Then he turned his gaze to the artillery. He walked up to a cannon and looked at the barrel with a dull bronze sheen.

I couldn't help squatting down, stroking the rough muzzle with my hand, almost sticking my face to it.

"General, did you buy it from the Franciscans?" Zhu Honghuan, the king of Lu, opened his mouth to ask.

"No, King Lu, this was purchased from the English." Xiao Wu of Shui Shi Zhen spoke.

"Anglican." Liu Yu was taken aback, but he was also relieved.

The British East India Company also came to Taiwan at the invitation of Zheng Jing, and the two sides signed a treaty of commerce in 1672 to establish the Taiwan Commercial House.

Zheng Jing thus obtained gunpowder and weapons through the British, and the British also helped Zheng Jun train artillery, and Zheng Jing also borrowed British artillery to fight.

However, the English East India Company was not operating well due to the restrictions imposed on trade goods by the Ming and Zheng regimes.

In 1681, the English closed the Taiwan Merchant House, leaving only one agent to clear the debts. The relationship between the two parties came to an end.

Zhu Honghuan couldn't help but admire: "Good cannon, this Western cannon-making technology is really stronger than my Daming." ”

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Daming sailors had long since lost the majesty of Zheng He's voyage to the West, and even found out when he fought with the Dutch that there were only dozens of warships that could be used for battle.

This made the Ming Dynasty government at that time very broken, and used the power of the three southeastern provinces to requisition 200 merchant ships, and then some of the warships were refitted.

Later, it was used to imitate by purchasing the centipede ship of the Francophile man, but that kind of ship was propelled by artificial slurry, although the speed was okay, but the protection was almost none, except for the large lucky ship.

However, if you want to use these ships to compete with the Western fleet, you are simply looking for death.

I'm afraid that the battleships of the Daming Navy Division were a few points behind the Zheng family's battleship formation.

In the end, it also led to the complete rise of the Zheng family's maritime power, and finally buried the Ming Dynasty's maritime trade channels.

Xiao Wu then sighed and said: "Yes, the Zheng sailors of the year were rampant in the South Seas, no matter what kind of Francophile people, Dutch Taixi people, and those who stood in the way were all swept away, how mighty it was, alas, ........" ”

Saying this, he couldn't help but glance at Liu Yu who was looking at the ocean on the side.

Just this morning, he also discussed the situation with Liu Yu with great interest.

In the discussion with Liu Yu, he suddenly found that

This person not only has a very good understanding of the situation of the Qing court, but also analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of various Western forces in the southeast sea.

This made Xiao Wu have to put Liu Yu in a higher position.

For several days, the weather was very clear.

The fleet took advantage of the continuous winds and waves, broke through the Taiwan Strait, and sailed into the South China Sea in one go.

This also kept the fleet away from the traditional sphere of influence of the Qing court.

Without waiting for Xiao Wu and the others to breathe a sigh of relief, an unexpected fleet actually passed by them.

When the lookout post sent a warning, Liu Yu was very surprised.

Although the scale of the inescapable fleet is not large, there are more than ten warships, and ordinary pirates do not dare to provoke at all.

I had also encountered many ships suspected of being pirates before, but when I saw Zheng Jun's flag and the huge ship of fortune, they all fled.

The cranky Liu Yu walked out of the cabin and came to the deck.

At this time, Xiao Wu, Liu Quan and others had already boarded the bow of the ship.

Not far away, three armed merchant ships were sailing in a line on the right side of the southern convoy.

"British." Looking at the flags raised on the armed merchant ship, Liu Yu was taken aback.

"These Xiyi don't seem to have the intention of attacking us, maybe they're just guarding against us." Xiao Wu looked at the British merchant ships in the distance.

"Let the bird boats pull back, and don't provoke them." Xiao Wu commanded.

"General Xiao, let go of the boat." Without waiting for Liu Yu to speak, He Bin on the side pointed to the British caravan not far away.

"If you want to go south to Luzon, you will inevitably involve the interests of the Western countries entrenched in the South Seas, and it is better to take the initiative to discuss than to be passive." He Bin explained.

In the early years, He Bin served in the British Merchant House of the East India Company in Taiwan, and after the abolition of the Merchant Pavilion, he was forcibly conscripted as a sailor of the Zheng Army fleet by chance, and after ten years of tempering, he sat in the position of Admiral of the Naval Division.

I thought that everything back then would be in smoke, but unexpectedly, it came in handy at this moment.

Xiao Wu didn't respond, but thought.

"General Xiao, let me go with He Bin." Glancing at He Bin on the side, Liu Yu said calmly.

"What do you want to do?" Uncle Liu Quan pressed on Liu Yu's shoulder, and in the past few days, he was surprised to find that Liu Yu seemed to be a different person, making himself a little unpredictable.

"The interests of Nanyang are complicated, and the English are cunning, so you should be more vigilant." Xiao Wu nodded and motioned for Liu Quan to accompany Liu Yu.

They boarded a bird boat, accompanied by an interpreter.

As the bird boat kept getting closer, Liu Yu became more and more uneasy.

Not far away, the silhouettes of those merchant ships gradually became clear,

It was only three armed merchant ships, and it was not much different from the Fu ships of the main force of the Zheng army.

Looking at the gun window on the side of the merchant ship, Liu Yu swallowed his saliva, if there was really a conflict, I was afraid that his own fleet might not be able to fight.

And this is only armed merchant ships, if they are real warships.

Thinking of this, the bird ship was already close to the British merchant ship.

The merchant ship allowed Liu Yu, Liu Quan, and the accompanying interpreter to board the ship, and the rest of the people were not allowed to approach.

After sending off Liu Yu and the three of them, the bird boat moved away from the British ship and wandered in the nearby waters.

With the help of his uncle, Liu Yu boarded the British ship.

The ship was basically full of foreign faces, and a pair of dark blue eyes stared at Liu Yu and the others.

A British sailor muttered.

"Their captain invited us in." He Bin translated.

Under the leadership of the British sailor, He Bin and others were invited into the cabin.

In an elaborately furnished cabin, Liu Yu met the actual commander of the caravan.

"Sir Gore."

He Bin pointed to the man standing next to the nautical chart and whispered to Uncle Liu Quan.

The British captain was very polite and poured a cup of black tea for each of the three of them.

Looking at the steaming black tea, Liu Yu was not polite, picked up the teacup and drank it all.

These days are all about drinking fresh water, Liu Yu doesn't drink alcohol, and in addition to spirits in the fleet, it is water.

To be honest, when Liu Yu drank fragrant black tea, he had the illusion of returning to modern civilization in an instant.

"This gentleman, where are you Zheng Jun going to gather such a huge fleet?" After seeing He Bin drinking tea, the British captain asked very politely.

"I see."

After the fleet fled, Xiao Wu still used the flag of Taiwan's Zheng Jun.

These British merchant ships looked at the flotilla with the flag of Zheng Jun from afar, and naturally thought that it was the Zheng Army of Taiwan.

Obviously, this British merchant fleet did not know the news of the war between the Qing Dynasty and the Taiwanese Zheng clan, let alone the defeat of the Taiwanese Zheng army.

"Dear Sir Gore, we are heading to Luzon."

He Bin was not ambiguous, and told the British captain directly.

Liu Yu was stunned by the fluent bird language,

"What are you going to do in Luzon, is it possible that you are going to war with Spain." When Sir Gore finished speaking, a young lieutenant beside him burst out laughing.

"What are you laughing at?" Liu Quan saw the young red-haired devil laugh out loud and glared at him viciously.

The British officer was instantly dumbfounded.

"With all due respect, if you want to start a war with Spain just by relying on your two third-class gunboats, you are undoubtedly looking for death." Glancing at Liu Quan, who was dressed in armor, Sir Gore opened his mouth to persuade.

"Sir Gore, we don't want to go to war with Spain, but over the years, the natives of Spain and Luzon have slaughtered the Luzon Tang people several times, and we just want to get a piece of land for the Luzon Tang people in the north of Luzon Island to recuperate." He Bin said righteously.

The interpreter conveyed the original words to Sir Gore as they were.

After hearing this, Jazz just shook his head and tasted the black tea beside him.

"It's just an excuse, you didn't do it more than twenty years ago, and now it's too late." He looked at He Bin,

"Lord Ho, can you translate for me?" Liu Yu stepped forward and whispered to He Bin.

He Bin frowned, he didn't have a good impression of this flamboyant young man.

But he nodded.

After watching He Bin acquiesce, Liu Yu took a deep breath and stepped forward.

"Dear Sir Gore, in the last century you defeated the Spanish Armada, but you did not shake the Dutch maritime trade with the Francoman, and as far as I know, you have lost the war with the Dutch just recently."

When the interpreter translated, Sir Gore and the young lieutenant behind him both changed their faces slightly.

"The East India Company faced an era of vicious competition."

"If my guess is correct, you are transporting goods from India to Portuguese-occupied Macao, right?" Liu Yu looked at the British captain in front of him,

Sir Gore nodded,

"And every time you have to pass through Luzon, not to mention the pirates you meet along the way, if you encounter bad weather such as a typhoon in the Philippines, you have to dock at the port of Manila, and every time the Spaniards have to ask for a lot of tolls." Liu Yu said.

"If you take Luzon, what will we gain?" Sir Gore inquired with interest.

"Sir Gore, we don't want to occupy Luzon, we Zheng just want to get a piece of paradise in northern Luzon for the Luzon Tang people to recuperate." Liu Yu's righteous rhetoric.

At this moment, he naturally borrowed the tiger skin of Taiwan's Zheng family.

"I know what you mean, I have also heard of the persecution of you Tang people by the Spaniards in Luzon, and I deeply sympathize with it." He stood up, looked at the unsightly Oriental man in front of him, and asked,

"If you establish a colony in northern Luzon, what will the British gain?"

Liu Yu smiled, and he looked at the British captain who was a cut taller than himself.

"We can share the mines, and at the same time British merchant ships can dock in Luzon without conditions." Liu Yu threw out his chips.

"All you have to do is provide us with muskets and artillery, and we'll buy them at the same price."

Sir Gore turned and clasped his hands behind his back and looked at the charts.

"We were ordered by the East India Company to transport spices to Macao." He looked at the nautical chart, then turned to stare at Liu Yu,

"We will buy a batch of firecrackers in Macau and go to northern Luzon in half a month, hoping to hear good news from you." Sir Gore shook hands with Liu Yu with a smile,

He Bin on the side looked at the conversation between the two in some surprise,

Just now he has been translating for Liu Yu,

When Liu Yu talked about the war,

He was taken aback,

war

When did the English go to war with the Dutch, and still lost.

When Liu Yu spoke, He Bin almost fainted.

As a general of the naval division, he didn't know that the English had lost the war with the Dutch, and this kid knew so.

After ending this seemingly friendly conversation, Liu Yu and the others disembarked from the merchant ship and returned to the fleet under the captain's farewell.

"Sir Gore, are you really going to be hostile to the Spaniards?" The adjutant, who had been a little dissatisfied, spoke.

"The Oriental is right, we can't shake the power of the sea coachmen and the Western countries, so we need more forces that are friendly to us and can be used for us."

Jazz looked at the bird ship in the distance and ordered the ship to sail.

"Isn't that exactly what we supported in the first place when we supported them to take back the island of Taiwan in the hands of the Dutch?"