On the ninth day of the first month of May, under Zhu Youzhen's fight against cakes and chickens, 16,800 sailors of the Navy Army drove a fleet of 26 ships with a total tonnage of up to 40,000 tons and more than 700 heavy artillery pieces to the south.

Behind them, there were all sorts of merchant ships laden with livestock.

These merchant ships would go to Jiangnan to sell livestock, and then take the silver taels to Huguang and Jiangxi to buy grain, which was then transported to Ryukyu Province.

At the same time, Haojing (Macau) in Xiangshan County, Guangdong Province, was also attacked.

The expeditionary force led by Ray Jason, the commander of the Dutch expeditionary fleet, arrived in the waters near Ho Jing, and at the same time, two warships of the British East India Company and two British armed merchant ships also rushed to participate in the battle to encircle Hao Jing after receiving the news.

However, due to the unequal distribution of the spoils between the Dutch and the British, the British led the fleet to evacuate Ho Kamp the next day.

But even so, the Dutch still managed to gather 13 large and small warships and 1,300 soldiers.

The Dutch began the first round of shelling on the same day and attacked the St. Francis battery south of Ho Kyo, but to no avail.

However, the Dutch saw the emptiness of the Portuguese and Ming forces near Haojing, so they were relieved and bold to go to war the next day to make further moves.

Hu Yingtai, the governor of Liangguang, who was fighting a guerrilla war with An Bangyan in Ligu Prefecture, could only send 2,000 troops and horses back to defend Guangzhou after receiving an 800-mile expedited from Guangzhou.

For a time, the coastal areas of Guangdong, Fujian and other coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty encountered different degrees of shipping route blockage.

"Take advantage of the fire to rob and squire! It's an overseas mongrel! ”

In the Palace of Nourishing the Heart, Zhu You scolded angrily, although the maritime merchants of Liangguang and Fujian did not pay much tax to the Ming Dynasty, but after all, they were the people of the Ming Dynasty.

Now that the red hairs are bullied to the doorstep, it is too much to say if they don't fight.

In just one month, more than 20 merchant ships in the three provinces were besieged, and Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, Haojing, Xiangshan and other places were shelled to varying degrees.

As a result, the cabinet began to pay attention to the affairs in the south, and Ye Xianggao handed it over to Zhu Youxiao with the song and the battle damage.

It was his submission that made Zhu Youxiao so angry after seeing the dead and injured.

In the face of the emperor's anger, Ye Xianggao also said:

"Long live, Penghu is the gateway of Zhangquan, and Beigang (one of the names of Taiwan) is the lips and teeth of Penghu, and the loss of Beigang is the lips and teeth are cold, Penghu can be worried, and Zhangquan can also be worried."

"There are only more than 2,000 Hongmaoyi and more than 20 warships, and the sea routes of Guangdong and Fujian will be cut off, what is Nan Juyi doing?" Zhu Youxiao's face was so dark that he could drip water.

Helplessly, Liu Ruoyu, the eunuch on duty today, could only remind in a whisper:

"Long live, you asked the governor of the south to prepare stone bullets and gunpowder, and waited for Deputy General Shen and Huang Dai to go to quell the rebellion......"

"Huh? I was dizzy. Zhu Youxiao didn't hide it, and decisively admitted his problem, and then asked:

"Where have Shen Yourong and Huang Long arrived?"

"Long live Hui, I just arrived in Songjiang five days ago, and it is estimated that I will be able to arrive in Fujian in a few days."

At the same time as Liu Ruoyu responded, Ye Xianggao also spoke:

"Long live, Hongmaoyi is just a clown jumping off the beam, and we should still pay attention to the southwest now."

"Although the beam jumper is far away, he will be punished, but what Ye Ge Lao said is not wrong." Zhu Youxiao made his position clear, and then followed Ye Xianggao's words and continued to ask:

"How's the Southwest Soldiers and Horses recruiting?"

"Long live it...... Ye Xiang Gao responded, and then took out a book from his sleeve and said:

"On the second day of the first month of March, under the escort of Hong Fangyu, the commander of Bao Taowei, the various departments were distributed, and the various departments also recruited a lot of soldiers and horses."

"The minister is trying to ask Banzai, should there be a limit on the number of soldiers and horses of each department?"

"Huh?" Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao frowned and took over the song, and after opening it, he understood why Ye Xianggao said that.

[Bijie and Chishui Governor Sun Chuanting recruited 32,000 soldiers, and recruited 36,000 people from the headquarters. Chongqing Bingbei Dao Hong Chengchou recruited 26,000 soldiers, 30,000 troops after recruitment, Hejiang ......]

Among the names and numbers of a series of recruits, the most notable of which are Sun Chuanting, Hong Chengchou, Yang Wenyue, Wu Aheng, Cao Wenzhao, Qin Liangyu, Ma Xianglin and others who have a deep relationship with Zhu Youzhen.

Sun Chuanting commanded 36,000 troops, Hong Chengchou 30,000, Yang Wenyue 18,000, Wu Aheng 20,000, Qin Liangyu recruited a lot of troops in Zunyi, 20,000 in the headquarters, and Ma Xianglin recruited a lot of troops, reaching 16,000.

Cao Wenzhao was perhaps the slowest to recruit troops among the tribes, because he chose to recruit and purchase more than 7,000 Tibetan soldiers and slaves from the Tusi of the 10,000 households of the Duogandu Division, and finally reached three battalions of 9,000 troops.

In addition, Du Wenhuan also replenished the soldiers and horses, plus the recruitment, reaching 15,000 troops, and Zhu Xieyuan also expanded the headquarters to 6,000 people.

Hu Yingtai recruited 3,000 Yao soldiers and 6,000 Zhuang soldiers in Guangxi, and restored 20,000 troops.

As for Mu Zeng, he did not expand the army, but accepted the silver taels, and honestly obeyed Zhu Xieyuan's command.

Seeing this, Mu Changzuo and Mu Qiyuan, who had been stagnant, felt pressured and could only lead their troops to Pu'an Prefecture in Guizhou to confront the local rebels.

Looking at it this way, the transfer of more than 3 million taels of silver directly smashed out an army of 130,000 in the southwest, plus the original old soldiers, and the three guards under Sun Yingyuan's current command, a total of 206,800 regular soldiers, more than 93,000 auxiliary soldiers, a total of 300,000 troops.

The 300,000-strong army encircled and suppressed the rebels with less than 90,000 troops, and if it were not for the high mountains and dense forests of Guinan, it was estimated that the rebels would be wiped out by the end of the year.

The problem now is that the 300,000-strong army still has to wait for the local supply of armor and weapons, and it is best to wait until after the autumn harvest to send troops.

As for why he waited until after the autumn harvest to send troops, the reason was simple.

The first is that if Nurhachi sends troops, it must be during the autumn harvest.

If the southwest sends troops before the autumn harvest, then the imperial court will have to face a flanking attack from two directions.

Defending and attacking at the same time sounds good, but the finances of the imperial court cannot support it.

Therefore, it must be determined that Nurhachi will not send troops, so that Zhu Xieyuan can organize a large army to encircle and suppress.

As for why Ye Xianggao said that the number of troops was restricted, he was vaguely reminding the emperor that someone's military power seemed to be too heavy.

Such a reminder is naturally out of good intentions, and Ye Xianggao didn't have the heart to provoke the two brothers' thoughts, just to remind him as a courtier.

Zhu Youxiao was not angry, he thought about it carefully, and then realized how much military power his younger brother had.

Shangzhi 16 Guards, 12 Gong Guard Battalions, Shanxi Wai 28 Gong Guard Battalions, Liaodong Wai 28 Gong Guard Battalions, Daning 3 Guards......

Coupled with seven people in the southwest, including Sun Chuanting, Wu Aheng, Qin Liangyu, Hong Chengchou, Ma Xianglin, Yang Wenyue, and Cao Wenzhao, the soldiers and horses were close to 430,000......

How many soldiers and horses does Daming have? Judging from the current situation, the total number is only about 650,000.

In other words, the number of soldiers and horses related to his younger brother reached two-thirds of the dynasty.

In this way, it is not difficult to see why the brothers are doing things more and more smoothly now.

Because the civil servants are really afraid of them......

Not to mention anything else, what will be the follow-up to things like the Yellow River burst and the Shandong earthquake? It's nothing more than another Huaibei hunger.

But why didn't there be so many disgusting things happening in these two relief efforts? It's not because there are soldiers and horses on the ground every time there is a disaster relief.

The Yellow River burst its banks with Sun Yingyuan, Teng Xiangwei and Wu Xiangwei, and the Shandong earthquake had Leopard Taowei in the Hongfang region.

No one will show their handle when these two troops are involved in disaster relief, because the same thing that led to political defeat due to poor disaster relief, it is enough to have the Huaibei Great Hunger.

Qichu, Zhejiang, Xuankun, and Donglin, the officials of the two major factions have not shown their feet in disaster relief, and it can even be said that the internal struggle between the two factions has begun to ease.

They are not stupid and have already found out who the real enemy is.

In just two years, the imperial power has swelled to the point where even they need to bow their heads.

"......" Zhu Youxiao was silent, not because he was worried that his younger brother would have too many soldiers and horses, but because he was recalling the party struggle between civil officials during this time.

It seems that since the beginning of the year, the frequency of civil servant party disputes has decreased, and the number of mutual impeachments has also decreased.

So, what is Ye Xianggao reminding? Remind your brother that he has too much military power? No! He's reminding himself that it's time to be careful.

"Ye Ge Lao's words, I am clear, I will think about the matter of King Qi's military power."

Zhu Youxiao sorted everything out, and then opened his mouth to prepare to send off the guests.

Ye Xianggao didn't know if the emperor understood it or not, anyway, he had already done what he had to do, so after making a move, he retreated.

Zhu Youxiao looked at his departing back, and his face began to become a little unsightly.

Such a change made Liu Ruoyu next to him lower his head and dare not speak at will.

After a while, Zhu Youxiao suddenly said: "Ask someone to sort it out, and from September of the first year of Taichang onwards, the content and object of the impeachment of civil officials every quarter." ”

"Slave obeys the order...... Liu Ruoyu only felt that the moment Zhu Youxiao spoke, the hairs on his body stood upside down.

From September of the first year of Taichang to the current recital, this is a huge project, but if the emperor speaks, it must have a deep meaning.

Thinking of this, Liu Ruoyu asked the celebrant to inform Wang Tiqian, and Wang Tiqian quickly informed Wei Zhongxian after learning the news.

Everyone didn't understand what the emperor was going to do, but the first thing to do was to sort out the notes that were unfavorable to them.

They were tidying up, and the war was in full swing to the south.

In the early morning of the ninth day of June, perhaps because of the typhoon season, the sea is full of fog.

In such foggy weather, Reyes Zoen also rarely did not attack Zhangzhou and Quanzhou.

At the moment, they are building forts in the bay of the main island of Penghu, but due to the lack of materials, they are waiting for the merchants of Batavia to deliver the materials.

"This damn weather, I originally wanted to go to the spring city of the Ming Kingdom to continue the shelling, so that the officials of the Ming Kingdom would obey!"

On a construction site on the main island of Penghu, the first mate of a warship said his thoughts, and Reyes Zoen next to him heard this, and immediately smiled:

"Enzos, the weather is too bad, Mingguo has been shelled by us for a month, and there is no movement at all, I should be afraid."

"The three warships that fled into Zhangzhou last time have not dared to come out until now."

"Speaking of those three warships, Ming Guo is really a coward, with such a big warship and so many people, he didn't dare to come out to fight."

Enzos laughed, but while they were laughing, something was rapidly approaching Penghu in the thick fog.

Reyes and Enzoon were laughing and working while a Dutch soldier looked out to sea at the makeshift wooden lighthouse on Jibei Island in the northern part of the Penghu Islands in the thick fog, as if he saw a glimmer of fire in the fog.

"Huh? Am I reading it wrong? ”

The soldier took out his monoculars and tried to search the fog for the flash of fire, but the next second he stopped searching and jumped out of the wooden lighthouse.

"Boom, boom!"

The dull sound of artillery fired the first shot of the Battle of Penghu, and a thunderous sound broke out, and stone bullets the size of a human head were shot, and hundreds flew in just an instant.

Most of them missed, and only one of them hit the lighthouse, but this one broke the lighthouse, and the entire lighthouse collapsed in an instant.

"Beep!"

"Attack! All on board! ”

Hearing the sound of the cannon, Reyes Zoon and the others dropped their tools and hurried to the beach down the hill.

At the same time, in the dense fog, large ships poured out from six directions of the Penghu Islands.

The Ming fleet, composed of six ships of 6,000 materials, 10 ships of 5,000 materials, 10 ships of 4,000 materials, more than 700 heavy cannons, and more than 16,000 sailors, appeared on the sea.

What they represented was the largest fleet in East Asia at this time.

"Don't miss a single enemy ship, sink them all!"

On the deck of one of the six thousand material ships of one of the two detachments in the northern part of Jibeiyu, a veteran with white hair and beard wore paper armor and gave orders to the entire fleet in an orderly manner.

His eyes were still on Jibeiyu, and a quarter of an hour later, he saw a warship of more than a thousand materials sailing out from behind Jibeiyu.

"Sink it!"

Without too many orders, Shen Yourong just said such a sentence in a hurry.

But with such a sentence, a fleet consisting of a large ship of 6,000 materials, two large ships of 5,000 materials, and a large ship of 4,000 materials crossed the ship, revealing nearly 40 guns on one side of the warship.

"Ignition...... Put! ”

"Boom, boom!"

Forty twenty-pound and twenty-five-pound stone bullets were shot out, and at a distance of less than two miles, they smashed like a shower at the tiny ship of Galen.

"Oh*! Evacuate to the main island of Penghu! ”

After looking at the size and artillery of the Ming ships in the monoculars, the captain of the Galen ship roared in a broken voice.

But listening to the sound of "Peng", most of the more than forty stone bullets fell into the sea, and only one stone bullet hit the Galen ship, but what is desperate is that this stone bullet hit the main mast!

The mast was broken by the barricade and then began to topple.

The speed of the Galen ship began to slow down due to the fracture of the mainmast, and the hull also began to tilt in the direction of the tipping mast, unable to make a proper counterattack.

Like lost dogs, they can only desperately flee to the island.

But what they didn't know was that in the east, west, and south, the flags and warships of the Ming army appeared everywhere, and they were encircling the Penghu Islands at a very fast speed.

"Retreat! Order all warships to retreat! ”

Faced with desperate firepower and tonnage, Reyes Zoon knew that he had kicked the iron plate, and had no intention of fighting back, and from the moment he saw the guns of a six-thousand-meter warship, he knew that he had to get out of the battlefield.

"Damn Ray Jason! He actually told me that there was no effective counterattack force in Ming and Fujian! Eat* Go! ”

He was cursing Colonel Ray Jason, a Dutch colonel who was still attacking Haojing, and everyone on the ship was cursing at him.

As the captain of the ship, he didn't even understand the sea power of the Ming Kingdom to invade.

Keep your eyes peeled! What's that on the sea? That's a warship of about 2,000 tons, and it can sink them even by ramming angles! Damn it!

"Boom, boom!"

"O God! It's the sound of a thirty-pounder cannon! ”

Hearing the dull sound of cannons, Reyes Joon was completely desperate, he actually heard the sound of a thirty-pounder cannon on the Ming Sea in the Far East?

"Blessed ...... Mary, God, Allah Allah"

At this moment, Reyeszoon, who did not believe in any gods, began to pray, praying all the gods he remembered in his life.

But the so-called Allah could not bless him, because when he took the main ship with two 400-ton Galen ships and prepared to escape around the main island of Penghu in advance, he saw a scene that suffocated him.

On the foggy sea, southwest, southwest, and due south, a suffocating fleet appeared in three directions, and it was coming towards them.

"Pass on the order of the king of Qi, behead one person of Hongmaoyi, reward thirty taels, reward one person alive for forty taels, annihilate Hongmaoyi, and reward each person in the whole army with ten taels of silver!"

On the 6,000-year-old ship, looking at the Hongmaoyi warship that was trying to escape, Huang Long drew his sword and held it high, inspiring the soldiers around him.

Hearing these soldiers who rewarded the silver, their eyes turned red almost instantly, and their blood surged to their heads.

"Fire!"

Huang Long swung his sword at the three warships that were trying to escape, and with his swing of the sword, the gunners who were waiting for the rabbit began to light the arquebus.

The "snort" fire rope was burning, and then burned into the medicine room, accompanied by a "boom", like a thunderbolt, thick smoke covered the deck, and dozens of stone bullets also hit the three warships.

However, I don't know if Reyes's prayers worked, or if he was too lucky, not a single stone bullet hit the three warships, which made everyone who was only concerned about escaping breathe a sigh of relief.

But before they could breathe a second sigh of relief, the detachments that were encircled from the other two directions began to exert their might.

The second round of shelling, which was more intensive than the first, appeared and directly broke the mast of the four-hundred-ton warship in the middle of the three warships, hitting the hull.

"Colonel! The Zoye was hit and lost momentum and could not run. ”

"The Colonel, the Finali were hit by two shells, and the sealed compartment was flooded!"

For a moment, an atmosphere of despair enveloped the main ship Targarly, and Reyes Joon said in a panic:

"Order them to fight back and cover the main ship's escape from the encirclement."

“**！ Reyes! Are you crazy? Hearing this order, the first mate next to him directly stepped in and grabbed Reyeszoun's collar.

"Damn, what can I do? Jon, don't you see what kind of big guy is on the other side? They have thirty-pounder guns! Damn it! ”

Reyes Zoon scolded and tried to fight back.

But before he could swing his fist, the three fleets opened fire, and at a distance of a mile from each other, the Targarly, which was in a crossfire, and the two Galen ships behind it were sunk almost instantaneously.

The hull of the ship was blown apart by a stone bullet the size of a human head, and the exploded wooden blocks became the existence that easily took people's lives.

Reyes Joon was lucky enough to avoid the sawdust, but none of them could stand firm, and he was thrown off the deck and fell into the sea.

The breastplate on his chest and the cotton armor inside became a deadly existence, causing him to continue to sink into the deep sea.

Fortunately, a sail rope that fell into the sea saved him, and he grabbed the sail rope and kept climbing up.

But when he burst out of the water, the first thing he saw was not a thick fog, but a tall ship heading towards him.

"Peng!"

The dull sound made people's eardrums ache, and the three six thousand warships of the Ming army crashed into the Targarly, and with a single impact, the low Targarly was knocked out of a fine crack.

"Hey! We surrender! ”

Some of the Dutch officers who could not find Reyes Zoen had their hands raised and waved white flags.

After Huang Long saw this scene, he immediately raised his hand and said, "Stop!" ”

As soon as he spoke, everyone stopped what they were doing, and only the firecrackers of the three guards of the navy came to the side of the ship with their rifles in hand, ready to pull the trigger and shoot the Dutchman on deck.

"Can't surrender! Are you crazy?! ”

Reyes Joon seized the opportunity and grabbed the sail rope and crawled to the deck, and the fleet officers who heard his voice were dumbfounded.

They had been looking for this guy for a long time, but he didn't respond a word, making people think he had died in battle.

Now that everyone has surrendered, he says he can't surrender?

"They didn't understand us, so they seized this opportunity to go to their decks and sneak up on them and take a big ship."

Reyes Joon pretended to surrender with his hands raised, but spoke to everyone.

"Mr. Huang, they are fraudulent."

On the deck, a white pure scholar in a Taoist robe suddenly spoke, causing Huang Long's eyes to widen:

"Dare to surrender? Fortunately, Lao Tzu brought the people of the Siyi Pavilion! ”

Siyi Pavilion is an institution set up by Yongle in the Ming Dynasty for five years to specialize in translating the languages of border ethnic minorities and neighboring Chinese, whether it is Cao Wenzhao going south or Jinyi Wei going out, they all bring the Siyi Pavilion gentlemen to act as interpreters.

Reyes Zoon thought that Huang Long and they couldn't understand their words, but he didn't expect Huang Long to bring the people of the Siyi Pavilion.

"Release!"

"Crackling ......"

As Huang Long knew Reyes's thoughts, he immediately ordered the release of the gun.

Thousands of gunners on three 6,000-large ships immediately opened fire, condescending to directly kill the Dutch soldiers on deck.

After the killing, Huang Long led the short men to the deck and captured a group of Dutch soldiers lying on the ground wailing.

At the same time, Shen Yourong in the north also commanded the sailors of the other three fleets, and routed the remaining four small Galen ships and captured them.

The Battle of Penghu began only half an hour ago, and ended with the capture of the entire Dutch Expeditionary Force......