The monsoon was prevailing at the moment, and Zheng Zhilong did not think that Hongyi's warships would be able to reach Batavia smoothly, or that they would be blown to some nook and cranny of the sea by the monsoon.
However, the Crown Prince categorically said that Hongyi's warships, starting from Daguan, could reach Batavia in about fifty days and ask for help from the East India Company.
It actually took fifty-four days to arrive, but even if it took sixty days for the fish that slipped through the net to sail, it would be unbelievable in the eyes of the Zheng family's senior officials.
Zheng Zhilong could only take precautions. After all this time, it would take Hongyi's support fleet at least more than two months to reach the waters south of Dongfan.
For the Hongyi who went to Batavia for help, they had to sail no less than 5,000 kilometers against the wind to reach their destination.
The distance from Kinmen to the generals was less than 300 kilometers.
The distance that Hongyi needs to sail is twenty times that of Zheng's army, but the comparison of double strength is exactly the opposite!
Zheng Zhilong didn't believe that he had such a big advantage and couldn't win this small castle.
If the fortifications built by Hongyi on the island cannot be conquered in two months, then all the soldiers participating in the war should be thrown into the sea to feed the fish.
To fight the Hongyi, they must first prepare food and wages. Zheng Zhilong ordered Zheng Zhilan to mobilize one million taels of silver and 10,000 shi of military rations directly for shipment, and then marched to Penghu with the army.
This money is not a monthly salary, but a silver reward. If the army can capture the castle occupied by Hongyi in a short period of time, such as within ten days, Zheng Zhilong plans to distribute this money to the entire army.
In the whole world, except for a certain prince who had just become a wealthy man, only Zhen Haibo could spend huge sums of money and shouted the slogan "if you capture a high-ranking official, you will be rewarded with a million dollars in silver", which shows how wealthy he is.
Zheng Zhilong estimated that the castle contained a lot of treasures obtained by the Hongyi through trade or plunder, and with the ransom sent by Batavia, he would not be able to spend much money in the end, only five hundred thousand taels of silver at most.
After receiving Zheng Zhilong's order, the various squadrons of Zheng's army stationed in many ports along the coast of Fujian began to assemble on a large scale towards Kinmen.
In order to deceive others, especially the Dutch merchant ships anchored in Kinmen, Zheng Zhilong deliberately declared that under the inspiration of His Highness the Crown Prince, as Zhenhai Bo, he would gather troops and horses to help the imperial court.
The officers and soldiers of his unit cooperated with the new governor of western Liaoning, Wang Zaijin, to advance by sea and land in the Northern Expedition to recover the Liaodong area occupied by the Eastern invaders. He sent 50,000 troops and set off soon.
Beforehand, the locals knew about the former "Pirate King"'s peeing habits, so they would naturally not believe such a poor excuse.
If a man does not serve himself, he will be punished by heaven and earth. This sentence is just right for Zheng Zhilong.
But now Zheng Zhilong has been honored as "Zhenhai Bo", and his eldest son Zheng Sen is about to go to Beijing to study and become a disciple of the prince. This move is reasonable and reasonable.
The Dutch who were engaged in business dealings in Kinmen were skeptical of Zheng Zhilong's words, but the annual trade volume between the two parties was very huge, and they could not believe that Zheng Zhilong would unilaterally break the contract at this time.
Due to the high degree of secrecy, the Dutch were unable to get any information from General Zheng's mouth. They could only temporarily believe that Zheng Zhilong was bribed by the Ming court with the title of earl and really planned to attack the Tatars outside the customs by sea.
The army prepared in the Jinxia area for ten days to give Zheng Zhipeng's fleet, which went to Nanyang to purchase grain and rubber, enough time to return, so that both sides could properly deal with the matters that needed to be resolved.
On the morning of June 13th, the sky was clear and the sea was calm over Kinmen. Zheng Zhilong offered three animals, burned incense to worship Mazu, and solemnly vowed to fight for the Northern Expedition.
Liaoluo Bay south of Kinmen has long been covered with dense Zheng warships. The masts are like a dense forest and the flags are like branches and leaves. The officials and people on the mountain and on the shore were shocked when they saw it.
Zheng Zhilong also spent all his money to complete his victory in one battle. He spent most of his family's wealth and assembled a total of 1,102 large and small warships, fully loaded with 25,000 soldiers.
As soon as the cannon was fired, the flag was waved, and the melodious conch trumpets were heard one after another, thousands of sails competed in the bay, and the magnificent scene of hundreds of teams competing for the current was simply dizzying.
The smug Zheng Zhilong stood on his flagship, looking at the huge fleet that made people's blood boil, and he suddenly felt a mixture of emotions in his heart.
Ever since Liu Xiang was killed, his family has never mobilized so many troops and mobilized so many people. This time, he did not hesitate to spend all his resources, hoping to win the battle and achieve immediate success.
In order to avoid informing Donglu, all merchant ships, both Dutch and Portuguese, were kept in the port and could not leave the port after three days.
Without the permission of Zheng Zhilan, who was left behind, sailing out of Kinmen without authorization will be regarded as passing through the Eastern captives, and the Zheng family's warships will be sunk directly without mercy.
Maritime merchants from home and abroad did not dare to offend Zheng Zhilong. It was good for Zhenhai Bo to defeat Donglu. If he lost, he would use those disobedient merchants to vent his anger after he came back.
Anyway, it was only a three-day delay in leaving. The Zheng family did not deliberately charge everyone for the cost of conquering the Donglu. It only cost a few meals at most, which was still acceptable to everyone.
After sailing away from the offshore sea, the Zheng family's fleet was divided into two. Zheng Zhibao and Zheng Zhiwan continued to lead a small part of the fleet north. The former had to go to the Japanese country. General Tokugawa had already held a meeting and agreed to the Ming court's request. Decided to send 50,000 troops.
The imperial court and the Japanese State respectively sent special envoys to communicate with Zheng Zhilong. The communication between the three parties was relatively smooth. The Japanese special envoy also sent a navigator, because this time the ship was to be loaded at many ports in the Japanese State.
Hirado is a foreign trade port, and Zheng's fleet often goes there. However, it has never met the northern ports, especially Edo, which is regarded as a forbidden area by the shogunate. Therefore, the Japanese envoy sent a pilot to avoid letting the fleet Hit the rocks.
This is mainly because when discussing the troop dispatch plan, many daimyo in the north of Japan did not agree that their troops could only go from their base to Hirado in the south to board the ship.
On the one hand, it is a food problem, and on the other hand, it is a physical problem. Their warriors are going to fight in Liaodong, and they cannot wait until their legs and feet are too tired to board the ship.
Not only did the distantly related daimyō disagree, but even the direct lords of the Tokugawa family were unwilling to allow their troops to make the long journey to Nagasaki.
In the end, Tokugawa Iemitsu had no choice but to announce that he would board the ship in Edo Bay. This would not be the case next time, but it was not Edo Port, but a location far away from Edo Castle in Edo Bay.
This was to prevent someone from plotting against Edo City while a large number of people were assembled on standby, and the ship was to be boarded in batches, so that those who were not welcomed by outsiders could enjoy priority treatment.
Not only that, the special envoy of Japan requested that those troop transport ships with large tonnage and good anti-sinkability be brought into the port so that they could carry the general's direct troops and the soldiers of the feudal daimyo.
When Zheng Zhibao heard this, he cursed in his heart. It turned out that the Japanese country also favored one and favored others, and the direct line and collateral lines were also treated differently.
He was only responsible for transporting troops and escorting ships at sea. He didn't care about anything else. He just felt happy about the intrigues and intrigues in the Japanese country.
The two fleets said goodbye at sea, and a smaller fleet was divided into two. Zheng Zhiwan led the team to Tianjin, and took the vassal king's troops to Kuwu. The other route was led by Zheng Zhibao, sailing northeast to load soldiers from Japan.
The main fleet with many warships under its control turned around and turned to the southeast, arriving at Penghu first. Zheng Zhilong was worried that the prince would encounter a typhoon, so he decided to let the fleet settle here now.
The Zheng fleet, which had already been mobilized, could not withstand the violent attack of the typhoon, especially when besieging Hongyi Castle. Once it was attacked by the typhoon, the ship would be destroyed and everyone would be killed, and all the money would be lost.
Zheng Zhilong would not feel bad about losing millions of taels of silver, but if the elite soldiers and experienced sailors brought out were lost, the Zheng family would be severely damaged and would not be able to recover in the short term.
The weather at sea is ever-changing, so you need to pay special attention when you go to sea frequently. Zheng Zhilong brought local and Western Taoist priests and astrologers who are good at stargazing in order to avoid typhoons that are beyond the reach of human power as much as possible.
Fujian has a high incidence of typhoons from May to December, especially in the summer. Typhoons pass by almost every month. They can blow up huge waves several feet high at sea, and it is easy to capsize large warships.
If he is hurt by Hong Yi, he can still find an opportunity to take revenge. If you are sunk by a typhoon, you will have no choice but to consider yourself unlucky. You must pay homage to Mazu when you go back...
"Everyone, I have good news and bad news here!"
After setting up camp, Zheng Zhilong would inform his generals of what might happen in the future.
"Brother, it's okay to speak out!"
Now that he has decided to do this deal, Zheng Zhifeng will not mind any news that is not beneficial to himself.
"The good news is that because the information was blocked properly, Hong Yi, the detailed report officer sent there, has not been alert yet!"
This is something that makes Zheng Zhilong very happy. Not to mention keeping the suddenness of the attack, the fleet that Zheng Zhipeng brought to Nanyang will be very safe in a while. This makes all the generals look happy. It seems that this time they will definitely achieve success. .
"The bad news is that according to the predictions of the Taoist priests and astrologers accompanying the army, a typhoon may hit in five days!"
Zheng Zhilong felt that the prince's mouth was really opened, and his words really came true. He said that he should be prepared for typhoons, and he actually encountered one. Now he had to send troops as soon as possible, otherwise the army would have to stay in Penghu to take shelter from the wind.
"What???"
Zheng Zhi'ao was a little dumbfounded. Doesn't this mean there was no good news?
He led the land division to attack. Once a typhoon blew up, not to mention attacking, the soldiers would have trouble even protecting themselves outdoors in the face of a hurricane that would uproot trees.
Damuan Island itself is a sandbank with a low altitude. If a typhoon suddenly hits after the soldiers rush to land on the beach, I am afraid that the soldiers on the shore will be affected by the huge waves.
Hongyi huddled in the castle and naturally felt at ease. If his troops arrived just in time before the strongest wind came, Hongyi would be able to repel the invading enemy without any blood.
In the past, when this kind of situation occurred, one's own side would retreat and wait for the storm to pass before going out to fight. But now they have arrived in Penghu, but the army cannot advance, and it is a bit difficult to get off the ground.
When the family members told them the "good news" that the troops could cease their troops, the generals felt a little discouraged. This was God's will and they could not resist it.
"Brother, what do you mean?"
Zheng Zhifeng will fight two naval battles with his brother, one is in front of him, and the other is to lead a team alone to block the Red Yi reinforcements heading north from Batavia, but that will be two months later, so he still has to go all out first It's important to deal with the present.
"Quick victory! First deal with the red barbarian warships in the harbor, then let the soldiers camp to take shelter from the wind, wait for the typhoon to pass, and then work together to capture the fort!"
Zheng Zhilong, who was extremely experienced in actual combat, decided to split the battle into two parts. He would first fight the naval battle in which his troops were better at, and then fight the land battle which was not easy to win.
"Brother, Lu'ermen is a narrow and shallow waterway, so it will be very difficult for our warships to pass through it!"
As his brother, Zheng Zhifeng still has to say ugly things in front of him. He must not let his brother act on his own whim. If he is too eager for success, he will get half the result with half the effort.
If they take the southern waterway, the fleet will inevitably be attacked by Hongyi Castle's shore guns. If the formation is in chaos, they will fight against each other and be jammed in the waterway, which may turn into a big defeat.
"No problem, the prince has given me a secret letter. The letter states that on the first and fifteenth day of each month, the tide in the Luermen waterway will rise sharply, enough to allow large ships to pass. This is the 'astronomical tide', which is affected by the moon. Every month On two occasions, the water level will be much higher than the ordinary high tide. I chose the 13th to send troops because of this secret. By then, the morale of the army will be greatly boosted, and our army will be able to attack the harbor in one go and capture all the Hongyi warships!"
The time may be one day later, but within one day on the 15th or 16th, the tide in Luermen will definitely rise greatly. This is certain. A certain prince told Zheng Zhilong to make good use of this situation. God-given opportunity.
"Brother, if this is true, great things can be expected!"
When Zheng Zhifeng heard such a secret, she was inspired and excited. As long as the fleet could successfully pass through the Luer Gate, all the Hongyi ships in the port would be destroyed.
"Fifth brother, you first bring a hundred warships to Luermen, and then separate ten ships to go forward. Insert the long poles you brought into the waterway after low tide, along the left and right sides, and insert one at each distance. roots, forming a maritime corridor.”
Zheng Zhilong had been prepared for this, in order to let the fleet pass through the Lu'er Gate in a swagger and catch Hongyi, who had always been arrogant and domineering, by surprise.
"Brother, why is this?"
Zheng Zhiyue, who had never spoken before, was puzzled by this. His elder brother gave such instructions as if he was planting crops.
"Haha, you don't know something. The prince is not sure where the deepest water channel in Lu'ermen is, but there is a way to find out. That is to wait until the tide goes out and insert a pole deep into the water. When the tide rises, this The place must be the deepest point, wouldn’t it be possible for our fleet to pass through such a shallow and narrow pass easily?”
The draft of Zheng Jun's warships is less than one foot, but the water depth of Lu'ermen is also the same. If a large ship passes by, it may be stranded on the spot. Only allowing small ships to enter the harbor is tantamount to giving victory to Hongyi's large ship.
If you want the big ship to pass through the Lu'er Gate unharmed, you have to do this, and then you can give the Hongyi warships in the harbor a head-on attack and wipe them out in one battle.
"Brother is wise! This strategy is very clever!"
When Zheng Zhiyue heard this, he understood completely. His brother had been at sea for many years, and he was indeed very scheming. This was a great blessing for the brothers. Now, when his fleet passes through the Luer Gate, the enemy Hongyi will be in bad luck.
"Hahahaha... I will make great achievements today!"
With the crown prince informing him of such a secret, Zheng Zhilong was confident that he would lead the fleet into Taiyuan Bay within two days from tomorrow. He would annihilate all the Hongyi ships in the harbor within two or three hours, and then send out the land division to attack the enemy. Lanzhe Castle is surrounded...
