There is a large round table for banquets in the large conference room. Around the table are a dozen officers wearing various military uniforms. In front of each person is a small national flag representing their nationality. Counting them carefully, there are a total of
Six countries including the UK, France, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Italy.
If it were in Europe, the military personnel of these six countries would not be able to sit at the same table to discuss the same thing. They would have all kinds of conflicts with each other, and some countries could even be regarded as feuds. After arriving in Asia, they would
The conflicts have not been completely reconciled, and the struggle for colonies has continued, overtly or covertly. However, when faced with the threat of native Asians, they remembered that they were all Europeans and should be in the same boat.
The meeting was held at the request of Valdo, commander of the Spanish fleet in Southeast Asia. Naval commanders from various countries in Southeast Asia were invited to first listen to Valdo's introduction about the last naval battle.
"This is what happened..." Waldo ended his speech and said to everyone: "Gentlemen, you should realize that although the Chinese have only landed in Luzon, they will definitely invade Southeast Asia after they gain a foothold.
of other islands. We cannot wait for the Chinese to defeat us one by one. We should kill their maritime dreams before they have established a strong navy. China is a land power country, so let it always only have land.
That’s it.”
For reasons of face and interests, Waldo did not give a factual account of the naval battle with the Chinese fleet. He only admitted that he lost five warships and destroyed three warships of the Chinese fleet. He knew
, if you tell these colleagues about your true losses, then the first thought that comes to everyone's mind is probably to take the opportunity to carve up Spain's interests in Asia, and then think about revenge for Spain.
"How many warships do the Chinese have in total?" British fleet commander Joel asked.
Waldo said: "There are 18 ships in total. Six of them are large ships of about 600 tons, and 12 small ships of 200 tons. Three of them have been sunk by us."
"There are only 15 ships left, but you have summoned so many of us?" Joel said with some disdain, "Don't you Spaniards even have such a little confidence?"
"Of course we are confident, but we are in Asia, and China is very close to here. Their follow-up fleet will arrive soon. By then, they will no longer have 15 ships, but may be 30 or even more.
." Waldo said forcefully. He also knew that he was a bit embarrassed in the last battle. If he hadn't lost all his money, why would he have come to seek help from a former enemy like Joel?
Joel smiled slightly: "Even in Asia, the courage of you Spaniards is questionable."
Waldo glared angrily: "Joel, do you want to duel with me?"
"Two gentlemen, we should unite..." Dutch Commander Dick interrupted the argument between Waldo and Joel, and asked Waldo: "Waldo, you just said that the intelligence you have obtained shows that the Chinese are building
More and bigger warships, right?"
"Indeed." Waldo said angrily.
Dick said: "If so, then this matter does deserve our attention. Judging from what Waldo just said, the Chinese have mastered a technology of using cannons to project gunpowder over long distances. This technology is very important to our
Warships are very threatening. At a distance of 500 steps, our cannons are not powerful enough, but their exploding shells can effectively kill us. This means that we must pay additional losses.
. Only then can we get close enough to destroy the opponent’s ships.”
The participants were all naval officers, so they naturally had a deep understanding of this point. After hearing what Dick said, everyone fell silent. They simulated the scene of a naval battle in their minds, imagining how they could use it if they encountered such an opponent.
How to avoid failure like Waldo.
"I think we must have three times the strength of the Chinese in order to maintain an advantage in the battle." French commander Mattis first made a judgment.
"I think this judgment is relatively accurate." Dick said, "If the Chinese artillery is really as Waldo said, it can effectively damage ships at a distance of 500 steps, then it will be impossible to deal with 30 Chinese warships.
For the fleet, we must have no less than 90 ships."
Joel glanced at everyone and said: "90 ships are almost 70% of the total strength of our six countries in Southeast Asia. No country can organize such a large fleet alone."
Waldo said: "This is exactly why I asked you to come here. I said that we can't wait for the Chinese to eat us one by one. We must form a coalition to destroy the Chinese fleet in one fell swoop and let them withdraw from Southeast Asia.
.”
Everyone was silent again, thinking about the pros and cons of this matter. Everyone hoped that someone else could take the lead and fight the Chinese, so that they would not have to bear the losses but could avoid the threat of the Chinese. But they also knew in their hearts that others
It's not that stupid. If everyone is unwilling to step forward, the final result can only be like what Waldo predicted, being defeated by the Chinese one by one, and no one can take advantage in the end.
"Let's all vote." Dick suggested. He was the host and had the obligation to promote the entire meeting process.
The results of the vote showed that everyone was rational enough, and everyone agreed to form a joint fleet to jointly deal with China.
Next, everyone had a long debate on the number of warships to be dispatched, fleet command, formation composition and other issues, and finally the details were finalized.
According to the different strength of the fleets of each country, the six countries each took some warships from their own fleets to form a huge combined fleet including 100 ships, and headed to Luzon for a decisive battle with the Ming fleet. Everyone promised that after the war,
Subsequent benefits will be distributed based on the different forces provided by each country and the losses suffered in the naval battle.
Because Waldo's Spanish fleet suffered serious losses in the early stage, the power it could provide in this combined fleet was limited, so it had to accept a series of clauses for compensation to other countries afterwards. The content of these clauses was so harsh that it was used
It is not too much to describe it as a loss of power and humiliation of the country. However, if the Ming fleet can be defeated in this battle, the Spaniards can regain Luzon, and then they can still afford to use Luzon's production to compensate.
"Everyone go back to your base immediately, and then send the ships participating in the war over within seven days. We have to conduct two sea trainings before we can fight the Chinese." Dick finally explained to everyone.
A Ming Dynasty version of the Six-Nation Alliance was thus formed.
Naturally, such large-scale movements by fleets from various countries could not go unnoticed by the many spies sent by Su Hao and Deng Zilong. Information about the strength of the six-nation coalition, training progress and other information flew like a snowflake to the Ming Dynasty Fleet headquarters in Luzon. Su Hao
, Deng Zilong, Li Zhi, Tu Wenhuan and others studied these materials repeatedly and conducted tactical deductions over and over again.
"Unexpectedly, these red barbarians would actually form a group and come to fight us." Li Zhi shook his head and said, "Didn't Matteo Ricci say that European countries usually fight against each other?"
Su Hao smiled and said: "After all, they are all white people. This result is not beyond my expectation. Push it forward 300 years, and they will form the Eight-Nation Alliance to conquer the Yuan Ming Dynasty... uh, the
Our capital city has been burned down."
He originally wanted to talk about the allusion of the Eight-Power Allied Forces burning the Old Summer Palace, but suddenly he remembered that the Ming Dynasty still existed. With an anomaly like him, the Ming Dynasty would not have been destroyed by the people who founded the state, and then the Old Summer Palace would probably not exist.
Of course, Li Zhi couldn't hear what Su Hao swallowed back. He frowned and said: "I originally thought that they would unite three or four countries to fight us, but who would have thought that they would actually gather six countries. In this way
First, if we want to fight a war of annihilation, it will be a little difficult."
"That's true." Tu Wenhuan said, "The Art of War says, if you are ten, you are to surround it, if you are five, you are to attack it, and if you are twice as many, you are fighting. Now we only have 15 ships, and the opponent has 100 times as many ships and six times as many as me. If we want to encircle and defeat them,
I'm afraid it won't be easy to annihilate them."
"Our 2,000-material merchant ships can be transferred here for use." Deng Zilong said, "These merchant ships are slow and not suitable for attack, but their large and stable ships are very suitable for defense. We use these large ships as a barrier to block the red barbarians.
The offensive is to be detoured by small boats. Even if the enemy cannot be completely wiped out, it should be no problem to fight a beautiful rout."
Su Hao said: "It would be good to defeat them. It would be good for the six countries to come together. Let us defeat them all in one battle, and then clear out their bases in Nanyang one by one. In my opinion, after this battle, Europe
The navies of all countries no longer dare to confront our Ming Dynasty Navy."
"That's it," Li Zhi said, "let's seize the time to renovate the merchant ship and move the shore guns to the ship. Commander Deng's navy does not have enough people, so Commander Su will have to transfer the gunners from the reconnaissance camp.
Replenish."
"No problem." Su Hao said, "My people just listen to General Deng's orders."
Deng Zilong waved his hand and said: "That's a bad statement. It's my people who should listen to Gai's orders. I'm old. Sooner or later, this matter of conquering the four seas will be handed over to you young people. This battle,
Let’s call it a joint exercise between our two families. After this battle is over, I will inform the court and hand over the navy to the command of General Su."
"Thank you, Commander Deng!" Su Hao bowed to Deng Zilong respectfully, accepting Deng Zilong's great trust. (To be continued, please search Piao Tian Literature, the novel will be better and updated faster!