It was the tenth day of the seventh month in the seventeenth year of Hongxing's reign in the Ming Dynasty.
In the Strait of Malacca, a fleet of eleven warships was sailing slowly along a zigzag route along the coastline of the Malacca Peninsula.
The leader is the Wuhanfu, a new bombardment battleship with a load capacity of 820 tons. It has been in service for less than two years, but has already undergone a modification. The four uncovered large-caliber bombardment guns on the upper deck were removed and the The number of gun bays on the gun deck was increased to 16, and the equipped artillery was also changed to a 15-pound bronze cannon!
That's right, in the latest round of transformation, the Yingtianfu-class battleships abandoned the previous small number and large-caliber artillery plan and adopted a medium-number and medium-caliber artillery plan. The reason for doing this is of course justified - because the Nanjing Artillery Manufacturing Bureau, a subsidiary of the Royal Chamber of Commerce of the Ming Dynasty, designed a new 15-pound bronze cannon and a new type of artillery shell under the instructions of Zhu Cixiang...
New warships, new artillery, new artillery shells... coupled with the Ming Navy's hegemony in the Pacific since the Battle of Kagoshima Bay, the sailors on the deck were excited about the possible battle. Many people are even beginning to look forward to meeting the Dutch Navy, one of the legendary two naval powers in the world, in the Strait of Malacca. These red-haired foreigners who don’t know the heights of the sky must be made aware of the power of the Great Tomorrow Soldiers!
However, on the flagship battleship Wuhanfu, Vice Admiral Liu Guoxuan was not as optimistic as the sailors below. Standing on the flat deck, he even felt a little uneasy.
Yes, restless!
To be honest, he doesn't want to break up with the Netherlands now. Even if the Ming Navy has twice the number of new battleships than its opponents, he still doesn't want to fight this battle. The reason is very simple. If we wait any longer, the number of new battleships in the Ming Navy will be three or four times that of the Dutch Navy... Liu Guoxuan is very good at mathematics. Of course he knows that four times is bigger than twice!
Compared with the Netherlands, which has a population of only two to three million, the Celestial Empire, with almost 200 million people, has a significant advantage in national strength. Especially driven by events such as the colonization of Xinzhou, the colonization of Nanyang, and the transformation of water transportation into sea transportation, the shipbuilding industry in Ming Dynasty developed extremely rapidly!
Now four major production centers have been formed in Shanghai, Nanjing, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou. The number of ships with a load capacity of 300 tons delivered last year has exceeded 1,500!
If the current trend continues, in less than five years, the number of Ming Dynasty's ocean-going merchant ships will definitely surpass that of the Netherlands, and the new generation of maritime coachmen will definitely be the Chinese Empire.
In another 10 years... maybe there will be no need for war, and the Netherlands will have to obediently hand over the control of the Strait of Malacca.
But the Emperor of Ming Dynasty didn't think so - in fact, Zhu Cixi also knew that Ming Dynasty had huge national power advantages and would definitely overwhelm the Netherlands if it continued to develop. But he's not sure how long the Netherlands can survive as a country?
Because the situation in Europe was very different from what Zhu Cixi remembered. First of all, France's power has been greatly strengthened. Because of the departure of Prince Condé, the scale of the French Fronde movement has been greatly reduced than in history, and the damage to France has also been greatly reduced. Moreover, the development of trade between Ming and France enhanced Louis XIV's financial resources, allowing him to support the returning Prince Condé to preside over large-scale army reforms.
The current French army is enough to dominate Europe in terms of quantity and quality!
Secondly, the Republic of England did not disappear with the death of old Cromwell... This is a huge variable!
Although historically, the United Kingdom under the leadership of the restored Stuart dynasty was quite capable, but it was still inferior to that Puritan Britain!
Nowadays, the Puritan Britain under the leadership of Cromwell seems to lack enthusiasm for European affairs, but puts a lot of energy into opening up the North American colonies - it is both a Puritan and a usurper, on the European continent. I can't find any reliable allies, so I have nowhere to intervene.
This is another huge variable!
Therefore, Zhu Cixiang was very worried that France, with a population of more than 20 million, would annex all of the Southern Netherlands after the death of Philip II, and might even annex the Netherlands through the Franco-Dutch War!
If Louis XIV could really take over the Netherlands and the Southern Netherlands, that would be incredible! The population of France alone may soon exceed 25 million...
It was precisely because he was worried about the rapid rise of France that Emperor Zhu wanted to completely change the pattern of the Nanyang region before Philip IV's death, seize the Strait of Malacca, and block the power of Westerners to the west of Malacca.
A naval officer of Liu Guoxuan's level would not understand Emperor Zhu's foresight. He just feels strongly uneasy now... Before he and Shi Lang led the fleet south from Nakhon Si Thammarat, the Dutch East India Fleet was still "missing" "state!
Based on Liu Guoxuan's understanding of those Dutch naval generals, this is definitely not a good sign! The Dutch will definitely not run away obediently, they must be planning some kind of raid!
Holding a telescope and looking at the sea to the east (although Liu Guoxuan is responsible for the security on the west side of Temasek Island, he is more worried about things happening to the east), Liu Guoxuan suddenly heard a low roar in his ears!
"Where's the thunder?" Liu Guoxuan asked subconsciously.
"Deputy Admiral, it's not thunder, it's artillery!" The one who answered him was the captain of the Wuhan, Zheng Jing, who was only 24 years old this year.
Yes, he is the crown prince of Taiwanese Hou Zhengsen!
Being a heir apparent in today's Ming Dynasty does not mean living in debauchery, eating and drinking, and waiting to die. They have to work hard! If you don't work hard, what will happen even if you inherit the title? Of course the Zheng family is rich, they are the richest people! It would allow Zheng Jing to squander it. But other princes were not so lucky. They only had thousands of acres of land and a few big houses. If you don’t work hard, you will be poor!
In an environment where most of the princes are working hard, Zheng Jing certainly has to live up to his expectations, otherwise Zheng Sen will be angry...the consequences will be serious!
This hard-working version of Zheng Jing was admitted to the Shanghai Naval Academy at the age of 15. He participated in the Battle of Kagoshima Bay before graduating. He has been serving in the Navy since he was 19 years old and became the youngest battleship captain in the Navy at the age of 23. ——Zheng Sen certainly has the qualities to be able to be this official, but Zheng Jing is indeed qualified.
"Cannon fire?" Liu Guoxuan turned around and faced the direction of the sound of cannon fire, "That's..."
"It's a reconnaissance team!" Zheng Jingdao said, "They encountered a Dutch warship!"
Liu Guoxuan listened carefully again, and the sound of artillery became more intensive.
"They all sound similar. They should all be light artillery..." Liu Guoxuan's face was already a little ugly. "The reconnaissance team encountered the enemy's large fleet!"
"But there are no heavy artillery," Zheng Jing reminded. "It should be the Dutch armed merchant ships chasing our reconnaissance team."
"No," Liu Guoxuan shook his head, "That's the Dutch reconnaissance fleet! Their purpose is to track our reconnaissance ships and find us... there must be a large fleet behind them!"
His judgment was correct - the Dutch were his teachers. The teacher knew the students, and the students also knew the teacher!
"Then what should we do?" Zheng Jing hesitated a little.
According to the "Combat Instructions", the main fleet must be destroyed when it sees the enemy and cannot escape before the battle... The enemy has not been seen yet, so it can escape.
Liu Guoxuan gritted his teeth and said, "Set off signal rockets and ask Admiral Shi for help!"
"Vice Admiral, that's a Dutchman..."
Dutch teacher! Zheng Jing was also a little scared!
"There's nothing we can do," Liu Guoxuan shook his head, "The landing team is nearby, we can't leave them alone and run away!"
"Understood, Deputy Admiral, are you going to plan the battle formation and sequence?"
Zheng Jing is now the captain of the flagship, and as usual also serves as the commander of the formation. He needs to assist the formation commander in commanding.
Liu Guoxuan said: "The sequence is Wuhan, Feixiang, Jiangbei, Dongshengwei, Yunchuanwei, Yulinwei, Zhenluwei, Wuhuasuo, Lianchengsuo, Tuchengsuo, Gaoshansuo... ...All ships follow the flagship! Then raise the flag: Ming Navy, destroy the enemy on sight!"
