Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

When it comes to poaching, of course you should do it quietly without making any noise.

Sooner or later, the court and the Zheng family will have a resolution to their conflict of interest, but before that, Zhang Shikang still has to establish good relations with the Zheng family.

"Marshal, from today on, I no longer have a master. If there is one, it is the court, the current emperor, and the Marshal." Ma Tong emphasized.

Loyalty is a mysterious thing. In the hands of someone who doesn't know how to command his subordinates, not only will they not be able to make full use of their talents, but they will also suffer injustice and neglect.

But in the hands of someone who knows how to use people, not only can the subjective initiative of the people be maximized, but the people who are appointed will also be full of motivation.

Although the Zheng family navy is huge, its only purpose is to make money. But when it is invested in the Ming Dynasty court, there are too many benefits.

Therefore, the Ma Tong now seems to have regained its vitality. It is not only full of energy but also very active in expressing its loyalty.

"This may sound like flattery. In my opinion, I only care about what you do, not what you say," Zhang Shikang said calmly.

Horses can make people lose their way, and he has never liked people who flatter them.

Although the right horse does make people comfortable.

"I know my crime." Ma Tong quickly bowed and accepted the instruction, but then he said:

“This time when I went to see Zheng Zhilong, I suggested that the Marshal should order another batch of warships.

Let the commander know that a fleet with only main warships is completely insufficient, and more auxiliary ships are needed to cooperate in naval battles.

For example, bird ships, wave-opening ships, eagle ships, fire ships, Haicang ships, military ships, etc., all have different functions, but none of them can be missing." Ma Tong said seriously.

This is just like the aircraft carriers of later generations, although they are powerful, they also need to be equipped with a whole fleet including destroyers, cruisers, etc. before setting sail. Zhang Shikang understood it as soon as he thought about it and nodded.

"Will Zheng Zhilong agree?" Zhang Shikang asked with a frown.

The last time he ordered the silk ship from Zheng Zhibiao, it took him a lot of effort. After all, that was the main warship of the Zheng family.

If this happened between countries in the future, they would definitely not sell their current main equipment.

"It shouldn't be a big problem." Ma Tong thought for a moment and then said:

"When the Marshal ordered the silk boats, the main reason Zheng Zhibiao hesitated was probably because of the sailors, gunners and boatmen.

Compared with the warship itself, it costs more to train qualified ship crew members.

Moreover, Zheng Zhibiao is not Zheng Zhilong after all. He gave up the soldiers without authorization, probably because he was worried that his brother would blame him. "

Zhang Shikang nodded when he heard this, and Ma Tong said:

"You don't have to worry too much, Marshal. If Zheng Zhilong deliberately makes things difficult for us, I have a trick that can make Zheng Zhilong sell the ship to us."

"Oh? Tell me."

"The Zheng family's greatest enemy is the Dutch."

Ma Tong only gave a brief reminder and Zhang Shikang understood it roughly.

Although the Zheng family has defeated the Dutch navy twice, the Dutch are not just simple maritime merchants; they rely on the national strength behind them.

The main reason why the Dutch Navy was defeated twice was that the distance was too far, the supply line was too long, and not too many warships were sent in the two naval battles.

But now it is different. The Dutch have built two castles, including Castle Zeelandia, in Dongfan.

Not only did they have a base in the Far East, but they were also stepping up the dispatch of more fleets. It was foreseeable that there would be a war between the Zheng family and the Dutch in the near future.

The Dutch would never honestly pay protection money to Zheng Zhilong.

But if Zhang Shikang argued that they should jointly fight against the Dutch, as the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, Zheng Zhilong would most likely agree.

Since you don’t sell it, I’ll buy it from the Dutch.

I have a good relationship with the Dutch, so naturally my relationship with you will be bad.

After figuring out the core of the problem, Zhang Shikang felt more confident.

"You have fought against the Dutch. Based on your understanding, which one is more powerful, the Zheng family's Fujian ships or the Dutch warships?" Zhang Shikang asked again.

From later historical materials, Zhang Shikang roughly understood that at this time, the Ming Dynasty had begun to lag behind the West in terms of firearms and warships.

But the exact extent of the lag is not very clear.

Moreover, in the subconscious of the imperial court, driven by the idea of the Celestial Empire, they were always happy to boast about their own strength and belittle the strength of foreign vassal states.

Especially after Zheng Zhilong defeated the Dutch navy twice, this situation made Zhang Shikang confused.

At this time, Zheng Zhilong had already surrendered to the Ming Dynasty court, so the Zheng family's victory was naturally regarded by the court as a victory for the Ming Dynasty.

The imperial court naturally has the right to say that the Ming fleet is invincible in the world.

But no matter how confused Zhang Shikang was, he probably understood that the Dutch were definitely not as inferior as the court said.

Otherwise, why were all the Ming Dynasty’s artillery French cannons and red cannons?

Isn’t Franji the name of the Spanish and Portuguese?

As for the red barbarians, they are naturally the Dutch.

You use the techniques you learned from others and say they are not good enough.

This doesn't make sense at all.

"Does the Marshal want to hear the truth or lies?" Ma Tong's face changed.

"I think you are talking nonsense, of course it's the truth!" Zhang Shikang emphasized.

"General, please calm down. I think that not only is our shipbuilding technology far behind that of the Dutch and the French.

Even our cannon-casting technology and firearms have lagged far behind them."

The person involved has the most say, as he had personally witnessed the Liaoluo Bay naval battle between the Zheng family and the red-haired foreigners a few years ago.

At that time, the Zheng family dispatched nearly two hundred warships of various types, while the red-haired barbarians were limited to ocean-going operations and only had nine large ships.

Although the red-haired foreigners had fewer warships, the attack range of their artillery was much longer than that of the Zheng family's warships, and their power was enormous. If an artillery battle was engaged, the Zheng family's navy would not be able to get close at all.

So Zheng Zhilong took a different approach and used fire ships to avoid artillery battles by taking advantage of his absolute advantage in the number of warships.

This is the legendary suicide attack, a tactic that both Zhuge Cunfu and Zhou Gongjin are very familiar with.

Even so, this so-called victory cost the Zheng navy the loss of dozens of warships.

The price of this victory is not small.

Zhang Shikang finally frowned when he heard this.

He roughly understood in his heart that the Ming Dynasty had indeed begun to fall behind at this time, but it was not until now that he understood the specific gap.

Sure enough, the idea of the Celestial Empire is harmful to people!

Seeing the Grand Marshal's worried face, Ma Tong also frowned and said:

“But these red-haired foreigners are quite strange, they dare to sell anything.

If the Marshal is not worried about conflicts with the Zheng family, he can contact the red-haired merchant privately.

Maybe there will be surprises.”

The Zheng family did not have many main warships for sale. If it were not for Zhang Shikang's reputation and Zheng Zhilong's unwillingness to offend the imperial court, it would probably not be easy to negotiate for those twenty main warships.

But the red-haired foreigners were an exception. When he had traveled to India before, he had seen that the local forces had large sea ships belonging to the red-haired foreigners.

Later, I asked Ma Tong and found out that the red-haired foreign merchants were extremely profit-oriented and even more greedy than Zheng Zhilong.

As long as you pay enough money, you can get most of the equipment they currently have.

However, the Zheng family is the mortal enemy of the Red Haired Barbarians now, so they have no contact in this regard. I don't think the Red Haired Barbarians would be so stupid.

After hearing this, Zhang Shikang smiled strangely:

"I remember now. If I remember correctly, the Netherlands is actually a merchant group disguised as a country!"

……