During the construction of the Panama Canal, Spanish warships bombarded the construction site in coastal areas all the time.
Naturally, the defenders of the Ming Dynasty would not sit still and wait for death, and fought back bravely using copper cannons and anti-ship missiles.
Not satisfied with just bombarding the sea, the Spanish landed marines near the canal.
An attempt was made to sabotage the construction of the canal and significantly delay the progress of the excavation.
Fortunately, the defenders were equipped with many tanks, which could push down the Spanish cavalry and infantry.
Under the premise that most of the canal projects were constructed inland, the two sides still fought for five or six years.
The defenders paid a huge price with hundreds of soldiers killed and wounded, and thousands of coolies were lost.
Although there were many enemies killed and injured, it was far from enough to relieve the morale of the defenders.
Blood debts must be repaid with blood, and this debt must now be recovered with interest!
Previously, only part of the Panamanian fleet had appeared in the Caribbean, and only four to six ironclads were tasked with protecting the east exit of the canal.
The largest tonnage is the third-class ironclad ship, and there are only two of them. The rest are Laiyuan or Zhiyuan.
Due to the absolute disadvantage in the number of warships, even if a single ship has a strong combat effectiveness, the Panamanian fleet does not dare to go too far, lest it falls into the enemy's plan to divert the tiger away from the mountain.
The Spanish fleet knew its own disadvantages and the opponent's advantages, so it adopted a multi-front attack strategy, hoping to make the Ming army focus on one thing and lose the other.
However, due to the stubborn persistence of the Ming Army and Navy, they have never succeeded, and they have not even had the opportunity to make a move.
After organizing nearly a hundred warships to launch a strong attack, only to have twelve of them sunk and fifteen more burned by Ming armored ships, they had no choice but to tuck their tail between their legs and run away...
Now, the large-scale entry of the expedition fleet led by Jiexuan into the Caribbean Sea means that the offensive and defensive postures of both sides have fundamentally changed.
The Ming Empire began to shift to a strategic offensive. Even if the Spanish Empire was unwilling to enter a strategic defensive posture, it still had to do so, because if it didn't, the war situation would take a turn for the worse.
Within a week of entering the Caribbean via the Panama Canal, the Ming expeditionary fleet sank, destroyed, and captured hundreds of Spanish ships.
For the Spanish captain and sailors, their happy days were gone forever.
The appearance of black smoke on the skyline heralds the impending death!
Spanish ships made of wood, even regular warships, could not cause significant damage to the target when fighting against the Ming army's ironclad ships.
When the heavy artillery hit the armor, it was just a dent. This was only a matter of luck.
Most of the time, the cannonballs fired by Spanish ships were used to fry fish...
The most terrifying thing is that the Ming Army's armored ships will launch "harpoon" anti-ship missiles after approaching their prey.
Just one hit can turn a thousand-ton sail warship into a blazing bonfire.
Today's Spanish battleships are not much different from the battleships of the Armada nearly a hundred years ago. The hulls are still made of oak, teak and other materials, and the sails are still spread all over the front, middle and rear of the hull.
The Ming army's warships have already turned into extremely ferocious steel bodies, with faster speeds and more powerful firepower. They are not afraid of being hit by bullets and catching fire and burning down the entire warship.
To be precise, Spanish warships have lagged behind the times. The technical content and combat effectiveness of its largest warships are inferior to even the first-class ironclads purchased by the new Inca Empire.
The glorious empire that the sun never sets in the past has been turned into a yesterday's flower by the Ming Dynasty. Now Jiexuan will pluck this yellow flower in one fell swoop, then step on it and crush it into powder!
Neither the Spanish captain nor the sailors thought that misfortune would befall them so quickly. Before, they could rely on their numerical advantage to play tricks on the damn yellow-skinned monkey battleship.
Now, if you don't accept the other party's salvage, you will really have to soak in the sea and eventually feed the sharks...
The Caribbean is very rich in products, and one of the aquatic products is dozens of species of sharks. There is always one suitable for these drowning people!
For those guys who make all kinds of unreasonable demands or directly conflict with the Ming army sailors after embarking on the ship.
Jiexuan had already given the order, and he could just throw him into the sea without any explanation or physical punishment.
If you are awesome, swim to the Greater Andres Islands!
I also pray that I don’t encounter a shark along the way, otherwise...
Of course, as a senior insider, Jiexuan would not be able to let his men release these stubborn people offshore.
It must be at least twenty nautical miles away from the shore. Even if you swim to the shore, these dogs will be exhausted to death!
This extremely terrifying unconditional release immediately frightened the Spaniards out of their wits.
They are not laymen, and of course they know what it means to soak in the sea for a long time.
Correspondingly, those who obey can get fresh water and food.
Those who provide effective information to the Ming Dynasty King will also be able to eat popsicles!
Under coercion and inducement, there will naturally be many people who cannot resist and want to tell the truth.
The commander of a Spanish squadron would not know much information. At most, it would only allow Jiu Jiexuan to know how many prey were nearby.
As for the specific location of the prey, you have to find it yourself.
This operation will inevitably alert the enemy, and then they will have to rely on the concerted efforts of the entire fleet.
Only when fresh water or coal is replenished will the fleet dock and anchor. The rest of the time will be spent on catching prey as quickly as possible.
Since the fleet's daily operation costs were very high, Jiexuan decided to improve the standards for rescuing people who fell into the water.
In the past, salvage was carried out indiscriminately, which resulted in a lot of super bugs.
From now on, only surrendered enemies will be eligible to be picked up, while others will be left to fend for themselves at sea.
If it were the Army, they would never miss this opportunity.
If you were in the navy with a lot of money, you would be able to be picky about food.
Spending the same cost to capture one more enemy ship is not much more cost-effective than fishing for people in the sea?
Unless the other party is willing to redeem the prisoner from his own hands at a price of three to five hundred silver coins per prisoner, Jiexuan is not very interested in capturing prisoners.
Suppose the enemy has a thousand ships and we only capture 300 of them, that is a considerable fortune.
The actual situation is more optimistic, and the expedition fleet is urgently needed to act non-stop.
In this case, it is even more important to seize the time to pull the net and hunt.
A week's delay in the waters near Panama made Jiexuan very dissatisfied.
At this rate, it will not be possible to enter the Gulf of Mexico for another month, and combat efficiency must be improved immediately.
The specific method is to divide the entire fleet into four small fleets, which makes it easier to disperse and attack.
The prerequisite for this is that the prey has become more vigilant and has begun to disperse everywhere to avoid risks.
Continuing to operate in large formations will reduce efficiency and increase costs.
Jiexuan decided to take advantage of the situation, adapt to changes, and fight with his prey...
Two level five ironclad ships form a team, and six level four ironclad ships are divided into three teams. Each team's main ship has three third-level, second-level, and first-level ironclad ships.
The Panamanian fleet is still stationed at the east exit of the canal to prevent the Spaniards from jumping over the wall and trying to destroy the canal exit while their own forces are out in force.
The Panamanian fleet alone may not be enough, but the navy of the New Inca Empire has arrived in Panama and is willing to fight side by side with the God-given army to destroy the enemies of both sides!
The ally's navy is not yet mature, and it will inevitably be weak if they take the initiative, but it is no problem to help them look after their homes and homes. After all, they are also equipped with a lot of armored ships.
Poirot and Jiexuan left the mainland of the Ming Dynasty. After returning, they ordered the Imperial Navy to fully cooperate with this operation of the God-given Army.
A newly acquired fourth-level ironclad ship is also Poirot's ship and the flagship of the fleet. It has also been put into combat operations.
This capital ship plus six first-class ironclads, in cooperation with the Panamanian fleet, can ensure the safety of the east exit of the canal, and also allow Jiexuan to sit back and lead the expedition fleet to attack with all its strength.
The arrival of the fourth-class ironclad ship in Lima made the people more supportive of Poirot, which showed that the Ming Empire was very supportive of its emperor. They had never felt such a sense of security.
If we can assist the God-given army to eliminate this old enemy this time, we will no longer have to worry about the Spaniards coming back and capturing the city of Lima. This is the greatest gift from God to mortals like them.
Poirot also ordered to mobilize 20,000 troops from the northern part of the empire (Ecuador) to pass through Panama to assist the God-given army in attacking north. This will be an unprecedented battle of revenge!
Among the top ten copper mines in the world, the New Inca Empire has five!
The New Inca Empire owns nine of the twenty largest copper mines in the world!
In addition, saltpeter mines can be calculated using "mountains"!
Therefore, Poirot is not short of money at all. With enough machinery and equipment to mine these mineral deposits, he can purchase large quantities of advanced weapons and equipment from the Ming Empire.
Poirot can purchase everything from guns for infantry to 10,000-ton armored ships for his army.
If they could form an alliance with the Ming Empire a hundred years in advance, their predecessors would not have to suffer humiliation and oppression.
Now that he has finally turned over, he must pay back the previous humiliation hundreds of times!
The new Inca Empire's army had limited combat effectiveness and basically could not defeat the same number of Spanish troops.
Poirot knew this very well, so he set his troops' combat target on the Spanish servants...
The god-given army goes to destroy the old enemy and helps it attack the enemy's servant army. This should be a reasonable tactic!
Since Wang Yong had already commanded the expeditionary force to land in Acapulco de Juarez, the military operations in the south were somewhat out of touch.
Jiexuan didn't go to Lima at all, and he didn't expect the South American emperor to send his army of wealthy people to help in the battle.
This resulted in the start of the fighting on the northern and southern fronts at completely different times, and the entire battlefield stretched for thousands of miles.
If Li Dingguo and Zhang Tianbao's counterattacks in the northwest are included, the battlefield would be as long as 3,000 kilometers.
The disadvantage is that there is no way to coordinate the command, and everyone can only fight in their own way.
The advantage is that the Spanish defenders will also care about one thing and not the other, and it is impossible to support all battlefields at the same time.
If Emperor Haojing was supervising the war in North America and encountered this situation, he would have no choice but to delegate command to the generals.
You are free to express yourself, I am waiting for your good news!
After nearly three weeks of combat, the four small fleets under Jiexuan's command have gained a lot.
Sixty-one ships were sunk, seventy-eight were destroyed, and eighty-two were captured, for a total of two hundred and twenty-one.
After continuously capturing the other party's captains and senior generals, Jiexuan gradually figured out Spain's current number of large and medium-sized ships, which is still as high as nearly 3,000.
The expeditionary force fleet fought in the Caribbean for a month and only destroyed less than one-tenth of the opponent's ships, which was very different from Jiexuan's expectations.
If the fight continues at the current pace, it will take another ten months to achieve the goal of preventing the Spaniards from entering the sea.
But this was impossible. The Spanish ships that heard the news had already fled.
The main reason for achieving the current results was that Jiexuan led a small fleet to raid French Jamaica.
Nearly fifty Spanish ships were moored in the port of Kingston, the capital of the island. They had no time to raise their sails and run away before they were blocked by Jiexuan's fleet.
As a result, they were either sunk or destroyed, and the abandoned ships were captured by the Ming fleet.
The Governor of French Jamaica expressed strong protest against this, believing that Jiexuan attacked Jamaica without any warning, which was an unacceptable barbaric act.
Jiexuan said that this move was only a response to France's unauthorized attack on the Ming Dynasty's territory in North America. What's more, as an ally, it is an act of collaborating with the enemy to take in enemy ships without authorization. He would choose the opportunity to report it to French Emperor Louis XIV.
When the other party heard this reply, they chose to remain silent and allowed Jiexuan to deal with the captured trophies as he pleased.
Prior to this, the governor of French Jamaica had charged a fee for the Spanish ships that came to take shelter from the storm.
Storms in the Caribbean are common, and it is common practice for ships to take shelter in ports in other countries.
The French Navy had two first-class ironclads stationed in Jamaica, all of which were stationed in Kingston during the war.
Of course, due to the arrival of Spanish guests, the two ironclads changed places.
Because they also know the danger these guests may bring, they will not mix with Spanish ships.
Throughout the Caribbean, the French Navy deployed a total of ten ironclads, twelve including Caracas.
But these gadgets combined are no match for the two Ming Dynasty fifth-level ironclad ships, let alone dispersed deployment.
Even if Jiexuan launches an indiscriminate attack on Kingston, the worst it can do is compensate the other side for two new ships of the same class after the war.
If Louis XIV hears this news, he will definitely not buy two first-level ironclads, and will convert all the losses into funds to purchase fifth-level ironclads...
Since some artillery shells fell on nearby non-military targets, Jiexuan finally compensated the other party for an objective loss, which was nothing more than comfort with the Ming Dynasty specialties he brought.
The decision to raid Kingston was also informed by the intelligence provided by the prisoners. At first, Jiexuan did not have high hopes for this, but he did not expect that there would be an unexpected gain.
When he was happy, he decided to release the prisoner directly and gave him a bag of silver coins, which contained two hundred coins. He could go where he wanted to go.
Jiexuan believes that there are many Spanish ships in nearby major ports such as Port-au-Prince, Havana, and San Juan.
But after he raided Kingston, the news might have spread to those places.
If you want to catch them all, you must notify the fleets that are dispersed in various places.
Fortunately, before they dispersed, they agreed to meet up on time.
The problem is that the Caribbean storm is really coming...
