At the end of the first month of the 26th year of Chongzhen (1653), 36 cruisers belonging to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd fleets of the Ming Navy arrived at Yuegang, Fujian, and took a temporary rest in Yuegang.
Taking advantage of the break, Chongzhen summoned Zheng Hongkui, Zheng Zhibao, Shi Tianfu and other major navy generals to the flagship Zhou Yu to announce the entire battle plan.
The explanation was given to Nakajiang Tianyi from the Staff Section.
"This is our entire battle plan."
"First send a squadron to attack the city of Geranje."
"After the city of Relanje is attacked, it will inevitably ask for help from Batavia."
"If nothing else happens, the Dutch East India Company will mobilize all naval forces in the Far East to come to the rescue."
"After discovering the whereabouts of the main force of the Dutch navy, the attacking detachment sent back a telegram while retreating. The main force of the three fleets lurking in Yuegang will attack at full speed. There is a high probability that the Dutch navy can be gathered and annihilated in the Penghu waters.
Nearby, after gathering the main force of the Dutch navy, it will be easy to capture various colonial strongholds such as the city of Gerlandia and Batavia."
After Jiang Tianyi finished speaking, Zheng Hongkui said in a deep voice: "With the strength of our Ming Navy, it won't matter even if all the main naval forces in the Netherlands invade. This is not a problem. The question now is whether to kill the rabbit or not.
Destroy the Franconian and Spanish colonial strongholds such as Macau and Manila?"
Jiang Tianyi couldn't answer this question, so he immediately turned his attention to Chongzhen.
But Chongzhen said calmly: "Let's finish the battle of Relanja City and Penghu Naval Battle first."
As soon as the military meeting ended, Shi Lang immediately led a detachment of the 3rd fleet to set off for the city of Relanja. It was about 300 kilometers from Yuegang to the city of Relanja. Shi Lang's detachment arrived in the morning and evening, and appeared in the evening of the same day.
They reached the sea outside the city of Relanje and launched an attack on the port of Relanje, destroying several Dutch merchant ships.
However, due to the Hongyi cannon at the head of the city of Relanja, the Ming army did not launch a strong attack.
From the perspective of the Dutch, the Ming Dynasty navy was forced to retreat to Penghu temporarily after unsuccessfully attacking Relandje. Taking advantage of this gap, the defenders of Relandje rushed to Batavia for help.
…
It was already early February when Batavia received the news.
By this time, 50 battleships from the Dutch Navy had gathered in Batavia, and more than 200 armed merchant ships from the East India Company also arrived in Batavia after delivering their goods.
For a time, the port of Batavia was almost crowded with ships of the Dutch Navy.
The indigenous prostitutes in various liquor towns in the port are overwhelmed and are open all night long.
Batavia's permanent population was originally only one or two thousand people, but now more than 20,000 people have poured in. Jealousy, fights, and even armed fights have occurred one after another.
The newly arrived Governor of Batavia, Matt Kosell, was extremely busy.
A gunfight had just subsided that day, and before Matt Kosol had time to sit down and take a breath, he received a distress letter from the city of Geranje, and immediately asked Tropp and Leut to be summoned.
to his governor's palace.
"Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, I have some bad news for you. Ming Dynasty took action first."
Matt Kosol said solemnly: "The Ming Navy dispatched a fleet to attack the city of Relanja. There is no danger in the city of Relanja for the time being, but the Ming Navy will not give up and will definitely gather more troops.
A large naval fleet returned, so the city of Geranje asked Batavia to send troops to rescue."
"Leut, what's your opinion?" Tropp turned his attention to Leut.
Luyter's brows knitted into knots, which disrupted their plan.
Luyter said solemnly: "How long can the city of Relanja hold on without rescue?"
"It's hard to say." Matt Kosol spread his hands and said, "It depends on how many people and cannons the Ming army dispatched. If the Ming army dispatches an army of more than 10,000 people, the city of Relanja may not be able to hold on for long."
"Then send troops." Luyter said after pondering for a moment.
Tropp frowned and said: "But once troops are sent out, the Ming Dynasty will definitely discover the main fleet of our Dutch navy, and then it will be unable to block the Ming Dynasty navy in the port of Nanjing."
"This is inevitable." Leyter nodded, and then added, "But it doesn't matter. We can't annihilate them all in one fell swoop. It's also good to be able to defeat them individually. As long as our Dutch Navy can guarantee absolute strength and firepower on the battlefield.
Advantage can ensure victory, and the principle of concentration of firepower is applicable at all times."
There is something about Leyter becoming the most dangerous naval admiral in European history. This man even realized the superiority of the principle of concentration of fire more than a hundred years before Napoleon. It is not simple.
The Ming Dynasty also had the principle of concentrating firepower only after Chongzhen traveled through time.
"Sure, let's send troops!" Tropp immediately made up his mind.
…
The distance from Batavia to the city of Gerlanda is really not that close.
The messenger who came to ask for help from Relandia took almost a week, and the main fleet of the Netherlands Navy that went north to rescue took nearly ten days to reach Relandia.
Therefore, it was already late February when the main force of the Dutch navy arrived at the sea outside the city of Jelandia.
At this time, the 3rd Fleet detachment led by Shi Lang had been wandering around the sea outside the city of Relanja for nearly twenty days. Shi Lang and the officers of the detachment were so bored that they wanted to find a fishing rod to catch sharks.
Early that morning, Shi Lang set off from Penghu Port with his detachment.
As soon as we reached the sea outside Relanje, a sharp whistle suddenly sounded from the lookout post.
When Shi Lang looked up hurriedly, he saw the sentry pointing down continuously in sign language.
"The reinforcements from the Netherlands have arrived!" Shi Lang immediately became excited, "There are fifty or sixty warships that can be seen, and there are more warships behind them. This must be the main force of the Netherlands' navy!
"
"Ho ho, now I have work to do and I'm getting rich!" The officers and soldiers on the deck were overjoyed.
Inspired by the military merit system and the bonus system, both the army and navy officers of the Ming Dynasty were eager to fight, because only by fighting can meritorious service be achieved, and only by meritorious service can there be rewards.
And with rewards, they have everything.
There are bounty fields, women, everything you want.
I heard that the soldiers assigned to the Japanese lands could each marry ten Japanese girls as concubines, which was really enviable.
Therefore, the navy officers are also eagerly looking forward to conquering Nanyang. They can also be like the Japanese soldiers, marrying ten or eight indigenous women from Nanyang as their concubines. This kind of goal should not be too beautiful.
After a while, Shi Lang also saw the Dutch fleet emerging from under the sea level.
Due to the curvature of the earth, Shi Lang could only see a small number of sailing warships in front, while more sailing warships in the back were obscured by the sea level, making it difficult to judge the size of the Netherlands Navy.
But one thing is certain, this is definitely the main force of the Netherlands Navy.
Almost at the same time, the Dutch Navy also discovered the Ming Navy detachment.
After discovering the Ming Navy, the Dutch Navy responded immediately, divided into two teams, and detoured to the two wings. It seemed that they planned to outflank and encircle the Ming Navy.
When Shi Lang saw this, he was not surprised but happy.
"Quick, send a report to Yuegang!"
"Just say that we discovered the main force of the Netherlands Navy."
"My detachment is leading the main force of the Dutch Navy towards Penghu."
Speaking of this meal, Shi Lang came to the communication hole and shouted to the bottom: "Steam engine power is turned on to 80%!"
After speaking, he raised his head and shouted at the flag carrier on the lookout post: "Show the signal flag, and all the ships will immediately retreat in a straight formation toward Penghu, retreat!"
The semaphore soldiers quickly issued semaphores to each ship.
The six Zhou Yu-class cruisers in the detachment turned around one after another.
…
At this time in Yuegang, Chongzhen was reading today's briefing.
Since the advent of the telegraph, Chongzhen could keep track of the trends of the entire empire no matter where he was. For example, the Buddhist army sent by the Ming Dynasty had arrived in Qinghai-Tibet and began to preach scriptures.
Originally, this Buddhist army was to be sent to Central Asia to preach scriptures.
Unfortunately, before the Ming Dynasty's Buddhist army could set off, Zhu Cijiong went on a killing spree in Central Asia.
In just a few months, Zhu Cijiong killed hundreds of people throughout Central Asia. At this time, it was unnecessary for the Buddhist army to go to Central Asia to preach.
Just then Li Yan asked for help again.
Chongzhen sent the Buddhist army to Qinghai and Tibet.
Sure enough, after Buddhism arrived on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the situation immediately changed.
Under the "guidance" of the great monks' sermons day and night, the serfs on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau quickly abandoned the Yellow Sect, which they had believed in for hundreds of years, and switched to Mahayana Buddhism.
The reason is very simple, Mahayana Buddhism can really bring salvation to everyone.
Unlike those lamas of the Yellow Sect who only ask them to donate their property.
Without the support of the serfs, the nobles of the Khoshote Khanate and the Zangba Khanate lost their foundation. In less than half a year, Li Yan's army completely pacified Qinghai-Tibet.
At the same time, the indigenous people in Central Asia were also killed by Zhu Cijiong.
The Bukhara Khanate, Khiva Khanate, Kokand Khanate and Kazakh Khanate in Central Asia all had a population of at least five million. In just six months, Zhu Cijiong killed less than fifty. Thousands of people, and these 500,000 indigenous people are scattered and hiding in the deep mountains and forests, making them difficult to find.
In addition, herders from the Torhut tribe also moved back to the Hezhong area.
After handing over Central Asia to the Turghut tribe, Zhu Cijiong led the 1st Cavalry Army into South Asia and began to point the finger at the Mughal Dynasty in the South Asian subcontinent.
In addition, the progress of the railway is also very fast.
The eastern section of the Yunxi Railway, that is, the section from Yuntiguan to Xi'an has been completed and opened to traffic. Now the middle section from Xi'an to Hami is under construction. In the future, this railway will also connect to Central Asia.
The Beijing-Shenyang Railway has been upgraded to the Far East Railway.
The future Far East Railway will be connected to Seoul in the south and Vladivostok in the east. If necessary, it may even be built across the Bering Strait to North America.
Of course, even if this railway is repaired, it will take decades before it is repaired.
Now there is almost no population in the entire Far East, so there is no need.
Chongzhen was reading the briefing when Jiang Tianyi hurried in.
