The sea breeze blew across the warships, and the Ming national flag and the Zheng flag fluttered in the wind.

Under the national flag.

Zheng Chenggong held the sword against Shi Lang's neck and asked, "Tell me, why are you flying the Jiannu flag?"

Shi Lang sighed and continued to explain: "This place is about 100 to 200 miles away from Jeonra Island. I heard from passing merchants that the Jiannu navy is lurking there! The Jiannu flag is hoisted to prevent a surprise attack from the other side!"

"Please, Deputy Commander, look into this carefully!"

Zheng Chenggong frowned.

Although Shi Lang's logic was a bit far-fetched, there was nothing wrong with it.

He narrowed his eyes and continued, "There is one more thing."

"Excuse me, sir!"

"Yesterday my second uncle discovered a fleet flying the Jiannu flag in the south. It should be you, right?"

"It's us!" Shi Lang replied.

"Then why didn't you take advantage of the chaos to launch an attack yesterday?"

"Yesterday we discovered that two Ming fleets were fighting. Since we didn't know the details, we just watched from a distance and didn't rashly join the battle."

"Stop!" Zheng Chenggong suddenly raised his voice. "You just said that there were two Ming armies fighting each other. Why are you sure that the other Ming army is the real one? Isn't it possible that they are fake?"

"We are not sure about the authenticity of the other Ming army, so we split our troops into two groups. One group will be led by me to intercept your fleet, and the other group will be led by my uncle to look for the trace of the other Ming army!" Shi Lang said something half true and half false.

It is true that the troops were divided into two routes, but it is false that they were divided to search for the traces of another Ming army.

Before the war.

Shi Lang and Shi Fu made a plan.

Shi Fu was responsible for restraining Zheng Chenggong, while Shi Lang was responsible for attacking the accompanying merchant ships.

But plans cannot keep up with changes.

Zheng Chenggong set off early.

Now that Shi Lang met Zheng Chenggong, it indirectly means that Shi Fu failed to meet Zheng Chenggong.

Since no one knows where the blessing went, it is better to make up a suitable lie to cover up the truth.

He was not worried about his lie being exposed because Zheng Chenggong had no idea where Shi Fu was going or where his purpose was.

"General Shi Fu went to look for the trace of another Ming army?" Zheng Chenggong was skeptical.

"Yes, otherwise we wouldn't have divided our forces."

Zheng Chenggong thought about it carefully but couldn't find any flaws, so he could only retract his sword and order his men to release Shi Lang.

Shi Lang quickly took advantage of the situation and said, "I almost hurt you by mistake, please spare my life!"

Although Zheng Chenggong was still angry, he had no place to vent his anger and could only suppress it.

He patted Shi Lang on the shoulder and said, "This is indeed a misunderstanding, but you should be more cautious next time. Don't rush to fire when you encounter friendly warships. Send someone to verify first before firing!"

"Yes, I've made note of it." Shi Lang lowered his head, the corners of his mouth raised in a way that was harder to suppress than a red cannon.

Zheng Chenggong's attention was not on Shi Lang, because the merchant ship hit by Shi Lang was leaking water heavily and was about to sink.

"Hurry up and save people!" Zheng Chenggong commanded all the warships to come to the vicinity and rescue as many people as possible.

Seeing that they were powerless to save the situation, the crew on the merchant ship could only jump into the sea to escape before the ship sank.

If you are any later, you will be sucked into the whirlpool created by the sinking and there is no way you will survive.

Nearby boats threw out ropes to rescue the victims.

After a while, the merchant ship loaded with cargo sank into the sea.

The huge whirlpool caused nearby ships to sway left and right, which was very terrifying.

After an unknown amount of time, the sea surface returned to normal.

Zheng Chenggong sighed, "Alas, the cargo on this ship could be sold for at least 100,000 taels of silver! What a pity, it's all gone."

"I deserve to die!" Shi Lang continued to use the self-torture trick.

Zheng Chenggong smiled bitterly, not knowing what to say.

His mission was to escort.

What's funny is that the merchant ship he was escorting was not sunk by the Jiannu disguised as Ming army, but was sunk by the Ming army disguised as Jiannu.

And this Ming army is our own people.

If the news reaches the court, it will probably cause controversy.

Zheng Chenggong stared at the sea in the distance for a while and suddenly said, "I hope General Shi Fu has not found that 'Ming army'."

"Why do you say that, sir?" Shi Lang was stunned.

"The Ming army I fought yesterday was disguised as Jiannu. They have strong ships and powerful guns, and are very difficult to deal with!"

"Ah?" Shi Lang was startled. "I want to go and support my uncle. Please allow me to do so, Deputy General!"

Zheng Chenggong immediately asked: "How can we find General Shi Fu in the vast ocean?"

Shi Lang was about to answer when he suddenly realized that this was a trick of Zheng Chenggong.

Zheng Chenggong wanted to find Shi Fu to confirm whether he was lying.

If Shi Fu's answer was inconsistent with what he said, Zheng Chenggong would have found a flaw in his lie.

It takes more lies to make up for one lie.

The more lies you tell, the more loopholes you have, and the greater the chances of being discovered.

But he would feel uneasy if he didn't go to support them.

After thinking quickly, Shi Lang bowed deeply to Zheng Chenggong and said, "Before we divided our forces, my uncle and I agreed on a place to rendezvous. I want to arrive there first, and then send out patrol boats to search in the direction my uncle left."

"General Shi Fu is the backbone of the Zheng family army. Nothing can happen to him. Let's go look for him together!" Zheng Chenggong said with pretended kindness.

"Thank...thank you very much, Deputy General!" Shi Lang had no other choice but to take Zheng Chenggong with him to find Shi Fu.

Zheng Chenggong left thirty warships to protect the merchant ships, and led the remaining warships to join forces with Shi Lang and sailed towards the sea.

The fleet first sailed south for two quarters of an hour, then turned northwest near an island.

I don’t know how long we sailed, but just as sunset appeared in the west, a fleet appeared in the distance.

The first ship of the fleet flew the Jiannu flag and sailed towards them at a constant speed.

Shi Lang immediately sent out a patrol boat to verify the other party's identity.

After confirming that the other side was a friendly force, the two fleets joined together.

Shi Fu came to Zheng Chenggong's ship via a patrol boat.

As soon as he stepped onto the deck, Zheng Chenggong appeared before him: "Why did Shifu fly the Jiannu flag?"

Shi Fu subconsciously looked for Shi Lang.

But Shi Lang had already been sent away by Zheng Chenggong, and there was no sign of him at all.

Shi Fu's mind was working rapidly, thinking about the information gap between the two parties.

After pretending to cough for a while, Shi Fu bowed deeply to Zheng Chenggong and said, "Your Excellency, this place is hundreds of miles away from Jeonra Island, where the Jiannu navy is active. The Jiannu flag is hoisted to conceal our presence."

"Oh!" Zheng Chenggong deliberately showed an expression of sudden enlightenment, and then asked: "General Shi Fu, where have you been? Why did you split the troops with Shi Lang?"