Daming Military Empire

Chapter 697 Heroes gather for a decisive battle against the West
The seventh day of July in the 18th year of Chongzheng in the Ming Dynasty is a day that can be recorded in history.

At noon that afternoon, the combined fleet of the Ming Empire, Spain and Portugal encountered the combined fleet of the anti-Habsburg alliance powers on the ocean more than [-] miles northwest of Lisbon, and a great battle broke out immediately.

In this battle, the commander-in-chief of the Habsburg Alliance of the Ming Dynasty was Admiral Zheng Chenggong of the Ming Empire, while the commander-in-chief of the Anti-Habsburg Alliance was Admiral Van Mendy of the Netherlands.

As soon as the two sides met, Zheng Chenggong, who was in command of the joint fleet of the Daming Habsburg Alliance, received the information from all parties, and the speed of communication was almost instantaneous.

Zheng Chenggong just thought about it for a while, then ordered decisively: "

Order the ironclad warships to line up in three columns, with the cruiser in front and the battleship in the rear, passing through the middle of the Nanyang Navy and the Beiyang Navy directly in front, and going straight to the enemy fleet on the left front;
Order the Portuguese fleet to divide in the front and back, and flow out a channel about one mile wide for the passage of ironclad warships;

Order the South China Sea Fleet to turn immediately and approach the Portuguese Fleet;
Order the armored battleships [-] to [-] to line up in four columns, with the cruiser in front and the battleship behind, pass through the middle of the Portuguese fleet on the right left, and penetrate directly into the enemy fleet on the left;

Order eight to ten teams of armored warships to line up in three columns, with cruisers in front and battleships in the rear, to pass through the middle of the Spanish fleet directly behind, and go straight to the enemy fleet on the left rear;

The other fleets slowed down and stopped, waiting for orders. "

Following his order, the flag bearers around kept waving their command flags. Soon, the armored warship in the middle moved, followed by the Portuguese fleet on the left, and then the South China Sea Fleet on the right. Three hundred Like three sharp arrows, the ironclad warship pierced through the outer lineup of wooden battleships and pierced directly into the fleets of the Anti-Habsburg Alliance.

At this time, Van Mendy, who is in the Dutch Navy fleet on the left, has just received a message from the front, and has discovered the joint fleet of the Habsburg Alliance of Ming Dynasty!
Before he had time to give an order, there was a sudden message from the front that more than a hundred warships were rushing towards the direction of his own fleet.

Fan Mendy was stunned, what kind of tactic is this, is it a death tactic?
Due to the limited information conveyed by the semaphore, he didn't even know that the iron-clad battleship was rushing forward, and he just thought the enemy had gone crazy.

More than [-] warships came to attack more than [-] warships. This is not courting death, but what they are doing. He immediately ordered: "Order all warships, the bow cannons are loaded with shells, aim at the enemy ships, and bombard them immediately once they enter the range."

The distance of more than ten miles is only about a quarter of an hour for a steam-powered warship. Soon, the anti-Habsburg alliance fleet heard the roar of artillery. It was obvious that the enemy's warship had entered the range.

Fan Mendy couldn't help but ran to the bow of the flagship, took out the binoculars, and looked ahead.

According to the distance at this time, he should be able to see the enemy's battleship.

However, he is now in the middle of the fleet, and there are many warships of his own in front of him, so for a while, he can't see the enemy's warships.

He also blamed himself for the neat formation on his side, and he immediately ordered: "Order, the flagship shifts to the left by one degree."

Following his orders, the flagship moved slightly to the left and deviated from the original neat formation.

Now he finally saw the enemy's battleship, and he saw more than a hundred enemy ships rushing towards them at full speed under artillery fire, moving forward with fearsome momentum.

Is this trying to die together?

He is really confused, how can there be such a desperate way to fight a war!
At this time, a shell happened to hit the enemy ship he was concerned about, and it happened to hit the enemy ship a little lower than the bow.

It stands to reason that the bow of the enemy ship would have at least a hole the size of a washbasin. However, the shell was bounced off, and the bow of the enemy ship seemed to be fine!
What's going on here?

He hastily adjusted the binoculars and looked at the point where the shells landed just now.

Lack, it turned out to be an iron plate, his expression changed suddenly.

Iron plate, the outer layer of the enemy ship is actually covered with iron plate!

He couldn't help holding up his binoculars to look at other positions of the enemy ship, Vac, it's all iron plates, how can we fight now?
At this moment, the armored cruiser in the front row of the Ming army finally opened fire, and amidst a roar of "boom boom boom", hundreds of shells the size of washbasins flew directly over.

"Ka Ka Ka" There was a terrible sound of wood breaking, and more than ten warships were shot.

Fan Mendy couldn't help scanning the binoculars to a warship that had been shot. Oh my God, a huge hole wide enough for a person was smashed into the deck of that warship, and he didn't know what happened to the artillery below.

Just when he was dumbfounded, the enemy's battleship had rushed into his own fleet.

"Ka Ka Ka" there was a chaotic sound, and the hit warships cracked one after another, and slowly sank to the bottom of the ocean.

How can we fight this, the enemies are all armored warships!

Fan Mendy hurriedly ordered: "Quick, quick, order all warships to retreat and retreat to the English Channel."

At this time, Zheng Chenggong on the flagship Daming in the middle of the Daming Habsburg United Fleet had already received the news from the periphery that the enemy fleet was about to collapse at the touch of a button, and all fled northward.

want to run?How can it be so easy!
He immediately ordered: "Order eight to ten squadrons of the Spanish fleet and ironclad warships to intercept the enemy fleet on the left rear and annihilate them on the spot. The rest of the warships will disperse and pursue northward. All the bow cannons are free to attack at any time." .”

The Daming Habsburg United Fleet was quickly divided into two. The two Spanish fleets at the back immediately turned to the left to surround the more than [-] warships behind the enemy, while the four fleets in front dispersed and headed north. chase after. "

This chase lasted for three days and three nights, and the Habsburg United Fleet of Ming Dynasty chased after them all the way, chasing the Habsburg United Fleet to the English Channel.

Zheng Chenggong didn't order the entire fleet to assemble to the flagship until they chased to the vicinity of Dover and Calais.

At this time, the combined fleet of the anti-Habsburg alliance had dispersed and fled into the ports of Dover and Calais, and these two places were full of bastions and forts, and the defense was very tight.

Britain and France suffered a big loss, losing both of these two ports, and were directly redeemed by the Daming Habsburg Alliance for 9000 million taels. Naturally, they did not dare to relax later.

In order to ensure that these two ports will no longer be occupied by the enemy, both Britain and France chose to build bastions and forts, and directly built these two ports into steel fortresses!

Zheng Chenggong was stumped at this time. It seemed that the warships were at a disadvantage when they attacked the bastions and forts on the coast.

However, relying on the armored warship, he still led his army to try to attack the French port of Calais. As you can imagine, even if the iron-clad warship went up, he would only be beaten. There was nothing the fort could do.

In the end, Zheng Chenggong had to order the fleet to retreat temporarily to the mouth of the Guadiana River.

Of course, he didn't intend to give up. He planned to go back to replenish ammunition and bring some armored vehicles over.

At that time, first find a place near Calais and Dover to land on the beach, unload the armored vehicles, and then launch a joint land and sea attack. He does not believe that these two ports cannot be captured!

(End of this chapter)