Time flies, and in a blink of an eye, it is more than a month.

On that day, in the river channel in front of the Longhe Shipyard, more than twenty tower ships and gunboats gathered together and were ready to go.

Zhu Qizhe stood on the dock, looking at the spectacular fleet, and couldn't help but sigh: "Oh, it's a pity that there are too few naval troops, otherwise, there would be more than so many gunboats today."

When Song Yingxing heard this, he couldn't help but sigh.

In fact, the shipbuilding speed of Longhe Shipyard has increased at this moment. If it works hard, it will be no problem to build hundreds of tower ships and gunboats a year. However, no one can control it. No matter how many it is built, it can only be placed there to see.

There is no way, most of the young and strong people they can choose are landslides from the northwest. Not to mention driving the boat, there are not many people who can swim.

A tower ship must be equipped with at least one hundred people, and more than twenty, that is more than three thousand people. In addition, there are tens of thousands of people who control the wheels and the previous group of people who go to the Eastern Conference. It is no longer easy for them to select so many naval troops.

He couldn't help asking, "Prince, this navy is so difficult to find, what should we do next?"

Such a large shipyard and so many craftsmen can't be idle, right?

Zhu Qizhuo thought about it for a while and then said slowly: "When the first two thousand-item gunboat is tried and you can take them to build two thousand-item gunboats. Don't worry, just build dozens of ships a year, and as for the navy, there will naturally be a few years."

He was waiting for Zheng Chenggong to grow up. Zheng Chenggong is now in his teens and should be able to take on the responsibility in a few years.

As for Zheng Zhilong, he really dared not hand over the huge number of building ships and gunboats to this guy because this guy is too unreliable.

Of course, there is no need to tell Song Yingxing and the others about this.

Immediately afterwards, he said to Bi Maokang: "Meng Hou, when you go to the East Fen, you must seize the time to command them to replace the artillery on the more than 20 gunboats with cannons and install adjustment devices. It is estimated that the war will start in a few months."

Why is he so sure that the Dutch would come over and go to war with the Ming Dynasty?

The reason is actually very simple, because he knows these so-called powers too well.

As the current maritime overlord, the Netherlands must also plunder sufficient interests, otherwise they would not be able to maintain the current huge and somewhat outrageous interest body.

You know, at this moment, there are as many as tens of thousands of ocean-going sailboats alone. A ocean-going sailboat that can run around the world must be at least dozens of people. In this way, these ocean-going sailboats alone must be controlled by at least hundreds of thousands of people.

They originally had a population of more than one million, and it would be good if they could have more than one hundred thousand young people. In other words, they hired at least hundreds of thousands of people, and the cost of hiring these people alone was not a small amount.

They built so many ships and hired so many people not for fun, they were trying to seize the position of overlords on the sea, to plunder colonies, and to rob money.

If there is no money or colony, whoever follows them, such an outrageous interest body will soon fall apart.

At this moment, almost all the colonies that are more likely to be robbed in the world have been snatched away by Spain and Portugal. It is almost impossible for them to snatch these colonies from Spain and Portugal.

Because they have so many people, even if they hire people everywhere, they can't compare with Spain and Portugal. Moreover, Spain and Portugal also have guns and cannons, and they are likely to have a lot of money to compete for colonies with others.

This account is not difficult to calculate. If you fight an indigenous country, hundreds of people may be enough, or even one person may not die.

Attacking a Spanish or Portuguese colony may not be enough, and it is possible to die thousands of people.

If you calculate this, it will naturally be cost-effective to fight against indigenous countries.

Therefore, after the Netherlands seized maritime hegemony, they went straight to the Far East, a blank place where Spain and Portugal had not colonized much, and began to colonize wildly.

They quickly occupied Indonesia and established the colonial center of Batavia. Next, they had no need to think about where their target was, it was definitely the Ming Dynasty.

You know, it is in Marco Polo's description that the indigenous empire in the Far East is a rich place full of gold, and it is impossible for them to covet it.

They tried it once during the Tianqi Dynasty.

It should be said that they valued the strength of the legendary Ming Empire that time. When they attacked other indigenous countries, they sent at most several ships and hundreds of people. When they attacked the Ming Empire, they sent more than ten ships and thousands of people.

As a result, they met Nan Juyi, the madman.

Although Nan Juyi had some tricks to face an infighting expert like the eunuch party, he was full of wisdom and tricks when facing the invading barbarians. Even though the Fujian Navy had only a bunch of small boats left, even if the barbarians' tower ships and gunboats seemed to be unable to defeat, he still tried his best to defeat the Dutch.

The Dutch had no choice but to retreat to the Eastern Front and establish a stronghold to counterattack.

Originally, as long as Nanjuyi was not framed by the eunuch party, they would not be driven away in the east.

Unfortunately, after offering prisoners to the capital in Nanjuyi, not only did not receive any rewards, but he was also seized from military power and dismissed from office and deprived of his official position!

The eunuchs' party no matter what foreign enemies they have, they only care about internal struggles, and no one cares about the Dutch who occupied the Eastern Band.

What would the Dutch think? They would definitely think that the Ming Empire was just like this. We all hit their doorstep. They just fought back for a desperate battle, and then there was no movement. This is a sign of poor strength. As long as we send some more people, we will definitely be able to take it down!

The only thing they didn't expect was that Zheng Zhilong, the pirate leader, would actually defect to the Ming Empire, trying to use the power of the Ming Empire to eliminate other pirates and monopolize the foreign trade of the Ming Empire.

Can a pirate leader stop their covetousness with the Ming Empire?

Obviously, it's impossible!

In history, they did not take Zheng Zhilong as the pirate leader. When Zheng Zhilong used the power of the Ming court to eliminate other pirates and attempted to monopolize the Ming foreign trade, they organized a fleet to attack Fujian, trying to defeat the coalition forces of the Ming court and Zheng Zhilong in one fell swoop, forcing the Ming Dynasty to open its ports, and even directly rob the colonies.

The only difference at this moment is that their Dongfan stronghold was taken down by Zheng Zhilong.

Will they be afraid of a pirate leader?

This is obviously impossible. In history, they did not take Zheng Zhilong seriously, so naturally they would not take Zheng Zhilong seriously at this moment.

The fall of Dongfan or Formosa can only mean that Zheng Zhilong is a bit strong, and how strong can a pirate leader be?

Will they give up the fat piece of Ming Dynasty because they are afraid of a pirate leader?

Absolutely impossible!

You know, the silk, tea and porcelain produced by the Ming Dynasty are the targets of nobles from all over the continent. The overseas trade of the Ming Dynasty is the most profitable trade in the world today. Can they watch a small pirate leader monopolize the most profitable trade in the world?

They are maritime overlords. They not only want to monopolize the foreign trade of the Ming Dynasty, but also want to open up colonies in the Ming Dynasty!

Therefore, this naval battle is inevitable.
Chapter completed!