Qin Shuhuai went south to reorganize the Fujian naval division, control the access to the sea in Daming and even Southeast Asia, and escort the Ming merchant ships to sea.

Today, the maritime trade of the entire Far East is basically controlled by three powers.

The first is the famous Zheng Zhilong, that is, the father of Zheng Chenggong, the national hero who recovered Taiwan, the second is Zheng Zhilong's old rival and former brother Liu Xiang, and the third is the Dutchman who founded the East India Company.

Well, to put it bluntly, they're all pirates.

In the fourth year of Chongzhen, that is, in 1631.

Qin Shuhuai clearly remembers that the world in this year is still in an era of madness and far-reaching impact on mankind.

The Age of Discovery!

In Europe, warships of countless nations are cruising the seas around the world, eager to discover new continents, new colonies, and new trade routes.

Of course, in the vast expanse of the sea, there are also a large number of private or royally sanctioned pirates, like a group of hungry sharks, looking for prey to hunt and achieve their legends.

All over the world, they are building warships, they are discovering and conquering new worlds!

However, the Ming Dynasty, which once had the world's first fleet and once flaunted its might all over the world, has declined step by step since Renzong and Xuanzong, and now it almost exists in name only.

At present, the few broken ships left in the imperial court are afraid that it will be disgusting to use them for transportation, let alone let them go to war.

However, although the imperial court's sailors were useless, a very paradoxical fact is that the power of the Ming Dynasty in the Far East was still strong, not to mention the Portuguese, Spaniards, Japanese people, and even the Dutch, who were the strongest in the Far East at that time, had to be careful.

Why?

It is precisely because of the existence of Zheng Zhilong and Liu Xiang that these Ming pirates.

The court is not powerful, these folk pirates can be very powerful!

For example, Zheng Zhilong, as early as the Apocalypse, had more than 700 ships (some merchant ships, most of them warships), using our base in Taiwan's Longgang to run rampant in the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, and even the entire Far East. At first, it was to rob passing merchant ships, and later it directly attacked the ports of East Asia and Southeast Asia, and robbed them when they landed.

However, this guy still has some chivalrous plots, generally only robbing the rich, not only does not rob the poor people, but even gives rice, flour, money and grain, but is also a master of robbing the rich and helping the poor, so that the people along the coast of Fujian have a much higher fear of him than the government.

How strong is the combat power of the fleet under Zheng Zhilong?

Let's put it this way, the Fujian Navy Division at the end of the Ming Dynasty was almost wiped out by him. The Dutch of the East India Company also fought several battles with him, and almost lost them all.

If according to the course of history, in two years, Zheng Zhilong and the Dutch fleet of the East India Company will have a big battle in Kinmen, after this war, the East India Company will completely admit its cowardice, and will take the initiative to pay protection money to Zheng Zhilong, begging Zheng Zhilong to let them go.

The Dutch, known as the coachmen of the sea, were instigated, and the caravans and fleets of other countries were naturally instigated.

And Zheng Zhilong will become the lord of southern Fujian and the only overlord of the South and East China oceans, not to mention the Dutch, the world's merchant ships passing through his waters have to pay protection fees, and the result of not paying is that your ship will not return.

At its peak, Zheng Zhilong had 200,000 troops and 3,000 warships.

So much so that his son Zheng Chenggong, who only used a small part of his family business, easily drove the Dutch away from Taiwan.

Of course, this is all an afterthought, and the current Zheng Zhilong is only one of the three major forces in the southern seas of China.

Qin Shuhuai went south this time to find Zheng Zhilong.

If the Ming fleet wants to travel all over the world, it is impossible without a strong fleet.

For the customs along the coast of Fujian to function properly, a strong fleet is also needed.

In addition, a strong fleet was needed to recapture the already occupied treasure island from the Dutch and Spaniards.

And Zheng Zhilong has ready-made ones in his hands.

On the positive side, just the year before last, Zheng Zhilong had been recruited by the imperial court and became a "dragon and tiger guerrilla general" in Fujian, and basically the entire coastal defense of southern Fujian was maintained by him alone.

On the downside, Zheng Zhilong didn't take the imperial court seriously, surrendering to the imperial court was just to be able to go back to his hometown to live, at most he just didn't fight with Daming, as for the affairs at sea, he could do whatever he wanted, and Daming couldn't control it.

Now he has built a mansion covering an area of more than 120 acres in his hometown in Quanzhou, and has taken Anping in Quanzhou as a stronghold for supporting troops and self-respect, with 30,000 soldiers and more than 1,000 warships under his command, and he is rich enough to rival the country.

Qin Shuhuai's purpose in going to Quanzhou to find Zheng Zhilong was very clear, that is, to take his fleet over and control it in the hands of the imperial court.

As for whether it can be done?

Qin Shuhuai believes that he is already very good at seizing power.

If he was at sea, or in Taiwan, he might not be able to catch him, but who let him be in Quanzhou?

However, Zheng Zhilong is a very special person, and it is definitely not okay to be too rude to him, you must know that he only came back after being recruited by the imperial court, and in the past few years, he has also helped the imperial court to maintain peace in East China and South China.

In addition, it is easy to bring down Zheng Zhilong alone, but his warships are not all parked in the harbor waiting for you to take over, if you simply and rudely knock him down or even kill him, his subordinates will not run away in the boat? No matter how good his Qin Shuhuai is, he can still step on the waves and get those ships back one by one?

Therefore, in the middle, it is necessary to plan some means.

Thinking of the plan, he felt that there were few people around him again.

Meng Wei, Meng Hu, Zhang Xiao, Lai San'er, Li Dingguo and others all went to the west, and now he really looks like a lonely man, not only has no one to discuss, but even two people who talk to relieve their boredom.

After thinking about it, he decided to call Li Jingting and Hua Shen to come over and accompany him to Fujian.

Of course, he went to Fujian in a justifiable manner, and ran over coldly, firstly, to arouse people's alarm, and secondly, it was inconvenient to do many things.

So that night, he repaired two letters, one to Li Jingting and one to Hua Shen, asking them to leave for Jinan Mansion to wait for him immediately after receiving the letter, and after everyone converged, they first went south from the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal to Hangzhou, and then from Hangzhou to Quanzhou.

In addition, he gave Chongzhen another Taoist recital, told Chongzhen his thoughts again, and then asked him to write two holy decrees and send them to the Jinan prefect for temporary storage, and he would personally pick them up at that time. As for the content of the holy decree, he also hinted - although the final ending is "whether it is appropriate or not, I respectfully ask the emperor to judge", but this is just to give Chongzhen the necessary respect.

After he got it, he rushed to Jinan Mansion the next day.

Passing through Lanzhou, he easily transferred two thousand martial arts coalition troops and set off with him.

These two thousand martial arts coalition troops can be of great use.

From Jiayuguan to Jinan Mansion, there is a distance of four or five thousand miles, according to Qin Shuhuai, it is really tired.

Fortunately, he still has a big heart, visiting the local customs along the way, tasting local food, and traveling through China during the Ming Dynasty, but also at ease.

In short, it took him a month to take 2,000 men and horses from Jiayuguan to Jinan Mansion.

At this time, it was already the end of August.