In the middle of May of the fourth year of Jingtai, the southeast of Dongping Island was off the coast.

Feng Xiang stood on a Fu ship and looked out at the sea ahead, this sea ship was the lead ship of the left detachment, the flagship of the fleet, and one of the two ships equipped with artillery.

At this time, eight fortune boats lined up on the sea, sailing forward in a group.

After more than a month of reorganization and training, Feng Xiang promoted eight people from among his brothers, these eight people were the captains of the eight lucky ships, and the two detachment leaders were also promoted from Feng Xiang's subordinates.

This is not that Feng Xiang deliberately set up his own mountain, but Liu Juntao's order, after all, the generals brought by Liu Juntao are all proficient in land warfare and know nothing about naval warfare, so Liu Juntao directly told Feng Xiang to promote capable people from among his subordinates.

These eight captains are all Feng Xiang's old subordinates, and the two squad leaders are Feng Xiang's right-hand men, one is called Zheng Cheng, and the other is called Guan Wu, both of whom are old sea wolves.

And the eight captains are called Bai Yan, An Jianhai, Shen Fei, Ji Yu, Fan Jingyu, Liu Dongling, Tan Chao, and Feng Wei, these people were originally small leaders under Feng Xiang, and they were also quite proficient in naval warfare.

At this time, the eight sea ships were slowly divided into two teams and were practicing the tactics of flanking left and right.

"We're in the Navy! The kind of navy that the town has said! ”

On the deck of a lucky ship, the captain Liu Dongling jumped and shouted excitedly, he had never seen such a well-made sea ship before.

At this time, Zheng Cheng, the leader of the left detachment, who was coming up from the cabin, snorted coldly, and Liu Dongling hurriedly saluted when he saw this: "Leader!" ”

"Squad Leader! Call me Squad Leader! ”

Although Zheng Cheng had a tense face, the corners of his mouth could not be suppressed, and now he was the captain of the four sea ship detachments.

Zheng Cheng not only had one hundred and seven sailors, but also four teams of one hundred and sixty-eight soldiers, as well as five excellent artillery, which could be regarded as a general in his own right.

"Don't be like Little Maotou, who cocks his tail when a gust of wind blows! There are only four small boats, what can they be called a navy!? ”

Hearing Zheng Cheng reprimand him like this, Liu Dongling couldn't help but laugh.

"Turn the rudder! I go over it from the left! ”

Ignoring Liu Dongling again, Zheng Cheng shouted on the helm platform at the stern.

"We can't afford to lose to them!"

Accustomed to encouragement, everyone on the boat also habitually rounded their throats and responded together.

"Victory! Win! ”

As Zheng Cheng's detachment flagship rushed out first, the three Fu ships that followed closely behind also turned their rudders, and the four seagoing ships of the left detachment were in a neat formation and rushed towards the set goal set by Feng Xiang.

On the other side, Guan Wu, the captain of the right detachment, saw it from afar, and also said loudly to Bai Yan, the flagship captain of the right detachment: "What are you waiting for!" The left detachment has rushed up, and our right detachment cannot lag behind, and the order: turn the rudder! Catch up! ”

In the blink of an eye, the left and right detachments were advancing at full speed, and it didn't take long to reach the established sea area.

Feng Xiang, who was following the flagship of the left detachment, also walked out of the cabin, and when the previous two detachments were advancing, Feng Xiang did not watch from the deck, but rested in the cabin.

This time he went to sea, Feng Xiang was just going to test the sailing speed of his subordinates, as well as the skills of sailing with nautical charts.

At this time, Feng Xiang came to the deck, looked at the eight Fu ships that were mooring, nodded as well, and said to Zheng Cheng, the captain of the left detachment, and Liu Dongling, the captain of the ship, who rushed to the side: "Very good!" This time, the speed of our two detachments is in place! ”

Zheng Cheng and Liu Dongling were very happy when they heard this.

"Flag Slogan! All of us will return to Dongping Island, and we will summarize today's training after we go back. ”

"Order!"

Soon, the two detachments and eight seagoing ships merged into one team and sailed towards Dongping Island.

More than an hour later, the fleet arrived at the wharf of Dongping Island, what Feng Xiang did not expect was that Wu Hao, the guerrilla general of the right battalion stationed in Rizhao County, Qingzhou Prefecture, arrived, accompanied by many scholar-like personnel, as well as many people, and there were still mountains of materials that had been piled up in the depths of the island.

Feng Xiang asked Zheng Cheng, the leader of the left detachment, and Guan Wu, the captain of the right detachment, to sort out the ships and bring all their subordinates back to the camp.

And Feng Xiang himself walked forward quickly and saluted Wu Hao with a fist.

"See the general!"

Wu Hao said with a smile: "Master Feng doesn't need to be polite, can today's drill go well?" ”

"General rest assured, everything is going well."

Then, Feng Xiang reported the situation of this trip to sea.

Feng Xiang also understood in his heart that although Liu Juntao did not say that he was Wu Hao's subordinate officer, but before he clarified his official position, he still had to meet Wu Hao, a powerful general with real power in his army, as a subordinate courtesy.

Then, Feng Xiang asked, "I don't know if the general is coming this time, but what's the matter?" ”

After speaking, Feng Xiang looked at the busy crowd in front of him, as well as the mountains of materials.

Wu Hao pointed to the crowd and materials over there, and said with a smile: "These people are all the manpower of the Ministry of Commerce, as well as the craftsmen and people who have been recruited, I am just responsible for sending them here, these people are here to build Dongping Island, and these materials are also used for construction." ”

"So fast!"

Feng Xiang always thought that to build a not too small island like Dongping Island, the manpower and material resources required were very huge.

In Feng Xiang's cognition, even with the strength of Shandong Town, it would take three or two months to prepare, but he never expected that in just over a month, all the manpower and materials needed would be prepared!

At this time, the huge power of Shandong Town really shocked Feng Xiang.

But Wu Hao said: "This is only the first batch, the Ministry of Commerce has prepared a total of three batches of manpower and materials, and the remaining two batches have been transported to Andongwei, and they will be transported in a few days, but the ships are still a little insufficient." ”

When Feng Xiang heard this, he hurriedly said: "Don't worry, general, let the fleet set off now and rush to Andongwei to transport personnel and supplies!" ”

"That's good!"

A few days later, with the assistance of Feng Xiang, all the personnel and materials hoarded in Andongwei arrived at Dongping Island.

Seeing that the task was completed, Wu Hao, the guerrilla general of the right battalion, led his troops to leave Dongping Island.

Subsequently, Dongping Island began to be lively, the original sparsely populated island, at this time it has also become crowded, the camp on the island can no longer accommodate so many people, Feng Xiang had to let the craftsmen and people build some simple houses temporarily, so that the new people and horses can live.

In the following period of time, Dongping Island began to transform, and with the efforts of craftsmen and people recruited by the Ministry of Commerce, everyone carried out a comprehensive transformation of Dongping Island in accordance with the planning drawings provided by the Ministry of Commerce.

Not far from the original small docks, the construction of two larger piers began to be used to moor the fleet's ships.

According to the plan, the two new terminals can accommodate 20 to 30 vessels.

At the same time, they also planned and placed the barracks, storehouses, barracks, repair areas, and many dwellings of the army on the island.

These dwellings were fishermen and craftsmen who were about to be relocated from Antonwei, and who would later be responsible for the logistics of the fleet.

Feng Xiang looked at the construction scene in full swing on Dongping Island, and his heart was full of longing.

Of course, these days, the fleet's drills have not stopped at all, Feng Xiang will lead the fleet to go to sea every few days to practice, even when he stays on Dongping Island, he also leads his officers and men to practice shooting, fighting, arrays and other subjects, without a day of leisure.

In the past month or so, the combat power of Feng Xiang's department has skyrocketed, although there is still a big gap with the two hundred elite bird gunners in Shandong Town, but it is far stronger than the ordinary Ming army, not to mention the equipment Liu Juntao specially sent armor and firearms!

In the blink of an eye, more than ten days passed, and on this day, just as Feng Xiang was preparing to lead the fleet to go to sea for exercise, he suddenly received a message from the Ministry of Intelligence, Liu Juntao ordered Feng Xiang to lead his troops to stay on Dongping Island, not to go out at will, and wait for further orders from Shandong Town.

Seeing this order, Feng Xiang was slightly stunned, and then realized that it must be Sui Yuxing's subordinates who were entrenched on Dashan Island and Cheniushan Island to make a move!

Therefore, Feng Xiang ordered the entire fleet to be on alert, and the more than 100 birdmen who stayed in the camp were divided into several shifts to take precautions, and the eight lucky ships were also divided into several shifts, constantly patrolling the waters around Dongping Island to guard against possible attacks.