Since Zheng Zhilong defeated the Dutch East India Company fleet and Liu Xiang's fleet entrenched in the Southeast China Sea in the fifth and eighth years of Chongzhen, Zheng Zhilong became the largest maritime armed force in the Southeast China Sea.
Now Zheng Zhilong has become the lord of southern Fujian and the overlord of the sea. He controls the sea routes and collects the docking fees of merchant ships from various countries. All ships passing in the Southeast China Sea must pay him a toll of three thousand taels per large ship. If not,
Anyone who pays tolls and wants to pass through the southeast coast cannot escape the fate of being robbed.
Zheng Zhilong quickly amassed a large amount of money by collecting tolls from ships. His annual income reached millions of taels of silver, which made him as wealthy as any country. And his trading scope also extended to all parts of East and Southeast Asia, such as Datong.
Ni, Wani, Champa, Luzon, Jingang, Beikang, Taiyuan, Hirado, Nagasaki, Bombay, Banten, Old Port, Batavia, Malacca, Cambodia, Siam and other places are his
At its most powerful, he owned more than a thousand large and small ships and nearly 100,000 sailors, becoming a veritable maritime overlord in the ocean world of East China and South China.
Since he had such a strong maritime power, Zheng Zhilong naturally gradually developed a self-centered temperament. He regarded the Southeast China Sea as his own territory and would never allow others to interfere with it. After many years of raids by him, the waters of the East China Sea and the South China Sea had long been
There was no force that could compete with him. But now he found that a fleet suddenly appeared. Although the strength of this fleet was still very weak, and although this fleet was under the banner of the Ming Fleet, it still aroused Zheng Zhilong's anger.
Be vigilant, and he will never allow any maritime force that can threaten him to exist, even if this force is currently only in its embryonic form.
Thinking of this, Zheng Zhilong pretended to be generous and said: "It would be a good thing if Qingzhou could have more naval forces, but he went too far by besieging merchants in Hangzhou to collect taxes at will. The imperial court did not have such rules. Besides, these
The merchants have all paid money to us, so it's not good if we don't pay attention. So, fourth brother, please take the time to go to Qingzhou and tell the man named Pang to calm down and not to overstep the limit.
"
Zheng Zhibao grinned and said, "Brother, we should have done this a long time ago. If that person named Pang is ignorant, we will send them all to feed the Sea Dragon King."
"Be presumptuous and don't talk nonsense." Zheng Zhilong feigned anger and reprimanded: "Although General Pang is far away in Qingzhou, he is also an official of my court. You must not be unreasonable!"
"Yes, brother." Zheng Zhibao said with a big smile: "I will definitely have a good talk with that General Pang."
"Hahaha..." Everyone burst into laughter, and some people simply joked: "Fourth Leader, I heard that the general named Pang defeated the Tatars with only thousands of troops.
We have an army of tens of thousands, so be careful when you go here."
"Go, go, go!" Zheng Zhibao glared at these subordinates and said with a smile: "If he is really that good, Fourth Master, I will come back from swimming in Shandong."
"Hahaha..." Everyone started laughing evilly at the top of their lungs.
At this time, Zheng Sen, who had been smiling at his uncles spanking, stood up with a smile, cupped his hands to Zheng Zhilong and said, "Dad, I also want to go to Qingzhou with my fourth uncle. What do you think?"
"Oh? Sen'er, you also want to go to Qingzhou?" Zheng Zhilong looked at his favorite son with a smile, a kind smile on his face.
"Yes, daddy, I want to see what the great fortune ship that once shocked the countries in Southeast Asia looks like." Zheng Sen's eyes showed a trace of yearning.
Zheng Zhilong thought for a while and nodded in agreement, "Okay then, you and your fourth uncle can go together, but remember not to cause trouble. After all, it is not our territory, and it is not easy for your father to come forward if anything happens. But you must also remember
Stay, don't let our prestige fall."
Zheng Sen and Zheng Zhibao stood up at the same time and bowed to Zheng Zhilong and said, "Yes, my little brother (younger brother) should remember daddy (eldest brother)'s teachings."
Just when Zheng Zhilong was about to reach out to Qingzhou, three huge warships were cruising on the sea in the southeast of Qingzhou. This was a huge warship of 1,200 tons. It had three floors, and the bottom floor could
It can carry people and cargo. The middle and top ones are the gun emplacements and command rooms. Next to these three large sailing ships, there are thirty much smaller but extremely fast cruisers guarding the surroundings.
This Spanish galleon is a large three-masted sailing ship. It has a towering bow and stern deck and can carry sixty cannons. Although its speed is not very fast, it has good suitability for long-distance sea voyages.
Navigation ability, and good protection.
Limited by the production of tungsten ore and the lack of sailors, Pang Gang has only produced three sailing ships of this type so far, just to equip these three large sailing ships and thirty thirty fast frigates with enough power.
Sailors almost drove Pang Gang to death. You must know that the thirty-three new ships require a full number of four to five thousand sailors, and Pang Gang only has more than a thousand sailors at his disposal. In order to
To get enough sailors, Pang Gang had to send people to Hangzhou, Suzhou and other places to poach them, and posted notices everywhere in Qingzhou and other places to recruit sailors. It took him more than half a month to get enough sailors, and then there was intense training.
.
On a large sailboat in the middle, Tu Hai, the new commander of the Qingzhou Navy, was directing the sailors to conduct up and down sail training. Dozens of strong sailors were shouting slogans and pulling hard on the thick cables soaked in tung oil. The huge
The sails rise and fall with the efforts of the sailors.
On the gun position in the middle of the deck, more than two hundred gunners are also busy and conducting loading and firing training. In front of each gun, there is a gunner who is holding a heavy iron pellet and repeatedly feeding the iron pellet into the gun chamber.
Action. This is a twelve-pound gun (the so-called poundage system is a musket with an even number of equal spheres made from one pound of pure lead (454 grams), which can just allow a small ball to pass through the barrel, that is, with a small
The projectile (named after the number of balls) weighs 5.44 kilograms. It does not look very heavy, but after doing dozens of actions in a row, even the strong physique of the specially selected gunner can't help but feel tired.
He was sweating profusely. Even so, under the stern gaze of the gunner behind him, none of the gunners dared to be lazy and still gritted their teeth and trained. Although the gunner was very tired, he did not dare to complain at all.
Because there were six twenty-four-pound guns on the upper deck, the training of the gunners who carried projectiles weighing dozens of kilograms was even more intense.
Next to Tu Hai stood North Korean Navy Commander Li Xiaojun, who served as an instructor. Li Xiaojun's responsibility was to supervise the effectiveness of their training.
Li Xiaojun looked at the ship that was sailing smoothly, with a look of satisfaction on his face. After more than half a month of training, the sailors were already able to operate it properly. Although it was still just in shape, it was at least a good start.
.
Li Xiaojun watched Qingzhou's navy develop step by step from scratch to what it is today. Li Xiaojun also went from being shocked, surprised, jealous to now that he has begun to become numb to it all.
Although he was still confused as to why the magical General Pang was able to acquire such a huge and numerous ship so quietly, he was smart enough not to inquire or ask any more. Since the last time he was greedy for ink, the sailor
After Pang Gang discovered that he had used their training ammunition to drill the sailors he had brought, Pang Gang did not scold him, but calmly ordered to suspend their salaries for two months. This frightened Li Xiaojun.
It's not serious, so he rushed over and confessed to Pang Gang.
Smelling the slightly salty sea breeze blowing past him, Tu Hai, who was very excited, smiled and said to Li Xiaojun: "Master Li, as long as we have these ships, the sea is big, but we can still ride on it, right?"
Li Xiaojun shook his head and said: "Master Tu, don't be too optimistic. Although our ships are large and have good performance, they are too few in number, and the sailors are all newly recruited. When encountering a small group of pirates,
It's enough to handle it, but it would be dangerous if it encounters a large group of pirates."
"Oh, a large group of pirates? How big can they be?" But Tu Hai didn't believe it, thinking that the North Korean naval commander was scaring him, and curled his lips at the side.
"You'll have to wait until you meet him to find out." Li Xiaojun saw that Tu Hai didn't believe it, so he didn't say anything. He just curled his lips and stopped talking.
While Tu Hai was leading dozens of new warships to train on the sea, more than 20 ships of various sizes arrived on the sea east of Lingshan Guard Sea Fort. The masts of these ships were all hung
There is a big flag with the word "Zheng" in it.
Standing on the largest three-masted ship were two thin men, one older and one younger. They were Zheng Zhibao and Zheng Sen who had come all the way from Quanzhou, Fujian. This time they were going
They didn't come empty-handed. They came with more than twenty warships just to intimidate General Pang from Qingzhou.
When the fleet arrived twenty miles away from the port of Wanghai Fort, it was spotted by the watch guard holding a telescope. The guard immediately rang the bronze bell hanging beside him without hesitation.
When the loud bell rang in the port, all the people working on the dock, whether sailors or craftsmen, immediately put down what they were doing and ran towards the nearest hiding spot. This is also required in daily training.
The ten Dafu ships that were still docked at the pier also rang their summoning bells. The sailors who were still wandering up the pier immediately boarded the ship as quickly as possible. In less than a quarter of an hour, the huge sails had slowed down.
Slowly rising, the sailors untied the cables and lifted the anchors. Under the orders of their respective captains, the ten Dafu ships slowly left the dock and greeted the uninvited guests ahead.