Lord of Ming Dynasty

But soon as the sea wind increased, the speed of the ship began to increase to eight knots. The Spaniards intended to end the battle quickly and sailed at the combat cruising speed. The speed of the ship increased to about nine to ten knots. After four After hours of sailing, the fleet appeared about ten nautical miles to the left of the enemy's anchorage. Since the sky had not completely dispersed and was still in the darkness before dawn, it was impossible for the enemy's lookout post to spot them in the dark.

The fleet lined up in combat formation, the liaison lights at the stern of each ship became brighter, and the liaison lights began to appear at the bow. It is impossible to ignore the fact that it is necessary to fight in the dark, otherwise there would be no fight. Their fleets collided with each other first.

Formed in a long snake formation, the entire fleet began to circle, in a semi-arc state, with a radius of five nautical miles, approaching the harbor. All the artillery had begun to open their gun doors and load ammunition, although in the dark In the middle, the movement will not be too slow. After all, it is the regular Spanish fleet, which is not the same as those pirates. They train every day, and this time they show their quality.

In the sea breeze, the inevitable sounds and collisions, as well as shouting, as well as the increased communication signal lights between ships, attracted the attention of the British lookout post. The British lookout post sailor on duty on the mast stood up, squinting sleepily Eyes, carefully look for those twinkling lights with binoculars.

Suddenly he trembled, remembering what it was, the fleet, only the fleet had such a large-scale light signal that flashed so frequently, the watchman held the binoculars with both hands, his body froze for a moment, then put down the binoculars, and pulled the bell on the top of the mast Bai pulls the rope, shakes vigorously, and a crisp, loud, and eager bell rings throughout the entire fleet, as well as the flagship under his feet.

He opened his voice and shouted down, "Enemy attack, large-scale enemy attack, the enemy fleet is coming, prepare for war, prepare for war."

The emergency bell made the British warships at the anchorage of the harbor suddenly brightly lit. In the sea breeze and the bell, there were shouts and footsteps, and many people's shadows climbed up and down every ship. The masts and hulls of the battleships, and then all the battleships began to move, and the signal lights of the exchanges were constantly flashing, which gave a clear sign to the Spanish fleet that had completed its turn and lined up in battle formation.

Three miles away, the gunners of the Spanish fleet, which was passing in line of battle, raised their gun barrels and aimed the gun barrel at the bow of the ship at the British anchorage. The artillery at the bow began to fire, and the violent shells faced the sea wind, rubbed against the air violently, and made a sharp sound. This sound was like a reminder, and the hearts of the entire British fleet were suspended.

Shouts rose one after another, and in the panic, two British thousand-ton sailing warships collided head-on. The warships that had just set sail and accelerated were entangled, and the two main masts were tilted together. It fell down and hit the deck of another battleship with a bang, and then the sound stopped abruptly.

However, as the sound disappeared, 35 shells hit the British anchorage in a trapezoidal fan. Although it is impossible for ships to stop at sea one by one, the distance will not be too far, because the anchorage is also limited by space. , still in a harbor, soon as many as seven British warships were hit and caught fire, and the others rushed to the exit of the harbor in a panic, pulling their sails, filling them up, facing the wind, and using them in a hurry Their bow guns returned fire.

When the second round of artillery fire came, most of the British fleet had rushed out of the anchorage, and it was less than 800 meters away from the Spanish trapezoidal battle line fleet. The artillery on the two battleships fired successively. The fire ignited the darkness, and the sky had gradually brightened, and the two sides had almost a general understanding of the comparison of their strengths.

Lieutenant Colonel Portman, the fleet commander of the British side, and Captain Phillips of the army held up the binoculars and looked confused. They just returned from negotiating with the Spaniards and failed to achieve results. They thought about preparing tonight and going to fight the Spaniards tomorrow. The fleet, let the Spaniards know how powerful they are, don't think that their original cross-river dragon can suppress their local snake.

After all, they have been operating in India for a century, and the whole of India is their sphere of influence, and everyone listens to them. The explosive population is not inferior to that after more than 30 years of development and more than 20 years of war. The population has grown from tens of millions to The Chinese Empire with a population of nearly [-] million.

But that kind of development is an urgent development, and the Chinese Empire has taken measures to disrupt the nation, disrupt the living area, disrupt the administrative deployment, disrupt the cultural attributes, and completely make everyone a rootless drifter, so that it is convenient The Chinese Empire controls the population, controls them, from culture to ideology, from personal life to living arrangements.

In this regard, Indians are better than Chinese people. Their ancestors have lived in a state for generations, and even from one village to another, it is hundreds or even thousands of years of history. They are not extinct, and they are still firmly in control of their tribe. Unless this tribe is extinct, other tribes have lived here for 200 years, and the British have been dealing with them for 100 years.

They believed in the Englishmen more than they believed in their king.

With this confidence, the British are not afraid that the newly arrived Spaniards will shake their roots. If it is the Dutch and French, they may panic, but the Spaniards have never ruled any place here, even a village.

With fierce artillery fire, the fleet gradually formed a battle formation. Under the devastation of the enemy, the British launched an orderly counterattack.

Facing the attack of Spanish artillery mixed with solid shells, the British ships were only injured. As long as the main mast was not interrupted, they still had the ability to maneuver and have combat effectiveness.

Chapter One Thousand One Hundred and Two

Shooting star-like shells flew back and forth densely with a sharp whistling sound in the sky, and the battleships in the fleets on both sides burst into flames from time to time, and then thick smoke rose into the sky, and the flames became more intense, bringing people's screams There was the sound of snapping masts, and nervous but orderly shouts.

In the light curtain of daytime that slowly opened on the sea, there were countless broken boards, iron sheets, canvas, masts, and human corpses floating, as well as struggling sailors who fell into the water and army soldiers from both sides. The scale of this battle was small, The fierce battle has been going on for more than an hour. The two sides are entangled with each other, chasing and avoiding each other on the sea with a radius of twenty nautical miles.

Gradually the Spaniards gained the upper hand, because after all, they had a numerical advantage and a fierce artillery advantage. Although these artillery fires were not very advanced compared to the British artillery fire, most of them were old-fashioned naval guns that fired solid bullets and primary flowering bullets. Slow, but the victory lies in the large number. The two sides fought at a distance of 600 meters and 800 meters. When they were hit, they were a little flustered.

Wanting to escape, the Spaniards blocked the route and had to rush over to escape. At present, it seems that the closer they are to the Spanish fleet, the greater their losses. The greater the close power, and the Spaniards are also made of iron, and Spain is better than the British because some places are all made of iron, thick iron, very little wood, solid bullets, flowering bullets, As long as it doesn't hit a key position, even if it hits through, the sawdust will not fly like a log, sweeping down a large number of enemy sailors and inflicting heavy damage on the enemy.

The British are different. Although they are iron sheets and iron bones, the iron sheets still cover most of the wood. They are not immune to the Spanish solid bullets, and they are even more unbearable to the Spanish round shells. They have speed and artillery. However, it can only play a role in the combat distance of the Spaniards and the backward combat methods of the Spaniards.

Most of the more than a dozen thousand-ton warships of the British have sunk, and there are less than ten warships of more than two thousand tons left, of course, including two modified sails of more than one thousand tons that were equipped with steam engines. Battleships, but the situation of these two sailing warships is not optimistic. The three masts and two masts were broken, and the sails on the main mast were also on fire, and the deck was a mess.

It can be said that if there is no steam engine sample that they temporarily put down, what is a steam engine sample? Just look at the motorboats of later generations. Make a hull, and then make a combination of an engine with a fuel tank and a propeller. When necessary, put this Remove it and move it to another motorboat, release the propeller, and pull the rope to start the engine. People sit in the back and operate the tilt angle of the propeller, and then the motorboat will go wherever it goes.

This is also the same, that is, put the purchased semi-finished products sealed up at the stern of the sailboat, and then open a water door above the water surface in the bilge, lower the propeller, let the steam engine drive it, and the helmsman then operate the steering rudder. The valve coordination of the steam engine requires certain operating skills, and the function is not as good as the large steam engine propeller built into the sailing warship as a whole. There are also some side effects, that is, sometimes the hull does not go in the direction you want as you think. open.

Soon a [-]-ton warship in Spain spotted these two thousand-ton British warships as if they were drunk, and they bumped into each other in chaos. They are all huge, which is also the reason that affects their speed. As a result, the ships are top-heavy and not as beautiful as the British. It is very convenient to ride the wind and waves, and the speed is relatively fast.

This impact caused a British thousand-ton warship to almost turn over halfway, sweep some sailors off their shoulders, and fall into the rough sea with splashing waves. Immediately without making a sound, it was swallowed by the huge waves.

The people on the whole ship were dizzy. The bow of the Spanish warship and the ram were embedded in the half of the British's hull, lifting the British ship to the top of the waves, and rushed about 50 meters. Far.

The ship was lifted high, even half a body short of the Spanish [-]-ton warship. Regardless of the danger, the Spanish soldiers shouted and quickly passed the cables and jumped onto the British warship. The sword harvested the lives of the British who resisted hastily. After a fierce fight, the British were captured and taken to the Spanish ship.

The Spaniards searched the cabin and put all the valuable things of the British onto their warships. Many valuable things, such as artillery, were dismantled and transported to their own ships. Then some Spanish soldiers found coal bunkers and steam engines in the bottom warehouse. After the captain came over, he ordered the dismantling and transfer to his own ship. All the prisoners in the bottom warehouse were strictly guarded and locked up in the bottom warehouse of the Spanish warship.

The Spanish warship began to retreat, and vigorously pushed the British thousand-ton warship away from the hull with artillery and rackets. The British warship turned over on the sea surface, splashed huge waves, and buckled on the sea surface. At a distance of less than 50 meters, the muzzle on one side was fully opened, and after a row of artillery, the British warship was sunk in the sea. If it hadn't been too damaged when it was hit, this ship was probably the first captured by the Spanish. A British ship, but unfortunately the damage was so severe that it had to be abandoned.

Just after leaving this battleship, a British battleship and a battleship of the same size as the sunk British battleship rushed over, and a shot of artillery broke the Spaniard's mizzen mast, as well as the mizzen mast. The bow of the ship was in a mess, more than 30 sailors were killed or injured, and the main gun was almost damaged. The Spaniard fled in embarrassment while repairing the main gun behind. Half an hour later, the front and rear main guns fired together, at a distance of 800 meters. On the way, it hit another ship that the British were chasing, and hit it directly to paralyze it.

Another thousand-ton battleship was swept across half of its deck by one side of the artillery, and stopped there in silence. The Spaniards turned around in embarrassment, and approached the two paralyzed British warships at half speed and on a crooked course. What arrived was a [-]-ton British sailing warship. When it got close, the British suddenly launched a counterattack. The army soldiers who came out killed most of the British who jumped over the ship in one volley, and then many sailors jumped on the British warship from the top of the ship and from the side of the ship. They had cold weapons in one hand and short firearms in the other. The brutal fighting was also in the UK. The people on the boat unfolded.

The army soldiers killed the rest of the British army soldiers who jumped over the ship, and jumped over one after another, blocked the exit of the cabin with volleys of guns, and cleaned up the enemy's cabin one by one. The intensity and danger made both sides very nervous. The Spaniards were divided into two groups. One group wanted to disengage quickly and leave here quickly, while the other group could not give up the soldiers who had already boarded the British ship. Nearly 2000 Spanish soldiers and officers were in the The British fought on a ship of more than [-] tons, and the British warship with nearly [-] sailors and army soldiers was not easy to clean up.

However, the harassment by the British was finally not too intense. After all, the British had few ships. Even though the Spaniards had some gaps in technology and equipment, they had a lot of ships. This time they dispatched all warships, 35 warships.

Those armed merchant ships refitted by merchant ships have all been sunk or captured by the British in one contact, and a dozen ships have been lost, but there are still more than 20 ships. The British now only have eight warships left, two thousand-ton warships , where the thousand-ton warships with steam engines were sunk or paralyzed, the rest swam over from time to time, fired a few shots, and left the battle to fight other Spanish warships.

The battle has been fought so far, the Spanish warships have thick skins, the British ships are fast, and the artillery is sharp, but the two heavy artillery on the front and rear of the Spanish warships are not vegetarian. They are much more powerful than the artillery on the British warships. It's also far away. The British fired a few shots and might be able to damage the Spanish warships, but the Spanish warships, not to mention the backward artillery in the hull and on the deck, only had two heavy guns at the front and rear, which could make the British a single shot. Death, after all, the British hulls are covered with iron sheets, and most of the Spanish hulls are directly made of thick iron sheets.

If it was the Spanish fleet that was attacked on the open sea, perhaps the Spanish fleet suffered heavy losses, but now the Spaniards, who outnumber the British, attacked the British warships, which were one-third less in number, and killed the British. Close-range naval battles were engaged, so it was the British warships that suffered heavy losses.

After solving this warship, facing the harassment of the British warship that was wandering around and the battlefield was already very wide, Spain sank the British warship anyway, and then turned around to another British thousand-ton warship that was paralyzed. Approaching, the British who had lost their fighting spirit hoisted the white flag, and the Spaniards sent dozens of people to bring some prisoners over, leaving a few people to assist the sailors and soldiers to take care of the ship, repair it, and then this ship also has a steam engine. The British ship was driven away, and under the cover of this battleship, it was the first British warship captured by the Spanish.

At this time, the scarred Spanish battleship didn't want to fight any more, so he flagged the flagship for instructions, and the fleet commander on the flagship, Montero, allowed them to escort the wounded Spanish warship out of here, so the battleship escorted the three wounded warships, dragged A badly wounded warship broke contact with the captured British frigate and staggered towards the Bay of Bengal.

With these warships leaving the battlefield, the British have basically expanded the battlefield with few warships left, and they are also aware of their own advantages and disadvantages, and they continue to wander.

The remaining battleships of the British are all two thousand tons close to three thousand tons of warships, just six warships, but most of them are new warships from the mainland, sail and steam battleships, and two battleships with artillery and size advantages , the Spaniards had fifteen battleships left, three were sunk, five were damaged, and most of the remaining fifteen battleships were wounded. Sailor soldiers disengaged from the battle.

The battlefield widened and the British began to gain the upper hand.In general, neither side has won. The Spaniards have 35 warships and 23 warships are left, and the British [-] warships have [-] warships left, but the British still have the upper hand in terms of quality. Now the situation Favored the British, and the Spaniards didn't realize it.

-------------Chapter Dividing Line---------------

The battle between the British and the Spaniards ended. The British lost a corner of the colony. The situation was unfavorable, but at last they did not lose too much face. The Spaniards agreed to compensate for the loss and bought a colonial port and an area with money, while Huaxia The empire was not without gains. The Bengal area finally wiped out a large number of Chinese people who were not Han people, and vacated a large number of areas for Chinese people to live in.

Some people migrated from China, Yunnan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and even Guangzhou. At the same time, some people migrated from Southeast Asian states. The population is not large, only about three million people. With Dhaka as the center, it has expanded a lot. The territory has gained a firm foothold. Although Dhaka is not within the scope of the Spanish colony, it belongs to the Bengal area, and the management of the British in this area is also very weak.

After the war, except for some Bengal clans who still live and live in the Spanish colony and the Bengal area, the Indians and the British have completely withdrawn from this area.

In general, the Huaxia Empire has basically gained a firm foothold in this area.

There are too many domestic affairs, the Chinese Empire is too large, and the official system of the Chinese Empire cannot adapt to such management. Therefore, many areas are actually managed in a sheep-herding manner, which is to decentralize administrative power level by level. It only manages the core area, and the other governorships manage their territories. The administrative system adds a governor’s office above the officials at all levels, which is equivalent to the core area, the central cabinet, and the emperor’s structure, but the sovereignty is much weaker. Management The posture of the management agency in the core area should also be copied.

The core area is fully managed by the central cabinet, while the governor's area is fully managed by the governor, but the governor is managed by the cabinet and the emperor, which is equivalent to a feudal official with great power, but most of the officials in the governor's area and core area are arranged by the cabinet staff , the governor's district has the right to arrange and dispatch by itself, which is equivalent to the way in which officials from various provinces and central departments in later generations communicate.

In fact, apart from the previous great war in Bangladesh, which was arranged by the Privy Council, the war here was initiated and arranged by the Governor-General of Southeast Asia and the Military Intelligence Department. You only need to report to the Privy Council and get the consent.

Since the governor works in a different place, he does not work wherever his title of governor is, and he is assigned by the central government.

Therefore, although the governors have a lot of power, they don't want the Jiedushi of the Tang and Song dynasties to become a feudal town and warlord. The army is not managed by them, and the army is lost every two years. The only thing that matters is the local garrison. The local garrison is also dropped every three years, and the military chief is dropped every more than a year. Basically, the governor-general does not have much military power.

After the invention of the telegraph, the central capital's information on the movement of the army was basically changed from the previous half a month or even three months to basically knowing what happened in the local area in a day or two.

In remote valleys, overseas, news of where can be obtained through the Clippers in less than half a month, so the center's foundation for local rule is still very solid.

Zhang Qiang had also heard a little about the affairs here, so he didn't take care of them for a while, because he had more things to do and was not as busy as the cabinet. He was in charge of specific affairs and decided the general direction, but he still cared about many big things.

After inspecting the various bases of the naval fleet, the construction of the entire steam engine battleship started. After equipping seven fleets with more than 100 steam battleships, the shipyards of the Chinese Empire began to upgrade and integrate. The construction capacity of all sail warships is within a thousand All shipyards below [-] tons were opened and sold to domestic businessmen. As a result, some large-scale combined shipbuilding companies and private shipyards appeared in the country, and a lot of [-]-ton ships were sold one after another. Eight of the twenty [-]-ton shipyards of the Chinese Empire were sold to private businessmen, two local governments and businessmen became joint ventures, and the remaining ten were integrated into three large shipyards.