Just as a group of army officers were preparing to watch the fireworks from a distance with great interest, Louise, who was a member of the translation team on a large transport ship in the transport fleet, was also following a group of overseas members of the Chu Empire. Colonial officials stood on the deck, looking at the sea ahead.
At this time, the weather was clear, the visibility was excellent, and there was quite a bit of wind on the sea, but it was not too strong. It could bring sufficient power to the sail without placing excessive burden on the sail.
Under such weather conditions, even though the distance was quite far and there was no telescope in his hand, Louise could still vaguely see the general situation directly ahead.
There is the entrance to the sea from the port of Lisbon.
The Port of Lisbon is a natural concave harbor. There is a narrow channel more than a thousand meters wide between the harbor and the sea for entry and exit.
Now a large number of Portuguese ships are coming out of this channel one after another, spreading their bulging sails and continuing to approach the outer sea.
However, they did not rush out to attack immediately. Instead, they first sent a small fast schooner as a communication vessel to try to go to sea to contact the Chu people.
Even if the Portuguese have determined that the Chu people on the opposite side have bad intentions and want to attack Lisbon directly, if possible, the Portuguese still want to calm the Chu people's anger and make them retreat.
After the small fast schooner arrived near the cruiser Qiongzhou, it quickly came into contact with the traffic boat sent by the Chu people, and then many Portuguese envoys were brought to the cruiser Qiongzhou.
But not long after, they left the Qiongzhou cruiser with angry faces!
They tried to quell the situation and let the Chu people retreat, but the conditions proposed by the Chu people were intolerable to them.
The conditions proposed by the people of Chu were very simple, with no more than three conditions.
Portugal unilaterally fully opened its market and limited tariffs.
Portugal ceded Setubal Port as a leased land for Chu people for business, living and residence.
Compensate a certain amount of money as the cost of sending troops from Chu State this time
These three clauses... to be honest, are more cruel than when Spain annexed Portugal.
If Spain annexes Portugal, the two sides will form a United Kingdom anyway, but the conditions proposed by the Chu Empire, especially the one of fully liberalizing the market, basically treat Portugal as a colony.
The Portuguese are not stupid. They know very well what will happen once the market is fully liberalized. Among other things, their various domestic handicraft industries will be destroyed first. By then, they will basically have no other options except farming and mining.
Therefore, the comprehensive opening of the market...is basically the policy of big countries against economic colonies.
The Portuguese have been engaged in great voyages and colonization for more than two hundred years... but this is the first time they are treated as a colony. This is naturally unacceptable.
The Portuguese's rejection was expected.
The Chu people did not expect the Portuguese to agree now.
Although from the perspective of Chu people, the Chu Empire does not have much demand for Europe this time. As long as the other party opens its market, limits tariffs, builds a concession port for Chu, and then establishes extra-legal jurisdiction and so on. That's pretty much it.
As for the cession of large tracts of territory, military passage rights, garrison rights, protection fees, etc., we haven't said anything yet.
But from the perspective of the Portuguese, or any powerful person in an indigenous country, fully opening the market is equivalent to killing half a life.
Everyone is not stupid!
If other countries, such as Spain next door or even France in the north, want to let Portugal open its market, if the Portuguese get other benefits, then they can really open up.
But the Chu Empire...
All fools know that the Chu Empire is the only industrial country on earth today and can produce massive amounts of various cost-effective industrial products every year.
For other countries, as long as you dare to completely open the market to Chu products, Chu products can crush all your handicraft industries and even some specific agriculture in minutes.
There is even no need for vicious competition, just normal competition is enough to achieve this situation.
Therefore, any contemporary aboriginal dignitaries with some brains and strength will not easily open the market to allow Chu goods to enter and exit at will, let alone open the market with no reservations and limited tariffs.
The one that does business more normally with the people of Chu today is probably the Ottoman Empire. The relationship between the two is that although the Ottoman Empire allows goods from the Chu Empire to enter, it also charges tariffs, and the tariffs on some goods are not low. , and some products that will seriously affect the interests of their domestic craftsmen or powerful people often have very high tariffs.
However, for some transit goods, mainly goods that are transported to the Mediterranean through Egypt and then shipped to Europe for sale, according to the agreement reached between the two countries, the Ottoman Empire only charges low and appropriate tolls, but does not charge regular tariffs. This is part of a series of agreements reached between the two countries, especially the agreement between Chu and the Ottoman Empire to aid the construction of arsenals.
The ones that have fully opened their markets are the indigenous kingdoms in India and the so-called Mughal Empire...
By the way, the Mughal Empire these days was dismembered by the Chu army a few years ago, and is now just one of the larger countries on the Indian Peninsula.
Over the past many years, under the continuous military intervention of the Chu State, the entire Indian Peninsula has been divided into more than thirty kingdoms of various sizes, except for the South Indian region and some coastal territories controlled by the Chu State itself.
Some of these kingdoms are puppet protectorates directly controlled by Chu State, others are more severely controlled by Chu State and forced to sign a lot of agreements, but still maintain a certain independent status, and some are It is a kingdom that still maintains its independent status in other aspects except being forced to open its market.
But no matter what, the entire Indian peninsula became a dumping ground for the industrial goods of the Chu Empire.
The Portuguese naturally do not want their country to become like India.
The untouchables risk their lives, and the key is that it will also greatly damage the interests of many powerful people: many handicraft workshops are actually the properties of the big nobles.
The powerful people behind these workshops will definitely not be happy when your Chu people's goods come in and destroy these handicraft workshops.
And these powerful people are often the most determined group of people in a place to boycott Chu products.
On the other hand, some traders who make money from Chu products can easily turn into so-called traitors in their respective countries...bringing Chu people in!
All this is because of the word profit.
The Portuguese feel that they are a colonial power after all. Although they have lost all their colonies in Asia and Africa, they actually still have a large number of colonies in the Americas, that is, the vast Brazilian region.
Now the Chu people came to the door and asked the Portuguese to surrender and open up the market without saying a word and act as an economic colony for the Chu people. Naturally, the Portuguese were not happy.
The Portuguese envoy went back with anger and unwillingness. Commodore Song Yuanlong and other Chu generals did not care. Anyway, we can't reach an agreement now. It doesn't matter whether we talk or not.
The reason why these Portuguese envoys were brought here to talk just now was purely to delay time.
This time does not mean that the Chu fleet needs time to prepare. It is purely that the Portuguese fleet needs time to leave the port...
Being able to destroy this fleet outside the port and fight a serious naval battle is much easier and faster than turning back and breaking into the port and braving the enemy's shore defense firepower.
Although the results are the same, if you can waste less ammunition, you will waste less ammunition, and if you can save some time, you will save some time.
After such a negotiation, Song Yuanlong looked at the fleet on the opposite side and estimated that all that should come out. Currently, there are five third-class sailing battleships, about ten other thousand-ton battleships, and more than ten small cruisers or frigates remaining. There were a number of armed merchant ships and various small boats.
"Okay, that's almost it. Get ready to take action!"
"Start allocating combat targets and prioritize blocking the channels in and out of the port to prevent the other party from escaping back!"
Relying on the advantage of one's own naval gun range, even if the distance is longer, it can still cross the front line of the opponent's fleet and directly bombard the opponent's rear ships, blocking their return route.
As long as they can't go back, then they can slowly destroy these sailboats one by one.
As the order was issued, the three warships began to lower their sails and began to sail on pure steam engine power. This was in order to expand the firing range of the naval guns as quickly as possible.
Warships using rifled guns are more powerful and have longer ranges. Relatively speaking, the number of naval guns carried has also decreased. In order to cover a wider range of fire, the layout of naval guns is no longer limited to the sides, but on the front and rear of the hull. Large-caliber main guns will also be deployed at the central axis.
The eight 150mm front-loaded main guns on the Qiongzhou cruiser are deployed in four open-air rotating turrets, two in the front and two in the back.
If you want to maximize the power of these eight main guns, the sails must be lowered so as not to affect the firing range.
At about eleven o'clock in the morning local time, after a long wait and fruitless negotiations between the two parties, the cruiser Qiongzhou in the Chu fleet took the lead in opening fire!
Its 150mm front-loaded rifled main gun, coupled with more than a dozen 75mm front-loaded rifled secondary guns, took the lead in firing at the Portuguese flagship more than a thousand meters away.
The fireworks feast has officially begun!
Amidst the rumbling sound of cannons, the other two frigates also accompanied the cruiser Qiongzhou, one on the left and one on the right, and began to fire at their respective intended targets.
Their first round of bombardment targets were all the opponent's main battleships, which were the third-class battleships that were now mainstream among Europeans.
And these naval guns do not fire armor-piercing projectiles like those in traditional naval battles!
The Chu Empire Navy basically does not use armor-piercing bullets to deal with the warships of the indigenous navy... The Chu Navy's armor-piercing bullets are basically used to deal with the enemy's solid shore defenses.
To deal with warships, high-explosive bombs are usually used!
When it comes to attacking sailing warships, there is nothing better than explosive grenades. As long as a grenade hits, if you are lucky, it can directly break the mast of the sailing ship on the opposite side. Even if it is not good, it can also destroy a large number of sails, ropes or decks. Sail handler on board.
Attacking the warships of the age of sail and hitting their sails is equivalent to attacking the power compartment of the warships of the steam age. Once it is effectively hit, the effect will be huge.
No matter how powerful your sail warship is, once it loses its sails, it will turn into a dead fish floating on the sea in minutes.
As Chu's small fleet opened fire, the Portuguese on the opposite side panicked at first, but soon plucked up the courage to try to launch a counterattack.
A large number of sailing warships began to come on the wind, wanting to get close to a certain distance and then use their smoothbore cannons to counterattack.
But... how could Song Yuanlong give them a chance!
The three Chu warships have now even lowered their sails. They only rely on pure steam engine power to sail, completely ignoring the wind direction or ocean currents, and maneuvering at a high speed of about twelve knots.
Not to mention charging up and firing, or even engaging in a boarding battle, it was impossible to get within a thousand meters.
Ever since, Louise, who was in the rear transport fleet, and others saw this scene: the huge Portuguese fleet on the sea was hit one after another. Sail warships either sank after explosions, or some had their sails knocked off and floated on the sea like dead fish.
The six third-class battleships didn't even last for more than ten minutes before they were named in turn by three Chu battleships, and then they sank with five dead fish!
During this process, these six third-class battleships did not even fire a single shot... because when they were closest to the Chu fleet, they were more than a kilometer away, and they simply could not reach the effective range of smoothbore naval guns.
Next came numerous other warships and even armed merchant ships. From the beginning, these warships swarmed up and then became a mess.
The entire sea was in chaos, with thick smoke billowing and cannons rumbling.
The three Chu warships circled around the perimeter and carried out easy bombardment over and over again. In the end, they simply blocked the outside of the entrance and exit channel of Lisbon Port and called names one by one for those ships that wanted to escape back to the port.
This battle at sea left Louise stunned!
He knew that the Da Chu Empire's navy was very strong, but he did not imagine that the Da Chu Empire's navy was so strong.
During the entire naval battle, not a single hair was lost, and the Portuguese fleet's naval guns fired freely and freely throughout the entire process.
"This is not a fight, this is a massacre!"
This is how Louise feels as a bystander, but within the Portuguese fleet, they feel even more frightened and desperate!
At 11:30 in the morning, Portuguese ships began to surrender, and some ships began to flee... After finding that they could not escape back to the port, some of them chose to flee north.
However, the speed of the sailboats is too slow and they are too dependent on the wind direction. It does not mean that they can leave if they want. These ships that want to escape from the battlefield will soon be prioritized by the Chu fleet.
The attack strategy of the Chu fleet was to attack six third-class battleships at first, and then attack those ships that wanted to escape... As for the remaining ships, they took their time.
It is fast, maneuverable, has a long gun range, and high-explosive bombs can effectively destroy sails.
All this made it seem that the Chu fleet only had three warships to fight, but in fact it suppressed dozens of Portuguese ships on the opposite side...
No, they are fighting around!
At twelve o'clock in the morning, the remaining Portuguese general finally ordered that the fleet surrender in full... If not, all of them would die.
Because at this time, there were actually no intact Portuguese ships on the sea. The sails of the Portuguese ships still floating on the sea were basically destroyed.
These ships had no resistance and no possibility of escaping. Facing the Chu people's surrender, if they did not agree, they would only become targets and be targeted by the Chu navy.
At this time, even the Chu armed transport ships behind them were approaching and playing with their 55mm toothpick cannons.
Therefore, the Portuguese can be said to have fought to the last moment, and now it is time to start thinking about the lives of the soldiers.
Just looking at the Portuguese ships surrendering one after another in front of him, Louise, a Portuguese, felt strange in his heart. He had a feeling of sadness, but he also had a strange sense of euphoria.
This feeling of chaos made it difficult for Louise to use it, and in the end he did not stay on the deck to watch this live-fire training behavior... although the fireworks were indeed spectacular.
He shifted his gaze and watched the Qiongzhou cruiser, the most powerful cruiser in the Chu fleet, begin to shell the north shore coastal defense fort near Lisbon Port.
After defeating the fleet, we will build strong coastal defense forts. Once these forts are defeated, we can almost send troops to land.
The 150mm semi-armor-piercing projectile is still very effective against these antique-looking coastal defense forts. If one hits, it can basically destroy a piece of coastal defense fortifications. If you are lucky, you can directly destroy the artillery on the fort. They were all overturned.
At the same time, there were a large number of high-explosive grenades fired from 75mm rifled guns to cooperate with the shelling.
With such intensity of shelling, this kind of coastal defense fort built to fight sail warships simply could not withstand it. Soon the fort was beaten to pieces. The garrison personnel above also suffered heavy casualties, and some of the remaining people also ran away. All gone.
At around three o'clock in the afternoon, after confirming that there was no threat to the forts on the north shore, a number of transport ships carrying the army began to approach. One of the flat-bottomed landing transport ships specially used for landing rushed directly to the beach.
Multiple 55mm naval guns mounted on the transport ship began to clear out possible enemies near the beachhead, and the infantry covering them began to wade into the water to land.
However, the people who landed this time were not local regular soldiers, but servant troops from the Indian Third Division.
A battalion of Indian infantry quickly came ashore, followed by an artillery and cavalry company composed of native soldiers.
After the landing troops landed, they took the lead in attacking the coastal defense artillery position on the north shore that had been severely bombarded. They seized the ruins and empty fort, and then placed their own 75mm mountain cannon on it, taking advantage of the height advantage to cover nearby battlefields. .
At this time, Portuguese ground troops also began to gather and wanted to resist.
At this time, the Portuguese Lisbon still did not give up resistance. Although the navy failed and the coastal defense batteries were lost, they still had an army that could resist.
They will never give up unless they have to.
It's just that the Portuguese don't have a large population, and their army is pitifully small, so they are not considered a powerful force in Europe.
What could be gathered in such a hurry to deal with the Chu army's landing force, that is, the local garrison in Lisbon, totaled only more than 2,000 people...
However, the Chu army that has landed already has thousands of troops, including more than 700 Indian servants and more than 400 Chu soldiers.
The Portuguese didn't even gain much strength advantage, let alone weapons and equipment advantages.
This is also the tragedy of a small country... Even if it wants to do whatever it takes, even if it wants to use human lives to fight this stubborn resistance... it doesn't have enough people.
So the Portuguese were defeated without hesitation.
It was not too late, just after five o'clock in the evening that day, the infantry battalion of the Indian Third Division tried to launch an attack, but accidentally killed more than 2,000 Portuguese troops on the opposite side.
It was already approaching night at this time, and the night gave the Portuguese a breath of breathing, or the Chu Kingdom's landing troops could enter the city of Lisbon that day.
That night, everyone in the Lisbon palace stayed sleepless all night. The regent Pedro, who loved dumplings, was anxious and helpless.
Any indigenous country would be helpless in the face of the powerful invasion of the Chu Empire!
Just half a day ago, Pedro thought that since he could lead his army to resist the Spanish invasion and finally force Spain to fully recognize Portugal's independence, he would naturally be able to lead Portugal to resist the Chu invasion, preserve the Portuguese's independent status, and avoid It became an economic colony of the Chu people.
But he overestimated himself and Portugal, and even underestimated the Chu Empire!
Not to mention resisting the invasion of Chu's regular army, the Portuguese army under his command could not even defeat the Indian Army, the servant army under the Chu people...
If you can't fight, surrendering will harm the country. What should you do now?
Pedro doesn't know!
But others in the palace knew it!
In the middle of the night, civil strife broke out in the Portuguese palace. Count Castrumello, a former confidant of the exiled Portuguese King Alfonso VI, took advantage of the chaos to attack the palace with private soldiers, and killed Pedro in the chaos.
Then he announced that he would welcome back Alfonso VI...
Of course, the first step is to deal with the Chu people outside the city.
The Count of Castrumelloor claimed that Pedro was colluding with unscrupulous businessmen in an attempt to undermine the friendly commercial relations between Portugal and Chu and provoke a war.
Now that the culprit has been killed, the Kingdom of Portugal will have formal negotiations with the Chu State to restore peace...
By the way, Count Kastellumelor has been jealous of the commodity trade of the Chu Kingdom for many years. However, the commodity trade of the Chu Kingdom was previously monopolized by the South African company established by Pedro and his close aristocrats. He and other fringe nobles simply could not No chance to intervene.
In war, the old interest system will always fall and a new interest system will be born!
In the current Kingdom of Portugal, Count Castrumello is the spokesperson of the new interest system!
(End of chapter)
