After Li Pinglang rescued the merchants in distress, he ordered the fleet to continue moving towards the goal.
No matter how angry I am, it will not affect this battle.
The Imperial Navy fleet must capture Gibraltar. Only by controlling the gate to the Mediterranean can the Empire's interests in the Mediterranean be guaranteed.
Li Pinglang had already decided to take revenge on the merchants.
They are both Fujianese and Han Chinese.
As a naval officer of the Great China Empire, he could not watch the Han people being bullied in Europe and remain indifferent.
But things have priorities, and revenge must give way to war.
After occupying Gibraltar, Li Pinglang naturally had a way to avenge the merchants.
The rising sun in the east had already risen, and Li Pinglang stayed up all night. With bloodshot eyes, he picked up a telescope and looked at Gibraltar ahead.
After a long voyage, the fleet arrived at the junction of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
There is only a narrow strait between the two peninsulas.
There is a place close to Spain with an excellent port, this place is Gibraltar.
When Li Pinglang saw Gibraltar in the distance, he was as usual, without any sense of crisis.
This is precisely because they traveled along the coast of North Africa and did not expose the traces of the fleet.
Admiral Li Pinglang said to Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang: "Inform the fleet to attack Gibraltar according to the No. 3 combat plan."
During the military meeting, they had already formulated a battle plan to attack Gibraltar.
Battle plan number three is when Gibraltar is unprepared.
The Imperial Navy fleet took advantage of the long range of naval guns to immediately destroy the most threatening coastal defense guns and blockade the port.
Once the local military port is blocked, the warships will be blocked in the port and will not be able to exert their strength at all.
Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang nodded, immediately commanded the flag soldiers, and issued combat instructions through flag language.
The captain of the Wuyishan, Lu Yuanwang, saw the semaphore on the mast and muttered, "It's a big loss."
Originally, the Qilian Mountain was used as the flagship, but when Shi Lang got the vanguard mission, Admiral Li came to the Wuyi Mountain.
Now, as the flagship, they can only take the lead in the rear, and the combat tasks are handed over to the Changbaishan and Qilianshan.
If Lu Yuanwang had known this, he would definitely find a way to reject Admiral Li.
Now I can only watch my comrade show his strength, and he is waving flags and shouting from the side.
On the armored cruiser Changbaishan, Captain Zheng Sen saw the flag message. He immediately smiled and shouted:
"The opportunity to make meritorious deeds has come, and everyone must seize it.
According to the combat plan, our Changbaishan is responsible for destroying Gibraltar's coastal defense guns.
The destroyer belonging to the Changbaishan immediately cooperated with other destroyers to blockade the Gibraltar military port.
Even if you use ramming, you must keep the enemy's warships behind."
Zheng Sen's order was issued, and their Changbai Mountain boiler immediately ran at high speed and approached Gibraltar at full power.
He shouted to the artillery: "You have been practicing mobile shooting for many years. Today, when shooting fixed targets, you must achieve half the accuracy."
As long as this accuracy rate is achieved, I will reward the artillerymen after the war. If the accuracy rate is too low, I will punish you after the war."
Zheng Sen watched the artillerymen become nervous. He was very satisfied with the current state of the artillery.
The accuracy of naval artillery has always been low, especially when warships are moving at high speed.
The movement speed of the warship is unstable, and the waves cause the warship to shake.
The accuracy of naval guns has always been low, with recruits failing to hit one out of ten. The artillerymen on the Changbai are all veterans.
Their technical level is much higher than that of the new recruits, but if they want to perform stably at the level of one of two, they also need to be in excellent condition.
Zheng Sen watched the armored cruiser Changbaishan quickly approach Gibraltar.
When the fleet was far away from Gibraltar, the enemy forces in Gibraltar were unable to detect the fleet due to the cover of sea fog.
But as the fleet approaches, the enemy forces in Gibraltar have discovered the existence of the fleet.
However, the enemy's performance was very unsatisfactory in Zheng Sen's eyes.
They did not leave the shore defense guns to aim at the warships and fire deterrent shots.
They did not let the warships docked in the port come out immediately to prevent them from being captured in one fell swoop.
Zheng Sen believes that the main reason for this situation is that the officers here in Gibraltar do not know ironclad ships.
They saw a special kind of ship floating on the sea, emitting billowing black smoke.
I did not connect ironclad ships with warships at first.
The secondary reason is that there has been no war in Gibraltar for a long time.
The local army was careless and did not think that anyone would attack them.
When Zheng Sen saw this situation, he was very happy.
The Spaniards were unprepared. This war would be extremely smooth, and while they would gain massive military success, their own casualties would be extremely low.
Zheng Sen estimated that the range of the Changbaishan armored cruiser's main gun could already cover Gibraltar's coastal defense guns.
He immediately ordered: "The ship's starboard side should be aimed at Gibraltar, and the speed should be maintained at 10 kilometers per hour.
The naval guns are ready to fire at any time, targeting the Gibraltar shore defense batteries."
After Zheng Sen issued the order, the armored cruiser Changbaishan slowed down the output of the steam engine. At the same time, the warship drew an arc on the sea and aimed its broadside at Gibraltar.
Slowing down the speed of warships is mainly to increase the hit rate of naval guns.
When a warship is moving at full speed, the hit rate of naval guns is extremely low.
The warship kept moving at a low speed. Even if Gibraltar's shore defense guns counterattacked, their accuracy in hitting the warship was not high enough.
Aimed at Gibraltar, the sides are mainly the main guns of the ironclad, all installed in the middle of the warship.
The guns of ironclad ships have larger calibers and can weigh several tons.
It is no longer suitable to be installed at the bow and stern of the ship. If installed at the bow and stern, the warship will easily capsize.
Changbaishan's artillery staff received the captain's order, and they immediately ordered the ship's guns to load shells.
Four artillerymen held a three to four hundred kilogram shell together and loaded it into the barrel.
The artillery staff immediately operated the naval gun and fine-tuned the parameters of the naval gun.
After he completed the adjustment, he immediately shouted: "The adjustment of the No. 1 main gun has been completed, please fire."
"Permission to fire."
Upon hearing Captain Zheng Sen's order, the artillery staff immediately pulled the gun rope, and the primer of the shell was activated.
There was a loud roar, and the huge shell flew out of the barrel with a whistling sound.
The barrel of the naval gun immediately retreated, compressing the spring of the gun mount, and was quickly restored by the spring.
The warship Changbaishan only shook slightly.
The artillery observer used binoculars to watch the fired artillery shells.
He flew several kilometers away at extremely fast speeds and accurately hit Gibraltar's coastal defense guns.
The artillery observer shouted excitedly: "It's hit, we've hit it."
During the time the cannonballs were flying, this naval gun had already fired two cannonballs.
Li Pinglang stood on the deck of the Wuyishan, observing the battle ahead with a telescope.
The armored cruiser Changbaishan fired first, followed closely by the armored cruiser Qilianshan.
There are three main guns on the side of the armored cruiser. A total of six main guns fire alternately, with a hit rate of about 40%.
Gibraltar's coastal defense batteries were just beginning to be attacked. They were unprepared and had no counterattack at all.
Gibraltar's seven coast defense batteries had been destroyed before the coast defense batteries began to counterattack.
The more stable coastal defense artillery is not as accurate as the cruiser, and the quality of the artillery between the two sides is very different.
The shells of coastal defense artillery are not accurate enough and have insufficient range.
There are very few artillery shells that can hit a cruiser. Even if they hit a cruiser, the power of the shells has been exhausted after flying several miles, and they hit the deck of the warship without leaving even a hole.
Seeing this situation, Gibraltar no longer uses coastal defense guns to attack cruisers, but instead attacks destroyers blocking the port.
When the cruiser attacked the coastal defense batteries, twelve destroyers quickly approached the port and blocked all the warships in the port before the Spanish navy could react.
Without warships leaving port, they are living targets.
After several salvoes from the destroyers, the port was littered with warship debris.
When Li Pinglang saw this situation, he smiled and said: "The Wuyishan can now cover the landing of the Marine Corps."
When Lu Yuanwang heard Admiral Li's order, he was extremely happy. The Wuyishan finally had a place to play in this war.
He immediately covered the Marines who were on troop carriers and with the supply fleet, and set off together to approach the shore of Gibraltar.
Marine Corps General Niu Baoguo was also overjoyed. They thought that this time they came to Europe, there would be no room for them to perform.
He didn't expect that they would be able to land on the island as soon as they arrived in the Mediterranean.
There was basically no resistance on the island, but occupying an island did not mean a trip to Europe was in vain.
Niu Baoguo was not qualified to participate in the military meeting. He later learned that the navy wanted to occupy Gibraltar.
He was simply ecstatic, and he had a little bit of the Marine Corps to show off.
Navy warships can never go ashore and capture Gibraltar. The Marine Corps must take at least one-third of the credit.
After receiving the order, Niu Baoguo asked with a serious expression: "Are the small sampans used for the charge ready?
We must use all our strength to capture Gibraltar.
The Imperial Navy has captured Gibraltar, and only our Marines can garrison it.
As long as we hold Gibraltar and we return to China, we can at least get a promotion."
"Captain, don't worry, we are all ready."
"Captain, our Second Fleet Marine Corps is the ace of the Imperial Navy. Little Gibraltar cannot stop us at all."
When Niu Baoguo saw the confidence of his subordinates, he immediately felt relieved.
With the capabilities of the Dahua Imperial Marine Corps and the cover of the Imperial Navy's ironclad ships, he could not capture Gibraltar, so he immediately retired and went home to plant sweet potatoes.
The coastal defense artillery was restrained by the Changbaishan and Qilianshan.
The ironclad cruiser Wuyishan escorts a Marine Corps troop transport ship near the shore of Gibraltar.
His naval guns attacked simultaneously, daring to target his shore defense guns.
Because it is closer to the shore, the accuracy of Wuyishan will be higher.
Wuyishan also used naval guns to attack the troops defending along the coast.
A naval gun with a caliber of more than 200 millimeters creates a gun crater with a diameter of more than ten meters.
A cannonball went down. The Spaniards had never seen such a powerful cannonball.
They immediately ran in all directions and got out of their way.
The landing process of the Marine Corps was very easy, and there was no enemy force to interfere with their landing.
When a regiment of Marine Corps landed on the shore.
The three armored cruisers cooperated with each other and destroyed all the Gibraltar coastal defense batteries.
Twelve destroyers cooperated with each other and completely blocked the port, gradually wiping out the Spanish warships in the port.
Admiral Li Pinglang said happily: "We have basically eliminated the resistance in Gibraltar.
The capture of Gibraltar is just around the corner, and the cruiser immediately assists the destroyer to eliminate the enemy forces in the naval port.
The Marines destroyed the enemy on the shore and completely destroyed the garrison of Gibraltar."
Niu Baoguo received the order. He looked at the bastion far away from the shore and shouted loudly: "Brothers, follow me and charge.
The naval warships will clear the bastion walls for us."
Marines carrying guns and pushing infantry cannons approached the bastion.
The Spanish officers in the bastion were stunned by the sudden war.
I have never seen a black smoke-belching warship suddenly attack them from the sea.
Coast defense artillery had no effect on this kind of warship. The shells of the coast defense artillery hit the warship two or three times, but the enemy warship was not injured at all.
The powerful shells of enemy warships hit the coastal defense guns, and one shell can destroy the coastal defense guns.
There is simply no way to fight this kind of war.
When they were about to notify the navy to leave the harbor for combat operations, they discovered that enemy warships were approaching quickly. While the navy was still raising sails, they blocked the harbor.
When the officers saw this situation, they knew that Gibraltar could not be defended.
While sending people to ask for help, he shrank his troops into the bastion and prepared to pass through the bastion to save his own life.
When the officers saw that there were only a few enemies and went ashore to attack, they thought their lives were saved.
Suddenly, a roaring sound came from the sky.
They looked up to the sky and saw two huge cannonballs hitting the bastion wall directly.
With two loud bangs, the solid fortress collapsed immediately.
Niu Baoguo looked at the completely collapsed bastion in front of him and said helplessly: "The navy has no moral ethics and actually attacked with artillery shells.
Two cannons destroyed the bastion, what else do we, the Marine Corps, need to do?"
He could only lead the marines to clear the ruins of the bastion.
Admiral Li Pinglang disembarked from the Wuyishan and landed on the land of Gibraltar.
The Imperial Navy fleet has completely cleared Gibraltar of its enemies and officially occupied Gibraltar.
He told Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang: "Contact the State of Fujian, hire a large number of craftsmen from the State of Fujian, and purchase cement and steel bars.
We must build coastal defense guns and other fortifications in Gibraltar.
This important place must be built like an iron barrel.
Crete is extremely safe, so most of the garrison there was transferred to defend Gibraltar."
Chief of Staff Gu Zhonghuang received the order and immediately contacted Fujian and Crete.
Admiral Li Pinglang looked at the strait ahead and said excitedly: "Our army will definitely be able to control the situation in the Mediterranean if we occupy Gibraltar.
The natural barrier of Gibraltar is so important.
As long as our army can hold Gibraltar, European countries with only Mediterranean ports can only act based on the empire's face."
Li Pinglang only looked at the map and knew that Gibraltar was extremely dangerous and must be a battleground for military strategists.
Only after he experienced Gibraltar personally did he realize that he had been conservative.
Gibraltar is a strategic place.
In his impression, the only places of the same level on the route from Dahua to Europe are the Strait of Malacca and the Suez Canal.
As long as the Great China Empire can defend Gibraltar, future generations will surely benefit from it.
This place will definitely be an important support point for the sea power of the Great China Empire. (End of this chapter)