So far, without any outside help, the Royal Navy is still using sailing battleships as its capital ships.
Just to cope with the increasing intensity of naval battles, the wooden battleship shell was covered with a layer of iron, and the power was still a bunch of sails.
The reason is that although the steam engine was built, it was an imitation of the French model.
However, due to frequent failures, France also refused to provide finished marine steam engines.
As a result, British steam battleships have been unable to launch, let alone obtain ironclad ship technology.
Charles II asked Pepys, the foreign minister, to seek help from Louis XIV and was willing to provide food and treasures in return.
The other party's response was only a diplomatic reply, using the Ming Empire's prohibition on French exports of technology or finished products to third parties to politely decline the British request.
Louis XIV believed that even if Britain moved to North America and its national power was severely weakened, it would still pose a serious threat to French North America.
This is unacceptable to France and to himself!
The British navy once carried out pirate-like plundering of Spanish merchant ships, and France did not want to repeat the same mistake.
From French America, whether it is Quebec or the Caribbean, the routes leading to the French mainland may be attacked by British ships.
Therefore, if Britain wanted to obtain marine steam engine technology, it was impossible for Louis XIV!
If agreed, the British obtained ironclad ship construction technology from other sources.
By then, wouldn't France be asking for trouble?
Louis XIV did not want to be described privately by William II as an unprecedented retard...
The construction technology of ironclad ships was strictly kept secret at the time, and any leakers would be severely punished.
If he really caught an idiot, Louis XIV would not mind using advanced techniques such as piercing, chopping, pulling, roasting, and frying on him!
Torture in the West is no less common than in the East. It was famous as early as the Roman Empire of Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero!
There is no other way, the UK can only take the route of independent innovation and vigorously develop iron-clad warships.
But the iron-clad battleship is not an armored ship after all, it is just a slightly decorated sailing battleship.
The advantage is that while improving the battleship's defense, it can also install less ballast stones...
However, after the live ammunition shooting, Black, Monk and others all looked sad.
The iron sheet was completely unable to withstand the close range fire of heavy artillery. If it were replaced with iron plates, the battleship would be overweight.
Everyone brainstormed for several years and finally came up with a compromise plan.
That is to say, the battleship uses iron plates amidships and iron sheets at the bow and stern. This is considered a key protective measure.
Since comprehensive protection is no longer possible, we can only take the route of focused protection.
At least it can improve the anti-strike capability of the sail fighter to a certain extent.
If the opponent attacks the bow and captures the stern, then you can pray to the one above you...
Thinking on the bright side, there is simply no money to build ironclads on a large scale now.
Launching only one or two ships will not solve the problem at all.
Therefore, for more than ten years and after three fleet commanders, the Royal Navy has worked hard to upgrade to a fully iron-clad ship!
But in New Rotterdam (Virginia Beach), this "British-style ironclad" was attacked by genuine licensed products...
Zheng Chenggong led his troops to land in North America more than half a year later than Jiexuan. The main reason was to deal with matters in South Africa first.
South Africa is easy to handle, and the territory that should be occupied has basically been taken, except for some of the most inland places.
Of course there is no problem for the Zheng fleet to fight in the North Atlantic. The key is to mobilize the army to fight in North America. The time will not be short.
Zheng Zhilong is responsible for all local affairs. After taking the elixir, a group of old brothers can survive for ten or eight years.
Zheng Chenggong took his contemporaries, Zheng Ju, Zheng Shao, Zheng Jiaqi, Zheng Baxuan, Zheng Guangying, Zheng Zhouying, Zheng Shengying and others on the expedition.
There were 30,000 soldiers accompanying the fleet north, including 10,000 Marines and 20,000 Army officers and soldiers.
The Zheng family is responsible for military pay and food, and weapons and ammunition, medicines, clothing, tents, etc. are borne by a respected master.
In other words, a certain disciple provided money, food, and people, and a certain master was responsible for the remaining military supplies.
The Zheng family is willing to cooperate with Emperor Haojing's military operations. On the one hand, mining is too profitable, and with the effect of the elixir, no one dares to think of a way out.
On the other hand, they had to rely on various products shipped from the mainland, and the industrialization of the West, or "Fujian", was still in its infancy.
Furthermore, the combat effectiveness of the indigenous people in Africa is really not to be praised. Except for the Zulu warriors, the combat effectiveness of other tribes' armed forces is not much better than that of wild beasts...
In the past, a certain master told Zheng Chenggong that if there were no external troubles, Zheng's army's combat effectiveness would gradually decline. The clues had already been revealed before.
Because the enemy was too inexperienced, all units showed signs of laziness, and there were even incidents where enemies using cold weapons succeeded in sneak attacks.
Now is not the time for weapons and weapons to be stored in the warehouse. When the horses are released in Nanshan, the Zheng family and millions of fellow villagers have just started their careers in their new homeland, and they must not allow a sudden collapse in the process.
The best way to maintain combat effectiveness is to continue high-intensity actual combat. If you don't take it seriously, you will be killed by the enemy. Therefore, North America is the best battlefield in Zheng Chenggong's eyes.
The troops who went to fight in North America were all equipped with magazine-type rifles. Each person also received a revolver for self-defense, and grenades were a must-have weapon.
Zheng Chenggong didn't need to spend any money on these. A certain master gave him 2,000 machine guns, 50,000 magazine-type rifles and the same number of revolvers, 2,000 rocket launchers and 40,000 rockets, and A million grenades.
In terms of heavy weapons, 500 aircraft, 500 third-generation steam tanks, 120 breech-loaded guns, and 1,000 Scud missiles were delivered to South Africa.
Zheng Chenggong can completely make mortars by himself. He can use the mines in South Africa to make as many mortars as he wants.
In return, the master and the apprentice had already planned that the territory would belong to the master, and the people above could be taken away by the apprentice.
Isn’t it true that South Africa is short of people?
Now there is no need to send the captives back to the mainland or the Nanyang mines. They can go directly to South Africa to mine.
Especially the fair-skinned and beautiful British women, who can be used to reward the troops.
Don’t those single men in the army long for a woman?
Now it’s good, you can fight and ride horses at the same time!
Zheng Chenggong originally wanted to land in North America in March or April next year, but that would be much later than Jiexuan fighting on the west coast.
When he was in Beidu before, Zheng Chenggong also asked Jiexuan why he agreed to William III's proposal to give Charles II more time to move Zimin.
Jiexuan explained the reason. It was very simple. If it stayed in Britain, it would have to be divided among the three countries. Ming Dynasty might have to be ranked behind France.
When Charles II transports these fat sheep to North America, and Ming Dynasty finds a suitable reason to come and get them, wouldn't he be able to keep them all for himself?
With two million people offline at once, Zheng Chenggong had to admire Jie Xuan's foresight.
Apart from his fellow disciples, Zheng Chenggong also gave Jiexuan a high look.
When these British barbarians arrived in North America, they gave birth to a group of themselves, and then transported a group of slaves from Africa, and the total number could be doubled.
If one person is worth twenty silver coins, four million people are worth eighty million silver coins. This trip to North America to fight will definitely not be a loss.
Just the arrival of the first batch of weapons and equipment was enough to make Zheng Chenggong's troops invincible after landing.
According to the establishment, the Marine Corps has three brigades and the Army has three brigades.
If the war becomes severe, six brigades can be mobilized from South Africa to join the war.
In order to penetrate into the hinterland of the British-controlled area in a short period of time and expand the landing area, six brigades landed at six locations.
Florida is the place where Jiexuan is responsible, and Zheng Chenggong only needs to choose six landing sites north of the Florida Peninsula.
Places with river mouths are preferred because they can go upstream, allowing soldiers to reach places dozens or even hundreds of miles inland without touching the water.
The second is strategically important towns, such as New Rotterdam. After the bombardment, large-scale landings of Marines can be made.
There were only 500 British troops guarding the area, and the shore-based firepower was almost nothing compared to the scale of the Zheng fleet's projection.
Although there were only eight armored ships covering the landing of the Marines, due to the replacement of breech-loaded guns, their firepower completely overwhelmed the more than 20 sailing ships anchored here.
Under the command of Zheng Chenggong, the artillery of each ship was controlled by experienced gunners, and the efficiency of destroying targets was amazing.
In particular, Zheng Chenggong's flagship is a fifth-level ironclad ship with two twin 171mm breech heavy guns installed at the front and stern.
The sides were replaced with eight 65mm breech rapid-fire guns, the same as the third-generation steam tank, and sixteen guns on both sides.
The entire ship can project 184 rounds of artillery shells at the target every minute, not counting the "harpoon" anti-ship missiles that can be launched.
In less than half an hour, all the enemy ships were silenced, either burning, sinking, or abandoned.
After seeing the scene of smoke and fierce fire through the telescope, Zheng Chenggong was basically satisfied with his own shelling operations.
Moreover, the port was reduced to ruins, and the defenders' resistance was quickly wiped out in front of the naval guns.
After Zheng Jun's steam tanks slowly came ashore, the British soldiers turned around and ran away when they saw that there was no hope of holding on.
If there were no ironclads, the British army could still resist symbolically.
But with ironclads at sea and tanks on the shore, the battle was completely unwinnable.
The British army's small arms already included revolvers, but the Zheng army on the opposite side was equipped with machine guns and magazine-type rifles.
There are also shoulder-mounted rocket launchers for individual soldiers, which can be used to destroy targets in buildings.
Five thousand men plus six armored ships to deal with five hundred men!
The battle lasted less than two hours and ended...
Thousands of local residents fled inland with the deserters, and those who stayed behind naturally became prisoners of Zheng's army.
Zheng Chenggong was not interested in Ocean horses or Boston lobsters, but he was very interested in capturing Charles II alive.
From the prisoner's mouth, he learned that this guy was actually dead, and it was James II who ascended the throne as the new king.
This guy is the second son of Charles I and the biological brother of Charles II.
New London is located on the banks of the Chattahoochee River. Zheng Chenggong can determine based on the captured map that the location of this city is similar to Atlanta mentioned in the Book of Heaven.
The quickest way to get there is to go upstream from the mouth of the Altama River and then through the Okmulgee River to New London.
However, judging from the captured photos of New London, the city is not as large as Xiamen in terms of scale.
The tallest building in the photo is only three or four stories tall, and urban construction is also very backward.
If James II hadn't lived there, Zheng Chenggong would have had no interest in calling directly.
He had already learned all aspects of intelligence about Britain in North America, including New London, from the Dutch.
The reason why he did not lead his troops to attack from the mouth of the Oltama River is simple: by the time his troops reach the target, the prey will have already fled...
North America is not as big as the British Isles. Once James II smells danger, he will definitely choose to run away as soon as possible.
You can hold on if you want, but any non-fortress-type city will be vulnerable to heavy artillery fire from your own side.
It would have been extremely difficult to capture James II without a traitor around him, allowing him to cross the Mississippi and escape deep inland.
Therefore, Zheng Chenggong planned to attack the city and capture the territory and capture some prisoners. As for whether to capture and kill the barbarian leaders, it would depend on his luck.
After occupying New Rotterdam, Zheng Chenggong also made a special trip to inspect the British-made iron-clad warships at close range.
This kind of warship has thicker armor in the middle of the hull, and is wrapped in thin iron at the head and tail, making it vulnerable to a single blow.
Even the midship position cannot withstand the heavy blows of large-caliber breech-loaded guns.
Perhaps the British are still based on defending against breech-loaded bronze cannons, while their own ironclad ships have been equipped with breech-loaded cannons that are more powerful, have a higher rate of fire, and have better accuracy.
As our side continues to increase the tonnage of ironclad ships and the firepower output of shipboard weapons, the results of this small-scale naval battle can be imagined.
Eight ships fought against twenty-five ships, without any suspense at all. The whole battle was a one-sided result, and none of our own iron-clad ships suffered serious damage, only minor injuries.
Even if the number of enemy ships doubles to fifty, our own side will not be under pressure and will just use more artillery shells and anti-ship missiles.
The value of the ironclad ship is reflected at this time. It is the so-called choice with great value for money!
Next year, Zheng will be able to obtain four level five ironclad ships and four level four ironclad ships, and his own strength will still be ahead of the French and Dutch navies combined.
The ironclad ship Zheng purchased from Emperor Haojing can enjoy ex-factory prices at all levels.
The initial order of four fourth-level ironclad ships only cost 16 million taels of silver, and the discount for each ship was only 6 million silver coins.
France, which also purchased this type of warship, paid more than ten times the price to buy it. Although there is an element of inflation, the price is still quite high.
The reason why he can enjoy such treatment is because Zheng has contributed to the court many times, without any credit but with hard work.
In order to continue to enjoy this kind of transcendental treatment in the next decades or even centuries, Zheng Chenggong needs to continue to work hard.
This time is different from the last time he went to Europe to fight. Without France and the Netherlands to interfere, Britain's fate is in its own hands.
Zheng Chenggong wanted to see where James II could escape this time and whether he could have the skills of his elder brother!
