Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 344 VOC Comes to the Door

"Boss, I strongly object." Miguel was shocked when he heard this. "The south wind season has just begun. If we launch an attack on Tainan in advance, it is very likely that we will immediately provoke revenge from Batavia! It only takes two months to travel from Tainan to Batavia. The Red Hairs can completely catch up with the end of the south wind season..."

"Maybe it won't take two months." Lin Hai smiled nonchalantly. This actually happened once when Zheng Chenggong was recovering Taiwan. The VOC schooner Maria, led by Captain Cornelis Clausen, braved the southwest monsoon to return to Batavia to report the news. It took a total of 54 days, which surprised the Emperor.

It only takes about a month to sail from Batavia to Tainan with the wind, which means that if the Huiyou Company attacked Tainan in the fifth month of the lunar calendar, Batavia could retaliate within the year.

But if the attack was postponed to June or July, this possibility would basically no longer exist, because the long-distance gusts would not only make the sailors exhausted, but also cause great damage to the ship. The price of Maria's forced return to Batavia was that the mast was almost scrapped.

This also means that it is impossible for a fleet to go on a long expedition against the wind, because it would result in a huge loss of combat effectiveness, which is basically the same as seeking death.

In other words, once the tail end of the south wind season is missed, Batavia will not be able to retaliate within the year and can only wait until the south wind rises again next year. This is why Lin Hai set the time for the capture of Dayuan in the second half of the year, just to buy more time for development.

"Boss, the gap in strength between our company and Red Hair is too big. We can't withstand Batavia's thundering attack!" Miguel stood up excitedly, his words were extremely fierce!
"I don't think so. Think about it. Since Tavola has a strong desire to seek a decisive battle with the red-haired people, why has he not taken action yet? Isn't it because of lack of confidence? Before you went to Manila, the Philippines did not take the initiative to send envoys to Keelung. What does this mean?"

A sneer flashed in Lin Hai's eyes: "It means that they don't take our navy seriously at all! Even the Governor of the Philippines who has dealt with us is like this, and the General Manager of Batavia will not take the company seriously. The Red Hairs have scattered troops and are short of manpower. I estimate that they can only send six or seven cruisers to Jinhe at most. We can annihilate them in one fell swoop!"

"You have a point..." Miguel fell into deep thought again. In fact, when he calmed down and thought about it, it was true. He subconsciously treated the company as a big deal because he knew the inside story. But in the eyes of VOC, the Asian maritime hegemon, what does a mere meeting with friends count for?

The VOC blockaded Manila Bay nine times, but at most they dispatched ten cruisers, and most of the time they dispatched five or six. Even when they wanted to use force to open the gates of the Ming Dynasty, they only sent seven cruisers. Even if the Huiyou Company captured a small ship and a small number of soldiers, what qualifications did it have to ask the arrogant Dutch to send a more powerful fleet?

"Now might be the best time to attack Dayuan. The company is about to migrate to Wanggang. Instead of passively dealing with possible conflicts, it is better to simply take down Dayuan!"

Lin Hai said, "The strength of the officials is not worth mentioning. We don't even need to send out the army. The Navy can directly destroy the red-haired fleet and then besiege Fort Zeelandia without attacking it. Batavia will definitely send reinforcements after hearing the news. With the current strength of the company, how many ships do you think they will send?"

"You're right. The best they can do is send out six or seven big Galens..." Miguel had to admit that what Lin Hai said made sense.

But he went on to say: "Even if there are six or seven large galleons, the Admiralty cannot confront them head-on. But we are fighting at home, and we have many more ships available than the enemy. Perhaps we can set fire to the ships..."

"What kind of fireboat?" Lin Hai interrupted Miguel and expressed his objection, "We must defeat the red-haired man with cannons in an upright manner. This will show the company's strength in a decisive battle in the open sea and make Manila and Goa make up their minds!"

Miguel felt dizzy after hearing this: "The Navy Department only has one cruiser right now, and you want to fight head-on with six or seven fully armed large galleons?"

"Have you forgotten that we still have two cruisers on the slipway? It takes three months for the official to go to Batavia and back, and by then these two ships would have been launched."

Lin Hai said, "We still have four 500-ton old lock ships, which can be converted into warships. Doesn't that mean we have seven cruisers? If the Bowang comes back, that will be eight. Add our frigates, will it be enough to fight the red-haired man head-on?"

"That's enough!" Miguel was overjoyed when he heard this. He was not a coward, but he forgot for a moment that the Changping and Champion were about to be launched, so he felt that the gap in strength between the two sides was too big.

"Besides, we are fighting at our doorstep, and our army is far more powerful than the Reds. This ensures that the company is actually invincible!"

Lin Hai said, "So what if the Navy suffers a small defeat? As long as we can directly cause casualties to the Red Hair's Galleon Fleet, it will be enough to prove the strength of the Company's Navy. Then we can use fire attack tactics and eventually annihilate the Red Hair!"

Lin Hai was full of confidence in defeating the VOC fleet at home. As Miguel said, using fire ships to defeat the enemy was definitely a good strategy.

In another time and space, Zheng Zhilong had already demonstrated this. If it didn't work, he could use the tactics he used in the Battle of Liaoluo Bay, and victory would be a sure thing.

Before the Liaoluo Bay Battle, Zheng Zhilong's main fleet had actually been attacked and burned by the VOC. However, in the subsequent decisive battle, he used a move that stunned the Dutch, that is, using hundreds of medium and large ships as incendiary ships!
It should be noted that fireboats are suicide attacks and are generally small boats equipped with sails and oars. They are not only cheap but also more maneuverable, making it difficult for large enemy ships to avoid them.

But Zheng Zhilong did not play by the rules, and rushed towards the enemy with hundreds of large ships. The Dutch thought they were going to board, but the enemy launched an indiscriminate fire attack - what mobility? What I'm doing is called fire coverage!

The Dutch had never dreamed of such an unethical way of fighting, so they could only admit defeat. In this time and space, no one has used this trick yet. If Lin Hai chooses to copy it, VOC will be defeated. As early as the beginning of last year, the company recruited immigrants from Zhejiang and Chongming on a large scale, and had purchased hundreds of large sand ships from Shen Tingyang, so it was completely feasible to use this trick. And the Dutch came all the way from Batavia, how many ships could they bring?
To put it bluntly, Jinhe Country is the home turf of Huiyou Company, and they have plenty of ways to kill you!
However, this fighting style is just a last resort, and Lin Hai will not use it unless it is absolutely necessary. After all, the casualty ratio of the Liaoluo Bay naval battle is quite ugly, and Lin Hai does not want to kill 500 enemies and lose 1,000 of his own.

"General, the Navy Department will strive not to use fire ships. If the number of cruisers on both sides is similar, and the number of naval guns is roughly the same, then I have the confidence to defeat the Red Hair head-on!" Miguel clenched his fist and waved it in the air, "If we don't have this confidence, then we can forget about the decisive battle with the Red Hair's main force next year!"

Lin Hai looked at Miguel approvingly. He actually had the same idea. If he couldn't win a naval battle of equal strength at home, then what qualifications did he have to go to the enemy's port for a decisive battle?

It should be noted that VOC's maritime strength is much stronger than Spain, Portugal and Britain combined. They have more than 30 cruise ships in Asia!

No matter how hard the company tries to recruit soldiers, it can only build a dozen cruisers next year. Even if it sells everything it has and buys more old lock ships for modification, the problem of naval guns cannot be solved. Although the iron mold casting can reuse the mold, the Firearms Bureau will still face great challenges in producing 300 naval guns in more than a year.

In this way, even if Spain, Portugal and Britain all joined, the combined fleet would at most consist of 40 cruisers. In other words, even if the strategic concept of the Joint Plan was fully realized, the coalition's paper advantage over the VOC Navy would be very limited.

Since the coalition forces took the initiative to attack, this paper advantage would basically be wiped out by the Dutch home advantage. The results of the three battles of Hang Da Tan proved this point. Even the invincible VOC found it difficult to defeat the Spaniards in Manila Bay.

In fact, this was also one of the reasons why Lin Hai decided to take action against the senior official as soon as possible, because when he was calculating the strength comparison between the Netherlands and Spain, he suddenly thought of a point: that is, the strength of the Spaniards fluctuated and was unpredictable.

The three Battles of Hang Da Tan were all at the doorstep of Manila, but the Spanish only deployed 9 galleons at most, and only 6 at the least. What is even more surprising is that they stayed away from the VOC for at least six years when they were at their doorstep, knowing that the number of galleons on the other side was only in the single digits...

But in the proactive attack in 1616, the Governor of the Philippines, Silva, actually put together a fleet of 16 large sailing ships. The total strength of this large fleet was as high as 5000 people, including 2000 Spaniards, plus 3000 Asian vassal troops, including 500 powerful Japanese Christian warriors.

What does this indicate? It indicates that the strength of the Spanish depends on the Governor-General of the Philippines's ability to tap into the potential for war, which obviously takes time, at least not much can be tapped within a VOC blockade cycle.

The fleet in 1616 was obviously put together by Silva by selling all his belongings. The Spanish and Philippine authorities may have prepared for it for several years. After all, Spain had no professional warships in Asia, and the so-called Manila galleons were usually used as merchant ships.

Merchant ships often need to be modified to be used as warships, most importantly by adding cannons. This of course takes time. On the one hand, the casting cycle of naval guns is there, and on the other hand, financial preparations may also be needed.

The Portuguese side was probably similar to the Spanish side, so Lin Hai wanted to capture Dayuan in advance in order to urge the allies to make up their minds and run their respective war machines at full power as soon as possible.

"Very good! We must have this determination! Just imagine, if we can defeat the revenge fleet sent by the VOC alone, will the Governor-General of the Philippines and the Viceroy of Goa still hesitate?" Lin Hai shook his head, "Absolutely impossible. Even the EIC, I think there is more than a 50% chance that they will join our alliance..."

"The British don't matter." Miguel had suffered heavy losses from the British twice, in Hormuz Island and the Gulf of Cambay, so he had always been unhappy with the British. He continued, "As long as Manila and Goa can send troops, the decisive battle next year can be carried out as planned."

"If we can defeat the red-haired revenge fleet head-on this year, then even if only Manila sends troops, I will be determined to fight this battle next year!" Lin Hai's fighting will is more determined than Miguel. For Portugal and Britain, he values ​​the long-term value more, but at the moment they are far less important than Spain.

After all, when Spain and Portugal jointly sent out troops in 1616, Manila sent 16 large sailing ships, while Goa only had a pitiful 4. The main force of the joint fleet was actually just the Huiyou Company and Spain.

"General, the Navy Department guarantees to complete the mission! As long as the red-haired man dares to come for revenge, I will lead the fleet to defeat him!" Miguel immediately issued a military order. Since Shibi was dismissed, he has been the deputy commander in charge of the Navy Department.

"I believe in the Navy Department." Lin Hai nodded heavily when he heard this. Both Miguel and he were too optimistic about the situation.

The reason was simple. They both seriously underestimated one person, the new president of Batavia, Jan Peterszohn Cohen.

At this moment, the VOC fleet sent by Cohen has set off from Batavia, not to seek revenge, but to destroy the country!
The strength of this fleet far exceeded Lin Hai and Miguel's expectations, even though the Huiyou Company had never shown any hostility towards VOC at this time.

In addition, the Dutch also have a guide named Li Kuiqi, who has been entrenched in Penghu for many years and will weaken the home advantage of Huiyou Company to a certain extent.

What Lin Hai could not imagine the most was that Li Kuiqi had persuaded several big bandits along the southeast coast. The enemy's ships were even more numerous than those of the Huiyou, which meant that even the hidden fire attack tactics were useless...

(End of this chapter)