In order to avoid the surveillance of the Ming Empire Navy of Xingchenggang, Fan Mendy set out from Batavia and did not walk the conventional waterway near Xingchenggang to the west, but chose to bypass Borneo from the northeast, pass the Sulu Sea, and go straight to Luzon.

Although it took half a circle to go around this and the voyage was almost half longer, it was better to be hidden. Fan Mendy believed that the Ming Empire could not have been bored to set up a sentry boat across Borneo, but he never thought that the Ming Empire not only set up a sentry boat across Borneo, but even set up a sentry boat on the Sulu Islands, Luzon Islands and Palawan Islands.

More importantly, Batavia has spies from Jinyiwei to monitor them at all times. As soon as he left Batavia with his joint fleet, the spies from Jinyiwei took out the hidden ship and rushed to Xingcheng Port to report the news.

At this time, the speed of the ship became the key link that determines the success or failure of the battle. Most of the navy of the Ming Empire were replaced by ships, and the combined fleet was still sailing ships. That is to say, from the beginning, the combined fleet was at an absolute disadvantage because the speed of the ship was almost three times that of the sailing ship, and there was no need to care about the wind direction and water flow at all.

It takes at least ten days to drive a sailing boat from Batavia, but only three days to drive a steamer; it takes about half a month to drive a sailing boat from Xingcheng Port to Manila, but only five days to drive a steamer!

In other words, even if he takes the conventional waterway, it will take more than twenty days for the joint fleet led by Van Mendi to arrive from Batavia to Manila. Now he has been going around for half a circle, and it is good that he can arrive in a month.

On the Ming army, the secret spies of the Jinyiwei arrived at Xingcheng Port in three days. Even if Zheng Chenggong needs to prepare a few days before leading the fleet to Manila Bay, he can arrive at least half a month earlier than the joint fleet!

However, Zheng Chenggong did not choose to go directly to Manila Bay, because there must be Dutch sentry ships there. If a huge fleet drove into Manila Bay and was discovered, Van Mendy would definitely turn around and leave, and the plan to lead the snake out of the hole would be in vain.

He chose to hide behind Palawan Island, and after determining the route of the joint fleet, he rushed out directly from the strait between Palawan Island and Borneo, and surrounded and annihilated the joint fleet of the anti-Habsburg Alliance powers in the Sulu Sea.

Due to the ample time, he even organized the fleet commander to hold a meeting to deploy the next battle matters.

There were not many people attending the meeting, because the Ming Dynasty now has only five fleets, and even if all the fleet commanders are here, there are only five people, not to mention that the North Sea Fleet is still in Goa.

This time, Zheng Chenggong took the main position in the name of the Navy Marshal of the Ming Empire, and his left heads were:

Zheng Zhilong, the governor of Nanyang, the king of Zhennan;

Chen Hui, the head general of the East China Sea Fleet;

Ma Xianglin, the leader of the Second Corps of the Border Defense Army;

His right head is:

Zheng Zhihu, the leader of the Nanyang Navy;

Yang Geng, the head general of the North Sea Fleet;

Zheng Xing, the head general of the South China Sea Fleet.

Although Zheng Chenggong had not presided over the combat meeting, he had attended the combat meeting many times. Under Zhu Cijiu's deliberate training, he was already quite like a general. After everyone sat down, he picked up the white wax pole in front of him and pointed to the Nanyang map on the conference table and said: "Everyone, the fish have finally taken the bait. According to the secret spies from the Jinyiwei, the joint fleet of the anti-Habsburg Alliance powers had left Batavia four days ago and was preparing to take Suluhai and attack Manila."

After saying that, he stopped and glanced at everyone present to see how the generals reacted, and whether the desire to fight was strong. He also learned this from Zhu Cijing.

The generals were naturally ready to go and wanted to deal with the joint fleet immediately. Zheng Zhilong couldn't wait to say: "Sen'er, oh, no, Grand Marshal, then let's go and kill them."

Zheng Chenggong rolled his eyes and shook his head and said, "No, we can't set out yet. We must confirm their intentions before we can set out. If they suddenly turn around and head straight to Xingchenggang as they walk, then wouldn't we be in trouble!"

Zheng Zhilong was choked and couldn't speak. Although this possibility was very small, there were still some. If Fan Mendi really did this, it would be really troublesome, because if he wanted to wipe out the joint fleet, the Ming Navy would have to do his best. By then, the fleet would be gone. With the cannons and bastions alone, he might not be able to withstand the successive attacks of more than 100 super battleships.

Zheng Chenggong slowly pointed to the waters east of Borneo and continued: "Here, we set up a sentry ship. If the sentry ship sees the joint fleet passing by here, we can attack, because, when they reach this position, they are unlikely to turn back."

When the generals heard this, they nodded in agreement and turned back halfway after running, unless Van Mendy was sick!

Zheng Chenggong continued to analyze: "According to the speed of the sailing ship, it will take them at least ten days to get here. In addition, the time for the return of the ship, we still have at least half a month to prepare, so don't hurry, rest and practice well. If we don't attack, we will have to take down their fleet and Batavia's base as soon as we attack!"

Very brave, Zheng Zhilong looked at his precious son and was so proud. The generals admired him very much, and they all showed admiration.

Zheng Chenggong then ordered seriously: "Now, I order the Nanyang Navy, the South China Sea Fleet, the North Sea Fleet, all battleships and Fu Ship warships to be transferred to the sea east of Xingcheng Port, and speed up the drill and prepare to attack."

Zheng Zhihu, Yang Geng, and Zheng Xing heard this, stood up and bowed, saying, "I will obey the order."

Zheng Chenggong nodded, waved his hand to signal them to sit down, and then continued: "Order, the East China Sea Fleet and the Second Border Defense Army Corps moved south of Xingchenggang, speeded up the joint landing operation, and prepared to attack."

When Chen Hui and Ma Xianglin heard this, they stood up and bowed: "I will obey the order."

Zheng Chenggong nodded, waved his hand to signal them to sit down, and was about to continue discussing specific combat matters, but Zheng Zhilong interrupted and said, "Master Marshal, what am I doing?"

Why is this father always making trouble? It seems that it will be impossible not to teach a lesson. Zheng Chenggong directly looked down on his face and said seriously: "His Royal Highness Zhennan, please pay attention to the discipline of the meeting. I am presided over the meeting now. If this Grand Marshal didn't ask you to speak, don't interrupt."

Zheng Zhilong didn't know whether to be happy or sad with such a selfless son, but he was scolded by his baby son and always felt a little uncomfortable. He sat there with a grievance on his face, looking like an angry young wife.

Almost all the generals were Zheng Zhilong's old subordinates, so they naturally knew that Zheng Zhilong was extremely dear to Zheng Chenggong. Now, seeing his angry look, he couldn't help but smile, his face flushed.

Seeing this, Zheng Chenggong shook his head helplessly and comforted him: "Father, haven't I finished talking yet. This time, he only brought battleships and lucky ships to warships. All other types of warships must be kept. You can lead these warships to stay at Xingcheng Port just in case."
Chapter completed!