This is really the same thing as a hero! Spanish Admiral Garcia also plans to strike first!
Previously, Garcia had pieced together 21 warships and armed sailing ships of various types. Now De Velasco has brought 8 armed sailing ships, for a total of 29 warships and armed merchant ships - this is what he has been able to put together. The largest fleet ever!
If you want more ships, you have to mobilize them from the Atlantic... However, considering that Spain is at war with France and Portugal, it is estimated that Philip IV will not agree to send another fleet to East Asia.
Therefore, Admiral Garcia is ready to take advantage of the moment when his strength is strongest!
"General, are we going to launch an attack?" De Velasco looked a little nervous, "Where are we going to attack?"
General Garcia looked at De Velasco's expression and asked, "What's wrong? Are you scared?"
"One thing..." De Velasco said, "Because our enemies are not weak, and they have huge shipbuilding and cannon-building capabilities!"
Admiral Garcia smiled: "But we have the spirit of the Armada!"
The Armada is gone, but the Armada's spirit of not admitting defeat and fearing death is still there!
This Spanish Armada is not a fleet, but is rebuilt again and again. There are many invincible armadas before and after! However, most of the Armada ended miserably... But it doesn't matter, the spirit of the Spanish navy is still there, and it will continue to build a large fleet in the future. Until the 21st century, it has maintained a strength that is enough to overwhelm the Dutch navy!
But the current "rebirth ability" of the Ming Dynasty's navy is definitely stronger than that of the Spanish navy! Because after more than ten years of hard work, Ming Dynasty's shipbuilding capabilities have improved. The deadweight tonnage of ships delivered every year is comparable only to that of the Netherlands and England. Its population is only more than 500 people. Spain, whose manufacturing industry is very poor, is no match. ah!
Garcia paused and then said to De Velasco: "You have been dealing with them for many years. You choose a target to attack...it must be deadly enough!"
Deadly enough?
De Velasco thought to himself: Shanghai, Quanzhou, Guangzhou, and Nanjing all have huge shipbuilding and weapons manufacturing industries... But with the strength of the Eastern Fleet, they can't even touch the edges! Even if the Invincible Fleet that was destroyed in the Battle of Downs was resurrected, it would be impossible to capture any of these four major cities!
"That's the Dinghai anchorage!" De Velasco thought for a long time, and finally got a pretty good goal, "That's the home port of the Ming Dynasty's Eastern Fleet... Half of the warships in the Eastern Fleet will Moored there for the long haul.”
The warships of the Toyo Fleet were on duty in turns. Half of the warships went to sea to play "friendly matches" with the ships of the Pacific Trading Company, and the other half stayed at home port for vacation.
"Do you have any nautical charts and hydrological data on Dinghai?" Garcia asked.
"There are charts, but no hydrological data." De Velasco replied, "We once thought about occupying Dinghai, so we drew charts and maps, but then our Armada was defeated, so... ..”
"Really? Are you talking about how many times the Armada has been defeated?"
The Armada is always defeated, so Garcia needs to determine which time...
"That's the first time!" De Velasco replied
"First time..." Garcia thought for a moment, "Oh, you mean Ningbo?"
"That's right!" De Velasco nodded, "That place belonged to the Ningbo Mansion of the Ming Dynasty... We once wanted to occupy Ningbo as a base to further attack the Ming Dynasty, so we conducted a more careful investigation."
"So is it still possible to capture Ningbo now?" Garcia asked, "If we can concentrate an army of five thousand people."
"Impossible!" De Velasco shook his head repeatedly, "General, my report seems to have mentioned Prince Kong Dai. He has been in the Ming Dynasty in the past few years and served as the military adviser to the Ming Dynasty emperor. Not only was he previously He was made the Duke of the Ming Dynasty! I think us Spanish naval officers probably can’t defeat him..."
In fact, without the help of Prince Condai, the Spanish military power in the east would not have been able to capture Ningbo. Why is Ningbo Dinghai the home port of the Oriental Fleet? It has enough bastions and forts!
"Damn French guys!" Garcia cursed, "Then let's attack their fleet... How many warships will be parked there?"
"Twenty-twenty-five," de Velasco said, "that's about it."
"Okay!" Garcia thought for a while, "Are there any other valuable and easy targets near Dinghai?"
"There is one," De Velasco thought for a moment, "The Ryukyu Kingdom is pretty good... It was a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, and it was very wealthy, but..."
"But what?"
“Japan’s Satsuma Domain also owns half of it,” de Velasco said. “It is a jointly administered territory between the two countries.”
"How's the defense going?"
"Not really," De Velasco said. "Neither the Ming Dynasty nor the Satsuma Domain is willing to shoulder too many responsibilities, and they do not want the other party to increase its garrison strength."
Garcia immediately made a decision and nodded: "That's good! Let's raid the Dinghai anchorage first, and then loot Ryukyu on the way back!"
...
The information de Velasco had was a little out of date, and the battleship Fly had now left the coast of Japan.
After David Jones learned that eight warships of the Spanish Pacific Trading Company had left Pusanpo, he immediately returned to Shanghai.
Then the first ship of the Ming Navy welcomed another important passenger - the former Commander of the Ming Navy and the newly appointed Admiral of the Ming Expedition Fleet!
The Ming Dynasty's navy has three major fleets: Dongyang, Nanyang, and Beiyang. However, due to historical reasons, the three major fleets belong to two systems. The Dongyang and Beiyang fleets are now under the jurisdiction of the Navy Division, while the Nanyang Fleet is under the control of the Dongning Jiedu Envoy Division. .
In order to unify command during wartime, the Navy Department of the Ming Dynasty asked Emperor Zhu to set up an empty fleet - the Ming Navy Expeditionary Fleet. When necessary, this shell fleet can be taken out and the main ships of the Sanyo fleet can be installed inside.
After Zhu Cixiang approved the strategy of striking first and raiding Manila Bay, Zheng Jiangong asked to be appointed as the admiral of the expedition fleet, and the Flying became the flagship of the fleet and flew the flag of the commander of the three services.
After boarding the Feixiang, Zheng Jiangong did not go to Dinghai immediately. Instead, he went all the way south and arrived at Xiamen City, where the Dongning Jiedu Envoy was located.
Xiamen City is located on Xiamen Island, which is under the jurisdiction of Quanzhou Prefecture. It was once the focus of Zheng Zhilong's business, and was later abandoned. After Zheng Sen took control of Dongning, he began to expand his maritime power on a large scale, so the original Anping stronghold seemed too narrow and crowded. Therefore, in the fifth year of Hongxing, Zheng Sen moved his base from Anping to Xiamen. He also built castles, ports, forts, and Xiamen commercial ports on Xiamen Island.
To the northwest of Xiamen Island, a large area of calm sea under the protection of Xiamen Island has become the main anchorage of the Nanyang Fleet that Zheng Sen painstakingly managed.
To enter this anchorage, you must pass through the waterways on the east and west sides of Xiamen Island, and those two waterways are under the strict control of coastal defense artillery!
Therefore, Xiamen Anchorage is a very safe fleet home port!
However, when Zheng Jiangong arrived, there were not many warships in the Xiamen anchorage, including not a single Western-style Galen warship. There were only more than twenty thousand-stone big bird ships docked next to the dock of Xiamen Island.
"Where have all the ships gone?" Seeing the empty port, Zheng Jiangong became a little panicked and quickly asked his brother Zheng Sen who came to greet him.
"We've all gone to transport rice... We won't come back until the north wind picks up in autumn." Zheng Sen looked at his brothers, "What? We need to use a boat."
"Yes!" Zheng Jiangong nodded, "We have formed an expedition fleet, and I am the admiral!"
"Really?" Zheng Sen laughed, "Great, you can finally make a contribution... By the way, who are you going to fight? Where?"
"Fight Spain, fight Manila Bay!"
