Dragon Sea Empire

The Siamese ship on which Colonel Couterey was on board, the Dutch frigate Eunice, and the Fujian merchant ship returning from Champa, were completely inadvertently disturbed in the confusion caused by the storm and hail. put together.After the rain stopped and the wind stopped, the Dutch battleship Eunice, who was "collecting supplies", first spotted the Fujian merchant ship. The distance between the two was less than [-] meters. .Unexpectedly, a Chinese brig suddenly sprang out of the mist after the rain, rushed over from the left side of the Dutch ship, and only realized that the front was not right when it was several hundred meters away.The Fujian merchant ship had been knocked down by the cannon of the Dutch ship, and it would be unable to move for a while and could not escape.The Eunice temporarily put aside the half-dead merchant ship and chased the Siamese ship, preparing to continue to exert the pirate spirit.

Colonel Cutre and more than 20 veteran Portuguese mercenaries equipped two small cannons in a short period of time, loaded them with shotgun shells and ambushed on the side of the deck, and all the mercenaries armed themselves to the teeth.

Originally, after the merger of Portugal and Spain, the Dutch were the enemies of the Portuguese. In addition, because the two companies competed for the exclusive right to trade in Macau, the Portuguese in Macau treated Dutch sailors cruelly. The sworn enemy.

Therefore, despite the begging of the ship's boss Lin Songtao, Kutley and others put him and several sailors in the hold, determined to resist to the end.So, the Siamese boat spun around on the sea, seemingly out of control.When the Dutch fast battleship Eunice quickly pursued it, it quickly approached the position where it could jump.

"Boom!" The bombardment of the small cannons was completed, and the Portuguese suddenly got up from behind the ship's side and fired a volley, and the Portuguese fired a volley happily.The innumerable shots and buckshot almost wiped out the joyful Dutch sailors who stood on the side decks and pulled the cables from the mast.

The upper deck of the Eunice was crowded just now, full of Dutch sailors who wanted to get rich.Now the upper deck is like a massacre, few people can stand, the ground is full of corpses and dying sailors screaming in pain, the blood flows into a small river, dripping from the scuppers on both sides to the sea surface .Two 6-pound guns were overloaded with shotguns, arranged in a figure-eight shape on the side of the ship, and fired at the same time.Thousands of shotguns swept across the entire deck when the two ships were close together with zero distance. No one could bear such lethality.

The Dutch suffered because they did not expect that there were a group of experienced and vicious Portuguese mercenaries on the Siamese ship, and it was a ship transporting arms.They thought it was a merchant ship from Siam to China, and it must be full of goods and treasures. Everyone held the fantasy of making a fortune, and stood defenselessly on the deck waiting to receive the property. Countless people waited. shot and bullets.

However, the helmsman of the Dutch ship narrowly escaped with the cover of dozens of meat shields in front, and quickly turned the rudder, and the Eunice staggered away from the Siamese ship.The Portuguese were just thinking about jumping to help and land on the Dutch ship to launch an attack, and the two ships were already separated by tens of meters.

In this way, the two ships circled each other crookedly.At this time, Yin Feng brought the Xinxing ship closer to 200 meters away.

There were more than 100 crew members on the Eunice, and more than 80 survived without being killed on the spot, but most of them were injured.All of them were crowded on the deck to meet the artillery fire and guns, and now the canvas cables have been broken, corpses are everywhere on the deck, the screams of the wounded and the screams of those who can still move, few people can go Hoist the sails and speed away.In order to rely on help to board the ship, the Eunice lowered the fore-mast sail just now, and only half-raised the mizzen-mast canvas.

Yin Feng observed the actual situation, confidently and boldly ordered Xinxing to approach Eunice, and fired a shell from the 24-pound cannon on the bow, "Boom!", the shell aroused 20 meters on the port side of Eunice. A huge jet of water.

The Dutch are now desperate.The sea sports activities that were easy to grasp and relaxed have now become thrilling pursuits.In fact, the Dutch battleship Eunice has 10 gun portholes on both sides, a total of 20 naval guns, and one more on the bow.But now they have no manpower to fire the guns, the gunners are lying in a pool of blood either dead or wounded, and the position of the ship cannot be adjusted due to lack of manpower.Mai Dahai learned basic knowledge of naval warfare from the Portuguese captain, and adjusted the Xinxing ship to do a zigzag movement, always keeping the head position in the shape of a "D" relative to the Dutch ship.After being rebuilt and strengthened, Xinxing still has four guns on each side. At this moment, the portholes are all open, and the dark cannons are facing the Eunice, which is only 100 meters away - about 70 steps away.

"The cannon is ready."

Chen Zhongji climbed onto the deck and came to the bow to report to Yin Feng.

Yin Feng sneered and said: "Tell the gunner to fire when you get closer to fifty paces. The sea, after the shelling, move the boat up at full speed, first fire the gun salvo, and then all prepare to jump to attack!"

Mai Dahai was very happy to arrange the layout: he has been at sea for so many years, although he has defeated Japanese pirates many times, but he has never fought face to face with the legendary Hongmaoyi!At this time, the Siamese ship, under the command of Colonel Coutere, approached the Dutch ship from the other side.

Suddenly, flames flashed on the bow of the opposite Dutch ship, and the sound of "rumbling" guns came, and Eunice's bow gun fired a heavy shell at the Xinxing. With a loud bang, the Xinxing ship trembled slightly, and the Dutch shells penetrated the ship's side planks 10 meters above the waterline at the stern.Due to the high gun position, this shell had no effect on the approaching Xinxing, except for causing damage to the cabin at the stern of the Xinxing.

"Boom boom boom boom", the cannons of the Xinxing ship roared continuously.The gunner, enraged by the desperate counterattack of the Dutch, fired at less than 50 paces.At such a short distance, two of the four shells entered the gun bay of the Eunice, killing three gunners, and one shell pierced the middle part of the upper deck, rolled quickly across the deck, and passed through the other side of the ship. One side pierced through the ship's board and fell into the sea; during this rolling process, at least five sailors' legs and feet were broken, and half of the body of an injured person leaning on the ship's side was shattered.Another shell made only a little splash over the bow.

Xinxing quickly leaned forward, and the sailor musketeers and crossbow teams lined up on the side of the ship and began to shoot each other continuously.

"Hey, Captain, the red-haired barbarian has hoisted the white flag!" Chen Zhongji shouted excitedly beside Yin Feng.

On the bow of the Dutch battleship Eunice, which was filled with gunpowder smoke, a tattered white cloth had been hung at some point, floating feebly in the smoke.

Yin Feng snorted coldly: "Let the sea cease fire, stay vigilant!"

The Xinxing and the Siamese ship clamped the Eunice from left to right. Experienced Portuguese mercenaries rushed onto the ship first, rushed directly to the gunpowder magazine in the middle of the ship, and quickly took control of the gunpowder magazine and other important cabins.

Blood flowed from the upper deck of the Eunice, and corpses were strewn all over the ship.It was the lucky helmsman who hoisted the white flag, and all senior officers on the ship, from the captain to the first mate and second mate, were killed.There are more than 60 Dutch sailors alive now, and only seven or eight lucky ones were not injured.

Yin Feng immediately took all the captives to the Xinxing, and the injured were treated.Chen Zhongji asked: "Why are the Hongmaoyi burning our company's boats so kind to them?"

Yin Feng replied: "These are all hostages in our hands. The Hongmaoyi came earlier than I expected, Ji Zai, go and tell the sea; send some sailors to the Hongmaoyi's boat and drive it to Taiwan. Go and get the Colonel Cutray called, . . . ”

Coutere's fellow mercenaries were looting Dutch ships, which was also the Portuguese's best sea job.Colonel Cutley held a blood-stained telescope and came to Yin Feng happily: "Sir, we got a lot of good things this time..."

Yin Feng interrupted him: "You bring someone to help my sailors drive the Eunice to Taiwan. The Dutch still have a capital ship nearby, a capital ship with 60 cannons! We must set off immediately."

"Capital ship? 60 cannons?" Coutere gasped: "Is it the information provided by these captives?"

Yin Feng thought to himself: This is the information provided by my historical materials.Of course, he nodded on the surface: "Yes, we are running out of time, we must act quickly, tell your friends not to be busy searching, they have plenty of time in Taiwan."

In fact, some of these Dutch captives understood Portuguese, after all, it was one of the common languages ​​​​in the maritime world at that time.Yin Feng did not gain much from the inquiry. He only knew that the Dutch fleet consisted of two warships and a junk ship (a Chinese-style sailing ship). Apart from the Eunice, the other main battleship was the "Orange" (Orange), but no one wants to say more.These Dutch people were very dissatisfied with the Chinese meddling in their battle with the Portuguese. The attitude of the prisoners was very uncooperative, and they pretended not to understand when they asked too many questions, which made Mai Dahai so angry that he wanted to beat them several times. .

In fact, without the information provided by these Dutch prisoners of war, Yin Feng also knew the whole story:

In 1602 (the 30th year of Wanli), the Dutch East India Company was formed, and the Dutch carried out trade activities more actively.They not only want to monopolize the supply of spices, but also look for a general trade center in order to control the pepper and spice trade in Southeast Asia. At the same time, they are looking for the establishment of business stations in India and Southeast Asian countries; secondly, they are looking for trade links with China and Japan.The Dutch, who had tried and failed to attack Macau and Manila by force, began to target the coastal areas of China.

In 1604, the Netherlands sent an envoy to the Ming Dynasty on a Siamese tribute ship in an attempt to establish trade relations with China, but the Portuguese tried their best to obstruct it in Guangzhou, resulting in no chance for the Dutch envoy to talk to Ming officials.Therefore, in June of this year, the admiral of the fleet of the Dutch East India Company, Wijbrand Van Waerwijck (Wijbrand Van Waerwijck, that is, the barbarian chieftain Wei Malang recorded in "History of the Ming Dynasty") led the fleet to Macau, preparing to make a big splash in Macau again. Looting to show revenge on the Portuguese.

The Dutch fleet encountered a storm on the way, missed Macau due to the mistakes of the Chinese guides, turned to the coast of Fujian, and will land and occupy Penghu in August.Later, they used the Penghu Islands as their base, bribed Fujian tax envoy Gao Cai, and asked to trade in Zhangzhou, but they failed under the opposition of Fujian officials.In Taiwan, Shen Yourong, the general manager of Wuyu Shuizhai, who had acquaintance with Yin Feng once became famous: he was the one who went to Penghu to negotiate with the Dutch.

It is the end of July now, and the Dutch should have been cruising along the coast of Fujian.The Eunice and the Orange went separately to investigate along the coast of the mainland of Fujian, and also did some pirate work for robbery and plunder.

The Dutch came here for trade, and they could actually win the support of some Chinese seagoing merchants along the coast. Indeed, in history, many coastal fishermen and merchants secretly helped the Dutch and did business with them against the government's ban.Therefore, Fleet Commander Valveik ordered the crew to try not to harm the interests of the Chinese.

But the nature of the Dutch is hard to change. They regard the coast of the Ming Dynasty as the place where the indigenous people of Southeast Asia live. Seeing that their ships can enter and exit the coast freely, the coast of Fujian is basically defenseless, so the pirate nature can't be restrained, and they start to be unscrupulous. land looting.As a result, the coastal areas of southern Fujian became turbulent. It was said that the Hongmaoyi and Japanese pirates jointly invaded, and all the fishermen and merchant ships fled back to the port and did not dare to go out.

Based on the items found on the Eunice, Yin Feng's people judged that the company ship that had only wooden wreckage had just returned from Beida Nian, and it was loaded with a large amount of deerskins, gold and silver.Now, these robbed things are back in the hands of the Chinese company.

Mai Dahai took more than 20 sailors on board the Eunice, and the Dutch ship was barely able to sail, and the Siamese ship sailed to Taiwan with it.And Yin Feng took 10 Portuguese mercenaries and 100 of his most loyal Dan people sailors to the Penghu Islands to seize Penghu.The time left for him and Zhonghua Company is running out.