East Factory Governor

Chapter 722 The Great Ming Navy
Qin Shuhuai's trip to the south is to reorganize the Fujian Navy, control the outlets of Daming and even Southeast Asia, and escort the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty to go to sea.

Today, the ocean trade in the entire Far East is basically controlled by three forces.

One is the well-known Zheng Zhilong, the father of Zheng Chenggong, the national hero who recovered Taiwan; the other is Zheng Zhilong's old rival and former brother Liu Xiang, and the third is the Dutch who founded the East India Company.

Well, to put it bluntly, they are actually pirates.

Chongzhen four years, that is, 1631.

Qin Shuhuai clearly remembered that the world in this year was still in a crazy era that had a profound impact on mankind.

The age of great sailing!
In Europe, warships from countless countries are cruising the oceans all over the world. They are eager to discover new continents, new colonies, and new trade routes.

Of course, on the vast sea, there are also a large number of private or pirates recognized by the royal families of various countries, like a group of hungry sharks, looking for prey everywhere to achieve their legends.

All over the world, warships are being built, and new worlds are being discovered and conquered!

However, Daming, which used to have the world's largest fleet and once showed off its might all over the world, has gradually declined since Renzong and Xuanzong, and now it almost exists in name only.

At present, there are only a few broken ships left by the imperial court. I am afraid that they will be disgusted if they are used for transportation, let alone let them go to war.

However, although the navy of the imperial court is useless, a very contradictory fact is that the power of the Ming Dynasty in the Far East is still tyrannical, not to mention the Portuguese, Spaniards, Japanese, and even the Dutch who were the strongest in the Far East at that time All have to be careful.

why?

It is precisely because of the existence of Zheng Zhilong, Liu Xiang and other great Ming pirates.

The imperial court is not strong, but these private pirates are very powerful!
For example, Zheng Zhilong had more than 700 ships (some merchant ships, most of which were warships) as early as in the reign of Emperor Apocalypse. Based on our base in Hong Kong, Taiwan, they ran rampant in the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, and even the entire Far East.At first, they robbed passing merchant ships, but later they directly attacked ports in East Asia and Southeast Asia, and robbed them as soon as they landed.

However, this guy also has some chivalrous plots. He usually only robs the rich. In awe of the government.

How strong is the combat effectiveness of Zheng Zhilong's fleet?
Let's put it this way, the Fujian Navy in the late Ming Dynasty was almost wiped out by him.The Dutch of the East India Company also fought several battles with him, and almost lost every game.

According to the historical process, in another two years, Zheng Zhilong and the Dutch fleet of the East India Company will have a big battle in Kinmen. Let them go.

The Dutch, who were known as sea coachmen, were all persuaded, and the caravans and fleets of other countries were naturally also persuaded.

After that, Zheng Zhilong will become the lord of southern Fujian and the sole overlord of South China and East China. Not to mention the Dutch, merchant ships from all over the world will have to pay protection fees when passing through his waters. Back and forth.

At its peak, Zheng Zhilong had 20 troops and [-] warships. Think about how terrifying a sea force that is?

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

Of course, this is all for later. The current Zheng Zhilong is only one of the three major forces in the southern waters of China.

Qin Shuhuai went south this time to find Zheng Zhilong.

If Ming's fleet wants to sail around the world, it is impossible without a powerful fleet.

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

In addition, a powerful fleet is also needed to recapture the occupied Treasure Island from the Dutch and Spaniards.

And Zheng Zhilong has ready-made ones.

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

The downside is that Zheng Zhilong didn't take the court seriously. He surrendered to the court just so he could go back to his hometown. At most, he just stopped fighting with Daming. It doesn't matter.

Now he has built a mansion covering an area of ​​more than 120 mu in his hometown in Quanzhou, and he has used Anping, Quanzhou as a stronghold for supporting troops. He has [-] soldiers and more than [-] warships under his command. In front of the guerrilla general, you have to look at his face.

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

As for whether it can be done?
Qin Shuhuai thought that he was already very good at seizing power.

If he was at sea, or in Taiwan, he might not be caught, but who let him be in Quanzhou?
However, Zheng Zhilong is a very special person, and it is definitely not okay to be too rough with him. You must know that he came back after being recruited by the imperial court, and he has also helped the imperial court maintain the peace in East China and South China in the past few years. Doesn't he show that the court did not believe what it said?After that, who will listen to the imperial court's call for peace?

In addition, it's easy to knock down Zheng Zhilong alone, but aren't all his warships parked at the port waiting for you to take over, if you knock down or even kill him simply and rudely, won't all his men run away with the ship?No matter how good his Qin Shuhuai's lightness kung fu was, he could step on the waves and get those boats back one by one?
So in the middle, it is necessary to plan some means.

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

Meng Wei, Meng Hu, Zhang Xiao, Lai San'er, Li Dingguo and others had all gone to the west, and now he was really like a loner. Not only did he have no one to talk to, he didn't even have two people to talk to.

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

Of course, his trip to Fujian was justifiable, and he ran over suddenly, which firstly caused people to be alert, and secondly, it was inconvenient to do many things.

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

In addition, he gave a memorial to Chongzhen again, told Chongzhen his thoughts, and then asked him to write two imperial edicts and send them to the prefect of Jinan for temporary storage, and he would pick them up in person at that time.As for the content of the imperial decree, he also hinted that although the final ending was "whether it is appropriate or not, I respectfully invite the emperor to judge", but this was just to give Chongzhen the necessary respect.

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

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

These two thousand martial arts allied forces can be of great use.

From JYG to Jinan Mansion, there is a journey of four to five thousand miles. According to Qin Shuhuai, it is really tiring.

Fortunately, he is quite big-hearted. Along the way, he visited the local customs and tasted delicacies from all over the world. He felt at ease as if he had traveled to China during the Ming Dynasty.

In short, it took him a whole month to bring 2000 people from JYG to Jinan Prefecture.

At this time, it is already the end of August, which is a crisp autumn.

(End of this chapter)