After Zhao Ming watched the test firing of the red-coated cannon, he watched the mortar cannon fire a flowering shell.Mortars have a short range, and the shells are parabolic, similar to mortars, and can be used to shoot enemy troops behind hills and behind cities.The flowering shells used by the mortar cannon were a full circle larger than the shells tested by the 18-pounder cannon, and the explosion was even more terrifying.However, Zhao Ming looked at it and knew that mortars were more suitable for attacking cities and villages, and were not suitable for field and naval battles.After watching the test firing, Zhao Ming was very satisfied with the results of the test firing, and after rewarding Chen Yujie and the craftsmen, he ordered Huaxing Company to secretly expand production, and first released a batch of flowering bombs to equip the sailors and prepare for war with the Dutch.Earlier, the Dutch colluded with the Manchus, and Zhao Ming was ready to take action against the Dutch, but because it was difficult to annihilate and severely damage the Dutch at sea, and Donghai Town relied on the Dutch for trade economically, so it has been waiting until now.At this time, the appearance of the flowering bomb greatly increased Zhao Ming's confidence, believing that once the East China Sea Commander was equipped with this sharp weapon, it would be enough to dominate the East Asian Sea, and even penetrate deep into the Indian Ocean.In addition, according to some news that Zhao Ming got from Portuguese merchants, Cheng Bi's fleet had arrived in Sri Lanka and would return soon, proving that China Merchants Shipping Company had the strength to carry out ocean trade, so Zhao Ming began to actively prepare for war and prepare to recover Tainan.When Zhao Ming was preparing for the war, on the island of Ceylon, east of the ancient lion country, on the vast sea, a large fleet was riding the wind and waves on the sea.This fleet is the huge fleet formed by the China Merchants Shipping Company, which left Jiangdong two years ago, set sail from Shanghai, and then went to the West.Originally, according to the voyage, the fleet would return to Jiangdong in a year at most, but Cheng Bi's voyage took more than two years.This is related to Donghai Town's first voyage and lack of experience, and it is also because Donghai Town did not establish a stronghold on the route in advance, nor did it have diplomatic relations with countries along the way, so Cheng Bi was blind to every place he went, and he didn't know who to trade with or where to go to replenish.Therefore, every time he docked, Cheng Bi first had to contact the local forces in order to find a supply point and a port to dock the ship, and then go to the local merchants to trade, sometimes the other party was not allowed to dock, or wanted to be unfavorable to the fleet, and needed to fight, so he wasted a lot of time.At this time, there were only twenty armed merchant ships sailing on the sea, which was half less than when they set off.This is due to the fact that the crew is prone to illness during the voyage, which has caused a large number of attrition, and the second is that the conflict between the fleet and the local state and tribe has caused the fleet to lose some personnel and merchant ships.But these losses, taken together, are far less than half of the fleet.At this time, the reason why only half of the fleet returned was mainly because Cheng Bi learned from Xiyi, established several bases overseas, and left some ships and personnel to trade and operate locally, so as to facilitate the shipping company to come next time.After departing from Shanghai, Cheng Bi established a total of three bases on the route, the farthest one is in East Africa, located in the south of Ethiopia, at the mouth of the Juba River, and was named "Zhubu" by Cheng Bi.Another stronghold, in Ceylon, not far from the Portuguese stronghold of Colombo, was named the Lion City.This stronghold was built by the Portuguese with the help of Cheng Bi, and the main purpose was to fight together against the Dutch who were operating in the north of Ceylon.The last stronghold, southeast of Malacca, is called Old Port.The old port, also known as Palembang, is the hometown of the Ming Dynasty's old port Xuanwei Division, where there was originally entrenched a group of Han people, Cheng Bi came to the old port, established a relationship with them, and used the old port as a supply point for the fleet.At this time, the fleet departed from the Lion City in Ceylon and was preparing to cross the Strait of Malacca, head to the Old Port to resupply, and then return to Jiangdong."
Sir, we're about to enter the strait!"
On the helm tower, the pilot looked at the chart and said to Cheng Bi.Cheng Bi heard the words and said in a deep voice: "Let the fleet speed up, cross the strait as soon as possible, and go to the old port to replenish!"
”The Strait of Malacca, originally a Portuguese sphere of influence, was replaced by the Dutch and controlled the main route of maritime trade.The Dutch did not produce goods themselves, but earned huge intermediate fees by reselling goods from other countries and tribes.Donghai Town formed its own fleet to conduct ocean-going trade, undoubtedly because it did not want the Dutch to earn the middle price difference, which made the Dutch extremely dissatisfied and often troubled Cheng Bi.In the past two years, Cheng Bi has had many conflicts with the Dutch fleet in East Africa and India.Now that the fleet has come to the gates of the Dutch stronghold, it is inevitable that the Dutch will not come out to look for trouble.Malacca is too far away from Jiangdong, and Donghai Town is beyond the reach of the whip, and this area is completely under the world of the Dutch.Although the Dutch are in Tainan, they are pitiful and miserable, and they can only survive by relying on the snort of Donghai Town, but in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, the Dutch are very strong and can be described as the overlord of the sea.Malacca was an important route for trade between the East and the West, and the Dutch occupied the city of Malacca in order to monopolize the trade, and there were fleets of ships patrolling the strait and charging high tolls.Cheng Bi didn't want to come into contact with the Dutch, so he hoped that the fleet would cross the strait as soon as possible.At this time, the sailors on the ship, under the command of the boss of each ship, hoisted their full sails and rode the wind and waves by the monsoon.Suddenly, on the lookout, the sailor in charge of the lookout pointed to the east and exclaimed, "Oh no, there is a ship!"
”Cheng Bi was startled when he heard this, hurriedly walked to the edge of the helm, took out the clairvoyant mirror, and looked in the direction pointed by Shunzhi's lookout, and in the circular vision of the clairvoyant, a fleet appeared in front of the fleet."
It's the Dutch!"
Cheng Bi suddenly put down the clairvoyant mirror, as if his eyes had been stung for a moment, and then picked it up again to watch.On the side, Gu Sanmazi, the commander of the guards, put his hands on the pergola, squinted and saw the fleet in the distance, and couldn't help but gasp, "Ten Dutch warships."
Look at the posture, specially waiting for us!
”As a middleman, the Netherlands must monopolize the channels if they want to make money, so that the seller can only sell through him, and the buyer can only buy the goods in his hands.In this way, he can make a huge difference, and if the seller controls the channel himself, then the Dutch business will not be able to do it.Two years ago, when the merchant shipping company formed a fleet to go to the Western Ocean, the Dutch noticed this fleet, but this fleet was huge, with 40 armed merchant ships, and the Dutch were not prepared enough, so they did not start.In the past two years, the Dutch have been paying attention to Cheng Bi's movements, and mobilized warships to prepare to intercept them halfway, and absolutely did not allow the China Merchants Shipping Company to break the monopoly of the Dutch East India Company on the trade between the East and the West.Cheng Bi put down the clairvoyant mirror, his face was gloomy, and he suddenly waved his hand and said: "The order goes down, the fleet turns, bypasses Sumatra, sails along the south coast of the island, and bypasses Malacca!"
”()