In the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, Luo Jian, Shi Kefa, Wang Qiang and others listened carefully to Lu Wei and Zheng Chenggong's reports, this trip to Nanyang was generally smooth, and Luo Jian did not pay attention to some small battles that occurred.

Luo Jian took a great interest in the Dutch East India Company, asked Lu Wei about the situation in detail, and was very satisfied with Lu Wei's prudent approach.

Luo Jian was not prepared to allow the Dutch East India Company to trade directly in Yangzhou, Yangzhou must vigorously develop the ocean-going navy, and ocean-going trade is the most direct driving force for the development of the navy, if the Dutch East India Company entered Yangzhou, the power of Yangzhou to develop the navy will be greatly weakened, which Luo Jian does not want to see.

"Weisheng, you have worked this trip to the South Seas, but now there is no more time for you to recuperate, you must prepare as soon as possible, and you have to go to Japan again." Luo Jian said.

"Governor, what about me?" Zheng Chenggong saw that Luo Jian didn't mention him, so he hurriedly stood up and asked.

"Da Mu, this time you have a good rest for a while, this time you go to Japan and let Wang Qiang and Shi Lang lead the fleet, do you want to go back to Fujian? Communicate with your father, and such a naval conflict will not happen again. Luo Jian said this with some hesitation.

"Governor, what's going on over there in Japan? Why don't you let me go? Zheng Chenggong was extremely sensitive and said a little excitedly.

Only then did Shi Kefa tell the story of the merchant ship of the Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce being detained by Japan.

"Da Mu, I'll just say it straight, this trip to Japan will not be good, we all consider that your mother is Japanese, and we are afraid of hurting your feelings, so we consider letting Wang Qiang and Shi Lang lead the team, do you understand our approach?" Luo Jian thought for a while, and simply told Zheng Chenggongming.

When Zheng Chenggong heard this, he turned around and knelt down towards Luo Jian, which surprised Luo Jian, but he was also really annoyed in his heart, the kneeling ceremony had been abolished for a few months, how could this happen?

"You stand up for me! There are no kneeling soldiers in the Yangzhou army! Luo Jian became angry, and the atmosphere in the room suddenly became extremely tense.

Seeing Luo Jian's anger, Zheng Chenggong had to stand up, bowing his head and saying nothing.

"Da Mu, if you have anything to say, just say it directly, we don't like this in Yangzhou anymore, as a soldier, you shouldn't kneel and talk." Seeing that Zheng Chenggong bowed his head and didn't speak, Shi Kefa also said beside him.

"Metropolitan Governor, Supervisor, I, Zheng Sen, have made up my mind since I joined the Yangzhou Army, I will be a person in the Yangzhou Army in life, and I will be a ghost in the Yangzhou Army in death, and now the Metropolitan Governor and Supervisor do not trust Zheng Sen, I can't figure it out!"

Hearing Shi Kefa's words, Zheng Chenggong said with a stiff neck.

"You, Damu, I didn't say you, if the Governor and the Governor don't trust you, just find a reason to transfer you away, why do you want to tell you? The Metropolitan Governor and the Governor are all well-intentioned, thinking that your mother is Japanese, and this trip to Japan is indispensable to have a big fight, for fear of hurting your feelings, so I don't want you to go, how can this be distrustful of you? ”

When Wang Qiang heard this, he pointed at Zheng Chenggong is pause, and Zheng Chenggong bowed his head and said nothing.

After a long time, Zheng Chenggong raised his head and said to Luo Jian and Shi Kefa: "Metropolitan Governor, Governor, I was wrong. ”

Hearing Zheng Chenggong say this, Luo Jian's face eased up, and the atmosphere in the arena was not so tense.

"However, the Metropolitan Governor and the Governor, this trip to Japan is extremely important, I still hope that the Metropolitan Governor and the Governor can let me go, this battle is fought, the trade with Japan will be smooth in the future, and the development of our Yangzhou will be greatly accelerated, which Zheng Sen understands." Zheng Chenggong thought for a while, looked up and said to Luo Jian and Shi Kefa.

Seeing that Luo Jian and Shi Kefa were still thinking about it, Zheng Chenggong continued: "Metropolitan Governor, Supervisor, Senior Commander Wang hasn't fought a naval battle, right?" Although Shi Lang has some experience in naval warfare, he is still unable to command the entire fleet, and I hope that the metropolitan governor and the superintendent will consider it thoroughly, and Zheng Sen will listen to you. ”

After thinking about it repeatedly, there will be a lot of dealings with Japan in the future, and Zheng Chenggong, as the main admiral of the navy, can't avoid it, so let him forget it this time.

"Daki, do you really want to go?" Luo Jian asked.

"Such an important matter, of course Zheng Sen wants to participate in it, Zheng Sen will not have any scruples, please rest assured." Zheng Chenggong said firmly.

"Okay, then you can go, but after arriving in Japan, everything must be under Wang Qiang's command, do you understand this?" Luo Jian said.

"Zheng Sen understands that after arriving in Japan, everything will be under the command of Commander Wang." Zheng Chenggong saw that Luo Jian agreed, he was extremely happy and said excitedly.

"This time we went to Japan, we all used steamships, and now there are five merchant ships, and these merchant ships are equipped with several guns, although they are not as good as warships, but ordinary pirate ships can still deal with them." Luo Jian continued to explain.

"There are more than 1,000 people in the navy now, and the strength is still a little insufficient after landing, Yangzhou has trained 1,000 people, and this time the cargo ship will be used as a troop carrier, and the 1,000 people will be brought with them, and the goods will not be brought, and we will strive to solve the problem as soon as possible." Shi Kefa also added on the side.

"Governor, with such a strong force, what else do you want me to do?" Lu Wei asked with a smile.

"Weisheng, we are definitely going to fight this time, but we have to talk after the fight, who will talk if you don't talk about it?" Luo Jian also said with a smile.

"Then I have to prepare again, I can't lose the results you have made at the negotiating table." Lu Wei thought for a moment and continued.

With the various plans decided, the preparations for the trip to Japan were in full swing, and Lu Wei and Zheng Chenggong did not care about rest and adjustment, and they prepared nervously.

didn't pay too much attention to the preparations, and after the plan was determined, Luo Jian rushed to Guazhou with the generator and computer to live.

The last time the first division fought with the Qing soldiers, Luo Jian thought for a long time, Luo Jian felt that the Qing soldiers' thinking changed very quickly, although they are still very backward in technology, but they have begun to pay attention to long-range firepower, which is not good news for the Yangzhou army.

Carefully taking stock of Yangzhou's technical advantages, Luo Jian also felt that the advantages of the Yangzhou Army were not very obvious now, and the technical difficulty of the Mini gun was not great, nor did it surpass this era, the key was a matter of thinking.

Now the Manchu Qing Dynasty has begun to try to produce Mini guns, with its production capacity, although it can not catch up with Yangzhou, but it can not be underestimated, if the time drags on for a long time, once the Mini guns are equipped in a large number of Qing soldiers, the Yangzhou army will inevitably pay a greater price in the future battles.

Now the territory under the jurisdiction of the Yangzhou army is not very large, Luo Jian does not want to expand more troops, now six infantry divisions plus a cavalry division and garrison division, it is already a big burden for Yangzhou, if the Nanjing court cuts off the supply in the future, the development of Yangzhou must be greatly constrained.

Although Yan Yingyuan's artillery has strong firepower and is invincible in the battle of attacking the city and grabbing the land, if it is like the last encounter or field battle, its maneuver and deployment may not be in time, which makes Luo Jian urgently want to get the mortar out, and this time he personally went to Guazhou to live in order to solve this problem.

Luo Jian has been here for more than a week, and the development of mortar shells is very smooth, thanks to the fact that the composition of mortar shells is not complicated, and the trial production of more than a dozen shells has been test-fired, and the effect is still very good, with a range of two or three kilometers, but the power is not too strong, this is because the explosives in the shells are still black Huo, which makes Luo Jian feel very helpless.

After the successful development of the shell, Luo Jian rushed to the shipyard to live, and now the shipyard has expanded a lot, in addition to several steam merchant ships under construction, the "Huo Quzhi" battleship has also begun to start.

Although the size of the "Huo Quai" is basically the same, the "Huo Quai" is just like Zheng Chenggong said, its admiral has installed a 205 mm main gun, and its keel is reinforced with a lot of steel, and its ability to resist wind and waves is much stronger than that of the "Wei Qing".

According to Song Yingxing's calculations, the speed of the "Huo Quai" that will be driven by two steam engines should not be lower than that of the "Weiqing".

After looking at the overall design of the "Huo Quai", he felt that this battleship had become more and more like a battleship in the future, and Luo Jian had the idea of adding steel armor to the battleship.

Bringing Song Yingxing, Chen Zilong and others to discuss, Luo Jian was forced to give up this tempting idea.

The first problem is mainly in steel production, which is not the same as it was a year ago.

The main consumers of steel are steam engines, which consume more than half of the steel in the Guazhou and Wuhu steel mills.

With the wide application of steam engines in Yangzhou, many manufacturers have come to order, and even some textile factories have gradually switched to steam engine drives.

Although the steam engine factory repeatedly expanded its production, the steam engines it produced were still in short supply.

The second is that the battleships equipped with iron armor must be completely redesigned, if only the iron armor is added on the current basis, it will inevitably cause the battleship to be top-heavy, and the stability of its sea navigation will be greatly reduced, which is also the conclusion that Song Yingxing came to after careful study.

Hearing Song Yingxing's conclusion, Luo Jian knew that he had taken it for granted, and carefully recalled that most of the battleships in the future were low hulls, and they did not look very tall like the current battleships, this is because the battleship has a deep draft, its center of gravity is relatively low, and the stability is of course higher.

In this way, although the "Huo Quai" has made some improvements on the basis of the "Wei Qing", its technical level is basically still at a level, which makes Luo Jian a little helpless, investing so much, Luo Jian always wants to make a leap in technology every time, but now it seems that this kind of too advanced thinking is still unacceptable.

When Wang Qiang came to Guazhou to report that the fleet was ready to set off immediately, Luo Jian rushed back to Yangzhou and convened the main personnel of the fleet to hold a meeting again.

The meeting decided on the principle of "focusing on fighting and supplemented by talks." In a word, this time Japan must be dealt a painful blow and inquired about, and this is the fundamental purpose of this fleet sortie.

When the fleet departed, more people came to Jiangyin to see them off than the merchant ships did when they first went to sea.

Xing'er hugged a big burden and pulled Wang Qiang to cry, which made Wang Qiang very unhappy, the relationship between the two is now clear, Wang Qiang is far away from Yangzhou for the first time, Xing'er is extremely reluctant.

"I said, why are you crying? In the future, I will definitely be away for many years in the south and north, and I don't want you anymore if you are always like this. Wang Qiang yelled at Xing'er, hearing the laughter of everyone next to him, and hid Xing'er in Liu Lan's arms in shame.

By the time Mr. Liu Zongzhou arrived in a hurry with a group of people, the fleet had already set off.