The guns on the sea rumbled, and from time to time fireballs erupted from the guns on the side of the four large ships, and the special combat team members on the ships controlled the naval guns, and used the moonlight illumination to aim at the Dutch boats they found and fired a fierce artillery bombardment, smashing the small boats one by one and sinking them to the cold seabed.

When the sky was slightly bright, the four large ships sailed out of the Nanbokou port area and joined the fleet that came from behind.

By the time the Dutch East India Company's Taiwan governor was reported by Fan Delang, commander of the navy stationed in Taiwan, and learned that the fleet had been attacked, Wang Xinyu was already standing on the deck of the Hector.

The Hector, armed Galen ship, double-deck structure, four masts, displacement of 660 tons, tonnage is much larger than Wang Xinyu's flagship Drake, which is close to the standard of a third-class ship, but the firepower is not as good as the Drake, the upper deck of this ship is relatively narrow, only eleven guns, one of which is a bow cannon, ten light guns, the stern rudder is particularly high, two stories above the main deck, upstairs is a small room, usually the captain's dining room, but because this ship is the flagship of the East India Company's fleet in Taiwan, The small room upstairs became the captain's bedroom, and the large room downstairs, the original captain's room became the commander's room.

There are twenty-two long-barreled heavy guns on the lower gun deck, which is also the soldiers' dining room and gunners' residence, below the gun deck are the sailors' quarters and cargo holds, and the lowest level also has storage rooms and cargo holds.

The Hector is not as firepower as Wang Xinyu's own Drake, but this ship is an ocean-going merchant ship, and it is the flagship of the Dutch naval commander in Taiwan, so her decoration is very luxurious, and the living conditions are much better than that of the Drake. The stern of the Hector is intricately carved in wood, and the wheelhouse cabin and the commander's quarters below are richly decorated, with woolen carpets on the floor and beautifully crafted furniture.

Although the Hector was only an armed merchant ship. But the armed merchant ships of the Dutch were actually warships, because the Dutch were different from the British, who had a unified design and built the same batch of ships of the same class; The Dutch, on the other hand, do not have a uniform rank, they are completely reliant on the imagination of designers and shipbuilders, so basically every ship is different. As a result, the Dutch had a wide variety of ships and a wide variety of types, and the better armed merchant ships could be used as warships. For example, the battleships White Elephant and Zeeland were both battleships converted from armed merchant ships, and only the seven provincial battleships that appeared later were the first battleships in mass production in the Netherlands.

The other three ships captured were much smaller, ranging from more than 200 to 300 tons, all of which were standard for merchant ships. Although the Hector was originally a merchant ship, it was refitted. The structure is sturdy, and the firepower is much fiercer.

Albert asked, "Boss, what do we do next?" Are you waiting here for the Dutch to come? ”

"Let me think about it!" Wang Xinyu tried to recall what he knew in his previous life about Zheng Chenggong's recovery of Taiwan. Suddenly he remembered: it seems that the Dutch reinforcements were because the East India Company did not trust Yuyi, and only sent a fleet to Taiwan in July, but it turned out that Zheng Chenggong had begun to attack Taiwan.

In other words, the Dutch still have two months to come to Taiwan.

Wang Xinyu made a plan: "We will take the initiative to find trouble with the Dutch!" We can go to Batavia. Fight a naval battle with the Dutch, and by the way, capture the Natuna Islands and the island of Singapore. As long as we occupy the island of Singapore. We were able to buy oak from the Portuguese in the Malay Peninsula. ”

Originally, according to the original plan, Wang Xinyu was going to occupy Singapore after the year. It's already May, and it is estimated that it will not be until August to get to Singapore and then to conquer Singapore by going to Batavia and defeating the Dutch, and then to transport cement from the cement factory in Borneo. The construction of the shipyard and the purchase of oak from the Portuguese in the Malay Peninsula are expected to allow the materials for the first battleship to be dried as soon as this winter, which will take five years to dry, plus more than a year of construction. It will be at least six to seven years before Wang Xinyu may have his first battleship!

"Junmen, we didn't guard here, what if the red-haired ghost has a ship coming? If we let the red-haired ghost in, the prince will condemn us. Wu Haodong asked.

Wang Xinyu replied: "In this way, you take the Fu fleet back to Xiamen first and take your wife to Qiongzhou." When you arrive in Qiongzhou, the security over there will be handed over to your fleet! You have to prevent the Tartars from sneaking up on Qiongzhou! I'll find the prince of Yanping here to explain it clearly, and then I will also go to Qiongzhou to prepare the previous year's grain, and then go to Batavia to find the red-haired ghost for a decisive battle! Now we have six fourth-class and fifth-class cruisers, eight sixth-class ships, plus the newly captured Hector and three armed merchant ships, plus the two armed merchant ships that were originally captured, and there are already twenty warships available! You can start a decisive battle at sea with the red-haired ghost! It is estimated that they will not have many ships in Batavia, and we still have a surprise attack that we can use. ”

"No!"

After Wu Haodong retreated, he returned to Xiamen with eight Dafu ships and twelve Haicang ships. After the Fu fleet arrived in Xiamen, they took Zheng Yun and Liu Er to Qiongzhou, which of course was a later matter.

Wang Xinyu took the Western-style fleet around the sea a few times, and then went to the gate of Luer to find the king of Yanping.

At this time, the fleet of the king of Yanping had passed through Luermen and entered the inland sea of the Taijiang River. If you want to find the king of Yanping, you can only enter the Taijiang Inland Sea. By this time, the tide had receded somewhat, and Wang Xinyu's Drake could not pass through the Luermen waterway. Therefore, he changed into a small boat and entered the inland sea of the Taijiang River through the Luermen waterway.

Located at the entrance and exit of the Luermen Waterway, the Four Seagrass Fort has been taken by the Ming army, and the Ming army that landed should cooperate with it to seize this small castle stuck at the entrance of the Luermen Waterway without much effort.

Due to the shallow water of the Luermen waterway and the difficulty of large ships to enter, the Dutch had no fortification here, and they were broken through by the Ming army and entered the inland sea of the Taijiang River.

Zheng Jiajun has begun to land in Heliao Harbor, a large number of ships docked near the beach, boats full of Zheng family soldiers docked on the beach, groups of Ming soldiers got off the boats and stepped on the beach. Thousands of local Han Chinese living on Dongfan Island happily came to meet Zheng's army.

The Han people on Dongfan Island are all Han people who have passed from the mainland one after another in order to escape the war on the occasion of the change of dynasty for several years. Originally, they lived a free life on Dongfan Island. But after the Dutch came, they used the local acquaintance to deal with the Han Chinese, and with the support of the Dutch, the local acquaintance killed four or five thousand Han Chinese. Now these Han people see Zheng Jiajun hanging the Ming battle flag coming, just like seeing their own relatives.

The Ming army went ashore, and a large number of Han people came to welcome them.

There are quite a few Han people pushing carts. drove cattle and helped the Ming army transport heavy supplies; Many Han people stuffed their eggs, rice cakes, flour cakes, dried fish and other foods into the hands of the Ming army. After the Ming army came ashore, they began to set up camp, and a large number of Han people helped the Ming army cut wood, dig trenches, and transport soil, and were very busy.

Zheng Chenggong was commanding the landing, but a personal soldier came to report: "Lord Wang, Wang Junmen asks to see!" ”

"Lead him to my ship!" Zheng Chenggong ordered.

Wang Xinyu boarded Zheng Chenggong's gunboat. After seeing Zheng Chenggong, he had just saluted, and before he had time to report the situation, Zheng Chenggong smiled and asked first: "The red-haired ghost's big ship has been captured, right?" ”

"Report to the king! Four big boats, no less! All in hand! We've sunk a lot of the Red-Haired Devil's boat! ”

"Well done!" Zheng Chenggong nodded approvingly, "In this way, we will not be attacked by the red-haired ghost ship, and we can have a landing operation without worries!" ”

Wang Xinyu put forward his proposal: "Lord Wang, I have an idea of humiliation. ”

"What thoughts? Just listen to it! ”

"Back to the prince. The lowly is thinking, rather than letting the lowly fleet wait here. It's better to take the initiative and go to the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company in Nanyang to find them for a naval battle! Block them on Java so that we are safe here, and you can attack Dongfan Island without any worries. Wang Xinyu said what he thought.

Actually, the idea has been around since last year. To gain a foothold in the South Seas, the Dutch must be defeated in order to secure their ground. At present, Wang Xinyu has no idea of seizing the island of Java. But in any case, the Dutch East India Company navy must be defeated first, and only by destroying their sea power and completely gaining sea supremacy can they rest easy.

Zheng Chenggong was taken aback: "Wang Junmen, your idea is too bold, right?" You are not familiar with life in Nanyang, how can you defeat the red-haired ghost? ”

"If you go over there, there will naturally be an internal response! There are also quite a few Han Chinese living there on the island of Java. The red-haired ghost is over there. It's also the same as on Dongfan Island, using Shufan to kill us Han people! You have also seen it, I landed on Dongfan Island, and the Han people on the island came to welcome us! And when we go to Nanyang, the Han people there will welcome us in the same way! With them as the internal response, and the map they provide, you will definitely be able to defeat the red-haired ghosts! Wang Xinyu replied.

Zheng Chenggong pondered for a moment before nodding and said, "It is indeed a good thing to be able to defeat them at the door of the red-haired ghosts, so that when we seize the entire Luzon Island in the future, there will be no red-haired ghosts behind us who will pose a threat to us at any time!" It's just that this king heard that the red-haired ghost still has many warships bigger than the Hector in China. If they were to send all those ships in a desperate gamble, would you be able to handle it? ”

"Lord Qiqi, it will take a long time for the news to reach their country, and it is estimated that it will be a year later! And the red-haired ghosts were entangled by the English, and they could not send troops to the east. By the time they have enough troops, there will be a stronger fleet waiting for them! Wang Xinyu replied.

Zheng Chenggong agreed to Wang Xinyu's method: "Wang Junmen, then you go and prepare!" Remember to prepare enough food! You'll probably have to play for half a year when you get there! ”

"Thank you for the reminder! Let's go back and prepare. Zhang Shangshu may still have goods on his side, so he took those goods to Manila and sold them by the way. Wang Xinyu gave up. Then he said goodbye to the king of Yanping, boarded a small boat, sailed out of the Luermen waterway, and returned to the big ship anchored in the open sea.

Wang Xinyu returned to the big ship, and then took the fleet to Penghu first, waiting for the arrival of the goods sent by Zhang Huangyan, and then he would take the fleet to Qiongzhou to pull people, and then go to Luzon and Borneo Island to prepare, and then use Borneo Island as a supply base to prepare for an attack on the Dutch fleet anchored in Batavia.

In the city of Reshalan, he stood on the top floor of the castle and looked at the dense ships of the Zheng family army in the inner sea of the Taijiang River with a monocular, and his heart was very uncomfortable.

As soon as he put down his binoculars, he turned his head and angrily reprimanded Fan Delang: "Those people above the East India Company don't believe what I say, the Zheng pirates will come to attack Formosa, but they just don't believe it!" It doesn't matter if they don't believe it, but you don't even believe it! You're hell-bent on attacking Macau! Check it out now! The pirates have landed in Formosa! Your ship is gone! If your four big ships are still around, go inside and fight these pirates, and the four big ships can send all those junk ships to the bottom of the sea! ”

Formosa is the name of what Westerners call Taiwan. The junk, the Westerners' name for a galleon.

Fan Delang lowered his head and said nothing, he knew that he had made a big mistake this time, and he had lost all the big ships left in Taiwan. Originally, it was sacked by "British pirates" last year, and it had already lost one warship and four armed merchant ships, and the Dutch East India Navy stationed in Taiwan had few ships left, and now the only four large ships left have all been lost, which is simply a loss of face. I didn't feel ashamed to lose to the "British" Fan Delang last year, but today I lost to the Orientals who only know how to drive a junk ship, which is too embarrassing.

However, Fan Delang thought about it and felt that something was wrong: "It's strange, how can the pirates of the East know how to steer our ship?" They only know how to drive a junk ship, when did they learn to drive our ship? ”

Kaiichi also felt puzzled, and in the end he could only make a self-righteous judgment: "It must be the damned Portuguese who taught these hateful Orientals!" ”

Fan Delang said angrily: "Thief! They are all a bunch of vile and shameless thieves! Only know how to sneak up and steal our ship! If we let them fight us face-to-face, we will send them all to the bottom of the sea to feed the sharks! ”

"Do you have any way to send a boat to Batavia now?" He asked.

"There's only a little boat left! Those damned pirates, using the boats they stole from us, are stuck outside, and none of our boats can get out! Even if you can get out by luck, you can't drive that far. Fan Delang replied helplessly.

Kui Yi suddenly said viciously: "Actually, we don't have to be afraid of those Orientals!" They are like the natives on the shore! As long as our troops take the initiative, a few rows of guns can scare them away! They can't take us on land, and as long as we hold on, the ships of the East India Company will always come! (To be continued......)