Zheng Hongkui saw everyone's stunned eyes, a wry smile appeared on his face, and he arched his hand to Zheng Zhilong and said, "Brother, the younger brother is foolish, I hope the elder brother will hear it." ”

"Say it."

Zheng Hongkui pursed his lips and said, "Brother, the reason why the younger brother thinks that he can surrender to Tang Jun is that his opinion is similar to success. That is, when the Tang army is in the future, immediately sacrifice the land and surrender, and fight for the reward of its knowledge in a deferential manner. The king of Tang was originally a man of leniency, and if he saw that our army took the initiative to surrender and recover Fujian and Guangdong without a single soldier, he would be very happy in his heart, and he would certainly treat us leniently, so that not only could everyone's lives and property be preserved, but even the official name could be kept as it was. This is the reason why the younger brother agrees to surrender to Tang Jun. ”

Seeing that Zheng Zhilong listened attentively, Zheng Hongkui replied: "And the reason why the younger brother thinks that in addition to surrendering to the Tang Army, our army can also fight with it is because now our army has the greatest capital in hand, that is, our army's naval division is indeed stronger than the Tang army. In the end, we will have to shake hands with our army and make peace, which is also uncertain. ”

Speaking of this, Zheng Hongkui paused for a moment, and then said: "Of course, if such a fierce battle continues, the Tang Army's naval division will be greatly damaged, and our army's Guangdong and Fujian will inevitably be lost, and its 150,000 soldiers and horses on land will also be lost, and its losses will be much more tragic than that of the Tang Army." Such a final result, but I don't know if my brother can bear it? ”

As soon as Zheng Hongkui finished speaking, Zheng Zhilong fell into silence again.

Alas, where should I go now?

Right here, the third brother Zheng Zhibao jumped up again, and roared loudly: "Into his mother, stretching out his head is a knife, shrinking his head is also a knife, according to my opinion, if a strong man breaks his wrist, first abandon this land of Guangdong and Fujian, and then carry the sailor ship with the 150,000 soldiers and horses, all of them go south, to compete for Li Xiao's Taiwan, the Philippines or Australia and other places." Li Xiao's fight, the main force is still in the country, and in all its overseas places, there is only one third town soldier and horse to maintain order, the total strength is only more than 30,000 people, and it has to be stationed in various places, in this case, it gives our army an opportunity to take advantage of. ”

As soon as his words fell, Zheng Cai said hey, and he also took over: "Zhibao is right." The so-called lost east, gained. If you can take Li Xiao's overseas places, what if you lose Guangdong and Fujian. As long as we can defeat the Tang Army's naval division first, so that it can no longer transfer troops from the country to overseas, then all its overseas places can only be eaten by our army piece by piece. In this way, although our army lost Guangdong and Fujian, it gained many overseas places in Southeast Asia from Li Xiao, and obtained nearly 10 million people who had immigrated from him, which was enough to be the king and stand side by side with Li Xiao. ”

When the two of them landed like this, Zheng Zhilong's eyes suddenly lit up again.

Yes, if you can take the initiative to withdraw your troops in time and take the lead in withdrawing these 150,000 soldiers and horses, then let these soldiers and horses go to attack Li Xiao's overseas places where only one town is stationed, wouldn't it be easy to capture?

It is really worthwhile to exchange the land of Guangdong and Fujian provinces for Li Xiao's vast and populous overseas provinces.

Unexpectedly, before he could speak, he heard Zheng Chenggong say coldly: "Father, everyone, you are speaking out. You are so calculating, it seems that you have taken advantage, but have you ever thought about it, how smart, calm, and scheming Li Xiao is, and how could he not make plans and deployments in advance with such a plan for our army? When the time comes, our army will be mistaken by being smart, and if we want to regret it, it will be too late. ”

Zheng Chenggong's face was worried, and he hurriedly stepped forward and said to Zheng Zhilong: "Father, now that time is pressing, you must not hesitate half-heartedly. In the child's opinion, it is still necessary to quickly surrender to the Tang Army, in order to ......"

"Enough!"

Zheng Zhilong sharply interrupted Zheng Chenggong's words, he looked ruthless, and said sharply: "Success, have you ever thought that if you surrender to Tang Jun, the foundation of your father's life's work will be paid in one fell swoop." Even if you keep your life and property, even if you add a title of knighthood, what's the use? How can you be free to be king, and come to be happy? I have made up my mind, so I will adopt the second brother's second plan and fight to the death with the Tang army! At the same time, as the third brother and Zheng Cai said, they simply withdrew the troops from Guangdong and Fujian, defeated Li Xiao's sailors first, and then seized all his overseas lands. In the end, we must be equal to Li Xiao and stand together! ”

After listening to Zheng Zhilong's words, Zheng Chengli's face was ashen, but Zheng Zhibao and Zheng Cai were happy, Zheng Zhilong looked around at everyone, and finally said loudly: "Everyone listen to the order!" ”

"In!"

"The second brother quickly issued a summons order, asking Hongguang to supervise the country, the officials of the DPRK and China, and the soldiers of Guangdong and Fujian to withdraw to Jinxia together, and the retreat must be completed within 20 days."

"Order!"

"The third brother and Zheng Cai listened to the order, and the two of you summoned all the sailors, gathered in Jinxia, and transported the troops to Penghu, and must be assembled within twenty days, and there must be no mistake!"

"Order!"

Zheng Zhilong finished giving the order to everyone, and after everyone walked away, he turned his gaze to Zheng Chenggong, whose face was gloomy and his head had been lowered.

He sighed softly, patted Zheng Chenggong on the shoulder, and said slowly: "You and your father will retreat to Jinxia first, and prepare for the officials and soldiers and horses who have withdrawn from all over the country." ”

Zheng Chenggong was silent, and finally replied: "Oh, the child obeys his father's orders." ”

As soon as Zheng Zhilong's order was issued, the soldiers and horses in various places immediately began to retreat with all their might, and at the same time, when retreating, they showed a hideous face to the fortified area, wantonly burning and looting, which was no different from bandits and robbers.

However, even though the Zheng army was doing a lot of evil now, the speed of its retreat was quite fast, and all kinds of troops and horses hurriedly withdrew from Guangdong and Fujian to Jinxia, but there was nothing wrong with it.

It's just that what Zheng Zhilong and others never expected was that as soon as his withdrawal order came out, Zhu Yousong, the Hongguang prison who had always been under house arrest, was ready to secretly put on makeup and escape with a few of his cronies and eunuchs.

His trick like this, since the Zheng army soldiers who were closely guarded quickly discovered that Zhu Yousong himself was violently beaten by those rude soldiers, and several teeth were knocked out, and he was unconscious on the ground, and he was loaded with a bed carried by Zheng Jun, and he didn't even have time to treat the wounds, so he was carried to Jinxia like a dead pig.

And his cronies and eunuchs were all beheaded by the brutal Zheng army, and none of them remained. The corpses were all thrown into the palace and burned along with the palace.

For a time, Fuzhou City, the capital of the pseudo-Hongguang Imperial Court, a group of rebels looted and killed people in the city, raped ** people, and then set fire everywhere, intending to completely destroy the entire city. Soon, the city of Fuzhou was on fire, and the people fled, like hell.

Zheng Jun's hasty retreat had already been reported to Li Xiao by the personnel of the Tang Army's Security Department as quickly as possible.

Such a situation was actually expected by Li Xiao.

Although he has always believed that if Zheng Zhilong wants to confront himself, the most likely thing is to hold on to the city and then keep blocking his own attacks, but he didn't expect that Zheng Zhilong would rather give up Guangdong and Fujian, and instead send all of them overseas to attack his own overseas lands.

Hmph, Zheng Zhilong, thinking that he could catch the Tang army off guard with a strong man like this and break his wrist, so he could give up Guangdong and Fujian in exchange for Li Xiao's huge and populous overseas territory, this abacus is beautiful.

Hmph, you guys are such a trick, you think you can secretly cross Chen Cang to hide from the Lone King, then you underestimate me Li Xiao!

Li Xiao thought about it for a while, and immediately flew a pigeon to send a message, ordering the north and south sailors to speed up their speed, and attack Penghu from the north and south respectively with the momentum of the clamp, taking advantage of the time difference between the Zheng army's sailors who had not yet assembled, to take the lead in launching an attack on Penghu.

Zheng Zhilong, let Lao Tzu's iron fist completely blow up your dreams.

In view of the fact that the Zheng army had withdrawn its troops, Li Xiao also urgently issued an order to the soldiers and horses of the ninth and eighth towns near Fujian and Guangdong, where the Tang army had deployed, to immediately dispatch urgently to capture the vacant land where the Zheng army had withdrawn, take over the local law and order as soon as possible, and prevent greater disturbances.

As for the Tang army, which was heading south, Li Xiao also asked them to speed up and rush to Guangdong and Fujian as soon as possible, so as to take the two provinces from which the Zheng army had withdrawn as quickly as possible.

Li Xiao ordered Fang Xian, and the Tang army from all walks of life stepped up their actions and attacked the two provinces of Guangdong and Fujian with all their might.

Soon, the Tang army sent troops from Guangxi, Huguang, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang provinces, and attacked rapidly all the way, quickly taking many lost territories.

The Tang army moved very quickly, and just when all the Zheng troops were assembled in Jinxia and were waiting for ships to carry them to Penghu, more than 40 ships of the Tang army's vanguard of the northern and southern naval divisions had hurried to Penghu and immediately launched an attack on Penghu.

The Tang army's attack this time was much to the surprise of the Zheng army, and at this time, only more than 60 warships had been assembled in the land of Penghu, which was only more than 20 more than the number of the Tang army's vanguard troops.

The fact that the Tang warship came so quickly greatly surprised Zheng Zhilong.

Now, Zheng Hongkui and the assembled 150,000 soldiers and horses are still in Jinxia, Zheng Zhibao and Zheng Cai have gone to sea to assemble the fleet and have not returned.

Zheng Zhilong, who was frightened, didn't have time to think too much, and immediately ordered his son Zheng Chengli to stay in Penghu, and he personally led the fleet in Penghu to take the lead in a decisive battle with the Tang army.

Unexpectedly, his decision was resolutely opposed by Zheng Chenggong.

"Father, don't move lightly!" Zheng Chenggong persuaded with an anxious face: "With all due respect, this Tang army fleet has come to Penghu from afar, the enemy situation is unknown, and our army only has more than 60 warships, which is the foundation of protecting Penghu, and it is impossible to dispatch all of them." In the child's opinion, it is not too late to wait for the detailed investigation of the situation before leaving the port to fight. ”

Hearing Zheng Chenggong's words, Zheng Zhilong suddenly lowered his face: "What do you mean by Chenggong?" The sentry has reported that the enemy army has only more than 40 ships in total, what is the enemy situation unknown? If you don't hurry up and attack, it will be dark and it will be difficult to destroy this Tang fleet. ”

Zheng Chenggong saw Zheng Zhilong's angry face, and his heart was very uncomfortable, he thought about it, but gritted his teeth and replied: "Father, you have also been fighting at sea for many years, and you must know more about water warfare than a child." I have also observed in the clairvoyant mirror that the ships of the Ming army are still some distance away from Penghu Island, and I can only see the number of ships clearly, but their size, speed, material level (tonnage), and firearms equipment are not clear. In a naval battle, the material position of the ships and the configuration of firearms are the foundation of victory, if we attack rashly, if the Tang Army ships that come here are too advanced than our army, although the number of our troops is large, but there are also unforeseen worries. ”

Zheng Zhilong was questioned by his son like this, his face suddenly felt a little unbearable, and his heart was even more angry, he snorted and replied: "Success, how can you talk like this?!" Isn't it just to increase the morale of others and destroy one's own prestige? Now that the Tang army is coming from afar, it is tired and tired, and our army is just waiting for a decisive battle with it, and Enke will let it rest smoothly. What's more, what is coming now is the vanguard of the Tang Army, how can we not immediately destroy this batch of Tang Army fleets, and wait until their army surrounds our Penghu, then there is really no way to go to heaven and no way to enter the earth. ”

Zheng Chenggong was about to speak, but Zheng Zhilong snorted coldly: "You don't have to say more!" I have made up my mind, our army has 62 ships, more than 20 more than the Tang army, and we have an absolute advantage in numbers, even if their ships are a little more advanced than our army, what can we do, our army can completely win by numbers. ”

After Zheng Zhilong finished speaking, he didn't look at Zheng Chenggong anymore, and immediately took a group of prepared sailors out of the port, and went straight to the Tang Army ships in the distance to kill.

Heavy red clouds filled the sky, the sunset was falling, the dark sea, dancing golden afterglow, the salty sea breeze was swaying, except for the seagulls chasing up and down quacking, between the sea and the sky, there was peace and quiet.

On this seemingly calm sea, a naval battle that decided the fate of both sides began. In the naval division, the tactics are still secondary, and the most critical thing is the comparison of the specific strength of the two sides.

To Zheng Zhilong's expectation, the situation of this naval battle was really as Zheng Chenggong expected, in this seemingly outnumbered battle, it was the Tang army that had the upper hand.

Because, the average tonnage of Li Xiaojun's ships, the speed of the ships, the configuration of firepower, and the range of artillery were far superior to those of the Qing army and naval divisions on the opposite side. In particular, as the command ship of the Dutch first-class battleships, the Shenglong, compared with these ships left by the Zheng army in Penghu, it is equivalent to the difference between adults and children.

To use an analogy, comparing the enemy and us, Na Jian was more than 40 tigers of the Tang army, and rushed into the more than 60 thin wolves of the Qing army.

Of course, if these thin wolves can give full play to their numerical advantages, adopt the "five-point plum blossom" tactics commonly used by sailors, and concentrate their forces to destroy the enemy separately, there is still a slight chance of victory, but Zheng Zhilong, who is arrogant now and wants to end the battle as soon as possible, obviously did not think so complicated.

Zheng Zhilong ordered all the more than sixty ships to be arranged in a V-shape and rushed straight towards the Tang convoy. His intention was very obvious, so he would eat the Tang army fleet in one go.

Wonderful Book House