Regarding the sudden change in the attitude of the Dutch, Liu Juntao knew in his heart that it must be reinforcements from the Netherlands who rushed to Luzon, and it seems that after the reorganization of the new army of the Ming Dynasty is completed, the first battle will be a sea battle!

In order to completely break the backbone of the Dutch and prevent Luzon from becoming a bottomless pit that consumes the national strength of the Ming Dynasty, Liu Juntao decided to immediately send troops to Luzon Island after controlling more sea power and completely driving the Dutch out of South Asia!

Therefore, after Liu Juntao took care of the follow-up matters of the law change, he focused all his attention on naval construction, and even ran to the Navy Department of the Ministry of War twice in three days.

And Feng Xiang, who had been promoted to the first naval division of the Ming Dynasty, that is, the actual naval commander of the Ming Dynasty, had already left the capital at this time and rushed to Shandong Andongwei non-stop.

At this time, Andongwei has been expanded into the largest naval base in the Ming Dynasty, and the first batch of the Ming Beiyang Fleet that has been reorganized into an army is stationed here, and together with the Dongping Island Naval Base, it constitutes the first naval town in the north of the Ming Dynasty!

At this time, the maritime forces of the Ming Dynasty were still being reorganized one after another, and Liu Juntao issued a plan to the Navy Department of the Ministry of War, preparing to build three huge fleets in the Beiyang, Nanyang, and Western Oceans.

Among them, the Beiyang Fleet has three sub-fleets under the jurisdiction of the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea, the Nanyang Fleet has two sub-fleets under the jurisdiction of the South China Sea and the Lingdingyang, and the Western Fleet has three sub-fleets under the jurisdiction of the European Continent, Dongzhou and Nanzhou.

Of course, at this time, most of these fleets were still under construction, only the East China Sea Detachment of the Beiyang Fleet had been fully formed and was stationed in Andongwei, while the Yellow Sea and Bohai Detachments were in the process of reorganizing their troops on Dongping Island; The rest of the South and Western fleets are still in preparation, and I am afraid that they will not be able to be used in the short term.

After Feng Xiang arrived at Andongwei, he immediately issued an emergency mobilization order for the Beiyang East China Sea Detachment, and ordered the Yellow Sea and Bohai Detachments, which were reorganizing their troops on Dongping Island, to prepare for war together and be ready to rush to the aid of the East China Sea Detachment at any time.

Now the East China Sea Detachment, which has completed the reorganization, is strong, and the fleet already has a first-class battleship: the Yellow Emperor; three second-class battleships: Daqin, Dahan, and Datang; Thirteen third-class battleships: Qin Shi Huang, Han Gaozu, Han Wen Emperor, Han Wu Emperor, Han Jing Emperor, Guangwu Emperor, Han Xuan Emperor, Han Yuan Emperor, Han Jing Emperor, Tang Gaozong, Tang Taizong, Tang Gaozong, Tang Xuanzong three Tang-class battleships.

In this way, the main battleships of the East China Sea Squadron already have seventeen, the rest of the fourth-class battleships have twenty-eight, and the fifth-class battleships have forty-five!

Holding such a huge fleet in his hand, Feng Xiang was full of confidence in his heart, this is not counting the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea fleets that are being reorganized on Dongping Island, although these two fleets have not yet been fully formed, but they have also brought together one first-class battleship, four second-class battleships, eight third-class battleships, and more than forty fourth- and fifth-class battleships, which are also a formidable and formidable force.

However, Feng Xiang is not ready to send all the fleets out at once, after all, the reorganization of the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea fleets has not yet been completed, not only are the two warships not complete, the personnel and troops are not full, and even the artillery is still lacking, Feng Xiang is not ready to let these newly built warships go out like this "naked ~ run". Of course, if the tide of battle changes, that's a different story.

After Feng Xiang stopped at Antonwei, he first inspected the East China Sea Detachment and organized the East China Sea Detachment to conduct a large-scale exercise in the open sea, and was very confident in the strength of the East China Sea Detachment.

After that, Feng Xiang ordered the Yellow Sea and Bohai detachments stationed on Dongping Island to speed up the reorganization, and at the same time contacted the shipyards and military bureaus in Shandong and Henan to fully support the reorganization of the navy and ensure the supply of all kinds of armaments and materials.

After dealing with these affairs, Feng Xiang asked Liu Juntao for instructions, and decided to lead the East China Sea Detachment of the Beiyang Fleet to go on an expedition after January, and take the initiative to find the Dutch fleet for a decisive battle, and win the sea supremacy at all costs!

September of the fifth year of Chenghua.

After Liu Juntao asked Emperor Chenghua to obtain approval, he ordered the appointment of Feng Xiang, the commander of the Beiyang Fleet of the Ming Navy, with full responsibility for the naval war against the Dutch, and ordered Feng Xiang to immediately find an opportunity to attack and annihilate the naval power of the Dutch in the shortest possible time, at all costs!

After Feng Xiang received the order, he immediately led the East China Sea Detachment of the Beiyang Fleet to attack, starting from Anton Wei and going straight south, not looking for the traces of the Dutch fleet at all, but directly to Luzon Island!

Of course, this was just Feng Xiang's trick to lure the enemy, in order to make the Dutch scramble and pop up on their own.

Sure enough, when Feng Xiang led a huge fleet of ninety of the latest Ming warships to sail south, passing through the open sea three hundred miles east of Taiwan Island, the Dutch warships finally appeared!

At this time, the Dutch fleet was also very large, and now the colonial commander of the Dutch Far East Company, Van Zerey, has been removed from his post and sent back to the mainland for trial, and replaced by Vice Admiral of the Royal Dutch Navy, named Covins, who is a veteran of the navy, who had been fighting against the Portuguese and Spaniards in Europe for many years, and this is the first time he has led a fleet to East Asia.

For Cowens, the Ming Empire is nothing more than an ancient and backward country, and the mainland should not spend national strength at all to send such a huge fleet, as long as he gives himself a task force, he can completely defeat the Ming Empire.

However, the Netherlands sent a huge fleet consisting of a first-class battleship as the flagship, three second-class battleships, three third-class battleships, thirty fourth-class battleships, and twenty fifth-class battleships!

Such a sea power is enough to defeat European powers such as Portugal and Spain, and the local reaction also makes Covance very dissatisfied, thinking that the local is questioning his own ability.

However, when Covance learned that the Ming Dynasty had dispatched a huge fleet of hundreds of battleships, including first-class, second-class, and third-class battleships, to attack and go straight to Luzon, the original contempt and arrogance in his heart disappeared in an instant.

When Cowens faced the powerful maritime power of the Ming Dynasty, he had fully realized that the Ming Empire was not a backward nation like the indigenous people of Luzon at all, but a great empire in the East that was completely different from the European continent, but equally strong and prosperous!

"O Lord! I'm using a fleet from afar against a huge empire, can I really win this battle? ”

Cowens, who has been fighting vicious battles on the sea for more than ten years, couldn't help but pray in his heart when he saw the Ming fleet appearing on the sea level, and he already had doubts about the outcome of this battle.

At this time, Feng Xiang was sitting on the Yellow Emperor, the flagship of the East China Sea Fleet, and the entire fleet had been fully deployed, arranging around the flagship Yellow Emperor, and in the process of marching, he had begun to form a battle line and moved towards the Dutch fleet in the distance.

"Array! Fight the enemy on the battle line! ”

Covance gave a loud order, the Ming Navy had already rushed over at full speed, at least eighty or ninety warships had lined up the battle line in the process of rapid sailing, so that the battle line was like a dragon overcoming thorns, Covance's heart involuntarily skipped a beat, his own fleet had lost the lead, and the next battle was probably going to suffer a big loss!

In order to win this battle, Feng Xiang deliberately mobilized the best sailors and soldiers in the navy before setting out on the expedition, in order to narrow the gap with the Dutch fleet in terms of personnel quality.

This time, the East China Sea Squadron has almost equaled the Dutch in terms of naval quality, although the overall foundation is still lacking, but these deficiencies are no longer enough to control the situation of the war, not to mention that the Ming Navy has to beat the Dutch in artillery technology!

The two sides are three miles apart!

"Come closer, lean in! Open the cannon door for all! ”

Feng Xiang roared loudly, and his heart was even more agitated, he had been crisscrossing the ocean for so many years, and it was the first time he had fought such a dominant naval battle, and it was the first time that the forces under his command were so strong, so his heart was naturally full of fighting spirit.

"Fire!"

The two sides were two miles apart, Feng Xiang preemptively gave the order to open fire, and the sea suddenly roared, and the right side of the battle line of the East China Sea Detachment was suddenly filled with gunsmoke, and countless cannons whistled out and smashed into the Dutch's still slightly chaotic battle line.

Covance originally wanted to wait, but at this time, his battle line was not completely lined up, and if he fired hastily, he would not be able to form a salvo effect, and his power would be greatly reduced.

However, the fierce shelling of the Ming Navy made Covance realize that his fleet had no time to wait, and at this time, the second round of shelling by the Ming Navy hit again, and two Dutch warships had already caught fire, and it seemed that they had suffered heavy losses, and if the Dutch fleet did not return fire, I am afraid that there would be no more chance.

"Fire! Fight back! ”

Covens roared loudly, and the Dutch fleet also began to fire back, but the incomplete battle line was intermittent, and the firepower fired by the Dutch battleships could not form a whole gun line, and the guns that could concentrate the Ming battleships were even less, and in terms of firepower alone, the Dutch were already at a disadvantage.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! ”

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! ”

Moreover, the artillery equipped with the Ming Navy is more sophisticated, completely made of stainless steel, the cannon is also made of paper shells, and the gunpowder is the latest particle formula used, which not only has a faster rate of fire and a longer range, but also has a better power.

In just one hour, the Dutch fleet has eight warships sunk, including a second-class battleship and a third-class battleship, which greatly damaged the strength of the Dutch fleet.