Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 175
On the South China Sea, the power of the Francois is only slightly inferior to that of the Dutch. After all, Portugal, which was under the Spanish Union, has gradually declined on the sea in the middle of the seventeenth century, and ushered in the Netherlands and England. However, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse, and its ability is not comparable to that of the four surnamed pirates.

If in the vast sea, the pirates of the four surnames are not afraid of the Fulang machine.They criss-cross the sea, whether it is Japan, North Korea, or the merchant ships of the Netherlands and Frangji, they have all been looted by them, but what they are facing at this time is not a few Frangji merchant ships, but the Frangji people in the Far East. The old nest is Macau, which the Dutch failed to capture.

"Damn it, he hid in Macau, damn it. How could the Folangji let the grain ship from Guangdong enter the port casually?" Seeing the grain ship sailing into Macau, the expressions of the four pirates couldn't help but change. Under Xu Guixiang's reminder, Zheng Tingqiu had to stop the fleet first.

"Master Zheng, what should we do now?" Xu Xianggui and others asked.

Hearing this, Zheng Tingqiu felt troubled on his face. They were pirates, the imperial court, the Dutch, and the Francois, and they all wanted to get rid of them as soon as possible.Naturally, he didn't dare to order the fleet to chase into the port of Macau, so he could only say unwillingly: "What else can we do, stay here first, as long as we don't let the grain ship go to Qiongzhou, we will be doing a great job. Besides, Fran Robots trading in the South China Sea may not offend us. After daybreak, a certain person will send people into Hong Kong to negotiate. These western barbarians value profit and have no benefit. They will not protect the grain ships in Guangdong. As long as we promise not to They may drive these grain ships out of the port."

"That's the only way to go now!" The other three nodded after hearing this.

The four surnamed pirates were not big pirates like Liu Xiang. They didn't dare to attack Macau, but they couldn't retreat, so they could only let the fleet cruise in the waters outside Macau and wait for the dawn.

The east bank of the Pearl River Estuary was originally under the rule of Dongguan, but during the Wanli period, Dongguan was expanded to guard thousands of households, and Dongguan County was divided into Xin'an County, and the county government was established in Nantou, and the large area of ​​land from the south to the sea was brought under the rule of Xin'an.

At this time, in the dark night, thousands of troops and two to three hundred small fishing boats were hiding on the coast of Xin'an County.

"You can't make a mistake! This island is only five miles away from the shore, and Zheng Zhibao will set up his lair here?" Wang Yan looked at the complete outline of the outlying island in the dark night, and asked with some anxiety in his heart.

"Duke, don't worry!" Sailor general Yu Fangqi clasped his fists and explained, "The last general saw the person who sent the letter go to the island with his own eyes. There will be absolutely no mistakes."

Wang Yan nodded after receiving an affirmative answer, "Very well, the city of Guangzhou has been blocked by Dai Zhifan, and there will be no more news. General Shi's fleet has also left the port. As long as the governor succeeds in raiding the outlying islands, Guangdong will It depends on the battle!"

"Report to the Duke!" While Wang Yan was talking with others, a small boat suddenly approached the shore. A sailor sentry, immediately capsized the boat, ran to Wang Yan and said: "More than two hundred boats The thief ship has already set out to sea, and is heading west to chase the grain ship."

Hearing this, Wang Yan was overjoyed. This island was undoubtedly Zheng Zhibao's lair. He couldn't help pulling out his sword from his waist, and said loudly to all the generals around him: "The bandits use Nakamoto's plan to divide their divisions and go west. Unprepared is the time for you to make meritorious deeds."

"I would like to listen to the orders of the Duke and General!" Liu Shun and other dozens of generals clasped their fists together to salute, and their armor clattered together.

Seeing this, Wang Yan looked around the crowd solemnly, and issued an order: "Three thousand elites from the Zhongwu Camp, all board the boat. After a quarter of an hour, we will go straight to the outlying islands. Those who capture Zheng Zhibao alive will be rewarded with a thousand taels of silver!"

"No!" All the generals and colonels responded solemnly.

After a month of training by Shi Lang, and the addition of a hundred Frang machine guns, the Yuedi navy has improved its combat power, but if it confronts the Zheng family, it will definitely not be an opponent.

Because the sailors and gunners that the navy relies on most can not be trained in just one month, it must be a long process of accumulation.

The reason why the Xiyi naval battle is so powerful is the result of nearly a hundred years of accumulation since the sixteenth century and the expansion of the sea.

Wang Yan brought nearly 100 warships into Guangzhou, plus more than 400 warships from the Guangdong Navy, he has a total of [-] warships, and Zheng Zhibao also has more than [-] warships near outlying islands , more than half of them are owned by the pirates of the four surnames, and the rest are the elite navy brought by Zheng Zhibao from Fujian.

With six hundred versus four hundred, although Wang Yan had the advantage in numbers, he might not be Zheng Zhibao's opponent in a real fight, so he first asked the sailor Qianhu He Yuqing to lead [-] warships, pretending to be a grain transport ship to take advantage of it. Go to sea at night, and pass the news to Zheng Zhibao through the mouth of the Guangdong maritime merchants, so that he can divide his troops to rob the grain ship, and Wang Yan can determine the location of Zheng Zhibao's lair and destroy them one by one.

At this time, the sky had entered midnight, and there were only a few sparse lights left on the entire outlying island. Wang Yan led three thousand elite soldiers, and drove a fishing boat from the east island closest to the coast. , The armor, knives, and swords of three thousand elite soldiers gleamed coldly.

The east coast of the outlying island is smooth, the south and west coasts face the sea, and only the north faces the Pearl River Estuary, which has a natural harbor for boats to moor. Therefore, the cottage that Zheng Zhibao built on the outlying island is also on the north side, just connected to the harbor.

If the island is too close to the coast, it is not suitable for a pirate base, but although Zheng Zhibao pretended to be a pirate and attacked ships in Guangdong everywhere, he really didn't think he was a pirate, so there was no need to hide from Wang Yan.

In his opinion, Wang Yan was blocked by him at the mouth of the Pearl River and dared not come out, so why would he find a remote island and hide himself?So Zheng Zhibao unscrupulously chose outlying islands, because he was not afraid of Wang Yan at all.

At this time, Wang Yan and [-] elite troops landed on the shore. He observed the terrain of the outlying island, and then decided to divide his troops into two groups. On the one hand, he ordered Liu Shun to lead two hundred elite soldiers to climb up the island and raid the pirate cottage in the north of the outlying island. Then he led his soldiers along the coast, detoured to the north, and inserted directly between the cottage and the harbor to prevent the pirates from boarding and escaping. As for the pirate ships in the harbor, Shi Lang came to deal with them.

In the middle of the night, after the pirates of the four surnames took their boats out to sea, the entire cottage and harbor gradually quieted down, leaving only a few oil lamps on in the middle of the cottage, where Zheng Zhibao lived.

The three Dutch women were guarded by two guards in a corner of the room, daring not to resist.

In the back room, in order to have a good time tonight, Zheng Zhibao decided to take a hot bath first to relieve his fatigue, and then win all battles.

He took off his clothes, revealing his loose body, and soaked in the water comfortably, but after a while, he felt a little less interesting, and then loudly asked his subordinates to drive three Dutch women in to wash with him.

Looking at the obviously more proud body of the Dutch woman, Zheng Zhibao, who originally only wanted to scrub, reacted immediately. Just as he was about to go straight to the battle, the whole mountain fortress suddenly shook, followed by voices and shouts all over the sky Sounds sounded from everywhere.

For a moment, Zheng Zhibao, who was about to make a move, froze there, and the huge thing that had just raised its head under him was frightened instantly, and it shrunk tenfold at an astonishing speed, and finally turned into an earthworm.

(End of this chapter)