Da Ming started to ascend the throne

The taxes they handed over to Daming accounted for almost 30% of Daming’s treasury revenue.

In addition to paying taxes to the treasury, there are also some dividends for the shares, and the rest of the profits go into Zhu Youjian's internal funds.

After the Ming Dynasty stopped trading with the Dutch, it continued to attack all Dutch fleets within its sphere of influence for a long time, causing the Dutch to suffer huge losses.

In order to retaliate against Ming Dynasty, the Dutch are also looking for opportunities to attack the Ming trade fleet.

The Straits of Malacca are actually controlled by the Dutch, but they will not openly attack the Ming merchant ships in the Strait of Malacca.

It's not that they dare not, mainly Malacca is the main traffic lifeline connecting the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Once they attack the Deming fleet in the Straits of Malacca, it may cause an all-out war between them and Deming.

Now the Dutch are not afraid of the military strength of Ming Dynasty, but mainly worry about trade issues.

Although they can't do business with Daming at present, they can get Ming's goods from other countries.

Once the Ming Fleet is attacked in Malacca, it may cause a series of reactions, which will be even more unfavorable to the Dutch.

The best way is to disguise their warships as pirate ships and rob the Ming merchant ships in the name of pirates.

This will not only hit Daming, but also make all the goods on the merchant ship of Daming into the possession of the Netherlands.

In fact, their plan can still be realized under normal circumstances.

The entire plan and command are carried out by the Dutch headquarters in Batavia.

After they were ready, three Dutch warships were disguised as pirate ships and searched for the Ming fleet in Malacca.

There was no radar at that time, so we had to rely on binoculars to search for the Deming Fleet.

Searching for the Daming Fleet in the Malacca Strait is not difficult in the face of our current technology.

However, in that era, it was very difficult to successfully search for a fleet, almost all depended on luck.

Half a month passed, and they did not encounter a Ming fleet. At this time, the Dutch realized that the reality was much more difficult than the ideal.

But they didn't give up, and they were still proceeding as planned, but their mentality had relaxed a lot.

Although the Ming court has not launched large-scale caravans to go to the West again, private business groups and the Royal Chamber of Commerce have already gone to the West several times.

Every time a ship full of Ming goods is sent out, a large amount of gold and silver can be exchanged from the West.

Compared with other fleets, the Royal Chamber of Commerce fleet has larger merchant ships and stronger sailors. They are all retired and active soldiers.

Their wages are paid by the Royal Chamber of Commerce, and the imperial treasury will not bear them.

The nautical chart used by the Royal Chamber of Commerce fleet was exchanged by Zhu Youjian from the system. It is far more advanced than the blueprints of other fleets, and the route is closer and safer.

The most important thing is that their merchant ships are equipped with artillery, as well as security teams equipped with flintlock guns and grenades.

Each merchant ship is equipped with [-] cannons and [-] flintlock security personnel.

The fleet of the Royal Chamber of Commerce is equivalent to the emperor's own merchant ships, and the preparation is of course not bad.

A fleet of [-] merchant ships from the Royal Chamber of Commerce sailed into the Strait of Malacca, loaded with cloth batches of tea, raw silk, porcelain and other commodities.

The three of them have a clear division of responsibilities, and Yang Chunming sits in Daming and is responsible for purchasing products that Westerners like.

Liu Wu and Li Yong were responsible for sending goods to the west to exchange for gold and silver and other items.

This time their destination is Lisbon, Portugal, and they are reselling the goods to European countries through Lisbon.

Liu Wu clearly remembered that this was their sixth voyage to the West.

Although drifting at sea is very tiring and bitter, but thinking of the heavy responsibilities on their shoulders and the trust of the emperor, they are still full of energy and are willing to fight for the prosperity of the Royal Chamber of Commerce.

Of course, the Royal Chamber of Commerce earns more, and their dividends are even more impressive.

The weather was good and the visibility on the sea was high. Liu Wu and Li Yong walked out of the cabin and came to the deck. They took a deep breath of fresh air.

On the high mast, the observation post has been holding a telescope to observe around.Recommended reading TVm.tv./.tv./

Suddenly they found three sailing battleships in the distance, and the skull flags were flying on the battleships.

"Fuck, this is a pirate ship, please inform the two stewards."

Chapter 455

"Report to the steward, three sailing warships are found ahead, and the flags seem to be pirate ships."

Both Liu Wu and Li Yong were taken aback, but they were not nervous. They had encountered all kinds of situations during their ten years of sea voyages. Of course, they had also dealt with pirates, and in the end they would pay some money and leave.

But now it is different, their Royal Chamber of Commerce belongs to the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and there are not only security teams on the merchant ships, but also artillery, how can they be afraid of three pirate ships.

Li Yong turned his head to look at the bow of the ship, there stood a young man with a binoculars in his hand looking into the distance, this man was Qi Wei, a descendant of Qi Jiguang, the Great Ming God of War.

Some time ago, Zhu Youjian summoned the cabinet and the Ministry of War. He not only rehabilitated the wronged soldiers, but also recalled some capable descendants of famous generals. Qi Wei was one of them.

It is inappropriate to directly appoint them for the sake of meritorious service. After all, they are different from Yan Yingyuan and others. Although Yan Yingyuan and others are equally unknown, they have shown extraordinary talents in history.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian arranged Qi Wei in the escort fleet of the Royal Chamber of Commerce just to see his talent and lay the foundation for future reuse.

Qi Wei observed the pirate ship for a while, then turned around and walked towards Liu Wu and Li Yong, Liu Wu clasped his hands and asked:

"Qianhu, we found three pirate ships, what do you think we should do?"

Qi Wei smiled lightly:

"It's okay, there are only three pirate ships, our fleet only needs to change the formation."

Although Li Yong didn't know what Qi Wei's ability was, the Qianhu sent by the emperor would definitely not be an ordinary person. He also smiled at Qi Wei:

"Qianhu is right. How can an imposing armed fleet of hundreds of ships be afraid of their mere three pirate ships? Please order what Qianhu wants, and we will fully cooperate."

Qi Wei nodded, then grabbed the walkie-talkie, now the Ming army must have walkie-talkies, almost scouts and commanders have walkie-talkies.

The Royal Chamber of Commerce is a royal company, and of course it is no exception. The walkie-talkie transmits signals through radio waves, which was available in ancient times, and even the communication distance is farther than our modern times.

"The Royal Caravan Guard listened to the order and quickly changed the formation of the fleet to sail in five rows. The guards were all concentrated on the periphery of the merchant ship. The artillery immediately reloaded and entered the combat state, ready to fight at any time."

"Yes"

Qi Wei gave an order, and the merchant ships in front immediately slowed down and waited for the merchant ships behind to come up, and then formed a five-row fleet to continue sailing forward.

On the periphery of the fleet are armed merchant ships ready to fight at any time, while merchant ships transporting valuables and women are located in the middle of the fleet.

This formation is suitable for both attack and defense, which is enough to ensure that the middle ships will not be attacked unless the outer armed merchant ships are sunk by the opponent.