When the Jinghai Fleet decided to take the initiative, strong winds raged on the sea for a whole day and a night.

However, at this time, it was the month of Layue, and the weather on the sea was only thunder and rain, and the expected storm did not come as scheduled, Shen Shouchong did not delay, and still ordered to march to the Zheng family sailors in such a bad environment.

Huang Binqing, deputy commander-in-chief of the fleet, looked at the cloudy sky and said to himself: "I hope this weather can bring us good luck......

On the contrary, Shen Tingyang, the deputy commander-in-chief, had a relaxed look on his face and said with a smile: "General Huang, it is still beneficial for us to launch a surprise attack in this weather, I heard that the war on land is going well, and the Zheng family's sailors cannot get the support of the Quanzhou fleet, so I am afraid that they are already frightened birds at this moment." ”

Huang Binqing finally stopped singing the opposite, nodded and said: "What you said makes sense, as long as Zheng Zhilong's shark personally commands the Zheng family's sailors, our winning rate is still not small." ”

The Zheng family is good at naval warfare, Zheng Zhilong ranks first, Zheng Hongkui ranks second, and then Zheng Zhihu, but Zheng Zhihu was ambushed by the pirate Liu Xiang's warship in the naval battle of Liuluo Bay in Chongzhen's six-year year, and was tied up by Liu Xiang with a fishing net and thrown into the sea and drowned.

Shen Shouchong, who was holding a telescope on the deck to observe the situation, said with a smile: "You don't have to worry about the information from Quanzhou, the chief of the Zheng family's naval division this time will be Zheng Zhibao, and the deputy will be Zheng Hongkui. ”

Huang Binqing breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It's actually Zheng Zhibao's kid, no, how can Zheng Hongkui be the deputy general?" ”

Huang Binqing and the five tigers of the Zheng family have fought side by side, and they have a certain understanding of them, it stands to reason that Zheng Hongkui's naval combat ability is far stronger than Zheng Zhibao, why did Zheng Zhilong appoint Zheng Zhibao as the main general?

Shen Shouchong said with a smile: "Zheng Hongkui is more acquainted, he is a master and a faction, and he is unwilling to confront the imperial court. ”

Huang Binqing sighed, Zheng Hongkui's original name was Zheng Zhifeng, although he has been following Zheng Zhilong, but his heart is different from what his brother Zheng Zhilong thinks, he took a temporary post in Jinyiwei after being admitted to the Wujin Warrior, and since then he has changed his name to Zheng Hongkui, and he still thinks of the court in his heart.

Shen Shouchong carefully observed the weather, put down the binoculars and said: "I have followed my father on the sea since I was a child, although this kind of weather is rare, I have encountered it several times, under normal circumstances, black clouds roll for several days in a row, and then suddenly the sky is clear, we must seize this opportunity to touch and hit the Zheng family sailor by surprise!" ”

"Good!" Although Huang Binqing is a conservative person in his bones, he is also attracted by Shen Shouchong's bold proposal for some reason today.

On Dong'ao Island, more than 200 miles away from Fujian, there are hundreds of warships of different shapes, large and small, moored on the seashore, and several of them are almost the same as the 800 warships in the Jinghai fleet.

Zheng Zhibao's flagship is larger than the 800 warship, the hull is relatively slender, the bow is sharp, near the waterline, there is also a ramming angle, and the stern is high, with a total of three masts.

If Yang Wanli of the shipyard is here, he will definitely be able to recognize that this is the shape of the Spanish galleon, in addition, there are several Galen ships in the form of the Dutch Navy, and the Zheng family sailor is completely a combination of Chinese and Western fleets.

Zheng Zhibao's flagship did not moor on the shore, but cruised about fifty or sixty meters from the shore,

At dawn on 14 December, Shen Shouchong, who had received reliable information, led 90 warships of the Jinghai Fleet to quietly approach Dong'ao Island.

When the sailors of the Zheng family on patrol at night were peeing, they faintly saw the shadow of a sail faintly appearing in the open sea filled with water vapor, but it was difficult to confirm whether it was a ship or not.

After carefully identifying it for a while, the sailor suddenly shouted at the top of his voice: "There is a boat, there is a boat!" Alert! ”

The rapid sound of gold on the island also woke up Zheng Zhibao and other Zheng family generals in a sweet dream.

Zheng Zhibao looked at the open sea in disbelief, judging by common sense, there would be no big ship stupid enough to sail against the wind in this kind of weather, and many people even thought that this was just a mirage-like illusion.

But as the sail shadow on the far sea got closer and closer, the people on the shore finally realized that this was not an illusion, but a real warship!

Zheng Zhibao tried to identify the ships, but there were no flags on their masts, and it was impossible to tell whether they were friends or foes for a while.

His nephew Zheng Cai shouted: "Uncle, hurry up and fight, this is the Jinghai Fleet!" ”

But Zheng Lian beside him shouted: "Not necessarily, maybe it's the fleet of the Big Buddha Lang (Spain)!" ”

The Dutch occupy the southern part of Taiwan, while the Spaniards occupy the northern part of Taiwan, and their fleets often wander around in the name of escorting merchant ships.

Zheng Zhibao scolded: "Fuck your shit, this fleet is coming from the north, and the big Buddha is in our south, so meet the enemy quickly!" ”

A word to wake up the people in the dream, Zheng Lian was suddenly right, but are they all crazy, dare to risk the capsizing of the big ship......

"Boom! Rumble! Boom ......."

A dense and rapid cannon sound pierced the sound of waves crashing on the shore, because the distance was too far, although the shells fell on the shore, although they did not cause much casualties to the Zheng family's sailors, but the psychological shock was not small.

Zheng Zhibao shouted: "Raise the flag and make all the warships spread out in a defensive formation with their flagships!" Send someone to South Australia to inform Zheng Hongkui and ask him to prepare the fireboat quickly, quickly! ”

At three o'clock, the naval battle of Dongao between the Jinghai Fleet and the Zheng Jiashui Division finally broke out.

The Jinghai fleet consisted of 90 large and small warships, and confronted nearly 200 warships of the Zhengjia Naval Division.

Discovering that the Jinghai fleet was attacking, the Zheng family sailors set up a formation with the main warships in the center and the small warships defending.

On the deck, Shen Shouchong took out a small notebook, flipped through it a few times, and immediately ordered: "All the warships are connected end to end and lined up in a line!" ”

In the era of sail battleships, due to the power of the wind, the gun power and range of a single ship were limited, which was not enough to cause effective damage to an enemy ship, even if it was a group bombardment, the effect was very touching.

What Shen Shouchong remembered in his small book was the battle line tactics instilled in him by Zhu Cihong, all the combat warships lined up in a line to fight, and when the enemy ships entered the range of artillery, they fired a volley of side artillery to inflict the maximum damage on the opponent.

Only warships that use this tactic can be called battleships, and the main warships of the Jinghai Fleet are all in the mode of side-loading guns after refitting, and they shoot through the gun holes opened on both sides.

A long line facing the enemy on the flanks was more conducive to the development of a fleet's firepower, so that half of the guns of each battleship could shoot at the enemy, which greatly increased the firepower.