After the talks, Zhu Youzhen asked the two envoys to visit Beijing as missionaries, and they did not have to return to China for the time being. Although there were two more countries with diplomatic relations in Europe, it did not help the Ming in the short term: China and Europe were so far away that it took months for the exchange of letters to take them, and it was already half a year before the rulers of the two countries agreed to borrow money from the Ming Dynasty.

After sending off the envoys, Zhu Youzhen immediately sent a secret edict to Qi Xianzong and Li Yunhao to meet him. Coupled with Huang Degong and Weng Yu, who had fought against the White Lotus Sect Water Army, the focus of the discussion between the monarchs and ministers was how to deal with Zheng Zhilong.

Qi Xianzong hated Zheng Zhilong to the core, and said bluntly: "Your Majesty, although Zheng Zhilong has not clearly declared rebellion now, it is no different from rebellion. Instead of waiting for him to admit it, the imperial court should take the initiative to suppress it, taking advantage of the unstable foothold of Zhu Yousong and other opposition parties in Taiwan to cut them off in one fell swoop. Otherwise, the sea is as vast as the land, and once the traitor flees to the South Seas and other places, it will be difficult for the imperial court to catch him again. ”

Zhu Youzhen also nodded and said, "What the national master has seen is extremely true. There is another point that I am worried about, that is, Taiwan is now divided into three parts of the world, and the three forces of Zheng Zhilong, the Netherlands, and Spain are intertwined. Once Zhu Yousong and the White Lotus Sect Leader colluded with foreign enemies to sell national interests in exchange for the support of the Netherlands or Spain, the trouble would be even greater. ”

"Hit! Beat him up for a shit fuck! Huang Degong just said excitedly, and suddenly remembered that this is a prelude to the king, and such swear words are "disrespectful", and Zhu Yousong is also a royal family, so he shrunk his neck in fright, and hurriedly asked Zhu Youzhen for the crime.

Zhu Youzhen slapped the table and said angrily: "This is not above the court, you are all military generals, you must have blood and temper, and you don't need to be crepe." Zhu Yousong, Yun Zijian, Zheng Zhilong, none of them are good things, what's wrong with beating him for a dog day? ”

Except for Huang Degong, everyone looked at each other, thinking that the emperor and Huang Degong were really temperamental.

Next, Li Yunhao and Weng Yu also expressed their hopes to start a war against Zheng Zhilong as soon as possible. Because this can only be a naval battle, and the generals who know naval warfare now in the Ming Dynasty, except for Zheng Sen who stayed in Zhenla and Huanglong who were stationed on Phi Island, are already here, so Zhu Youzhen doesn't need to fight for other people's opinions. After a little thought, he said, "Since everyone is eager to fight, and I have long wanted to eradicate Zheng Zhilong, then prepare to fight immediately!" ”

Since we want to fight, the so-called "knowing oneself and knowing the other, and not being defeated in a hundred battles", the comparison of strength between the two sides must be clearly understood. In terms of the officers and soldiers, the warships of the local guard posts can be ignored, because their combat effectiveness is so poor that it will be a burden to really fight. The only ones that can really be used are the North Sea Fleet and the Phi Dao Naval Division.

The North Sea Fleet has dozens of large and small ships, but only about 20 can fight in the open ocean. Among them, the flagship, the Princess Anna, who also has the largest displacement and the strongest combat effectiveness, is now in the grip of the Annam Nguyen army, and once Zhang Huangyan and Zheng Sen leave Kampong Sun, Zhenla may immediately lose the country.

Among the remaining battleships, the largest displacement was the Dingyuan battleship, 500 tons, equipped with two main and auxiliary guns, and 48 side guns; The second is the flagship Weihai frigate of this water battle on the Yangtze River, 200 tons, equipped with two main and auxiliary guns and 12 side guns. Next are the four newly commissioned "Weihai"-class frigates, named Shanhaiguan, Tianjin, Ningyuan, and Qingdao, all of which are 120 tons, and are also equipped with two main and auxiliary guns and 12 side guns.

Behind them were the nineteen small gunboats that participated in the Poyang Lake Water Battle, all of which were remodeled from the warships of the former Dengzhou Naval Division, some had main guns, some did not, and there were only eight or six side guns. After the fierce battle of Poyang Lake, a third of these gunboats were damaged to varying degrees and had to be returned to the dock for overhaul, and now only twelve gunboats were left that could immediately participate in the battle.

As for the Phi Dao Naval Division, except for the flagship "Phi Dao", which is 200 tons, the other warships are very small, and more importantly, the naval guns are much less than those of the North Sea Fleet. After discussion, the monarch and the ministers believed that the Phi Dao Naval Division did not have the conditions to fight south. In addition to the limitations of the conditions of the warships themselves, deterring the Manchus and Korea was also an important task of the Phi Dao naval division. For example, now that the Eight Banners Army is directly attacking Shanhaiguan, the Phi Dao Naval Division can move to the outside of Shanhaiguan to shell it. What's more, Tartar now also has a water division composed of three traitors, Shang Kexi, Geng Zhongming, and Kong Youde, although their combat effectiveness is not strong, they must not be guarded against.

Therefore, all the warships that the North Sea Fleet can dispatch now are a total of one battleship, five frigates, and twelve small gunboats, a total of eighteen.

As for Zheng Zhilong's pirate forces, since last year, Zhu Youzhen has paid great attention to collecting information in this regard. It has now been basically ascertained that Zheng Zhilong's flagship "treasure ship" is a behemoth of 8,000 materials, with a displacement of about 17,800 tons, which is a giant level for any country's navy in this era.

And Zheng Zhilong's fleet is also very large, it is said that there are more than 1,000 ships. However, most of these ships were armed merchant ships, which were mainly used to smuggle goods in peacetime, and some of them were equipped with guns, and some were not. For example, the ship on which Zheng Sen took and kidnapped Zhu Youzhen, Qi Meifeng, and Li Zhenyan a few years ago is a typical armed merchant ship.

As for the fleet that broke into the Yangtze River to rescue Zhu Yousong and others, it was the key to Zheng Zhilong's maintenance of maritime supremacy. This fleet of nearly 100 ships, although they were all lucky ships, were all modified in the style of Western sea ships, equipped with schooners, and could sail against the wind. There were also a lot of guns on these battleships, all of which Zheng Zhilong bought from the Portuguese, and the total number was about five or six hundred.

In comparison, the total number of naval guns of the eighteen warships of the North Sea Fleet is about 200. If the main fleets of the two sides face off in a dignified duel, there is no doubt that the North Sea Fleet will have the upper hand, not to mention that Zheng Zhilong still has a large number of armed merchant ships.

The strength is not as good as others, how can this battle be fought? Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but hesitate. The North Sea Fleet was built by him, and how much effort he poured into it, if the first battle was lost, he would have to vomit blood!

Qi Xianzong and Li Yunhao didn't think so. They reported to Zhu Youzhen: Although Zheng Zhilong's warships were many and had been modified, it was possible that the sailors' sail skills were not good enough, or the performance of the sails was not good, and their speed was always a little slower than that of the North Sea Fleet. The North Sea Fleet has run out of ammunition and can't do anything, otherwise it will definitely not be afraid to fight them. If they went to the vast sea, they would be more confident with the naval tactics they learned from the Portuguese.

As for the "treasure ship", without waiting for Qi Xianzong to speak, Huang Degong shouted excitedly: "Holy Lord, don't look at that ship, the minister heard what Shen Lang said, its speed is very slow, about the same as a turtle." Don't say it's General Qi, even if you give the minister a battleship, the minister can clean him up. I heard that Zheng Zhilong is strong in martial arts, and when the time comes, I will have to board that bird boat, and I will meet him! ”