Ming Zuo

Chapter 1134 Ambition
The existence of the Zheng family not only hindered the pace of Xia's external expansion, but also seriously damaged the maritime trade in East Asia.

In order to break this situation, the Netherlands had clashed with Zheng before.

However, the East India Company's strength was limited, and it was defeated by Zheng Zhilong's local operations, resulting in no change in the East Asian sea pattern.

This time Xia Guo proposed to use force against the Zheng family, and the Dutch immediately responded positively.

Putmans is even more demanding to be the commander of this battle.

He vowed to avenge himself.

However, Batavia is too far away. In this era without remote communication, the two sides cannot cooperate closely.

Xia Guo also only notified the approximate time of the battle, and the rest were all up to the Dutch to handle freely.

Putmans organized a fleet of seven warships in Batavia and headed for the coast of China.

He has seen how powerful Zheng Zhilong is, so he is very careful.

He first entered the Dutch stronghold in the south of Taiwan Island, and then bought the local Han people to spy on Zheng's movements.

Knowing that the Zheng family had gone out in force and disappeared, Putmans became more and more cautious.

He waited patiently for another ten days, seeing that Zheng's fleet had never returned, he guessed it must have gone to fight against Xia Guo.

He also made a fool of himself by declaring that he would lead the fleet back to Batavia.

Then it circled around the sea and went north through the Bashi Channel.

However, such a delay prevented him from catching up with the Zhoushan naval battle, but he ran into the retreating Zheng's fleet head-on.

When the enemy met, he was extremely jealous.

Putmans could tell at a glance that Zheng's condition was not good, how could he let go of the opportunity to beat the dog in the water?

Especially at this time on the wide sea, there is no need to worry about Zheng's fireboats, which just give full play to the superior performance of the Dutch warships.

The battle started immediately.

Putmans divided his fleet into two groups, cruised around the periphery of Zheng's fleet, and kept bullying Zheng's backward warships with more artillery.

At this time, Zheng Zhilong still had some remaining bronze cannons in his hands.

In terms of power and range, it is no worse than the Dutch artillery.

However, the number is too small, and the performance of the warships is even more incomparable.

After a hard fight, the Zheng family suffered heavy losses, and their morale fell to the bottom.

"Brother, it's not good for me to be entangled with the Dutch here. I should return to my hometown quickly, so that I can tide over the difficulties."

Zheng Hongkui was very anxious, and began to admonish Zheng Zhilong.

Zheng Zhilong was full of sadness.

"Why don't I want to go? But look, these Dutchmen are going to kill us!"

Zheng Hongkui also understood that the Zheng family could not fight any longer.

"I'll stop the Dutchman, brother, return quickly."

At the critical moment, Zheng Zhilong's brothers were very sacrificing.

Zheng Hongkui ordered more than [-] warships and built a line of defense on the sea. He would rather die than let the Dutch rush over.

These warships of his are all equipped with bronze cannons, and their firepower cannot be underestimated.

Putmans originally wanted to go around and bite Zheng Zhilong tightly.As a result, the warship suffered a few shots and suffered heavy losses, which made him have to deal with it carefully.

While helplessly watching Zheng Zhilong leave in a hurry, he began to deal with Zheng Hongkui who would rather die than retreat.

The Zheng family has always relied on the large number of ships to cover up the shortcomings of weapons and give full play to the advantages of close combat.

But they don't understand that on the vast sea, it is of little use to have too many ships but not good ones.

At this time without the restraint of the brigade, Zheng Hongkui played well with the few warships in his hand.

They rushed left and right, and kept using bronze cannons to create great trouble for the Dutch fleet.

Although the number of artillery pieces could not be compared with that of the Dutch fleet, the two sides actually became evenly matched.

The reason is that the durable combat performance of the bronze cannon far exceeds that of contemporary European artillery.

After the artillery on the Dutch battleship fired for a long time, the barrel was boiling hot and could no longer be used, so it had to be cooled down.

However, the heat dissipation effect of the bronze cannon is very good, and it can still fire continuously.

In this way, the firepower of the two sides inexplicably reached a balance.

Fighting until dark, seeing that no one can do anything to anyone, the two sides can only stop fighting.

Zheng Hongkui was sunk by eleven warships. Although the loss was not small, he finally completed the task of blocking the enemy.He didn't dare to stay, and hurried south while taking advantage of the darkness.

Putmans had sunk a warship and badly damaged several others, much to his dismay.

Fortunately, this battle sank a total of more than [-] warships of the Zheng family, and achieved a considerable victory.

Putmans found an island nearby to repair the fleet.

He decided to contact the Xia Guo Fleet and act together next.

Daxuan didn't dare to stop along the way, and Shi Daxuan, who was exhausted from running, finally rushed back to Anhai Town.

"We've lost. The situation is very critical. Maybe Xia Guo will come over in a short time. We must prepare early."

Shi Daxuan called together Zheng Cai, Zheng Lian, Yang Geng and others who were staying behind, and reported the situation, which made everyone flustered.

Over the years, Zheng's successive battles and victories have eliminated countless powerful enemies, and they have already made them forget the taste of failure.

"Does Xia Guo dare to come to Fujian? This is our hometown, even if the real dragon comes, we have to fight."

Hearing Zheng Cai's still arrogant words, Shi Daxuan was furious.

"You have never seen the power of Xia Guo's warships. If you don't stop your arrogance, you will really die without a place to bury you."

He ordered several people: "Call all the guys at home immediately and divide them into different places. And send someone to inform Xiao Zhongcheng quickly. Once the Xia army comes, the imperial court will not be able to get any good. At this moment, we must be sincere. unity."

After conveying Zheng Zhilong's meaning, Shi Daxuan couldn't bear the exhaustion anymore, and fell asleep soundly.

The three of Zheng Cai look at me and I look at you, with complex expressions in their eyes.

The three retreated outside and drove away the irrelevant people.

"Ah Cai, now that Uncle has lost the battle, it is a god-given opportunity. If you miss it, you will regret it."

Yang Geng also tried his best to persuade him.

"Hou Ye brought that kid back from Dongpu. The purpose is self-evident. You have been born and died all these years, and you have been loyal. I'm afraid that in the future, all birds will be hidden and rabbits will be cooked!"

The bewitching words of the two made the flesh on Zheng Cai's face keep throbbing, gradually becoming vicious.

"Since that's the case, then simply... just don't do it, and don't stop."

Zheng Lian and Yang Geng were overjoyed when they heard that he had finally made up his mind.

The Zheng family finally went to war with Xia Guo, but the ending must be more ominous than good.

Although Zheng Chenggong is very young, his ideas are very clear.

But now he is locked in the room, unable to come and go.Although very urgent, but also helpless.

He tried hard to recall what Zuo Menggeng had taught him, trying hard to calm down and find a feasible way.

That night, he was not at ease in his sleep.

Suddenly, I felt extremely hot all over my body, as if I was deep in the furnace.

This made him frightened and quickly opened his eyes, and his face turned pale with shock.

I saw that the fire was raging around his room, and the heat wave was rolling and lively, and it seemed that it might swallow him at any time.

"Come on! Come on! It's water!"

Zheng Chenggong was terrified, and hurriedly opened his mouth and yelled.

(End of this chapter)