New Ming Empire mixed in America

"Turn the helm, turn the helm!" the captain of the scout ship shouted nervously, because an armed merchant ship flying the Dutch flag also appeared on the sea in front of them.

The difference between a merchant ship and an armed merchant ship is that the deck of a merchant ship will not be equipped with so many artillery pieces, and a layer of thin steel plates will not be added to the hull. Other than that, there is no difference.

"Captain, I will never agree to your in-depth exploration next time!"

Although the observer complained, he still did not put down the marine telescope in his hand.

And he was still quickly explaining his findings to his recorder.

"The ship in the southeast direction... no, there are two ships now. The ship discovered first is marked as ship No. 1."

The observer discovered through the telescope that another ship with the same flag appeared behind the armed merchant ship in front.

"Ship No. 1 has thirteen guns on the side deck and six small guns, no, seven...this is a big guy!"

After counting the artillery on the No. 1 ship, the observer took a breath of air.

Their reconnaissance ship only has four naval guns and is also equipped with twelve rotating machine guns.

In order to ensure speed, their deck was modified, and the huge chimney took up most of the space. As a result, there was obviously not enough room to install artillery on the ship, and they had to use rotating machine guns to make up the number.

After hearing the observer's report, the captain's mouth couldn't help but twitch.

This time they really got off the hook, I can only hope that the other party doesn't notice them.

But this is definitely impossible. Although the telescopes used on Dutch armed merchant ships are not advanced, there is no reason why they cannot see the thick smoke on the sea.

The observer was still explaining what he saw: "Ship No. 2... wait... there is smoke on the No. 2 ship, it is injured!"

Boat No. 2 was indeed injured. This was not the most fatal thing. What was even more fatal was that there were several gunboats flying the Sanchen flag behind it.

Although they are said to be gunboats, the gunboats of the Xinming Empire have been transformed into unified merchant ships.

Therefore, its combat effectiveness is much more fierce than that of an armed merchant ship, not to mention that the bow turret has been moved to the center of the ship.

Even the armor on the ship is only a little thinner than that of an ironclad ship. Let alone an armed merchant ship, it can fight even if it encounters a fourth-level ship.

Therefore, it is quite normal for these Dutch armed merchant ships to be chased and beaten when they encounter them.

In order to block the Lanfang Republic's maritime trade, the Dutch recently issued an illegal plunder certificate.

All merchant ships, no matter what country they belong to, just need to pay the Dutch to buy proof of plunder and fly the Dutch flag when "working".

So now Borneo is full of merchant ships that have been temporarily repurposed. These people buy ship armor and add artillery at the Dutch shipyards.

All the money spent can be repaid by grabbing a Lanfang merchant ship, and it will be a pure profit from now on.

Besides, after the plunder certificate expires, the items they later assembled on the ship can be sold at a discount.

Therefore, almost all nearby merchant ships received a plunder certificate so that they could do some private work in their free time.

But today, as usual, these two armed merchant ships were wandering around the waters of Borneo and were not having much luck.

On the way back, they encountered the vanguard of the Xinming Empire's Pacific Fleet.

So they suffered a tragedy. The three armed merchant ships that originally came out together were sunk one when they met each other, and the remaining two fled desperately.

In this way, the armed merchant ship running behind was still hit twice by the gunboat.

If the gunboats of the Pacific Fleet were not loaded with armor-piercing projectiles to increase their range, they would probably be able to visit this armed merchant ship on the bottom of the sea at this time.

A few minutes later, the two fleeing armed merchant ships also spotted the turning reconnaissance ship.

While the scout ship was startled, they were also frightened.

Soon, a strange scene appeared for the observers on the reconnaissance ship. The armed merchant ship that seemed to be blocking them actually began to turn around, apparently wanting to stay away from their route.

"Captain, let's adjust our direction and rush toward ships No. 1 and 2. It looks like our reinforcements have arrived."

After saying this, the observer dropped the marine telescope in his hand and rubbed his eyes. After all, using such a large fixed marine telescope for a long time will cause his eyes to begin to tire.

Two hours later, the reconnaissance ship connected with the leading troops of the Pacific Fleet.

Behind their joint, there were four wrecks of armed merchant ships that were sinking or had sunk to the point where only their masts were still exposed on the sea.

"Why haven't the Dutch assembled their warships yet?"

The captain of the scout ship thanked his comrades and then made a strange complaint.

Now the Pacific Fleet has destroyed the docks of six small towns one after another, as well as two city ports.

But until now, the Dutch have not mobilized all their maritime forces for defense. In the eyes of the captain of the scout ship, this is simply stupid or can be said to be stupid.

"Hey, they don't have communications like ours. The Dutch's telegraph lines here are only laid in a few major cities. After all, this is just a colony, and it's a colony with no development value."

The commander of the vanguard was Zhu Zhiwen, who had just been promoted to serve as deputy to Pacific Fleet Commander Cheng Yuanliang.

He cherished the opportunity to win over the vanguard commander, so he spent the past few days studying the intelligence on the Dutch colonies obtained from the prisoners.

In the end, it was discovered that there were obvious loopholes in the other party's communication. Timely and fast communication is very important for a war.

Now the Dutch have created a loophole for him to exploit, so he wants to rely on the fact that the Dutch don't know the time difference before the Pacific Fleet arrives, and prepare to use his vanguard fleet to eliminate all the Dutch's maritime weapons.

In this case, he is confident that he can perform well in front of His Majesty.

"By the way, they are not called battleships, they are at best armed merchant ships... not even gunboats."

Curling his lips, Zhu Zhiwen looked down upon these Dutch maritime weapons.

Maybe in other countries, this kind of armed merchant ship is a gunboat, but in the Xinming Empire, this kind of merchant ship equipped with a few cannons cannot be called a gunboat, because it is too rubbish...

These armed merchant ships can be threatened by anything from garbage to offshore patrol boats converted from fishing boats.

"When will our reconnaissance ship be upgraded? Now we can't even defeat this junk that's not even a gunboat..."

The captain of the scout ship was a little depressed. Their ship was fast enough, but its firepower was a bit lacking.

This time, I was chased everywhere by Dutch merchant ships, and was even almost sunk here.