Since Zheng Zhilong successively defeated the fleet of the Dutch East India Company and Liu Xiang's fleet entrenched in the Southeast China Sea in the fifth and eighth years of Chongzhen, Zheng Zhilong has become the largest maritime armed force in the Southeast China Sea.

Now Zheng Zhilong seems to have become the lord of southern Fujian and the overlord of the sea, he controls the sea routes, collects fees for merchant ships from various countries, and all ships passing in the southeast sea must pay him a toll of 3,000 taels of silver for each big ship, and those who want to pass through the southeast coast without paying the toll will not escape the fate of being robbed.

Zheng Zhilong quickly amassed a large amount of money by collecting tolls for ships, and his annual income reached millions of taels of silver, which can be called a rich country. His trade area also spread throughout the East and South Seas, such as Da Ni, Hun Ni, Champang, Luzon, Yonggang, Beigang, Dayuan, Hirado, Nagasaki, Mumbai, Banten, Old Port, Batavia, Malacca, Cambodia, Siam, etc. At its peak, he had more than 1,000 ships and nearly 100,000 sailors, becoming a veritable maritime hegemon in the maritime world of East and South China.

Since he has such a strong maritime strength, Zheng Zhilong has naturally gradually developed a temper of self-respect, and regards the Southeast China Sea as his own territory, and will never allow others to touch it. But now he found that a fleet suddenly appeared, although the strength of this fleet is still very weak, although this fleet is under the banner of the Ming fleet, it still arouses Zheng Zhilong's vigilance, he will never allow the existence of any sea force that can threaten him, even if this force is currently only showing a rudimentary form.

Thinking of this, Zheng Zhilong pretended to be generous and said: "It's a good thing if this Qingzhou can have more sailors, but it's too much for him to besiege merchants in Hangzhou at will to collect taxes, and the imperial court doesn't have this rule, besides, these merchants have paid us silver, if we don't pay attention, it's not good, so let's take the time to go to Qingzhou, fourth brother, go and tell the man surnamed Pang, let him settle down, don't cross the line." ”

Zheng Zhibao grinned: "Big brother, we should have been like this a long time ago, if the surname Pang doesn't know each other, let's send them all to feed the Sea Dragon King." ”

"Presumptuous, no nonsense." Zheng Zhilong pretended to be angry and reprimanded: "Although General Pang is far away in Qingzhou, he is also an official of my court, you must not be unreasonable!" ”

"Yes, big brother." Zheng Zhibao opened his mouth and smiled: "I will definitely have a good talk with that General Pang." ”

"Hahaha" Everyone laughed, and some people simply joked: "The fourth master, I heard that the general surnamed Pang only used thousands of soldiers and horses to repel tens of thousands of Tartar troops, you should be careful when you go." ”

"Go, go!" Zheng Zhibao glared at these subordinates and scolded with a smile: "If he is really so powerful, the fourth master, I will come back from Shandong swimming." ”

"Hahaha," everyone opened their voices and laughed viciously.

At this time, Zheng Sen, who had been smiling and watching the uncles fart, stood up with a smile and said to Zheng Zhilong: "Daddy, the child also wants to go to Qingzhou with the fourth uncle, I don't know what you think?" ”

"Oh? Sen'er, do you want to go to Qingzhou too? Zheng Zhilong looked at his favorite son with a smile, and his face showed a kind smile.

"Yes, Daddy, the child wants to see what the Great Fortune Ship that once shocked the countries of the South Seas looks like." Zheng Sen's eyes showed a hint of yearning.

Zheng Zhilong thought about it and nodded in agreement, "Okay, you can go with the fourth uncle, but remember not to cause trouble, after all, it is not our territory, and it is not easy for my father to come forward if something happens." But you must also remember not to fall into our prestigiousness. ”

Zheng Sen and Zheng Zhibao stood up at the same time and bowed to Zheng Zhilong and responded, "Yes, the child (younger brother) remembers the teachings of his father (eldest brother)." ”

Just when Zheng Zhilong was about to stretch out his hand to Qingzhou, on the sea surface of the southeast Buddha of Qingzhou, three huge warships were cruising on the sea, this is a huge warship of 1,200 tons, with three floors, the bottom can carry people and goods, and the middle and top are gun emplacements and command rooms, and there are thirty smaller but extremely fast cruisers next to these three galleons.

This Spanish galleon was a large three-masted galleon with a towering bow and stern deck, which could carry sixty guns, and although it was not very fast, it had good seaworthiness for long-distance sea voyages and good protection.

Limited by the production of tungsten ore and the lack of sailors, this type of sailing ship Pang Gang has only cashed out three at present, just to equip these three galleons and thirty thirty fast cruisers with enough sailors, it almost killed Pang Gang, you must know that the new thirty-three ships need four or five thousand sailors, and Pang Gang has only more than a thousand full of ships. In order to get enough of these sailors, Pang Gang had to send people to Hangzhou, Suzhou and other places to poach everywhere, and posted notices everywhere in Qingzhou and other places to recruit sailors.

On a galleon in the middle, Tu Hai, the new commander of the Qingzhou Naval Division, is directing the sailors to conduct sailing training, and dozens of sturdy sailors are shouting trumpets and pulling the thick ropes soaked in tung oil, and the huge sails are rising and falling with the efforts of the sailors.

In the middle of the deck, more than 200 gunners were also busy with loading and firing training, and in front of each gun, a gunner was holding a heavy iron pellet and repeatedly making the action of sending the iron pellet into the gun chamber. This is a twelve-pounder cannon (the so-called pound system, which is a smoothbore gun with an even number of equal spheres made from one pound of pure lead (454 grams), just enough to let a small ball pass through the chamber, that is, named after the number of balls. The projectile weighed 5.44 kilograms, which didn't look very heavy, but after dozens of maneuvers in a row, even with the strong physique of the specially selected gunner, he couldn't help but sweat profusely. Despite this, under the stern gaze of the gun commander behind him, none of the gunners dared to be lazy, and they still gritted their teeth and trained. Although the gunner was very tired, he did not dare to complain in the slightest, because there were still six twenty-four-pounder guns on the deck above him, and those gunners who carried projectiles weighing tens of pounds for training were even more intensive.

Next to Tu Hai stood the North Korean sailors who served as instructors, and Li Xiaojun's responsibility was to supervise the effectiveness of their training.

Li Xiaojun looked at the big ship that was sailing smoothly, with a look of satisfaction on his face, after more than half a month of training, the sailors have been working decently, although it is still only in vain, but at least it is a good start.

Li Xiaojun watched Qingzhou's sailor develop step by step from scratch to today's step, and Li Xiaojun has also gone from shock, surprise, jealousy to now, he has begun to be numb to all this.

Although he was still confused as to why the miraculous General Pang was able to quietly get such a large and large number of ships, he was very clever not to inquire or ask too much. Since the last time he was found by Pang Gang after he greedily used ammunition for the sailors' training to train the sailors he brought, Pang Gang did not scold him, but quietly ordered to suspend their salaries for two months, which scared Li Xiaojun a lot, and hurriedly ran to confess to Pang Gang.

Smelling the slightly salty sea breeze blowing by, the haughty Tu Hai smiled and said to Li Xiaojun: "Lord Li, only with these sea ships, although the sea is big, we can let us gallop, right?" ”

Li Xiaojun shook his head and said: "Master Tu, don't be too optimistic, although our ships are very large and the surname is good, but after all, the number is too small, and the sailors are all newly recruited, it is enough to deal with a small group of pirates, but if you encounter a large number of pirates, it will be dangerous." ”

"Oh, big pirates? How big can it be? Tu Hai didn't believe it, thinking that the North Korean sailor was scaring him, so he pouted on the side.

"We'll have to wait until we meet them." Li Xiaojun saw that Tu Hai didn't believe it, and he didn't say anything, just curled his lips lightly and stopped talking.

While Tu Hai was leading dozens of new warships to train on the sea, more than 20 ships of various sizes also sailed on the sea east of Lingshan Weiwanghai Fort, and a large "Zheng" flag was hung on the mast of these ships.

On the largest three-masted ship stood two thin men, the two men were older and one young, they were Zheng Zhibao and Zheng Sen who came all the way from Quanzhou, Fujian, this time they did not come empty-handed, they came with more than 20 warships to deter the Qingzhou General Pang.

When the fleet came to a place twenty miles away from the port of Wanghaibao, it was noticed by the lookout guard with a clairvoyant mirror, and the guard immediately rang the bronze bell hanging beside him without hesitation.

When the loud bell rang in the harbor, all the people who were working on the docks, whether sailors or craftsmen, immediately put down what they were doing and ran towards the nearest hidden spot, which was also required in the training of Pingyueli.

And the ten Daifuku ships that were still docked on the pier also rang the convening bell, and the sailors who were still wandering on the pier immediately boarded the ship with the fastest speed, and in less than a quarter of an hour, the huge sails had been slowly raised, the sailors untied the cables, lifted the anchor, and under the orders of their respective captains, the ten Daifuku ships slowly left the dock to meet the uninvited guests in front.

(To be continued)