Zheng Zhilong also discovered a warship formation in the distance.

The formation of the opposing warships seen in the telescope made Zheng Zhilong gasp.

Not only in the Ming court, but also in the entire sea, Zheng Zhilong's self-confidence is very sufficient, and no sailor can compare with the sailor under his command, let alone the sailor of the imperial court, without the slightest combat effectiveness.

Zheng Zhilong has more than 3,000 warships and 200,000 sailors under his command, which is a force that can be feared by anyone.

However, Zheng Zhilong himself is very clear, 200,000 sergeants are too exaggerated, and many of them are engaged in maritime commerce, including many logistics personnel, who are also counted in the sailors, in fact, Zheng Zhilong's really elite sailors, there are about 50,000 people, and these 50,000 people can participate in sea battles at any time, and many of them have followed him to fight in the north and south, and they were together when they were pirates.

The warship formation in front, its huge scale, Zheng Zhilong has never seen before, almost all of them are large warships, as many as dozens, what kind of strength is needed, how much silver should be needed to support.

Naval combat strength is the key, no matter what kind of tactics you use, the strength is not as good as others, it is almost the end of failure, of course, there are special circumstances, but it is very rare, unless the opponent's commander is a fool.

"Big brother, where is this warship formation, why have you never seen it."

Zheng Zhilong's face was gloomy and he looked at Zheng Zhibao beside him.

"I don't know, I've never seen such a warship formation, if these warships can be owned by us, our combat effectiveness can be greatly improved."

Zheng Zhilong did not answer the question directly, in fact, this was also his mistake, as the governor of Tongzhi and the general soldier of Fujian. Leading the most powerful sailors, but not knowing when a strong sailor will emerge, this is a big joke.

A thought flashed in his mind, Zheng Zhilong suddenly thought of Zheng Xunrui, the king of Xiang, could it be that the opposite side was the sailor of the Zheng family's army, but he had heard of this. When the Zheng family army occupied Lushun, Jinzhou and Fuzhou, it once incorporated the imperial court sailors stationed in Penglai, but at that time, the imperial navy divisions were weak and not worth mentioning at all.

Zheng Zhilong thought of Zheng Xunrui's letter, which he did not say to anyone.

"Big brother, get ready for war."

Zheng Zhibao's reminder made Zheng Zhilong sober up.

"Fourth brother, you command the battle."

After saying this, Zheng Zhilong raised the telescope in his hand again. Although the opponent's strength is very strong, Zheng Zhilong is still not in a hurry, after all, the command of naval operations is also very crucial, if the other party has not experienced many naval battles, then there is still a great possibility of victory in the battle.

Zheng Zhibao is familiar with naval operations and is fully capable of commanding.

Zheng Zhilong needed to think, he thought not only of the warship formation in front of him, but also of the imperial army that entered Fujian. Could it be that these armies are Zheng Jiajun, and that is really the case. It's a bit of a hassle.

A huge cannon fire rang out instantly.

The warship formations on both sides were already less than two nautical miles away.

Ding Baokun finally gave the order to fight. Thirty three-masted gunboats lined up and fired at the same time.

Huge waves appeared on the surface of the sea in an instant.

Zheng Zhibao also commanded the warship to open fire, his original intention was that the warship approached and then fired, but the other party fired first, and he couldn't be beaten passively.

The situation that made Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Zhibao stunned appeared.

The opponent's artillery was so sharp that the shells fell on the battleship. In an instant, some sergeants screamed and fell into the sea, and the sawdust of the hit warship flew sideways, and many masts were blown up.

What kind of artillery is this, and why is it so powerful?

Zheng Zhilong found out. The artillery on his side could not hit the opponent at all, and the shells fell in the sea, setting off bursts of waves, but the opponent was unscathed.

Rockets also can't be launched, the distance is too far, and besides, all the other side's attacks are giant ships like three-masted gunboats, and rockets can't play a substantive role at all.

Small warships such as Haicang ships were dispatched, and only small warships could be used to deal with such large gunboats.

The situation that can make Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Zhibao vomit blood has reappeared.

The five attacking Haicang ships, while they were still advancing at full speed, were concentrated by artillery, and none of them were spared.

The Haicang ship, which was hit, began to catch fire, and the mast was also blown off, and it was impossible to control it at all.

This is what happened at the very beginning of the battle.

Zheng Zhilong is smart, he found that the opponent's firepower is too strong, with the warship formation under his own command, it is impossible to defeat the opponent, if the entanglement continues, the ending will be even more tragic, in less than half an hour, the loss of warships on his side has been close to ten, this situation continues, at most two to three hours, the warship formation is very likely to be wiped out.

It is necessary to retreat, even if it is said that there is a greater danger of retreating.

Zheng Zhilong gave the order to retreat in pain.

Zheng Zhibao's eyes were on fire, he was reluctant to evacuate, but seeing the shells exploding all around, many warships were hit by shells one after another, and if he continued to hold on, the losses would be even heavier.

The order to retreat was finally given, and the Fu boat on which Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Zhibao were riding bore the brunt and quickly began to evacuate.

This is something that Zheng Zhilong has not experienced for many years, and the battle has just begun, and he must quickly evacuate.

That's failure.

Seeing that the warships on the opposite side began to withdraw, Ding Baokun did not give the order to pursue.

He still kept Zheng Jinhong's order in mind, the warship had just entered the waters of Fujian, and everything was not very clear, who knew if there was an ambush ahead, if Zheng Zhilong's main fleet was in front and thousands of warships attacked, it would be impossible to deal with it.

Ding Baokun led the absolute main force of the Zheng family's naval division, and he couldn't take risks, let alone have huge losses, otherwise the consequences would be unbearable.

Despite the pursuit attack, it was possible to completely annihilate the opposing warship formation.

Ding Baokun didn't know that the warship formation on the opposite side was directly commanded by Zheng Zhilong, but fortunately he didn't launch an attack, if he really annihilated the warship formation led by Zheng Zhilong, Fujian's naval division would be in chaos.

The other party did not pursue, Zheng Zhibao ordered the warship formation to quickly withdraw in the direction of Fuzhou Meihuasuo, not to make the slightest stop along the way, as for the injured sergeant just now, he was treated on the ship, and the damaged warship was repaired while sailing.

In less than an hour, eight warships were lost, and only one of the five Haicang ships that attacked was barely evacuated, and the remaining four had lost the ability to sail, and the sergeants on these warships naturally became prisoners.

Zheng Zhilong's face was pale, and after returning to the cabin, he didn't say a word.

Zheng Zhibao, whose face was gray, did not speak.

The soldiers were guarding the door of the cabin, prohibiting anyone from entering, including those brave generals under Zheng Zhilong, who could not be disturbed at this moment.

After two quarters of an hour of silence, Zheng Zhilong finally spoke.

"Fourth brother, do you say this is the sailor of the Zheng family's army."

Zheng Zhibao didn't know what to do, and was slightly stunned before speaking.

"Big brother, what does the Zheng family army have to do with us, why did they come to Fujian, even if they want to declare war, they need to have a reason, and besides, the Zheng family army is also a court army, can they attack us without any scruples."

Zheng Zhilong shook his head, at this time he knew that he had made a major mistake, he didn't pay attention to the letter written by Zheng Xunrui at all, it was an unbearable mistake, but I heard that Zheng Jiajun was extremely strong, and I didn't expect Zheng Jiajun's sailor to be so powerful, if he really faced such a situation, then he Zheng Zhilong would have to think about what to do next.

"Big brother, why don't you speak."

"Fourth brother, Zheng Xunrui, the king of Hunan Province, once wrote to me, asking Fujian to return to Nanjing, I didn't agree, and I didn't care, when I was in Dajin, the state government said that there was a court army into Fujian, I was a little suspicious, just met a strong warship formation, I feel very bad, if the Zheng army enters Fujian, and takes a simultaneous attack on land and sea, how do you say we should respond."

Zheng Zhibao's face instantly turned pale, and he couldn't speak with his mouth open.

"Fourth brother, order all warships to increase the speed of sailing, we must arrive at the Meihuasu as soon as possible, and after obtaining supplies, rush back to Quanzhou, and at the same time give orders to all warships, and all enter the state of combat alert......"

Zheng Zhilong finally paid attention to Zheng Xunrui and Zheng Jiajun, but in his opinion, as long as all the warship formations under his command are moving, they can completely defeat Zheng Jiajun's sailors, although Zheng Jiajun's sailors are strong, but their strength is insufficient, elephants can be picked up by ants, so many warships under his command, and they will definitely be able to win when they are out to deal with Zheng Jiajun's warship formation.

As for the battle on land, Zheng Zhilong didn't think about it so much, as long as he could protect Anhai Town in Jinjiang and Nan'an County in Quanzhou.

There was no news on the sea, and Zheng Zhilong could only speculate based on experience.

The main forces of Zheng Zhilong's naval division were all distributed in Quanzhou, Xinghua, Zhangzhou and other places, including Fuzhou, there were not many naval divisions stationed, and at this moment they could only ask the warship formation to speed up the navigation.

Zheng Zhilong didn't plan to stay at the Plum Blossom Institute, but the warship formation needed supplies, and he had just experienced a defeat, and the injured sergeant also needed more medicinal herbs to heal his wounds.

As for what the situation in Fuzhou was, Zheng Zhilong didn't think about it at all, in his opinion, the Zheng family army had just begun to attack, and the speed was not so fast, and the speed of the sea march would not be much slower than on land.

Although he experienced a fiasco, Zheng Zhilong's self-confidence still existed, and he would never have thought that this was a defeat that had fallen to the freezing point, and then he would not have any strength to resist at all. (To be continued.) )