"Why is this the same as Guilin?"

On the cruiser Wei Qing, Ma Tianyou, a naval officer from Guilin, Guangxi, looked at the strange appearance of Halong Bay in surprise.＠＠, the ship sailed in Halong Bay, making him feel as if he was sailing on the Li River in his hometown Guilin.

On this calm sea, there are countless mountain islands lined with scattered spaces, which are simply countless.

The magical craftsmanship of nature combines mountains and rocks, and the small islands with different shapes. Some are like chopsticks inserted directly into the water, some are like big tripods floating on the water, some are like galloping horses, and some are like fighting roosters, lifelike.

"Well, the Han merchants who passed by here also felt this way, so they gave this place a name called Guilin on the Sea." The sailor stood aside and said with a smile. The sailor was the head of all the sailors on this warship named after the famous Chinese generals. The one with the rank of former sergeant was the chief sergeant. The former sergeant in his forties was originally a sailor, and the one who followed the sergeant was Vietnam. Therefore, he was very familiar with the Beibu Gulf area.

Another officer, Ma Junwu, said on the side, "During the Tang Dynasty, this was Wu'an Prefecture under the Annan Protectorate, and the land in front was Haimen Town in Wu'an Prefecture."

"It's right. Nanyue has been the territory of China since the Qin and Han Dynasties. The Southern Barbarians of Qin and Han rebelled and recovered during the Han Dynasty. After that, after the Jin, Sui and Tang Dynasties, although the Central Plains were constantly beating, the land of Nanyue was always controlled by China. Until the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the Southern Barbarians took advantage of the chaos to defeat the Southern Han army and rebel again. Since then, although the Ming army has recovered Nanyue, it has been a pity that it has not been stable."

The person who spoke was the captain who came out of the captain's room at the stern building. The captain in his thirties was once a scholar. He knew very well about the history of South Vietnam. For this reason, like many Han people, he always sighed at this territory.

It is gratifying that now the empire has finally freed up its hands, and the sacred Han Dynasty will recapture the Southern Barbarians who rebelled in the Qin and Han dynasties in the previous Han Dynasty. They will resolutely conquer these Southern Barbarians and reclaim this territory.

The captain was very excited and proud to be able to be a forward and lead a meaningful battleship like Wei Qing.

"How many Vietnamese troops are there in Haimen Town?"

"Haimen Town has long become history. Annan Protectorate, Jinghai Jiedushi, Wu'an Prefecture, Haimen Town, these have long disappeared. The Haimen Town in the past is just a small fishing village now."

"No, we are here, we can rebuild Haimen Town and set up Annan Province again." The captain said looking at the bay.

If it weren't for the arrogance of the Nanyue people, the court might not have taken action now. But they joined forces with Dongxu and others to fight against the court, which forced the court to take action in advance.

The navy on the Wei Qing were all relaxed. They didn't think that the little Hou Li Chao could pose any threat to them, especially the navy.

Before leaving, Wei Qinghai also gave a special explanation of the war to the soldiers, so the crew knew that the arrogant South Vietnam had a total of less than five million people in the country, and it was not as big as Japan. What’s even more peculiar is that in such a big place, there were two courts, namely the Mo Chao in the north and the Hou Li Chao in the north occupying most of the northern part of South Vietnam.

But even the Li Dynasty was not a piece of iron barrel. They themselves were divided into three major forces. The Zheng family controlled the Li Dynasty, and the emperor was just a puppet of the Zheng family. In the south, the Ruan family, who had made great contributions to restoration, established the Southern Ruan separatist forces. In the north of the Zheng family, there was also Xuanguang Town, which had been separatist for several generations.

Why should Nanyue resist Tianwei in such a split-part way?

However, Captain Wei Kang was not so careless about the enemy. In a piece of information transferred to the Navy by the Jinyiwei to the Navy, although the internal struggle in South Vietnam has been strong in recent years, its military strength is still somewhat strong because of years of war. The Ruan tribe in the south alone has more than 200 warships and thousands of cannons. Of course, Wei Kang does not think that a ship with a displacement of only about 100 tons and an ordinary ship with only seven or eight cannons is a warship.

However, the Nguyen's army had a large number of artillery and muskets. They had been working with the Portuguese. There were many Portuguese mercenaries in the army as instructors, so they were an army that was skilled in using firearms. Otherwise, they would not have been able to withstand the Zheng family's several attacks over the years, but also destroyed Champa and suppressed Zhenla.

The Zheng family, who controlled the Li Dynasty, had always been a militaristic man. The total population was less than three million, but they often mobilized an army of 100,000 people to fight.

Zheng, who suffered a great loss under the Ruan firearms, has also begun to cooperate with the Dutch in recent years, buying artillery guns from the Dutch, introducing new tactics, etc., and also creating a number of warships.

It should be said that this is an era of change. The era of great navigation allowed a large number of Westerners to enter the East. The firearms they brought inevitably changed the East. For example, the Ming Dynasty also bought artillery from the Portuguese and even introduced casting artillery technology.

Japan, North Korea, Ming Dynasty and even Jurchens were all affected by this and began to cast guns and their tactics changed. During the Korean War, the Japanese muskets and the Ming army's cannons were fiercely confronted and each showed its strengths.

Now the South Vietnamese are supported by the Portuguese and the Dutch respectively, which is not surprising. Just as the British call for arms to the east and the Dutch sell arms to Champa, they will not care about these as long as it is profitable.

But this will indeed cause some trouble than the Han army.

Fortunately, as far as Wei Kang knows, neither Zheng nor Ruan has a real navy. Their warships are at best similar to the fleets in Zheng Zhilong's hands. At most, they are fighting offshore, and they are all small boats, small boats and few cannons.

The Wei Qing is a cruiser, a standard third-class warship. In European countries, it can be directly called a battleship. The Wei Qing cruiser with 86 cannons can fight from afar, and one ship is a sea fortress.

What's more, as the forward, Wei Qing did not come alone, but came in formation this time.

The third-class ship Wei Qing is the flagship of this formation. There are two other fourth-class ships, both of which are standard 74-barrel cruisers with double gun decks. In addition, there are ten fifth-class warships, smaller gunboats, and more than 20 patrol ships.

Their formation can completely look down on the entire Beibu Gulf sea.

"sail!"

The lookout whistle on the mast shouted.

On the sea, several sailboats appeared, not traditional Chinese hard sailboats of the South Vietnamese, but soft sailboats, and three sailboats, at least three hundred tons.

"Dutch!"

It is a ship of the Dutch East India Company, and their flags are obviously easy to recognize. On the red, white and blue flags, there are four letters of voa. The o connected by v is the abbreviation of the company, and the a above is the abbreviation of Amsterdam.

“There are four boats!”

The officer Sheng Ma Tianyou held the Qianli Mile Mile Mile with one hand and turned his head to report to Captain Wei Kang.

"They are all three-masted ships, each with more than 20 cannons, and they are armed merchant ships." Li Junwu also hurriedly reported.

Wei Kang had also seen these in the Qianli Milestone, but he still smiled in praise at the two young officers.

"Very good. It seems that we have met a fat sheep. Since they have all been delivered to our mouths, we can't let it go. Beat the drums of war and prepare for hunting, don't let them run away!"

The ship deputy immediately shouted, "Hurry, rookies, all move, don't drop the chain at a critical moment. This is our Wei Qing's first battle, don't embarrass the Wei Qing!"

The preparation drum was ringing. The Marine Captain immediately drove the blockers to the mast. The sailors who were resting in shifts all jumped up and under the command of the sailors, they began to prepare for the pre-war according to their usual training.

The artillery team was in place. The deck team was in place, and the Marines also distributed ammunition and all were in place.

Sails are full and sail at full speed. Start chasing and gaining the upper hand.

The faster patrol ships and gunboats began to leave the fleet, and they relied on light and fast to encircle and intercept.

"Sir Captain, we are in trouble!"

A crew member hurriedly ran into the captain's stern cabin and said to Captain Heimer.

"A fleet appeared north of the bay and blocked our way."

Captain Heimer's name is originally called Hammer. Captain Hammer is also an old captain with rich experience at sea. He has been traveling to the East Indies for many years. After the Dutch and India cooperated with Zheng in recent years, he often traveled to South Vietnam. When he heard a fleet appeared in the north, Captain Hammer was shocked.

The East Indies, or the Han people called the Nanyang area, was not peaceful. In the early years, they plundered the Chinese coast, trying to force the Han people to open trade to them and build land for them to build ports for merchants. Later, they were too hard or soft. They finally occupied a land with the senior officials and were driven away again.

Although the Han warships and cannons at that time were far inferior to those of the Dutch, the Han people could always defeat them with sea of ​​people or sea of ​​ships. Captain Heimer participated in the Battle of Liaoluo Bay and returned home in a big defeat, almost losing his life. Zheng Zhilong used a large number of fire ships to attack, and his crazy attitude made him still feel extremely palpitations.

Now that the conflict of trade interests between the Dutch and Indian companies and the Han State has intensified, the relationship between the two sides is moving towards a dangerous situation, Heimer also knew about these. He even was ordered by the Dutch and Indian company Governor Batavia not long ago to participate in the attack on the Han State's merchant ships.

He didn't expect that retribution would come so quickly. In a blink of an eye, he had already fallen into the hands of the Han people.

There is no need to ask the fleet that can appear here, except for the Han Empire, there will be no second fleet.

Heimer grabbed the triangle cap and left the captain's room.

Without using the Qianli Mile Mile, you can already see that fleet.

Heimer's face turned pale. This was a real fleet, with three battleships, and there were no less than ten warships with more than fifty guns, as well as many double-brig cranes. Now these ships are using their high speed to quickly surround them.

"Maybe we can talk to them?"

The ship's deputy looked at the huge fleet and his palms were sweaty.

"Full sails, break through!"

Heimer issued an order without hesitation. Seeing the Han fleet's circumventing and intercepting without saying a word, Heimer didn't believe that he would receive any fair treatment if he gave up his resistance.

Besides, he had a ghost in his heart, and always felt that these fleets appeared here not by unexpected encounters, but were deliberately waiting for them here. Perhaps the incident of his attack on the Han merchant ship was exposed.

"We can't run away from theirs." The first mate looked helpless. Their ship was full of goods, and they were merchant ships. They were originally loaded with large capacity, but slow speed. Especially the number of artillery on their ships was small, and more than twenty artillery pieces were a ship. If it was normal, it would be enough to deal with pirates, but now they were facing a huge fleet of three battleships. How to break through?

"Then throw away all the goods. You know what we have done. These people must have come because of this. They are surrounded by them. We have only one way to die." Heimer turned his head and showed his pale face.

"But if these goods are lost, the loss will be too great." The adjutant said with distress.

"I'm almost gone, so what are you doing? As long as you can run out and keep the boat and people, it's enough."

The order was passed, and four Dutch merchant ships began to turn around. The sailors on the ship were desperately throwing all kinds of cargo in the cabin into the sea to reduce their speed.

In the distance, on the deck of Wei Qing, Wei Kang saw four Dutch ships turning their heads decisively and still dumping goods. He couldn't help but smile.

"These Dutchmen still want to run away and pass me the order. If the Dutch refuses to lower their sails and stop the ship, they will fire the cannon immediately intercept them. If necessary, they can sink!"

Patrol boats near the Dutch fleet sent flags to the Dutch people to stop the ship for inspection.

But the Dutch ignored it and ran away desperately.

"Continue to chase."

Before the patrol captain's words could be finished, the Dutch ship had fired a few guns.

Several shells landed more than ten feet near the patrol boat, and water columns rose up.

"Grass, you dare to fire a cannon, chase after you and fire a cannon to fight back!"

The guns of Dutch merchant ships were very low. Or the distance between the two ships was too far, and the guns on Dutch merchant ships were not large. The captain estimated that at most, it was six or nine pounds. Such gunfire was not as good as his patrol boat. Although his patrol boat was a sloop, he also had dozens of crew members, and there were eighteen guns on the ship, including several twelve-pound guns. There were even bow howitzers that could fire explosive bombs.

Patrol ships are much smaller than merchant ships, and their cannons are not as good as them, but they are light and flexible and fast, and they are perfect for dealing with bulky merchant ships.

More than a dozen patrol boats and gunboats filled Zhang Fan and surrounded him like vicious sharks. The Dutchman's guns kept firing on the boat, but it was difficult to hit him.

The Han army's patrol boats were not in a hurry to fire artillery, they just nimblely avoided the shells and then surrounded them closer and closer.

In the past, pirates on the sea drove such fast ships to plunder merchant ships, using their speed and agility to rely on help and jump to grab the ships. However, the patrol boats and gunboats of the Han Dynasty did not have to be so troublesome. There were only some merchant ships, some small cannons, and a group of panicked gunners on the other side.

It would be enough for them to get closer and then bombard them with artillery far more than the Dutch.

After less than an hour of chasing at sea, more than twenty gunboats and patrol boats finally surrounded four Dutch merchant ships.

At this time, the Dutch merchant ship had completely entered the range of the Dahan merchant ship.

"Don't use explosive bombs, use chain bombs!"

Seeing that the situation was under control, Wei Kang showed a satisfied smile on his face.

Chain bombs with iron chains are the best weapon to capture enemy ships. Once the chain bombs break the mast of the enemy ship, then in this vast sea, the enemy ships can only become lambs at slaughter, and no resistance will be of no use.

Compared with the explosive bombs that the Han army now possesses, chain bombs can capture complete enemy ships, but if they are explosive bombs, they often only have one sunken ship to harvest.
To be continued...