At the beginning of April of the ninth year of Chongzhen, following the earthquake in Shanxi last winter, there was another earthquake in Fujian in March this year. Fortunately, the earthquake did not occur in the densely populated plains, and the local government was able to calm the situation.

However, drought occurred in many places in the north last year, especially in Shanxi and Nanyang, Henan, and in February and March this year, there was a shortage of rain in the northern provinces, and a small area of locust plague appeared in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. As a result, the spring wheat output in Shanxi and Nanyang was greatly reduced, but fortunately, it relied on the large-scale construction of water conservancy and wells in the north, at least it did not cause a large-scale harvest.

But even so, before the autumn harvest falls, both Shanxi and Nanyang will have to carry out large-scale relief. Although the Nanyang Basin suffered a rare famine, relying on the relics of the Tang Dynasty and the completion of the Pingdingshan-Nanyang Xiangyang Railway, the grain in the Huguang area could enter Nanyang through the Hanshui Railway.

In addition, after Chongzhen discussed with the cabinet, he ordered Lang Zhongyan Jizu of the Ministry of Industry to go to Nanyang, Henan Province, to develop Nanyang's industrial and mining industries in order to save himself. There are many minerals in the Nanyang Basin, and there are abundant coal mines in Nanzhao and Pingdingshan in the north, while the fuel in the Huguang area is much more expensive than Henan after large-scale development.

Not to mention, the Nanyang Basin also has limestone suitable for firing cement, and cement and bricks are the most scarce building materials for cities along the Yangtze River.

The Nanyang Basin can rely on the advantage of being adjacent to the grain producing areas to save itself, and the situation in most areas of Shanxi is a bit troublesome. The grain production in the Fengzhen area outside the Guanwai is not enough to save the entire Shanxi region, and the disaster-stricken Shaanxi and Henan provinces also do not have enough grain to be allocated to Shanxi.

Although the situation in Hebei is not bad, but the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway has not yet been completed, the cost of transporting grain over the Taihang Mountains is too high. Therefore, after discussing with the cabinet for several days, Chongzhen finally made a decision to import grain and relocate the victims of the disaster at the same time for Shanxi.

Most of the victims in Shanxi had to move to the Qiantao and Houtao Plains to develop the local wasteland. Others need to cross Yanshan Mountain and enter Chengde and Yizhou for reclamation. Finally, some of the victims were sent to Vladivostok, Temple Street, Sakhalin, Magadan and Fuso.

It was also when Chongzhen was busy discussing with the cabinet and the six ministries about disaster relief in the north, and the news of the Dutch attack on Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Macao reached the capital through the pigeon book. Chongzhen, who got the news, had to end the meeting with the cabinet and return to Wuyingdian to convene the naval staff officers who remained in the capital to discuss countermeasures.

Zhu Youzhen said to these naval staff officers with a serious expression: "Obviously, the Dutch did not act in accordance with the plan formulated by the naval staff headquarters to meet the enemy, and they chose to attack Guangzhou directly.

I know that Chief of Staff Chang and the senior staff officers are now on Jeju Island, and you can't do anything now. But what I want to know is, what was the purpose of the Dutch attack on Canton? What's next for them? Can you give me a piece of advice? ”

The emperor's inquiry made these naval staff officers scratch their ears and cheeks, but after all, they had not experienced real naval combat, so none of the guesses they gave made Chongzhen feel that it was valid.

Just when he felt a little anxious, he suddenly thought of an idea, Zhu Youzhen looked up at the staff officers in front of him and said, "Go, invite the general manager of the British East India Company in Asia to come here." By the way, tell him to take Captain Weddell and his idle comrades with me, I need them to give me a suggestion..."

When Methwold broke into the lounge of the Merchant, Weddell was playing Oriental poker with his colleagues, and it was evident that he was lucky that his table mates had only a few pennies left in front of him, and a small mountain was piled up in front of him.

Weddell apparently had another good deck of cards, and he was looking at the two players and said, "Looks like God is looking after me today, one-on-two, is there anything you want?" ”

His next lieutenant, John Lawson, closed the cards and knocked on the table and said, "Sir, are you not going to let us play your cards again in this game?" ”

Weddell smiled and said, "That's not necessarily, since you don't want it, then I'll make another straight, even to A..."

"I'm sorry to disturb your Yaxing. Captain Weddell, Lieutenant John Lawson, I need you to accompany me to the Palace, His Majesty the Emperor needs your services. Meswold said, grabbing Captain Weddell lightly by the shoulder.

John Lawson and his companion exchanged glances, and the two quickly threw the cards in their hands into the card pool, and John Lawson got up and said, "So what are we waiting for?" We can't afford to keep a Majesty waiting. ”

Captain Weddell reluctantly dropped the cards in his hand, shrugged his shoulders and said: "I hope His Majesty the Emperor can give me enough compensation, this card is worth at least one shilling and four pence..."

After Meswold appeared at the naval staff headquarters behind the Wuying Hall with four naval officers, Zhu Youzhen, who was crouching in front of the long table in the middle of the map room and observing the sand table, finally straightened up, nodded to them and said.

"Gentlemen, you can come over a bit. I'm in a little trouble, so I'd like you to give me some advice and take a look at this sandbox.

The Dutch have already dispatched a fleet, which is said to be more than 30 ships in size. However, neither Taiwan nor north to rescue Sado Island was attacked, but Guangzhou was directly attacked. Although they were repulsed by the defenders of our batteries at the mouth of the Pearl River, the Dutch did not leave there, but attacked nearby Macau and Hong Kong, burning down a street at the Hong Kong Pier.

I want to know what you would do next if you were the commander of this Dutch fleet. ”

Looking at the exquisite sand table on the table, several Britons were very surprised. But after hearing the Emperor's inquiry, they quickly returned to normal, and Captain Weddell and his two colleagues carefully studied the terrain and fleet map on the sand table, and exchanged many opinions in a whisper.

It took nearly an hour before Captain Weddell straightened up and said to Chongzhen, "We think Your Majesty's staff has made a wrong judgment.

The gold and silver mines on Sado Island and the port of Dayuan in Taiwan are indeed valuable to Batavia. However, they were not of much value to the Ming Dynasty, and the Dutch attack on these two places could not force the Ming to compromise with the Dutch East India Company.

And as long as the Ming did not compromise with the Dutch East India Company, then Batavia would need to send a large number of ships and personnel to defend these two places, and the war would be a war of attrition. In Asia, Batavia did not have such resources to compete with the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, in order to end the war, the commander of the fleet in Batavia had to choose a target that the Ming had to compromise. Judging from the display of this sand table, the coastal ports from Guangzhou to Shanghai are the most valuable targets in the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty, and when the Dutch attack these places, Your Majesty will want to compromise with them..."

After sending these Britons away, Zhu Youzhen stared at the sand table for a long time before he asked the staff officers on the side: "Have all the remarks of those Britons been recorded just now?" ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, it's all recorded."

"Send someone to send the intelligence of the Dutch attack on Guangzhou plus the analysis of the British, send it to Jeju Island by clipper, and hand it over to Chief of Staff Zhang."

The staff officer on the side waited for a while, and couldn't help but ask cautiously, "Does Your Majesty have any orders to bring with you?" ”

Zhu Youzhen hesitated for a moment before he said, "Tell Chief of Staff Zhang that he still has the supreme command authority of the Combined Fleet, and I have no instructions for him. ”

The staff officer paused for a moment, then agreed and retreated. After Zhu Youzhen left the map room, he stopped for a moment under the locust tree in the courtyard before he instructed Lu Qi behind him: "Let the General Staff give an order to strengthen the defense of all parts of the southeast coast, especially port cities such as Shanghai, Ningbo, Fuzhou, and Xiamen..."

On April 19, in the naval barracks in Seogwipo, Jeju Island, Jang Sub received information from a special envoy. The unexpected frontal attack of the Dutch, as well as the analysis of the British, put the Ming naval officers to great shame. Previously, when they formulated the battle plan, they were obviously too self-centered, believing that the Dutch would not dare to directly invade the Ming mainland, thus causing a complete rupture of relations between the two sides.

This incident taught these young Ming naval officers a good lesson, and made them realize that once the two countries began to fight, how to defeat the enemy was the first priority of the army, rather than tying themselves with some hands and feet.

When the naval staff realized that their judgment had been wrong, they suggested to Zhang Xie, commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, that the ambush plan in the Korean Strait be scrapped and that the whole force should move south to the Taiwan Strait, preparing to intercept the Dutch fleet before it continued north to attack the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty.

But how to go south has become the most hotly debated topic. The most priority battle plan is naturally to directly move the main force south to the port of Keelung, Taiwan, and then use the port of Keelung as the home port to wait for the Dutch fleet to intercept when it enters the Taiwan Strait. Even if the Dutch did not take the Taiwan Strait and detoured the Pacific route on the eastern side of Taiwan, they would be able to catch the trail of the Dutch fleet.

However, modern navigation technology, if you want to accurately locate the route, you must either sail near the sea or sail along the parallel line of latitude, otherwise you will deviate or even lose your way. But sailing to the mainland first and then along the coastline runs into two problems.

Then came the season of the southeast monsoon, and the fleet was in a disadvantageous state of headwinds as it moved south along the coast, and even if the two fleets came into contact, it was difficult to say that the combined fleet, which had lost its advantage, would be victorious.

In the midst of endless debate, a young staff officer couldn't help but suggest: "Why don't you try the moon distance method positioning, although the ocean-going voyage test has not yet confirmed whether it is reliable or not, but in the coastal navigation test over the past year or so, isn't there not much difference?" Jeju Island is only 500 or 600 nautical miles from Taiwan at most, and I think that even if the course deviates, it will not be bad. ”

"Are you crazy, you want to use such an unreliable thing, if the fleet deviates from the direction, isn't everyone doomed..."

"The Dutch are wreaking havoc on our people on the southeast coast, don't take risks at this time, let's choose a more appropriate route..."

Listening to the arguing of the officers below, Zhang Xie looked down at the documents in his hand for a long time, and finally raised his head and ordered to everyone: "Yang Wancheng, you bring me the test record of the moon distance method, and the others will go back to prepare." In three days, we must go..."