"How is this place the same as Guilin?"

On the cruiser Weiqing, Ma Tianyou, a naval officer from Guilin, Guangxi, looked at the strange appearance of Halong Bay in surprise. The ship sailed in Ha Long Bay, making him feel as if he was sailing on the Li River in his hometown of Guilin.

On this calm sea, there are countless mountain islands, dotted with them, which are simply innumerable.

Nature's magic crafts carved mountains and rocks and small islands in different shapes, some like chopsticks stuck in the water, some like a big tripod floating on the water, some like galloping horses, and some like fighting roosters, lifelike.

"Well, the Han merchants who used to be here also felt the same way, so they also gave this place a name, called Guilin on the Sea." The boatswain stood aside and said with a smile. The boatswain is the head of all the sailors on this battleship named after the famous generals of ancient China, with the title of former sergeant major, a former sergeant major in his forties, who was originally a sailor, and it was Vietnam that followed the maritime merchants. Therefore, he is very familiar with the area around Beibu Gulf.

Another officer, Ma Junwu, said on the side, "During the Tang Dynasty, this was Wu'an Prefecture under the Annan Protectorate, and the land in front of it was Haimen Town in Wu'an Prefecture. ”

"That's right, South Vietnam has been my Chinese territory since the Qin and Han dynasties, the Qin and Han barbarians rebelled, and the Han Dynasty recovered it. After the two Jin and Sui dynasties, although the Central Plains continued to be in flames, the land of Nanyue has always been controlled by China. Until the time of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the Southern Barbarians took advantage of the chaos to defeat the Southern Han army and rebelled again. Since then, although the Ming army has also recovered South Vietnam, it has unfortunately not been able to stabilize it. ”

The captain who spoke was the captain who came out of the captain's room in the stern, a former scholar in his thirties, who knew the history of South Vietnam very well, and because of this, he had always lamented this territory in his heart, like many Han Chinese.

It is gratifying that now that the empire has finally freed its hands, the Holy Han will be like the southern barbarians who recovered the Qin and Han rebellions in the former Han Dynasty. Conquer these Nanban again and reclaim this territory.

And to be able to be a striker, and still lead such a meaningful warship as the Weiqing, the captain felt very excited and proud.

"How many Vietnamese troops are there in Haimen Town?"

"Haimen Town has long been history, and the Protectorate of Annan, the Jinghai Festival, Wu'an Prefecture, and Haimen Town have long since ceased to exist. In the past, Haimen Town is now just a small fishing village. ”

"No, we're here to rebuild Haimen Town. Then set up Annam Province. The captain said, looking at the bay.

If it weren't for the arrogance of the South Vietnamese, the imperial court might not have done it now. But they joined forces with Donghu and others to fight against the imperial court, which forced the imperial court to act in advance.

The navy on the Wei Qing was very relaxed, and they didn't feel that the little Hou Li Dynasty could pose any threat to them, especially the navy.

Before leaving, Wei Qinghai also gave a special explanation of the war situation to the soldiers, so the crew knew that this arrogant South Vietnam had less than five million people in the whole country, and it was not as big as Japan. Even more peculiar. In such a large place, there were also two imperial courts, namely the Mo Dynasty in the north and the Later Li Dynasty, which occupied most of the northern part of South Vietnam.

But even the Nali Dynasty is not an iron bucket. They themselves were divided into three major forces. The Zheng clan controlled the Lê dynasty, and the emperor was only a puppet of the Zheng clan, while in the south, the Nguyen clan, who had contributed to the restoration, established the Southern Nguyen secession forces. And in the north of the Zheng family. There is also a Xuanguang town, which has also been divided for several generations.

South Vietnam, which was so torn apart, why should it resist the power of heaven?

However, Captain Wei Kang was not so careless. According to an intelligence report from Jinyiwei to the navy, although South Vietnam has been fighting fiercely in recent years, it is precisely because of the continuous fighting that its army is still somewhat strong. In the south alone, the Nguyen Thi had more than 200 warships and thousands of cannons. Of course, Wellcome did not think of a ship with a displacement of a hundred tons and usually only seven or eight guns.

But Nguyen's army had a large number of artillery and muskets, and they had been working with the Portuguese, and there were many Portuguese mercenaries as instructors in the army, so they were already proficient in the use of firearms. Otherwise, it would not have been able to withstand several attacks by the Zheng clan over the years, and also destroy the city and suppress Zhenla.

The Zheng clan, who controlled the Li Dynasty, had always been extremely militaristic, with a total population of less than 3 million, but they were often able to mobilize an army of 100,000 people to fight.

The Trung clan, who suffered a big loss under the Nguyen clan's firearms, also began to cooperate with the Dutch in recent years, buying artillery guns from the Dutch, introducing new tactics, etc., and also building a number of warships.

It should be said that this is an era of change, the Age of Discovery, which allowed a large number of Westerners to break into the East, and the firearms they brought inevitably changed the East. For example, the Ming Dynasty also bought artillery from the Portuguese, and even introduced cannon casting technology.

Japan, Korea, the Ming Dynasty and even the Jurchens were all affected by this and began to forge cannons and guns, and their tactics changed accordingly. In the Korean War that year, the muskets of the Japanese and the artillery of the Ming army fought fiercely, and each showed its strengths.

It is not surprising that the South Vietnamese are now supported by the Portuguese and the Dutch, respectively. Just as the British sold arms to Donghu and the Dutch sold arms to Champang, they didn't care if it was profitable.

But this will indeed cause some trouble than the Han army.

Fortunately, as far as Wei Kang knows, neither the Trung nor the Nguyen clan have a real navy. Their warships, at best, were similar to the fleets in Zheng Zhilong's hands before, at most they fought in the near sea, and they were all small boats, with few small guns.

Wei Qing is a cruiser, a standard third-class battleship, placed in European countries, can be directly called a battleship, with 86 guns of the Wei Qing cruiser, can fight in the ocean, a ship is a sea fortress.

What's more, this time, Wei Qinghao, as a striker, did not come alone, but in formation.

The third-class ship Weiqing was the flagship of this formation, and there were also two fourth-class ships, both of which were cruisers with standard seventy-four-gun double-gun decks, in addition, there were ten fifth- and sixth-class warships, and more than twenty smaller gunboats and patrol ships.

Their formation, which can be proud of the entire Beibu Gulf sea.

"Sail!"

The lookout post on the mast shouted.

On the sea, several sailing ships appeared, not the traditional Chinese hard sailing ships of the South Vietnamese people, but soft sailing ships, and they were three-sailing ships, large ships of at least three hundred tons or more.

"Dutch!"

It was the ship of the Dutch East India Company, and their flag was clearly recognizable. On the red, white and blue flag, there are four letters VOCA, the OC connected by V is the abbreviation of the company, and the A above is the abbreviation of Amsterdam.

"There are four boats!"

Officer Sheng Ma Tianyou held a clairvoyant mirror in one hand and turned his head to report to Captain Wei Kang.

"They are all three-masted ships, each with more than twenty guns, and they are armed merchant ships." Li Junwu also hurriedly reported.

Wellcome had seen this in the clairvoyant, but he still smiled with praise at the two young officers.

"Very well, it seems that we have met the fat sheep, since they have all been delivered to the mouth. We can't let it go. Beat the drums of war, get ready to hunt, don't let them run! ”

The ship's deputy immediately shouted in his voice, "Quick, rookies, all move, don't drop the chain at a damn critical time, this is the first battle of our Wei Qing, don't embarrass Wei Qing!" ”

The drums of preparation are beating. The captain of the Marine Corps immediately drove the snipers to the mast, and the sailors, who were resting in shifts, all jumped up and, under the command of the boatswain, began to prepare for battle according to their usual training.

The artillery group was in place. The deck group was in position, and the marines were all in position.

Full sail and full speed. Start chasing and gaining the upper hand.

Faster patrol ships and gunboats began to break away from the fleet, and they, relying on light and speed, began to outflank and intercept.

"Your Excellency, Captain. We're in trouble! ”

A crew member hurried into the captain's stern cabin and said to Captain Hemer.

"A fleet has appeared on the north side of the bay and blocked our way."

Captain Hammer's name originally means hammer, and this hammer captain is also an old captain with a lot of experience at sea. He has been running in the East Indies for many years, and after the cooperation between the Netherlands and India and the Zheng family in recent years, he often runs to South Vietnam. As soon as he heard that a fleet had appeared in the north, Captain Hammer couldn't help but be surprised.

The East Indies, or the South Seas as the Han Chinese called it, were not peaceful, and in the early years they raided the coast of China in an attempt to force the Han Chinese to open up trade with them and give them land to build trading stations. Later, the hard ones didn't work, and the soft ones didn't work, so they finally occupied a place in the big man, and they were driven away again.

At that time, although the Han warships and cannons were far inferior to the Dutch, the Han people could always defeat them with the tactics of sea of men or ships. Zheng Zhilong attacked with a large number of fireships back then, and that kind of crazy situation made him still palpitate very much.

Now that the conflict of trade interests between the Dutch and Indian companies and the Han state has intensified, and the relationship between the two sides is moving towards a dangerous situation, these Heimer also knew about it, and even he was recently ordered by the governor of the Dutch and Indian companies in Batavia to participate in the attack on the Han merchant ships.

He didn't expect that retribution would come so quickly. In the blink of an eye, he had already fallen into the hands of the Han people.

The fleet that can appear here, you don't need to ask, you know, except for the Han Empire, there will be no second fleet.

Hemmer grabbed his three-cornered hat and walked out of the captain's room.

Without clairvoyance, you can already see that fleet.

Hemmer's face turned pale, this was the real fleet all along, with three battleships, no less than ten more than fifty guns, and many brigs and sloops, which were now taking advantage of their high speed and swiftness.

"Maybe we can talk to them?"

The ship's mate looked at this huge fleet, and his palms were sweaty.

"Full sails, break through!"

Heimo gave the order without hesitation, seeing that the Han fleet outflanked and intercepted without saying a word, Haimo didn't believe that if he gave up resistance, he would get any fair treatment.

Besides, he had a ghost in his heart, and he always felt that these fleets appeared here, not by accident, but deliberately waiting for them here. Perhaps his own attack on that Han merchant ship was exposed.

"We can't outrun them." The first mate looked helpless, their ship was full of goods, and they were merchant ships, they had a large load, but the speed was slow, especially the number of guns on their ships was small, more than twenty guns per ship, if it was under normal circumstances, it was enough to deal with pirates, but now they were facing a huge fleet with three battleships, how to break through?

"Then throw all the goods away, you know what we have done, these people must have come because of this, surrounded by them, we have only a dead end." Hemmer turned his head. Showing a pale face.

"But these goods are lost, and the loss is too great." The adjutant said distressedly.

"My life is almost gone, I don't care about what those people do, as long as I can get out and keep the boat and people."

The order was passed down, and the four Dutch merchant ships began to turn around. The ship's sailors are desperately throwing the cargo into the sea to slow down the speed.

In the distance, on the deck of the Weiqing, Wei Kang saw the four Dutch ships making a decisive U-turn, still throwing cargo. I couldn't help but smile.

"These Dutchmen still want to run, and give me orders that if the Dutch refuse to lower their sails and stop the boat, they will immediately open fire to intercept them. If necessary, it can be sunk! ”

Patrol boats close to the Dutch flotilla issued flags to the Dutch and told them to stop their ships for inspection.

But the Dutch didn't care at all, and ran away desperately.

"Keep chasing."

Before the words of the patrol captain fell, a few cannons rang out, and the Dutch ship had already opened fire.

Several shells landed more than ten feet near the patrol boat. Columns of water are raised.

"Grass, dare to fire artillery, catch up, fire back!"

The Dutch merchant ships had low gun sights. Or the distance between the two ships was too far, and the guns on the Dutch merchant ships were not large, and the captain estimated that they were at most six pounds and nine pounds, and such artillery fire was not as good as his patrol boats. His patrol boat was a dhow. But there were dozens of crew members, and there were eighteen guns on board, including several twelve-pounder guns. There are even bow howitzers that can fire explosive shells.

Patrol ships are much smaller than merchant ships, and their guns are inferior to theirs, but they are light and agile, and they are fast in speed, but they are perfect against bulky merchant ships.

More than a dozen patrol boats and gunboats surrounded them like vicious sharks, and the Dutch guns kept firing, but they could not be hit.

And the patrol boats of the Han army were not in a hurry to fire their cannons, they just deftly dodged the shells, and then got closer and closer.

In the past, pirates at sea used these speedboats to plunder merchant ships, using speed and dexterity to help and jump to seize ships. However, the patrol boats and gunboats of the Great Han did not have to be so troublesome, and there were only some merchant ships, some small cannons, and a group of panicked gunners on the other side.

It was enough for them to get a little closer, and then bombard them with artillery far superior to that of the Dutch.

After less than an hour of chasing at sea, more than twenty gunboats and patrol boats finally surrounded the four Dutch merchant ships.

At this time, the Dutch merchant ships had completely entered the range of the Han merchant ships.

"Don't use explosive bombs, use chain bombs!"

Seeing that he had taken control of the situation, Wei Kang had a satisfied smile on his face.

Chain bullets with iron chains are the best weapons for capturing enemy ships, once the chain bullets break the mast of enemy ships, then in this vast sea, the enemy ships can only become lambs to be slaughtered, and there is no effect on any resistance.

Compared to the explosive bombs that the Han army now has, chain bombs can capture complete enemy ships, but if they are explosive bombs, they can often only harvest a sunken ship.

A cannon finally roared, and a chain of bullets whistled towards the masts of the four ships.

After hundreds of guns bombarded thousands of shells in a row, none of the masts of the four Dutch merchant ships were broken, and the speed of the four ships slowed down, losing their last chance to break through.

The artillery fire stopped, and the Dutch were forced to raise the white flag.

At this time, the dozen or so large ships led by Wei Kang were still far away.

"It's vulnerable!"

There was thunder of joy on the Weiqing.

Wei Kang smiled lightly, although Wei Qinghai and other battleships did not make a move, but the firepower of more than 20 gunboats and patrol boats was enough for no less than 500 guns, and the total number of guns of the four Dutch ships was less than 100.

Both in terms of the number of guns and the speed of the ships, the Dutch were completely at a disadvantage.

The victory of more than twenty warships over four merchant ships is nothing too commendable, and if this cannot be defeated, then it will be hell.

"Let people go and pick up the cargo that the Dutch have thrown into the sea, it is our spoils."

Hemmer was still alive, and the stormy attack just now was only aimed at the mast, so the hull did not suffer much damage, and the crew casualties were not large.

If the Imperial Navy wanted to sink the Dutch merchant ships, there was no need to go to such trouble, and more than 500 guns could completely drown them with cannonballs and send them to the bottom of the sea.

Heimer, who had survived the catastrophe, no longer had any luck mentality, and honestly ordered all the crew of the caravan to lay down their arms and surrender.

The Marines boarded four Dutch merchant ships and quickly took control of them, and all Dutch sailors were declared prisoners of the Holy Han Imperial Navy.

Hemmer also wanted to talk about the conditions, get some preferential treatment for the prisoners or something, but the marines didn't bother to pay attention to him, and directly pointed their bayonets at them, tied up all the more than 300 Dutch sailors on the four ships, and then locked them in the cabin.

Most of the goods that were thrown into the sea by the Dutch were also fished up and reloaded into ships.

The masts of the four ships were broken, and after a simple repair, they were pulled away by the Han fleet.

With four Dutch merchant ships in tow, Wellon led the fleet on its way to its intended destination. The destination of the fleet's trip was Cat Ba Island, a huge island only forty miles from the town of Haimen in the Tang Dynasty, and this huge island had been designated by the navy as an outpost for the navy to conquer Vietnam.

Wei Kang's task at this time was to occupy Cat Ba Island with the advance fleet, clear the South Vietnamese on it, and then receive the arrival of the Imperial Association Army and the Foreign Legion.

Cat Ba Island will become an outpost, and when the Imperial Association and the Foreign Legion are ready here, they will land directly under the cover of the navy at Haimen, which will later be known as Haiphong. After capturing the coast of Haimen, a landing point was established there, a fortress fortress and a port were set up.

The four Dutch merchant ships were completely a windfall for the rabbits. (To be continued.) )

PS: Thank you for the support of book friends 160515, Knights and Miles, thank you!