1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 346 The Attacking Fleet

September 1639, 9, Hanzhou, Jianye Port.

Eight large ships from Hanzhou gathered at the wharf, three of which went to Weihai (now Cairns, Australia) in the east of Hanzhou to bring related weaving, printing and dyeing, punching and other machinery and equipment to the newly built cotton spinning center there. Several sets of cottonseed oil extraction equipment.After unloading the supplies, they will drive to Weiyuan Fort, where they will gather with many ships heading for Daming immigrants.

The other five large ships are all attack ships, namely the professional warships "Qiming" and "Yangming", the armed merchant ships "Kaifeng", "Yangwei", and "Yangwu", and the fast contact ship "Flying Fish 5" ", carrying more than 130 people from the new Fifth Marine Corps on board, as well as a large number of industrial products for production and living, ready to set off for Xinxiangbao.

This attacking fleet will stay in Xinxiangbao for a few days, and load the newly formed Fourth Marine Corps here to assist in the suppression of the natives, and head to the Spice Islands, waiting for an opportunity to capture Ambon again.

"Fourth, when I went out this time, apart from capturing Ambon and waiting for an opportunity to attack the Dutch merchant ships, I went directly to Hanxing Island to pick up immigrants. Luo Rucheng and his party did not return to Hanzhou, and I don't know how many immigrants they got in Daming. Hanxing Island is here." Qi Dajiang looked at Qi Tian and said, "Apart from Annan's explanation, what else do you need to tell me?"

"If there is a chance, get more women back." Qi Tian said with a smile: "The many immigrants you brought back last month, less than [-]% were women. It is estimated that the ratio of women stranded on Midway Island is not high either. High. The lack of women will require the people in the future of Hanzhou to farm and work with peace of mind, let alone reproduce and expand the population base of Hanzhou."

When Qi Dajiang heard the words, he couldn't laugh or cry immediately, thinking that Qi Tian would tell him some detailed local strategy.But he didn't expect that he was asked to find a way to get more women back.

"There are very few women who can collect hungry people in Daming territory. Could it be that you still want me to lead troops to the coastal prefectures and counties of Daming to capture some women back?" Qi Dajiang shook his head and said.

"You landed in Daming and plundered women, no matter in terms of morality or emotion, we Hanzhou will definitely not be able to make it through." Qi Tian said: "However, as far as I know, the Annan woman is no different from my Han people, and the other The navy is weak, and nearly half of it was destroyed by your fleet last time. Thinking about it, the coastal counties and towns may be allowed to travel freely by you."

"Looting Annan?" Qi Dajiang's expression froze: "Then our Hanzhou is not an act of piracy?"

"Second brother, that Annan, that is what you call Guangnan Kingdom attacked our Hanzhou Xinsheng Island twice, and we are already in a state of war." Qi Tian couldn't help being angry when he heard that Qi Dajiang disdained piracy, "What is war?" ?It is to use any means to weaken your enemy as much as possible, attack your enemy, and eliminate the enemy! Looting that Guangnan country and obtaining a large number of Annan women is the best way to weaken it, and it can also be beneficial For my people's livelihood in Hanzhou."

"In this case, we... we are a bit like slaves and tartars." Qi Dajiang is more and more thinking of Hanzhou's armed forces as a country's economical army, and he still hopes that the Hanzhou army will It can be like the Yue family army in the storybook or the Qi family army decades ago, with strict military discipline and never offending the common people.

"Second brother, how can we compare my Hanzhou army with the Jiannu Tartars?" Qi Tian was a little dumbfounded, "We captured some women back to marry the people of Hanzhou. Jiannu Tartars were captured in Daming People, but I want to treat them all as slaves. Besides, the living conditions and treatment of many women living in Hanzhou are much better than before!"

Qi Dajiang nodded when he heard it, that's all, for the sake of the many bachelors in Hanzhou, let's go to Annan to be a robber.

"Or, if you have a chance, you can also go to Japan." Qi Tian said: "Buying some women from there is also a supplement."

"Can't we go ashore to snatch it in Japan?" Qi Dajiang asked.

"Although there are many vassals in Japan, at least there is a shogun who maintains the unity of the regime, and his strength is not weak. We Hanzhou can't easily provoke it at this time." Qi Tian said.

During this period, even Zheng Zhilong and the Dutch East India Company, the two powerful sea powers, did business honestly with Japan. With our current small body in Hanzhou, we still have to be like others, and we must first deal with Japan in a proper manner. do business.Japan should have promulgated a strict lock-down order at this time. Presumably, the lives of the people in the country are a bit difficult. It is probably more reliable to buy some women.

"What did you brothers say just now? Looking at Da Jiang's expression, why does he seem a bit embarrassed." Cao Xiong asked with a smile as he watched the fleet ships leave the dock one by one.

"I told him to bring more women back when he went to Daming to search for immigrants." Qi Tian said in a low voice, "More than half of the men in Hanzhou are unmarried. This is not conducive to the development of our people's livelihood in Hanzhou."

Cao Xiong nodded upon hearing this, and then looked at Qi Tian with a strange look.

"Uncle, do you have something to ask me?" Qi Tian asked.

"You are 19 years old this year." Cao Xiong said, "Is it time to marry a wife?"

"Uh..." Qi Tian was taken aback for a moment, and then said with a smile: "There's no rush, we'll think about it after we negotiate peace with the Dutch."

"Wang Zheng's granddaughter is also eighteen." Cao Xiong said with a smile: "A few days ago, he vaguely reminded me of this matter. If the Dutch don't make peace with us this year, you will The girl delays until next year?"

"Isn't it? The Dutch fought with us in Hanzhou, but they didn't get any benefits. Instead, they will continue to lose. They will continue to endure losses and fight with us in Hanzhou for another year?"

"Sometimes, morale will completely overcome interests." Cao Xiong said: "The Dutch are powerful, and the sea power is tyrannical. Naturally, they will think that our Hanzhou will be able to subdue them, and they will compromise and admit defeat."

"In this case, let's fight the Dutch until they vomit blood!" Qi Tian said ruthlessly: "Anyway, we in Hanzhou can use the eastern route to immigrate, and our industrial scale production has not started yet. There is no need for their market for now.”

"What I told you was about the marriage with Wang Zheng's granddaughter, why did you bring it up to the development of Hanzhou?" Cao Xiong shook his head and smiled wryly, "Let's find a day and let's settle the matter between you two. We're married , you are a man who is truly in charge of the house!"

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In the vast South China Sea, a fleet of ten armed merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company passed through the Ambuna Islands (now the Natuna Islands in Indonesia) and headed slowly towards the Indochina Peninsula against the weak northwest trade wind. go.

The Dutch fleet set off from Batavia a week ago, preparing to go to Xinsheng Island controlled by Hanzhou in advance, looking for opportunities to intercept and attack possible Hanzhou transport ships.But this is not their main purpose.

After more than half a year of the Han-Dutch War, the Dutch also knew that they had no way to take the stronghold of the Hanzhou people.Needless to say, the mainland of Hanzhou is full of forts on the docks, with strong firepower, and the Dutch warships have no chance of attacking the port.And several of their overseas strongholds were also built like tortoise shells. In addition, the Hanzhou army's fighting will was extremely tenacious, and the performance of its artillery and muskets was not weaker than that of the Dutch.

Under the city of Dili, after the Dutch suffered a bloody blow, they no longer wanted to attack the fortress held by the Han people.As for Xinsheng Island, one of the destinations of this trip, the Dutchman said that he just came to have a look and had no other intentions.Of course, if they encountered one or two Hanzhou transport ships, that would be their greatest luck.

I heard that the Guangnan Kingdom gathered [-] troops to attack Xinsheng Island in May, but the entire army was wiped out. This shocked the Dutch.Perhaps, after this disastrous defeat, Annan's "friend" newly made by the Dutch East India Company may find it difficult to summon up the courage to attack the Hanzhou people again.

"This broken island is in a good location. It happens to be stuck on our route to the Ming Dynasty and Japan, and the island is large enough to cultivate a lot of arable land to support the guards. The company should occupy this place." Fleet Commander Lieutenant Colonel Carsten Kuritz put down his binoculars and said to several Dutch officers around him.

"Sir, since the beginning of this year, the East India Company has been continuously attacked by various parties and suffered a lot of losses." A captain officer said: "It is estimated that in a short period of time, there will be no extra financial resources to open up new strongholds."

"Yes, we seem to have lost too much this year." Lieutenant Colonel Carsten Kuritz said with a sigh: "We are in the East Indies, and all we face are enemies. And our friends, who can really There are no friends who have helped us."

"Across the East Indies, with our great sea power, we don't need friends," said another officer. "I believe that in the coming time, we will eventually defeat all our enemies one by one."

Lieutenant Colonel Carsten Kuritz glanced at him, shook his head, and said nothing.The Dutch are not as powerful as imagined in the Far East. Not to mention the official Nicholas (Zheng Zhilong's Christian name), now even the Hanzhou Navy in the south can sink their Dutch warships.The Kingdom of Mataland, which had just repelled under the city of Batavia not long ago, has begun to equip artillery and muskets on a small scale.

Even the Kingdom of Cambodia, which is in the middle reaches of the great river (Mekong River), dared to attack the East India Company's trading posts, and killed and captured many Dutch businessmen and mercenaries.

One of the most important tasks of this attack fleet, carrying two hundred mercenaries and five hundred native servants, was to threaten the Kingdom of Cambodia, forcing them to release all captured Dutch personnel and once again allowing the establishment of the East India Company's trading post .

Afterwards, they will continue to go north to the waters near Haojing (today's Macau), and capture this place according to the situation.If the attack is not smooth, the armed merchant ships sent by the Portuguese to this place will be wiped out as much as possible, so as to reduce resistance for the later attack on Malacca and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).

On this fleet, there are also senior business representatives sent by the East India Company. They are entrusted by the company committee and Governor Daiman to go to Quanzhou in the Ming Dynasty to negotiate with Zheng Zhilong about the follow-up processing of Formosa, and Japan and North Korea trade and other related matters.Faced with Zheng Zhilong's aggressive posture on the coast of the Ming Dynasty, the East India Company was prepared to make concessions to a certain extent in order to gain some share in the trade between Japan and North Korea.

(End of this chapter)