The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 695 Maritime Hegemony
Around dusk, as the sun set, the entire bay was dyed a fiery red.

Bathed in the glow of the rosy sunset, the naval ships seemed to be draped in an aura of steel and blood, as if foreshadowing an imminent great battle.

On the flagship of the navy, Wanli and his generals stared at the map on the table, frowning and silent.

The situation in the Viceroyalty of Brazil is not optimistic.

De Shera sent an urgent message asking for help.

Emperor Wanli also summoned generals such as Dong Yikui, Wang Rulong, and Li Rusong.

They have quite a few troops in the Americas, but the problem is that the area they need to defend is just too large.

Once war breaks out, who knows if those colonial bandits will come to this sea area and even harass the East Coast of North America?

Now their enemy is not just one country, but a three-nation coalition, and there are many privateers, or pirates, in Britain now.

Emperor Wanli frowned and pondered for a while, then solemnly said, "We are not ready yet. We should focus on defense and not take the initiative to attack."

Upon hearing this, all the generals nodded slightly in agreement.

If they take the initiative to attack, they will have to send at least most of their forces here. At that time, they simply won't have enough troops to defend such a large area as the East Commandery of North America and Central America.

Wanli then pointed to the map and solemnly said, "This situation is actually an opportunity for us."

Pernambuco, where De Shera is currently located, is the closest point in southern America to the African coast, with a sea route of only about 5,000 kilometers between them.

In other words, as long as there is wind, the warships of the Dutch and Anglo-French allied forces can arrive from the west coast of Africa in five or six days.

In this situation, as long as we pretend that we are short of troops and warships, and that we may not be able to withstand the attack, they will definitely send reinforcements from the Gold Coast and even the European mainland.

Their army is nothing compared to our land forces. We are invincible in land warfare. Even if they mobilized all their troops, they couldn't defeat 200,000 Shenwu Battalion soldiers.

The key was their warships. The Netherlands had tens of thousands of ocean-going ships. Although not all of them were warships, merchant ships equipped with cannons could also participate in naval battles.

With Dutch ships and British and French troops, it's possible they could bring in thousands of ships to participate in the war.

In other words, we are not necessarily invincible at sea. Without enough powerful warships, we cannot guarantee that the East Coast of North America and this island region will not be invaded.

In this Age of Exploration, maritime hegemony is of utmost importance. If we can seize this opportunity to eliminate most of the Dutch ships capable of participating in the war, we can establish maritime hegemony.

At that time, without enough ships, it would be difficult for European colonial powers to cross the sea and invade the Eastern Capital Region of North America and the Central Seas of America.

Maritime hegemony?

This is indeed very important. As long as we can deplete the warships of the European colonial bandits, the East Coast of North America and the Central Seas of America will be easier to defend.

If European colonial bandits didn't have enough warships and still came to fight them at sea, they were courting death.

Upon hearing this, the generals nodded slightly without uttering a sound.

They were all used to it; they just listened to His Majesty and that was all they needed to do. If there was no problem, they shouldn't say anything.

Wanli thought about it carefully again, and then decisively said, "Yunqing, this battle is entrusted to you to command. You take a Weiyuan warship to reinforce the area first."

what?
One Weiyuan warship!
Can this be called reinforcements?

Although the Weiyuan warship was armored, it was not invulnerable to bullets and blades.

They had all tested it; each piece of armor would deform after being hit by two or three shells. The key was that once the armor deformed, the wooden planks connecting it would crack, and another one or two shells could easily penetrate it.

This time, they were facing an enemy force of over two hundred to three hundred warships, and reinforcements could arrive at any time. Even if each of the enemy warships only had five cannons on each side, a salvo would still consist of over a thousand shells.

Moreover, warships had already appeared in Europe, and those warships had more cannons than the Weiyuan warships.

In other words, once the enemy launches an attack, the shells could rain down on the Weiyuan warship, which is clearly the flagship, and a Weiyuan warship would be breached in no time.

Deng Zilong wasn't afraid of death; the key issue was that he couldn't afford to lose battles, especially this one.

If this battle is lost, the 50,000 soldiers of the vassal state, including thousands of newly appointed military scholars, will probably be wiped out.

After thinking for a moment, he cautiously reminded him, "Your Majesty, I dare to say that a single Weiyuan warship may not be able to withstand the repeated bombardment of two or three hundred enemy warships."

The Fujian warships we lent to De Shera were equipped with muzzle-loading cannons, and the cannon operators were all newly trained soldiers from our vassal state. Those one hundred Fujian warships might not be able to withstand one hundred enemy warships.

More importantly, we haven't equipped our vassal soldiers with muskets, nor have we provided them with many oil canisters or bombs.

In this situation, if the centipede ship were to go up and attack the enemy's warships, it would probably be unable to get close to them due to enemy muskets and cannons.

In other words, if we only send one warship, the Weiyuan, to reinforce them, we might not be able to defeat the Dutch and Anglo-French forces in the naval battle. If we fail to hold them off at sea, our troops on land will have nowhere to run.

He couldn't understand why only one Weiyuan warship was sent to provide support.

Although there aren't many Weiyuan warships in Piantou Bay right now, there are still about six hundred. Even if only one hundred are sent, they can guarantee a sure victory.

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "Think about it, why haven't Deshera and the others been attacked yet?"

This is really strange.

Why hadn't Descartes' location in Pernambuco, which was not far from Bahia, which was occupied by the Dutch and Anglo-French forces, been attacked?
Deng Zilong stared at the map carefully before cautiously saying, "Your Majesty, this humble general believes that the Dutch and Anglo-French allied forces are most likely to launch a full-scale attack on the south." Hmm, truly worthy of a renowned general.

Wanli nodded slightly, then pointed to the map and explained in detail: "De Shera said that, apart from Bahia, Pernambuco is the strongest region in the Viceroyalty of Brazil."

The Dutch and Anglo-French allied forces must have known this, and their strategy was likely to prioritize the south over the north.

The Pernambuco region was already the strongest, and with De Shera bringing so many troops and ships, the Dutch and Anglo-French forces would definitely take over all the southern colonies first before attacking Pernambuco.

Therefore, there's no need for us to rush. It wouldn't be a problem for you to lead a Weiyuan warship to provide support first.

I will order the Flying Dragon Ship to transport one hundred Fuzhou warships of one thousand liang each and one hundred thousand Shenshu Camp soldiers to the destination.

In this way, our strength in Pernambuco seems to be slightly weaker than that of the Dutch and Anglo-French allied forces, and holding it should not be a problem.

The Dutch and Anglo-French forces will likely test the waters first, and if they feel they can't take it, they will most likely send reinforcements.

We'll then use a piecemeal approach against them.

Look, there is a large bay more than a thousand miles northwest of Pernambuco. I will order the Flying Dragon Ship to pull the Fujian warships from here to that side, and I will also send two hundred Weiyuan warships there.

Our combined strength of nearly a thousand Fujian warships and two hundred Weiyuan warships is equivalent to their two thousand warships.

I will also dispatch over a hundred flying dragon ships, lining them up from Pernambuco to that harbor, so that you can relay orders promptly. You can then continuously send warships to support them based on their reinforcement situation.

In short, our goal is to deplete their warships. It doesn't matter if all their Fujian warships are used up; we'll just wear them down.

Just tell the soldiers on the Fujian warship to be careful, and if the warship is damaged, they should withdraw from the battlefield immediately.

If the Fujian-style warship is severely damaged and about to sink, then use the Weiyuan warship to block its path, and then send the centipede ship to rescue the people. Once the people are rescued, it doesn't matter if the warship sinks.

Oh, a piecemeal tactic, huh?

This means pretending that the Ming Dynasty might not be able to hold out, thus luring the enemy to send reinforcements. Once the warships of the European colonial powers are nearly exhausted, the Ming Dynasty can establish its maritime hegemony.

Upon hearing this, Deng Zilong slowly nodded and said, "This subordinate understands."

Wanli then instructed in detail: "Weizhong, you should set up a wagon formation for defense near the port of Pernambuco."

If the enemy's army attacks, you don't need to worry about other places; you just need to defend the port and docks.

Upon hearing this, Wu Weizhong nodded repeatedly and said, "This subordinate understands."

Wanli thought about it carefully again, and then solemnly said, "Yunqing, the earliest that Kemai can bring over is September, along with a million garrison soldiers and the materials for building city fortresses and port docks."

It will take time for the garrison soldiers to build hundreds of city fortresses and port docks, so we probably won't be able to launch an attack this year.

Just slowly wear them down, be prepared for it to take a year or two.

Uh, it's going to take this long?
Upon hearing this, Deng Zilong cautiously replied, "Your Majesty, the imperial envoys only brought a total of 500,000 shi of grain."

Our fleet of eight or nine hundred Fujian-style warships, plus two hundred Weiyuan warships and over one hundred Feilong ships, totals more than two hundred thousand naval officers and soldiers.

Add to that the 100,000 soldiers of the Divine Pivot Camp and the 50,000 soldiers of the vassal states, and we're almost 400,000 men. That 500,000 shi of rations will only last about a month."

The supply of food and provisions is indeed very important.

If their Fujian warships need to be towed over quickly using flying dragon ships, they can't carry much food; they can only carry naval soldiers, Shenshu battalion soldiers, and chariots.

After the Weiyuan warship was fitted with armor and cannons, it couldn't carry much food anymore.

Wanli nodded slowly, then estimated: "We now have 1,500 flying dragon ships, more than 200 of which have been sent out for communications, leaving more than 1,200 ships."

Of these 1,200-plus ships, we still need to send nearly 800 to the East Coast of North America, leaving us with just over 400.

The Flying Dragon Ship can also carry grain. Although it will run a little slower after carrying grain, it can still keep up with the speed of the Weiyuan Warship.

Let's be on the safe side. You take two hundred Weiyuan warships and four hundred Feilong ships, carrying four hundred thousand shi of grain, to the bay northwest of Pernambuco.

Two hundred Weiyuan warships and their naval officers and soldiers will stay there to build a port, docks, and grain storage facilities. You will take one hundred of the four hundred Flying Dragon ships to set up a communication system, and the remaining three hundred will come back to continuously transport grain there.

"I estimate that the Fujian-style warships from the Eastern Capital Command in North America will be towed to that harbor in about half a month. Then, the nearly eight hundred flying dragon ships can be used to transport grain back and forth, and there shouldn't be any problems."

Uh, the flying dragon ships were used to transport grain?
This flying dragon ship was originally used specifically for communication.

However, they now have more and more flying dragon ships, so they don't need as many for communication.

If you use a flying dragon boat to haul grain, it can only travel about 100 li in an hour when fully loaded, but it can still travel about 200 li in an hour on the return trip.

In other words, it would take five or six days to transport grain between Pernambuco and Piantou Bay, a distance of five or six thousand li, by flying dragon ships, and at most two or three days for an empty ship to return.

In this way, at least three transport trips can be made per month, and each trip carries at least 300,000 shi (a unit of dry measure), so three trips would carry 900,000 shi, ensuring that there would be no problem with the grain supply.

Upon hearing this, Deng Zilong nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

(End of this chapter)