The battleship "Common Market" slowly docked on the pier of Fort Xinhua. Wang Tiehammer climbed down from the deck worriedly, he came back this time to load some construction supplies, but as soon as he docked at the port, he heard the incident of the Dutch attacking our fishing boat, and suddenly felt very good in his heart, but there was also a faint feeling of excitement in his heart.

He didn't delay much on the dock, but went directly to the ship repair shop to find Shi Qinjie who was inspecting. After more than half a year of operation and accumulation, the ship repair shop in Xinhuabao has initially trained dozens of junior craftsmen and apprentice-level workers, plus more than 10 professional shipbuilding technicians transferred from the mainland, and the ship repair station can basically repair, maintain and maintain any kind of ship in China. Of course, the colleagues of the ship repair station were not satisfied with the existing achievements, especially with Shi Qinjie's ardent hope and strong support, the ship repair station began to recruit workers from all over the fort, and the salary was extremely favorable, laying the groundwork for future expansion.

As of last week, nearly 100 young workers had been recruited, most of them Ming immigrants who came this time. Shi Qinjie also had a rare advantage in this regard, and he decided to place the household registration of these shipyard workers and the personnel of the newly formed Xinhua Port coastal defense artillery, fishing team, seafood processing factory, and forward team in the local area, even if he offended his colleagues who were eager for the population. After such calculations, he is afraid that he will not intercept nearly 600 people this time, plus a small number of immigrants who are too weak to sail again and can only be resettled on the spot, it is estimated that 7,800 of the 3,000 new Ming Dynasty immigrants will stay in the New China area.

These seven or eight hundred people were added to the original more than 400 Irish, and more than 100 Tatars and Berbers bought from Turkey. The official resident population of the entire Xinhua Fort properly exceeded one thousand. Shi Qinjie has already prepared to write a report after the local economy has developed again, asking the central government to withdraw the fort and set up a township in Xinhuabao. This land was officially included in the national economic overall arrangement. for a bigger investment.

The workers of the ship repair yard are carrying out a thorough maintenance of the Dutch armed merchant ship "Voyager", which was captured a while ago. Whether it's a broken canvas, a mast or a leaky plank, or a plankton-ridden bottom, this time it will be cleaned thoroughly. When a joint patrol fleet with the Portuguese was about to be formed, Schchinje was willing to send the "Common Market" with the captured Dutch armed merchant ship in front of him. As for the two remaining ships of the Second Fleet, the cruiser "Chaoyong" and the armed transport ship "Exocet Galicia", they could only be excluded because they had to undertake the transportation and escort tasks between the South African River Port and the Xinhua Port. Of course, now there is an offshore transportation line between Xinhua Port and Tacheng that needs to be run by boat, and in general, the ship is still not enough.

Shi Qinjie sighed. The shortage of ships still has to be solved locally, and the local bureaucrats are unreliable. The Dayuhu Naval Shipyard and the Zhenhai Shipyard are currently building transport ships and warships at full capacity, while the Hyundai Special Shipyard is estimated to be stepping up efforts to improve ocean-going steamships, and will not be able to build ships for overseas colonies for a while. Well, you still have to rely on yourself! At present, the ship repair yard in Xinhua Port has been able to build 100-ton fishing boats, and after the training of the new batch of workers is completed, they will ask for local support for some engineers to come over, and I believe that it will not be a problem to build a transport ship of several hundred tons in Xinhua Port, and many troubles will be solved.

"Old history, what's going on with this combined fleet of the Portuguese? How does it work? "Wang Tiehammer pulled Shi Qinjie to a place where no one was. asked softly.

"It's not that three Dutch ships came to make trouble a while ago." Shi Qinjie said calmly, "You also know very well. Today's shipping security is actually very fragile. Especially on the two routes from Hezhong Port to Xinhua Port and from Xinhua Port to Tacheng, it is still easy for the Dutch or pirates to find an opportunity to attack if they want to make a mistake. The pirates on St. Mary's Island to the east are at peace with us for the time being, but what about the Dutch? Will they secretly attack our ships? Don't tell me I don't know their pirate traditions. So, if I think about it, there is only one way for the Portuguese to go west of the Union Channel. Their local naval strength is not very strong, only three or five large ships, even the Arab pirates in Mogadishu and Mombasa cannot be exterminated, let alone let them deal with the Dutch. If the Dutch really come to them for their bad luck, I think they will have to be shrunken turtles. In the same way, Xinhua Port currently has no maritime power other than your 'Common Market' without a fixed mission, and if the Dutch come, we will have to shrink into New China Bay as turtles. Therefore, it was a good thing for both of us to form a joint fleet with the Portuguese to keep warm and take what we needed, and the Portuguese on the island of Mozambique on the other side also agreed. Once the combined fleet is formed, and the Dutch really come to kill us, the strength of our two sides will come together, and we will have the strength to fight to some extent, do you think this is the reason? ”

"Well, I'm not against the formation of a combined fleet. But I want to know how this fleet works, and I don't want my ships to be tied up in this fleet all day. Wang Tiehammer said. The Second Fleet's main task was to open a route east to Daming, and although the Dutch had stopped their last attempt and returned with a feather in their back, this did not mean that they would stop this year. Moreover, he also received information from the correspondence with the mainland that one of the two warships, which was almost completed, would be equipped with the Second Fleet to supplement the strength of the Second Fleet. Moreover, it is estimated that the matter of placing the steamship "Breaking Waves" under the command of the Second Fleet is mostly the same, so that the lineup of the Second Fleet can be seen a little, and the task of bringing up the old matter again and reaching the East is bound to be postponed any longer.

"I have already consulted with General Fernando of the Portuguese on this matter." Shi Qinjie cleared his throat and said, "The combined fleet consists of five large ships, of which the Portuguese have sent three armed merchant ships, and we have sent your ship and the newly captured Dutch armed merchant ship 'Voyager' to join them. The Combined Fleet has two home ports, namely Xinhua Port and the island of Mozambique; The patrol area covers the vast sea area from Mogadishu, Mombasa, and Zanzibar in the north, to Quelimane, Sofala, Beira, and the Marquis of Lorenço in the south, and to Tacheng in the east. Of course, Mogadishu and Mombasa in the north are too far away, and they have to cross the equator, so patrols in this area are not the focus. The focus is still on the waters between the island of Mozambique and Xinhua Port, and further south to the Marquis de Lorenço, which is the focus of inspection. The Combined Fleet is stationed at Xinhua Port in the winter and Mozambique Island in the summer, patrolling the waters every 10 days to maintain the security of the area. ”

"Let's do it first. After a while, the 'Chaoyong' and the ships that have come back from the mainland will enter service, and I will adjust the order of ships to join the Combined Fleet. After thinking about it for a while, Wang Tiezhu agreed, and then suddenly asked, "Why did the Dutch suddenly attack our fishing boat?" Was it the ships of the East India Company or the West India Company? It stands to reason that it is the West India Company that has formed a bond with us, and the ships here are all East India Company, so why is it so hostile to us? ”

"Have you forgotten that the Dutch East India Company was the majority shareholder of the West India Company?" Shi Qinjie glanced at Wang Tiehammer with some amusement, and continued: "Moreover, I estimate that your Second Fleet attracted the attention of the Dutch when it forced its way into the Strait of Malacca, and most of them recognized it as our ship through analysis. They probably judged that we were trying to enter the East Indies and get involved in the spice trade, but they would never allow our ships to cross the Strait of Malacca, knowing that they had fought for decades and fought so many bloody battles with the Portuguese, Spaniards, and English. This attack is likely to show that they have identified us as a dangerous potential adversary, and if we continue to insist on moving eastward, there is no guarantee that a larger conflict will erupt. ”

"Then this conflict is bound to break out." Wang Tiehammer said resolutely, "We want to go east, break through the Strait of Malacca, and enter the coast of Daming, then this battle is inevitable." Hurry up and write a report to the mainland, so that the local people can speed up the preparation of war materials, although we are not afraid of war, we must also take precautions. ”

"Of course, I will write a detailed report to the locals." Shi Qinjie nodded and confirmed, "Actually, the deterioration of relations between the Dutch and us is not only a matter of your Second Fleet, I estimate that the Dutch West India Company on the Brazilian side must have hated us for a long time, and the local militarist madmen sold a large number of weapons to the Portuguese, and they have done a lot of evil." ”

"Hehe, that's nature." Wang Tiehammer also smiled, "The contradictions between us and the Dutch are all-round, and they are simply a big mountain above our heads." Only by moving away this mountain will it be possible for our Republic on the east coast of China to break the bottleneck of survival and achieve further development. ”

On February 15, 1642, three Portuguese ships arrived at anchorage at Fort Neunew, and the Combined Fleet was officially formed. The next day, five ships of the Combined Fleet led by the "Common Market" left Xinhuaxia Bay and headed south in the direction of Tacheng to begin their first patrol since its formation. (To be continued......)