1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 286 Northward
"I've thought about it for the past few days. I'm going to gather all the big ships and head north together to load immigrants in Daming. What do you think?" Qi Dajiang looked at the people sitting there and said with a serious expression.

"Stop beating the Dutch?" Luo Rucheng asked: "Didn't the commander tell us to attack the Dutch colonial strongholds and their merchant ships as much as possible. We have to beat them so that we can force them Make peace with us Hanzhou."

"Not bad!" Niu Hu said: "Although General Dong has completed the exploration of the eastern emigration route, he will not send all the large ships to emigrate. We can organize a few large ships with powerful forces to attack the Dutch, and other ships to send To emigrate. That way, both sides can be taken care of.”

If all the big ships were sent to emigrate, then the Marine Corps, as a landing attack, seemed to have nothing to do. How could this be tolerated by cattle and tigers, let alone defend Weiyuan Fort.At this moment, he even suspected that when Qi Dajiang fought against the three armed merchant ships of the Dutch last month, because he suffered a temporary loss, he was a little timid to fight the Dutch.

A month ago, Qi Dajiang and his party of four warships had a fierce exchange of fire with three passing armed merchant ships on the south side of Java Island. Whether it was a single ship fighting against each other or fighting as a whole, they fell behind the Dutch armed merchant ships in all aspects.If it weren't for the strong hull and slightly larger tonnage, the Hanzhou warship might have been sunk by Dutch armed merchant ships.

The fleet returned to Dog Island (now Christmas Island, Australia), and after a day of repairs, it immediately returned to Weiyuan Fort (now Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea), and all sailed into the ship repair yard for repairs and reinforcements.

On the south side of Java Island, the first naval battle with the Dutch taught the officers and soldiers of the Hanzhou Navy a profound lesson.Even though they have warships that are almost the same as the Dutch, they are far behind the Dutch in terms of combat skills and combat awareness.With the same strength, they are not their opponents at all.

This made the officers and soldiers of the Hanzhou Navy not only shocked, but also felt an invisible pressure.Niu Hu was very worried that if Qi Dajiang and other naval officers experienced this battle, they would become afraid of the Dutch navy and think of a passive attitude of avoiding the war.How could that deal a serious blow to the Dutch and force them to make peace with Hanzhou.

"Our ships are precious now, so we can't lose them easily." Dong Fengshan said: "Because the Eastern Front has just been opened and the Dutch don't know it, hurry up and bring back more immigrants. When the population of our Hanzhou increases, There are also more ships, and then we will settle accounts with the Dutch!"

If all the large ships are concentrated to go to Daming, they will definitely carry a large amount of supplies and personnel to supplement a series of transfer points on the eastern route.In this way, Dong Fengshan's exploration and opening of the eastern route will inevitably be further consolidated and strengthened, which will greatly promote his future development and status in the Hanzhou Navy.

"I agree with Commander Dong's opinion. There is a shortage of people in Hanzhou. Now that the eastern immigration route has been opened, we should immediately concentrate all our manpower and material resources to go to Daming to transport more immigrants to Hanzhou. With sufficient population, we Only Hanzhou can talk about development, can produce more money and food, can build more large ships, and can compete with that Dutch red-haired barbarian." Xie Limin said.

As the commander of Weiyuan Fort, Xie Limin strongly agrees with Dong Fengshan's opinion.Immigrants from the eastern route, as the most important support points of Hanzhou in the eastern route, Weiyuan Fort, Jinhua Fort and Tongzhou Fort will naturally intercept a large number of people, which will greatly improve the development of the entire Weiyuan Island.

Last year, the Hanzhou people's government discussed the establishment of a separate management agency on Weiyuan Island, which would be at the same level as the local Jianye Mansion, but with much greater authority.Then, as the commander of Weiyuan Fort, he might be able to become the general manager of the entire Weiyuan Island and become one of the top members of Weihanzhou People's Government.

If we want to realize the establishment of a separate agency on Weiyuan Island as soon as possible, it must be inseparable from the import of more immigrants.

"I have no objection to bringing more immigrants. However, I insist on the opinion just now. We must continue to attack the Dutch merchant ships and their strongholds, and let them feel our determination to fight in Hanzhou. Only by continuously causing losses to the Dutch, Only then can they face up to the existence of our Hanzhou, and they can sit down and make peace with us." Niu Hu said in a deep voice: "We can't blindly avoid the Dutch just because we are afraid of losing money."

Qi Dajiang laughed, and he could tell that Niu Hu was implying that the officers and soldiers of the naval warship were afraid of avoiding the battle because they suffered a small injury from the Dutch.

"Do you know that the Dutch not only have many colonial strongholds in Java Island and the Spice Islands, they also have a large number of strongholds in Taiwan near Daming, Cambodia near Xinsheng Island, and Borneo." Qi Dajiang said loudly: " We take all the big ships to Ming Dynasty, and we can use Guangzhou and Xinsheng Island as bases to attack the Dutch strongholds in the above areas. We can also attack the Dutch merchant ships going to Japan and North Korea near Taiwan. Most importantly, in Ming Dynasty Nearby, we have a helper, Zheng Zhilong!"

As soon as Qi Dajiang's words fell, everyone was stunned.Yes, why do we always think about attacking the Dutch strongholds and passing merchant ships in Java and the Spice Islands, and in this area, the Dutch are powerful and have many armed merchant ships. If you are not careful, you will easily suffer losses.

Relying on Daming and Xinsheng Island as supplementary bases not only has sufficient logistical supplies, but also takes care of escorting immigrant ships, and at the same time can attack Dutch passing merchant ships and their strongholds in the Nanyang region.

"Then how do our marines arrange it?" Niu Hu asked.

"Bring them all, and go to Daming with us." Qi Dajiang said: "We must destroy a few more Dutch strongholds."

"Commander Xie, you have sent some civil affairs personnel from Weiyuan Fort to Tongzhou Fort to exchange Niu Jinmin back. This time we will take nine large ships to Daming to transport immigrants, and at the same time attack the Dutch. The rest of the ships will be handed over to Niu Jinmin Responsible for the command and transfer of immigrants from Midway Island to Weiyuan Fort.” Qi Dajiang looked at Xie Limin, and said seriously: “Except for the mainland of Hanzhou, almost all the material reserves are in your Weiyuan Fort. I will send 150 All the town soldiers are left to you. Not only do you have to ensure the safety of this place, but you also need to organize all kinds of living materials and transport them to various transfer points in the north, so that they can be used by immigrants during temporary transfers."

"Humble job!" Xie Limin promised.

"Dong Fengshan, you will take two flying fish boats with me to Daming, the intelligence investigation at sea and the transmission of letters between various places, all depend on you!"

"Yes, Commander Qi!" Dong Fengshan promised loudly.

"A week later, let's go to Daming!"

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Major Conrad Costa, a former Portuguese naval officer, put down his binoculars, and said to a Hanzhou navy officer in blue and black military uniform beside him: "There should be no Dutch warships nearby. Are you driving north?"

"You are the temporary captain of the Yangbo, you have the final say." Li Baixiang said with a smile.

Major Conrad Costa gave a wry smile after hearing the interpreter's words, and then ordered several Portuguese officers to prepare to set sail and head north according to the instructions of the Hanzhou navigator on board.This warship named "Yangbo" by the Hanzhou Navy was obviously the Portuguese armed merchant ship he once commanded, and the dozen or so Portuguese officers and sailors were also his subordinates on the ship.

Today, most of the crew on board have been replaced by students from the Hanzhou Naval Academy and sailors on some fishing boats.They will assist these temporarily requisitioned Portuguese officers to control the refitted and reinforced warship and head to the new village of Timor Island.

The purpose of the warship "Yanbo" was to find out whether Neue Castle was still under the blockade of the Dutch fleet.At the same time, by the way, more than 50 students from the Naval Academy conducted a sea adaptability training.Therefore, this warship has no combat mission, and if it encounters a Dutch ship, it can flee immediately without honor.Thinking about it, on the vast sea, unless a dozen or so Dutch armed merchant ships are surrounded, there should be no problem in escaping safely.

After several times of sea adaptation training, the batch of more than 50 trainees from the Hanzhou Naval Academy will be assigned to several warships, and then conduct actual post operations for six to eight months, and finally become junior officers on each warship.

As the first old man who followed Cao Xiong, Li Baixiang was not suitable for continuing to fight for his life on the boat because of a lame leg.Therefore, when the Hanzhou Naval Training Institute was established three years ago, he and a group of Spanish officers served as instructors to teach and train the recruited naval cadets.

Through more than three years of continuous exploration and learning, Li Baixiang not only speaks everyday Spanish, but also learned a lot of knowledge about sea navigation and naval warfare from Spanish naval officers, which greatly broadened his horizons and thinking.

The little offshore navigation and combat skills once mastered in the Daming Dengzhou Navy seemed a bit behind.The navy, as Qi Tian said, is a branch of arms that needs some kind of "technology". It's not something that you can go to sea to fight with people with a wooden raft and a few harpoons.

At this time, he thought in his heart that after returning to Jianye City, he must persuade the commander-in-chief and the general manager to detain all the captured Portuguese officers and serve as instructors in the naval academy.It would be great if the Qi Er Commander who was outside could capture some Dutch naval officers, and they would all be used as instructors at the Hanzhou Naval Academy to learn the most advanced and practical sea skills of these Westerners.

As for whether they would sincerely teach the naval cadets in Hanzhou, Li Baixiang was not worried at all.The dozens of Spanish officers and sailors who were first captured in that small town in Luzon are now living in Hanzhou with peace of mind, getting married and starting businesses, and all of them have Han Chinese names, as if they are Hanzhou people.They are all officers at all levels of the Hanzhou Navy. To defend the safety and interests of Hanzhou, they fought bravely with the Dutch red-haired ghost.

(End of this chapter)