Lu Ming

Chapter 211 Killing the King ([-])
According to the information released by the Oceanic Administration of later generations, Fujian has 2214 large and small islands.That is to say, even a native of Fujian can never tell the name of the island in front of the whole family.These islands are as big as counties and counties, and as small as half an acre of land. They are scattered along the coast of Fujian like broken stars, especially in the ocean between Fuzhou and Putian.

On June 1628, 6, three cruisers with clean white soft sails and graceful lines had ambushed in an unnamed small bay in the Meizhou Islands.

The naval task force commanded by Liu Zhe set off almost at the same time as Zheng's fleet.The difference between the two is: Zheng Zhilong sailed from Fuzhou Port in the early morning, while at the same time, the task force sailed from Dayuan Port.

It is now late June.The southeast monsoon blowing from the Pacific Ocean allowed the task force to move across the strait, relying only on sails, to maintain a high speed of 6 knots + throughout the entire process.When the fleet drew a slanted line from Dayuan to Meizhou Island off the coast of Putian, it took only 12 hours for a total of 300 kilometers.

The dark night is hard for travelers, and the fleet quickly chose a small bay facing the direction of Fuzhou among the unnamed islands near Meizhou Island, and anchored.

There is a reason for choosing to ambush Zheng's fleet off the coast of Meizhou Island.Zheng's fleet leaving Fuzhou from the mouth of the Minjiang River will soon encounter a complex archipelago with Pingtan Island as its core on the way south.

This area belongs to the sea off Fuqing, densely covered with large and small islands, the waterway is tortuous, and there are too many uncontrollable factors, so it is not suitable for the maneuvering of high-speed fleets.The whole area of ​​the archipelago has to extend to the south of Nanri Island before the sea becomes empty.

Therefore, the task force set the ambush position on the ocean between Meizhou Island and Nanri Island-further south, it will enter the border of Quanzhou, which is a bit close to Zheng's large army, so it is not safe.

As for Zheng's fleet, they anchored and stopped long before dark. The Fuchuan did not have radar and sonar installed.Zheng's is now going from north to south, against the wind, and in a daytime, the Fuchuan fleet can't get out of the range of Nanri Island no matter what.

In fact, the crossing people now know the location of Zheng's fleet very well.

The pocket watch that Zheng gave me was only used to locate him—the battery and transmitter in the pocket watch are too small, so the monitoring distance is not far.As for the Zheng's Fleet, such an important large-scale operation that consumed countless resources, the traversing people naturally would not pin their hopes on a small pocket watch.

During the few days when Zheng's fleet was moored at Fuzhou Wharf, Fuzhou Station had sent several "gifts" into the fleet through different officials.It also includes a gift from Huang Juren, the popular painting of the Governor's Yamen: Bronze Buddha.

The big belly bronze Buddha was finally entrusted to Zheng Zhihu by Huang Juren on the day Lao Xiong saw him off.And Zheng Zhihu also made a promise on the spot: he would definitely bring the bronze Buddha to the same year of a certain Mr. Huang in Zhangzhou.

Therefore, the task force now knows the location of the Zheng family's fleet very well: on the LCD screen of the computer, several red dots located in the north of Nanri Island are clearly displayed.

Early the next morning, off the coast of Meizhou Island.

The task force is slowly circling in circles on the ocean.The sailors, who have received formal training for more than half a year, are completing a series of pre-war work on the bumpy deck: sailing, cleaning the deck, maintaining artillery, and binding items. The whole scene is orderly, busy and not chaotic, which fully reflects the hard work of the navy. the results.

These sailors uniformly wear indigo double-breasted short jackets and leggings with cropped trousers today.In addition, they wear leather shoes on their feet today: buffalo leather shoes.

With the purchase of a large number of materials in Fuzhou City, the textile factory finally has enough ramie for weaving.Similar to denim, the twill imitation denim woven from 30 x 3 strands of ramie thread is quite powerful, and it has become the main clothing material for soldiers and workers as soon as it leaves the factory.

In addition to being heavy and prone to fading after weaving and dyeing with natural indigo, this cloth has few disadvantages, so the navy uses this cloth in large numbers to make clothing.

As for the expensive leather shoes, there was nothing to be done - the traversal crowd could not tolerate their soldiers wearing low straw sandals on the battlefield.So, to be honest, some people really gritted their teeth and bleed in today's operation.

Leather shoe craftsmanship is not worth mentioning to a certain force. There are more than 200 traversing miles, and no less than 5 of them have worked in the leather shoe industry in Wenzhou "during their lifetime", including the famous Wenzhou leather factory.

The difficulty with leather shoes is the material.

Taiwan can provide a lot of buckskin, but no cowhide.Deerskin is excellent for making soft high-end bags, but it is not suitable for soldiers who do cross-country training every day.

Therefore, cowhide, which can only be imported from across the sea for the time being, has now become a commodity in short supply.These big-toed leather shoes issued to soldiers are usually carefully preserved after a few days of running-in. They are only used for celebrations and battles like today.

Army soldiers dressed in light grass gray will also take turns to practice sighting and aiming at the side of the ship.It was originally decided that 50 Army soldiers would be stationed on each ship, but the number was reduced due to space issues.

The reason why I wear a somewhat earthy light grass gray military uniform is that it is one of the most easily available vegetable dyes.As for the chemical dyes in the future, whether to follow the hot and cool route of the British Emperor's big red lobster soldiers, or the cold route of the German Second Railway's gray, this has been being tormented by people, and it has not yet been decided.

It is already 6 am on June 25.This fleet, which concentrated the essence of the crossing army, was like a few lazy sharks, swimming slowly in the sea off Meizhou Island, waiting for its prey to come.

At the moment, a group of crossing officers are gathering in the poop of the flagship No. 301, collectively paying attention to the red dot on the computer screen representing the Zheng family's fleet.

"If I were Zheng Zhilong, the first time I saw the fleet, I would turn around and run towards the mainland. I might still have a chance." Wearing a light-colored tropical camouflage, the commander of the Marine Corps, Qian Tieshan, was two widths taller than others. , who was talking nonsense in the cabin at this time.

"That's because he needs to know how powerful we are." At this time, the navy commander Liu Zhe threw the pen on the tactical table with a "click", and then looked at the one beside him with a [-] points, wearing a gray jacket. The man in the shirt: "Ju Ma, does Lao Zheng know how good we are?"

"You underestimate Zheng Zhilong too much. Given how well he knows us, turning around and running away is a high probability event."

Ma Yue, former National Security Bureau professional.This person didn't travel for a long time. After traveling, relying on his unique specialty, he soon became the deputy director of the Intelligence Bureau and reached the sky in one step.

"Bosses now have boats coming in and out almost every day. According to our observations, various spies are still quite active. Therefore, Zheng Zhilong should have a clear judgment on our strength, especially in terms of force."

After listening to Ma Yue's opinion, Liu Zhe was not very surprised: "It doesn't matter, we have fully considered all the situations. It is the same whether he runs or not. The only thing we need to pay attention to now is Zheng Zhilong. Which side of the island to go around."

Nanri Island, located in the north of the task force, is shaped like a dumbbell across the sea.If Zheng's fleet goes south from the Nanri Strait near the mainland in the near future, then the task force will continue to wait for the enemy in the relatively wide waters of Meizhou Bay: It may flee to the coast of the mainland, which is only less than 5 kilometers away.

If the Zheng family's fleet goes to the sea off Nanri Island, then the task force can rush up: the sea distance of more than 20 kilometers from the mainland is enough for the attackers to sink all the blessing ships.

As time passed, Zheng's fleet heading south from the Strait of Haitan Island gradually approached Nanri Island lying ahead.Under the intense gaze of the passing crowd on the three ships, the red dot on the screen began to slowly change direction, moving towards the sea off Nanri Island.

"Turn the rudder and head north with full sail, and the engine room starts to add coal to preheat." When Liu Zhe was sure that the red dot on the screen had moved to the east end of Nanri Island, he began to issue the order for the whole army to go north.

Soon, the three ships of the task force lined up in battle line, heading north at full speed with full sail.The Zheng fleet, more than 30 kilometers away, was on the way around Nanri Island against the headwind.

The current distance between the two sides is more than 30 kilometers, that is to say, it only takes less than one and a half hours for the task force to go from the sea off Meizhou Island to the sea off Nanri Island.And since the two fleets are facing each other, in fact, it doesn't take that much time: about an hour at most, the two sides will meet.At that time, the Fuchuan team should have left Nanri Island about 1 kilometers behind.

The operations on the maps of naval officers are relatively accurate. Fifty minutes later, when the task force arrived near Cormorant Island as planned, the lookout in Wangdouli had clearly reported that a fleet was found ahead.

Cormorant Island is a small palm-sized island with an area of ​​only 1.2 square kilometers. It is located on the ocean between Nanri Island and Meizhou Island. It is one of the few scattered islands in this sea area.

At this moment, Zheng's fleet, not far from Cormorant Island, has also spotted the oncoming task force.

When Zheng Zhilong came out of the cabin after hearing the news and observed with a brass telescope, what was shown in the camera were three strange sailboats with graceful lines and bulging sails, speeding like lightning.

"It's the ship of the Kun people. The whole army is on deck and readying artillery." The young leader immediately recognized the identity of the enemy when he saw the enemy at first sight, and then calmly issued a battle order.

At this moment, Zheng Zhilong didn't have the slightest chance, because he knew the opponent's strength and intention very well.In fact, no one knew that he had sent spies of various professions to the officials a long time ago.Therefore, Zheng Zhilong is very aware of the range and power of these weapons, whether it is through the machine guns or Italian guns.

In addition, when destroyer No. 301 was still testing off Dayuan, he had already obtained the pattern of this ship.

Therefore, after he issued the first order to prepare for battle, he immediately issued the second order: "Turn the sails and head towards the land."

(End of this chapter)