How rampant were pirates and Japanese pirates in the middle and late Ming Dynasty? There is no detailed record in history books. Generally, historical books only write that the southeast coast was attacked, robbed, the garrison stations here were destroyed, and the counties and prefectures there were broken. As for how pirates and Japanese pirates came from, I'm sorry, there is no record.

There is no way, because the Ming Dynasty tied its own hands and implemented the sea ban, and the Ming Navy was basically abandoned afterwards. What happened at the sea? Who knows!

The pirates and Japanese pirates at this moment may have been used to the cowardice and inaction of the Ming Navy. Although Chen Sipan knew that Yang Cong, the governor of Zhejiang, was desperately supervising the construction of warships, he subconsciously believed that the officers and soldiers would only sway near the coastline and would not go to sea at all. Therefore, he was not wary at all. After all the pirates gathered, he led the pirate fleet to set off in a mighty way.

There were more than 40,000 pirates gathered in Keelung this time, which was not much different from Wang Dan’s guess. However, there were more than 100 large and small sea boats they pieced together, but more than 200.

As for why there are so many sea boats, the reason is very simple, because when other small pirates heard that Chen Dazhan wanted to take everyone to do big business, they flocked to them like flies smelling stinky meat.

It's not easy for them to live now. Yang Cong almost blocked the coastal areas. Pirates like Chen Sipan dare not rob them alone, let alone them. What else should rob them? They were so hungry that they went to sea to fish and eat. They naturally wouldn't miss such a rare opportunity.

More than 200 large and large sea boats, so majestic and domineering. Chen Sipan stood on the top of the high cabin of Dafu. Looking at the dense sea boats around, he couldn't help but feel full of passion.

At this moment, he even had the illusion that he had been able to fight with officers and soldiers.

The officers and soldiers were actually nothing. I heard that the Governor of Zhejiang did not assemble all the naval warships, but were scattered everywhere, with only more than a hundred warships in each province. With the more than 200 warships he assembled, can't he compete with the navy fleets of a province?

Of course, his main purpose was not to fight with the officers and soldiers, but to go ashore to plunder civilians. Otherwise, he would have really excitedly run to Fujian or Zhejiang to fight with the officers and soldiers.

After they made such a big noise, Yang Cong naturally received news that the pirate fleet is mostly sailing ships, and the overall navigation speed is not as fast as the new warships of the Ming Navy. Therefore, Chen Sipan led the fleet to set off less than two days later. Yang Cong had already opened a large net near the Penghu Islands and was ready to go.

This should be regarded as the largest naval battle in history. The two sides' participation ships reached a terrifying 500 ships. Even the European countries now cannot organize so many ships to participate in the war at one time.

However, the pirate Chen Sipan did not know that there was a sea battle ahead, and he only thought that the Ming army knew nothing about his actions.

He didn't plan to start fighting this trip directly, because there were 40,000 pirates gathered in the chicken cage at this time, and the more than 200 sea boats under their command could transport more than 10,000 people at one time. In other words, he had to go at least four times to pull everyone to their respective selected areas.

What Yang Cong did not expect was that Chen Sipan actually chose the Penghu Islands as a transit place!

There is no way, the chicken coop is more than 1,000 miles away from the nearest Chaozhou Prefecture in Guangdong, and the farthest Qiongzhou Prefecture has reached more than 2,000 miles. Most of the sea boats in their hands are sailboats, which take at least four or five days to travel for more than 10 days. It takes at least ten days to travel four times. The four trips are at least more than one month. The food and fresh water they can carry. If the first group of people are thrown on an uninhabited deserted island in Guangdong and wait for more than a month before launching an attack, it is estimated that those people will die of thirst even if they don’t starve to death.

The Penghu Islands are different. Penghu is only more than 500 miles away from Chaozhou Prefecture, the closest thing to Guangdong. It takes only four or five days to get back and forth, and it will only be twenty days if you travel four times. If Penghu is used as a transit place, the waiting time for the first batch of pirates can be shortened to more than ten days, and they can barely carry more than ten days of food and freshwater.

Yang Cong didn't expect this, so when Chen Sipan led the fleet to Penghu, he was shocked.

This guy is seeking death or something, but he actually hit the gun directly!

Originally, he thought it would take some time to search and determine the specific location of the pirate fleet, but now he came to him.

The sea north of Penghu is about fifty miles away, and a huge fleet of pirates is slowly moving forward. The pirates and Japanese pirates on the ship are not aware of the danger being approaching, and most of them are talking about the pleasure of robbery there.

They had not robbed happily for almost two years. Since Yang Cong became the governor of Zhejiang, the Dusiwei Office along the coast suddenly changed from soft tofu to iron walls. They would encounter stubborn resistance wherever they ran, and then the main force of the officers and soldiers would come and beat them up.

Originally, Zhu Wan was so happy when she was the governor of Zhejiang Zhi. The coastal Dushiwei Office not only did not stop them, but some even secretly communicated with them. When they got ashore, it was like returning home, and they would do whatever they wanted.

That feeling is really nostalgic.

This time, most pirates believed that they should be able to "relive the old dream" because Chen Dada's family gathered more than 40,000 people, and they robbed Guangdong, where the government's defense was weakest. If they could not rob it quickly, then it would be a ghost.

Anyone who is familiar with this sea area knows that it is about to reach the Penghu Islands ahead. Although the island is relatively barren, there are still some fishermen, catches, women, etc., so there is no need to expect a big gain, and it is still okay to warm up.

Just as everyone was chatting in full swing, a shrill whistle suddenly came from the whistle ship in front. Then the flag bearers on many masts in front began to wave the flags in their hands desperately, passing on the situation of the whistle ship discovery layer by layer. Many people who know the flag words can see that the whistle ship in front rewarded the whistle ships, and the number of enemy ships was found in the south.

The enemy ship naturally refers to the warship of the Ming Navy. In this ghost place, they actually encountered the fleet of the official army!

Chen Sipan, who was still proud of her on the flagship, was not panicked. She was just a hundred warships of the government troops, so she wouldn't have scared him to urinate.

He knew that officers and soldiers were still relatively strong on land. Since Yang Cong took office, the infantry of officers and soldiers had been like medicine, and there was no problem with one fighting against two or even one fighting against five.

However, at sea, he had never heard of any outstanding achievements in the official army. As for the last time Lu Qi and Shen Jiu were defeated, he believed that it was mainly Wang Zhi's strength, not the officers and soldiers.

Wang Zhi is still on the way to Japan now, and he has already found out this. Without Wang Zhi, you still want to fight with me!
Chapter completed!