Although several generals actively asked for battle, Zhu Youzhen still had many concerns: the difference in strength between the two sides was too big! Even if the North Sea Fleet has a slight advantage in firepower and ship speed, Zheng Zhilong can still drag the North Sea Fleet down alive with his "wolf pack tactics".

Not to mention anything else, the amount of ammunition carried on the battleship is limited, and in the last battle of Poyang Lake, the North Sea Fleet suffered this loss, and could only watch the enemy ships break through. This time, the opponent was far more powerful than the White Lotus Sect Sailor, once the ammunition was exhausted, and Zheng Zhilong's large fleet followed, wouldn't the North Sea Fleet be wiped out?

But this is not what Zhu Youzhen is most worried about. The most terrifying situation is that when the North Sea Fleet and Zheng Zhilong are in the middle of a fierce battle, if the Dutch and Spaniards who are entrenched on the island of Taiwan are involved, it will be all over, because these two will definitely not help the Ming Navy. It was not just a question of the total annihilation of the North Sea Fleet, but the fact that the Dutch or the Spaniards would take advantage of the situation and invade the mainland. Now the imperial court is already very difficult to fight on the two fronts of the Manchus and the thieves, and if the Western powers come in at this time, it will really be a catastrophe!

After Zhu Youzhen expressed his worries, Huang Degong, who was still frowning and eager to try just now, was immediately stunned and at a loss. It's no wonder that after all, he is a military general, although he has been on the Weihai for a day, he still doesn't understand the real naval battle.

After holding it for a long time, Huang Degong came up with a sentence: "Holy Lord, aren't we on good terms with that grape country or Franco?" Didn't the Francos also have warships, so how about sending troops to help in the war? ”

Zhu Youzhen shook his head and said, "Your idea is not bad. However, now Portugal is focusing on the restoration of the country, and the main fleet has set off from Goa, India, to Europe, and the thirst cannot be quenched. Besides, whether it is Zhu Yousong or Zheng Zhilong, after all, they are both Chinese, this is my internal affairs of Daming, and I don't want foreigners to interfere. ”

The other three generals were lost in thought. After a while, Weng Yu slowly spoke: "Holy Lord, Chen has been in Zhejiang for a long time, and he also knows something about Zheng Zhilong. Although his fleet is huge, it is mainly smuggling, and it is mostly divided into several or even more than a dozen small fleets on weekdays, taking different routes and going to different destinations. Of course, even for small fleets, there are dozens of ships in each fleet, and other pirates are easily afraid to attack.

The minister was thinking that since Zheng Zhilong had not openly declared a rebellion until now, it showed that he was also afraid of the imperial court. Otherwise, he could have gathered all his ships, large and small, and landed in Guangdong, Fujian, or Zhejiang. Thinking that the official army was in a state of rebellion, Zheng Zhilong was not sure of a land war with the official army, so he still stood firmly on the island and waited to see how the situation changed, so he could sit back and reap the benefits. ”

"Old man, what's the use of saying this?" Huang Degong said anxiously, "Oh, if he doesn't beat us, we don't dare to beat him, is it just so wasteful?" ”

"That's not what I meant." Weng Yu patiently explained, "Holy Lord, the ministers speculate that if Zheng Zhilong doesn't want to launch a large-scale attack on the official army now, then he probably won't gather all his ships. Because although these ships can fight, their main purpose is to smuggle goods. If the boat is idle for one day, Zheng Zhilong will have one less day's income. I heard that Zheng Zhilong is the most calculating, is he willing to do this kind of loss-making business? ”

"That's right!" Qi Xianzong's eyes lit up, and he also analyzed, "Zheng Zhilong is a giant on the sea, and the imperial court is already helpless against him, why does he have to wade into this troubled water and rescue the traitor Zhu Yousong and the White Lotus Sect who have nothing to do with him?" I'm afraid it may not be that he has a speculative mentality and treats Zhu Yousong as a strange commodity. As the saying goes, the country is easy to change, but the nature is difficult to change, he thinks that he is strong at sea, and he doesn't want to help Zhu Yousong counterattack immediately, it is very likely that most of the armed merchant ships will continue to smuggle around, and Zhu Yousong can't help it. ”

"If that's the case," Li Yunhao immediately understood, "we can take advantage of Zheng Zhilong's unpreparedness and attack his smuggling fleet first!" ”

Yes! Zhu Youzhen immediately opened his mind, thinking of the World War II period in his previous life, when the British Navy had absolute sea control and could continuously transport all kinds of material resources to the mainland through sea shipping. And the strength of the German navy was much worse than that of the British army, and the frontal battle would definitely be completely annihilated.

Under these circumstances, in order to disrupt Britain's sea transportation lines, the German army resorted to "unlimited submarine warfare", that is, without prior warning, using submarines to arbitrarily attack merchant ships of various countries sailing to British waters. Because the German submarines were elusive and specialized in fighting merchant ships without defensive capabilities, they once beat Britain extremely embarrassed, and when they heard the color change of the submarines, the German submarines also won the reputation of "sea wolves".

The situation that Zhu Youzhen is facing now is quite similar to that of the German army. Zheng Zhilong's sea power was stronger than that of the North Sea Fleet, and he had a large merchant fleet. Although the North Sea Fleet is not a submarine, in this era, there is no radar and no telegraph, the fleet is on the vast sea, and once it is attacked, unless it can escape, no one else will know when and where it will be attacked by which forces.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen was very excited, and asked a few people if they knew if Zheng Zhilong's smuggling fleet had a fixed route.

In this regard, Admiral Zheng Sen of the North Sea Fleet was the most vocal, he was originally from the Zheng family, and before meeting Zhu Youzhen, he had been a sailor in Zheng Zhilong's fleet for several years. Although Zheng Sen is not here now, many of his old subordinates have served as officers in the North Sea Fleet, and they are also very familiar with Zheng Zhilong.

Zhu Youzhen immediately asked Li Yunhao to summon a few such officers and asked them to draw the route that Zheng Zhilong's fleet often took. Looking at this route map, Zhu Youzhen muttered to himself while pondering: "Zheng Zhilong originated in Japan, and his smuggling fleet went to Japan the most. Now the Dutch and Spaniards don't seem to go to Japan very often..."

Just thinking about it, Li Yunhao interjected: "It is not only Zheng Zhilong who goes to Japan to smuggle, but also other pirates, the most powerful of which is called Li Dan. It is said that Zheng Zhilong was also attached to Li Dan in his early years, and later Zheng Zhilong's wings gradually increased, so he and Li Dan tore their faces, and the two families were on the same page. Zheng Zhilong also wanted to eliminate Li Dan, but Li Dan had a bad relationship with Shimazu Tadashi, the lord of the Japanese Satsuma Domain, and Zheng Zhilong did not want to offend the Satsuma Domain, so he did not have a fire and Li Dan. ”

"Li Dan... Satsuma Domain... Zheng Zhilong..."

Zhu Youzhen silently recited these names repeatedly, and suddenly a flash of inspiration occurred in his mind, and he laughed and said: "As the saying goes, thieves eat more and more thieves, the more fat they get, they are all thieves, so let's join in the fun!" ”