In the Taiwan Strait at that time, there were many Dutch ships active.

Originally, Zheng Zhilong cooperated with the Dutch, but later after Zheng Zhilong returned to the imperial court, the two sides fell out. In the sixth year of Chongzhen, the Ming army and the Dutch army fought a naval battle in Liaoluo Bay, and the Dutch East India Company was defeated. During that time, the fleet of the Dutch East India Company was too frightened to enter the Taiwan Strait. But later, Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the Qing Dynasty and took away most of the sailors, and Zheng Chenggong fled back to Kinmen with only ninety people. Later, Zheng Chenggong re-developed and had the ability to resist the Qing court. At this time, the Dutch thought that Zheng Jiajun, who was far inferior to Zheng Zhilong's affairs, could not deal with them, so the ships of the Dutch East India Company began to move frequently in the Taiwan Strait again.

When sailing at sea, the ships of the Ming Dynasty all hung out the blue sun and moon flags to represent the Ming Dynasty and distinguish them from the fleets of the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Britain and other countries. The Sun and Moon Flag is the flag of the Daming Navy, and the national flag of the Ming Dynasty is actually the Vermilion Bird Flag. But in the eyes of foreigners, they all regard the sun and moon flag as the Ming national flag, because the Ming ships they see on the sea fly this kind of flag.

The fleet rode the wind and waves, ploughed the waves, and sailed at a speed of six to seven knots towards the Penghu Islands in the northeast.

The sun was about to reach the sea level, and Wang Xinyu stood on the helm, facing the port side, ready to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the sunset over the sea.

"Report to your lord! A soft sailboat appeared behind us, and it had been following us for half an hour! Li Rui suddenly shouted.

Wang Xinyu turned to look behind, only to see a white shadow on the distant sea, following his fleet from afar.

The distance is too far to see which country's ship it is. Wang Xinyu didn't have a clairvoyant mirror and couldn't see the ship's flag. At that time, clairvoyance mirrors were rare, and Zheng Jiajun had two pairs of clairvoyant mirrors, which were priceless treasures, and it was impossible for a small character like Wang Xinyu to use them.

Wang Xinyu thought to himself: It seems that I have to equip each of my captains with a clairvoyant mirror as soon as possible, otherwise the future naval battle will be very passive.

Another pro-soldier, Lin Bian, asked, "My lord, it can't be the ship of the red-haired ghost, right?" ”

Wang Xinyu stretched out his thumb, closed his left eye first, and looked with his right eye; Then he closed his right eye, looked with his left eye, estimated the distance, and estimated that the ship was still seven or eight nautical miles away from him, so far away that he couldn't see the national flag clearly, and he didn't know which country's ship it was, but it could be estimated that it was a ship of about 500 tons.

"I don't know which country's ship it is, since it's a soft sailing ship, let's be careful! Tell the order to go down and get the ships ready to meet the enemy! Wang Xinyu said.

"No!" Lin Bian gave the order.

The flagship signaled, the bells rang on each ship, and the gunners resting in the cabins boarded the deck, loosened the cable of the gun carriage, lifted the mengbu, and pushed the cannon over the side of the ship, waiting for the order to load the shells.

But the opponent never caught up, but followed far behind.

Seeing that the sun had disappeared over the sea level, Wang Xinyu said to his soldiers: "It's getting dark, and after dark, it's not easy for the opponent to attack us." But we still have to be on guard at night! Now give the order to go down and let the gunner go back to the cabin to rest. Leave people on the deck on guard. Turn off the lights at night! ”

On the seventeenth day of the lunar calendar, a full moon rises from the eastern sea and illuminates the sea.

Although the moonlight was bright, it was still difficult to see the ships on the sea. The ship behind seemed to be a little closer, but instead of lighting it, it swaggered and lit its fuel lights. Wang Xinyu looked over from the stern of the ship and saw the lights flickering on the sea, which was less than three nautical miles away from his fleet.

"Whether it's the red-haired ghost or the Tessie ship, as long as we strictly enforce the military order to ban the lights, they will not be able to continue to follow us." Wang Xinyu said to the soldiers.

After a night like this, the next day, when the sea was shining with golden light, Wang Xinyu and the others found that the white shadow was following behind them!

Wang Xinyu called Li Rui and Lin Bian and said to them: "If it is the ship of the red-haired ghost, a ship of more than 500 tons, almost a fourth-class cruiser, there are about forty red-haired bronze cannons, which are about the same as the cannons of our five ships combined, and some of us are small cannons, and they are all cannons on board!" If the red-haired ghosts want to attack, we will spread out our formation, hit their sails with chain bullets, and leave immediately after dropping the sails. We can't beat them, try to avoid them, there's no need to touch the eggs with stones. ”

"Five hundred stewed chicken? Four chicken cruisers? What is it? Chen Lei, an officer of the Navy Division, asked puzzled.

Wang Xinyu almost fell, and then explained: "The tonnage class is the weight unit of the Xiyi people, one ton is equal to our two materials, more than five hundred tons, about one thousand and one thousand materials, slightly smaller than our Yanping Wangye's ship." The fourth-class cruiser, according to the Xiyi people, is about forty to sixty guns, and is called a fourth-class cruiser. ”

Li Rui asked: "What about the first-class cruiser?" ”

"There is no first-class cruiser, it is called a battleship, which is probably equivalent to more than 3,000 or even 4,000 materials for us, and more than 100 cannons of various kinds! It's all heavy artillery! ”

"Oh my God! Four thousand! What a big ship! The crowd was stunned.

Wang Xinyu smiled: "One day, we will also have battleships!" I'll definitely get everyone on our own battleship! ”

The fleet continued to sail, and the white shadow behind it still followed.

After about half an hour, Chen Lei came to report: "My lord, it's almost Penghu!" There is still half an hour to go. ”

Wang Xinyu nodded: "We will be safe when we arrive in Penghu, and the ship of the red-haired ghost will definitely not dare to enter Penghu!" Whatever they say, they have to think about the batteries on the shore! ”

Half an hour later, the flotilla entered Penghu Island.

The white shadow behind didn't follow, it seemed to have turned around the surrounding sea, and before Wang Xinyu's fleet came out, the ship disappeared.

The fleet entered the Penghu wharf and docked, and the guard Yang Zu personally led his soldiers to meet them.

"Pinciber himself led the fleet here! It's a long way to go, and it's hard work! Please go ashore with the last general to rest the party! Yang Zu clenched his fists and said.

followed Yang Zu into Yang's mansion, and the maid served tea and refreshments. The two chatted for a while, Wang Xinyu asked a little about the garrison in Penghu, and learned that there were more than 2,000 people here, and although the strength of the naval division was not strong, there were forts stationed, with twelve twenty-four-pounder cannons, and more than 40 other large and small cannons, and there were strong forts, and the Dutch did not dare to come in. The island had previously been occupied by the Dutch, who had built a freshwater supply depot here, but was later expelled by Zheng's army.

After Wang Xinyu's fleet unloaded its cargo in Penghu, it did not set sail immediately.

"Lord Yang, the Yiren ship you sent to the ship is still there!" Wang Xinyu said.

"The last general will send a clipper to take a look!" Yang Zu replied.

The Penghu Ming army sent an oars to row a fast boat and circled the surrounding seas. About an hour later, the sailors on the clipper came back and reported: "Report to your lordship! The ship is gone! ”

Hearing that Yiren's ship was gone, Wang Xinyu stood up and said goodbye to Yang Zu: "This general still has official business, so I will not accompany him, and I will leave first!" ”

Yang Zu stood up and sent Wang Xinyu to the boat.

The fleet pulled anchor and set sail, leaving Penghu and continuing to the Zhoushan Islands in the northeast.

The sun is shining, the water is very blue, white seagulls are flying around, there is not a single cloud in the sky, and the visibility is very high.

"Black dots! There is another black dot in the back! Someone shouted.

The black dot protagonist is near, although the boat is still far away, and it will no longer be close when it reaches six or seven nautical miles, but it can be clearly seen that it is still the white shadow of yesterday.

"The Yiren are always following us! It's not easy to get out during the day, and the ships are ready to chain bullets! If they are hostile, they will shoot the sails with chain bullets, and we will get out of the way! Wang Xinyu gave an order.

For a whole day, the boat behind followed all the time, but it did not get closer or go far, but followed Wang Xinyu's fleet from a distance.

"Which country's ship the hell? Why do you keep following us? What exactly do they mean? Is it a pirate? Wang Xinyu muttered to himself.

The Western soft-sail warship that followed closely behind was really a pirate ship, it was a gentleman pirate ship, the ship was named Drake, this ship originally belonged to the British Royal Navy's revenge-class fourth-class cruiser, launched in 1578, with a length of 37 meters, a displacement of more than 500 tons, four masts, a sturdy oak structure, with a double-deck gun deck, the lower gun deck is equipped with eighteen twenty-four-pounder guns, the upper gun deck is equipped with sixteen twelve-pounder guns, and there are two 32-pounder mortars on the owner's deck, more than ten six-pounder, Eight-pounder cannon. Cruisers of this class, originally the lead ships of the British Royal Navy, played a key role in the Anglo-Spanish naval battle that defeated the Spanish Armada. But with the commissioning of a large number of third-class frigates, the old cruiser Drake withdrew from the British Navy and became a pirate ship, a pirate ship with a privateering license issued by Queen Elizabeth.

Soon after the British defeated the Spaniards, they somehow got into trouble with the Dutch again, so a large number of pirate ships with royal privateering licenses looted the Dutch merchant ships at sea, causing great losses to the coachmen at sea.

Although the Drake is an old ship that is almost ninety years old, and compared with the third-class frigates produced by the British like dumplings now, it is already backward, but because of the good maintenance, the performance of this ship is still very good, and the British have the strength to easily defeat them when they meet the average Dutch cruiser.

However, the Drake was a bit unlucky, and had robbed a Dutch merchant ship around Malacca. Who knew that the Dutch suddenly came with two cruisers, one of which was the six-hundred-and-sixty-ton cruiser Hector, and the other was the five-hundred-and-twenty-ten-ton cruiser the White Swan. The two Dutch ships attacked in a flank, and the Drake was beaten to the ground.

Captain Albert fled with the Drake, chasing the Dutch, who hated the British. When passing through Manila, the British, who had a grudge against the Spaniards, did not dare to go in for supplies, so they had to flee all the way north, hoping to get supplies to Macau. The Dutch, who knew that the ghosts of the Dutch had been chased all the way out of Macao, and the Portuguese, who were afraid of the Dutch, did not dare to take in the British, and Captain Albert had to flee overnight while the Dutch were not paying attention.

All the way up from the coast of Guangdong, the poor British had no fresh water on the ship, they could only drink their own urine, the food had already been eaten, and even the rats on the ship were eaten, but there was no port nearby to replenish! Later, the British hastily stopped near a Chinese beach and sent small boats to fetch fresh water for their return. However, they still did not get food, because the coastline was desolate and there was not even a human figure. When passing through Xiamen and Kinmen, the British did not know the relationship between Zheng Jun and the Dutch, they were still the old Huang Li of decades ago: they thought that the Dutch and Zheng Zhilong were allies. In that case, where did they dare to enter Xiamen to ask for supplies? It turned out that a Ming convoy had sailed out of Kinmen, so it followed behind.

At this time, many of the crew members of the British ship had already suffered from sepsis and did not know if they would survive.

"Captain Albert, if we don't go up and rob them again, I'm afraid we'll all starve to death in the sea!" Said the adjutant of the corsair ship.

Albert put down the clairvoyant and replied: "They have a lot of ships, and if we lean on, I'm afraid we will suffer." ”

The adjutant said, "Captain, or just do it, let's go up and show them that we want to buy food!" Otherwise, to the east, to the Satsuma Domain and the Tokugawa, which are also the territory of the Dutch, our food will not be able to support us to go back! ”

"These Ming people are Zheng Zhilong's people, Zheng Zhilong is an ally of the Dutch, let's go to them? Not afraid that they will sell us to the Dutch? ”

"What the hell, how come the coastline of Qingguo is so long, and you can't even see a ghost?"

"It seems that the Qing Kingdom and the Ming Kingdom are at war, and the Qing Kingdom has been defeated."

The adjutant said: "It's really not good, let's continue north, enter the territory of the Qing Kingdom from the mouth of the Yangtze River, and ask them." ”

Albert spread his hands and said with a wry smile: "Yangtze River estuary? It seems that there is a fort on Chongming Island, and we can't even enter the mouth of the Yangtze River. And we are not familiar with the situation of the inland river, and we will run aground when we go in! ”

The British were very depressed at this time: from the Strait of Malacca to Taiwan, the road was either Spanish or Dutch territory.

"Instead of waiting for death, let's go up!" Albert finally made up his mind.