"What do you mean, sir..." Bamende asked hurriedly.

"That Prince Zhao from the Ming Dynasty killed my governor, and thousands of Spanish warriors, and occupied the Philippines named after your majesty!" The vice king said with a gloomy face: "No matter how magnanimous your majesty is, he will never forgive them!"

"But what the church means is..." Bamende reminded in a low voice.

"The church is the church, and His Majesty is His Majesty." The vice prince said calmly, "For the cardinal's sake, I will give you this opportunity to atone for your sins. Go to Veracruz, bring a squadron, go to Havana, seize the Ming ships, and then send them all to Mexico City!"

He sighed and said, "No matter what your majesty decides in the end, it's always a good idea to have more chips in hand."

"I understand, Your Highness." Bamende responded, then he slapped his head as if remembering something and said, "Oh, I forgot. The Cardinal ordered me to accompany Bishop Hierro to the Vatican to report Bishop Franco's heroic act. We will set off in the next two days!"

"Is that so?" Vice King Velasquez glanced at him coldly, thinking that a bastard is indeed a bastard, not at all like the iron-blooded Duke of Alva.

"It's true, Your Highness." Bamond said with embarrassment, "Otherwise, I will go and explain the situation to the cardinal and ask him to find someone else to escort the bishop."

"You are a witness, and no one else has seen Father Franco's heroic act..." The vice king shook his head slightly and said, "I will arrange for other generals to go to Havana."

"That's such a pity." Bamende wiped his sweat and said, "It's my dream to avenge the fallen warriors!"

"There will be a chance." The vice king forced a smile and asked, "By the way, what do you think of the fighting power of the Ming people?"

"Very..." Bamende's sweat beads appeared again.

He wanted to follow Colonel Okende's instructions and talk about the progress of the Ming navy. And convey the Vice Colonel's will - 'Don't go to war with the Ming people again before the navy is thoroughly reformed. We must learn from the Ming and reform the navy..."

But when the words were on the tip of his tongue, he remembered that he had only just managed to extricate himself from this matter with the help of the cardinal. If complications arose again, he would be in trouble if he got dragged into it again.

After two defeats at Luzon, he had thought it through completely during the six months of tossing and turning on the sea. Why did he have to spend his whole life trying to justify himself, like Don Juan of Austria?

Isn't it nice to be a happy illegitimate child, to eat delicious food, drink spicy drinks, and bully men and women?

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but slowly shook his head and changed his words: "I'm sorry, Your Highness, I have never fought against them. The main force of the Philippine fleet was defeated by Colonel Okende in one battle. I, a commander without troops, can only withdraw to Cebu first."

"Has there been no one in Cebu who has fought against them?" the vice king said angrily.

"Those who fought against them either died or were captured." Major General Bamende said nonsense: "But the typhoon in the Philippines helped them a lot, so it's hard to say what their level is."

"Go ahead." Vice King Velasquez had seen too many sophisticated and selfish nobles. These people only said things that were beneficial to themselves and only did things that were beneficial to themselves. They were not willing to take risks that were not beneficial to themselves.

Seeing that he couldn't get the truth out of him, he didn't want to waste any more time on Bamond.

"Bring us the latest report from Governor Sander." After Bamende left, the vice king instructed his secretary in a deep voice.

The clerk came back soon and brought the original copy of the "Sander Report" that Zhao Hao had seen. After Vice King Velasquez received it, he had not yet presented it to the emperor for review.

He has a good memory and can remember the contents of the report after just flipping through a few pages.

Vice-Prince Velasquez felt depressed when he thought that his old subordinate was fine when he wrote the report, but now he has gone to see God and has to bear all the dishonor.

But he also knew that this was what every living person would like to see, so he could only acquiesce to this result.

"I can only capture the fleet that fell into the trap and chop off half of the Ming people's heads as a token of my apology to you." The vice king looked at the bronze Pegasus and muttered to himself:

"As for the other half, it will be used to exchange for your captured subordinates..."

~~

Havana, Cuba, the black pearl of the Caribbean, guards the gateway from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean and has an extremely important strategic position.

This is one of the earliest footholds of the Spanish colonization in America, so it was built even earlier than Mexico City. In fact, before the capital was moved, this was the center of Spanish colonization in America.

Although the capital was moved later, the prosperity of this place was not affected. Havana was still the trade center of the entire Americas. Treasure fleets carrying gold and silver goods from Mexico and Peru to Europe would stop here. They would load tobacco, cocoa, sugar and other hot products produced in Central America and the Caribbean islands and transport them back to Europe.

Merchants from various European countries and colonies also sold or bought the goods they needed here. Adventurers who were not doing well in Europe and wanted to try their luck in the colonies often made this their first stop.

Moreover, the natural environment of Havana is much better than that of Mexico City on the plateau. It has an excellent harbor, white sandy beaches surrounded by mountains and water, azure waters, dotted with coconut trees, and a mild climate with pleasant weather all year round.

And most importantly, the young girls here all have slender legs, towering breasts and round buttocks. In the eyes of those hungry colonists, soldiers and merchants who sailed from afar, even their cocoa-colored skin exudes the seductive charm of Venus.

Therefore, the prosperity here is far better than that of Mexico City on the plateau. The straight and narrow streets are bustling with people, the Spanish-style taverns are full of people, and the brothels are full of gunfire.

There is no way around it; port cities are always associated with drunken sailors and heavily made-up prostitutes.

Among the many clients, of course, generous businessmen or eloquent bards are more popular with prostitutes than those poor and rude sailors and soldiers.

But in the past month or so, this situation has changed. A large sailing ship, even larger than the Eagle of Lübeck and as magnificent as a palace, arrived at the port of Havana with a battered fleet.

People had never seen people who looked so different from Europeans and Americans.

Through the Portuguese translator on board, people learned that they came from faraway China, the country that Europeans dreamed of, the country of gold that generations of adventurers had been looking for!

They were sailing around the world, making friendly visits to countries around the world. They traveled from Asia to Europe via Africa, and when they crossed the Atlantic Ocean to America, they encountered a storm and the ship was severely damaged, so they had to enter the port for repairs. This also allowed the exhausted crew to have a good rest.

These Chinese people immediately received the warmest welcome, and a wave of Oriental fever swept across Havana.

The governor and Spanish officials warmly invited them to visit the castle and ordered the shipyard to give priority to repairing ships for the Oriental guests.

Those fallen nobles and businessmen vied to make an acquaintance with an Oriental friend, hoping to learn from them everything about the dream country.

Even prostitutes are proud to have received an oriental customer. If Europeans want to sleep with them again, they have to pay double the price!

This exaggerated worship of beauty and grace is largely due to the Chinese fans, among whom the number one Chinese fan is Marco Polo.

After The Travels of Marco Polo was published four hundred years ago, it became the most popular reading material in Europe and was known as "one of the world's greatest wonders". Its influence was so great that it was beyond imagination.

Although it contained the usual exaggeration of the writer, it still opened the eyes of medieval Europeans, showing them the rich, civilized and great Eastern civilization, and aroused the hatred of the Europeans for the darkness and ignorance of the Middle Ages. It became one of the motivations for the Renaissance.

Europeans' yearning for the Eastern world directly opened the chapter of the Age of Exploration!

Generations of sailors, with their yearning for the Eastern world, set sail and even sailed around the entire globe to find the ideal country in their hearts...

The gorgeous silk, exquisite porcelain and various beautiful Chinese products brought back from the East by Arab and Portuguese merchants further proved the greatness of the Eastern world!

In fact, Europeans projected all their dissatisfaction and fantasies about reality onto China. Even when ministers advised the king, they would always mention how China was…

In short, under the thick filter, Europeans think everything about China is good! Everything is better than them!

Moreover, the arrival of these Chinese did not break the Europeans' fantasy about the East.

They have delicate faces, soft features, fair skin, are taller than Europeans on average, and have a well-proportioned body.

Most importantly, they don’t have so much hair, such high hooked noses, and such strong body odor!

They were exhausted after a long voyage and were very dirty when they got off the ship, but the first thing they did was to find water to take a bath and put on clean and elegant clothes before moving around in the city.

They are polite to everyone, but if anyone dares to provoke them, they will definitely fight back. They never make loud noises when eating and drinking in restaurants. Although we can't understand their language, it sounds so nice.

Even when sleeping with prostitutes, they are much more considerate than those red-haired devils, and they don’t have any smell on their bodies, which makes the prostitutes love them...

They don't urinate or defecate anywhere, and they even wash their hands before and after meals!

From appearance to living habits, manners and conversation, they made the Europeans in Havana feel ashamed.

Even though they could only speak a few simple Portuguese words, people had lost their minds and thought that those stiff Chinese-style Portuguese sounded better than the one spoken by the nobles from Lisbon, so they began to imitate them.

'Amigo,jigajiga.amigabonita! '