Part 266: The Advantage

Lin Baiguang was staying comfortably in the guesthouse in Anping. Although it was government property, it was practically the Zheng family’s private estate. The maintenance and expenses were naturally much more generous than those of the emperor. Not only were the rooms clean, but the guesthouse staff also looked well-fed and were very attentive to this “honored guest” of the Zheng family.

However, there was no response from the Zheng family, as if a stone had been dropped into the sea. His attendants stood at the entrance of their courtyard every day, eagerly looking out for any messenger from the Zheng family. But besides the attentive guesthouse staff and officials, not a single person came.

His attendants were all naturalized citizens, and they grew anxious, fearing that they and their “leader” would be detained by the famous sea lord, and that their lives might be in danger.

Lin Baiguang was not worried at all. It was impossible for the Zheng family not to take this bait. Even if they knew it was poisoned, they couldn’t refuse. Zheng Zhilong had a strong “gambler’s mentality.” By gambling, he had risen from a young clerk under his uncle to a fortress commander under Yan Siqi, and finally to the overlord of the southeastern seas in just over a decade.

Just as Zheng Zhilong would be lured into the Qing army’s camp and taken hostage decades later, this was not the first time for him. A few years ago, he had been tricked onto a ship and kidnapped by the Dutch governor of Taiwan, Nuyts, forced to sign a trade agreement, and had to pay a ransom. But when the Manchu Qing tempted him with the promise of a fiefdom and the title of king, Zheng Zhilong took the bait again.

From this point of view, the Grand Library believed that doing business with Zheng Zhilong and selling salt was entirely feasible. As long as it was business, everything was negotiable.

However, although neither the Senate Standing Committee nor the Executive Committee had revealed how they would deal with Zheng Zhilong and Liu Xiang, it was clear that ambitious sea lords like them were bound to be eliminated. Their groups were too large to be reorganized. Even if they accepted, the Zheng family’s leaders and their entrenched network of subordinates and confidants would make it difficult for the group to be quickly absorbed by the Navy and the Ministry of Commerce.

Furthermore, large sea lord groups like those of Zheng Zhilong and Liu Xiang were quite detrimental to the coastal maritime trade of China. They pursued a monopoly effect. After defeating Liu Xiang, Zheng Zhilong sold maritime passage rights for international trade at high prices. A single flag cost two thousand taels a year, effectively blocking merchants and ship owners with insufficient financial resources from participating in ocean-going trade. Before the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the Zheng Zhilong group had actually monopolized the Hirado trade with Japan. Of the Chinese ships arriving in Hirado, a quarter were Anhai ships under their direct control. Their struggles and monopolies in the coastal areas of China also seriously affected the domestic maritime trade.

The Senate wanted to seize maritime hegemony and build a “maritime peace under the rule of the Senate.” The purpose of seizing hegemony was not only to obtain super-profits but also to promote maritime trade and stimulate the development of coastal industry and commerce. If the profits of trade were monopolized by the channel distributors, then apart from necessities and luxury goods, traders and retailers would sooner or later be forced out of this commercial system. Excessively high prices would also cause consumer spending power to shrink or even disappear.

“Private monopoly means reaction,” Ma Qianzhu had defined the sea lords at an expanded meeting of the Executive Committee. “It is a backward, old thing that hinders the development of productive forces.”

“Hindering the development of productive forces” was a very serious definition—roughly equivalent to a death sentence.

Therefore, completely defeating them and absorbing the remnants was the only choice for the Executive Committee. This had become a consensus among the Senators privy to core secrets.

His trip to Anping was not primarily to show goodwill or to lull Zheng Zhilong into a false sense of security—that was just a side effect. The Grand Fleet and the transport convoy were not concerned about the maritime power of either Liu Xiang or Zheng Zhilong. The Senate’s fleet mostly sailed on open ocean routes. Unless Zheng Zhilong had radar and radio, it would be very difficult for him to accurately intercept the fleet. Even if he was incredibly lucky and could catch the fleet or wait for an opportunity at certain locations, the outcome of a battle would still be unfavorable to him.

The Navy had conducted several tabletop wargames in Ma Niao, simulating various possible hostile actions by Zheng Zhilong, Liu Xiang, and the Dutch. Even under various harsh conditions, these three powers were completely defeated.

Take the Zheng Zhilong group, for example. If Zheng Zhilong wanted to attack the forces of Operation Engine, not to mention the main First and Second Fleets, even if he wanted to intercept the transport convoy, he would have to mobilize his entire main force and deploy them in the Penghu area. And even then, it would require the commander of the transport fleet to be foolish enough to ram head-on into his formation. Once Lingao knew he was deployed in Penghu, the nine special service boat squadrons returning would be enough to crush him.

If Zheng Zhilong’s fleet hid in the coastal areas, it would be relatively safe. After all, in the shallow seas with their numerous bays, shoals, and reefs, the light ships that made up the bulk of his fleet had great flexibility, and there was also a chance of success with fire ships. However, the transport route for Operation Engine generally did not go close to the mainland coast.

Zheng Zhilong was also unlikely to take the initiative to attack and intercept the Senate’s fleet on the open ocean routes.

Traditional Chinese navigation relied heavily on landmarks. Because China had not developed the concept of latitude and longitude, even with a compass, there was still the problem of not being able to determine a ship’s position. The traditional method was to observe the stars and roughly estimate one’s position based on the position of the celestial bodies.

But a more common and convenient method was to use maritime landmarks. In the traditional navigation charts, the “needle-path books,” the course to a certain place and the heading were clearly recorded. Changes in course were guided by maritime landmarks. Therefore, ships generally sailed along the coastline or used islands and shoals as navigation markers.

Due to these inherent shortcomings, Zheng Zhilong’s ocean-going combat capability was actually very weak. Apart from the Dutch, neither Liu Xiang nor Zheng Zhilong had the ability to conduct search operations in the vast open ocean. In fact, his battles with the Dutch and other sea lords were almost all fought in coastal bays and near islands.

As for the Dutch, the Senate had nine squadrons of special service boats alone, thirty-six large Fujian and Guangdong junks. Any one of these thirty-six ships was a match for the Dutch’s large warships in terms of firepower, and their numbers were far greater.

Although Zheng Zhilong was said to have hundreds of warships, only thirty to fifty of them were dedicated large warships, and their individual combat effectiveness was far inferior to that of the special service boats. It could even be said that the Dutch’s small schooners and square-rigged ships could defeat Zheng Zhilong’s fleet with fewer numbers. Even if Zheng Zhilong gathered all his warships, they would not necessarily be a match for the special service boat squadrons.

The Navy used a computer program to conduct simulated sea battles. One side was a typical large Dutch armed merchant ship, the Nieuw Bantam, with a deadweight of 800 tons and a maximum displacement of over 1,200 tons, belonging to the largest class in East Asia. Its firepower consisted of 7 18-pounder culverins and 16 12-pounder demi-culverins. These were all the guns that could participate in a gun battle. Since the guns were arranged on both broadsides, its single broadside salvo was only about 150 pounds.

The Nieuw Bantam was completely helpless against the Lichun-class and the Type 901. The power of rifled cannons against early smoothbore guns was simply god-like. According to software calculations, the destructive power of the 130mm Dahlgren rifled cannon’s solid shot, incendiary shells, and high-explosive shells, even with very conservative estimates, would only require five or six hits to completely destroy the Nieuw Bantam’s combat and sailing capabilities. In one software simulation, a single solid shot even penetrated the hull and hit the powder magazine, destroying the entire ship.

Even against the special service boats, which had no rifled cannons, the top Dutch warships had no advantage at all.

When facing a special service boat armed with 48-pounder smoothbore cannons and 68-pounder carronades, not only was their firepower inferior, but they were also no match in terms of range, penetration, and accuracy.

A common special service boat of the Guangdong junk type, with a standard displacement of about 200 tons, was armed with 6 48-pounder cannons and 4 68-pounder carronades. A single broadside could deliver a salvo of 280 pounds, almost double that of the Nieuw Bantam.

Not only that, the projectiles of the Dutch warships’ culverins and demi-culverins were lighter and had weaker penetration. The penetration of a culverin was far worse than that of a 24-pounder. According to data on French long guns, an 18-pounder long gun from the Napoleonic era had less penetration at 100 yards than a 24-pounder at 300 yards. The destructive power of a single 24-pounder was greater than that of two 18-pounders, not to mention a 48-pounder. With a good gun carriage, the rate of fire of a 24-pounder was also much faster than that of a culverin or demi-culverin.

As for the 68-pounder carronade, its point-blank range was 270 yards, while the culverin’s was only about 330 yards. At a 5-degree elevation, the carronade’s range was even greater than the culverin’s. Moreover, a culverin generally needed to be within 100 yards to have sufficient killing power against a galleon, while the 68-pounder, on the contrary, had too much penetration and was effective from a great distance. Although the structure of a Fujian junk was weak, it was still no problem for them to engage in a firefight. In a firefight, if the two sides exchanged broadsides at 300 yards, the culverins could certainly damage the Fujian junks, but the 68-pounders could blast the armed merchant ships to smithereens.

As for the less heavily armed “Harmony” class ships, although their single broadside firepower was inferior to that of the Nieuw Bantam, even without the escort of warships like the special service boats, a convoy of “Harmony” class ships sailing in formation was still the most formidable fleet in the East Asian seas. A transport fleet of five ships had enough firepower to withstand any fleet the Dutch could muster at one time.

It is worth noting that to deal with the Dutch fleet, Zheng Zhilong had to gather his main force every time and also had to fight in coastal waters to win.

No matter how it was calculated or wargamed, as long as they didn’t rush headlong into a close-quarters battle in narrow waters, neither Zheng Zhilong, Liu Xiang, nor the Dutch were a match for them.