Stationed in Batavia for a long time, Hong Xingui naturally wants to be familiar with the local customs, in fact, Hong Xingui's status in Batavia is supreme, quite a bit of the emperor's taste, although the Ming sailors have been stationed here for more than a year, but they have already commanded all the affairs of Batavia and the surrounding islands, no matter where the merchant ships come from, all must pay trade taxes in accordance with the rules, and the tax amount is about 10% of the total value of the merchant ships.

Many times, Hong Xingui's sentence is money.

However, Hong Xingui is unusually loyal, although he is far away from the Ming court, he has to ask the emperor for everything, and then he will do it according to the requirements of the emperor and the court.

Hong Xingui was the first person to follow the emperor, and the emperor's confidence in Hong Xingui was also obvious.

Hong Xingui has never regarded himself as the emperor in Batavia, and he is very attentive to what he says and does at any time, always putting the emperor and the court in the forefront, and doing everything in accordance with the emperor's will.

In fact, the emperor and the imperial court did not interfere much in many things in Batavia, and according to the rules of the imperial court, the officers above the guerrilla general of the Zheng family army, their families can go to Batavia for a month every year to reunite with their relatives, and the rest of the sergeants below are all in the way of changing guards, returning to Daming to reunite with their families, Hong Xingui, who is the deputy chief of the Zheng family army, takes care of his subordinate officers in this regard, but his family has not been here once.

Officers must be stable, and the policy of commerce and trade must be stable.

Zheng Xunrui gave Hong Xingui power, he knew very well that if he wanted to maintain overseas trade for a long time, he must not adopt the method of killing chickens and eggs, and the taxes must be set within a certain share so that businessmen can bear it. Moreover, since the sailors collected taxes for overseas trade, they had to ensure that merchant ships could trade smoothly, and if there was a matter that interfered with trade, they had to come forward to coordinate.

To be the boss in Southeast Asia, you must look like the boss, and you don't need to be suspicious of people. Zheng Xunrui is completely at ease with Hong Xingui, even if Hong Xingui uses power in Batavia to seek some benefits for himself, he will not interfere too much, you must know that Hong Xingui has been stationed in Batavia for a long time, people have made great contributions and sacrifices, and Southeast Asia has gradually adapted to Hong Xingui's style of doing things, and it must be very unfavorable to adjust the coach at this time.

This time Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands joined forces. Hong Xingui got the news from the sailors who formed a fleet to go to Batavia, after all, the sailors had absorbed a lot of people from overseas, including Spaniards, Portuguese and Dutch, especially after the East India Company was destroyed, the sailors absorbed a large number of mercenaries from the original East India Company, and most of these people were from Spain and other places.

Hong Xingui quickly reported the information directly to the emperor in a secret way. His suggestion in the midst of the secret twist was to completely exterminate it. Do not give the other party any chance to further determine the position of the Daming Naval Division as the supremacy of the sea.

On the other hand, Hong Xingui asked the sailors to make all preparations, fighting is indispensable, and sea operations are completely different from land operations, so prepare in advance. It is especially important to grasp the climate at sea.

Hong Xingui did things conscientiously, devoted himself to the collection of taxes for maritime trade and the training of sailors, and after really going deep into it, Hong Xingui realized that he had trained a strong army on the sea. It's not as simple as lip service, it takes a lot of energy, and it's no wonder that the emperor overrode public opinion and gave the water division strong financial and financial support.

More than a year has passed, a large number of Hongyi cannons and furlong planes suitable for placement on the warships have moved to Batavia, and all of them have been assembled on the warships, and the number of warships owned by the naval division stationed in Batavia has also reached 200.

Relying on these warships, Hong Xingui dared to fight against any opponent, even the so-called invincible fleet of the sea formed by Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands, he had already sent a secret report to the emperor, as long as the emperor decreed, he would once again personally lead the sailors to start a conquest and fight on the sea.

In April of the third year of Ruiyuan, Hong Xingui received the emperor's holy decree, and together with the holy decree, he went to Batavia, as well as Wang Xiaoer, a general of the Zheng family's army, Zheng Zhilong, the foreign trade division of the household department, and 100 well-equipped warships and 10,000 sailors.

Since then, the number of sailors stationed in Batavia has reached 25,000, and the number of warships has reached 300, including 180 large warships.

It is said that the naval armada of Spain and other countries is not far from Batavia, and at most by May, the armada will be able to reach the waters of Batavia, and the battle is very likely to begin.

The emperor's decree is also a somewhat long letter.

After getting the letter, Hong Xingui read it very carefully, and after reading the emperor's decree, his face showed a strange look, he never imagined that the emperor was so domineering, far from asking him to defeat the invincible armada.

The battle plan was discussed and the Emperor's Holy Aim was carried out in the camp of the Sailors.

"General Wang, Lord Zheng, the emperor's will is very clear, to be honest, I didn't expect it, the emperor not only asked us to defeat the invincible fleet at sea formed by Spain and other countries, but also to launch a large-scale voyage after the victory in the battle, since it was decided to go on an expedition, many things need to be prepared, the voyage at sea is far from being as simple as talking, according to the emperor's will, Lord Zheng followed me on this expedition, and General Wang was stationed in Batavia."

Speaking of this, Hong Xingui paused slightly.

"There is one thing I need to emphasize, that is, we can't delay overseas trade matters because of expeditions and sea battles, overseas trade tax revenue, has become one of the main revenues of the imperial court, the Ming Navy is stationed in Batavia, control the entire sea area of Southeast Asia, can completely guarantee the smooth maritime trade, this point please General Wang remember, once the sea expedition and expedition begins, General Wang will be directly responsible for the maritime trade of Batavia......

Wang Xiaoer nodded frequently, and when he left the capital, the emperor specially found him and ordered the task of going to Batavia, he did not need to go out to fight with the sailors, nor did he need to sail to Spain and other countries, but his task was also very critical, that is, to wait in Batavia, ensure the smooth flow of maritime trade, and be responsible for the taxation of overseas trade.

After making a simple arrangement, Hong Xingui picked up the emperor's letter in his hand.

"The conquest and expedition at sea, the emperor's will has made it clear what the sailor should do, I have looked at it carefully just now, presumably Lord Zheng is very familiar with this, this time Lord Zheng followed me to the sea to fight, please worry more about this."

Zheng Zhilong nodded, and after Hong Xingui finished speaking, he immediately spoke.

"Lord Governor, the lower officials were ordered to assist the adults to carry out naval expeditions and expeditionary matters, before leaving, the emperor specially instructed that the rules should be followed in relation to the sailors and expeditionary operations, and they must not be violated at will.

Hong Xingui nodded frequently, in fact, the emperor's letter had already explained that many of the rules formulated by the imperial court regarding maritime trade and overseas warfare were mainly suggestions put forward by the Foreign Trade Department of the Ministry of Households.

"My lord, the emperor also deliberately emphasized one point, that is, the conquest of the sailors must be based on the interests of the Ming court."

When Zheng Zhilong said this, Hong Xingui's face finally showed a smile, which is in line with the emperor's temper, just imagine, the expedition of the Ming sailors is not far away, if they don't get any benefits, it is a mental problem, the sailors are stationed in Batavia, the purpose is to control all the maritime trade to Southeast Asia, Japan, Korea and the Ming Dynasty, and collect taxes on maritime trade.

To do these things, of course, there need to be rules, in fact, Hong Xingui has long established the corresponding rules, and now that the emperor's decree has arrived, then all maritime trade matters in Batavia and Southeast Asia in the future will be in accordance with the rules.

As for naval expeditions and expeditions, there are also rules, but when it comes to specific operations, corresponding decisions must be made in light of the actual situation, and they may not necessarily act in full accordance with the rules.

During this period, many employees of the former East India Company, that is, the employees of the Ming Overseas Trading Company, came to the military camp of the sailor one after another, Hong Xingui asked them to come, mainly to discuss the establishment of the Daming Royal Bank in Batavia, this time the Royal Bank set up in Batavia, the scale is very large, and there are many specific matters to discuss.

Two days later, Hong Xingui received accurate information that the combined fleet of Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands had entered the waters of Batavia, and its warship formation was very large, with more than 150 warships expected.

The sailor had already prepared for it.

Hong Xingui issued an order for the sailors to set off, this expedition, Hong Xingui was the commander-in-chief, Zheng Zhilong was the deputy marshal, during the expedition, all matters in Batavia, Wang Xiaoer, the general of the Zheng family's army, was fully responsible.

The atmosphere in Batavia was still the same, and no one felt nervous, perhaps because everyone thought that it was a matter of course for the Daming Naval Division to win the battle at sea.

Hong Xingui and Zheng Zhilong were still very cautious, before leaving, the two carefully analyzed all the information obtained, and at the same time ordered the sailor scouts to detect the situation of the opponent's fleet in more and more detail, so that the sailor could prepare accordingly. (To be continued.) )