Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 864

The Ming Empire quickly occupied Calais, which really frightened the Dutch and the British.

In fact, the Dutch are more afraid than the British, because the Netherlands is to the east of France, and it also borders France on land.

There is no such thing as Belgium. The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg are all called the Spanish Netherlands.

Calais is less than a hundred miles from the Dutch border.

Moreover, they were the only country in continental Europe that had invaded the Ming Empire. At that time, the Dutch East India Company wanted to colonize the Ming Empire. Wouldn't the Ming Empire settle with them now?

Taichang did come to settle accounts with the Dutch.

Early the next morning, he set off with his fleet and headed straight for the huge harbor where Amsterdam was located.

Although one hundred armed merchant ships and one hundred Spike Warships were missing this time, the size of the fleet was still frighteningly large.

It is true that the Dutch have more than 1 ocean-going ships, but most of them are merchant ships with little combat effectiveness!

Moreover, these merchant ships are all sailing ships. In front of the iron-clad warships of the Ming Empire, they are garbage.

At this time, the huge harbor where Amsterdam is located is in chaos, and more than 2000 merchant ships are desperately fleeing.

The problem is that there is no wind at the moment, and it is almost impossible for them to escape from this huge harbor with a depth of more than a hundred miles. Near the port pier, those merchant ships who were desperately fleeing were all huddled together, shouting in horror The sound can be clearly heard for more than ten miles.

On the city wall of Amsterdam, Nassau Moritz, the supreme administrator of the Netherlands, scanned the chaos near the port wharf with a telescope, and sighed slightly: "Hendrick, why don't you lead the combined fleet and go to the Baltic Sea, Go to Stockholm and seek refuge with the King of Sweden.

Gustav II is the most powerful military strategist in our continent. He is much better than Richelieu, an old fox who only knows how to deceive people.

Moreover, the Swedish army is also stronger than the French army. If you lead the fleet and join forces with Gustav II, you may be able to use the complex terrain of the Baltic Sea to stop the invasion of the Ming Empire. "

Hendrick heard this, and couldn't help but anxiously said: "Brother Wang, what about you?"

In fact, Moritz was the eldest son of William van Orange, the original governor of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange, and he should inherit the throne of Prince of Orange.

However, he gave up the title of Prince to his younger brother, and he only succeeded his uncle as Earl of Nassau.

So, his name is Moritz of Nassau.

As for this Nassau, it doesn't mean that he is so flamboyant. Nassau is an earl's fief of the Marquis of Saxony, and the earl there is called the Earl of Nassau.

Of course, this has nothing to do with the current situation. No matter who becomes the prince, the Netherlands may not be able to keep it.

Moritz sighed slightly: "I'm getting old, and I don't have the energy to restore the glory of the Netherlands, so I can only rely on myself.

Moreover, this place has become such a mess, and there must always be someone in charge.

If we all leave, the Ming Empire can easily take over the entire Netherlands.

Don't worry, I won't fight the Ming Empire. If Amsterdam can't hold it, I'll go to Rotterdam. If Rotterdam can't hold it, I'll go to Antwerp.

In short, we have to keep one person to delay the invasion of the Ming Empire, so that Gustav II will have enough time to arrange defense.

If the Ming Empire were allowed to easily take over the entire Netherlands, they would probably chase the United Fleet to Sweden.

At that time, no matter how talented Gustav II is, he will have nothing to do. "

Well, there is a truth to that statement.

However, Hendrick was still a little hesitant and didn't want to go.

At this time, there was a sudden loud exclamation from the periphery of the port pier, and those merchant ships that were desperately fleeing turned around one after another, as if they wanted to rush back to the port pier.

When Moritz saw this, he couldn't help but anxiously said: "Hendrick, quickly take the blueprints of all the ships and machine tools and go. The fleet of the Ming Empire must be coming. You should quickly lead the fleet to go around the river in the east."

Hendrick couldn't help trembling: "Then what do you do?"

Moritz said helplessly: "Just leave me a few small fast boats. The rivers here are criss-crossing. Are you afraid that I won't be able to escape?"

Well, there are indeed many rivers here. There is a river in the west of Amsterdam that leads directly to the open sea. A small clipper similar to a Spike can go to the open sea through that river.

Moreover, there are many paddle boats similar to octopus boats. As long as they get into the river they are familiar with, the navy of the Ming Empire will definitely not be able to catch up.

Hendrick nodded quickly, and then took his guards to get the blueprints.

At this time, Ming's fleet had indeed entered the huge bay where Amsterdam was located.

The problem is that they can't get close to Amsterdam at all, because the waters near Amsterdam are all messy merchant ships, blocking the waterway to Amsterdam.

Taichang turned the binoculars and scanned for a while, his brows couldn't help but frown deeper and deeper.

If these merchant ships are blocked here, wouldn't he never want to take Amsterdam!
He thought for a while, and then ordered: "Command, test the water depth."

This place is a bay, so people can't jump into it to test the water depth.

Daming has special equipment for testing the water depth, that is, a thick and strong rope is tied with an iron ball weighing several tens of kilograms, and the steam-driven wheel is directly retractable and retractable, which is very convenient.

As the large warship with the most complete functions in the Ming Dynasty, the Emperor naturally has such special equipment on it.

Soon, a hatch on the bottom floor opened.

A Jinyiwei master directly carried an iron ball weighing dozens of kilograms into the water, and the thick and strong rope quickly shuttled into the water.

After a while, the rope stopped moving.

Fortunately, the water here is not very deep, and it has not exceeded a hundred feet. If it exceeds a hundred feet, they can't test it.

Because the hundreds of feet long rope is almost one foot high when rolled up, no matter how big it is, it will not fit in the cabin.

The Jin Yiwei master carefully groped along the remaining rope for a while, and soon found a mark sewn on the rope.

The water here is more than fourteen feet deep, but less than fifteen feet deep.

That's it.

Taichang heard the news and ordered decisively: "Order Yuanfang to lead fifty Aegis ships to go up, and quickly sink all the merchant ships in front."

I don't know how many bad things these colonial bandits have done, and they deserve it if they kill them all!

Zhang Yuanfang was taken aback when he received the order.

He didn't think it was a bit cruel to do so. The question is, how could he sink all of these galleons in a short period of time?

If you squeezed in directly and fired salvos from the left and right sides, the shells would probably be blocked by the ships that were close to each other on both sides, and they would not be able to blast far at all.

From the looks of it, they were only lined up and peeled off layer by layer.

He thought for a while and then ordered decisively: "Order, fifty Aegis ships line up with the dreadnoughts, ready to broadside salvo."

Soon, fifty Aegis ships lined up with his car and circled east.

When his car circled around the east coast, he gave another order, and the car turned around and made a big arc, and came to a position less than five miles away from the merchant ships.

Immediately afterwards, fifty Aegis ships followed his car all the way west, and quickly lined up.

He ordered without hesitation: "Order, all warships fire five rounds from the left side."

With a "crash", the gun ports on the right side of the dreadnought and fifty Aegis ships were all opened, followed by a violent roar of artillery.

"Booming", the violent roar of the artillery sounded endlessly, and the huge shells hit the outermost merchant ships like raindrops.

The Dutch on the merchant ship couldn't help but howl in despair.

The Ming Empire actually used ironclad battleships to bombard merchant ships, and there were more than 50 ships at once!
After this round, there are more than 2000 shells, and after five rounds, there are tens of thousands of shells. How can ordinary merchant ships resist it.

Suddenly sawdust and water jets flew together on the sea, and the thick mast fell like a tree that had been cut down.

After five rounds of salvo, dozens of merchant ships were directly smashed to pieces, and as many as four or five hundred ships were sunk slowly by the bombardment.

As for the people on the merchant ship, if they are lucky, they can jump into the sea and hug a plank and swim desperately to the shore. If they are unlucky, they will be hit by a shell, and they will directly become flying corpses.

This scene is really not ordinary.

When they burned, killed and looted all over the world, they might not have thought that they would have such a miserable day.

This is retribution!
Taichang glanced coldly at the sunk merchant ships, without any emotion on his face.

Colonial bandits deserve to die, but Da Ming is doing justice for the heavens!

Zhang Yuanfang glanced at the sunken merchant ships, but his face was full of anxiety.

The sinking speed was too slow, but the emperor ordered him to sink all these merchant ships quickly.

It seems that we have to work harder.

He hurriedly commanded the car to go around for a mile, and lined up with fifty Aegis ships from west to east.

Immediately afterwards, there were five rounds of starboard salvo.

More than 1 shells poured down, and the four or five hundred slowly sinking merchant ships were finally sunk by them.

Just like this, Zhang Yuanfang brought fifty Aegis ships, continuously pouring shells from east to west, and then from west to east.

After they circled around four times, all the merchant ships in front of them were finally sunk, and the port terminal east of Amsterdam was finally revealed in front of them.

At this moment, Hendrick had already run away with the combined fleet of the anti-Habsburg alliance. The entire port terminal was clean and there was not a single ship moored. They could see it clearly with binoculars.

Taichang turned the binoculars and glanced around, and couldn't help sighing secretly in his heart.

Such a big port, many piers, and many forts!
After all, the Dutch have more than 1 ocean-going ships, and this is the center of their transactions. It is possible to dock three or four thousand merchant ships at one time.

Therefore, there are hundreds of large and small piers here, and hundreds of forts!

This is a good thing, because there are too many piers, and the artillery on the walls of Amsterdam can't cover such a wide area at all. They only need to clean up the forts on both sides, and then directly use other people's piers to land.

Immediately afterwards, Taichang ordered Zhang Yuanfang and Zheng Zhikui to lead fifty Aegis ships to clean up the forts on both sides of the port.

At this moment, the Dutch are much more tenacious than the French. Even if the Thor II artillery blasted their forts into pits, they still guard the artillery that has not been knocked down and refuse to retreat.

Seeing this, Taichang simply ordered Zhang Yuanfang and Zheng Zhikui to lead the fleet to rush forward, and directly fired five rounds of broadside salvos at them.

If they do this, they will eat a lot of shells.

However, it doesn't matter much, the [-]-pound coastal defense gun can at most smash the basalt armor out, and just replace it at that time.

Hundreds of Aegis ships fired broadside salvos, and four to five thousand shells were fired in one round.

Now, those Dutch gunners who were guarding the fort finally got what they wanted and were all smashed to death.

Immediately afterwards, hundreds of armed merchant ships swarmed up, and the [-] soldiers of the Shenji Battalion and the [-] Shenwu Battalion directly carried two hundred catties of Thor cannons, bazookas and ladders to the pier.

And Zhang Yuanfang and Zheng Zhikui brought hundreds of Aegis ships forward, and directly blasted the city of Amsterdam with the Thor II artillery on the bow.

Moritz just ordered the coastal defense guns in the city to fire a salvo before giving up.

Because they don't have many 24-pound guns and 36-pound guns, they can hit several ironclad warships with a single salvo.

The problem is that the ironclad warships of the Ming Empire can't see any damage after being hit by a 36-pounder shell!

What's the point of them staying here, eating shells?

If you don't withdraw at this time, you will be courting death. The army of the Ming Empire has already rushed towards the city wall frantically!
There are at least 20 people in the two dark and dense areas, and their Dutch army has less than [-] in total!
(End of this chapter)