Chapter 402 What You Say Is True?

The Commander of the Fleet, John van der Laan, had been sent from Batavia only the previous year, and his duty was to strengthen the defense of the Commander and ensure the attack on the Spanish routes.

Vanderland, nicknamed "Stubborn John", was about ten years older than Fairburg, and was a veteran pirate crew member with a lot of combat experience.

Unlike the cautious Feuldberg, the arrogant Vanderlaan was extremely confident in the combat effectiveness of his fleet and did not take the Ming army seriously at all.

Shortly after arriving in Tagou, Van der Laan, who had nothing to do, insisted on attacking Macau, as there was still a long time before the return of the Spanish galleon, and several fierce disputes broke out with the governor Fairburg.

Feuerburg was very unhappy with this reckless man who had no overall vision.

The enemy of the enemy is the friend, and at present, their greatest enemy in the Far East is the Spaniards, since the Portuguese and the Spaniards have broken with each other, how can they make enemies everywhere without distinguishing between priority and priority?

For this reason, he had proposed that the company's council transfer him back to Batavia, and the council valued his combat ability so much that it dragged on for a long time.

This time, when he heard that there were signs of an attack on the Ming army on the other side, Vanderlander was not only not in a hurry, but rather excited.

He knew that although his fleet did not have many ships, in terms of the combat effectiveness of a single ship, any warship was enough to crush the Chinese on the other side.

Vanderrain's own ship, the Erke, is a typical large sailboat - with a maximum displacement of 1,500 tons and a deadweight of more than 1,000 tons, it is the largest class at sea today.

The main firepower on the battleship was four 24-pounder guns, sixteen 18-pounder snake guns, and twenty 12-and-a-half-pounder snake guns, and although the guns were divided between the sides of the ship, even without taking into account the two short-range mortars on the deck, the single port fire could have a projection of more than 300 pounds.

And the opponent he is about to face, except for the "national surname" Zheng Sen's subordinates who have a fleet that is still quite powerful, the Chinese's sea ships are almost all Guangzhou ships with a standard displacement of only two or three hundred tons.

Even the fleet of the "national surname", although it is claimed to be powerful, is actually only based on the large number of ships, and it is better at fighting in groups.

Vanderan knew that the Zheng family had also been trying to imitate Western gunboats, but due to technical, labor, and other reasons, the imitation project had not been very successful.

Intelligence shows that in the Zheng family's fleet, there are only five or six gunboats with a displacement of barely enough to reach the thousand-ton class, and its main force is still the common Guangzhou ships of about 200 tons.

Not only that, the artillery equipped on the Chinese warships was shoddy level, and their snake and semi-snake guns not only did not have enough range, but also fired small projectiles with weak penetration.

If they hide along the coast, then they have a relative advantage, after all, in the shallow waters with harbors and sandy beaches and reefs, the light ships that make up the majority of his fleet have great flexibility, and his small attack ships are also quite threatening.

However, in Van der Laan's view, if Zheng Sen dared to take the initiative to attack and fight against him on the ocean route, it would be tantamount to asking for his own death.

Vanderland was full of confidence, his ocean-going fleet composed of six capital warships and ten 500-ton clippers was enough to withstand all the ships that the "national surname" could dispatch at one time.

Judging from the history of the few naval battles, starting from Zheng Sen's Laozi Zheng Yiguan, because the ship was too small, in order to deal with the Western giant ships, it was necessary to gather the main force every time, and it was necessary to fight in the coastal sea to win.

As early as 1622, after eight Dutch gunboats swept through the Ming naval division 80:0, the Chinese regarded the Dutch warships as an incomprehensible behemoth and an impenetrable sea barrier, lamenting: "My boat is less than one-fifth as tall as the other, and if I want to win in the great immersion of the sky, I will not be lucky."

It was not until 1633 that the combined fleet fleet of the pirate Liu Xiang and the Dutch was defeated by Zheng Yiguan in Liuluo Bay, Kinmen, due to the hot-headed fleet commander at the time, and the nine large warships of the Dutch were also seriously damaged, which directly led to their forced transfer to the Grand Commander and the loss of the right to trade directly with the Chinese government.

In view of this, Vanderlaan decided to set up a position in the Penghu area, which was the only way for the Ming army to attack the generals.

Vanderlaan was arrogant, but not stupid, he would not fight the enemy in a narrow port, he firmly believed that as long as the Ming fleet attacked, in this vast ocean, with fierce firepower and speed, even if it could not be completely annihilated, at least half of them could be sunk and beaten to the ground.

……

"Your Excellency, the scout ship has returned, and the captain has asked to see you."

On the balcony of the Doge's Palace, Governor Fairburg was looking out over the harbor with a cup of coffee, and his servant whispered.

"Oh, please come here at once!"

Feuerburg turned his head and said hurriedly.

The reconnaissance ship "Groningen" was sent by Felburg to Zhangzhou Bay a few days ago to inquire about the situation, and the news brought back this time confirmed his suspicion -- it was indeed the fierce men who came.

"There are more than a dozen big ships from Guangdong, almost all of them are brigs......"

As soon as the captain came up, he reported in a panic, "Among them...... And that big iron ship......"

In fact, in addition to the big iron ship, there was also a special gunboat that made a deep impression on the captain, but he hesitated and did not dare to say it.

It was a large ship of the size of the Galen, but it was much more slender and beautiful, and what surprised him even more was that although it had a two-masted sail, like the big iron ship, it could run without hanging sails.

The captain had seen it in training with his own eyes, it did not raise its sails at all, it only puffed a puff of light smoke and said to run, and it seemed to run very steadily and fast......

The captain believed that the ship might be the flagship of the gang, as it had multiple distinctive flags on it.

"The guys...... It is indeed a joint force with Zheng Sen's Ming army,"

The captain tucked his hat over his chest and hunched over, "When we entered the harbor, a large fleet had just returned from the north......

"North?"

The coffee that Feuerburg had just picked up stopped at his lips.

"Yes, my lord......"

The captain replied hesitantly, "After inquiry, it turned out that after they joined forces, they went out to attack Fuzhou...... This is already a triumphant class. ”

"What you said is true?"

Feuerburg's eyes widened in surprise - it had only been ten days since he received the news, and they had already conquered Fuzhou?

You know, from Zhangzhou Bay to Fuzhou, you have to run for four or five days without just one round trip, and it only took a few days for them to capture Fuzhou City, which was heavily guarded by the Qing army?

"Yes, my lord, I did see it with my own eyes."

"Okay,"

Felburg put down his coffee cup and asked pretending to be calm, "...... Did you react to your arrival? ”

"They just sent a dinghy up and asked us what we were here for,"

The captain reported with trepidation, "I said that we were about to go to the Moon Harbor to deliver a batch of sugar, so they gave Lu Lu and let me enter the harbor. ”

After a slight pause, he added, "My lord, it looks like they're going to go on another expedition soon......

(End of chapter)