Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 1650 Shelling Strait Fortress
Hundreds of warships dispatched together, two ironclad steamships Wei Qing and Huo Qubing billowed black smoke, leading the coalition fleet to dispatch, the sea was covered with ships from three eras: ironclad steamships, sailing battleships, and galleys.

They only need to conquer the coastal defense fortress in the Dardanelles, and they can enter Constantinople.

"The Turks built fortresses on the northern and southern lands of the Dardanelles to prevent the Mediterranean fleet from attacking Constantinople. According to the information provided by the Venetians, the Ottoman Empire obtained many Western European fortress experts by capturing or hiring them. , the forts in the strait were built by them, and each fortress has a dozen to dozens of bronze cannons, and the rest of the small firearms and firearms are even more numerous."

"We will concentrate our firepower to attack the fortress in the north first. The strong fortress has three forts. Cao Bianjiao has led the Imperial Guard Brigade ashore, and Prince Rupert in England has led an infantry regiment and a cavalry regiment, totaling 5000 people. Our troops attacked the fortress from the land, and the rest of the infantry served as a reserve at sea. Our ironclad ships provided fire suppression, and at the same time, we used small boats to attack from the sea at the right time.” Nelson explained to Chu Yun on the Wei Qing how to attack D’Artagni The battle plan for the Fortress of Er Strait.

With the entry into the age of firearms, tricks play an effective role, and many times it is to fight steadily to see who is stronger.

Attacking coastal defense fortresses is often the same, encircling from land and sea.

"The Ottoman Empire has a large number of troops on land. The landing troops of Cao Bianjiao and Prince Rupert may not be able to concentrate on attacking the fortresses under the obstruction of the fortress reinforcements. It may depend on the naval fleet to capture these fortresses." Chu Yun After seeing the brief combat deployment map, he expressed his own judgment.

"The Venetians suspect that the Emperor of the Ottoman Empire deployed about 2 to 3 Balkan legions and slave soldiers on the north bank to provide support for the fortress. They may not dare to fight Cao Bianjiao and Rupert, but they will certainly not sit back and watch the coastal defense fortress fall. However. This is enough, Cao Bianjiao and Rupert can hold back the enemy's Balkan army and pose a threat to the fort from the land. Our Navy Department is also ready to attack." Nelson said.

The fleet began to enter the Dardanelles, and 5000 infantry, cavalry, and artillery commanded by Cao Bianjiao, who landed in the Balkan Peninsula, and Prince Rupert approached the fort from land.

There is an important Turkish fort on the north shore of the Dardanelles, with dozens of bronze heavy artillery deployed on it. If you want to pass the Dardanelles to Constantinople, you really have to occupy these forts.

The Ottoman Empire built these forts to protect their capital, but the upper echelons of the Ottoman Empire, including the Ottoman Emperor, never thought that these forts would be useful one day!
1000 Turkish soldiers and a large number of slaves and vassals were urgently dispatched by the emperor to this strong fortress, trying to hold it here to prevent the Eight-Power Allied Forces from passing through the Dardanelles.

As Chu Yun guessed, 5000 soldiers led by Cao Bianjiao and Prince Rupert were attacked by the Balkan Legion of the Ottoman Empire after landing on the Balkan Peninsula, and they were temporarily unable to organize an attack on the fortress.

The task of attacking this fortress was given to the coalition fleet.

The coalition forces issued an ultimatum to the Turkish soldiers guarding the fortress. The Turkish soldiers only had one hour to consider surrendering or evacuating the fortress "gloriously", otherwise the coalition fleet would launch a general attack on the fortress from the sea in one hour.

Zheng He also participated in the attack and defense of the fortress, and they were assigned to the commando team on the right.

Because they were praised by Chu Yun at the commendation ceremony on Tenedos Island and converted to full-fledged naval officers in advance, their fighting spirit was even higher, and they couldn't wait for more opportunities for meritorious service.

"Captain, do you think the defenders of the fortress will retreat?" A crew member asked Zheng Chenggong who was leading them.

"If they retreat, the gateway to Constantinople will be opened, and the Ottoman Emperor will not let them go. They have only one choice, which is to defend the fortress or surrender. But in my opinion, the relationship between the Ottoman Empire and Western Europe It's not very good, and I certainly won't surrender easily." Zheng Chenggong said.

"Wei Qing has raised the flag to bombard the opponent's fortress!" The semaphore soldier suddenly shouted.

"Prepare to approach and bombard the fortress!" Zheng Chenggong gradually became familiar with fighting on the sea, and commanding the Zheng He was like his own hands and feet.

On the steam ironclad ship Weiqing, several artillerymen worked together to load powder packs and solid ammunition weighing more than 100 pounds into an unprecedented large-caliber naval gun.

"Target, the fort on the opposite side, record the angle of shelling, and adjust in time!" Orders were issued layer by layer!

Dozens of large ships from the coalition fleet began to attack the fortress.The warships saw the signal flag of the ironclad ship Weiqing, and they were divided into three commandos from the left, middle and right to gnaw down the three coastal defense forts of the fortress.

"fire!"

The 7-ton artillery fired violently, white smoke gushed out from the muzzle, and the heavy solid bullets smashed into the opposite coastal defense fortress like a meteorite rain!The horrible recoil caused the artillery to back up. The artilleryman cleaned the barrel, reloaded the gunpowder pack and solid bullets, and then pushed the artillery to the firing position.

As the ironclad ship Wei Qing opened fire, dozens of other warships also began to bombard the coastal defense fortress one after another!
Even though the accuracy of many artillery pieces in this era is not very satisfactory, it is hard to imagine how terrible it would be for dozens of warships loaded with a large number of artillery to fire at the same time. Every two or three minutes, hundreds of solid bullets will fall on the fortress and the city walls, and even the heads of the defenders!

The white smoke from the artillery fire covered the sky above the warship, even covering up the black smoke from the steamship.

Chu Yun was on the safe iron-clad ship Wei Qing.Since the Weiqing used a better-performing artillery with an effective range of 3 kilometers, it could bombard the fortress at a safer distance.

He could smell the tingling smell of black powder, stimulating his nerves.

In order to protect the safety of Chu Yun, the Weiqing shelled at a relatively long distance, while the Huo Qubing iron-clad ship did not have so many worries. With its steel hull stronger than the fortress, it bravely confronted the fort at a distance as close as possible to the fortress. shoot!

Not only solid bullets, the new large-caliber artillery equipped on the Huo Qubing ironclad ship can also fire explosive bullets with black powder inside!

The flower bomb exploded behind the crenel of the fortress, blowing up the guards there, and even the artillery of the fortress was silenced!

(End of this chapter)