Daming Military Empire

Chapter 691

The 18th year of Chongzheng in the Ming Dynasty was destined to be an uneasy year.

Due to the blockade of the Atlantic Ocean by the powers of the Habsburg Alliance, the overseas colonies of Spain and Portugal were in jeopardy. The Ming Empire had to rush into the war, and a war that almost spread to the entire world broke out.

At this time, in the Wu River Basin in the eastern part of Europe, the Ming Empire was confronting the Allied Forces of Tsarist Russia, Sweden, and Denmark across the river.
In the territory of the German Union in the central part of the European continent, the coalition forces of the Ming Empire and the Holy Roman Empire are fighting against the princes of the Protestant Alliance, protecting the railway line, and slowly advancing towards the Netherlands;
Also, near the Pyrenees Mountains in the western part of Europe, the Ming Empire and the Spanish Allied Forces are confronting the main force of the French Army. Both sides are waiting for each other, and a war may break out at any time;
Also at the mouth of the Guadiana River at the southwestern end of the continent, the combined fleet of the Ming Empire, Spain, and Portugal is ready to enter the Atlantic Ocean at any time and start a decisive battle with the anti-Habsburg combined fleet;

Also in the American continent, Spain and Portugal, with the assistance of the Ming Empire, wiped out the British troops who came to snatch the colonies.

The entire world is filled with gunpowder and smoke almost everywhere, but the capital of the Ming Empire is full of joy and bustling at the moment.

The streets of the capital are full of gongs and drums, the walls of the imperial palace are covered with colorful flags, and both sides of the entire Chang'an Avenue are covered with red lanterns. What is even more exaggerated is that Spain, Portugal, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Ottoman Empire all sent People in power came, and a lot of relatives of the kings and clans of the vassals also came.

It seems to be June at this moment, and it is still far away from the New Year's Day. What is it to celebrate like this?
In fact, it was very simple, because the long-prepared wedding ceremony of Admiral Zheng Chenggong of the Ming Empire was going to be held in the capital of the Ming Empire.

For this reason, Zhu Cijiong specially gave him a super-large and luxurious Grand Marshal's Mansion on West Chang'an Avenue, and the servants in it were even maids and eunuchs in the palace!

This time, Zheng Chenggong's wedding was unprecedentedly grand. The whole wedding was organized by the Ming Dynasty Rites Department. The host of the wedding was actually the Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty, Prince Xin Zhu Youjian. Not to mention a lot of dignitaries from various countries, even the King of Dongying came to attend the ceremony in person. coming.

Everyone knows that these two are brothers, so there is nothing strange about it.

This wedding made the capital of the Ming Empire lively for three days. After the wedding, on the morning of the fourth day, the bridegroom officer Zheng Chenggong actually stepped on the train to Dongdaying and left just like that. The senior officials of the allied countries, it seems that he went straight to the European battlefield!

Fortunately, Princess Maria and Princess Anna are cousins, and they can go to the palace when they have nothing to do, otherwise, if they stay alone, they will really worry about getting sick.

In fact, Zheng Chenggong did not go directly to the European continent. After he boarded the Chenggong with a group of high-ranking officials from allied countries, he sailed for only three days before turning into the inland sea of ​​Taijiang River and disappearing.

Why do you say he disappeared?
Because at this time, the inner sea of ​​Taijiang River has been completely blocked, people inside can't get out, people outside can't get in, outsiders don't know what's going on inside at all.

Right now, the inner sea of ​​the Taijiang River is in trouble. There are [-] armored warships lined up neatly on the sea, just like a forest of steel!
The reason why Zheng Chenggong held the wedding with such great fanfare this time is actually because of the intention of paralyzing the anti-Habsburg alliance powers.

Because he had to come back, reorganize the navy, and familiarize himself with the performance of ironclad warships.

At the same time, the Ming Empire has to tell its allies that the decisive battle is just around the corner, and everyone is ready to overthrow the anti-Habsburg alliance in one fell swoop!
In fact, before this, other allies of the Ming Habsburg Alliance were a little panicked. Although the Ming Empire had an absolute advantage in land warfare, the navy had been shrinking at the mouth of the Guadiana River without moving. Seems to have run out of steam.

You know, this time is a critical period for maritime hegemony. If the sea is occupied by others, no matter how strong the land is, it will not be safe.

Like now, the navy assembled by the Ming Empire in Europe has only three fleets and [-] super battleships in total. Spain has been replenished by the Ming Empire once, and it took another nearly a year before it managed to get together two fleets and [-] super battleships. , Portugal can barely cobble together two hundred super battleships.

In other words, the total number of super battleships of the three countries is only [-].

As for the anti-Habsburg alliance, there were already [-] super battleships, and it is not known how many have exploded this year.

If the naval battle fails, it will be really troublesome. Regardless of how fierce the Ming Empire is on land, once the sea is occupied by the anti-Habsburg alliance, they can break through the Eurasian Canal and directly attack the mainland of the Ming Empire.

The coastline of the Ming Empire is so long, I am afraid that it will not be able to defend the entire army!
The allies such as Spain and Portugal originally thought that the Ming Empire had reached its limit, that its national power was not strong enough to support multi-line operations, and that it would no longer be able to explode super battleships, but they never thought that they were secretly building even more terrifying iron-clad battleships.

There is no need to doubt the iron-clad battleship at all. Anyone with a discerning eye can understand at a glance that wooden battleships are simply no match for it.

Officials from all over the world circled around the Taijiang Inland Sea, and they all happily went back to welcome the victory, but Zheng Chenggong stayed behind, started to reorganize the navy, and practiced new tactics.

In fact, as early as years ago, Zhu Cijiong had ordered him to send elite naval elites back to the Imperial Naval Academy in batches for further study, and after the vacated positions were filled, they were filled by the Navy Reserve Corps.

The three navy fleets led by Zheng Chenggong have dispatched nearly [-] elites to return to the mainland of Ming Dynasty. After these people came back, most of them came to the inland sea of ​​Taijiang River and were familiar with manipulating iron-clad warships. Only a few of them studied in the Naval Academy.

After all, it was the Naval Academy, and ordinary naval soldiers were not qualified to study there, no matter how elite they were.

The main task of this naval reorganization is to establish the Imperial Guard Corps of the Ming Empire.

This legion is composed of 10 ironclad battleships and [-] ironclad cruisers. Since the number of cruisers' guns is far less than that of battleships, the Naval Guard Corps is still composed of [-] people, and the leader of the regiment is appointed by Zhu Cijiong himself.

Obviously, Zheng Chenggong was the first head of the Navy Guard Corps appointed by Zhu Cijiong. Of course, he was also the Grand Admiral of the Navy.

The formation of the Imperial Guard Corps has actually been half completed, because the work of recruiting elites from the six major fleets was completed before Zheng Chenggong came. He only needs to arrange the officers at all levels, and then assign all the soldiers to the warships as needed That's it.

This matter does not waste much of his time, and within a few days, he will arrange it properly. What he mainly needs to do is to practice new tactics. After all, ironclad battleships have been thought of by all countries, but they have never been built. It has never appeared in previous naval battles.

(End of this chapter)