Coqueira naturally didn't dare to play anything in front of Zhang Bin, he still had a lot of things to ask Zhang Bin.

After talking about the blister copper, he immediately laughed and said, "Your Excellency the Governor, when will the hundred armed merchant ships be lent to us?" ”

These armed merchant ships are really useless to Zhang Bin, because the operation is not skilled, he did not even put these armed merchant ships into the battle sequence, and it is precisely because of this that most of these armed merchant ships have been used for other purposes by Dongfan Jiuwei, and it is really a bit troublesome to assemble them.

He thought for a moment and estimated: "Why don't you send someone to Dayuan and Batavia to fetch it in a month, there are about eighty ships in Dayuan City, and there are about ten ships in Batavia." ”

Coqueira nodded again and again: "Okay, okay, do you need any formalities?" ”

Zhang Bin said indifferently: "You can set up an IOU to prove that you have borrowed it, but once you stop supplying blister copper, you must return the ship immediately." ”

This is a rare opportunity, how could he stop supplying blister copper, Coqueira has decided to find someone to drive these armed merchant ships between the Americas, Manila and the European continent, the total number of armed merchant ships in the fleet that used to take this route is less than a hundred, he can completely monopolize this route, so I don't know how high the profit is.

He was even thinking about making money in the future, so he simply bought these armed merchant ships with Zhang Bin at a discount and passed them on as a family inheritance!

He slowly began to plan in his mind, how many fleets to divide these hundred armed merchant ships into the right number of fleets, and how many people in the family were in charge of these fleets, how many sailors and mercenaries to recruit for each merchant ship, how to contact friends in the Americas to purchase goods, and so on.

Zhang Bin saw this thing sitting there stupidly and smirked, and couldn't help but ask curiously, "Your Excellency the Governor, what's wrong with you?" ”

When Coquilla heard this, he suddenly woke up, and he hurriedly covered up: "It's nothing, it's nothing, I'm thinking about the shipping route, by the way, Your Excellency the Governor, these two supply points?" ”

This is naturally trivial for Zhang Bin, and he said confidently: "Do you have a map here, let's discuss it against the map." ”

Coqueira hurriedly got up and said, "Yes, yes, I'll go get it now." ”

With that, he hurried to the bookshelf, flipped through it a few times, and soon pulled out a map, took it, and spread it out in front of Zhang Bin.

This map is worse than what he draws casually, and there are a few places where he draws it wrong, of course, he won't point it out to others, and if he draws it wrong, it's his business.

He first pointed to the chicken coop port and said, "It's okay to be the first supply point here, right?" ”

Of course, this is no problem, it turns out that their supply point is Chicken Coop Harbor, but they call it San Salvador, and he is still concerned about the second supply point, because Zhang Bin said that the relationship between Daming and Dongying is relatively tense, and there has been a war recently, he doesn't know if Zhang Bin has any way to make Dongying open the supply point, is it through force to snatch it, with his "understanding" of His Excellency the Governor, Zhang Bin is really likely to do this.

It's just a supply point, of course, you don't need to grab it by force, Zhang Bin directly pointed to the location of the Tanegashima base and asked, "How is it here?" ”

Although this place is a bit southern, but it is just on the route from the Americas, and the fleets that come and go do not need to turn around to enter the interior of Dongying, which is a very good supply point, Coqueira couldn't help but nod again and again: "This location is very ideal, but I don't know how His Excellency the Governor negotiated with Dongying to let them open this supply point." ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, he said proudly: "This is no longer part of Dongying, but the boundary of the Ryukyu Kingdom, you can rest assured, Ryukyu is a subject country of our Ming Dynasty, we still have a garrison there, and you have no problem supplying there." ”

This place seems to be the boundary of Toei, and in his impression, the islands near Toei seem to belong to Toei, so why is it that an island so close to Toei has become the boundary of the Ryukyu Kingdom?

He knew about this Ryukyu country, because their previous route was to go directly to the north of Dongfan through Ryukyu, and in his impression, the Ryukyu country was still hundreds of miles away from Dongying, and from the map, this island was at most dozens of miles away, and he really couldn't understand what was going on.

However, this is not the point, as long as he can get supplies there, it doesn't matter which country's borders he has, he nodded again and again: "That's good, that's good, with these two supply points, the fleet from the Americas to Manila can carry more goods." ”

Talking about this, it seems that it is almost the same, the issue of blister copper has been properly discussed, the problem of armed merchant ships and shipping routes has also been solved, and there seems to be nothing else, Zhang Bin couldn't help asking: "Your Excellency the Governor, is there any more problem?" ”

Coqueira hurriedly shook his head and said, "It's gone, it's gone." ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, he got up directly and said: "Okay, I'll rush to Malacca, let them prepare the super battleship, you send someone to get it as soon as possible, I hope that within two years, you can start supplying us with blister copper." ”

He took into account that the speed of the sailing ship was relatively slow, and they would need to send them back and forth to give them two years, and if they had a steamer, it was estimated that they would be able to start supplying blister copper to Dongfan in half a year.

Coqueira roughly estimated that although the two years period was a bit tight, it should not be a big problem, and he nodded solemnly: "No problem, within two years, we will definitely send the first batch of blister copper to Formosa." ”

Zhang Bin nodded and arched his hand: "Then so be it, I won't bother and leave." ”

When Corquila heard this, he was stunned and said, "Your Excellency the Governor, why don't you have a meal before leaving, I am ordering someone to prepare a banquet." ”

Zhang Bin politely excused himself: "Thank you Your Excellency the Governor for your kindness, I rushed to Malacca this time, I really don't have time, let's talk about it next time." ”

Seeing that Zhang Bin insisted on leaving, Coquela could only shake his head regretfully, and then walked towards the conference room with him.

Back in the conference room, Zhang Bin didn't say anything, but waved directly to the generals sitting there and said, "Let's go." ”

When the generals heard this, they immediately got up and followed him out, but the Spanish officials in the conference room were dumbfounded and didn't know what was going on.

Isn't this to discuss something, how can I go and leave after looking at something!

Seeing this, Coqueira hurriedly beckoned to those officials, signaling them to follow him to see off the southeastern governor of the Ming Empire.

This negotiation is a long story, in fact, Zhang Bin did not stay in the Governor's Mansion for long, from getting off the ship and landing on the shore, to return to the port for less than half an hour, at this time there are still many ordinary people in the port have not left, and even, there are more Ming merchants who are doing business in Manila rushed over after hearing the news, although they don't know which official of Daming this is, but looking at the service of Zhang Bin and a group of generals, they all understand that this is definitely a certain high-ranking official in Daming.

The high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty were so ceremoniously entertained by the Governor of Manila, wouldn't they have a good life in the future!

This is natural, in order to tie up Zhang Bin, Coqueira's attitude towards the Ming merchants has become much friendlier, before, in Manila, the treatment of Ming merchants is even worse than that of local residents, but since Zhang Bin's visit, their treatment has been mentioned to the same extent as the Spaniards, except that they cannot live in the royal city, the others are almost the same as the Spaniards.

Of course, these are all afterthoughts, so let's skip them for the time being and go back to the docks.

At this time, Ke Quera's attitude towards Zhang Bin was really good, and the reluctant look made Zhang Bin have goosebumps, he stiffly said a few words to the cargo on the dock, and then arched his hand and quickly boarded the flagship moored at the dock.

After a group of guards boarded the ship, the flagship slowly left the dock, and Coqueira was still there waving vigorously, he was really reluctant to let Zhang Bin go, this southeastern governor of the Ming Empire was his God of Wealth!

Zhang Bin didn't have time to discuss the issue of making money with Coqueyla here, he really had something to do and rushed to Batavia and Malacca, although the Dutch did not run to attack Batavia and the Strait of Malacca in May and June this year, but who knows if they were gathering forces in the Mughal Empire or the Persian Gulf and other places to prepare for an attack.

He had to go and carefully inspect the construction of the coastal defense batteries in Batavia and Malacca, and then determine how many Zhenyuan cruisers and Weiyuan battleships were left, which is why he pulled all the Zhenyuan cruisers and Weiyuan battleships over, if necessary, he would leave all these 100 battleships in the South Seas to ensure that the Batavia and Malacca line would not be breached, anyway, there would be no strong enemies along the coast of Daming at this time, even if all the 100 battleships were left in the South Seas.

The fleet went all the way south, and arrived at Batavia in a few days, at this time Batavia was enough to describe it as terrifying, the original location of the governor's palace and the city hall was now a dense barracks, and the two double-decker bastions were almost like super battleships, full of artillery, one after another, lined up with the front and left and right walls of the first and second floors of the bastion, which looked like a steel forest!

Zhang Bin carefully scanned the layout of the two fortresses with a telescope, and couldn't help but nod with satisfaction, there are five or six hundred artillery pieces arranged on the front of these two fortresses, even if fifty super battleships come over, it may not be pleased, because super battleships are all wooden structures, and they will sink if they are hit by more than ten cannons at most, and the fortress is unsinkable, unless all the arrow stacks in the city wall are flattened with dense cannonballs, and directly attack the forts behind, otherwise, it is useless to pour more shells.

At this time, Zheng Zhilong had already received the news and was waiting on the port wharf, Zhang Bin did not let the Qi family soldiers go ashore, and directly let the flagship dock, and as soon as hundreds of relatives and guards went, he took a group of generals to follow off the ship.

As soon as Zheng Zhilong saw him coming down, he immediately came up and arched his hand: "My lord, you are finally here, those more than 20 super battleships are really a headache, not to mention that the speed is slow to death, if the wind is not strong, the steering is slow to death, with this kind of backward battleship, I am really a little afraid that I will not be able to withstand the crazy attack of the Dutch." ”

Zhang Bin patted him on the shoulder and smiled: "It's hard, it's hard, didn't the Dutch come to attack, I brought all the Weiyuan battleships from the east side over, you said, how many ships are needed to withstand the crazy attack of the Dutch, I will leave as many as I want." ”

Zheng Zhilong turned his head to look at the huge fleet on the sea, and then said excitedly: "Really, if you give me fifty Weiyuan battleships, I won't be afraid of more warships from the Dutch." ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, he couldn't help but laugh and said: "It's not good to brag, the number of Dutch warships is still very large, but they rarely gather together, if you gather two or three hundred super battleships at a time, can you withstand it?" I think that even if these two fortresses are full of turrets, they can withstand fifty super battleships at most, plus fifty Weiyuan battleships, they can withstand the attack of more than 100 super battleships. ”

When Zheng Zhilong heard this, he said embarrassedly: "It's really unbearable here, but I sent people to the periphery of Sumen Island to carefully investigate a few times, many places there are dense reefs, which are not suitable for large fleets to sail at all, and the sea storms over there are more frequent, if you are not careful, you will be swallowed by the sea storm, I think, the Dutch should not choose to go there, they should choose to go Malacca, the defense of Malacca is not as fragile as Batavia, even if they gather two or three hundred super battleships, it is useless." ”

Zhang Bin couldn't help but ask with interest: "Oh, is the periphery of Sumada Island really not suitable for a large fleet to sail, what if people take risks?" ”

Zheng Zhilong said confidently: "I have set up a lot of sentry over there, at the speed of the wheels, if they go there, we can know about half a month in advance, and at that time, we can completely concentrate all our forces in Batavia and wait for them to come." ”

This is indeed true, if you come from outside the island of Suma, you have to take at least 3,000 miles by sea, and at the speed of the wheels, no matter where you are, you can rush back within two days to report the news, and if you sail a boat, you will have to walk for at least half a month, and if the enemy makes a detour to attack Batavia on the periphery of Suma, there is indeed plenty of time to prepare in advance.

Zhang Bin thought about it carefully, then nodded and said, "Okay, since you are so sure, then I won't look at Batavia, let's go to Malacca now." ”

When Zheng Zhilong heard this, he followed him to board the Zhenyuan cruiser without hesitation, and immediately, the huge fleet turned around and rushed to the Strait of Malacca.

The next day, the fleet arrived at the Malacca fortress, Zhang Bin looked at the defense around the fortress, and his heart suddenly settled, no wonder Zheng Zhilong was so sure, this is the real steel forest, with the Malacca fortress as the center, almost all the islands at the entrance of the entire strait have built forts, and even larger islands have built forts, preliminary estimates, at least 2,000 artillery pieces have been erected here!

With so many artillery, no matter where they went, there were batteries and fortresses everywhere, and if fifty Weiyuan battleships with flexible steering were added to help, the enemy would not be able to get out of this dense steel forest even if two or three hundred super battleships came!

No wonder the Dutch did not attack, it is estimated that they will be frightened when they see so many batteries, this is no longer something that two or three hundred super battleships can overcome, to rush through the Strait of Malacca, the Dutch must prepare at least four or five hundred super battleships, will they be desperate?

Zhang Bin felt that this situation was unlikely, because during this period, I had never heard of any country organizing such a huge fleet, which was enough to determine the supremacy of the sea.