Great Tang Southern Emperor

"I hope." Cheng Chuliang didn't ask any further questions, and left to command the fleet.

The next day, the sky changed suddenly. It should be the morning when the red sun was rising, but the sky was gloomy and scary, especially at sea. The clouds were so low that you could reach them with your hands, and the thick clouds covered your head. A large area, which makes people unconsciously feel a sense of depression.There was also a strong wind howling, with a shrill scream, as if a huge boulder was pressing on the heart, and the whole person felt heavy and could not lift up his spirits.

Cheng Chuliang pushed open Li Zhen's door and brought in a gust of wind: "Your Highness, judging from the weather today, it should be raining heavily, and there is a possibility of strong winds. We must find a place to shelter from the rain."

"But there shouldn't be any shelter from the rain nearby?" Li Zhen put down the book in her hand and raised her head to ask. They are walking in a straight line now, and they can reach Quanzhou directly from Luzon, but there is nothing on the way for boats The closest island to the stop is the Dongsha Islands, but there is also a shortest two-day journey, which is simply unrealistic.

"So what my subordinates mean is that we have to connect all the ships to form a ship array to resist the storm." Cheng Chuliang was solemn and a little fortunate: "Fortunately, we left earlier and encountered a group of ships. It is a tropical storm with a wind speed of only level [-]. If it is a few days later, it is likely to be a typhoon. At that time, even the ship array may not work well."

"In this case, let's follow your plan." Li Zhen nodded and said, it's good to leave this kind of matter to Cheng Chuliang, he usually doesn't intervene.

Chapter 1113 Formation of Ships + The Enemy Is Coming ([-] words)

Chapter 60 Knotted Ship Formation + The Enemy Is Coming ([-] words)

The boat array is actually a product of compromise, because the situation on the sea is changing, let alone the typhoon season, even in normal times, there is a high possibility of encountering strong winds.

Under such strong winds, it would be fine if it was a battleship. The structure of the battleship is tight and well-made. Both the defense and the ability to resist wind and waves are top-notch. As long as the wind is not particularly abnormal, it can withstand ordinary storms.

But ordinary ships are not good, especially those merchant ships. Regardless of their size, they are bigger than warships, but they are far inferior to warships in terms of displacement and weight, and their structural strength is even less likely to be comparable to warships. When encountering a storm, even if it does not sink, it will be taken to an unknown place by the storm.

So after this kind of thing happened several times in a row, some smart people finally found a solution to this problem from ancient books. In the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao led an army of 80 (actually only 20) to sweep Jiangnan, but his soldiers are all from the north. They are not good at water warfare, let alone the turbulence on the river. When they got on the boat, they became dizzy one by one, and soon lost their combat effectiveness. If this continues, let alone defeat Soochow, Cao Cao Worry about being defeated.

In desperation, Cao Cao followed the counselor's advice, connected all the warships together with iron chains, and then laid wooden boards to form a combat platform one by one, on which not only people could walk, but also horses could run. There is no better way, and the elimination of Soochow is just around the corner—the premise is that there is no such thing as an east wind.

Although the final result of the Battle of Chibi is very regrettable, Cao Cao did not rule the world, but was burned by Zhou Yu, and 20 troops were burned. It is the chief culprit that caused this incident, but I have to say that the serial ship he left behind did give future generations a reminder...

Although the serial ship has various shortcomings, such as inconvenient movement, if it is defeated and chased, the serial ship is a dead end. For example, once it is difficult to gather and disperse, it cannot disperse quickly. Burning the entire fleet... and so on have all kinds of shortcomings, but as the saying goes, there is always something right, there is always something wrong, nothing in the world is absolute, and the reason why wrong things are wrong is mainly because Just because it's in the wrong place.

The serial ship is indeed not suitable for the battlefield filled with gunpowder and smoke, because the most likely thing to appear on the battlefield is flames. As long as the serial ship is contaminated with a little flame, it is easy to cause a huge disaster, but if it is only about wind and waves, the serial ship is Blessed by nature, everyone in the world knows that more people are more powerful, and by the same token, more ships can also have greater strength—from this point of view, Cao Cao’s is very successful, the only thing wrong is that he used this trick It was used in war, and no fire prevention measures were taken.

In the era of great voyages, later generations discovered the advantages of serial ships and improved them. The serial ships were changed into ship arrays, and fire prevention measures were added, which was enough to ensure that even if there was a fire, only one ship could be burned at most... After many improvements Afterwards, this object was finally used in navigation. Since then, the fleet's ability to resist wind and waves has greatly increased, even enough to withstand tropical storms.

The reason why the ship array is a product of compromise is because Li Zhen knows very well that the ship array will not last long. When the steel battleship appears, the role of the ship array will be reduced to the minimum, and only the wood in western Zhejiang can make it. Successful sea ships would only stick together when facing a storm, but those steel monsters didn't bother to do so at all. The sea could overturn them, but they couldn't tear them apart.

But that's all in the future, at least so far, when facing a storm, this boat formation method is still somewhat useful.

Under the command of Cheng Chuliang, the fleet quickly formed a circular array, with ten third-tier warships and accompanying merchant ships at the outermost periphery, small warships and supply ships in the middle, and Li Zhen's Holy Prince at the center ——All the ships are connected by iron chains, forming a tight whole, close to each other. Although they are still individual, they are enough to withstand strong storms.

The storm came quickly, and not long after the formation of the boat formation, Li Zhen heard the sound of wind and rain outside, the sky was full of thunder, like countless silver snakes dancing wildly, wantonly indulged, and like the whip of God, lashing the sea, and the sea also changed. It was no longer quiet, but began to swing left and right, and there were even more monstrous waves, sweeping and raging, even if they formed a ship formation, these big ships had to sway with the fluctuations of the waves.

"Your Highness, why did you come out?" Cheng Chuliang was instructing the staff to fix the supplies, but he saw Li Zhen come out inadvertently, wiped his face wet by the rain, and could not help persuading: "Your Highness, the wind and rain are raging outside." , you should go back with your daughter's body, I will be fine here for a while."

"It doesn't matter." Li Zhen waved his hand and said coldly: "The most important thing now is not to fix the supplies, but to pay attention to the situation in the surrounding sea area..."

"Yes." Cheng Chuliang's spirit froze, and he understood Li Zhen's meaning: "Your Highness means that they will make a move at this time?"

"After all, the opportunity is rare." Li Zhen sneered a little, and she also had some expectations in her heart. She had already achieved this step, and met such good conditions. If the other party didn't take the bait, then her play would be in vain. Show it to the blind.

"Your Highness, Commander, there is news from the Shazhou that there is a fleet of ships heading towards us from the south. The number is about [-]. It seems that the visitors are not friendly." Just as Cheng Chuliang was about to go down to make arrangements, the flag bearer suddenly came over. report.

"It seems that the other party can't wait." Cheng Chuliang smiled.

"Why did you come here at this time?" Li Zhen showed doubts on her face. At this time, the heavy rain has just started, and it is also the time when the fleet's vigilance is the strongest. Anyone who knows a little bit about the art of war knows that this is not the best time. Timing, but it happens to be shot at this time. Could there be some conspiracy?

"Your Highness may be thinking too much, and they probably want to test it out." Cheng Chuliang explained with a loud smile: "Your Highness, your arrangement is indeed ingenious, but it is a bit deliberate, and the other party may have already seen something. So I simply stopped hiding, and simply rushed out to test it first. Besides... His Highness's enemies are not a family. Although they are united, if there is any tacit understanding between them, or It is probably impossible to be able to unite and cooperate with one mind...so in order to grab the top score, it is only natural to take the first shot."

"It makes sense." Li Zhen also came to realize that it is true, 1 people have [-] ideas, not to mention these forces have their own small thoughts, although they are gathered together because of the same goal, which is themselves, but they must It is absolutely impossible for them to cooperate sincerely and even hand over their backs to their allies.

What's more, some of these people have a deep hatred for themselves, hate themselves to the bone, and wish to kill themselves immediately, while some kill themselves because they block their way, so they want to kill themselves, but They don't hate themselves...

This also led to disharmony among them. Some people were ready to act immediately when they saw themselves, while some people were waiting for work in the back, and came out to pick up bargains when their fleet was exhausted. These are two different concepts, and the two sides will definitely have differences because of this. Although they will not fall apart in the end, they will definitely cause a huge rift—and the best manifestation of this huge rift is that the alliance is divided into two parts. Take the shot to destroy yourself, while the other part continues to hide behind, waiting for the opportunity.

"boom!"

Just as Li Zhen was thinking, a loud noise woke him up.

"Where is the sound of the cannon coming from? This doesn't seem to be our cannon?" Li Zhen asked in amazement. He developed the cannon, and listening to the sound of the cannon is his special skill. At this time, just listening to the sound, you can tell that this is not the case. It is not any type of shell produced by its own arsenal.

"Your Highness, be careful, the other party also has cannons." Cheng Chuliang was not in the mood to answer Li Zhen's question at this time, and hurriedly pulled Li Zhen to go into the cabin: "Our plan was wrong, the other party also has cannons, and the power is more powerful than that." Ours is a little smaller... It's not safe outside anymore, Your Highness, you should hurry up and hide."

After being dragged into the cabin, Li Zhen did not hide, but came to the bridge (the place where the captain commanded the battle), which was also surrounded by thick steel plates. As long as he was not directly hit, there would be no danger. The important thing is that there is a huge telescope here, through which you can see the situation outside.

"I've seen Your Highness." Seeing Li Zhen coming in, the captain of the Holy Prince, Li Ergou (super trick, he's back again), hurriedly led a group of people forward to salute.

"Excuse me, I'll use the binoculars." Li Zhen waved him to get up, and then walked to the binoculars bluntly, after watching the battle outside - all the configurations of Li Zhen's Holy Prince were top-notch, and this binoculars Naturally, it is also the best. Although it is not as good as the top astronomical telescope, you can see the craters on the moon, but it is also made of the best materials and lenses. Using it to watch the battle is simply better than watching with the naked eye. clearer.

The binoculars were taken over by Li Zhen, of course Li Ergou didn't dare to drive him away, so he could only smile wryly and watch with the binoculars around his neck. Fortunately, the Holy Prince was in the center of the ship array at this time and was in a protected state , and there are no combat missions, you can watch the battle leisurely inside.

"The opponent's artillery seems to be as powerful as ours." Li Ergou watched for a while, and quickly came to the conclusion that although the enemy's ship looked like a merchant ship, no one knew whether it was their disguise. That's all, the problem is that their cannons are no less than their own cannons-of course, they are only the smallest 75mm rapid-fire guns, and it seems that they don't have any bigger guns, but even so, they are already very good Incredible.

"It seems that the folks also have masters." Li Zhen also sighed, since the opponent's cannon is not the navy's standard cannon, it means that it was researched by the folks, and nothing else, it can be researched alone A kind of cannon, this is a very powerful ability, and this alone is enough to be worthy of the title of expert.

With the development of science and technology, the composition of cannons is no longer a technical problem, and the formula of gunpowder is not a secret. As long as there are sufficiently precise machine tools and suitable materials, cannons can basically be made. Li Zhen has long understood this. This psychological preparation, but this is coming a little too soon, right?

"It seems that we need to investigate the origin of the opponent." Such a brilliant artillery designer, Li Zhen's talent collection addiction broke out again, not to mention that weapons are strictly prohibited from being privately cast by the court, and privately cast artillery is even more so. For a felony, the other party not only forged cannons, but also sold them. This has already violated Li Zhen's taboo - if such a person is not investigated, he does not know how much he will suffer in this regard in the future.

"Fortunately, the other side doesn't have many cannons." After watching for a while, Li Zhen finally felt relieved. The performance of the other party's cannons is no less than the navy's standard cannons, but the caliber is a bit smaller and the number is not many. , It should be caused by two reasons: one is the bearing capacity of the ship. If there are more suitable ships, it is not a problem to make larger caliber cannons.The other is that the number of cannons is not large. Presumably, the opponent's production capacity is insufficient, and it is not enough to fully arm a fleet.

The sound of shelling rang out for an hour. Because the Quanzhou Fleet formed a ship formation, the ships were too dense and the speed was very slow, which caused many ships to be shot. No warship sank, not even one was seriously injured, even the Holy Prince was hit and bounced off by a steel plate, and was not injured—so Li Zhen also saw the third shortcoming of the opponent's cannon, that It's just that the accuracy rate is not high, and the ballistic trajectory is very erratic. Although the shells can be fired, after they are fired, they can only rely on luck.

However, although the Quanzhou Fleet was injured, it was not easy for the opponent—the Quanzhou Fleet is a ship formation. Although it is inconvenient to move, all the ships are gathered together. The artillery density is unprecedentedly strong, and the opponent has left five or six ships behind. , Relatively speaking, the Quanzhou fleet only suffered a little injury, which is already a victory.

"Your Highness, the enemy has retreated. We didn't catch up. You should punish me." Cheng Chuliang came in to report with a sullen face. Oh, if they are wiped out, at least half can be left behind, but what about this time?Not only did he suffer a lot, but there were only five or six enemy ships left behind, and he watched the opponent run out of ammunition and leave blatantly. This was a shame for Cheng Chuliang.

Chapter 1114 Fire! ([-] words)

Chapter 61 Fire! ([-] words)

Although he didn't suffer a loss, he didn't take advantage of it. Instead, he let the enemy retreat freely. In Cheng Chuliang's view, this was a huge failure, so he came to Li Zhen immediately after the battle to plead guilty.

Li Zhen quickly relieved: "You don't have to be discouraged. Although you didn't have much results, you didn't suffer at all, did you? If you don't suffer, you are taking advantage. Besides, the enemy also has artillery, and it is enough to be able to survive their siege without loss. Great victory."

"That's right, then the subordinates won't untie the ship array, just continue to maintain the current state." Cheng Chuliang figured it out. The biggest task of his trip was not to fight the enemy at sea, but to ensure Li Zhen's safety. This goal has been achieved, not to mention that this time it is still a gain, even if his own fleet is dead, it is worth it.

Although the ship array has various disadvantages, there is one thing that is excellent-that is, the ship array is a circle, and the battleships with powerful firepower are arranged outside, which means that they can be omnidirectional. Protecting the Holy Prince from a dead corner, no matter where the enemy attacks from, they will face the counterattack of the Tang Navy and have to retreat, which is unmatched by other formations.

"Let's untie it." Li Zhen said with a smile: "After all, we have so many ships, and you have seen the firepower of the other party. Although they do have artillery, the caliber is not very large, and they are not a threat to us at all. You need to be more courageous, and chase more -- besides, we can't just defend, we can't go out in the future, and we must continue to maintain the formation of the ship, right?"

"Yes, this subordinate understands." Cheng Chuliang thought for a while, and he really didn't need to be so nervous. This is a full-stacked naval squadron (a formation composed of ten third-tier battleships, so it will be called from now on), this What enemy in the world can make you nervous?Even if the enemy is besieged, even if the enemy has artillery, so what?It's not that the Holy Prince has no power to protect itself, and with the surrounding warships, what if the enemy has artillery?

What's more, if something is really wrong, or if the enemy's strength is too strong to fight against, it may be difficult to resist even if they form a ship formation. If they can't resist and escape, then they are really looking for death. It's better to untie the boat array now, even if you can't beat it, you can run away in the end.

The only problem is this storm. Although it has been an hour, the storm has not stopped, but has become more and more intense. Even if it is formed into a ship formation, it will be difficult to resist. The entire fleet is about to be blown apart, which needs to be figured out.

"It's okay." Knowing Cheng Chuliang's embarrassment, Li Zhen waved her hand to signal that there is no need to worry: "We can't resist the storm, so why not the enemy? We just need to try our best to maintain the formation."

"Yes, I understand." Cheng Chuliang nodded repeatedly when he heard the words. He would be blown away by the wind and waves. The enemy's ships were not as good as his own warships, and naturally they were even worse. Besides, it would be better if the fleet was blown away. Being blown apart, the number of enemy ships faced by our own warships is greatly reduced. The accuracy of the enemy's artillery is seriously insufficient. I'm afraid I can't even pose a threat to myself.