Beiyang new warlord

Originally, there was deep hatred because of the Thirty Years War. Taking this opportunity, Spanish Admiral Placido Marquis also looked pious, but his eyes fell on Curt with incomparable sarcasm and contempt.

However, it is said that people are old and mature, and at the age of Curt's position, he has really reached the level of cultivation that can not be flattered or humiliated. He did not show the slightest bit of anger, but sighed helplessly.

"Gentlemen, there is only one Manila, even if it is filled by people, it has been taken down. Don't forget, the purpose of organizing the coalition this time is not to take down a small Manila. In the north, the main navy of the Ming Empire has not yet been dispatched. , that is no less than a behemoth that can mobilize two hundred main battleships with all of you together!"

As soon as these words came out, the entire banquet hall seemed to be cast a shadow, even the proud Gallic rooster or the vicious old Spanish politician couldn't help but weigh it.

However, the silence was gradually broken by noisy discussions!

8 Chapter Seventy.

Sima Fayun: If you fight for profit within fifty miles, you will be the general!

This sentence is not comprehensive. Without this adventurous spirit, how could these colonial powers emerge one after another?But from one side, this sentence reflects the danger of laborious expeditions! Moreover, this Manila battle is not in line with the way of businessmen. Only kings, politicians and desperadoes will be so desperate. A successful businessman has always been Knowing not to put all eggs in one basket to avoid risks.

Moreover, the result that is in the best interests of the Dutch East India Company is not to fight to the death with Daming, but to force the warlike emperor back to the negotiating table under the premise of capturing Great Britain and preventing Daming from intervening in European affairs. Daming's endless expansion! After all, do you still want to do business!

In Curt's view, the best strategy now is to withdraw from the strong city of Manila, the coalition forces will be broken up into pieces, scattered, and hunt and kill Ming's merchant ships on the entire Southeast Asian seas, destroying Ming's commercial operations, so that Daming can build The same large ship has more accurate and heavier guns, but the navigation technology cannot be cultivated in more than ten years. This is the advantage of these old or emerging colonial empires. What Jue would like to see the most!

However, it is not the merchants who are leading this war. Seeing the eyes of his old friend Curt looking at him, the current commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, Marquis Michelgen, the famous Dutch sea god of war, shook his head very hard.

The truth is this truth, but when it comes to politics, it can't be considered in this way.

The West is not like the unified Ming Dynasty. Under the extensive Christian beliefs, there are sharp conflicts of interest among countries big and small.

Take Prince Condé on the opposite side as an example, France is a real Catholic country, and they are not of the same faith as the Dutch! The 30-year war was entirely because of France's intention to compete with Spain for hegemony and against the Habsburg family. Infiltration, and then joined the Protestant Alliance, everyone is not of one mind.

At this time, under the leadership of the famous virtuous Prime Minister Richelieu in its history, France also reached its peak period. When Britain was carrying out the bourgeois revolution, France completed the centralization of power in reverse, and now it is also ambitious to fight around. with overseas interests.

If it wasn't for this space-time Mao Jue who hooked up the British guy to him, posing a threat to all Western colonial powers, France would have stood opposite the Dutch battlefield at this time.

This Maritime Crusade was initiated by the Dutch, and they gathered on the Asian sea with great difficulty. They just encountered some difficulties. As the host, they clamored to break up, which made ambitious people like France What do you think of the Netherlands?

When the hearts of the people are scattered, the inability to fight against the huge Ming Empire is secondary. Maybe after returning to Europe, France will take action against the "weak" Netherlands!

But a famous general is a famous general after all, amidst the noise, he suddenly knocked heavily on the table.

"gentlemen!"

It was too difficult to quiet down a group of guys who couldn't even reach an agreement on the appetizers at the banquet, so he didn't expect them to cooperate in quieting down, so he yelled in a rough voice.

"The Pope granted us the holy cross and battle flag to crusade against the heathen kingdoms and bring the glory of God to this godless land. With such a setback, God's people naturally cannot back down!"

"So, I have a new proposal!"

The dignitaries of the great powers who were still arguing there finally calmed down, but they were holding their wine glasses and staring at him like a chicken. Their eyes were like looking at a lunatic.

In the early morning of the next day, when the thick sea fog was still lingering on the peaceful Pacific Ocean, the silhouettes of behemoths slowly revealed dark shadows like ancient giant beasts.

This point is really too early, even the Ming army didn't react a little bit, and even brushed his teeth with a toothbrush dipped in blue salt, suddenly sprayed out a mouthful of toothbrushing water, and immediately came out of the turret that had been punched out several times. The tower rushed down, and the observation post screamed horribly.

"Enemy attack!"

Chen Xinghua threw away the soy milk and fried dough sticks in the morning, quickly ran into Bawang Paobao, took a telescope and looked towards the sea level, but immediately, his brows could not help but knit into two pimples.

The thick sea fog covered the sea surface tightly, and in the haze, only warships could be seen sliding around like whales. This was indeed not good news for the Ming army, which relied on the accuracy of heavy artillery.

If it doesn’t work, we can only cast nets all over the sky. As long as we support it for about an hour, until the sun rises and the sea fog dries up, the battle will return to the same mode as yesterday.

However, the most unpredictable and unpredictable thing is war!Just when Chen Xinghua frowned and was thinking about the battle strategy, suddenly, a gust of salty sea breeze rushed towards his face, and the thick sea fog in front of his eyes parted to both sides. The eyes of the first group who fought against him could not help but stare in disbelief.

Hum ~ boom!

It seems that the fortress by the sea trembled violently. Under the huge propulsion of the sail, the sharp bottom of the ship rubbed against the reef fiercely. Even the hardest oak plank crumbled like dried instant noodles. Debris, huge holes appeared in the bottom of the ship.During the splashing of sparks, the heavy metal ram was firmly stuck on the rough concrete wall. Taking advantage of the high tide, a main Dutch battleship regarded itself as a siege tower, and rushed to the top of the fortress desperately trying to destroy the ship.

This move was too reckless, even if Chen Xinghua didn't even react for a moment, until the French army on the raised bow, wearing a round iron helmet, red battle robes, and breastplates, rushed forward At the head of the city, he just woke up like a dream, and he also pulled out his command knife, and roared with anger.

"Fight, drive these ghosts into the sea!"

I was really caught off guard. Before the nearest soldiers carrying shells could react, they were already knocked down by the French sword wheel. Chen Xinghua, who had just rushed out of the Bawang Cannon fortress, happened to be so angry. He bumped into a few reckless people head-on, and one was dazed, and he slashed at his face with the knife.

However, the scene that made him feel ashamed actually came out, the furious sword was pulled out from the hat by the yellow hair in the front, and the somewhat sissy kid froze with an extraordinarily slender slender sword , Immediately, the blade of his sword dragged the command saber that was too late to retract back, and then the blade of the sword pierced into Chen Xinghua's chest again in a flash.

Seeing that this little French aristocrat almost became the protagonist of this chapter, he stabbed Chen Xinghua, who was wide open, to the point of chills. A pang shot rang out from behind Chen Xinghua, and directly opened fire on his ornately decorated chest. A pair of piercing holes were made.

Although the French army in this era has begun to equip firearms on a large scale, cold weapons are the ones that really dominate the war. The most classic image of the French army in this era is the "Three Musketeers" written by Alexandre Dumas. They are obviously called musketeers. D'Artagnan spent much more time with the sword than with the spear.

Chen Xinghua, who had suffered a great loss, simply stopped advancing and took a step back. He swung his saber violently forward, grabbed the gun and got out of the cannon bunker. The soldiers of the first regiment slammed the trigger with the edge of the blade, and after the crackling gunshot sounded like popping beans, a dozen or so French soldiers holding rapiers or Western halberds in both hands were directly knocked over. land.

The Ming army doesn’t have much chivalry spirit. They face to face with you. As more and more private soldiers of the first regiment rushed out of the artillery fort, the dense bullets fired from all directions suppressed the French army who was still full of momentum just now. Near the bow, he finally drew out his musket and fired at the surrounding Ming army.

But even so, Chen Xinghua's strategic disadvantage was irreversible. In the midst of the intensive gun battle, the sound of crashing water splashed again, and the wood rubbed against the hard and sharp reef again. In the teeth-stinging voice, the second Dutch warship rushed up the beach fiercely, and the French army with a halberd rushed up from another direction fiercely.

Moreover, in the gradually fading sea fog, several main western battleships fiercely bulged their sails and rushed towards the former sea castle with all their strength. , directly hit the head of the fortress.

It’s no wonder that Chen Xinghua was caught off guard. It’s like this kind of war machine armed to the teeth that costs several 10 taels and takes years to launch a suicide attack. Not to mention China, even Europe is unprecedented! No wonder those French Aristocrats, Spanish aristocrats look like madmen.

However, this trick is also effective enough. The biggest advantage of the fleet's long-distance raid is that it comes suddenly, and the strategic location is already in the hands of the enemy when they are not fully prepared. It will become an out-and-out disaster for the raiding party, so the Western Fleet, with its large number of people, is also racing against time!

Yesterday's artillery battle has proved that Western artillery cannot destroy the Manila gate in a short period of time, allowing the fleet to break into the inner bay, and it will also lose weight under the heavy artillery of the Ming army. Since this is the case, why bother to bear the casualties Another waste of time?

This is also the difference between famous generals and mediocre generals. Fighting opportunities are fleeting. Even if the fighting opportunities come, mediocre generals can only sit back and watch the loss. Famous generals are courageous and dare to put all their wealth on the battlefield like a gambler!

It is precisely because of this decisiveness that the famous Dutch general Michel Adrianson de Ruyter pushed the small country of the Netherlands to the top of the world during the 30 Years War, the most chaotic event in Europe, and also pushed the newly completed Britain, the bourgeois revolution, has its head down.

His prestige is admired even by enemy countries, and even the famous British naval admiral Nelson borrowed part of his naval warfare ideas more than 100 years later.

Therefore, Chen Xinghua was not wronged when he lost to him.

Even in his opponent, Chen Xinghua has improved a bit. Looking left and right, thousands of western mercenaries with muskets and axes rushed up the city wall frantically. When he got up, his eyes were on fire, but seeing another western ship roaring towards his fortress like a Viking pirate, he didn't dare to have any more, so he roared anxiously.

"First regiment! Withdraw!!!"

More than a dozen soldiers set fire to the fort. Under the cover of thick smoke, hundreds of officers and soldiers who guarded the fort hurriedly dropped their cannons and jumped onto the long boat moored in Hougang. The tallest tower at the east end, the black flag with bright characters hanging high against the morning sun, was also chopped down by a French nobleman with a round knife excitedly, and fell down with a loud crash.

On the second day of the war, the gates of Manila burst open!

Chapter 871. Brilliant

The tide gradually went down, and several western battleships hanging on the wall of the former sea castle with the help of the tide also began to tilt down at an angle of tens of degrees like slippers placed in the corner.

All the bottoms of the front ship had big holes, and they were thousands of miles away from their home country to come to this expedition. The shortcomings of logistics were undoubtedly exposed. In a short time, these seven battleships would not be able to be sent to the battlefield, and they even lacked traction and lifting devices. It can't be taken off, so it can only be hung here obliquely, and the rising tide is still pouring inward along the big hole in the bottom of the front boat.

It’s better to watch the excitement than to be a professional. After waiting for the coalition forces of the Western countries to control all the beach fortresses, Prince Condé and his nobles slowly boarded the castle under the service of their servants. They turned their heads and looked at the stranded boats, wearing heavy makeup. Seeing a pale face like a vampire, the French prince turned his head sarcastically and said with a smile to the Spanish Marquis Baker Luson who came to oversee the army this time.

"As expected of a famous Dutch general, this Pyrrhus-style victory is really wonderful!"

"Stupid Dutch, after breaking away from the Holy Spanish Empire, they can't even fight!"