Qi Dajiang and his fleet split up to pursue the two Spanish armed merchant ships they encountered. After two hours of pursuit, the "Qiming" finally intercepted the more than 600-ton "Teruel" and killed it.

After entangling it, the three Hanzhou warships that came later immediately surrounded it and launched their best siege.

The officers and sailors of the "Teruel" were extremely depressed. No matter how they tried to escape, they would be cornered by the small but powerful warship with its superhuman speed. After being hit

After being hit by dozens of shells, they saw that they could not wait until night to escape. In addition, for the safety of the more than 300 armed soldiers on board, they quickly raised the white flag and surrendered to several warships in Hanzhou.

The Hanzhou ship put down two small boats and sailed to the side of the "Teruel". Then when a dozen sailors struggled to climb onto the ship, they were startled by the numerous Spanish musketeers on the deck. They quickly called out to the people below.

Small boat, quickly return to the big ship to report. Damn, is this a Spanish troop transport that captured it?

Looking at the helpless eyes of many Spanish soldiers on the ship, the dozen or so Han Chinese sailors were a little worried. If a few of the barbarians who were not afraid of death jumped out, they would definitely be torn into pieces and thrown into the sea.

Feed the fish.

After waiting for a while, more than fifty Marines arrived in a small boat. They quickly confiscated the weapons of the Spanish soldiers on the deck, and then escorted all the naval officers and sailors on the ship, as well as more than two hundred Spanish soldiers, to Hanzhou one after another.

Guarded on the warship.

After doing all this, the sky also turned dark. After a little discernment of the direction, the four Hanzhou warships and the captured Spanish warships sailed towards the west mainland. They would meet with the other five Hanzhou warships near Quanzhou Port.

The ships converge.

Compared with Dong Fengshan's fleet on Qi Dajiang's side that successfully captured the Spanish warship, the slightly smaller Spanish armed merchant ship that Luo Rucheng and his party chased seemed a bit laborious.

Gein, a Spanish armed merchant ship, did not transport too much cargo, but only carried more than 300 native servants and some weapons and ammunition. In terms of the speed of the ship, it was not much different from the several Hanzhou ships chasing behind.

.When night gradually fell, he took advantage of the darkness and quickly disappeared from the sight of the Hanzhou ships.

Luo Rucheng looked at the boundless dark sea, and led the five ships to turn around and sail toward the west with some resentment.

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Qin Guangxi is a member of the Fujian Navy's maritime patrol. He is responsible for patrolling the sea route from Quanzhou to Wentai, and detecting whether the maritime merchants have paid the toll to the Fujian Governor's Office in full. They are a group of fifteen ships, large and small, and are at the moment.

Returning from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, passing through Nanri Island, we will arrive in Quanzhou soon.

Tan Guangxi was lying in the cabin, playing with the mutton-fat jade bracelet given to him by a maritime merchant, wondering in his mind whether to give it to his wife at home or to Sister Qiao from Honghualou.

Compared with staying at Quanzhou Water Village, killing pirates, or even attacking the barbarian strongholds in Taiwan, patrolling the sea is the favorite thing of all the officers and soldiers of the Fujian Navy. On the coast of the Ming Dynasty, who dare not give orders to Fujian Governor Zheng Zhilong?

face,

Which maritime merchant dares not to pay sea tolls? Even if you encounter one or two merchant ships who do not want to pay and try to go to sea by chance, once you encounter a patrol vessel of the Fujian Navy, you must always bribe them privately, the patrol officers and soldiers, so that you can get a smaller penalty

some money.

After a month, even ordinary sailors can get seven or eight taels of silver in their hands. And officers like Tan Guangxi and others can earn even more. If you encounter some unsighted merchants who try to escape from the Fujian Navy,

If they are intercepted, then once they catch up, everyone on the ship will sink into the sea, a small amount of valuable cargo will be divided among the patrol officers and soldiers, and the bulk will naturally be taken back to Quanzhou and handed over to Shangguan for processing.

"Sir, a fleet has been spotted in the southeast!" A sailor suddenly rushed into the cabin and reported to Tan Guangxi: "They are all big ships!"

"Ah? What's the reason?" Tan Guangxi immediately stood up and walked out of the cabin, "Maybe he met a red-haired ghost!"

"It's possible!" The sailor followed behind and said as he walked: "Looking from a distance, there are several large Western ships."

Tan Guangxi froze, with a bitter look on his face, and cursed in a low voice: "Fuck him!"

They walked to the side of the ship in a few steps and looked toward the southeast with a monocular. They saw five ships on the sea, about two or three miles away, heading in their direction. Several of them were large Western ships.

.

"Quickly pull the sail and run!" Tan Guangxi turned around and shouted loudly.

With their dozen ships, the largest of which is just a Haicang ship of more than 200 tons, and not many cannons, if they encounter and fight a Western fleet of this size, they will be simply abused. While there are still some

distance, escape to Quanzhou Port as soon as possible, how dare these Western ships dare to chase us!

However, what surprised and frightened them was that the five large ships actually chased behind them and came slowly to Quanzhou Port. Although they did not assume an attacking posture, they gave people a strong sense of oppression. They seemed to be following them.

They headed to Quanzhou Port without any scruples.

"Do you think the people from the Zheng family ahead will regard us as enemies?" On the bow of the Qiming, several Hanzhou officers were talking about the Zheng family's ship ahead.

"Looking at their panic, they must think of us as some Western force!" said an officer: "However, only in front of them do we feel that we have some advantages."

"I'm afraid when we arrive near Quanzhou, your feeling of slight advantage will be gone!" Another officer said: "The Zheng family has hundreds or even thousands of ships on the coast of the Ming Dynasty!"

"I heard that the Zheng family has tens of thousands of navy and land forces."

Everyone was speechless after hearing this. The population of Hanzhou was only more than 30,000, which was not as many as the number of land and sea armed personnel of Zheng Zhilong's family. Moreover, for the Zheng family, which relied on the Ming Dynasty, even if the loss of personnel and materials was huge, as long as they had financial resources

It is sufficient and can be replenished very quickly and conveniently. Unlike Hanzhou, whether it is a land battle or a naval battle, there is great worry about the loss of personnel and ships.

"I wonder when we in Hanzhou will be able to have so many ships and naval officers and soldiers?" a Hanzhou naval officer said dejectedly.

"It will probably take at least ten or twenty years."

"Ten thousand people are brought back to Hanzhou a year. In twenty years, it will only be more than 200,000. I estimate that when I get old, Hanzhou may have a population of four to five million. At that time, the navy will naturally have

Tens of thousands of people."

"You just counted the number of immigrants. Don't the women in Hanzhou have babies?" Wan Changshu, the captain of the Qiming, came from behind. "In addition, when we have 100,000 people, the number of ships must also be

It’s not just that. The number of immigrants every year will definitely exceed 10,000.”

After hearing this, everyone felt relieved. Yes, think about it. Two or three years ago, there were only a few thousand people in Hanzhou, and there were only five or six large and small ships. At that time, everyone just wanted to make a good living so that they would not be hungry. Now we

Hanzhou has a population of more than 30,000 and has ten large ships that can be used for combat. In the Nanyang region, it is also a powerful force that cannot be underestimated.

"We probably encountered another wave of the Zheng family's fleet." A Hanzhou navy officer saw the "Feiyu 5" clipper ship in front of him speeding toward the fleet, and he must have discovered something.

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"Grand Governor, the Hanzhou fleet is here!" Chen Hui strode into the Fujian Governor's Mansion and reported to Zheng Zhilong, who was sitting in the chair with clasped fists.

"The Hanzhou fleet is here?" Zheng Zhilong was stunned, "Did they break in right under the nose of the Dutch?"

"I heard from them that they came from another direction and did not pass through Batavia." Chen Hui said: "They came with ten large ships and brought us the required artillery and muskets."

"Are so many ships from Hanzhou preparing to demonstrate against our Zheng family?" Zheng Zhibao said with a smile.

"I don't think so." Chen Hui glanced at the third master of the Zheng family and said carefully: "Maybe he wants to attract more people from the Ming Dynasty back to Hanzhou."

"I'm afraid they not only want to bring more people back to Hanzhou." Zheng Zhilong said with a smile: "Maybe they also want to detach a fleet to attack the Dutch stronghold."

"Then they arrived too late. The Dutch stronghold in Taiwan was preempted by us." Zheng Zhibao said: "Maybe by this time, Yang Geng has already succeeded."

"The Dutch have more than just strongholds on Taiwan." Zheng Zhilong shook his head and said, "There are Dutch strongholds in Borneo, Champa, and Johor. Hanzhou must have some ideas about these places."

"They are not afraid of being blocked by the Dutch!" Zheng Zhibao couldn't help but be a little surprised after hearing his elder brother's words, "If they really want to run into the Dutch fleet, Hanzhou will definitely not be their opponent."

"Sailboats on the sea are not so easily blocked."

"Uncle, Third Master, Hanzhou intercepted a Spanish armed merchant ship near Taiwan, and also captured more than 200 Spanish soldiers and more than 100 native servants on the island." Chen Hui said: "They want to

Leave these prisoners in our custody for the time being."

"No, Hanzhou wants to put the blame on us!" Zheng Zhibao said loudly: "We can't take the blame for them!"

"Did Hanzhou intercept the Spanish troop transport ship?" Zheng Zhilong's expression changed and he asked: "Where did Hanzhou intercept the Spanish armed merchant ship?"

"In the northeastern corner of Taiwan, they encountered two Spanish armed merchant ships, but they allowed one to escape."

"Chen Hui, do the Spanish have two strongholds in the northern part of Taiwan?"

"Yes. The Spanish have a stronghold each on a small island in the north (Keelung Heping Island) and at the mouth of a river in the northeast."

"Haha..." Zheng Zhilong chuckled a few times, then shook his head, "Unexpectedly, the Spaniards also want to attack the Dutch stronghold on the island."

"Brother, are you saying that the troop transport ship captured by Hanzhou was originally going to attack the Dutch stronghold?" Zheng Zhibao asked.

"It should be like this. When they saw our people there, they withdrew. Unexpectedly, they encountered Hanzhou's fleet." Zheng Zhilong said with a smile: "This Dutchman actually got everyone shouting for a beating.

."

"So, the Dutch have a lot of opponents." Zheng Zhibao also laughed, "The Portuguese, the Spanish, the Hanzhou, and us. If you add the kingdoms on the Nanyang islands, the Dutch are simply...

He became a target of public criticism."
Chapter completed!