As the Qiongzhou Campaign unfolds, the first action will naturally not be the Army's Second Mixed Regiment preparing for the landing operation, but the Navy!
On August 14, the day before the Mid-Autumn Festival, a large number of ships began to set out from various small coastal ports in the southernmost part of Xuwen County, Leizhou Prefecture. In the end, more than 40 ships were gathered.
Although most of the ships are small boats, their momentum is quite scary.
Among the many ships, more than a dozen ships are at the outermost edge, and they are much larger than the ships at the rear. Some artillery can also be seen on the ships.
These more than ten ships are the squadron deployed by the Tang Dynasty Navy in Leizhou Prefecture and Lianzhou Prefecture. They are designated as the Second Fleet. The largest tonnage is a modified Guangzhou ship with a total tonnage of more than 280 tons.
The Lianzhou, an armed merchant ship, and the other dozen or so ships are mostly armed merchant ships modified from Guangzhou Shipbuilding, Fuchuan, Shachuan and other ship types, and the tonnage is mostly around one hundred tons.
However, although the tonnage of these ships is not small, their armament is relatively low-level, because these ships were originally just ordinary civilian ships, and the Tang Navy simply deployed a small number of artillery on these ships.
Due to the limited ship type, the Tang Navy simply could not deploy too many and too heavy artillery on these ships.
Taking the Lianzhou as an example, the main gun is a nine-pound cannon, a seven-pound cannon, four five-pound cannons, and four three-pound shotguns. It can be said that the whole ship can be equipped with
The artillery hit all the places, and the firing range of some artillery was very small.
Even so, the Lianzhou is currently the most powerful armed merchant ship in the Tang Dynasty's navy. The initial modification was completed just a month ago. The nine-pound cannon on it was purchased from foreigners.
The five-pound cannon is the same level of artillery as the Army's five-pound field gun. The three-pound shotgun is a shotgun specially produced for the navy. The gun weighs about three hundred kilograms and is specially designed to fire shot shells. The gun is larger than
The 150-pound two-pound shotgun used by the Army is much more powerful, but because of its heavier weight, it is not suitable for use as infantry support artillery. It is either moved to the top of the city for use as protective firepower, or
Move it onto the bow of the ship for use.
Currently, the naval guns used by the Tang Navy include three levels of cannons: nine-pound, seven-pound, and five-pound cannons as the main anti-ship firepower. Three-pound shotguns and two-pound shotguns are also used as auxiliary firepower.
Each ship has different tonnage sizes and ship types, and deploys different levels and quantities of artillery.
The preparations for the construction of the Second Squadron began after the Imperial Army of the Tang Dynasty captured Lianzhou Prefecture. Strictly speaking, this squadron was actually the first ocean-going fleet of the Tang Navy. In terms of pure strength, it was inferior to the Pearl River Fleet and the First Fleet.
Each squadron must be strong.
Although the Pearl River Fleet has more ships, it is an inland river fleet. Most of the ships it owns are small inland river ships. They are large in number, but have small tonnage, weak firepower, and cannot go to sea to fight.
As for the First Squadron, some large ships were previously transferred from the Xijiang Fleet. Basically, ships with navigation capabilities of more than 100 tons were transferred out. In the future, some ships modified from civilian ships will also be equipped.
Ships, but the First Squadron has just been established not long ago, and currently has only a few ships of more than 100 tons, but many ships do not have complete naval guns.
The reason is very simple, because the current artillery production in the Tang Dynasty is limited, and these artillery are distributed by the army and navy. The number of artillery that the navy can obtain is not large, and a considerable part of these artillery are allocated to
Many ships in the Second Squadron, the Pearl River Fleet, and even the First Squadron were all alone, with only one hull and a few shotguns. There were not many long-barreled naval guns at all.
In addition, although the First Squadron was called the Ocean Fleet, it was actually blocked by the Ming Navy in the Pearl River Basin. The weak Tang Navy did not leave the protection of the fort at all, and then came out to fight the Ming Navy.
, so the positioning has always been defensive.
Therefore, although the Tang Dynasty had three squadrons, in fact, the main development of the Tang Dynasty Navy was the Second Squadron. This fleet was based in Lianzhou Prefecture and Leizhou Prefecture, and its primary strategic goal was to cover the army's crossing the sea and
Capture Qiongzhou Prefecture.
The entire fleet has sixteen armed merchant ships, two of which are more than two hundred tons, twelve more than one hundred tons, and two other small ships of less than one hundred tons.
The entire fleet is equipped with four nine-pound cannons, eight seven-pound cannons, sixteen five-pound cannons, and more three-pound and two-pound shotguns, more than thirty.
This firepower is naturally extremely powerful for the Tang Navy, but if we make a horizontal comparison, it can't even match the firepower of a contemporary regular warship.
This is not talking about warships of more than a thousand tons, but those of five or six hundred tons!
The most important reason is that the caliber of the naval guns owned by the Tang Navy is too small. Although the small-caliber artillery and shotguns are not good, there are not many cannons of twelve pounds or more.
However, the warships of Western countries at the same time and professional warships were equipped with large-caliber naval guns such as 64-pound, 32-pound, 24-pound, and 18-pound naval guns, 12-pound naval guns, and 6-pound naval guns.
It's just auxiliary firepower. As for those small-caliber shotguns, later researchers usually don't include them in artillery statistics.
If it wasn't equipped with dozens of large-caliber long-barreled naval guns, you would be embarrassed to call it a warship!
Led by the Lianzhou, the Second Squadron left the port and successfully formed its formation in the open sea. Subsequently, small ships in many small ports also began to dispatch. However, those small ships behind were not transport ships, but all naval warships.
Well, warships temporarily converted from various fishing boats and small boats usually only have a few sailors operating the ships. Their main task is to follow the main fleet and provide support for the main fleet.
Therefore, these ships did not carry too many sailors. These ships were basically loaded with kerosene and even gunpowder and other ignition materials. Their role was very simple, that is, they were used to implement fire attack tactics.
The Tang Navy on the other side of the strait was dispatched in a large scale, and the width of the entire strait was only more than 20 kilometers, so this situation was caused by the Ming Navy ships patrolling the strait, and they quickly reported the news to the navy in the port.
And then, the Ming navy ships that stayed in Qiongzhou naturally came out in full force!
Just as the main fleet of the Second Squadron led almost thirty small ships out to sea, on the other side, a fleet of more than twenty ships carrying the entire Second Mixed Group also began to leave from various ports.
These ships were also collected from various places by the Tang Dynasty Navy with great efforts. Most of them were dozens of tons or even hundreds of tons in tonnage. In addition to carrying 1,800 soldiers of the Second Mixed Regiment, these ships also carried enough cargo for the Second Mixed Regiment.
The mixed regiment used various supplies for a month, and the various weapons and ammunition included were enough for the second mixed regiment to conduct three large-scale battles.
These two fleets worked in tandem, forming a very large sea-crossing fleet!
Today, God is also very kind. The wind is calm and the sun is shining brightly. This is a very suitable weather for crossing the sea and even more suitable for fighting at sea.
But just two hours later, several ships appeared in front of the main fleet of the Second Squadron of the Datang Navy. They dared to wander around the Qiongzhou Strait at this time, and they were still equipped with artillery. Except for the Ming Navy,
Who else could the ship be?
At the same time, on the Lianzhou, a rear admiral stood on the bow of the ship, and used the single-channel telescope in his hand to look at several Ming Navy ships in front, then put down the telescope and said: "They came quite quickly.
, send the order, the entire fleet prepares for war!"
The rear admiral who conveyed the order was Rear Admiral Ouyang Lin, the commander of the Second Squadron of the Datang Navy. He was about twenty-eighty-nine years old. He was a little thin and had dark skin, but even though he looked unattractive, his whole person was full of charm.
A kind of elegant atmosphere unique to scholars.
In fact, this was not just the case for Ouyang Lin, but also for most of the officers of the Tang Dynasty King's Division, most of whom had the temperament of Confucian scholars.
Because most of the officers of the Imperial Army of the Tang Dynasty, regardless of whether they were in the army or the navy, were born as scholars. Almost all of these officers came from martial arts schools, and a very small number of them had attended imperial schools.
Most of the students in these two schools are students who are literate in reading. Although most of them have not had any previous fame, they are still scholars and can write poems and lyrics when they have free time.
Today's Tang Dynasty can be regarded as a force. Martial arts schools are gradually formalized, and the academic system of martial arts schools is getting longer and longer. In the past, it was only one month, then three months, and now it has become half a year. Even if it is specialized
The crash course for soldiers to be promoted to officers also became three months.
This has resulted in the martial arts academy’s enrollment requirements being higher than in the past. In the past, anyone who could read could apply for the martial arts academy.
But now, in order to apply for the martial arts school, you need to pass the county examination or be a junior student in the third grade, and then you can take the martial arts school entrance exam. After passing, you can officially become a student of the martial arts school.
As for the soldiers who were originally promoted to officers after meritorious service, they also need to take the entrance exam. However, this entrance exam is relatively simple. Basically, they can study. If a soldier has made meritorious service, but his literary level is not up to standard, there is no problem.
As a matter of fact, there is a literacy class in the army itself. If you go there to learn basic common words for a few months, you can master it.
Of course, the qualities of officers from the crash course cannot be compared with the officers from the formal course in all aspects, so the path to promotion will be more difficult, and it is even more difficult to cross the threshold to become a school officer.