To be honest, the coast guard fleet learned from the Portuguese from shipbuilding to combat.

Now the apprentice wants to challenge the master, and the opponent has much more people and warships. Although they are mostly a mob, with their deep understanding of naval warfare, they will definitely make good use of this huge numerical advantage and come up with some new tricks.

Of course, the quality and weapons and equipment of the Coast Guard officers and soldiers are definitely superior. However, with just this advantage, even the madman Wang Rulong would not dare to claim victory easily!

"After learning about the convenience in Macau, my first reaction was not to take risks and wait a little longer." Zhao Hao stopped and looked at the sea and sky in the distance.

"But another voice told me that the best window of opportunity is before the end of this year. Now, Macau only has one more escort fleet, two large sailing ships. By next year, we may have to face ten large sailing ships, and the battle will be even more difficult to fight. By then, not only will we have to vomit out everything we have eaten, but the Jiangnan Shipyard and the Tamra Garrison will also be in danger."

"Yes." Wang Rulong nodded in agreement and said, "If the red-haired devils decide to send their main fleet to Ming, they will definitely wipe out our maritime forces completely before they stop."

"And what about us?" Zhao Hao said in a deep voice, "Due to our weak foundation, we still won't be able to produce enough troops to compete with the Malacca Fleet next year, and we won't be able to fight them at sea. Even if we can use the advantages of terrain and human wave tactics to kill them like we did in the Battle of Tuen Mun and the Battle of Sai Cao Wan, our coastal areas will be ruined by them. No one can bear this responsibility!"

After repeated lessons, he no longer regarded the other period of history as inevitable. In that time and space, there was no Zhao Hao who humiliated the Portuguese, and there was no powerful coast guard fleet to prevent them from trading with Japan.

Therefore, the Portuguese's behavior will definitely not follow the original history. But history is still useful. It can also help Zhao Hao understand the enemy's nature and guess their reactions.

The Spanish colonization in Luzon, especially the galleon trade launched this year, will definitely put great pressure on the Portuguese. In order to avoid being squeezed out of the Far East, they will do everything they can to eliminate the powerful challenger and restore trade with Japan!

Some people may ask, why not sit down and talk? Why not first unite with the Portuguese to drive the Spanish out? First of all, they are fellow countrymen of the same race and religion; secondly, the invaders are barbaric creatures who only know how to act from a position of strength. If you don't hurt them and let them know how powerful you are, they won't talk to you properly!

"So I have made up my mind to fight this battle with all my strength!" Zhao Hao said in a deep voice, "I would rather suffer huge losses or even the possibility of failure than destroy the Portuguese fleet and take back Macau!"

"Yes." Wang Rulong nodded heavily and said, "I will complete the mission at the cost of my life!"

~~

Although Master Zhao has made up his mind, he still needs to be extremely cautious in tactics given the unprecedented strength of the enemy.

That afternoon, after Zhao Hao convened a high-level police meeting, he immediately ordered Ma Xianglan to draft a level one combat readiness order. After he signed it, it was immediately sent by a carrier pigeon from Penghu Station to the Suzhou Group headquarters two thousand miles away!

Before nightfall the next day, the carefully fed, high-quality homing pigeons arrived at the Jiangnan Building in Qilishantang.

Seeing the red bamboo tube on the pigeon's leg, the staff on duty immediately notified President Jiang who was just taking a break.

During the year when Zhao Hao was away, Jiang Xueying felt lonely and could only devote herself to work. In addition, the group's affairs were too busy, so she rarely went back to live in Lengxiang Garden in the city. She moved her daily necessities to Zhao Hao's office. She worked in her own office during the day and slept in the big room in her brother's room opposite at night.

At this moment, she had just taken off her makeup with the help of Xiao Yun'er, and she was lying tiredly on the big bed, daydreaming about the South.

As long as she imagined the suffering of her brother wandering on the sea, she didn't feel the pain at all.

Suddenly, there was a hurried knock on the door, and the guard reported in a deep voice: "There is an urgent red message from Penghu Station!"

Jiang Xueying's expression froze when she heard this. In the group's communication system, red emergency messages represent urgency! It's equivalent to the imperial court's 800-li express!

She immediately sat up, put her hair behind her head, and walked out of the inner room with a serious expression, and took the bamboo tube from Xiao Yun'er. She first looked at the wax seal under the light, and after confirming that it was correct and intact, she used her fingernails to pinch the wax and pulled out the small piece of paper inside.

Zhao Hao had already introduced the ciphertext system, so letters of this level were naturally encrypted. Xiao Yuner immediately opened the safe and took out the code book, and Jiang Xueying quickly looked through it.

After a few breaths, she read out Zhao Hao's order and immediately ordered in a deep voice: "Convene a meeting of all senior executives immediately!"

Xiao Yuner quickly told Mi Li, the director of the president's office who was sleeping next door, and Mi Li immediately asked someone to notify all the participants to return to Jiangnan Building within an hour.

According to Zhao Hao's regulations, all subsidiaries of the group must have a vice president or above on duty at the headquarters at all times. So an hour later, the group's senior executives and executives of each company in Suzhou were all sitting in the brightly lit conference hall.

During this time, Jiang Xueying has tidied herself up and completed the work assignment plan.

Her big eyes sparkled under the methane lamp, and she was in combat mode!

~~

The group mobilization meeting lasted until four o'clock in the morning.

As soon as the sun rose, the top management of the group and the executives of each company immediately started to prepare according to the order issued by President Jiang...

Xishan Island Arsenal.

The heavy iron door of the heavily guarded armory was finally opened, revealing bronze cannons sealed with grease and stored on sturdy jujube wood racks.

Zhang Jian looked at the workers of the arsenal with a serious face, and passed the thick rope through the iron ring on the rack. After fixing it, he used the human crane he invented to lift various types of long and short artillery into the large rail car.

The railcar is a two-person hand-operated type, using a very simple lever, crankshaft, and gear device to drive four iron wheels forward and backward on the rails. It has been widely used in Xishan Island and Changguang Coal Mine.

The workers operated the human-powered rail cars, like ants moving house, and transported the 500 cannons and 10,000 various artillery shells in Warehouse No. 1, and the 10,000 Longqing-style guns and 200,000 standard ammunition in Warehouse No. 3 along the long tracks to the arsenal's dedicated dock outside the mountain, where they were loaded and shipped out of Taihu Lake to the Jiangnan shipping fleet waiting in Pudong.

"Is that all?" he asked Zhao Shizhen who was standing beside him.

"There are still 500 guns and 10,000 shells in Warehouse No. 2." Zhao Shizhen, who is also the director of the arsenal, said, "We don't need to transport them all at once, right? I think the Oda City rockets and Chacha grenades in Warehouse No. 4 will be more useful."

"Yes." Zhang Jian nodded. Master had worked so hard to save up this little fortune, how could he squander it all at once? "Let's transport the shells from Warehouse No. 2. Forget about the cannons. There are still 500 guns in the arsenal of the Tamra Garrison. Let's transfer the ones there first..."

Then he instructed Zhao Shizhen in a deep voice: "Have you increased the production capacity here?"

"It's already full. We can cast ten each of the Hongwu, Yongle, Hongxi, and Xuande guns every day!" Zhao Shizhen said with a smile, "Don't reduce the production capacity after I go to the south."

"How is that possible?" Zhang Jian said with a faint smile. He said to Zhao Shizhen with some envy: "If you are worried, why don't you leave me alone?"

"How is that possible?" Zhao Shizhen replied with the original sentence.

~~

Jiangnan Chemical Gunpowder Factory on Xishan Island——

The workers carried barrels of granular black powder carefully onto a special transport ship.

The warehouse of Jiangnan Textile and Cotton Spinning Company in Songjiang——

Batches of white cotton gauze were carried out, and bags of white cotton were also carried out and loaded onto transport ships.

In Jiangnan Hospital in Kunshan——

Wan Mizhai and Li Shizhen selected two hundred medical staff from hospitals and medical colleges to form a medical team, led by Li Lunming himself, and boarded a transport ship full of emergency medicines and medical equipment.

Jiangnan Development Corporation——

Wang Mengxiang recruited volunteers from the construction teams of various development companies and farms in various counties to go south with the transport fleet for support. Because of the previous publicity, everyone in the group knew about the burning of the Ryukyu trading station and the invasion of the red-haired devils. They also knew that the coast guard fleet was avenging their dead colleagues and defending the survival space of the Jiangnan Group. As a result, the enthusiasm of the workers and farmers was surprisingly high, and they rushed to join the reinforcement team going south. They even fought to compete for the ten-to-one quota!

This scene shocked Wang Mengxiang and others. The performance of the farm workers was especially different from the image of the refugees in their minds, who were numb and indifferent, as if their hearts were dead.

"When did they become so enthusiastic?" Wang Shimao was extremely shocked and said, "The valiant old Qin mentioned in the history books is probably no more than this, right?"

"It's only been more than two years, and these people have completely changed under your hands." Wang Mengxiang also sighed: "In time, when the people of Jiangnan become like this, who in the world will be able to be their opponent?"

"..."Wang Shimao didn't dare to respond to him.

~~

Similar situations occurred in various subsidiaries of Jiangnan Group. Various materials were continuously transported from all over the country to Pudong, and at the largest cargo terminal in China newly built this year, they were transferred by Popeye cranes to large ships with a capacity of 2,000 tons.

In just four days, a large transport fleet consisting of fifty large Fu ships completed the loading.

Chen Huaixiu personally led the fleet out of the Huangpu River into the sea, and with the help of the north wind and the cold current along the coast, they sailed smoothly to Chaozhou!

Earlier, Zhu Jue also led the reinforcement fleet he had drawn from various water police bureaus and the Coast Guard School to transport supplies to the Tamra Garrison Area southward.

At Naha Port, Rong Sheng, who was in charge of guarding the logistics base, personally sent Zheng Yu to lead the Ryukyu Navy to the south for reinforcements...

The powerful Jiangnan Group is mobilizing its hidden strength, preparing to give the Portuguese and their vassal troops a full-scale blow!