Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1280 Distress at Sea
Zhang Jie is a decisive person and made up his mind quickly.

In this way, he led his men and ships and escaped from the Zheng Group to the South China Sea before Zheng Zhilong could react.

After arriving in the South China Sea, Zhang Jie took advantage of his familiarity with the area and chose to settle down on an island in the Natuna Islands.

The Natuna Islands are located in the sea between the Malay Peninsula and Borneo. It is a no-man's-land, far from the Ming Dynasty mainland and also somewhat distant from the European powers in the South China Sea, making it relatively safer.

Moreover, the indigenous population on these islands is not large, and the uncivilized natives are weak in combat. In addition, there are some Han Chinese who came from the Ming Dynasty to settle on the islands. From this point of view, it is the best choice for Zhang Jie.

In this way, Zhang Jie occupied three of the islands, and with the help of his warships and military force, he conquered the natives on the islands and thus became the island lord.

Not long after he became the island's lord, he received news from the Ming Dynasty that the once-powerful Zheng family had suddenly collapsed. The Zheng brothers had their military power stripped by the court, and they were also punished by the court because of Chen Bao's death. Although Zheng Zhilong was eventually only summoned to the capital and settled down, retaining his title, without the military support of the Zheng family, Zheng Zhilong lost his confidence and became an ordinary nobleman.

After the collapse of the Zheng Clan, the imperial court dismantled and reorganized it. Soon after, the reorganized Zheng Clan appeared before the world as the Ming Dynasty's Nanyang Navy. At this point, Zhang Jie breathed a sigh of relief. His biggest fear was that Zheng Zhilong would discover his hiding place and cause him trouble. Now that Zheng Zhilong was gone and the Zheng Clan was also gone, this worry was no longer necessary. As for the Nanyang Navy, it was no longer relevant to Zhang Jie. Since he had already broken away from the Zheng Clan, the court wouldn't care about a mere deputy commander whose whereabouts were unknown. As long as he didn't rebel against the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty wouldn't take him seriously.

Although Zhang Jie had no shortage of men and plenty of money after becoming the island's lord, the problem was that he couldn't just sit around doing nothing and let his wealth dwindle. Zhang Jie considered returning to his old ways as a pirate, but he worried that if he were to engage in such a risky business and besieged by the imperial court, he would be in trouble.

After much deliberation, Zhang Jie suddenly thought of the Ming Dynasty's establishment of trading ports, and also of the spices and other specialties produced in the South China Sea. Since he had people and ships, why not switch to being a maritime merchant? In Zhang Jie's view, pirates and maritime merchants were the same. Back when he followed Zheng Zhilong, wasn't that how it was? The Zheng Group was not only a pirate group but also a maritime merchant group. He was very familiar with this kind of thing.

And so Zhang Jie gathered his men and began to change his profession to become a maritime merchant. It must be said that because he was familiar with the situation in the South China Sea and knew more about the Ming Dynasty, and because the Ming Dynasty's Nanyang Navy was originally reorganized from the Zheng Group, even though Zhang Jie had changed his name, some of his old connections were still there. As long as he did not violate the laws of the Ming Dynasty, it was guaranteed that he would get some benefits through these connections.

Thus began Zhang Jie's maritime trade. In just a few years, Zhang Jie used his advantages to travel between the coast of the Ming Dynasty and various parts of the South China Sea, earning a great deal of wealth. As his wealth increased, Zhang Jie not only gradually increased the number of people under his command, but also spent a lot of money to buy a large armed merchant ship from Portugal. With this large ship, Zhang Jie's maritime trade business grew bigger and bigger, and he had become a wealthy merchant in the South China Sea.

If everything had continued normally, Zhang Jie would have easily become incredibly wealthy, and might even have carved out his own territory on the islands he controlled. However, not long ago, Zhang Jie's merchant ships visited the Ming Dynasty, traded in Quanzhou, and left fully loaded with goods. They planned to return via Malacca to trade with Europeans in the Indian Ocean and gain wealth. But not far from Malacca, Zhang Jie's ships were suddenly attacked from the sea.

Zhang Jie, a former pirate, was extremely experienced at sea. When he noticed two large ships suddenly appearing on his right without any flags and speeding directly toward him, he immediately sensed something was wrong.

Without hesitation, Zhang Jie immediately ordered his armed merchant ships to change course and prepare for battle. At that moment, the enemy ships drew closer, and when Zhang Jie discovered through his telescope that they were actually two European warships, his heart sank.

Although his armed merchant ships were quite large and equipped with cannons, they were no match for fully armed warships. A single enemy warship possessed several times the number of cannons as his own, and once they closed in and opened fire, he would be utterly powerless to retaliate; the disparity between the two was obvious.

Seeing this, Zhang Jie didn't hesitate and decisively ordered a course change, turning around and fleeing. As soon as he fled, two warships gave chase, even firing their cannons from a distance to intimidate him and signaling for Zhang Jie's armed merchant ship to stop immediately for inspection.

"Inspection? Bah! I'd have to be an idiot to stop the ship!" Zhang Jie cursed upon seeing this. He wasn't stupid; after being a pirate for so many years, he didn't understand what was going on. Besides, the enemy's warship wasn't flying any flags at all; it was clearly a case of blocking the road and robbing them.

Once he stopped the ship, his chances of survival were slim. Based on Zhang Jie's experience, if the ship fell into enemy hands, not only would the ship and its cargo become their spoils, but he and his men would also perish at sea. Zhang Jie knew this all too well, because he had done this many times before under Zheng Zhilong. Only a madman would surrender.

Without a word, Man Fan turned and ran, completely ignoring Zhang Jie's threats. Seeing Zhang Jie flee, the enemy hurriedly gave chase, firing continuously as they pursued.

Perhaps it was because the other side didn't want to sink Zhang Jie's merchant ship in the first place. After all, the target of robbing at sea is the cargo on the merchant ship. If the merchant ship is destroyed and sunk into the sea, wouldn't all the previous efforts be in vain? In addition, the distance between the two sides was not short, and they were pursuing each other at high speed with sails on. With the current range and accuracy of the cannons, they simply couldn't hit the target. The purpose of firing the cannons was merely to threaten Zhang Jie.

Zhang Jie himself knew this, so his goal was to escape as far as possible; once he escaped the enemy's pursuit, he would be safe. The problem was that Zhang Jie's armed merchant ship was slower than the enemy's warships. Although Zhang Jie was a skilled commander and had extensive maritime experience, and he made the most of ocean currents and winds during his escape, this experience was ineffective against a ship inferior to the enemy's. As time passed, the enemy warships drew closer and closer, and Zhang Jie watched helplessly, frantic like an ant on a hot plate, unable to think of a solution.

Surrender was absolutely out of the question, because surrendering was tantamount to suicide, and Zhang Jie understood this all too well. Therefore, the only thing Zhang Jie could do was keep running until he could no longer escape and made a desperate last stand, even if it meant taking a few down with him.

Two hours passed in this chase, until the enemy warships were close enough to flank them from both sides. Desperate and realizing there was no escape, Zhang Jie gritted his teeth and ordered a cannon battle, prepared to be swallowed by the sea.

Just as Zhang Jie's armed merchant ship and the enemy's warships were engaged in a fierce artillery battle, a fleet suddenly appeared from the north. This fleet seemed to have noticed the naval battle breaking out here, and two ships broke away from the fleet and sped towards the battlefield, as if to see what was going on.

Zhang Jie was both surprised and delighted, but he wasn't sure whose ship it was. If it belonged to the enemy, he would have no chance of resistance and would surely perish at sea. If it was a warship from another country, there might be a chance; perhaps the two warships that had ambushed him would leave, allowing him to escape.

A moment later, the enemy warships drew closer, and Zhang Jie was suddenly overjoyed to see clearly through his telescope the flags flying on the enemy ships. He hadn't expected them to be Ming Dynasty warships. Overjoyed, Zhang Jie immediately ordered his men to climb the masts and use the flags to signal for help, explaining that they were Ming Dynasty merchants under attack by pirates and pleading for their rescue.

Upon receiving the signal, the Ming warships reacted immediately, relaying the message to the main fleet. Simultaneously, the first two warships assumed combat stances to support Zhang Jie. Meanwhile, the raiding warships remained relentless, continuing to fire on Zhang Jie's merchant ship while simultaneously signaling for the Ming warships to leave immediately, implying that this was not Ming territory and that any approach by Ming warships would be met with hostility.

Seeing this situation, how could the Ming warships possibly leave? Besides, these warships were originally from the South Sea Navy. Zhang Jie also used his flag to identify himself. The captain of one of the warships that arrived even recognized Zhang Jie, after all, they were all under Zheng Zhilong's command and were old brothers.

How could one ignore the fact that one's own brother was being robbed? Moreover, Zhang Jie's merchant ship was flying the flag of the Ming Dynasty. Regardless of who Zhang Jie was before, he was now a maritime merchant of the Ming Dynasty. Even if one didn't know, how could one not lend a helping hand when they encountered him at sea?
Thus, a naval battle broke out. Although the two Ming warships were slightly smaller than the enemy warships, the naval battle was quite impressive. Moreover, Zhang Jie's armed merchant ships did not stand idly by and took the opportunity to fire desperately to assist their side.

In addition, after receiving the news, the Ming fleet dispatched two more warships to provide support, so the initial two against one became two against five. Furthermore, the Ming fleet had several other ships that had not yet arrived but could join the battle at any time.

Seeing that things were not going well, the enemy hastily fired a few shots and then turned to run away. At this moment, the Ming warships were not about to let the enemy escape. In an instant, the situation of the previous pursuit was reversed, and the hunter suddenly became the prey.

In the chaos, one of the enemy warships managed to turn around and got blocked by the Ming warships from both the front and the rear. After a barrage of cannon fire, the enemy warship was in a sorry state. With the arrival of the Ming warships, and seeing that there was nowhere to run, the enemy had no choice but to raise a white flag and surrender.

After capturing this warship, the other warship had already disappeared without a trace. After landing on the enemy warship and questioning the prisoners, they learned that the two warships were actually warships of the Dutch East India Company. They originally planned to ambush Zhang Jie's armed merchant ships at sea, but they did not expect to fail and instead became prisoners of the Ming Dynasty's Nanyang Navy.

(End of this chapter)