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At nightfall, the wind begins to grow, and under the influence of the tides, the waves of the vast sea roll and roar like wild beasts.

There was a cold moon hanging in the sky, and the moonlight sprinkled on the undulating waves, and it was a miserable white.

Wernardo's uniform was crumpled and had apparently not been changed for many days, and he stood on the deck, looking at the rough sea, his heart surging.

He had waited too long, and if it weren't for the help of the Mughals, he didn't know if he would have survived until now.

According to the information Ke Chenshu obtained, he only had about twenty warships, plus more than thirty armed merchant ships, but in fact, this was not true.

After losing the Far Eastern colonies such as Java and Sumatra, the Netherlands lost what had once been the most lucrative spice trade, and even lost the Far East's trade with Daqin and Japan.

Although the Netherlands also had colonies in the Americas, it had shifted its focus to the Far East in recent years, and the Dutch East India Company was the most profitable company in the country, and the trade in the Far East accounted for about 50% of the entire Dutch maritime trade revenue.

Now that the colonies in the Far East have been lost, the Netherlands is not reconciled, not to mention that the Great Qin Navy has to advance an inch, and then it will advance into the Indian Ocean, if even the interests of India are lost, the Netherlands, a sea coachman, is likely to decline from then on, and lose the throne of Europe's first maritime trading power.

Therefore, the Netherlands sent Baron Arkidney with twenty-seven well-equipped warships to support, which had only arrived three days earlier, which was one of the reasons why Wernardo decided to bring in Kechenshu for the decisive battle.

Wilnardo, as he calls it the Lhasa Islands, are three small islands of less than a square kilometre that are exposed to the surface, but beneath the surface of the water, there are hundreds of reefs hidden.

If it is during the day, through the clear sea. These reefs can be clearly seen because they are red, and if you get closer, you will be amazed by the magnificent colors of the green water and red reef.

But on such a night, these shallow reefs are the graveyards of the most feared by passing ships.

Mughal Navy Commander Pramore came out of the cabin and saw Wernardo standing on the deck silent, just staring at the dark sea in the distance, he couldn't help but ask, "Is General Wernardo not sure to lure the fleet of the Qin State over?" ”

"I'm not worried about that at all." Wernardo looked confident. It was necessary, even if he wasn't sure in his heart.

This time, the Netherlands and the Mughals were able to come together entirely because they were both threatened by Daqin.

Pramore brought with him more than two hundred warships, but no more than a dozen were equipped with artillery, all of them of the old Arab ship type that was slower than the speed.

Although the rest of the small and medium-sized warships were not slow, they were poorly armed and used swords, guns, bows and arrows. And this is not critical, because these weapons, coupled with the speed of the boat shallow water. In these reef-strewn waters, it is possible to play a greater role.

The key was the fighting spirit of the Mughal soldiers, who had been in India for several years. A good understanding of the will to fight of the Mughal Navy;

Vernado was very worried that when the decisive battle came, under the fierce artillery attack of the Qin army, the small and medium-sized warships of the Mughal Navy did not dare to rush forward at all.

And what is hard to resist is that they still think they are strong. The attitude is very arrogant, and even naively thinks that the fleet of the Qin State is in front of them. will be vulnerable;

Thinking about their whimsical idea of loading the elephants onto the ship to fight, Wernardo felt extremely funny.

But now that their bases in India are almost all lost, they have to endure it in terms of logistics and supplies, and of course, if they are really defeated in the end, it is not bad to pull the Mughal as a backstop.

Pramore said a little arrogantly: "If General Wernardo is really so confident, why doesn't he dare to take the initiative?" I think we should be prepared with both hands, if the Qin army does not come, we will take the initiative to attack and quickly defeat the Qin fleet. As you can see, our morale is high now, and if we continue to hide and drag it out, we will lose our morale in a few days. ”

"General Pramol hurry up and prepare for war as planned, I estimate that the fleet of the Qin State will arrive soon." Wernardo doesn't want to talk to him anymore.

This time Pramore didn't say anything, if he lured the enemy to Shun, according to the time, the fleet of the Qin State was indeed about to arrive, so he took a small boat and hurried back to his command ship.

Wernardo looked at the sea to the southeast, where the moonlight was churning with the waves, and in the distance it was pitch black, and nothing could be seen, and the sound of the waves on the side of the ship was constantly lapping against the hull.

Wernardo returned to the command cabin, a few days after he arrived in India with twenty-seven elite warships, Baron Akidni, carrying a horse lantern, was lying on the table looking at the charts, and when he heard his footsteps, he said without raising his head: "General Wernardo, don't you think that it may be a huge mistake to fight with such stupid Mughals?" ”

Wernardo took off his hat and hung it on the hook on the edge of the cabin, and said casually: "If that's the case, it must be the stupidest decision." ”

Baron Arkidni straightened up in surprise, the light hit his wavy blonde hair, and his questioning gaze fell on Wernerdo: "General, what are your plans?" ”

"Together, but not together."

Just these four words, immediately reassured Akideni a lot, the Mughal navy is very arrogant, naturally will not obey their command, so as long as you don't reluctantly unite with them, then in fact, you don't have to worry too much about being dragged down by them.

"I support General Wernardo's decision."

Wernardo and Akideni talked softly in the cabin, they were not talking about how to fight, because these had been planned, and they discussed how to let the Mughal navy support them in case the war was lost.

At this moment, the Lhasa Islands were flanked by 83 Dutch ships to the west and more than 2 or 3 warships of the Mughal Empire to the east.

Up close, there are shadows everywhere, like countless giant beasts lurking in the night, ready to burst out and hurt people.

But as long as it is a little farther away, it is only dark and gloomy, and there is no anomaly in sight.

Thirty miles southeast of Lhasa Island, the tide is surging, the sound of the waves is bursting, in the diluted moonlight, but I saw a tongue of fire spewing out, boom! Boom, boom, boom

Several or six arrow ships of the Qin army kept moving in a zigzag, and as soon as the angle of the naval guns was suitable, they immediately opened fire one after another, bombarding the two Dutch warships that were desperately fleeing in front. Cannonballs streaked across the night sky, whistling away, stirring up columns of water on the surface of the sea, flashing white light, and roaring in harmony.

Not to be outdone, the two warships of the Dutch fled, while firing back, the two sides chased and fought fiercely on the sea in the dark night, but because of the strong monsoon and the surging waves, the two sides were two or three miles away, although the solid shells were enough, but the hit rate was extremely low, and after the shells flew out, it all depended on luck.

On the sea a few miles later, Ke Chenshu hesitated again in his heart, the two Dutch battleships in front of him were responsible for luring the enemy nine times out of ten, and if they went further, they were very likely to encounter an ambush from the enemy.

Du Yi also persuaded again: "General Ke, give the order to let the fleet stop, this night is vast, and it is very dangerous to catch up with it." ”

"I know, but if you just give up, you don't know when you want to find the enemy next time."

Wernardo is as slippery as a loach, and if it weren't for the conditions in his favor, he might be sure that he will never fight you.

This vast sea cannot be fortified everywhere, and it can be prevented for a while, but it cannot be prevented for a lifetime, once Vernado crosses the east coast of India, it will be a huge disaster for Daqin's merchant ships.

Ren Jianzheng said: "General Ke, if not, let the six flying clippers in front continue to chase the enemy, once the enemy's fleet is discovered, there is no need to fight, just embellish the enemy's fleet, and send another warship back to report the news." ”

This is not a good idea, in fact, it is equivalent to sitting and watching six clippers go into danger alone, and even if there is no danger as Ren Zhong said, and the enemy is entangled, the enemy will definitely not stand still and wait for you to attack.

When one of your ships comes back to report the news, it is difficult for the enemy's fleet to say where it will flee, and it is useless to have the remaining five battleships dotted, because you can't send the news back, you have been with people for a year, and the main forces behind you may not be able to find you.

It's hard, it's a dilemma

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