October of the sixth year of Tianshun.

When Robin? Van Persie painstakingly returned to his Luzon stronghold with the fleet, and was taken aback when he heard the reply of the Dutch Far East Company.

Fan Zerui, the colonial chief of the Dutch Far East Company, said: "Captain Robin, the Ming Navy you defeated before has not been completely wiped out, according to the news received by the company, now this Ming Navy is recuperating in Shandong, and it is said that warships are being built everywhere over there, so let's not provoke the Ming Navy for the time being, and see the situation first." ”

Hear that, Robin? Van Persie was very surprised, the original Ming navy was not completely destroyed, he knew about it, but when he heard that the Ming country was vigorously building a fleet in Shandong, this news was too shocking, what did those Ming people want to do?

"If this is really the case, then we should attack immediately, and take advantage of the fact that the Ming fleet has not yet recovered its strength, and immediately kill it and completely annihilate it!"

"Annihilation?"

The colony chief Fan Zerui sneered and said, "How many fleets does the Ming Kingdom have?" What is the population? Did Mr. Robin think that the annihilation of this fleet alone would lead to ultimate victory? ”

After speaking, the colonial chief Fan Zerui even aggravated his tone and said, "You know, the Ming Kingdom is not the natives and Indians we met before!" This is a civilized country comparable to the Netherlands, so we must be cautious and cautious in any combat decision! ”

These words also really made Robin? Van Persie calmed down for a moment, and then had to admit that the words of the colonial chief Van Zerui were very reasonable.

"Can't we apply for some more fleets from the mainland? Now we are fighting against the entire Ming navy on our own! ”

The colonial commander Fan Zerui secretly said in his heart: "You finally realize your current situation!" ”

So, the colonial commander Fan Zerui said: "Don't worry about this, I have already sent someone to report our situation to the mainland, and I believe that the local side will deal with it." However, this place is too far away from the mainland, and even if the mainland mobilizes a fleet to come, it is estimated that it will not be able to arrive until next year. ”

"A year?"

"It won't take a year, at most half a year."

Robin? Van Persie said worriedly: "But can those Ming people give us such a long time?" ”

Fan Zerui, the colony chief, said without worry: "It also takes time for those Ming people to build warships, and they also need to recruit sailors and conduct drills, so it should be impossible to attack in a short time, so we still have time." ”

But then the colonial commander Fan Zerui also said: "However, we must also be fully prepared, so I will let Mr. Robin return to Luzon, we must concentrate all our forces to prepare for the battle, if those Ming people really attack in advance, then we must be ready to insist on coming to the mainland to help." ”

At the same time, Liu Juntao secretly rushed to Anton Wei again.

By this time, more than 20 warships had been launched in various shipyards, but most of them were fourth-class prefecture-level warships, and these numbers could temporarily meet the needs, so Liu Juntao ordered to temporarily stop building these types of warships, but to concentrate all manpower and material resources and start to build battleships with all their might!

At this time, four battleships were under construction at various shipyards, and it was estimated that they would be completed in another one to two months.

Three of the four battleships were third-class battleships, all carrying forty-five guns, two gun decks, 330 sailors, and 200 soldiers.

These three third-class battleships are all emperor-class, although they have not yet been fully built, but Liu Juntao has named these three battleships Qin Shi Huang, Han Gaozu, and Han Wen Emperor!

There is also a battleship under construction that is the one that Feng Xiang squatted in before, which is the only second-class battleship in the current Dongping Island Navy, and it is also the flagship of the future fleet, Liu Juntao named this dynasty-class battleship Daqin!

According to Liu Juntao's plan, in the future, the Dongping Island Navy will use the Daqin as its flagship, the Qin Shihuang, Han Gaozu, and Han Wendi as the backbone combat force, and the remaining 23 prefecture-level warships as auxiliary combat forces, which will make the strength of the Dongping Island Navy extremely inflated.

Liu Juntao is confident that with this heavily built fleet, the Dutch will definitely be able to lose all their money!

"Up to now, the cost of shipbuilding alone has cost nearly 10 million taels of silver, not counting the costs of recruiting craftsmen, expanding the shipyard, recruiting sailors, casting artillery, and training personnel. If all these expenses are added, the cost of the Ministry of Commerce will be doubled! ”

Liu Juntao said proudly: "So much silver, even if it is smashed, it can kill the Dutch, this time I want these red miscellaneous hairs to know what is called wealth and wealth, and what is called heavy money!" ”

Looking at Liu Juntao, who was as impassioned as an upstart, Feng Xiang and his subordinates were sweating profusely, and at the same time, their hearts were also agitated, this is the cannon giant ship that Du Xian said in his mouth, I really look forward to seeing dozens or hundreds of huge ships as soon as possible, and the magnificent picture of cannon bombardment on the vast sea, this is the pride that men yearn for!

When Liu Juntao, Feng Xiang and others came out of the shipyard, they went to sea by boat and came to the waters of Dongping Island, where the 23 warships of the prefecture and county that had been built were being trained.

"Governor, now these twenty-three prefecture-level warships are still in the training stage, and there are still a lot of shortages in the artillery on the battleships, but they can be filled in a month at most.

"Now these warships are the temporary flagships of the Yanzhou Mansion and the Jinan Mansion as the two teams, and the two teams are engaged in a simulated battle, but it seems that the sailors on the battleships are still a little rusty, but they will definitely be able to practice in time."

"Most of the guns on the warships at the prefectural and county levels are about 30 to 35 guns, all of which can hit about 10 catties of guns, and each warship also has two to three main guns, which can shoot 15 catties of guns."

Liu Juntao looked at the fleet that was being practiced in the distance, and listened to Feng Xiang's introduction, and he also breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, his ten million taels of silver were not in vain.

Even Liu Juntao was confident that if the Dutch had not mobilized a fleet from the mainland, he would even be sure that he could defeat the previous Dutch fleet with these twenty-three prefecture-level warships alone!

However, Liu Juntao has always been fully prepared for combat, not to mention naval battles that he is not very familiar with, and the loss of a warship is not only the loss of money and ships, but more importantly, the loss of talents, which is not what Liu Juntao wants to see.

Therefore, Liu Juntao is also determined to obtain the maximum benefit at the lowest cost!

Such a premise is absolute firepower and superior tonnage!

Therefore, Liu Juntao also resisted the impulse in his heart, and he must wait until the four battleships are completed and the training is completed, and then attack the Dutch.

It was calm for a while, and during this time, not only Liu Juntao's side was reorganizing for war, building warships and developing strength with great fanfare, but the Dutch entrenched in Luzon were not idle.

Robin? Van Persie and the colonial commander Van Zerui continued to gather their forces, and after three months of rectification, they had gathered 40 armed merchant ships and 15 warships.

In addition to this, the two men had 800 Dutch musketeers, 400 halberders, and 150 cavalrymen.

Such a force is already the largest combat force that the two can gather in the Far East.

But in the face of the huge Ming Empire, Robin? Van Persie and the colonial commander Fan Zerui were still a little apprehensive in their hearts, so they led troops to plunder the natives around Luzon Island, and in three months, they captured 3,000 natives from all over Luzon, all of whom were strong men, although they did not have sophisticated equipment, but they were all fierce "barbarians".

And now, Robin? Van Persie and the colonial commander Fan Zerui believed that even if they could not defeat the Ming fleet at sea, they would be able to hold Luzon with their numerical superiority, after all, they believed that Luzon was thousands of miles away from the Ming Dynasty, and it was impossible for the Ming to send many troops over.

At this time, the Dutch had several strongholds in Luzon, but the largest one was Robin? Although Manila, where Van Persie and the colonial chief Van Zerey were entrenched, was a fortress for the Spaniards in later generations, Manila was still a relatively barren place at this time, with only a simple "castle" or large shack built by the original natives.

After the Dutch occupied this place, they began to build houses and fortifications on the original site, and now it is quite large, the whole city of Manila is not large, but it is very strong, there are two walls inside and outside, there are corner towers around it, there are moats and horse barriers outside the castle, and even the castle has more than a dozen high towers built on it, and large and small artillery is deployed on it.

Although the city of Manila at this time was far inferior to the Manila fortress built by the Spaniards in later generations, it could hold on for years in the face of the siege of tens of thousands of local Chinese armed forces and pirates.

But at this time, Manila City is also a "moat", Robin? Van Persie and the colonial commander Van Zerui trained 3,000 natives rigorously, equipped with bows and arrows and necessary cold weapons, plus the Dutch troops in their hands, both of them believed that if their fleet was defeated and the Ming Kingdom really killed Manila, they must also concentrate more than 30,000 troops to pose a threat to their side.

And if it really wants to capture the city of Manila, the Ming Kingdom will lose at least half of its troops!

This is still under the premise that there is no rush to help in the Netherlands itself, and there are enough artillery in the Ming army!

At this time, Liu Juntao and the Dutch were already sharpening their knives, and they were both preparing to start a big war and compete for interests at sea.