"Your Majesty Commander, it's a pleasure to see you again!"
Lieutenant De Jong, who had been ordered to go south to seek help, met his boss, Colonel Sholes Baker, commander of the Danyang Regional Fleet, in Manila, Philippines.
This improvised fleet included nine warships and six armed merchant ships that had been recruited in advance. Not a single one was missing. They were all docked in Manila Bay to take shelter from the wind, or to wait for the arrival of reinforcements.
In the entire bay, there are eight other Dutch merchant ships. If they don't fire, they are merchant ships. If they fire, they are armed merchant ships. If necessary for combat, they will also be temporarily recruited to join the fleet.
This was not the first time Lieutenant De Jong came to Manila. The "Good Hope" he commanded encountered a storm while going south and docked here for three days before continuing south to Batavia.
The "Good Hope" was lucky enough to successfully arrive at the East India Company's headquarters in Batavia after fifty-five days of sailing without losing a single crew member during the long and distant voyage.
However, what de Jong did not expect was that the Council, as the final decision-making body, did not believe the letter of request for help written by Chief John van de Berg.
The reason they gave is simple, that is, before the "Good Hope" left Formosa, the place was not attacked by the fleet led by Nicholas?
Everything was just based on a hasty guess about a letter whose identity could not be verified. Therefore, it was an unrealistic and completely unreasonable request for the Council to send a powerful fleet to the north for reinforcements.
Philip Cocu, the messenger at that time, did not appear in Batavia, and he was not seen in Manila. He was either dead, taking refuge in the Castle of Geranze, or was still being detained by Zheng Yiguan.
What to do if there is no witness?
Fortunately, another witness was found, Werner Blind. He had gone to see Chief Bolger with Cocu before and was considered a party.
Blind was also willing to testify, but he was only an indirect witness because Blind had not personally seen the Zheng fleet that Keku claimed had stationed in the Penghu Islands.
If Zheng Yiguan's fleet is stationed in Penghu, it will be a clear signal to attack the generals and even the entire Formosa. Otherwise, this is a misunderstanding.
Since the Japanese general has significantly reduced the amount of trade and the quantity of goods between the Netherlands and that country, resulting in a sharp drop in the company's income, the route from Daguang to Japan has become unnecessary.
The Council has begun to plan to completely stop this route, and when circumstances permit, abandon the Castle of Geranze and even half of the occupied Formosa.
The East India Company lost interest and patience in the poor Japanese country with a small market. However, the attitude towards the Ming Empire behind Zheng Yiguan was exactly the opposite.
The Ming Empire not only had a vast territory, but also had a population of hundreds of millions. Especially the southern and Jiangnan areas were extremely wealthy and desirable.
If the Ming Empire could be allowed to open the port, it could ignore the middleman Zheng Yiguan and allow Dutch merchant ships to directly enter the port and engage in trade activities.
According to the most conservative estimates, the annual trade volume can reach 30 million taels of silver. In this way, the entire trade in East Asia will be completely revitalized.
It's just that Zheng Yiguan, as a local snake, often interfered with it and deliberately interfered with the East India Company's direct contact with the Ming Empire, so he had to pay a large intermediary fee to him.
This was much lower than the profit earned directly from the previous exchange. Since the two naval battles at Liaoluowan and Penghu failed to achieve the expected results, the East India Company could only settle for the second best for the time being.
At the final meeting to discuss how to make a decision, someone suggested that if the Danyuan area was really besieged by Zheng Yiguan's fleet, then this would be an opportunity to change the current unfavorable peace treaty.
Sending a fleet to support Boerg was secondary. The important thing was to threaten, severely damage, and even annihilate Zheng Yiguan's fleet to force him to agree that the East India Company could negotiate directly with the Ming Empire's court.
No one is not interested in the annual trade volume of tens of millions of taels of silver. Everyone gets a little bit of it, which is tens of thousands of taels. If you do this kind of business for a few years, you can return to your hometown and enjoy an extremely luxurious retirement. Lived.
This view soon gained the approval of more people, especially the possibility of having two sets of combat plans.
If Zheng Yiguan had not acted rashly, the fleet could have ensured the suddenness of the attack and severely damaged his fleet in its port.
On the contrary, the Relanzhe Castle can be used to contain Zheng Yiguan's army. After the company's fleet wipes out Zheng Yiguan's navy, these armies will lose their supplies and eventually have to surrender to their own side.
As long as enough warships are dispatched, this method is very feasible, and the probability of success is very high.
To this end, the Council also specially recalled the combat troops preparing to attack Malacca occupied by Portugal, numbering about a thousand people.
An unprecedented sixty-two warships were also mobilized. To be precise, these were armed merchant ships, but each ship was equipped with a far greater number of artillery than enemy warships.
Two naval battles proved that for Zheng Yiguan's fleet, the combat effectiveness of each Dutch armed merchant ship was equivalent to that of a powerful warship.
The warships built by Zheng Yiguan were completely vulnerable to armed merchant ships.
One armed merchant ship can match twenty or even more enemy warships.
After having the fleet and landing force, an experienced commander is needed to take charge.
But this is also ready-made, that is, Putmans is still brooding about the defeat in the last naval battle.
The Council felt that Putmans had at least a certain degree of merit, especially because he knew the Ming Empire and Zheng Yiguan very well.
Because strength on paper is not enough. Only by understanding the enemy can we defeat the enemy.
The East India Company had failed twice before, but for the third operation it was necessary to succeed.
After all personnel, weapons, and supplies were replenished, the entire fleet set sail from Batavia on October 18th and sailed to Manila.
The reason why we did not choose to fly directly to Taiyuan is that we were worried about encountering storms at sea, and we could also replenish necessary fresh water, fruits and vegetables in Manila.
Neither the Dutch nor the East India Company have any intention of attacking the Philippine Islands under Spanish control at the moment, even though the war in Europe is still in full swing.
As long as the previous agreement between the two parties is complied with, East India Company ships and even warships can take shelter and supply supplies in Manila Bay with prior notification.
Coincidentally, when the large-scale rescue fleet appeared off the coast of Manila, a storm happened to be rampant here, and it became impossible to continue going north.
Even the coconut trees on the shore can be hung crookedly or even uprooted by the hurricane. You can imagine how big the wind and waves on the sea will be.
Putmans didn't want to force his way north and lose several battleships before he reached the top. That would be too unlucky.
If something like this really happened, he would still have to provide the necessary explanation to the council, and if he was unlucky, he would still have to take responsibility for it.
These warships are the assets of a company or an individual, every ship, every gun, and even every sailor.
Even if a sailor is blown into the sea by the wind, the company will have to pay corresponding compensation when the operation is over!
Of course, if Zheng Yiguan's troops were attacking the generals, Putmans believed that Burg could persist for more than half a year with the indestructible Geranze Castle.
If the castle had already changed its flag when the reinforcement fleet arrived, it could only mean that Berg led his troops to surrender.
The Castle of Geranze is a bastion. Although its shape is not perfect and is far inferior to those of local bastions, it is definitely solid.
The weak firepower in Zheng Yiguan's hands was impossible to destroy this bastion in the short term, such as within a year, because the Spanish Army, which had much stronger firepower than Zheng Yiguan, did not do it.
"Me too! It's great that you accomplished your mission!"
Captain Sholes Baker, the commander of the fleet in the Damuan area, sincerely praised this capable subordinate. I believe that guy Bolger will probably shed tears of excitement when he sees another fleet of this size coming to help.
He had been leading this fleet of only a dozen warships to search for targets on the sea, but due to his limited strength, he did not dare to fight to the death with Zheng Yiguan's main fleet.
After several successes, Colonel Baker ordered the fleet to sail to the Ming Empire's Qiongzhou Island, where they stayed for a few days, and then intercepted several Ming Empire merchant ships returning from Southeast Asia.
Colonel Baker is very self-aware and believes that his fleet cannot always have such good luck. Once it encounters a storm at sea, or even Zheng Yiguan's fleet, it will be in vain.
He had to preserve his strength before Batavia sent reinforcements, so after obtaining the consent of Major Thomas Hendricks, the deputy commander of the fleet, he ordered all the troops to go south to Manila.
It's not too far from the generals, and we might be able to meet the fleet heading north from Batavia for reinforcements. During this period, it's just a good time for the nervous crew to relax.
Colonel Baker did not have to wait long before Putmans' fleet arrived in Manila.
After the two fleets merged, the scale reached seventy-seven ships, including the "Good Hope" commanded by De Jong.
This frightened the Governor of the Philippines, Sebastian Hutado Coquilla, and he felt relieved after learning that the other party was not attacking his territory.
He can only mobilize at most a thousand Spanish soldiers to defend Manila. In addition, he is recruiting about three thousand indigenous soldiers, that's all. This may not be a match for the well-prepared Dutch.
Since the Spanish Empire had voluntarily given up trade with the Ming Empire, the income from the Philippine Governor's job was no longer what it used to be.
Coquilla also wanted to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, but due to the extremely limited military strength in the area under his jurisdiction, His Majesty the King was busy fighting with old rivals in Europe and had no intention of sending more troops to the east.
When he met Putmans again, Coquilla was quite moved when he learned that the opponent's intention of gathering the fleet was to go north to force the Ming Empire to open its ports and trade with the Netherlands.
There is another more important piece of information, that is, once the Dutch army falls and is captured by Zheng Yiguan's troops, their next target of attack must be the Spanish territory on Formosa Island.
It is also the "Prefecture of the Governor of Spain" located in the north of the island. Although it is not large in area, no matter how small it is, it still belongs to the extremely glorious Spanish Empire.
Coquilla was still hesitant about Putmans's invitation to dispatch his fleet to go north together and then share the trade share with the Ming Empire.
After all, it is very unreasonable to mobilize the fleet without the permission of His Majesty the King. Moreover, if there is a loss or even the goal is not achieved, then I can't explain it.
Coquilla also remains highly vigilant about his old enemy the Netherlands. Although the opponent does not seem to have any intention of attacking the Philippines, he has to guard against it.
The only thing the two sides agreed on was their views on Akito.
People in the Ming Empire were conservative, selfish, greedy, narrow-minded, had little knowledge, and were pretentious.
It is really strange that the population is huge enough to expand overseas, but it has always been shrinking in the mainland.
Moreover, this empire completely ignored Zimin who lived overseas, which can be described as extremely cold-blooded.
It is for these reasons that Coquilla raised his butcher's knife against these overseas Ming people.
In his view, these Ming people living in the Philippines were more diligent and intelligent than the local natives, and they had close contacts with the Ming Empire itself.
This was tantamount to transferring the wealth of the Philippines to the Ming Empire, which was very detrimental to the Spanish Empire's rule in the Philippines.
More than thirty years ago, in 1603, the former governor Pedro Bravo had already cleared it once. This was a good example, and Coquilla just had to copy it.
Before Putmans' fleet arrived in Manila, Coquilla had just ordered his troops to do another cleansing, euphemistically called "cleaning up the dirt in the world"!
The external caliber is that a person of Ming Dynasty must pay a head tax of ten silver coins. Those who do not pay will die!
Using this excuse, a thousand Spanish soldiers wiped out more than 20,000 Ming people!
A large part of the property of these deceased people fell into Coquilla's pocket.
Coquilla was worried that this operation would lead to Zheng Yiguan's revenge, especially an attack on the "prefecture of the Spanish Cage".
But now that it's done, it doesn't matter.
It is impossible to spit out the silver coins you swallowed!
If Putmans' fleet can defeat Zheng Yiguan, it will just relieve him of his worries.
Coquilla wished Putmans a victory in advance. It would be best to destroy Zheng Yiguan's fleet and usher in long-term tranquility for the entire water area.
After Putmans heard what Coquilla had done, he did not comment in person.
Since the Ming Empire ignored the last massacre, it would ignore it this time.
Zheng Yiguan is only interested in silver and doesn't care whether the Ming people here in the Philippines are dead or alive.
And soon, this fearless former pirate leader and count of the Ming Empire may also be buried in the belly of the fish!
Five days later, after the rain and the sky cleared, Putmans' fleet set sail from Manila Bay and sailed to Daguang in a mighty manner.
It would be great if Zheng Yiguan could kneel down and beg for mercy.
Otherwise, you can beat him until he kneels down and begs for mercy!
In the entire eastern waters, no one can stop this powerful fleet.
This is the will of the East India Company, and it is also the mission given by God to the Dutch!
One Dutch warship is equal to twenty Ming warships, so seventy-seven Dutch warships can be converted into more than 1,500 Ming warships.
Can Zheng Yiguan assemble so many battleships?
It's obviously impossible!
Therefore, our fleet will definitely win a complete victory this time!
