The city of Shanghai has turned into a large military camp. In addition to the red shirt regiment brought by Liu Ziguang, there are also a large number of newly recruited navy officers and soldiers. When the recruitment flag is set up, there will be people who eat food. Who in the Ming Dynasty does not know how to eat food with Uncle Zhenwu?
Being a soldier offers the best pay, so after each recruiting station has filled its vacancies, a large number of men will still be gathered outside, strongly demanding to join the army.
Liu Ziguang is not willing to recruit so many soldiers without expertise. What he wants are sailors and fishermen with experience at sea. These recruits cannot go into battle immediately after putting on their uniforms. They can only do logistical support work. The war currently facing is high.
A naval battle under technical conditions cannot be won by relying on a large number of people. However, because of the desire of those men to serve the country, he made an exception and recruited another 3,000 people in addition to his quota to act as naval infantry soldiers.
That is the Marine Corps.
There are two brand new armored warships parked on the slipway of Jiangnan Shipyard. The keels have just been laid and the steam engines have not yet arrived. They will definitely not be able to participate in this war. Therefore, the main warships in the water war can only choose the one left by Lai Youwei.
A large paddle-wheel cargo ship, the name of this ship was the same as the company name, also called Fuyuan. Liu Ziguang thought it was unlucky, so he had it changed to "Shanghai".
The deck of the Shanghai was re-paved, and the smooth teak deck was paved to look like a ski jump platform.
There is an elevator at the highest point of the platform, which is used to lift the flying wing aircraft. Originally, it was planned to use steam ejection to take off the powered parafoil. However, the fragile frame of the parafoil could not withstand the huge acceleration of the ejection, and the two test aircraft were destroyed.
It was changed into a ski jump platform. In addition, a "swarm" of weapons of mass destruction consisting of thirty-two rocket launchers bundled together was installed in the bow direction. As for the large bed crossbows used in traditional naval battles, it was also equipped with many
.
The Shanghai did not have time to modify the underwater propellers, and still used the huge paddle wheels on both sides of the hull, which made it look wider and more powerful. Iron plates were riveted on key positions on the hull for protection, and bright red flags were flying high on the mast.
The flag of the Ming Dynasty. Dozens of powered parafoils, uninflated airships and balloons were placed in the huge cabin of the Shanghai, as well as the members of these aircraft. This ship with the largest tonnage of the Shanghai Navy temporarily served as the flag of the Ming Dynasty.
The flagship of the Fujian Governor and the Commander-in-Chief of Shanghai, Zhejiang Navy Admiral Zhenwu Bo Liu Ziguang.
There are also more than ten warships, all of which were converted from steam merchant ships. The sailors are all experienced veterans. These ships are responsible for carrying fresh water, food, soldiers, weapons, as well as fuel and other supplies.
In addition to the Shanghai Navy, there are more than 20 blessing ships of the Zhejiang Navy joining the Southern Expedition Fleet. These blessing ships are as tall as buildings, with broad tops, high bows and sterns, and guard plates on both sides. The whole ship is divided into
There are four floors. The lower floor is equipped with earth and rock ballast, and the second floor houses soldiers. The third floor is the main operating place, and the upper floor is the combat site. From a high position, bows and arrows and artillery are fired downward, which can often defeat the enemy. The bow of the fortune ship is high and has a strong impact device.
It can plow down enemy ships by riding the wind and sink them, and use more of its power to win. The Fuchuan has a draft of 1.2 feet and is an excellent deep-sea warship. However, it is not equipped with a steam engine, so its maneuverability is slightly poor. It can only be used to show off and clean up in the fleet.
Clean the battlefield.
As for the submarine Hunjianglong captured in the last battle of Jiangyin Fortress, it was also painted with the word Ming Dynasty, incorporated into the fleet, and cooperated with the supply fleet.
The fleet weighed anchor from Chongming Pier and headed south along the coast. The airship flew a hundred feet above the Shanghai. The speed of the propeller was deliberately maintained at the same speed as the ship below. A tough rope connected the airship and the Shanghai.
The mast is used as a link to replenish fuel, food and transmit information.
Liu Ziguang was sitting on the bridge of the flagship, looking at the mighty fleet. The first battle between China and the West in history was the battle between Zheng Chenggong and the Dutch in Taiwan. The victory at that time mainly relied on ships and sea.
Tactical rather than technical advantages, now the situation has changed. Although our fleet has forty warships, most of them are steamships that are not fully armed and backward sailing ships. It is said that the Western fleet has hundreds of ships.
As for warships, if a war breaks out, we can only rely on technical weapons such as airships and powered parafoils to win.
Liu Ziguang was completely blind about naval warfare. He held the position of naval admiral but could not even understand nautical charts. Fortunately, Zheng Sen was an excellent naval officer and if he had any questions, he could refer them to him.
At this time, Zheng Sen was holding a fan-shaped brass precision instrument aimed at the sun. After a while, he took a pencil to make a mark on the chart. Liu Ziguang wondered: "What are you holding?"
"Come back to the commander, it's a sextant. I humbled myself and seized it from an English ship." Zheng Sen said and handed the sextant to Liu Ziguang. The main components of this instrument are a fixed semi-reflective glass and a movable
The mirror telescope is also composed of a movable arm. It has a beautiful shape and excellent craftsmanship. It also has someone's name etched in cursive script.
"Aiming the object at the sun or other celestial bodies, the observer can see the sea horizon and the sun at the same time through a mirror. The angle between them is measured with a quadrant with a scale on the edge, so as to calculate the position of the ship.
Even in the vast white sea, you will not lose your way." Zheng Sen said.
Liu Ziguang was secretly surprised. He didn't expect that the science of the Westerners was so advanced. Looking at the scale marks on the sextant, they should have been corroded by some kind of strong acid rather than carved. It is assumed that their weapons and equipment should not be carved.
Too bad.
Liu Ziguang returned the sextant to Zheng Sen and asked: "Zheng Sen, what do you know about Westerners? Tell me about it."
"Commander, please listen to the humble officer and tell me slowly. On this vast sea, there are three Western navies that are frequently active. They are the English Navy, the Dutch Navy, and the Spanish Navy. Among these three, the
The Spanish fleet is the most powerful, with clouds of warships, forests of masts, a lot of land, and a lot of money. However, although their warships and soldiers are many, they are not as sharp as the English warships, and not as sharp as the Dutch warships.
The ship is fast, so we are often at a disadvantage in battles with these two families."
"Oh, why do Westerners still fight with each other?" Liu Ziguang felt childish as soon as he asked this. Everyone's navy went to sea to seek wealth, so it was normal for them to fight with each other, but Zheng Sen didn't think this was the case.
The question was childish, but he answered seriously:
"I heard that people in these three countries believe in different gods, so they are enemies when they meet. The Spaniards believe in God, while the British and Spanish believe in Jesus, the son of God. This son is in heaven with his father.
The families were separated, so the subjects in the lower realm also fought endlessly. Generally speaking, Britain and the Netherlands were allies. The Spanish only had an incompetent little brother called Portugal, who occasionally took a share of the pie. From the perspective of his humble position, the Spanish were defeated.
It's a matter of time."
Liu Ziguang found Zheng Sen's explanation very interesting. The so-called war of faith was probably the battle between Catholicism in Spain and Protestantism in England and the Netherlands. Liu Ziguang didn't know much about this period of history, so he ignored him and continued to ask:
"Why do you say this? Aren't the Spaniards the most powerful?"
"Your Excellency, you don't know. Although the Spaniards are rich, these gold and silver are dug from the far west, and they are not earned by their own skills. If you think of the convenience of their money, they will naturally spend it lavishly.
They are not stingy. They spend their days drinking, arrogant and extravagant, but they still have the energy to prepare their weapons and fight in all directions. It is said that even their lowest naval soldiers have bought houses and slaves in Java. But England and the Netherlands are different. England
The head of the country is called Queen Elizabeth. This woman is even more powerful than a man. She donated jewelry to build the navy, and also issued imperial edicts to recruit pirates. You don't know the plight of those English pirates. They hung the edicts on their masts and claimed to plunder on orders.
Well. As for the Netherlands, it’s even worse. This country has no king and no father. What kind of republic is it? My lord, don’t you think that this country without an emperor means that it has no king’s law? So the country is full of thieves and pirates. It just so happens that this country is full of thieves and pirates.
The two pirate countries both believed in Jesus, so they joined forces to deal with Spain, hoping to get a piece of the pie from this old empire."
"I see, listening to you talk is better than studying for ten years." Liu Ziguang said with a smile. Zheng Sen, a young man, grew up in Japan. As an adult, he traveled to Song Dynasty, Taiwan, Java, Ryukyu, Fujian and other places to gain experience.
He has mastered the Ming Dynasty Mandarin, Minnan dialect, Japanese, English, Spanish, and some dialects from Java and other places in the Song Dynasty. Duan is a rare talent. The most important thing is that he was influenced by Liu Ziguang and Wu Sangui.
, he has evolved from the son of a local powerful to an activist who supports unification. In Zheng Sen’s impression, any place that reads the books of sages and respects the teachings of Confucius and Mencius should be the territory of the Ming Dynasty. His father, Zheng Zhilong, has started rebellions in recent years.
The intention to claim the throne overseas is actually an act of splitting the country. If the imperial court had not sent troops to rescue him, the Zheng family would have been destroyed. Therefore, surrendering to the imperial court is the right way.
The two continued to discuss the situation in the Taiwan Strait. Now there are three parties on the island of Taiwan: the Spanish army, the Dutch army and the British army, as well as the remaining Zheng's army. In order to compete for this large island rich in products, the British and the Dutch are not far away.
Wanli mobilized naval divisions from the mainland to come to the rescue, and Spain's Java base was close at hand, so the troop increase was even faster. Land battles between the three parties on Taiwan Island occurred from time to time, but the decisive battles still had to be fought on the sea. Whether it was the Spanish or the Anglo-Dutch coalition,
Seeing that the Zheng family's ships were the first to attack, with the tacit cooperation between the two families, the Zheng family's fleet, which was originally based in Taiwan, had no choice but to flee to Xiamen in a hurry to avoid the war.
The Taiwan Strait Channel was the only way for Ming Dynasty merchant ships to sail to the Southeast Asia. In the past, you could pay money to buy the way to the Zheng family, and then pass with the flag issued by the Zheng family. Although the money to buy the way was very expensive, you could always do business. But since the war in the Taiwan Strait
, the merchant ships would have no way to survive, and they would be easily captured by the Western warships. Of course, there are exceptions, that is, the merchant ships in the Song Dynasty would not be attacked, because the Song Dynasty was also a powerful navy, and it would not be good to offend them.
Eat fruit.
"The navy of the Song Dynasty is so powerful that it is rare to see it in Yunei, so why don't they participate in the battle for Taiwan?" Liu Ziguang still remembers the technological level of the Song Dynasty. A country with radios and submarines has a very powerful navy. Looking at it,
Aren't you jealous that Taiwan, which is not far away from you, is being fought over by others?
"People in Song Dynasty are not religious men and women. They have huge appetites, which cannot be filled by Taiwan." Zheng Sen sneered.
Liu Ziguang deeply believed that the two troubles Wen Jun caused in Shanghai and Jiangyin Fortress were not small. Only a ghost would believe that these Song Dynasty people who were isolated overseas did not care about their homeland.
The situation in the South China Sea is complicated. Liu Ziguang sighed and came to the window to look at the sparkling sea. A few seagulls flew across the sky. The setting sun dyed the white sails of the warships around the flagship into gold. The signal on the airship
The soldiers used flags to announce that they were about to arrive at the Zhoushan Islands. There was a shadow of sails in the distance. Zheng Sen raised his telescope to look at it, and then shouted excitedly: "Sir, it is the Zhejiang Navy that is greeting us."
"Blow the whistle." Liu Ziguang ordered, and the fleet suddenly sounded a long whistle. The Zhejiang fleet was stunned for a moment, and then whistled in greeting. The whistle sounded on the sea, and the frightened seabirds flew across the sea. This was supposed to be
A kind of etiquette when trains meet on the road, from today on, it has become a etiquette for sailors to pay tribute to each other.
The new force Zhejiang Navy was added to the Southern Expedition Fleet, which immediately became more powerful. Among the navies of the Ming Dynasty, the Zhejiang Navy and the Guangdong Navy had the best equipment and practical combat experience, while the Southern Zhili Navy was just some old-fashioned fortune ships.
, after the torment of Cheng Liangjue and the blow of Liu Ziguang, the Shanghai Navy can only be an empty shell in a short period of time. Therefore, before the Zhejiang Navy joins, the Southern Expedition Fleet can only be regarded as a transport fleet, at least in the Zhejiang Navy
This is what Admiral General Shi Lang sees.
General Shi Lang took a small boat and came to pay homage to Liu Ziguang's flagship. The strange facilities of the Shanghai were even difficult for him, a veteran navy man with many years of experience, to understand. Everyone knew that Marshal Liu was a famous general in land warfare, but to let a man fight in land warfare
Can he come to command the navy? Looking at the bells and whistles on this ship, he doesn’t look like someone who is serious about naval warfare. Shi Lang swore in his belly and quickly stepped forward to salute Liu Ziguang.
"Shi Lang, the commander-in-chief of the Zhejiang Navy, I am here to meet you, the Commander-in-Chief." Shi Lang lifted his shirt, knelt on the ground and spoke loudly. This man had a weathered face, and he looked like an old sailor who often frequented the sea.
"Shi Lang? Shi Lang, Marquis of Jinghai?" Liu Ziguang asked.