East Factory Governor

Chapter 787 The first round of revenge (two chapters in one)

Fujian, Mawei Port.

In the mist of dawn, 31 large battleships, 120 Junk ships, the former main battleships of the Ming Army, and [-] small fast ships lifted anchor and sailed out slowly.

I have to say that Zheng Zhilong is very decisive in doing things.

On the second day after receiving the five battleships, that is, the day the Dutch just sent envoys to question them, he immediately led the navy to sea.

In this way, the Dutch had no time to deploy troops.

How far is it from Fujian to Dongfan?If the sea is smooth, it will come in the morning!

And how long will the Dutch have to wait to call back the scattered warships?There was not even a telegram at that time, and I am afraid that at most two-thirds of them could be recalled within a month.

Zheng Zhilong can completely push the Dutch stronghold to the end like a skewer.

More than 200 warships are rampant on the sea, almost endless, densely packed, anyone who sees it will feel blood rushing.

Zheng Zhilong stood in the command room of the flagship Anguo, watching the thousands of miles of waves, his heart was surging.

He knows better than anyone else how terrifying this fleet is. It can be said that it is invincible in Southeast Asia and even the entire Far East.

Undoubtedly, he was lucky.

Fortunately for him, all the promises made by An Guogong to him were fulfilled.What was even more fortunate was that when he planned to escape with the fleet, he was stopped by An Guogong in time.

It is conceivable that if he escaped successfully and ran to Dongfan with his own fleet, he would definitely become Daming's opponent.

And in just over a year, Daming built fifty battleships equipped with a large number of Hongyi cannons, so it is not difficult to speculate that as long as there is another year, Daming can build an invincible fleet.

He is by no means an opponent of this fleet, nor is the Dutchman, nor is Liu Xiang.

If he had fled back then, he would never have had the chance to control such a powerful force and seek revenge from the Dutchman and Liu Xiang.

On the contrary, he will completely collapse under the pressure of the powerful Daming Navy and the joint encirclement and suppression of the mortal enemy Dutch and Liu Xiang.

The Zheng family's family business is bound to be destroyed.

There is no doubt about that.

But now it's different.

Not only will he not collapse, but he can also make contributions and achieve his dream of being a high-ranking official, rich salary, and glorious ancestors.

Now that he is the Admiral of the Nanyang Navy, it is conceivable that as long as he helps Ming Dynasty dominate Nanyang, he will definitely be promoted to a noble.

At that time, the governor's side will obviously not be a dream.

There is nothing better, and nothing more fortunate.

Zheng Zhihu and Zheng Zhibao are also full of ambitions. They have seen the hope of the Zheng family.

After going to sea, the first goal of the Nanyang Navy was the golden route of the Dutch from Dongfan to Java (later Indonesia).

Why is this route so important?

Because this route covers almost all important South Asian ports, as long as you run this route, you can include silk and tea from Daming, spices and local products from Annan, Siam, Luzon, Johor (Malaysia), and Java. It is very convenient to go straight to Europe as soon as you pass Malacca.

In fact, originally this route was supposed to extend to Japan, but Japan is currently closing its doors, and can only rely on ronin smuggling and cannot trade on a large scale, and the Spanish and Portuguese are quite powerful there, so the Dutch do not spend money on those routes now. Too much strength.

In addition, if you want to transport from Japan to Europe, you must go through the Dongfan-Jawa route. It is also convenient for the Dutch to collect taxes and rob there, and there is no need to expand the route to Japan.

But now, the golden route in their hands is facing unprecedented challenges.

And there are two important key points on this route, one is Dongfan and the other is Java.

Dongfan is located in the middle of the golden route, which is of great significance for controlling both ends of the north and south. Moreover, the local products are rich, and it is an important supply station, and its importance is self-evident.

And Batavia in Java is the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company in the Far East. It is close to the Strait of Malacca, one of the most important straits in the world. It can be called the throat from Southeast Asia to Europe, and it is naturally the most important .

For Zheng Zhilong, who started from Fujian, the first goal is naturally to capture all the ports of Dongfan first, because they are so close!

Among the more than 200 large and small warships, in addition to the navy, there are also [-] elite army troops, all transferred from Gansu Hong Chengchou, with the purpose of conquering Dongfan and bringing it into the territory of Ming Dynasty.

Prior to this, although the Dongfan had always intersected with the Central Plains and belonged to the Central Plains during the Three Kingdoms period, strictly speaking, the Dongfan was not part of Ming Dynasty, otherwise the Fujian officials would not have agreed to the Dutch to garrison there. up.

But the idea of ​​​​conquering Dongfan was proposed by the Duke, so it must be right.

Of course, from the old pirates such as Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Zhihu, Zheng Zhibao, and Zheng Cai, oh no, it should be said that in the eyes of the old sailors, conquering Dongfan and bringing it into the Ming territory is an extremely correct decision.

Looking at Daming, if others don't know the importance of Dong Fan, how can they not know?

So after receiving this order, they had nothing to say except admiring the foresight of the Duke who had never been to sea.

After the fleet went to sea, it went straight to Zeelandia City in the south of Dongfan.

Zeelandia City is a castle fortress built by the Dutch in Dongfan. It is located in the Kunsheng area (now Tainan City) in the south of Dongfan.

In addition, the Dutch also established the city of Chikan, which is also a port fortress, not far from the city of Zeelandia.

At this time, the northern part of Dongfan belonged to the forces of the Spaniards. They established two fortresses in Chicken Coop and Danshui respectively, and ruled from the north to the south with the Dutch, so happy.

The Spaniards had been proposing to help Daming fight the Dutch before, and of course they had their considerations.

They believe that Ming Dynasty's current policy of comprehensive opening up is extremely beneficial to the Spaniards. If the Spaniards can help the thriving Ming Dynasty defeat the Dutch, they can propose a more ideal trade status, such as improving the Spaniards' foreign tea in Daming, The proportion in the silk trade, for example, can capture the important port of the Dutch in the southern part of the Eastern Domain.

But obviously, Qin Shuhuai did not intend to cooperate with them, because the Spaniards want to continue to colonize the Eastern Domain, which is a false proposition in itself.

The Eastern Domain can only belong to Daming, and no force can interfere. This is the bottom line Qin Shuhuai set for Zheng Zhilong.

So Zheng Zhilong has never made it clear to the Spaniard whether to cooperate or not.

After the Nanyang navy went to sea for a day, it arrived in the sea only two hundred miles away from the city of Zeelandia in the afternoon.

At this moment, he suddenly found two fast boats in front of him. Looking closely, he saw that the flags on the boats were obviously Spanish, and there was also a white flag.

The white flag means surrender, and there is no intention to seek war, and the watchmen understand it very well.

When the news reached Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Zhilong ordered the two Spanish warships to approach immediately, otherwise they would be sunk.

However, those three ships obviously had no intention of running away, and they took the initiative to lean on them.

It turned out that Moken, the special envoy of Velasco, the Taiwan Consul of the Spanish colonial authorities, was on board, and he came here specifically to find Zheng Zhilong.

After boarding the flagship, Moken first presented a gift from Velasco to Zheng Zhilong, which was an exquisite Western pocket watch.

Zheng Zhilong accepted it with a smile, and then asked Moken why he came to him in such a hurry?

Moken didn't go around the bush, saying that Velasco represented the Spanish Far East fleet and hoped to cooperate with Ming to attack the Dutch.In return, they only hope to promote trade with Ming, and become "loyal partners" and "allies with shared interests" in Ming's foreign trade in the future.

It has to be said that Velasco was a visionary.

From the beginning of the Northern Expedition of the Ming Dynasty, he expected that this huge empire would rise again and become the overlord of the Far East.

However, Spain has only a few thousand troops in the Far East, and only more than [-] warships. Among them, the largest warships are only up to the Galen class, and there are only eight of them. In the future, they will not be the opponent of Ming Dynasty.

So from then on, he continued to show his favor to the Ming Dynasty, and sent people to the governor of Fujian several times to ask for cooperation with Daming. After some politeness, he wrote a memorial and sent it to the capital, but nothing more.

In terms of the capital, Chongzhen naturally couldn't press the memorial when he saw this kind of memorial, because at that time the core of the empire's strategy was the Northern Expedition, so how could he open other fronts?

Now, all the forces in the Far East have seen the [-] battleships of the Ming Dynasty strolling down from Weihaiwei to Mawei Port.

If the Spaniard doesn't rush to make friends with Da Ming at this time, when will he wait?

However, the previous several times of goodwill were all perfunctory by Zheng Zhilong.

Why is Zheng Zhilong not interested in teaming up with the Spaniard?
On the one hand, with the Nanyang Navy in his hands, he is absolutely sure to defeat any enemy.

On the other hand, Qin Shuhuai drew the bottom line, requiring him to completely and thoroughly incorporate Dongfan into Daming. In the future, Daming will set up a governor, a governor's office, and a guard station there.This means that unless the Spaniards give up the two cities of Chicken Coop and Danshui, which have been built for a long time, there is absolutely no possibility of cooperation.

And these two cities are the core interests of the Spaniards, how could it be allowed?
Then there is only one possibility, everyone has a fight.

But the young Spanish administrator Velasco obviously did not intend to give up the established strategy, so after Zheng Zhilong went to sea, he sent envoys to negotiate for the last time—even if there was only a glimmer of hope, he would not give up.

There is only one reason, the Ming country that can build so many large warships at once is too scary.

Especially when these warships are in the hands of the famous Zheng Yiguan, it is even more terrifying.You must know that even without these large warships, Zheng Yiguan still ran across the sea, evenly split with the Dutch.

After listening to Moken's words, Zheng Zhilong said calmly, "The sincerity of your country's friendship with our Ming Dynasty, the governor is very moved. But if you want to achieve harmony, the premise is that your country must hand over the two cities of chicken coop and Danshui to our country. , and your country should not have any military presence in the Eastern Fan. Of course, after our country incorporates the Eastern Fan into its territory, it will give your merchant ships the convenience of supply and trade."

Moken shook his head again and again.

"General, please forgive me. These two ports are our core interests in the Far East, and we have been operating here for a long time, and we have invested a lot of money. If we just give it to you, I'm afraid we won't be able to compete with those in China. Shareholders and the royal family account."

Zheng Zhilong smiled slightly, and then returned the pocket watch to Moken.

"Since this is the case, please go back and tell your chief. One day in the future, we may meet each other in battle. The governor also has something to tell you. The entire Eastern Francois is the core interests of my Ming Dynasty. Who dares to touch it?" It is an enemy of Daming!"

Moken saw a hint of viciousness in Zheng Zhilong's eyes.

He knew that it would be useless to talk, so he got up and said, "In this case, please allow me to go back and discuss with General Velasco. No matter what, we must avoid fighting each other."

Zheng Zhilong nodded, "What your envoy said is very true."

Zheng Zhilong politely sent Moken away, but after Moken boarded the ship, he received an order from the Ming fleet to leave two warships, one large and one small, and only allowed him to drive away one of the small fast boats. .

Moken was furious, but under the densely packed muzzles of Ming warships, he could only break his teeth and swallow in his stomach.

I thought to myself, don't meet the Dutch on the way back, otherwise my small boat can't guarantee my safety!

The fleet continued to move forward, getting closer and closer to the city of Zeelandia.

There are also more and more merchant ships encountered, from various countries, including three large Dutch merchant ships escorted by a galleon.

It seems that the Dutch either did not activate the emergency plan, or the plan was activated, but they could not be notified in place-this is normal, and the efficiency of information transmission over the sea can be imagined.

Obviously, those merchant ships, including the escorting Galen ships, panicked immediately after seeing such a huge Ming fleet appearing.

They swerve sharply, trying to run.

The Dutch merchant ships that can appear in the Far East are naturally all Dutch East India Company.

Of course they also knew that they were no strangers to Liang Zi of the Ming Dynasty.

Zheng Zhihu, who was the vanguard officer, laughed when he saw that the other party was turning around.

Let's not say that our warships are faster than your merchant ships, but you are now within our range, you know?
The Fran cannon can't hit you, but we have the Hongyi cannon!
So without further ado, Zheng Zhihu immediately ordered the ten battleships under him to fire first.

Adjusting their posture slightly, the ten battleships turned their port sides towards the Dutch ships.

Each battleship is equipped with eight Hongyi cannons on the side, ten ships equals eighty.

"Boom boom boom!"

A huge roar sounded on the sea, like a thunderbolt before a big storm.

Eighty shells rained down on the four large ships.

Woo~bang!

Whoa!
Since the first shot was not calibrated, most of it landed on the water, causing a huge splash.

But there are still seven or eight shells hit the target.

A huge shell exploded, punching a large hole nearly one foot wide in the side of one of the merchant ships, while the other merchant ship was hit by two shells at the bottom of the mast. After the violent explosion, the mast suddenly fell down, causing the hull Wide range of shaking.

To say that the Galen ship is also quite strong, it turned around and did not forget to fight back, but five of the six shells hit the water, and the other hit the side of a Ming battleship with great luck, but It just cracked the outer plank.

Fifty battleships are all three-layer side armor, and the key parts are covered with hundred-forged steel. It is tantamount to a dream to penetrate the 12-pound gun of the Galen ship with one shot.

The Galen ship that resisted was like a cleaning girl who dared to resist the domineering president, and immediately attracted the attention of the domineering president.

At least seven battleships aimed their guns at it after calibration.

Boom boom boom!
The Hongyi Cannon spat out a long tongue of flame.

Fifty or sixty shells roared and smashed into the Galen ship.

Hit ten shots!

Not too high hit rate, but not too low!

Mainly enough for this "little guy" who is only about [-] meters long.

For a while, three or four large holes were broken in the hull of the Galen ship, and after the other six rounds concentrated on the deck and cabin, a fire quickly ignited.

What's worse, the canvas on the mast was also ignited.

The ship was full of howling Dutchmen. Some of them wanted to put out the fire, but most of them chose to jump into the sea ahead of time.

Nonsense, it would be hell if this Galen ship could run away under such circumstances, what are you waiting for if you don't run away?
But before everyone ran to the deck to jump into the sea, another round of dense shells fell.

Clap la la!
The Galen boat began to list, taking in water.

The Dutchmen on board jumped into the sea like dumplings in a pot.

The three heavy merchant ships full of cargo were naturally more doomed. After three rounds of bombardment, the Ming army easily set them on fire.

Three Dutch merchant ships and a Dutch Galen warship were all sunk in just over a quarter of an hour.

All the sailors on board died on the spot, and those who survived naturally jumped into the sea.

For a moment, countless small black spots floated on the sea surface, surging with the waves.

But it was useless to jump into the sea, and soon the small clippers of the Ming army fleet rushed over.

The soldiers of the Ming army on the clippers were all holding long firecrackers, shooting wildly towards the sea.

The targets of the shooting were mainly Dutch sailors, whose uniforms were not the same as merchant mariners.

Of course, if you "accidentally injure" ordinary crew members, I'm sorry that you are unlucky.

After a while, the sea water was dyed blood.

This is the first wave of revenge against the Dutch for sinking the Ming merchant ship.

After killing enough, the Ming army dropped a few small boats to rescue, and then other warships swaggered away.

Of course, the Ming army was going to ask for a ransom for these rescued people—just like the Dutch did at the beginning.

Only more than 20 miles away from the Zeelandia coastal defense fortress, it was completely dark.

Zheng Zhilong did not order to rest, but continued to move forward, directly blocking the mouth of the Zeelandia Bay.

At this moment, the Spaniards in the north of Dongfan and the Dutch in the south are equally devastated.

The appearance of this huge fleet has completely disrupted their deployment.

Now, Zeelandia's Dutch fleet only has seven Galen ships, one large Schmidborg-class warship, and more than twenty small and medium-sized warships.

Under normal circumstances, it is enough for these warships to control the nearby waters, but it is far from enough to compete with such a huge Ming fleet.

Their only option is to rely on the 85 coastal defense cannons in the fort to hold on.

Of course, it would be even better if the envoy sent could persuade the nearby pirate Liu Xiang to help.

Velasco, the chief executive of Spain in the Eastern Domain in the north, was helpless after receiving the messenger's report.

He has fewer warships, only five Galen ships, and more than twenty small and medium-sized fast ships.

He knew very well that as long as the Ming fleet captured the two Dutch ports in the south, they would send ships to the south next.

It will be very, very soon.

Yes, the kind of fortress built by the damn Dutch can't stop such a powerful fleet at all.

In order to save money, the fortifications built by those guys are not made of soil, which is not reliable at all.Although the Dutch are preparing to build the second phase of the project there, hoping to make it a permanent stronghold, construction has not yet started-velasco knows this too well.

Therefore, there is not much time left for him.

He had to make a decision immediately, give up the chicken coop and fresh water in exchange for friendship with the Ming country, or simply fight and join forces with the Dutch and the big pirate Liu Xiang entrenched in this area to fight against the Ming country.

But, is there any chance of winning?

(End of this chapter)