Daming Military Empire

Chapter 638 Build a line of defense, use yourself as bait

The appearance of ships made naval battles more flexible. If it were the previous era of sailing warships, even if Richelieu knew the tactics of encirclement and ambushes, he would not be able to implement them, because the speed of sailing warships was too slow.

If you want to encircle and fight for reinforcements, you must at least know where the enemy's reinforcements are coming from, and you must surround the enemy's reinforcements. If they are all sailing warships, then it depends on luck. If the wind is smooth, there is still hope. It's neither smooth nor smooth, and when the enemy's situation is detected and then organized to encircle, I'm afraid the enemy's fleet has long since disappeared.

With a ship, it's different. Regardless of whether the wind is favorable or the current is favorable, the speed of the battleship will not be affected. Under normal circumstances, as long as the ambush is in the right position, the enemy will never escape.

Richelieu thought so and did the same, and now that the Spanish and Portuguese navies have been crippled by the combined fleet of the anti-Habsburg alliance, it is enough to prove that the tactic he proposed is simply a stroke of genius.

When he heard that the fleet of the Ming Empire had entered the Mediterranean Sea and headed straight for the Strait of Gibraltar, a fox-like smile appeared on his face again. This time, the Ming Empire would definitely fall.

As for why the Habsburg Alliance of Ming Dynasty would use its geographical advantage to attack southern France from the Mediterranean coast, he naturally thought of it. The French army is the strongest in the anti-Habsburg alliance, and in the past two years he has also been killed. People built a lot of bastions at various critical passes in the south, even if the Ming Empire Army came to attack with all their strength, they would not be able to get any favors!
He thought that in less than half a month, news of the Ming Empire's fleet being encircled and wiped out would come from the sea, but he was doomed to be disappointed.

The first stop of Zheng Chenggong's trip was neither the Gold Coast of Africa nor North and South America, but the mouth of the Guadiana River at the junction of Spain and Portugal.

Here, the commercial city of the Ming Empire has already been built. A bridge spans the two banks, and two railways connect the east and west. The railway to the northwest leads to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, and the railway to the northeast leads to Spain. of Madrid.

Railways, rivers, and seaports meet together, and the transportation here can be described as extending in all directions. Whether it is from Africa or from the colonies in North and South America, all kinds of goods can be transshipped to the capitals of Spain and Portugal, whether it is from the Eurasian Canal. Ming merchants who want to do business with Spain and Portugal, or merchants who want to do business in the Far East from Spain and Portugal can transfer here. It has long been a prosperous port city, and its prosperity is not even inferior to Lisbon and Madrid. .

Originally, there were always merchant ships here, and the goods piled up into mountains. However, for more than a month, this place has been deserted, with few merchant ships coming and going, and even most of the shops on the street have been closed.

Perhaps, this has something to do with the fact that merchants in the Ming Empire and the vassal states under the Ming Empire have to go back to celebrate the New Year, but the more important reason is that the sea routes leading to Africa and North and South America have been blocked by the Anti-Habsburg Alliance. The goods from the colonies of Spain and Portugal couldn't get through at all, so it was naturally depressed here.

Zheng Chenggong is not surprised by the depression here. War means destruction. It is not bad that this place has not been turned into a scorched earth. As for doing business, let's wait until the end of the war.

There are indications that the naval strength of the Anti-Habsburg Alliance may already be comparable to that of the Ming Empire. The three fleets under his command may not be able to do anything against the Anti-Habsburg Alliance. Therefore, he has made preparations for a long-term battle. After coming here, he did nothing, but took senior generals such as Huanglong, Zheng Zhihu, Cao Wenzhao, and two allied leaders, Shiweila and Ocundo, around to inspect the terrain and prepare to build forts and Bastion.

After a few days of investigation, Zheng Chenggong demarcated three areas surrounded by mountains and seas, and asked Shivela and Ocundo to notify local officials to remove all local civilians. Then, a boatload of soldiers from the Ming army was brought over A big camp was set up on the nearby coast, and then, a ship of reinforced concrete was transported over, and ports, docks, bastions, and forts were slowly formed.

The Ming army once again demonstrated their terrifying construction speed. In less than half a month, the iron triangle defense line of the Guadiana River, which was left in the history books, was formed. Finally, thousands of artillery pieces were installed on bastions and forts. A steel line of defense was finally completed.

Everything was ready. After Zheng Chenggong called the generals of the sea and the army to hold the last combat meeting, he then led the three fleets to set off. The joint fleet aimed directly at the Gold Coast. All the hidden strengths are lured out.

On the vast sea, the combined fleet of the Ming army moved forward slowly. Zheng Chenggong's formation was very strange. The four giant treasure ships were not lined up directly in front of the entire fleet, nor were they lined up in the middle, but followed behind. , although the super battleships are lined up in battle queues, the horizontal distance between the queues is very wide, which can be said to be loose and loose. If the enemy concentrates its forces to break through from the middle, it is easy to split the entire fleet into two, or even Split into many small pieces.

This formation looks spectacular, but in the eyes of generals who have a little experience in naval warfare, the commander who forms this formation is simply an idiot who does not understand naval warfare. It will be a problem, because the spread is too wide, the flagship will not be able to command all the warships, and it will not be a mess when the time comes!
When the reconnaissance ship hidden behind the nearby deserted island passed the news to Admiral Fan Mendy, the coalition commander in the rear, Fan Mendy's jaw almost dropped in shock. Six hundred super battleships lined up more than a hundred miles wide. This Ming army commander must be sick!
Regardless of whether the commander of the Ming army is sick or not, he still ordered all the ambush fleets to enter the designated positions. Once the Ming army fleet entered the encirclement, they immediately surrounded it and wiped it out. After waiting for more than half a month, the Ming army finally took the bait. Fan How could Mendy let them go.

Fan Mendi's resentment towards the Ming Navy could not be washed away by pouring the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. He was defeated by the Ming Army twice in a row. The first time he was directly captured, and the second time he was beaten several times. Nearly the entire army was wiped out and fled in a panic. If the allies had not had too few senior generals with experience in commanding large-scale naval battles, he would have been ruined by the Ming Empire in his life.

The Ming Empire is finally going to fall into his own hands this time, and it seems that he has sent a sick commander. He seems to have seen that he led the combined fleet to wipe out the main force of the Ming Empire's navy, and returned in triumph with a complete shame. Scenes.

Well, the commander of the Ming Empire should be as ill as possible, preferably an idiot!
Zheng Chenggong's formation like this is naturally not sick. If the enemy is not in ambush, it doesn't matter how he arranges. If the enemy is in ambush, then, hehe.

(End of this chapter)