The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 537
Moreno hurriedly saluted according to oriental etiquette: "Sincerely congratulate Your Highness, may the Lord bless your fleet."

He immediately remembered that he had received news a while ago that Daming was not hesitating to invest in building a new type of gunboat, so he asked cautiously: "I wonder how many warships in your navy have successfully returned?"

Knowing that he was trying to gather information, Zhu Linmei smiled and did not hide anything, "There are five warships with double-deck gun decks, two of which are equipped with 34 guns, and three of which are equipped with 22 guns. There are six to ten guns. Fifteen auxiliary boats."

Moleno was taken aback when he heard the words, a warship with 34 guns?The main battleships of Helan's Dongfan Fleet and Spain's Manila Fleet have only [-] to [-] guns!

He hurriedly asked, "Do these 34 guns include small guns under three pounds and rapid-fire guns?"

These Europeans never paid much attention to Ming’s artillery and warships in the past, and Zhu Linmi didn’t think it was disobedient, and the data came out, “Six eighteen-pounder guns, ten twelve-pounder guns, and the others are at least Six-pounder."

Moreno was taken aback. If what His Royal Highness the Counselor said was true, then the Daming Navy already had the strength to compete with Dongfan's fleet!

You must know that Dongfan currently only has two warships with more than 30 guns and two warships with more than 20 guns. The remaining eight capital ships are actually armed merchant ships.Even considering the difference in the quality of the sailors, the Helan people would never dare to say that they are sure to defeat the Daming Navy!

This Eastern Empire is simply too terrifying!In the past few decades, the Ming Dynasty could only rely on a large number of junk ships to fight against the Helan people. Although they could force the Helan people to back down, they always suffered heavy losses.Until last year, there was no news of them building a [-]-gun warship, but at this time they have equipped two ships!

Once this huge empire gets serious, it will make people feel chills in the bottom of their hearts!
He suddenly had an impulse, perhaps joining hands with Daming, he really had a chance to defeat the Netherlands, the overlord of the Far East Sea.

But then he remembered the Dutch fleet stationed in Batavia.That is a terrifying force with more than 100 warships and armed merchant ships. Among them, there are nearly ten warships equipped with 50 cannons, and there are even more ruthless characters like the "Dodrechet" with more than [-] cannons. !
Moreover, the Ming Dynasty still has to fight the barbarians in the north, and it is impossible to use all its strength to deal with the Helan people.

Moreno shook his head subconsciously, there is no possibility of challenging the Helan people right now, calm down, calm down.

Zhu Linming seemed to see what he was thinking, and said with a smile: "If the current Daming navy is not enough to give Xibanya confidence, then I can tell you that the Helan people have dominated the maritime trade of Daming for at least a year. will disappear.

"However, I also want to remind you that when that time comes, I won't need your help anymore."

In order to take care of the habits of the Spaniards, Zhu Linmi used the number of cannons to describe the warships, but in fact he designed the warships based on the shipbuilding standards from the [-]th century onwards. Helan and Spain have large displacements.

According to the current European shipbuilding method, it is not impossible for the Shaowu to pack forty cannons, but that will have a negative impact on protection, navigation and other performance.In other words, to calculate the real combat power, the Daming Navy has actually begun to surpass the Helan people who are entrenched in Taiwan.

Moreno bowed his head and thought for a long time, but still said cautiously: "I will convey your meaning to the governor, let us think about it again."

"of course can."

……

Zheng Chenggong took Liu Guoxuan, Zhang Guoxuan and other major naval officers up the river on sentry boats, and arrived outside Nanjing the next day.

The place where a group of people disembarked and landed was not far from the Longjiang River. From a long distance, there were a large number of horses and craftsmen entering and leaving the shipyard. It was a very busy scene.

Zheng Chenggong and others changed their horses and rushed to the city. When they passed by the Longjiang shipyard, they clearly saw that several huge slipways inside were full of people. Chengshan.

Liu Guoxuan swept away his previous dispirited attitude, and said happily: "It seems that the navy will soon make up for the warships lost this time."

"Yeah, look at this scene, it's bigger than Yongbeili and Nan'an combined!"

Zheng Chenggong sighed, "His Royal Highness has always been thoughtful, and he may have reported his plan to wipe out the entire navy..."

In front of the Yamen of Yingtian Mansion, the navy generals dismounted to salute, Zhu Linmi stepped forward and patted their arms one by one, "It's good to be back safely!"

All of them were tanned, their skin roughened by the sea breeze.Especially Liu Guoxuan, who still left a scar on his face, adding a bit of fierceness.

Everyone followed Zhu Linmi into the government office, Zheng Chenggong said, "Your Majesty knew that His Highness was worried about the situation of the navy, so he came back at night to report to you."

Zhu Linmei nodded and said, "How about the loss?"

"Returning to Your Highness, as reported the day before yesterday, six warships including Jianchang and Weiqing sank, and five ships including Guangsignal and Guo Ziyi were seriously damaged. The previous part was only roughly repaired, and now they are sailing to Yongbeili for repairs. Except for the warships In addition, more than [-] people were killed, injured and missing in the navy..."

Zhu Linmei was silent when she heard the words. This time, the storm navy lost a [-]-ton warship and five small warships. In addition, the seriously injured warships may take a long time to repair.Compared with the warships, the casualties of the sailors may be more difficult to make up for. Although the sailors are not injured this time, they can be regarded as extremely heavy losses.

Liu Guoxuan suddenly said in a loud voice: "Your Highness, compared with Jianlu, our loss is much smaller. The moment the storm blew in, my subordinates saw forty or fifty enemy ships buried in the bottom of the sea, and Jianlu's small boats , it is estimated that not many can go back safely."

Zhu Linmei nodded and said: "The secret report sent by Beijing shows that the Jianlu navy lost nearly [-]% of it."

"Seventy percent? More than 200 boats!" Liu Guoxuan was delighted, "No wonder Zhoushan said they haven't seen any movement from captives recently, so they have suffered such heavy losses."

This is the benefit of the ocean-going seaworthiness of the Galen ship. In addition, the smallest warship of the Daming Navy has more than 70 tons, and its resistance to wind and waves is much stronger than that of Zheng Zhilong's fleet.

After entering the main hall, everyone sat down, and their own servants offered tea.

Only then did Zhu Linmei ask Zheng Chenggong, "Damu, you haven't seen any news for nearly a month after the storm. Where did the navy go during this period?"

"Returning to Your Highness, when the strong wind first encountered, my subordinates planned to take refuge in Ryukyu temporarily, but the wind was too strong, and the navy was constantly blown south and east.

"When the wind stopped, we didn't know where we were, and the food on board was soaked. Fortunately, the Guangzhou ship brought a lot of canned food, so we survived."

(End of this chapter)