Compared to the East India Company's new governor of Batavia, Matecosol, Trope, the commander-in-chief of the Dutch expeditionary fleet, was much more cautious, and was discussing the prospects of such a battle with his fierce general, Reut.

"Give." Troppe handed Leut a glass of white wine and said with some concern, "For this expedition, we in the Dutch Republic have paid a heavy price, not only by recognizing the Navigation Regulations issued by the Kingdom of England, but also by ceding a great deal of trade benefits to the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Spain. ”

"If the final result is not satisfactory, there is really no way to explain it to the parliament."

After a pause, he added: "When the time comes, it will not be a question of stepping down or not stepping down, or the two of us will be sent to the gallows to be hanged by the angry shareholders of the East India Company." ”

"Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, please trust my judgment." "I have been at sea with my father since I was 11 years old as a midshipman, and since I was 28 years old as a captain, and I am even more familiar with the sea than on land. ”

"Once all of our merchant ships in the Netherlands are converted into such ships, then trade between the oceans will no longer be affected by the climate, and the efficiency will be greatly improved, and the fleet of our Dutch Republic will also have a crushing advantage over the navies of the surrounding countries."

Trop said: "This is also the reason why you insist on concentrating such a large fleet? ”

"Yes." Reuth said in a deep voice, "This kind of big black ship of the Ming Dynasty is not only covered with thick iron armor on the surface of the hull, but also does not use sails to drive, which has already posed a mortal threat to the navies of all Europa countries, including our Kingdom of the Netherlands, if it cannot be strangled in the cradle before the Ming navy grows up, the consequences will be unimaginable, and then the countries of Europa will not lose the interests of the eastern route, and even the interests of South Asia and black Africa will be lost, which is heavily dependent on trade, it was a catastrophe. ”

"Reut, I've always trusted your judgment." Trop patted Reuth on the shoulder, and continued, "It is because I believe in you that I have taken great pains to convince the majority of the members of Parliament and the majority of the shareholders of the East India Company, Reuth, to go ahead and do it, I believe that you can take the Dutch Navy to a whole new level." ”

Reut said solemnly: "Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, now we can discuss the issue of tactics. ”

"Okay." Tropp handed the wine glass to the attendant, and spread the chart on the long conference table, "Leut, you say, how should this battle with Daming be fought?" ”

I saw that the nautical charts on the table were a little rough, but they were roughly correct.

In particular, the coastline error of the Ming Dynasty is very small, which shows that a lot of thought was spent in order to draw this nautical chart.

Reut patted the nautical chart and said in a deep voice: "According to the information provided by the missionaries, it is basically certain that the shipyard that made the big black ship is here, Nanjing City. ”

"So my opinion is to concentrate all the main forces, go up the river, and directly take down the city of Nanjing."

"The Ming Dynasty is too big, and it is unthinkable to destroy the Ming Dynasty in World War I, but it is not difficult to capture Nanjing and force the Ming Dynasty to negotiate peace with me, and after the capture of Nanjing, we can naturally obtain the construction technology of the Great Black Ship and bring these technologies back to the shipyard in Amsterdam."

"So, what are the odds of winning this battle?" Trop said with some concern, "You also know, these big black ships of the Ming Dynasty not only do not need to be driven by sails, but also have a larger tonnage than our battleships, and what is even more tricky is that the surface of these big black ships is also covered with thick iron armor, and our naval guns may not be able to penetrate the iron armor of the black ships." ”

[Note: The origin of the name battleship is because the battleships need to be lined up during the battle, and it has nothing to do with tonnage, at this time, most of the main sail battleships in Europe are 1,000 tons, and the number of 2,000-ton battleships is very small, only Spain's Galen-class has 3,000-ton battleships]

The tonnage, protection, and naval artillery performance were inferior to the Ming navy, and Trop was not confident.

Leut persuaded: "Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, the decisive factor in determining the victory or defeat of a sea is not only the tonnage, speed and artillery performance of the battleship, but also the quality of the crew, and the most important thing is the correct tactics, not to mention that our Dutch expeditionary fleet has more than 200 merchant ships in addition to 50 battleships, and the huge advantage in numbers is enough to make up for the disadvantages of tonnage, protection and naval gun firepower, supplemented by excellent crews and correct tactics, it is not difficult to win." ”

"The right tactics?" "So what kind of tactics are you going to use?" ”

"Wipe out the Ming Navy in the harbor!" "I have carefully studied the climate and hydrology of the Far East, and from May and June every year there are often hurricanes, and not only the fishermen of the Ming Dynasty will hide in the coastal ports, but their warships will also sail back to the ports, so we will take advantage of this time to quietly send troops." ”

As he spoke, he pointed to the Yangtze River and said, "Advance all the way along the Yangtze River to Nanjing City." ”

"By the time the Ming army discovered our fleet, we had already hit outside the city of Nanjing."

"At that time, as long as we fan the main force of the expeditionary fleet on the periphery of the Daming shipyard, we can form a concentrated fire advantage over the Daming warships moored in the port, and the big black ships of the Daming Dynasty are difficult to deploy because they are crowded together, so they can only be sunk by our expeditionary fleet one after another."

After a pause, Reut smiled again and said, "Unless the Ming Dynasty people have a way to drive their big black ship to land, they can only be sunk by us." ”

Hearing this, Trop was completely relieved.

"Reuit, I'm still the same as I just said."

"Let go and do it boldly."

"You will become the greatest naval commander-in-chief in the history of the Netherlands."

"Thank you, Commander-in-Chief, for your trust." "I will not disappoint you, nor will I disappoint the members of the Dutch Parliament or the shareholders of the East India Company. ”

……

It has to be said that Leut's idea is good.

It's a pity that Da Ming didn't give him a chance.

While the Dutch expeditionary fleet was still waiting for its time in Batavia, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd fleets of the Ming Navy had already made all preparations for the expedition.

All officers and non-commissioned officers on leave returned to the team.

All supplies, including fresh water, canned fruits and vegetables, were delivered to the ship.

Ammunition for 4-inch naval guns and 6-inch naval guns was also distributed to every battle shed.

Chongzhen also equipped each cruiser with two additional Type 25 multi-barreled heavy machine guns.

Everything was ready to stop, and just when Zheng Zhilong was gearing up to do something, an accident happened.

That night, Zheng Zhilong happily drank a few more drinks with Zheng Hongkui, Zheng Zhibao, Zheng Zhipeng, Zheng Cai, Zheng Sen, Zheng Du, Zheng En and other brothers and nephews, but his right foot and neck were swollen into a big radish that night.

After Chongzhen heard the news, he hurried to Zheng's mansion to visit, and when he saw Zheng Zhilong's swollen feet and neck, Chongzhen looked worried on the surface. But don't mention how happy you are.

It's not in vain that he has rewarded seafood and beer all these years.

After many years, Zheng Zhilong's gout finally attacked.

Gout is a thing that will kill you, but the pain is really painful, and the key is even more painful.

Zheng Zhilong was worried about losing this opportunity, and struggled to get off the ground, but as soon as his right foot touched the ground, it hurt so much that cold sweat beads the size of beans appeared on his head.

"How so?" Chongzhen said with a regretful face, "How is this good?" ”

Zheng Zhilong sighed and said lonely: "Holy Lord, this leg of the minister is gone, and he can't move anymore." ”

Chongzhen also sighed, and said helplessly: "In this way, this expedition will be canceled, without Zheng Qing in command, I really lack confidence in my heart, let's wait for later." ”

"This must not be." Zheng Zhilong hurriedly persuaded, "How can military affairs be child's play? ”

Zheng Hongkui, Zheng Zhibao, Shi Tianfu and others next to him also advised Chongzhen: "Saint, there is no turning back when you open the bow, since the will to go to war has been issued, you must send troops, otherwise it is easy to dampen morale." ”

Chongzhen was a little embarrassed when he heard this: "But this leg of the Duke of Min ......"

Zheng Zhilong said sadly: "Shengshang, the minister's fourth brother Hongkui, the fifth brother Zhibao and the younger brother Zhipeng are already familiar with naval warfare, and Shi Tianfu and Shi Lang's uncle and nephew are even more brave, even if the minister is not in the army, it doesn't matter. ”

"That's fine." Chongzhen slapped his leg a little reluctantly and said, "Then let Zheng Sen lead the air force to join the expedition." ”

It is also within Chongzhen's plan to let Zheng Sen lead the air force to the expedition, because this expedition is not only a naval battle, but also to sweep away all the strongholds of European countries in Southeast Asia, this task cannot be completed by the navy alone, and there must be an air force and an army, and with air combat to help the war, it will be much easier.

Because most of the strongholds and cities built by European countries in Southeast Asia were fortresses.

With the army's artillery alone, it is difficult to destroy the fortresses of these large and small strongholds in a short period of time.

However, with the help of the Air Force, the situation is very different, because the Air Force's "flying car" has been greatly improved, equipped with small turbines, faster flight speed, longer range, and stronger anti-jamming ability, and the biggest improvement is that the amount of ammunition carried has increased dramatically, from the previous 200 catties to the current full 500 catties.

If you don't take into account the range, you can even carry a thousand pounds of bombs when performing short-distance bombing.

With a bomb carrying capacity of 1,000 catties, it can already carry ten heavy bombs of 100 catties.

Moreover, the firearms department has successfully developed an incendiary bomb, which is a bomb similar to napalm made by pyrolysis of crude oil to obtain gasoline and diesel and then mixed with grease and grease, which is very cruel.

(End of chapter)