Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 1000 The Battle of Cairo

Although the Duke of Richelieu knew that it was unlikely to take back Cairo, he was still going to try.

After all, judging from the news from Spain, those mercenaries are roughly only about 200 million.

At this moment, there are already 100 million mercenaries in southern East Africa, and they still have a huge territory in West Africa and a coastline of more than [-] miles to guard.

Calculated in this way, the defenders near Cairo are at most 50, or even 30, 20, or [-] are possible.

Anyway, their navy was not very strong, and they didn't see any warships, and the Ming Empire only sent armed merchant ships to transfer supplies.

In this case, even if they can't take back Cairo, there is no problem with withdrawing.

On the one hand, he sent a secret letter, telling Turenne to be prepared, and if the situation was not right, he would retreat to the territory of Prince Condé and seize Angola.

On the one hand, they sent envoys to Britain, Sweden, and Denmark for help, asking them to send troops to help.

And he himself took his guards and rode a war horse, and went straight to the south of France.

They originally planned to recapture Cairo. At this time, 40 recruits were naturally training near various port cities in southern France, and their ships were also remodeled in the docks and waterways in the south.

The anti-Habsburg alliance has really been lured out of its hole!

The fast horses scattered around the city of Paris naturally couldn't escape the eyes and ears of Daming's spies, and the warships of Britain and Spain were also under their strict monitoring.

Spain's ironclad warships are all rushing to the south of France, and the British sailing warships have all left the port and are gathering all the way south. The 40 recruits from France have all gathered near Marseille.

This is enough to prove that the old fox Richelieu can't sit still, he has been tricked!

When Taichang received the news, he immediately ordered the Feilong warship to send an order, ordered Lin Chaojie to suspend the advance, ordered Zheng Hongkui to call all the Spike warships to gather in the waters near Cairo, and ordered Atlantis to shrink millions of troops to the vicinity of Cairo, preparing to clean up the anti-Kazakhstan Reinforcements of the Boothburg Union.

The entire Nile Delta moved accordingly, and all the Spike Warships and Black God Army scattered in various rivers and regions in the north were rapidly gathering southward, and the [-] Spike Warships led by Zheng Hongkui also went downstream Next, go straight to Cairo.

The Cairo city at this moment is not the original Cairo city.

Atlanta, Zheng Hongkui, and Lin Chaojie led more than two million people to work hard for two months, and it is unknown how many forts and forts were built.

The vicinity of Cairo City is also quite suitable for encirclement and annihilation warfare.

Because after the Nile River flows through Cairo, it spreads out like a cattail leaf fan, and there are countless rivers of different sizes.

And the fleet of the Anti-Habsburg Alliance Alliance will definitely only come in through one river, and they will not be able to discover what is hidden in the other rivers.

In other words, as long as three thousand Spike warships are hidden in the main trunk of the Nile River south of Cairo and the tributaries of the Nile River north of Cairo, the fleet of the Anti-Habsburg Alliance will be surrounded when it enters the waters near Cairo City.

The Duke of Richelieu thought that the reinforcements could run away even if they couldn't take down Cairo. He didn't know that the vicinity of Cairo was already densely covered with warships and troops, and he was waiting for his reinforcements to sneak in.

This time, due to the hasty preparations, those who rushed to the vicinity of the mouth of the Nile in the early stage were the newly recruited 40 French army, about a thousand sailing ships, about four hundred ships and warships, and two hundred ironclad warships.

As for the reinforcements from Britain, Sweden, Denmark, and the Ottoman Empire, it is not known when they will arrive.

Fortunately, the first batch of iron-clad warships was relatively large. One iron-clad warship was packed with more than 40 people, and two hundred iron-clad warships could accommodate all [-] troops.

The commander-in-chief of the first batch of reinforcements was the Spanish veteran Oquendo.

Because at this moment, Army Commander Wallenstein is still in the western part of the Holy Roman Empire, Army Deputy Commander Turenne is blocked in Central Africa, and Deputy Commander Hendrik of the United Fleet has already gone to South Africa.

As the commander of the Continental Union Fleet, Oquendo is already the only commander of the Continental Union that can be used to command operations.

Even if the Duke of Richelieu is not happy, this battle can only be handed over to Oquendo to command.

Oquindo has a good understanding of the strength of the Ming Empire. He really has no hope for this battle. If he can hide, he will definitely hide away like Wallenstein.

Unfortunately, he couldn't escape.

He had no choice but to bite the bullet and lead the fleet to Cairo to try.

When the huge fleet reached the mouth of the Nile, he ordered all the ships to stop.

Of course he knew that there were so many rivers at the mouth of the Nile, and if people hid in these rivers for a sneak attack, they would never be able to find out.

How to do it?

He glanced through the binoculars, then gritted his teeth and ordered: "Order, order the French sailing ships to enter the largest river channel in the west first."

It would definitely not work if he didn't go this time, and the time was still quite tight, so he couldn't allow him to send ships to investigate the river carefully.

He can only let the French sailing ship attract other people's firepower in front.

Another advantage of this sailing ship going ahead is that the huge sails completely block the line of sight, and they can't be seen at all when they follow behind.

The French can't help it, but this time they took the initiative to ask for support, and it was their 40 French army who rescued them. If they don't open the way in front, who will open the way in front?
Thousands of sailing ships slowly entered the largest river in the west, and their snail-like speed was delayed for nearly an hour.

Seeing this, Ocundo could only shake his head slightly and sigh.

When he saw this kind of sailing ship, he knew the calculation of the anti-Habsburg alliance.

This kind of sailing ship is slow, but its steering is as sensitive as a ship and warship. If it is a naval battle, it will not suffer any losses, but it is hard to say in this river.

He waited for a long time until all the sailing ships entered the river, and then continued to order: "Send the order, order the ships and warships to follow."

Well, he was actually preparing to escape.

He learned this trick from Wallenstein, if it really doesn't work, turn around and run away!
Anyway, the French army is all on ironclad battleships, as long as they can escape, the loss is not particularly large.

If Taichang knew his thoughts, he would probably be so angry that he would scold him.

What's wrong with you guy?
Thinking about running away before the battle started!

Naturally, Zheng Hongkui had already detected their huge fleet coming over.

At this moment, the scouts of the Black God Army were watching them from more than ten miles away.

Their speed is really worrying, because there are sailing ships in front, the speed is already slow, and in addition, they are going upstream, and the wind direction is not right, the speed of these sailing ships is even slower.

At their speed, it would take at least three days to reach the vicinity of Cairo!
They had no choice but to wait.

Ocundo was very surprised at the moment, because they didn't see any enemies at all after they entered the river, and the sailing ship in front had driven in for dozens of miles, but there was still no movement.

Could it be that these mercenaries really all went south to grab territory, and there were no one stationed near Cairo?

If that's the case, that's great, they might really be able to take back Cairo.

The next day, as if to confirm his thoughts, there was still no movement ahead, not even a single person could be seen in the farmland and villages on both sides of the river.

At this time, Oquendo's confidence seems to have returned.

He wasn't a ghost who was afraid of death, it was just because Da Ming's strength was so strong that they suffered too much, so he didn't have the confidence to win.

The situation is different now, there are probably not many enemies, so he naturally has a little confidence again.

On the third day, it was as calm as ever, and they still did not encounter any resistance.

This time, his confidence was even stronger, because they were not far from Luocheng.

If they don't come to stop them at this time, tomorrow he will be able to send the army ashore, and there will be a land and water attack.

However, on the fourth day, shortly after the fleet set off, a flag was sent from the front, which roughly meant that there were forts and forts on both sides of the river.

Isn't this normal?

They are almost in the city of Cairo, if there is still nothing in front of them, then it is not normal.

Oquendo looked at the flag passing in front of him, and couldn't help but glance at his mouth.

Are you afraid of a fart, thousands of ships are still afraid of a few forts and forts?
He thought for a while, and then decisively ordered: "Send the order, the sailing ship in front blasts all the way, and the ships and warships behind follow."

There was a burst of flag waving, and soon there was a continuous roar of artillery in front.

Their more than 1000 ships lined up in the river for dozens of miles, and he really didn't know what was going on ahead.

However, the fleet is still advancing slowly, and the roar of the artillery is not very dense, presumably the blocking ahead is not very violent.

In fact, this is a way to lure the enemy into the depths.

Atlanta and Zheng Hongkui deliberately built the forts and forts sparsely on the periphery, and they haven't placed many artillery pieces, so the attack is naturally not very violent.

However, even so, a lot of sailing ships in front of the enemy would be blasted through, and many of them drove to the shore and ran aground on their own initiative.

In this way, at least it will not sink to the bottom of the river, nor will it block the channel of the fleet behind.

Looking at the turtle-like speed of the enemy from a distance, Zheng Hongkui frowned.

It would probably take at least two hours for these guys to rush to their ambush area!
He thought for a while, and then ordered decisively: "Okay, let the fortresses and forts in front stop firing."

The sound of artillery gradually faded away, and the advancing speed of the entire fleet gradually accelerated. Oquindo looked at the stranded sailing ships on both sides, and couldn't help but rejoice.

Fortunately, he let these ships attract firepower in front, otherwise, even the armored warships would probably be blasted through several ships.

Now he also saw the sparse forts and forts on both sides of the strait. People didn't know whether they were out of ammunition or suffered heavy casualties. Anyway, there was no sound at the moment.

He was secretly rejoicing when another banner came from ahead, and he found forts and forts again, and there were a lot of them.

Do you want to return it at this time?
Just kidding, the striker is probably about to rush to Cairo City, he will soon be able to find a place for the army to land, no matter how many forts and forts there are, he has to rush forward.

Anyway, it was the French sailing ships that were lost, which had little impact on their strength.

Oquindo ordered without hesitation: "The order, the fleet is advancing at full speed and rushing over."

A burst of command flags was waved, and soon there was a burst of intensive artillery roaring in front.

This time the French were really bombarded, the shells came from both sides like raindrops, they couldn't hold it at all!
The sailing ships were flying wood chips, and one after another ran aground. The French desperately sent a signal to the back, requesting to retreat.

Ocundo didn't say a word, he just scanned the river banks on both sides, preparing to find a place to put the 40 troops down.

He was really decisive this time. If there were only a hundred thousand people stationed in Cairo City, it was really possible for him to capture it.

It's a pity that there are millions of troops near Cairo City at this moment, and there are [-] Spike warships ambushing in the nearby river.

The sound of artillery in front became more and more dense, and the jungle-like sails became more and more sparse. Oquindo could even faintly see the city walls of Cairo, but he never found a suitable place for the army to land.

These mercenaries are too ruthless. They demolished all the piers on both sides of the river. How can the army land?
He was secretly anxious, when suddenly a burst of flames appeared in front of him, and the sailing warships were burning like candles one by one.

What's going on here, even if the arsonist ship set fire, it wouldn't be so fast!
He guessed right, it was indeed the arson ship that was setting fire.

However, these arson boats were too fierce, they were breathing fire directly, and the flames that spewed out were more than ten feet long.

At such a short distance, the artillery could not reach them, and the speed at which the two columns of Spike warships equipped with flamethrowers set fire was frighteningly fast.

After a while, they set all the sailing ships in front on fire, and the ships and warships in the middle also started to catch fire.

At this time, Oquindo also faintly saw the long flame.

Buy cakes, what is this thing that can keep breathing fire!
Oquindo was frightened, and quickly ordered: "Hurry up, send an order, all warships turn around and retreat at full speed."

The river channel to the northwest of Cairo City suddenly became chaotic, and the ships and warships that were desperately turning around were even crowded together.

However, this also gave the Ironclad battleship time to escape.

Because the ignited ships and warships crowded together almost blocked the entire river, and those Spike warships with flamethrowers did not dare to go through and chase them.

Their boat is full of flammable and explosive kerosene. If a spark is accidentally splashed on it, the whole boat will instantly turn into a fireball.

Seeing this, Zheng Hongkui could only order with a little regret, ordering those Spike warships to return quickly.

There is no way, the emperor has a decree, ordering them not to go all out indiscriminately.

And those flamethrowers are all baby bumps, and he would be very distressed if he lost one.

Atlantis stood on the city wall of Cairo, staring dumbfounded at the river like a fire dragon.

This flamethrower is too powerful, and after a while, thousands of ships were set on fire!

He originally thought that this battle would last at least a few days, but now that it's all over, he immediately ran away in fright.

(End of this chapter)