Penghu is an island about 300 miles away from Fujian, and it is also the collective name of a group of surrounding islands.

There are a total of 64 islands in the Penghu Islands, including three larger islands, namely Penghu, Baisha and Yuweng Island, which form a natural haven and the famous Penghu Bay.

This Penghu Bay can no longer be used as a port in later generations, because the average water depth of the main entrance to the south is only a few tens of meters, and the shallowest place is even only a dozen meters, and large ships cannot enter it at all.

However, there is no such problem at this time, and the largest draft of the Ming Navy fleet led by Zhang Bin is less than ten meters, and there is no problem in entering Penghu Bay.

More than 400 warships of the Fujian Navy Division of the Ming Dynasty sailed for nearly a day, and finally arrived at the Penghu Islands at about three o'clock the next morning.

At this time, the sky has already revealed the dawn, and the entire sea surface is shimmering under the rising sun, like gold everywhere, which is intoxicating.

Zhang Bin stood at the front of the tall fortune boat, looking at the islands dotted in front of him, his heart was extremely excited, and he was finally about to start!

If you want to save the Ming Dynasty, you can only learn from Zheng Zhilong to dominate the sea and feed the Ming Dynasty with the huge profits of maritime trade, so that the Ming Dynasty can get rid of the terrible natural and man-made disasters and hit the glory hard.

Now, Zheng Zhilong has been subdued by himself, and this Penghu is the first step in his maritime hegemony!

Just when he was excited, Yu Zhigao behind him suddenly pointed to a small hill on the island in front of him and said, "My lord, look, there is a fort built by the Dutch. ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, he immediately took out his binoculars and looked at the hill, on which there were indeed rows of artificial buildings like city walls, but at this time, there were no cannons on it, and many places were drowned in wild grass.

This fort has been abandoned for more than three years, and I don't know whether it was deliberately destroyed by the Ming army, or because of the wind and rain, many places have collapsed, and it may take a little time to repair.

Zhang Bin put down the binoculars and said calmly: "The front is Penghu Bay, right?" ”

Yu Zhigao nodded heavily and said: "The front is the entrance of Penghu Bay, the left side of this entrance is Yuwen Island, and the right side is the main island of Penghu." ”

Zhang Bin thought for a while, and then ordered: "Order, all warships enter Penghu Bay to find a fishing port to land." ”

According to Yu Zhigao, there are fishermen living on Penghu, Baisha and the three islands of Yuweng, and the number adds up to more than 1,000 households, so Zhang Bin concluded that there will be a fishing port in Penghu Bay, and there is more than one.

With his order, more than 400 warships began to change their formations, from the original circular array that spread around them to slowly turn into a long snake formation, and the small warships in front had slowly entered Penghu Bay, and Zhang Bin's flagship was still several miles away from the entrance.

The flagship continued to sail forward for about two moments, and finally entered Penghu Bay through the entrance, and at this time the entire fleet had begun to deviate to the right, and it seemed that the warships that were exploring the way ahead had found a suitable fishing port for landing on the main island of Penghu.

Zhang Bin took out his binoculars and looked to the right, sure enough, there was a large harbor about two miles in front of the right, and there was a large fishing port in the harbor, and the wharf supported by two rows of wooden piles stretched out of the coast nearly a hundred steps away.

He raised his binoculars and continued to look back, there were many low bungalows behind the port, and strangely, there was not even a single figure in the entire port, including the bungalows in the back!

He suddenly sensed that something was wrong, and pulled the telescope back to the pier, and sure enough, there was not a single fishing boat on the huge pier!

Zhang Bin put down the binoculars, turned his head to Yu Zhigao and said, "General Yu, are you sure there are people on this island?" ”

Yu Zhigao nodded without hesitation and said: "Absolutely, when we attacked the castle of Hongmaofan, there were many fishermen who helped us transport military supplies, and there were at least seven or eight villages on this island, five or six hundred households!" ”

What's going on here?

Zhang Bin pressed the doubts in his heart, waited for nearly a quarter of an hour, and the handsome boat finally docked, he waved his hand directly, and led Yu Zhigao and his son to get off the lucky boat and come to the dock.

At this time, the foot soldiers on the warship were constantly gathering in the open space behind the dock, and Cao Wenzhao had already arrived at the dock, where he was directing his men to land.

Zhang Bin probably swept the foot soldiers who had landed, and then stepped forward and ordered: "General Cao, immediately send a thousand people into ten squads to disperse and search, to see if there is anyone on this island, let them not act rashly after finding civilians, and come back to report first." ”

Cao Wenzhao obeyed the order and immediately arranged for someone to search, while Zhang Bin took Yu Zhigao's father and son and Xie Zhenggang and other personal guards to the nearest bungalow.

He came to the bungalow and saw that there was no trace of dilapidation in the whole bungalow, and the house was cleaned very cleanly, and it was obvious that there must be people living in it, but at this moment there was no one missing, which was really strange.

Zhang Bin thought for a while, and then asked, "Where is the original castle of the Dutch?" ”

Yu Zhigao was puzzled: "Henan people? ”

Zhang Bin fainted by mistake, he cried and laughed: "It's Hongmaofan, their country name is about the Netherlands in our Ming words, the lotus of lotus, and the orchid of orchid." ”

Yu Zhigao suddenly realized: "Oh, it turns out that the country of Hongmaofan is called the Netherlands, and their castle is on a hill about two or three miles behind the fort just now, and I am afraid that it will take seven or eight miles to turn from here." ”

It's so far away, Zhang Bin couldn't help but hesitate when he heard this, and now the fishermen who came here haven't found one, do you want to go over and have a look first?

Just when he hesitated, Cao Wenzhao ran over with a thousand general managers and said: "My lord, I have found the fishermen here, they have built a cottage on a hill about a mile away from here, and the gate of the village is closed at this time, as if to guard against us." ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, he immediately waved his hand and said, "Let's go, take us over to have a look." ”

This time there was no transport of war horses, everyone could only rely on foot, Zhang Bin followed behind Cao Wenzhao and that Qian Zong turned left and right to bypass a few mountain bags, and about three hundred Ming troops suddenly appeared in front of them, and at this time they were already waiting in a neat phalanx.

Zhang Bin took out his binoculars and looked ahead, and sure enough, there were many houses on the hill in front of him, and a circle of about two people high had obviously been built around the periphery, and two or three hundred fishermen had gathered on the wall, they were holding harpoons or short bows, and they were looking nervously at this side.

They may have thought of themselves as pirates, so what should they do?

Zhang Bin thought about it and was about to send someone forward to shout, but Yu Zhigao suddenly volunteered: "My lord, let the last general try?" ”

Zhang Bin looked at the fish scale armor on his body, nodded and said, "Well, be careful, don't get too close." ”

Yu Zhigao nodded, turned around and strode in the direction of the cottage.

He walked alone to a place about 100 steps away from the cottage, and then stopped and shouted: "Fellow villagers, I am Yu Zhigao, the general soldier of Fujian, do you still remember me, more than three years ago, I led my troops to fight fiercely with Hongmaofan here, and many villagers also helped me transport military supplies." ”

As soon as his words fell, there was a commotion in the cottage, and soon, the gate of the village suddenly opened, and a large group of people rushed out, running to Yu Zhigao and shouting excitedly: "Yu Zongbing, is it really you?" Are the warships outside all of the Ming Mariners? Are you here or leaving? Will Daming still leave us? ”

Yu Zhigao was dizzy when he was asked, and he simply said aloud: "Who is the leader?" ”

A middle-aged man holding a harpoon immediately bowed his hand and said, "Mr. Yu, I am the head of this Magong Village." ”

Yu Zhigao immediately patted him on the shoulder and said, "Okay, come with me to meet the governor, if you have anything to say, ask the governor directly." ”

When the middle-aged man heard this, he threw away the harpoon and said excitedly: "Lord Governor, is it the governor of Fujian, where is it?" ”

Yu Zhigao pointed behind him, and then pulled him towards Zhang Bin.

The middle-aged man couldn't wait to kneel down more than ten steps away from Zhang Bin, lay on the ground and roared: "Lord Governor, please don't go, don't leave us poor fishermen!" Pirates and red-haired fans often come to us to fight, they want fresh water, food, rob if they don't give it, kill people and set fires, rape and loot, do all kinds of evil, we can't live this day! ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, he nodded solemnly and said: "This fellow, don't worry, this official will not leave, and this official will build a city here to protect the villagers." This is the territory of the Ming Dynasty, you are the people of the Ming Dynasty, and in the future, no one can bully you! ”