In May, the south wind brought warmth, and the fleet that went to Batavia returned.
The scale is astonishing.
Because in the huge team, there were not only local fleets, but also Dutch merchant ships, as well as Zheng Zhilong.
Xu Erjue stood on the bow of the ship. He was no longer as elegant as before. He had changed into bronze skin and looked very tough.
"It is said that reading thousands of books is not as good as traveling thousands of miles. The ancients did not deceive me."
Xu Erjue hugged Zuo Mengeng generously, and Xu Erjue became very generous.
"Did the trip go well?"
Zuo Menggeng was very concerned about this ocean trade.
Xu Erjue curled his lips.
"The Dutch are very cunning. They did a lot of mischief on the way. They just wanted us to retreat in spite of the difficulties. We didn't tolerate them, so we fought whenever we needed to. In the end, we completed our trip."
It turns out that the Dutch were afraid that Shandong would become familiar with the route and profit from it in the future, so they created many tricks on the route.
They even secretly notified Liu Xiang and asked Nanyang pirates to come and hijack the ship.
However, the Dutch's own ship, relying on its faster speed, left the battlefield and ran aside to watch the fun.
Xu Erjue was scared to death, but the officers of the new army were fearless.
Coupled with the excellent performance of the artillery on the ship, Liu Xiang suffered heavy losses after the battle and ran away in disgrace.
Seeing the bravery and bravery of Xu Erjue and others, the Dutch had to accept the reality and finally brought them to Batavia.
The goods brought by Xu Erjue and others were extremely popular here and were sold out in just two days.
Not only that, their appearance in Batavia also had a more profound significance.
The Han people who had lived here for generations were all excited when they saw the appearance of their compatriots and the army, and they came to complain to them one after another.
Many of them even accused the Dutch of being abominable.
After Xu Erjue heard this, he immediately submitted a formal protest to the Batavia Parliament.
He severely denounced the crimes of the Dutch East India Company and warned that from now on, the Han people here must be treated well, otherwise the trade will be disrupted.
What the Dutch want most is to do business with Ming Dynasty. Now that they have finally opened up the situation, how can they allow accidents to happen?
In the face of real interests, the Dutch immediately became amiable. While solemnly apologizing to Xu Erjue, they gave the Han people in Batavia equal status with the Dutch.
The Dutch were encouraged by the booming trade.
Especially after Xu Erjue and others sold the goods, they did not keep the money in their hands, but directly purchased a large amount of cocoa beans, cane sugar, furs and other goods in Batavia, which made the Dutch even more aware of the size of the Ming Dynasty.
Got a deep understanding.
After urgent discussions, Batavia once again sent Anthony Van Diemen as its representative, leading a larger fleet to return with it.
This time the Dutch's destination was not just Songjiang Prefecture, but Shandong.
When the fleet returned home, it passed through the Taiwan Strait and directly alarmed Zheng Zhilong.
Because this is a huge fleet that has never been seen before, the toll fee for the Zheng family alone is an astronomical sum.
Zheng Zhilong personally boarded the ship and met with Xu Erjue and Anthony van Diemen. After a long conversation, he finally realized that the maritime trade seemed to be very great.
After learning that the person who facilitated this incident was Zuo Menggeng, Zheng Zhilong took some ideas and immediately decided to go north to Shandong to take a look at the situation here.
"Yiguan, you are a rare guest! Are you willing to leave your nest?"
When he met Zheng Zhilong, Zuo Menggeng started teasing him.
He also saw Qian Qianyi and Zheng Chenggong standing next to Zheng Zhilong.
Apparently Zheng Zhilong picked up these two when he passed by Songjiang Mansion.
"I heard that Brother Zuo has done great things, and Zheng is well-known in Fujian. If I haven't said anything, I should ask for advice on this trip."
While speaking, Zheng Zhilong's eyes scanned everything in the port.
What he saw shocked him.
As far as the eye can see, there are at least a dozen shipyards being busy under construction, and large ships are gradually taking shape.
And these ships are not the lucky ships of the Ming Dynasty.
He recognized at a glance that these ships were quite similar to Dutch and Spanish warships.
What shocked him the most was the speed of shipbuilding here.
Although Zheng Zhilong has been building ships in his hometown, the scale is far smaller than here.
Especially for Western warships, he didn't understand how to build them at all.
Of course he knew the power of Western battleships, but he had nowhere to learn from them.
Even if you learn how to build, you still don’t have the talent to control it.
Warships are an extremely comprehensive subject, far beyond the ability of pirates like him to master.
Obviously he is the one who relies on the sea to escape his livelihood, but his speed in building ships is not as good as others.
what does that mean?
Zheng Zhilong thought of the road north again.
After crossing Songjiang Prefecture and entering the Yellow Sea, ships belonging to Shandong were shuttled non-stop on the entire sea, almost without stopping.
This shows that Shandong already has sufficient influence on the sea.
However, the sea area north of Songjiang Prefecture is a place that the Zheng family cannot set foot in. This large blank space is now completely occupied by Shandong.
As a hero, Zheng Zhilong couldn't help but feel a sense of crisis when he saw Shandong's energy.
"My two families are allies, so naturally we should work together to protect China's maritime borders."
Zuo Mengeng casually said empty words, just to appease Zheng Zhilong.
It's not time to fall out yet.
Zheng Zhilong, a clinker, came up with something he couldn't have imagined.
Zheng Zhilong pulled Zheng Chenggong over.
"I, a child, grew up in Fusang, so I didn't receive a very good education. Later, when I followed Mu Zhaigong, I finally learned about etiquette and shame. But people like me will inevitably have to walk on the sea in the future.
Above. Now that the Westerners are getting stronger and stronger, Brother Zuo is better at dealing with them. So I have a heartfelt request, can I ask Quanzi to worship you as my teacher and ask for your help?"
Zuo Mengeng was a little unable to turn around.
He never expected that Zheng Zhilong would actually ask the future master of the country to worship him as his disciple.
Although because of his own existence, it is uncertain whether Zheng Chenggong will be able to regain Taiwan in the future. However, as a national hero who will go down in history, he is quite happy to have such an apprentice.
"How can I dare to mislead others because my talents are limited and my knowledge is shallow? Since Brother Zheng will not give up, I should do my best."
Seeing that he agreed, Zheng Zhilong was overjoyed and hurriedly said to Zheng Chenggong: "Why are you still hanging around? Hurry up and become a disciple."
Zheng Chenggong was very obedient and hurriedly knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Zuo Mengeng.
Qian Qianyi praised him from the sidelines.
"The commander's martial arts skills are unparalleled in the world. If this boy can learn from the commander, he will definitely be able to display Sun Gu's talents and shine with Wei Huo's achievements in the future."
The speaker has no intention, the listener has intention.