42. Peace talks, speedboat, big Australia

  Since the high-ranking Prince Jie Shu had made his decision, Huang Fangdu, who had an irreconcilable feud with Ming Zheng, could only watch coldly and swallow his anger despite feeling indignant. However, as Jie Shu was not optimistic about the prospects of surrender, the surrender action was merely a cover for building new warships and training naval forces. Therefore, when the envoys Zhu Lin and Zhuang Qingzuo were sent to enter Xia, they had an arrogant attitude, repeatedly declaring "Those who follow Heaven will survive, those who go against Heaven will perish" and "Those who know the times are heroes", which made the Ming Zheng side extremely displeased, causing the surrender talks to become deadlocked from the start.

  In line with the Qing army's attempt to take advantage of the opportunity to rectify the naval forces, the Ming Zheng side also wanted to take advantage of the negotiation to rectify their troops, so they were not willing to easily cause a breakdown in negotiations. For this reason, the Ming Zheng side made exorbitant demands and reiterated the requirements put forward by Mu Tianyan, the governor of Xinghua and the minister of Taichang Temple, when he came to Dongning for recruitment in the 8th year of Kangxi: "Like Korea, call oneself a vassal and offer tribute, without shaving one's hair". Jie Shu thought that his side had already taken the upper hand and that occupying Xiamen was only a matter of time, so he flatly rejected it, causing the negotiations to break down.

  But Zhe Shu did not expect that Zheng Jun, in addition to using the negotiations to delay the Qing army's advance, also took advantage of the navy's superiority and widely dispatched personnel to infiltrate the Qing army's rear to contact the scattered troops and other anti-Qing armed forces. Under the threat of the small-scale anti-Qing armed forces spreading like wild grass, Zhe Shu was forced to temporarily put aside his plan to attack Xiamen, and while focusing on clearing up local armed forces, he resumed negotiations, thus both sides sat down at the negotiating table again.

  This time, Ji Shu asked Zheng Jun to withdraw from the occupied islands with the phrase "like the Korean case, called Ben Feng Gong" as previously stated by Ming Zheng. After Zheng Jun's withdrawal, he was willing to report to Kangxi and continue negotiations. The Ming Zheng side naturally disagreed with Ji Shu's false statement of exchanging empty checks for real benefits, and countered by asking the Qing court to fulfill the condition of providing "four prefectures and rich rations" that had been promised during the era of Zheng Chenggong.

  When the Qing envoys were waiting for Zheng Jing's decision, Ninghai General Lahada suddenly intervened and ordered his staff to send a letter to Zheng Jing. The letter accused the Ming-Zheng side of "only having a little loyalty and righteousness, which is not enough to cover up their rebellious crimes". In addition, Lahada boasted that "the emperor and his ministers are like Ji Zi, don't follow in the footsteps of Tian Heng. Why not stop fighting and repair your mistakes, return all your troops and armor to Taiwan, and be a vassal state overseas? If you accept our title, we will grant it; if you do not accept our title, we will also grant it. Our court is willing to give you a place of exile on the remote coast, as a complete name for your lord and ministers. Every year, you can pay tribute and offer sacrifices, like the stories of Goguryeo and Joseon; engage in trade and commerce, and never have any suspicions or doubts, isn't that beautiful?"

  The words of Lahada were very moving, not only agreeing to Ming Zheng's independence according to the old Korean example, but also promising to abolish the boundary order and restore the mainland trade that Ming Zheng had longed for. However, the Ming Zheng side was very clear that Lahada was not a decision-maker of the Qing court, nor even a powerful minister, and did not have the ability to fulfill his own promises. Therefore, the substance of this letter was no different from the previous promises, all of which were a plot to deceive Ming Zheng into handing over the coastal islands.

  It is obvious that Zheng He's response would be: "All the islands by the sea are mine, and I will supply you with grain and provisions."

  Seeing that they couldn't cheat the coastal islands from Zheng's hands, Qing hastily withdrew the negotiation personnel again. However, at this time, Ming-Zheng's preparations were already ready. Zhu Jin appointed Liu Guoxuan, the right Wuwei General, as the Central Commander-in-Chief, and Wu Shu, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief, to command all the troops. A new big war was brewing.

  The Taiwan Strait is extremely turbulent during the monsoon season, but when calm and peaceful, it appears so beautiful --- on the vast blue sea surface, seagulls fly up and down, occasionally with dolphins jumping out of the water --- the eternal landscape has only changed subtly due to human activities.

  "What is that?" Zheng Jun's fast cruiser, which had set sail from Penghu, was on a routine patrol. The crowd, who had been somewhat lethargic due to the temporary stalemate on the mainland, were suddenly awakened by the shout from the lookout post. "Too fast, whose boat is this? It's really too fast."

  The deputy leader had not yet climbed the mast to confirm, when a white sail appeared in the line of sight of all the crew members. It's not surprising to see the sail from afar, but in just half a moment, what was originally a tiny shadow the size of a bean had enlarged into an entire ship shape in their line of sight, leaving everyone stunned.

  Watching this unprecedented scene on the sea, the leader of the patrol fleet was also somewhat surprised and uncertain. With many years of naval warfare experience, he immediately made a decision: "Fire! Warning shot! Let them stop the boat immediately!"

  However, the rumbling cannon fire disturbed the calm sea, but it was not enough to stop this strange-looking ship. Just as the angry leader raised the flag and prepared to let the two fast scout ships with oars intercept, the strange ship on the opposite side turned sideways and slid in front of them with a beautiful arc.

  At this time, the lookouts on both fast cruisers and some sailors had already seen the appearance of the manipulators on the strange ship with a pair of eagle eyes honed at sea, but the strange combination of red barbarian and Ming people's hair buns could not dispel their doubts. Just as the leader was about to order the two ships to speed up and catch up, a red flag suddenly rose on the strange ship. Yes, a red flag. The so-called "day and month flag" used by the Zheng army is just a later fabrication. The Han army's red flag, from Zhu Di, the Ming dynasty, which called itself threefold fire virtue, has represented its own army with a red flag since then, this is the flag that the Zheng government has not changed since Zhu Sheng began until now.

  "Is he one of us?" The leader looked around suspiciously, as if hoping someone could provide an explanation. "Or is this a trick?"

  Unexpectedly, someone really knew. A sailor slapped his thigh: "Sir, it's one of our own. I heard from the sailors who came from Penghu that there has been a ship like this sailing in the inner sea of Taiwan recently. It seems to be made by the red barbarian shipbuilders for the grandson of the Regent. If that's correct, then this should be the one."

  "I've heard of this, but I've never seen it before." The deputy leader also remembered the rumor and hurriedly followed to explain to the superior. "Isn't it said that these two ships have been drifting in the Taiwan Strait all along? How did the bigger one suddenly come to the strait today? However, this ship is really fast!"

  "Hiding in the bathroom is still a water army, right?" In response to the deputy leader's confusion, the leader didn't think it was anything difficult to understand. "Giving the Jiaolongwu flagship number, it's our own people, no need to chase." After saying that, the leader shook his head as he watched the strange ship sail away with its sails raised. "Fast? Of course it's fast, with so many soft sailcloths on top, how much money would that cost?"

  It is said that the fore-and-aft rig was a Dutch patent, and as early as the late 16th century to the early 17th century, the Netherlands had a sailboat type widely used in speed and windward sailing, while the British across the North Sea naturally knew it like the back of their hand.

  "Our Knight is still too small, in fact a normal two-masted schooner can reach a load of over 150 tons." said Ingwe Anderson, the shipbuilder, to Zheng Kezang who was inspecting the dock again. "And a larger multi-masted schooner can even reach a load of over 500 tons."

  "An Da Gong, you should know that the local timber cannot support a ship of this size, so for now we don't need such a big ship." Zheng Kezang naturally wanted a big ship, but there were some things he had to keep secret from the British, so he could only use this as an excuse. "Never mind, how is the progress on building the Flying Eagle?"

  "In fact, what I want to say is that as a brig, the 120-ton cargo capacity is really too small. The whole ship can only be equipped with 6 large cannons, which is not an economical good idea at all. I think that since we can only keep this tonnage, it's better to build a schooner instead." Anderson finished speaking and saw Zheng Kezang's face turn gloomy, knowing that his employer was displeased. He had to change the subject quickly. "Of course, building a brig allows us to master the manufacturing technology of three-masted sailing ships, from this perspective, Your Excellency's choice is correct." Zheng Kezang's expression eased slightly, but then he heard Anderson continue. "However, as for the Flying Eagle, our construction speed is slow, and the main reason can be attributed to the fact that the Chinese shipbuilders wasted a lot of manpower and resources in producing this type of ship, and the original launching method is not suitable for larger ships like the Flying Eagle."

  Su Dagong is working hard to produce the Fushun ship, which has a saying. Although Chen Yonghua agreed to allocate the Fushun ship to the seven Zheng family members from the official side first, it was only temporarily borrowed, and in the end, Zheng Kezang had to use new ships to exchange for them. For this, Zheng Kezang, who had already paid out of his own pocket, was angry enough, but he did not expect that Yinggui would bring up the matter of the pot being opened or not.

  Of course, Zheng Kezang did not want to argue with the ignorant Hongyi, he thought for a moment and explained: "The production plan of Fuchuan cannot be changed, which is related to Yu's reputation. As for the problem of launching, I have also considered it and plan to build a large dock on one side of the shipyard that can produce 500-ton ships in the future. After the dock is completed, the production of Feiyin can be transferred there. However, digging a 500-ton dry dock takes at least three to four months, and you need to provide technical guidance."

  "This should be no problem." Although several Yingui people didn't have expertise in engineering construction, they had seen pigs run even if they hadn't eaten pork. Plus, Zheng Kezang had some concept of this aspect, more or less. Two mediocre craftsmen put their heads together, and one Zhuge Liang wasn't as good as half a Zhang Fei after all. "We can help out a bit."

  "That's settled then." Zheng Kezang nodded. "And what about those apprentices?" Zheng Kezang was referring to Ma Yuan and the others, two of whom had been swindled by Zheng Kezang into becoming shipwrights in this batch that turned into regular troops, aside from their initial four. "I hope you can all teach them with all your might, so that in the future if we need to repair anything, we won't have to trouble ourselves to invite you from India or England again."

  "Your Highness, although the apprentices you sent are very diligent, it's not an easy thing to truly learn shipbuilding." Anderson replied seriously. "Moreover, there is no provision for instructing apprentices in the contract between us, I hope Your Highness can make up for this."

  The British did not have the tradition of apprentices starving their masters to death, but according to the rules of Western guilds, apprentices still had to pay their masters a fee for several years after they finished their apprenticeship, so their demands were not excessive.

  "This can be done!" Zheng Kezang calculated that he had spent a lot of money on the Fushun, but the remaining expenses were not too great and would not lead to bankruptcy, so he agreed to this request. "But you must teach them all thoroughly?"