Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 434
After sailing for five days, the fleet arrived at the sea off Jinmen. Wang Yan stood at the bow of the ship, looking at the vast sea with flocks of seagulls circling on the sea.

Between the sea and the sky, several Ming army sentry ships and hundreds of fishing boats brave the wind and waves in the sea, and the sea breeze blows gently, which makes people feel refreshed. "Duke, that's Jin Island and Xia Island!" Yu Fangqi, the naval lieutenant who accompanied Wang Yan, pointed to two islands not connected to the land to the east of the fleet.

Wang Yan nodded. There are many islands and good ports along the coast of Fujian. When sailing along the coast, you will often see many isolated islands in the sea. Back then, when the sea was banned by the imperial court and Japanese pirates were rampant, these islands often became the lairs of Japanese pirates.

The fleet came all the way from Guangdong, and Wang Yan was amazed when he saw Nan'ao Island and Dongmen Island, but compared with the islands along the way, the Jinxia Islands in front of him are undoubtedly much larger, each of which is the size of a county.

At this time, Wang Yan couldn't help but think of Taiwan on the chart, that is, Yizhou in ancient times, which seemed to be opposite to Jinxia, ​​and on the chart, it was an island bigger than Qiongzhou.

If it was the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Taiwan would be equivalent to a medium-sized vassal state.

Kinmen Island and Xiamen Island are like two glutinous rice balls soaked in water, facing each other across a narrow strait from Bamin. On the opposite bank is Zhangzhou, where Li Chengdong and Tong Yangjia live heavily.

Because the Ming army was stationed in the west of Zhangzhou, they formed a pincer attack on Zhangzhou with Zheng Chenggong of Jinxia. Therefore, in order to deal with the flank attack of the Ming army, the Qing soldiers in Zhangzhou Prefecture were prepared to be besieged at any time. They not only strengthened the city walls of Zhangzhou, Tuntian defended itself, and also pulled iron locks on the Jiulong River and Xixi to prevent the Ming army's warships from sailing into the hinterland of Zhangzhou.

The two islands of Jinxia are located at the estuary of the Jiulong River and Xixi River. The sediment brought by the river slowly accumulates to form a big island.

Their area at this time is not as large as that of later generations, but the island not only has lakes, forests, but also arable land, as well as county towns, which can accommodate tens of thousands of people.

As the Qing soldiers occupied Bamin, the coastal islands became the bases of the anti-Qing rebels. The gentry and people who were unwilling to surrender fled to the islands. Jinxia, ​​where Zheng Chenggong was located, gathered more than [-] soldiers and civilians. .

As far as Jinxia and Xia are concerned, they certainly cannot support so many people, not to mention that Zheng Chenggong has to support the army, train troops and prepare for war.

Since retreating to Jinxia, ​​Zheng Chenggong began to manage this anti-Qing base with heart, reclaimed land, and built a huge wharf that could be used for smuggling trade.

When Wang Yan's fleet approached Xiamen, there was a sound of alarm bells on the island. The soldiers of the Zheng army in the brigade were running on the shore, and flags were waving at the fort built with sandbags.

"Duke, they asked which team we are from?" Yu Fangqi put down the binoculars and turned around.

"Reply with a semaphore, and say that the governor is here."

Wang Yanli waved his hand from the bow, and the flag bearer on the ship responded immediately. The Guangdong Navy was trained by Shi Lang, and Shi Lang was an officer of the Zheng family, so the two armies are basically the same in many respects.

After a while, it seemed that they saw the semaphore, and two warships quickly sailed out from Xiamen Island, leading the fleet into the harbor.

There is a lake in the island, and the mouth of the lake is connected to the sea. When there is a storm, the sea is rough, but the lake is calm and calm. It is a natural good harbor, and Zheng's warships gather in the lake.

As the fleet drove in, Wang Yan looked around and saw thousands of boats, large and small, moored in the lake. big ship.

Wang Yan got off the boat at the wharf at the mouth of the lake. Zheng Chenggong led a team of generals to wait on the wharf. When they saw Wang Yan coming ashore, they immediately greeted Wang Yan and saluted, "I pay my respects to the cabinet!"

After the imperial court moved to Guangzhou, in order to stabilize Fujian’s anti-Qing forces, Zheng Chenggong was given the title of admiral of Fujian’s military affairs. Wang Yan’s title of governor of Guangdong and Guangxi could not control Fujian. Zheng succeeded.

"Oki, stay safe~"

Wang Yan took his hand, shook it tightly a few times, then glanced at the generals who greeted him, and sighed: "The soldiers are stationed here, and tens of thousands of people are crowded on the island. It was really hard work."

The relationship between Zheng Chenggong and Wang Yan has always been good, and Wang Wei, his general, also fought side by side with Zheng Chenggong, with a deep friendship.

Since Wang Yan entered Guangdong, the two haven't seen each other for nearly two years. Now Wang Yan is well-known in China, and he is in the cabinet to pay homage to the prime minister. After experiencing many changes, Zheng Chenggong has also transformed from a Confucian scholar to a mature and stable general.

In fact, in some respects, Wang Yan and Zheng Chenggong are very similar. Apart from their close age, the two are actually in the Longwu court, and both maintain a certain degree of independence. The army's money is basically raised by itself, and there is a little shadow of a feudal town. .

The two hadn't seen each other for a long time. Hearing Wang Yan's words, Zheng Chenggong sighed in his heart, "Chenggong and the soldiers can gain a firm foothold in Jinxia, ​​thanks to Gebu's southward entry into Fujian, and Boluo's time in Yanping." A big battle gave Chenggong the opportunity to take back a batch of food and money from Quanzhou and Anping, otherwise the more than [-] soldiers and civilians would not be able to live on the land of Jinxia."

Fujian has many mountains and little land, and lacks food. The Zheng family has been relying on sea trade to earn money, and then buys food everywhere, but now there is not much food anywhere. Zheng Chenggong still has some money, but food is not easy to buy.

Wang Yan nodded. He also won the battle of Yanping miserably, and he also wanted to thank Zheng Chenggong for attacking Quanzhou at that time, which made Boluo finally withdraw his troops and stop fighting.

Wang Yan looked back at the pier again, and asked, "How many ships are there on the island?" "There are about [-] ships, mostly fishing boats and merchant ships. There are three big ships."

"Material" cannot be directly converted into the current metric ton calculation. Different ship types have different sizes of materials. Take Fuchuan as an example. Its light displacement is about 250 tons.
If it is a ship with official materials of 500 tons, it is about [-] tons.

Wang Yan has always been obsessed with the Dutch warship that Shi Lang told him. He came to Kinmen this time mainly to get the blueprints and craftsmen of Zheng's imitation Dutch ship from Zheng Chenggong. The big boat immediately raised his eyebrows and said: "I remember "Minhai's Words", Volume [-], the Xiyi boat is more than [-] feet long and several feet high. There are more than [-] big guns in each row, four or five iron bullets in the guns, weighing thirty to forty catties, and the boat meets the powder. The big boat that Chenggong said was two thousand materials, is this boat?"

Zheng Chenggong was taken aback for a moment, nodded and said: "It is an imitation of this ship, but the size and shape of the hull are similar, but the Xiyi ship has more than 30 cannons on each side of the ship, and the whole ship has more than 60 cannons. Half of them are eighteen-pound guns, and our guns are much worse than that."

As for the cannon, Wang Yan was not worried at all. The Song brothers had already set up a cannon casting workshop. Daming could cast the eighteen-pound cannon by himself, but Zheng Chenggong would definitely not be able to cast the cannon.

"Success, I came here this time mainly to deal with the Dutch with you. The imperial court wants to imitate the Dutch warship. You will lend me a big ship of two thousand materials, and I will take food and artillery. , exchange with you, what do you think of success?"

(Thanks to Yuedong Woxin for the monthly pass and the reward.)
(End of this chapter)