Chapter 1199 - Dividing Forces
As for the most critical prize—the American silver—Sun Xiao's sampling and calculations after counting the contents of one chest yielded an estimate: the San Luis was carrying approximately 130,000 pesos in royal subsidy.
"Intelligence provided us with a figure of 232,569 pesos," Sun Xiao said. "That means roughly half must be aboard the San Raimundo."
"We should try to capture that ship too!" Zhou Weisen felt the haul wasn't quite enough.
"Let's not be hasty," Lin Chuanqing cautioned. "We have to consider that it's now July—peak typhoon season. If we continue waiting in this area, we could very well encounter a storm."
Intercepting the San Raimundo would put a perfect finishing touch on Operation Hunger. But if they encountered a typhoon and lost any ship, the blow would be devastating.
Lin Chuanqing knew the sea intimately and understood that the likelihood of encountering a typhoon in Philippine waters during summer was extremely high. With their current fleet, surviving such a storm unscathed would be very difficult.
But for Zhou Weisen, this haul felt insufficient. If such a major operation ended with only a single ship and 130,000 pesos, it would inevitably provide ammunition for transmigrators who disapproved of the Geek Party and the North American Branch.
"I think we should at least try again," Zhou Weisen pressed. "We should get the silver from the second ship. Since they separated six days ago, the San Raimundo should be arriving in a few days."
"Brother Zhou, you haven't sailed the seas—you don't know how dangerous typhoons are. We have no satellite imagery, no weather forecasts. Waiting in the Philippine Sea this time of year is practically suicidal!" Lin Chuanqing habitually scratched at his hair. "Whether it's the 901 or the H800, encountering a typhoon in these reef-strewn narrow waters would mean certain destruction."
The two began arguing. Zhou Weisen believed that with the weather radar on the Feiyun for early warning, they could effectively monitor conditions for the fleet. Lin Chuanqing worried that once they encountered a typhoon, they'd lose not only the silver but possibly everything—including their lives.
Among the transmigrators, Sun Xiao was conflicted—as the Planning Commission's representative, he naturally wanted to capture as much as possible, but he was also concerned about safety. Lü Yang, with his youthful appetite for adventure, firmly sided with Zhou Weisen.
In the end, Zhou Weisen's position prevailed. The fleet decided to continue waiting for the San Raimundo. However, to reduce risk, Lin Chuanqing proposed splitting their forces.
"Today's battle was unexpectedly smooth. A single 901 is completely capable of handling a galleon. I suggest we have the Daishuang take the silver and prisoners ahead. The Haifeng can tow the San Luis. The Nongchao and Feiyun can stay behind to wait for the second ship. If we can get the silver, it doesn't really matter whether we take the ship."
"If we can bring the ship, we should try," Sun Xiao quickly added. "From my preliminary inspection today, the galleon is loaded with cargo—a significant bonus for us."
"What about the coal on the Haifeng? The Nongchao will need to refuel for the return trip. Better to have the Daishuang tow the San Luis back."
"No—if the Daishuang encounters an enemy while towing, that would be very problematic. Once engaged in combat, she'd have to cut the San Luis loose. The Nongchao is fully coaled now—more than enough for maneuvering and the return voyage. Besides, the return trip is downwind—even without coal, she could sail back."
"I think that works," Zhou Weisen agreed. "Let's also leave behind some supplies and ammunition—build in a good margin."
LĂĽ Yang hadn't gotten his fill of action. During today's battle, the Nongchao had fired plenty of rounds following the flagship, but since she was sailing in formation and couldn't fully bring her guns to bear, she'd mostly played a supporting role.
He very much wanted to continue hunting the next ship, but Lin Chuanqing was the squadron commander—there was no possibility of him returning first. As captain, he couldn't very well request to stay behind alone, so he sighed and expressed his obedience to orders.
"Then it's settled. Tomorrow we'll adjust the cargo, then send the Daishuang and Haifeng ahead."
The next day's main task was transferring the silver chests already loaded aboard the Nongchao to the Daishuang. The marines and sailors worked themselves ragged for most of the day. Meanwhile, with Zhou Weisen and others as witnesses, Sun Xiao opened the luggage recovered from the sterncastle.
The sterncastle often stored the most valuable property aboard ship: the ship's funds, personal cargo belonging to senior officers—usually high-priced goods. Some captains also hid wealth accumulated during their voyages in their cabins. As for the elegantly dressed noblewoman prisoner, she obviously would have brought substantial valuable luggage.
Sure enough, these chests did not disappoint. Several iron-banded oak strongboxes were filled with silver and gold coins. Though not comparable to the American silver, this alone constituted a substantial fortune.
Then came treasures from the New World: emeralds, rubies, diamonds, and Caribbean sea pearls; silver bars, gold ingots, gold chains; all manner of jewels set in various ornaments. Though the quantities weren't large, the value was immense. As for the masses of gold and silver-embroidered garments, high-quality cloth of feathers and cotton, fine woolen goods and silks—these hardly merited mention.
Sun Xiao worked non-stop counting, recording, and boxing everything, laboring the entire day before completing the inventory. From the sterncastle alone, they'd recovered 25,000 pesos in silver coins and 2,000 escudos in gold, plus over a hundred silver bars and twenty gold bars. Zhou Weisen estimated that most of the bars were illegally exported from New Spain—they bore no official stamps.
"If I'm not mistaken, this isn't all of it—there should be a considerable portion stored in the cargo hold of the San Luis. Once we get back and translate the cargo manifests, we'll have a very clear picture. As for other cargo, not much of it is useful to us—we'll have to sell it off."
After the inventory and packing, this treasure was also loaded aboard the Daishuang. By the time all the shuffling finished, fewer than two hundred prisoners remained unburied at sea. They were brought aboard the Haifeng and confined in the emptied coal bunker.
The Daishuang transferred a portion of supplies and ammunition to the remaining flagship, leaving behind one of the rowboats from the San Luis for landing purposes. Then, catching a light southeast wind, she unfurled full sail and headed north, towing the San Luis with her missing mast, accompanied by the Haifeng.
The Nongchao remained on station while the Feiyun continued forward, searching for the San Raimundo. Since the two ships had separated six days ago, the other vessel should appear at the strait entrance in another five or six days.
So the Feiyun continued her radar search east of the strait while the Nongchao slowly sailed west through the San Bernardino Strait, surveying the shipping channel along the way.
Early the next morning, when Zhou Weisen tried to check the surrounding weather conditions, he discovered the weather radar was broken. The navigation radar being used for surface search still worked. Zhou Weisen cursed bitterly but could do nothing—the equipment hadn't been powered on for three years. Despite their best maintenance efforts, the seldom-used weather radar aboard the Feiyun had fallen into a state of benign neglect. They were lucky it hadn't been cannibalized for parts to repair other systems.
Zhou Weisen roused Lin Chuanqing, who had just gone to sleep after the night watch, and informed him of the situation.
"This is exactly what I was afraid of! Now this is getting dangerous—if the weather changes on us, we're finished!" Lin Chuanqing, sporting dark circles under his eyes, was deeply unhappy.
"It should be okay, right? Historical records say Manila didn't have any catastrophic weather around this time. This timeline seems to be behaving itself—no major butterfly effects so far."
"Better to be safe. I think we shouldn't operate in open sea anymore—let's move back to the eastern strait entrance. The San Raimundo still shouldn't be able to escape us. At night, we'll just anchor near shore. The radar can still give us several hours' warning for interception."
"All right. Should we send a telegram to notify Lingao first?"
"Of course."
Both Lingao and the homeward-bound Daishuang received the telegram. Everyone felt somewhat uneasy. The Executive Committee sent a reply suggesting that if they detected any weather changes, they should not continue waiting for the Manila Galleon but return immediately. Lin Chuanqing sensed trouble and proposed a meeting to discuss the situation.
That night the four transmigrators met aboard the Feiyun and decided to return immediately. After losing the weather radar—their last early-warning system—continuing to wait here would be extremely unwise.
That night, Lin Chuanqing noticed scattered cirrus clouds on the southern horizon. His brow furrowed. The next morning, Zhou Weisen aboard the Feiyun sensed something was wrong—there were more clouds now, wind had increased to about Force 4, and the direction had shifted from the steady southeast of the past two weeks to east-southeast.
"Could this be a typhoon?" He couldn't help worrying. After a brief meeting with Lin Chuanqing, they decided to return immediately. If winds intensified further in the afternoon, they would seek shelter in a cove near Samar Island.
Before noon, winds had reached Force 6, whipping up long white-capped waves. Lin Chuanqing concluded that a typhoon had formed and was rapidly approaching—they were now within its outer bands.
At the Feiyun and Nongchao's average speed of nine knots, there was no chance of outrunning the typhoon before it arrived—typhoons moved at least twenty to thirty kilometers per hour, sometimes reaching two hundred. Their only option now was to find shelter.
The squadron rounded Samar Island's northern cape and anchored about two hundred meters apart in waters along the northwest-facing coast. Fortunately, with the wind coming from the east, the swells at anchorage weren't too bad.
(End of Chapter)