Zhu Youzhen still had some impressions of Zheng Zhilong, remembering that he finally surrendered to the Manchus, as if he had completely broken with his son Zheng Chenggong for this reason.

Zheng Zhilong's surrender to the Qing Dynasty is not something Zhu Youzhen is worried about, when he surrendered, the Ming Dynasty had already destroyed the country, and only half of Fujian's small court of the Southern Ming Dynasty remained, although it was said that the soldiers should repay the country with death, but the court **, the people's hearts were scattered, and a military general wanted to turn the tide of the tide, how easy it was to say!

Now that Daming is thriving, Zheng Zhilong just wants to surrender, but he has no chance.

Zhu Youzhen wants to inspect Zheng Zhilong's main points: first, ability, to see whether he has the ability to command the South China Sea Fleet and whether he has the ability to defeat the Xiyi Fleet in the future; The second is the tendency of self-reliance, Zheng Zhilong has been engaged in piracy for many years, and there must be a wildness that others do not have, this wildness has both advantages and disadvantages, wildness makes him a sea dragon, but if he does not have the country and the court in his mind, he will not obey discipline, and in case of a stalemate with the court, he is likely to lead the fleet to stand on his own.

Supporting troops and self-respect is something that no emperor can tolerate, not to mention that Zhu Youzhen is now particularly dependent on the South China Sea Fleet.

From Zheng Zhilong's information, Zhu Youzhen saw that "Zheng Zhilong sometimes robbed the residents along the coast of Daming, but he never hurt people for the purpose of robbing money", which made Zhu Youzhen a little relieved.

Plundering the coastal residents, it may be that Zheng Zhilong is really at the end of the mountain, and he needs to feed his brothers. But he doesn't hurt anyone, which shows that he follows a certain rule: thieves also have a way.

It seems that Cheng Zhu's science not only imprisoned the women of the Ming Dynasty, but also bound the men of the Ming Dynasty.

When Zheng Zhilong arrived in Beijing in the morning, Zhu Youzhen was in the court, and in the afternoon, Zhu Youzhen summoned Zheng Zhilong in the Qianqing Palace.

Qianqing Palace is Zhu Youzhen's dormitory, and summoning Zheng Zhilong here obviously has the meaning of wooing and getting close.

"The last general knocks to see His Majesty!" Zheng Zhilong respectfully gave Zhu Youzhen a grand salute.

"General Zheng, get up, take a seat!" Zhu Youzhen didn't get up to help, he kept looking at Zheng Zhilong, as if he was a fortune teller.

Zhu Youzhen did read "Zhou Yi", and the gossip of King Wen was the first time.

But combined with his own understanding, he divided people into two kinds: the first type of people are very firm in their goals and wills, have a strong desire to control, and have a strong sense of personal domination, and they are emperor-level figures in the court, and thieves in the opposition, or like Taizu, they are transformed from thieves to emperors; The second type of person is very weak in his pioneering ability, but he has good interpersonal relations and is an auxiliary talent.

If the first person is selected, the first type of person is needed, but to appoint a deputy position, the second type of person is more suitable.

Zhu Youzhen's method of distinguishing these two types of people is mainly based on earlobes.

The bigger the earlobe, the closer it is to the second type of person, which is the ideal candidate for the deputy position, on the contrary, the smaller the earlobe, and even a person with a straight diagonal line under the ear, like Fan Bingbing, is definitely a typical first type of person, with strong work ability, but also a more flamboyant personality.

Zheng Zhilong is a person without earlobes, and Zhu Youzhen's first impression is quite satisfied.

"Thank you!" Zheng Zhilong sat down on the chair designated by the little eunuch, and he also peeked at Zhu Youzhen.

Young, too young, although Zheng Zhilong knew Zhu Youzhen's age, but when he saw Zhu Youzhen for the first time, he was still very surprised, it turned out that the emperor who suppressed the Shaanxi people's uprising, exterminated the Jianzhou Jurchens, and recovered a large area of land outside the Guan, looked so young!

"General Zheng came from afar, and I got straight to the point." Zhu Youzhen didn't want to waste time, even if it was the key object of inspection, "South China Sea Fleet, how is the training now?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, the South China Sea Fleet is huge, the soldiers are strong, and now it can be regarded as an elite division, guarding the southern sea frontier of the Ming Dynasty, there will definitely be no problem."

Zheng Zhilong was full of confidence, but Zhu Youzhen felt that he was reciting a slogan, "General Zheng said that there is absolutely no problem in guarding the southern sea frontier of the Ming Dynasty?" I ask you, what are the possible enemies of the Southern Sea Frontier? ”

"Back to Your Majesty, the Southern Sea Frontier, the Nanyang countries are not worried, the main opponent is still Xiyi, Xiyi has eroded the Nanyang countries."

"If you face Xiyi's fleet, how sure is it that General Zheng will win?"

"Back to Your Majesty, if you go to Xiyi's doorstep, the last general will not dare to say that if the battlefield is in the South Seas, the South China Sea Fleet has no opponent for the time being." Zheng Zhilong is still very confident, he has been a pirate leader for many years, and he really knows the Xiyi Navy in the South Seas well.

Zhu Youzhen doesn't like it very much, Zheng Zhilong's words are very full, is there no surprise? Besides, the South China Sea Fleet is only training now, and there is no actual combat at all, and what is trained must be tested in actual combat before it can be transformed into effective capabilities," General Zheng briefly described the situation of Xiyi in the South Seas. ”

"His Majesty, the Nanyang region, now there are mainly three kingdoms of Xiyi: the Netherlands, also known as the Netherlands; Spain; Portugal, also known as the Franc machine. They occupied a large area of sea from Taiwan, the Southern Ryukyu Islands, Java, all the way to Manchuka, especially Portugal, they came to the South Seas first, and blocked the Strait of Malacca, and all passing merchant ships had to pay taxes to them. ”

"Among the three kingdoms, how strong and weak are they?" Without Britain, Zhu Youzhen is much more relieved, estimating that Britain has not yet completed the industrial revolution and bourgeois revolution, and the goal is still at home.

"Judging from the end of the future, Spain was originally the strongest, but the Netherlands is a rising star, and its strength should not be weaker than Spain, and as for Portugal, among the three countries, its strength should be the weakest."

"Could it be that Xiyi's navy has no merit at all?" Zhu Youzhen saw that Zheng Zhilong was overconfident, so he didn't forget to give it a click.

"Your Majesty, the fleets of these three countries are basically not the armies of the country, but the armed ships of the merchants, and there must be a gap between them and their official navy, so the admiral is confident that he can defeat them."

"Is there any difference between an armed ship and a ship?" Zhu Youzhen is basically a layman when it comes to naval vessels.

"Your Majesty, an armed ship is an ordinary merchant ship, and then equipped with artillery, when conducting a naval battle, it basically depends on quantity, more ships are better than fewer ships, large ships are better than small ships, and those with more artillery are better than those with small artillery, and there is no way to hide at sea, and there is no way to fight."

"Oh?"

"Your Majesty, now the number of ships in the South China Sea Fleet far exceeds the number of the three kingdoms of Xiyi, and even more than the sum of the three kingdoms, and moreover, the Ming Dynasty has a flowering bomb, and the ships of Xiyi are still solid bombs, so the last general thinks that if a naval battle is fought in the South Seas, the Ming will definitely win."

"So what does a real naval ship look like? Have you ever seen a real battleship in Xiyi? ”

"Your Majesty, the last admiral has seen a Spanish warship before, the bottom of the ship is not flat like a merchant ship, but pointed, and then pressed with stones, this kind of battleship is not only very stable in the waves, but also fast."

"What if Xiyi sends a real warship? Do you have a way to deal with it? ”

Zheng Zhilong shook his head: "A real battleship is fast and equipped with a large number of artillery, and if the South China Sea Fleet really wants to meet them, it will be very difficult to win." ”

"And what about the South China Sea Fleet? Do we have real battleships? ”

"Most of the ships of the South China Sea Fleet are converted from merchant ships, and only the new-style Fu ships belong to warships, although they are smaller than the Guangzhou ships, but the artillery guns are up to 14, which is two more than the Guangzhou ships."

Zhu Youzhen was shocked, "Could it be that the Guangzhou shipyard is still producing ships?" ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, they can't design large warships, they can only produce large merchant ships." Zheng Zhilong faintly had some expectations, if Daming could produce large warships, then dealing with Xiyi in the South Seas would be like a lion fighting a rabbit.

Zhu Youzhen thought about it for a long time, and the South China Sea Fleet, which he painstakingly built, turned out to be nothing more than a pile of scrap ships, and it was not okay, and it was necessary to produce real warships.

Since the Fujian shipyard was able to produce warships, it was necessary to gather Fujian's craftsmen and specialize in warships.

It would be nice if there were ready-made drawings, but Zhu Youzhen knew that this was just a delusion, and even the Zheng He fleet in the Chengzu era was all merchant ships, and there were no real warships at all.

Zhu Youzhen remembered that it seemed that the current Britain had already produced a sea giant equipped with 100 guns, and the Ming Dynasty would sooner or later collide with the British.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen asked: "How big is the tonnage of the new Fu ship?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, the new type of Fu ship has a displacement of fifty tons, and it is fixed with fourteen guns."

"Only fifty tons?" Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but shake his head, "I immediately ordered the shipyards in Nanjing, Fuzhou, and Guangzhou to stop production, and let them prepare more timber for the production of new warships after they were designed. ”

Zhu Youzhen hoped that the new warships would have a displacement of at least 200 tons and be equipped with about 40 artillery pieces, and that as a small warship of the South China Sea Fleet, after the production technology matured, it would produce larger warships with 100 guns.

"Your Majesty, when will the production of this kind of battleship begin?"

"I don't know yet," Zhu Youzhen had to smile bitterly, "I immediately gathered the excellent craftsmen, and then transferred personnel from the Daming Academy of Sciences, took out the drawings as much as possible, and produced two test ships first, and while you trained, let the craftsmen improve the drawings." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"General Zheng, the new warship will not be able to be counted on for a while, do you still have the confidence to defeat Xiyi?"

"Your Majesty, to attack Xiyi in the South Seas, there is no need for new warships at all, and they don't have new warships, the existing warships of the South China Sea Fleet are enough, and when their reinforcements come to the South Seas thousands of miles away, the new warships of the Ming Dynasty should have been successfully manufactured."

"Well," Zhu Youzhen also thought, but the new warships must be designed and built as soon as possible, and there will be British warships coming to the South Seas in the future, "If General Zheng leads the South China Sea Fleet out of the South Seas, what is he going to do?" At this moment, Zhu Youzhen basically recognized Zheng Zhilong, that is to say, Zheng Zhilong had already preliminarily passed Zhu Youzhen's investigation.

"Your Majesty, if you march into the South Seas, you must capture Taiwan in the first battle, and then use Taiwan as a stronghold, attack Malacca, and gradually control the zhì trade route." Zheng Zhilong was born as a pirate, he never forgot the rich Malacca, his power was not as good as the Dutch in the past, but now with the South China Sea Fleet, he naturally wants to control Malacca, not to mention overseas trade, even if it is to tax passing ships, it will also be astronomical.