Zhang Bin knew that there would inevitably be a life-and-death contest between the Ming Dynasty and the Dutch East India Company, and the great powers would do anything for their own interests.

There is a famous quote in later generations:

Capital is afraid that there will be no profit or too little profit, and as soon as there is a proper profit, capital will be very bold.

As long as there is a ten percent profit, it will be used everywhere;

As long as there is a twenty percent profit, it will be lively;

As long as there is a fifty percent profit, it will give rise to positive risk-taking;

As long as there is a 100% profit, it will make people defy all laws;

As long as there is a profit of 300 percent, people will not be afraid of crime, and even the danger of hanging.

If unrest and strife bring profit, it will not only not stop it, but encourage it.

How profitable is maritime trade now?

Buy some cloth, porcelain and even food, and just turn it over between Daming and Dongying, which is a profit of 2,000 percent!

Such a huge profit is enough to make people crazy, turmoil and strife are nothing, they will definitely destroy you without hesitation.

In the colonial era, when there was a conflict of interests, the great powers never spoke politely, they always spoke with their fists.

In this era, snatching interests is just a word "hit", and there is nothing to say.

How much benefit did Daming or Zhang Bin snatch from the Dutch East India Company, Dongying Market, Dongfan Market, Daming Market, and even Nanyang Market, at least tens of millions of taels of profits every year!

With such huge interests, it is impossible not to go to war, and the reason why the Dutch have not yet acted may be accumulating strength, and Zhang Bin naturally does not dare to relax.

At this time, the new cannon foundry in Zhuhai had been completed and put into operation, and this new cannon foundry had not yet produced the function of flintlock guns, and now, the only thing that could be produced here was artillery.

In the foundry, Zhang Bin, accompanied by Sun Yuanhua and Song Yingxing, slowly walked out of the foundry workshop.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead, felt the cool breeze outside, and then muttered: "It's too hot inside this foundry, and in the summer, I'm afraid the people inside won't be able to stand it, so you go to Liangfu and ask him to make an automatic fan." ”

Sun Yuanhua couldn't help but be curious: "Automatic fan? How to fan? ”

Zhang Bin thought for a while, and then asked, "Have you ever seen a windmill?" ”

The two of them had naturally seen this thing, and they both nodded affirmatively.

Zhang Bin directly instructed: "It is to add a gear to the back of the windmill blade and drive it with a steam piston, because the speed is fast, and it is best to add a bearing to the rotating place in the middle." ”

It turned out to be as simple as that, Sun Yuanhua and Song Yingxing couldn't help but suddenly realize.

In fact, it is impossible to use a steam piston to drive as fast as a fan in later generations, and the wind will not be too big, but it is better than no wind at all.

It's already hot here in Guangdong, but in the summer, Zhang Bin really can't imagine how hot it will be in the casting room, thousands of degrees of copper water, plus high temperatures, it is really possible to heat people to death!

After chatting for a while, everyone slowly walked into the processing room again.

The scene in the processing room really doesn't look like it is in ancient times, it feels like a modern workshop, there are rows of machine tools, all kinds of artillery parts are neatly arranged, hundreds of craftsmen are busy inside, if they are not wearing the service of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Bin will really have a feeling of returning to his previous life.

He felt the temperature inside, and then said to Sun Yuanhua and Song Yingxing: "There is also an automatic fan in it." ”

Sun Yuanhua and Song Yingxing nodded again and again, indicating that they understood.

Immediately afterwards, Zhang Bin came to the machine tools one by one to observe carefully, he wanted to increase production, because he had already begun to consider the development of super battleships.

A super battleship is hundreds of guns, and now, the Yuegang Cannon Foundry can only produce 100 guns a month, and the output of the new Gun Foundry here is only 100, that is to say, even if both sides are at full power, they can only equip two super battleships in a month, and only 24 in a year, at this speed, if you want to send troops to the South China Seas, you have to wait for several years, and he can't wait that long.

Of course, the new artillery foundry is specialized in the production of artillery, and the output cannot only be 100 guns a month, and now the craftsmen here in Guangdong are not proficient in operation, and when they are proficient, it is estimated that they can reach about 150 guns a month, but the output is still not high enough.

How can we increase production?

There is no problem with the casting, anyway, the mold is ready-made, and the size requirements are not so high at this time, the difficulty of turning the sand is not great, as long as the processing room can be processed, the casting room is no problem to cast 500 doors a month.

The main thing is the problem of processing, processing personnel and equipment, these need time to accumulate, there is nothing to say, Zhang Bin mainly wants to see what can significantly improve efficiency in the processing process.

He carefully observed for a while and found that the steel cutter after quenching cut the cast copper very quickly, as long as the parts were fixed on the machine tool, it did not take long to process, but the delay before the machine tool was too long.

Especially for the barrel, whether it is transferred or on the machine tool, it takes more than ten people to work for half a day, but the actual processing time is only a little.

If you can solve this problem, you can at least double the efficiency!

This problem, first of all, is how to lift the barrel of thousands of catties, now it is purely up to a dozen people to lift, it must be hard to die, later generations of workshops have aviation cranes, even if thousands of catties of things are not difficult to lift.

Do you do a crane?

Zhang Bin looked up at the walls around the workshop, joking, the crane itself weighs several tons, this kind of plant can't bear it at all, besides, there is no motor to make a car.

He looked up at the beam, which was thicker than his thigh, and the barrel of the gun was still hanging up, and the question was what to hang?

By the way, there is also a manual hoist, that thing is not very complicated, it is the iron chain and gear, the iron chain is there at this time, and the gear is also there, Zhang Bin immediately clapped his hands and said: "Chuyang, Chang Gung, I will teach you to make a thing, and one person can lift a thousand-pound cannon barrel." ”

Sun Yuanhua and Song Yingxing immediately said excitedly: "Oh, what's it, Shuangquan, talk about it quickly." ”

Zhang Bin gestured: "This thing is not complicated, just a few iron chains, two gears, the big gear hangs on the barrel, the small gear is pulled by people, and then make a cover to prevent the chain from being disconnected from the gear." ”

This thing is roughly such a structure, what is the specific lever principle, and the stop card, these things, Zhang Bin explained them carefully, and the two of them almost understood, of course, understanding does not mean that there is no problem, it must be tried, and it may not be a success at one time.

However, this thing is not very difficult, they probably understand the meaning of it, and they can always make it after a few more attempts.

Now they use an ordinary flatbed truck, not to mention that they can only move one at a time, and many of the stone slabs on the ground have been crushed, and it is very difficult for two or three people to push.

This is actually very easy to solve, just do a rail flatbed.

Zhang Bin pointed to the flat lane of the transfer again: "Chu Yang, Chang Gung, this kind of flat car is not good, have you noticed, it takes almost a quarter of an hour for them to lift the barrel up every time, and it is almost a quarter of an hour to lift it down, it is not so troublesome to do a low point, just about a foot high, so it will save a lot of trouble?" ”

Song Yingxing couldn't help but wonder: "In that case, the wheels can't be made, the wooden wheels are one foot in size, and they can't stand the weight." ”

Zhang Bin immediately explained: "Cast iron wheels." ”

Sun Yuanhua looked at the ground and said: "The wooden wheels have crushed the stone slabs on the ground, and the iron wheels are even more powerful." ”

Zhang Bin shook his head and said: "Don't press directly on the ground, bury two thick iron bars on the ground, and then install four iron wheels under the low flat car, with the interval just the width between the two iron bars, so that the iron wheels will just press the iron bars and will not crush the stone slabs on the ground. ”

Both of them nodded thoughtfully, this thing was simpler than a hanging gourd, they only had to think about it a little to understand.

Zhang Bin can come up with such a way to increase production for the time being, and the problem of casting cannons can only be like this for the time being.

To make a super battleship, there is also a problem of internal structure, don't look like a super battleship is very simple, the outside looks like a dense number of rows of gun doors, the internal structure has to be thought about slowly, and it will definitely not work in a few years of trial production.

Forget about the trial production, it's too much of a waste of time, Zhang Bin decided to grab it directly!

The Dutch will definitely fight, and on their own side, with the fortress as a backing, they will definitely not lose, even if they can't get rid of the fortress, in the end they will have to go back to replenish the food, fresh water, ammunition and other supplies, maybe this is a long-term battle, of course, it is also possible to defeat their fleet at one time, this will depend on the specific situation at the time.

Whether it is a protracted battle or a defeat of them, it should not be very difficult to grab one or two super battleships from them, nothing else, just because there are many people and ships on their side, and the muskets are even more advanced than them, as long as they can lean on to fight the broadside battle, they will definitely not be able to do it.

Be sure to grab a few of their super battleships, for the sake of insurance, Zhang Bin decided to use the wheels, because the wheels do not need to rely on the wind, and the speed is extremely fast, and they can go around the front and rear directions of the super battleships, rush up, and take overboard!

The Super Battleship also has a main or secondary gun in front of and behind, and in terms of the speed of the wheels and the speed at which they reload their ammunition, they have a chance to fire at most two guns from entering the range of the main and secondary guns to the broadside.

This can be piled up in numbers, ten ships in front, ten ships in the back, what if you fire two guns, at most sink four, and sixteen, lean on, you have to kneel!

The more Zhang Bin thought about it, the more he felt that this tactic was feasible, and after dealing with some trivial matters, they led the fleet to start practicing ship-grabbing tactics in the waters between Dongfan and Zhuhai.

The Daifuku ship was used as a stand-in for the super battleship, and the sailors were allowed to ride on wheels and practice broadside battles.

This hook is a bit difficult, because the wheel boat is much lower than the Fukuship, and much lower than the Super Battleship, and it is definitely impossible to climb it with ladders and planks, only with hook locks.

After many experiments, Zhang Bin set a tactic, preparing ten wheels for each of the enemy's super battleships, each with twenty musketeers on each wheel, and ten sets of hook locks.

The tactic of climbing from the bow and stern of the ship is really rarely used, so at first, the sailors were very uncomfortable, climbing very slowly, and after practicing many times, they slowly became sharp.

It's been more than a year, why haven't the Dutch moved yet, Zhang Bin couldn't help but send a wheel to the vicinity of Batavia to spy on the news, whether he would come or not? Waiting to grab your super battleship!

The Dutch are definitely coming, and the governor of Batavia, Spex, is also waiting for the super battleship, but he is not waiting to grab the super battleship, but waiting for the European mainland to send a super battleship to support.

As a result, the super battleship has not yet arrived, but the news of the extermination of the pirate Liu Xiang has arrived, and Spex's heart suddenly pulled cold, what to do, there is no pirate Liu Xiang in the periphery to resist the suicide attack of the Ming army for him, and he led the super battleship to a decisive battle with the Ming army, I don't know how many will be burned by the Ming army's arson ships!

Just when he was thinking hard, the local support fleet happened to come, twenty super battleships, one is not a lot, the meaning of the council and the company's top management, go, first defeat the southeast governor of the Ming Empire, as for whether to start a full-scale war with the Ming Empire, after this battle.

Spex is helpless, without the cooperation of the pirate Liu Xiang, he would have to go, because the Ming Empire, the governor of the southeast, has gone too far.

Historically, when Zheng Zhilong dominated the southeast, he only collected toll fees from the Dutch, and he didn't dare to cut off the trade ties between the Dutch and Dongying, because he knew that it was forcing the Dutch to fight hard with him, and the Dutch really wanted to fight hard, and he really couldn't stand it, because he was just a pirate leader to put it bluntly, he didn't have much power, he couldn't mobilize much of the resources of the Ming Dynasty, and he didn't necessarily fight with the Dutch.

Zhang Bin is different, he is now in charge of the resources of Fuguang and Guangzhou, he wants people, guns and guns, cannons and cannons, and he is not afraid of the Dutch at all, so he directly cut off the trade between the Dutch East India Company and Dongying, and the Dongshengtang family almost monopolized all the foreign trade of Dongying, and made a lot of money.

He made a lot of money, but the Dutch East India Company lost money, Dongying's trade accounted for more than 30% of the East India Company's trade volume, plus Dongfan was also accounted for by Zhang Bin, they were equivalent to more than half of the profits.

In addition, now that the Ming Dynasty has opened mutual markets in Yuegang and Zhuhai, the Portuguese and Spaniards can easily obtain the cheap goods produced by the Ming Dynasty, and their business with the Persian Safavid Empire and the Mughal Empire has also been greatly affected, and even the trade between the Far East and the European continent is about to be overtaken by Portugal and Spain.

This is okay, if you don't overturn Zhang Bin to recapture Dongfan, recapture Dongying Market, and close the two mutual markets of Daming, they will have to close the Dutch East India Company!

Therefore, even without the cooperation of the pirate Liu Xiang, Spex would have to go to war with Daming!

At the beginning of May, twenty super-battleships supported by the European continent arrived, and Sparks was preparing for battle. Mount. Brock Consultations.

The Batavia heat wave in early summer hit people, but Speix's face was cold. Mount. Brock walked into the governor's office, hurriedly saluted, looked at Spex again, and couldn't help but worry: "Your Excellency, what are you doing?" ”

Sparks sighed: "Alas, Brock, do you think there is still any hope for negotiating with the southeastern governor of the Ming Empire?" ”

When Brock heard this, he shook his head and said, "The southeastern governor of the Ming Empire is a very strong person, and I am afraid it is impossible for him to return Formosa." ”

Spex was lucky: "If he only asks for peace, let our merchant ships go to Dongying to do business, and ask him to close the two mutual markets, and not to do business with the Portuguese and the Spaniards, do you think he will agree?" ”

Brock thought for a while, shook his head again, and said: "The southeastern governor of the Ming Empire is different from other officials of the Ming Empire, he is quite familiar with the profits of maritime trade, and he also attaches great importance to maritime trade, it is impossible for him to let us go to Dongying to grab business with them, close the mutual market, and it is even more impossible not to do business, he has thought about closing the mutual market, and he will not engage in such a large-scale." ”

Spex finally tried: "Isn't it impossible to threaten him with war?" ”

Brock shook his head very seriously and said: "Impossible, he is not afraid of war with us at all, you know, we didn't provoke him, he robbed Formosa, Liu Xiang also did as we ordered, hiding in the lair and doing nothing, he still ran to destroy Liu Xiang, if he was afraid of war with us, would he be so unscrupulous?" ”

Spex shook his head and said helplessly: "Then there is no way, only to go to war." ”

Hearing this, Brock asked with a solemn expression, "Your Excellency the Governor, have you already decided?" ”

Spex nodded solemnly and said, "Yes, I have already decided, I will personally lead the fleet to recapture Formosa, and Batavia will be handed over to you for the time being." ”

Brock was stunned when he heard this, and then cautiously persuaded: "Your Excellency the Governor, the battlefield is too dangerous, you just let the admirals of the navy go by yourself, why take the risk yourself?" ”

Spex shook his head and sighed, "This time, I will go all out and let them go, how can I rest assured." ”

Brock couldn't help but be surprised: "Go all out? I would like to take the liberty of asking, Your Excellency the Governor, how many warships do you take with you? ”

Spex said slowly: "Except for the super battleships and armed merchant ships that have not come back on the other side of the Persian Gulf, I will bring everything I can bring, fifty super battleships, sixty armed merchant ships!" ”

In this case, there will be no warships left in Batavia, and Brock is a little worried: "What about the defense of Batavia?" ”

Spex gritted his teeth and said: "I can't manage so much now, if we can't defeat the southeastern governor of the Ming Empire and recapture Formosa, I'm afraid our East India Company won't be able to sustain itself!" ”

Brock nodded heavily: "Yes, if this continues, it is very likely that our East India Company will collapse." I can only fight with all my might, Your Excellency the Governor, I wish you a great victory over the Ming Empire and a triumphant return. ”