Fifty or sixty before the decisive battle

Well, it's been more comfortable these days, and I've rushed another chapter out.

The next update is probably going to wait for the weekend.,Anyway, I'll try to write-

On October 22, 1633, at five drums in the morning, in Liaoluo Bay near Kinmen Island, the Ming Empire, with the Zheng private army as the main force of the sea force, launched a fierce battle with the privateer fleet of the Dutch East India Company from Europe.

In this battle, the Zheng side invested more than 150 warships and tens of thousands of soldiers, and the Dutch East India Company also sent the most powerful force, a total of dozens of the latest warships with cannons, and the fleet of the Chinese pirate Liu Xiang totaled more than 50 ships. Both sides used powerful artillery and a large number of firearms in naval battles - the Zheng family's cannons were mainly purchased from British ships.

However, at the end of the battle, the Zheng family still relied on traditional hand-to-hand combat and arsonist tactics to gain an advantage, and finally captured and sank all the Dutch ships, winning the naval battle.

This is the famous Battle of Liaoluo Bay, which, as far as the Zheng family and the Dutch themselves are concerned, is nothing more than a battle for trade rights in the South China Sea. But no one on either side of the war could have imagined that this battle would have a much more important meaning in the eyes of later generations - it was the largest naval battle between Chinese maritime power and Western colonizers since the Age of Discovery, and that a similar collision between East and West would not be until the Opium War of 1840. It is a pity that the brilliant Qing Dynasty was only good at cavalry and archery, but was completely defenseless against the enemy at sea, so that the British fleet, which was not much larger than that of the Netherlands, fought from Guangdong to Tianjin, and crisscrossed the sea as if no one was there...... In the end, a humiliating treaty was signed, which was far less brave than the private army of a smuggler at the end of the Ming Dynasty, which was comparable to that of the Europeans.

-- This is something that happened in history, and in this time and space, despite the appearance of this group of modern people on the Qionghai, a lot has changed. But interestingly, in 1633, this seemingly fateful naval battle between the Zheng family and the Dutch still broke out, but the time was slightly earlier, and the location was changed to the mouth of the Tamsui River in Taipei. In addition, the biggest difference from the decisive battle in history is that the Zheng family is no longer alone, and another armed force has been added to the Chinese fleet.

…………

"It's a blessing to be able to participate in this big battle that will go down in history!"

In the past few days, Wen Desi has always put this sentence on his lips, so that it is difficult for Wang Haiyang to understand. In his opinion, if he wants to go down in history, the previous battles of the Joan Navy seem to be more qualified. For example, the original battle for the defense of Qiongzhou Mansion, whether in terms of scale, fierce process, or the dramatic change of the battle situation later, is far from being comparable to this naval battle.

Even if Wen Deji explained to him that the reason why the battle was exciting was because it was a real event that happened in history, Wang Haiyang was not very interested in it. In his view, since history has been changed, there is no need to dwell on the so-called "real history", and it is only right to look at the present.

Besides, they may not be sure to win this battle!

-- Although in the eyes of outsiders, the most formidable force in the seas of Southeast Asia today is none other than their Qiong Navy. At the beginning, the three strong teams of West, the Netherlands and the British joined forces with the Daming Naval Division to besiege Qiongzhou Mansion, and they all ended up in a big defeat and loss. Not only outsiders, but even many people within their Qiong Navy thought so.

Only Wen Desi, Wang Haiyang and other modern people know in their hearts -- the reason why they were able to win a hundred battles at sea in the past was mainly to rely on the Qionghai, a steel giant ship that was much ahead of the current era, to support the scene. Whether it is Hainan Island or Manila, when facing the European powers that come from across the sea, the only thing they can confront them is the Qionghai, which has been ahead for more than 300 years.

And without the support of the Qionghai, they can only bully and bully opponents with weak naval forces - such as the Battle of Shandong and the Luzon Raiders. If you encounter the opponent's strength equal to your own, or even better, you have to temporarily back down. So far, there has only been one battle in which the Joan navy has really fought hard against its opponents with similar technology, and that is when Ling Ning commanded the Earl to engage the Spanish fleet outside the port of Manila. The naval brethren were valiantly in that battle, but in the end they were outnumbered, and the wolf fled back into the harbor - artillery and some minor improvements were not enough to offset the enemy's huge numerical superiority.

This time, the situation was a bit similar, the Zheng family's fleet and personnel must be under the command of Zheng Zhilong, the leader of the Zheng family, and the Qiong Navy only had five fast schooners here. Although these five ships were all from the Hainan Island shipyard and concentrated a large number of cutting-edge goods with later technology, the main purpose of designing them was not to deal with the war after all.

"...... 'Snow Wind', 'White Horse', and 'Feiyan', these large ships are equipped with two single-shot rocket launchers, while the smaller 'Yefen' and 'Shiyu' have only one each—this is still a temporary installation, and it is also their only fixed weapon."

"This kind of firepower is enough for self-defense in peacetime, but if you want to participate in the war, it is still a little weaker. According to the experience of previous real combat, the hit rate of a single rocket is very problematic, and it is even inferior to artillery. ”

"Then it's even more important to study the tactics and try to make the most of your strengths and avoid your weaknesses......"

At the internal meeting, Wen Desi, Wang Haiyang, Huang Xing and others met to discuss tactics, and although they only had five ships on hand, they were still determined to fight the majesty of the Qiong Navy in this battle. Although the firepower is a little weak, if it can give full play to its advantages of maneuverability and flexibility, it can also play a great role in harassing the enemy artillery beyond the range of the enemy's artillery with rockets equipped with incendiary warheads.

As for the lack of melee firepower, it was necessary to mobilize marines on board and compensate for it with rifles and grenades. Fortunately, there are not a few marine troops brought by Wang Haiyang this time, and enough troops can be arranged on each boat, so that the enemy army will come up to fight the broadside battle.

…………

A.D. 1633, July 15.

Outside the Tamsui estuary in the northern part of the island of Taiwan, countless ships gather here, and as far as the eye can see, there are flags fluttering in the wind and sails puffing up in the wind. Every boat was densely packed with men - naval warfare was still dominated by manpower in those days. At least in East Asia, this habit has not changed among maritime powers other than the Joan navy.

When the main fleet of the Zheng family arrived in the northern part of Taiwan and the target sea area, they did not wait to attack the Dutch, but sent people over to submit a war report, agreed on a time, and prepared for a regular sea duel. The Dutch readily accepted the war letter, which made the Zheng family quite strange.

Zheng Zhilong also arranged a few detailed works in Liu Xiang's team, but their status was not high, and they had no chance to pass on the news when they followed the large army at sea before, but now that the positions of the two sides are very close, those detailed works have also sent some news one after another. According to their report, the Dutch were determined to fight the Ming fleet here, for they found that the great iron ship which they feared most was not here—and it was evident that the sea coachmen were still fearless as long as they did not fight the great iron ship.

In the days that followed, armies on both sides were gearing up for a big fight. Zheng Zhilong presented his soldiers with a high reward: all the soldiers participating in the battle were given two taels of silver first, and promised an additional five taels after the battle was over. Each enemy head was worth ten taels of silver, and if it was a red-haired man, it was fifty taels.

As in history, the Zheng family prepared a large number of arson boats, each of which was piled with a large amount of grease and grass, and the bow was equipped with large iron nails with barbs, which were driven by sixteen sailors paddling together. The promise to them was that as long as they set fire to the other party's ship, they would immediately reward them with two hundred taels of silver, and they would never be in arrears if they paid on the spot!

As for Qiongjun's side, Zheng Zhilong also came over in advance to say hello - even if your Thor rocket hits, no matter how much it hits, no matter whether it hits or not, as long as it is launched, it will all be our Zheng family, and we will all be reimbursed after the war!

With Zheng Zhilong's words, Wen Desi and the others were naturally happy and generous, originally the batch of ammunition they carried was to be used, and it was of course best if someone voluntarily paid for it. Due to the large-scale production, the cost of rockets has dropped a little, but the external quotation is still 500 silver dollars a piece, equivalent to 250 taels of silver, and there is never a counteroffer - fighting a war is fighting money, and this sentence is most suitable for the Qiong Navy. And because the Joan Navy basically does not sell weapons to the outside world, many forces can't buy them if they want to.

The day before the battle began, another small schooner came and joined the fleet of the Qiong navy - it was the original model of the old one, the previous owner of the name "Snow Wind". The little guy who was now bought as a toy by Andrew with private funds.

Except for Andrew, the sailman, there were only two passengers on board, one was Zheng Zhihu, the second master of the Zheng family, and the other was Pang Yu, who obviously came from the starry night on the Shandong side. After Zheng Zhihu heard that he had found the tail of the Dutchman and was about to start a decisive battle with him in northern Taiwan, he insisted on coming to join the war, and it would definitely be too late to rely on their Zheng family's own ship. So he pestered Pang Yu to borrow a short-haired fast spaceship from him.

And Pang Yu himself also wanted to take the opportunity to come over and see the excitement, his thoughts were very similar to Wen Desi's - for this decisive battle of Zheng He, which was extremely similar to real history, and could be said to replace the battle of Liuluo Bay, he had a mentality that was close to worship. If you have the opportunity to participate in it, you will never let it go.

At this time, Andrew got a new little racing boat that he had been coveting for a long time, and "walked the boat" to Shandong, so he asked him to help send the two over. Along the way, he hurried and hurried, and finally arrived at the battlefield before the decisive battle began. RO