the first land seized for the treaty port had belonged to his family) — had seen his fair share of Western beauties. In his own residence there was even a white slave woman said to be from the Ottoman Empire.

But of all the Western beauties he had seen, not one could compare to the beauty before him now. The difference was not only in looks, but in bearing and refinement. This Western beauty was by no means comparable to a female slave trained by Ottoman slave traders to do nothing but please men.

If one had to find a foreign girl in Luo Dagong's memory who could match her, it would probably only be the young Western lady Li Shaoyou had picked up in the Holy Roman Empire.

But that foreign girl had a rather fierce look about her, and she was not as delicate as the one before him now.

"Mister Mayor, your city is truly enormous! Even larger and more prosperous than Paris!"

Just as Luo Dagong was admiring the beauty, she spoke — and the moment she opened her mouth it was in Chinese. Though her pronunciation was off, she was remarkably fluent.

Prefect Luo had studied Latin and French himself, so he knew foreign languages were not easy to learn! For this little French miss (actually an Italian) to speak such fluent Chinese was clearly not the work of a single day!

What was a little French girl doing learning Chinese? Something was fishy!

"Ah," Luo Dagong said, putting away his wary loyal heart and answering with a smile, "Shanghai has indeed developed rather quickly these past years, but in terms of historical depth it still cannot compare to the French capital of Paris. Fourteen years ago this place was still all countryside!"

"Really?" Marie Mancini blinked her bright eyes in astonishment. "Only fourteen years? Dear God, this city is younger than I am! Mister Mayor, the city has developed so quickly — surely it must be because of your especially successful leadership? You are truly a remarkable mayor, more capable than all the mayors of France!"

"Hahaha!" Luo Dagong laughed heartily at the little foreign filly's flattery. "I would not dare claim credit for Heaven's work! The reason Shanghai has flourished so is all due to His Majesty's singular vision, in choosing this treasured spot upon the ten-thousand-li Yangtze."

"His Majesty... you mean the Emperor?" the little foreign filly asked uncertainly.

"Yes, yes," Luo Dagong said with a smile. "The Great Emperor himself!"

"What sort of man is he?" A trace of anticipation appeared in the little foreign filly's eyes.

Luo Dagong took in her expression, and a rough idea formed in his mind. This little foreign girl was the French chief minister's honey trap!

No — he could not allow the Son of Heaven of the Great Ming to be bewitched by this Western demoness!

"The Great Emperor is, of course, a mighty sovereign whose power extends across the realm and who has swept clean the barbarians on every border!" Luo Dagong's face turned stern. "One who is a mighty sovereign naturally possesses a majesty that none dare look upon directly!" He thought for a moment, then added, "If one had to find a comparable monarch in the West, only Mehmed II, who destroyed the Eastern Roman Empire, could be measured against him!"

In the little foreign filly's mind, Mehmed II was of course savage and cruel — her maternal uncle was a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, and the education provided to her naturally said nothing good about Mehmed "the Conqueror."

But the little foreign filly merely smiled. "Mehmed II could never have built such a flourishing city in so short a time. That shows the Great Emperor is even more remarkable than Mehmed II!

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

"Meeting him?" Luo Dagong was taken aback. "Miss Mancini, under what pretext do you intend to seek an audience with the Emperor?"

"Actually, I have come to study at Laoshan Middle School and the Nanjing Academy," Marie Mancini said with a smile to Luo Dagong. "Mister Mayor, I have heard that Ming middle schools and universities admit female students. Is that true?"

Study? Luo Dagong laughed inwardly. Go on, keep pretending!

"They do indeed admit female students," Luo Dagong said. "But admission requires a recommendation and passing an examination. Miss Mancini, do you have a letter of recommendation?"

"Mister Mayor," Marie Mancini cast a pleading look at Luo Dagong, "you will surely write a recommendation letter for me, won't you?"

"Well..."

Marie Mancini smiled. "If a woman like me asked to see Mehmed II, any mayor in the Ottoman Empire would certainly be glad to make the introduction.

Even if I were a spy with ill intentions, I ought to be interrogated by His Majesty himself.

So Mehmed II's mayor would simply write his suspicions into a report and send it to His Majesty the Sultan!"

Luo Dagong thought to himself: this woman is no simple creature! But she had a point — when a Western woman of this quality delivers herself to your door, and you are a loyal subject of the Great Ming, should you not report it at once to your sovereign and father? Did he intend to keep her for himself?

Besides, the present Son of Heaven was no lecher, and would never be bewitched by a scheming Western demoness!

"Very well!" Having thought it through, Luo Dagong nodded lightly. "This official will report your request to the Son of Heaven!"

That same day, the Ming Emperor Zhu Cilang was in Laoshan Palace listening to Navy Commissioner Huang Binqing and Yangtze Fleet Admiral Gu Rong report the findings of the investigation into the Battle of the Dinghai Anchorage.

"Your Majesty, it has been confirmed that four Spanish warships were sunk. Two of them went down inside the Dinghai anchorage, and two sank in the waters beyond the Greater and Lesser Moshi Islands. The two that sank outside the anchorage were most likely scuttled by the Spaniards themselves."

"Your Majesty, the Western prisoners of war have also been checked one by one, and they are unquestionably Spaniards. Their account of the engagement is roughly consistent with the report from the Dinghai Regional Commander's yamen — their warships were destroyed by our explosive shells! And our ships were burned after being taken by surprise while at anchor!"

"Your Majesty, according to the Eastern Fleet's training plan, the fleet's ships rotate out to sea and rotate on leave. Eight or nine out of ten crewmen from the twelve destroyed warships were on leave and not at Dinghai. The remaining crewmen were also permitted to go ashore to rest. So there were very few men aboard at the time, and resistance could not be organized."

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

"What? They went to Kagoshima Bay? So the Satsuma Domain has gone over to the Spanish?" Zhu Cilang interrupted the briefing, his gaze turning to Zheng Zhilong, who was present.

Zheng Zhilong's expression was extremely grave.

"Your Majesty, the Spanish are going to wage a privateering war!" Zheng Zhilong said. "The terrain of Kagoshima Bay is easy to defend and hard to attack, and the Satsuma Domain's strength is not weak. If the Spanish use Kagoshima Bay as a base and send out ships to raid in all directions, the southeastern sea lanes will know no peace, and the Ming-Japan trade will be hard to sustain!"

"Then what do we do?" Zhu Cilang asked in return.

"Convoy!"

"Convoy is the only way!"

"We must organize the merchant ships into convoys, have them leave port together, and be escorted by warships!"

Zheng Zhilong, Huang Binqing, and Gu Rong were of one mind — though none of their faces looked happy.

For they all knew that raiding at sea was far easier than escorting! Otherwise, why had the Dutch East India Company paid tribute to Zheng Zhilong year after year before the founding of the Ming?

Zhu Cilang let out a breath, inwardly already somewhat resentful of Zheng Chenggong. How was it that this fellow failed at everything he attempted?

If he had wiped out the Spanish Eastern Invincible Armada, wouldn't they all be sleeping soundly now?

"Apart from convoying, is there any other way?" the Emperor asked.

"Take Kagoshima Bay!" Zheng Zhilong said. "Raiding at sea also requires a base, and the closer the base is to the shipping lanes, the better. The Spanish Eastern Invincible Armada has many ships — only a great bay and a large harbor can hold them. Manila Bay is now blocked by us, so the Spanish cannot go back, and Kagoshima Bay is the best base they can find. If we take Kagoshima Bay, the Spanish will have nowhere left to go in the western Pacific!"

Zhu Cilang frowned deeply. "Take Kagoshima Bay... who would go? How would it be done?"

(End of Chapter)