I saw that the sea outside the Little Nanjing Port was densely packed with warships from the combined fleets of European countries. Like sharks, they were already swarming towards the Ming fleet in the distance.
Compared with the combined fleets of European countries, the Ming fleet was really pitifully small, only a handful. In contrast, it was very obvious.
King Theodosio of Portugal made a rough estimate and concluded that there may only be a total of more than fifty Ming warships.
At this moment, Du Quan, the former governor of Hao Jing'ao who was in charge of the Portuguese fleet at the port, saw his figure and rushed over immediately. He said to Theodosio with a worried look: "Your Highness, I began to think it was... The vanguard of the Ming Navy has arrived. However, it seems that this is all the Ming Navy has!"
Previously, as soon as he saw the Ming navy warships appearing, Du Chu excitedly dispatched his men and rode on horseback to spread the news of the arrival of the Ming reinforcements throughout Little Nanjing.
I just didn’t expect that the reinforcements from the Ming Dynasty would come so little! Could it be that the Governor of the Ming Dynasty didn't expect that the coalition forces from various European countries would have so many troops?
Compared to other Portuguese people, Theodosio and others knew the Ming Dynasty better. Therefore, Theodosio quickly asked Du Quan: "Is it true that these warships of the Ming Dynasty are very powerful and can defeat many with less?"
Since Duke Xingguo came out, the Ming army has basically defeated more with less. Of course, there are also cases where more people win against fewer people, but those are all naval battles along the coast of the Ming Dynasty.
After hearing this, Du Quan saw that Theodosio did not bring a telescope, so he immediately took off his imported Ming binoculars and said to Theodosio: "Your Highness, take a look for yourself, it seems that there is nothing special about the Ming warships." of!"
As soon as Theodosio heard this, he immediately took the telescope and started looking at it.
Among the more than fifty battleships of the Ming Dynasty, it is obvious at a glance that most of them are steam paddle-wheel battleships. But if you look carefully, it seems that the ten or so ships at the front are a little different!
At this sight, he suddenly became excited and quickly said while looking at it: "Look, the ten or so warships at the front don't seem to see paddle wheels. They are a bit special. Maybe they are Xingguo Gongxin again." The battleship was invented!”
Needless to say, most of the new things nowadays were invented by Duke Xingguo of the Ming Dynasty. Even if not, it must have been invented under the guidance of the new learning taught by Xingguo Gong.
When Du Chu heard this, he snatched the telescope from one of his subordinates and quickly started looking at it.
He didn't realize this before. Looking at it again at this time, it turned out that as Theodosio said, the warships in front of the fleet were really a little different.
I haven't seen it before, it should be these different battleships that were originally behind the fleet. At this time, the combined fleets of European countries surrounded them, and these different warships came out to fight.
"Your Majesty, why is there no paddle wheel? Where does the power of the battleship come from?" Du Chu was a little confused and asked quickly.
Theodosio said with a hint of excitement: "How do I know? Anyway, I'm sure it's definitely a powerful battleship!"
According to his experience, if something new comes out from Daming, it is definitely good stuff.
Du Chu really couldn't see it, so he asked again with doubts: "Even if the power is not from the paddle wheel, it will not be easily destroyed by enemy ships and the paddle wheel will lose power. However, there are so many enemy warships, what is so special about this kind of Ming warship?" Yes, how can it fight so many enemy ships?"
At this point, he paused and added: "Could it be because they were covered with iron sheets, right? However, among the enemy's warships, there are more than 80 warships covered with iron sheets, which is more than the total number of warships in the Ming Dynasty fleet. Woolen cloth!"
Looking from a distance, we can see that some Ming warships, including those without paddle wheels, are shining with a metallic luster under the sun. Therefore, he said this.
Battleships covered with iron sheets are no longer strange nowadays!
When Theodosio heard this, he couldn't understand it either.
To be honest, he couldn't imagine what the warships of the Ming Navy would be like, so that they could defeat more than ten times the number of enemy warships.
Although I couldn't understand it, seeing so few Ming warships facing so many enemy ships, instead of running away, they took the initiative to fight. Theodosio couldn't help but be moved to tears: "The Ming navy is so... It is to save Portugal, even if we are outnumbered, we are still fearless in fighting, never abandon, and never give up. This is what Duke Xing Guo advocates, and this is truly regarding Portugal as one of their own."
Having said this, he immediately put down the telescope, turned to look at Du Chu and shouted: "What are you still doing? Lead the fleet and rush out immediately to support the Ming Navy. If the Ming Navy loses this battle, what will happen to your fleet? What’s the use?”
Du Chu understood that Theodosio was right. If the Ming Dynasty's navy was defeated, the Portuguese fleet he led would be useless even if it was hiding in the port.
Since the Ming Navy is so loyal, we will fight to the death together in this battle!
Unknowingly, under the influence of Theodosio and many years of living in the East, Du Chu became Orientalized!
So, Du Chu responded to him in Theodosio's favorite way, clasping his hands and saying, "Your Highness, take care!"
After saying that, he immediately turned around and rushed back to the flagship.
………………
In the European Combined Fleet at Sea, Britain's Cromwell and Sweden's Carl Gustav Wrangel all faced off against the naval fleets from the east with sneers.
In fact, they knew very well in their hearts that Ming's warships would definitely be more powerful than theirs. One-on-one battleships would not be a match for Ming's warships.
However, this is a war, not a duel of knights. What we need is to use our own advantages as much as possible to win this war!
The best way to deal with these Ming warships is to use the numerical advantage of one's own warships to swarm them into a group fight.
Anyway, there are so many steam paddle-wheel warships on our side, and they are not afraid of the wind direction. They can completely surround the Ming warships and bloom in many directions, making it difficult for the Ming warships to fight with four hands and kill these oriental monkeys from the Far East!
How dare you ride on the heads of Europeans to show off your power, bah!
Cromwell, Carl Gustav Wrangel and others also discovered that some Ming warships were special. For example, they did not have paddle wheels. For example, they were much larger than their warships.
But Dutch Admiral Anthony once said that the Ming Dynasty had a kind of sealed warship, which was a giant on the sea. It was covered with iron sheets and had been to Batavia.
Cromwell and others did not take this seriously. The larger the battleship, the larger the target in this kind of naval battle, and there would not be much advantage at all.
I think back when the British defeated the Spanish Armada, the British warships were generally much smaller than the Spanish warships.
With this thought in mind, Cromwell and others gave the order to attack as they saw the Ming fleet getting closer and closer.
At this time, at the Lisbon port, the Portuguese fleet also left the port, but no one cared, because they all knew that as long as they defeated the Ming fleet, they could turn around and destroy the Portuguese fleet.
"Boom boom boom..."
The Spanish battleship was the first to fire. However, the range is not yet reached, so it will not have any effect at all. At most, it will only serve as a deterrent.
The fleets of other countries did not take it seriously when they saw Spain like this. To frighten the enemy was a strategy in itself. The Spaniards were willing to waste ammunition doing this. What did they object to?
But who would have thought that at this moment, suddenly, a loud "boom" was heard, which seemed to be louder than usual.
Then, many people were shocked to find that the middle of the hull of a Spanish warship rushing at the front suddenly exploded, pieces of wood flew around, and at the same time, a fire broke out.
"What happened?" When they first saw this situation, many people had this thought in their minds, "Could it be that the ammunition depot was accidentally set on fire?"
The reason why they think so is actually not their fault. Because the cannonballs at this time are all solid bullets, when bombarding a battleship, there is often nothing more than a hole.
In this age of solid bullets, it is actually not easy to sink a battleship.
In the original history, the use of explosive bombs in naval battles did not occur until the Battle of Sinop Bay in 1853.
In this naval battle, the Russian warships first used Nassimov explosive bombs, almost annihilating the Ottoman Empire's fleet, and it was also this battle that made wooden artillery and sailing warships withdraw from the battlefield, and the global navy began to enter the battlefield. The age of the ironclad.
There have never been explosive bombs in this dimension. Regarding this explosion, most people thought that the Spaniards accidentally detonated the gunpowder themselves.
Therefore, people from many countries, such as France, the Netherlands and other countries, although they are alliance parties, do not prevent them from enjoying the misfortune at all.
However, at this moment, another loud noise was heard, and then another Spanish warship exploded and caught fire.
This time, someone saw it and immediately exclaimed.
"Look, it's the battleship at the front of the Ming Dynasty that fired!"
"Yes, I saw it too, it was the cannon on the bow of the battleship that fired!"
"What's going on? Do they know magic? How did they make the Spanish battleship explode?"
"It must be magic, right? Otherwise, how to explain it?"
"..."
Shocked, besides shocked, still shocked.
The people on the warship knew very well that if every shot of the Ming army hitting the warship had this effect, it would be devastating to them.
Realizing this, a chill came out of their hearts.
This kind of attack is far less powerful than a solid bullet attack.
The monthly ticket is doubled. Although it will be completed soon, I still ask for a monthly ticket and see if I can get 1,000 votes! (I originally wanted to update more today, but checking the power of an explosive bomb was a waste of time.)
