Chapter 1196: Discovering the Teacher

The seventeenth year of Great Ming Hongxing, the tenth day of the seventh month.

In the Strait of Malacca, a fleet of eleven warships was slowly sailing a zigzag course along the coastline of the Malay Peninsula.

Leading was the Wuhan Prefecture, a new-model bombardment battleship of 820 tons displacement. It had been in service less than two years, yet had already undergone one refit: the four uncovered large-caliber bombardment guns on the upper deck had been removed, the gun-deck ports had been increased to sixteen, and the armament changed to 15-jin bronze cannons.

That was right — the Yingtian Prefecture-class warships, in their latest round of modifications, had abandoned the previous scheme of few guns of large caliber and adopted a scheme of a moderate number of guns of moderate caliber. There was of course good reason for doing so — because the Nanjing Gun Foundry, under the Great Ming Royal Chamber of Commerce, had, at Zhu Cilang's direction, designed a new-model 15-jin bronze cannon and a new type of shell.

New-model warships, new-model cannon, new-model shells — and on top of that, the Great Ming Navy's supremacy in the Pacific since the Battle of Kagoshima Bay had the sailors on deck stirred up at the prospect of a possible engagement. Many were even beginning to look forward to meeting the Dutch navy, one of the world's two naval powers, in the Strait of Malacca, so as to teach those red-haired foreigners who did not know the height of heaven or the depth of earth the might of the Great Ming's celestial troops!

But aboard the flagship battleship Wuhan Prefecture, Vice Admiral Liu Guoxuan was not as optimistic as the sailors below. Standing on the flat deck, he was even somewhat ill at ease.

Yes, ill at ease!

To speak from the heart, he did not want to fall out with the Dutch right now at all. Even though the Great Ming Navy possessed more than twice as many new-model capital ships as its opponent, he still did not want to fight this battle. The reason was simple: if they waited longer, the Great Ming Navy's new-model battleships would number three times, four times those of the Dutch navy. Liu Guoxuan was very good at mathematics, and of course he knew that four times was greater than two times!

Compared with the Netherlands, which had a population of only two or three million, the Celestial Empire, with nearly two hundred million people, had an overwhelming advantage in national strength. Especially driven by the colonization of the New Continent, the colonization of the Southern Seas, and the conversion of the grain transport to sea transport, Great Ming's shipbuilding industry was developing with extreme rapidity!

Four great shipbuilding centers had now taken shape at Shanghai, Nanjing, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou. Last year alone, more than 1,500 vessels of 300 tons displacement had been delivered!

If the current trend continued, in less than five years the number of Great Ming's ocean-going merchant ships would certainly surpass that of the Netherlands, and the new generation of sea coachmen would surely be the Celestial Empire.

In another ten years — perhaps without even fighting, the Dutch would have to obediently hand over dominion of the Strait of Malacca.

But the Son of Heaven of Great Ming just would not think that way — in truth, Zhu Cilang also knew that Great Ming's advantage in national strength was enormous, and that given time it would certainly overwhelm the Netherlands. But he was not sure how much longer the Dutch state could even survive.

Because the situation in Europe had deviated greatly from what Zhu Cilang remembered. First, France's power had been greatly strengthened. Because of the departure of the Prince de Condé, the scale of the Fronde in France had been far smaller than in history, and the damage to France had been greatly reduced. Moreover, the opening of trade between Ming and France had increased Louis XIV's financial resources, enabling him to support the returned Prince de Condé in presiding over a large-scale reform of the army.

The French army of the present, whether in quantity or in quality, was sufficient to dominate the European continent!

Second, the Commonwealth of England had not disappeared with the death of old Cromwell — that was an enormous variable!

Although historically, England under the restored Stuart dynasty had also been quite capable in war, it still fell somewhat short of that Puritan England!

And now this Puritan England under the younger Cromwell seemed to lack enthusiasm for European affairs, instead putting enormous energy into opening up colonies in North America — Puritans on the one hand, usurpers of the realm on the other, they could find no reliable allies on the European continent, so even if they wanted to intervene, there was nowhere to exert their strength.

That was yet another enormous variable!

So Zhu Cilang was very worried that France, with a population of more than twenty million, would, after the death of Philip IV, swallow up all of the Southern Netherlands, and might even annex the Netherlands itself through a Franco-Dutch War!

If Louis XIV really could take the Netherlands and the Southern Netherlands, that would be truly formidable! The population of France alone might quickly surpass twenty-five million.

It was precisely because he feared France's rapid rise that the Zhu Emperor wanted, before Philip IV died, to completely alter the pattern of the Southern Seas, seize the Strait of Malacca, and block the Westerners' power west of Malacca.

But a naval officer of Liu Guoxuan's rank could not understand the Zhu Emperor's far-sighted vision. At the moment he only felt a strong unease — before he and Shi Lang had led the fleet south from Nakhon Si Thammarat, the Dutch East India fleet had still been in a state of "disappearance"!

From Liu Guoxuan's understanding of those Dutch naval commanders, this was absolutely not a good sign! The Dutch would certainly not slip away obediently; they were surely planning some kind of surprise attack!

Liu Guoxuan, who was holding a telescope and peering out over the sea to the east (although he was responsible for guarding the western side of Temasek Island, he was more worried about trouble arising in the east), suddenly heard a low rumble by his ear!

"Where's that thunder?" Liu Guoxuan asked instinctively.

"Vice Admiral, it's not thunder — it's cannon fire!" The one who answered him was the captain of the Wuhan, Zheng Jing, who was only twenty-four years old this year.

Right — he was the heir of Zheng Sen, the Marquis Who Subdues Taiwan!

Being an heir in the Great Ming of today did not mean living in dissipation, idling away and waiting to die. They had to work hard! If they did not work hard, what good would it do even if they inherited the title? The Zheng family of course had money — they were the richest family, after all! They could afford to let Zheng Jing squander. But other heirs were not so fortunate; inheriting a title meant no more than a few thousand mu of land and a few great mansions. If they did not work hard, they could only wait for poverty!

In an environment where the great majority of heirs strove and exerted themselves, Zheng Jing naturally had to make something of himself too, or else Zheng Sen would be angry — and the consequences would be severe!

And this hardworking version of Zheng Jing had entered the Shanghai Naval Academy at fifteen, had taken part in the great Battle of Kagoshima Bay before graduating, had served in the navy from the age of nineteen, and at twenty-three had become the navy's youngest captain of a capital ship — Zheng Sen's influence certainly played a part in his obtaining that post, but Zheng Jing was indeed capable of the job.

"Cannon fire?" Liu Guoxuan turned around, looking in the direction from which the sound of guns came. "That is..."

"It's the scouting squadron!" Zheng Jing said. "They've run into Dutch warships!"

Liu Guoxuan listened intently again; the sound of cannon fire was growing denser.

"It all sounds about the same — they should all be light guns." Liu Guoxuan's expression had already turned somewhat grim. "The scouting squadron has encountered a large enemy fleet!"

"But there are no heavy guns," Zheng Jing pointed out. "It should be Dutch armed merchantmen chasing our scouts."

"No," Liu Guoxuan shook his head. "Those are Dutch scouting ships! Their purpose is to track our scouts and find their way here to us — there must be a large fleet behind them!"

His judgment was correct — the Dutch were his teachers. A teacher understands his student, and a student likewise understands his teacher!

"Then what should we do?" Zheng Jing was somewhat hesitant.

According to the Battle Instructions, the main fleet must destroy any enemy it encountered and must not flee before battle. But they had not yet encountered the enemy, so they could still withdraw.

Liu Guoxuan gritted his teeth. "Fire the signal rocket and call for help from Admiral Shi!"

"Vice Admiral, those are the Dutch..."

The Dutch teachers! Zheng Jing was also somewhat afraid!

"There's no choice," Liu Guoxuan shook his head. "The landing detachment is nearby; we can't abandon them and run off ourselves!"

"Understood, Vice Admiral. Then shall this subordinate draw up the formation and order of battle?"

Zheng Jing was now captain of the flagship and, by regulation, concurrently served as the fleet's staff chief, required to assist the fleet commander in directing operations.

Liu Guoxuan said: "The order is the Wuhan, the Feixiang, the Jiangbei, the Dongsheng Guard, the Yunchuan Guard, the Yulin Guard, the Zhenlu Guard, the Wuhua Battalion, the Liancheng Battalion, the Tucheng Battalion, the Gaoshan Battalion — all ships to follow close behind the flagship! Then hoist the signal: Great Ming Navy, destroy every enemy encountered!"

(End of Chapter)