Zheng Zhilong moved the main force of the South China Sea Fleet and three marine divisions to the south of Taiwan, and sent Cangshan ships to patrol around and spy on various ships on the sea, especially in the southeast.

Hundreds of ships were parked in Dayuan, which seemed very crowded, and a large number of ships did not stop in the harbor, but in the open sea, and dropped anchor directly in the open sea.

The ships are so dense, not to mention fighting, it is difficult to turn.

However, Zheng Zhilong did not plan to stay in the senior for a long time.

In October of the fourth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty (1631 AD), Zheng Zhilong personally led the main force of the South China Sea Fleet to the South Ryukyu Islands.

Zheng Zhilong stood alone on the deck of the "Nanhai" ship, looking at the clear blue water and such a huge fleet, his heart fluctuated, the pirate who could not be defeated and fled was no longer visible, and instead of it, it was a conquest, an expedition that relied on a strong fleet as a backing.

His target this time was the Southern Ryukyu Islands.

Not only because the Southern Ryukyu Islands are the closest to Taiwan, but also because of its owner.

When Zheng Zhilong was a pirate, it was the Dutch who fought with him the most, and at that time, for their own economic interests, it was inevitable to fight, whether it was to gain a lot of wealth after victory, or to die after defeat, he did not hate the Dutch, because there was no justice in such a battle, only interests.

Fight purely for the sake of profit.

Zheng Zhilong hated the Spaniards the most.

The Spaniards are now entrenched in the Southern Ryukyu Islands.

Therefore, Zheng Zhilong went south from Taiwan, and the first thing to be destroyed was the South Ryukyu Islands.

The South China Sea Fleet sailed on the sea all day, and when it was dark, it came to the southernmost part of Taiwan Island, outside of Taiwan Island, there was a group of small islands called Qixingyan, but Qixingyan was not developed, and it was simply impossible to moor so many ships.

Zheng Zhilong had no choice but to anchor around the Seven Star Rock, and the entire fleet, with the Seven Star Rock as the center, surrounded the Seven Star Rock in all directions.

At noon the next day, the fleet entered the Bass Strait.

"Commander, there are two Cangshan ships on the other side."

"Oh, go check it out." Zheng Zhilong came to the deck, he thought it was a sentinel ship sent out, maybe something happened to him, to report to him.

Although the Cangshan ship was the smallest ship in the Ming Dynasty, it came from the southeast direction, and the fleet still sent a lucky ship to intercept it, just to bring the soldiers on the Cangshan ship over to meet Zheng Zhilong.

"Commander, there's a situation ahead." When the herald saw Zheng Zhilong, he immediately knelt down and reported the information he had seen.

"What's the situation?" Zheng Zhilong asked the herald to get up and talk back.

"On the opposite side came a fleet, a total of forty or fifty ships, of which no less than ten were large, and flying different flags." The Cangshan ship did not dare to get too close to the opponent, so the observation was not very clear, the sea was different from the land, and it was impossible to use the cover of the terrain to spy on the opponent's information, and the sea surface was unobstructed, so it could only use the speed advantage of the small ship to quickly flee after detecting the opponent's information.

"What kind of flag?" Zheng Zhilong was puzzled, a fleet, so there would be different flags.

"There are three kinds of flags, one is the tricolor flag, from top to bottom, in order of red, white, and blue."

"The tricolor? That should be the flag of the Dutch," Zheng Zhilong estimated that the Dutch would have to settle accounts with him for the sake of Taiwan's problems, "What about the other two?" ”

"There is another one, with a red bar on the top and bottom, and a yellow bar in the middle, and the yellow bar is probably a castle pattern."

"Is it the Spanish coat of arms?" Zheng Zhilong muttered softly: "Could it be that the Netherlands and Spain have united?" Then their target must be the South China Sea Fleet. ”

"There's also a banner with an azure background and a square and crown on one side." The herald didn't know how to express it, so he had to draw a rough pattern.

"Armillary spheres and shields? Could it be that the Portuguese have also joined in? I haven't settled accounts with them yet, and they're coming to the door? "Wandering in Nanyang all the year round, Zheng Zhilong is very familiar with the banner of Xiyi, "How far are they from us?" ”

"About two hours." According to his own estimates, the herald preliminarily determined the distance according to the speed of the ship.

Now the fleets of the two sides are moving in the opposite direction, and it is estimated that they will meet in an hour.

Zheng Zhilong sent the herald down to continue to monitor the ships of the Xiyi coalition, while he discussed the enemy situation with Zhang Zhuo, the deputy commander of the South China Sea Fleet.

"The Dutch and the Spaniards have revenge, that's it, and they also pull a Portugal, what does Commander Zhang think?"

"Commander, if you continue to fight, the Ming Dynasty will offend the Xiyi of Nanyang." Zhang Zhuo faintly felt a little uneasy, he didn't want to make too many enemies.

Zheng Zhilong disagreed, "Commander Zhang, Xiyi has already established a large number of strongholds in Nanyang, if there is no war, will they automatically give up these strongholds?" If there is no stronghold, how can the South China Sea Fleet gain a foothold in the South Seas? ”

"Commander, didn't Your Majesty say that you want us to fight one and pull another?" Zhang Zhuo thought to himself, since Da Ming did not start a war with Portugal, could he try to win over Portugal?

"Commander Zhang didn't really understand His Majesty's words," Zheng Zhilong felt that this honest deputy commander was sometimes really in the way, "It's good to fight one by one, that's after completely defeating them, if the South China Sea Fleet can't fully demonstrate its strength, Xiyi will live in peace with us?" ”

"Commander......" Zhang Zhuo felt that he didn't know Zheng Zhilong, or didn't know Xiyi.

"Just like Taiwan, if the South China Sea Fleet does not rely on strength, can it expel the Dutch and Spaniards?" Zheng Zhilong forgot that the Spaniards had not been expelled, and none of them had escaped.

"The Dutch and the Spaniards, since they have already offended, it is useless to talk about it, but this Portuguese, can you not clash for the time being?" Zhang Zhuo was still reluctant to expand the war.

"Commander Zhang, now that the Portuguese ships are with the Netherlands and Spain, can we separate them?" Zheng Zhilong changed the topic, "It's that they want to run, I don't let them run yet, sink one more of their ships now, and when they attack Malacca in the future, their strength will be a little weaker." ”

Zhang Zhuo knew that Zheng Zhilong was iron-hearted, and he no longer persuaded him, "Commander, Xiyi's joint ships are not small, right?" ”

Zheng Zhilong was even more excited, the last time he was in Taiwan, there was no decent opponent on the sea, so he had to personally attack the castle on land, "Commander Zhang, rest assured, Xiyi's combined fleet is only forty or fifty ships, which is far worse than the South China Sea fleet." ”

“……”

"Commander Zhang, don't worry, I, Zheng Zhilong, am not a brute force, if the South China Sea Fleet is damaged due to a light enemy, I will not be able to explain it to Your Majesty," Zheng Zhilong patted Zhang Zhuo on the shoulder, "I will continue to send Cangshan ships to spy on Xiyi's fleet, especially the size of their ships, and whether there are any reinforcements." ”

"Yes, Commander," Zhang Zhuo looked at the sea in front of him, the sea was so misty that he couldn't even see a merchant ship, "Since war is inevitable, his subordinates must obey the commander's dispatch." ”

"Okay, then please ask Commander Zhang to move, in case the flagship fails, please ask Commander Zhang to command the entire fleet on my behalf."

This is the rule of the fleet, in a naval battle, the deputy commander of the fleet, generally will not stay on the flagship, in case the flagship is destroyed and sunk by the other side, the commander can not command, the deputy commander will take over the commander, command the entire fleet, the deputy commander is the fleet's backup command system.

"Yes, Commander," Zhang Zhuo added before getting off the ship: "I am my own person, not like the commander to strategize, so the flagship should not charge." ”

"Commander Zhang, don't worry, I won't know the severity."

After Zhang Zhuo left, Zheng Zhilong asked the riders to wave the flag: After an hour, there may be a battle, and the ships are ready.

A naval battle is about to be held, Zheng Zhilong certainly does not think that Xiyi's combined fleet is here to sue for peace, since he wants to ask Zheng Zhilong for an explanation, war is the best means.

There is no justice on the sea, and whoever is strong is justified.

The transport ship slowed down, and under the protection of several Fu ships and Cangshan ships, it gradually distanced itself from the entire fleet.

Half an hour later, masts appeared on the surface of the sea, as if they had suddenly burst out of the sea.

The mast is getting higher and higher, and the observers can see with the naked eye that there are small gray-black balls attached to the masts, which should be Xiyi's ships.

After receiving the information reported by the observation soldiers, Zheng Zhilong was not in a hurry, on the current sea surface, the thin mist had been completely dispelled by the sun, the blue sky, the blue sea, the real sky and the sea.

The visibility on the sea surface is excellent, Zheng Zhilong estimates that the naked eye can see ships fifty or sixty miles away, and Xiyi's ships have just appeared, and they are still at least forty or fifty miles away.

The effective firing range of the guns of the South China Sea Fleet is only 3,000 steps, which is only four and a half miles, and the maximum firing range is only 5,000 steps, a distance of seven and a half miles, which is still early than the fleet of Xiyi.

What Zheng Zhilong has to do now is to keep the upper hand, the South China Sea Fleet is sailing downwind, as long as Xiyi's combined fleet cannot cross the entire South China Sea Fleet, it will be impossible to seize the upper hand.

The small black dot on the opposite side is getting lighter and larger, and the silhouette of the ship can already be faintly seen.

The South China Sea Fleet was solemn, except for the lookouts who constantly reported the location of the Xiyi Fleet.

Zheng Zhilong stood on the deck of the "South China Sea", quietly looking ahead, Xiyi's fleet became clearer and clearer in his eyes.

The ships of the South China Sea Fleet occupy a huge numerical advantage, with 80 ships in Guangzhou and 120 ships in Fu, which is already four or five times the size of the Xiyi Fleet, even if you don't count the ships of Cangshan.

The only thing Zheng Zhilong is worried about is the Xiyi ship itself, in the last battle in the Tainan Sea, the Dutch battleship was smaller than the Guangchuan, only about the same tonnage as the Fuchuan, but the number of artillery was more than that of the Guangchuan.

If their real warships come, if there are more warships, if there are more battleships, if the battleships are full of flowering bullets......

Zheng Zhilong never planned to fight with his opponent, if his ships were exhausted, what would he rely on to dominate the South China Sea in the future? But today, he changed his mind, Xiyi's combined fleet came to him for revenge, war is the only option, if you want to dye the guide ocean, today is the best opportunity.

Either defeat Xiyi and openly break into the South Seas from now on, or the fleet will be wiped out and the fleet will be rebuilt.

If it is the latter result, then Yang Wei's commander of the South China Sea Fleet in the South China Sea should not be himself.

"Commander, the Xiyi ship is thirty miles away."

The words of the herald made Zheng Zhilong decisively end his contemplation, and when he looked at it, the sea was really dark, and the Dutch fleet flying the tricolor flag was in the center, and behind them was the Spanish coat of arms and arms, and on the right was the Portuguese armillary shield.

The Netherlands was the main force of this combined fleet.

(PS: Now there is no unified speed for all countries, here according to the calculation method of later generations, the speed of ships is in "knots", each knot is 1 nautical mile, about 1.852 kilometers, 3.7 miles, the speed is eight knots, that is, 30 miles, each hour is about 60 miles.) ）