***
Ningbo City had obviously strengthened its defenses. The city defense was under the charge of Lieutenant General Lu Liang, and the two thousand guards led by Qin Zuoming had also made various preparations.
At the second watch, Yan Gaofei hurried into Qiulu Garden and reported to Qin Mu: "King Qin, the sentry boats have not reported Zheng Zhilong's whereabouts. Admiral Gu believes that the situation is unusual and has led the East Sea Fleet to leave Shuangyu Port. At the same time, he has sent Admiral Di's North Sea Fleet to the south."
"Where did Gu Rong go? What is he going to do?"
"Reporting to the King of Qin, Admiral Gu sailed eastward after leaving Shuangyu Port, but did not report his specific whereabouts."
Qin Mu stood up and paced around the room with his hands behind his back. Various signs indicated that Zheng Zhilong went there knowing that there was a tiger lurking there. In other words, he could not have been without precautions. In addition, it was not known for sure whether there was a larger fleet behind him.
At this time, it would be too risky for Gu Rong to leave the port and go out to sea.
When the enemy is strong and we are weak, the safest strategy should be to attack as long as possible. Zheng Zhilong has come from afar, and if the attack takes too long, his supplies will surely run out. It will be most advantageous for the Qin Navy to fight at that time.
Qin Mu looked at Gu Jun'en and the others: "Everyone, do you have anything to say?"
"King Qin, although there is no definite news yet, we must be on guard against the fact that Zheng Zhilong has more troops behind him. All coastal counties need to strengthen their vigilance."
Gu Junen's words made Qin Mu frown. According to him, he should be prepared for the fleet to be defeated.
Qin Mu clenched his fist lightly and resolutely ordered: "Pass on my order, order Linshan, Guanhai, Dinghai, Xiangshan, Changguo, and Shipu to prepare for battle together."
Gu Jun'en added: "King of Qin, this is not enough. Once Zheng Zhilong wins the naval battle, I'm afraid that not only Zhejiang, but also Haining and Jinshan on both sides of Qiantang River, and even Hangzhou Prefecture and Songjiang Prefecture may be within the range of his attack. King of Qin, as the saying goes, it is better to be prepared than to be careless."
"Then send a message to Hangzhou, Jiaxing, and Songjiang to strengthen their guard."
The situation was out of Qin Mu's control. It was difficult to find out the enemy's situation at sea, and he had delegated the command to Gu Rong early on. With the East China Sea Fleet leaving Shuangyu Port, Qin Mu had truly lost the ability to dispatch the fleet, and he didn't even know where the fleet was going. Now he wanted to order the fleet to hold the port. It was no use wasting the Zheng army. He could only prepare for the worst.
War is like a monster. When it is released, everyone hopes that it can bite the opponent to death, but they cannot control it and sometimes get bitten by it. Before the result is determined, no one can predict the outcome.
But Qin Mu did not regret it, he wanted to build a strong navy, he always believed that the so-called strength was forged through actual combat.
The navy’s equipment today is not inferior to Zheng’s army. What it lacks mainly is naval combat experience. If you don’t fight, you will never have actual combat experience.
A Fu ship costs three to four thousand taels of silver. Building a large fleet costs hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, plus weapons and soldiers, two million taels is enough!
Daqin can afford to lose. Even if there are heavy casualties this time, just consider it as tuition fees.
Moreover, this time they had invested so much money and equipped the navy with so many firearms, even though the Zheng army was very powerful, Gu Rong would not necessarily lose.
As for the army, Qin Mu has also issued an order that regardless of the victory or defeat of the navy, Fenshui Pass and Xianxia Pass must be attacked immediately.
If Zheng Zhilong won the naval battle, attacking Fenshui Pass and Xianxia Pass could force him to retreat, so as to prevent him from taking advantage of the victory to harass the south of the Yangtze River.
In case Zheng Zhilong was defeated and the morale of Zheng's army was damaged, it would be the right time to attack Fenshui Pass and Xianxia Pass, taking the opportunity to further expand the victory and capture Fujian in one fell swoop.
In short, although the situation was chaotic and critical, Qin Mu remained calm. For the Qin Dynasty, the defeat of the navy would not affect its plan to unify the world; for the Zheng family, a defeat in the naval battle would mean total collapse.
***
Nanjiushan Island is located 50 to 60 miles south of Liuheng Island where Shuangyu Port is located. Nanjiushan and the other 8 islands and mountains, including Jigushan, Guanchuanao, Wenchongshan, Mabushan, Daqingshan, Shangzhushan, Zhongzhushan and Xiazhushan, are collectively called "Nine Mountains". There are 76 small islands and reefs around the Nine Mountains, and the terrain is very complex.
Shortly after nightfall, Zheng Zhilong's fleet arrived at Shibadaodi in the northeast corner of Nanjiu Island.
At this time, Zheng Zhilong had to cross the river by feeling the stones. He had lost track of the Qin navy. In this situation, sailing north at night was a very dangerous thing, and he might be ambushed by the Qin army.
So he ordered the fleet to anchor at Shibadaodi, sent out small boats to guard the periphery, and then summoned Zheng Xing, Zheng Ming, Yang Geng, Chen Hui and others to discuss the matter again.
The night wind blew, and the waves beat against the shore. Zheng Zhilong and a dozen other people gathered around a fire beside the woods on the island, discussing their next actions.
Chen Hui held a branch and a fish, roasting it while saying, "Duke, we have come from afar, and logistics are difficult, so it will be disadvantageous for us if we delay for too long."
Zheng Ming held up the wine pot and drank while saying, "According to me, we will march northward in a grand manner tomorrow to attract the Qin army and entangle them. When Gan Hui, Hong Xu and others catch up, we will wipe out the Qin army in one fell swoop."
Others also agreed with Zheng Ming's point of view. For the Zheng army, they were not afraid of the Qin army attacking, but they were afraid that the Qin army would hide and not show up. Zheng Zhilong himself also thought that Zheng Ming made sense. He immediately sent someone to notify Zheng Cai behind him to speed up the northward movement of the follow-up fleet and keep a distance from him.
This time, in addition to the 20,000 troops led by Zheng Zhilong himself, there were also 40,000 troops led by Zheng Cai, Gan Hui and Hong Xu, as well as 400 large and small warships.
The two fleets had previously maintained a distance of fifty or sixty miles, which was too far. Now they had entered a dangerous area where a naval battle could break out at any time. They should shorten the distance, otherwise, once a naval battle broke out, it might be too late to provide support.
After a night's rest at Shibadaodi, Zheng Zhilong led his fleet to set sail again at 5 a.m. the next day, when the sky was just beginning to lighten.
After daybreak, the sun was not visible, the sky was gloomy, and the wind direction began to change. The original warm southeast wind turned into a chilly northwest wind. This was very unfavorable for the Zheng army sailing north.
Zheng Zhilong dispatched more speedboats around the fleet, and also asked Zheng Ming and Zheng Xing to lead a squadron of ten warships each, sailing slightly in front of the main force, forming a three-legged situation with the main fleet.
This is a rather strange formation, but it is very helpful in preventing the main force from being attacked.
More than 20 miles behind Zheng Zhilong, an even larger fleet was following behind. This huge fleet, which consisted of 400 large and small warships, was led by Zheng Cai, Gan Hui and Hong Xu.
Gan Hui and Hong Xu were also old brothers of the "Eighteen Zhis" who swore brotherhood with Zheng Zhilong. Gan Hui was a man of honor and chivalry, and was the first of the five ancestors of the Tiandihui. Hong Xu was one of Zheng Zhilong's most trusted generals, and was promoted to the title of Zhongzhen Earl by Zhu Youjian in the first year of Longwu.
Together with Zheng Xing, Zheng Ming, Yang Geng and Chen Hui mentioned above, this time the Zheng family army can be said to have sent out all its elite troops and is determined to win.
Zheng Cai's follow-up fleet was carrying dozens of fishing boats, which were encountered along the way. It was this cautious move that allowed their follow-up army to remain well hidden, and the specific strength of the troops was unknown to the Qin army.
Zheng Cai was speeding up, preparing to get closer to Zheng Zhilong in front of him, when suddenly a speedboat came back from the east and reported: "General, our army has been exposed. A Qin army patrol boat just appeared. The enemy used the islands and reefs as cover to break through our outer sentry line, then broke out to the south with the wind, and turned to the east..."
When Zheng Cai heard the news, his eyes were filled with anger. Although he knew it would be difficult to hide his whereabouts after getting close to Zhoushan, the other party broke into the sentry line and easily broke out, which made him lose face.
He suppressed his anger and shouted, "Pass the order, speed up and get closer to the Duke."
Ghost Island. Gu Rong finally found out the specific whereabouts of Zheng Jun, but at this moment, he could not contact Di Zhongxing's North Sea Fleet. Could it be that the North Sea Fleet deviated from its course due to the sudden change in wind direction last night
This made Gu Rong worried. Their military strength was originally smaller than that of Zheng's army. If the two fleets lost contact again, the consequences would be disastrous.
"Quick, send more speedboats and try to contact the North Sea Fleet as soon as possible!"
“Yes!”
"Jiang Xiaoyu."
"I will be here in the end."
"Immediately lead your 10th Battalion and go out from the north. Be careful not to expose the position of our main force. Go and test Zheng Zhilong's bottom line. Don't confront him head-on. Try to lure him to Banten Island."
"I obey your command."
As the commander of the 10th Battalion, Jiang Xiaoyu immediately led his men and drove seven large and small warships out from the north after receiving the order, then sailed south with full sails to meet Zheng Zhilong's fleet.
The clouds in the sky were getting thicker and thicker, there was no sunlight at all, the sea was gloomy, and a group of seabirds were circling above the fleet, occasionally swooping down behind the ships. This made Jiang Xiaoyu very annoyed because it was very likely to expose his whereabouts to the enemy in advance.
Many birds at sea like to hover over ships. People who often sail on the sea know this phenomenon.
Nowadays, with telescopes, we can sometimes know the opponent's movements in advance by observing the seabirds circling in the sky before the opponent's ships appear above the sea level, thus gaining the upper hand.
The wind and waves on the sea were also much stronger, surging and surging, and the bow of the boat stirred up pieces of waves, which splashed directly onto the bow. After sailing south for about ten miles, Jiang Xiaoyu suddenly discovered two speedboats in the south through the telescope.
His heart immediately lifted, and he shouted, "Meet the enemy, meet the enemy, go up and kill the enemy's patrol boat first, quickly!"
****************************
ps: I was busy these two days. I worked overtime until midnight last night. I didn't get enough sleep and felt dizzy, but I managed to update. It's the 8th, and I believe the monthly subscription tickets of brothers have come out. We are now ranked 29th, and the ones ahead of us are all fresh chrysanthemums of great gods, pink, tight, and so moving... Brothers, stand firm, and ask for monthly tickets!
.(To be continued..)
...