When Zheng Zhibao returned to Funing Prefecture to replenish fresh water supplies, he heard that the Jingwu army had taken the water distribution pass and was about to lead the water division to land and fight, but received an urgent order from Zheng Zhilong.

Zheng Zhilong ordered him to immediately abandon the blockade of Fujian waters, and make every effort to search for the Jinghai Fleet to fight a decisive battle, so as to achieve a complete victory in the first battle.

Zheng Zhibao pinched the eldest brother's military order, feeling extremely heavy, that day he used the power of the Zheng family to beat the envoy, and repeatedly threatened to confront the imperial court.

At present, the imperial court is very happy to send troops to attack the Zheng family, and the battle is still so smooth, it will be able to attack Quanzhou in less than ten days, and Zheng Zhibao suddenly has a sense of fear in his heart.

Feeling the pressure, Zheng Zhibao finally ordered the sailors to lift anchor and go to sea, and he ordered the Zheng family sailors to triple the search area at sea, extending hundreds of miles eastward from the seas off Zhejiang and Fujian until they reached the waters north of Taiwan.

The Zheng family naval division dispatched this time had 200 warships, 50 more than the battle of Liaoluo Bay ten years ago, and hundreds of Zheng family merchant ships searched the surrounding waters for the traces of the Jinghai fleet.

Along the way, the Zheng family sailors led by Zheng Zhibao found many suspicious ships, and after several shelling and capture, they found that these were actually pirates that suddenly arose between Fujian and Zhejiang provinces.

As a pirate, the Zheng family naturally did not allow these pirates who were not registered with the Zheng family to exist, and Zheng Zhibao immediately ordered: "The sailor will go east and sweep away the shrimp soldiers and crab generals on the islands of the outer sea, so as to be clean and neat!" ”

His nephew Zheng Cai said: "Uncle, these sea robbers are all little flies that are boring to eat, tasteless to eat, and it is a pity to abandon them, and the order given to us by the marshal is to find the Jinghai Fleet for ......a decisive battle."

Zheng Zhibao said coldly: "How do you know that they are not secretly supported by the imperial court?" If you don't get rid of these little flies, my sailor will not be able to go quietly, and at the critical moment, I may be bad by these flies! ”

His tone was unmistakable, and the sailors of the Zheng family wandered around the sea for several days, and they also began to work, frantically sweeping the scattered pirates on the coastal islands, and all of them were executed, and their subordinates were collected and sent to Quanzhou.

Through this sweeping operation, Zheng Zhibao deeply realized that in the waters along the southeast coast, no fleet can compete with the Zheng family's sailors!

Although the Zheng family sailors did not have many large ships, but the small boats were superior in number and flexible, and in the case of not far from the mainland, they often had the miraculous effect of ants biting elephants to death against those large sailing ships, which is one of the reasons why the Dutch repeatedly lost to the Zheng family sailors.

Zheng Zhibao believes that as long as the traces of the Jinghai Fleet are discovered, the Zheng family sailors will be able to completely eliminate them, just like those sea robbers who do not form a climate, and destroy them cleanly!

.......

Only a hundred miles away from the Zheng family's naval division, the Jinghai Fleet of the Ming Royal Navy is wandering here.

After the news of the approaching of the Zheng family's naval division, Shen Shouchong and the others immediately convened an emergency meeting of several naval generals.

"Whether it is Nanjing or Zhoushan, the ability to build large warships is very limited, once lost in the naval battle, it is even more difficult to resupply, and there are other experienced sailors in sea operations, so I don't agree to fight a decisive battle with the Zheng family's naval division."

There is no large warship of the Hongyi people, this is like an invisible shackle, which has been choking the life of the Jinghai Fleet, and it is precisely for this reason that every time the Jinghai Fleet goes to sea, it needs to synthesize a large amount of intelligence and make a decision.

"I suggest that the Jinghai Fleet shrink the scope of its activities, and once it encounters the Zheng family's sailors, it should leave immediately as usual and drag them down!"

"Why should we fear our enemies? Every time we see them, we have to run for our lives, so should we completely eliminate the Zheng family's power on the sea? His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's strategy of pacifying the sea frontier should be implemented? ”

At the naval military meeting, several of the royal admirals of the Ming Dynasty who had just gotten together were arguing.

One of them is Huang Binqing, the former general of Zhoushan, and the other is Shen Tingyang, the former commander of the Jiangshui Division, both of whom are now vice admirals of the Jinghai Fleet.

Huang Binqing is a native of Putian, Fujian, his father died in battle during the rebellion, because of the grace of the supplement for the Xinghua Wei hundred households, participated in the pacification of the extravagant rebellion, promoted to the general of Tongshan, and then transferred to one of the nine sides of Xuanfu Town to serve as the capital division, and was transferred to Fujian to serve as a guerrilla.

Huang Binqing had fought with the Hongmao people (Dutch) in Fujian, and followed Zheng Zhilong to crusade against the pirate Liu Xiang, fought the Battle of Liuluo Bay, and because of Jinghai's merit in exterminating the pirates, he commanded the water division to control Zhoushan.

Because he knew too much about naval warfare and the strength of the Zheng family's sailors, Huang Binqing had a natural fear of the Zheng family's sailors and was unwilling to confront them.

But Shen Tingyang is different, insisting on destroying the Zheng family's power on the sea, in order to calm the Zheng family, this scourge, even if the Jinghai fleet loses both sides, or the whole army is annihilated, he will not give up!

Soon, the generals of the conference were divided into two factions, one faction advocated taking the initiative to fight to the death, and the other faction advocated avoiding encounters with the Zheng family sailors to prevent being defeated by them.

Shen Shouchong, the chief soldier of the Jinghai Fleet, pressed his hand and said, "You don't have to argue, the views of the two of you are too extreme!" We will definitely fight this battle, but we will not risk the total annihilation of the army. ”

Facing the doubts of the generals, Shen Shouchong said: "Although our Jinghai Fleet has just completed the reorganization and there are not many warships, our warships have a large number of artillery, especially the ten large warships equipped with more than 20 Hongyi cannons, which are not inferior to the Zheng family's Fujian naval division. ”

Shen Shouchong continued: "The Zheng family sailors are different, they make small, low-cost warships on a large scale, gather on the sea like wolves during battle, and with their extraordinary athletic ability, they swarm into [ ] attacks, and then scatter with a bang, if our army encounters them, even if they want to fight hard, they are afraid that they will not be able to lose both." ”

This analysis made all the generals feel pertinent and reasonable, but Shen Tingyang couldn't help but retort: "Lord Commander, if you don't beat them hard, the main force of the Zheng family's naval division is still there, but I am afraid that there will be endless troubles." ”

Huang Binqing said: "Come on, don't talk about these empty words, you just need to tell me, what are the chances of sending troops?" If you can't win, isn't this going to death? ”

When Shen Shouchong heard this, his brows furrowed slightly, in fact, whether to fight or not, how to fight, the crown prince had already had a secret order, and he just wanted to know what the generals thought of the Zheng family sailors, and to have a clearer understanding of the Zheng family sailors during the discussion.

However, Huang Binqing's words made him very uncomfortable, the vast majority of an army's combat effectiveness depends on his self-confidence, if the Jinghai Fleet was branded as a fear of Zheng from the beginning, it may be more difficult to change this decline in the future than to ascend to the sky.

Shen Shouchong also knew in his heart that it was almost impossible for the Jinghai Fleet to completely eliminate the Zheng family's sailors.

"That's it!" Shen Shouchong stood up, took out a decree from his arms, and said loudly: "The crown prince's decree!" ”

The generals glanced at each other briefly, then immediately jumped up, stood in line, and knelt down on one knee in unison.

Shen Shou Chong said loudly: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's will: A battle with the Fujian Navy Division must be fought!" You only need to face the head-on attack, you don't have to fight to the death, no matter what the battle damage is, how much the warship loses, this palace is not to blame, the future of the Ming Royal Navy will have a steady stream of bigger and more warships, I hope you will work hard and win the sea! ”

"The last general commands!"

All the generals of the Jinghai Fleet immediately had a score in their hearts, the crown prince wanted the Jinghai Fleet to step on the majesty of the Zheng family's sailors and deter the foreign devils around him!

Since the crown prince is not afraid of losses and is willing to spend money to build large warships, then do it!