"Your Majesty the Emperor, the Revenge has just sent a telegram. The Indian fleet, which is conducting a landing operation on the beach near Muscat Port, encountered a volley bombing by a Ming airship group."
Charles Elliot frowned and reported the latest battle situation to Emperor William, who was lying on the armchair. The emperor, who was closing his eyes to recuperate, suddenly sat up, stared at Charlie Yilu with big eyes, and asked with a little panic: "Damage, lost the battleship?"
After learning that his Indian fleet was raided by the Ming army's torpedo boat force and lost two armored cruisers and two cruisers, the originally confident Indian emperor suddenly became depressed. First, he was like an ant on a hot pot on the Warrior. There was a lot of confusion in the combat command center until Marquis Nelson invited him to go back to his luxurious bedroom to rest.
After returning to the bedroom, Emperor William felt dizzy and chest tight again. He quickly called the Chinese medicine doctor on the ship to check his pulse. He also gave him Shexiang Baoxin Pills and Apocynum Antihypertensive Pills, and told him to lie down and not get excited. It was a little better now, and Yilu rushed in excitedly with a telegram.
"No, no battleships were lost." Charlie Elliot answered truthfully.
"Then, that's the loss of the armored cruiser." The emperor's chest began to feel tight again - armored cruisers are also precious! One Blake-class was lost in the last Battle of Goa, and two other Blake-class ships entered the Hindustan Shipyard's dock for overhaul and have not yet been repaired. It seems that the damage is worse than reported. serious!
"No, and no armored cruiser was lost." Charlie Elliot answered truthfully.
"That's the loss of a second- and third-class cruiser." Emperor William felt better.
"No, there was no loss of second or third class cruisers either."
"That's the troop ship?" Emperor William made a sign of the cross on his chest, "May the true God, Shiva, and Guru bless those brave Indians, Amen."
"No, no, we didn't sink the troopship either."
The emperor was stunned, "Then what did they blow up?"
"Actually" Charlie Elliot dragged his voice and frowned.
"What actually?" Emperor William's heart was beating fast.
"Actually, they didn't hit anything!" Charlie Yilu said in an unbelievable tone, "His Majesty, the Ming Dynasty seems to have been defeated again this time!"
This was not the first time that the Ming Dynasty was defeated by Great Britain. Wasn't it the "defeat in the Persian Gulf" last time? So it’s not surprising if they lose this time. I wonder where they will “defeat”?
Emperor William became nervous again, "Charlie, they didn't 'defeat' any more, right?"
"No, no" Charlie Elliot quickly shook his head, "Your Majesty the Emperor, Admiral Codrington's telegram said that the Ming Dynasty invested 36 small airships to bomb our fleet this time. However, due to the air defense of the Indian Fleet, The firepower was so powerful that Ming’s airships did not dare to lower their altitude, so they could only carry out volley bombing at an altitude of 3,000 meters. They dropped a total of 72 bombs, but none of them hit!"
Emperor William was finally relieved. The Ming Dynasty probably did not invent the tactic of adding manned gliding bombs to airships, but it was still stupidly using airships to drop bombs. However, after the Battle of Kii Suido, the British and Indian Royal Navy ships strengthened their air defense and installed many anti-aircraft guns that can be used to accurately attack airships. Therefore, the Ming Army's airships can no longer drop bombs at low altitudes. They can only climb to an altitude of 3,000 meters and drop bombs.
But how accurate are ordinary unguided bombs when dropped from a height of 3,000 meters? It's impossible to blow up a fixed target, let alone a ship taking a Z-shaped course at a speed of more than ten knots? It's impossible to explode at all.
"Then we still lost four ships to them," Emperor William still felt something was wrong. "And they didn't even lose a single ship, four to zero. How can we be considered a winner?"
"But we have successfully landed near Muscat Port, established a solid beachhead, and captured two fishing ports!" Charlie Elliot said, "This is a major victory, enough to offset the four The loss of an old cruiser.”
"real?"
Emperor William looked at Charles Elliot.
Yilu nodded firmly: "Your Majesty, have you forgotten the purpose of our feint attack on Muscat?"
Emperor William finally figured it out, nodded and said, "Yes, our goal is to force the Ming Empire to send their main fleet through the Strait of Malacca and into the Indian Ocean to rescue the Persian Gulf Fleet."
"That's right," Yilu said, "and to achieve this goal, we must land in Muscat, occupy Muscat Port, then transport a large number of ground troops from India to Oman, and then advance towards the Hajar Mountains . As long as we can capture the Hajar Mountains, then Ras Al Khaimah will be undefeated! And once we capture Ras Al Khaimah, the Ming Empire’s Persian Gulf Fleet will be finished!”
"Then can we capture the Hajar Mountains and Ras Al Khaimah?"
"Yes! As long as we invest enough Indian ground troops, victory will always come!"
Borneo, Brunei Bay base.
In the slow evening breeze, a Flying Dragon Type 4 fast airship seemed to have golden light under the setting sun. Like a flying magic weapon, it fell from the sky and landed on the empty runway of the newly built Brunei Airport.
Sitting in this airship, Zhuge Weidao grinned, looking at the newly built airport, imagining the waves of war eagles rising and falling, and looking forward to the future even more.
Zhuge Weidao, who was familiar with another period of history, knew that the period of World War I and World War II was the period of the fastest development of aircraft. From the invention of aircraft to the time when aircraft could dominate the battlefield, it only took more than thirty years. This was still the development of aviation technology during the inter-war period. The result of a slowdown. If the confrontation between the Ming Dynasty and Great Britain can continue, both sides' investment in aircraft will only continue to increase. It is entirely possible to mature aviation weapons within fifteen years!
Therefore, in the foreseeable future, the decisive battle on the ocean will definitely be aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft!
When the airship stopped, Zhuge Weidao found that Guan Tianpei and Chen Jian were already waiting for him on the runway. Zhuge Weidao quickly pushed open the airship's hatch, then walked down the ramp to the ground, and quickly walked towards the two of them.
"Guan Junmen, Mr. Chen, how is the situation?"
Although the new Ming Dynasty already had such awesome equipment as "battle cruiser torpedo boats" and "aircraft-carrying battle cruise torpedo boats", it still retained many traditions. For example, the white woolen military uniforms worn by Zhuge Weidao, Guan Tianpei, and Chen Jian incorporate many traditional elements, and their military titles are also relatively traditional.
Guan Tianpei's Nanyang Fleet Admiral can be called the "Military Gate". Chen Jian's official position is the commander-in-chief of the squadron, which can be called the "chief town". Because Zhuge Weidao is the admiral of the aviation force, he can also be called the "military gate". Otherwise, according to his aviation fleet, he would be at the most general level.
"Zhuge Junmen," Chen Jiandao, "it is now certain that the main force of the Indian Navy is in the Gulf of Oman."
"Is it really certain?" Zhuge Weidao was still a little doubtful - the fact that there is oil in the Persian Gulf hasn't been leaked yet, right?
Guan Tianpei nodded: "Daozi, just when you came from Ryukyu, we got a notification from the Persian Gulf Fleet. The airship they sent discovered a large fleet of ships in the Gulf of Oman near Muscat. At least. There were 150 ships of various types deployed on the waters of the Gulf of Oman. The number of British and Indian troops who landed was also large. In just one morning, more than 5,000 people landed!
In addition, we also received news that Emperor William has already led the expedition in person, and is probably in the large fleet outside the Gulf of Oman. "
"The emperor personally marched to the front line?" Zhuge Weidao was stunned, "Does he really think this is the era of the Napoleonic Wars?"
"What's the point?" Guan Taipei said with a smile, "Emperor William is four years older than Napoleon, and I am only twelve years younger than Napoleon. You are almost married to Napoleon. (Natalie's sister almost married Napoleon) Woolen cloth!"
After saying that, Guan Taiping patted Zhuge Weidao's shoulder, who was a little dazed: "Let's go to the war room to talk about it!"
(End of chapter)
