I'm really not the carpenter emperor

Under the night sky thousands of miles away, golden light waves are rippling on the sea surface, like countless pieces of gold, dancing on the sea surface.

The Queen Galen battleship, which is also the only Tier [-] battleship of both sides in this battle, is in the center of the "T" formation, leading the advance.

In the luxuriously furnished ground-floor office, Holland Admiral Holland was drinking glass after glass of red wine.

These wines are originally produced in Grenada, Spain, which is the most prestigious wine producing area in Spain. After years of cellaring, the taste is quite good.

The price of this kind of wine is extremely expensive, and it is a special wine for the reception of the upper-class Spanish nobles.

The reason why Holland was able to drink so freely was naturally related to the battle in the Spice Islands not long ago, and they seized a lot of supplies.

Among them, there are a large number of this red wine.

Holland drank very happily and enjoyed himself. In his opinion, his tactics and ships were superior to the Ming army's navy, and there was no suspense in this battle.

"Admiral, it's bad! In the waters west of the Penghu Islands, a large number of warships under the Ming flag appeared, nearly [-] ships!"

"Five hundred warships, this should be the entire main force of the navy of the Ming army!" The first officer looked at the anxious look of the sailors and said:

"Admiral, do you want to fire a cannon to demonstrate?"

Holland thought for a while, and said: "Okay, this can be regarded as my repayment, Yuan Keli didn't take advantage of the chaos to attack Jilonggang a few days ago."

"Fire the cannon to tell them that we have found their main force."

Watching the sailor leave, the first officer smiled and said:

"It seems that the commander of the Ming army was very anxious and eager to fight us decisively. He brought out all the warships at once. The sneak attack of the two pirates in Pinghaiwei should go smoothly."

Holland smiled with satisfaction, shaking the red wine in his hand.

He knew that the Denglai Navy had a lot of ships, but how many could there be?

Five hundred?

This is already an astronomical figure that is beyond imagination, and it must be all the warships of this navy, and perhaps the ships of the Fujian Navy are also added.

Holland, who thought he had found all the main force of the Denley Navy, already felt that he had won the battle before the battle even started.

"Admiral, after hearing our cannon fire, the other party quickly turned the rudder and sailed around Penghu to the east sea area. It has sailed several nautical miles now!"

The sailor returned again, and Holland was surprised by the news.

How could it be possible for the entire fleet to turn around and sail such a distance in such a short period of time?

He hurriedly came to the deck, opened the binoculars to observe, and looked at the Ming army navy roaring away in the distance, frowning:

"This Ming army navy is all small boats, and the biggest one is only about the size of the Calais warship."

The Calais warship, a galley warship that was eliminated by the West nearly a century ago, belongs to the small and medium-sized ships, and now only a small number are still undertaking the task of transporting goods in the offshore.

Putting down the binoculars, a chill ran up Holland's back.

That is to say, this is actually not the main force of the navy of the Ming army. There is not even a fifth-tier warship in it, and all of them are small and medium-sized warships.

Just like this, there are more than 500 ships!

Where is the real main force of the Ming army navy?

Holland suddenly thought of something, and his face turned pale.

He understood that the number of ships of the Ming army far exceeded his expectations, and the detachment of these [-] warships was to confuse himself and then sneak attack the rear.

Not only this part, there must be more warships in other parts. I'm afraid that Jilong Port has fallen now!

For a while, Holland, who judged correctly, fell into a dilemma.

He very much believed that a large number of small boats from the Ming Army Navy were attacking Jilong Port, but he refused to give up the Penghu Islands that were right in front of him.

The control of the Ryukyu Strait is close at hand. As long as the Ryukyu Strait can be firmly controlled, the colonies and trade of the Dutch Federation in India and Luzon will not have any impact.

Only in this way, the pirate lairs at Jilong Port and Diaoyu Island will face the threat of Ming army navy, can they hold it?

Holland felt that it was enough!

"Admiral! There are more than 300 large warships ahead, under the banner of the Zheng family!" A sailor hurried over and said.

A wave of unrest, a wave of up again.

"Zheng Zhilong..." Holland looked a little annoyed, "Didn't we make a deal with him, if we don't go to Jinmen, don't they want to trouble us?"

"The Zheng family's trade in the southeast sea is all supported by our East India Company, and now they have turned their faces and refused to recognize anyone!"

"More than 300 warships, this is all Zheng Zhilong's strength!" The first officer also looked ugly, "Admiral, be careful!"

Now more than 300 warships can be used at sea, regardless of the combat capabilities of the warships themselves, Zheng Zhilong is already proud of the group of "heroes" in terms of the number of ships alone.

The number of ships in the Zheng family's fleet is only less than that of Yu Zizao's Fujian navy along the coast of Fujian.

"Make up your mind? What do you want me to do?" Holland cursed, "Until now, we haven't seen the main force of the Denley navy!"

Compared with the Denglai Navy, which has not officially fought against each other, the strength of the Zheng family's fleet actually made Holland, the admiral of the navy, even more afraid.

The main warship Fuchuan used by the Denglai Navy is a [-]-material warship that is only available in the Ming Dynasty. In Western terms, it is a fifth-tier warship.

But the Dutch had never seen a Fuchuan at all, and they didn't know the combat capabilities of this kind of warship, so they didn't have any thoughts of fear.

But they do know how many warships and weapons the Zheng family fleet has purchased from the East India Company in recent years!

Even last year, Zheng Zhilong spent 800 taels of silver to buy an old Galen warship belonging to the fourth-tier battleship from the Dutch East India Company.

Now, such weapons and warships are all in front of my eyes!

Holland didn't want to fight the Zheng family's fleet. Similarly, Zheng Zhilong was also hesitating whether it was worth it to tear up his face with the Dutch.

You must know that almost all trade in Luzon, India, and Japan is currently controlled by the Dutch East India Company.

The Spanish Armada completely withdrew from the southeast waters after the Battle of the Spice Islands. Without Ming's support, it would be powerless to intervene in the trade in the southeast seas.

A complete turn against the Netherlands will obviously have a great impact on the development of the Zheng family's fleet, but if they do not obey the court's order now, it will have a devastating blow to the Zheng family.

Standing on the deck, Zheng Zhilong never gave orders.

This choice is too difficult.

Zheng Zhilong felt that he was already low-key enough to make a fortune in silence. Even Fujian Governor Nan Juyi and Fujian General Soldier Yu Zizao did not discover the secret development of the Zheng family.

But Yuan Keli, a governor of Denglai, why did he find out as soon as he arrived at Jinmen?

It must be Yuan Keli's trick to let the Zheng family take the lead. It seems that he has already learned about the secret trade between him and the Dutch.

Yuan Keli...!

Chanting the name, Zheng Zhilong clenched his fists tightly.

Chapter 667 The Zheng Family Fights, I Come to Make Merit

Just thinking about it, Huang Cheng, a sea merchant, came over and said:

"An official, Shen Yourong's banner order from the rear has arrived."

"What did he say?" Zheng Zhilong sighed from the bottom of his heart, his expression calm.

Huang Cheng looked at him with a troubled face, and decided to report good news instead of bad news:

"I didn't say anything harsh, just urging us to march and start a war with the Dutch."

Of course Zheng Zhilong knew that Shen Yourong would definitely not just say these words, presumably at this moment, all kinds of ugly words came out in the Dengzhou camp in the rear.

"Under the eaves of people's words, I have to bow my head..." Zheng Zhilong sneered:

"Shen Yourong is a famous southeast coastal defense general after all, and it's not easy to get along with Lai Shuai. It seems that this time with the Dutch, it's impossible not to fight."

To be honest, if Yuan Keli didn't have so many generals who obeyed orders, Zheng Zhilong wouldn't be so afraid of him.

At most, it is the same as the order of the Fujian government, with the left ear going in and the right ear going out.

"Let all teams prepare well, and don't hold back when playing." Zheng Zhilong thought for a long time, and finally made up his mind.

Compared with the trade of the Dutch, the status of the coastal defense guerrilla general given by the imperial court is more important.

Without this layer of identity, all the pirates at sea would come together to embarrass him, and even the imperial court would not hold back.

At that time, even basic survival will become a problem, talk and development?

As for how to expand the fleet after the breakup with the Dutch, we can only take one step at a time, hoping that there will be a way for the car to reach the mountain.

Huang Cheng had joined the Zheng family from Li Dan, the leader of overseas Chinese maritime merchants, since the second year of Tianqi. He naturally understood how ambitious Zheng Zhilong was.

Presumably he made this decision, but also a helpless choice.

"Have you decided?"

"Well, tell the brothers." Zheng Zhilong stood on the deck with his hands behind his back, letting the bitter sea breeze blow on his face.

His face was as calm as the sky, but his heart was more turbulent than the waves beneath his feet.

For the first time, he couldn't see the hope ahead.

After Zheng Zhilong finished speaking, the Zheng family's fleet began to move one after another, opening up the distance, and at the same time, they spread the sails, sprinting like arrows at a fast speed.

The Dutch fleet over there, who also did not want to fight with the Zheng family, also noticed the Zheng family's actions, and they all knew that the two parties were strangers from this moment on.

"boom!"

"Bang bang bang-"

The tactics used by the Zheng family's fleet were much more advanced than those of the Fujian navy. They first dispatched several galleys to approach quickly, and the big ships used broadside guns to shoot from a distance.

Dozens of shells leaned over, and many of them hit the Dutch battleship.

A Galen battleship located on the far left side of the "T" formation was obviously the target of priority sinking by the hit firepower, and the hull was hit by more than a dozen lead bullets.

The Zheng family's galley wanted to approach the snatching ship, but at this time, the flagship of the Queen where Holland was located began to swallow flames.

A total of twenty broadside guns tilted out violently, with astonishing power, and the four approaching Zheng family galleys were bathed in bullet rain in an instant and were directly sunk.

Although these warships were sunk, Holland, who was standing on the deck, still looked distraught.

The reason why the Zheng family took the lead was because of Zheng Zhilong's position as a deacon in the Dutch East India Company, but he did not expect that the other party would show no mercy.

"Admiral! There are more than a dozen warships from the Zheng family approaching from the left and right sides, and the teams on both sides are fighting fiercely with them!"

When the sailor was speaking, the sea was indeed full of flames of war, and the two sides were completely torn apart. The Dutch sank three main warships of the Zheng family in one fell swoop.

Although the Zheng family's fleet was not as powerful as the Dutch fleet, the total number of them was more than [-] ships, and the fight was indistinguishable for a while.

Zheng Zhilong's face turned green when he saw such a large injury.

Holland also sneered:

"This Zheng Zhilong didn't dare to disobey the orders of the Daming Navy, so he turned around and sold us. He didn't really think that with the rags he bought, he could defeat my Queen?"

"Pass on my order to annihilate Zheng Zhilong's fleet!"

After the order was issued, the formation in the middle of the "T" formation where Holland was located also began to turn the rudder, and the dark guns on the side were all aimed at the front.

The sailors on the bow of the Queen used a monocular to accurately calculate Zheng Zhilong's position, and then issued a semaphore to the ship.

In an instant, hundreds of artillery fired nearly a thousand lead bullets.

The Dutch fired shotguns, which were also used in Ming Dynasty, but they were only used in land battles, while the Dutch had already matured the technology of using shotguns in naval battles.

More than a dozen Dutch warships in the middle formation fired hundreds of shotguns together, and the wooden barrel containing the shotguns disintegrated in mid-air, dropping nearly a thousand lead bullets.

The Zheng family's fleet that was hit was riddled with holes.

In an instant, the Zheng family lost more than ten main warships. Zheng Zhilong was dumbfounded to see that the Dutch even used shotguns directly.

It seemed that Holland was really irritated by himself.

Before they played against the Denley Navy, the Dutch actually used their hole card that they could have reversed the situation in the naval battle.

The Daming Navy doesn't have shotguns, and the current Zheng family's fleet doesn't have it either.

This technology is only available in the Netherlands and other Western countries. Specifically, how can the shotgun be packed in a wooden barrel, and when it is fired, it will disintegrate to cause maximum damage.

Naval battles are different from land battles, and there is enough space to experiment. These technical problems are difficult to overcome in Ming Dynasty, which does not have a real military shipyard.

……

In the distance, more than 50 lucky boats from Dengzhou Camp are quietly parked on the sea.

Hearing the thrilling shelling sound in the distance, everyone felt lingering fears. They were all experienced naval officers, and they could tell from the sound that the two sides had already fought with real knives and guns.

"Commander, Zheng Zhilong doesn't seem to be playing any tricks. Judging from the sound of shelling, they have already caught fire with the Dutch." Said the deputy general.