Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 494 Zheng Zhilong's retreat

On Qimei Island in Penghu, Zheng Zhilong called together several capable subordinates to discuss how to deal with the current situation.

It should be said that Zheng Zhilong is still very capable, and he cannot be the overlord of the sea without the ability.

But Zheng Zhilong has a fatal shortcoming, that is, after he became famous, he began to worry about gains and losses, especially for some unpredictable things. (If it were not for this character, he would not have surrendered to the Qing court, and was eventually executed by the Qing Dynasty.)
Zheng Zhilong's mentality was especially evident after he learned that Li Jing had issued the lifting of the ban.

On the one hand, Zheng Zhilong did not want to give up his current official position, but at the same time he did not want to give up the right to trade at sea.

Zheng Zhilong also understands the truth that fish and bear's paw can't have both, but he just doesn't want to give up.

Moreover, in Zheng Zhilong's view, he has absolute strength at sea, and the court must have nothing to do with him, so he refused to carry out Li Jing's order.

After Sun Meng and others led troops to Fujian, Zheng Zhilong led the fleet to station at sea in an attempt to drag down Ming's finances.

He didn't want Li Jing to order people to take over more than ten fortresses along the coast, directly cutting off Zheng Zhilong's escape route. Now Zheng Zhilong knew that he had only two paths left: submission and rebellion.

In fact, even at this time, Zheng Zhilong is not completely without a chance. If Zheng Zhilong can take advantage of the unstable situation of the army to capture Kinmen with all his strength, Sun Chuanting will definitely fight Zheng Zhilong in Kinmen in order to prevent Quanzhou and Zhangzhou from being threatened by Zheng Zhilong. .However, the current military strength of the two sides is very different, and Sun Chuanting basically has no chance of winning.

But Zheng Zhilong just wanted to teach the court a lesson, and he actually led the main fleet to attack Penghu.

We must know that Penghu is not of strategic significance at present, even if the imperial court loses Penghu, it will not affect it.If it were not for the purpose of sending a force into Taiwan and the need to use Penghu as a springboard, Sun Chuanting, Sun Meng and others would not have sent troops to garrison in Penghu.

Attacking such a place, it can be seen that Zheng Zhilong really just wanted to give the imperial court a blow.

It's a pity that Zheng Zhilong didn't expect that Sun Chuanting had already received the news from Li Guozhu that Zheng Zhilong was going to attack Penghu.

When it comes to fighting at sea, Sun Chuanting is not yet Zheng Zhilong's opponent, but when it comes to fighting on land, Zheng Zhilong is no match for Sun Chuanting even if he flatters him.

Sun Chuanting is definitely an outstanding military master. He quickly determined the direction and location of Zheng Zhilong's attack, and then set up an ambush at the location of Zheng Zhilong's attack, annihilating nearly 2000 people from Zheng Zhilong's troops in one battle.

If Zheng Zhilong changes the direction of attack to attack Kinmen at this time, there is still a chance.It's a pity that Zheng Zhilong was afraid of too many casualties at this time, so he didn't dare to attack Jinmen.

What happened by mistake was that among the four fleets sent by Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Zhibao chose to attack Kinmen.

Moreover, when the tide was ebbing in the direction of Penghu, the tide was rising in the direction of Kinmen, which allowed Zheng Zhibao's fleet to approach the shore and attack the island with naval guns.

Although the heavy artillery of the Kinmen garrison is far more powerful than Zheng Zhibao's naval guns, it is a pity that the difference is too large, especially after Zheng Zhibao called the friendly fleet to support, the disadvantage is more obvious. When the ammunition is exhausted, Zheng Zhibao can only be released into the island.

It should be said that during the Battle of the Golden Gate, Xiao Yi, the defender of the island, and Zheng Zhibao, who attacked the island, both made a mistake.Xiao Yi didn't make good use of the advantages of weapons, while Zheng Zhibao didn't make good use of the advantages of ships and numbers.As a result, the island guards lost half of their strength, and Zheng Zhibao also lost a large number of ships and soldiers.

It is also because of this that Li Guozhu was able to get rid of Zheng Zhibao's pursuit with the help of Zhong Bin after he turned back.

In Zheng Zhilong's more than ten years of naval military career, he has lost many battles, but none of them has been worse than this time.

However, Zheng Zhilong knows that victory or defeat is a common matter in military affairs, so as long as you don't get discouraged after losing a battle.There is still a chance for a comeback.

Especially at this time, he couldn't mess up his position. If he messed up, his subordinates would fall apart immediately.

After everyone sat down, Zheng Zhilong analyzed the reasons for the failure of this battle, and finally said: "The current situation is that although we have lost temporarily, we still have absolute strength at sea. As long as we can use our advantages at sea to defeat the officials The army is perfectly fine."

"Brother is right, what's a small loss? We still have nearly a thousand warships and thirty thousand brothers. We're the ones who have the final say on this sea." Zheng Zhibao said.

Hearing what the Zheng brothers said, all the generals cheered up and said in unison: "Yes, we still have thousands of warships and tens of thousands of brothers. As long as we are at sea, we will not be afraid of the officers and soldiers at all."

Seeing that everyone swept away the decline, Zheng Zhilong secretly heaved a sigh of relief.

Smiling, Zheng Zhilong said: "Then let's discuss, what should we do next? Should we take the initiative to attack? Or sabotage the court's foreign trade at sea, not fight with the government and the army, and drag the court down?"

Everyone was silent when they heard the words.

Although these people are used to fighting, but when it comes to formulating strategies and tactics, no one has this ability.

Seeing that everyone was silent, Shi Daxuan stood up and said, "Brother, brothers are willing to listen to what the elder brother tells you. Brothers will do what you say."

Zheng Zhilong nodded and waved for Shi Daxuan to sit down.

After pondering for a while, Zheng Zhilong said: "Now I can't make up my mind. You must know that although we are unbeatable at sea, but without the foundation on land, we will not last long after all. If we can bring down the court, then everything is easy to say, but the court What if it doesn't last?
You must know that we are not the only enemy of Ming Dynasty now, there are several other countries that will also become our enemies. "

"There are still enemies? Besides Daming, which country is against us." Zheng Zhibao was surprised.

Zheng Zhilong sighed and said: "Now that we are out of the coast of Fujian, the Dutch are the most powerful, and we must not take the Dutch lightly.

You must know that the imperial court has now opened the sea ban, and the Dutch must want to trade with the imperial court.If we want to bring down the court, we have to block the court's foreign trade, and we will definitely offend the Dutch.

In addition to the Dutch, there are also the Spaniards entrenched in Luzon and the Portuguese entrenched in Malaga. These two countries also trade with Ming through maritime merchants.When we become an obstacle to their maritime trade, they are likely to join forces against us. "

"This... big brother is really worried. These countries really have to guard against it." Zheng Zhibao nodded.

Zheng Zhilong smiled wryly, "It's not a question of whether we can prevent it or not. When we sabotaged the imperial court's foreign trade, we said that we would fight against these countries, and they would definitely deal with us.

Although we are not afraid of these countries, without shipyards and sources of soldiers, how can we replenish the ships and soldiers we lost when we are at war with so many countries?And how to replenish the consumed artillery and ammunition?If we have not been supplemented, then we will become weaker and weaker. "

Zheng Zhibao said: "According to what my brother said, if we don't want to make enemies with these countries, we can't stop the imperial court from trading with them. But if we don't stop the trade, then we don't want to bring down the imperial court at all. How big is the overseas trade? Brother, isn't it? I don’t know, as long as the trade is unimpeded, the imperial court will have a lot of money, and when the imperial court has money, it will immediately build a large number of ships. In a few years, we will lose the advantage of the sea.”

"That's why I dare not make this decision lightly." Zheng Zhilong said.

"Then take the initiative to attack. We are fighting with the imperial court. Who the hell dares to go to sea for trade after being so brave. Maritime merchants dare not go to sea. These countries have nothing to say, right?" Zheng Zhibao said.

Zheng Zhilong shook his head and said, "It's not that easy. Which of these countries is a vegetarian? How can we just sit back and watch the merchants not be able to go to sea? If they send escort ships at that time, if we want to stop them, we have to fight them.

In fact, what I am most worried about is that the imperial court will unite with these countries to deal with us. In order to be able to trade with Ming Dynasty, if the imperial court proposes to unite with them, they will definitely agree. "

"This won't work, and that won't work, so what shall we do?" Zheng Zhibao asked anxiously.

Zheng Zhilong smiled: "When I say take the initiative to attack, I don't mean to take the initiative to attack the court. We know that the Netherlands and other countries may unite against us. Do we have to wait for them to unite?"

"Brother, do you mean to attack the fleets of these countries first?" Zheng Zhibao asked.

"It's not these countries, but the Portuguese in Malacca." Zheng Zhilong shook his head.

"The Portuguese in Malaca? Why are you attacking Malaca? At that time, we might as well drive away the Dutch in Taiwan, and then occupy Taiwan, and the lands will be kings." Zheng Zhibao said.

Zheng Zhilong shook his head: "In that case, everyone's family will be harmed."

After a pause, Zheng Zhilong continued: "In addition, occupying Taiwan is just a habitat, and has no impact on the imperial court at all, because there is absolutely no need for the Netherlands and other countries to trade in Taiwan.

Now they are trading in Taiwan, but I actually forced them to do so in order to ask them for money.In fact, the Netherlands and other countries only need to pass through Malaga, and then go around to Guangdong to trade with Ming Dynasty.

And our occupation of Malaga is equivalent to blocking the throat of these countries. They can only leave if I let them go. If I don't let them go, they won't be able to reach Daming. "

Many of you here have been to Malaga, and know that there is a strait in Malaga, and ships from the Netherlands and other countries come from this strait.

At this time, after hearing Zheng Zhilong's words, everyone suddenly realized: "Brother is wise, he occupied Malaga, we have a place to live, and we can cut off the trade between the imperial court and other countries."

Zheng Zhilong said with a smile: "Another advantage is that Malaga is easy to defend and difficult to attack. We have so many ships. In the sea area like Malaga, no country is our opponent. Even if they unite, we will not be afraid. "

"In this case, let's act?" Zheng Zhibao said anxiously.

Zheng Zhilong glared at Zheng Zhibao: "What do you think I'm discussing with my brothers? Is it as simple as you think? Although Malaga is a safe place, the climate there is hotter than Fujian. How can I force my brothers to follow me?" To such a place? What's more, the brothers' family members are all in Daming, how can I have the heart to let the brothers abandon their families and children and go far away."

Zheng Zhibao muttered: "It's not like I won't come back, so I'll wait until I find a chance to take my family over?"

(End of this chapter)