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Volume 13 Reviving the Ming Dynasty Chapter 667 Threat at Sea (2)

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    Although the time was well past noon, the several cabinet officials on duty could not leave the palace to go back for dinner because An Guogong Tang Feng had no intention of letting them disperse.  On the desk in front of Tang Feng was a document sent to Beijing by the Zheng family in Fujian three days ago, but he had only just seen it before.

    With a hint of deepness on his face, Tang Feng glanced at the officials: "What's going on? Our Ming Dynasty's maritime territory has been harassed by foreign enemies. How can such a big matter wait until our country's public officials inquire about it?  Can you report it?" This tone and expression made all the officials feel frightened, and no one dared to step forward to reply.

    It turns out that after today's morning court, Tang Feng got the news from Jinyiwei that the coastal areas of Fujian were being harassed by Western barbarians, and then he asked those officials if there was any previous report from Fujian.  This search actually led them to find this document from the Zheng family, which made Tang Feng very dissatisfied, and the scene before them happened.

    "What do the General Affairs Department and other government officials do? They actually neglected their duties on such a big matter. I want an apology!"

    None of the officials came forward to explain, but in fact everyone was somewhat disapproving of this.  In their minds, those Western barbarians who invaded our Ming Dynasty sea territory are just clowns and not worthy of attention at all. And the Zheng family who submitted the letter is just a local maritime businessman who just donated an official position. How could they let it happen?  What do they care about?  However, Tang Feng's attitude let them know that their views were biased, which made everyone feel fearful.  Duke An Guo was famously strong and would never give anyone a second chance in some matters, and he didn't know who would be unlucky this time.

    Tang Feng glanced at everyone's faces, and after a while he suppressed the anger in his heart.  In fact, he also knew the crux of the matter. Because of the long-standing policy of banning seas, the Ming Dynasty had almost no concept of sea power. What the Chinese people valued was the land. As long as the enemy did not come to the shore, the sea would follow them.  Although I have tried my best to change all this, it is obvious that the concepts formed over hundreds of years cannot be reversed in just a few years.

    After sighing, Tang Feng didn¡¯t really get angry as others thought. Instead, he asked Piao Astronomy Network to draw up a charter for me in the afternoon to see how we should deal with the invasion of the Western Yi!  "

    When everyone heard this, they felt as if they were being pardoned, and they quickly agreed and filed out.  Watching them leave, Tang Feng felt even more uncomfortable, because what he had been worried about before had really happened.

    The reason why Tang Feng did not relax at all after destroying the Jin Kingdom and descending to Menggu, but still accelerating the pace of reform, was precisely because he was worried about the rise of Western countries and the harm they would do to the Chinese nation after their rise.  Judging by time, Western countries have already entered the Age of Discovery. When their original capital has accumulated to a certain level, the Industrial Revolution will develop rapidly. By then, these original barbarian countries will far surpass the Ming Dynasty in terms of technology.  Once it lags too far behind at the starting line, it will be difficult to catch up in the future, so Tang Feng tried every means to make the Ming Dynasty rich and then carry out the industrial revolution.

    After a period of hard work and pressure from his prestige, Ming Dynasty has embarked on a completely different path from that in history, but there will also be some troubles that will follow.  After Western countries know about the prosperity of Ming Dynasty because of its opening up, they will inevitably covet this place, and there will inevitably be a battle.

    To this end, Tang Feng has already begun to ask craftsmen to build ships that can fight at sea, but this idea cannot be achieved for a while.  In fact, Tang Feng felt very sad. Thinking about the Yongle period, the Sanbao eunuch Zheng He led a large fleet with amazing combat power to sail to the Western Ocean thousands of miles away. At that time, the shipbuilding technology of the Ming Dynasty was so advanced.  But now, two hundred years later, the Ming Dynasty has no ships going to sea. Even the shipbuilding factories, blueprints and craftsmen can no longer be found. This is really a helpless thing.

    But even with so many difficulties, Tang Feng did not give up on this decision because he knew that if a country wants to be truly strong in the future world, this sea will be a threshold that must be passed.  Precisely because of Tang Feng's full support, and because the Ming Dynasty's treasury is now very sufficient, the progress of building maritime ships has been advancing, but because the time is still short, these ships cannot be used yet.

    When he heard about the harassment and invasion of Western ships in Fujian and other places, Tang Feng knew that those maritime powers that had no idea about the Ming Dynasty were about to attack the Ming Dynasty.  In fact, if you really want to talk about it, even if the Ming Dynasty cannot defeat them at sea, on land, the Westerners may not be the opponents of the Ming Dynasty official army.  But in that case, it would cause great damage to the lives and property of the coastal people, and it would also hit the emerging economies of those places, so Tang Feng absolutely did not want to see this.The scene really happened.  Moreover, once the greedy guys in the West learn about Ming's weakness, they may continue to intercept Ming's merchant ships at sea, which is also extremely detrimental to the development of Ming's commerce. Then we need to defend the enemy from land.  , these invading enemies must be defeated at sea.

    But judging from the performance of those important officials in the court, Tang Feng was very worried.  These people simply do not understand the importance of the sea to a country, and they actually shelved Fujian's documents and ignored them completely.  If they were allowed to participate in dealing with Xiyi, I'm afraid they wouldn't be able to help much.  But now there are almost no officials in the government who have such foresight as him, which makes Tang Feng feel even more pressure on his shoulders.

    "Hey, it seems now that although Zhu Yuanzhang drove away the enemies in the north, he laid a great disaster for our Chinese nation because of his short-sightedness." Tang Feng sighed with emotion: "But fortunately  Now that changes have been made, I hope that this time we can take advantage of our home court and win. If we can win, it may make those Western countries fearful and stop using force to harass us in a short period of time.  "

    Having said that, before large ships that can fight on the sea are built, it is impossible to fight the enemy with only the small ships and merchant ships that the Ming Dynasty currently has.  Moreover, Jinyiwei's ears and eyes are not that well-informed and can grasp the situation of overseas enemies. In this way, they will lose the opportunity before the battle, and this battle will be even more difficult.

    Just when Tang Feng had a headache and didn't know what to do, his eyes suddenly fell back on the documents on the cases in front of him.  "This is written by a maritime merchant from Fujian. Judging from the situation, their knowledge of Xiyi should be higher than that of the imperial court. By the way, their first rank is the Zheng family!" Tang Feng seemed to be stunned for a moment.  , and then I found the familiar name from the last signature - Zheng Zhilong!

    "It's him! With them here, I think the loss in naval battles that I'm worried about may not really happen. Zheng Chenggong, I don't know how capable he is now. Is he at the level of Taiwan in history?  "Tang Feng felt slightly relaxed in his heart. As long as the court can fully help, this battle may not be lost.

    In the next few days, the court's focus shifted to the southern coast. Letters of memorial were rushed to the capital from there, and then quickly arrived in front of Tang Feng, the cabinet and the Ministry of War, asking them to  Get a clear idea of ??what's going on there.  As the intelligence becomes more and more accurate, the views of adults who did not take coastal affairs seriously are slowly changing.  Of course, what they saw was only the intelligence from more than ten days ago, and just when the imperial court began to pay attention to the situation along the coast of Fujian, the situation there changed greatly again

    Zheng Zhilong never thought that such a powerful fleet he sent would be defeated so miserably. There were more than 70 large ships and small ships, with as many as a thousand veterans who had been fighting at sea for a long time.  During the First World War, almost the entire army was wiped out, with less than a hundred people escaping back on a badly damaged ship.

    When he got the news, Zheng Zhilong staggered and almost fell to the ground.  Those who died were old associates and brothers who had been following him for more than ten years.  Not to mention their help and role to the Zheng family, everyone's feelings alone were enough to hit Zheng Zhilong and the entire Zheng family.

    It turns out that Zheng Zhilong, who is only in his fifties, is very strong and looks like he is in his thirties.  But after suffering such a blow, he immediately seemed to have aged twenty years, the black hair on his head turned white, and there were many more wrinkles on his face, which made people feel sad just by looking at him.  And the whole Zheng family felt even more panicked. There were thousands of men and horses, all of whom were the foundation of the Zheng family's current status. They all died at the bottom of the sea in one battle. How could they not be frightened by this?

    Fortunately, Zheng Chenggong is still here. Although he is still young and has not fully grasped the power of the Zheng family, at this moment, when his father was about to collapse, he stood up resolutely.  The first thing he did was to take all the money he could and send it to the homes of the victims to comfort their families.  Precisely because he did this in time, the Zheng family was able to ensure peace within the family, and then he asked about the root cause of the defeat in the naval battle.

    One of the leaders who went out to fight this time was Zheng Zhilong¡¯s second brother Zheng Zhihu. He was protected by many brothers to the death before he could come back. The former majestic man seemed to have lost his soul.  So when he was asked by his nephew, he lost his temper and whispered the scene at that time.

    It turns out that although the Zheng family dispatched most of their ships and manpower to fight against the Western fleet, they still underestimated the combat effectiveness of these red wolves.  Some people who escaped had previously told how the Red M¨¢o captured the ship and killed people, so I gave everyone an idea. The Red M¨¢o's means of fighting at sea were nothing more than this.?It's just a numerical advantage.

    But in fact, this was also a trap set by the Red Hatters, just to make Ming's fleet underestimate the enemy.  They were very aware of the balance of power at that time, so they used the most primitive attack methods to deal with those merchant ships. But in fact, there were more sharp weapons for maritime combat on their ships - artillery!

    When the ships of the Zheng family brigade were attacking them menacingly, the red horses blocked them with artillery.  There were more than 20 cannons on each side of several large ships. After a burst of bombardment, the Zheng family's large ships were flooded and lost their combat capabilities.  Then Hong Mao attacked the small ones with big guns and used sharper firearms to encircle and suppress the Zheng family's small fleet.  Although they still had an advantage in the number of ships, they were actually completely suppressed.

    In the end, if a few of them had not turned around and left when they saw that the situation was not good, even Zheng Zhihu would have been lost at sea this time.  However, those Western ships only suffered some minor damage, with almost no casualties, because the Zheng family fleet was beaten to the point where it was unable to fight back before the ships on both sides had time to fight with each other.

    Recalling the brutality of this battle, Zheng Zhihu also shed tears in his eyes: "So many brothers died just because the ship was broken and leaked We really lost this battle unjustly!"

    After hearing this, Zheng Chenggong shook his head. He knew very well that his defeat in this battle was not unfair at all.  Before the war, he didn't even know what kind of trump card the enemy had. He only knew how to attack blindly. How could he not be defeated?  And being good at learning, he even knew that in future battles at sea, firearms would probably be the main means of combat.

    In past battles, we relied on bows and crossbows to fight at a distance, bamboo spears to fight at a distance, and then it was a physical fight to join the gang.  But this battle opened his new horizons. It turns out that there are other ways to fight in the water.  But even after understanding this, Zheng Chenggong also knew that it was impossible for him to avenge this arrow, not only because after this battle, only half of the people in the Zheng family who could fight were left, but also because the Zheng family had no firearms.  These muskets and artillery are weapons strictly prohibited by the imperial court. They are more serious than bows, arrows and spears. The Zheng family is now a businessman, so it is naturally impossible to have these.

    In this way, Zheng Chenggong could only place his hope on the imperial court, hoping that the imperial court would see the importance of this matter and send people to Fujian.  But based on his understanding of the court, this matter would most likely not be possible.  "Is my Zheng family going to decline from now on?" Zheng Chenggong thought worriedly as he looked up at the sea in the distance.

    As soon as the news spread that the Zheng family lost many people in the sea defeat, not only was there panic within the Zheng family, but the entire Fujian Province, including the Fujian government, was shocked.  You must know that a small province like Fujian, which was originally only a remote area, has undergone tremendous changes in the past two years. It relies on its geographical advantage by the sea, which has led to the emergence of countless maritime merchants.

    But the defeat of the Zheng family made everyone understand the truth. It turns out that the sea not only brings wealth and opportunities, but also dangers and enemies.  Everyone has his or her own opinion on those red wolves that can kill thousands of Zheng family members at sea. In summary, they are afraid and worried that they will also become their target.  And even the Zheng family can't deal with the enemy, how can a small family like myself be spared?  Therefore, the first reaction of many maritime merchants after learning the news was to temporarily stop all plans to go to sea. Those who have already gone to sea are even more worried and concerned. They wonder whether they will encounter those with long hair.  The red-haired and blue-eyed robber.

    As a result, the Fujian officials became even more anxious.  Most of their political achievements came from the sea. If the maritime trade was stagnant because of these pirates, the court would definitely blame it, and then a large number of people would be in danger.  In order to protect themselves and save themselves, local officials kept rushing to the Zheng family to ask them about the specific situation, hoping to find a solution.

    Zheng Chenggong took on this important task because of his father's sudden illness. When facing his parents and officials one after another, he showed a calmness that was not equal to his age and experience.  Not only did he get along very well with these officials, but he also told these people completely about the matter and told them: "If you want to ensure the stability of our Ming Dynasty maritime borders and enable our Ming Dynasty maritime trade to continue, the imperial court cannot sit idly by and watch this happen.  Got it. Although the number of those red m¨¢o men is not too large, the weapons and equipment on their ships are far beyond what merchants like us can compete with. Moreover, their target may not be just my Zheng family. It is very likely that they will appear soon.  We will even land in the coastal areas of Fujian. The people along the coast will suffer by then, so I hope you can move your troops to the coastal area as soon as possible to prevent a surprise attack!"

    Those officials did not dare to take his view lightly.Therefore, no one knows better than the government about the origin of the Zheng family. If the enemy had not been very strong, they would never have suffered such a defeat.  So after some deep thought and discussion, Fujian Province immediately took action, and officers and soldiers from various guard posts were assigned to the coastal area for preparedness.

    ¡°However, the coastline is long and there are not many officers and soldiers in the Fujian Guard Station, so we can only rely on the efforts of local fishermen and maritime merchants to set up a defense line along the coast.

    But to Zheng Chenggong¡¯s expectation, those red wolves did not take advantage of the victory to attack Fujian. The sea also calmed down, and a few merchant ships even came back later. This is really puzzling.

    In fact, when they encountered the Zheng family fleet, the red horses wanted to attack Fujian.  But because of this battle, they became cautious.  Although the Zheng family ended in a major defeat, it also let them know the hidden strength of Ming Dynasty.  In addition, after a naval battle, artillery and weapons have been used to a great extent. These pirates have no choice but to go back to the Oyster Mirror. After replenishing enough weapons and having a systematic plan, they can then use troops against the Ming Dynasty.  The peace before my eyes.

    ¡°However, this is just the calm before the storm, a big storm is coming
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