"New Ryukyu Island... Myeik Islands... Press Tuman Mountain..."
In Laoshan Palace and Huangji Palace, Emperor Zhu Cixiang was walking around a huge sand table that had just been set up, with his hands behind his back.
This sand table was built by Zhu Cihong under the command of the Generalissimo's Mansion. What was displayed on the sand table was an incomplete world. The reason why it is incomplete is that Antarctica, Europe, Africa, and the Atlantic coasts of North and South America are missing, as well as the Arctic Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.
The missing places were not of interest to Emperor Zhu - Zhu Cixiang had little ambition and never wanted to be a great leader of the world, so he decided to leave Europe, Africa, the coast of America, and Antarctica to white Europeans. If you rule, you will basically divide the world equally!
In Emperor Zhu's mind, it would be enough for the Chinese civilization to occupy most of Asia, the entire Oceania, half of North America, and half of South America. The white Europeans were left with a full Europe (maybe half, if they couldn't defeat the Ottomans), an Africa, half of North America, half of South America, and the entire Antarctica... It seems that they are still white Europeans. Their territory is relatively large. Even if they can't take over all of Europe, they still have more Antarctica than China!
In addition, Emperor Zhu did not want to push away the three great empires of Tianfang Religion, Ottoman, Indian Timur and Persia - someone had to be placed as a buffer between the Celestial Empire and the Christian white people, right?
Besides, Ming Dynasty does not need to rule India... Now the business with the Timurid Dynasty in India is doing very well, and it also controls their "Xiao Ge Lao Supply Chain", which can ensure long-term friendship and daily progress. Why use swords and guns in a gold-rich trade?
As for the Ottoman Empire... they are quite capable of fighting, and they are also poor. Before the oil in the Middle East becomes valuable, there is not much good stuff there. If they conquer it, it will help alleviate poverty, or they should stay there and cause trouble for the Europeans. Not bad.
In order to realize Zhu Cixiang's "Dream of a Great Heavenly Dynasty", the Americas are obviously the top priority... New Ryukyu Island, Myeik Islands, Yindu Man Mountain and other places, in Zhu Cixiang's view, gains and losses have nothing to do with it. It doesn't matter, as long as the rich India doesn't fall into the hands of Europeans!
Without India's wealth, it would not be easy for Europeans to advance rapidly on the road of no return of capitalism!
And Louis XIV obviously also set his sights on India. As soon as the war started, he laid out his plans in the Antoman Mountains, New Ryukyu Island and the Myeik Islands...
It is already mid-April in the 26th year of the Ming Dynasty. The war between the Ming Empire and the Kingdom of France, the United Provinces of the Netherlands, and the Kingdom of Portugal has officially begun!
The war between the Dashun Empire, the Rakshasa Empire, the Khiva Khanate, the Kazakh Alliance, and the Siberian Republic and the Ming Empire has never ended. Of course we are still enemies now!
The Kingdom of Spain and the Kingdom of New Spain will join the war sooner or later, but they have not joined the war yet... Maybe they have already joined the war, but no one here in Yingtian knows yet.
In addition, several military powers such as the United Kingdom, the Holy Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Kingdom of Sweden, and the Republic of Poland all expressed their "outsider neutrality" stance to the Ming Empire early on. They were unwilling to participate in the war and only wanted to do business happily, or They have their own war to fight!
On the side of the Ming Empire, in addition to a bunch of vassals of the Ming Dynasty, was the Indian Timurid Empire... The French, Dutch, Portuguese, and perhaps other Western colonists wanted to rob it. The one is Asan of India, so Aurangzeb must stand with Ming Dynasty!
Roughly speaking, the war being fought now is a group of poor men armed to the teeth fighting for a weak Indian rich man. At the same time, they also want to block Ming Dynasty, a very capable rich man, from the richest territory in the Indian Ocean and America.
Therefore, it is unlikely that this war will end after three to five years... Because as long as India is unable to defend its wealth, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the bandit Dashun will continue to profit.
If they can make a profit, and their countries certainly don’t care about human lives, will the war end?
"Your Majesty, according to the report from the Malacca Fleet, what they encountered in the Myeik Islands was probably the French, Dutch, and Portuguese fleets... If the Malacca Fleet had not been more vigilant, the temporary fleet in the Myeik Islands would have A warning circle of sentry ships has been deployed outside the anchorage, and I am afraid that we will suffer heavy losses due to the enemy's night attack!"
The one who was speaking was Navy Commander (Chief of Naval Staff) Chen Shangchuan. The night attack he was talking about on the Myeik Islands was known in history as the "First Battle of the Myeik Islands" and took place on the night of February 24, the 26th year of Hongxing's reign. -Early morning on the 25th.
At that time, the 24 capital ships of the Malacca fleet and the same number of guard ships (light ships with a carrying capacity of about 100 tons) had just solved the siege of New Ryukyu Island, and pursued the retreating Dashun naval fleet all the way north to the Mergui Islands, and also Dashun's fleet was blocked at the mouth of the Bakang River (located at Tanasalin on the edge of the Myeik Islands).
Just when Shi Lang was preparing to annihilate the Dashun fleet trapped at the mouth of the Bakang River in one fell swoop, the large combined fleet led by Michel Adriansson de Ruyter also arrived. The number is unknown, and it is estimated that there were hundreds of coalition warships. On the night of the 24th, they launched an attack on the Ming Army's Malacca Fleet at the mouth of the Bakura River. Prepare to use fireships to clear the way, and then use gunboats to bombard them, creating a Ming army fleet in one fell swoop.
The Dashun fleet, which was blocked at the mouth of the Bakang River, was also ready to counterattack, and would also use fireships and gunboats!
However, Shi Lang of the Ming Army was not a fuel-efficient lamp. He used 20 patrol ships to set up a cordon for his fleet early in the morning.
Several of these guard ships happened to discover the vanguard of the Grand Combined Fleet, and the two sides immediately started a firefight... As a result, a French large bombardment gunboat was too enthusiastic and opened fire on a Ming army light ship approaching it. It caught fire, exposed the target, and aroused Shi Lang's vigilance.
Admiral Leut's night raid was exposed. Shi Lang immediately adjusted his deployment and began to turn around and break out. The fleets of both sides collided in the night, and a melee at sea immediately broke out.
Night battle plus night battle, of course it becomes a mess!
Neither of the two warring parties could figure out the strength of the other side. They only knew that there were flames everywhere on the sea, and there were wreckage of battleships that were burned into a ball by explosive bullets. There were at least thirty groups of flames... I don't know what it was. who?
But Shi Lang still knew that he was short of ships... He brought out a total of 48 ships, and there were at least two to three hundred ships firing randomly on the sea (in fact, most of them were armed merchant ships running the Indian route)!
Shi Lang, who didn't know what type of ship the opponent had, felt guilty when he saw this posture and didn't dare to fight. He launched a retreat signal rocket before dawn on the 25th, handing the victory to Michel Adriansson. .Leut...
After returning to New Ryukyu Island, I counted a little, and it was pretty good. There were only 8 warships missing, 5 of which were guard ships, 2 of which were Malacca A-type ships, and 1 Malacca-type B ship. The loss didn't seem big...but both Shi Lang and Zhu Cizhao felt scared.
The enemy fleet is very large, so it’s better to be cautious!
Therefore, they did not dare to fight. After leaving 2,000 of Wang Jinbao's army to guard New Shuri Castle, they retreated to Temasek Island with the samurai family members and businessmen on New Ryukyu Island.
After arriving at Temasek Island, Zhu Cizhao and Shi Lang reported to the court together, saying that France, the Netherlands, and Portugal had gone to war with the Ming Dynasty, and had also sent a large number of fleets to the Indian Ocean. They also requested the court to immediately send the main force of the Nanyang Fleet south to assist in the war!
"Your Majesty," Navy Chief Chen Shangchuan loudly said to Zhu Cihong, "The Navy Chief recommends that the main force of the navy currently attached to the Nanyang Fleet be dispatched south to join the Malacca Fleet, and upgrade the Malacca Fleet to the Little Western Fleet!"
Qin Mingtao, the military advisor of the Grand Marshal's Palace, also continued: "Your Majesty, the Military Affairs Department of the Grand Marshal's Palace also believes that we should first concentrate the main force in the direction of the Little Western Sea, unite with the Timur Kingdom of Tianzhu, and defeat the naval and army forces of the Western countries in one fell swoop for a quick victory! "
