Chen Zhouquan wants to take Zhou Lang as a start, there is no doubt about it, Zhou Lang has no doubt about this, this is not about the morality of the two of them, nor is it a personal grudge, this is determined by conditions, Zhou Lang seized Fengshan County, it is impossible for Chen Zhouquan to accept a person who aspires to be an emperor.

Sooner or later, he will tear his face, a long pain is better than a short pain, Zhou Lang simply picked through this layer of window paper, and said it to the plain, the Qing Dynasty literati endured humiliation and pretended to be confused, Zhou Lang did not approve. If he is the current magistrate of Guangzhou, in the face of Magarni, who is still active in the Thirteen Lines, he will definitely not ignore it, since the other party has already threatened him, if he does not pay attention to the rules, he will be arrested directly, the Thirteen Merchant Pavilion District is strictly controlled, located on a sandbar, facing the water, there are gates for two days, and as soon as the gate is closed, go in directly to arrest people, and no one can escape; If you talk about the rules, if the two countries don't fight each other, then expel him, anyway, Zhou Lang will definitely not pretend to be confused, as a threat has not happened.

Now that Zhou Lang has made it clear, Chen Guanghui has appeased him, which shows that Chen Zhouquan came to summon Zhou Lang, and it also has a sense of temptation, if Zhou Lang gives in and goes to the north, then absorb the rest of Zhou Lang's troops and give him a decent official position, and he doesn't have to kill people, if Zhou Lang is not convinced, he only has a reason to do it, and Chen Zhouquan takes the initiative at every turn.

But Zhou Lang broke up directly and made it clear that he didn't want to see him, which made them less active. This is a straightforward calculation of interests and a comparison of strength, and all of a sudden it completely bypasses the conspiracy and trickery, and the false name of righteousness.

Chen Guanghui then went to meet Zhou Lang's wife Chen Sanmei, he must have been testing something, as for whether he could test it out, what he could test out, Zhou Lang really didn't care, he didn't have any secrets for fear of being known by Chen Zhouquan, even if there were, his wife would definitely not know this secret.

Chen Guanghui left a few years ago, after all, it was almost the New Year, and he also wanted to participate in the ceremony of worshiping Zheng Chenggong, I heard that Chen Zhouquan would be the emperor that day, and he would be rewarded for meritorious deeds, Chen Guanghui was undoubtedly one of the most dazzling of the heroes, how could there be a reason to be absent.

Zhou Lang let this matter go first, but soon another visitor arrived, One Piece Zhu Hui.

He had come to pick up his ship, the two old lock boats that Zhou Lang had helped him build.

Zhou Lang's old lock ship has been manufactured, due to the lack of craftsmen, now only three have been built, at most two per month manufacturing capacity, the new slipway has been started with the help of the Dutch, next year to put into operation is not a big problem, with the help of the Dutch, next year Zhou Lang plans to use the best wood to make battleships, all are not in a hurry to expand the production of old lock ships.

However, as a ship designed by the Portuguese in combination with Chinese technology and used continuously for more than 200 years, this old lock ship has been very mature in various performances. In particular, it has the characteristics of large firepower of Western ships and manpower of Chinese sailing ships, which makes Zhu Li very recognized.

At the beginning of last month, when he was at his most critical, Zhou Lang sent six warships to help in the battle, including three old lock ships, equipped with twenty naval guns, and the firepower made Zhu Lian very greedy. When he learned that these ships were built by Zhou Lang himself, and they were also made of wood provided by Zhu Li, he offered to provide wood and asked Zhou Lang to help build a few warships. Zhou Lang promised that the two ships under construction could be given to him first.

The two ships have been built, and Zhu Lian actually came to pick up the ships in person.

As his most important ally at present, Zhou Lang personally sent Zhu Lian to the dock, and before boarding the ship, Zhu Mian told Zhou Lang about some things.

It turned out that Chen Zhouquan also invited him to participate in the worship of the king of Yanping County, but Zhu Lian also refused. Zhu Lian was not afraid that Chen Zhouquan would unload the mill and kill the donkey, he believed that even if he was arrested, Chen Zhouquan would not be able to subdue his subordinates. But Chen Zhouquan may force Zhu Lian to cooperate with him and help him deal with Zhou Lang together.

Zhu Lian told Zhou Lang with great certainty that Chen Zhouquan was planning to use Chen Zhouquan's warship to transport troops to attack Zhou Lang, and Zhu Lian also promised that he would never participate in it.

The news is important, but it is not important.

Because Zhou Lang knows very well that he and Chen Zhouquan have no future, and sooner or later they will have to break up, the important thing is because it came out of Zhu Li's mouth, which shows that Zhu Lang is more optimistic about Zhou Lang between him and Chen Zhouquan, and at least will remain neutral, which expresses Zhu Li's attitude.

Zhu Lian is also a cautious person, and when he got his warship and was about to get on the ship, he told Zhou Lang that if he said it at the beginning, maybe Zhou Lang was worried about the threat, so he wouldn't give him the ship.

He was able to come in person, and he also expressed his sincerity, he was willing to come to see Zhou Lang, but he was unwilling to see Chen Zhouquan, this is his position.

Zhu Lian may not be the most ferocious among pirates, nor the fastest expanding among pirates, but he is definitely the most poisonous among pirates. He saw that Chen Zhouquan's style during the uprising, although it was understandable to go to the countryside to collect grain, but the killing was too heavy, but Zhou Lang was able to resettle the displaced people, which made him impressed. One side is harming the people, but the other side is saving the people, and it is not difficult to see who is more likely to succeed.

Zhou Lang didn't say anything, the cooperation with Zhu Mian has been smooth so far, and he has gained more through Zhu Mian.

Two-thirds of the tea seedlings smuggled in the past few months were smuggled by Zhu Lian from Fujian, and historically, after the Opium War, the British stole a large number of tea trees and tea seeds from Fujian, and it took great effort. Although Zhu Li is the head snake of Fujian, it is obviously not easy for him to get these tea seedlings.

The more important cooperation is through Zhu Li, Zhou Lang figured out the Japanese route. He also sent a letter to the Tokugawa shogunate, telling the other party in a polite tone that he was a Taiwanese rebel army who opposed the Qing Dynasty and restored the Ming Dynasty, and that he was determined to expel the Tartars by rebelling against the tyrannical Qing court. However, the budget was tight, and he hoped to follow the example of the king of Yeonpei and raise military expenses through trade, hoping to get the support of the Japanese shogun.

Zhou Lang did not receive a reply, but the ships he sent were not hindered by the Japanese, and the other party promised to send more merchant ships to trade, and this trade route was in fact opened.

Of course, Zhu Lian also received Zhou Lang's military support, if it were not for Zhou Lang's fleet rescue, he would not be able to live or die now.

In short, the two cooperate to take what they need, but the common interests are now less and less.

Zhu Lian purchased the old gate ship from Zhou Lang, but the purpose was not to enhance his strength through this method, but to take it back and copy it, Zhu Mian had his own shipbuilding power in his hands, and his shipbuilding craftsmen and shipyards were more and bigger than Zhou Lang's. It's just that the old lock boat will not be made, because it was not noticed before. This kind of ship was designed by the Portuguese, although the maritime merchants of Guangdong also used a large number of them, but because of the policy of the government, the old lock ships used by the Guangdong merchants were rarely equipped with cannons, which led to the firepower advantage of this kind of ship, in fact, it was not brought into play. Although the old lock ships equipped by the Portuguese had a large number of guns, the Portuguese only had a few ships, so they were not famous at all, at least not for their strong firepower.

As a coastal area, Fujian has its own unique ship type, and the pirates have also developed a ship type equipped with cannons, which is called the Thunder Ship, which means that the cannon salvo is like a thunderbolt. However, there is a characteristic of the traditional Chinese ship type, that is, it is light weight, which cannot be regarded as a disadvantage, because in the maritime trade, the light hull is advantageous, it can pull more and run faster; The disadvantage is that the protection is insufficient, and in the face of the threat of natural disasters, the wisdom of Chinese craftsmen is to design a watertight compartment; But in the face of the threat of Western heavy artillery, the effect of watertight compartments is not obvious.

The hull of the old lock ship is borrowed from Western warships, although there is no watertight compartment, but the hull is heavy, the protection is strong, the salvo process is relatively stable, the shooting accuracy is higher, in short, the combination of Western ships and cannons is better than that of Chinese ships. Therefore, Zhu Lian valued the design of the old lock boat, and bought two from Zhou Lang, but did not mention the follow-up purchase, the purpose was to pull back the imitation.

Even weapons don't need Zhou Lang's assistance.

Now with the loss of Taiwan, the Qing court has temporarily shrunk back, and his crisis has been lifted, so what else can Zhou Lang do to restrain Zhu Li.

Even if Zhu Lian really helped Chen Zhouquan to attack Zhou Lang, the advantages outweighed the disadvantages for him, and he even had the opportunity to annex Zhou Lang's fleet, and from then on Chen Zhouquan sat on the land of Taiwan, and he controlled both sides of the Fujian Sea.

In this case, although Zhu Lian expressed his sincerity to Zhou Lang, Zhou Lang did not accept it, he should be on guard or on guard.

Therefore, Zhou Lang soon strengthened his attention to maritime defense, and asked the artillery experts sent by the Netherlands to immediately concentrate on casting fortress artillery, and he hoped to strengthen the number of artillery in the three ports of Zuoying, Dagu and Donggang; At the same time, instead of stockpiling wood and waiting for the construction of Western-style battleships next year, he asked the shipyard to hurry up and build the old lock ships, and before the number of old lock ships reached thirty, he did not need more powerful battleships for the time being. Anyway, the firepower of the old lock ship is enough to deal with the Qing army and Zhu Li's warships, so the number is even more important, only if the number is large enough, can we help defend more coastlines and prevent the other side from sneaking attacks.

At the same time, a fixed flight to Penghu was opened, nominally to trade, but in fact, of course, it was responsible for monitoring the movements of Penghu, after all, Zhu Li had no fixed source of goods, and the looted property also had his own channels to sell the stolen goods, so there was no need for trade at all, even if the Zhu Li fleet in Penghu needed daily necessities, it was more convenient to import them directly from Anping Port, and it was completely unprofitable to traffic from Donggang or Tagu Port.

In the midst of Zhou Lang's heavy precautions, the Lunar New Year has arrived, and the sound of firecrackers in the drum port on Chinese New Year's Eve is endless.

Listening to this sound with a strong breath of life, Zhou Lang's heart calmed down, yes, what can be more important than the New Year.

To a certain extent, this cannon sound is also a kind of praise for Zhou Lang, in this troubled world, the people still have the heart to set off the cannon, which seems to explain something.