The sea water is more than three meters deep, which is not a big problem for excellent divers. n∈n∈, the only thing more troublesome is that it is November and the sea water is already relatively cold. Fortunately, there are many crew members in Zheng and many people who are good at diving.

In order to get half of the artillery under the sea, Zheng Zhilong actively organized crew members who were proficient in diving, arranged groups for them and took turns to go into the water to find the shipwreck.

After finding the ship, Liu Jun and Zheng Zhilong drove the ship to the sea above the wreck, then lowered the ropes and hung up thousands of kilograms of cannons with pulleys.

Fortunately, it was near Penghu Island, and the sea surface was not deep. If we fought in the middle of the strait, the sea water there would be at least thirty feet deep. Even the sea water was so deep that even the most powerful sailor could not dive.

On the second day of the Battle of Penghu, more than 200 artillery pieces had been salvaged in one day. A half-sinked warship was also salvaged. After seeing this, the Spanish ship craftman on Liu Jun's ship said that the warship was not seriously damaged and could still be used after repair. This news made Liu Jun very happy. He immediately asked someone to tow the ship back to the port of Penghu to repair the warship. He did not even let go of another shipwreck, and organized people to find a way to fish them up. If they could be repaired, they would be removed.

The artillery on the Dutch warships were all new cannons, which were much larger and stronger than the Red Barbarian cannons used today in the Ming Dynasty.

While continuing to salvage, Liu Jun asked someone to return to Fujian to mobilize new warships. Zheng Zhilong still had many ships in Fujian, and the imperial court still had many ships along the coast. Although these ships were relatively small, the Dutch fleet has also suffered heavy losses. As long as Liu Jun reorganized a fleet, even if it was still old-style ships dominated by blessing ships, he could still form an advantage.

During the naval battle, there were many ships sunk in the Ming army, with more than 3,000 soldiers killed and hundreds of seriously injured. The loss is not small, but the casualties of the Dutch were no less than this number. They had more than a thousand people who fell into the water and became Liu Jun's prisoners. Many people who fell into the water in the Ming army were finally rescued on the ship.

Zheng Zhilong wanted to kill the Dutch and British prisoners, but Liu Jun saved them. Most of these prisoners were army members, many of them were crew members, and some were merchant ship crew members. Some were even South Asian servants on the island of Grandmaster, Taiwanese natives, and staff from East India Company.

Liu Jun used 5,000 taels of silver to bring these people into his own hands, and was preparing to find a way to take them like the Spaniards as used.

The Ming army could pick up hundreds of artillery from the sea every day, and the Penghu Island was crowded with troops, becoming more and more lively. While Liu Jun was waiting for the arrival of the newly mobilized fleet, he also allowed people to continue to strengthen the shore defense fortifications on Penghu Island, and also restored and expanded the fortress built by the Dutch on the island.

The Battle of Penghu is not the end, but just the beginning.

Since the defeat of Penghu, in the castle of Rhelan, the British and Dutch officers sighed. No one expected that they had assembled such a strong fleet and were defeated so miserably.

In the first World War, three battleships and five armed merchant ships were lost, not to mention the two-mast-one-mast-light sailboats were almost all lost in Penghu.

"The Ming army will immediately launch an attack on the senior officials. With our current strength, it is unlikely to fight again." Chief Debaoer said.

The commander of the British fleet, George, has also been sluggish. One of his five warships was lost. The double-deck four-masted warship with 74 guns, according to the current new naval standards, this one is a standard battleship. He only has five ships in total. He was originally to blockade the Chinese Sea and attack the Port of Manila, Luzon, Spain, but he himself has one ship here.

He felt that he shouldn't have been involved in this muddy waters at all. Not to mention the construction of such a battleship, it would take more than a year to build, but the construction funds would be as high as 30,000 pounds.

It is November now. It is winter monsoon at sea, and it is not a good time to get here from the East Indies. When the news reports come back, even if the fleet is sent to reinforce it immediately, it will be at least later next summer. And this time they have gathered so many ships here, and there are not many ships drawn from the East Indies.

After all, there was no peace in those places, and wars continued, and soldiers were being used. And George was thinking that the chief was from the Dutch, not from Britain. Although the Netherlands and Britain formed an alliance to fight Spain, they did not form an alliance to fight the Ming Empire.

Debol was still saying something, but George could no longer listen.

Going to the fucking war has something to do with me.

He slapped the table, "Everyone, I am very sorry to inform you here. From now on, our British will withdraw from the battle with the Ming Empire. I will lead my four warships away from the Grand Master to Batavia early tomorrow morning. When I get there, I will tell your governor about the war information here for you."

Van Bron, Debor and other Dutch people were all stunned.

Van Buron looked angry, "What do you mean? Are you going to run away?"

George spread his hands, "This is your war with the Ming Empire, it has nothing to do with our Britain. We remain neutral. Goodbye, my friends."

Debour also wanted to persuade George to stay, but George left without stopping for a moment.

George left, and his four warships were about to leave. The Dutch fleet, which had already suffered great losses, now only four battleships, five armed merchant ships and six two-masted brisk sailing ships were left.

"The cowardly British fled, and we only had fifteen ships left, and Batavian reinforcements would not arrive at least half a year."

Paul Duradnius said, "The Ming fleet suffered greater losses than us. They don't have a few ships left now. I suggest we go to Penghu again."

"Silly." Van Bron shouted.

Since their retreat, a group of Dutch officers such as Paul have questioned Van Bron's decision to retreat. They thought that the situation at that time, although they had lost many clutches, their main warships had only lost three. They still own more than ten ships, and the main battleships were preserved. They could completely take advantage of the advantages of giant ships and cannons to continue fighting until the Ming fleet was annihilated.

Van Bron also heard of this kind of rumors. He regarded this remark as being instigated by Paul in secret, with the purpose of replacing himself and shirking the responsibility for the failure of this naval battle.

"Penghu is the base camp of their empire through Haishan. They can mobilize more warships at any time. Our ship is indeed large, but without the escort of the Clippers, how can we deal with the attacks of the large number of fire ships of the Ming army?" Fan Bulong asked. He could not forget the fierce situation of the hundreds of fire ships of the Ming army rushing over.

Paul sneered a few times, "That's what you plan. Do you want to escape with the fleet like George?"

Fan Buron replied, "I think the result of both sides' defeat when we are head-on with the Ming army. I heard that when the army attacked the Spanish in Northern Taiwan, they once said that they were willing to trade with various countries. If this is true, then we can negotiate with the Ming army."

"The Spaniards surrendered to the Ming army, do you also want to surrender to the Ming army?"

"How can the Spaniards compare with us? How many people are there in the ships? We have a fleet of senior officials, two castles, several fortresses, and more people." Van Buron continued, "We should send people to Penghu to negotiate with the Ming army and figure out their purpose. If they are really willing to trade with other countries, I think it is not impossible for us to evacuate senior officials and return the senior officials to the Ming Empire."

"You are cowardly!" said Paul.

Debaoer said, "I think what General Van Bronn said makes sense. It will no longer work if he just resolving it by force. I think the current situation is that we must start negotiations with Ming."

Debaoer immediately sent an envoy to Penghu.

When Liu Jun heard that the Dutch were going to negotiate, he couldn't help but laugh.

When he saw the visitor, he directly asked them to go back.

The messenger returned to the official on a boat and reported the results to Debaoer, Van Buron, Paul and others.

"What are the requirements of Mingren?"

"The official in charge of Penghu is the adopted son of the Emperor of Ming Dynasty and a marquis. Zheng Zhilong obeyed the order under his command. The marquis said that the Ming Dynasty was ready to lift the maritime ban and trade with all countries. It could also trade with us in the Netherlands. However, the premise is that we return the officials to the Ming Dynasty and abide by their laws in the future."

"That's it?" Debaoer couldn't believe it. "Is the Ming people willing to sign a contract with us?"

"I do, but they still have a request."

"They asked the Dutch, including the army, to surrender to them immediately. Moreover, they had to pay them compensation for losses from the Battle of Penghu, and also the compensation for losses from our infringement of their territory over the years. All compensations totaled ten tons of gold."

"Ten tons of gold?" Debaoer opened his mouth wide and didn't know what to say. He actually used tons to calculate gold, and there were ten tons. Is the marquis of Ming Dynasty so greedy, and there is still some sincerity?

Van Bron also made a clear statement. They could surrender to the Ming army, provided that the Ming army signed a trade treaty with them, and they only surrendered in name only. After the surrender, the Ming army would have to let them lead the Dutch and the East India Company's property and lead the fleet to leave.

But it is obvious that the Ming people's ideas did not match their requirements.

"Talk again." Debaoer was a little unwilling to give up and wanted to use negotiations to delay time.

"We have to plan the worst."

Debao sighed, "Well, move all the Han people in the Rhelan Castle to the Dayuan Town, and do not prevent them from being an internal supporter for the Ming army. Also, hold a tribal gathering immediately and call the elders of each village and community to come. We must rely on the power of these indigenous people."

"Do you want to send someone to the north?" Paul asked.

"You mean to borrow soldiers from the Big Belly King?" Debaoer asked.

Big Belly King is the leader of a tribal alliance in Taichung. They claim to be Big Belly Kingdom, and they are allied by dozens of villages and communities of several major tribes on the west coast of the central and western coast of Taiwan. The alliance has been around for a hundred years. Big Belly King is the strongest native in Taiwan. In the past, they have had many conflicts with Big Belly King. Just a few years ago, they sent troops to attack Big Belly King, and finally forced Big Belly King to sign a contract with them.

The Big Belly Kingdom led by the Big Belly King is called the Big Belly Society. It recognizes the Dutch rule in Taiwan and attends rallies every year.

"The Big Belly King has a lot of people. If we give them gold and silver, we should be able to hire them to help us fight."

"These people are not capable," Paul said disdainfully.

Debaoer shook his head, "What else do you choose at this time? It would be great if they were willing to come."

Dutch envoys traveled to and from Grand Secretary and Penghu every now and then. Since the first time, Liu Jun sent them directly to Taiwan Governor He Tengjiao. Anyway, Liu Jun never thought that he would really talk to them now. If he wanted to talk, he would talk to them after the battle. Now he was just a Dutch who was paralyzing Grand Secretary.

During this slow-progress negotiation, the fleet mobilized by Liu Jun from Fujian, Guangdong, Zhejiang and other places finally arrived, and gathered more than 500 ships again, but this fleet was weaker than the last fleet and fewer large ships.

On the night of the first day of December of the 12th year of Chongzhen, Liu Jun led this huge new fleet from Penghu and arrived at the Luermen, Taijiang, Taijiang at noon that day.

At this time, the Dutch occupied the Tainan area of ​​Taiwan in the future. At that time, there were many sandbanks here, surrounding Taijiang Bay like an island chain. The Dutch's base camp, Jelan Frost Castle, was built on Dayuan Island.

Luermen is a waterway entering the inland sea.

At that time, one side of Dayuan Island was the outer sea, and the other side was the Taijiang Inland Sea surrounded by islands. However, the water near Dayuan Island Relief City was very shallow and it was impossible to enter and exit the large ships. Large ships generally stopped at two mooring outlets outside, and then transported goods to the Dayuan Island Wharf by small boats.

There are three waterways entering Dayuan Island from the north and south Bokou. Outside the two waterways in the north and south, there is also a shallower waterway, Luermen, which only accommodates three boats when entering and exiting.

The north and south waterways outside Luermen are silted and cannot be navigated. The waterways of Luermen are shallow and narrow, and only the south waterways are better for navigation. However, the Dutch artillery in Lilan City blocked the waterways, so Luermen became the first choice for Liu Jun and Zheng Zhilong to discuss combat plans earlier.

However, there is a very strange place in Luermen, that is, this waterway is difficult to pass through the large ships in most cases. But at noon every day, it is just when the tide is full. At this time, the Luermen waterway can pass through the large ships directly.

Liu Jun and the others had already found out about this information, and they had a very good departure time. They set out in the dark in the middle of the night, and then waited until the tide was high at noon to pass through the Luermen waterway.

Luermen Waterway is located on the north side of Luermen Waterway, and the north line is the north line of Beiyi Island. After passing the waterway, it is the Taijiang Inland Sea. Opposite the southern end of Beiyi Island is the Reli Lan City of Dayuan Island, and the southern waterway is separated by the middle.

Zheng Zhilong stayed and led all the warships to guard the Beibokou outside the Luermen Waterway. Liu Jun took the other slightly smaller ships and slowly entered the Taijiang River and entered the sea under the guidance of several small sailboats. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!