The coachman at sea refers to the Netherlands at its peak.

The late Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty was the beginning of the peak period of the Netherlands, or in other words, the Netherlands was entering its peak period at this time.

How powerful was the Netherlands at its peak?

At this time, the Netherlands had more than 16,000 ocean-going merchant ships, and there were hundreds of shipyards in Amsterdam alone. They could even start construction of five or six hundred ocean-going large ocean-going ships at the same time!

Not to mention the future of this shipbuilding ability, it is definitely unprecedented. Their shipbuilding ability is even several times that of Britain, France, Spain and Portugal.

I have to say that if they hadn't really built so many ships, no one would have believed that this was true.

They are not only good at building ships, but also very good at doing business or grabbing business.

During this period, they also monopolized most of the continent's maritime trade. They almost monopolized the wood of Norway, fish of Denmark, food of Poland, Russian fur, spices from Southeast Asia, cotton from Mughal Empire, etc.

Amsterdam has become a commercial center in the continent, with more than 2,000 merchant ships docking in the port of Amsterdam every day.

They also captured more than ten colonies in Africa, Asia and America, established hundreds of strongholds, and built countless fortresses. Even the famous New York in later generations was their colony. At this time, New York was not called New Yorkshire but New Amsterdam!

It can be said that at this time the Netherlands was the maritime overlord and the business overlord of the continent.

However, this is not a good thing for them.

Sometimes, once a person becomes rich or powerful, he becomes crazy and does not know who he is.

The same is true in the Netherlands.

It is understandable that he started a war with the old maritime overlord Spain to get rid of Spanish rule.

However, his subsequent behavior was so crazy that it was incomprehensible.

When they become stronger, they will beat whoever they are. No matter who you are, as long as they hinder their interests, or if they think it is profitable to beat them, they will beat them up.

At first they just beat Spain and Portugal to the declining maritime overlords. Later, they beat them together with the alliance of Britain, France and Germany, and the Ming Dynasty in the Far East!

I have to say that their madness is really puzzling.

They don't know how big they are when they look in the mirror.

If you don’t know, you think they are a superpower with a population of tens of millions.

In fact, they only have a few counties with a population of only one million.

With such a small size, they really think that they can dominate the whole world!

They are typical things that they will not die if they don’t commit suicide.

In history, they seemed to be so crazy that they went to war with the United Kingdom, France and Germany at the same time, and then there was nothing left. They joined forces to waste their lives with them, and they were exhausted in one or two years!

However, it seems that they are still in alliance with Britain and France at this moment, and they are working together to deal with the Habsburg dynasty.

Of course, the British, French and German alliances do not need to deal with them now.

Because they provoked the Ming Dynasty, the rising Ming Dynasty!

They are not far from death!

After Taichang led the navy fleet to repair the port near Guangzhou Prefecture for one night, he continued to set off early the next morning and headed straight for Batavia.

It takes more than 7,000 miles to take the sea route from the capital of Daming to Guangzhou Prefecture, and more than 7,000 miles to take the sea route from Guangzhou Prefecture to Batavia.

However, most of the distance between Guangzhou Prefecture and Batavia is an endless ocean.

To be honest, Taichang is really worried about encountering a sea storm, because the rumors of a sea storm these days are really terrible. Anyone who encounters it will be considered lucky if they are not completely wiped out!

Therefore, he directly ordered the Navy fleet to travel day and night to cross most of this dangerous voyage as soon as possible.

This section is about 4,000 miles from Guangzhou Prefecture to Boni Country, which is about 4,000 miles of sea area in the middle of Borneo.

Above the flagship, Taichang looked at the endless blue sea in front of him, his eyes full of thought.

They were lucky this time. They had not encountered any sea storms for three days.

Of course, the sea is not always calm, there are still strong winds, and they have also encountered huge waves about meter high.

However, with the huge size of the ASCHS and the Dragon-Tooth Warship, coupled with the wolf-Tooth Warship on both sides, the balance between the ASCHS and the Dragon-Tooth Warship is like a float, it will not pose any threat to them even if the waves are about a meter high.

Even the flagship doesn't feel much bumpy.

This is the time for luck.

He was considering what to do if he was not lucky.

After all, if the Ming Dynasty wants to dominate the sea, it will inevitably come to the South China Ocean or even cross the South China Ocean to reach further waters. In the future, the navy fleet will not know how many trips will travel between the Ming coast and the Nanyang islands. He can't expect every trip to be so lucky and will never encounter sea storms.

This seems unlikely unless they can predict the sea storm and avoid it in advance.

Problem, the sea storms are simply unpredictable these days. How can we ensure that there is no problem with the navy fleet?

He frowned and pondered for a long time, and finally thought of a solution.

In fact, they can never go through this channel!

This channel was found on the Dutch nautical chart they seized. The Dutch walked this channel every time they traveled to and from the Nanyang and the Ming waters.

The reason why people walk this channel is because they are not a country that belongs to this sea area, so they can only walk like this.

They want to rush to get close to their coastline or even ports, and they will most likely beat them up!

It’s like the Ming Dynasty. If they always sway around the coast of the Ming Dynasty, it would be strange if the Ming navy didn’t beat them up.

However, as the overlord of this sea area, the Ming Dynasty could not leave like this!

Thinking of this, he waved directly: "Let's go to the deliberation hall to discuss the issue of the waterway."

Upon hearing this, Sun Chuanting, Lu Xiangsheng and others hurriedly followed him to the meeting hall.

At this time, the "Kunyu All Nations Map" and the Dutch Navigation Chart were placed on the large table in the Convention Hall.

Taichang pointed directly at the Dutch's navigation chart and said, "Actually, there is no need for us to take the route set by the Dutch."

Then how to go?

When everyone heard this, their faces were full of confusion.

How do you say this?

Taichang thought about it again, then said loudly: "Come on the navigation chart of Zheng He's voyage to the West during Yongle Dynasty."

Upon hearing this, Cao Huachun hurriedly found a pile of yellow navigation charts from the big box beside him and spread them one by one on the table.

Sure enough, the fleet led by Zheng He basically walked along the coastline, and even if it crossed the ocean, it would not exceed a thousand miles at most.

No wonder Zheng He did not encounter sea storms once seven times in the West.

Taichang pointed to the navigation chart of Zheng He's fleet and said, "Look, we can start from Guangzhou Prefecture according to the route of Zheng He's fleet, go to Qiongzhou Prefecture, and then sail south along the coastlines of Annan and Chameng. We will reach the southernmost end of the peninsula, then go to Manzhijia or Boni, then to Sanfoqi or Java.

In this way, the distance we sail at sea will not exceed a thousand miles, and we can basically get from one port to another every day.

If the weather is not good, we can stop in the port and wait before setting off when the weather is good.

If the Navy Fleet leaves like this, will it not be subject to sea storms and there will be no danger?"

yes!

If you walk like this, you won’t encounter a sea storm!

When everyone heard this, they nodded repeatedly in agreement.

Is this Dutch really cheating people?

If he hadn't been sailing on the waterway marked by someone, he really wanted to throw away his navigation chart!

In fact, they have another waterway to walk on.

Taichang then pointed to the map and said, "We can also start from the Eastern Frontier, go to Luzon, then go to Sulu, and then to Java. This way, you won't sail more than a thousand miles on the sea, and it's also very safe."

The Champa, Mantaga, Boni, Luzon, Sulu, Sanfoqi, Java and other countries he mentioned were actually countries that Zheng He had visited when he was voyage to the West, and these countries also sent envoys to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty.

In other words, these countries are actually vassal states of the Ming Dynasty, but they have not come to the Ming Dynasty to pay tribute for a long time.

As for the reason, it has something to do with the continuous decline of the Ming Dynasty, and some countries may have perished.

For example, Luzon has been destroyed by Spain, and Java has been destroyed by the Netherlands.

As for Mantaka, Boni, Sulu and Sanfoqi, it is probably a little unlucky, because these countries are too close to Luzon and Java.
Chapter completed!