Traveling through the late Ming Dynasty to promote Chinese civilization

Chapter 249 Open Source and Chapter Flow

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After Zheng Zhiwan left, Liu Ye convened a meeting with military and logistics management personnel. Three months is neither a short nor a long time, and turning against Zheng Zhilong is definitely the most important matter at present, requiring early planning.

Van Bommel, who had just declared his allegiance to Liu Ye three days prior, also attended the meeting. While similar military conferences do occur in the Netherlands, the phenomenon of high-ranking figures dominating the proceedings is not unique to the East; it is also common in Europe, where typically the king or council issues instructions, which are then carried out by subordinates. The heated discussions and deep participation at the Qiongzhou Camp military conference greatly surprised this former East India Company captain.

Liu Ye briefly explained the current situation: "...That's how it is. Anyway, I want the money, but I don't plan to give you the cannons. Zheng Zhilong was able to pay for the goods in advance and send someone to urge delivery, which shows that he values ​​these cannons very much—the Dutch have been defeated, and Liu Xiang's men have all been wiped out by us. From Fujian to Guangdong, apart from the Qiongzhou Navy, there is no other naval force that can shake the Zheng family. So it's self-evident who he is rushing to equip these cannons against..."

Yan Guang sneered: "Who else can we deal with? It's our own Qiongzhou Camp, of course. How can we allow others to sleep soundly beside our bed? Once the Red Hairs fall, Zheng Zhilong won't tolerate us anymore. I just didn't expect it to happen so quickly!"

Gao Jie explained: "Although this day was bound to come sooner or later, I guess the reason Zheng Yiguan is speeding up his pace is because of the outstanding performance of our patrol ships in Liaoluo Bay. The Zheng family fleet started strong but then declined in the battle. Their performance was simply a pile of garbage. If we hadn't joined the battle in time, it would have been hard to say whether the outcome of this battle would have been different."

As a newcomer, Van Bommel initially adhered to the principle of "better to remain silent than to speak," intending to learn about the team without saying a word. However, when the topic came up, he, as both a party involved and a victim, couldn't help but speak up, awkwardly saying, "That's how it is. If you hadn't interfered, we could have slowly worn down Zheng Yiguan, and the outcome of the war would have been different..."

Liu Ye said, "It's bound to happen sooner or later anyway, so there's nothing wrong with turning against each other sooner and starting a fight sooner. However, we must be fully prepared and not fight an unprepared battle. Mr. Sun, you are in charge of the equipment and logistics. How are the shipyard and arsenal doing?"

Sun Yuanhua stepped forward and said, "The shipyard is currently building six ships simultaneously, including four 1,000-ton warships and two 2,000-ton warships, which are expected to be launched in a month and a half. There was also a 3,000-ton giant ship, whose keel and ribs were laid, but in order to speed up the construction, all the manpower has been transferred here; the arsenal is also fine. After capturing Changhua, the iron ore was smelted on-site, which is much faster than transporting the ore from Yazhou back to Lingao for iron smelting. The raw materials for the arsenal are in a continuous supply. As long as the wages are paid in full, there will be no problem in providing enough naval guns."

A 1,000-ton warship is the Wuxiang-class with a displacement of 500 tons, a 2,000-ton warship is the warship with a projected displacement of 1,000 tons, and a 3,000-ton warship is what Liang Xiaoming called a mobile sea fortress, the flagship of flagships.