sweeping the world

Chapter 664 Not as weak as imagined
The waves on the sea remain the same, but the Pingman School has completely changed its appearance after several months of development.

The original Pingman Colonel's Department just opened up an open space along the coast, although there were not many buildings built, more of them were temporary military tents.

At this moment, the military port has begun to show its scale. Rows of warships are docked at the berths in the port, and the outer sea is also surrounded by sails. Looking at it, there are no less than two hundred ships of various types; Ten miles deep inland, the original primitive jungle has become a building complex, the sounds of drills are endless on the wide school grounds, and the figures of soldiers and sailors can be seen everywhere on the roads.

The air in this place is humid and the rainfall is frequent. The Han army followed the customs and built many houses with bamboo arrangements as the main body. Usually, they were supported by large wood, leaving a space at the base of the house. The first floor was basically unoccupied, only the second floor. The above is for settlement.

"Gupta gathered warships, wanting to compete with the big Han?" Huan Wen has been in the Pingman Colonel's Department for more than two months, and he has naturally become the supreme commander of the Han army in this area: "This, I am happy to see it succeed." Things."

There are quite a lot of intentions to leave a space in the house. When there is a lot of rainfall, it will often form a watery area. If you don’t want the water to enter the house, you can’t build a house like in the Central Plains.Furthermore, there are too many kinds of bugs and snakes in this place, and the space layer also plays a protective role.

The Han Dynasty newly occupied the land, and it was impossible to build according to the customs of the Central Plains in a short period of time. The only way to transform this place, at least not to have so many bugs and snakes, was to construct buildings in the Central Plains.

Humans are extremely destructive creatures. As long as there are enough people living there, it will inevitably change the appearance of the local area, not only in the transformation of natural features, but in fact all kinds of creatures that humans consider harmful are also forced to migrate. Or be killed.

Before Huan Wen arrived, Li Mai took over from Fu Wei to command the naval attack on the Gupta dynasty.

Li Mai was originally one of the senior naval officials of the small imperial court in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. He returned to the Han Dynasty in the Battle of Ruyin, and later participated in the Han army's battle against the small imperial court. He made great contributions in the Battle of Shouchun and the Battle of Jingkou. General Lang.

The Han Navy's naval attack against the Gupta Dynasty began with the arrival of the fleet led by Fu Wei.At the beginning, there were only a dozen warships cruising in the Bay of Bengal in Asanyang, waiting for Li Mai to bring the second fleet before launching a sabotage battle in the entire Asanyang.

Naturally, the attack on the Gupta Dynasty was not a small blow, but it was impossible to completely block the Gupta Dynasty's foreign maritime trade. However, with the increasing number of Han warships, the Gupta Dynasty was not far from the complete interruption of maritime trade.

In order not to make the Han navy run amok, it is also necessary to ensure the maritime trade lanes. Although the Gupta Dynasty was really unwilling to engage in an inexplicable war, they did not sit still. They mobilized their own navy to launch a counterattack against the Han navy. There have also been many sea confrontations.

The Gupta Dynasty was unwilling to go to war, which was a kind of thinking of the upper class. They could not see the benefits of war, and they wanted to stop the war based on communication, but they were not so stupid as to just be beaten and not fight back.

The number of Gupta navies gathered along the coast of Cuttak has been increasing. They have also organized multiple escort formations to escort merchant ships, which has repeatedly expanded the scale of the sea confrontation. The largest warship between the two sides participated in the war, with a scale of more than one hundred.

In that Hundred Ships Battle, the commander of the Han Dynasty was Fu Wei, and the commander of the Gupta Dynasty was a high-caste nobleman named Jawala Kunal Jeddin.

The Hundred Ships Battle lasted only one afternoon, ending with Fu Wei's order to evacuate.In this campaign, sixteen ships were sunk by Han and seventeen by Gupta, and all the warships on both sides were damaged.It would be Fu Wei who chose to retreat because Gupta had new reinforcements later.

"We already know the pattern of Gupta's warships at sea." Huan Wen was somewhat excited: "Their biggest warships are bigger than ours, but generally speaking, our warships have an advantage."

Not telling lies, a very large warship appeared in the Gupta Dynasty. Its length should be close to [-] meters, and its width should be about [-] meters. Eighty-nine meters high, such a ship looks like a big mountain on the sea.

The largest warship on the Han side is 76 meters in length, 17 meters in width, and [-] meters in draft, not counting the mast level. The maximum building height is [-] meters.

There were not many warships in the Gupta Dynasty that were more than 30 meters long. Basically, they were about 20 meters long and five or six meters wide. Smaller ones could only be regarded as warships.

According to intelligence spying from Han, the fleet of the Gupta Dynasty is being formed. The giant ship is equipped with eight large ships with a length of about 30 meters, and the rest are warships under [-] meters.

The warships of the Han Dynasty, the standard crossbow ships are generally 30 meters long and [-] meters wide, and the number of warships imitating this type of system is the largest.Down below is a kind of warship that uses ramming as its method of warfare, and the rest can only be regarded as warships.

The warship is 12 meters long and four meters wide, and has a special ram at the bow, but it is not equipped with a bed crossbow.In fact, they were the capital ships of the inland water army in the past, and they were often driven by the power of human oars. If an enemy ship hit a big hole, it should reverse and evacuate.

The current warships at sea are not calculated by tonnage, but by the size of the warship. Defensive power, speed, and carrying capacity must also be counted to distinguish whether the warship is strong enough.

In terms of warships, what Huan Wen had already learned was that the Gupta Dynasty had many warships that could be called sea monsters, but most of them were inferior to their own side in terms of hull size.

"Naturally, they also equipped the bed crossbows on the warships." Li Mai has been on the front line many times, and he will be in charge of commanding the navy in this invasion. There are still quite a few enemy ships on the bed crossbow."

Huan Wen came here to preside over the invasion of the Gupta Dynasty. Although he has the authority of the supreme commander, he will step into the enemy's territory after launching the landing. The naval fleet will still be commanded by Li Mai.

The army of the Han State wanted to land on the coast of the Gupta Dynasty to invade. Of course, it had to happen after gaining command of the sea. Otherwise, the army landed but did not have command of the sea. Wouldn’t it be cut off?
Combat across the sea is really not easy, especially when you go to fight tens of thousands of miles away from the mainland. You can only retreat to the coastline.Then the command of the sea must be in your hands, otherwise you will not only have to feel uneasy, but losing the command of the sea is tantamount to leaving the landing troops to die.

"In terms of quantity, Gupta has assembled nearly [-] large and small warships." Li Mai took the lead towards the military map hanging on the wall, pointing to the location of Cutak: "The enemy's warships are mainly gathered here, and more than half of the ships are for civilian use. It has been changed to military use. The number of enemy ships is still increasing."

As far as the current situation is concerned, the boundaries between military and civilian use on ships are actually not clear. It is nothing more than whether the people who use the ships are the army or the civilians. All because they have not yet entered the era of cannons. In addition, it is the boarding battle after the collision (also called the gang battle).

In fact, even in the era when artillery dominated the outcome, many civilian merchant ships could be transformed into warships after being refitted with artillery. That is, the hulls of civilian merchant ships were not as strong as military warships at the beginning of construction, and the hull structure was not as strong. Not really military.After the actual mutual shooting, warships converted from civilian merchant ships are definitely not comparable to real military warships in terms of the number of artillery pieces and the firmness of the hull.

The era of major distinction between military and civilian use is when large-scale naval guns come into play. That is when warships are equipped with large-caliber naval guns. Naval guns equipped with protective armor usually have a solid base, and the base must be able to rotate. .In such an era of giant ships and cannons, military warships and civilian ships are incompatible in terms of hull structure at the beginning, not to mention the protection from beatings, the layout of firepower points, armor reinforcement, and speed. The construction period and cost of the ship are not as good as stepping up to build a real warship.

It has always been necessary to wait until the aircraft carrier appears, and the transformation of civilian cruise ships will play again, but the aircraft carrier transformed from civilian cruise ships is really useless. Anyway, there will be no such thing as these modified aircraft carriers in the confrontation of the large fleet.An aircraft carrier transformed from a civilian cruise ship is definitely inferior to a real aircraft carrier in terms of carrier aircraft capacity, tonnage, and speed. It is impossible for an entire battle formation to deliberately slow down after entering a combat state.Therefore, the transformation of aircraft carriers from civilian cruise ships is generally used for escort and some sabotage warfare. (You can refer to the relevant deployments of the United Kingdom and the United States in World War II)

The Gupta Dynasty was a country with extremely developed maritime trade. They had a navy with a number of about [-] ships all year round.Originating from the prosperity of the maritime trade of the Gupta Dynasty, the number of ships owned by their folks was not too small.In normal proportions, the number of Gupta civilian ships must be more than twenty times the total tonnage of the navy's warships. (Refer to the proportion of various maritime powers in the Middle Ages)

"That is to say, when waiting for the enemy to launch a decisive battle, their ships will not be less than a thousand?"

"I think it will reach more than [-] ships."

The Central Plains Dynasty has never been a maritime power. In fact, it is in the initial stage of exploring the navy.In the past, when calculating warships, the inland rivers were counted as ships that could participate in the battle. There are few historical records of the Yangtze River Wars.

Every warship that can participate in naval battles must be able to withstand the test of the waves, which means that even if the warship is small, it will not be too small. Huan Wen is already imagining the scene of [-] warships spread out , There are many overlapping images of ships in my mind, and the adjective that comes to mind is the four words "overwhelming".

The Han State sent spies to the Gupta Dynasty to collect intelligence. The Gupta Dynasty’s naval collection was a collection of spies and naval ships on the road. There must be cases where the data is unknown, but it can also be used as the greatest reference.

"About Gupta's land force, we currently know that they will not be less than 40. It is roughly divided into various infantry, and the cavalry is divided into horse cavalry and elephant cavalry. In addition, the enemy is still equipped with a large number of chariots. "

The infantry of the Gupta Dynasty still had a relatively strict hierarchy. Unarmored infantry accounted for an absolute majority, and there were two types of melee light infantry and archers, of which archers were definitely a major feature.Their armored infantry is composed of Kshatriya warriors, accompanied by the elite private armed forces of each Kshatriya, which is the so-called noble force.

It is said that the archers of the Gupta Dynasty have their own characteristics, which depend on the local environmental factors to bring local distinctive features to the bow and arrow. Their bow is a long bow made of metal or bamboo, and the arrow is a long bamboo pole. On the metal head, the metal longbow is the most powerful.The Asan longbow is different from the composite bows of the West or Central Asia, the latter tends to warp in humid environment, and the Asan longbow is known as a weapon with long range and strong penetrating power due to the influence of climate. Can also be used against horse archers.

Regarding the archers of the Gupta Dynasty, the Han army already has a full understanding, that is, the two sides often shot at each other when fighting at sea. The Han army was somewhat surprised by the range of the Gupta archers, and also studied the Gupta army. Arrow construction.

Of course, the Han army has archers, which are divided into foot archers and horse archers.The standard bows of infantry archers are actually hard bows, most of which have a tension of about one stone, and the longest range is 150 meters.Of course, horse archers use riding bows, which are divided into longbows and horn bows. The longest range of the longbow is 200 meters, and the longest range of the horn bow is only 70 meters.

The Han army was surprised by the Gupta archers, because they found that the Gupta archers could shoot arrows at a distance of 300 meters, and even after 300 meters, they still had a strong penetrating power.

"The standing army on land is 40, and there will inevitably be more in a state of war."

Huan Wen only had two standing armies on land. If the subordinate servants were counted, the total land force was only [-].Before he came, he didn't quite understand why Liu Yan said that he could not eliminate the Gupta Dynasty in one go. What Liu Yan wanted was to hurt the Gupta Dynasty in one go, use powerful force to subdue the Gupta Dynasty, and obtain what he wanted politically. blackmail.

To say that before Huan Wen somewhat held the idea of ​​destroying the Gupta Dynasty at once, knowing the current strength of the Gupta Dynasty, and then estimating its war potential, he understood intellectually that there is really no hope of destroying the country in one war, so he should think about it next. How to hurt the Gupta Dynasty, the more pain the Gupta Dynasty can be beaten, the better the political negotiations after the military contest can be blackmailed.

"The first battle is the outcome at sea." Huan Wen narrowed his eyes, as if thinking for a moment, and then looked at Li Mai: "If the big man invites Ah San to a meeting, will General Lang have confidence?"

Li Mai had to ask clearly: "With the current [-] warships, how about hunting with the enemy's [-] warships?"

Huan Wen laughed dumbfoundedly, and said grandly, "Warships? Will the big man be short of warships?!"

Li Mai thinks so too, Beiyang Fleet or Nanyang Fleet, which fleet has less than a thousand warships, what he has concerns about is when the follow-up warships will arrive.

(End of this chapter)