Chapter 424: Zheng Jiajun recognizes the reality and runs away with all his cards
“Swoosh!”…
Under the command of the commander "Shi Ba Zhi", the Zheng family's treasure ships changed their formations at an extremely fast speed.
When it comes to proficiency in operating treasure ships, the soldiers of Zheng's army can do it as if it were a piece of cake, and they are even better than the soldiers of the Fuxing Navy.
Just as the protective light shields of the formations of most of the mid-grade treasure ships ahead were about to be shattered by the concentrated fire attack of the Renaissance Army's fleet, the Zheng family army had already completed the transformation of the fleet's formation. There were as many as eighteen top-grade treasure ships, and their huge hulls were lined up in a row, blocking the forefront of the fleet.
There is naturally a reason why Zheng’s army has so many top-quality and superior treasure ships.
Otherwise, even the Ye family of Fuqing only had two top-grade treasure ships, and the Duke of Wei, the first family in Jinling City, only had three treasure ships. It was impossible for their Zheng family to have so many treasure ships out of thin air.
If you look closely at the scene, you will find that all of the top-quality treasure ships and most of the high-quality treasure ships of the Zheng family army are treasure ships of Western white people, and their shapes are obviously different from those of the treasure ships of the Ming Dynasty.
Not only are there more psychic cannons, but the hull is also narrower and taller.
These Western-style treasure ships were captured by Zheng's army after they fought a naval battle with the Dutch several years ago. They won a complete victory through an ambush and raid war mode and wiped out a large Dutch fleet.
In this big world, the Dutch, who are rising rapidly and dominating the world, have a naval force that is simply incomparable to that of the Portuguese, who occupy the trenches.
In today's Western world, the Dutch have come from behind and have replaced Spain as the dominant maritime power, but the Spanish are still in second place.
Then came the English, the Portuguese, and so on.
Although many of the Dutch dynasty’s finest treasure ships were lost in repeated naval battles, more were built, with the total number exceeding three hundred!
As an important base of the Dutch in the East, the southern part of Dongfan Island was occupied by the Dutch.
They spent a lot of manpower and material resources to build the two coastal fortress towns of Fort Zeelandia and Chikkan, each of which had a huge fleet.
Today, the northern part of Dongfan Island is occupied by the Spaniards, who have also built two large coastal fortress towns: Jilong City and Tamsui City.
The combined number of the high-quality and top-quality treasure ships of these two forces is enough to overwhelm the total number of similar treasure ships in the entire Ming Dynasty!
It was the Dutch fleet in Chikan City that was ambushed and destroyed by Zheng's army at sea. Among them, eighteen top-quality treasure ships and dozens of high-quality treasure ships were seized by Zheng's army.
This made Zheng's army gain a lot of benefits after winning the complete victory, and it became one of the strongest maritime forces in the East, capable of rivaling the Fuxing Navy.
The Zheng family army, which was originally secretly supported by many aristocratic families in Jiangnan, was able to increase its strength dramatically and completely break away from the control of the Jiangnan aristocratic families.
As the saying goes, raising a tiger brings disaster, this is exactly the case.
The Zheng family army was transformed instantly after robbing a large Dutch fleet.
This is enough to show that when it comes to maritime strength, Western countries are now completely overwhelming the Ming Dynasty, and the two sides are not on the same level.
This is also the main reason why Li Dingguo always regarded the various white forces in the West as real enemies.
The title of the empire on which the sun never sets was first given to the Portuguese, then to the Spanish, and now to the Dutch. In the established history, the title will also be given to the English in the future.
As for the Ming Dynasty's maritime power, except for a brief period of glory during the reign of Emperor Yongle, it has never been able to move beyond the near seas and into the four oceans.
"The strength of the Zheng family's fleet is indeed unmatched by any navy we have encountered before!"
Wan'er, who was in charge of commanding this naval battle, frowned and said after seeing the enemy's rapid change of formation, which caused their long-range artillery tactics to fail.
"Pass the order down. Our fleet will bypass the Zheng family's fleet while keeping a distance. The concentrated fire attack cannot stop!"
"The enemy's top-grade treasure ship can withstand this long-range attack, but can it withstand our continuous concentrated fire attack?"
Wan'er thought about it for a moment and came up with a solution. She immediately shouted to the messenger beside her.
The core power arrays on the ships of their two large fleets have all been transformed and upgraded, and their speed advantage is unmatched by the enemy's warships of the same level.
With huge advantages in range and speed, she didn't believe that she couldn't defeat Zheng's fleet.
Since we cannot achieve success in one fell swoop at the beginning of the war, we should just take it slowly.
Following Wan'er's order, the two large fleets of the Restoration Army, which were advancing rapidly, began to make an arc turn just before entering the range of the enemy's artillery, and quickly circled around the enemy fleet, maintaining a safe distance of more than fifteen miles.
"Boom!"...
While the two large fleets of the Renaissance Army were divided into two and surrounded each other on the left and right, quickly bypassing the enemy fleet, the psychic cannons on all the treasure ships continued to fire in unison, and the rain-like psychic shells bombarded the protective light shields of all the enemy treasure ships that could be attacked, causing waves of ripples.
When the two large fleets of the Renaissance Army circled around and arrived halfway along the Zheng Family Army's fleet, the results of the battle finally appeared: nearly a hundred mid-quality treasure ships of the Zheng Family Army were seen. The protective light shields on the ships were almost blown up before, and once again faced the concentrated fire attack of the Renaissance Army. Finally, they could not bear it, and the colorful protective light shields shattered!
After all, the Zheng family army's top-quality treasure ships are limited in number, and it is impossible for them to surround all the middle-quality and high-quality treasure ships in their huge fleet, so they naturally cannot become their solid shield.
After all, the speed of the Fuxing Army fleet exceeded that of the Zheng Family Army fleet by a lot. Now, as it was circling rapidly, no matter how skilled the Zheng Family Army soldiers were in operating the treasure ships, it was impossible for them to complete the formation change in time again.
"boom!"……
"Crackling..."
Amid the enemy's horrified cries, the nearly 100 mid-grade treasure ships that had lost the protection of the protective formation were hit hard by the next wave of concentrated fire attacks. Their hulls were blown up one after another, and a cloud of broken limbs, flesh, and blood mist filled the sky!
"Do not……"
"The enemy's ship is too fast, we can't avoid it at all!"
"How can we fight the Restoration Army if this continues? We can't even reach them even if we want to!"
"Hurry up and find a way to break out of the Renaissance Army's encirclement. Otherwise, if we are to bear the enemy's concentrated firepower unilaterally, let alone a medium-grade treasure ship, even the powerful defense of a top-grade treasure ship will not be able to withstand it for long!"
Seeing that nearly a hundred of their mid-quality treasure ships were blown up and sunk by the enemy in an instant, the soldiers of the Zheng family army screamed in shock and were almost going crazy!
The naval battle that started this time with the Restoration Army was different from all the naval battles they had experienced before.
Even though they had fought against those powerful white barbarian fleets many times, they had never encountered such an outrageous and helpless situation.
Even though the treasure ships of the white barbarians were huge and powerful, at least they could still use the wolf pack tactics and approach the enemy fearlessly to launch a siege. But the large fleet of the Fuxing Army was completely different, with a huge speed advantage.
As long as the enemy does not get close to our treasure ship, it will always be outside our effective range and cannot be attacked at all.
The enemy can hit you, but you can't reach him. How frustrating is that?
This tactic is simple, effective, and almost unsolvable.
It is just like the tactics of Mangudai during the Mongol Dynasty, which were invincible across the Eurasian continent and relied on their absolute advantages of moving like the wind, riding horses and shooting arrows to defeat the enemy.
"Brother, what should I do?"
In desperation, Zheng Zhibao leaped onto the flagship ship, Dabao, and asked Zheng Chenggong with red eyes, "If this continues, our warships' defenses will be broken by the enemy's concentrated fire, and our entire army will be wiped out!"
He is extremely helpless now.
In the past, when he heard that the Restoration Army was victorious in every battle, he was still not convinced. At least in naval battles, he believed that his side had the advantage and was not weaker than the Restoration Army in any way.
Now, after the first head-on battle with the enemy, he realized that he had greatly underestimated the world-famous Renaissance Army.
So far, he has never seen a treasure ship with such a fast speed. The average speed is definitely more than 30% faster than his own. Coupled with the advantage of the artillery range that the Fuxing Army is famous for, the two combined make it impossible for his side to even fight back and be beaten one-sidedly by the opponent.
If it weren't for the powerful protective formations of the top-grade and best-grade treasure ships, which were not so easily destroyed, the Zheng family army's fleet would have been completely defeated by now.
"What kind of mysterious inheritance did Li Dingguo obtain? Their artillery has a long range and great power, but even the speed of the treasure ship is so outrageous?"
Zheng Zhilong is now feeling even worse than his brother Zheng Zhibao. It's not just that he wants to vomit blood, he is almost going crazy with anger!
As the leader of an army, Zheng Zhilong has seen countless storms and waves. In the end, not only did he survive them all, but he also led the Zheng Army to stand out and become the only overlord-level force on the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty.
Well, now after this battle, the title of the dominant force on the East Sea has been taken away by the Restoration Army.
"The only way to avoid greater losses is to break through with all our strength!"
Zheng Zhilong's mind flashed with many thoughts, and he made a decision in an instant, "We underestimated the Fuxing Navy. They are more terrifying than the rumors say, and their advantage in naval battles is too great."
"Pass the order down. The entire army will use the top-quality treasure ships as the spearheads and make every effort to bypass them and head south!"
"The three of us brothers will lead the soldiers who are ready to fight in formation, and form a military killing formation to cover the retreat of the large fleet!"
"Whoever wants to go to this land of Qi and Lu can go there. Anyway, our Zheng family is powerless, so we don't want it anymore!"
This round of encounter with the Fuxing Army completely woke Zheng Zhilong up from his pipe dream.
They can't even beat the Restoration Navy, let alone the Restoration Army, which is considered the best in land warfare and has never been defeated.
"Damn the imperial court, their intentions are so evil that they actually want our Zheng family to be cannon fodder and die!"
Zheng Zhilong gnashed his teeth and cursed, "Those southern noble families are planning to destroy our Zheng family. What a good plan!"
Zheng Zhilong, who had come to his senses, finally saw through the pie painted by the imperial court. It was not only poisonous, but also extremely poisonous, capable of killing Zheng's army.
He was already wondering why the big and delicious pie the Ming court had painted was completely different from the usual pattern of being extremely harsh on military commanders.
Now that I have truly experienced the power of the Renaissance Army, it is too late to wake up.
But no matter what, we must first escape this disaster.
It is true that the Zheng family army has a powerful trump card, but no matter how powerful the trump card is, can it compare to the Later Jin clan of Huang Taiji who can suppress the Ming Dynasty court?
Even Huang Taiji's two million troops were no match for the Fuxing Army. How could the Zheng family be so qualified to defeat such a powerful Fuxing Army?
In particular, this large fleet of the Fuxing Army was led by Li Dingguo himself.
As Zheng Zhilong's order for the entire army to break out and return was quickly passed down, the soldiers of the Zheng family army fleet increased the speed of the ship to the limit. Under the pincer attack from both sides of the Fuxing Army, they drew white circles on the sea surface under the enemy's artillery fire, turned the bows of the ships, and fled for their lives along the southern waters without stopping.
Faced with the absolute speed advantage of the Fuxing Army, Zheng Zhilong still chose this mode of escape. It was not because he was stupid, but because he was very confident.
What he relied on were the innate magical weapons held by his three brothers, a total of twenty-four Dinghai Divine Pearls, which possessed the innate magical powers of the formation.
The three brothers' innate divine artifact, the Dinghai Shenzhen Pearl, which had been released from the six seals, would be so powerful that it could not be broken in a short period of time once its inherent magical formation was activated.
"Ah Hu, Ah Bao!"
Seeing that his fleet had lost nearly a hundred mid-quality treasure ships again under the enemy's continuous artillery fire after turning around, Zheng Zhilong, who was so heartbroken that he wanted to vomit three liters of blood, shouted to his two brothers, "Let's all use our divine thoughts and energy to activate the protective formation of our natal divine artifact combination!"
"The Innate Sea-Covering Formation, rise!"
"Buzz..."
In an instant, twenty-four Dinghai Divine Pearls appeared above the heads of the three brothers, hovering a hundred feet in the air above the flagship treasure ship, emitting a series of roaring sounds!
"Woooo..."
The Dinghai Divine Pearls, which were activated with full strength, became more than ten feet in size, each occupying a position, forming an extremely mysterious formation, and then emitting a sky-wide azure light!
These azure lights flickered continuously, and then quickly formed a huge azure light shield with the flagship treasure ship as the center, covering all the Zheng family treasure ships gathered together!
After this magical formation was formed, the psychic cannon attacks launched by hundreds of large treasure ships of the Fuxing Army surrounding the Zheng family fleet were all easily blocked by the formation shield covering the enemy fleet, and could not cause any effective damage.
"All our treasure ships are heading back to the Haizhou Bay base thousands of miles to the south at the fastest speed!"
"Our protective formation consumes too much energy and cannot be maintained for too long!"
Seeing that his brother's innate divine weapon had activated its own magical formation and firmly blocked the enemy's artillery fire, Zheng Zhilong was not happy at all. Instead, he hurriedly gave orders.
There is no way. This innate protective formation is very powerful, but it is very difficult for a level 5 peak practitioner to activate it, and it cannot last long at all.
If we fail to get our large fleet ashore and reach a relatively safe port before the internal energy and spiritual power are exhausted, we will still be in danger of defeat.
(End of this chapter)
