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Chapter 1333 The Frog at the Bottom of the Well
It was almost dawn, and when the Ming army was about to withdraw from the Lion Country Strait, the battle had already lasted for more than sixteen hours.Logically speaking, no matter who it is, the spirit should be exhausted.However, this time, the soldiers of any country in the Allied Army were very excited.

Because they know that when the day breaks, it is also the time to drive the warships of the Ming army out of the strait. At that time, the coalition forces on their side will be able to develop their superiority in strength and completely make up for the shortcomings of the artillery. At that time, the coalition fleet will rush forward. Let's see how the Ming army responds!

However, it was at this time that strange things happened.

Obviously, the artillery bombardment of Ming warships in the distance, judging by the fire from the muzzle, seemed to be as much as before, or even less.However, when the coalition forces chased the battleship at the forefront, explosions occurred continuously, and the explosions were all below the waterline.This kind of explosion can cause the ship to enter the water at once, not only scrapping the warship, but also having to save people, and the pursuit can only continue after the ship sinks out of the way.

The occurrence of this sudden situation surprised everyone.Watching the warships of the Ming army slowly go away, but the warships that were trying to pursue here continued to explode, which made them understand that there are ghosts in the sea!

They were right. The Ming army laid a large number of mines when they were about to withdraw from the strait.Even in the original history, in Song Yingxing's "Tiangong Kaiwu", the existence of sea mines was already recorded.And on this plane, with the knowledge of Emperor Chongzhen and the encouragement of the reward mechanism, Daming's mines have already improved a lot.Facing the Xiyi warships swarming across the strait, the mines that can be exploded are obviously very high.

Marton Tromp, the commander of the United Fleet, was very surprised when he heard the news. He didn't expect that the Ming army would have such a skill.Seeing that the fleet was blocked by mines in the strait, while the Ming army was slowly leaving, he couldn't help but frown.

"It's no wonder that the Ming army should have a hundred or so warships against so many of our warships, but they seem to be in a hurry. It turns out that there is this support." Major Wedell said angrily, "They are leaving the battlefield now, even if they operate sailing warships No matter how bad the technology is, you can escape!"

Hearing this, Shivela, who also rushed to the flagship, also echoed: "Ming people have always been very cunning. I was a little surprised at first, why did Ming dare to stay in Colombo with only a hundred or so warships?" , I don’t believe it, they didn’t get the news, does our joint fleet have more than 600 warships? Now I finally figured it out!”

Commander Marton Tromp frowned, and asked quickly after hearing his words, "What do you want to understand?"

"If the commander of the Ming fleet ran away without a fight, he was afraid that they would be punished by their emperor when he went back." Shi Weila played the role of Ming Guotong at this time, explaining to those around him, "But now, they and We fought all night, and the gap is obvious, not because the commander of the Ming army is incompetent, but because we are too strong. In this way, if the Ming army escapes again, the Ming emperor will not be punished."

Hearing his explanation, the generals of the United Fleet couldn't help but suddenly realized that this is the case. It seems that it is not easy for the commander of the Ming Army. If it were not for the torpedoes, they would not be able to distance themselves from the Allied Forces, and it is estimated that it would be difficult to escape in the end. !

Marton Tromp also felt a lot more relaxed. If this is the case, then it would be best.However, when he saw more and more ships of the United Fleet approaching the exit of the strait, and getting a little crowded, he always felt a little cool behind him.

So, he immediately issued an order to let the front warships immediately send people into the sea to clear the sea mines.The United Fleet must get out of this strait as soon as possible to pursue the fleeing Ming army.

The annihilation of the Ming army's fleet was a great contribution, and the others did not want to be run away by the Ming army's fleet. Just after dawn, they sent sailors into the sea one after another to open up a safe way for the fleet to come out.

When it was almost noon, the mouth of the strait was finally dredged.These soldiers of the United Fleet couldn't help cheering.After being stuck in this strait for so long, they are already impatient.

However, at this moment, the Ming army fleet that they thought had escaped appeared in their field of vision again.

"It's not good, the Ming fleet is here again, there are about [-] warships!"

"Report, there are [-] or [-] ships at the front of the Ming fleet, and they are all smoking. I don't know what's going on?"

"..."

Lookout posts, report the situation you see loudly to the following, and finally the news will be summarized to Commander Marton Tromp.Suddenly, he was taken aback.

There were about a hundred ships from the Ming fleet that escaped just now, but now two hundred ships have come. Does that mean that reinforcements from the Ming fleet have arrived?

Although the Ming fleet has doubled, it is still not enough for the United Fleet, but Marton Tromp is very worried.The number of fleets on both sides is clearly visible at a glance.But if this is the case, why did the Ming fleet still meet them?Do they have the certainty of victory?It can't be a suicidal battle!
Also, there are battleships in the Ming fleet smoking, what's going on?

There were so many things he couldn't understand, which made him nervous.Because he understands that the more he doesn't understand, the more likely a deadly danger is hidden.So, he quickly took out the binoculars and looked at it.

At this time, the lookout post suddenly shouted in surprise: "My God, those smoking warships of the Ming army seem to be made of iron! And they don't have sails yet, and they are even faster than those sailing warships. How is this possible?"

"God, what is going on with these iron-clad warships of the Ming Dynasty?"

"..."

Marton Tromp had already seen through the binoculars what the lookout whistle yelled, and the shock in his heart, regardless of his identity, was as shocking as the lookout whistle.His intuition was that something was wrong.The Ming army dared to take the initiative to attack, which means that these iron-clad warships are likely to be the trump card of the Ming fleet!

Through the binoculars, he even saw that the iron-clad warships of the Ming Dynasty were twice as large as ordinary sailing warships, and the cannons on the ships seemed to have larger calibers.Although I can see these clearly with the help of a telescope, it also shows that the distance is close enough.

At this moment, he saw the gunpowder smoke flashing from the muzzles of the huge artillery on the bows of the armored ships of the Ming Dynasty.Immediately afterwards, he heard deafening shelling.

"Boom boom boom..."

Amidst the sound of the guns, twenty or thirty chain bombs flew and smashed towards the European United Fleet.And this side happened to be full of boats crowded together, and the twenty or thirty chain bombs flew over, almost never missing. Immediately, either a big hole was smashed in the hull of the ship, or the mast on the ship was smashed. Or, there are unlucky soldiers who have no time to escape, and their flesh and blood are flying, and their limbs are separated.

Anyway, just a word, after Daming's iron-clad battleship opened fire from a long distance, the United Fleet was in a mess, crying father and mother.

Originally, they were shocked when they saw the smoking iron-clad warship like Daming, but when they saw the shooting effect, they panicked immediately.

The warships were crowded with each other, unable to fight, Marton Tromp hurriedly issued an order, and the fleet retreated to make room for combat and to distance themselves.At the same time, he was also thinking about how to deal with the iron-clad warships of the Ming Dynasty.

However, the way to deal with it is easy to think of, but it is not so easy to complete this order.In particular, the Ming army would not allow them to retreat calmly, and the entire army had already overwhelmed them.

At the beginning, there was a little discipline, but when the Ming fleet approached, everything was chaotic.No one cared about the flag on the flagship, and fled back one after another, at most to see what signal was on the flagship of their own country.

Yesterday, when the United Fleet chased the Ming fleet, it followed slowly like a gentleman (of course, it’s not that they wanted to do this, but the Ming army’s artillery shot farther than them, trying to chase the Ming army into a mess Will not work);

But at this time, when the Ming fleet pursued the combined fleet, everything was in chaos.It's like a pack of wolves chasing sheep.The wolves rushed towards them ferociously, while the sheep scattered and fled in fright.Many battleships of the United Fleet collided with each other in panic, blocking the channel instead.

Daming's steam iron-clad warships, like iron-clad heavy cavalry on land, opened the way in front, and the sail warships behind them followed closely, driving the combined fleet like cattle and sheep.

Shi Weila is worthy of being an expert at escaping. Unexpectedly, this time, he also ran in the front.Seeing that he was about to run out of the strait, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.As long as you get out of the strait, the sea is so vast, if you still can't stop the warships of the Ming Dynasty, run to the depths of the sea, will the fleet of the Ming Dynasty be able to catch up again!

But at this moment, he noticed that there seemed to be some smoke floating in the sky ahead.If it was changed to before, he might not care.But this time, he had already seen the iron-clad battleship of the Ming Dynasty, which was smoking.If the sea breeze is not strong, it will leave some marks in the sky.

Seeing this, he immediately became nervous.Ming people have always been cunning, and they also like to set up ambushes.He still remembers that when the pirates of the United Ming Dynasty attacked Taiping Port, they were ambushed and almost wiped out by being blocked in Taiping Port.

He raised his head, and just as he was about to ask about the situation of the lookout post, he heard the lookout post yelling in horror: "No, there is a Ming fleet ahead, and a Ming fleet is coming..."

Soon, more and more lookout posts shouted, panicked and panicked, and immediately enveloped the fleeing first fleet.

Shivira was a little desperate. The Ming army definitely had a premeditated plan to introduce the United Fleet into this strait, and then intercept it back and forth. This is to wipe out the United Fleet!
At this time, he didn't even have time to think, why didn't he find so many warships of the Ming Dynasty before?I saw him, and kept shouting: "Quick, speed up and rush out, fast, speed up..."

However, the speed of a sailing warship still depends on the sea wind.The sky is not beautiful, he is against the wind.I could only watch helplessly as the mouth of the strait in the distance was blocked by Ming warships.Still about thirty armored warships were the vanguard, approaching the strait.

At this moment, Shivela was desperate.Not only him, but also his subordinates were also desperate.There are quite a few battleships rushing up regardless, trying to break through a gap, trying to escape.

However, the chain bombs from the Ming fleet roared in, and the sky above the strait was almost full of chain bombs flying in circles, and as long as it was hit by the chain bombs, the wooden boat would be smashed immediately like paper.Getting closer, occasionally chain bombs and iron eggs from the United Fleet hit the ironclad warships of the Ming army rushing to the front, but at most they only hit a concave hole.

Obviously, in this naval battle, the United Fleet not only fell into the trap of the strait and was unable to deploy superior forces, but also the iron-clad warship that participated in the battle for the first time in history also severely damaged the confidence of the opponent, which led to this battle. One-sided naval battles that cannot be compensated for by numbers.

The soldiers of European countries do not have the spirit of fighting to the end.Seeing that they were about to be massacred one-sidedly, finally some warships raised the white flag first, and this also led to other warships raising white flags to surrender.

As a result, the largest naval battle in the history of the earth took about a whole day to end the war.Among them, the Ming Fleet lost 100 sailing warships and killed more than [-] soldiers in exchange for the destruction of [-] joint fleets. The naval soldiers of various European countries suffered countless casualties, and more than [-] warships sank. All were captured.

As soon as the battle ended, Zheng Zhilong, the commander of the Ming Navy, immediately dispatched 250 sailing warships to the west, preparing to go to the Persian Gulf and land at the material transfer station of the Allied forces in the Persian Empire.For the remaining warships, apart from the guards and soldiers, there are also a hundred fish that slipped through the net, and they need to continue to pursue and suppress them.

Looking at the prisoner in front of him, Zheng Zhilong said with a smile: "Shivira, aren't you very good at escaping? Let me tell you, the world today belongs to the Ming Dynasty. You can escape wherever you want, as long as the Emperor Ming wants to escape." If you are arrested, you will definitely not be able to hide!"

Shi Weila was in a daze, and did not reply to Zheng Zhilong's words, but murmured to himself: "Damn it, I really deserve to die, I know Ming people are very cunning, why are you still being fooled, why are you still chasing into the strait! Otherwise, if the two sides fight on the vast sea, with two hundred more warships than the Ming army, they may not lose! Damn, really damn..."

Other captured generals nearby, such as Marton Tromp, were also very remorseful when they heard this.This time, the warships assembled by European countries are an unprecedented [-] warships.There are so many troops, but they are not used well. It is really incompetent to command!

Zheng Zhilong heard their reluctance, but he sneered and said, "Don't think it's a pity that we don't have as many warships as yours. Hehe, you are wrong. It is only our Daming Southeast Navy that is dealing with your fleet. The number of fleets only accounts for half of my Ming Dynasty's navy. If you really want to talk about the number of naval warships, all of you in Europe combined don't have as many as my Ming Dynasty!"

If it was before, it would be impossible.But now, Emperor Chongzhen attaches great importance to sea power and has occupied so many places. As long as he wants, he has enough resources to build enough warships.

Hearing Zheng Zhilong's words, Marton Tromp refused to accept it and said: "If we lose, we lose. If you say that the fleet is larger than us, don't lie to us. Otherwise, don't worry, if I don't fall for it, What if you don’t go through the strait? You only have such a few warships, so you only rely on the geographical advantages of this strait! If you really want to have warships, why don’t you send them over for a decisive battle?”

"Hehe, the frog in the well!" Zheng Zhilong laughed and commented, "This commander has already said that it is enough to deal with you. As for my other fleet of Ming Dynasty, it is estimated that it is about to surprise your monarch at this time!"

　Thanks for the reward of 1000 starting coins from Pianiao!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)