Zheng Zhilong has not participated in naval battles for a long time, he used to be a pirate, after returning to the Ming Dynasty, he had the most powerful sailors, defeated the provocation of the East India Company, and monopolized maritime trade matters, only after the rise of the Zheng family, he was willing to bow to the wind and submit to the Zheng family's army, and after a period of leisure in Nanjing and the capital, he entered the overseas trade division of the household department, and began to get busy.

What makes Zheng Zhilong happy is that his younger brother Zheng Zhibao officially entered the Daming Water Division and has become a guerrilla general among the water divisions, his son Zheng Sen, in high school during the township examination in March, is preparing to participate in the examination in the capital, and there are talents in the family in civil and military affairs, Zheng Zhilong is in a very comfortable mood.

The family has been valued by the emperor and the imperial court, Zheng Zhilong vowed to do things well, repay the emperor's kindness, and discuss how to manage overseas trade and overseas expeditions, Zheng Zhilong put forward a lot of opinions and suggestions on his own opinions, to ensure that many rules were set within a month, this time he followed to Batavia, fought with the fleets of Spain and other countries, and also followed him to overseas expeditions, Zheng Zhilong set off from the capital, he secretly swore that he must show all his skills, Ensure that everything goes smoothly and the sailor will win this expedition.

When he came to Batavia, Zheng Zhilong had almost no time to rest, in addition to sparing no effort to seize the time to explain the rules of overseas conquest and maritime trade determined by the imperial court to the officers above the rank of guerrilla general of the naval division, he also had to discuss the matter of sea conquest with the commander Hong Xingui, which can be said to be a continuous rotation, and even Hong Xingui advised Zheng Zhilong to need a lot of rest.

Zheng Zhilong spared no effort to make efforts, and the effect is still very obvious, and Zheng Jiajun has a very good tradition. That is to resolutely implement the orders of the superiors, orders and prohibitions, Zheng Zhilong explained to many officers The relevant rules were quickly conveyed layer by layer, in the eyes of many soldiers, this is military discipline and military regulations. It is something that must be observed, and cannot be violated.

As for the matter of naval warfare, Zheng Zhilong has rich experience, and he is even stronger than Hong Xingui in this regard.

The meticulous battle plan was slowly determined at this time, and by the time the sailor set off, it had been completely finalized, and Hong Xingui was very satisfied with it.

The Ming Navy Division set out on this expedition with 200 warships, including 150 large warships. Fifty other warships.

Almost all of the warships, large and small, were equipped with Hongyi cannons and furlong machines.

After many improvements of the Hongyi cannon and the Furlong machine, its power is completely different from before, although the Ming Dynasty has the Hongyi cannon and the Furlong machine are imported from the Netherlands and other places, but in the Netherlands and other places, no one pays special attention to the optimization of the Hongyi cannon and the Furlong machine, and a lot of energy, money and time are invested in this regard, only the Ming Dynasty.

The power of firepower plays a decisive role in the operation at sea.

Fighting at sea is very different from fighting on land. On the endless sea, the speed of the warship, the strength of the firepower. It can directly decide the outcome of the battle, just imagine, when the two sides exchange fire, the power of the artillery of one side and the speed of the warship occupy an absolute advantage, and the other side has no power to resist.

Zheng Zhilong knew that the combat effectiveness of the Daming Naval Division was extremely strong, and he also knew that the strength of the Daming Naval Division far exceeded the warship fleet composed of Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands. Therefore, after discussing with Hong Xingui, the combat method he decided on was to attack head-on, constantly suppress, and strive to completely annihilate the opponent's warship fleet in the process of fighting at sea.

At first glance. It is very difficult to achieve a complete victory in a naval battle, you must know that the opponent's warship fleet also has about 150 warships, and it takes too much artillery to sink all these warships, but Hong Xingui and Zheng Zhilong have such confidence.

The 200 warships were organized into five fleets, each fleet had 40 warships, and the first formation was the command formation, and Hong Xingui and Zheng Zhilong were all in the first formation, and the two of them were on the same command ship when the warship formation had just set off, so as to facilitate the further improvement of the battle plan.

Of course, after the real battle begins, Hong Xingui and Zheng Zhilong must be on the two command ships, just in case, if one of them has a problem, the other can also command the battle.

Above the vast sea, the blue sky and white clouds, it seems that the scenery is very beautiful, but it is a pity that the soldiers of the sailor have no time to enjoy such a beautiful scenery, they think of the upcoming conquest and fighting, and the sailor soldiers have long been familiar with the scenery on the sea, you must know that what you see every day is not the blue sky and white clouds, or the situation of clouds and heavy rain, everyone is tired of it.

The command ship of the first formation, on the deck, Hong Xingui and Zheng Zhilong stood side by side.

"Lord Zheng, according to your and my analysis, in three days, the big battle is about to begin, and at this moment I hope that the battle will be carried out as soon as possible, and the Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch sailors will be completely defeated, and the Daming sailors will be able to control the entire sea area."

Zheng Zhilong nodded slightly.

"What the marshal said is extremely true, the emperor's meaning is to control the entire maritime trade, and to determine the rules for maritime trade, all maritime trade in the future must be carried out in accordance with the rules formulated by my Ming court, Xia Guan believes that after this battle, the establishment of maritime trade rules can be basically completed."

"Yes, this is my intention to look forward to the early start of the battle, I am not particularly familiar with the naval division, when I followed the emperor before, I fought on land, the emperor strategized, the officers and soldiers of the Zheng family army only need to follow the order, there is no need to think about it at all, now it is different, the emperor has clarified the rules of the battle, and the specific battle needs you and me to think carefully, this battle must be won completely, so as to complete the emperor's trust and start the next expedition plan."

"Marshal, Xia Guan thinks that there is no big problem in winning this battle, Xia Guan used to fight at sea all the year round, this sea battle is indeed very different from land combat, but the basic principle is the same, my Daming Naval Division is strong and strong, and the warships are strong, it can be said that it occupies an absolute advantage, as for the warships of Spain and other countries, Xiaguan has also seen them, and they cannot be compared with my Daming Naval Division's warships."

The Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch warships, Zheng Zhilong carefully described to Hong Xingui, and even drew graphics, and this time Zheng Zhilong also brought structural drawings of Spanish and other warships from the capital, which helped the sailors and soldiers to grasp the opponent's situation in detail and achieve a target when they set out on the expedition.

Hong Xingui nodded and said something else.

"Lord Zheng, after the end of this expedition, you and I will lead the sailors to Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands, etc., this will take tens of thousands of miles, I am afraid that it will take more than a year to go back and forth, I don't know what will happen during this period, I don't know why, I have always thought about when the imperial court will conquer Houjin."

Zheng Zhilong didn't think about this matter, when he set off from the capital, he heard a lot of discussions and speculations below, all of which said that the imperial court was about to send a large army to conquer Houjin.

"The emperor must have arranged for the deployment of this matter, but the lower officials believe that before the naval division settles the maritime trade matters, the imperial army will not conquer Houjin for the time being, and the emperor adopts the strategy of besieging Houjin, which is like a battle to siege the city, the army has besieged the city for a long time, and the city cannot get any support, and there will always be a day when the food is consumed.

"What you said is, following the emperor for so many years, I admire it, the emperor is far-sighted, always able to accurately foresee all matters, remember that he fought with the emperor back then, including the battle to exterminate the Liukou, etc., the emperor is strategic, every battle can be a big victory, and then several times with the Houjin Tartars, the emperor is also the first to arrange, so that the Houjin Tartars are always in a passive situation, so that the so-called brave Houjin Tartars, after seeing the Zheng family, lost the determination and confidence to resist."

When Hong Xingui said this, his eyes were full of reverence.

Zheng Zhilong's mood is the same, in fact, from the battle of Quanzhou, he has already felt the courage of the Zheng family's army, you must know that the Zheng family army was created by the emperor, and the source of its troops, at the beginning, a large part of it was the surrendered rogues, these rogues could not even beat the army of the imperial court, but when they entered the Zheng army, they completely changed their appearance, became brave and good at fighting, and were not afraid of death, which is enough to show the emperor's wisdom and foresight.

"Dashuai, the expedition after this battle was also directly determined by the emperor, and the merchant ship formation must follow the sea together, when the discussion was made, many adults in the court did not understand, but the emperor said, maritime trade, including maritime conquest, ultimately requires the Ming court to obtain tax grain and grass, the purpose of the overseas expedition is also to trade with many overseas countries, so as to promote my Ming Dynasty's overseas trade to become stronger and stronger, but some people are afraid that they are not willing to follow the rules set by my Ming court. At this time, the sailor expedition is needed, so that the opponent knows the strength of my Ming Dynasty. ”

When Zheng Zhilong said this, he smiled, and Hong Xingui also smiled.

The two of them can understand the emperor's meaning, after all, one of them has been engaged in maritime expeditions for a long time and has obtained huge benefits from maritime trade, and the other has been fighting with the emperor for a long time.

"Okay, tomorrow Lord Zheng will go to the command ship of the Second Fleet, you and I look forward to it together, and hope that this battle will be completely won." (To be continued.) )