To speak in conscience, even if Zheng Chenggong's fleet strength is divided into two, or even three.

However, Vietnam's Zheng Zheng and Nguyen Phuc Yen were able to put aside old grievances and work together to the outside world.

Well, the Vietnamese still have no certainty of victory, and it can even be said that the hope of victory is not great.

But Zheng Zheng still wanted to take a risk, which cannot be said to be an aggressive risk, but because he knew that this was already the best time for the Vietnamese to make a move.

If you wait in vain, it will be clear that the Ming will make a move against Vietnam sooner or later, and wait for the Ming Dynasty's southern expeditionary troops to finish the previous battle, recuperate and replenish their combat strength, and then free up their hands to deal with Vietnam with all their might, then Vietnam will only die even worse.

Wait for Daming to do it first, it will be nine deaths and one life.

Zheng Zheng saw the right time to sneak attack first, he felt that he could mix seven deaths, three lives or even five or five, so he would gamble.

So Zheng Zheng spent half a month contacting Ruan Fuwei, telling the other party that he was righteous, and asked the other party to deal with foreign enemies first for the sake of the courtiers of the Li Dynasty.

This feeling is like when Cao Cao coerced the Son of Heaven, he originally played with Sun Quan, but suddenly said that there were five Hu who invaded my Han, and I wanted Sun Quan to resist Beihu first for the sake of being a Hanchen.

Nguyen Phuc Binh played the role of Sun Quan in Vietnam, and when he encountered this juncture, after all, he also had the face of "loyal ministers of the Li Dynasty" and could not erase it, so he nominally promised not to cause trouble for Zheng Zheng, and also said that he could send the navy to help in the war as appropriate. However, it is limited to the navy, and the army will never be dispatched.

Obviously, Ruan Phuc Binh also has his own plans, he can't want to offend people, he wants to help and help secretly, the sea is a lawless place, the fleet is erratic, and a sneak attack can still hit the flag of other people's homes, and it is not easy to be held accountable.

And once the army makes a move, it will be difficult to come back, if there are prisoners of war who are captured by the Ming side and tortured to find out their identities, they will be tied to the chariot by Zheng Zheng, and it will be inconvenient to jump out of the car in the future when the situation is unfavorable.

In contrast, it is very difficult to capture the opponent's warship in a naval battle, as long as it is not captured, there is no proof of death.

……

Zheng Zheng spent more than half a month, and after getting Ruan Fuwei done, he felt that he still didn't have enough of it, and in line with the consideration of pulling one more foreign aid if he could, he quickly sent people to the coasts of Liangguang and Luzon to spread the news to divert Daming's attention and create more enemies for Daming.

His specific method was to go to Guangzhou to spread the news that since two years ago, the Spanish colonizers had launched a new round of wanton massacres of the Chinese in Nanyang in Luzon next door. The Ming Dynasty claims to be the suzerainty of the Han people in the world, but it is incapable of governing it, which is really chilling.

And Zheng Zheng thought of this trick, but he can't blame God for helping him, it's really a coincidence, and the feeding tricks are all fed to the mouth, and there is no reason not to use it - because in the original history, the Spanish in Luzon's butt was not clean, and they organized three very large-scale massacres of Han people in the past few decades.

Before the Zhu Shuren crossed, as early as 1603 in the Wanli period, the Chinese maritime power in the area of Dayuan and Luzon was still Lin Feng's world, and the Spaniards slaughtered the Chinese for the first time in Luzon because of the conflict with the Chinese maritime merchants, and the dead were about tens of thousands, and there were less than 300 Chinese left in Manila after the massacre.

Later, the second large-scale massacre occurred in 1639, which was already the twelfth year of Chongzhen, and that time Zhu Shuren had just crossed over, but he had not had time to establish his power at all, so he was completely unable to exert influence, and the dead were said to be sixty or seventy thousand.

And the third massacre in history was supposed to happen in 1662, this time it has been twenty-three years since the Zhu Shuren crossed over, when the Ming Dynasty's national power re-entered the rising period, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty was also wiped out, so there is a certain butterfly effect.

The Spanish colonists no longer dared to directly kill the Nanyang Han people as the Kunlun slave natives. As a result, the Han colonial contradictions were delayed and endured for several years.

On the other hand, an important reason why the Spaniards slaughtered the Chinese in that year was also that Zheng Chenggong recovered Dayuan Island from the Dutch in that year.

Luzon was only separated by a Bass Strait from Dayuan, and the Spaniards on the other side of the river soon got the news, and they also heard that the local natives provided Zheng Chenggong with military rations and "food pot pulp to welcome the king's division" during the battle of Dayuan. Therefore, out of the intensification of the chain of suspicion, the Spaniards were afraid that Zheng Chenggong would win the army, so they slaughtered the Han people in Manila in advance, in case the Han people should lead the way.

However, it is also a coincidence that although the third Luzon massacre in this life was patiently delayed, after all, the ability of the Han people to do business freely and make money far exceeds that of the Spaniards, there is no doubt about this.

Look at the Spanish businessmen of later generations, who often closed on weekends when they opened a small shop, and they were so lazy that they still expected to make a lot of money? And the Han businessmen are like what they are rolling up one by one, as long as they compete peacefully and only make money with real skills, how can Westerners outperform the Han people?

So after a few more delays, the power of Chinese businessmen in Manila became bigger and bigger, making more and more money, and the Ming Dynasty also turned to encourage navigation. The Spaniards felt a growing sense of crisis in Manila, and some channels heard some complaints from Han merchants in Manila, and some people secretly plotted to meet the king, and then the Spaniards still suspected that the chain went off and killed tens of thousands of people.

It's just that today's Spaniards also know the strength of the Ming Dynasty, so they didn't dare to publicize it when they killed people, and even preferred not to do business for more than half a year after the killing, and implemented martial law in Manila to delay the leakage of news as much as possible.

The official merchants of the Ming Dynasty rarely go to Manila to trade, which led to the massacre that occurred in 1662 in the original history, but now it has been dragged to 1666 before breaking out, and the Ming side has not received any news until the first half of 1668.

With the news at that time, what happened in an isolated archipelago did not reach the mainland for two years, which is also very normal, and Jinyiwei cannot be blamed for his incompetence.

However, the news of the Spanish blockade of Daming, other Portuguese and Dutch in Nanyang still have some rumors, but the Dutch and Portuguese are too lazy to wade into troubled waters, so they are not in a hurry to go to Daming to complain. In the end, it was Zheng Zheng of Vietnam, because he was frantically asking the Dutch and the Portuguese to buy warships in the past two years, and he had frequent exchanges, so he got the news earlier.

Now he needs to share the hatred value of Daming, so he took the initiative to poke out the news, hoping to use Daming's status as the "Heavenly Empire" to set up Daming and make it impossible for Daming to come to power.

……

This series of operations, of course, quickly aroused Daming's vigilance.

Since the beginning of April of the sixth year of Xiaokang, the emperor and officials of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War in Guangzhou have learned several news.

First of all, on the Vietnamese side of the border between Yunnan and Vietnam, Zheng Zheng began to close the customs and ban navigation, and built weirs to build reefs and sandbars, destroying the Red River channel. This clearly shows that it is a hostile military posture to resist the possible future logistics supply line of the Red River of the Ming Dynasty.

Although Zheng Zheng never directly declared war on the Ming Dynasty, if he slowly completed these preparations, the Ming Dynasty's attack would definitely be in a lot of trouble in the future.

Secondly, only ten days after hearing that Zheng Zheng had cut off the navigation and closed the river, another piece of news reached Guangzhou, that is, Zheng Zheng finally sent troops and began to attack Gaoping Mansion controlled by Mo Jingyu.

Although Mo Jingyu used to be the monarch of the Mo Dynasty in Vietnam, in recent years, because his life has become more and more difficult, he has only dared to call himself the Mo Dynasty internally, and externally he falsely called the Ming Dynasty a courtier.

(Note: Historically, Zheng Zheng's attack on Gaoping took place in 1666-1667, but it is set to be delayed until 1668 due to the butterfly effect.) ）

Zheng Zheng actually dared to attack the Annan Xuanxuan envoy canonized by the Ming Dynasty, this problem is serious, even if he argues that Mo Jingyu is actually a traitor in Vietnam, just to deceive the Ming Dynasty, but this matter must not be up to him.

Zhu Ciyu, who is in Guangzhou, is young and vigorous, how can he stand such a provocation from the Vietnamese? So the next day, he summoned the ministers of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War in Guangzhou to discuss retaliation against Vietnam.

But Gu Yanwu of the Ministry of Rites still advised him to be serious for the time being: "Your Majesty, don't be reckless, now that we have only completed the first round of negotiations with Myanmar Mangluo and Mangliti, Li Dingguo will continue to talk and fight militarily."

According to the progress of the previous negotiations, the canonization will be reached in more than a month at most. After more than a month of marching home, Li Dingguo's soldiers and horses would be able to return to Yunnan. And Zheng Chenggong has to take a roundabout sea route around Malacca, the whole journey is more than 8,000 miles, and it may take two months to come back.

If we count the troops recuperating for another month or two before we can fight again, then we will basically be able to concentrate our forces on Vietnam by August of this year. When the time comes, the hottest season of midsummer has passed, and another year of autumn and winter use of troops, everything will be as smooth as last year's against Burma.

If we have to tear our faces now and officially send troops, first, Li Dingguo has not yet returned to the division, and second, I will mobilize in April and go out in May, and May to July happens to be the hottest and humidest time of the year. Even if I have a panacea and other disinfection and insect repellent medicines, I am afraid that I will lose countless miasma from the epidemic. At this time, you must hold back! ”

Zhu Ciyu has completely listened to Gu Yanwu's advice on the issue of negotiations in Burma, but he still takes Vietnam so seriously that he will lose face for a few months in vain, and Zhu Ciyu still can't hold his face.

He considered that he could not fully listen to the Ministry of Rites to the outside world, after all, this time it was not about negotiations, but also about counterattacks, so he asked the attendants of the military department to confirm whether the military department had a way to give the court a breath of relief, save face, and beat the Vietnamese, and at the same time not fall into the quagmire of summer warfare in the tropical jungle and mountainous areas.

Of course, the people of the military department can't appear to be incompetent, since this question is only deduced from a technical point of view, the soldier waiter thought about it again and again, and replied with confidence:

"Zheng Zheng destroyed the Red River channel, and it is impossible to learn the tactics of the Yongle Dynasty to attack from Guangxi and cut off and supply after the Yunnan Dynasty. Vietnam has a long and narrow terrain, and in order to form a deterrent to it, it does not want to fall into the quagmire of mountains and jungles, so it can only attack by sea and leave as soon as it is touched.

Do not seek to attack the city, but to first burn and destroy the hinterland behind the enemy to deter the enemy. However, doing so may also arouse the hatred of the Vietnamese military and civilians against the enemy, and they will resist even more desperately in the future. Moreover, the sea attack emphasizes a suddenness, once it has been used for the first time, and the next time it wants to repeat the old trick, the enemy will be easy to be on guard, and this good opportunity to do it for the first time should not be wasted. ”

The soldier didn't say that he couldn't fight, but he just thought of a strategy that was relatively easy to implement, and at the same time emphasized that the suddenness of the fighter plane was rare. In this way, if the emperor still insists on fighting, the follow-up progress will be unfavorable in the future, and it will have nothing to do with them.

Gu Yanwu couldn't help but be anxious when he heard the people from the military department: "Your Majesty! It's not a few months! Even if the sea attack is not afraid of the miasma of the tropical mountains and forests, should the Nanjing Imperial Court first be asked to brainstorm before making a decision? ”

Zhu Ciyu's face was a little ugly: "The military aircraft is a major event, how can it be delayed back and forth for two months?" Even if you want to ask for instructions, you should let the fleet patrol first, capture warplanes, and deter the enemy. Since ancient times, there is a cloud in the art of war, and the generals are outside, and the king's order is not affected. What's more, if the royal driver is out in person, do you still have to ask the courtiers who are two thousand miles away in the rear? It's not that the military department didn't send someone to accompany it! ”

When Gu Yanwu heard this, he also realized that he was a bit unskilled in what he said, and it hurt the emperor's face too much. After all, the emperor is pro-government, and he personally patrols the south in front of the enemy, and he does have the right to deal with emergencies.

In the end, Gu Yanwu had no choice but to second, as long as he didn't fight for the time being, he could go back to the DPRK and China to let everyone consult, and at the same time let the only patrol fleet at hand patrol the coast of Vietnam to look for fighters.

And just ten days after the messenger back to Nanjing left, it is estimated that the messenger went to Jiangxi, and a new bad news spread in the city of Guangzhou, that is, Zheng Zheng had previously spread that "the Spanish wantonly slaughtered the Han people in Luzon the year before last, and the Ming court was unable to uphold justice."

After Zhu Ciyu heard about it, he was so angry again, didn't he slap him in the face in person? He immediately asked the fleet to increase patrol and deterrence, in order to find fighters and save face.

The number of naval warships left in Guangzhou was small, most of them were taken away by Zheng Chenggong, and there were really no more gunboats, so Zhu Ciyu ordered that the escort fleet that had escorted him to the south also send warships to the coast of Thanh Hoa, Hue and other places in Vietnam to harass them, and also sent a reconnaissance fleet to Luzon.

Anyway, Zhu Ciyu now lives in the city of Guangzhou, and his escort fleet is idle. As long as Zhang Mingzhen, who was in charge of commanding and escorting the army, did not set sail, it would not damage the face of the imperial court.

The troops below will naturally not disobey the order, after all, many of the troops brought out by Zhu Ciyu are the garrison troops of Nanjing, and they have lived at the feet of the Son of Heaven for a long time, and have enjoyed peace for more than ten years, and they are generally a little proud, and they have not done much intelligence work, and they think that with my 32-gun frigate in the Ming Dynasty, those Vietnamese monkeys can still threaten?

……

It's a pity, maybe it's because the arrogant soldiers are easy to step on the pit, and the escort fleet sent by Zhu Ciyu has only thousands of sailors and more than a dozen ships, among which Zhu Ciyu's own ship is not known for its artillery firepower because it is a high-speed sailing ship.

There were no slow-sailing but invincible 80-gun sail battleships in the other ships, at most two 38-gun high-speed sail frigates, and there were 32-gun ones left, as well as smaller ships than frigates.

The Ming fleet set sail from Guangzhou on the second day of the fifth month, and after arriving in Danzhou for supplies on the eighth day of the first month, it once again attacked the coastal harassment and deterrence.

However, unexpectedly, on May 16, the fourth day after arriving at the coast of Vietnam, the Ming army encountered a Vietnamese fleet of all Western warships in the sea of Rili County near Hue.

There were four Dutch original heavy Galen gunboats, the flagship of which was even a Manila heavy cover with three gun decks. In addition, there were more than a dozen ordinary military Galen ships, Portuguese carrac gunboats. Plus hundreds of small traditional Vietnamese warships.

Chen Jinnan, who was in charge of leading the reconnaissance and harassment fleet, was also taken aback when he saw this, and secretly blamed himself for the poor job of naval intelligence collection by the Ming Dynasty and for actually despising the Vietnamese.

"How did these Vietnamese have the Dutch Galen gunboats? Careless! Hurry up and disengage and take advantage of the speed to pull away! Raise the flag again and tell these Vietnamese that we are just the Nanyang patrol fleet of the Ming Dynasty, only patrolling here, and if they dare to fire first, just wait for Zheng Guogong's anger! ”

Thanks to Chen Jinnan's visit this time, he has not yet gone ashore to burn, kill and plunder, he just came to show off his might and beat and beat, in the terms of international law in later generations, it belongs to "freedom of navigation".

The Vietnamese actually took the initiative to preemptively fire on the warships flying the flag of the Ming Imperial Escort Fleet, which is needless to say.

It's a pity that the Vietnamese ended up being villains in vain.

Although Chen Jinnan lacked troops, he had an obvious advantage in speed, and the sail frigate of the Ming Dynasty was far faster than that of the Dutch heavy cover.

In the end, it only paid the price of sinking an old Daifuku battleship, a 32-gun frigate burned by incendiary bombs, and several other Fukufu ships were slightly injured.

In exchange for the result of sinking two heavy Karak gunboats and seven or eight old Canton gunboats of the Vietnamese fleet, he retreated.

If you only look at the ratio of war and sunk, the Ming Dynasty sank one and burned one, but the Vietnamese sank and burned as many as nine ships, obviously the Ming Dynasty took a big advantage. The only fly in the ointment is that the 32-gun sail frigate burned by the Ming Dynasty is definitely more expensive and advanced than the heavy truck gunboats of the Vietnamese.

But it doesn't matter, after Chen Jinnan went back, he asked the emperor for his guilt, and the emperor didn't blame him, but just said that he wanted to reflect on why the intelligence work was not done well, and I didn't know that the Vietnamese Navy actually asked the West to buy a heavy gunboat.

In that case, let's wait for Zheng Chenggong's main force to return, and then clean them up with thunderous fury.

Under the emperor's anger, of course, he would send an urgent messenger to further urge Li Dingguo and Zheng Chenggong to return to the army. At this time, it was already late May, and when the messenger arrived in Burma, it was already early June, and the peace talks with Burma had already been formally implemented.

Therefore, Zheng Chenggong should have come back, but now it is nothing more than to return to expedite the voyage, and after more than 20 days of sailing and a detour of more than 5,000 miles, he arrived at the coast of Vietnam.

According to the original plan, Zheng Chenggong of course needed to go back to Guangzhou to repair first, because he had been fighting in Burma for several months, and the losses were still relatively large, and a lot of artillery shells and gunpowder had been knocked out.

It's a pity that Zheng Zheng seems to know this situation, and of course he is not willing to wait for Zheng Chenggong to have sufficient supplies and return to his heyday before fighting Zheng Chenggong.

Therefore, Zheng Zheng sent a fleet to patrol day and night in the sea around Hue-Da Nang in advance, wanting to intercept Zheng Chenggong who was returning.

On the second day of the seventh month, off the coast of Hue Province, Zheng Chenggong and Zheng Zheng's fleet finally encountered.

(End of chapter)