Daming Military Empire

Chapter 406 The Fish Hooked
In order to avoid the surveillance of the Daming Empire Navy at Xingcheng Port, Fan Mendi did not take the conventional waterway near Xingcheng Port in the west after departing from Batavia. Instead, he chose to bypass Borneo from the northeast, pass through the Sulu Sea, and arrive at Luzon.

Although walking around half a circle in this way, the voyage is almost half longer, but the advantage lies in concealment. Fan Mendi believes that it is impossible for the Ming Empire to set up sentry ships across Borneo, but he never thought that the Ming Empire not only set up sentry ships across Borneo Ships, and even sentry ships were set up in the Sulu Islands, Luzon Islands and Palawan Islands.

More importantly, Batavia was constantly monitored by Jin Yiwei's spies. As soon as he left Batavia with the combined fleet, Jin Yiwei's spies took out the hidden ship and rushed to Xingcheng Port to report the news.

At this time, the speed of the ship has become the key link in determining the success or failure of the battle. However, most of the navy of the Ming Empire has been replaced by steamers, and the combined fleet is still sailing. It is three times that of a sailboat, and there is no need to care about the wind direction and current at all.

From Batavia to Star City Port, it takes at least ten days to drive a sailboat, but it only takes three days to drive a ship; it takes almost half a month to drive a sailboat from Star City Port to Manila, but it takes five days to drive a ship!
That is to say, even if it takes the conventional route, it will take more than 20 days for the combined fleet led by Van Mendy to reach Manila from Batavia. Now that he has circled more than half a circle, it will be considered good if he can arrive in a month.

As for the Ming army, Jin Yiwei's spies arrived at Xingcheng Port in three days. Even if Zheng Chenggong needed to prepare for a few days before leading the fleet to Manila Bay, he could arrive at least half a month earlier than the United Fleet!
However, Zheng Chenggong did not choose to go directly to Manila Bay, because there must be a Dutch sentry ship there. If the huge fleet entered Manila Bay and was discovered, Van Mendy would definitely turn around and leave, and the plan to lure the snake out of the hole would be in vain.

He chose to hide behind Palawan Island. After confirming the route of the combined fleet, he rushed out directly from the strait between Palawan Island and Borneo, encircling and annihilating the anti-Habsburg alliance powers in the Sulu Sea. combined fleet.

Due to the abundance of time, he even organized a meeting with the fleet commander to arrange the next combat matters.

Not many people attended the meeting, because Daming only has five fleets in total now, even if all the fleet commanders are present, there are only five people, not to mention, the North Sea Fleet is still in Goa.

This time, Zheng Chenggong took the main seat in the name of the Grand Admiral of the Ming Empire Navy. His left head is:

Zhennanwang Nanyang Governor Zheng Zhilong;
Chen Hui, Admiral of the East China Sea Fleet;

Ma Xianglin, commander of the Second Army Corps of the Frontier Guard;

To his right are:
Zheng Zhihu, the captain of the Nanyang Navy;
Yang Geng, Admiral of the North Sea Fleet;
Zheng Xing, Admiral of the South China Sea Fleet.

Although Zheng Chenggong has never presided over a battle meeting, he has attended many battle meetings. Under Zhu Cijiong's deliberate training, he has become quite a general. After everyone was seated, he picked up the white wax pole in front of him and pointed The Nanyang map on the website said: "Everyone, the fish has finally taken the bait. According to the report from Jinyiwei's spies, the combined fleet of the anti-Habsburg alliance powers has left Batavia four days ago, and is preparing to take the Sulu Sea to attack Manila."

After finishing speaking, he stopped and scanned the crowd to see how the generals reacted and whether the desire to fight was strong. He also learned this from Zhu Cijiong.

The generals were naturally gearing up, wishing they could clean up the United Fleet right away, and Zheng Zhilong couldn't wait to say: "Sen'er, oh no, Generalissimo, then let's go and kill them."

Zheng Chenggong rolled his eyes, shook his head and said: "No, we can't start now, we have to confirm their intentions before we can go. If they suddenly turn around and go straight to Xingcheng Port, then we will be in big trouble!"

Zheng Zhilong was choked and speechless. Although this possibility is very small, it is still possible. If Fan Mendi really does this, it will be really troublesome, because if he wants to wipe out the United Fleet, the Ming Navy You must go all out. When the fleet is gone, the forts and bastions alone may not be able to withstand the successive attacks of more than 100 super battleships.

Zheng Chenggong slowly pointed to the waters east of Borneo, and continued: "Here, we set up sentry ships. If the sentry ships see the United Fleet passing by here, we can attack, because, at this position, they are no longer large. Might be back."

When all the generals heard the words, they all nodded in agreement, and turned back halfway through the run, unless Fan Mendi was sick!
Zheng Chenggong continued to analyze: "According to the speed of the sailboat, it will take them at least ten days to get here, plus the time for the sentry boat to report back, we still have at least half a month to prepare, so everyone, don't worry, just take care." Rest and practice well, if we do not attack, we will take down their fleet and Batavia's garrison once we attack!"

So brave, Zheng Zhilong looked at his precious son, he was so proud, all the generals were also full of admiration, and they all showed admiring expressions.

Zheng Chenggong then ordered solemnly: "Now, I order that the Nanyang Navy, the South China Sea Fleet, the North Sea Fleet, and all battleships and Fuchuan warships should be transferred to the sea east of Xingcheng Port, and they will step up their drills and prepare to attack."

Zheng Zhihu, Yang Geng, and Zheng Xing heard the words, stood up abruptly, cupped their hands and said: "The general will obey."

Zheng Chenggong nodded, waved for them to sit down, and then continued: "Order, the East China Sea Fleet and the Second Frontier Army Corps will move to the south of Xingcheng Port, step up the joint landing operations, and prepare to attack."

When Chen Hui and Ma Xianglin heard the words, they also stood up abruptly, cupped their hands and said: "The general will obey."

Zheng Chenggong nodded, waved his hand to signal them to sit down, and was about to continue discussing specific combat matters, but Zheng Zhilong interrupted: "Generalissimo, what am I doing?"

This father, why is he always making troubles? It seems that it will be impossible not to teach him a lesson. Zheng Chenggong straightened his face and said seriously: "His Royal Highness, please pay attention to the discipline of the meeting. I am presiding over the meeting now. The University The marshal didn't ask you to speak, so don't interrupt."

With such a stern and selfless son, Zheng Zhilong didn't know whether to be happy or sad, but he always felt a little uncomfortable after being scolded by his precious son. Looks like a little daughter-in-law.

Almost all the generals were Zheng Zhilong's old subordinates. Naturally, they knew that Zheng Zhilong loved Zheng Chenggong very much. Seeing how angry he was now, they couldn't help but hold back their smiles and blushed.

Seeing this, Zheng Chenggong shook his head helplessly, and comforted him: "Father, haven't I finished this yet, this expedition will only bring battleships and Fuchuan warships, and all other warships will stay, so you just lead these The battleship stays at Star City Port just in case."

(End of this chapter)