In order to attack Ningbo, Lan Yanzhen deliberately blocked the news of the sneak attack by the Ming army from his subordinates. You should know that the main force of the fleet he led was the South Ao Navy. Once this news is leaked, it will inevitably cause unstable morale in the army.

After Ryukyu completed the supply, Lan Yanzhen issued an order to attack, from Ryukyu to Ningbo, he had to go directly from the East China Sea. In order to ensure the safety of the route, Lan Yanzhen's fleet first led the fleet to the west and first went to Chiwei Island, which was the small island east of the Diaoyu Island. The area of ​​this island was not large, only 0.195 square kilometers, about 27 football fields, and there were no residents on the island, but this place was the only way from the Central Plains dynasty to the Ryukyu channel.

The fleet is docked on Chiwei Island for a day, and it is necessary to rest and set sail. The sea sailing depends on the stars and compass in the sky. If there is no such thing in the vast sea, it is easy to lose its direction. Moreover, it is not the future generations, there is no such thing as gps, Beidou, etc., not only the large fleet sailing, but also the merchant ships that Lao Yu ran to the sea also need some reference objects in addition to the former positioning on the sea, such as islands, reefs, etc., to ensure the course.

Go west from Chiwei Island and move forward to Fuzhou. This is the usual route. If you go north or south, you can go from the coast to Zhejiang or Guangdong. But now, Lan Yanzhen will not take this channel, because once he goes west directly, he will be found by the Ming Navy. In order to ensure the absolute secret of going north, Lan Yanzhen can only move from Chiwei Island to the northwest and directly cross the East China Sea to enter the eastern part of Zhejiang to attack Ningbo.

It cannot be said that no one has walked through this channel, but there are definitely a few people who have passed by it, and it is extremely dangerous. Today's ships, even the battleships of the Navy's Navy, are far from being compared with those of later generations. Most of the main ships in the navy are rushing ships. The rushing ships are a type of large lucky ships, generally about 70 to 110 feet long, which is about 23 to 36 meters. The ship's ships and sailors are roughly 110 to 130.

Lan Yanzhen's flagship is the largest one, with a length of more than 39 meters. There are 40 boatmen, 117 sailors and 35 naval guns on the ship. The firepower is increased by one-third compared to the 25 naval guns of other rushing ships.

In addition to the rushing ship, the navy also owns other types of ships such as sand ships. These warships are far from being in terms of size and number of naval guns. Some of them are fewer than those of rushing ships. They are only equipped with only three or five naval guns, and they are small naval guns. However, compared with the rushing ships, the speed of these ships is much faster. In naval battles, they can be used as maneuvering forces to quickly approach the opponent, so as to achieve the goal of hitting the slower with fast and hitting the big with small.

However, compared with real ocean-going ships, these ships are less safe than sailing on the sea, so it is still risky for the Joint Navy to sail from Chiwei Island directly to the northwest through the East China Sea to Ningbo. Lan Yanzhen is a cautious man and also a decisive general. After a day of rest in Chiwei Island, he took the fleet and set off. The fleet left the small Chiwei Island in a mighty manner and disappeared into the vast sea level in a short time.

"How much time can I still reach Zhoushan?" As mentioned earlier, in addition to the special reference objects, you must rely on the stars and compass in the sky. After leaving Chiwei Island, Lan Yanzhen's fleet sailed on the sea for two consecutive days. Only by determining the direction and position can you rely on the stars and compass.

"Return to the general, if nothing unexpected happens, our army will be able to reach the sea outside Zhoushan in the morning of the next day." The officer in charge of positioning the fleet looked at the compass and replied firmly.

"Okay! Don't be careless. By the way, what's the weather tomorrow?" Lan Yanzhen nodded slightly, then asked again.

"Thank you to the Dragon Prince for blessing, these days have been good. It seems that the Dragon Prince knows that the general is going to do a big thing, so he takes special care of our army." The officer replied with a smile, and Lan Yanzhen's face also appeared on his face when he heard this. People who run to the sea will look at the sky. It is relatively accurate to predict the weather for one or two days, and it can even be said to be more accurate than the weather chaos in later generations.

Since the departure, God has indeed helped, and it has been good weather for several days. If a storm suddenly came on the sea at this time, I am afraid that Lan Yanzhen's fleet would suffer heavy losses before she could arrive in Ningbo.

The sailing on the sea was boring. On the one hand, Lan Yanzhen calculated the time to arrive at the destination, and on the other hand, she was planning how to attack Ningbo next to achieve the goal of this battle. On the second day, the weather was indeed as the officer said, as the officer said, but it was still a good weather, especially when he arrived near the reefs that were looming on the sea, his subordinates were sure that their sailing was correct. This unnamed reef pointed out the direction for the fleet to advance. According to the route set before dawn tomorrow, the fleet will arrive outside Zhoushan.

The closer it is to Zhoushan, the more cautious Lan Yanzhen is. At this time, ships traveling to and from Zhejiang may appear at sea anytime and anywhere. To ensure safety, Lan Yanzhen sent several fast ships as front teams. As long as he encounters any ship, whether it is a merchant ship or a fishing boat, he will sink all of them.

In the second half of the night, a small merchant ship from Ningbo Commercial Bank became a victim of this order. Due to the nighttime sailing, the slow-moving merchant ship did not find the navy crane that was approaching rapidly. When several express ships approached, the merchant ship had no time to escape. In less than half an hour, the merchant ship, who didn't even know his name, was sunk. As for the cargo on the ship, including the owner and the sailors, they sank into the sea.

When the sky gradually turned white and the sea surface to the east was a hint of red, Lan Yanzhen's fleet had arrived at the sea outside Zhoushan. At this time, Zhoushan was still immersed in a tranquility, but in more than an hour, as the sun rose, Zhoushan would enter the beginning of a busy and prosperous day.

Standing at the bow of the boat, Lan Yanzhen put down the thousand-mile mirror in her hand. The outline of the Zhoushan Islands in the distance gradually appeared in front of him, and his fleet had also adjusted its route and advanced directly from east to west. This was done to use the cover of the rising sun to increase the chance of being discovered by the other party. Also because of the dazzling sunshine, even if the fleet was found in Zhoushan, it would definitely not be able to distinguish the identity of their fleet for a while.

"Transfer! The geese-shaped formation is the main force, among which the two wings of the Clippers are targeting Zhoushan's main island!" Lan Yanzhen issued an order and immediately passed the ships through the flag command. The well-trained ships quickly adjusted their formations as they advanced, and changed from the previous one-line snake formation to the geese-shaped formation. In the middle of the V character is Lan Yanzhen's flagship, and the other main ships are on both sides. As for those fast small ships interspersed on the two wings of the geese-shaped formation, the wind direction was just right at this time. The sails headed towards Zhoushan's main island at an extremely high speed under the northwest wind.

An hour later, the Zhoushan Islands became clearer and clearer. At this time, the sun also completely jumped out of the water. Lan Yanzhen's entire fleet seemed to emit golden light under the sunlight, coming from the East China Sea toward Zhoushan.

The first person to discover Lan Yanzhen's fleet was not the defenders of Zhoushan, but a fisherman fishing on the coast of Zhoushan. The fisherman had just cast a net and was standing at the bow of the boat and stretching his body. When he saw the huge fleet appearing east, he was stunned, and then rubbed his eyes. Perhaps he felt that the sunlight made him look dazzled, but soon he was sure that he was not wrong. It was a huge fleet.

"Strange, didn't our Ming fleet go south? Why did it come from this direction?" The fishermen were a little puzzled, but when they saw that the flags hanging on several main ships in the fleet were not the Sun and Moon Flags of the Ming army, the fishermen were stunned at first, and then screamed. Even the fishing nets were scattered, and they turned around and shouted at the surroundings without caring about the help of their families. They turned around and shouted: "No! Qinggou's navy is here! The villagers are running!"

In a short moment, the fishing boats that had just gone out to sea seemed to be like frightened sparrows, raising sails and paddlings, each fleeing desperately in all directions. Just a few minutes later, the people on the shore also discovered Lan Yanzhen's fleet and sounded the alarm bell in panic.

"Bang!Bang..."

With a few cannons, Lan Yanzhen's fleet forward opened the cannon door and started shelling at the fleeing fishing boats and the shore. The cannons fell to the sea. The huge water column scared the fishermen, but these small boats were no longer as fast as cannonballs. When several fishing boats were hit by the cannons, the boat owner on the boat and his boat turned into a pile of debris, the terrified fishermen were even more frightened. The boss of the boat who was close to the boat dropped it off the boat and jumped into the sea, swam desperately to the distance, and the ones who were far away even rowed and fled desperately.

"Tell everyone not to fight. The whole ship passes through the left side of the island. Don't stop the shelling, and as much as it can sink. As for the shore, I'll see the right shot! Especially at the port, remember to shoot a few more shots. Our goal is Ningbo! Zhoushan is just a rush to fight rabbits!"

Zhoushan was not at all prepared and caught off guard by Lan Yanzhen, but Lan Yanzhen was not excited about it. Instead, he gave orders very calmly. You should know that his main target is Ningbo. Although he knew that the risk of entering Yongjiang directly to attack Ningbo's city was too high, no matter what, he had to fight the Ningbo fortifications at the mouth of Yongjiang River. After the fight was over, Ningbo City would inevitably be shocked, which was far better than just attacking Zhoushan.

What's more, as long as he blocks the mouth of Yongjiang River, he can turn around and continue to attack Zhoushan. In this way, he can move forward and retreat freely. It will be the same for Zhoushan to eat the fat piece earlier or later.

After the order was issued, the joint fleet was as expected by Lan Yanzhen. The entire fleet passed directly from the left side of the main island of Zhoushan. All the ships they encountered were filled with fierce artillery fire. Although some armed merchant ships rose up to resist, they were useless under the attack of hundreds of warships and thousands of cannons.
Chapter completed!