Traveling through the late Ming Dynasty to promote Chinese civilization

Chapter 238 A sudden turn of events

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Zheng Zhilong turned his head to look at the Qiongzhou fleet in the distance. They were quietly stationed there, seemingly observing the event like outsiders.

At the start of the battle, Zheng Zhilong was full of confidence, believing that the Qiongzhou Camp was merely there to make up the numbers, and could be used as a surprise force if necessary. However, the situation deteriorated so quickly that there wasn't even time to deploy this surprise force. The Qiongzhou Camp's indifferent attitude as the Zheng family went from having the upper hand to being on the losing end began to shake his confidence: who were the enemies, and who were the friends? Could he still control this force?

He closed his eyes and fell into deep thought.

Those nearby, seeing this, dared not disturb him, for fear of becoming the scapegoat for the Second Master's death in battle.

Not far away, cannon fire roared like muffled thunder, but Zheng Zhilong stood silently at the bow of the ship, like a statue, completely unaffected by the outside world. It was already late afternoon, the sun was setting, and the afterglow of the setting sun shone on him, as if reflecting his gloomy mood.

After a long silence, Zheng Zhilong raised his head and let out a long breath: "Someone, send a message to the Qiongzhou Camp, asking them to join the battle. The Zheng family is willing to fully cooperate to defeat Hongmao and Liu Xiang. As long as we can get Liu Xiang's head to appease my second brother, we can discuss any conditions." He deliberately emphasized the word "ask," which made his subordinates feel very strange. Before this battle, wasn't the Qiongzhou Camp an insignificant guest army, a follower of the Zheng family? Why was he being so polite?

However, they dared not question the leader's words and quickly turned around to relay the message.

Not long after, these words were delivered to Liu Ye without missing a single one.

“The opportunity has come!” Liu Ye said to Gao Jie with high spirits. “Zheng Zhilong has paid the price for his foolish command. The second son of the Zheng family is dead, and the Dutch have found a way to deal with him. Now he has turned around and asked us to fight.”

Gao Jie asked, "Shall we go into battle now and help Zheng Yiguan fight the Dutch?"

"Zheng Zhilong is ultimately a Ming citizen. Even if we are bound to fight each other in the future, this is still an internal conflict among the people!" Liu Ye declared righteously. "The conflict between the Dutch and me is an enemy-or-friend conflict. Give those seafarers a good beating! Go to war!"

Although he spoke of greatness and righteousness, the real reason was not about the distinction between Chinese and barbarians, but rather the situation on the battlefield. Although the Zheng family suffered a heavy blow, apart from losing a general, their strength was not damaged and their main force was still intact. On the other hand, the losses of the Dutch and Liu Xiang's allied forces were relatively more fatal. It was clear which one should be attacked.

The Qiongzhou fleet, which had been resting and preparing for battle, officially joined the battlefield. They passed through the Zheng family's fleet and headed straight for the Dutch-Liu allied fleet.

Although the displacement of the Wuxiang-class ships was inferior to that of the Dutch armed merchant ships and comparable to that of the Zheng family's Daqingtou ships, the structure of the Western-style hull and Chinese-style sails gave them superior near-shore navigation performance: in near-shore waters such as the island coast, the old lock ships were not only faster than the Daqingtou ships, but also more maneuverable than armed merchant ships that used complex soft sails.