The sun is shining brightly in the sky, and there is a gentle breeze on the sea.
This is a good day to go on an expedition.
There are neatly arranged warships on the sea surface of Cairo Port.
There are two distinct fleets that look very different.
This is the Third Ironclad Fleet of the Second Fleet of the Great China Empire, with three armored cruisers and twelve armored destroyers forming the core of the armored fleet.
There is also a traditional sailing fleet composed of five sailing battleships and 26 sailing cruisers of the Fujian Navy.
Black smoke billowed from the ironclad ship, its boilers were burning brightly, and its steam engines were running at high speed, ready to set off at any time.
The sailing warship raised the anchor, and the sailors were ready to raise the sails.
The two navies were ready to set off to Greece in the north to seize the important territories of the Ottoman Turkish Empire on the Mediterranean coast.
There is a large microphone standing in front of the Fujian King Zhang Yuliang, and the large speaker in front of the dock can ensure that his voice is transmitted to the navy.
"I would like to thank the Imperial Navy of Great China for their hard work in coming to help us.
With the warships of the Great China Navy escorting us, I believe that the brave warriors of the navy will achieve success in this battle.
The Greek region was very important to the Ottoman Turkish Empire.
The hinterland of the Ottoman Turkish Empire was very close to Greece.
By occupying Greece, our army can attack the Yellow Dragon and completely eliminate the Ottoman Turkish Empire.
My fellow soldiers, I am waiting for you to return victoriously and to award you with honors in person.
I declare the Northern Expedition officially begins."
Du Dayong, the naval governor of Fujian, heard the order from Zhang Yuliang, the king of Fujian, and ordered: "Sound the whistle and go to war!"
Woo! Woo! Woo!
The crisp and loud air whistle sounded, and the sail warships of the Fujian Navy set sail one after another.
The Fujian navy, led by the flagship Qinglong, lined up and headed north.
When Admiral Li Pinglang saw the movements of the Fujian Navy, they also blew their whistles and followed the Fujian Navy's flanks.
Shi Lang, the captain of the Qilianshan, walked up to Li Pinglang.
His warship is the flagship of the fleet. He cannot command the warship too freely, but he can be the first to understand the fleet's goals.
"Admiral Li, will our army participate in this naval battle?"
Li Pinglang said firmly: "Our army must participate in this naval battle.
We worked hard to seize the Aegean Islands from Fujian.
The Fujian Navy must be made to realize that it is worthwhile for them to do so.
But our army does not need to charge into battle, it only needs to provide fire support from the rear."
Shi Lang said happily: "This is good, our army will not suffer casualties this way.
We only need to spend some ammunition to get the benefits we want."
Shi Lang learned about the specific tactics. He looked relaxed and talked about the situation of the Fujian Navy.
"The ships of the Fujian navy are named after mythical names such as Qinglong, Xuanwu and Gonggong.
Why are the names of their naval ships so strange?”
When Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang heard Shi Lang's question, he simply explained: "This question is easy to answer. I discussed it with the Fujian naval general.
They adopted this name just to remember the Chinese culture and not forget the roots.
Myth has been integrated into blood and cultural inheritance, and is a very good carrier.
These newly established countries have only a few years of history, so they certainly cannot be named after famous people.
For example, it was named after the King of Fujian Zhang Yuliang. Once this warship encountered a crisis, the naval generals would not be able to abandon it easily.
After all, the King of Fujian Zhang Yuliang was sunk by the enemy. When news of this comes out, the future of the naval general in charge will be ruined.
The same goes for our navy, which does not need to name its ships after living celebrities or royal figures."
Shi Lang nodded and continued to ask: "Chief of Staff Gu, what do you think the Fujian Navy's chances of winning this time are?"
Gu Zhonghuang almost didn't think about it and immediately replied: "If you calculate with intention and without intention, the Fujian navy will win.
The Ottoman Turkish Empire did not realize the important role of the Suez Canal at all.
The naval power of the Ottoman Turkish Empire was also very weak.
They were simply unable to withstand the well-prepared Fujian navy.
The Ottoman Turkish Empire was bound to fail, and everyone in Fujian had a clear understanding of this.
The state of Fujian was afraid that European countries would enter Europe because of Han influence, so they put aside their past grievances and united to expel the Han influence.
Europe has one of the best naval capabilities in the world.
The Fujian navy was unable to resist, so it wanted to win over us and resist the navies of other European countries."
After Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang finished speaking, he laughed happily.
Before heading to the Mediterranean, they were ready to stir up trouble in the Mediterranean to verify the actual performance of the ironclads in naval battles.
They took the initiative to provoke, and they did not have the authorization for war from the emperor and the governor.
I'm just trying to figure out the meaning of Emperor Su He's imperial edict.
If you really start a war, even if you gain a lot of benefits, you will still be criticized by the civil servants when you return to the Great China Empire.
In the current melee caused by the Min Kingdom, they were passively plunged into the war. Even if the war they eventually provoked was large-scale, they still had sufficient excuses.
…………………………
Zheng Sen looked at the several islands in front of him and said excitedly: "This should be the Aegean Island that Admiral Li Pinglang and Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang wanted from Fujian.
Depending on the situation, these islands can build several good harbors and will definitely be excellent naval bases in the future.
Going forward, these islands will belong to the Great China Empire."
Zheng Sen loudly ordered: "Signal soldiers, send a semaphore to the flagship and ask Admiral Li whether we will attack these islands."
Li Pinglang listened to the messenger's report. The Changbai Mountain had just sent them a semaphore.
"Send a semaphore to all ships. We don't need to worry about these islands. We will cooperate with the Fujian navy to take Greece.
Greece is occupied by the Fujian navy, and these islands have no strength to resist."
Just as Li Pinglang issued the order, Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang, who was standing next to him, spoke.
"Old Li, this is not appropriate. I think it is better to send warships to capture the largest island of Crete and leave the remaining islands alone.
We occupied these islands to avoid quarrels with Fujian in the future.
Now the Fujian navy is still behind us. When they catch up, we will also wipe out the defenders of Crete."
Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang does not think that Fujian is easy to talk to. This is an island with extremely sensitive geographical location.
If Fujian has an excuse to cheat, they will never let go of this opportunity.
Admiral Li Pinglang thought for a moment, and he also believed that what Gu Zhonghuang said was reasonable.
The order was immediately changed and the armored cruiser Changbaishan led four armored destroyers to destroy the Ottoman Turkish Navy around Trite Island.
Escort the Marines to the island and eliminate the large-scale enemy forces on the island.
Zheng Sen received an order from Admiral Li Pinglang, and he immediately issued an order to lead warships around the island to search for enemy troops.
At the same time, search for a port and send the marines to the island.
Du Dayong, the naval governor of Fujian, stood on the deck of the battleship Qinglong, looking at the bursts of gunfire coming from the north.
Du Dayong didn't need to use a telescope to see, he knew that the imperial navy was attacking the islands that belonged to them in the Aegean Sea.
The armored ships of the Imperial Navy have high defense, and even the best naval guns of the Fujian Navy cannot penetrate the armored ships.
The ironclad ship was still very fast. They were moving forward with full sail from the rear and could not catch up with the ironclad ship in the background.
A warship is fast, armored, and has a long range.
It is an invincible warship on the sea.
When Du Dayong saw the performance of the Imperial Navy, he secretly prayed that he would never turn against the Imperial Navy.
Wei Zhifeng, the captain of the battleship Qinglong, walked up to Du Dayong and said worriedly:
"My Lord Governor, by doing this, will the Imperial Navy alert the enemy and make the Ottoman Turkish Navy in Greece aware of our arrival in advance?"
Du Dayong waved his hand and said confidently: "Our battle plan has not been leaked in advance.
The enemies in the Greek area are still the original enemies and have not transferred troops from other places.
Just a small amount of enemy troops, whether they notice it or not, will not affect our army's victory.
What's more, the Imperial Navy will be standing by to provide us with fire support."
Du Dayong looked at the Imperial Navy's cannons that kept firing.
He was extremely envious. There were only a small number of standard artillery shells on the Qinglong, which were purchased at a high price from the Dahua Empire. He would not be willing to fire the artillery shells unless he encountered a difficult enemy.
The Fujian navy still uses muzzle-loading guns and solid ammunition to deal with conventional enemies.
Fujian's current industry is not good enough to imitate the standard muskets and artillery of the Great China Empire.
The warships of the Fujian navy approached the imperial fleet. They saw that the battle was coming to an end and the imperial navy warships had stopped firing.
Du Dayong could see through his binoculars that Marine Corps soldiers were cleaning up the remaining soldiers on the island who had been bombarded by naval guns.
He said with emotion: "The speed is too fast. This is the speed at which there is enough ammunition to wash the ground with artillery fire.
When has our army ever been so wealthy?"
Du Dayong immediately contacted the Imperial Navy through semaphore.
He congratulated the Imperial Navy for taking Crete and getting the war off to a good start.
At the same time, they asked the Imperial Navy if they could cooperate with them in attacking the Greek area.
Du Dayong soon received a reply from Li Pinglang, saying that they would follow the Fujian Navy and provide fire support to the Fujian Navy.
"Advance at full speed, target the Greek area."
Du Dayong received a definite reply from the Imperial Navy, and he became more confident.
The Fujian navy went straight to Athens, the capital of Greece. As long as the enemy forces here were eliminated, there would be no strong army to suppress them.
Greek natives would choose to resist the Ottoman Turkish Empire.
Du Dayong had read information from the Greek region. The Ottoman Turkish Empire had extremely special religious beliefs, and they did not regard foreigners as human beings at all.
Egypt is far away from the core area, and the native Egyptians were squeezed into disarray by the Ottoman Turkish Empire.
They would rather seek refuge with the Han people who came from afar than break away from the Ottoman Turkish Empire.
With the example set by Egypt, Greece will also make the right choice.
When the fleet arrived outside Athens, the Ottoman Turkish Empire Navy was organizing several old warships to prepare to resist the Fujian Navy.
Du Dayong put down the telescope. He had already seen from the telescope that the city of Athens was in chaos.
The Ottoman Turkish Empire never imagined that the Fujian navy, which only had a few warships to defend Cairo, could mobilize a large army to attack the Greek area.
Du Dayong immediately ordered: "Surround the entire army, enter the effective range of the naval guns, and immediately open fire and sink the enemy ships."
After he gives the order to the warship, he also asks you to notify the army's landing force to be ready.
The navy can only create a suitable environment for the army's landing troops to land.
If Fujian really wants to occupy the Greek area, it still depends on the performance of the army after landing.
As the flagship, the Qinglong must set an example and rush to the enemy warship immediately.
The Fujian navy skillfully operated naval guns, and he fired solid shells onto the deck of the enemy ship one after another.
Du Dayong found that the range and power of the naval guns used by the two armies were not much different.
"This should be artillery sold by European countries to the Ottoman Turkish Empire.
The Ottoman Turkish Empire suddenly had a large number of guns and artillery, and it was European countries that were behind it."
When the two armies were in a stalemate, Du Dayong believed that it would take at least two or three hours before they could annihilate the enemy forces in front of them.
He noticed the familiar sound of artillery coming from behind, and the Imperial Navy's ironclads opened fire.
Du Dayong saw the enemy ship in front of him. It was hit by a cannonball, and the entire ship fell apart. The cannonball shattered the wooden pieces and flew in all directions.
A round of bombardment by the Imperial Navy sank at least half of the enemy ships.
When the Ottoman Turkish Navy saw such heavy casualties, the remaining warships immediately chose to escape.
Du Dayong ordered the pursuit. At this moment, he would beat the drowned dog hard.
The Fujian Navy's formation dispersed and began to pursue the fleeing enemy ships.
Du Dayong suddenly heard a loud noise from the shore, and then realized that it was the shore defense artillery firing.
Du Dayong's heart skipped a beat. He had been so complacent just now that the army had already entered the range of the coastal defense artillery.
No navy wants to engage in a confrontation with coastal defense artillery.
Because the warship is bumpy at sea, the stability of the naval gun is extremely poor.
It is very easy to suffer big losses when firing against coastal defense artillery.
While Du Dayong was anxious, he saw the familiar sound of artillery coming from behind again.
The Imperial Navy's second salvo has begun, targeting the shore defense guns and defensive positions on the shore.
He looked at the performance of the Imperial Navy of Great China. It was indeed the strongest navy in the world, and the accuracy of its naval guns was extremely high.
Just one salvo has cleared the shore defense artillery on the shore.
The powerful artillery shells also fell on the defending troops.
The sudden shelling caused the army, which had never seen such a level of shelling, to immediately blow up the camp.
Du Dayong took advantage of this opportunity and immediately ordered the army to start landing.
He sent a fleet to escort the army. At this point in the war, the Ottoman Turkish Empire's navy in Greece was basically finished.
With the help of the Imperial Navy's military base in the siege, the city of Athens could not stop the attack of the Fujian army.
With the assistance of the navy, the Fujian Army worked hard to clear all enemies on the shore.
Fujian army general Zhou Zhixin led the army siege force and, with the assistance of the navy, captured Athens, the capital of Greece.
After the Fujian army entered the city, they immediately arrested all personnel related to the Ottoman Turkish Empire.
At the same time, a notice was issued to reassure the local Greeks that Fujian would not arrest them.
After the Fujian Army took control of the situation in the Athens area, it contacted the forces in Greece that resisted the Ottoman Turkish Empire and asked them to defect to the Fujian Kingdom.
The Fujian navy escorted the army at the fastest speed to control the major cities in Greece.
Fujian must move as quickly as possible before the Ottoman Empire and European countries can react.
They completely control the Greek region so that they can complete the next strategic plan. (End of this chapter)