Lord of Ming Dynasty

The crew and sailors of nearly a thousand captured enemy ships were escorted here to start repairing the forts and castles, nearly two thousand wounded were transferred to land, and nearly ten sailing ships on the beach were undergoing intensive repairs, scraping off the water at the bottom of the ships Vine, water hyacinth, attached marine microorganisms, shells and the like.

Not far away, 150 cavalry with mercenaries from the fleet are searching for escaped enemies or investigating and patrolling the vicinity within a radius of [-] miles.

Two hundred infantrymen are placing some artillery moved from the fleet for shore artillery defense against the enemy.

The nearly crippled fleet needs to rest here for a period of time. Zhuang Lin doesn't know when the enemy will come here, but half a month is the time limit he set for himself. When he arrives, he must find a way to break out of the siege. Otherwise, once the British fleet increases its troops here, they will definitely be blocked.

Veracruz, which is more than 400 kilometers away from here, is the port where the Spanish treasure ship fleet has docked. The Spaniards are as untrustworthy as the British, so Zhuang Lin just hopes that the Spaniards will not be too sensitive, otherwise they will go to war with Spain. I was afraid that the Spaniards would send a boat to investigate here, and then start negotiating after discovering them, which would be bad for both parties.

Maybe the Spanish captains dared to sell their news to the British, who are now looking for them all over the Gulf of Mexico.

"Three more French merchant ships have come in." A soldier ran over and shouted to Zhuang Lin.

For the sake of secrecy, Tampico did not change the flag of the British. In some places, some European-faced mercenaries were sent to drive fishing boats outside to serve as guards and confuse passing merchant ships. All merchant ships in the port were detained or destroyed. All merchant ships are detained, and if they dare to come in, they will bear the responsibility, and they will not be able to escape for at least half a month.

All the merchant ships were arranged together, and the fleet here put on a disguise and stuffed them into the middle of the merchant ships. People outside only saw a lot of merchant ships in the port, and didn't even know that there were camouflaged warships inside.

All the slaves on the ship disembarked to work, fell trees, build camps, hunt, fish, and take care of the British immigrants or other French or Spanish immigrants here, and there were Han Chinese cavalry or Han Chinese squads nearby to watch them.

Eight warships and six ocean-going reconnaissance ships were arranged on the coast outside the port to scout the [-] nautical miles nearby. Once the enemy fleet came to warn or outflank the enemy from behind.

"Shut it in, if you don't come in, just sink it." Zhuang Lin gave an order to the soldiers who conveyed the order.

In the port dock behind the merchant ship, nearly ten ships are being urgently repaired. They fought a big battle with the enemy before, and after sailing around the Gulf of Mexico for [-] nautical miles, all ships suffered heavy losses. Then, in order to capture Tampico lost two more ships, and others were more or less wounded.

Zhuang Lin began to recall that one of the ten ocean-going communication ships was captured, five were sunk, two were injured, six French warships were sunk, the sixth was seriously injured, and finally had to be abandoned, and the fourth was slightly injured but damaged A propulsion shaft was added, leaving only eight knots of power.

That is to say, there are only four ocean-going communication ships left. He modified a captured French [-]-ton armed merchant ship, and then made up five ocean-going communication ships. Although the French [-]-ton armed Merchant ships are not as high as the [-]-ton ocean-going communication ships built by the New Qin Empire in terms of firepower or speed, but they can also be used as scout ships for the fleet.

They can use beacon smoke or light signals to warn the fleet behind. With this French type of ship that can perform reconnaissance missions without camouflage, they have avoided the enemy's siege at least twice.

The French warship that was injured finally escaped the fate of being captured by the enemy. It played a role last night. For repairs, it took one night to replace a steam engine shaft, and the ability to move was restored. It is currently being inspected and made final adjustments. Before the sun sets, the combat effectiveness can be restored.

In other words, they kept the absolute battleships in the fleet, the four French warships, which were transformed by the New Qin Empire, and this time they were equipped with Zhuang Lin's strongest warships.

There were also six 1000-ton sail warships, three of which were sunk, one seriously injured, and one slightly injured. However, they captured a first-class battleship and a second-class battleship of the enemy, and then fled the UK with the fleet in a hurry Surrounded by people, more than [-] people and three seriously injured ships were lost to the British prisoners.

In sum, four ocean-going communication ships, one French scout ship, four [-]-ton French steam engine battleships, and three [-]-ton sailing warships, two of which were injured, were also towed back, repaired overnight, The one with minor injuries has already left the dock, and the other one has been repaired, and it should be repaired in the evening.

The seriously injured ship is estimated to be repaired tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

In addition, they captured a first-class battleship and a second-class battleship of the enemy, which they obtained at the beginning. They still gained a lot in that battle and captured a 75-ton steam engine battleship from the British. A new ship model of Renmin, with good firepower, and also reduced the gun gallery artillery. There are nearly seventeen [-]mm guns arranged on the deck, two in the front, one in the back, seven on each side, and one on the bottom floor. There were also sixteen twelve-pounders below deck, and four eighteen-pounders under the second deck below the bow and stern decks.

Two of these are for attacking the front, and one on each side, to make up for the fan-shaped area of ​​the enemy attacking ships round the bow, as well as the stern.

It can be said that although such a ship type is strange, it also continues the battleship thinking of the British or Europeans who like giant ships with multiple guns, making the whole ship look like a firepower hedgehog.

It can be said that under the current circumstances, if one does not come up with a solution, with the current firepower, the New Qin Empire would not be able to fight against the firepower hedgehogs and battleships in the enemy's super fleet in the battle with the British.

Because the enemy also uses 75mm artillery, the firepower is the same as theirs, but the number of firepower is several times that of theirs, but it is not like the old artillery that used to be fired with so much firepower, because there will be artillery storms affecting these artillery, This has an impact on the overall structure of the ship, as well as aiming and shooting, as well as shooting distance and accuracy. I don’t know if the British know this.

Why did the New Qin Empire want to have front and rear turret artillery with only a few cannons, with old-style artillery or rapid-fire guns in the middle for gun gallery artillery and secondary artillery shooting? It is because they have the experience of the Chinese Empire and know these things.

The first thousand and 350 eight chapters are also desperate

Zhuang Lin is worried here. Eight [-]-ton steam engine ships, one [-]-ton sailing ship, and one [-]-ton sailing ship did not have much loss. This is also his confidence.

The supplies are still there, which is also the reason why he can quickly repair these ships, but eight [-]-ton steam engine ships, one [-]-ton sailing ship, and one [-]-ton sailing ship cannot resist the enemy's super fleet at all. attack.

Escaping is the best way.

Although the Gulf of Mexico is wide, there are also many British ships, and there are also many merchant ships along the coast. At least [-] merchant ships are sailing every day, and they can't hide for long.

Tampico has detained three French [-]-ton merchant ships that were originally moored here, five Spanish [-]-ton sailboats, and [-] ships from other countries. The Dutch merchant ships were directly requisitioned. There are two [-]-ton warships of the Dutch.

Regarding the complaints of the French and Spanish merchants, Zhuang Lin directly compensated them for the goods and some small boats that had robbed the Dutch merchants and warships. The Spaniards and French were very happy, and they wished that Dutch merchant ships would come every day. .

Zhuang Lin didn't like the Dutchman who intercepted them.

After staying in Tampico for five days, all the ships were basically repaired, and nearly 600 of the wounded recovered their combat effectiveness. Some wounded wounds healed and they were able to perform some low-intensity labor. Zhuang Lin thought about the move Once you move, where can you go?

According to the news from the French and the Spaniards, the British sent a large number of ships to scout them, and they were intercepted by the British at least twice when they came, proving that the entire Gulf of Mexico was a British scouting ship and fleet.

Going out now is just to expose my position, but it has been five days. The Spanish port is only [-] kilometers away. Every day, I find that merchant ships do not go to their place, or merchant ships from Tampico do not come to their place. Five days is not enough. That's enough to arouse their suspicions. If there are British people gathering information on where, I'm afraid they will soon lock up their hiding places.

When Zhuang Lin was struggling, they detained seven British merchant ships in the morning, an enemy's camouflaged merchant ship, and an ocean-going reconnaissance ship that the enemy came in to rest. In the afternoon, two British warships of [-] tons were detained. Sunk outside the harbour.

At night, a British [-]-ton steam engine battleship was also captured by the steam engine battleship outside.

The pace of British investigation is getting closer and closer.

It is said that the main fleet led by Maureen over there will join the 120 warships of the reinforcement fleet and then flee with all their strength. The British super fleet led by Major General John Bing Carter pursues with all their strength. When they are about to catch up, they send an auxiliary fleet to intercept the reinforcement fleet. As a result, the Turkish escort fleet in the reinforcement fleet hurriedly fled with forty warships, taking away nearly forty thousand Han Chinese and some core mercenary personnel, as well as all heavy equipment and some core equipment, artillery, and other weapons and equipment , leaving only the eighty ships of the reinforcement fleet that decided to fight the enemy, which were still fully loaded with [-] Han Chinese and a lot of supplies.

Many of the battleships are relatively powerful steam engine experimental warships that can be replaced from the Turkish fleet, high-tonnage sail warships, and powerful [-]-ton and [-]-ton sail warships and steam engine warships.

Looking back at the scene at that time, "What made Major General Carter feel funny was that the Turkish fleet escorting the enemy's reinforcements saw them coming, and even accelerated to leave. With a bang, dozens of ships with Turkish flags broke away from the reinforcement fleet. , quickly accelerated and fled.

Rear Admiral Carter smiled, then waved his hand, "Sign out, let the Turkish fleet go, let's move on, let the auxiliary fleet behind to clean up the few enemy reinforcement fleets. Now let's see how many of them can escape our clutches. ""

It can be said that Major General Carter at that time already despised and despised the main fleet led by Mo Lin of the New Qin Empire, because even Mo Lin knew that it was easy for their main fleet to escape, but it was necessary to ensure the safety of the remaining 80 or so reinforcement fleets. It would be difficult to escape.

This is why Major General Carter knew their embarrassment, so he knew that Molin and the British super fleet had to fight decisively, and the main fleet of the New Qin Empire led by Molin absolutely had no way to leave the reinforcement fleet alone. The enemy's firepower hedgehogs cannot be eliminated, and the reinforcement fleet is guaranteed not to be damaged at all.

Thirty nautical miles, this is a desperate distance, two [-]-ton steam engine warships, [-]-ton sail warships, and three [-]-ton sail warships left behind by the Turkish fleet as the main force, followed by Fifteen [-]-ton steam engine warships saw the enemy's auxiliary fleet coming up, and immediately began to cross the fleet to meet.

The other supply ships began to flee to the coast of Spain, and sixty warships began to flee, separated by more than ten nautical miles from the enemy, but there was no rush. Lin's main fleet went away, and Mo Lin's main fleet kept receiving reports of the enemy's movements from the ocean-going scout ships. They were very anxious. If the enemy attacked the reinforcement fleet first, they would definitely not be able to feel rescued.

At this time, Mo Lin felt a little regretful, why didn't he meet with the reinforcement fleet earlier, and then lead them to escape for a certain distance, and now he has to sail forward for at least two hours, leaving half an hour to maneuver and face the enemy .

Rear Admiral Carter just smiled when he saw the enemy reinforcement fleet surrounded by nearly [-] auxiliary fleets. He really wanted to see the panic of the enemy reinforcement fleet.

However, the enemy's reinforcement fleet didn't seem to have many battleships, but they bravely separated some warships to prepare for the battle. While trying to escape, most of the supply ships accelerated to escape.

I can't laugh anymore. The two sides are an hour away. They have passed the enemy's reinforcement fleet. The enemy's reinforcement fleet is fleeing towards the Spanish waters. It has been nearly an hour away from them. Now send the main fleet The battleships in the past were no better than the auxiliary fleet. The distance between the two was not much different, but it happened 10 minutes earlier and 10 minutes later. Their main task now was to destroy the enemy's main fleet.

The two fleets were heading towards each other at high speed, and both sides rushed towards each other at a speed of fifteen knots.

An hour later, they met at sea fifteen nautical miles away from the reinforcement fleet. The two sides faced each other two nautical miles away and began to change formation.

Now Molin saw the size of the enemy's fleet, and it also drove to a battle about [-] or [-] nautical miles away. The enemy's auxiliary fleet rushed into the confrontation force of the reinforcement fleet, but it was not a one-sided massacre, but a battle. The two sides actually did not destroy or sink a warship of the other side during the one-hour battle.

Chapter 350 Is the enemy too weak? 1

The five [-]-ton steam engine ships of the Morin fleet began to deploy, and captured a [-]-ton sail warship of the enemy, feinted a shot, and then began to reinforce the reinforcement fleet. Major General Carter sent five [-]-ton sail warships The battleship began to pursue.

Everyone is at a speed of fifteen knots, separated by two nautical miles, and it takes at least 10 minutes to catch up with the steam engine ship. Molin used five [-]-ton steam engine warships to deceive the enemy's five [-]-ton sail warships away up.

Major General Carter didn't feel anything. They had a large number of ships, mainly because the firepower of the first-class battleships gave them the confidence to destroy the steam engine battleships with few enemies. Those warships were at most the size of their third-class battleships, and their firepower was inferior to theirs As for the third-class battleship, this is his confidence.