644 Dutch East India Company

[Today's second chapter is presented, more than 8,000 words have been updated, Lao Yun begs for a collection subscription!! ] 】

At this time, Zheng Zhilong suddenly remembered in his heart that the reason why he wanted to attack the red-haired ghost on Ryukyu Island last year seemed to be the idea that came to him after going to Jiangbei and talking with Li Zixiao in detail.

Now, Zheng Zhilong seems to have come to his senses a little, this time he seems to have been yin by Li Zixiao, and he is also a very high-level yin person.

But at this time, even if Zheng Zhilong felt a little bit of taste, he could only complain in his heart, and he couldn't say it.

After the end of this Zheng collective meeting, the entire Zheng Group personnel were all busy.

Zheng Zhilong first went to visit Zhang Yuwei, the prefect of Quanzhou, to solve the problem of money and food, and a day later, under the escort of a fleet, he went to the Penghu Islands.

At this time, the Penghu Islands were the front line of the red-haired ghosts in the southern Ryukyu region attacked by the Zheng family, and most of the Zheng family's fleet at this time was also gathered in the Penghu Islands.

Not only that, but this winter, it was the fleet that came to the aid of the red-haired ghosts who took the initiative to provoke the war this time.

At this time, the fleet of red-haired ghosts even wandered in the southern waters of the Penghu Islands, and the red-haired ghosts also took a fancy to this sea area, with many islands and complex terrain.

If you fight the Zheng family fleet head-on at sea, the huge number of warships in the Zheng family fleet is also very fearful of the red-haired ghosts.

Zheng Zhilong is worthy of being an outstanding naval general in the late Ming Dynasty who was born as a pirate, and his guess is not wrong at all, this time Lu Yuan really went to Tamsui City on the north coast of the Ryukyus.

At this time, Li Zixiao also knew that Zheng Zhilong would focus on attacking the red-haired ghosts in the south of the Ryukyus.

And the north of the Ryukyus is a place that is difficult for the Zheng family to take care of for the time being, and it is also a place left for them to intervene.

To the north of the Ryukyus, two of the most valuable places are Tamsui and Chicken Coop, both of which are natural harbors, otherwise the Spaniards and the Dutch would not have taken a fancy to them.

On the south coast of Ryukyu Island, Li Zixiao has no idea for the time being, unless one day he can defeat or absorb the Zheng family, he will not be able to get it on the south coast of Ryukyu.

So, this time, Li Zixiao gave Lu Yuan an order.

It is to seize Tamsui Castle on the north shore of the Ryukyus first, annihilate the red-haired ghosts there, and let them get their first stronghold on the north shore of the Ryukyus.

They fight red-haired ghosts, they are completely famous, and the Zheng family can't say anything, you can't Zheng family fight red-haired ghosts, and our Earl Li can't fight them!

In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, on the tenth day of the fourth month, on the third day of the end of the Zheng family meeting, Lu Yuan led more than 130 naval warships of the White Dragon Army to appear in the waters on the north coast of Ryukyu Island.

"General, the warship in front sent a flag, about twenty nautical miles ahead, we will arrive at Ryukyu Island, and they are currently confirming the specific location of Hong Zhen."

In the center of the fleet, on the largest three-masted gunboat, Lu Hai was facing Lu Yuan in the cabin at this time, and reported.

"Is it there? Send a message to Hong Zhen and ask him to confirm the specific location as soon as possible and find the location of the Tamsui port. Lu Yuan ordered with a smile on his face.

"Yes!"

……………………………………

On the northern shore of the Ryukyus, in the port of Huwei (Tamsui), there were very few merchant ships entering here at this time, which is completely different from the ships that came and went here every day in the past.

The war between the red-haired ghost and the Zheng family began, making the entire southeast sea area of the Ming Dynasty extremely dangerous at this time.

As long as the Zheng family's fleet finds the merchant ship of the red-haired ghost, without saying a word, they will rush up and capture it and seize all the materials on board.

And the warships of the red-haired ghosts often go out to swim in the surrounding waters, but whenever they find a merchant ship flying the Ming flag, they will also go up to plunder and then sink it.

It can be said that the war between the two sides has seriously affected the various maritime merchants who do business through this sea area, not to mention the Tamsui Port at this time, and even the Quanzhou Port at this time is much more depressed than in previous years.

In a fortified fort in Tamsui, a new castle built by the Red-Haired Devil on the basis of the Spanish city of San Domingo, a Dutch major is playing shooting training with a group of soldiers.

Bang bang bang!

There was a fierce burst of gunfire, and several soldiers in Dutch uniforms shot at a shooting range.

"Seventh, Eighth, Nineth......"

As a burst of gunfire ended, a few soldiers quickly ran to the target target, and after checking the target, they shouted the ring number to this side.

"Haha, Brian, your marksmanship has regressed a lot!"

A Dutch lieutenant colonel next to him smiled and said to a middle-aged man who was not wearing a Dutch military uniform next to him.

There were quite a few people shooting at the range, some of them wearing Dutch uniforms, but some of them were not wearing uniforms.

The men in military uniforms were all Dutch soldiers, while those who did not wear military uniforms were armed men of the Dutch East India Company, or some mercenaries.

The Dutch East India Company, although nominally a civilian company, not only had its own armed fleet, but was also inextricably linked to the Dutch government military.

The Dutch East India Company, and the notorious British East India Company, were not the same, but they were of similar nature. (The East India Company appears below to refer entirely to the Dutch East India Company).

To put it bluntly, the biggest boss behind the East India Company is actually the Dutch government, otherwise a non-governmental organization, you really think he is so powerful.

"I hadn't touched a gun in a year since I had that injury, and it was inevitable that my marksmanship would deteriorate. I have to say, Henry, your marksmanship is still so good. ”

The middle-aged man named Brian didn't care about the Dutch lieutenant colonel's teasing, said very casually, then raised his gun and shot again.

This Brian was the military chief sent by the East India Company to the castle of San Domingo, and the nominal lieutenant colonel named Henry was also under Brian's command here.

But in reality, if Brian could command Henry, it would be really amazing, and the pride of the soldiers would not allow them to be commanded by Brian.

At this time, there were almost 800 red-haired ghosts in the city of St. Domingo, but in fact, there were only about 100 Dutch soldiers, and the rest were all armed men from the East Indies.

In fact, Brian was also a Dutch soldier, but later retired and joined the East India Company to colonize overseas.

Fortunately, there were not many Dutch soldiers on active duty in Saint-Domingo's castle at this time, only about a hundred people, even if Henry and they would not follow Brian's orders, he would not care.

Originally, the Dutch carried out colonial expansion abroad, in the name of the East India Company, and they would send retired soldiers and mercenaries, but rarely sent active soldiers.

In fact, many of these East Indian armed men were deliberately decommissioned by the Dutch army.

Just so that they could go to sea for colonial expansion, these East India Company fighters were no different from soldiers.

Even, among the armed men of the East India Company's fleet, they still maintained their ranks, and Brian was the rank of lieutenant colonel at this time, which was the same rank as Henry.

Henry, an active soldier of more than 100 people, actually came overseas to inspect the colonial situation on behalf of the Dutch military before, and made an investigation report.

But unfortunately, when this active Dutch soldier of more than 100 people came to St. Domingo, they caught up with the Zheng family to start a war against the red-haired ghosts, and they couldn't leave, so they could only stay here.

Brian and Henry had served in the army at the same time, and the two had known each other for a long time, and they got along fairly well in this castle.

"Haha, Brian, you've lost again, and it looks like you're ready for tonight's drink." Henry won another round of shooting and shouted happily.

"Haha, okay, I'm in for a treat at the Tulip Tavern tonight." Brian also admitted defeat and said very happily.

Knock knock!

Suddenly, at this very moment, a loud alarm sounded on the watchtower of the castle.

The smiles on Brian and Henry's faces disappeared at the same time, and they both turned their heads to look at the tower to the west.

It was the tallest building of their castle, a watchtower with a direct view of the sea.

At this time, the loud siren came from the watchtower.

"Oh no, there's an enemy coming." Brian's face sank and he said in a deep voice.

"Order, everyone is in combat mode." Brian quickly shouted at the East India Company supplies around him.

In fact, without Brian's order, as the alarm sounded on the watchtower, many East Indian personnel with muskets poured out of the castle.

Inside the castle of San Domingo, Brian had already given the order that whenever the watchtower siren sounded, it was the battle horn.

Brian now keeps all the red-haired soldiers of Castle San Domingo in a state of readiness.

In fact, after the Zheng family conquered the city of San Salvador in the chicken coop, it brought a lot of pressure to Brian, and he didn't want his castle to become a second San Salvador city.

"Let's go, Henry, go to the watchtower and see what the hell is going on." Brian beckoned to Henry, who was next to him, and ran towards the watchtower.

Soon, the two climbed the towering watchtower.

"Report Lieutenant Colonel Brian, Lieutenant Colonel Henry, an unknown fleet has appeared outside the harbor, and they are blockading us our harbor."

As soon as Brian and the others climbed the watchtower, a red-haired ghost soldier guarding the watchtower reported to the two.

"Is it the Zheng family's fleet?" Brian asked with a cold face.

"I don't know, the other party is hanging the Daming flag, but it is not the handsome flag of the Zheng family, but another handsome flag. Not sure if it's the Zheng family's fleet. ”

The red-haired ghost soldier replied.

"Let me see."

Brian stepped forward, and the red-haired ghost soldier looked out of the harbor with his goggles in his hand, and soon he saw a large naval fleet in his field of vision.

"So many warships? Could it be that the main force of the Zheng family's fleet has arrived? ”

Henry stood aside, without using his glasses, but with the naked eye, he could still see the ships the size of black spots outside the harbor, and said with a frown.

"It's indeed the fleet of the Ming Dynasty, but it didn't hang the Zheng family's marshal flag, it may be a detachment of the Zheng family, they actually came to attack us, could it be that Governor Paul in the south was defeated?"

Brian used his glasses to see clearly outside Tamsui Harbor, Lu Yuan's fleet, but he still thought it was the Zheng family's fleet.

Because, at this time, in the consciousness of the red-haired ghost, the main ones that can appear in the southeast sea are the warships flying the Ming flag, which are basically the Zheng family's.

Therefore, Brian still instinctively regarded the fleet that appeared outside their harbor this time as the Zheng family fleet.

At this time, the fleet that appeared outside the Tamsui Port was the White Dragon Army Navy Fleet led by Lu Yuan, and it took them half a day to check the location and soon found the Tamsui Port.

It's just that the number of warships that appeared outside the port at this time was only about thirty, and it was only the vanguard fleet led by Hong Zhen and the main force of the fleet led by Lu Yuan were still behind.

But these thirty or so ships had already made Brian on the castle's watchtower deeply uneasy.

At this time, there were basically no warships of the red-haired ghosts in the Tamsui port, and Brian and the others received orders from Paul Duradinius, the governor of the red-haired ghosts in the Ryukyus at this time, to defend the city of San Domingo.

In the city of San Domingo, there are not only a garrison of 800 red-haired ghosts, but also the castle is the most advanced European-style fortress at this time, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

The red-haired ghost soldiers in the castle also have ample firearms to use, more than fifty cannons, and plenty of ammunition reserves.

Brian once confidently said, "The city of San Domingo is an insurmountable castle." ”

He was confident that with 800 men in his hands, relying on this fortified fortress, he could resist the attack of tens of thousands of people, and it was almost impossible for the enemy to storm the city of San Domingo.

What made Brian even more calm was that this time Henry came from Holland and brought them two hundred flintlock pistols, for this kind of musket that does not need to be ignited, Brian's red-haired ghost soldiers can't put it down.

The flintlock pistol had been in Europe for decades, but it had never been adopted by the armies of the European powers.

Until the past two years, the excellent performance of the flintlock pistol was discovered by the armies of more and more European countries, and soon the European powers and countries were ready to replace the flintlock pistol.

At this time, the Dutch had just begun to change their flintlock pistols, and this time Henry came to the Far East, bringing only 2,000 flintlock pistols, and 1,000 remained in Batavia (present-day Jakarta).

Batavia at this time was the center of the Dutch East India Company in the Far East, and Henry came to the Ryukyus with another thousand flintlock muskets.

Eight hundred remained in the city of Geranza to the south, and the other two hundred were brought to Brian by him.

Even though there are only 200 flintlock guns, this new type of musket with far more performance than the arquebus, still greatly enhances the combat effectiveness of the red-haired ghost.

It was precisely because he had so many hole cards in his hand that Bryan was a little uneasy at this time, but then disappeared.

Then, he calmly ordered: "Inform the first and second battalions to go up to the city wall first, and the third battalion as a reserve." ”

At the same time, Brian turned his gaze to Henry and said, "Henry, your men are elite, and you don't need to go into battle for the time being, and you will be on the critical moment." ”

"No problem." Henry shrugged and said.

(End of chapter)