Cutting 1719

Chapter 533 Sea Hegemony
Regarding the choice of Uji King, Ning Yu understood very well in his heart. Perhaps for a person like him, dying of illness on the couch in the future would be the greatest sorrow.Therefore, Ning Yu will not interfere with his choice.

After the small disturbance passed, all the people followed Ning Yu into the battle planning room, and saw that there were bright lights inside, and there were two large sand tables. Each sand table was about two and a half feet long and one foot wide. The two sand tables respectively show the strategic situation in the north and south of Ningchu.

At this time, there are almost many small red flags planted on the northern sand table. From the capital to Chengde, to Liaoning, Seoul and other key positions, there are troops currently deployed by Ning and Chongqing, but in a large area In front of the small red flag, there is a vast grassland terrain, which is obviously the Monan grassland and the Mobei grassland, and in the middle of the grassland is a desert made of yellow sand.

Compared with the north where the heavy troops are gathered, there are not many small red flags on the sand table representing the south, and they are basically gathered in the coastal and southwest directions. Even Nanjing has only one small flag, representing the ban on troops stationed in Nanjing. One of the guards.

When Ningchu's strategic focus is on the north, it is naturally impossible for the south to have too strong a force, but fortunately, there is no real foreign invasion in the southeast, so there is no need to worry too much.

"Recovering Taiwan is not a difficult task. Even if Zhu Yigui is unwilling to join in, our army only needs two divisions to take it. On the contrary, a strategic location like Malacca must not be allowed to be occupied by the Dutch."

Ning Yu made no secret of his ambitions for the Luzon Islands. You must know that Huaxia has a much earlier understanding of the Luzon Islands than those Westerners. It was recorded in the "Zhang County Chronicle" back then, the so-called " There are Luzon and Sulu countries in the East Ocean. Luzon, Wutong, Shayao, Tortoiseshell, Cebu, Wenlai, Nanwang, Dagang, Bijiashan, Miyan, Zhongbang Yining, Marilu, Miliuhe, Gaoyao, Wuyun Fuhe, Lunantang, Lupeng, etc. Overseas, this is the farthest.It is about [-] li from Quanzhou to its territory. '

Especially for Ningyu, who came from later generations, in addition to its inherent precious resources, the Luzon Islands' strategic location is also very critical. In the so-called island chain blockade theory, the Luzon Islands can play a key role , and the importance of the Strait of Malacca is no less than the Suez Canal in the eyes of Westerners.

Therefore, controlling the Strait of Malacca is not only controlling a key maritime waterway, but also controlling the situation in Southeast Asia as a whole.

Uji Jing, deputy director of the General Staff, said with a dignified expression on his face, "If you want to compete with the Dutch in Nanyang, the army is not the key. Only the navy can ensure a smooth battle."

Admiral Qiu Ze picked up a very exquisite and small sailing ship model and placed it near the Strait of Malacca, saying: "If you want to land in Malacca, you must first solve the current Far East Fleet deployed by the Dutch East India Company in the waters of Malacca. The strength of this fleet is not considered strong for our army."

"According to the information collected by the Nanyang Division of the Military Intelligence Department, there are only six real warships in the Far East Fleet of the Dutch East India Company. The largest flagship is the new ship Malacca of the Seven Provinces, equipped with 68 guns. In addition There are five battleships of the same level as the Hector back then, equipped with 36 artillery pieces."

"In addition to the warships above, there are more than [-] refitted armed merchant ships, most of which are only equipped with more than [-] cannons. Add up to the more than [-] warships that Zhu Yigui claimed."

Ning Yu frowned slightly, "Except for the Malacca, the others seem to be nothing to worry about."

Everyone present smiled slightly, because this is the greatest compliment to the Ningchu Navy today, especially when combined with the old events of the year, it can better reflect how hard-won this change is.

The so-called old events refer to the battle of Yanping King Zheng Chenggong to regain Taiwan.

In the previous publicity, there were not many descriptions of this battle, mainly focusing on King Yanping himself, so that in the face of victory, many people thought that there was not much difference between China and Europe at that time. misread.

As far as the people of insight here are concerned, they all understand that the battle between King Yanping and the Dutch is really not easy, and it can even be said to be very difficult.In this battle, the gap in the navy is particularly obvious.

Like Ning Chu today, when King Yanping wanted to win Taiwan, he first had to get rid of the navy deployed by the Dutch East India Company in Taiwan. At that time, the Dutch East India Company had only fifteen warships on its books, of which the real warships were stationed in Taiwan. There are only four ships, namely the Hector, the Sgrafland, the Egret, and the Maria, and the most powerful one is the Hector.

As for the Zheng's navy led by King Yanping, it was the overlord on the East Asian sea at that time. It was invincible in naval battles with the Qing army. It had hundreds of warships and 5000 soldiers.

In the eyes of people who do not understand military affairs, the power of King Yanping is almost ten times that of the Dutch East India Company, and it is almost a one-sided advantage.

But when the first naval battle before Zheng Chenggong's landing, the Battle of Taijiang, broke out, Zheng's navy felt the difficulty of the Dutch warships.

At the beginning of the war, King Yanping sent his generals Chen Guang and Chen Chong to lead [-] large warships towards the direction of the Dutch warships, preparing to surround the Dutch warships.At that time, the largest "Hector" of the Dutch army opened fire first, and the other three Dutch ships followed suit. The battle was very fierce.

Although the number of warships of the Zheng Jun navy occupies a great advantage, because the Zheng Jun ships were traditional Chinese soft sails at that time, and did not use the design of side gun positions, the number of artillery carried on the ship was very limited, usually referring to the deployment of two artillery pieces. , while the Hector at that time was equipped with nine bronze cannons and 27 iron cannons, and the firepower was not at the same level at all.

Therefore, the seemingly large number of Zheng's navy was suppressed by the Dutch navy. It sank more than [-] Zheng's navy warships just after the war started, and then other Zheng's navy warships did not have any effect on it. Even the sinking of the Hector was a bit dramatic - it was not sunk by Zheng Ming's army, but was destroyed by the careless operation of its own crew.

The survivors of the Hector at the time stated that the Dutch had deployed a cannon in the gunner’s cabin, and the gunner’s porthole had a hatch leading to the powder room, and the middle porthole that acted as a barrier It was not closed tightly, causing the sparks from the cannon to rush to the or pharmacist, causing the grenades and gunpowder barrels on the ship to explode, and it sank.

Zheng Mingshui fought so hard, is it because the Hector is too powerful?Not so, in fact, as a battleship with a displacement of only 36 tons and only [-] guns, the Hector can only be regarded as a fourth-tier battleship among the entire European warships, not even a third-tier warship. Compared with the capital ships of the navies of various countries, it is really not worth mentioning.

You must know that Zheng Ming's navy was not fighting with the regular Dutch navy, but the Dutch East India Company, and the company did not put all its strength in Taiwan, but the battle to regain Taiwan still cost Zheng a painful price .

After the end of this battle, many people of insight throughout China began to learn from the West, because the scene on the battlefield has already explained the problem. There was already a big distance between China's warship design and the West at that time.

Just like four years after the Battle of Taijiang, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom had a naval battle on the sea—the Battle of Lowestoft. In this battle, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom dispatched more than 100 warships from the Netherlands Among them, more than 30 second-class warships like the Seven Provinces were dispatched, and warships like the Hector were even more common.

Therefore, when Ning Yu dismissed the Dutch warships in Malacca today, the impact of this strong contrast made the naval admiral Qiu Ze's heart tremble. He understood why the emperor was so confident, because even he I am also full of self-confidence at this time.

Navy Captain Qiu Zening said: "Your Majesty, our army has launched six new ships, all of which are sailing warships with 74 guns. These warships are currently undergoing training for entering service, and they will be able to officially display their combat effectiveness in April next year. .As for the original old ship, we are also stepping up the rocket modification.”

The six Taishan-class third-class warships that have been designed since three years of innovation and completed in one year are undoubtedly the latest representative of Ningchu's warships. It has gone through several warship designers from the West and hundreds of people. With the joint efforts of Chinese shipbuilders, the sailing warship of the 'Taishan class' was designed.

The Taishan-class third-class warship is 51 meters long, 13 meters wide, and has a displacement of 74 tons. It is divided into upper and lower floors. It has 470 artillery pieces of various types, a full crew of [-] people, and can store [-] tons. The gunpowder and [-] tons of various shells, the overall combat capability is very powerful, even compared with the current Dutch East India Company's flagship Malacca in Malacca, its combat power is still superior.

Especially after adding the rocket launcher, the combat power of the Taishan-class sailing warship has been greatly improved. Even for those experienced western warship designers, they have to lament that this is a great pioneering work , which greatly increases the difficulty of boarding battles-because the enemy ship is easily covered by the firepower of rockets when it is approaching.

Because of this, Ning Yu, Qiu Ze and others still have such self-confidence in their hearts, because the Ningchu navy now has almost a completely new change from the Zheng's navy under King Yanping back then. The warships in Malacca felt nothing more than that.

Of course, compared with the first-tier warships and second-tier warships equipped by Western European maritime powers, the Taishan-class sailing warship is only a typical third-tier warship, and there is still a big gap, but for Ning Chu's first design and As far as building warships is concerned, it is a good start.

All armies need a lot of time to learn and grow when they are just established, especially for the navy, they need to learn a lot of new knowledge.

Therefore, Ning Yu is also very satisfied with the result. After all, it took only one year to design and build six third-tier warships, which is something worth celebrating even for Western maritime powers.

"For Da Chu, the third-level warship is indeed a good start, but it is not the end. In the future, I hope to see the second-level warships and even the first-level warships designed and built by ourselves. As for the higher requirements , I just hope that our fleet can spread all over the world!"

Ning Yu's tone was more or less sighed. Compared with the army that has grown up, the navy is still a baby, and the sea area it can affect is only limited to the coast of China, and it needs more time to grow and more Of course, he is confident that with long-term support, the future Ningchu Navy will surely go to the ocean, and even compete with Britain, the most powerful country in the sea today.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Qiu Ze's tone contained infinite confidence. He had reason to think that this day would come soon, maybe it was just a matter of time.

Chief Assistant Cui Wancai murmured: "It is not a big problem to win Malacca right now, but there is still a doubt in my mind. According to what your Majesty said, the Dutch people Yu Lu Song is just a company, and it is normal that its strength is low, but its local main force There are many first-class or second-class warships in the flagship, and the ships are strong and powerful, so what if they come across the ocean to conquer?"

After all the ministers heard this, they nodded in their hearts. After all, the chief assistant must be mature and prudent, and everything that should be considered needs to be considered. No matter what considerations the emperor has in mind, the ministers can't blindly cater to his wishes.Especially for an important minister like Shoufu, it would be contemptuous of him not to have his own opinions.

Ning Yu nodded with a smile, and said, "Of course I understand what the chief assistant said, but I often talk with Ernst and others, and I have my own opinions on Xishi, so I'll share it with you."

"Please enlighten me, Your Majesty." Seeing that Ning Yu put on a look of trying to solve his doubts, everyone naturally cooperated.

Ning Yu glanced around at everyone, and said with a smile: "Nowadays, the Western countries are similar to the chaotic times of China's Warring States Period. Countries are constantly arguing and fighting for hegemony at every turn. Among them, Westerners still value maritime trade, so the hegemony of the sea is even more life-and-death. , the country that dominated the country at first was Spain, and then it was the Netherlands, and now it has become England after several times of catering to the Anglo-Dutch wars. Therefore, the Netherlands is not able to protect itself at the moment, let alone travel to China? "

"Your Majesty is wise, but your subjects are foolish. Thinking about how the Dutch people acted so arrogantly before, they also offended other countries deeply in the West, not to mention other countries, England alone is enough for them to deal with." Cui Wancai suddenly realized.

Ning Yu Zhizhu was holding her hand, and said with a smile on her face: "Exactly, but the connection with Britain and France cannot be ignored. The so-called long-distance friendship and short-term attack, we also have to make good friends with these Western powers. I heard that they are about to arrive in Nanjing now? "

(End of this chapter)