"The Portuguese consciously returned the island of Macau and prepared to evacuate their colonies in the South Seas, and it seems that they anticipated the conflict that would arise after our army intervened in the South Seas."

Jiangning City, in the Imperial Garden, Su Yan looked at the flowers and trees that were growing happily, and said in a flat tone.

"Your Majesty, although Hongmao Fan took the initiative to evacuate, Heyi has begun to enter a state of combat readiness, and there are only 20,000 people in the two naval and marine brigades, and the minister is still a little worried." Huang Enben, the left governor of the Navy Governor's Mansion, said in a low voice.

Today, he was summoned into the palace together with Su Dingyuan, the governor of the Governor's Office, and followed the emperor and the crown prince to the imperial garden to relax.

The prince listened to their conversation on the side, and now the 13-year-old prince is a little more mature than before, and he still looks like a little adult, if it were in my Qing Dynasty, he would have been able to sow and reproduce for the royal family by now, but under Su Yan's tough rules, he didn't even know much about men and women.

"It doesn't matter." Su Yan waved his hand and said, "Although the Dutch forces in the South Seas are mainly on the front line of Java Island, their colonies are scattered and they cannot quickly rush to each other's aid, as long as the sailors can block the sea, the Dutch's support speed will be even slower."

Su Yan's voice fell, and the prince on the side thought of something and asked:

"Father, why don't you let the Marines land on the island of Java and attack Batavia before the Dutch react?"

"Raid on Batavia?"

Su Yan and the others were stunned for a moment, and before Su Yan could speak, Li Yuanyin, the commander of the Jinyi Guards who followed a few steps away, smiled bitterly and said, "Your Royal Highness the Prince, you may not know that Batavia City uses Western city building technology, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Although Su Weize has a preliminary and systematic understanding of other countries in the known world of Great Xia, he does not know much about the specific customs and customs, let alone the relevant knowledge of city defense.

Hearing Li Yuanyin say this, he hesitated for a moment and asked, "Commander Li, who is better than the Dutch castle compared to the artillery equipped with our Xia army?"

"I'm afraid the Dutch's castle is stronger." Li Yuanyin thought for a while and replied: "Judging from the artillery equipped by the Marine Brigade, it is tantamount to a fool's dream to rely on artillery to collapse the city wall and attack the city in a short period of time.

"Indeed." Su Yan took over the conversation at this time and echoed, he had some understanding of the western fortress in his previous life, and the Western-style fortress was most suitable for defense, unless it was bombarded with concentrated fire from many cannons, it would be difficult to collapse the thick city wall.

"Your Majesty, according to what the ministers see, we should still send more troops to the South Seas to avoid the war turning into a tug-of-war." Su Dingyuan pulled the topic back and proposed.

"No need, I believe in the fighting power of the new army." Su Yan waved his hand, and he said, "Since the Portuguese are preparing to evacuate Nanyang, then the First Brigade, which was originally going to fight against Portugal, should cancel this battle plan and fight against the Dutch together with the Second Brigade."

After speaking, Su Yan ordered Li Yuanyin to prepare a map of Nanyang, and then moved the location with several ministers and came to the imperial study.

Soon, they gathered in front of the map of the South Seas, this map was drawn based on the spying of Jinyiwei and the intelligence provided by the maritime merchants, the terrain on it was not much different from the map of later generations under the personal supervision of Su Yan, and the forces and cities on it were also clearly marked.

To the east of Sulawesi, the islands of Taliab, the Bajan Islands, and the Moluccas are marked with the Dutch, the former being occupied by the Dutch in 1639, and the latter being snatched from the poor Portuguese.

Although the islands were under the control of the Dutch, in reality the Dutch had about zero military power here, and their role was to serve as a supply point at sea and a safe haven for ships.

Su Yan's fingers circled this piece and said, "These places are all under the control of the Dutch, but the military strength of the Dutch is actually very weak, and the 1st Marine Brigade does not need to bother to divide troops to occupy this place

In some places, their main target was the Dutch colony in the east of Java."

As he spoke, the attendants on the side also hurriedly took up a pen and recorded them, and these records were to be sent to the Liangdu Governor's Mansion after the end of the day, as a reference for the next military operation order in Nanyang.

"What the prince just said is very reasonable, capture the thief and capture the king first." Su Yan continued, and by the way, he praised his son, which made the prince subconsciously puff up his chest, "Therefore, the mission of the second brigade is to start directly from Makassar, cross the Java Sea, land outside Batavia, and cooperate with the sailors to blockade Batavia City, so that the orders of the Dutch East Indies Governor cannot be transmitted to the outside, and at the same time seal the city tightly, and prepare for a long-term siege."

"As for the local Han ......" Su Yan thought of the contents of the report of the commander of the Second Brigade, he frowned and thought for a while before continuing: "I have heard that the Dutch and the local natives often joined forces to oppress the Han people living in the diaspora, although these Han people emigrated overseas, they are still my people of Daxia, and when necessary, we can organize the local Han people, distribute ordnance, and ask them to assist the officers and soldiers in battle."

"Father, there are many Dutch warships, what if the East China Sea Division is defeated?" The crown prince raised his own doubts.

Su Yan listened to his inquiry, and couldn't help laughing, he gently patted the prince's shoulder, and said in a confident tone: "My Great Xia Naval Division is invincible in the world, not to mention that the Dutch came from thousands of miles away, how can they be able to defeat my Chaoshui Division's warship."

"Your Majesty's words are very true." Huang Enben, the Governor of the Naval Governor's Mansion, echoed: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince don't have to worry, the number of artillery equipped with the warships of our naval division is unparalleled in the world, not to mention that the East China Sea Division was formed from the beginning with the strongest naval division of the country, and the Heyi warships came from afar, mainly small and medium-sized warships, so there is no need to worry."

The prince listened to their words and nodded thoughtfully, Su Yan asked him to follow because he wanted to take this opportunity to let Su Vize get in touch with government affairs more, not just to read dead books, not only now, but also to let him listen on some occasions to discuss state affairs.

……

In September of the thirteenth year of Wu'an, the imperial court's decree was sent to Nanyang, and the two naval brigades that were in full swing of construction began to stop their work after receiving the will, inspect weapons and equipment, and prepare to board the ship for the expedition.

The Dutch have been paying attention to the actions of the Xia army, and seeing that the Xia army began to prepare for boarding the ship and going on the expedition, they hurriedly reported to the city of Batavia as soon as possible, and the parliament of the city of Batavia learned of this, and quickly raised the level of vigilance, and asked the colonies of Sri Lanka for help, asking Sri Lanka to send more warships and Indian colonial troops to support.

Looking at Kassar, Liu Yang looked at the assembled officers and soldiers of the Second Brigade, his hand was pressed on the scabbard, his eyes were like torches, and he said loudly: "Soldiers, the edict of the Son of Heaven ordered our army to conquer Batavia Hoyi, Batavia Hoyi and the local barbarians have repeatedly bullied the overseas Chinese of our Celestial Empire, and regard the majesty of our Dynasty as nothing, which is tolerable or unbearable.

"Get justice! Get justice!"

The officers and men below shouted loudly and angrily, and their shouts converged and echoed over the port of Makassar, causing the Portuguese and natives who were toiling in the distance to raise their heads in disbelief in the direction of the assembly of the army.

"Good!" Liu Yang shouted, drew his saber, pointed it in the direction of Batavia City, and ordered, "Board the ship and go on the expedition!"

A similar situation occurred in Manado, where all but those who had to remain behind were boarded on ships and sailed south under the escort of the East China Sea Division.

The Xia army's actions suddenly heated up the situation in the South Seas, not only the Dutch, but also the Malayan countries and Borneo countries began to become nervous, if they didn't think that the behemoths in the north would set their eyes on them, but after the Xia army openly occupied the Sultanate of Gowa, they began to be afraid, worried that one day the huge fleet of the Xia Dynasty would appear on the sea outside, demanding their submission.

However, the concerns of these indigenous nations were clearly unwarranted – the Xia army's targets were the Dutch from beginning to end, as evidenced by the news that was gradually brought in by merchant ships.

On the fifth day of the tenth month of the thirteenth year of Wu'an, the Xia fleet passed through the claw

Wow Sea, appeared off the coast of Batavia, the Batavia Dutch had already prepared in advance, they were nervous, seeing that the Xia fleet really appeared in the open sea, without the slightest hesitation, the Dutch Navy took the initiative to attack.

With the first ship-borne guns on the Dutch warship roaring at the Xia fleet, the Second Sino-Dutch War officially began.

In the roar of the captains of each ship, the tall battleships turned around and exposed the side to the Dutch shelling, but then in the eyes of the Dutch troops, the dense gun windows on the side were opened, and the black hole of a door was pushed out from the inside.

After a few breaths, I saw dozens of fires explode, and the side of the Xia battleship fired a salvo one after another, and one after another the black solid cannonballs flew into the air at high speed with the firelight when the cannon was fired, whistling towards the Dutch warship on the opposite side.

The distance of hundreds of meters was broken through in a matter of seconds, and at the screams of the Dutch, the cannonballs rained down, blasting columns of water on the sea around the Dutch fleet, and some of the shells hit the battleship, piercing the sturdy hull and leaving a hideous hole in the ship's performance.

The Dutch East India Company had a total of thirty-two warships off the coast of Batavia, most of them were fifth- and sixth-rank ships, and only one or two fourth-class battleships, while their opponent, the Xia Dynasty's East China Sea Division, still had thirty warships involved in the battle, although they were divided.

The East China Sea Division had one third-class flagship, three third-class battleships, five fourth-class battleships, five short-and-heavy artillery frigates, eight two-masted shore defense ships, and eight brig cruisers - the Xia army expected in advance that the attack on Batavia City would be met with stubborn resistance from the Dutch navy, so the proportion of naval warships on this side after the redivision of troops was emphasized.

Rumble –

On the surface of the Java Sea, the sound of fierce artillery fire echoed in the distant sky, and from time to time columns of water exploded around the warships of both sides, but the warships of both sides were undaunted and still approached each other.

The Xia troop carriers did not wait and see from a distance, but took the risk of taking advantage of the battle between the enemy and our warships to approach the coast, intending to force a landing and send the officers and men to land.

Admiral Liu Dingwu of the East China Sea Division knew that firing at each other from distant posts was a waste of time and a waste of shells, so he quickly changed his tactics and formed an assault formation instead, with the third-class flagship he was riding on as the front section, and the third-class battleship, the fourth-class battleship, and the rest of the battleships followed closely in a wedge-shape.

Looking down from the sky, the Xia Army's naval division was like a huge wedge, galloping towards the Dutch Navy, and the Dutch admiral saw the Xia Army's intentions, and also ordered the ships to form a huge crescent moon formation to meet the attack, intending to surround the Xia Army's naval division after it was loaded in.

Soon, the distance between the two warships was shortened, not only the guns deployed in the bow of the ship continued to shell, but after the battleships at both ends of the Dutch meniscus appeared in the range of the side shelling of the Xia battleship, the Xia army also began to launch a fierce shelling of the Dutch troops in the distance with the side side.

The side salvo of the Xia army's battleships was like a storm, even if the distance was still far away, it still severely damaged several Dutch warships, although the Dutch army also fought back, but their battleships were of low tonnage, and the number of shipborne guns equipped with them was also small, and the shooting effect was far less amazing than that of the Xia army.

Liu Dingwu looked at the Dutch battleships that were faintly surrounded by him, he calmly gave a new order, and his order was immediately conveyed to the other warships under the wave of the flag-bearer, and the ships began to change formations, and the battleships on the periphery of the wedge formation turned around and sailed to both wings, exposing the battleships in the middle of the Dutch army to the shelling range of their sides.

Immediately, the fierce shelling sounded again, and the terrible solid shells poured towards the Dutch battleship like a violent wind, and a fifth-class ship ate most of the shells of the third-class battleship of the Xia Army, and its surface was full of holes, and dozens of big holes were blasted out, and the seawater poured into these gaps, and the sailors in the ship anxiously wanted to drain the water, but where is the speed of their drainage, and they could only watch the fifth-class ship sink slowly.

The Xia army changed its formation, and the Dutch were not to be outdone, and the warships on both flanks of the meniscus began to encircle the center, intending to completely surround the Xia fleet, and relied on the side to continuously shell the Xia warships in the middle.

In the roar of earth-shattering artillery fire

The shells fired by both sides continued to graze in mid-air, some of which fell on the surface of the sea and hit the hull of the battleship, causing damage to the battleship itself.

The Xia warships deployed on the periphery ate these shells hard, the hull of the ship flew sideways under the shelling, and some sailors were also killed under the shells, and the blood mixed with the splashed seawater, slowly seeping into the lower layer, dripping on the bottom to the busy sailors.