Chapter 978: Inviting You into the Trap

安东尼的副将亚伯·塔斯曼说道：“将军阁下，就这样派人过去，会不会中了明军的计谋，明军可是以诡计多端闻明的。”
Abel Tasman?
That's right, he was the Dutch explorer who discovered New Zealand.
"What kind of strategy do you think the people of the Ming Dynasty can play?"
“他们将我们的船队故意引开，会不会有援军已经在等待他们？”
Oh, Lord Abbe, your concerns are valid but unnecessary. I have already sent investigators to inquire about it in the Sunda Strait, and there are no additional Ming forces there.
“那会不会有一种可能，明军的援军正在敢来的途中？”
“阁下，我知道你很担忧，但你完全不必如此，明军已经是强弩之末，我们有七百多艘战船，其中有一百多艘是远洋战列舰，欧洲从来没有出现过如此庞大的船队，即便是当年西班牙的无敌舰队也没有。”
"What about the city of Batavia?"
"Surround it, hold the siege for a few days, and put psychological pressure on them."
安东尼沉迷在庞大的舰队中，他为自己能统帅如此庞大规模的舰队感到无比的骄傲。
He believed that after this battle, he would definitely leave his name in history.
No more need to mention Abel Tasman.
他自己也觉得自己的担忧确实有些多余，自己这一方拥有如此大规模的战船，即便明军的战船再如何优良，也能够碾压了吧。
After all, numerical advantage is also an extremely important part in war.
The Dutch managed to deploy 400 warships to pursue the naval fleet of the Ming army, almost half of their total military strength.
Looking down from high above, there are densely packed warships, resembling a giant monster with scales on its back, leaving behind massive waves on the sea surface.
Leading the pursuit is Portuguese commander Servido.
他用望远镜看着前面的海域，看见明军的战船正在快速离开这片海域。
"Speed up."
“Speed ahead!”欧洲人开始大声的呼喊。
The signalman holding a flag in his hand started waving it vigorously. This is a way of transmitting signals between warships in an era without radios and walkie-talkies. Flags were the military orders.
“Speed ahead!”
“Speed ahead!”
The European warship resounded with enthusiastic cheers.
Their sailors raised all the sails, while squads of riflemen held their muskets and stood in their positions.
"Everyone ready! Stay alert!" The officers shouted loudly, holding their knives in their hands. I have translated the provided Chinese text into English while keeping all the @ matches intact.
火枪手有一大部分是欧洲人，他是白皮肤，穿着紧致的军装，葡萄牙人和葡萄牙人一个船，荷兰人和荷兰人一个船，这是为了方便指挥。
Of course, there are also some natives from Southeast Asia, Sri Lankans, and Indians mixed among the Musketeers.
These people have darker skin and wear ragged clothes, but each of them carries a musket in their hands, with bullets in their belts.
“明朝人的船上有的是美酒和食物，还有许许多多的黄金白银，你们都打起精神来，谁先抢到就是谁的！”
The soldiers below deck start preparing the cannons and pushing out the gunpowder.
"All cannons are ready, there must be no mistakes, we are at war now!"
The officer below deck orders the rowers to start paddling with all their strength.
Most of these rowers are Malaysians, Sri Lankans, and Indians.
在一些战船上，还有一些奥斯曼土耳其人和阿拉伯人，他们是跟随葡萄牙人和荷兰人过来的商人。
明军在南洋团灭欧洲舰队的消息，现在何止在西欧引起大震荡，中东世界，东欧和西亚的一些国家都收到了消息。
毕竟大航海时代了，列国争霸，荷兰人风头正盛，葡萄牙和西班牙都在阿拉伯海和红海与奥斯曼帝国争雄。
远东海域也一直是这些国家争夺的肥肉，现在东方大陆，一个新的海洋强国崛起，并且直接横扫了远东，这换做谁都会感到震惊。
而且奥斯曼土耳其许多在南洋做买卖的商人，也把消息带了回去，甚至伊斯坦布尔的一些王公贵族们都有所耳闻。
此时此刻，率领明军舰队撤离的是南洋战区第二舰队军团长沈有容。
沈有容 was a naval admiral who had previously recaptured the Liaodong Peninsula.
"Admiral Shen, I believe it is necessary for us to prepare a strategic plan in advance," said Du Chong'an, the Chief of Staff of the Second Fleet.
What is your contingency plan?
"If General Sun's reinforcements do not arrive at the Port of Wandan, we must land there and draw the enemy onto the shore to engage in a land battle."
"Your preliminary strategic plan is not qualified," Shen Yourong immediately denied.
"In our army, there are many who participated in the campaign to attack the Liaodong Peninsula back then, all of whom have experience in land warfare. Engaging in land warfare can counterbalance the enemy's advantage of having more warships."
"Then what about our ship? Are we not keeping it anymore? What if it gets captured by the enemy? This is a failed strategy."
"We can land a group of people in Van Don country and send the remaining troops to Malacca City to join forces with the Marshal's main fleet."
"On the contrary, this is a case of making a simple problem complicated. Why should we surrender to Wan Dan and Batavia?" Shen Yourong obviously disagrees with his opinion. Shen Yourong stubs out the cigarette in his hand. "The Marshal's Office has already issued an order to recruit all the Han Chinese merchant ships in the Nanyang region. Our merchant ships in the Nanyang region also have certain combat capabilities and can fully engage in battle against Westerners!"
"Such a massive fleet of warships cannot possibly gather at Wandan Port in a short period of time!"
"If that's the case, we will engage in a delaying battle, luring out a portion of the enemy forces in order to isolate and annihilate them!"
沈有容拿起笔，在地图上画了一个记号：“只要满剌加的援军能及时赶到！”
七月十二日，明军距离万丹海峡还有200里，后面的塞尔维多依然穷追不舍。
Most of the merchants in this sea area have fled, even the pirates have gone into hiding.
On July 13th, the Ming army arrived near the Port of Wandan.
"General Shen, there is no reinforcement!"
此时，天空阴沉沉的，海风阵阵，海浪滚滚，军旗在上空猎猎作响。
沈有容走出船舱，他上了甲板，抬头看着上空，乌云压得很低。
又过了一会儿，风停了，完全停了，一点风都没有，空气潮湿又闷热。
Experienced sailors know that this is the calm before the storm.
The sea at this moment is so calm that it seems to be a lifeless forbidden zone.
欧洲人的战船群就在十几里之外，双方一致保持着这种微妙的距离。
"Slow down, retract all the sails."
Shen Yourong issued a command.
Everyone knew that a storm was approaching.
Unfurling the sails in a storm would be suicidal.
However, why is there a slowdown?