In the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court announced the cancellation of Jiuli's Liao salary, which significantly reduced the burden on the people. However, there were not many voices of gratitude. Instead, they complained about why it was not canceled until now, which failed to please the people. But
This is a good thing after all.
Xujiazhuang's banknotes have also been successfully promoted and are loved and welcomed by countless people. Even some surrounding countries and forces are highly sought after these banknotes.
Therefore, the Ming Dynasty and surrounding areas, which have got rid of the restrictions of hard currency and have begun to enter the era of banknotes, will boost economic growth by at least two to three percentage points this year, and the overall growth is entirely possible to exceed 15%.
All in all, things are getting better, and there are scenes of prosperity everywhere that are full of vitality and all things are flourishing - the Kingdom of Korea is not among them. It is in the second large-scale plunder of the post-Jin army, with extremely heavy losses and a scene of hell on earth. But
It didn't get much attention. After all, this was just a small, poor and weak country. Everyone was busy making money and developing, so there was no time or energy to take care of it. Anyway, the Jin army went back after robbing it.
but!
June 8th.
In the Indian Ocean, above the sea east of the Island of Ceylon.
At this moment, there is an extremely large fleet with white sails like clouds and oars like forests. It is chopping the waves. It is like a fleet that covers the sky and the sun. It is going straight to the east in a mighty manner. It is expected that in a few days,
You can see Sumatra Island and enter the strait.
This is a combined fleet.
There are about 300 large and small ships.
The red, white and blue striped flags representing the Dutch Provincial Assembly, the red wheat cross flag with a white background representing the Spanish Empire, and the red cross flag with a white background representing the Kingdom of England were hoisted respectively.
Among them, the number of ships belonging to the Netherlands is the largest, accounting for about half; the number of Spanish ships is second, with only about a hundred (including more than 20 Portuguese ships); the ships flying the English cross flag are the least, with only forty or fifty.
And if they see this scene, I am afraid many Europeans will be surprised. It is unimaginable that the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom are competing and hostile to each other. Occasionally, the two weakest teams join forces to fight against the strongest. They have fought with each other for more than fifty years and accumulated countless
The old enemies of hatred and blood debt united for the first time and launched an unprecedented expedition to the East.
You must know that the Thirty Years' War in Europe at this time is not over yet, it has just entered the second half.
Why were the three European maritime powers able to temporarily put aside their past grievances and conflicts, suddenly unite together, and successfully establish this joint fleet - why did something almost impossible happen so surprisingly?
what is going on?
It was mainly due to the changes made by the Dutch. For the huge economic interests of the East, the Dutch East India Company, unwilling to fail, made great efforts, spent countless resources and nearly two years before convincing the Federal Provincial Assembly to agree to pour
With the whole country's strength, we once again studied hard and vowed to regain the colonies in the East.
But considering that Xujiazhuang in the Ming Dynasty was too powerful, even the Fujian Zheng Group has developed into an opponent that cannot be ignored.
Therefore, even if the Netherlands tries its best, it is unlikely to gain the upper hand, and the probability of defeat is still high.
Then bring the Spanish Imperial Navy together, form a temporary alliance, and go on an expedition to the East together to regain their territory and interests before carving them up.
As for such an alliance application, Spain, which has always regarded the Netherlands as the biggest threat and challenger to its maritime hegemony, was originally unlikely to agree.
But think of the lost colonial Philippines.
Think of the Manila massacre where thousands of white people were killed.
Think again about the resources and markets in the East, as well as the huge benefits contained therein, which are definitely much more valuable than the maritime hegemony in Europe.
Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, King Philip IV of Spain agreed to the Dutch alliance application, temporarily putting aside their differences and conflicts, and first united to regain the interests of the East. After the threat from the East was eliminated, they
There is further division within.
It can be said that at this moment, whether it was the members of the Dutch Provincial Assembly or King Philip IV of Spain, they all showed a very good overall view and high political wisdom, which greatly increased the success of conquering the East.
grasp.
However, if the main naval forces of the Netherlands and Spain have gone to the East, Europe will be empty, but the naval power of the Kingdom of England across the strait shows signs of rapid development. If the expedition to the East fails, England's navy will become stronger.
, didn’t Europe’s maritime hegemony fall to this small island country in vain?
no!
We must not allow England to have the last laugh and the fishermen gain.
So the Dutch fleet and the Spanish fleet took a joint action, sailing the gunboats to the doorstep of Britain, and gave them two options: either the main force of the English fleet would go on an expedition to the east, or they would be destroyed now.
The British naval fleet in this era was still very weak. Many of them were pirates who had been recruited and settled. There were only dozens of large ships. They were far from entering the era where the sun never sets. Faced with the threats of the two maritime powers, they had no choice but to
Reluctantly, he joined the "Three Kingdoms Maritime Alliance" and sent most of the main warships to participate in this expedition to the East.
above.
These are the causes and consequences of why this combined fleet was established.
In front of the combined fleet was the Spanish Armada flagship, the San Martin battleship with a displacement of 1,100 tons, a double deck and 48 huge guns.
The captain's command room.
Three middle-aged white men wearing admiral uniforms, each holding a pair of binoculars in their hands, looked at the sea in front of them, and then at the battleship formation beside and behind them. There were more than 300 ships covering a large area of the sea.
The scale made them feel proud and confident in winning.
"What a powerful scene. With more than 300 giant ships and tens of thousands of giant cannons, with God's blessing, we still can't conquer the East and wipe out the Xujiazhuang that has just emerged a few years ago. Then God will definitely abandon it.
We have been killed, and destiny is not in our hands." The commander of the Spanish fleet, Admiral Antonio de Oquendo, a gray-bearded naval veteran in his late sixties, sighed.
"We can't underestimate Xujiazhuang."
Dutch Fleet Commander Marton Tropp, who was also a veteran, shook his head solemnly and said: "In the Battle of Batavia more than two years ago, our hundreds of warships and armed merchant ships were defeated by only a few
The Xujiazhuang steam clipper was destroyed. Although it was defeated by a night sneak attack, the steam armored clipper was extremely powerful. One of them could defeat ten of ours. Now more than two years have passed, and their steam clippers will be even more powerful.
Once we use them together, we are unlikely to be their opponents."
"But this time we are well prepared and there is no way we will be attacked by surprise again."
Admiral Pennington, commander of the English fleet, said: "It will be our combined fleet that launches the surprise attack this time. In addition, our latest intelligence shows that the number of steam clippers owned by Xujiazhuang will not exceed twenty, but they are scattered.
We are stationed in more than a dozen ports, and each port can only be assigned one or two ships. No matter how powerful it is, it is impossible to deal with so many of our ships. And we should unite to respond to the enemy, use more to defeat fewer, and first remove them one by one in Nanyang.
stronghold, and then attack their base camp, plunder all the treasures and technology, and kidnap most of the craftsmen, especially those who can make steam clippers. Even if they cannot be taken away, they will all be killed."
"That's right, the rise of the Ming people was too fast. It only took them more than ten years to catch up with and surpass us in shipbuilding, cannon and other aspects of technology. They are enemies of the same civilization. They can make
They are our biggest threat. If we lose this time, we will never have the possibility of victory. We will even become their servants and slaves, just like the natives of the New World are to us.
, that would be the worst nightmare and hell."
Antonio de Oquendo shuddered. He was very devout in his belief in God. He felt that such a result was more difficult to accept than the Arab pagans who had ruled Spain for hundreds of years, because life in that land in the east was even more difficult to accept.
Most of them are unbelievers who worship their ancestors.
"That's why our three-party alliance is particularly important."
Marton Tropp nodded: "Perhaps our goal this time should be to defeat and destroy Xujiazhuang first, then plunder the shipbuilding technology and wealth, and finally take back our colony. Only by once and for all can we eliminate the biggest threat, the entire East.
Everything belongs to us."
"It makes sense. If we can do it, we should really destroy Xujiazhuang and even the Ming Dynasty just like we did with the indigenous people. The opponents of this kind of civilization are terrible. Their threat is a thousand times that of the indigenous people in the New World. If we can, we must do our best.
Kill as many people as you can, hundreds of thousands, millions, tens of millions, kill as many as you can, otherwise many years later, our descendants will hate our mercy."
"Yes, this is a mission that must be completed so that future generations will not rebuke us."
"..."
However, just when they made all kinds of extreme and inhumane tough remarks.
A small, clipper-style Portuguese merchant ship took the lead by five days faster than the combined fleet and arrived at New Loulan Port (formerly Malacca Port) on June 9.
Then several Portuguese people on the merchant ship found the Portuguese trading station and immediately reported the information about the coming of the combined fleet to the station commander Alonso Fernandez, the original governor of Malacca.
After Alonso Fernandez got this important information, he actually used the Portuguese's quick legs and quick mouth. He hurried to the Governor's Mansion in New Loulan City, found the Governor Chen Jintang, and gave this extremely important information to