What does this guy named Hong Tao rely on to expand his influence? Zhao Fan studied it carefully, and he felt that there were two key points, one was money and the other was fist!

Hong Tao is rich, rich enough to establish a country and claim the emperor himself, regardless of whether this money belongs to Hong Tao himself, anyway, Zhao Fan thinks so.

Hong Tao's fists are even harder, his big ships and cannons are invincible, even the great cannibals who have always been rampant on the sea are no opponent, and even the Mongols have no way to take him, relying on the advantages of these weapons.

Zhao Fan can't compare with Hong Tao with financial resources, and he is also ashamed to open his mouth and shut up and talk about money, although he also likes money.

Fist has a way to think about it, he has been doing this work for several years, and persuaded the emperor to start building an artillery factory on Quang Nam East Road, obtaining information on the artillery of the Jinhe Empire from various sources, and then imitating the production himself. However, a lot of money and food were spent, but the effect was not great.

The artillery thing looks quite simple, it's nothing more than a copper pipe, put in ignition and iron balls, and a little fire will be over. That can be said, but it is really troublesome to build, either it can't hit far or it blows up. The most hateful thing is that Hong Tao didn't reveal the technology of the artillery to the imperial court, and he was still controlled by Zheng Qingzhi and Wu Qian, just to get a cement, and he couldn't intervene.

What if you can't make your own artillery? Steal! No, it's not stealing, it's taking! Everything in the world is royal, and it is very in line with the teachings of the saints to help the official family. How to take it? Zhao Fan also found someone to inquire in many ways, there is really no place to take it, that thing is all loaded on the warships of the Jinhe Empire, and the Great Song Dynasty maritime merchants can buy the new sea ships built by the Zhenzhou Shipyard, but it is impossible to buy cannons, and the Zhenzhou Shipyard does not make cannons. So Zhao Fan hit the idea on these warships of the Jinhe Empire, always looking for an opportunity to steal or rob a few back. But those ships were also not easy to approach. I tried a few times without success.

If you are not afraid of thieves, you are afraid of thieves, and this time he finally found an opportunity. According to the report of the sailor's exploration ship, the Jinhe Imperial fleet had set up a small supply depot on a deserted island in the Lisi Islands, which was full of supplies, including many spare cannons! Where are the Piao Si Islands? This is the territory of the Great Song Dynasty! Putting the cannon on the ground of your own house is not a free gift. What made Zhao Fan even happier was that the fleet of the Jinhe Empire had all gone north. There were only a hundred and ten soldiers stationed there and a Mingzhou merchant ship hired to help deliver supplies.

Don't miss the opportunity! Zhao Fan and his younger brother pondered for several days, and finally decided to attack this supply station while the Jinhe Imperial fleet had not yet returned, and in the name of the commander of the Great Song Naval Division, occupy this desert island and confiscate the materials piled up on the desert island. The reason is very sufficient, the desert island belongs to the Great Song Dynasty, and there are no formalities when the Jinhe Empire occupies it, even if Zheng Qingzhi agrees, it is useless, and without the holy decree of the official family, who would dare to lightly give the land of his country to foreigners? Isn't this a traitor!

In fact, Zhao Fan didn't want to offend the fleet of the Golden River Empire too much. After all, at this time, they still need to help defend against the Mongol sailors. However, in his opinion, most of the things still have to be returned to them if they confiscate the supplies of friendly troops, wait for the other party to come back to him to admit his mistake, say a soft word, and pay tribute to some gifts. It's not like I haven't done this kind of thing before, and no matter how awesome the general is, he has to bow his head and smile when he comes here, which is the practice of the Great Song Dynasty.

The idea was that it worked well, but it didn't go well. First of all, the Mingzhou merchant ship refused to leave, and it really couldn't resist. actually went to Lin'an to find the official family to complain. This is still okay, or is it not the Shunmin of the Great Song Dynasty? Complain. Let's take you off first! After this matter is over, it must be carefully interrogated to see where these merchants came from so boldly dared to block the warships of the imperial court, whether they secretly surrendered to the enemy? If this is the case, Zheng Qing's faction will not be able to escape the involvement and reveal the news to the officials. As soon as the impeachment recital was thrown up, he, the prime minister of the left, had to say goodbye, and no matter who sat in the vacated position, it could be regarded as a big victory.

The second is that the soldiers stationed on the shore are too hard, and no one is allowed to approach. They didn't even let anyone talk, as long as they were within 500 meters of the beach, they really opened fire without hesitation. It's worth it! Zhao Fan was really anxious, on the one hand, he couldn't eat the meat in his mouth, and on the other hand, he was where to put his face! In front of so many officers and soldiers of the naval division, you can't be frightened into retreating by 100 foreign soldiers, right?

beat, you must use strong means to achieve your goal, and by the way, get your face back. So the next morning, he dispatched part of the main force of the Southern Song Dynasty Navy Division stationed at the mouth of the Qiantang River, and followed his handsome ship to the desert island to find a field. Who would have thought that his fleet had just arrived, and the fleet of the Jinhe Empire had also returned, at that time, Zhao Fan was trembling in his heart, for fear that these outsiders would not talk about the teachings of saints.

He is not afraid of anyone, but when it comes to fighting, he is really a little scared of these people. In Xiangyang City, he saw with his own eyes how one of Kong Pei's warships bombarded tens of thousands of Mongolian soldiers on the shore, which was simply to scare off a Mongolian elite with the power of a ship, and it is said that he also injured the son of the Mongolian Great Khan.

But coincidentally, before he could give the order to retreat, the warships on the opposite side first raised a flag, saying that the battle ahead was in full swing, and they had run out of ammunition and food, and they were coming back to replenish ammunition. And their commander, that is, Hong Tao, is continuing to fight with a few ships, and the other party also asked the Southern Song Dynasty sailors led by him to hurry north to reinforce and strive to annihilate the Mongolian sailors in one fell swoop.

Annihilation of the Mongol sailors? That's not in a hurry, in Zhao Fan's opinion, you must first settle inside, as long as you get the cannon of the Jinhe Empire, everything can wait. And he had another idea at this time, it was better to take advantage of the opportunity of the other party's ammunition to run out of ammunition and food to snatch these ships over. Without these ships, Emperor Hong would have no reinforcements, and he might have been defeated by the Mongol sailors, captured and killed in battle. In this way, isn't it killing two birds with one stone? He obtained the manufacturing technology of most of the invincible armada and cannons for the imperial court, and at the same time removed the thorn in the flesh in the eye, why not?

The more he thought about this method, the better, so Zhao Fan used the excuse of helping friendly troops transport ammunition, and successfully let the warships of the Southern Song Dynasty Navy Division get close to those warships that had fallen anchor, and when the other party reacted and found that the situation was wrong, they were already surrounded and couldn't even move, let alone fight. It seemed that they were indeed out of shells, and none of the small doors on the hull had been opened, but there were still a few small cannons on the deck that could be used.

Zhao Fan is not afraid of these small cannons at all, he has people and ships, as long as he can get close to these warships and make them unable to move, they have no chance to fight back. However, things did not go as smoothly as he imagined, and the lobbyists he sent were worn out, none of these warships surrendered, and their ships were much higher than most of the ships of the Southern Song Dynasty sailors, and it was not too easy to send people to attack. For the sake of insurance, Zhao Fan sent people back to call reinforcements, and instead of moving these warships, he launched an attack on the supply depot on the desert island. These battleships only need to be surrounded by boats and they can't run, and sooner or later they will be in their own pockets.

After thousands of calculations, Zhao Fan just didn't calculate that Hong Tao would come back so quickly, and before his reinforcements came, Hong Tao's main fleet would come back. What made him tremble even more was that the other party didn't say a word, and directly opened fire and sank the Southern Song Dynasty warship that went to intercept it. At that time, he held up the telescope produced in Jinhewan and saw it all, only one round of shooting! In just one round, the main battleship of the Southern Song Dynasty Navy Division was shattered, and there was no chance to fight back at all, it was too scary!

By this time, he had not yet realized the seriousness of the matter. According to his habits, bullying people didn't succeed, it was nothing more than turning around and leaving, and then looking for a more suitable opportunity to start in the future, who else would dare to come to find their own accounts? He is the coach of the Great Song Water Division, a member of the Zhengyipin, and if it is not good for him, he is a rebellion, who would dare?

It's a pity that he really miscalculated this time, not to mention that he, a first-class official, even if he put Emperor Lizong on the boat, Hong Tao would not hesitate to open fire. Seeing the battle flag hanging on Hong Tao's flagship, Zhao Fan was a little awake, and quickly ordered the ship to return home, and when Hong Tao ordered the entire fleet to open fire, he was really blindsided. All those original plans were gone, and he began to think about how he would explain the details of this conflict to the emperor when he returned, how to describe the Jinhe Imperial fleet as the party that took the initiative to provoke the incident, and then use his power in the court to suppress the matter. It's not too late for a gentleman to take revenge for ten years, let's see.

Until this time, he didn't realize what Hong Tao was going to do, and it wasn't until the Jinhe rushed straight towards his building boat that he really woke up! The other party is too ruthless, and he doesn't even give himself a chance to make up nonsense, isn't this a trick. The previous rules of the game were not like this, how can you play like this? Foul play!!

Unfortunately, no matter how much he shouted, cried, and pleaded, the huge battleship still pushed away the sea and rushed over, aiming the row of black guns on the hull at his own ship. At the moment when the fire flickered, Zhao Fan was sure that he saw the legendary Hong Tao. He was so scary-looking, his eyes were thin and long, and he had two scars on half of his face, and when he smiled at himself, it was as if two faces were coming together.

That's right, he laughed when he gave the order to shell himself, laughing so wickedly, so contemptuous, so vicious! Zhao Fan really regretted it, if he had seen Hong Tao before, especially with this kind of smile, he would definitely not have made the decision to bully this fleet so easily. This man was different from all the people he had come into contact with before, he didn't look at people in his eyes at all, as if everything in the world was an ant, and he was the devil!

“***！ You don't want to give you face, you really treat me as Yue Fei? You guys are used to it, and today I'll let you know what it means to be afraid! Hong Tao also saw the purple-robed man on the top of the boat on the opposite side, whether it was Zhao Fan or not, no matter how high-grade the official, I would beat you today, how to drop it! If the bastards themselves said that they were second, the Mongols would not dare to be the first. Hong Tao feels that the word "envy and power" is really too good, just being good to others, he will feel that you owe him, and from time to time he has to round his big mouth and pump it, so that he will know how to correct his position.

(To be continued.) )