Regarding the European battlefield, a certain new emperor is relatively optimistic. After all, the Ming Dynasty's division and allied troops already have absolute advantages in technical weapons.
As long as the main fleet of the British Navy is killed, the British Isles will be reduced to an isolated island, and there will be troops composed of Scots in the north going south to support the coalition's attack.
However, even if we despise it strategically, we still have to go all out tactically.
To this end, a certain new emperor had asked the Ministry of Household Affairs to use the 20 million taels of silver obtained from selling land as special funds for an expedition to Europe.
There is no need to worry about Zheng Chenggong. His father, Zheng Zhilong, has made a lot of money over the years, and his family has already accumulated a strong fortune.
Moreover, the purpose of attacking Spain this time is to scrape territory. If you can't grab money, just grab people, and you won't lose money at all.
With the coalition having advantages in military strength, firepower, financial resources and other aspects, the war is expected to end within a year.
Whether it is Cromwell or the troops of Charles II after the restoration, the coalition forces will destroy them without discrimination.
Regarding Spain, a certain new emperor was not too worried.
Because after the death of Philip IV, the abilities and actions of Carlos II who succeeded him were obviously not as good as those of Louis XIV or even William II of the Netherlands.
Especially after the Battle of Downs, the strength of the Spanish navy, like the empire, has shown a downward trend.
Jiexuan led the Ming Dynasty Expeditionary Fleet to sweep the west coast of America twice, leaving the Spanish with at least five to six hundred warships or armed merchant ships.
To this day, if it were not united with Britain, the Spanish fleet would be almost unable to resist the attack of either the Dutch or French fleets, which had a large number of ironclads.
After signing the alliance agreement, the Netherlands exchanged the East Indies for 12 ironclads and 500 steam tanks. The six ironclads purchased will arrive at the same time as the three donated.
Including the previous purchases, the Netherlands already has up to nineteen ironclads. If the four built in the Netherlands are included, there will be as many as twenty-three.
Since the Netherlands is still digesting the technology related to ironclads, if the construction period is relatively long, I am afraid that the four ships will not be able to keep up with the battle to attack Britain.
Ruyter previously stated that if the attack on Britain had been launched in 1666, these ironclad ships built by the Netherlands would have been fully launched and participated in the war.
France, including the three ships it received as gifts, already has sixteen ships, and the country has built four ships, adding up to twenty ships.
From the current point of view, as long as the fifth batch of ironclad ships sails to Europe, the French and Dutch fleets are fully capable of resisting the sneak attacks of the Spanish and British fleets respectively.
In order to show his sincerity of cooperation, Ruyter provided a large amount of intelligence about the British Navy.
Before he left Europe, the intelligence collected by the Dutch was that Cromwell followed Blake's advice and divided Britain into three.
Blake personally led the main fleet and traveled around various ports in Britain. The time was completely controlled by Blake to avoid being blocked at home by the Dutch navy with ironclad ships.
Admiral Monk led the American Squadron and was stationed along the coast of British North America. On the one hand, he could join forces with the Spanish fleet there, and on the other hand, he could intimidate New Amsterdam, the Dutch strategic center in North America.
Interestingly, the commander of the squadron that joined forces with the Spanish fleet in Europe was Charles II's cousin, Prince Rupert.
Both William II and Tromp, as well as Ruyter himself, believed that this was an obvious sign that Cromwell was about to die.
The Lord of the Admiralty also became the Duke of York, indicating that the wall-to-wall Parliament already knew that their thighs were about to become prosthetic limbs, so they found a new thigh to hold on to.
The new leader is naturally Charles II, the son of Charles I. Parliament believes that little Cromwell is not as capable as his father, so it can simply ignore it.
The Dutch spies in Britain believed that the restoration of Charles II was only a matter of time. When Cromwell died, Charles II would be restored.
Unlike Charles I, the would-be king liked to have fun and did not interfere with business affairs. He also knew people well and left important matters to professionals, so he was very popular with the parliament.
In this regard, the Netherlands is very vigilant, because if Charles II really delegates power like this, the threat to the Netherlands will be much greater.
Black, Monk, Sir Paine, and Prince Rupert were not fools. Instead, they were very familiar with the navy and fleet and the Netherlands, and they never underestimated the enemy.
The Dutch paid great attention to this. Under the establishment of Fleet Commander-in-Chief Tromp, William II agreed to split the home fleet into two.
The main fleet was stationed in Amsterdam, and the squadron was stationed in Cherbourg, France, under the supervision of Vice Admiral Oboudin. Ruyter took over after returning to Europe.
The fleet in the North American territories is commanded by Vice Admiral Iverson. It has only thirty ships, and most of them are armed merchant ships with weak combat effectiveness.
The main reason is that North America is not the focus of the Netherlands' offensive and defense. Regardless of whether New Amsterdam is captured or not, as long as Britain surrenders and the Netherlands gets Britain's North American possessions, it can immediately get it back with profits.
France's main fleet was stationed in Cherbourg instead of Calais, because fleet commander Soddy believed that if the French army did not land on the British mainland, there was no point in stationing the fleet in Calais, the closest port to southern England.
If you garrison Cherbourg, on the one hand you can go south to the Bay of Biscay at any time, and on the other hand you can go north to aid the Dutch allies at any time.
This stubborn old man was a red magician like the late Prime Minister Richelieu, and he was respected by Louis XIV, so he agreed to Sodi's request.
Of course, Calais is the bridgehead to Britain, and Soddy's arrangement does not mean that Calais will become a completely undefended port.
Not only did Vauban, the royal engineer, be arranged to re-consolidate the fortifications in Calais, turn the port into a fortress, and deploy a large number of artillery and anti-ship missiles.
A fleet of no fewer than twenty armed merchant ships was also deployed to garrison Calais to deceive British spies near the port.
All armed merchant ships have been modified in advance, that is, to open more gun windows and deploy more artillery. The number of artillery is the same as that of the French battleships.
Sailors must all wear sailor uniforms and must salute their superiors when they see them. They are absolutely not allowed to get drunk. Any undisciplined behavior will result in deductions...
It is still unknown whether the British spies will be fooled, but the French side will work hard to arrange the scene and make the drama complete.
The Mediterranean, like North America, was a secondary battlefield, but Louis XIV still ordered the two important ports of Marseille and Toulon to be fortressed.
After making peace with the Ottoman Empire, France could devote all its naval power in the Mediterranean to guarding against the hated Spaniards.
Since the Spanish mainland will be directly integrated into France after the war, Louis XIV attaches great importance to the Spanish battlefield and has appointed the Count of Turenne, who is good at fighting, to be in charge.
All French people believed that after fighting this battle, Turenne would be promoted to Duke and then retire in glory.
Since Turena had fought in the East for a long time and had rich experience in cooperating with the Ming army, it was more appropriate to be sent to the Spanish battlefield.
Turena also knows Zheng Chenggong and has a certain understanding of steam tanks and infantry-tank coordination tactics. He believes that it will be helpful to eliminate the Spanish Army.
The Prince of Condé will be sent to North America. Because he is a royal family, he can act on behalf of Louis XIV. After the war, he will sign an armistice agreement with the governor of New Spain, and then take over most of the territory under his control.
As for the important task of attacking Britain, it was still the mature and steady Boudess who was responsible. The reason why Louis XIV did not want Condé to take command was that he did not want the French army to suffer heavy casualties.
After Turenne returned to his homeland, he wrote down what he had seen and heard in the Ming Empire over the years, especially his battlefield experiences, and reported it to Louis XIV.
After reading it, the king extracted some of the contents and gave them to Boudes, hoping to train the French army according to these contents so that they could help France dominate Europe.
The combat effectiveness of the troops brought back by Turenne was very different from that of the local French army, and their overall quality was much higher than the latter.
It only takes less than three minutes for a company of infantry to go from rest to entering the queue.
In the military parade, they walked uniformly in goose-step, which is something that is difficult for other French troops to do.
As for tactics such as infantry-tank coordination and air-ground integration, the local French army is still in the exploratory stage.
Without the guidance of the Ming Emperor, Budes obtained wooden tanks and airships, as well as the French troops returning one after another. Without the assistance of a complete set of theoretical knowledge, he could only study slowly on his own.
Turenne was different. All relevant strategies and tactics could be consulted by the emperor during the Ming Empire. Some tactics were of epoch-making significance.
If you take the infant-tank coordination tactics to the extreme, you won't be afraid of attacks launched by enemy cavalry groups at all. This has been done successfully many times against the Tatar cavalry.
Turenne believed that although the tactics seemed simple, it would take several years for all French infantry and armored units to master them.
Especially the general level must accept and learn. Compared with the scale and tactics of the Eastern battlefield, the European side is completely worth mentioning.
The only regret is that the French Navy did not send generals to study in the Ming Empire, so currently the French Navy can only use the simplest battle line tactics.
Anti-ship missiles can be used, but the French Navy is still unable to accept the modification of warships, especially the method of sacrificing speed in exchange for firepower advantage.
Correspondingly, it was the Netherlands, due to repeated lobbying by Ruyter and Putmans after returning to the country.
No fewer than fifty warships have been modified to fire anti-ship missiles.
Turenne was not a naval admiral, but he also saw the future direction of naval warfare.
However, Sodi's stubbornness has delayed the modernization process of the French Navy to a certain extent.
Ironclad ships were something the old man could accept, but modifying wooden warships was not.
Sodi also had his own reason, that is, the speed of ironclad ships was faster than that of wooden warships.
If a wooden warship cuts off another mast, its speed will inevitably be even slower, causing the fleet to be disconnected from the front and rear.
The Dutch navy's tactics were that all ironclad ships formed one group during wartime, and all wooden warships formed another group.
The French Navy is just the opposite. Sodi's reason is that if the ironclad cannot protect the wooden warship, it will be equal to the other party's replacement.
The British, in particular, were particularly adept at using arson ships, after realizing that both French and Dutch fleets were equipped with anti-ship missiles.
Every British warship was now equipped with a small boat for setting fire on its own side, which was a situation that had to be guarded against.
Tromp, a Dutch colleague who was about the same age as Soddy, believed that as long as he could win, he would not hesitate to sacrifice wooden warships while severely damaging the British fleet.
However, the situation of the French Navy and the Dutch Navy is slightly different. French warships are generally larger in tonnage and take a route similar to that of Spain, while Dutch warships are similar to those of the United Kingdom.
Excluding ironclads, France has twenty-four thousand-ton wooden capital ships, while the Dutch Navy does not have a single warship of the same tonnage.
Tromp's previous flagship "Amelia" was only 600 tons. You can imagine the tonnage of other Dutch battleships.
The characteristics of Dutch battleships are fast speed, shallow draft, and flexible steering. They can enter any major port in Europe to berth or fight.
In terms of the service life of warships, the warships of the Dutch Navy are the shortest, and the "Amelia" has a service life of only fifteen years.
Benefiting from the strong shipbuilding capabilities of the Netherlands, Dutch warships are generally of very low age, so there are no problems with quality-related combat performance.
During Tromp's tenure, Dutch warships were replaced with a new batch every fifteen to twenty years. With the money from selling old ships and a portion of parliamentary appropriation, new ships could be purchased.
In terms of strategy, tactics and shipbuilding industry, France naturally cannot compare with the Netherlands.
Soddy could not accept the loss of a large number of expensive large wooden warships at once, even if Louis XIV could condone this somewhat painful "wasteful behavior".
Although the French Navy has purchased many ironclad warships in batches, it is still building large wooden warships for a long time out of awe of new technologies and precautions.
For this reason, after many discussions with Louis XIV, Sodi finally adopted a plan, which was to use small-tonnage warships to carry anti-ship missiles.
This can not only maintain the speed of the capital ship, but also give the fleet powerful anti-ship capabilities.
Louis XIV agreed to this seemingly very economical plan, which could at least double the combat effectiveness of his own fleet.
In fact, it followed the route of Zheng Zhilong's fleet. Not every warship of Zheng Jun was equipped with anti-ship missiles.
Even though Zheng Zhilong was wealthy, he was reluctant to sacrifice all the expensive plywood boats.
This is not the case for the Dutch fleet. Almost every capital ship is equipped with anti-ship missiles.
With this modification method and the advantages of the ironclad, Tromp beat Black to the point where he did not dare to fight back.
It's not that Blake can't fight back. As long as the main fleets of the two armies fight decisively, the British army will inevitably suffer a devastating blow.
The Dutch fleet already has the ability to destroy fifty British warships in a short period of time, such as about half an hour.
What's more, the cost of building warships in the Dutch Navy is very low, and they can be replaced immediately after being polished.
If there are not enough warships, armed merchant ships of similar tonnage can be used to make up for it. The fleets of any other European countries cannot do this.
Zheng Zhilong’s fleet does have this ability, so after the Netherlands suffered losses in Dongfan, they will no longer compete with this peer...
