Wild North America 1846

Chapter 425
After experiencing the glory of the "Sea Coachman" in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Kingdom of the Netherlands rose rapidly in the 18th century after the rapid rise of the United Kingdom.

After all, it is located in Europe, and merchant ships trade frequently along the North Sea. The North Atlantic is dotted with white sails, and coastal shipping, mainly sailing ships, is quite prosperous.

A group of 4 warships sailed in formation on the sea, with two ironclad warships guarding the front, one on the left and one on the right, with the black muzzle pointing straight ahead, and the high flying Ssangyong flag made the sailing merchant ships dodge.

The journey went smoothly. At about 3:00 in the afternoon, the luxury cruise ship "Fubo Venerable" suddenly sounded a rapid alarm. Li Cha, who was chatting with several concubines in the cabin, frowned, stood up and walked out. the inner compartment.

come outside
Just in time to see Zheng Yuan, the head of the secretariat, coming to report, he asked coldly; "What happened?"

"Show Your Majesty;
The front flagship "Storm" raised the battle flag and reported through the semaphore;

At the position 17 chains away from the left front of our formation, five two-masted sailing warships appeared in a row. They ignored our semaphore warnings, adjusted their course and came head-on, intending to intercept our fleet formation.

The enemy ship is obviously not a friend, and the flagship "Storm" signaled the "Fubo Venerable" and "Diligent" to quickly leave the formation and evacuate to the northeast at high speed to avoid being affected by the flames of war. "

"Has the other party revealed their identity?"

"No, the enemy fleet raised the Black Skull Pirate Flag, which clearly does not want to reveal their identity."

"Well, tell the captain to speed up, and let the European scumbags see what a high-speed cruise is?" Li Cha nodded in agreement.

After Director Zheng Yuan left quickly, Li Cha strode out and came to the covered bridge beside the ship to look at the sea in the distance.

Under the clear sky, the sea conditions were very good, and his sharp eyes could see clearly. A row of 5 brigantine warships surrounded them in a semicircle, and the black skull flag flying on the top of the mast was extremely conspicuous.

The two ironclad cruisers "Storm" and "Shanfeng" greeted them from left to right, and the urgent battle alarm sounded one after another. The officers and soldiers ran to the battle positions and began to manipulate the artillery to fight.

in European countries

So far, the mainstream is still sailing warships, especially in coastal countries such as Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, and Spain, where a large number of sailing warships are still preserved.

This also includes the United Kingdom. The Royal Navy has decommissioned more than 130 sailing warships in recent years, and still maintains a huge number of more than 460 ships.

European sailing warships are the mainstream, at most armored sailing warships covered with iron skin, just like the US "Constitution" through this move to enhance the ship's anti-strike capability, it is already a relatively advanced heavy armored ship.

Most sailing warships still fire cast iron shells, which are almost impossible to break through the defenses of ironclad ships.

Li Cha's gaze towards the sea reveals a hint of amusement. During the North American War, more than a hundred naval battles, large and small, took place on the east coast of North America, which have proved the absolute superiority of steam ironclad ships over sail warships.

It's a pity that due to the lack of news of the times, the third-rate navies of many small European countries have not realized the seriousness of this problem, just like the few two-masted sailing warships in front of them, they are no different from courting death.

Li Cha's mysterious premonition was very effective. With the pirate flag flying, the menacing enemy fleet could not pose a threat at all.

He could see that the front-loading bronze guns of the Napoleon era were still used on the warships delivered to the door, which was simply ridiculous.

He doesn't even have a steel hoop cannon, yet he dares to challenge?
As for where these warships came from, there is no need to bother to guess now, as soon as the enemy ships are captured, they will know.

It must not be the United Kingdom, because the bronze cannons of the British Royal Fleet have been eliminated, and the steel hoop cannons have been used for the last time. They will not embarrass themselves with such an antique seven or eighty years ago.

There is a high probability that a small country along the coast of Europe, including the nobles of the German Confederation, are suspected.

This should be due to the deep resentment against the Emperor Li Cha of the Tang Empire who killed 22 European noble challengers, so he tried to take revenge.

The tall chimney of the "Fubo Venerable" cruise ship spewed out thick black smoke, the hull was obviously accelerating, and the sharp bow broke through the blue sea and galloped, and the speed was getting faster and faster.

Li Cha stood steadily on the bridge, with a smile on his lips.

The biggest trump card of the entire visiting formation is the astonishing speed of "Fubo Venerable" as high as 22 knots. This speed is beyond the reach of all ships in today's era, and they can only follow behind to eat ashes.

"Hmph, it's true that the little demon in the temple is very windy, and the water is shallow. It's my imperial order that all incoming enemy ships are not allowed to go away. Let go of your hands and beat them fiercely, and sink them all."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The rumble of cannons in the distance has already kicked off the sea battle. Li Cha doesn't care about these little fleas scurrying out and behaving. He just needs to kill them with one finger.

However, based on the two twists and turns of the European visit, it can be seen that the current European royal family still has a strong sense of alertness and hostility towards the integration of the Tang royal family from North America. .

If you look at it in the long run, it will take five to sixty years or even one or two generations.

Richard originally didn't expect to be successful in just one visit. Most of the previous Russian tsars had been to London and Europe, and they had married many times with the countries of the German Confederation, which did not change the general hostility to Tsarist Russia in Europe.

When Queen Victoria was young, when the Russian Tsar Nicholas I and his wife visited London, the Queen also had a relationship with the then young Crown Prince Alexander II, but unfortunately, due to the identities of the two parties, there was no follow-up.

The huge cultural differences, religious differences, and language differences between the Tang Kingdom and the European kingdoms between the East and the West made the relationship between the two sides always bumpy and difficult, and it was difficult to eliminate hostility and vigilance.

Take your time, don't force it.

Li Cha sighed softly. His goal was to promote Han culture, language and religious beliefs throughout North and Central America. Wherever the Tang people colonized, they would spread the influence of Chinese culture.

In the universal education and charitable education of the Tang Empire, Chinese education was always at the core. Young students only learned Chinese in primary schools and received traditional ideological and cultural education.

For further study, English and French are only taught in intermediate schools.

Only expensive private schools where aristocrats gather can teach bilingualism from elementary school.

Bilingualism generally refers to Chinese and English. Some noble schools with high thresholds even teach French, Latin, German, Italian and Spanish, but only very few elite education.

European schools have a strong religious atmosphere. Theological education accounts for almost half of the curriculum in primary, secondary, and even universities, which is completely unseen in the Tang Empire.

Datang Empire focuses on Chinese, mathematics and history in primary and secondary schools. These three courses account for almost 8% of the class hours, and the rest are sub-courses such as physical education and geography. A course that does not teach theology at all.

Therefore, the focus of teaching in North America and Europe is very different.

"Wow...it hit, amazing!"

The Imperial Guard officers and soldiers on the lower deck of the cruise ship burst into uncontrollable cheers, which interrupted Li Cha's thoughts and made him look up.

The "Fubo Venerable" has already soared at high speed on the sea, but it has always drawn a circle without escaping far away, monitoring the battlefield situation in real time from a distance.

The first hit was the armored cruiser "Shanfeng". This battleship rushed while fighting, and when it was close to the distance of three chains, its 230mm main gun hit a two-masted sailing battleship consecutively.

The huge explosion power shrouded the two-masted sailing warship in a ball of fire at this time, the mast "cracked" broke, and the white sails affected by the explosion caused a fire, and a large hole more than 5 meters long appeared on the hull.

The huge vibration made the sail rope hands who were climbing on the high place unable to hold it anymore, and they fell into the sea like dumplings, and some directly hit the deck with blood spattering, obviously dying.

one hit

The ironclad cruiser "Shanfeng" was excited, and quickly adjusted the position of the ship. After 2 minutes, the main gun fired again, and 4 shells hit [-] of them. At the same time, multiple secondary battery shells hit the schooner. The explosion broke, and all the officers and soldiers of the enemy ship jumped into the sea in panic.

After the ironclad cruiser "Shanfeng" showed its power, the "Storm" was not to be outdone. It also hit in the fifth round of salvo. The huge fireball produced by the shell explosion illuminated the sea, and the broken limbs, arms and broken ships The board flew high and then splashed down like rain.

just 10 minutes

The 5 sailing warships that were attacking aggressively have already sunk and one was seriously injured. The huge power of the steam iron-clad warships made the invading enemy stunned. The remaining 3 sailing warships hastily started to set sails, turn around, and see that this posture is preparing to escape from the battlefield .

With one kick on the iron plate, even the bones of the foot were broken.

But how could it be so easy for these three sailing warships to escape?
The "Shanfeng" and "Storm" took advantage of the steam ironclad warships' fast turning, fast speed, and fierce firepower. There was a burst of bombardment around the enemy ship.

His Majesty's order has been issued; those who dare to offend Longyan will be killed without mercy, and all will be sunk.

look at the time

It took only forty minutes from the official start to the end of the battle, and it was less than 50 minutes before the five brigantine warships flying menacingly with the black skull flag were all sunk, and the burning fire enveloped the wreckage of the hull. Floating corpses, wooden barrels, burned sail cables and hull wreckage were everywhere on the boat, and some officers and soldiers of the enemy ship who fell into the water were struggling in the sea.

This is really a slap in the face, everything is like a dream.

Many European merchant ships passing by here saw this scene, and their mouths couldn't close their mouths in shock. This...is this too cruel?

The sailing fleet composed of 5 warships was wiped out like this, without even taking a chance. What about the terrifying momentum that rushed forward?

That's it……

At this moment

The Fubo Venerable had already left the state of circling at high speed on the sea and slowed down. The crew of the coal carrier "Diligent" held a long hook and began to salvage the officers and soldiers of the enemy ship that fell into the water.

Because the enemy ship is flying the pirate flag, with the severe punishment that the countries of the European continent hate pirates, even if they are caught, they will be hanged, almost without exception.

Therefore, the "Diligent" coal carrier did not catch a few, and gave up after saving about seven or eight people, leaving the people who were floating, sinking and struggling near the wreckage to fend for themselves.

What needs to be done now is to interrogate the confession and find out who the hell is this?

The confession came out quickly. It turned out that these warships were employed by the family of Count Gustav von Alvinsleben of the Kingdom of Bavaria in Germany and the family of the Viscount of Birmingham in England. .

the reason is simple;
The two noble families killed by Li Cha are extinct. This is a hatred higher than the mountain and deeper than the sea!
Because of the belief in Christianity, monogamy is generally practiced by European nobles. If it is difficult for the nobles to have children, extinction is a high probability event.

It just so happened that the only heirs of these two noble families died in a duel, and the sky collapsed when the news came out.

"Well, I already know, where did the hired sailing warships come from?"

"His Majesty, three of these warships were eliminated by the Kingdom of Denmark, and two were from small countries in the German Confederation. The commander in charge was Rear Admiral Tumplinger, a retired Danish navy. He himself has died of artillery fire."

"The Kingdom of Denmark?" Li Cha's face revealed a ruthless look.

He knew that it was not that simple. Although the report was on the warships eliminated by the Kingdom of Denmark, the retirement a few days ago was also a retirement.

It seems that the Danish royal family, Christian IX, harbored resentment towards the Tang Empire for openly fighting on the side of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire, and was always looking for opportunities to take revenge.

Remember the night of the duel

Richard chatted well with King George I of Greece and the Duke of Cumberland, King of Hanover, especially since George I was the second son of King Christian IX of Denmark.

Now it seems that it is a mistake.

Sure enough, there is no one who can be mixed up in the upper echelons of European royal families. Even a young boy like George I has a lot of work to pretend to be decent.

Li Cha is not a master who swallows his anger. He has made a note in his heart to King Christian IX of Denmark, and he will definitely ask for it back if he finds a chance.

"Okay, let's deal with those captives. We don't have time to waste on them. The fleet continues its journey. There is no need to publicize this matter for now." Li Cha waved his hands casually and made the final decision.

"The ministers obey the order."

Li Cha watched the ministers leave, walked to the railing to take a deep breath of the cool sea breeze, and looked in the direction of the mainland quietly.

The emperor does not need any evidence to act. Richard believes that the Kingdom of Denmark has waded into this troubled water, so the suspicion of Christian IX cannot be cleared.

Away from the vast Atlantic Ocean, the Great Tang Empire had little influence in Europe, and they could not use weapons rashly. It was only safe to plan carefully how to find the future.

"The European royal family is one family" is not empty talk. If the Tang Empire rashly launched an attack on the Kingdom of Denmark, it would easily arouse resentment and joint boycotts from European countries, which would complicate matters instead.

Let's see!
If Christian IX pretends to be stupid, Li Cha doesn't mind letting him taste what it means to be heartbroken.

(End of this chapter)