Daming Military Empire

Chapter 199
It has been more than 20 days since the combined fleet of the Nanyang Navy and the Beiyang Navy set off. Zhu Cijiong became more and more nervous. The Dutch Eastern Second Fleet with [-] super battleships. However, in many cases, wars are not based on strength alone, and luck is also very important.

This luck is not illusory. There have been many incredible things in the history of naval warfare in the colonial period. For example, when the Spanish Armada expedition to England in 1588, almost everyone thought it was a battle without any suspense. No matter how you look at it, the poor navy composed of pirate ships and privateers cannot defeat the Spanish Armada with more than 100 super battleships, but the Spaniards just lost. By what?
Which side will luck be on this time?Zhu Cijiong had no idea, he could only go to the main castle of Zeelandia City again and again, looking south, and waiting anxiously.

Early this morning, Zhu Cijiong boarded the main fort of Zeelandia City and looked towards the sea in the south, looking forward to the triumphant return of the Daming Navy. I don’t know if he was dazzled, but he saw a row of black spots on the sea. He hastily stretched his hand back and shouted anxiously, "Telescope."

Not far behind him, Wang Chengen heard the words, quickly took out the binoculars from his pocket, and handed them to him respectfully.

Zhu Cijiong raised his binoculars and looked at the distant sea. It was really a battleship of the Daming Navy!There are ten super battleships in front, and there are rows of big blessing ships in the back, one row, two rows, three rows..., Zhu Cijiong counted silently, and when he counted to ten rows, there were none behind!

What's going on here? Seeing that the more than 100 battleships are neatly lined up, it doesn't look like they are returning after a big defeat.

As the fleet got closer, Zhu Cijiong became more and more anxious. He really couldn't bear this kind of suffering, so he simply led Cao Huachun and others to the governor's office on the second floor of Zeelandia City.

Now the third floor of the entire castle has become his temporary residence, and ordinary people can't get up there. If any officials ask for an interview, they usually wait in the chief executive's office in the middle of the second floor.At this time, he just wanted to know what was going on quickly, and naturally he would not let people wait for him. Anyway, he had to go there for the interview, so it was better to go there early and wait for people to know the result earlier.

The place where Zhu Cijiong meets officials is the large meeting room of the Chief Executive’s Office. However, this meeting room has undergone a simple renovation. The meeting table and chairs have been moved out, and a wooden platform about one meter high has been built in the middle. , with the small dragon chair and table he brought over, on which he can form a condescending aura, showing the dignity of the emperor, and the ground is covered with thick carpets, which is mainly for the convenience of people kneeling and kowtowing, after all Those who could come to see him were officials of high grade. The original ground was too dirty, and it would be bad if the whole person was ashamed.

Not long after he sat on the dragon chair, the eunuch's communication voice came from outside: "Chen Zhang, the general of the Zuo Army of the Nanyang Navy, asks to see him."

It turned out to be an old acquaintance, Zhu Cijiong hurriedly announced him to see him.

After a while, Chen Zhang walked in with a happy face, knelt down on the ground and said loudly: "My Majesty, our combined fleet of the Ming Navy has won a complete victory and wiped out the Dutch Navy's Eastern Second Fleet. Fifty enemy warships, None of them escaped, and all of them were captured by our army! Because some warships were severely damaged and could not travel at full speed, the two admirals let the last general come first to announce the good news."

Zhu Cijiong jumped up from the dragon chair excitedly when he heard the words, and shouted excitedly: "Okay, great, when will they arrive?"

Chen Zhang estimated, and replied: "If you go back to the emperor, according to the speed of the fleet, it will probably arrive around Shen time this afternoon."

In the afternoon of the same day, at about [-] o'clock, a huge fleet appeared on the sea south of Zeelandia City. The combined fleet of the Ming Dynasty Navy returned victoriously, with ninety super super battleships of the Ming Dynasty in the lead, and fifty super super battleships of the Netherlands in the middle. The battleships and the other [-] Daifuku ships were arranged in three square formations at the left and right rear respectively.That lineup is tens of miles in radius, and its majestic momentum is enough to make people daunting.

At this time, a wooden platform more than ten meters high has been set up on the open space south of Zeelandia City, with flags flying on the platform, and [-] imperial guards below the platform are lined up in neat formations on both sides, and a red cloth shop On the road directly from the stage to the beach in the south, Emperor Chongzheng Zhu Cijiong of the Ming Dynasty stood on the high platform to welcome the sailors and soldiers back in triumph.

With the sound of the rumbling gun salute, the grand triumphant ceremony began.

The first is to present the prisoners. There were nearly 200 prisoners captured this time. Naturally, it is impossible to bring them all up. Zheng Zhihu and Huang Long just selected more than [-] officers from the Second Eastern Fleet of the Dutch Navy and escorted them to the audience to accept Zhu Cijiong's review.

After the prisoner presenting ceremony is over, there will be a military parade. Naturally, it is impossible for the sailors to go to the shore to accept Zhu Cijiong's inspection. Pass through the sea in front of the reviewing stand, and then slowly sail into the inland sea of ​​Taijiang River.

The last item is Zhu Cijiong's great appreciation to the sailors. The Nanyang Navy and the Beiyang Navy were directly promoted to the first-class army of the Ming Dynasty because of their outstanding military exploits.In addition, after conquering the city of Zeelandia this time, a vault of the East India Company was found in the city. There were more than 200 million taels of silver and several 10 taels of gold in it. Zhu Cijiong took them all out without hesitation. All navy soldiers were rewarded with ten taels of silver, and the generals at all levels were rewarded with gold directly, at least ten taels. Zheng Zhihu and Huang Long were directly awarded 1 taels each!The remaining [-] elites from the First Legion of the Imperial Guards, the [-] elites from the Second Legion of the Imperial Guards, and even the Dongfan civilians who came to visit the ceremony will all be rewarded!
After the vigorous triumphal ceremony, it is time to consider the post-war matters. The war between countries does not mean that one battle is over, unless the country is wiped out at once, otherwise, the subsequent wrangling and fighting will be unavoidable.

Although Daming won a world-shattering victory this time, the Netherlands did not suffer a fatal blow. Their strength is still strong. If you think that it will be over after a big victory, then you may not be far from the end.

Is it going to be a fight or a gossip next?Zhu Cijiong tends to talk nonsense, because Daming is now in a period of rapid rise, getting stronger every year, and the current maritime strength may be far worse than that of the Netherlands, but in a few years, it will catch up with or even surpass the Netherlands. Not impossible.Therefore, he wanted to quarrel with the Dutch, preferably for a few years. By then, Da Ming would not be afraid even if he did it directly.

In addition, Daming also holds nearly 100 Dutch captives, which can be said to be a huge advantage. You must know that the Netherlands has a total of more than 20 million people, and the army is only [-] dead. Almost one-tenth of them were captured at once. For the army, this deterrence is great.

Do you still want to fight?If you still beat me, you will kill all [-] prisoners!
Do you pay or not?If you don't lose money, don't want these 2 people!
In short, the [-] captives can do a lot of work, no matter how they argue, Daming has the upper hand.Of course, if you want to argue, you have to have the capital to argue. If the Dutch ran over desperately to fight with Da Ming, then Da Ming would not be able to bear it.

In order to dispel the idea of ​​the Dutch continuing to fight, Zhu Cijiong decided to build a sea defense line, using forts and forts to connect Dongfan, Penghu and the southeast coast into a line. Wrapping up!

Naturally, such a huge project was not something that Zhu Cijiong could consider comprehensively by himself. He called Zheng Zhihu, Huang Long, Qin Liangyu, Shi Kefa and other generals together, discussed for a few days, and finally settled on a preliminary plan.

First of all, there is the problem of the fortress. According to the tradition of the Ming Dynasty, all the cities were built in a square shape. After the appearance of thermal weapons, the defense of this kind of city has been greatly reduced. Compared with the fortress, it is more than ten times worse. Therefore, Zhu Cijiong decided to imitate the bastion. Anyway, there were [-] Dutch prisoners, so there was no use for it.

Then there is the issue of artillery. To make forts and forts deterrent, the more artillery the better, there must be at least [-] artillery pieces in each place to make people feel scruples. Place thousands of cannons at every important pass.

Now everyone has preliminarily determined the five gateways of Xiamen, Quanzhou, Penghu, Chixian, and Jiulong. That is to say, at least five or six thousand cannons are needed now. According to the current production speed of Ming Dynasty, it will take at least one year to produce all these cannons. The Dutch can't wait a year for it to be built, so what should we do?

In fact, it is very simple, that is to remove all the naval guns on the Dutch battleships and install them in various forts and fortresses.After several battles, the generals of the navy found a problem. In fact, the sea battle mainly depends on the speed of attack, and the range is secondary. The sea is so bumpy, and the warships of both sides are moving. The target is simply a joke. The only way to get close is to bombard at a distance of two or three miles. At this time, the Dutch cannons are not suitable. Outrageous!

Therefore, everyone agreed that it would be best to refit the fifty captured Dutch battleships with Daming's breech-loading howitzers. Anyway, those Dutch warships needed major repairs, and they happened to be sent to the Dongdaying Shipyard for repairs and modifications.

Finally, there is the problem of personnel. With forts and forts, and cannons, there must be someone to guard it. Moreover, according to the development speed of the Daming Navy, a fleet can be built in two years. With battleships, someone must operate Ah, the demand for officers and soldiers of the navy will definitely increase.Considering these circumstances, Zhu Cijiong simply ordered that the commanders and envoys of Nanzhili, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Guangdong immediately recruit recruits from the garrison guards, first recruit 30 recruits, and send all of them to Dongfan for training. Operation, and then practice sailboat operation, and strive to train qualified sailors in the fastest time.

Time waits for no one. The Dutch can't bear such a heavy loss this time. Therefore, the defense line must be established as soon as possible.

After some discussions, the construction of the defense line started immediately. In fact, as long as there are people, the bastion and the fort can be repaired very quickly. Now Dongfan has a lot of free labor. There are nearly 3 Dutch prisoners and more than 1000 pirates. Together with more than 6 Spanish captives and [-] to [-] people, forts and forts everywhere rose up at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the famous southeast defense line of Ming Dynasty was born in this way!

(End of this chapter)