Lord of Ming Dynasty

Because at that time the Spaniards, the British and the Portuguese colonies, and the colonies of the British and the Dutch passed through the above, and the closer to the coast, the more merchant ships and patrol fleets of the Spaniards and the British, so for Not to cause trouble, the squadron still tries to go to the deep sea of ​​the Atlantic Ocean as much as possible. Although this is somewhat dangerous, if it encounters bad weather, it can only rush to the Dutch colony for refuge.

If you can't get refuge in the Dutch colonies, you can only rush to some of the outlying seaports on these colonial islands, and you may be captured by the enemy, torn apart or overturned by a storm, or even smashed to pieces by a reef.

This is why Zhang Siyuan wanted to plot Port-au-Prince Island. The more seaside land he controlled, the safer their navigation was, because it was impossible for other countries or enemies to patrol the sea area of ​​the enemy's territory.

The two cruisers, six frigates, eight destroyers in the fleet, plus the two destroyers of the Puerto Rico fleet, led by a major of the fleet commander, protected 29 transport ships and slowly headed towards the mainland. Three destroyers sailed ten nautical miles in front of the fleet for reconnaissance. Two destroyers followed behind. The remaining five destroyers and the fleet blocked the front of the transport fleet. They traveled in two formations. The transport ships were also led by armed transport warships. Drive in two files.

The entire fleet is spread out on the sea for about five nautical miles, and the distance between each other is also convenient for turning in all directions or disbanding the fleet to escape when encountering the enemy. The battle fleet can also quickly intersperse in the middle of the fleet or left and right, bypassing the transport fleet To meet the enemies coming from all directions, they are about half a nautical mile away from the transport fleet.

Today's weather is particularly good. The sea is clear and the sky is bright and the sun is scorching. At a glance, you can see the sea surface for about ten nautical miles. If you climb to a high point, you can see the sea surface for more than twenty nautical miles.

However, due to the influence of soot from the fleet, the line of sight must be greatly reduced. The sea breeze is not happy. The weather is too good, so the sea breeze is not so strong, it can only be regarded as a breeze. The top of the head affects the sight of the fleet, and the ships in the distance can only see them at a glance, and they can also see the ships sailing in the distance.

Because of the good visibility, if there is thick smoke fifty or sixty nautical miles away, it must be a large fleet sailing, and if there are clusters of thick smoke, it must be a small fleet or caravan sailing. Occasionally, there will be a flash of thick smoke when a single ship is sailing. For sailing, due to the war, it is impossible for a single ship to appear now. Of course, it is inevitable that some pirate ships or bold individual merchants go to sea.

Now the fleet is still sailing off the coast of Cuba, getting closer and closer to the British Isle of Charles.

Soon the British patrol fleet appeared on the left and right, and then left again. The transport fleet of the New Qin State did this every time, and everyone didn't think so, but a few hours later, after the fleet had finished eating at noon, the lookout post Alarm bells were ringing.

The watchman shouted loudly, "I found the enemy's main fleet, 25 battleships, 35 battleships, a large cloud of smoke, 29 nautical miles away, [-] nautical miles away,"

As the lookouts shouted one after another, the signal flag bearers on each battleship kept waving their flags to ask what the flagship's order was.

The major stood in the conning tower holding the binoculars for a long time without speaking. While observing, he muttered something. As the captain of the flagship, Zhang Siyuan could only execute orders. He could only manage his warship. He is the biggest, but the fleet still has the final say.

The major, a naturalized Dutchman, was able to climb to such a height because a few months before the adjustment of the fleet, the foreigners and mercenaries of the New Qin Kingdom had a fight, seeking their rights and obligations. The fourth prince of the king didn't know what to think, maybe he was dizzy, but he agreed to this request, and at the kingdom meeting, he agreed to foreigners who normally joined the new Qin Kingdom, as long as they obtained the status of Han people equivalent to Han people, they would be free. You can further obtain the rights and obligations equivalent to those of the Han people, including the opportunity to become civil servants and military commanders, and become officials at the top of the kingdom, but the cabinet and the Privy Council cannot be entered by non-Han people.

In the past, it only opened up the independent system rights of low-level officers and mercenaries, but once he opened his mouth, foreigners can enter part of the middle and high-level rights of the kingdom. For example, the fleet has also been released, and his proposal Li Ya's consent was actually obtained, which made Mo Lin, Jin Lin, Wu Nan, and Zhuang Lin below puzzled. Sa Tianlei and Luo Zuo also expressed that they could accept some mercenary officers to join the high-level power of the kingdom in a limited manner.

The fleet was still sailing off the coast of Cuba, getting closer and closer to the British Isle of Charles.

Soon the British patrol fleet appeared on the left and right, and then left again. The transport fleet of the New Qin State did this every time, and everyone didn't think so, but a few hours later, after the fleet had finished eating at noon, the lookout post Alarm bells were ringing.

The watchman shouted loudly, "I found the enemy's main fleet, 25 battleships, 35 battleships, a large cloud of smoke, 29 nautical miles away, [-] nautical miles away,"

As the lookouts shouted one after another, the signal flag bearers on each battleship kept waving their flags to ask what the flagship's order was.

The major stood in the conning tower holding the binoculars for a long time without speaking. While observing, he muttered something. As the captain of the flagship, Zhang Siyuan could only execute orders. He could only manage his warship. He is the biggest, but the fleet still has the final say.

The major, a naturalized Dutchman, was able to climb to such a height because a few months before the adjustment of the fleet, the foreigners and mercenaries of the New Qin Kingdom had a fight, seeking their rights and obligations. The fourth prince of the king didn't know what to think, maybe he was dizzy, but he agreed to this request, and at the kingdom meeting, he agreed to foreigners who normally joined the new Qin Kingdom, as long as they obtained the status of Han people equivalent to Han people, they would be free. You can further obtain the rights and obligations equivalent to those of the Han people, including the opportunity to become civil servants and military commanders, and become officials at the top of the kingdom, but the cabinet and the Privy Council cannot be entered by non-Han people.

In the past, it only opened up the independent system rights of low-level officers and mercenaries, but once he opened his mouth, foreigners can enter part of the middle and high-level rights of the kingdom. For example, the fleet has also been released, and his proposal Li Ya's consent was actually obtained, which made Mo Lin, Jin Lin, Wu Nan, and Zhuang Lin below puzzled. Sa Tianlei and Luo Zuo also expressed that they could accept some mercenary officers to join the high-level power of the kingdom in a limited manner.

Chapter 590, Nine, Abnormal Behavior of the Foreign Dutch Commander

A group of officers waited anxiously for the order from the Dutch naturalized major, but the Dutch major didn't seem to hear it, and kept silent. No matter how everyone jumped up and down, it was useless. Seeing that the enemy was approaching ten nautical miles, the fleet stopped. I stopped moving.

The captains of the other battleships sent inquiries and even telegrams, but the Dutch major did not give the order to disband the transport fleet until the enemy had approached eight nautical miles.

After finishing speaking, he ignored everyone and left with his own group of officers.

Eight nautical miles away, Zhang Siyuan was going to scold the Dutch major, of course he was scolding in his heart. The speed of the enemy was also between 21 knots and 22 knots. According to the latest information, the second-generation ironclad ship improved by the British has reached the fastest speed of 21 knots. , generally maintain a speed of [-] knots for pursuit or information on the fastest sailing speed. When he set sail this morning, he also read the latest relevant briefing sent by telegram.

Except for the cruiser and the frigate, none of the warships can escape here. This major wants to ruin this fleet.

It only takes 22 minutes to catch up with the enemy's 15-knot warship at eight nautical miles, and the enemy does not need to catch up. He only needs to reach within one nautical mile, and the bombardment can start at about 2000 meters. There are few warships here, and the enemy's warships can go all around. Encirclement, in the rain of bullets, even if the combat distance is 2000 meters, according to the current [-]mm and [-]mm caliber artillery equipped by the enemy, there is enough time and sufficient ammunition to sink them all, but their warships need Only by hitting accurately can you hit the enemy's battleship. Even if you hit it, if you are seriously injured, the enemy can still use the battlefield you have mastered to take the initiative and retreat calmly under the cover of artillery fire from other battleships.

The major left after giving the order, but he didn't know that the fleet still needed him to command, but he didn't mention it, and didn't arrange the following things. This made Zhang Siyuan feel a little conspiracy. If he took over the command decisively and issued orders randomly, then If he was to be bitten back after the victory, he couldn't argue with it, because he exceeded his authority and led to the defeat. Imprisonment, fate of interrogation.

If he doesn't command, then executing the order is tantamount to ruining the fleet. After the war, the major can completely make up a reason based on Zhang Siyuan's status as the fleet commander. In this case, he should take over the command, and then command the battle, fight Commander, the result of this must be determined, because the major has already made him a general and placed the fleet in an enemy's outflank, and they are in an unfavorable situation.

In other words, in order to frame him, or to cause the fleet to be defeated by the enemy, even if the major is dismissed or brought to justice, he will have a chance to escape, but Zhang Siyuan and the others must have committed more serious crimes because they are low-level officers. The fleet must have been destroyed.

Use the piss and double standards of Chinese law in later generations. When you need to use morality, move out morality to play with the law. When you don’t need morality, tell you that this is the spirit of Western law. The law is greater than everything, stern and selfless, and then extinct All the negative aspects of morality, life, and all kinds of human considerations that Chinese people are used to are against the will of people. Everything is based on the law, but it does not consider the principle that the law is to serve people. In short, the two-sided nature is capricious. , Zhang Siyuan and this squadron can be said to be doomed, and they are placed here by the major. The major has nothing to do, he has something to do, and the blame and punishment system of the new Qin State will look at him, this second failure, with colored glasses. commander.

Zhang Siyuan thought of a lot in an instant. The first officer beside him stood there, looking at him, without saying a word. The two of them were silent like the major before, and then their eyes collided with each other, and they both nodded.

Zhang Siyuan leaned over the speaking tube of the command tower and tapped it a few times, "Bosun, tell the marine captain and gunnery sergeant to come to the command tower."

Turning back to the first officer, he said: "Order, all the ships move closer to me, and the transport fleet drives northwestward with all its strength, and hides in the port of the ally Dutch colony. We will cover them, the new fleet commander, Captain Zhang Siyuan."

After issuing the order, Zhang Siyuan let out a long sigh of relief, because this was his first step in gaining power. Fortunately, there was something but the naturalized major forced him to go to Panama, where he became the captain of the cruiser flagship, and he also had a share. Fleet commander Dutch mercenary major this guy seems to be acting abnormally now, otherwise he would not be able to gain power.

This is a crisis, but also a test. If he can get through it, with such a great contribution, he will definitely be able to be promoted to the captain of the squadron.

As soon as the order was issued, the transport fleet just started, and the transport fleet that had not yet been disbanded immediately turned around and accelerated to escape. At the beginning, they were only moving with the fleet at a speed of ten knots. Now that they are going to fight, they must of course speed up. The speed of the knot is also thanks to the idiot major who waited for half an hour before giving the order when the enemy was about to surround him, and the commanders of the transport fleet with combat experience had already started to heat up the boiler when they saw the enemy. Turn up the pressure output and be ready to run away.

For this operation, the enemy was still preparing to encircle it five nautical miles away, and the transport fleet began to flee to the deep sea, forcing the enemy to flee to the deep sea ten minutes faster. The speed of 15 or [-] knots was [-] minutes faster than the enemy. Five nautical miles in front of the fleet, where the transport fleet needs to bypass the battleship fleet, this is another three nautical miles, so the enemy is an hour slower than the transport fleet.

The three navigating destroyers in front retreated a long time ago and blocked the front of the fleet under Zhang Siyuan's order. The five destroyers covering behind the fleet turned to protect the transport fleet, so a total of seven destroyers ran in the fleet. The enemy was delayed for about 10 minutes before and after, and now the transport fleet has about an hour and 10 minutes, which is enough to get rid of the enemy by [-] nautical miles.

In this way, the squadron led by Zhang Siyuan only had two cruisers, six frigates, and three destroyers, and the fleet became short and capable.

But under such circumstances, they lost the new force of six destroyers, and because of the delay of the Dutch major, they left now, making him have to find a way to fight the enemy by himself.

The destroyer in front of the enemy had rushed to a place about one nautical mile in front of their fleet. The guns were rumbling, and water columns tens of meters high had exploded around them. Maybe a warship would be shot in the next moment.

And they can't go, the transport fleet and the disengaged destroyers have just left, they must resist until they can't see the shadow of the fleet, at least half an hour to an hour, so that the enemy warships cannot catch up with the transport fleet.

Chapter One Thousand and Six Hundred

In order to block the enemy, the small fleet began to maneuver, and at the same time launched a frantic bombardment on the fast-approaching enemy's fast iron-clad ship. Since the enemy's fast thousand-ton iron-clad ship appeared last time, this time Zhang Siyuan saw them again, and the speed was very fast At a speed of about 23 to 24 knots, in the blink of an eye, it rushed to a distance of 800 meters, and the artillery on it swept over several frigates rushing forward like a storm.

Suddenly, a large number of sailors exposed on the deck died, and the control of the battleship became extremely difficult. However, the backup sailors who were not afraid of death rushed up and shot several fast ironclad warships Mars with 37mm rapid-fire guns and [-]mm rapid-fire guns. Straight up, at the same time, the gunners and sailors on it also suffered heavy casualties, and even the thousand-ton ironclad ship hit by a [-]mm rapid-fire gun was covered in holes at that time, and there were many casualties. Immediately, three thousand-ton fast ironclad ships lay down and stopped at the On the surface of the sea, the gunners of the non-threatening ironclad ships ignored them, and immediately turned their muzzles to aim at the thousand-ton ironclad ships that were still surrounding them. The sight of some of the enemy's charging battleships in the rear and disturbed the sight of the enemy's spotter hand caused the enemy's shells to become scattered.

The destroyers that the enemy rushed up from behind were actually the first generation of quasi-iron armored ships in the early days. They were covered with thick armor plates, that is, iron sheets, and replaced those steam engine warships with masts and sails. The British followed the new Qin State step by step. He also reorganized his fleet.

Their frigates are the improved first-generation ironclad ships, and there are no cruisers. I heard that they are preparing to change the current second-generation ironclad ships into cruisers, and then the new main battleship will officially take the big top and become the main battleship.

The fast ironclads disturbed Zhang Siyuan's line of sight and held them back. The destroyers of the quasi-ironclads rushed up to bombard the warships, at a distance of about 200 meters. There were about fifteen quasi-ironclad destroyers, also using 75mm artillery. The British used artillery with a caliber of more than 74 mm. Immediately, every battleship here was hit, but basically it was like washing the deck. Only the destroyer was able to resist because it was advanced at the time when it was built. This kind of artillery, but the enemy is also improving, so there will be problems if they can't stand a few shots, but the enemy doesn't give each destroyer time to shoot a few shots, because the secondary artillery here, the 75mm artillery, is just enough to hit them.

In the past, it was awkward to use secondary guns to hit fast ironclad ships because the turrets could not keep up with the speed of fast ironclad ships, and because of the short range, it was a bit awkward. Now the range of 200 meters is the best range for this kind of secondary guns to show off their power. Soon the enemy's quasi-ironclad ships couldn't take it anymore, and three destroyers were shot one after another, because as mentioned earlier, the enemy is thin-skinned and stuffed, so they were quickly slandered, the speed dropped, the water was seriously flooded, and the battleship was full of smoke. The line of sight of the battleships behind was also affected, so the enemy's shells became more scattered.

Two cruisers, six frigates, and three destroyers fired with full firepower. They resisted the enemy's more rapid firepower for nearly 15 minutes, and then watched the enemy's fleet start to surround them, and the entire fleet began to run sideways to the northwest. While running and fighting back, we must not allow the enemy to encircle us. The enemy has already overwhelmed us. Eight fast ironclad ships, fifteen quasi-ironclad destroyers, and twelve second-generation main battleships must be strong, at least twelve In front of the enemy's main battleship, the firepower of the two cruisers and six frigates really couldn't beat them.

The British are getting better and better.

I have learned a lot of tactics and advanced technologies of the new Qin State and the Chinese Empire. Because the British have a profound background, various scholars and scientists from the West have the obligation to help them, and they also provide these people with favorable conditions. It is because of their large land and sparse population, so many colonies, and because of the development of industry, they have inspired the creativity and motivation of many people. Unlike the luxury of the Spaniards and the luxury of the French immersed in the artistic atmosphere, they are poor and realistic. , The cold industrial society is like this.

And when Zhang Siyuan was trying to deal with the enemy's fleet, a telegram made him feel cold. The prisoners on the transport ship rioted. They captured three transport ships and were sending messages to other transport ships. The enemy took control, and controlling the destroyer was donned mercenary marines and officers.

He hadn't read the telegram, and hadn't reacted from the shock, when he heard gunshots from the flagship, "What's going on?" He asked loudly into the megaphone, and directly asked the boatswain, Second Lieutenant Baozi.

Because this is the person he trusts the most.

"The mercenary soldiers on board rioted. They were led by the fleet commander Lieutenant Commander. They rushed in and killed the Han Chinese Marine Corps Second Lieutenant, and they are massacring our Han Chinese Marine Corps soldiers."

Second Lieutenant Baozi said in a panic.