While Liu Xiang's fleet was trying to run south, Zheng Zhilong's fleet was also heading south. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoIn order to facilitate the news, Zheng Zhilong's fleet first sailed in the direction of Dayuangang in the northeast to see if it could meet Liu Xiang who had fled from there, and if not, it would turn back and go south along the Chinese coastline. Zheng Zhilong spent a day sailing northeast and found nothing, so he redirected the fleet and headed for Guangdong.

"Asen, you see, we are now walking along the coastline like this, and along the way, all the strongholds have been handed down by my father's fast horses, and each stronghold has sent patrol fast boats, first, to search for Liu Xiang's fleet, and secondly, to meet us at sea and provide us with the latest information. Therefore, the combat power at sea does not depend on ships, but a large part of it depends on the support of these strongholds, facilities, and the like. If it weren't for these, no matter how good your father was, he wouldn't have been able to beat the Dutch and Liu Xiang. But with these, no matter how much they jump, they can't jump out of the palm of their father's hand. Well, in a little while, we should be able to meet such patrol clippers. "Faced with a large but obviously incorrectly proportioned nautical chart spread out on the table (no way, the surveying and mapping technology of this era is still quite poor, even the map, can only be regarded as a freehand landscape painting, let alone a nautical chart. While pointing, he said to Zheng Sen, who was standing aside.

"That's what Daddy said." Zheng Sen nodded very seriously. Zheng Sen found that his father was really a great talent, and if he hadn't seen his performance in the face of the Manchu Qing Dynasty later, he would have wondered if his father was also a traverser. During this period of time, Zheng Sen was learning from his father, and at the same time, he was also sorting out the memories he brought from his previous life, and with the mutual confirmation of reality and memory, some of the contents of Mahan's "Naval Strategy", which had been almost forgotten, were gradually recalled, for example, Zheng Zhilong's role in naval warfare just now, in principle, was actually very close to Mahan's theory.

"Asen, those things you wrote, my father has already read them." Zheng Zhilong suddenly said this with a smile.

"Huh? Daddy, what are you talking about? Zheng Sen was taken aback.

"It's the art of war you wrote in your cabin." Zheng Zhilong smiled, "I went to your cabin the day before yesterday to see what you were doing, and I didn't want you to be called away by your second uncle." I saw the Art of War you were writing on your desk. At that time, I thought, you kid, you are really arrogant, how many famous generals have fought all their lives throughout the ages, and they have not left any art of war, you little hairy boy who has never even fought a battle, actually ran to write the art of war. ”

"It's the child Meng Lang." Zheng Sen hurriedly replied, "The child doesn't really want to write the art of war, but just sort out and write down what he learns from his father and uncles every day, so as not to forget it." ”

But you're being too modest. To be honest, there are a lot of loopholes in your art of war, well, your second uncle is a good hand at fighting, but listening to him talk about fighting, you must at least make a five-fold discount in your heart. Your second uncle is a kind and good person, he loves to brag, and many times, some of the things he says can't be taken too seriously. Got it? ”

"The child remembers." Zheng Sen replied.

"But in big matters, your second uncle won't talk nonsense." Zheng Zhilong seemed to feel that he didn't seem to be a good arranger for his second uncle in front of his son, so he added such a sentence.

"The child understands."

"Well," Zheng Zhilong looked at Zheng Sen, nodded, and said, "Although you have a lot of minor problems in this art of war, some things are still very thorough, such as you use mathematics to talk about the central position, the internal line and the line of communication, as well as the connection between the principle of concentration of forces and the design of warships. Although it is a little more difficult, you need a little bit of Tessie's math foundation to understand it. But it can be regarded as saying something that people don't see and say. There are some things in this, which the father did in the past, but he didn't explicitly write it that way. This is not as good as you as a father now. ”

"Children are just talking on paper, and they are all real feats compared to their fathers." Zheng Sen hurriedly said.

"It is true that you may not be able to fight a war on paper, but it is not necessarily impossible to fight. It's better than knowing nothing. Well, in the future, Asen, you will be a civil official, but my Ming civil official can also take side credit, and it is also a good thing to know how to fight. The Father brought you out this time, but also to let you see the real battlefield. In addition, your art of war is very good, write it well, and when you are free for your father, I will also help you correct those small mistakes, and your younger brothers will still be military attaches in the future, and they will also use it, this is the heirloom of our Zheng family. ”

At this time, a soldier came in and reported that he had encountered a patrol clipper ahead.

"Well, Asen, you and your father should go out and have a look." Zheng Zhilong said.

……

The Clippers did not bring news of Liu Xiang, and it seems that Liu Xiang is still gritting her teeth and insisting.

"But it's not an egg." Zheng Zhihu said nonchalantly, "Their ship is not as fast as ours, and they can only go south now, now they don't dock to rob, they will dock in a day or two, we can also get the news, and then catch up with them and kill them all!" Tell me that Liu Xiang might as well let those guys under him disperse as soon as possible and look for food everywhere. Messing around like this, maybe he can take advantage of this mess to get out. ”

"Liu Xiang is a person who has been a big leader, if he wants to disperse everyone and start from scratch, how is he willing, besides, now that he is starting from scratch, where is the opportunity? Liu Xiang would rather die than do this. Zheng Zhilong shook his head and said.

"Big brother, I know, I just said that Liu Xiang is neither willing to starve to death, nor willing to be hacked to death by us, we are very embarrassed." Zheng Zhihu argued strongly.

……

"Liu Da is in charge, the food on the ship can't hold on anymore, we have to grab a handful." A bearded pirate who could barely see his nose and eyes muttered to Liu Xiang.

"We've been running for so long, and it is said that Zheng Zhilong may not be able to catch up all at once. Where do you think we're going to grab one? Liu Xiang thought about it and said to everyone.

"Big boss, I think Gu Lei is good." Said a pirate.

"Gourley? How much more can there be? Why don't we go to Lu Ao. Another pirate said.

"Lu Ao? There's a walled city, and it's so easy to grab there! And there are garrisons! Immediately, someone retorted, "If we can't fight for a while, and we can't stay for a long time, isn't that asking for trouble?" If you want me to say it's better to be Guray. After robbing Gulei, if there are many things grabbed, we will go directly south, if there are not many things, we will go to Zhao'an County to grab a handful. ”

This seemingly more secure approach was accepted by most people, and Liu Xiang's fleet began to approach Gulei.

The Ming Dynasty was in Guleisheri, which was also similar to the township in later generations. Two days ago, Gu Lei also received an order to defend against the Haikou and clear the wall, but the order is like this, but the implementation is another matter. The execution of my Ming Dynasty, especially at this time, has always been a big pit. So when Liu Xiang and others landed in Gulei that night, they did not receive any effective resistance, the Ming Dynasty had a guard in Gulei, but these so-called guards had no combat effectiveness at all, Liu Xiang and others touched the vicinity of the guard, and after showing their knives, those guards immediately ran into the field. Liu Xiang didn't have the heart to trouble them, so he led people straight to Gulei Town.

The fortified walls of Gulei were not very good, but they were not unsuspecting, and when a large number of pirates approached the town, the dogs and geese who were in charge of policing the town were the first to bark. Then, the pirates led by Liu Xiang were met with the first resistance in this operation. Several big white geese spread their wings and swooped towards Liu Xiang.

"I don't know what to live or die!" Liu Xiang kicked a big white goose away, and the other big white goose pounced from the side and pecked at Liu Xiang's other leg. Liu Xiang slashed the brave and fearless white goose to death, and then shouted to the pirate next to him: "Pick it up, don't lose it, you can eat it!" ”

At this time, the town was also in chaos, some crying and some shouting, and some were busy looking for the bottom of the pot to be gray, and the faces of the wives and daughters were blackened. But the latter is completely redundant, Liu Xiang's people have been hungry for several days, so they still have the strength to do that kind of thing?

In short, Liu Xiang's action was quite successful, one of his men did not die, but injured one - Liu Xiang's calf was pecked by a big white goose, and a large piece was lost. However, there are not many things to grab, especially not many to eat. I don't have many people in Daming who have enough to eat, Gulei is a small place, and there are not many people, how can there be so many things to eat. And in the dark, most of the townspeople ran away, and the pirates who were desperate to find food did not chase them. When some of the guys fled, they carried the most valuable thing - the rice bag on their backs.

And then an accident drastically reduced their gains. In order to collect as much food as possible and as quickly as possible, Liu Xiang asked the pirates to light torches and search carefully, but as a result, I don't know which bastard accidentally set the house on fire. Most of the houses in the towns and villages of this era were adobe walls and thatched roofs, and they were very close to each other, and the sea breeze was strong, so that in the blink of an eye, the whole street was burned. The pirates also had no equipment to fight the fire, so they had to talk about it. In addition, he was worried that the fire might play the role of a beacon fire, which attracted Zheng Zhilong. Liu Xiang and the others had no choice but to retreat in a hurry.

In fact, Zheng Zhilong is still a little far away from Liu Xiang, and he can't see this firelight yet. However, early the next morning, Zheng Zhilong still got the news of Liu Xiang's attack on Gu Lei from the sentinel ship.