June 15, morning.

After thorough preparations, an extremely thorough and perfect battle plan was formulated.

Xu Jiazhuang set out for the fleet, started the three-cylinder steam engine, sounded the whistle, and officially departed from the port.

Above the wide sea, between the waves several feet high.

Three large ships were crushing the waves, forming a long queue of snakes, sailing straight south.

Due to the excessive amount of supplies carried and the need to save fuel, the speed of the three large ships was only about 12 knots.

At this moment, he is sailing on the 'Yaowu' at the front, in the cockpit of the ship's building.

Captain Zuo Xianfu is talking to the captains of the two ships behind him on a public channel through radio broadcasting equipment.

"At this rate, in about three days, we will be able to reach the waters around Quanzhou and Xiamen in Fujian, and then show our strength at sea in Xujiazhuang."

"This time in the name of the Chinese clan, to the south to help the Zheng family, although I admire the owner of the Zhuang is well aware of the righteousness, the pattern is far-reaching, but the Zheng Zhilong of the Zheng Group, but a mercenary businessman's ear, first recognized the thief as his father, became the righteous son of the pirate merchant Li Dan, and in order to please the Japanese shogunate, married the Japanese girl, and left his wife as a hostage in the Japanese country, in order to gain the trust of the shogunate, and then took refuge in the Dutch, helping the Dutch to operate commercial goods, acting as a thug, which was supported by the Dutch, gradually became a trend, and now monopolizes the southeast sea trade, For the sake of interests, he decisively turned his face with the Dutch, and he was a slave with three surnames, and he forgot his righteousness when he saw profit, which was a shame of Chinese blood! It's not worth our help at all, but the owner of the village is tolerant and benevolent, and he doesn't care about Zheng Zhilong's dirty past, so he picked up a big bargain. ”

Sun Cheng, the captain of the No. 7 Maritime Voyage, who had specially studied and understood the development history of Zheng Zhilong, despised his character for repeated horizontal jumps.

"Zheng Zhilong is just a rat's ear, not as good as the owner of the village, after helping the Zheng family this time, if Zheng Zhilong knows each other, he should jump to our Xujiazhuang side and obediently become a vassal force of Xujiazhuang; If he didn't know each other, he wouldn't have a chance to jump again, even if it was just three of our ships, we could deal a heavy blow to the Zheng family! Liu Guangshan, the captain of the 8th Maritime Voyage, said.

"Don't say that!"

Zuo Xianfu, the captain of the Yaowu, shook his head and said: "The owner made the decision to aid Zheng Zhi, not for a Zheng Zhilong, but for the more than 50,000 professional sailors of the Zheng Group, these talents are exactly what we urgently need, as well as a large number of mature craftsmen in shipbuilding, we mainly embarked on this expedition for these things, and we have more than 500 Fujian sailors on our three ships, all of whom are conscientious and have excellent abilities. ”

"Yes, yes, what Brother Zuo said is that my consciousness is far inferior to Brother Zuo."

"If we perform better this time, we must not only defeat foreign enemies, but also deter the Zheng family, maybe we can really accept the Zheng family as our vassals, then more than 50,000 professional sailors, at least a thousand steam ships, and then get Fujian's shipbuilding craftsmen, Xujiazhuang's shipbuilding efficiency can be increased by at least three to five times, so that the big ships can be launched more and faster, think about it, the benefits of aiding the Zheng family may be far greater than the benefits of defeating the forced landing of the Zheng family, after all, once the Zheng family is defeated, take people to operate the boat and run, the sea is vast, and they may not be able to find themWe are likely to be empty-handed. ”

Sun Cheng and Liu Guangshan said one after another.

Zuo Xianfu concluded: "No matter what, all the decisions of the owner are correct and unquestionable truths. Do you understand? ”

"Yes, understood!"

"I've understood it thoroughly, and I haven't had the slightest doubt."

Sun Cheng and Liu Guangshan are humane.

……

Now.

Interior of Sea Freight 8.

Because the waves are small and the boat speed is slow, it is very suitable for sea fishing.

Zhang Fugui, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Marine Corps Brigade, took out a fishing rod prepared in advance, threw out a fishing line with bait through the ventilation window on the lower deck, and waited for the fish to take the bait.

There are only 50 ventilation windows available, so there are more than 50 rods fishing at the same time.

The fish under the surface of the sea are not only numerous, but also bite when they see bait, and they are silly and cute, and they soon take the bait.

There are also soldiers who report the harvest.

"A sea bass is hooked."

"More than two catties of treasure fish on the hook!"

"There's a white pomfret here."

"More than ten catties of redhead fish caught one."

"Twenty pounds of big yellow croaker catch one."

"The battalion commander also has a fish hooked here, and he caught a hairtail fish of more than three catties." Zhang Fugui ran the rod three times in a row, and finally caught one, and the pro-soldier next to him suddenly said loudly.

"Forget it, my fishing level is poor, and if anyone is more powerful, you can come and take over my fishing rod." Zhang Fugui said, sea fishing requires a certain amount of skill, his level is better, and the sea fishing level next to him is high, and he has already started to compete who catches more and who catches bigger fish, so he still doesn't want to get involved, just watch them compete on the sidelines.

"Battalion commander, let me come, I promise to catch a lot of big fish." Luo Xingwang, a soldier of the Marine Corps, said in a strong Fujian accent that he was one of the original prisoners of the Zheng family's firearms army, and now he has joined the Marine Corps and become a soldier under Zhang Fugui.

Such Fujian soldiers, Zhang Fugui brought half of the battalion of more than 500 people this time, accounting for about half, which can be described as quite a lot.

Now this fishing competition, but also mainly between the Fujian soldiers and Yangzhou local soldiers PK, their usual competitive atmosphere is also very strong, if it is not for Zhang Fugui's impartiality in the middle, otherwise regional contradictions would have broken out long ago, and each other's heads would have broken blood.

Soon.

The results of the fishing tournament are in.

Among the top ten fishing masters, seven are Fujian soldiers, and the first place Lin Jiaquan, the second Chen Damao, and the third Shi Lang are all Fujianese, Luo Xingwang won the tenth place, it can be seen that in this kind of competition, these professional sailors from Fujianese soldiers do have an advantage, and the local soldiers in Yangzhou have to accept if they are not satisfied.

After the results are announced.

Zhang Fugui praised and encouraged the cheering Fujian soldiers, but they had to deal with all the more than 3,000 catties of fish they caught, eat or pickle them, but they couldn't waste them, and once they found that they were wasted, they would be punished to wipe the deck (this was the most tiring job on the ship).

"Hahaha, Fujian boy, how can you eat so many fish?"

"I'm afraid that I can only eat fish for at least three meals in a row~"

"Fortunately, we only caught more than 1,500 catties, and if we find some people to help and grit our teeth, we will definitely be able to eat it in one meal."

"What if you win the game, I'm afraid that my stomach will suffer?"

In the face of these ridiculous voices, the Fujian soldiers who were originally very happy were dumbfounded, they had more than 200 people, and their stomachs were so big, how could they eat more than 3,000 catties of fish?

"Battalion commander, I'm not convinced! Why did we punish us for eating so many fish when we won the game? Lin Jiaquan, the fishing champion, protested against Zhang Fugui.

"If you win and eat fish, how can this be called a punishment, is the fish not tasty, you can't eat it?" Zhang Fugui asked rhetorically.

"But, but we can't eat so much, and we demand that we have to finish eating, isn't that punishment?" The Lin family is all over the road.

"If you can't finish eating, you can ask your colleagues to help you eat, there are four or five hundred people present, and there are also many people on the Yaowu and Haihai No. 7, mobilize everyone to eat together, and a few thousand catties of fish can't be solved?" Zhang Fugui said.

"But... But these Yangzhou elders won't help us Fujianese. "The Lin family is all right.

"No way, as long as you show your ability to cook fish, and then personally serve it to these colleagues, and say that you brothers want to taste it, please give your brothers a taste, please appreciate your faces, and show such sincerity, do you think you will be rejected by these colleagues? Can they harden their hearts and refuse? Zhang Fugui asked.

"Well, I'll try it later."

Lin Jiaquan and the others had no choice but to follow what the battalion commander Zhang Fugui said, and organized more than a dozen people with the best cooking skills for fish, what sashimi, fried fish pieces, boiled fish soup, tossed out dozens of good dishes, and even withered dragons and phoenixes, the production was very gorgeous, and the bottom of the box was taken out, and then personally served to those Yangzhou soldiers, asking these colleagues to taste.

"It's delicious, it's really delicious, please try it."

"The fish I make is very fresh, and I will definitely regret not eating a bowl."

"Brother, good big brother, help."

"This brother, good brother, taste it."

In the face of the feeding service of these Fujian soldiers, and hearing their sincere pleading, and then smelling the fragrant fragrance of these dishes, they can really be so hard-hearted that they don't eat a bite, but they are conquered by the cooking skills, give a thumbs up, and even say that they are delicious, and all the fish caught in the future will be handed over to their Fujian chefs to deal with.

This is a happy, harmonious and friendly scene.

The young Shi Lang not only saw it in his eyes, but also thoughtfully, and admired the battalion commander Zhang Fugui very much, and regarded him as his idol in life.

He said secretly: "I want to learn from Master Zhang and become a character like him in the future!" ”

……

The other side.

Fujian, Quanzhou Port, the base camp of the Zheng family's fleet, has entered a state of full combat readiness.

Because since 1 June, the Dutch fleet has been fighting without declaring war, sending a number of large Galen ships, divided into multiple routes, and successively raided and plundered Nanao Island, Xiamen Port, Kinmen, Lieyu, Gulangyu and Dayuan Island (Taiwan), coming and going like the wind, and their whereabouts are erratic, just like a hunter who is hunting, as long as he seizes the perfect opportunity, he may launch a fatal blow to the Zheng group at any time.

On 15 June, the Dutch fleet sent negotiating envoys to the port of Quanzhou and made five demands on the Zheng group:

First, it surrendered to the Dutch East India Company and paid five million taels of profits every year.

Second, traditional goods such as tea, silk, and porcelain will be purchased by the Dutch in the future, and the Zheng family needs to provide assistance, and no price increase can be added in the middle.

Thirdly, new goods such as mechanical watches, glass mirrors, soaps, lighters, bicycles, etc., were bought by the Dutch at wholesale prices and in unlimited quantities.

Fourth, the port territory controlled by the Zheng family, the warships and merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company, could dock at will without charging any fees.

Fifth, Zheng Zhilong sent Proton to Batavia, where he would remain loyal to the Netherlands forever.

Regarding these five terms, Zheng Zhilong's face turned red, and he shouted at the negotiator: "Zheng can't agree to such conditions, I'd rather the jade be burned!" ”

"Jade burning?"

The negotiator sneered and said, "These dilapidated ships of your Zheng family want to burn together with our eighteen Great Galen ships (the original historical timeline was thirteen, but under the butterfly effect of this time and space, it has increased to eighteen)?" Zheng Zhilong, what gave you such arrogance and guts? You have agreed to all five terms, otherwise when the fleet is overwhelmed, you will not have a chance to agree. ”

"Someone, push this person down and behead him! I, Zheng Zhilong, would rather die and break the net than be a slave of the Xiyi people! ”

Zheng Zhilong's bloody side broke out, and he wanted to burn the book to show his determination to fight.

It's just that after his words were released, no one in the council hall dared to stand up and capture the envoy, but they were full of hesitation one by one, and even persuaded Zheng Zhilong that it would be better to leave some leeway if the two countries did not fight each other, after all, the challenge of eighteen galleons was too heavy.

"If you don't dare to kill him, I'll kill him!"

In the middle of the Zheng family, Zheng Cai suddenly jumped out, grabbed the back of the messenger's collar, dragged him to the door of the lobby, and stabbed the messenger in the back of the heart, splashing his own blood.

"Don't kill the messenger, release them immediately!"

At this time, Zheng Zhilong also reacted and realized that it was inappropriate to kill the messenger, but Zheng Cai moved too quickly, and when Zheng Cai, who was stained with blood, returned to the hall, Zheng Zhilong, who realized that it was impossible to recover, collapsed on the seat, his face was like ashes, and he pointed at Zheng Cai speechless.

Other high-level officials also accused Zheng Cai:

"How can you be so impulsive?"

"The Dutch are angry and come on a big scale, what should our Zheng family do?"

"Zheng Cai, you are trying to kill our Zheng family!"

"Come on, take Zheng Cai down and hand it over to the Dutch to dispose of at will, and see if it can be recovered."

For these sounds.

Zheng Cai said-for-tat: "What is so terrible about the Dutch? Even if our Zheng family is not their opponent, it doesn't mean that we can't defeat them, as long as we form an alliance with Xujiazhuang, please ask Xujiazhuang to send steam ships to help in the war, the Dutchman's Galen galleon, not to mention eighteen, is twenty-eight, one hundred and eighty! It is by no means the opponent of Xujiazhuang's steamship, as long as it joins forces with Xujiazhuang, this sea is ours, and all the forces of Yiren can be destroyed, your elders and uncles, juniors have a way to contact Xujiazhuang here, as long as you leave the matter of asking for help from Xujiazhuang to me, at most half a month, Xujiazhuang reinforcements will come, and we will win! ”

Hearing Zheng Cai's words.

For him, the hardcore Xu Jiazhuang (referred to as 'Xu Blow'), including Zheng Zhilong, the high-level Zheng family finally couldn't bear it.

"Xujiazhuang, Xujiazhuang, since I returned to Quanzhou last year, all you talk about is Xujiazhuang every day, have you been bought by Xujiazhuang, are you a spy inserted by Xujiazhuang?"

"It's just a blow on weekdays, for the sake of cooperating with Xujiazhuang, we can tolerate it, when is it now? The Zheng family may die tomorrow, you are still saying good things about outsiders, bad things for your own people, you must lure wolves into the house! ”

"Cut it, drag Zheng Cai down and cut it down! Such a traitor to the Zheng family can be killed to deter those with dissent! ”

"The Zheng family can only rely on themselves, not Xujiazhuang, which is thousands of miles away!"

"The Zheng family may be destroyed in these few days, even if the reinforcements from Xujiazhuang come half a month later, will our Zheng family still be there at that time?"

"I have to kill this bad bastard today!"

In the sound of shouting and killing, Zheng Cai's situation can be described as extremely dangerous.

Fortunately, Zheng Zhilong, the helmsman of the Zheng family, was more sensible, and he didn't want to break a back road and then break a back road, so he exempted Zheng Cai from the death penalty, and asked him to contact Xu Jiazhuang immediately and ask Xu Jiazhuang to send reinforcements to support the Zheng family, and after the contact was completed, Zheng Cai was demoted to the captain of the fireship, including himself, he could only command 16 people, and he had to serve as a vanguard, as long as the Dutch warship came, he had to lead the ship to the front, and get close to the enemy ship to set fire, which was actually a death squad.

In the face of such a severe punishment, faced with the task of at most ten deaths and three lives (three percent survival rate), it is impossible for Zheng Cai to say that he has no regrets.

But!

He has no regrets about becoming a hardcore 'Xu Blow', and he must insist on blowing to the end.

"Hey, it would be nice if the steam ship in Xujiazhuang could come in time, as long as I can take a look at the style of the steam ship, even if I Zheng Cai dies in battle, I am willing!"