The monarchs and ministers discussed secretly for a whole night, and finally agreed on a general strategy to eliminate Zheng Zhilong's pirate forces. Zhu Youzhen named this upcoming naval military operation "Operation Sea Wolf," with Qi Xianzong, the governor of Zuodu and General Fubo, sitting in Dengzhou, and Li Yunhao, deputy governor of the North Sea Fleet, directly commanding the North Sea Fleet to carry it out.

In order to ensure the smooth progress of this campaign, Zhu Youzhen gave full support to the North Sea Fleet. First of all, Qi Xianzong was granted full command by secret edict, and Shang Fang was given the sword, which could be used to control all the relevant coastal prefectures and counties, so as to show the emperor's full trust in the officers and men of the North Sea Fleet. Previously, there were quite a few officials of the DPRK and China who impeached Qi Xianzong, but Zhu Youzhen ignored them all.

Second, it is necessary to ensure an adequate supply of food and military supplies. Needless to say, the treatment of the officers and men of the North Sea Fleet has always been the highest among all officers and soldiers, and even surpassed that of Zhu Youzhen's "descendant" Qin soldiers, and the most basic soldiers have a monthly salary of 15 taels of silver.

And in terms of ammunition, the priority of the North Sea Fleet has always been in the first place among all officers and troops. In addition to the Dengzhou Military Factory, which is exclusively used for the North Sea Fleet, a considerable part of the ammunition from the Jingshi Military Factory is also continuously transported to Shanhaiguan for later use. Now the Shanhaiguan Military Factory is also under construction, and after the completion of the project, the supply of ammunition will be more timely and sufficient.

Third, the campaign should be kept absolutely secret. At present, most of the warships of the North Sea Fleet are still returning to Dengzhou, and after arriving in Dengzhou, all the officers and men will have a three-day holiday to take advantage of the time to replenish food and ammunition, and they can go home to enjoy the joy of family for a short time. After returning to the fleet, no one is allowed to disembark, and the port is blocked to ensure that secrets such as the fleet's movements are not leaked until Operation Seawolf is completely over.

At this point, Zhu Youzhen's departure from the Forbidden City has been completed, and it is time to leave for Beijing. After all, he needs to be in charge of the overall situation, and as for how the battle is fought, it can only depend on the soldiers themselves.

Of course, before returning to Beijing, Zhu Youzhen also conveyed a new will to Zhang Huangyan and Zheng Sen, who were far away in Zhenla. In this secret edict, which was first sent to Guangzhou by flying pigeon and then by sea from Guangzhou, Zhu Youzhen instructed the two men to stay in Kampong Son temporarily to intimidate the Annam Nguyen clan until other warships were sent to replace them.

Zhu Youzhen also knew that the conditions there must be very difficult, and he couldn't give any practical help, so he had to encourage the two of them, no matter how difficult it was, they must maintain the international image of the Ming Dynasty. But if you encounter a strong enemy, the first priority is to save yourself, and you can't be rash. As for the specific matters, Zhang Huangyan is solely responsible.

After all the arrangements were made, Zhu Youzhen drove back to Beijing and went to Xiaotangshan to find Chen Zilong. Of course, several concubines went together, and because Weng Yu knew water warfare, Zhu Youzhen left him with Qi Xianzong and became an officer of the North Sea Fleet. But he took Huang Degong back to Beijing, but Huang Degong was depressed, and repeatedly asked Zhu Youzhen to participate in the "Sea Wolf Operation".

Zhu Youzhen smiled and said: "You, let me go back to Beijing and study hard for a while in the martial arts academy." As the saying goes, people make the best use of their materials, you have the ability, of course I have to use it, are you worried that the battle is not enough to fight, and the merit is not enough? But you also have a lot of problems, the first is that you don't have a door with your mouth, and you will say anything when you think of it. 'Operation Seawolf' you are also an insider, and I will test you with this test: within a year, as long as the news leaks, I will ask for your head. ”

"Obey the order!" Huang Degong said with a sad face, "But the saint, what if this news is not leaked by the minister?" ”

"Then I want your head too!" Zhu Youzhen laughed and said, "What so much nonsense, don't hurry up and get on the road!" ”

...

Half a month later, the vast western Pacific Ocean was calm, and the early morning sun poetically poured down through the clouds, dyeing the sea near the Daito Islands a dazzling gold.

The Daito Islands are located in the east of the Ryukyu Islands, 200 nautical miles from Shurijo Castle, the capital of the Ryukyu Kingdom, and 300 nautical miles from Kyushu Island, the territory of the Satsuma Domain of Japan. Originally, it was an uninhabited island untouched by humans until nearly a hundred years ago, when the Spanish discovered it by sailing.

But because it was too far from the Spanish colony of Luzon, it was impossible for the Spaniards to garrison it. When they were gone, pirates with a keen sense of smell followed, and found it a good place to rest for fleets smuggling to Japan. After a bloody battle, the Dadong Islands are now Zheng Zhilong's sphere of influence, and other pirates dare not haunt this area.

Today, a fleet belonging to Zheng Zhilong, which departed from Taiwan's port and was smuggling in Japan, passed by. This fleet consisted of fifteen ships, all armed merchant ships, mostly small ships of 200 to 300 materials. These fifteen ships lined up in a column at sea, sailing from southwest to northeast, of which only the lead and tail ships were equipped with a few Franc cannons, and the other ships only had bird guns and other weapons. From the captain to the sailors, the mood on the ship was extremely relaxed, and some even had a hangover.

In fact, this is not surprising, because Zheng Zhilong himself is a pirate and started from Japan. In this area, it is already good that he does not rob others, who dares to come to him for trouble? Now the fleet is only twenty nautical miles away from today's destination, Beida Island, and Zheng Zhilong has a dock and stronghold on Beida Island where ships can be moored. There are still many women taken captive from all over the island on the island, and the commander of the fleet, Konishi Jubei, plans to anchor on Kitajima Island today, and it will not be too late to leave after three days.

Of course, this Konishi Jubei is Japanese, to be precise, a Japanese ronin. Speaking of which, he is also considered to have a prominent background, his old son is called Konishi Yuki, but he is a very famous figure. When Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded Korea, Konishi Yukinaga served as the general of the First Army, attacking cities in Korea and burning and killing silver plunder. The North Korean people hated him so much that they called him "Xiaoxi" from then on.

However, Konishi Yukinaga's fate is not much better than dog meat. Because Wanli sent the Ming army into Korea to fight, the Japanese army was defeated and retreated. Toyotomi Hideyoshi thought he was invincible all over the world, but he didn't expect that he couldn't even take North Korea, so he was in a hurry to attack his heart and cry for his life. As soon as he died, the Japanese army in Korea had no intention of fighting and fled across the sea, only to be defeated by the Chinese and North Korean navies in the Battle of Rolianghai, and Konishi Yukinaga was lucky enough to lead the remnants of his troops to flee back to Japan.

Unexpectedly, after returning to Japan, Konishi Yukinaga was on the wrong side in the civil war and fought with the Tokugawa Ieyasu forces, but was defeated and captured, and beheaded for public display. As soon as he died, his family also fell into bad luck, all the men were killed, and all the women became sex slaves of the Tokugawa clan. Only Konishi Shibei escaped, and there was no place for him in the country, so he simply became a pirate. came and went, and became Zheng Zhilong's subordinate.

At this time, it is close to the old country, Konishi Shibei is thinking about the unbearable past, full of resentment and nowhere to vent, thinking that he must find a few more Japanese Kanto women tonight, and kill them all after the brutal ravage. As he was thinking wildly, he suddenly heard his subordinates shouting: "Lord Admiral, a fleet has been found ahead!" ”