Late Ming Dynasty: The Counterattack Begins with Sea Pirates

Judging from Chi Hung-hai, who was in Hong Kong, after doing this, he guessed that, given Moore's personality or the Westerners' tendency to hold grudges, he would definitely hold the Dutch accountable and would take some action.

Although the exact scale is unclear, it will definitely happen.

In his mind, if the Dutch and Spanish fought on a large scale, things might calm down afterward, and he would have to find a way to add fuel to the fire.

The problem is that Chi Honghai is unaware of the actual scale of this incident, nor whether any further frictions will continue.

He currently has no excuse to go to either side. After all, it would be too much of a coincidence to say that this point just happened to be there, and there's no way to get Liu Qingjiang to send him a message.

But regardless of the size of the matter, Chi Honghai has no intention of letting this farce end or letting its popularity die down this winter.

However, with the ships now suffering various degrees of damage, it seems unwise to rashly engage in battle again.

If only three ships are deployed, there shouldn't be any major problems; they could probably win. However, the issue is that casualties will be significant, and Chi Honghai cannot afford to suffer large losses right now.

Although Hong Kong is still receiving refugees fleeing from the north and its population is growing, the number of reserve personnel is also increasing. However, the problem remains: training a skilled seaman takes time.

However, in Chi Honghai's view, it would be a great pity to give up the opportunity at hand. He knew that if he blamed the Dutch for intercepting the ship, the Spanish would definitely retaliate against the Dutch on the island of Taiwan.

But what about at sea?

Hard to say.

After waiting for some time on Hong Kong Island, the three ships, Dinghai, Dingbo, and Dinglang, which had set sail, were basically repaired and ready to set sail again after intensive repairs.

Chi Honghai made a bold decision.

He went to the shipyard and chatted with a Dutch craftsman.

"Master, are you getting used to the food here in the East?"

Upon seeing Chi Honghai arrive, the Dutch craftsman quickly bowed and then slowly shared his feelings: "To be honest, sir, when I first came to the East, I wasn't used to the food here. It was alright in Zeelandia, where fresh cheese and bread would be delivered every now and then. But once I got to Hong Kong Island, I could hardly find these things anymore."

"But it's alright, sir. Everyone has basically gotten used to this Eastern food. At first, they thought it was a bit pungent, but now they actually find it quite delicious."

"Does Zeelandia have fresh cheese and bread being shipped in?" Chi Honghai asked, puzzled.

"Ah, yes, sir. They were specially transported from Malacca. Fort Zeelandia is nice, but it's more of a military outpost. Things like these are rare there, so most of them need to be transported from Malacca."

"Shipping every month? You Dutch people really care about your lifestyle. It's rare to maintain such a habit even when you're so far away from your own country."

The Dutch craftsman smiled and said, "No, sir, you don't know this. We can't ship it every month. Even if we had so many ships, we wouldn't have that many cows and wheat. We usually ship it once every three months. We don't eat these things every day. We're quite satisfied if we have one every few days."

Once every three months? When was the last time? Chi Honghai pressed on.

"Why do you ask that, sir?"

"What else can we do? You are all my technicians. I've said before that as long as you do a good job, I will give you the treatment you deserve. I'm asking this because I want to see when I can go to Zeelandia to buy some for you."

"Sir, you've been too good to us. Our salaries have never been this high before. In a few years, we can all go back to Amsterdam to get married," the Dutch craftsman continued with a smile, his eyes shining with anticipation for the future.

Chi Honghai shook his head: "Hmm... no, we need to improve your meals. This is not in accordance with the customs of our Great Ming Dynasty. The New Year is coming soon, and you are also my subordinates. We have a saying here, 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do,' which means that wherever you go, you should follow the local customs. You will also be celebrating the New Year together."

"There are so many people from your side on the island, whether they are English, Dutch, or Portuguese, they can all be considered one of my own."

After hearing what Master Chi said, the craftsman was extremely grateful and told him everything he remembered about when the Dutch transported the cheese. This news also reached the ears of other craftsmen, including the English and Portuguese. Everyone was very excited because they hadn't tasted this cheese for a long time.

Based on the date mentioned by the craftsmen, Chi Honghai secretly calculated that around the middle of this month, the ship carrying cheese and bread from Malacca would arrive in Zeelandia.

It would be too late to wait until all six warships were repaired.

But this opportunity must not be missed.

Chi Honghai walked along the beach, enjoying the sea breeze and looking at the masts of the ships.

The cold wind whipped against his face, making him even more alert. He knew what he was about to do, and he knew how he was going to handle the situation.

Tianquan!

"Crew members, including those on the Tianquan, are to board immediately!"

"Sir! Are there still three ships that haven't been repaired yet, and we're going to set sail?" Instructor Lang reminded him.

"Never mind those three ships for now, follow me onto the Tianquan, let's set sail!"

Instructor Lang didn't ask any more questions. He was both an instructor and a soldier, and his job was to obey orders.

No one expected that in such a short period of time, Chi Honghai would be able to go to sea twice on a large scale, and on the second time he even managed to set sail on the Tianquan, which he had been longing for.

You should know that he had kept this behemoth a secret all along, not daring to reveal even the slightest bit of it.

The Tianquan will undoubtedly be the focus of attention on this voyage.

In response, Chi Honghai chose a different route to go to sea.

Instead of sailing directly from the east as before, he first set sail from the west, circled around, and then sent the Tianquan and three other ships to the route from Malacca to Zeelandia.

Moreover, this time he made no attempt to conceal it, and directly ordered all four sailboats to be hoisted with the Spanish naval flag.

The reason is quite simple: small boats are common in the East, but Tier 3 battleships are different. These are mostly in Europe, with a few in the Americas, but none in the East.

Once the Tianquan is launched, anyone who sees it will know it's an enemy, not one of their own. And no one would guess that Chi Honghai could own such a ship.

From the Western perspective, although the Ming Dynasty was powerful, its naval shipbuilding capabilities were no longer sufficient to support such large ships.

"Master, we have arrived at the designated location. Please give your instructions," Pang San said, standing on the deck.