Originally, I thought that the Ming Dynasty was forbidden to the sea, and there were basically no sea ships in the East China Sea, at least ocean-going ships could not be seen.

In fact, when they came to Southeast Asia, the navy of the Republic saw many ships sailing with the Ming flag. After inquiry, they were all maritime merchants from Zhejiang and Fujian, mainly running trade routes in Southeast Asia and the Indochina Peninsula. Of course, there are also direct routes to North Korea and the Wa Kingdom, but no one dares to go, after all, everyone knows that it is the unique route of the Zheng family, and others are not allowed to take it, otherwise they will bear the consequences.

In addition, in the last year or two, both the Wa Kingdom and Korea have been attacked by the Manchus, so even in the past, there was no trade. But even if they take the Nanyang route, it's not very comfortable.

First, you need to pay 3,000 taels of silver to buy a Zheng family flag from Zheng Zhilong, so that you can sail smoothly, otherwise you will be found by the Zheng family's patrol boats, and you will pay a fine of 5,000 taels at the least, or directly sink or capture it, then you really want to cry without tears.

Even if you avoid the Zheng family's navy, you will encounter the navy of the Francophone and Hongyi when you go south, and if you are lucky, you can naturally sell the goods at a good price, and if you are unlucky, the other party will see the goods on the ship, and you must pay 30% as a toll, otherwise you may be sunk or captured.

It's okay to be sunk, but the one who was captured was really a slave and a maid, and he couldn't survive in this life.

Liu Ruoqi asked at the time: "Isn't Daming forbidden to the sea?" What, the ban has been lifted? ”

The boatman said with a smile: "The Ming Dynasty now uses the three northern provinces as a base area, and can't control the south." However, I heard that Shandong is open to the sea, and some people who don't like ocean trade make a few trips to the north and south to sell some grain or something, but it is also a livelihood; Nan Zhili has always forbidden the sea, first, the gentry are not allowed to destroy their existing interests, and second, Zheng Zhilong does not want to have other competitors; As for Guangdong, as long as you pay enough taxes, you can go to sea as you want. I heard that in the area of the Beibu Gulf of Guangxi, Emperor Zhang Xianzhong of Daxi also allowed the local people to go to sea for foreign trade. The times are different, if in the past, the emperor had to listen to the words of the scholars and obediently forbid the sea, and as a result, a few fixed maritime merchants in our two provinces ran trade, and the money was only earned. ”

For the previous bitterness. forced Daming, Liu Ruoqi didn't want to comment on anything. After confirming that the entire East China Sea has been basically lifted, and maritime merchants can be seen everywhere on the waterway, Liu Ruoqi is also considering whether it is better to expel Zheng Zhilong simply or all maritime merchants.

In the end, he still made a decisive choice, and all the maritime merchants were not allowed to go south. After all, no matter how much money they make, they don't care what happens to the republic.

After determining the basic strategy, Liu Ruoqi naturally wanted to continue to go north. The current goal was to take the Netherlands away, and for this purpose the army stationed in Burma also came with more than 1,000 men, and after taking Taiwan later, they would also be stationed on this treasure island. Not to mention, five civil servants are ready to take office at any time.

The expulsion of the maritime merchants naturally had to be left until after the Dutch had been dealt with and Taiwan had been recaptured.

As the convoy entered the waters near Taiwan, the enemy also seemed to have received the news and sent people to intercept it.

Interestingly, not only two treasure ships appeared, but also more than a dozen Dutch galleons. That's not all, the most important thing is that around these big ships, there are actually more than a hundred small runabouts. Or small ships like walking boats, which are mainly used for gang jumping battles that quickly approach the enemy.

However, this kind of walking seems to have other uses in this era.

Looking at the other party's formation, it was completely planned for a long time, and I thought that I had already received the news that the Republic Navy was going to come over to deal with them, so I prepared first.

If it was to deal directly with these Dutchmen, Liu Ruoqi and all the admirals would have no opinion at all.

But looking through the telescope, Liu Ruoqian found that the other party's walkers were all numb Chinese, most likely Han residents of Taiwan. At this moment, it is obvious that they are threatened by the Dutch, and they will become a dare force like cannon fodder, in exchange for some initiative and superiority for the war. The worst thing is that through the guò telescope, you can see that there are a lot of ignition objects on each boat, and it is conceivable that the real use of these boats is for fire attack!

Maybe it's useless to deal with steamships, but you must know that most of the ships of this era are wooden ships, not to mention that there are also thirty wooden sailing ships in the navy's warships, and in this case, fire attacks can still have a strong effect.

In other words, in order to avoid a successful fire attack on the ship, it is necessary to knock it into the air or sink it before the opponent ignites a death charge. The latter is obviously not very effective, after all, the other side has too many ships, as long as they are scattered, it is not so easy to deal with.

It's just that this is not easy to deal with, and it is only for ordinary sailing ships.

Liu Ruoqi is ready to let them see the scientific and technological achievements of the Republic!

At this time, the two sides called the flag, and signaled to the Republic Navy with a somewhat contemptuous tone: Yellow-haired monkey, go back!

Seeing this banner, basically as long as there is a little blood, I'm afraid I can't stand it, right?

So Liu Ruoqi responded: Go back to your hometown! Soft eggs!

Obviously, there is no way to ease things, but strictly speaking, the two sides have no intention of easing at the beginning.

The rest of the matter was simple, the Dutch side took the lead in launching an offensive, and hundreds of ships went to the vanguard, but they immediately scattered and rushed from all directions.

In such a situation, you have to bombard with artillery, and if you are unlucky, you may not be able to hit the opponent at all. It's just that Liu Ruoqi didn't plan to use the cannon, but just gave an order to let the steamship assault.

The steamship began to accelerate slowly, and finally increased to its maximum speed.

At such a speed, even if the opponent took advantage of the gap to ignite and plan to attack, and collided with a steam ship, he could only be knocked over obediently.

It was only at this time that many people, including the Dutch, realized that the steamship was not the kind of wooden ship with an iron shell, but was really made of iron hull. But no one knows why an iron hull can float on the water, and how to make such an iron hull travel faster than a sailboat.

The only thing I know is one thing: TNND, others are still playing wooden sailboats, why did this republic actually play with iron-hulled ships!

Someone is hanging, God, hurry up and take this demon!