In the waters of Zhejiang, a huge fleet flying the flag of the Nanyang Navy braved the wind and waves and sailed to the north of Dongfan Island.

Wang Xinyu stood on the rudder at the back of a flying clipper, overlooking the sea. After he left Singapore, Nanyang built four more clippers from the oak he had purchased. There are not many oaks that have been dried for five years from the Portuguese, and Wang Xinyu does not want to build battleships that cost a lot of money and cannot be used on inland rivers, and these woods are all used by the Nanyang Company to build clippers. With five clippers, you can sail the ocean quickly, trade as fast as you can, and make more money than others. As long as you have money, anything is easy to do. As for the timber needed to build the battleship, the Nanyang Company cut the oak from the Malay Peninsula and dried it for five years before building the battleship.

In the sea ahead, a fast catamaran appeared.

"It's our own ship!" Seeing the catamaran fast sailing boat, everyone in the fleet knows that it is definitely their own ship, because no country in the world today can build such a fast ship except for the Nanyang Company.

In the past six months, the Nanyang Company has also built two fast catamarans, one to serve as a communication ship along the coasts of Zhejiang and Fujian, and the other to monitor the movements of the Qing army in the waters of Guangdong. The catamaran clipper in front of me came from the waters of Guangdong.

The catamaran clipper docked on Wang Xinyu's ship, and Fang Chonggong got off the clipper and boarded Wang Xinyu's ship.

"Report to the commander! When he left the mouth of the Pearl River, he saw that the Tartars had already sent troops. Looking at the banner, it was Hong Chengchou who personally led the army, and the admiral of the sailor was Wu Liuqi. These two thieves are ready to take advantage of the emptiness of our Qiongzhou troops to sneak attack! After Fang Chonggong saw Wang Xinyu, he reported the matter to him.

"Hong Chengchou's old thief came to Qiongzhou in person! It seems that this old thief is determined to win! But since he came to Qiongzhou, let him have no return! Wang Xinyu gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tightly.

It is undeniable that Hong Chengchou is scheming and indeed a character. But after Hong Chengchou arrived in Qiongzhou, he saw fortresses everywhere. I don't know how he will feel. At this time, the grain had been harvested on Qiongzhou Island, and all the grain was moved into the Dao Castle. The local people, the Han people, entered the cities, ready to cooperate with the Qiongzhou army to defend the city. The people of Miao Li prepared to retreat into the mountains and use the terrain to fight the Qing army.

"Old thief Hong is here! We'll make sure he doesn't come back! In the meeting hall of Haikou City, Qian Mo gritted his teeth and let out a roar in his heart, vowing to avenge his brother-in-law Xia Wanchun.

"Uncle! If you catch the old thief, let the child kill him with his own hands! The child wants to avenge his father! A girl in red had tears in her eyes. clenched his pink fists. This girl in red, about sixteen or seventeen years old, has bright eyes and bright teeth, like a flower and jade, she is Xia Wanchun's daughter Xia Yunshan.

Shen Yuxiao, who was standing aside, thought of his friend Xia Wanchun, and also burst into tears: "Hong Chengchou's old thief is here, you can't let him go back!" Be sure to keep him in Qiongzhou! ”

Fang Yizhi said: "Since Hong Chengchou will come to Qiongzhou in person, it shows that he is determined to win Qiongzhou!" This thief is scheming, we must not underestimate the old thief Hong! But now that he's here. It is the time for us to avenge the people of the South! If you can kill this thief, the Tartars will lose control in South China! ”

Guangdong, east of the Leizhou Peninsula, on the sea with the flag of the Qing army, the fleet is mighty. Heading towards Qiongzhou Island.

On the Chinese warship, Hong Chengchou sat on the helm tower, looking at the sea in front of him with great ambition.

Hong Chengchou's more than 100,000 green battalion Qing troops have combat effectiveness that cannot be ignored. In addition to Yang Yuming, the commander of the land division from Guangdong, Wu Liuqi, the commander of the navy, Jin Guang, the military division, Shang Kexi's son Shang Zhijie, and the Guangdong "famous generals" Huang Yingjie, Xu Erxian, Zhang Guoxun, Jingnan general Ha Hamu, and the Eight Banners of the Eight Banners are all Galai Dao. There were also Guangxi generals Ma Xiong and Dai Liangchen, Jiangxi generals Kong Guozhi, Fujian generals Yang Guotai, Hunan generals Daniel Zhang and other Qing court "famous generals".

Due to the refusal of the Guangxi Lianjia to send troops, Sun Yanling had no choice but to send his henchman Ma Xiong out. In order to reassure her husband, Kong Sizhen also sent her loyal lackey Dai Liangchen out.

Among the many "famous generals" of the Qing court, the real henchman of Hong Chengqi was a lame general Daniel Zhang, who, like Zhao Liangdong, Sun Sike, Wang Jinbao and others, was single-handedly pulled up by Hong Chengqing. Daniel Zhang was wounded in the leg during the battle with Li Dingguo and was unable to ride a horse ever since. Later, when he was fighting, he rode in a sedan chair to lead the troops to charge. Because Daniel Zhang was loyal to Hong Chengchu and very brave, he was deeply loved by Hong Chengchu.

Hong Chengchou's other favorite generals Zhao Liangdong were in Sichuan, Sun Sike was also in Sichuan, and Wang Jinbao was defeated by Wang Xinyu in Yunnan and was afraid of Wu Sangui's punishment, so he also fled to Sichuan. Of Hong Chengqing's four favorite generals, three of them dealt with the thirteen families in Sichuan, and now Hong Chengqing can use Daniel Zhang alone.

"Teacher, we crossed the sea this time to crusade against the pirates, why didn't the thief's sailor come to intercept it?" Seeing that the Qing army's sailors sailed very smoothly all the way, and there was no Ming army sailors to intercept them, Daniel Zhang felt very suspicious, wondering whether the Ming army had laid a trap for himself and led Hong Chengqi to Qiongzhou to close the door and beat the dogs.

Hong Chengchou said: "Although it is not the best time for us to attack Qiongzhou at this time, it is still in time!" The giant Zheng Damu died, the thieves fought among themselves, and the Qiongzhou sailors pacified the civil strife in Xiamen and Dongfan at this time. The Zheng family is divided into three, and their civil war cannot be won or lost for a while and a half, and Wang Yu of Qiongzhou Haikou will definitely not dare to distract his attention, his fleet is in Fujian, and he can't take care of us at all. After we landed in Qiongzhou, we immediately sent the fleet across the sea and returned to Leizhou, where there were still 70,000 troops waiting to cross the sea on the Leizhou Peninsula. ”

Hong Chengchou had an army of more than 100,000 people, but because of the limited transportation capacity of the fleet, the army that set off directly from Guangzhou was only 40,000, including 15,000 men and horses of the naval division and 25,000 men and horses of the land division. The rest of the Qing army was waiting for ships to cross the sea on the Leizhou Peninsula.

As he was talking, a huge firework suddenly burst into the fleet of warships in front of him.

"There's a pirate!" Daniel Zhang's heart twitched.

"Your mouth is too good, isn't it?" Hong Chengqi looked at Daniel Zhang dumbfounded. Just now, this guy also said that there was no thief sailor to intercept it, and his stinky mouth said that the thief sailor is really here!

There was a rumbling sound of cannon in front of the "boom", and white smoke rose from the sea.

"I don't know how many sailors the thieves left in Qiongzhou, and how many warships came to intercept us?" Hong Chengchou called a guard and asked him to go to the front station fleet to inquire about the situation.

The guards received the order and took a clipper to the front of the convoy to inquire about the situation. Soon after, the guard returned, saying, "Report to your lord! There are six giant ships of thieves ahead! General Wu Liuqi is leading the sailors to fight fiercely against the thieves! ”

Two hundred miles east of the Leizhou Peninsula. Six large warships, the Drake, the Brave, the Courage, the El Greco, the Hector, and the Batavia, were spewing tongues of fire like lightning across the sea, and countless shells whistled out of the cannon doors, billowing white smoke rising from the sea.

Six giant ships, a salvo is more than 100 cannons roaring at the same time, cannonballs whizzing into the sea, falling into the Qing army warship group, stirring up a column of water to the sky. The small boat of the Qing army that was grazed by the shells was instantly smashed to pieces, and blood was splashed everywhere. The Qing soldiers above fell into the water like dumplings, either dead or wounded.

Although the Qing army had more than a thousand large and small warships. However, the real gunboats were only more than 50 Fu ships and more than 70 Haicang ships, and although small ships such as Cangshan, Sha and Guang also had cannons, their caliber was very small, and they could not get close to the big ships of the Nanyang Navy at all.

The whistling shells continued to fall in the Qing fleet, and the British gunners hired by the Nanyang Company hit them accurately, and each salvo could send several Qing boats to the bottom of the sea.

"The thieves are fierce! Our army suffered heavy casualties! "There are pro-soldiers who report to Admiral Wu Liuqi of the Navy Division.

Wu Liuqi stood on the helm tower, looked at the Ming army giant ship looming in the smoke of gunpowder in front of him, and said in his mouth: "Although the Haikou giant ship is fierce. But only six! Our army has thousands of warships, large and small! Pass my order, the big ship shoots at each other with artillery, and the fireboat charges! Give me the thief ship in front of me! ”

In just half an hour, although the Qing army lost more than 100 warships. Thousands of sailors were lost, but all the losses were small warships with less than 100 materials, and the real large gunboats with more than 200 materials were unharmed.

After receiving Wu Liuqi's order, the Qing army's Fu Ship and Haicang Boat immediately set up an attack posture. More than 100 gunboats aimed their bows at the giant ship of the Nanyang Company, and the Hongyi cannon in the bow spewed fire, and the cannonballs smashed down into the sea in the distance. Meanwhile. More than 100 centipede clippers outflanked from both flanks and rushed towards the Ming army's big ships, ready to find an opportunity to take over the gang; In front of the gunboats in the middle of the Qing army, more than 200 fire-attacking ships rushed towards the Ming giant ship head-on.

Although each gunboat of the Qing army only had a 24-pound or 18-pounder cannon in the bow that could bombard the Ming giant ships, the number of Qing gunboats was too large, and some shells still hit the Ming giant ships, causing certain casualties.

"This Wu Liuqi, there is still a set of naval battles! The barbarian fleet is so big that we don't have to fight! Albert put down his binoculars and said to the naval officers beside him.

The six giant ships turned to the right, avoided the Qing army's fire attack ships, and sailed into the depths of the southeast sea.

When the Qing army saw the Ming giant ship turning, they immediately turned around, and the large and small fire attack ships rushed up, swarming after the six giant warships of the Nanyang Navy that had "escaped."

However, the retreat route of the Ming army's giant ships was a zigzag, and while retreating, it could play two sides of the artillery fire from time to time. Every time the huge hull turned around, the loaded cannon spewed fire, and the whistling cannonballs smashed into the Qing army's attacking ship, causing the hull to collapse and the flesh and blood on the ship flying. Some of the red-hot shells even directly ignited the fire attack ship, igniting a raging fire.

"The thieves are fighting and running, consuming our fire to attack the ship!" Wu Liuqi was so angry that he smoked, but those Western-style soft-sail battleships were extremely fast, and the fire attack ships couldn't catch up at all.

"Don't chase after the poor! Signal them back! Don't go to death in vain! Wu Liuqi shouted.

The Qing warships gave a signal for the fire attack ships to withdraw.

The sea gradually returned to calm, leaving only floating broken wooden planks and the clothes of the fallen Qing soldiers, and pools of blood floated from the sea, which were soon diluted by the sea, leaving only a faint blood red.

After avoiding the Qing convoy, the six giant ships turned back to the northwest again. The six giant ships were getting closer and closer to the Qing army's transport fleet, and on Hong Chengchou's Chinese warships, Hong Chengchou had already seen the huge sail shadow on the sea, and was galloping towards his fleet. He picked up the monocular clairvoyant and looked at it, only to see that the warships were huge and as huge as mountains.

"Back then, the Haikou shelled the naval division of our army on the Pearl River and injured the king of Dingnan, are these giant ships?" Hong Chengchou put down the clairvoyant mirror and asked a Guangdong officer beside him.

"Yes, these are the giant ships!" The Cantonese officer replied.

"If only we could work with the Tessie! Later, the official will take a letter of resignation, and you will find someone to send it to Lord Ao in Jiangnan, so that he can find a way to contact the red-haired ghost! We can talk to the red-haired ghost, didn't the Zheng family take Dongfan Island from the red-haired ghost? If the red-haired ghost is willing to cooperate with our Daqing Dynasty, you might as well give Dongfan Island to the red-haired ghost! Hong Chengchou said.

"My lord! The Giant Ship is coming, what should we do? Although Daniel Zhang was calm on the outside, he was completely soaked behind his back.

"Don't panic! General Wu's warship will come! Although the thief giant ship is large, the number is small, as long as General Wu's warship arrives, they will definitely not dare to fight! Let's just sail to Qiongzhou! Hong Chengchou said calmly.

"The pirates are going to attack the convoy behind us!" Wu Liuqi was shocked when he saw the Ming giant ship go to the back.

The Qing warships turned around and rushed to the side of the convoy to protect.

The six giant ships of the Nanyang Navy did not entangle with the warships of the Qing army, but sank several small ships with a row of artillery fire. Because the Ming army was attacking against the wind, it turned quickly and retreated extremely quickly, so it did not give the Qing army a chance at all. When the Qing warships were all on the left side of the center, the six giant ships went to the back and sank several Qing transport ships that were left behind.

The Qing warships went to the back to block again, and the six giant ships avoided the Qing warships, broke away from the Qing fleet, and then found an opportunity to go to the front and sink several more Qing ships.

"The thieves are so harassing, our army has suffered heavy losses all the way! But I can't help them! Daniel Zhang sighed.

Hong Chengchou raised his head and looked at the sky, and replied: "It's getting dark!" After dark, the thieves won't be able to attack us! Our goal is Qiongzhou Island. As long as we land on Qiongzhou Island, although the thieves have huge ships, they can't help us! When it gets dark, we change course and don't follow the original course, so it will be very difficult for the pirates to find us after dawn. ”

After dark, six giant ships of the Nanyang Navy lost their targets. By dawn the next day, the Qing fleet was gone.

"The Tartar must have gone in circles! Let's go find the fleet of Tartars! Wu Lei proposed.

"In the vast sea, where do we go to find the tartars? We're just attacking and harassing, not fighting the Tartars! Albert retorted. Wang Xinyu did not ask to stop the Qing army, but deliberately put Hong Chengchou on Qiongzhou Island. (To be continued.) )