Sima De asked, "Is there ever an official government on the island?" Are there any officers and soldiers stationed? ”

Murong Longcheng said calmly: "When I was carrying goods to Japan, I stopped on the island many times, so I am very familiar with this place. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoThere are not many local fishermen on Nanao Island, but there are officers and soldiers stationed, and there is a deputy commander-in-chief of Nanao, because the island is under the jurisdiction of Guangdong and Fujian provinces, so the soldiers and horses on the island are divided into Guangdong and Fujian. The guards on the island were very well paid, and there were not many soldiers and horses under their command, and the merchant ships had to be given some filial piety, and the officers and soldiers did not care about how they anchored. Whether we go or go back, our fleet can dock and replenish here. ”

Xia Nan listened to it with a fluttering eyebrow, no matter what he thought about the mystery of Murong Longcheng's background, just the sailing experience in Murong Longcheng's mind and the information of geography and hydrology along the way were enough to offset all the negative factors. Apart from Murong Longcheng, who else in the Qiongzhou battalion could know that there was a transit station for attacking Zhongzuo in the sea off Shantou? The strategic location of this location is so important that it will affect the direction of the future naval battle with Zheng Zhilong's group.

Sima De naturally heard the key to it, and high-fived and applauded: "Okay!" There is such a place, and we can attack the center and left with much calm. ”

William walked to the map, looked at it carefully, and nodded: "This location is very wonderful, it can not only ensure that it will not be discovered by Zheng Yiguan, but also ensure that it can reach the designated battlefield in the shortest possible time, I can't think of a better place." He turned his head and gave a thumbs up to Murong Longcheng, and then made a request to Xia Nan, "When attacking Zheng Yiguan's lair, I must bring Murong with me and let him be my guide on my ship and give advice to my command." ”

"That's fine." Xia Nan asked Murong Longcheng, "Are you still the captain of the 'Bofu'?" ”

Murong Longcheng replied, "General Hui, yes. ”

"You heard your Shangguan's request, right? When attacking Zhongzuo, you go to William as a staff officer, and as long as this operation is successful, I will promote you from the captain of the Wuxiang-class to the captain of the Wuyi-class when you return. ”

The Wuyi-class battleship is the largest warship launched by the Qiongzhou Battalion Navy at present, and Murong Longcheng has not joined the Qiongzhou Battalion for too long, and he has not caught up with the naval attack of the Battle of Bofu, and lacks sufficient combat exploits, and his qualifications as a Wuyi-class captain are obviously not enough. And now that Xia Nan personally promised him this position, it was equivalent to going up to a new level, and the span was no less than a hundred households being upgraded to a thousand.

In other words, others must be grateful and excited, but Murong Longcheng was very calm and replied calmly: "General Xie." ”

Xia Nan was in a good mood, stood up and said to everyone: "The general framework of this operation can basically be decided, and there are only some details that need to be finalized next, just get these done." I gave this operation a name, 'Operation Tiger Fight'. ”

Lin Weiye couldn't help but complain: "This name doesn't sound uplifting enough." ”

Sima De was very good at figuring out what Xia Nan meant, and asked: "The name of the general comes from 'sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight'?" ”

Xia Nan smiled: "Hehe, Mr. Sima still understands me." This time, we are going to provoke the Dutch to fight with Zheng Zhilong, just to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight. ”

After they all finished speaking, Sun Yuanhua Zhengse said: "The attack on Zhongzuo is not trivial, it's good if it succeeds, if the matter is revealed, we will completely offend Zheng Zhilong, and we must be fully prepared to avoid his retaliation." ”

Everyone is stunned, and this may have to be guarded against.

Xia Nan became serious when he heard this: "What Mr. Sun said is right, we can't be too optimistic, and we must be mentally prepared for failure." "If your identity is exposed, it means that you have to carry Zheng Zhilong head-on, compared with his huge fleet, the small body of the Qiongzhou Battalion Navy is not enough.

He asked William: "How many warships have been delivered to the navy now, and how many can form combat effectiveness?" ”

William replied: "There are ten 500-ton warships that have been officially delivered to the navy and are fully equipped with guns, and eight are guaranteed to be fully manned for naval warfare; There are also thirteen patrol ships of 280 tons, all of which can be dispatched. ”

"It's still too little, and we have to speed up the construction of new warships." Summer Nan muttered.

Charles, the shipyard steward, did not participate in the meeting, and Lin Weiye had a better understanding of the shipyard's progress, explaining on his behalf: "All the dockyards are operating, and there are enough manpower and timber, and there are only two factors that restrict the speed of warship construction: money and time. Now that the 1,000-ton and fifteen-hundred-ton warships are consuming a considerable part of their budget - most of it is spent on the guns they are equipped with, and in this case it is necessary to speed up the production of 500-ton warships, unless you can turn stones into gold and turn silver out of thin air. In addition, the larger the ship, the longer it will take to build, and you can't keep up with the schedule unless you're not afraid that the ship will leak as soon as it leaves port. ”

The problem of funds is already a cliché, and the two industries of cotton cloth and soju alone cannot support the simultaneous expansion of the army and navy, especially the navy, which has always been a gold-swallowing beast, and it is impossible to hear the sound of tens of thousands of taels being smashed. Now that we can't throttle in this situation, we can only think of open source, hoping that Guangzhou's money bank can achieve the desired effect and provide valuable cash flow.

As for the speed of building new warships, although Xia Nan was eager to launch tomorrow, he also knew the consequences of blindly pursuing progress without looking at the laws of the sky, and would not be demanding to shorten the construction period. A warship with a displacement of 1,000 tons or even 1,500 tons is a baby bump, and if it leaks, overhauls or even scraps it without firing a few shots for man-made reasons, it is simply a violent thing.

"If you can defeat Zheng Zhilong and become the overlord of the sea, you can be soft just by collecting the protection fee of the merchant ships coming and going." Xia Nan lamented, "It's a pity that if you don't have enough funds, you can't expand the navy, you can't eradicate Zheng Zhilong, you can't be the overlord, you can't collect money, it's a vicious circle." Only by waiting for the money in Guangzhou to raise enough funds to leverage the raw silk market in the south of the Yangtze River and do a few big votes can this problem be solved. ”

Sun Yuanhua said: "Whether the raw silk business can be completed or not, this is all a later story." The meal should be eaten one bite at a time, so let's do the things at hand first. Is it necessary to do something to make the warship that sent out the attack on the left side of the house to make people look like the red-haired plywood ship at a glance? In the future, these ships will always meet Zheng Zhilong's people again, and no one can see the clues. ”

William said: "This is not difficult. The armed merchant ships of the Dutch were also Galen ships, and they were generally close to ours, and it was difficult to distinguish them unless the Dutch themselves could tell them. When the time comes, we will hang the flags of the East India Company and the Dutch, and I can guarantee that none of Zheng Yiguan's men will recognize them. ”