Chapter 536 Face the Three Enemies Simultaneously!
"Hongmao seems to be serious about it. In the past few days, I have collected intelligence in the sea area and said that the Sifulangji and Heren are gathering warships in the sea area east of Penghu. It is estimated that they will come to fight us in the near future."
After receiving Fang Ruocheng's military report, Ren Shuangyou and Zhang Mingzhen quickly brought the fleet to join Fang Ruocheng. After seeing Fang Ruocheng, several people immediately started a military discussion.
"Commander, since the Red Hairs have assembled the ships, let's fight them at sea. Judging from the intelligence, even if the two Red Hairs join forces to fight, they can only assemble fifty or sixty large warships.
That’s all, our army is completely confident that we will win the battle. After this battle, there will no longer be a major military threat to the Daming Sea Corridor as your Majesty said!" Fang Ruocheng had been thinking in his heart since he sternly rejected the Dutch envoy.
He wanted to fight this battle, so after Ren Shuangyou arrived, he actively persuaded him to make up his mind.
"How well do you know the specific military information of Hong Mao? Although the imperial court has been asking us to pay attention to this information in the past few years, it is very difficult for us to collect information across the ocean, and it is not timely to transmit it. For now, we only know
Kazuto has a stronghold on the coast of Taiyuan Island, and they seem to have a large base in Nanyang. The Sifrangji people control Luzon Island. They know very little about it other than that. They don't know the enemy's situation, so they are a little unsure about fighting.
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"Commander, my subordinates have detained Kazuto's interpreter. This person is actually a man who has a great Ming Dynasty in his heart. He has presented Kazuto's military deployment in the Governor's Mansion as well as a map of the sea situation from Penghu to Dayoun. At the same time,
He also reported the military information of the Sifronji in Luzon that he had collected. According to the information he provided, Kazuto can now have more than twenty warships participating in the war, and the Sifronji can now participate in the war.
We don’t have too many warships. In addition, there are less than 2,000 people stationed at Luer Port and our stronghold, and there are not more than 10,000 Fo Langji people in Luzon."
Reading with rice balls
"Such a small number of troops? With just these few people, why would Hehe and Xifranji dare to go against our army?" Zhang Mingzhen showed an expression of disbelief after hearing the situation introduced by Fang Ruocheng. If nothing else, he said
, now the imperial navy can invest about 20,000 combat forces in this area, but tens of thousands of soldiers and horses of the Zheng family have not been able to accomplish anything. Are these Westerners mentally ill? They want to finish the job with just a few thousand men.
Take it over?
"Sir, although they have no advantage in terms of military strength, they cannot be ignored in terms of combat power. According to the interpreter named He, the warships of Kazuto and Sifronji are better than our Fuchuan
They are flexible and equipped with many guns. The most important thing is that the sailors and gunners on their warships are all experienced in naval warfare and are very skilled in maritime affairs."
"This statement is in line with what was mentioned in the relevant courses at the Naval University. It seems that His Majesty has already paid attention to this! No wonder our military academy will find some foreigners as professors. As far as naval warfare is concerned, our experience is still insufficient.
In the past few years, we have only fought a few naval battles with the Zheng family. Now that the red-haired ghost has come to our door this time, we will have a quick battle to see how superior they are in naval battles.
"Ren Shuangyou finally decided that this battle must be fought. They are already looking for trouble. Failure to respond will not only damage the navy's military prestige, but also affect the final decisive battle against Zheng Jun, which will have an important impact on the strategic planning of the entire Military Command Hall.
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"There is another thing to pay attention to during the war. The Zheng thieves who are hiding in Fuzhou and Xiamen are likely to join forces with the foreigners. Once the war breaks out, we are likely to face attacks from three enemy forces at the same time. We will discuss this matter
You must be prepared in advance." Zhang Mingzhen expressed his judgment at the end of the Navy's pre-war headquarters meeting. Facing three forces at the same time is the biggest difficulty in this battle.
In Fuzhou City, the headquarters of the Zheng family, all the senior officials of the Zheng Group were present, and at this time they were also discussing the war.
The Dutch and Spanish have already contacted the Zheng family, and the three parties have reached a consensus that they will launch a unified military operation against the Ming Navy's southbound fleet. There is no way, although the three parties did not look at each other very well before, but in reality
Tell them that in the face of the current situation, they must unite to win the war and continue to gain a foothold in the East Asian waters.
From the perspective of overall strength, the Dutch are definitely the strongest, but the problem is that they do not have many troops available in the East Asian waters. The same is true for the Spanish, so they must rely on the cooperation of the Zheng family. As for the Zheng family,
After several months of naval battles, our strength has been greatly damaged, and we have reached a critical point of life and death. If we do not rely on external forces at this time, we will not be too far away from losing everything.
"My lord, will it be useful to mix in Kazuto's Sifran robots to turn the tide of the war? Together with the merchant ships with guns, they can only piece together a hundred or so warworthy ships at most. They will be from the northern navy.
Opponent?" Zheng Hongkui, an old man from the Zheng Group, was the first to express his doubts and worries at the meeting.
"Fourth brother, given the current situation, I can only hope that the Westerners can give some help this time. Our army has suffered too much during this period, and we will definitely not be able to survive it alone. The Westerners still have some skills in fighting overseas.
. I observe that although the Northern Dynasty's navy has ferocious firearms, its sailing skills are mediocre. It was only when they encountered a situation like ours' shortcomings in long-distance combat that they gained the advantage. Western ships are extremely nimble in the open sea.
, and there are many cannons on the ship, so as long as the tactics are right, they may not be invincible. No matter how strong the Northern Dynasty navy is, their ship is a lucky ship after all, and it is at a disadvantage compared with the Western ships."
Zheng Zhilong has been at sea for most of his life, so he naturally knows the performance advantages and disadvantages of various ships. The Fu ship is a hard sailing ship, and its steering and control are not as flexible as the European warships. This is a big disadvantage when it comes to serious sea combat. The European ship is a soft sailing ship.
, when the quality of the sailors is relatively high, the adaptability to the wind direction will be very good. No matter what the wind direction is, the course can be changed. This advantage is very practical in naval battles.
As for the speed of the ship, in fact, both have their own advantages. If the wind direction is good, the Fuzhou ship will be faster than the European warship with soft sails. When the wind direction is bad, the soft sails can use eight winds, so it is naturally faster than the soft sails.
Fu Chuan is practical.
When Zhu Youjian was considering the finalization of the navy's main battleships, he actually had concerns in this regard. But after considering various conditions, he still formulated the type of Fuchuan as the main equipment of the navy. First of all, for the shipyard
, Fu Chuan is the easiest to use. Imitation of European-style ships will greatly delay the shipyard's large-scale mass production. The other point is that the structure of a ship like Fu Chuan will be the model of future sea ships, and
It’s not like a European-style boat that looks like a freak! As for the maneuverability, it can actually be improved. It’s not that there’s nothing you can do about it because it’s a hard sail!