I want to be emperor

The European Expeditionary Fleet of the Great Chu Empire dispatched more than a dozen warships to bombard Cadiz, smashing this port city that Spain had painstakingly managed for more than 200 years since the Age of Discovery into ruins.

In particular, the two coastal defense forts on the left and right guarding the port were smashed to pieces. One of the forts was a new coastal defense fort newly built by Spain in the past ten years.

Since the rise of the Great Chu Empire, the large-scale use of explosive grenades by the Great Chu Empire has gradually spread throughout the world. European countries naturally know that the high-explosive grenades fired by the Chu army's artillery are extremely threatening.

Later, countries also began to develop and use high-explosive grenades one after another. Although they still used relatively primitive matchlock fuze grenades, they were also very threatening to traditional coastal defense fortifications that only had the function of defending against solid bullets.

Therefore, in order to protect the important port of Cadiz, Spain specially built such a new type of coastal defense fort. Although the construction of the fort is still open-air, there are thick mound compartments between the positions, forming a concave The circular fortification is used to prevent the impact and fragments formed by the explosion of the explosive grenade in the fort position.

At the same time, there will also be a thick giant tree as a support on the top, and a layer of soil will be covered on it to prevent air-explosive shrapnel.

As for the fact that the enemy fired artillery shells and exploded directly on the top of the artillery positions, and then collapsed the civil roof fortifications, there is no way... If you really want to really defend against heavy artillery shells, you have to use reinforced concrete. A semi-enclosed fort with a roof.

But buildings like reinforced concrete can only be built by the Great Chu Empire, but not by other countries.

On the whole, the new coastal defense fort in the port of Cadiz is considered the latest coastal defense fort with the best protection for contemporary European indigenous countries.

The Spaniards also had high hopes for this, deploying dozens of various long-barrel coastal defense cannons on it, including many 32-pound heavy cannons.

But this new type of coastal defense turret, which has high hopes, is used to deal with the attacks of the same European countries... But when faced with the naval artillery bombardment of the Great Chu Empire Navy, it is still like paper.

Even... from the beginning to the end, the heavy front-loading smoothbore guns deployed by these Spaniards never fired once!

It's not that the Spaniards didn't want to fire, but that they couldn't reach it... When the warships of the Great Chu Empire attacked, they used rifled naval guns with a caliber of 150 mm or more to attack this fort from a distance of 5000 meters.

At this distance, in theory, the Spaniard's 32-pound coastal defense heavy artillery can hit so far, but the accuracy is the same as without it.

So from the beginning to the end, the Spanish coastal defense heavy artillery did not fire... At first they thought to wait for the Chu people's warships to approach before firing, but the Chu people's warships did not approach!
By the time they wanted to ignore the accuracy and try to fire directly, and a blind cat hit a dead mouse, this new fort was basically blown up.

The powerful [-]mm semi-armour-piercing hits the past, as long as it hits, it can basically reimburse a gun position on the opposite side with one shot... In fact, the threat of the [-]mm front-mounted rifle is still limited, after all, this thing is front-loaded. , It is very troublesome to use a crane to load, and the rate of fire is very slow.

What really set the stage for the battle were the larger number of 150mm front-loading rifled naval guns. Although these guns are also front-loaded, they can be manually loaded, so the rate of fire is quite good.

The high-explosive bombs and semi-armor-piercing bombs it fires are equally powerful, and it is accurate to deal with this relatively primitive civil engineering work.

So after several hours of continuous shelling, there were basically no people left in this new fort.

After finalizing the most threatening new-style fort, the Chu State Navy conveniently destroyed the remaining old-style fort.

After the two forts in the south and the north were destroyed, the port of Cadiz completely lost the means to counterattack the Chu fleet, and then the Chu fleet was even bolder, allowing a group of frigates to approach to about 3000 meters shelled other targets in the port of Cadiz and covered the landing of the army.

It can be said that Cadiz would have suffered heavy losses before the Army troops landed the Indian Third Division. If the Spaniards hadn't seen that the situation was not good, they would have withdrawn their garrison troops from the coastal port city early on. Pushed into the hinterland, it is estimated that the Spanish defenders in Cadiz will be blown up alive by the shells of the Chu fleet.

Artillery is the god of war. This sentence is not casual, but it can really change the situation of the battle completely with one blow.

And with the active retreat of the Spanish defenders, the remaining port city of Gasland was completely undefended.

After nightfall, although night battles are not very convenient, considering that the enemy has already retreated actively, although there may be some remnants in the city, it will not affect the overall situation.

The army immediately dispatched an infantry regiment from the Indian Third Division to the port area of ​​Cadiz along the coastline. However, in order to avoid unnecessary casualties and losses, they did not go deep into the city, but only occupied the dock and the port area where the dock was ambushed. .

After the Eighth Regiment of the Third Indian Division took control of the pier area of ​​Cadiz, the transport ships of the Chu army began to enter the harbor one by one, and began to unload a large amount of supplies from the pier of Cadiz.

Although the berth conditions in Cadiz are not very good, it is difficult to berth large ships with a mass of several thousand tons, but it is not a big problem to berth a transport ship of about three to four thousand tons.

And the three to four thousand tons of transport ships are also the tonnage of the main transport ships in the Great Chu Empire Navy.

The navy's transport ship is not as big as possible, too big does not mean that the construction cost is too high... The technical requirements of the transport ship are actually very low. In order to control the transport ship of the Chu State Navy, plus there is no practical operational needs.

Many of them are even designed according to the standards of civilian ships. Iron-ribbed wooden hulls are generally used, and sail power is used. The steam engines equipped are often mature and cost-effective steam engines.

Sometimes, the cost of this kind of naval transport ship is not even as good as those civilian high-speed passenger ships...the civilian high-speed passenger ships are very valuable.

In order to ensure the speed of large ocean liners, many shipping companies often equip these ships with power units that are at the level of warships...it can easily run more than ten knots.

The most representative one should be the Jiangnan luxury passenger ship officially put into operation by Chengshun in 32. With a full-load displacement of tens of thousands of tons, a large number of power units are stuffed in, and multiple units are used to output power in parallel. Propelled by oars and powered by pure steam engine, the cruising speed alone can reach twelve knots, and the maximum speed can reach sixteen knots.

This speed is faster than most active naval warships!
The famous Jinzhou-class cruiser still uses a more technologically advanced combined steam engine, but the maximum speed under pure steam engine power is only fourteen knots.

These years, the power competition of the top luxury ocean liners has surpassed that of the Navy.

The Jiangnan luxury liner, which was put into operation five years ago, can run at [-] knots, and the speeds of several [-]-ton ocean-going liners competing with other major shipping companies are basically at this level.

However, the Jiangnan Shipping Company is very ambitious. Seeing that its competitors have caught up, it has designed and built a new generation of flagships early on, and adopted a very special and politically significant ship name: Empire.

The ocean-going luxury liner Empire has a full-load displacement of more than 4000 tons... far exceeding the [-]-ton capacity of the new Jinling-class warship under construction.

The luxury power unit that spares no effort to stack up has eight boilers and is propelled by twin shafts and sculls, allowing the ship to operate at a speed of [-] knots. During its first voyage in the first half of this year, it has taken the monopoly of the Pacific route. Fastest passenger ship speed.

This thing is also the largest ship in the Great Chu Empire so far, bigger than the navy's battleship.

And because there is no need to consider the protection performance like a warship, the ship looks more slender and beautiful.

In contemporary terms, this luxury passenger ship with a full load of more than 4000 tons cannot be said to represent the most cutting-edge technology of the Great Chu Empire. Although the battleship is smaller than it, its technical content is actually higher.

However, this is a giant oil tanker that can make Chu people feel powerful and change in the industrial age most intuitively.

Countless dignitaries are proud of the ride experience.

The Empire made its maiden voyage this year. When it traveled from Songjiang Port to Jinshan Port, the entire ship was full, and more than 200 first-class tickets were booked early. Among them, the most expensive first-class view suite, the ticket price reached [-] Eight hundred Chu yuan... For this, you have to book it with a respectable person, and the Jiangnan Shipping Company will sell it to you.

If your status is below a certain level, even if you have money, you won’t be able to sell it to you... because a large number of dignitaries who are not short of money are waiting to experience it.

Many first-class passengers and even second-class passengers took the first voyage of the Empire luxury liner...not even going to America for business or immigration, but purely for vacation.

Follow along the way, follow back, purely for vacation.

This is also a new type of business for this kind of luxury passenger liner in recent years... After all, you can't expect that there will be a large number of rich and powerful people traveling in first class every round trip, no, the population of overseas colonies alone cannot support it... ...As for the local dignitaries, there are many, but they will not go to overseas territories or colonies just because they have nothing to do!

In order to develop more first-class passenger sources, many shipping companies have begun to solicit passengers under the banner of sea travel and vacation.

Of course, for these large shipping companies, the real profit point is not the so-called high-end passengers, but a large number of second-class and third-class passengers.

They travel back and forth between the mainland and overseas due to factors such as work, family visits, and immigration. They are the main customers of major shipping companies.

Sometimes when returning to the voyage, there are not enough passengers, and they will temporarily serve as cargo ships, using the huge warehouse to carry some goods back to the country, and at least subsidize some coal money.

However, luxury passenger ships over [-] tons are actually relatively rare even in the contemporary Great Chu Empire. Jiangnan Shipping Company, which owns the most large luxury passenger ships, now has only four ships in total, and the other shipping companies basically only have one or two ships. ship as flagship.

All together, there are less than [-] ships in the country.

And the main force of offshore and ocean shipping is actually a large number of thousands of tons of merchant ships with cheaper construction and lower operating costs.

Among them, three to four thousand tons are the most... Mainly ships of this level, the size of the hull is not too large. Many domestic shipyards have docks of this level that can be used for shipbuilding. A thousand tons of large dry docks, there are not many of these large docks in the country.

Unlike dry docks of four to five thousand tons, many medium-sized shipyards can also have them.

Civilian ships of this tonnage are also technically mature. They can use iron-ribbed wooden hulls with more mature technology and lower cost, or use purer hulls with more advanced technology and slightly more expensive costs, but better overall performance. steel hull.

In terms of power system, the three major steam engine manufacturers basically provide mature, cost-effective double-expansion high-pressure small water tube boiler steam engines.

In addition, ships of this tonnage can still easily use motor-sail hybrid power to reduce operating costs... and these years, the technical departments of the Great Chu Empire have begun to use steam engines as power to lift and lower sails, which also means using motors. In terms of sail power, there is no need to prepare a large number of deck sailors as before.

This can greatly reduce manpower and reduce operating costs.

So these days the motor-sail hybrid power is still very popular, even the mainstream...even if many ships are said to be powered by pure steam engines, for example, Yingtian-class battleships usually use steam engines to sail.

But there are still several tall masts and spare sails... This is considering that once the steam engine fails, the ship needs to be backed up.

The reliability of steam in this year seems to be quite good, but occasionally there are problems that cause the ship to lose power, that is also a common thing.

Therefore, ocean-going ships either use the power of the sail together, or use the steam engine on weekdays, but still keep the mast and bring the sail as a backup... Otherwise, if the steam engine fails in the vast sea, then it can only depend on luck and wait for the passing ships Rescued... Bad luck, no passing ship found it, so it would be very bad.

Only offshore vessels and inland river vessels have really completely given up sailing... The voyage distance is short, and there are many ships passing by, so it is easy to send a tugboat to rescue if something breaks down.

In fact, there is a more reliable and better-performing triple-expansion steam engine in the Great Chu Empire, but that thing is too expensive for the time being. At present, only the navy and high-performance luxury passenger ships will spare no expense to use this thing. Due to cost considerations, relatively few are currently used.

Dry docks, power systems and other aspects have led to the combination. At present, the shipping industry prefers to use ships below [-] tons, mainly ships with a full load of [-] tons to [-] tons, which can well balance the cost of ships and operating costs. And the shipping cost is very cost-effective.

Even the navy is no exception. All kinds of warships used in combat naturally don't consider these things, but the huge number of transport fleets also inevitably consider some situations of civilian ships.

As a result, the navy's transport fleet is more inclined to use transport ships below [-] tons due to cost considerations.

In addition to cost, there is actually another point that prevents the navy from being able to equip a large number of large-tonnage ships, and that is port restrictions.

Unlike the places where civilian ships go, there are basically mature and reliable port berths. When many transport ships of the Navy perform transportation tasks, there is no way to require suitable deep-water berths at the destination port every time.

In many cases, the small ports in some overseas colonies controlled by the Chu army do not have the conditions to park large ships.

No deep water berths, no port hoisting equipment etc. exist!

This is also a transport ship of the Great Chu Empire Navy. Basically, they all have their own hoisting equipment, but hoisting equipment can be brought with them, but the deep-water berth can't be solved by itself.

Therefore, considering the needs of overseas deployment, the transport ships currently in service in the navy generally have a small tonnage, with three to four thousand tons being the mainstream. tons of small transport ships.

The large transport ships of seven to eight thousand tons are often used as mainline transport ships, traveling between large ports in the mainland and overseas territories.

This is the case for the sea transportation in the European operation this time. The navy has many large transport ships and some large civilian cargo ships called requisition, which are actually hired.

Between the mainland and South African ports, a large number of goods are transported.

After arriving at the port of South Africa, some of the ships will be unloaded and transferred to transport ships with three to four thousand tons or even one or two thousand tons at the dock.

These transport ships with a smaller tonnage carried these military supplies northward along the west coast of Africa, and successively sent supplies to the troops stationed in various ports along the way, such as Ghana and other regions.

Recently, most of the small and medium-sized transport ships will arrive at the port of Tangier, some of the cargo will be unloaded directly, and some will simply leave the cargo on board, and then move with the fleet to provide supplies at any time. Tangier has loaded and unloaded again.

There are not no large freighters that go directly to Europe... Some time ago, the Navy foolishly brought a requisitioned civilian freighter Jijiang to Europe.

In order to serve the big guy with a full load of more than 8000 tons, the navy has worked hard and laboriously... Loading and unloading is very troublesome.

After removing all the cargo on it, the navy hastily ended the recruitment of the Jijiang freighter and told them to leave quickly... The ship manager on the Jijiang freighter was very sorry, and said nothing before leaving So urgent, their Indo-Pacific shipping company is dedicated to serving the country, and they can still stay with the navy to apply for recruits and help the navy continue to transport goods!

How dare the navy keep them? While letting them go, they blacklisted the Indo-Pacific shipping company: they will kill their broken ships and not recruit them in the future.

The Navy recruited the freighter Jijiang for several months...the power system on the Jijiang was repaired four times, and a lot of parts were replaced, and the power system was almost replaced on the spot...

It's a big loss!

This can't be blamed on the Indo-Pacific Shipping Company... They are originally a second-tier shipping company, focusing on low-cost shipping, and their ships are basically second-hand goods that have been eliminated cheaply.

Many of these cheap second-hand goods are early steam ships.

It is well known that the early steam engines had a lot of problems. If you want to say that there are really big problems, you will not be too serious, but it is disgusting that various small problems emerge one after another.

However, the Indo-Pacific shipping company is also bad as long as it can... As long as the ship can run, it will continue to run, even if the steam engine is broken.

First use the sails to support it. Although the speed of pure sails is very slow, they are all cheaply shipped. With such a small shipping fee, the owner of the goods did not expect how fast the goods will arrive!

Shipping this thing, you get what you pay for, and the faster you get the goods, the more expensive it will be.

Many domestic tea trading companies will use the high-speed luxury tankers of major shipping companies to transport tea to North America when the new tea is on the market... The speed is definitely fast enough, but the price is not affordable for ordinary goods.

For ordinary goods that do not require much time, it is much cheaper to transport them slowly on the broken ships of the Indo-Pacific Shipping Company.

As for the broken ships of the Indo-Pacific Shipping Company, the steam engine broke down halfway, so they continued to run slowly with sails, and when they returned to the port, they found a familiar cooperative ship repair company, eliminated some second-hand parts and replaced them to continue to use...

As for changing the main force of the new steam engine... what a barbarian joke, they might as well buy a new ship with this money.

It’s just that the navy treated these conscripted civilian ships according to the requirements of its own transport ships, and insisted on letting old guys like the Jijiang maintain its speed and move with the fleet... Naturally, the Jijiang couldn’t hold on, and if something went wrong, if the navy didn’t want to Let the large amount of supplies on the ship slowly float in the sea, naturally need to send people to repair.

After coming here a few times, the navy couldn't take it anymore.

Therefore, the Jijiang, which seemed to be a behemoth of more than 8000 tons, was quickly sent away by the navy. At the same time, because there were basically no large deep-water berths that met the requirements in Europe, the navy simply did not transfer its own large-tonnage transport ships.

Only some transport ships ranging from a thousand tons to three to four thousand tons are used to perform transportation tasks.

The transport ships docking at the port of Cadiz today are these small and medium-sized transport ships, but Rao is also cautious when entering and leaving the port, honestly following the fixed channel that was measured before.

This port looks big, and several berths can indeed berth three to four thousand tons of ships, but the water depth conditions of most of the waters in the port are unknown.

It is easy to run aground or simply hit the reef if you run rashly.

But at least at any rate, there are finally ready-to-use port berths that can be used to load and unload materials.

That night, the Chu army hoisted the division artillery battalion of the third Indian division ashore, followed by another artillery battalion of the third division.

The artillery battalion of the Indian Third Division still uses front-loading smoothbore guns, but this battalion of the artillery unit of the 53rd Division is equipped with all 75mm mountain guns.

This thing and the 75mm field guns that are still on the ship, a total of 36 75mm mountain guns, eighteen 75mm field guns, and these 54 75mm caliber division artillery are the first time the Great Chu Empire landed in Spain this time. The main field artillery.

If there is a large-scale ground battle with the Spaniards later, they will basically rely on them to provide fire cover.

After this night of continuous landing and transportation, one of the battalions had [-] artillery pieces, including the horses pulling the cannons, and the accompanying ammunition had successfully landed and was capable of combat.