Chapter 416: The Battle of Qiantang
“Those damned Dutch.”
The news brought by the guards made the Chu King furious. He had underestimated the Dutch’s ruthless nature.
“Father, what should we do?” Li Chuyuan was also very angry. He was beginning to see the true greedy nature of the Dutch merchants.
The Chu King hesitated, then made up his mind. “Send out our warships. We must show the Dutch how fierce I am.”
“Yes, Father.” Li Chuyuan replied and headed to the docks.
In Lin’an city, at the Cao family mansion.
News of the attack on Lin’an docks quickly reached here. After hearing it, Cao Kun, the head of the family, immediately called his eldest son Cao Zhengtong.
“Father.”
Cao Zhengtong was about twenty-six years old, pale and thin, as if recently recovering from a serious illness. His voice was still weak.
“Zhengtong, leave immediately for Qingzhou. The Chu King rashly going to war with the Dutch will bring a big loss,” Cao Kun said nervously. “If we lose, our family’s merchant fleet might never sail again. Once you arrive in Qingzhou, contact Zhengyang and gather merchant ships transporting goods across Great Yu. Also, buy more ships from Qingzhou to organize a fleet. The Chu King is watching us closely. We can’t move our fleet in Chu territory.”
Cao Zhengtong looked confused. “The Chu King is strong. He should have no problem dealing with the Dutch.”
“The Chu King is strong, but he can’t match the Dutch at sea. His ships can’t beat Dutch warships,” Cao Kun said urgently. “Don’t just stand there—go! The only one who can defeat the Dutch now is the Qi King. Our hope lies in Qingzhou, not Lin’an. The Chu King is no different from other nobles in Great Yu. Only the Qi King can keep our family prosperous.”
Cao Zhengtong’s expression turned serious. He nodded. “Yes, Father. I will go to Qingzhou and tell Qi King what happened here.”
“Good. Go quickly. Also tell him about the shipyard,” Cao Kun sighed.
Serving the king is like serving a tiger. Over the years, the Cao family had paid countless silver taels to the Chu King. But the Chu King was greedy and now planned to swallow the Cao family.
His spies in the Chu King’s mansion had secretly reported this to him. So he decisively started arranging the family’s assets in Qingzhou.
Though the Chu King was wary, he did not yet know the real purpose and thought the Cao family was just doing normal business.
In fact, it was preparation to move the family’s assets. If the Chu King acted, they would flee even if it meant abandoning their lands in Jiangnan.
While father and son spoke, Li Chuyuan led 100 warships eastward from the Qiantang River outside Lin’an city.
On the front ten warships, each deck had ten cannons, about five on each side.
Standing on the largest tower ship, Li Chuyuan was confident. Before, without cannons, they feared fighting the Dutch at sea.
But now with ten cannon-equipped warships plus traditional ships, he believed they could fight the Dutch.
Following the river downstream, Li Chuyuan saw ten Dutch warships blockading the harbor, bombarding the coastal docks.
These Dutch ships all had three decks, each deck lined with cannons.
Facing the Dutch ships, Li Chuyuan ordered the attack. When the war drums sounded, hundreds of warships charged.
On the Dutch flagship Freedom, a slightly overweight middle-aged man watched the ships with a monocular telescope.
He wore a brown vest, had curly brown hair, shiny leather shoes, long socks, and black trousers. He was Earl Claire, the new governor of Ryukyu.
“Earl, should we retreat and lure them into deep water to destroy them one by one?” Rhode suggested.
“No. These ships are disorganized and have too few cannons. They use chaotic battle tactics from fifty years ago. Although many in number, they are no match. Today I will show this foolish Chu King what naval warfare really is!” Black put away his telescope and ordered a sailor, “Raise the blue flag.”
The sailor quickly raised a small blue flag at the top of the warship.
The scattered Dutch ships suddenly received orders and began forming a line—a classic naval formation.
In his eyes, the Chu King’s fleet used chaotic tactics with no unified command, each ship acting alone without coordination.
Fifty years ago, the Dutch also used chaotic tactics but lost to the British who used line tactics with triple their forces. That defeat pushed them to change their approach.
Looking at the 100 strong warships, Claire was calm. When the line formed, he ordered fire.
“Boom boom…”
Ten ships fired simultaneously. Five hundred cannons rained shells onto the charging Chu King’s fleet like raindrops.
After one volley, the Dutch fleet began a U-turn formation, firing again from the other side of the lead ship.
With continuous attacks, seven Chu King’s warships immediately began sinking, blocking others like reefs. Some collided as the current pushed them.
Suddenly, the Chu King’s fleet was in chaos.
The soldiers were terrified by the Dutch cannons. Chu was wealthy and peaceful since Great Yu’s founding. People lived in comfort, and soldiers feared war.
When Li Chuyuan ordered battle, many soldiers were already scared.
Looking at floating bodies, screams, and blood, more soldiers lost will to fight.
Li Chuyuan’s face changed seeing this hellish scene.
He was used to scheming indoors and calculating, but the real battlefield was very different. Watching ships sink, his legs began to tremble.
“Retreat! Retreat!” Li Chuyuan shouted.
With this order, the fleet fell into disorder. After losing ten ships, the defeat began. On the Freedom, Claire smiled wickedly watching the chaotic Chu King’s fleet. “Now it’s time for Chu King to sign a new trade agreement.”