Because no radios were installed, the fleet was unable to communicate with each other after it was divided into four.
Jiexuan learned about the magical weapon of radio from Emperor Haojing, which was different from wired electricity.
As long as the ship is equipped with this thing, it can communicate with each other anytime and anywhere.
But in this expedition, especially right now, all the ministries are just scraping the ground based on their feelings...
In view of the fact that the tactical objectives assigned to each department are not difficult, and most of the time there is the help of the fleet.
It seems that it should be completed as scheduled. Although this is just Jiexuan's guess, it should be very close to home.
Jiexuan did not disembark at the first stop, but directly followed the fleet to the last stop - Huelva.
The reason is simple. To the east of Huelva is Seville, where many Spanish merchant ships returning from the Americas unload and settle goods.
By the time Jiexuan led his fleet through the Strait of Gibraltar and into the Gulf of Cadiz, especially off the coast near Huelva, there were probably at least twenty large Spanish ships.
There is no doubt that these are fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered!
Six second-level ironclads (Laiyuan) and six first-level ironclads (Zhiyuan) have been left to the squadrons at the first three stations. The main fleet led by Jiexuan currently only has six third-level ironclads (Yoshino).
But this is enough. Let alone six against twenty or thirty, even if the number of enemy ships doubles, the Ming Expedition Fleet will still take the initiative.
Just in case, the fleet also carries a black shark mine, but this thing is too powerful and will not be used easily.
Western-style plywood boats have no compartments. Once a hole is blown out of the waterline of the boat, it will be completely cold.
If you only use naval guns and missiles to attack enemy ships, there is still a possibility of capturing them.
Whether it is a land battle or a naval battle, fighting to support war is one of the established tactics.
What does it feel like for a Spaniard to be blocked at the door of your home?
That’s how it feels right now!
After the southward escape route was blocked, the ships and ports on the sea became turtles in a jar.
Jiexuan can't take care of the goals in the distant sea for the time being, but the nearly fifty ships in the offshore and ports must be put into a pot immediately!
Generally speaking, Ming warships will not fire first because there is absolutely no need.
Shooting from a long distance is a complete waste of ammunition. Once you get closer, a "harpoon" can be used to feed the opponent fish.
The rule of the navy is that as long as the other party is willing to surrender voluntarily and save time and ammunition for itself, it can be released directly and can go wherever it likes, but the ship and cargo must be left behind.
If you surrender after stubborn resistance, your treatment will not be so good. Your life can be saved, but you must go mining, otherwise some people will be sent to feed the fish immediately...
Most of the targets were now running and firing, like predatory fish struggling in a fishing net.
Obviously they still don't know the strength of their enemy, and they are still struggling to death, hoping to escape and ascend to heaven.
The six ironclad ships no longer teamed up with each other, but each carried a bunch of wooden warships to hunt nearby targets.
This is the result of Jiexuan's training over the years. The fleet can be organized at any time as needed, for example, it is currently divided into six.
"Oh~! The fight has begun!"
A certain prince was watching the excitement through a telescope in the forecastle of the supply ship. Even though he did not personally participate in the battle, watching from the rear was enough to satisfy his eyes.
The supply ship also has sufficient self-defense firepower. It is just that there are not as many heavy weapons as regular battleships. The ammunition has also been greatly reduced, and the ammunition depot has been converted into a cold storage.
A certain prince was eating pistachios and drinking fragrant fried noodles while admiring the grand naval battle.
The pistachios were specially given as a gift when the other party heard that the princes from the Ming Empire were coming when they were crossing the Sudan Canal.
The pistachios that can be used as gifts are naturally of the highest quality. Not only are they large and not flat, they also taste very comfortable and the taste can make people want to stop eating them.
Fried noodles are not something in the ordinary sense. The flour used is a tribute, and the ingredients are naturally very particular. Not counting the skills of the imperial chef, a bowl costs hundreds of copper coins.
To be honest, a certain prince ate all the way here. When he stopped at the Sudan Canal, he also ate dozens of kilograms of mutton...
There are still hundreds of slaughtered fat sheep in the cold storage. If the naval battle is won, then Xiyi's fat sheep can be eaten first, and the strategic reserves behind him will not be used for the time being.
The officers and soldiers on the ship naturally followed the prince to enjoy the blessings. Among other things, each person was given a pound of pistachios to make everyone happy.
This was definitely an unplanned gain. Even if they didn't need this little money, they still had to buy it with money. The prince directly rewarded him with a bag for free.
It's just that these ordinary pistachios were bought by a certain prince with his own money. Those top-quality pistachios given by the Ottomans had to be kept by himself to eat on the way.
That is to say, generals such as Jie Xuan can enjoy it, but others do not have this treatment.
What is Jiexuan doing at this time?
Of course I’m eating pistachios and drinking some fried noodles!
Pistachios can keep you in a good mood, calm your mind, and make it less likely to make wrong judgments.
Fried noodles can maintain body temperature. Even if the temperature in the waters of southern Spain is high, the wind and waves on the sea will not be warm after winter.
How to fight specifically is the matter of each captain. Jiexuan only needs to watch.
If you can't even do this well, then the salary you received for so many years is just feeding dogs...
He had followed his teacher Mao Yuanyi for a long time, and then led his own expedition to the Americas. Now, Jiexuan, who has become a monk halfway through, can be considered a senior insider in the naval field.
Just by looking at it, you can know the situation between the enemy and ourselves, what your formation is, what tactics to choose, and from which direction you can defeat the enemy fleet.
Of course, the premise is that Emperor Haojing has equipped Jiexuan with the most advanced warships and weapons in the world.
The hardware conditions were up to the roof, and Emperor Haojing also taught basic tactics such as T-heads and battle lines.
The remaining thing is for Jiexuan to combine the two aspects of knowledge of Mao Yuanyi and the emperor with the actual situation.
It doesn't matter if there is no radio. The fleet can just use signal flares to communicate, which can cover a radius of more than ten nautical miles.
For ships that are invisible behind, the signal flares can be fired from the front by beating drums and spreading flowers.
Jiexuan believed that all the armed merchant ships in front of him were vulnerable and there were only a few regular Spanish Navy warships.
It is actually very easy to make this judgment. No matter how powerful the lone Spanish warship is, it will definitely die if it encounters the Ming fleet.
What's more, Spain had already formed an alliance with Britain before, so its fleet should be prepared at this time.
If you want to save the ship and avoid the war, then you must divide all the warships into several groups and take shelter collectively somewhere.
With a formation as loose as the one in front of you, isn't this an initiative to kill people?
Under favorable winds and ocean currents, the top speed of a Class III ironclad can reach twelve knots.
Generally speaking, it will be two to three knots faster than the Spanish galleon.
This means that if the two sides are twenty nautical miles apart, the armored ship can catch up with the prey in ten hours at the earliest.
Previously, Jiexuan had ordered the entire fleet to outflank the enemy to the west, cutting off the escape route for prey in the waters to the north.
Then we all go north again, so we don't have to chase all the way west.
Six ironclads, three supply ships and hospital ships, plus more than 300 ships equipped with transport ships of the 4th Marine Brigade.
Those who are skilled in art are bold, and those who are bold will act recklessly!
Taking a prince and a marine brigade to fight a naval battle with Xiyi is what Jiexuan can do...
Unbeknownst to others, it was the first time for a certain prince to see such a battle, but he was very excited and focused on it.
The large supply ship was modified by Yoshino and has super strong defense, so there is no need to worry about being sunk.
With proper protection, a certain prince can be a live audience.
Every salvo fired by one's own warships can make this prince excited.
A certain prince thought that it was a good job for the navy to be able to eat all kinds of seafood and go to fight in exotic places.
Of course, except for being lonely when sailing at sea, everything else is better than the army.
Maybe I should have come out a few years earlier to broaden my horizons, at least to pose for photos in front of the pyramids!
The actual battle is completely different from what a certain prince thought. This is a life-and-death contest.
The Spanish armed merchant ships are not easy to mess with. Although they are called merchant ships, they are also armed to the teeth.
It's just that the purpose of its construction is not just a battleship, but its firepower in naval battles is still not inferior to that of a battleship.
Due to the mining of Monan Jinshan, a large amount of associated copper ore produced by the mine has become a local specialty.
As a result, the imperial court not only had enough copper ingots to make copper coins, but also cast a large number of additional copper cannons.
At this time, this high investment has yielded huge returns.
Ming warships can fire at most once every five minutes, while Spanish naval guns need at least once every ten minutes.
Generally speaking, at a distance of two hundred meters to two thousand meters, Spanish naval guns have an advantage in the projection amount of single-gun shells.
In other words, the shells fired by the Spanish were heavier and more powerful.
The Ming naval guns had the upper hand in terms of rate of fire, and both sides had their own characteristics.
However, when the distance is shortened to less than two hundred meters, the lethality of the Ming army's warships will rise sharply.
The reason is that this has already entered the range of the "Harpoon" anti-ship missile. Hitting one can severely damage it, and hitting two can feed the fish.
The ironclad ships have been equipped with the latest version of the "harpoon"-7, and the wooden warships are also equipped with the "harpoon"-5, which can cause devastating blows to enemy ships in close combat.
Some Spanish captains who had not experienced this kind of pain even tried to engage in a jumping battle with Ming warships, and then their ships were blown up by the "harpoon" and filled with smoke.
Three hours after the battle started, there were already nine Spanish warships on the sea with thick smoke rising into the sky. Such ships had basically lost their combat capabilities and were just waiting to die.
Normally, Ming warships would not salvage enemy sailors, but now prisoners are valuable. Faced with a gift package from hundreds of people, we cannot turn a blind eye.
Another four Spanish armed merchant ships gave up resistance and chose to surrender because they saw the terrifying scene of the legendary "Eastern Devil" destroying their own ships.
It's flying straight at you and you can't stop it. How desperate this is!
It will explode when hit, and then detonate the gunpowder barrel in the ship, causing an explosion accident.
Even a thousand-ton wooden warship cannot withstand such a violent critical hit.
The Dutch explained that the imperial warships, especially those equipped with the "Eastern Devil", were more than ten times more terrifying than the "Invincible Fleet" of the year.
Many Spanish captains took it as a joke, but now it is quickly becoming a reality.
Six third-class ironclad ships were in the Bay of Cadiz, chasing Spanish armed merchant ships like sharks.
Jiexuan, who was eating pistachios, was calm throughout the whole process. Unless the fleet made serious mistakes, he would not bother to speak at all.
This is how a fleet of a first-rate navy should be, for it is impossible to move together all the time.
Sometimes it is necessary to fight separately, and sometimes it is necessary to separate and attack together. Everything must be based on strategy, tactics and the situation of the enemy and ourselves.
The ships transporting the Marines have landed in the bay near Huelva, and after assembling the steam tanks, they can advance inland.
However, Jiexuan felt that there was no need to be so anxious. At least after the victory, the marines could be fed and drank enough to have enough strength to attack the city of Huelva.
The port was bombarded to pieces by the landing fleet, but it didn't matter, since they wouldn't come again anyway, and whether to repair or not is a matter for the French...
The battle lasted until nightfall before it came to an end. The reason it didn't end was that there were still severely injured prey floating on the sea instead of sinking into the sea to feed the fish.
Jiexuan doesn't bother to pay attention to this kind of thing. If you can swim to the shore, you have the ability, otherwise you will just wait for them all to become fish bait!
A lot of good things were found from the captured merchant ships, but the food was very shabby, with almost nothing that met military ration standards.
Buckets of cured meat that exudes a sour smell are probably not good enough to feed dogs. They are not as delicious as the instant noodles, a specialty of Ming Dynasty.
Now it's time to use strategic reserves. The fleet can stand back first, and it must be ensured that each of the Marines can eat a pound of mutton.
The fleet has no objection to this arrangement. After all, they can cast their nets in other sea areas in the future, and the Marines can only scrape territory here.
If that doesn't work, we can go to Portugal, which is just around the corner, and spend money on a seafood dinner!
Jiexuan had this plan, and took the fleet to Portugal to perform a tooth ceremony without occupying the fleet's supplies.
Of course, when Ming Dynasty and Portugal were not yet at war, you still had to pay for a big meal out of your own pocket.
Everything is purchased according to the market price, you can buy whatever is available and you will never be picky about your food!
After you have eaten and drank enough, come back and have sex with the Spaniards.
Just this tactic will probably make the Spanish people suffer from cerebral hemorrhage!
Huelva is less than a hundred miles away from the border between Portugal and Spain, and it’s only a day’s journey by boat.
The Ming Dynasty Expeditionary Fleet went to Portugal to have a meal today and will be able to fight back tomorrow...
What's more, there is a prince in the fleet. It is outrageous to let the prince eat military rations every day.
No matter what, I have to ask the prince to get off the boat, have a rest, have a good meal and relax.
Let the prince eat and drink well, let the expeditionary force make a lot of money, and let Xiyi lose all their money. This is Jiexuan's tentative tactical goal.
Being able to achieve a "three-in-one" depends on the efforts of many parties.
Judging from the current situation, Xiyi is working very hard. At least they have not packed up and fled, but are still fighting stubbornly in the corner of the city.
Let the Marines handle the siege of the city. Anyway, when they break the city, they can go in and scrape the ground.
