After completely taking Burma, the Chinese Empire obtained Bago, a port on the Indian Ocean, which made the Dutch East India Company extremely alarmed!

Before China took Manila in a lightning flash, the Dutch did not have time to intervene at all, and they could only acquiesce to the fact that China occupied the Philippines.

I thought that it would take a long time for the Chinese Empire to consolidate the Philippines, but I didn't expect that although the expansion of the Chinese Empire at sea stopped, the actions on land were getting bigger and bigger.

Not only easily conquered Annam, but also took the whole of Burma.

Although Burma is not the territory of the Dutch East India Company, it is too close to their home of Batavia on the island of Java.

It is clear that Huaxia has entered their sphere of influence.

The Dutch East India Company did have a large fleet, but if Huaxia chose to attack Batavia from land, then they had little chance of holding it!

Tens of thousands of elite divisions equipped with a large number of new muskets and artillery could not be stopped by one or two thousand Dutch soldiers and tens of thousands of indigenous troops.

Also alarmed was the British East India Company in India.

They are now only beginning to gain a foothold in the East Indies, with some strongholds.

If the Chinese Empire marched into India, they would not be able to resist it.

So the two sides decided to join forces to blockade the port of Bago and prevent the Chinese navy from entering the Indian Ocean.

Originally, he had just recovered the Yunnan-Guizhou region and Burma, and Li Xianzhong didn't want to tear his face with these powers so quickly.

After all, although those domestic investors have increased their investment in Myanmar in order to obtain jadeite, it will take time.

In particular, entering Myanmar from Yunnan has to pass through a large number of mountainous areas, and the transportation is extremely inconvenient.

Although the household department used the copper mines in Yunnan and Guizhou as collateral, it borrowed 12 million taels of silver from Liaodong Silver to build a road from Kunming to Dongting Lake, as well as supporting cities along the way, to cooperate with the land reconstruction.

But from Kunming to Burma, the household department really can't get any money.

In the end, the Hui merchants and Jiangnan businessmen who were a step late in investing in Manila decided to seize the opportunity.

Li Xianzhong asked them to invest 13 million taels to build an ultra-long Yunnan-Burma highway from Kunming to Bago Port on the condition of selling the shares of the jade mine in Myanmar.

It is said that "if you want to get rich, you must first build roads", but these two roads are almost catching up with the financial revenue of the Chinese Empire for most of the year.

Even if a large amount of money was invested to recruit laborers of all ethnic groups in southwest China, and to send labor from Annam, Burma and other places, it would be difficult to complete the project in two or three years.

But at this time, the Dutch and the British actually took the initiative to provoke, and if they did not express themselves, they would definitely have gained further inches.

Fortunately, the second batch of sail battleships has also been equipped with the Huaxia Naval Division.

The Jiading Port in Cam Ranh Bay, Annam, has also been expanded.

Li Xianzhong used sail battleships as his team, and with Manila in the Philippines and Jiading in Annam as his home ports, he formed a brand-new Nanyang naval division.

The Nanyang Naval Division has four sail battleships of more than 2,000 tons, more than 30 new Galen galleons with a displacement of more than 1,000 tons, and more than 100 other armed merchant ships, and more than 30,000 officers and men of the division.

This fleet includes almost all the new warships in China.

On the second day of October in the second year of Qianxi, when the Nanyang Naval Division sailed into the Strait of Malacca, it encountered the combined fleet of the Netherlands and England off the coast of Batavia.

Following the defeat of the Spanish Armada by England in 1588, the largest naval battle in human history began.

There are a total of 38 capital warships of more than 1,000 tons on the Huaxia side, but the remaining armed merchant ships are mostly new Galen galleons with a displacement of 800 tons, and their firepower is strong.

Although the total number of warships was only 138, which was not particularly large, the total displacement of the fleet reached almost 140,000 tons, and the average tonnage exceeded 1,000 tons.

And it was equipped with more than 10,000 guns, including heavy guns such as 32-pounder rifled guns.

The Anglo-Dutch combined fleet was obviously much larger, with 252 sailing ships of all types, almost twice as many as the Nanyang Naval Division.

The Dutch, on the other hand, had four 2,400-ton giant galarens, surpassing the Chinese sail battleships in terms of maximum tonnage.

However, their large fleet has few professional warships, and there are more armed merchant ships.

There were 35 warships of more than 1,000 tons, less than the Huaxia fleet, and the two sides were on par in terms of total tonnage.

Drake, as the commander-in-chief of the Anglo-Dutch combined fleet, is naturally full of confidence.

In his opinion, after all, they are more than 200 ships, and more than 100 Chinese people, and the advantage lies in me.

The two sides soon engaged in fierce fighting in the ocean east of Batavia.

Looking at the countless sails in the distance, Zheng Zhilong was also a little nervous, although he had been crisscrossing the seas of East Asia for many years, it was the first time he had experienced a naval battle of this scale.

Despite the large number of enemy fleets, he understood that it was actually a duel between the capital ships.

As long as you can quickly sink the Dutch's giant Galen ships, the scales of victory and defeat will soon fall in your favor.

Capture the thief and capture the king first, Drake thinks the same way.

As a result, several capital ships of both sides coincidentally appeared in front of the fleet.

When he saw the Huaxia Sail Battleship through the telescope, Drake had an ominous premonition that the Huaxia battleship had 5 decks and a significantly more artillery gun than himself.

Despite the superiority of their own sailing ships in tonnage, they suffered greatly in terms of speed and the number of guns.

But at this time, the fleets of the two sides were moving closer to each other, and the big war was about to break out, and he couldn't care about so much.

The number of their own warships is almost twice that of their opponents, and even if it is a "group fight", they must sink the capital ships of the Huaxia.

At this time, the distance between the two sides was less than twenty miles, and there was still some distance from the firing range, and he was nervously directing the fleet to adjust the formation and meet the opponent in a more favorable position.

Unexpectedly, the battleships of the Huaxia were the first to fire.

The sail battleships of the main force of China used 32-pounder rifled guns, and the firing range could reach 18 miles.

Compared to the Dutch 24-pounder smoothbore gun, the range of 12 miles is huge.

Soon a small 500-ton armed merchant ship in front of Drake's flagship Amsterdam was sunk by the Chinese.

Despite the fact that a large number of shells did not hit the target, huge waves were stirred up on the water in front; But still a couple of shells hit the armed merchant ship.

The loud explosion directly blew the small armed merchant ship in two, and then quickly sank in the sea.

This scene caused the morale of the combined fleet to plummet, and they did not expect that the range of the 32-pounder guns in China was terrifying.

However, until now, they can only accelerate and rush towards the Huaxia fleet, otherwise their Huaxia people will take advantage of the range of artillery to constantly beat them.

Of course, the price was heavy, and in this short distance of several miles, the combined fleet was damaged by the Huaxia naval division, and more than twenty warships were damaged, of which seven or eight were sunk.

However, the Combined Fleet was not discouraged at this time, on the contrary, Drake seemed very excited.

As a battle-hardened veteran, he will not fail to see the situation clearly, even if he can open fire, but the combined fleet still suffers in terms of firepower.

Naturally, there was another reason for his excitement.

Zheng Zhilong found that at this time, the speed of the large warships in the opposite combined fleet gradually slowed down, and many small ships appeared at the forefront.

It seems that these Europeans are preparing to use fireboats.

Before this battle, His Majesty had repeatedly told himself about the great battle between England and the Spaniards in 1588, when the English used fireships to inflict heavy damage on the Spanish "Armada".

There are also quite a few Britons in the combined fleet today, and it seems that today they are ready to repeat their old tricks.

At this time, dozens of small boats carrying fire oil had already been ignited, and they quickly sailed towards the Huaxia fleet with the advantage of a tailwind.

With such a large-scale fleet duel, it was indeed quite difficult for Huaxia's fleet to quickly disperse to avoid these fireships.

Even if they could turn the bow and change course, they would inevitably be shelled by the Combined Fleet warships and end up with heavy losses.

It was with this tactic that the British inflicted heavy losses on the invincible Spaniards.

However, at this time, Zheng Zhilong did not panic, but waved the flag, asked the ships to form a formation, and calmly sank these fireships.

Previously, the Huaxia fleet had practiced sinking fireships many times.

The tactics of fireships could have achieved great results decades ago.

But the number of guns in the Spanish fleet at that time was very small, at most one or twenty, and there were a considerable number of auxiliary ships.

But today's Chinese fleet is mostly gunboats with hundreds of guns on several decks.

Even the new Galen ship of 800 tons had 88 rifled guns of 18 pounder.

In addition, with the development of artillery technology, both the power and range of artillery have made great progress compared with those years.

It is clear that this fireship tactic is outdated.

With the naming of the 10,000 guns of the Chinese Naval Division, more and more fireships were hit by artillery fire, and many ships were directly blown to pieces.

The sea was littered with the wreckage of burning fireships and struggling sailors.

But at this time, no one could take care of them, and both sides were within range of each other.

Accompanied by the rumbling of artillery, there were ships that had been shot and set on fire everywhere.

As the battle continued, the number of Chinese warships and artillery was large, and the advantage of great power was revealed.

In particular, the 4 sail battleships, with their fast speed and strong firepower, can quickly sink a giant ship of more than 1,000 tons.

After an hour and a half of fierce fighting, the Huaxia fleet lost 22 warships, including 4 large warships of 1200 tons.

Here, the Combined Fleet lost 83 ships, including 12 large ships of more than 1,000 tons.

The four giant Galen ships, although not sunk, were all severely damaged to varying degrees.

It is clear that the defeat of the Combined Fleet is a foregone conclusion.

The British ships, located on the outboard of the fleet, were the first to leave the battlefield when they saw that the situation was not good.

With the withdrawal of more than 50 British ships, the numerical advantage of the Dutch was also gone.

Zheng Zhilong ignored the fleeing British, but ordered the Huaxia sailors to continue to encircle and suppress the Dutch.

Drake knew that if he continued to fight, the Dutch East India Company would be finished.

So he used his flagship Amsterdam to attract the Chinese sail battleships and ordered the other ships to evacuate on their own.

In the face of the Dutch ships that were scattered and fled, Zheng Zhilong could only order to pursue the large ships first.

In the end, three of the four Dutchman's giant galleons were sunk, and the last one was blocked in the harbor of Batavia by the Chinese sailors.

Although the Dutch still had forts and many forts in Batavia at this time, they knew that they would not be able to hold out for long in the face of the 32-pounder guns of the Chinese.

Since it can't be beaten, there is only negotiation.

This important task can only be handed over to Putmans, who had previously gone to Beijing to negotiate with Huaxia.

Thanks to the tulips, Putmans is now the number two figure in the Dutch East India Company.

With this kind of alliance under the city, the Dutch will naturally hemorrhage.

Putmans, who was in danger, had to come to Bago Harbor in person and beg for peace with the Chinese Emperor Li Xianzhong.

The pace of Huaxia's expansion is really a bit big, and both financial resources and manpower are actually a little unable to keep up.

Of course, Li Xianzhong could rob Batavia himself and swallow the entire Dutch East Indies.

However, in this way, trade with Europe will inevitably be interrupted, and the financial impact on China will be great.

After all, the Chinese caravans had not yet opened direct trade with Europe, and still relied on the Dutch for transit trade.

And other European countries are likely to huddle against China.

In the end, Li Xianzhong decided to let the Dutch go.

The Netherlands ceded the Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra, and compensated Huaxia with 10 million guilders, equivalent to 3.9 million taels of silver.

Huaxia freed all the Dutch captives and allowed the Dutch to bring their possessions to Batavia.

Huaxia continues to maintain trade relations with the Netherlands, and the previous trade agreement between the two sides remains unchanged.

China opened two more commercial ports, Malacca and Bago, and the Netherlands allowed Chinese merchant ships to call at Batavia and Cape Town in the Netherlands.

Although the losses of the Dutch were heavy, they were not driven out of Southeast Asia and retained the right to trade with China.

Of course, Li Xianzhong will not let go of Britain, which is in cahoots with the Netherlands.

The Chinese warships soon sailed to Calcutta and Madras on the east coast of India.

The Indian East India Company was eventually forced to cede Calcutta and pay 4 million guilders to China.

After getting Kolkata, China opened up an overland passage from Burma to Kolkata, and divided the northeastern part of India into the territory of China.

After all, India, the "big fat sheep", Li Xianzhong can't let the British swallow it alone.

Today, the interior of India is still the Mughal Empire, and the coastal areas are divided between Portugal, the British, and the Chinese.

Among them, Portugal controlled the west coast of India, Britain controlled the southeast coast, and China controlled the northeast.

After settling the dispute with the Dutch and the British, it was already November, and Li Xianzhong set off to return to Beijing.

As for the last two nails on the Indochina Peninsula, Siam and Laos, Li Xianzhong left them to Li Dingguo and Sun Chuanting.

It is believed that in half a year at most, the entire Indochina Peninsula will become the territory of China.

Thank you for your monthly passes, recommended tickets, and follow-up support!

(End of chapter)