Chapter 62: The Prologue to the Great War

In the South China Sea, a Dutch ship rushed towards it with its sails full.

And the three lucky ships were in front of the Dutch ship, and all the sails were also full.

However, the sails of the two are different, the sails of the fortune ship are hard sails, while the Dutch ships are soft sails, the hard sails are easier to pack, and they can also use the wind from all sides, but they are not as good as the soft sails in terms of acceleration, and the types of ships on both sides are also different.

The Fuchuan is a very good merchant ship, economical and cargo-bearing, but it is not suitable as a battlefield, not to mention anything else, the length-to-width ratio of the two sides is far behind. In front of the Dutch ships, the Fubune looked like a wild boar that had been clumsy, and the Dutch ship looked like a slender leopard.

In this way, the speed of both sides is needless to say.

When the two sides saw each other, until now, the fierce pursuit lasted for more than an hour, and the Dutch ships all bit the fortune boat to the death. And it's getting closer.

"Boom." There was a cannon shot, but it was the Dutch ship that fired a cannon, and this cannon did not hit the Fu ship, and it was ten zhang away from the last Fu ship. But the faces of all the sailors were blackened.

The reason is simple, it is already within range.

They can't run away.

"Brothers, let's follow Boss Lin, and it can be regarded as a blessing." One of the leading officers said: "The family has arranged everything, and even now, there are pensions in the family, plus their own savings, enough to raise the baby." ”

"I don't have a baby yet." I don't know who muttered.

The officer scolded, "Who told you to spend all your money on the half-closed door, whose girl will marry you?" ”

Truth be told, after the surrender of these pirates. Zhang Xuan is still good to them.

Don't think that being a bandit or pirate means eating meat and drinking wine in a big bowl. Maybe the bosses at the top can do this, but more minions can only be hungry and full, and they don't have a good life. Although after surrendering to Zhang Xuan, they all had to guard military discipline.

For the sake of this military discipline, many people were killed. The rest of the people were also afraid.

However, this is not Zhang Xuan's starting army after all. The transfer of a few military judges from the outside is just for show, and it is impossible to fundamentally change the status quo of these pirates, which also results in the fact that when they are stationed, they are all honest, but outside, they are not so honest.

You may not dare to kill people and sell more goods, but there are people who extort a sum of money when they see people.

The soldiers of the Xia Dynasty were treated well, and the regular soldiers were eighteen taels a year. In order to suppress military spending, it is not all that can enjoy the treatment of regular soldiers on a ship. But there was no delay in everyone's payment. Coupled with their small treasury, the Guangdong Navy Soldiers, I am afraid that they are the richest group of people in the whole army, and the treatment of the Zheng family may not be comparable to them

。

"Now, the enemy has only one ship, and we scattered and fled. Resigned. If the Dutchman chooses someone, it's someone's bad fate. Remember the family. Brothers, if you repay your lordship, you will surely be avenged. ”

In this way, the three ships suddenly turned and fled in three directions.

The Dutch ship did not hesitate, and rushed after one of the boats, and the sound of cannons was heard far above the sea, but this time, it was not a one-man show of the Dutch, and another cannon sound that was obviously not the same sound.

It was the counterattack of another ship.

The other two ships knew that they would not be able to hold out for long if they left this one ship.

There is no other way in naval warfare, big guns win over small guns, and big ships win over small ships. The Dutch ships are much larger than the fortune ships, and the outcome is clear, and the only uncertainty is time.

After an hour of fierce fighting, the other Dutch fleets arrived one by one, and then the lucky ship slowly sank to the bottom of the sea.

The reason why it took so long was that the cannonballs of this era were not lethal enough to the ships, and the second was that the Fu ship had a good watertight cabin, even if it was full of holes, it could still be maintained, plus Sergeant Xia was guarding the ship to the death, and all kinds of firearms were also very sufficient.

Dozens of artillery guns sank the ship.

However, in this way, the other two ships escaped.

"Commander, shall we go to Da Nang? Where is there a water division of the Xia Army. An officer said to Carl.

Carl shook his head and said: "No need, among all the sailors in the Xia Kingdom, only the Zheng family's fleet is our opponent, as long as the Zheng family is defeated, the rest will not be an obstacle." And if you can't defeat the Zheng family, no matter how many victories you have before, it's useless. ”

"Let's go directly to Penghu."

"Yes." The officer agreed, and then ordered the flag to wave, and more than a dozen ships all headed north, heading directly for Penghu.

These two fortune ships, one fortune ship returned to Da Nang.

Lin Cha was taken aback when he heard this, and then he was very angry. He immediately gathered all the ships and prepared them to go. However, when he heard the crew talk about the big ships of the Dutch, he was also worried that the Cantonese sailors would not be an opponent.

So he did not act rashly and went to war with the Dutch, but reported the news to the imperial court and Zheng Chenggong.

In fact, there is no need for Lin Chafei to report, the Zheng family's intelligence network in Nanyang is extremely well-informed than Lin Cha. At this time, Zheng Chenggong had already known the news, and almost when the Dutch left the port, someone passed the news to the Zheng family, but because Batavia was away from Penghu for a while, and the news could not be delivered with great fanfare, the news came a lot slower.

It was not too late at last, with another fleeing ship, almost front and rear feet of the been

The Zheng family discovered.

These two pieces of news came to Zheng Chenggong's hands before and after.

After Zheng Chenggong read the information, he secretly said in his heart: "It's finally here." ”

During this period of time, Zheng Chenggong didn't do anything, just stayed in Penghu and waited for the Dutch to come. Now that the Dutch have moved, Zheng Chenggong naturally has to move too. Immediately sent an order outside, saying: "Inform the ministries that the Dutch are coming, and cheer them up." ”

"In addition, inform all coastal prefectures and counties that even if the hurricane comes, they will all close their ports, and within this month, a piece of sail will not be allowed to enter the sea, and if there is a violator, they should be punished as collaborating with the enemy, and make it clear to them that this is the meaning of the imperial court and the meaning of my family."

Among the coastal prefectures and counties, the prestige of the Zheng family may not be under the imperial court. That's why Zheng Chenggong said this.

The reason why Zheng Chenggong is like this is that he is worried that the Dutch will not save Chichicheng, but will disturb the sea frontier and hide with the main force of the Zheng family.

Although the Zheng family is powerful, there is no guarantee that they can catch the Dutch. It is also appropriate to let the coastal prefectures make some preparations.

Another point was the fear that the Dutch had local intelligence sources.

Don't look down on the patriotic sentiments of this era, many people don't have this concept at all, not to mention, there are many people in Fujian who run to the sea, and there are also many people who have a relationship with the Dutch, otherwise why would the Dutch maintain the Red Embedded City, just scraping oil and water from the island of Taiwan, in fact, there are not many.

After all, Taiwan is still a big barren island.

The source of interest for the Dutch was more of trade.

This is also a precautionary measure.

"Fourth uncle." Zheng Chenggong said: "Deploy ships and spread a net on the sea, as long as the Dutch move, I will know as soon as possible." I can't believe anyone else, but I ask my uncle. ”

Zheng Hongkui said: "Okay, this one thing, it should come down, I will arrange it, with the prestige of my Zheng family, as long as the Dutch come to the sea of Fujian, they will never hide it from my family." However, in this way, all the ships at hand were released. How are you going to fight the Dutch? ”

It also takes a lot of ships to monitor the sea area, and when Zheng Zhilong fought the Dutch, he used fireboats, and there were enough ships. only won the battle, but now Zheng Chenggong doesn't seem to want to use this old method.

Zheng Chenggong said: "Don't worry, fourth uncle, I will take the plywood fleet at home and compete with the Dutch." Defeat the Dutch with dignity. ”

When Zheng Hongkui heard this, he was a little worried, but he also knew that Zheng Chenggong was not only his nephew, but also the head of the Zheng family, and he also knew that Zheng Chenggong was by no means an ordinary person, and he dared to do this, he must be sure.

"Hey, you're doing it yourself." Even though Zheng Hongkui was worried, he could only say this.