Previously, the Navy's Wuzhou-class frigates and Lianzhou-class cruisers were equipped with a large number of seven-pound cannons. This was because when these two warships were designed, the Tang Dynasty could not mass-produce even nine-pound cannons, so they had to
Do not equip a large number of seven-pound artillery.
But now, the nine-pound artillery has been mass-produced on a large scale, and the seven-jin artillery has been discontinued. Therefore, the Navy also took this opportunity to adjust the deployment of the seven-jin artillery.
By increasing the configuration of the nine-pound artillery and the five-jin artillery, dismantling the seven-jin artillery, and concentrating the replaced seven-jin artillery into several coastal defense forts.
After adjusting the artillery layout, the Wuzhou-class frigate will be equipped with two fourteen-pound cannons, ten nine-pound cannons, and eight five-pound cannons, bringing the total number of anti-ship artillery pieces to twenty.
After adjusting the artillery layout, the Lianzhou-class cruiser will be equipped with six fourteen-pound cannons, fourteen nine-pound cannons, and eight five-pound cannons, bringing the total number of anti-ship artillery pieces to twenty-six.
Currently, the Datang Navy has three Lianzhou-class cruisers and six Wuzhou-class frigates in service, bringing the total number of main battleships to nine. These battleships have formed two squadrons, one of which is the first fleet.
Squadron, Second Fleet to Third Squadron.
These two squadrons are currently the core force of the Tang Dynasty Navy, and are preparing to be used as the main force in the attack on Nan'ao Island.
In early July, at the Hong Kong Naval Base, a large group of naval admirals, including Rear Admiral Bao Yifen, saw off the naval officers who were about to go to Nan'ao Island!
At noon that day, a mobile fleet composed of nine main warships as the core and 23 armed merchant ships as auxiliaries officially set sail to Nan'ao Island.
Leading this huge fleet was Vice Admiral Count Ouyang Gui.
This man is also a veteran of the Tang Navy. When he was the commander of the Second Fleet earlier, he commanded the Second Fleet to successfully cover the army's landing on Qiongzhou Island, and was seriously injured in this battle.
For a long period of time, he was recuperating in Zhaoqing. During the period of recuperation, because of his outstanding military exploits, and because of his loyalty to the emperor and his fearlessness of powerful enemies, Li Xuan awarded him many awards, and the title was even mentioned as earl.
.
After recovering from his injuries, he first served as chief of staff of the Naval Command Staff for a period of time. In May, the Tang Navy formally prepared the Nan'ao Island plan, and for this purpose, each capital ship was transferred from the First Fleet and the Second Fleet, and then
A mobile fleet dedicated to the strategy of Nan'ao Island was formed.
He was personally transferred by Li Xuan to serve as the commander of this mobile fleet. At the same time, he was promoted to vice admiral by Li Xuan, becoming the first lieutenant general of the Tang Navy and the fourth lieutenant general in the entire Tang Dynasty.
The first three are Hao Bainian, who was promoted first, Li Chunjing, who was promoted last year, and Wang Chaohong, who was only promoted at the beginning of this year. They are all army generals.
As a Vice Admiral of the Navy, Ouyang Gui was able to suppress a group of major generals and commodores in the mobile fleet.
After the mobile fleet went to sea, Ouyang Gui summoned the commanders of each squadron in the mobile fleet on his flagship, the Lianzhou. The captains of each ship went to his flagship for a meeting.
This meeting is actually not a strategic meeting, but a rather old-fashioned mobilization meeting to encourage morale!
After all, the general strategic plan has been formulated long ago, but the specific details will not be known until we get to Nan'ao Island. After all, although the Tang Dynasty continued to conduct reconnaissance on Nan'ao Island, after all, the people on the island
The Ming army was numerous and separated by a sea, so the effectiveness of the investigation was limited to the superficial situation.
According to early investigations, the Ming army on Nan'ao Island was composed of multiple parts, including the remnants of the defeated troops from Guangdong and Guangxi, the navy, the original defenders on Nan'ao Island, and reinforcements from Fujian.
Among the above-mentioned forces, the navy has more than a hundred ships of various sizes. Of course, most of them are small ships, and there are only twenty or thirty sea-going ships of more than 100 tons.
There are approximately more than 13,000 ground troops!
Although the total military strength does not seem to be large, far less than the Ming army on the northern front, Nan'ao Island is only a small area in total, and so many troops are crowded in. In fact, the troop density is quite large.
At the same time, because it is separated by the sea, if you want to capture this place, you must first expel or eliminate the Ming navy, which was actually quite difficult for the Tang Dynasty navy in the past.
In order to capture Nan'ao Island and fight against the Ming navy above, the Tang Navy had to work hard for two years before it assembled a mobile fleet.
After the mobile fleet led by Ouyang Gui has driven away or simply annihilated the Ming Navy, it will be time to cover the army's large-scale landing! For this reason, Ouyang Gui's mobile fleet also brought two of the navy's own marine battalions.
More than a thousand people, and also brought a mixed infantry battalion of more than a thousand people from the Guards.
In addition, the First Mixed Regiment from Chaoshan will also send part of its troops to participate in the battle, with a size of about 2,000.
In other words, the ground force for the landing operation will reach more than 4,000 people by then. The purpose of using so many troops is to capture Nan'ao Island in one fell swoop, especially to capture the island before Yu Dayou in Fujian can react.
Only in this way will there be enough time to deal with Yu Dayou's counterattack!
Three days after going to sea, the fleet has arrived at the waters not far from Nan'ao Island. If it goes further, it will enter the Ming Navy's cordon on the island. However, Ouyang Gui did not let the fleet stop and continued.
go ahead.
This time, the main force of the Tang Dynasty navy came out in full force. The fleet was no longer weak in terms of size. There was no reason to be sneaky. They just attacked openly and openly, forcing the Ming navy to leave or come out for a decisive battle.
However, as it gradually approached the waters of Nan'ao Island, the mobile fleet also increased its vigilance accordingly. The fleet's formation was no longer the loose formation before, but formed a dense formation.
The vanguard was the cruiser Qiongzhou and two frigates belonging to the Third Squadron, followed by six battleships from the First Squadron. As for the armed merchant ships, they also carried a total of more than 2,000 people.
Marines and Guards, so we still need to stay further back.
The mobile fleet of the Tang Dynasty Navy is heading towards Nan'ao Island with murderous intent. Naturally, it will soon be discovered by the Ming Navy ships patrolling outside the island.
After spotting the huge navy of the Pseudo-Tang pirate army in front of them from a distance, they didn't dare to stop at all and ran back directly.
More than an hour later, even the Ming army on the island could see a huge fleet approaching at high speed on the sea more than ten kilometers away.
At this time, the port on Nan'ao Island was in chaos, and a large number of Ming navy ships began to set sail, preparing to leave the harbor to fight.
At the General Military Mansion of Nan'ao Island, when Qin Zhifu heard that the puppet Tang bandits were attacking in large numbers, he was so frightened that he slumped down on his chair and murmured: "These damned puppet troops of the Tang Dynasty won't come sooner or later.
, but come at this time!"
Qin Zhifu has always had a difficult time on Nan'ao Island. Except for his own direct troops of thousands of people, he has no way to intervene in the other Ming armies. I dare not say that he has no power at all, but it definitely doesn't count.
The last real-power commander-in-chief.
So he has always been thinking about being transferred away from here, but now Nan'ao Island is not a good place, and others are not willing to come, so the transfer is quite difficult.
In the end, Qin Zhifu gritted his teeth, spent a lot of money to clear up the relationship, and prepared to be transferred to Shandong. Counting the days, the transfer paperwork was almost here.
But at this point, the pseudo-Tang traitor army attacked on a large scale. This pseudo-Tang traitor army was deliberately trying to make things difficult for him!
However, if you criticize your mother, you still have to resist the traitor army of the puppet Tang Dynasty, otherwise you will die.
Immediately he calmed down and said: "Go and ask General Lin, General Chen, and General Zhao to fight."
Of the two people he mentioned, one was the commander of the Navy, the other two were the commanders of the remaining troops from Guangdong and Guangxi, and the commanders of the Fujian reinforcements.
But as soon as he said these words, a Qianhu next to him looked embarrassed and said: "Master Qi, General Lin has already gone to the dock to command the navy to meet the enemy. General Chen and General Zhao are also there.
Everyone is preparing for battle!"
As soon as he heard this, Qin Zhifu felt sulky. Damn, he hadn't given the order yet, but these people had acted on their own. They clearly didn't take him seriously.
But at this time, the Qianhu also said: "Our troops have also been assembled, and we are just waiting for your order, sir!"
Hearing that more than a thousand of his direct descendants were still waiting for his order, Qin Zhifu also breathed a sigh of relief. At least he still had soldiers under his command. He immediately said with high spirits: "Then what are you waiting for? Send the order, put on armor and form an array, and then
I am going to kill the enemy!"
However, at this time, the Qianhu said again: "Sir, it will take several hours for the navy of the puppet Tang rebel army to come over now, and it will take a few hours for them to land. Moreover, if they want to land, they must first get past General Lin's navy."
Guan, isn’t it too early to put on armor now?”
After hearing the prompts from his subordinates, Qin Zhifu also reacted. Yes, although the puppet Tang rebel army has arrived, they must first break through the navy's interception if they want to land. It is impossible for a few hours before and after, and he
You can't be stupid enough to spend so much time on the beach wearing dozens of kilograms of armor!
However, there is no need to wear armor yet, but formation preparation is still needed!
Soon, Qin Zhifu led a group of men, first to the barracks of his own army, and then headed to the port with more than a thousand troops.
After arriving at the port and boarding a high ground, I saw on the sea in the distance. Although the fleet of the Puppet Tang Thief Army was not large in number and only looked like thirty or forty ships, each of them was a big ship.
, On the other hand, General Lin's navy, which went to sea to fight, had hundreds of ships, but there were so many small ships!
If this fight begins, I don't know if General Lin's navy can stop it!