This battle took place on June 3, 1638, in the western Indian Ocean. It started at 7 or 8 in the morning and lasted until 12 noon. In the end, the destroyer originally on the south side of the transport fleet was rushed back by the Barcelona.

Just before the team was about to close up, Yan Siqi led the team out of the battle.

After more than four hours of fighting, two 3,000-ton armored ships on Yan Siqi's side were hit by the Barcelona's main guns. The captains of both ships finally gave orders to abandon the ships. The three five-ships tasked with the interception mission

Among the thousand-ton battleships, one suffered moderate damage and two suffered minor damage. Fortunately, their power was not greatly affected, and they finally struggled to leave the battlefield.

On the European coalition side, two transport ships were sunk and thirteen transport ships were damaged to varying degrees.

Of the two ships that were sunk, one was a hospital ship: a professional ship with 1,500 beds, carrying a large number of doctors and nurses, and storing a large amount of medicine and medical equipment. The sinking of this ship had a profound impact on the European coalition's

India's ability to treat wounded soldiers on the battlefield has caused a huge blow.

There is another ship that is even worse. This is an iron-clad transport ship with a fully loaded displacement of 5,000 tons. This time it is loaded with a ship full of army artillery shells. Once hit by one like this, it will easily cause a big explosion throughout the ship.

Among dangerous ships, it is the best protected: the entire ship is in the center of the entire transport fleet.

Originally, Yan Siqi was in a hurry and didn't notice it hiding in the deepest part of the fleet at first. Who knew that after the Wuchang's main gun was fired, it formed a straddle fire on the target ship. Then the shells fell from the sky.

It landed impartially on the deck of the ammunition ship. After breaking through the deck, more than 100 kilograms of armor-piercing shells exploded inside the hull. After that, the entire ship's shells exploded one after another, and the entire transport ship

A huge mushroom cloud rose in the center of the team...

In addition to these two sunk transport ships, more than a dozen other transport ships were also more or less injured. Among them, three transport ships were so seriously injured that they had to abandon ship.

In this European Union expedition, the army is a real coalition. Out of the half-million army, Spain only has 200,000 troops. But the navy’s claim to be a coalition is false: there are more than 50 warships and more than 300 transport ships.

There were nearly 100,000 naval officers in total, more than 70% of whom were Castilians, and the rest were either Portuguese or Dutch - these territories were all under the direct jurisdiction of Philip's Kingdom of Spain.

The fundamental reason is, of course, that the navy is a technical branch, and Philip instinctively does not want technology to spread.

During Rodolfo's lifetime, as a tacit understanding between the twins, Philip fully delegated power to Rodolfo in the army. Rodolfo, on the other hand, did not interfere in the navy. Therefore, Spanish naval officers listened to Philip's teachings from the time they joined the army.

As an officer promoted by Philip, Garcia knew very well: despite more than thirty years of medical progress and the promotion of fertility, the Castilians, the core of the Spanish empire's hegemony, are still less than 10 million.

The EU currently controls less than 10% of the population. Therefore, it does not matter if the ship is gone, people, especially the Castilians, are the most precious.

Therefore, after Yan Siqi retreated, he had no intention of pursuing him. Even when Yan Siqi arrogantly asked the two destroyers to slow down to salvage their own drowned men, he had no intention of pursuing him. Instead, he called out to the other ships of his own ship and quickly

Treat the wounded, rescue those who fell into the water, and count casualties.

After the final results came out, he breathed a sigh of relief: Although the sinking of the hospital ship and the gunpowder ship caused heavy losses in materials for this transportation, all the troop transport ships were saved: many troop transport ships were hit by some shells.

The Army on board probably suffered more than 2,700 casualties - although this meant that nearly a regiment of the Army was finished before they even saw the Indian coastline. But this number of people, compared with the overall size of 500,000,

Still acceptable.

That's it. In the era without torpedoes, unless the party breaking diplomatic relations could completely destroy the other party's escort force, it would have to deal with the other party's escort ships in just a few hours with just armor-piercing bombs or incendiary bombs.

, and it is simply impossible to sink a large number of transport ships.

…

"Admiral, the casualty statistics are out. The Ganzhou and Suzhou were severely damaged and abandoned. The Xiangyang was damaged, but it did not affect the speed. The other ships were more or less hit by a few shells, but overall they were fine. The personnel situation

, our troops were killed, 360 were missing, and 198 were seriously injured.”

"Not bad." After thinking silently for a while, Yan Siqi said: "Where is the supply ship closest to us hidden now?"

After looking at the chart, the navigation staff made some calculations and quickly gave the answer: "Admiral, at this moment, the two supply ships Poyang Lake and Weishan Lake are located eighty nautical miles southwest of our fleet."

"Okay, give the order to the entire fleet to turn to the southwest. After completing the supplies, the Xiangyang, Wuwei, and Dunhuang will return eastward to Colombo with the seriously injured. The remaining ships will follow the flagship and continue westward."

"General, the enemy's transport fleet has gone east. Are we going west now?"

"Humph, I don't believe that the enemy's fleet sailed directly from Egypt to India. If that were the case, the enemy's army would be floating on the sea for at least a month. Our navy would be a little anxious if it continued to float on the ship for a month. Those landlubbers in the army would be afloat.

Yue? Therefore, I am sure that the enemy must have a transit base in the waters near here, and I want to find it!"

"That's it. I am determined to obey the general's orders."

Just as Yan Siqi continued to lead his team westward, looking for a transit base for the European coalition forces. It was also in Mumbai on June 2.

"So, the main force of the Western bandits landed in Goa?"

"That's right. According to Sanada Yukimura, the enemy's landing troops in this batch are at least one hundred thousand."

"Hmm..." After taking a puff of cigarette, Li Yongfang said: "Zhennan, what do you want? Lead the army south?"

"It stands to reason that while the Western Bandits have only landed the first batch of troops, we can lead our troops south and form a local advantage after joining forces with the Japanese and Fuguo armies. It is right to fight first. But..." Mao Wenlong frowned.

He said: "Now that Yan Siqi has led the fleet out, the coastline of the entire Indian peninsula is almost completely undefended. What if we lead the army south and the enemy uses the naval advantage to turn around and land in Bombay and then go straight to Delhi and Agra? And..." He was miserable.

He smiled and said: "Our Ming Dynasty's three divisions are okay. Those five Indian divisions, hey, you know, Lao Li, let those guys continue to march for five days. I'm afraid they haven't reached their destination yet. These five divisions themselves

All disintegrated.”

"Hey, you are right. So what should we do?"

"There is no other way, just wait. I am going to send someone to send a message to Sanada Yukimura, asking him to resist for a period of time. If nothing can be done, he can gradually retreat northward. I will meet him at the mountain pass at the northern end of the Western Ghats Mountains."

"That's all we have to do."

Just when Mao Wenlong and Li Yongfang had no choice but to choose to stay, on June 4, two battleships led the way, and about a dozen battleships of all levels and five large transport ships appeared on the east side of the Indian peninsula, mainly in Andhra Pradesh.

On the sea outside the sea port of Masukopatam.

"Sorry, Lord Raimundo, if it weren't for the damn mines, we could have arrived here at least one day earlier."

"It doesn't matter, General Sanchez. With this extra day, we will get him back as soon as possible after landing. Speaking of which, I am a little worried about the situation of the Andalusia that was hit by a mine. After all, there is so much to do here.

There is no repair shop.”

"Yes, there used to be a repair shop there in Goa, but it was a pity that it was blown up by the damn Japanese. It is said that the Chinese have a complete ship repair factory in Colombo. Unfortunately, we really don't have time to slowly build it this time.

A safe waterway was found in the mine array. However, Commander Alfonso has personally arrived in Goa to prepare for the reconstruction of the seaport and maintenance plant."

"That's good. Well, thank you for escorting us all the way. Next, please let us land."

"Hahaha, please don't be anxious. Although from the telescope, there are no forts in the port opposite. But just in case, and to frighten the enemy, please let me command the fleet to bombard you for two rounds before landing.

"

"Okay, I'm looking forward to seeing the navy's brilliant fireworks show."

On June 4, Raimundo and Durenni led two divisions, with the help of the navy, successfully bypassed the southern tip of the Indian peninsula and landed in Andhra Pradesh on the east side of the peninsula. Due to the strength of the Japanese, they were all able to resist

The two men landed on the front line and encountered minimal resistance as they advanced.

On the same day, the first batch of reinforcements from the Ming Dynasty landed in Calcutta, about 400 kilometers north of Masukopatam City, preparing to cross the Ganges River and quickly rush to the west side of the peninsula to support Mao Wenlong's army.

On June 8, Cao Bianjiao and Zuo Mengeng, who were guarding the Khyber Pass, received reports from their subordinates: Countless enemies were rushing toward the pass along the river valley!
Chapter completed!