Ming Dynasty: Tanks blocked the door and you said to me, "Long live Ming Dynasty"

"Three caravans were spotted in the city!"

Zhu Youxiao asked in confusion: "What caravan?"

Zheng Zhihu explained: "Your Majesty, one family came from Zhejiang, one family came from Guangxi, and the other family came from Fujian."

"Your Majesty has previously issued an order to ban the sea. Should these people be arrested and punished?"

Zhu Youxiao was happy!

I didn’t expect that there would be such a pleasant surprise?

Compared to getting hundreds of thousands of taels of silver from Valdes, he would rather skin these merchants!

“Take them all!”

"All the cargo on the ship will be confiscated!"

"The caravan members..."

When he said this, a cold light flashed in his eyes.

"Kill them all!"

"Remember this, and follow this rule from now on!"

"I want to let the wealthy merchants in the southeast know that without my approval, their ships can go out to sea, but if they want to bring back gold and silver, they will just dream on!"

Zheng Zhihu felt a chill on his back when he heard this.

This gentleman...

What a ruthless means!

When the battle broke out last night, the three caravans were already in Keelung City. Perhaps out of trust in the Spanish Navy, or perhaps because they were afraid of getting into trouble, even though there was heavy artillery fire outside, they did not send anyone out to take a look, let alone escape to the sea.

At this time, the heads of the three caravans were gathering together to discuss countermeasures, whether to leave or stay.

But suddenly, the gate of the courtyard was forced open by someone from outside.

Then, a large number of men armed with knives and guns rushed in.

Zheng Zhihu walked in front, holding a machete, and without saying a word, he chopped at one of them on the head.

"Kill! Leave no one behind!"

All the people he brought with him were from the South China Sea Navy, and they were also Zheng Zhilong's subordinates who had followed him for many years.

The Shenji Camp stole the show last night, and their South China Sea Navy didn’t even get to finish the job.

Now that I finally have the chance to show my abilities, how could I be lenient at all?

The three caravans were wiped out in less than a cup of tea.

Of course, they also forced out information about the location where their merchant ships were docked.

Since it is smuggling in the first place, these caravans are also afraid of being robbed, so the people in this yard are only a part of their manpower.

The remaining personnel, plus twenty-nine large and small cargo ships, were docked in a secret bay ten miles east of Jilong Port!

By the time the cargo ships were towed back to the chicken coop, Zhu Youxiao was already eating lunch, which was a head of raw cabbage.

So many dead bodies fell into the sea yesterday, and now no matter how good the seafood is, it is not as delicious as the cabbage in his hand.

He stood up, threw the cabbage stalks into the sea, and wiped the juice from his hands on his clothes.

"Pass the order down, weigh anchor!"

"The Chinese New Year is only half a month away. I want to give an explanation to the elders of Zhangzhou!"

"Send troops to Tainan!"

"set off!"

Chapter 164 Dutch Warship

The sea route from Taipei to Tainan is more than 700 miles.

Two days later, the fleet arrived in southern Taiwan, ten miles away from Fort Zeelandia.

This is a city built by the Dutch.

In fact, the entanglement between the Dutch and the Ming Dynasty has lasted for fifty years!

As early as the 32nd year of the Wanli reign, when the Dutch army attempted to attack Macau and use it as a base for trade with the Ming Dynasty, they were met with a strong counterattack from the Portuguese.

The Dutch army was defeated and took advantage of the fact that the Ming army had no soldiers to defend it to occupy Penghu, but was later driven away by the Ming general Shen Yourong.

But the Dutch people's enthusiasm was not extinguished.

In the second year of the Tianqi reign, the Dutch Governor-General Coen learned that the Spanish intended to occupy Taiwan, so he sent Lei Yuesheng to lead 600 people to attack Macau. If he failed, he would move to Penghu or Taiwan to establish a trading base.

However, the Dutch army once again encountered stubborn resistance from the Spanish and Portuguese coalition forces and suffered heavy losses. Lei Yuesheng then occupied Penghu and built a city at Fengguiwei.

In the fourth year of the Tianqi reign, after Nan Juyi took office as the governor of Fujian, he planned to force the Dutch to withdraw from Penghu and sent troops to besiege Fengguiwei City.

After eight months of fierce fighting, the Dutch and the Ming Dynasty reached an agreement to destroy the fortress and artillery batteries at Fengguiwei and withdraw from Penghu.

Seeing that the huge profits were monopolized by Spain and Portugal, the Dutch once again started to make small moves.

But this time, they didn't dare to take tough measures.

After leaving Penghu, the Dutch armed fleet arrived in Dayuan (Tainan City) and asked the locals to borrow "a place as big as a cowhide" for temporary shelter.

As a result, the shameless and cunning Dutch cut a piece of cowhide into very thin leather strings, connected them together and occupied Kunshen (around Anping District, Tainan), and built large-scale buildings here, establishing strongholds such as "Fort Zeelandia" and "Chihkan Tower".

Standing on the deck and looking at the coastline ahead from afar, Zhu Youxiao asked Zheng Zhilong and others.

"Is anyone familiar with their situation?"

Zheng Zhilong casually pulled out a person from behind him, and it was his sworn brother Li Guozhu.

"Your Majesty, I have done business with the Dutch and know something about what is going on there."

Li Guozhu bowed and without waiting for Zhu Youxiao to ask any questions, he began to describe some of the things he had seen in Fort Zeelandia.

"The Dutch army here is about 2,500 men and more than 20 armed merchant ships."

"Each merchant ship has no less than twenty guns, and there are also a large number of artillery batteries and forts on the shore."

Zhu Youxiao nodded and then began to assign tasks.

The Shenji Camp, led by Li Dingguo, dispersed in small boats and launched close artillery fire, just as they did against the Spaniards.

Since it was daytime, the sea was in full view. In order to reduce the danger to the Shenji Camp, Zheng Zhilong led the South China Sea Navy to provide cover.

As for the idea of ​​courtesy before force...

Zhu Youxiao had completely given up the idea. He didn't want what happened to Youtong to happen again.

"action!"

"Yes!"

At the command, everyone took their own small boats back to their warships and sailed towards Fort Zeelandia as ordered.

Ten miles away, the Dutch had already discovered the fleet here.

With so many warships gathered here, it is impossible that they are here to wish them a happy new year in advance. Governor Peter Nuiz is well aware of this.

So, when Li Dingguo and his companions sailed two or three miles on the shuttle boat, they encountered the Dutch warships.

There were fifteen warships of similar size to the Fu ships.

However, the artillery configuration on these fifteen ships is much more luxurious than that of the Ming Dynasty.

Just as Zheng Zhiguan said, each ship is equipped with at least twenty cannons!

This can be proved by the open gun port on one side of the ship and the exposed black gun muzzle.

As soon as they met, the Dutch warships on the opposite side quickly formed a formation in a long line, pointing their sides at Li Dingguo and his men.

This tactic is exactly the T-shaped naval battle that Western countries like to use most in naval battles today.

Whoever can grab the horizontal line of the T can fire the most shells in the shortest time and cause the greatest casualties to the enemy.

But when Li Dingguo saw their reactions, he smiled unkindly.

"Hahahaha, these bastards, are they afraid that our brothers won't be able to aim at them?"

"Set up the guns, damn it!"

"Yes!"

The rest of the crew on board quickly took the mortar out of the wooden box and set it up on the deck.

Not only them, Zheng Zhilong, who was responsible for providing cover at the rear, also ordered his men to remove the oilcloth on the bow gun and prepared to fire.

After a cup of tea.

When the distance between the two sides reached about two kilometers, the Dutch side took the lead in launching artillery fire.

There was no communication, no warning, they just opened fire.

“Boom boom boom boom….”

The recoil from the broadside salvo caused the Dutch warship to move sideways several meters.

A large number of artillery shells flew towards Li Dingguo and his men, each one weighing more than 15 pounds!

(1 pound = 453 grams)

"Pfft!"

A cannonball fell into the sea not far in front of Li Dingguo, and the splashing water fell from the sky and sprinkled on the deck of the shuttle boat like rain.

But looking around, more shells fell into the sea after flying about a thousand meters after being fired.

"Isn't this... a little too close?"

"Are they trying to scare people?"

"Or is it really not possible?"

Wang Qianli looked at Li Dingguo in disbelief.

Li Dingguo chuckled and said, "Whether it works or not, we can find out after we catch two people alive and ask them about it."

"It is impolite not to reciprocate, brothers, fight back!"

"Your Majesty is watching from behind. Whoever fights the worst will have to wash everyone's socks for a month!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his thumb and looked towards the Dutch fleet.

A moment later, a total of fifty mortars fired almost one after another, launching the first round of artillery fire.

In the back, Zheng Zhilong was standing on the deck. When he heard the cannon fire, a look of loss appeared on his face.

Zheng Zhiwan saw what he was thinking and sighed beside him.

"Brother, with these Shenjiying here, I'm afraid we won't have a chance to take action..."

Li Guozhu disagreed: "Brother Wan, what you said is not right. With them here, wouldn't it just save the brothers from risking their lives?"

Zheng Zhilong shook his head: "That's not the case. We have just surrendered to the imperial court. What we lack most right now is the opportunity to make meritorious deeds!"

At this point, his face turned stern.

"Cheer up, brothers!"

"Although our artillery is not as good as that of the Shenji Battalion, we can't just sit there!"

"Their ship is small. If it is hit by the Dutch, it will sink quickly."

"Spread out and encircle them from both sides to draw the Dutch's firepower for our brothers in the Shenji Battalion!"

With his order, more than a hundred ships of the South China Sea Navy opened up and surrounded the Dutch.

Chapter 165: Run away as soon as the fight starts?

The Ming army's actions made the Dutch on the other side a little confused...

Why did we hear the cannon fire first and then see the opposing warship turn sideways?

This feeling is like two people chatting face to face, they hear each other's voice first and then see each other's mouth opening and closing.