Zheng Zhilong has more than 100,000 soldiers. His own force is almost half the size of the Ming Dynasty King's Division, equal to the total number of troops and horses under the command of 30 general officers. He has thousands of fire guns and nearly 10,000 elite cavalry. His strength is ranked among the best in the world. two.
Zheng Zhilong had absolute confidence that he could win the land battle, especially an overwhelming victory.
The only thing they were worried about was naval battles. Although the Zheng Group had a very large number of warships, several times that of the Dutch East India Company, the other party's armed merchant ships could also engage in battle when the war started, and their combat power was no less than that of their own warships.
Zheng Zhilong believed that the East India Company headquarters in Batavia would send at least twenty warships and forty armed merchant ships to rescue the siege after receiving the distress message from the garrison.
This requires our own side to mobilize at least 250 to 300 warships to form a four to five times numerical advantage in order to withstand Hongyi's strong attack.
In terms of single-ship firepower, most of Zheng's warships are inferior to Hongyi's speedboats. They can only compete with armed merchant ships, and the other party's armed merchant ships are not just ordinary people.
In naval battles, those large-tonnage armed merchant ships are actually speedboats with weakened firepower. Once they form a formation and form a formation, it is extremely difficult for one's own side to gather together and annihilate them. It is not easy for one's own country to win a naval battle.
All the brothers were quite wary of Hongyi's naval combat capabilities, so they were reluctant to make an enemy of him, let alone launch an attack on his own initiative.
However, Zheng did business with Hongyi for money, and now she plans to deal with Hongyi also for money.
The prince said - a cannon fires a thousand taels of gold!
Hongyi can only offer a few million taels of silver every year, and the prince's offer can be as high as 30 million taels, not counting the sugar business and the increased trade exports.
The lightness of familiarity and the weight of familiarity are clear at a glance, and Zheng Zhilong can distinguish them clearly. Since you want to make money, and you can only make a share of it, of course you have to make a much larger share.
Zheng Zhilong believed that five million taels of silver would be enough to deal with the red barbarians, including land warfare, naval warfare, ordnance, ammunition, food and wages.
If we break into the city of Relandia, we can also deliver the money that the red barbarians have hoarded here, which can be regarded as war compensation. If we can use the prisoners to redeem Batavia, we can make another profit.
This is not the first time that Zheng Zhilong has treated war as business. However, this war will determine the future development of the Zheng family, so he will be much more cautious.
"Brother, what kind of weapon is this? Why don't you show it off!"
Zheng Zhi'ao was full of curiosity about anything his eldest brother brought from the capital, especially weapons, which were extremely to his liking. The more powerful they were, the more he liked them.
The eldest brother said that with such a sharp weapon, his family would no longer be afraid of Hongyi's warships. This shows that this sharp weapon must be extraordinary and able to frighten the enemy.
"The whole army will celebrate these three days, and then I will let you all see it with your own eyes!"
The prince rewarded him with a reward, brought out huge business benefits, and a Qiongzhou gold mine, which made Zheng Zhilong very interested in driving away the red barbarians on the island.
What finally made him make up his mind were these two magical weapons, one on the sea and one on the land, which complemented each other. Although their appearance was unremarkable, their power was extremely astonishing.
"...Brother, please don't try to whet my appetite any more!"
Zheng Zhi'ao wanted to see it right away, but because he was so happy and drank two bottles of good wine, he was already in a daze and his body was shaking. If he had to be supported when traveling far away, he could only hold back his curiosity for the time being. .
"Brother, does this prince also know how to use weapons in naval warfare?"
Zheng Zhibao didn't want to drink as happily as Zheng Zhi'ao. He drank with some restraint. He still didn't believe that the young prince could create naval warfare weapons.
"Have you read the newspapers from the past few days? In the newspapers, it was said that the prince took the lead in asking the court to establish the Academy of Sciences. This Academy of Sciences is a yamen that specializes in developing secret weapons using the academic knowledge of the Western Yi. The weapons of naval warfare were invented by this yamen. It only takes two or three to severely damage a large battleship!"
This is Zheng Zhilong's estimate. Since he has never been involved in actual combat, he doesn't know the specific power. He can only speculate based on watching live ammunition shooting in the capital.
But Zheng Zhilong can be regarded as an outstanding person in the industry. He has personally commanded many large-scale naval battles, and he naturally has a good idea of whether the weapons can play the expected role.
Not to mention anything else, this anti-ship missile is at least much more powerful than a cannon. Even if the Hongyi battleship is huge and has thick plates, it may not be able to withstand such a rapid thunder strike.
"Hiss...is that really the case?"
Hearing that two or three can make a Hongyi battleship lose its combat effectiveness, Zheng Zhibao couldn't help but take a breath of cold air, and most of his alcoholism disappeared immediately.
If the prince is really able to create such a sharp firearm and is willing to provide it to his family for use, wouldn't the Zheng's warships be invincible on the sea in the future?
"I heard from the prince that the Academy of Sciences is also developing a more powerful weapon, which is also an anti-ship missile. What kind of instrument it will be equipped with? I forgot the specific name, but this thing will automatically adjust its balance to keep itself flying smoothly towards the target. , even the largest warship like Hongyi, called Shenzi's 'Returning Ship', is doomed!"
A certain prince took Zheng Zhilong to visit the Academy of Sciences and introduced the latest weapons being developed. Of course, they were still in the concept stage, and even the models were still being manufactured.
But the prototype is already there, and a single missile weighs hundreds of kilograms. It was developed solely to deal with various super-large warships of the Western Yi.
Zheng Zhilong was itching to see it, and wanted to immediately imitate it to equip his own warships, but it was just an idea, and he did not have similar scientific research talents under his command.
The Zheng family has recruited many top craftsmen to make firecrackers and warships, but there are no top students who are good at Western Yi academics.
Most of the objects he saw and what he heard during his visit to the Academy of Sciences were his first contact with them. Many terms were abstract concepts for Zheng Zhilong, and it was difficult to even understand them, not to mention digest them.
The Zheng family is good at eating ready-made products and has always been disdainful of raw materials and semi-finished products. Instead of spending time on research and development, it is better to make money faster by reselling, so a certain prince identified the Zheng family as a military trading group.
Zheng Zhilong is also very clear about his own strengths and weaknesses. It is not easy to make up for his shortcomings. The other brothers don't pay enough attention to this, and letting them take care of them is even more unreasonable. These guys only care about how much money they can make.
Zheng Zhilong only wanted to dominate one side and control the land of Fujian, and had no intention of confronting the imperial court. Since the prince was willing to provide high-performance weapons to his family, the Zheng family would be happy to expand territory for the imperial court.
Hongyi is difficult to deal with, but under the temptation of huge dividends, Zheng doesn't mind taking risks.
After all, for my family, cooperating with Hongyi is business, and now dealing with Hongyi is also business!
"I see, no wonder the Crown Prince would let our family take action against Hong Yi!"
Zheng Zhibao heard it half-understood, but he also roughly understood the power of it. The elder brother was well-informed and would not use the prince's toys to deceive him, let alone risk the lives of more than 100,000 soldiers.
As long as we are sure to win both the land and sea battles, then this battle is really a fight. As long as the prince can really fulfill his promise, after the war, he will show the location map of the gold mine and exchange 30 million taels of silver for thousands of Hongyi gold. Damn it, this deal is doable.
"Brother, will our family still do business with Hongyi from now on?"
Seeing the eldest brother's confident look, Zheng Zhifeng knew that the matter had been decided and his objection would probably be fruitless, so he asked about what happened after the war.
Compared with the gold mine worth 30 million taels of silver, the income from the business with the Dutch Red Barbarians is not much, only a few million taels of silver each year, but it is still a stable business without losing money.
If this line is broken, sugar and other trade will have to be used to make up for the gap in the future. Mining in Qiongzhou will probably not increase the family's income sharply for a while, it will just be a slow job.
"Do it! Of course you have to do it! The prince said that Hongyi just needs to be dealt with, and he is born to worship the strong. If you subdue him, not only will he not be angry, but he will come over and kneel down to add to your shoes to please you. , just like a dog!”
Zheng Zhilong also wanted to take the opportunity to gain the initiative in pricing trade items. In the past, the Dutch Hongyi set prices, and he only had the right to supply them. However, when the Hongyi shipped the goods to other places for sale, they could usually get much higher prices than Zheng's. profit.
This made Zheng Zhilong jealous, but he had no choice but to do anything. Even if he couldn't turn things around this time, he still had to pay a heavy blow to relieve his anger. Since Hongyi had money, he should pay to redeem him.
"Hahahaha! What the prince said makes sense! It makes sense!"
Zheng Zhi'ao had long thought that Hongyi deserved a beating. Every time he bought goods such as silk, sugar, and ginger, he would find various excuses to lower the prices. He also said several times that the goods provided by Zheng were of poor quality and refused to buy them directly, leaving Zheng Shi lost a lot of money, which is really shameful.
Since they want to attack Hongyi, they have to hit them hard. They must remember it for a long time, so as not to know the heights of the world and show off their power on the Zheng family's territory, thinking that they are invincible.
"The prince said that our family is the only one in the East that can provide goods to Hongyi. Hongyi has no choice. If we can defeat Hongyi in a naval battle, our family's life will be much easier in the future. Hongyi realizes that he cannot defeat our family. , will bow to our family, otherwise Hongyi will make most of the profits from the sales, and our family will become Hongyi’s dogleg!"
Zheng Zhilong was dissatisfied with the pricing of many goods, but Hongyi did not agree to increase the purchase price. Zheng had no other choice but to endure it for the time being.
A certain prince said that the only way to satisfy Zheng Zhilong was to obtain pricing power through war, even if he only obtained a part of it.
Regardless of whether the Dutch Hongyi are willing to accept this method, they have to accept it. Just like the previous pricing power, once Zheng's arrow is on the string, it is no longer up to them.
This is not a one-and-done life-and-death deal. The two parties will continue to do business in the future. It is an attack on a high official. Zheng Zhilong just wants to get an explanation. He has to make up for the losses he suffered before.
"The prince is right! We can't let Hong Yi press forward step by step. It's almost unprofitable for our family to give in again and again. We must let Hong Yi know that rabbits will bite if they are pushed too hard! I I have long disliked Hongyi, so he came to my family to bully others, and he was picky about the goods he purchased, for fear that our family would harm him, which is simply unreasonable!"
Zheng Zhi'ao is an absolute militant, especially because he doesn't like Hongyi's various practices. If they can do whatever they want, they will definitely make Zheng family miserable. Since he can only choose one, let him live more comfortably. alright.
"Hongyi forced me to sign the agreement before, then denied it, tore up the agreement without permission, and even teamed up with Liu Xiang, that thief, to attack our house. I will remember this account for them! Don't think that I, Mrs. Zheng, am a good person. You bully, once we capture the city of Relandia, we will start selling prisoners and set our own price, even if Batavia doesn’t buy them!”
Holland Hongyi had done everything right before, but after the failure, he turned to negotiate with Zheng Zhilong. Zheng Zhilong won but did not get the pricing power for the goods, which made him very unhappy. Now that he has this opportunity, Zheng Zhilong will treat him in the same way.
"Yes! Brother! Just do it!"
Zheng Zhi'ao absolutely agrees and supports his elder brother's idea. What could be more exciting than buying and selling Hongyi prisoners? Especially since the buyer was the East India Company in Batavia.
"Zhi'ao, the task I give you is to capture the city of Relanja from the land route of Daiyu Island! This city faces the sea and has strong firepower, so it can block the waterway, but behind it is its Achilles' heel, which is relatively weak and can be exploited. !”
This younger brother was not very capable in naval warfare, but he was strong in land warfare, so he was more suitable for commanding the land division. Zheng Zhilong then assigned him an important task in a wise and manipulative way.
"My younger brother is willing to capture this city for my elder brother so that Hongyi will not dare to underestimate our troops in the future!"
Regardless of whether it's a sea battle or a land battle, Zheng Zhi'ao is willing to fight for his brother. No matter how powerful Hong Yi is, it's still at sea. Facing thousands of Zheng's troops, Zheng Zhi'ao doesn't believe that Hong Yi dares to leave the castle and come to die.
The detailed arrangements will have to wait until three days after the banquet is over. This time, we will simply give instructions on their respective tasks. After the celebration is over and everyone has regained their minds, they will have to divide the work in detail.
However, Zheng Zhilong still made a rough arrangement. Zheng Zhiwan was responsible for transporting the vassal troops and horses, and Zheng Zhibao was responsible for transporting the Japanese troops to land and annihilate the Qing navy that might attack.
The task of purchasing grain and rubber from Nanyang was handed over to Zheng Zhipeng. As long as the army's departure was delayed for fifteen days, Zheng Zhipeng would have enough time to return.
The task of blocking the Hongyi reinforcement fleet was handed over to the fourth brother Zheng Zhifeng, who was relatively stable. This was a hard job, but it had to be completed.
Zheng Zhi'ao was solely responsible for the land war on Dayuan Island. Zheng Zhilan led Hong Xu, Shi Daxuan and others to raise food and wages in their hometown for the needs of the army.
Zheng Zhilong personally led 300 warships to Taiyuan Island, striving to annihilate the red barbarian warships and armed merchant ships parked in the harbor in one battle.
Zheng Zhilong was determined to capture the city of Relanja. If he couldn't capture it in a short period of time, he used the prince's plan to launch a long-term siege.
It's okay if Hongyi wants to ask Batavia for help. The more reinforcements come, the more prisoners he will have, and the ransom he can earn will also increase.
In the face of tens of thousands of troops, the city of Relanzha will definitely not be defended, and Hongyi's defeat is an inevitable result. Zheng Zhilong wants Hongyi to understand that they are just guests, and from now on they cannot become guests.
