Hong Hongxiu laughed happily when he succeeded in the sneak attack and captured the enemy's nine thousand-ton warships, ten six-hundred-ton warships, thirty three-hundred-ton warships, fifty scarred hundred-ton warships, and thirty armed merchant ships, as well as nearly eighty merchant ships with an intact rate of nearly 30 percent.

After dispatching these wounded merchant ships, as well as unloading 100,000 Southeast Asian soldiers, 20,000 remaining Han Chinese soldiers, and various supplies, nearly 300 merchant ships began to return home.

Among the returning convoys was a fleet of armed merchant ships towing wounded armed merchant ships, about eighty ships.

As well as the capture of nearly 100 ships of 100 tons of the enemy, all wounded, some of the ships damaged in the battle were towed away and returned to the island of New Zealand for repairs, which may be the battlefield of the next battle.

In this way, nearly 700 ships were captured, the enemy's, his own wounded, and the escort warships, and in the end he still had 37 warships, 70 warships, and 30 armed merchant ships left, which seemed to be pitiful, but he knew that the fewer soldiers and horses, the better it would be to command when fighting guerrilla battles with the enemy, Zheng Jing suffered a big loss, and he would definitely retaliate again, and there would be no fewer warships and warships, but the main battle was on land, no longer at sea, and he had no intention of colliding with the enemy at sea, of course, if the enemy was too stupid, If he had a chance to be caught, he wouldn't mind another battle of annihilation.

Hong Hongxiu circled in Papua New Guinea with the fleet for a week, but did not see the Zheng family send people to recapture the island of Papua New Guinea, so he returned with the fleet.

After nearly two months, he ran out of supplies, defeated two enemy fleets, seized the islands of Papua New Guinea, and brought his trade route closer to the Kingdom of China or the north by nearly 2,000 nautical miles, shortening the voyage by about ten days, which was a strategic victory for him.

Although he knew that the Zheng family would not give up, he also had to go back to replenish and repair the ships, organize his own territory, and train new sailors and soldiers.

How could a tiny island of Papua New Guinea satisfy his appetite?

He wants Australia, Indonesia, and Luzon, and to be able to swallow such a large territory, his great achievements, or his empire, do not need to be small in the Chinese kingdom on the mainland.

And here, after the news of the Zheng family's warships that desperately escaped was brought to Darwin, Zheng Jing dropped almost everything that could be seen and broken, three hundred merchant ships, more than three hundred warships, and more than a dozen warships, which was almost one-fifth of his sea strength, but he was completely defeated by others in a battle, and finally came back with hundreds of people and more than a dozen small boats, which made him lose face, and immediately gathered all the sailor generals, as well as some land generals and civilian officials.

As the older generation, Zheng Chenggong's henchman general and half of the strategist, Feng Xin is only fifty years, and he is already old, this is because Zheng Jing killed Zheng Chenggong's children and grandchildren, he is no longer in power, and he is also the only one who survives Zheng Chenggong's many sailor generals and old brothers, Zheng Jing appoints a new generation of young sailors, and the reason why he survived is also thanks to one of his granddaughters who became Zheng Jing's concubine, and a grandson followed Zheng Zhi before, and later escaped back, became a sailor under Zheng Jing, in charge of a 100-ton warship, his position is not high, his reputation is not obvious, and he is also very low-key.

This time, Zheng Jing found that no one could solve problems for him, one by one, he had to invite him out, how to say that he was one of Zheng Chenggong's five tiger generals, and he was good at strategy.

"Uncle Feng, now that the Hong family is aggressive, what should we do?"

"Our battleships are old and there are not many of them,"

"Most of the new ships are of the 100-ton level, and they can't compete with the enemy,"

"Although we have a large population, but we lack soldiers to fight, and we don't have much money, in your opinion, what can we do to make us strong?"

Feng Xin touched the goatee on his chin, his fierce face in the past has become a little old man-like appearance, as if the wind blows, the fairy wind flutters, and if it blows again, he will be blown away, his mouth opened and closed a few times, and he sighed before saying: "Okay, you can't let the old man's country fall from now on, let the old minister do his best for you again." ”

Zheng Jing hurriedly arched his hand and said: "Uncle, please speak, my nephew must listen to my uncle's arrangement." ”

Feng Xin waved his hand, "Don't talk about that, you have two ways to go now, Australia is in a remote area, there are no merchants to come and go, this is a big drawback, you have to speak widely, let the merchants come here to trade, and at the same time you have to recapture the island of Papua New Guinea, and then take the Indonesian island of Sumatra, close to the trade routes of the Taixi people, and communicate with the Taixi people in order to get money, and then hire craftsmen from the Taixi people, build better ships, and unite the Taisi people to control the trade routes in this sea area and compete with the Chinese Kingdom." ”

"The second way, the old man finally met Zhang Qiang of the Huaxia Kingdom a few times, and he also visited Zhang Qiang with the king of the county before, the old man can go to make peace, ease the relationship with the Huaxia Kingdom, and then reopen the trade route, sell iron ore, guano, furs, trees, etc. to the Huaxia Kingdom, and then buy good ships from them to enhance their strength, but this is a bit difficult for you, because where is Zheng Keshuang, the Huaxia Army does not want to contact you, and at the same time, if you cooperate with the Huaxia Army, you will offend Zheng Zhi, the Spaniards, and other Taixi people, The Huaxia Army will not come to our rescue, and we will have to fight against the other parties on our own. ”

"Is there any other way?" Zheng Jing put his hands behind his back.

Feng Xin raised his eyes and looked at him, and said slowly: "Another one is to reconcile with Zheng Keshuang, contact Zheng Zhi, and then negotiate with the second prince Hong Hongxiu, everyone is a weak force, why attack each other?" Strike into one, form an alliance, and then trade with each other, and then trade with the Taixi people, and when the strength is bigger, they will join forces to attack the Huaxia Kingdom, but I don't want you to take this road, the Huaxia Kingdom is too powerful, and their king took one step at a time to see ten steps, and started planning ten years in advance, and now everyone knows that the second prince is just a dog he released to fight against our Zheng family's forces. ”

"Uncle, which way did you say your nephew should go?" Zheng Jing stopped, turned his head and asked him.

Feng Xin said: "It's your business to go, what the old man said doesn't count, can you follow the old man's words?" The old man is tired, send someone to send the old man back to his house, today the old man is all he says, as for the future of the Zheng family, it is all in your thoughts. ”

After Feng Xin left, Zheng Jing discussed with everyone, gossiping, and did not discuss a result, Zheng Jing was ruthless in the end, "Let's take the third way, but Zheng Keshuang's guy is no longer a member of the Zheng family, and he is too close to the Huaxia Kingdom, we will join Zheng Zhi, the Spaniards, and Hong Hongxiu to fight back, I want my family's treasure island and expel the Huaxia army." ”

An old courtier frowned and said: "Your Highness, this Hong family will not agree, and Zheng Zhi and the Spaniards are fighting for Luzon Island, killing you to death, even if the two families are united, they may also fight each other, even if Zheng Zhi agrees to you in front of you and his brother, but will the Nanyang Han people who support him behind him agree?" They have a blood feud with the Spaniards, and several times the Spaniards have rejected and slaughtered them, and several of them grit their teeth with hatred. ”

"How do you know if you don't try, besides, they dare to talk more, I don't mind sending people to kill them, as long as Zheng Zhi is given benefits, he doesn't mind killing those people, isn't there some money?"

"As for the Hong family, it's a trouble, the second child's mind is elusive, it's too ghostly."

(End of chapter)