According to the information released by the Oceanic Administration, Fujian has 2,214 large and small islands. In other words, even Fujian locals can never say the name of the island at their doorstep. These islands are as large as counties and counties, and as small as half an acre of land, they are distributed along the coast of Fujian like broken stars, especially the most islands in the ocean between Fuzhou and Putian.

On June 24, 1628, three graceful cruisers with soft white sails were ambushed in an unnamed bay in the Meizhou Islands.

The naval task force under the command of Liu Zhe set off almost at the same time as Zheng's fleet. The difference between the two is that Zheng Zhilong sailed from the port of Fuzhou early in the morning, while at the same time, the task force sailed from the port of Dayuan.

It's late June. The southeast monsoon winds blowing from the Pacific Ocean allowed the task force to operate across the Strait at a high speed of 12+ knots only by relying on sails. When the fleet pulled out a diagonal line from Dayuan and came to the area of Meizhou Island off the coast of Putian, it took only 14 hours to travel a total of 300 kilometers.

The dark night was difficult to travers, and the fleet soon chose a small bay facing the direction of Fuzhou among the nameless islands near Meizhou Island, and anchored and anchored.

There is a reason why the Zheng fleet was ambushed off the coast of Meizhou Island. Zheng's fleet, which left Fuzhou from the mouth of the Minjiang River, would soon encounter a complex archipelago topography with Pingtan Island as the core in the process of heading south.

This area belongs to the sea off Fuqing, with dense islands of all sizes, tortuous waterways, and too many uncontrollable factors, which is not suitable for high-speed fleet maneuvering. The entire archipelago area will only become empty until it reaches the south of Nanri Island.

Therefore, the task force set the ambush position on the ocean between Meizhou Island and Nanri Island - further south, it entered the boundary of Quanzhou, which was a little close to Zheng's large army, and it was not safe.

As for Zheng's fleet, it was anchored and stopped before dark, and the Fu ship was not equipped with radar and sonar. Zheng is now from north to south, headwind, a day's time, the Fu fleet can't run out of the range of Nanri Island no matter what.

In fact, the Traversal are now well aware of the location of the Zheng fleet.

The pocket watch that was given to Zheng was only used to locate him - the battery and transmitter in the pocket watch were too small, so the monitoring distance was not far. As for the Zheng fleet...... Such an important large-scale operation that consumed countless resources, it is natural that the traversal will not pin their hopes on a small pocket watch.

Just a few days after the Zheng family's fleet was moored at the Fuzhou wharf, the Fuzhou station had already sent several "gifts" into the fleet through different government officials. It also includes a gift from Huang Juren, a popular painting of the governor's yamen: the bronze Buddha.

The pot-bellied bronze Buddha was finally entrusted to Zheng Zhihu by Huang Juren on the day when Lao Xiong saw him off. And Zheng Zhihu also made a promise on the spot: he would definitely bring the bronze Buddha to a certain Huang master in Zhangzhou in the same year.

Therefore, the task force now knows the location of the Zheng family's fleet very well: on the LCD screen of the computer, several red dots located in the north of Nanri Island are clearly displayed.

......

Early the next morning, off the coast of Meizhou Island.

The task force is slowly circling the ocean. Sailors, who have been formally trained for more than half a year, are completing a series of pre-war tasks on the bumpy deck: handling the sails, washing the deck, maintaining the guns, tying up the goods...... The whole scene was well-organized, busy but not chaotic, and fully reflected the results of the hard training of the navy.

These sailors today uniformly wear indigo cardigans and leggings with 7-point trousers. In addition, they wear leather shoes on their feet today: buffalo leather shoes.

With a large number of supplies procured in the city of Fuzhou, the textile mill finally had enough ramie for weaving. Similar to denim, the twill imitation denim woven from 30 threads by 3 strands of ramie is quite powerful, and it has become the main clothing material for soldiers and workers as soon as it leaves the factory.

In addition to its heaviness and easy discoloration after dyeing with natural indigo, this cloth had few drawbacks, so the navy used this cloth in large numbers to make clothing.

As for the expensive leather shoes, there is no way to do it - the Crossing Crowd cannot tolerate the fact that on the battlefield, their own soldiers still wear straw sandals. So, to tell the truth, some people really gritted their teeth and bled in today's operation.

Leather shoe craftsmanship is not worth mentioning to a certain force. More than 200 people have traveled through the public, and there are no less than 5 people who have done leather shoes in Wenzhou "before their death", including the famous Wenzhou tannery.

The difficulty of leather shoes is the material.

Taiwan can provide a large number of deerskins, but there are no cowhides. The deerskin is excellent for making soft high-end bags, but it is very inappropriate for soldiers who train in cross-country every day.

Therefore, cowhide, which can only be imported from the other side of the sea for the time being, is now a straining commodity. These large scalp shoes, which were issued to soldiers, were usually carefully preserved after a few days of running-in, and only for ceremonies and battles like today's were put on the feet.

......

Army soldiers dressed in the grey colour of the lamp grass will also take turns practising sighting at the side of the ship. Originally, it was decided to send 50 army soldiers per ship, but the number was reduced to a part due to space problems.

The reason why I wear a little earthy lamp grass gray military uniform is because it is one of the easiest plant dyes to get at present. As for whether to take the hot route of the British Emperor's big red lobster soldiers or the cold route of the German Iron Gray after the chemical dyes are done in the future, this has been torn apart by some people at present, and it has not yet been decided.

It's already 10 a.m. on June 25. This fleet, which concentrates the essence of the passing army, is slowly swimming in the sea off Meizhou Island, like a few lazy sharks, waiting for the prey to come to the door.

A group of crossing officers were now concentrated in the stern of the flagship No. 301, collectively paying attention to the red dot on the computer screen representing the Zheng family's fleet.

"If I were Zheng Zhilong, the first time I saw the fleet, I would turn around and run in the direction of the mainland, maybe there would be a glimmer of life." Dressed in light-colored tropical camouflage and with a two-width figure on his side, Marine Corps Commander Qian Tieshan was making a big fuss in the cabin at this time.

"Then he needs to know how good we are." Navy Commander Liu Zhe threw his pen on the tactical table with a "click" at this time, and then looked at a man next to him with a score of three or seven and a gray jacket: "Ma Bureau, does Lao Zheng know how powerful we are?" ”

"You guys are underestimating Zheng Zhilong. With how well he knows us, turning around and running is a high probability event. ”

Ma Yue is a former NSA professional. This person did not travel for a long time, and after crossing over, with his unique profession, he soon became the deputy director of the Intelligence Bureau, and ascended to the sky in one step.

"The officers are now coming in and out of ships almost every day, and according to our observations, the spies are still quite active. Therefore, Zheng Zhilong should have a clear judgment on our strength, especially in terms of force. ”

After listening to Ma Yue's opinion, Liu Zhe was not very surprised: "It doesn't matter, we have fully considered all the circumstances. Does he run or not...... It's all the same. The only thing we need to pay attention to now is which side of Nanri Island Zheng Zhilong will bypass from. ”

......

Located in the north of the task force, Nanri Island is shaped like a dumbbell across the sea. If Zheng's fleet soon moves south from the Nanri Strait, which is close to the mainland, then the task force will continue to wait for the enemy in the relatively wide waters off Meizhou Bay: if it rushes up, the Zheng fleet is likely to flee to the coast of the mainland, which is less than 5 kilometers away, as Fang just said.

If the Zheng family's fleet goes to the sea off Nanri Island, then the task force can rush up: the sea distance of more than 20 kilometers from the mainland is enough for the attackers to sink all the Fu ships.

As the time passed, the Zheng fleet that was heading south from the Haitan Island Strait gradually approached Nanri Island in front of it. Under the watchful eyes of the traversers on the three ships, the red dot on the screen began to slowly change direction and move towards the sea off Nanri Island.

"Turn the rudder, sail north, and the engine room begins to coalize and preheat." When Liu Zhe was sure that the red dot on the screen had moved to the eastern end of Nanri Island, he began to give the order for the whole army to go north.

Soon, the three ships of the task force were lined up in a battle line and headed north at full speed. And the Zheng fleet, which was more than 30 kilometers away, was facing a headwind at this time, on the way around Nanri Island.

The distance between the two sides is now more than 30 kilometers, that is, it only takes less than one and a half hours for the task force to kill from the sea off Meizhou Island to the sea off Nanri Island. And since the two fleets are opposite each other, it doesn't take that much time: about 1 hour at most, and the two sides will meet. At that time, the Fuku-ship fleet should have left Nanri Island behind about 10 kilometers.

The naval officers' work on the map is still relatively accurate. Fifty minutes later, when the task force arrived near Cormorant Island as planned, the lookout in the lookout had clearly reported that the fleet had been spotted ahead.

Cormorant Island is a palm-sized island with an area of only 1.2 square kilometers, located in the ocean between Nanri Island and Meizhou Island, and is one of the few scattered islands in this area.

And at this moment, the Zheng fleet, which is not far from Cormorant Island, has also discovered the oncoming task force.

When Zheng Zhilong heard the news and came out of the cabin and took the brass telescope to observe, what was shown in the lens were three strange sailing ships with beautiful lines and bulging sails, which were speeding towards the head.

"It's the ship of the bunch, the whole army is on deck, ready for artillery." The young leader immediately judged the identity of his opponent at the first glance when he saw the enemy coming, and then calmly gave the battle order.

At this moment, Zheng Zhilong did not have the slightest luck, because he knew the strength and intentions of his opponent very well. In fact, no one knew that he had sent spies of various professions to the Grand Commander a long time ago. Therefore, whether it is the machine guns and Italian cannons that cross the crowd, Zheng Zhilong is very aware of the range and power of these weapons.

In addition, when the Project 301 destroyer was still being tested off the coast, he had already obtained the pattern of the ship.

Therefore, after giving the first order to prepare for war, he immediately issued the second order: "Turn the sails and go to the land." ”