In the seventeenth year of Hongxing in the Ming Dynasty, the tenth day of July.

In the Strait of Malacca, a fleet of eleven warships is slowly sailing along the coastline of the Malacca Peninsula in a zigzag pattern.

The leader is the Wuhan Fu, a new bombardment battleship with a load of 820 tons, which has just been in service for less than two years, but it has already undergone a refit, removing 4 uncovered large-caliber bombardment guns on the upper deck, and at the same time increasing the number of gun compartments on the gun deck to 16, and the equipped artillery has also been changed to a 15-kilogram bronze cannon!

That's right, in the latest round of renovation, the Yingtianfu-class warships abandoned the previous small-number and large-caliber artillery scheme, and adopted a medium-quantity and medium-caliber artillery scheme. The reason for doing this, of course, is also justified - because the Nanjing Artillery Bureau under the Ming Royal Chamber of Commerce, under the instructions of Zhu Cihong, designed a new 15-kilogram bronze cannon and a new type of cannonball......

New warships, new artillery, new shells...... This, coupled with the hegemony of the Ming Navy in the Pacific since the Battle of Kagoshima Bay, made the sailors on deck excited about the possibility of a battle. Many people are even starting to look forward to meeting the Dutch Navy, one of the legendary two naval heroes in the world, in the Strait of Malacca.

However, on the flagship Wuhan Fu battleship, Vice Admiral Liu Guoxuan was not as optimistic as the sailors below, and standing on the straight deck, he was even a little uneasy.

Yes, restless!

To be honest, he didn't want to tear his face with the Netherlands right now, even if the Ming Navy had more than twice as many new capital ships as his opponent, he still didn't want to fight this battle. The reason is very simple, if we wait any longer, the number of new battleships of the Ming Navy will be three or four times that of the Dutch Navy...... Liu Guoxuan's math is good, of course he knows that four times is bigger than two times!

Compared with the Netherlands, which has a population of only two or three million, the Celestial Empire, which has almost 200 million people, has a significant advantage in national strength. Especially under the impetus of the Xinzhou colonial cause, the Nanyang colonial cause, and the change of Cao Yun to sea transportation, the shipbuilding industry of the Ming Dynasty has developed extremely rapidly!

Now it has formed Shanghai, Nanjing, Quanzhou, Guangzhou and other four major production centers, and the number of ships with a load of 300 tons delivered last year has exceeded 1,500!

According to the current trend, in less than 5 years, the number of ocean-going merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty will definitely surpass that of the Netherlands, and the new generation of sea coachmen will definitely be the Celestial Empire.

Another 10 years...... Perhaps there would be no war, and the Netherlands would have to obediently surrender control of the Strait of Malacca.

But Da Mingzi didn't think so - in fact, Zhu Cihong also knew that Da Ming's national strength advantage was huge, and he would definitely be able to overwhelm the Netherlands if it continued to develop. But he wasn't sure how long the country of Holland would exist?

Because there is a big deviation between the situation in Europe and Zhu Cihong's memory. The first is that the power of France has been greatly strengthened, because the departure of the Prince of Condé has made the French Fronde movement much smaller than in history, and the damage to France has also been greatly reduced. Moreover, the development of trade between Ming and France strengthened Louis XIV's financial resources, allowing him to support the returning Prince of Condé to preside over a large-scale army reform.

The current French Army is enough to dominate the European continent, both in terms of quantity and quality!

The second is that the Republic of England did not disappear with the death of Cromwell Sr...... That's a big variable!

Although historically, England under the leadership of the restored Stuart dynasty was also quite capable of fighting, but it was still a little worse than that Puritan England!

Now the Puritan England under Cromwell Jr. seems to have lacked enthusiasm for European affairs, and has devoted much energy to the development of the North American colonies—both Puritans and usurpers, and has no reliable allies on the continent, so there is no place to intervene.

That's another big variable!

Therefore, Zhu Cihong was very worried that France, with a population of more than 20 million, would annex all of the South Netherlands after the death of Philip II, and maybe even annex the Netherlands through the Franco-Dutch War!

If Louis XIV could really take the Netherlands and the South Netherlands, it would be a big deal! The population of France alone is likely to exceed 25 million soon......

It was precisely because he was worried about the rapid rise of France that Emperor Zhu wanted to completely change the pattern of the Nanyang region before Philip IV died, take the Strait of Malacca, and block the power of Westerners west of Malacca.

And a naval officer of Liu Guoxuan's level would not understand Emperor Zhu's foresight, and he only felt a strong uneasiness now...... Before he and Shi Lang led the fleet south from Luo Si Hon, the Dutch East India Fleet was still in a state of "disappearance"!

With Liu Guoxuan's understanding of those Dutch naval generals, this is definitely not a good sign! The Dutch will certainly not slip away obediently, and they must be planning some kind of raid!

Holding a telescope and looking out over the sea to the east (although Lau Kwok Hin is in charge of guarding the western side of Temasek Island, he is more worried about what is going on in the east), a low roar suddenly came from his ears!

"Where's the thunder?" Liu Guoxuan subconsciously asked.

"Deputy Admiral, it's not thunder, it's artillery!" The answer was the captain of the Wuhan, Zheng Jing, who is only 24 years old this year.

That's right, it's the son of Hou Zhengsen in Taiwan!

Being a son in today's Ming Dynasty is not the same as spending all day drinking, eating and waiting for death. They've got to work hard! If you don't work hard, what can you do even if you inherit the title? Of course the Zheng family is rich, the richest man! can let Zheng Jing squander. But other princes are not so good, and the raid is just a few thousand acres of land and a few mansions. If you don't work hard, you will wait to be poor!

In an environment where most of the world's sons are working hard, Zheng Jing certainly has to be angry, otherwise Zheng Sen will have to be angry...... The consequences are severe!

And this hard-working version of Zheng Jing was admitted to the Shanghai Naval Academy at the age of 15, participated in the Battle of Kagoshima Bay without graduating, served in the Navy since he was 19 years old, and became the youngest captain of the Navy's capital ship at the age of 23 - to be able to be this officer, Zheng Sen's factor is of course, but Zheng Jing is indeed competent.

"Cannon?" Liu Guoxuan turned around and looked in the direction where the cannon sound came from, "That's ......"

"It's the Scout!" Zheng Jing said, "They have met the Dutch warship!" ”

Liu Guoxuan listened attentively again, and the sound of the cannon became dense.

"It all sounds similar, it should all be light artillery...... Liu Guoxuan's face was already a little ugly, "The reconnaissance team has encountered the enemy's large fleet!" ”

"But there is no heavy artillery," Zheng Jing reminded, "it must be the armed merchant ships of the Dutch chasing our reconnaissance team." ”

"No," Liu Guoxuan shook his head, "That's the Dutchman's reconnaissance fleet!" Their purpose is to track down our scout ship to us...... There must be a big fleet in the back! ”

He was right – the Dutch were his teachers, and the teachers knew the students, and the students knew the teachers too!

"So what are we going to do?" Zheng Jing hesitated a little.

According to the "Combat Instructions," the main fleet must be destroyed at the sight of the enemy, and cannot escape from the battle...... I haven't seen an enemy yet, so I can escape.

Liu Guoxuan gritted his teeth, "Release the signal rocket and ask Admiral Shi for help!" ”

"Admiral, that's the Dutch......"

Dutch teacher! Zheng Jing is also a little afraid!

"There's no way," Liu Guoxuan shook his head, "The landing detachment is nearby, we can't leave them alone!" ”

"Understood, Deputy Admiral, is the subordinate going to work out the formation and sequence of the battle?"

Zheng Jing is now the captain of the flagship, and as usual, he also serves as the commander of the formation, and needs to assist the commander of the formation in commanding.

Liu Guoxuan said: "The sequence is Wuhan, Feixiang, Jiangbei, Dongshengwei, Yunchuanwei, Yulinwei, Zhenyuwei, Wuhua, Liancheng, Tucheng, and Gaoshan...... All ships follow the flagship! Flag again: Ming Navy, the enemy will be destroyed! ”