Haihan's technical reserves in shipbuilding and navigation are indeed far ahead of this era, but these black technologies are all theoretical advantages, and it still takes a lot of time and practice to build the sea ships on the drawings from scratch and form a large-scale shipbuilding industry. Up to now, Haihan has three or four shipyards, but the largest shipbuilding base is still the Shengli Port Shipyard in Sanya, where almost all military ships are built.

The shipbuilding is unlikely to rely on continuous labor to expand the scale of production like road construction and mining, and the number of professional shipwrights that can be collected is limited, so it is necessary to spend time to slowly train skilled workers to expand the scale of production, which is probably the biggest obstacle on the road to the development of Haihan's shipbuilding industry.

Of course, Shi Diwen couldn't talk about these deep-seated problems to Xu Yuzhuo, so he could only comfort him: "Since we have signed an agreement with you, we should be able to deliver the ship on time, and you only need to wait another year and a half, and you will be able to have a fleet that can really fight at sea." ”

Xu Yuchu smiled bitterly: "Students can wait, but now Fujian's shape can't wait! As soon as the sea trade between Zhangquan and Quanzhou to the northeast stopped, many people's interests were greatly affected because of this, and my father, as the chief soldier of Fujian, was also under great pressure. ”

After the route from the coast of Fujian to Ryukyu and Japan was blocked by Shibashi, the Fujian Ming army wanted to reopen the sea trade route, either by military means to destroy Shibazhi, or with the other side to armistice and peace talks. The former approach was clearly not possible at this stage, and the latter became the only option. Shi Diwen can also feel from Xu Yuzhuo's words that Xu Xinsu's attempt to negotiate a truce with Shibazhi does not seem to be just his personal will.

War or peace, which choice can bring more benefits, on this issue Fujian side and Haihan position is actually not consistent. Naturally, Haihan hoped that this war would be fought for a long time until Haihan had the strength to control the Taiwan Strait. Fujian's considerations are more realistic, with economic interests being the primary consideration.

From an objective point of view, there is nothing wrong with the choice made by the Fujian military, and continuing to fight will not do any practical benefit to both warring sides, and no one will be able to destroy anyone, and it will only increase casualties. On the contrary, a truce can also increase income, recuperate, and accumulate strength, so that it can defeat the opponent in one fell swoop in the next war.

However, this choice was unacceptable for Haihan, who needed the Fujian military to continue to fight with Shibazhi, constantly bleeding the other side so that it could not grow any further, so as to reduce the resistance to advance into the Taiwan Strait a year or two later. Of course, more importantly, what Haihan needs is the unconditional cooperation of the Fujian military, rather than purposefully concealing the movements, or even privately engaging in armistice and peace talks with Shibazhi.

The Fujian side probably also realized that its small actions did not succeed in evading the surveillance of the Haihan, so after the mission arrived in Zhangzhou this time, whether it was Xu Xinsu or Xu Yuzhuo, they did not deliberately deny the possibility of an armistice, but tried to use various ways to make the Haihan envoys understand that the choice of the Fujian side to make an armistice and peace talks was also out of helplessness and various pressures from the outside world, rather than a betrayal of the Haihan.

Shi Diwen shook his head and said, "You only see the losses caused by the battle with Eighteen Zhi now, but have you ever thought about how much benefit you will get if you persist in fighting, after the fall of Eighteen Zhi?"

"Mr. Shi, how long will it take to destroy the Eighteen Zhi? We spend hundreds of thousands of taels of silver on the war every year, at least more than a thousand casualties, and we have been fighting for more than three years, and now we are only turning the battlefield from the land back to the sea. Xu Yuzhuo also shook his head and argued: "Eighteen Zhi didn't say that they could be destroyed immediately, even if the benefits after destroying them were great, it would have no practical effect on the current situation in Fujian." ”

Shi Diwen said categorically: "At most two years, Eighteen Zhi will be destroyed!"

Xu Yu saw that he was so sure that he said, and couldn't help asking: "Could it be that the Haihan militia has the intention of making a move?"

Shi Diwen did not answer this question directly: "We still have a lot of things to do in the South China Sea, and it will take a year or two to adjust. When the time comes, we will choose to settle in the north. ”

"If Eighteen Zhi is still there at that time, it will definitely become a stumbling block for you!" Xu Yuzhuo suddenly understood.

Shi Diwen's statement made Xu Yuzhuo realize that Haihan's current arrangement for the Fujian military to fight with Shibazhi actually has deep meaning. Although Haihan wanted to destroy Shibazhi, for some reason, he could not spare his hands to send troops to Fujian to participate in the war. As for whether Shi Diwen is bragging, Xu Yu does not have such doubts, after all, he also knows the military strength of Haihan, and he can send troops to fight in Annan a year or two ago, and even attack Jiancheng, an army with this kind of cross-sea combat ability, it should not be too difficult to exterminate the pirates entrenched on the island. What's more, the warships owned by the Haihan Militia are already considered giants on the sea in Xu Yuzhuo's opinion.

Shi Diwen saw that Xu Yuzhuo had a thoughtful look on his face, so he struck while the iron was hot and continued: "Once the Eighteen Zhi are destroyed, the entire Fujian coast will be your Xu family who has the final say. We don't need to take advantage of you, we just need to take over the territory of Eighteen Zhi. ”

"Do you want Penghu and Dayuan Island?" Xu Yuzhuo immediately came back from his contemplation when he heard this.

Shi Diwen nodded and said, "These two places don't mean much to you, but we have the experience of developing islands, and we can completely turn the local area into another Sanya." At that time, the volume of trade between us will also multiply several times. ”

Shi Diwen kept silent about the military occupation, and only talked about the future trade prospects, also to avoid irritating the other side's sensitivity. The Xu family was the emperor of the soil in Fujian, and even if it was a partner like Haihan, they would definitely not want to let him have a permanent army in the Fujian seas. And the construction of a colony on the island of Taiwan, across the sea, is not so stimulating for the Xu family.

Xu Yuzhuo hesitated: "But there are still red-haired people on Dayuan Island......"

"Your trade with the red-haired people, we can all follow when the time comes. Shi Diwen immediately responded: "Believe me, you don't need business partners like them, and if you lose them, you won't have any loss." ”

"So you plan to exterminate Eighteen Zhi and drive away the red-haired people at the same time?" Xu Yuzhuo immediately came to his senses.

"That's not necessarily, if they are honest and obedient, it's not that they can't coexist peacefully. Shi Diwen didn't say anything, but he also knew that the Executive Committee probably couldn't tolerate the sand of the Netherlands in its eyes, and most of them would take military measures to drive the Dutch away when they occupied Taiwan.

"The students heard that the Dutch had built a fortified city in the southern part of Dayuan Island, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and that many artillery pieces had been erected. Xu Yuzhuo didn't fully believe in Shi Diwen's statement, the red-haired people were not bandits like Eighteen Zhi, their armament level was much higher, and they also had a large number of armed merchant ships, and their combat effectiveness was quite strong on land and sea. Even if the Haihan militia makes a move, it doesn't seem to be such an easy opponent to win.

"Geranza, I know. Shi Di replied with confidence: "In front of the Haihan militia, there is no strong city that is not strong, and the city we want to capture will definitely be able to take it." ”

Shi Diwen said and raised his hand to the "Wei Signal" battleship parked on the dock: "In your opinion, this ship should already be considered a very strong warship, right?"

Xu Yuzhuo nodded without hesitation, this kind of warship equipped with dozens of cannons, Fujian can't build it at all, if he encounters such an opponent at sea, Xu Yuzhuo's first reaction is to immediately turn around and run away, the faster he runs, the better. Although the red-haired people on Dayuan Island also have a lot of armed sailboats, they are really a bit small compared to this kind of gunboat.

Shi Diwen continued: "In two years, there will probably be five or six more warships of this level that will be put into service, and it is likely that larger warships have already been built on the slipway. With the disposition of the forces of the red-haired people on Dayuan Island, how can they fight us? By the time their reinforcements have come all the way from Batavia, the land in the city of Geranza has already been turned over and ploughed several times by our shells!"

Shi Diwen's words were full of confidence, and Xu Yuzhuo was also shocked when he heard it. He also knew that the Haihan people were extremely ambitious, but when he really heard a Haihan officer express his ambition so unabashedly, it still caused him a lot of shock.

Less than a decade ago, the Fujian Ming army and the Dutch had a head-to-head confrontation in Penghu. In the second year of the Apocalypse, the fleet of the Dutch East India Company occupied Penghu and blocked the mouth of Zhangzhou. Nan Juyi, the governor of Fujian at that time, also recruited Zheng Zhilong to deal with the Dutch, but the effect was not ideal.

At the end of the third year of the Apocalypse, Nan Juyi directly imprisoned the Dutch delegation at the armistice and peace talks banquet in Xiamen, and took the opportunity to burn the Dutch warship docked on Xiamen Island. In February of the fourth year of the Apocalypse, Nan Juyi personally went to Kinmen Island to supervise the battle, and the Ming army dispatched more than 200 ships and more than 10,000 soldiers to cross the sea to attack the Dutch's stronghold in Penghu.

At that time, Yu Zhigao, the general army of Fujian, garrisoned Wang Mengxiong, and led his troops to land on Baisha Island, but because of the inferiority of weapons and combat methods, he was not able to capture the stronghold of the Dutch. In July, Nanjuyi sent a musket unit to reinforce it, and although some progress was made on the battlefield, it entered a stalemate in the back. In August, the Ming army again divided into three lines and surrounded the stronghold of the Dutch.

The battle lasted until September, and it took the Ming army seven months and 170,000 taels of military expenditure before finally capturing Penghu. At that time, the Dutch garrison Gao Wenlu was captured alive by the Ming army, and the other remnants of the defeated army fled to southern Taiwan. After Gao Wenlu was escorted to Beijing to behead the public, Ming Xizong also "sacrificed to the suburban temple, the royal gate was captured, and Gao Wenlu was equal to the West Market, and the head was passed on to all sides, in order to show the world".

The battle was won, but the Ming army fought for seven months with more than ten times the strength of the Dutch to drive the Dutch away from Penghu, and the comparison of the strength of the two sides can also be seen. Far from being boosted by the war, the self-confidence of the Ming army became more fearful of the Dutch. Of course, Xu Yuzhuo did not participate in the war that year, but he was no stranger to the battle process at that time, in his opinion, the combat power of the red-haired people and the Haihan people was relatively close, and the Haihan people may still have a slight advantage in terms of weapon performance. But Shi Diwen's statement is completely that the Haihan militia wants to crush the red-haired people, which does make Xu Yuzhuo a little unbelievable.

Shi Diwen saw Xu Yuzhuo's impressive expression, and roughly guessed what he was thinking, and smiled: "How much do you know about the red-haired people?"

"The students only know that they are from the extreme west, tens of thousands of miles away from the Ming Dynasty......" Xu Yuzhuo didn't know much about this, and he couldn't continue after saying two sentences.

"I'll tell you the details of these red-haired people!" Shi Diwen interrupted him with a smile: "It just so happens that I have been to their country before. ”

"Mr. Shi has been to such a distant place?" Xu Yuzhuo was shocked by Shi Diwen's words again.

Two hundred years ago, Zheng He, the eunuch of the Three Treasures, went to the West and set off from Fujian, but Zheng He went to the farthest place, and it is said that it is still quite far away from the country of the Western Fanren. Xu Yuzhuo has lived for more than 30 years, and he has never heard of anyone ever going to the country of the Western Fan.

Shi Diwen nodded and said: "We call the red-haired people the Dutch, they are a special ethnic group formed by the mixing of many races on the western continent, and it has only been a few decades since the establishment of the country. I'll do the math...... The time when they founded the country was about the eighth year of Wanli! And this country is not very big, if you compare it with Fujian, it is only about one-third of the size of Fujian, not to mention the population, which is far from the Ming Dynasty. ”

"Listen to Mr. Shi say this, this red hair...... No, this Dutch country is just a small country!" Xu Yuzhuo heard these introductions for the first time, and he felt new at the moment.

"Small is small, but this country is not weak. Shi Diwen continued: "In this world, the Netherlands can be regarded as the overlord of the sea, and their strength at sea far exceeds that of the current Ming Dynasty. ”

"How is this possible!" Xu Yuzhuo felt a little incredulous.

"I'll give you an example, and you'll understand. The Dutch in Batavia and Oyuan were not their regular army, but were merely private armies under a joint firm organized by Dutch merchants. Shi Diwen said: "This is like the armed escort team responsible for maritime escort under the name of 'Qiong Lianfa', but the scale of their business is much larger than that of 'Qiong Lianfa'." ”