In the autumn of last year, the Wei army took advantage of the absence of the main force of the Zheng army to lay down the Xia Gate, and Zheng Chenggong, who learned of the plan, could only retreat to Taiwan and Penghu.

As soon as the Zheng army passes through Penghu, there will be sentinel ships to notify the coastal states and counties to deploy defenses, and the Wei army's naval divisions will also be ready to meet the battle, making it difficult for the Zheng army to sneak attack the coast again.

In addition, in the past two years, the Zheng army plundered the coast, abducted the population, and separated many people's wives and left their hometowns.

The attitude of the coastal gentry has also changed, and many gentry loyal to the Ming Dynasty have been secretly providing intelligence and smuggling materials for the Ming army, hoping that the Ming Dynasty can recover the lost territory.

However, the Ming Dynasty plundered a large number of people to go overseas, to fight the irrelevant Taiwan and Luzon, and became farther and farther away from China.

In this case, Zheng Chenggong lost his internal response and slowly lost the initiative.

Zheng Jun's sailors, like nomads on the grassland, have the advantage of being flexible and unexpected, once they are detected in the direction and route of the attack, they will only hit their heads and break the blood flow, and return in vain.

When Zheng's army shrank to Taiwan, the superiority of Great Wei's national strength finally slowly emerged.

In four years, the Great Wei Dynasty hired Xiyi craftsmen, recruited coastal craftsmen, trained more than 30,000 apprentices, and built ships in Fujian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong and other places, with 10,000 craftsmen in Fuzhou Shipyard alone, and nearly 10,000 people in Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai County, Jiangsu.

Along with the number of craftsmen increased the number of warships launched by the Wei army, and in four years, the Wei army had built more than 30 large ships, including three flagships, 70 meters long, 50 meters high masts, weighing 1,200 tons, and 90 guns.

The rest of the ships were all fifty or sixty meters long, weighed about 1,000 tons, were equipped with more than 50 artillery pieces, and had a crew of about 300.

In addition to the 30 main warships, the Wei army also built nearly 1,000 warships, large and small, to protect the Great Wei Maritime Frontier.

At this time, regardless of the number of warships or the quality of warships, the Wei army had already surpassed Zheng Chenggong's warships.

The Ming warships, the largest of which were only about 1,000 tons, were one size smaller than the small flagships of the Wei army, and the artillery was not as many as those of the Wei army.

Under these circumstances, Gao Yihuan felt that the time was ripe for resolving the southeast issue.

In the summer of the sixth year of Wuding, Gao Yihuan arrived in Guangzhou and began to mobilize troops and ships to prepare to attack Qiongzhou Island, first to solve Zhu Cihong, who was weaker in the sailors, and then to solve Zheng Chenggong.

In Guangzhou Bay, a large number of sea ships gathered, and the masts in the harbor stood like a forest.

Outside Guangzhou Bay, a Ming warship, seeing from time to time warships flying the flag of the Wei army, entered Humen, and after a few days of reconnaissance, Yang Fan returned to Qiongzhou.

The Southern Ming court on Qiongzhou Island immediately panicked when they heard the news that the Wei army's sailors had gathered in Guangzhou.

After consulting with many ministers, Zhu Cihong felt that the Wei army might be attacking Qiongzhou, so he sent ministers to ask Zheng Chenggong for help.

Taiwan, the national surname is the mansion of the grandfather.

Zheng Chenggong, Wang Yan and others sat in the hall, and there was a huge sand table in the middle of the hall.

Wang Yan frowned and said, "The Wei thieves have gathered a thousand warships, if they are determined to attack Qiong Island, it will be difficult for Qiong Island to hold on. ”

Unlike Zheng Sen, he is a strong naval army and a weak land division, while Qiongzhou is just the opposite, they are strong in the land division and relatively weak in the naval division.

This is also the reason why Gao Yihuan decided to attack Qiongzhou first.

In contrast, Taiwan is too far away from the mainland, and Qiongzhou is much closer, and when the north wind comes to help in winter, the ships can directly full sail and rush to Qiongzhou from the Leizhou Peninsula, and Gao Yihuan is very sure that he will send the army to Qiongzhou.

Zheng Chenggong said with a gloomy face: "If you let the Wei thief go to the island, Qiongzhou will be lost, and now there is only one way." ”

Wang Yan asked, "What way?" ”

Zheng Chenggong said: "Assemble the sailors and fight a decisive battle with the Wei thief sailors." If we win, the southeast coast is at our disposal! ”

Wang Yan asked with a calm face, "What if you lose?" ”

Zheng Chenggong said in a deep voice: "If you lose, you can only give up Qiongdao and retreat to Luzon!" ”

Wang Yan groaned for a while, "Then let's fight!" ”

Zheng Chenggong bowed slightly, "Then fight in the South China Sea!" ”

After deciding to conduct a decisive battle, Zheng Chenggong immediately ordered the recall of all warships and smuggling merchant ships along the coast.

For a time, ships after ships gathered in Dayuan Bay.

The warships of the Ming army rushed back from all over the country, and when they saw the warships gathered, the sailors on board were a little excited, and their hearts were full of enthusiasm.

They knew that the time had come for a decisive battle with the Wei army and to decide who would be the supremacy of the sea.

The ships returning to Taiwan saw one after another warships and merchant ships sailing by, and the sailors on board couldn't help but exclaim, "Another one, are they all going to fight the Wei thieves?" ”

These ships entered Dayuan Bay and immediately refitted according to the requirements, equipped with artillery, recruited sailors and gunners, conducted training, and prepared for a decisive battle.

After Zheng Chenggong retreated overseas, he lost Fujian, as well as most of the Zheng family's business, and his income began to make ends meet.

In order to reduce the pressure, Zheng Sen assigned most of the Zheng family's ships to his subordinates, allowing them to smuggle, rob, and transport the looted goods to Taiwan for transit, and he received a commission.

In this way, he had the money to feed the water division and hide his troops in the caravans.

At the beginning of October, after the Zheng Junshui Division had assembled in the army for three months, equipped with artillery, and conducted training, nearly 1,000 seagoing ships finally lifted anchor from the harbor and headed for Guangzhou.

In the city of Guangzhou, in the temporary palace, Gao Yihuan was discussing with the generals about crossing the sea to attack Qiongzhou.

"Your Majesty, the sailors are ready, and the infantry and horse armies responsible for landing on Qiongdao have also gathered in Leizhou Mansion." Liang Yizhang smiled: "Now we just need to wait for the wind direction to change, and we can use the monsoon to land on the island." ”

Gao Yihuan bowed slightly, "In this case, the naval warship will go to Leizhou in the near future, and after a few drills, it can be attacked." ”

At this time, Li Laihum suddenly entered the main hall and saluted: "Your Majesty, Fujian 800 miles to expedite the report!" ”

Gao Yihuan took the military newspaper, unfolded it and looked at it, frowning slightly.

"Your Majesty, what's the matter?" Liang Yizhang worried, "Could it be that Zheng Sen attacked the coastal areas of Fujian in order to contain us?" ”

Gao Yihuan shook his head, "No! Zheng Sen is coming to Guangdong, and the search for a decisive battle is coming. ”

"Zheng Sen is coming?" Liang Yizhang was surprised.

After Gao Yihuan groaned for a while, he stood up and paced back and forth, my family is not afraid of losing, even if I lose, I can come again.

Gao Yihuan suddenly stopped, "Hmph, he came just in time, I just happened to fight in the southeast." ”

(End of chapter)