The biggest advantage of Zhang Xiaojing's arrangement is that the prisoners are no longer a burden but a labor force.

Shortly after hiding a group of ships on Devil's Island, Lin Feng once again fell into the dilemma of too many ships and not enough people.

In fact, the shipbuilders of that era were very familiar with shipbuilding, and most of the 1,000 Spanish captives knew how to operate a ship.

But Lin Feng didn't dare to use them.

Because a ship is a small society. Except for the lack of love between men and women, it also has all kinds of grudges, hatreds, and human affairs.

Spain was at the peak of its power, and even the craftsmen were tainted with the arrogance of a great nation. After being captured and put on board, they had been very unruly, and when they found out that the fleet was about to sail away, there was a high chance that they would cause trouble.

Therefore, Lin Feng did not dare to use them and only locked them up on the stolen cargo ship. In addition to normal ship operation, they also had to send people to guard the prisoners, which made the crew very tired.

But with this arrangement, Zhang Xiaojing could let the captives operate the ship without any worries. In this way, she only needed to arrange a few native crew members on each ship to serve as captain, first mate, helmsman, etc. to give orders and control the direction.

At most, a small team of Marines could be added to serve as armed support for the captain to maintain order.

In this way, a stable three-layer structure of "rulers-accomplices-ruled" was established. The rulers not only had accomplices to help suppress the lower classes, but also had a buffer layer to absorb the anger of the lower classes.

In this way, the main contradiction on the ship shifted from the contradiction between the Ming people and the Spaniards to the contradiction between the black slaves and the Spaniards.

The accomplices will do their best to suppress the lower levels to demonstrate their value to the top levels.

The lower class will only hate the accomplices, and will try to please the upper class who have the power to restrain the accomplices in order to improve their own situation.

In a stable system where all classes have to please the ruler, as long as the ruler can provide enough resources, it will be enough to keep this small society running to the end of the voyage.

Otherwise, Zhang Juzheng always lamented that he had given birth to so many sons, but the one who looked most like him was his daughter...

~~

With more labor at hand, Lin Feng finds it much easier to make decisions.

She first streamlined the captured cargo ships, leaving only enough supplies and burning all the worthless ships and cargoes.

Finally, ten sailing ships in good condition with a tonnage of more than 300 tons, suitable for long-distance voyages, were left. Each ship was assigned 100 Spaniards, 100 blacks, and 20 native crew members.

In this way, only 200 people are needed to drive ten sailboats. After the original six ships have met the minimum crew quota, there will still be 150 to 60 reserve crew members.

Considering that the flight to Manila is long but safe, this arrangement is not too risky.

Lin Feng stayed in Veracruz for a few more days, replenished enough drinking water, canned meat and fruit, and grabbed enough wine, sheep and alpacas... for the crew to entertain themselves during the long voyage.

They are treated as pets. Don't let your imagination run wild. When sailors have been at sea for a long time, they will even find the mice in the cabin cute.

real.

After completing all preparations, the fleet held a grand flag-raising ceremony on the morning of the tenth day of August, lowering the skull and straw hat pirate flag and raising the bright sun and moon flag again.

Thus, the privateering fleet that had been a scourge in America for two years was transformed into a peaceful fleet making friendly visits around the world.

"Keep your mind focused on the whole journey, think about your original status, and don't go back and embarrass me!" Lin Feng gave a speech as usual. She first said to the group of sailors: "When you go back, you will be rich and powerful, so you must respect your status!"

"Hahaha!" The sailors whistled desperately. How could they spend so much silver?

"And you!" Lin Feng said to those former young masters, "Stop swearing all day long. Clean yourself up and don't act like beggars... Forget it, you are better at pretending than me!"

The young masters were stunned for a long time before they suddenly realized and smiled bitterly.

After executing two young masters who attempted to sabotage the supply and force the fleet to return in East Africa, Lin Feng no longer treated these privileged ship owners with favoritism. He ordered that all matters on the ship, regardless of status, should be handled by everyone. Even the literati still had to wash the deck, peel onions, and empty the toilet to make full use of the limited human resources.

After two years, the masters and young men had become experienced sailors, doing the same work, eating the same meals, sleeping in the same hammocks, and following the same sheep as ordinary sailors. They had almost completely forgotten that they were originally people of status.

"Let's set sail, we're going home!" Lin Feng finally announced loudly.

"Let's go home!"

"Let's go home!" The crew's shouts echoed across the sea.

~~

Amid the roars and cheers of all the crew members, the fleet set sail westward and embarked on the journey back to Asia!

However, their captain stared blankly at the American continent gradually disappearing into the distance and sang a song sadly.

"Actually I don't want to leave. In fact, I want to stay. Stay with you, every spring, summer, autumn and winter..."

This catchy song that Master once sang really represents her mood at the moment.

"I didn't expect you to have such deep feelings for America." Zhang Xiaojing stood beside her and sighed softly, "Me too. The exotic flowers and plants, rare birds and animals here are truly unforgettable."

"No, it's because I've never had such a good time snatching in my life!" Lin Feng shook his head and said, "Although I know I won't be able to snatch so well in the future. But I still want to say, let's do it again in a few years?"

"That's great." Zhang Xiaojing smiled and nodded, but she didn't hold much hope in her heart. Because she was about to enter the next stage of her life, she was afraid that it would be difficult to withdraw for such a long time.

"You have to believe me. It won't be long before I want you to spend the rest of my life with me..." Lin Feng had already made up her mind. She was going to erect a 30-meter statue of her master in Rio. How could she not come?

In fact, according to Lin Feng's temper, she wanted to continue to the south to rob a few more waves. Because the defense here will definitely be strengthened in the future, if she doesn't take the opportunity to rob it thoroughly, it will be a shame for the Spaniards' sparse defense.

But a black slave told Zhang Xiaojing that he heard from slave traders that there was a man called "Admiral Leon" who was leading a powerful fleet northward and arrived in Lima ten days ago.

By the looks of it, we should be arriving in Panama soon.

Lin Feng was shocked, because according to her calculations, Admiral Leon would not arrive in Lima until September at the earliest, right? By then, she would have already returned.

I didn't expect you to come early.

She quickly tortured the slave ship owner and obtained more detailed information. It turned out that the King of Spain ordered Admiral Leon to be the commander of the Pacific Fleet. The original Atlantic Fleet was also transferred to the west coast as a whole, and the new home port was in Acapulco.

Moreover, life in the Strait of Magellan was too hard. Soldiers mutinied every day, and he had hanged an entire company. If he stayed any longer, he might get shot.

The whole process was unbearable. As soon as we received the order, we set off immediately.

So Admiral Leon arrived in Lima much earlier than Lin Feng expected.

No matter how arrogant Lin Feng was, he didn't dare to provoke the 18 sailing ships that were almost going crazy. Why not just run away? Otherwise, when Leon arrived, he would probably vomit out everything he had eaten, and many lives would be lost.

But Lin Feng was also content. According to Ma Yishan's preliminary statistics, the silver in the twenty sailboats was close to 300 tons, and there were 3 tons of gold...most of which was seized in Acapulco and Veracruz.

Her small goal was finally exceeded!

There are also large quantities of pure copper, lead, gems, woolen cloth, furs, guns, spices, precious wood, etc. Even if they cannot be sold at a high price when shipped back, three to five million taels of silver will be enough, right?

Even without counting the treasure hidden on the Treasure Island, her fleet brought back 35 million taels of wealth.

This is close to the financial revenue of the Ming Dynasty for three years. What else is there to be dissatisfied about?

In history, there has never been a pirate as successful as her, right? And there won't be another one in the future, right?

~~

Just as Lin Feng returned home with great pride, Admiral Leon arrived in Panama.

Because he saw the portrait of Lin Feng’s fleet in Peru and recognized it at a glance... Well, he hadn’t seen Lin Feng’s fleet either. It was Colonel Tiago who screamed after seeing it.

"The Flying Dutchman! It's flying over the Isthmus of Panama! It can really fly! Awesome Plath!"

Colonel Tiago's feelings towards the 'Flying Lakelander' have evolved from hatred and fear to admiration.

"No, they must be new here. The Ming Kingdom is not the only one that can build a flying ship!" The admiral refused to admit it. Otherwise, what on earth did he defend the Strait of Magellan for half a year? Was he defending in vain?

However, as news continued to arrive, outlining the size and route of the Ming fleet, Admiral Leon could no longer be stubborn. He knew that the Ming fleet was most likely the Flying Dutchman.

As a result, when the ship arrived in Lima, just as we were hearing Vice King Jose's crying, the messenger sent by New Spain to announce the death also arrived.

The shipbuilding base in Acapulco was burned down, two years of hard work turned to ashes, Vice King Velasquez was heartbroken and fell into a coma, and the entire Central and North America was in chaos.

Upon hearing the bad news, Admiral Leon's reaction was no better than Velasquez's. He also felt chest tightness and shortness of breath, and wanted to vomit blood!

He originally thought that things were going well in Mexico and that the expedition could be launched next year, which was why his family spent a lot of money to arrange for the position of commander of the Pacific Fleet.

Admiral Leon's wishful thinking was that he would automatically become the commander of the great expedition, or at least the commander of the navy. When the expedition was victorious and His Majesty became the king of kings, who would still hold on to his previous mistakes?

By then, my merits will definitely atone for my sins and I will even be wealthy. Maybe I can even be granted the title of Duke of Dongguan or something like that. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Now that the Ming people have burned the earth clean with one fire, everything has to start all over again.

It was not just the loss of Acapulco, nor was it just the loss of this year. In fact, that damn Ming Dynasty fleet robbed the royal family of a year's income in America on the west coast last year.

This year the West Coast was robbed from top to bottom, almost destroying the fragile colonial economy. It is unknown how many years it will take to recover.

p.s. A quarter of an hour.