Magong Harbor in Penghu still had masts like a forest, the dock was still bustling with people, shop assistants along the street and prostitutes in brothels desperately solicited business, and it was as lively and chaotic as before.

This kind of place is the most well-informed. In fact, it was the first to learn about the intelligence that a mysterious fleet was sweeping across the coast of Fujian.

However, the Penghu station of the Jiangnan Trading Company released a large number of smoke bombs on the streets, widely spreading the news that the fleet was Lin Daoquan's subordinates, who were ordered by the government to retaliate against the sea lords who attacked Chaozhou Prefecture a few months ago.

This made the various forces in Penghu give up the idea of ​​heading south to avoid the limelight. Everyone continued to run and dance without any intention of moving.

Richang brothel is a relatively high-end brothel among the many brothels on the island. It has a lobby where customers can drink and listen to music, giving clients another reason to spend money besides sleeping with women.

At this time, a group of tired clients were in the lobby, drinking and chatting with the girls.

"Hey, brother, you are usually very strong, why can't you stand up today?" A middle-aged man with a big scar on his face smiled at the young man.

"I really admire you guys for still wanting to play with women. I'm so worried. What if Lin Daoqian calls me?" The young man said with a wry smile, "It's fine in the days and days, but if he calls me in the middle of sex, I'm afraid I won't be able to hold it for the rest of my life."

"Hahaha!" A group of men and women burst into laughter.

"Just put your heart at ease!" Scarface laughed, "Because five years ago it was Lin Daoqian who took the lead in conquering Penghu Water Fort. It was also his fucking initiative to turn this place into a no-man's land! So he knows better than anyone that Penghu is a place to get information and do business, not anyone's territory!"

"That's right. Even if he is shameless, he wouldn't hit himself in the face, right?"

"If he dares to attack Magong Port, he will offend all the sea merchants." The others also said with certainty: "Who will dare to do business with him in the future?"

"So take out your bird and have fun, brother!" The scarred man patted the young man's shoulder and said, "Go ahead, life is about drinking and getting drunk today!"

"That's right, not only do we want to get drunk, we also want to have sex..." Amid the laughter of the crowd, the young man hugged the prostitute and went upstairs.

As soon as the two of them entered the alley, they heard the rumbling of cannon fire outside, followed by chaos and commotion, with countless people shouting in panic:

"Oh no, Lin Daoqian called..."

"Ah!" The young man was immediately frightened...

He regretted it so much. Why was he so soft-hearted? Now, his ** was also soft...

~~

It wouldn't take long for the powerful Western Fleet to capture this undefended port and town.

Ninety percent of the people in Penghu believed Lin Daoquan's lies and did not go south to hide. As a result, the Western Fleet was wiped out.

At the dock, where the prisoners were detained, curses were heard incessantly, and Lin Daoquan's ancestors for eighteen generations were cursed ten thousand times.

Anyway, it wasn't their ancestors who were being cursed, so the coast guard officers and soldiers were naturally indifferent and only focused on collecting unprecedentedly rich spoils.

Penghu was a trading center for sea lords from all sides, as well as the red-haired people, Japanese, Ryukyu people, and merchants and pirates from various countries in Southeast Asia. They sold all kinds of smuggled bulk goods, as well as contraband such as muskets, cannons, warships, and slaves, and opened brothels and gambling houses. The wealth accumulated here can be imagined.

After two full days of counting, they finally roughly calculated the value of all the spoils - a full four million taels of silver!

There are more than 10,000 prisoners of various kinds. According to the plan, they will be sent to Naha Port first. After the war is over, the prince will decide their fate.

The group led by Scarface were the first to set out on the journey. Their hands were tied behind their backs and they were strung together with ropes like candied haws, and then driven onto the paddle boat.

At this time, Scarface saw a red-bearded man who looked like a leader, surrounded by his men, passing by. He could not help but shout angrily, "Aren't you afraid of offending the public by doing this?!"

Wang Rulong stopped when he heard that, and looked at the angry scarred man. He laughed and said, "Public outrage? Who can you bastards represent? You can't represent anyone, you can only represent a bunch of villains!"

Scarface wanted to retort, but was kicked down by Li Chao, an auxiliary police officer, who cursed, "You're the only one who talks too much!"

~~

On the other side, under the leadership of Lin Daoquan, the Eastern Fleet sailed directly westward across the Taiwan Strait.

This not only avoids the Penghu waterway, but also greatly shortens the voyage.

Two days later, the fleet arrived at Qing'ao Bay on Nan'ao Island.

Qing'ao Bay, also known as Baima Fandu, is located on the east side of Nan'ao Island. It is a full bow-shaped harbor surrounded by mountains and facing southeast. The task force has conducted detailed surveys and found that the water depth of the bay is 5 to 10 meters, which can accommodate 4,000-ton ships.

The northeastern coast is a rocky beach, while the rest is sandy. The bay is flat and wide, and can accommodate 4,000-ton ships. It can serve as a sheltered harbor except in southeasterly winds, and a freshwater river flows into it, making it suitable for building a forward base for autumn and winter operations.

So as soon as the fleet arrived at Qing'ao Bay, the coast guard officers and soldiers immediately started to build the base. Forts, piers, docks, barracks, warehouses, dry docks, large reservoirs... all started to be built, as if they were going to stay there for a long time.

Three days later, Wang Rulong's Western Fleet arrived at Qing'ao Bay after pacifying Penghu. The successful meeting of the two fleets also marked the basic clearance of the Taiwan Strait and the waters to the north.

21 gun salutes were fired at the dock. Young Master Zhao, dressed neatly, led the guard of honor on the newly built wooden pier to welcome the triumphant officers and soldiers of the Western Fleet.

The officers and soldiers of the Western Fleet also changed into formal dress, stood upright as they entered the port, and enjoyed the honor bestowed by the young master.

~~

As soon as the gangway was lowered, Wang Rulong and Ma Yinglong quickly led a group of police officers down the ship to meet the young master.

"Hahaha, thank you for your hard work this time!" Zhao Hao smiled and returned the greeting to Wang Rulong and the others, "We have received frequent good news and achieved great results. The guys in the Eastern Fleet are really the envy of you!"

"Hehe, we just killed some bandits, not worth mentioning." Wang Rulong scratched his cheek and boasted: "But the harvest is still quite big."

"Hahaha, it's not just big, it's too big!" Zhao Hao couldn't help but burst into laughter, and everyone followed suit.

The harvest of the Western Fleet was not only huge, but they had won six battles and six victories since leaving Tamsui. After destroying the bandit's nest, they only handed over the heads and captured civilians to Yu Dayou's men, but ate all the seized property. The captured pirates had been sent back to Naha in batches.

Including the gains in Penghu, the Western Fleet captured more than six million taels of silver in spoils! Nearly twice as much as the war against Japan the year before! The wealth of these sea lords is truly jaw-dropping.

But it's normal to think about it. Even the Japanese pirates who occupied northern Taiwan could save up more than one million taels of silver in less than two years. For these sea lords who have been entrenched in the Fujian coast for many years, robbing and trading, it would be easy for them to save up a million taels of silver, right?

In fact, the silver earned by these sea owners over the years is worth millions of taels. But most of it was squandered, and a small part was transported back to their hometowns to build towers and manors. Those big and small leaders, each family has tens of thousands of taels of silver. Mr. Zhao knew this very well, so he didn't hand them over to the government rashly. How could such a good thing as extortion be given to those grandsons of the Fujian Provincial Surveillance Department for nothing? Wouldn't it be better to extort money slowly by yourself?

Of course, Mr. Zhao is not just trying to extort money, he has other plans, which will become clear in the future.

~~

Nan'ao Island is close to Chaozhou, so it is very convenient for supply, allowing Zhao Hao to slaughter pigs and sheep to reward the troops.

After Wang Rulong had eaten and drunk his fill, he approached Zhao Hao and asked in a low voice, "Sir, are you ready to deal with the red-haired ghost?"

"Hahaha, you can't hide anything." Zhao Hao pointed at him and smiled. He and Wang Rulong left the noisy camp, walked along the quiet beach, and told his number one general exactly his plan.

Wang Rulong was naturally eager to try it out when he heard it, and said, "Finally, I have a tough guy to satisfy my desire!"

"I'm just afraid this guy is too tough." Zhao Hao sighed and said, "Although Portugal is limited by its small population, it has been the world's leader for a hundred years and should not be underestimated. Moreover, after Japan suffered a big loss, they have been holding their breath and have not relaxed in expanding their strength in the past two years, so as to get back at us."

"We are not the same as we were two years ago." Wang Rulong rubbed his hands and said, "We were able to deal with them when the Coast Guard was first established, and we can do the same now!"

"Our actions along the Fujian coast have already sounded the alarm for them. It will be difficult to outsmart them." Zhao Hao shook his head slightly and said, "We just received intelligence from the Macau station that a Portuguese fleet from Malacca did not return as scheduled after arriving at Xiangshan Bay, but stayed there."

"Really? How many large sailing ships are there?" Wang Rulong asked hurriedly.

"Two, both are carracks with double-deck guns." Zhao Hao replied: "So they now have four carracks."

"It's equivalent to the number of our battleships." Wang Rulong frowned slightly.

"In addition, they have eight very fast and flexible caravels and a dozen old lock boats. At the same time, they are also buying large new ships built in the shipyards along the Pearl River at high prices. Whether it is a Fujian ship, a Guangzhou ship or a Wuwei ship, they want them all."

"With so many ships, can those red-haired devils in Macau handle them all?" Wang Rulong frowned more and more.

"The Portuguese in Macau have all been mobilized." Zhao Hao said, "Now they have about a thousand Portuguese soldiers. They have also hired three thousand mercenaries from Annan, plus two thousand native sailors, so the total number of soldiers has reached six thousand."

"The Bugalao Cannon Foundry was also operating day and night. The factory even hired some gunsmiths from Foshan to work at the Bugalao Cannon Foundry. In the past, those red-haired devils strictly guarded the cannon foundry, and no Ming people were allowed to enter the workshop."

This shows that the Portuguese have reached the point of not caring about anything in order to quickly expand their strength, and everything is for the sake of the present hurdle.

"It is said that the sea lords from Guangdong and Fujian who escaped have all gathered at the mouth of the Pearl River and settled down on the islands near Macau. There are as many as 70,000 to 80,000 people and thousands of ships!" Zhao Hao informed Wang Rulong of the latest situation: "The Portuguese are in a hurry to make guns and cannons in order to strengthen their armaments. Of course, at most, they can only make one-tenth of the pirates upgrade their muskets to cannons."

Wang Rulong looked serious and said, "That's pretty impressive too."

At this moment, he didn't dare to say anything big like, given the generation gap in weapons and equipment and the generation gap in organization and command, the number of people and ships in a naval war was completely meaningless.

P.S. The war is coming, and it will take some time to plan and layout. I just finished writing one chapter. Keep writing, don't wait...