In Singapore, the Lion City, 5,000 miles away from Dongxing, Liu Yunsheng, the brother of Liu Yunwen of the Seventh Fleet, the governor of Nanyang, could no longer care about the celebration of Chinese New Year's Eve.

An edict from the emperor was delivered by speedboat. In this expedited edict, the emperor was very dissatisfied with Liu Yunsheng's inaction in Nanyang.

As the Governor of the South Seas, the Emperor granted him the power to control the two fleets of the South and Western Oceans, giving him full authority to dispose of the Empire's rights and interests in the South Seas. This includes diplomatic relations with the Anglo-Dutch kingdoms, as well as Southeast Asian countries such as South Vietnam, Ayutthaya, Chenla, Donghu and even India, and even the right to declare war.

But the Anglo-Dutch Sanyi not only blocked the Nanyang route against the Han Dynasty, but even began to attack the merchant ships of the Han Dynasty, Liu Yunsheng did not declare war on the Sanyi, what are you waiting for?

As for the war against South Vietnam, warships and Imperial Allied troops and foreign troops were sent to fight in South Vietnam, but this is not a reason. With the strength in Liu Yunsheng's hands, he can completely fight South Vietnam and Sanyi at the same time.

In order to express his dissatisfaction, the emperor sent an edict to Liu Yunsheng and asked him to focus on Nanyang. As for the war with South Vietnam, he was no longer required to participate.

The emperor had officially appointed Fu Shan, the envoy of the Zuo Privy Council, as the governor of Annam, and he was fully responsible for the conquest of Nanyue and Chenla. Wang Qian, the former chief of the general staff of the Privy Council, was promoted to the left privy councilor, Zhang Shan, the former admiral, was promoted to the right privy envoy in Beijing, and Cai Yuan, the former chief of the general staff of the Privy Council, was promoted to the chief of the general staff of the Privy Council.

Liu Yunsheng, the governor of the South Seas, controlled the Eighth Fleet of the South China Sea and the Ninth Fleet of the West, and sat in Singapore to declare war on Sanyi.

Fu Shan, the governor of Annam, controlled the Sixth and Seventh Fleets of Nanyang, and controlled the Imperial Legion, the Foreign Legion, the Korean Legion, and the Jurchen Legion, and was responsible for the conquest of Annam and Chenla.

Zheng Zhilong, the governor of Central South China, continued to command the soldiers and horses of the Central South Military Region, and was responsible for the conquest of Donghu, Nanzhang, and Dacheng.

The fact that the two former privy envoys were sent to Southeast Asia shows that the emperor attached great importance to the situation here. It was also taken into account that the imperial court was going to wage war against Sanyi and the peninsula countries at the same time, and it was difficult for Liu Yunsheng to control the situation on such a large battlefield. Therefore, Fu Shan was deliberately asked to go south, and Liu Yunsheng was only responsible for Nanyang Sanyi.

Chinese New Year's Eve, but Singapore does not have the slightest taste of the year. The emperor has already moved into anger, and Liu Yunsheng has to send troops in advance, and this year can only be over. If you don't kill Sanyi, you won't be able to celebrate the New Year.

During this time, Sanyi had attacked more than 20 Han merchant ships, and 13 of them were missing, most likely sunk or captured.

Singapore, the newly formed South China Sea Fleet's Eighth Fleet has also arrived. Coupled with the Ninth Western Fleet, which was originally combined into one fleet by the Western Fleet, Liu Yunsheng's strength was very strong.

With a fleet of 12 battleships, more than 40 cruisers of the third and fourth classes with more than 74 guns on the double gun deck, and other ships of the fifth and sixth ranks, as well as gunboats, patrol boats, and transport ships of other ranks, this is a huge combined fleet with nearly 300 ships of all sizes.

The total number of warships and armed merchant ships in the entire Nanyang region will not exceed two hundred, and the tonnage and firepower of the imperial cruisers will not exceed forty.

The overall strength of the two sides is very different. The naval strength of the Nanyang Military Region is at least twice that of Sanyi.

"Commander, I think that if you want to deal with Sanyi, you should strike first. Let's attack Batavia first. ”

The commander of the Eighth Fleet proposed.

On a spread out chart. The South Sea Islands, which the Yi call the East Indies or the Spice Islands, are actually a relatively closed area, with three gateways to the outside world in the south.

The first portal. It's the Straits of Malacca. The second gateway is the Sunda Strait, and the third gateway is the Timor route.

The Straits of Malacca are relatively long and narrow. Now the most important port of the strait, the city of Malacca, is controlled by the Portuguese. To the south, it was controlled by the Aceh state west of Sumatra, although the Han also controlled the strait.

The Han controls Singapore, the easternmost point of the strait, although Singapore is only a small island at the eastern end and is far less located than Malacca. But with a strong fleet, the Great Han can also block the eastern exit of the strait. At most, the sea area is larger, and the blockade requires more warships, but these are not a problem for Liu Yunsheng.

However, even if Dahan can block the Strait of Malacca, it will still not be enough.

Because there is also a Sunda Strait.

This strait was not as famous as Malacca in later generations, nor was it as important as Malacca. But at this time, his role is no worse than that of Malacca. In later generations, the Malacca route was much shorter than that of Sunda, and the Strait of Malacca was wider and deeper, so it could pass through large ships, even if the busy sea ships entered and exited, it would not be too congested.

However, the Sunda Strait is farther than Malacca, and the hydrology of the channel is more complicated, and some places are not suitable for large ships to pass through, and many places are narrower, which makes it not only dangerous for busy ships to go here, but also far away, and the navigation capacity is even more insufficient.

But in this era, the ships are relatively small, even if they are large merchant ships, they are only one or two thousand tons, and the Sunda Strait is no problem at all, and there are not as many ships as in later generations, so they will not support it.

The first Portuguese took control of the Straits of Malacca, seized the city of Malacca, and took control of this important strait passage in order to strengthen their monopoly on the spice trade.

Later the Dutch and the British also came, but a step too late. In order to gain the initiative, they managed to bypass Malacca, then discovered the Sunda Strait, and set their sights on Batavia in order to control the Sunda Strait.

The Dutch and the British fought here several times, and eventually the Dutch occupied Batavia at the western tip of Java, and built a strong fortress, and gradually developed the city into a new trading city, such as cultivation and processing.

The Spaniards arrived earlier than the Anglo-Dutch, but also later than the Portuguese. However, the Spaniards did not take the South Sea and Indian Ocean routes, they took the Pacific routes, from the Americas through the Pacific Ocean directly to the South Seas, so they did not have to go through the Strait of Malacca and Sunda, but had a secret route of their own, which was to take the Timor route east of the Spice Islands.

It is precisely because of these three routes that Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands have become the three hegemons in the South Seas. The British have always been able to make a small fuss in the South Seas, and it is precisely because they have not been able to have a route of their own that they have never been able to develop in the South Seas.

The chief of staff stood aside and nodded.

Although the Empire's fleet in the South Seas was strong, there was one more factor that they had to consider. That is the port castle of Sanyi in the South Seas, especially the city of Manila in Luzon and the city of Batavia in Java by the Spanish and Dutch.

The port was very easy to defend and difficult to attack, because the forts and batteries built in the port could be erected without restriction on the fort guns and shore defense guns, which could be much larger than the guns on the battleship and shoot much farther. Neither the caliber nor the number can be compared with battleships.

In particular, the guns on the shore are not affected by wind and waves, etc., so the shooting accuracy is also higher. In particular, the coastal defense artillery does not have to worry about being detected.

A harbor fortress with strong shore fire resistance, it is the nemesis of the navy. Even if the Eighth and Ninth Fleets of the South Seas had two or three hundred ships, forty or fifty large warships, and several thousand guns, they did not dare to say that they could storm the port fortress in a tough way.

Batavia has been built for decades and is an extremely strong fortress in its own right, and although it has since developed into a commercial port, it is not weakly defended.

As for the city of Manila in Luzon, it was built by the Spaniards for a longer period of time, and the city of Manila was larger, more populous, with more garrisons and more powerful castle forts.

It is not realistic to forcibly attack the port.

Therefore, the opinion of the generals is still blocked.

With the city of Singapore in their hands, and the Portuguese already expressing their neutrality, then Malacca can control the blockade.

Now there are only two routes left, one is the Sunda Strait and the other is Timor.

To control the Sunda Strait, you must first conquer Batavia. As for the Timor route, it is still further east.

The Sunda Strait is deep, but the channel is long and narrow, only five or six miles wide at the narrowest point, and only six or seven zhang deep at the shallowest point. Therefore, it is also the easiest to block.

The Dutch have always used it through the Spice Islands.

"In order to control the Sunda Strait, the Dutch established the city of Batavia, but Batavia is still 200 miles away from the Sunda Strait. As long as our fleet directly blocked the Sunda Strait, the Dutch ships would not be able to pass through the strait, and their spices would not be allowed to be shipped out. ”

"As soon as the Straits of Malacca and Sunda are blocked, the Dutch will either wait for death or have to come to the port to fight us at sea. In this way, we will be able to lure the snake out of the hole and fight the sea battle we want. Without the support of the harbor batteries, what will the Dutch do to fight us? Even if Spain and England were to support them, we would have nothing to fear of anyone as long as we were not fighting against the shore guns in the harbor. When we defeat their fleet in a decisive battle at sea, we can go directly to their ports and blockade Batavia and Manila completely, making them dead cities. In this way, Hongyi will either ask for surrender or wait for death. ”

"As long as we block the Sunda Strait and the Strait of Malacca, the initiative of the entire South China Sea will be in our hands."

Liu Yunsheng agrees with this view.

"Okay, then let's lure the snake out of the hole, and the Governor himself will lead forty capital warships and a hundred other ships of all sizes to accompany us, and this time we will directly block the Sunda Strait and force the Dutch to fight."

Liu Yunsheng smashed his fist on the chart.

Ignoring the dissuasion of the generals, Liu Yunsheng insisted that he personally lead the fleet to fight in the Sunda Strait. He also approved the commander of the Ninth Fleet to stay in Singapore and blockade the Strait of Malacca, prohibiting the entry and exit of ships from Britain and the Netherlands.

At the same time, several warships and a dozen boats were also pulled out to form a task force patrol, which was responsible for patrolling the sea, specifically looking for lone Xiyi ships, sinking them and capturing them once they were discovered, and not giving Hongyi a chance to replenish. (To be continued.) )