Cornelis Van Trop was the second son of the Dutch admiral Marton Trop, whose father was a naval commander who could be described as "great". The Battle of Downs Anchorage, which took place in 1639, was Martontrope's masterpiece.

After shutting off Spain's maritime supremacy, Marton Trop fought to the death against the mighty British navy in the First Anglo-Dutch War.

At the beginning, Marton Trop also performed well, defeating British Admiral Robert Black twice. But in the third meeting between the two, Blake ended the Marton Trop era with the battle line tactics he had invented. The battle took place in February 1653 and is known as the Battle of Portland or the Battle of the Three Days. Six months after this naval battle, Martin Tropes was killed in the Battle of Hoveningen

However, the Troppes' naval path did not end with the death of Marton Trop. Marton's second son, Cornelis Van Trop, was promoted from colonel to rear admiral shortly after his father's death, and later went to the Baltic to take part in the First Northern War between Poland and Sweden.

When the Dutch East India Company was in a hurry to the mainland because of the Ming Empire's advance in the direction of the South Seas, the first thing that came to mind was this "second-generation admiral" of the navy, who had always been known for his penchant for fierce battles, so he appointed him as the commander of the East India Fleet, commanding all Dutch maritime forces in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

In addition, Speaker DeWitt handed over three of the world's most powerful battleships (the Dutch would not admit that the British protectorate was more powerful) the Seven Provincial Councils, the Dutch Provincial Council, and the Sealand Provincial Council, to Cornelis Van Trop, so that the rear admiral could take them against the naval fleet of the Celestial Empire in the east.

When he left the Netherlands mainland on the seven-province council, Cornelis Van Trop was still very confident.

After all, the Celestial Empire in the East was only a student of the Dutch when it came to the navy - their ability to sail long distances in soft sailing ships was taught by Dutch naval officers!

However, when Trop met Captain David Jones, the captain of the Sealand Provincial Council (the ship had been deployed in the Mediterranean and therefore did not sail with Trop), his confidence in victory began to falter a little.

According to David Jones, if there were no bombardment gunboats, then the superiority of the Dutch Navy over the Ming Navy was indeed unshakable.

But with the variable of bombardment of gunboats, the Dutch Navy's lead was not so solid.

Because the "bombardment revolution" actually happened in the Ming Navy!

It was the Ming Navy that first used flowering shells on battleships, and it was also the shipyard of the Ming Dynasty that first began to design bombardment battleships.

Although subject to the relatively backward Ming shipbuilding technology, the bombardment gunboats of the Ming Navy are lighter in tonnage and slower, but the bombardment guns and bombardments used by these gunboats are no worse than those used by the Dutch fleet!

So the bombardment battleships of the Ming Dynasty are also lethal weapons, and there are so many of them

It was with David Jones' advice in mind that Major General Trop dismissed the idea of relying on inferior forces to fight a battle with the enemy, and instead sought the opportunity to surprise the enemy.

Just after he led the fleet in concealment at the mouth of the Klang River for almost a month, a brisk Dutch warship finally brought him good news.

An alliance was finally reached between the Dashun Empire and the Kingdom of Arakan, which had sent 300 galleys to carry 15,000 Dashun troops to Penang and nearby territory belonging to the Sultan of Kedah.

In the Commander's cabin of the Seven Provincial Councils, Tropp once again took out Bruce Van Diemen's handwritten letter and looked at the date on it—it had been sent six days earlier.

In the letter, Bruce told Trop that Alakan's 300 galleys had arrived at the port of Salem and that all 15,000 Dashun officers and men would be able to board in two days at most.

In other words, the troop convoy should have departed 4 days ago, and if all goes well, it should have arrived in Penang by now.

As long as they can attract the Ming army in the north of the Malacca Peninsula, the situation should still be more favorable for the Dutch!

Just as he was thinking of this, the voice of one of his lieutenants suddenly came from outside the door, "Rear Admiral, Colonel Jones has just boarded the ship, and he has brought an urgent military report!" ”

"What?" Trope was stunned, what's going on? The Sealand Provincial Council that David Jones was riding on was anchored in the anchorage in the Klang River Estuary, and even if a communication ship came over, it would not be possible to run over the Seven Provincial Councils to report the Sealand Provincial Assembly!

"Major General! I'm David! Davy Jones's voice had already come in, "Just received urgent news from Johor City that a huge Ming fleet is heading south along the eastern coastline of the Malacca Peninsula and is likely to enter the strait!" ”

Trop couldn't sit still, so he quickly got up and opened the hatch, and saw David Jones standing outside sweating profusely.

"Come on in!" Tropp ushered Davy Jones into the cabin, "How did you get the news?" ”

"It was our advisor in Johor who sent a cavalry message to send the news, so it was sent to the Sealand Provincial Assembly first!" As he spoke, David Jones handed the letter to the rear admiral.

Trop hurriedly unfolded the letter, first reading it at a glance and ten lines, and then carefully reading it again, with a puzzled expression on his face.

"What is a bird boat?" Trop asked.

"A Ming Dynasty style schooner," David Jones said, "the largest bird ship, which is five or six hundred deadweight tons, has a limited sail area and a very slow speed because of its hard sails." Such ships are usually civilian, but there are also military models, mostly transport ships, and some are equipped with bombardment guns, which can be used for naval battles. ”

"Do you know how big a bombardment gun will be mounted on such a bird boat?" Trop asked.

"The maximum installation of a bombardment gun of about 28 pounds (24 pounds)," David Jones replied, "but then the Chinese had the Ying Tianfu class, and they no longer needed the big bird ship to act as the main force in naval battles, and the recoil generated by the 28-pounder shelling was too large, which would cause some damage to the hull of the big bird ship." So they replaced the 28-pounder gun with an 18-pounder gun, and also redesigned the gun bay so that a large bird ship of the 'Wanshi' type could carry 1,214 18-pounder guns. ”

"The 18-pounder cannon shouldn't be able to penetrate the seven provincial council-level gun bays easily!" "At least until we crush these big bird ships with 40-pounder or 36-pounder guns, their 18-pounder guns won't be able to penetrate the bays of the seven provincial councils!" ”

With such a barrel of about the same length, then the penetration of an 18-pound shell should be inferior to that of a 36-pound or 40-pound gun!

The Seven Provincial Councils were designed with the destructive power of the bombardment in mind, so the armor of the gun bay was strengthened, so that the 18-pounder shells could not penetrate the parliamentary gun bay at a long distance.

"Major General," David Jones already understood Tropp's thoughts, "if there is no Ying Tianfu level, then we will win!" ”

"It can't be not," Trop said, "the question is just how many?" If I'm not mistaken, they should be trying to land somewhere in the Straits of Malacca! Those bird ships must have carried many soldiers on board, how could they not be protected by the Heavenly Palace? ”

"Major General, should we attack as soon as possible to prevent the Chinese from landing?" "Their army is far superior to the Sultan's army!" ”

"No," Trop shook his head, "and if it's really a landing, then we should attack after the landing battle begins." Because the fleet, which is carrying out landing missions, has no way to carry out effective maneuvers.

In addition, it is necessary to find out how many Ying Tianfu-class ships there are? If there are too many, there is no certainty of victory! ”