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In fact, strictly speaking, Liu Xiang's previous affairs were relatively smooth. After all, there are many forces in Nanyang and the relationships are complicated. We have to talk one by one and unite one by one. If the Ming Dynasty is not too powerful, we may not be able to convince so many forces.

Moreover, during this period of time, the Dutch have transferred ten more warships from other places, which has strengthened their strength a lot. He felt that in another month or two, it should be almost done. At that time, we can make an oath to advance by land and water, first deal with the Ming army in Luzon, and then attack Angkor and Annan. In this way, the entire Nanyang will be safe!

However, what he didn't expect was that the imperial court's sailing ship from the West would actually appear on the Luzon side.

The warships of the Ming Dynasty have always been slower than the sailing ships of the Western Yi. Therefore, when the Ming Dynasty navy faced off against the Western warships in the past, it often had to rely on the advantage of having more ships to compete with the Western warships in offshore waters, or simply in the harbor.

But now, the warships of the Ming Dynasty also use the sailing ships of the Western Yi, which really surprised Liu Xiang. However, this time the detailed report revealed that the imperial navy had more sailing ships.

Thinking about it, with Ming's current strength, if it really wants to build ships with all its strength, the speed of the ships will definitely be fast. At least one thing is faster than the Dutch sending warships from other places! If we keep waiting, it will be a bit uncertain whether the imperial navy will be able to defeat the imperial navy by then if all of them are Western warships!

After all, his own ship can at most compete with the previous imperial warships. As for the ships of the Nanyang natives, to be honest, Liu Xiang himself looked down upon them. This means that if a fight really breaks out, the indigenous navy's strength is actually limited.

Therefore, the main force in future decisive battles will still depend on the Dutch fleet. But now the warships of the imperial navy are also getting better, at least they are not much different from the Dutch warships, so they can only rely on the Dutch cannons.

Thinking of this, Liu Xiang felt a little more at ease. But no matter what, he felt that if it dragged on like this, he didn't know what the court would do.

Or maybe it was because he was overthinking it, Liu Xiang thought about it, and then thought about what Xizuo said, the Spanish ships coming from Mexico were full of silver coins made of silver. If I had known that two ships were coming, I would have sent a ship to greet them!

Mexico seems to be a treasure land, at least much better than Temasek. It's just a pity that it's too far away. Otherwise, I would have gone there several times to grab...

Thinking of this, Liu Xiang's heart suddenly moved. If it wasn't too far away, wouldn't it mean it was also far away from the Ming Dynasty? So since you are far away from the Ming Dynasty, if you go there, will the imperial court no longer be able to threaten you?

With this idea, Liu Xiang couldn't help but feel excited. But in the end I sighed, it was still too far away and I didn’t know how to get there, so I could only think about it!

Just like that, he put the matter behind him, began to think of the immediate priorities, and finally decided to go to Batavia in person.

A few days later, when Liu Xiang arrived in Batavia, he found six warships slowly leaving the port. With his eyes, he could see at a glance that these six warships were going on a long voyage. In particular, the former high-ranking governor Putmans, who was familiar with him, was standing on the bow of the ship and saw him at the same time. He actually waved to him as if to say goodbye.

At this moment, Liu Xiang was a little stupid. Could it be... could he be running away?

He really wanted to ask, but at this time, the ships on both sides were heading towards each other and had already passed by each other. Even if he wanted to catch up, he couldn't catch up with the Dutch sailboat, so he had to hold back his doubts in his heart, and at the same time, with an uneasy mood, he docked first.

What he didn't expect was that Governor Quin of Batavia and Admiral Anthony were both at the dock. When they saw his arrival, they both waved and greeted him.

This is a great honor! When Liu Xiang saw it, he became excited again. Such a thing has never happened before. Could it be that he had united so many forces to fight against the imperial court? From this, these Dutch people knew his influence, so they respected him more?

Thinking like this, he didn't dare to show off. Because he knew that the main reason why he could say that a family became a family was not only that the threat from the Ming Dynasty was too great, but also because he used the tiger skin of the Dutch as a flag.

As soon as the boat docked, Liu Xiang jumped out in a hurry, went over to the waiting two people and said with fists in his hands: "I'm sorry to trouble you, the Governor and the Admiral, to wait again!"

Hearing this, Kun said nothing, but Anthony showed a hint of sarcasm and said as an excuse: "You are overthinking, we are just sending Putmans back to China!"

When Liu Xiang heard this, his face turned red with shame. He felt that he had made a mistake! Think about it, these Western barbarians are all very high-minded, how could even the governor and the admiral come to greet him!

Liu Xiang laughed at himself and was thick-skinned, pretending that this didn't happen. With this matter in his mind, he hurriedly asked: "Sir Governor, why did you leave before the war started, and why did you leave six warships at once?"

There was a hint of reproach in his words, which made Anthony frown, and immediately asked in a cold voice: "Why, are you still afraid that you won't be able to defeat the Ming army? Look, our battleships are like clouds, and there is that fleet in the Far East. Will he be our Dutch coachman’s opponent?”

When he spoke later, his words were filled with confidence.

Since they decided to have a decisive battle with the Ming Dynasty, at the request of the Governor of Batavia, they transferred warships from other places. Adding them up, the number of warships in Batavia has now reached 82. .

Eighty-two ships! For the Dutch, this is a huge amount. In the original history, the battle between the Dutch and the Ming Dynasty, that is, the Battle of Liaoluo Bay, only involved a total of fifteen warships. But that time, the Dutch were also defeated.

The Dutch mobilized eighty-two warships this time, which actually had an ambitious purpose. Here in Nanyang, an anti-Ming alliance is forming. In this battle, as long as the Ming Dynasty is defeated and the Dutch show strong strength, they can take the opportunity to unify all the forces in Nanyang. It can be said that the Dutch colony was able to expand from Batavia to the entire Southeast Asia at once. For this purpose, it is enough to mobilize eighty-two battleships!

If it were before, Liu Xiang would feel relieved when he saw so many battleships. But at this time, he frowned, ignored Anthony's cynicism, and asked directly: "Then why did Putmans escape? He should have taken his belongings and ran away, right?"

When Anthony heard this, he was stunned for a moment, and then became furious. This Eastern pirate dared to doubt the strength of the sea coachman, and even said escape!

When he was about to get angry, Kun spoke: "It was just a routine return to the country. Do you think it is so easy to transfer so many warships? Mr. Liu, let me tell you the truth. In this battle, this governor We attach great importance to it, so we must let the country see that Batavia is important before we can mobilize so many warships, right?"

The Dutch came to Nanyang just to plunder supplies, and they would indeed send back the looted supplies every year. Liu Xiang had been with the Dutch for a long time, and he knew this. After hearing what Kun said, he was no longer worried that the Dutch would give away the good things first because they were afraid of losing the battle. However, this did not mean that he was really relieved.

Liu Xiang said to Kun again: "Mr. Governor, will Putmans be able to mobilize more warships after he returns?"

"Are you blind?" When Anthony heard this, he immediately yelled, "Now that there are so many battleships in Batavia, why do we need to transfer them here? What do you think battleships are? You can have as many battleships as you want. How much?"

For the Dutch, the number of warships they deployed overseas at this time, including armed merchant ships, was only about two hundred. Today, nearly half are concentrated in Batavia, which is already a very large number for the Dutch!

Hearing what he said, Liu Xiang could tell that the Dutch would not add more troops, which made him a little worried, and quickly reminded him: "Admiral, the navy of the imperial court also has sailing warships like yours... …”

"So what, it's just a few sailing warships. Look at us here. I'm afraid you can't even count them!" Anthony sneered and said very confidently.

When Liu Xiang heard this, he felt that this Dutchman seemed to be extremely arrogant. He still didn't seem to understand Daming's strength. So, he immediately reminded: "Admiral, just a few days ago, my editor came back to report that the number of sailboats in Luzon has reached twenty!"

"What?" Anthony was startled when he heard this and asked in a voice.

"How is that possible?" Kun also interjected, "A few days ago, didn't you send someone to tell us that the Ming army only had five sail warships?"

He remembered clearly that Liu Xiang came in person at that time and told them in a panic, indicating that the National Navy suddenly had a sailing warship.

After some discussion, they concluded that the Ming Dynasty should have obtained the technology for building sailing warships from the Portuguese. But even so, they didn't feel anything special. After all, even the Portuguese themselves are still no match for them!

Liu Xiang nodded repeatedly and said: "I think this is not false. With the strength of the imperial court, it should not be difficult if several shipyards work together to build this sail warship."

At this point, he saw that the two Dutch people still looked a little unconvinced, so he had to raise his voice and said: "The manpower and material resources of the Ming Dynasty are beyond what small countries like you can imagine. Don't you know? Your mother country still has It’s not as big as our Ming province!”

After hearing this, both Kun and Anthony looked downcast, looking very unhappy.

However, Liu Xiang pretended not to see it. He felt that he had to scare the Dutch people awake, so he added: "This time the Spanish also sent two treasure ships to Luzon, and a mountain of silver coins fell into the hands of the court. . Let me tell you, as long as the court has money, whether it is ships or people, there will be more than you think. Once the court gets serious, it will definitely not be a joke!"

"Humph, what a joke!" Anthony came to his senses by the time he finished speaking, and immediately said disdainfully, "Do you think that fleets traveling across the sea rely on your kind of broken ships to sail up in a hive? Against mine? Fleet, it’s not that I look down on you Ming people, I can sink as many battleships as there are!”

I have to say that naval warfare in this era does require technology. Unlike before, as long as there are more people on board, you can crush the opponent. It is also for this reason that Anthony said this with confidence.

However, the Governor of Batavia next to him was in a different position and had different considerations. I heard him ask Liu Xiangdao: "What do you mean by coming here, we can't wait any longer?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Xiang felt as if he had found a close friend. He nodded repeatedly and said: "Yes, yes, that's what I mean. If we wait a little longer, the imperial navy will have more and more sailboats. And Zheng Yiguan is also a talented man. A capable person has been training his subordinates. It will be bad for us if we delay for a long time!"

"Hmph!" Anthony was still disdainful and snorted heavily from his nostrils. If it weren't for the governor's other agenda, there would be no need for these Eastern monkeys to form an alliance. With the strength of the warships under his command, he could teach the navy of the Ming Dynasty how to behave!

There was actually another reason why he was so confident, and he didn't bother to explain it to Liu Xiang.

The most critical thing in naval battles is not only people, but also ships and cannons. As for the artillery of the Ming Dynasty, their heaviest artillery was imitated from the Netherlands and was called the Red Yi Cannon. Based on this, it is time to show off in front of the ancestors. When the artillery battle begins, let them see what real naval battle artillery is, real artillery!

While he was thinking about it, Kun had already told Liu Xiang: "Your worries are not unreasonable. In this case, you can come forward and call everyone together to form an alliance. After we have discussed it, we will take the initiative and not give any more help." Ming Dynasty has an opportunity, what do you think?"

Liu Xiang was overjoyed when he heard this. This was the purpose of his coming. Seeing that the Dutchman had been moved, he immediately patted his chest and said, "Okay, the Governor is so happy, and I won't be vague. I will go back and summon them immediately to make an oath together. It's just...just..."

"Huh?" Kun was a little dissatisfied when he heard that he still had conditions.

After hearing this, Liu Xiang understood that Kun was unhappy, so he quickly said: "The tribal leader requested that the oath venue cannot be set in Batavia!"

This is obviously not trusting of the Dutch. Therefore, after Liu Xiang finished speaking, he stared at Kun, thinking about the reason and wanting to explain.

Unexpectedly, Kun actually waved his hand without any objection and said: "It's okay, then we will settle in Temasek. But one thing must be clear. During the pledge period, Temasek must ensure the supply of supplies."