An even more embarrassing thing was yet to come. A 10,000-ton cruiser of the French Navy was hit by three torpedoes and sank on the spot.
A "Vikrant" aircraft carrier was also attacked by two torpedoes. Fortunately, it escaped death due to its large displacement.
Eight warships were sunk in one day, and more than ten were severely damaged. One aircraft carrier was especially attacked by the enemy, which made Tourville furious and immediately warned the captains.
If they continue to be so negligent, I am afraid that the entire fleet will have to feed fish in the northern waters of the Arabian Sea and will not be able to return to Bombay to rest.
The French navy is on the periphery, that is, the second line, but it was disgraced by the Persian submarines. It is really unreasonable.
It was obvious that the Persians were desperate, but the French navy was not ready for battle, especially in terms of attitude.
They always thought that with the Ming Empire's navy at the front, they could sit back and relax.
This idea is absolutely wrong, because the Persians could not defeat the Ming Empire's navy, so they could only choose the French fleet.
It is understandable that the Ming fleet suffered heavy losses. After all, they were fighting bloody battles with the Persians on the front line.
Our own fleet on the second line was severely damaged, and Tourville didn't know how to explain to His Majesty the Emperor afterwards...
Due to the previous large-scale rebellions in French West Africa and French India, the two most important squadrons of the French Navy were almost wiped out.
The French Navy's Mediterranean Fleet stationed in Malta heard that North Africa was about to be lost, and hurried to Marseille in the Ming Empire. This was considered to be an escape.
Even so, the French Navy lost about half of its warships, which was seriously damaged.
If Emperor Hao Jing had not provided Louis XIV with three aircraft carrier battle groups every year, it would have taken more than ten years for the French Navy to regain its previous strength.
The current situation is that even if Tourville wants to deal with the Persian navy, he may not be able to do so.
The opponent's battleships are few, but there are many small and medium-sized ships, making it extremely difficult for the French navy to deal with them.
Assisting the Ming Empire's naval operations, the second-line position located on the periphery was still successfully attacked by Persian submarines.
"Hmph!"
After Jiexuan was reported, he did not order a fleet to help the French navy behind him.
If few of their ships sink, then let them fish out their own people.
In the first battle against the Persian navy, the Ming expeditionary fleet lost nine destroyers, eighteen frigates, and forty merchant ships.
Even the battleships have been hit by anti-ship missiles, but these things are rough and thick-skinned, and they will be fine unless they are attacked by more than a dozen missiles.
The losses were considerable, but they did not affect the continued fighting at all, let alone delay the landing mission in southeastern Persia.
Hussein ordered the Persian Navy to lay a large number of mines along the coast east of the exit of the Persian Gulf in an attempt to hinder the Ming army's landing operations.
But this cannot play the intended role. There are minesweepers in the Jiexuan fleet, and these things will not even be counted in the number of main combat ships.
Magnetic mines are completely ineffective against wooden minesweepers, and the retreat route of Persian missile boats has proven that there are multiple entry and exit channels to the minefield.
Most anti-submarine helicopters can also clear mines, and sonobuoys can detect suspended objects in the water.
Originally, the Persians could use the Ming fleet to clear mines and launch a batch of anti-ship missiles.
But with the failure of the sneak attack, battlefield air supremacy also fell into the hands of the Ming fleet.
The Persian army and navy's coastal defense forces were attacked by thousands of anti-ship missiles before they could find a chance to strike.
The range of most anti-ship missiles is only two to three hundred kilometers, which is far inferior to cruise missiles.
But if it is only used to deal with coastal targets, it is enough.
Hussein also deployed a large number of anti-aircraft missiles in the southeastern coastal areas and ordered the construction of reinforced concrete fortifications.
Due to the sudden start of the war, a large number of fortifications have not yet been completed. The area of the anti-aircraft missile position is very large, and the appearance characteristics are naturally very obvious.
Hussein deployed fifty companies each of the "Bavar"-373 long-range air defense system and the "Holdad"-15 medium-range air defense system here.
Each company is equipped with four launch vehicles, each carrying four bombs. One hundred companies have 1,600 anti-aircraft missiles, almost forming a huge sky shield.
Even if the Ming army formed a formation of thousands of aircraft, it would be difficult to break through this air defense firepower network.
The anti-ship missiles launched by the Ming fleet consumed more than half of the anti-aircraft missiles in the southeastern defense zone, which was also the purpose of Jiexuan.
Even if these anti-ship missiles are intercepted, they can still play a certain role.
After the minesweepers have opened a safe channel for the fleet, the landing fleet can dock.
The coast to a depth of fifty kilometers will be within the range of naval guns.
No matter how powerful the opponent's anti-aircraft missiles are, they can't stop the rain of shells.
What's more, the anti-ship missiles carried by the fleet are far more than these thousand. When they come to attack Persia this time, they have already made corresponding preparations.
Not to mention warships, even merchant ships were equipped with weapons and equipment. The purpose was to fight the Persians to the end and see who could kill whom first.
In order to retaliate for Hussein's previous actions, Louis XIV took the initiative to ask for help and let the French army launch thousands of tactical missiles without Zhu Cihong's mobilization.
It is to retaliate against this seemingly harmless thing before. If it were not for the intervention of old friends, it might be difficult for France to successfully recover the French western region of India.
Now I can take a breath of relief. Of course, if you want to add insult to injury, it is best to throw the stone directly into the opponent's mouth!
Hussein also deployed a large number of air defense systems in the eastern areas of Persia bordering western French India. As a result, the French army's raid did not achieve much results.
But Zhu Cihong was quite satisfied with this, because no matter how many missiles were launched, they would all consume the missiles in Hussein's hands. This was a hedging behavior.
The gift package Hussein received did not include many styles of weapons and equipment. The ones he relied on most were anti-aircraft missiles, main battle tanks, and small and medium-sized naval vessels.
The performance of the Persians' new fighter aircraft can only be considered to be slightly better than the "Scissored Kite", and its actual combat effectiveness is only equivalent to that of the "Jaguar" attack aircraft.
Perhaps Hussein was also aware of this aspect, so he did not let the fleet go into battle on a large scale.
This arrangement is undoubtedly wise, because Zhu Cixiang has also deployed a large number of S350 air defense systems and S400 air defense systems in the Mingbo border area.
The Russian First Army, which is responsible for moving south, also has thousands of "Tunguska" anti-aircraft vehicles, "Doyle"-M1 anti-aircraft vehicles, and "Pantsir"-S1 anti-aircraft vehicles. Its field air defense capabilities are also good.
Therefore, the tactics of the Ming Dynasty's expeditionary fleet are to push forward on the sea, while the tactics of the Ming Dynasty's army are also to push forward on the ground. The two have different approaches but the same purpose.
Both the British First Army and the Western First Army have an armored brigade and an infantry brigade. They seem to have a few troops, but as time goes by, Zhu Cixiang will add all the weapons and troops he summoned to these two armies. .
Let the size of each corps reach at least one armored brigade and two infantry brigades, and then the summoned parts will be organized into the second corps, and so on.
Due to the double rewards from the Russian gift package, the Russian First Army consists of two armored brigades and two infantry brigades, which can be regarded as being in place in one step.
The deployment of only eight brigades of combat troops in northeastern Persia did seem a bit small. Considering that the French army had already participated in the operation to recover the western part of French India, Zhang Huangyan also transferred the Indian Army to the western front.
The First Indian Army includes one armored brigade and two infantry brigades. Its heavy equipment only includes T-90S main battle tanks, K-9 155mm howitzers, and Predator M4 wheeled armored off-road vehicles.
The other heavy weapons in the gift package were all given to Louis XIV. For other types of weapons that the Indian Army lacked, Zhang Huangyan would use the standard weapons in active service of the Ming Dynasty Army to supplement them.
Taking into account the hidden dangers that the Czech and Swiss troops may have brought in the rear, Zhu Cihong ordered one mechanized infantry brigade and one infantry brigade under the jurisdiction of these two troops to also go to the Persian battlefield.
Four brigades are organized into one army. Although there is no supplement, the overall combat effectiveness should not be lower than that of the Indian First Army.
Those temporarily put on the battlefield are fifteen brigades under the jurisdiction of the five armies, and eleven more brigades can be summoned every month.
The Ming Dynasty King's Division has always been good at implementing air-ground battles, and this battle is no exception. Even if the main force of the ground troops is summoned, this trick can still be used.
The relatively useless "Tornado" fighter jets and "Jaguar" attack aircraft, the "Wangji" fighter jets that have become useless, and the "Avenger" bombers that have fallen behind can all be used to lead the charge.
A large number of rockets and large-caliber artillery shells in stock have also been transported to the Zhongzhou front line. If they are not used this time, it will be a long time before they are unsealed. If they are not kept in full, they will expire...
These were originally produced not too long ago, as rebellions around the world ended so quickly that there was a surplus of ammunition.
After Zhu Cixi realized that this was a large-scale rebellion of a global nature, he directly placed orders for all the military factories in the empire for ten years.
Even if production is ordered to be suspended, it must be carried out step by step, which involves all aspects, especially the transfer of workers in the military industry.
As a result, more than one million rockets and large-caliber artillery shells were transported to Zhongzhou, some of which were exchanged 155 mm artillery shells and propellants.
This kind of ammunition can be supplied to K-9 self-propelled howitzers, AS-90 self-propelled howitzers, and "Donar" self-propelled howitzers.
Main battle tanks don't use much ammunition. The real big consumer is the howitzer used for fire coverage.
These three types of howitzers can be used until the barrel is scrapped. Due to sufficient ammunition, they have unlimited firing rights.
However, the K-9 self-propelled howitzer in the Indian gift package itself is Korean, so the entire vehicle and parts can be replaced.
In the future, one of the large-caliber howitzers of the Ming Dynasty Army will be the K-9. The original "Rhinoceros" 171mm self-propelled artillery will be used as a backup, just in case.
The latter was also purchased by the Persian Army, with as many as 300 guns, but its advanced level is naturally not comparable to that of the K-9. Artillerymen who have used this thing say it is good.
What does it feel like to be bombarded by thousands of large-caliber artillery and rocket launchers?
The Persian soldiers on the opposite side knew this very well, and many of them were very happy.
Hussein ordered the construction of three lines of defense in the northeastern border area to increase the depth of defense.
But it is almost an impossible task to hold on to this 500-kilometer-long defense line.
It is theoretically impossible, and it is even more impossible in practice, even if Hussein has deployed as many as sixty-five brigades of troops in this area, including five armored brigades and seven infantry brigades.
To hold a 500-kilometer defense line, each brigade needs to defend less than eight kilometers wide on average, which seems feasible.
However, the Ming army had absolute artillery and air force advantages, and the Persian defenders could only say that their defenses were pretty good.
There are minefields in the front, anti-tank guns and anti-tank missiles in the middle, armored troops and artillery in the back, and a certain number of fighter planes and helicopters for support.
The prerequisite for a successful defense is that the Persian defenders can withstand the Ming army's violent attack, especially the three major problems of bombing, artillery, and missiles.
The Persian army had practiced with the Ming army all year round and was quite familiar with the tactics of this former ally.
But its fatal flaw is that it has never fought against the Ming army in actual combat, so it retains a mysterious confidence.
He thought that after he learned all the skills from his teacher, he could deceive his teacher and destroy his ancestors.
When the teacher showed his true skills, a certain rebellious student was dumbfounded...
Zhang Huangyan mobilized 2,300 large-caliber self-propelled howitzers, more than 2,110 towed howitzers, more than 1,000 rocket launchers, and more than 300 tactical missiles for the four armies on the Western Front.
Zhu Cixiang will also use the "Jaguar" attack aircraft, "Tornado" fighter jets, Su-30M2 fighter-bombers, Ka-52 armed helicopters, NH-90 transport helicopters, Tu-22 and Tu-160 bombers that are summoned every month to fight. Aircraft were deployed on the Western Front.
The total number of fighters and attack aircraft deployed on the Western Front every month will not be less than 900, the number of helicopters will not be less than 1,200, and the number of bombers will be at least 300.
Including transport aircraft and early warning aircraft, there will be more than 30,000 combat aircraft fighting on the Western Front every year. Zhu Cixiang believes that this scale and intensity are large enough.
And they can all be lost. It is completely possible to fight a war of attrition on an unprecedented scale with Hussein. This is the advantage of having a large number of gift packages.
Zhu Cixiang had already told Hussein about his strength before, but he didn't expect him to still be stubborn, so don't blame yourself for being rude...
There are as many as 220 anti-aircraft companies deployed in northeastern Persia, and the anti-aircraft firepower here is more than twice that of the southeast.
But the enemies they faced were also unprecedentedly powerful. They had what the Persian army had, and the Ming Dynasty had them, and what the other side didn't have, the Ming Dynasty also had.
For example, the reconnaissance satellite was the clairvoyance of the Ming Dynasty. The small movements of the Persian army on the surface were captured by the reconnaissance satellite.
Even if the opponent uses a model to fake it, it's okay. Just test it with fake missiles.
"Dummy missiles" are things with less explosive charge and greatly reduced performance in all aspects.
Don't count on it to destroy your target, just use it to fish.
As long as the other party fires, it's considered a bait.
Regardless of whether the fake missiles are destroyed, the Ming army can learn the specific location of the opponent's air defense system's launch site.
Even if you don't do this, you can just use rocket launchers and howitzers to erode the Persian army's defense area bit by bit and level it.
With the cooperation of a large number of helicopters, the armored forces can reach a depth of dozens of kilometers in one go...
Most of the anti-aircraft missiles launched by the Persian defenders were shot down by numerous anti-aircraft vehicles of the Ming army.
One side's anti-aircraft artillery and anti-aircraft missiles intercept the other side's anti-aircraft missiles. This can be regarded as a spectacle on the battlefield.
