Lord Moyu was forced to open

In the thirteenth year of Xingwu, late July.

On the sea less than 500 nautical miles from Yingzhou County, a mighty fleet was rapidly approaching Yingzhou Island.

This is the combined fleet from Europe, and the commander-in-chief of this combined fleet is Vice Admiral René Grenon of Great Britain.

The deputy commander is Lieutenant General Gary Hall from France and Spain.

The flagship was undoubtedly the Britannica-class battleship Queen Victoria.

Standing on the Queen Victoria, René Grenon looked at the sea in the distance with a telescope and asked the staff officer beside him: "How far are we from our destination now?

When will it arrive?"

The staff officer quickly checked the map to confirm his and his group's location and immediately replied:
"Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, we are still about 500 nautical miles away from Yingzhou Island of Song State. Based on our speed, if everything goes well, we will reach our destination in about two and a half days."

"It will take another two and a half days?" René Grenon frowned. At this time, Deputy Commander Gary Hall came out and laughed when he heard Grenon's doubts:

"Grenon, are you still afraid that it will take too long? As an old navy, patience is the most basic quality we should have, okay?
I don't know how you guys got rich enough to let us take Galio away?"

Grenon frowned. This didn't mean he would argue with him. Now it was a combined fleet, and as the commander-in-chief, he needed the fleets of various countries in the combined fleet to facilitate unified command of the operations when the time came.

I really don't have the time to argue with Gary Hall.

However, Gary Hall began to push his limits.

"Oh, I really don't know how you got the position of commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet.

This position should have been mine, but you took it away from me."

Grenon couldn't stand it anymore. He got the position of commander of the Combined Fleet with his real ability, but you just said that you got it through backdoor connections without any evidence.

If the people in other fleets knew about this, who knows what they would think. What they thought was just a small matter. What if they didn't obey the command and the war failed, he couldn't bear the consequences.

As a superior, you must never lose the necessary dignity!
"Gary Hall! If you have any objections to my current position, why didn't you raise your objections to the Combined Fleet Headquarters when you set out on the expedition? You are trying to shake the morale of the troops now. What do you mean by this?
I warn you! This time we are representing the combined fleet of all European countries, and we must complete the mission.

We can only complete the mission. If the mission fails, you and I will all be brought to a military court. This is more than 70% of Europa's fleet strength.

There is absolutely no room for error!

Now the European shipbuilding industry has suffered a severe blow, and it is unknown when it will recover. If we lose this battle, then these 700 warships will belong to others. "

Gary Hall was scolded by him.
His face suddenly turned red, but he couldn't refute.

After a while, he snorted coldly and turned and left.

Grenon ignored him and asked his staff to notify the heads of other countries in the other fleets to come to the Victoria for a meeting.

We will arrive at Yinzhou County in two days. Once the war starts, there will be no turning back, so we must make arrangements in advance.

……

At this moment, on Yingzhou Island, 500 nautical miles away, Zheng Shen, the commander of the Song army in this battle, who was only in his twenties, was arranging combat tasks for his generals.

"According to the existing intelligence, the fleet sent by Europa this time has a total of 300 ships. There are 7 first-class sailing battleships, 30 second-class ships, 110 third-class ships, 53 fourth-class ships, and 100 troop transport ships.

According to Europa's conversion method, their first-level battleship is actually equivalent to our original warship of 8,000 tons, while the second-level is 5,000 tons, and the third-level is about 3,000 tons.

Our 800 warships have now been fully refitted, including 790 Zhenhai-class ironclad battleships and 10 Zhenguo-class ironclad battleships.

Each of the warships is much larger than Europa's in terms of size, and coupled with the number, we have a huge advantage in this battle!"

At this time, a naval commander immediately stood up and said, "Commander-in-chief, since we are so much stronger than them, why do we still need to make a battle plan? Can't we just crush them with our superior forces?"

Zheng Shen shook his head: "We can certainly win in a head-on battle, but they will definitely run away when they see they can't win.

The sea is so vast, where will we chase them then?

What if we fail to kill the snake and end up harming it instead, and they come to attack us every few days?
As the old saying goes, a thief can steal for a thousand days, but you can never guard against thieves for a thousand days.

Then we will have a headache.

And Europe actually dared to covet the territory of our Great Song Dynasty. This is an unforgivable sin, and we must give them a severe blow!
Aren’t they relying on Jianchuan to bully us? This time, I intend to prevent them from returning with any ship!”

Not a single ship can return?
That's more than 300 ships. Is this possible? Everyone was very skeptical.

However, at this time Zheng Shen told his battle plan.

“We have two advantages!

One is fighting on the home front. The reason why they want to attack Yingzhou Island first is to get a supply point here, otherwise the supplies they carry will eventually run out.

But we are right here in our home country, so we don’t have to worry about material depletion and we can replenish them at any time.

The second reason is that we have more warships and our speed is faster than theirs. According to intelligence from the National Defense Bureau, the fastest of their battleships can only travel at around nine knots.

This has to happen with a favorable wind.

However, after the breakthrough of steam engine power, the speed of our ironclad warships has reached 13 knots. As long as there is coal, we can maintain this speed until the coal is burned out.

So we have to take advantage and lure them to the waters near Yingzhou Island first, and then the rest of us can go around them to the left and right and behind to make a big dumpling for them!

This time! I will make sure they never return!"

Zheng Shen slammed his fist heavily on the combat blackboard behind him, and all the generals immediately stood up and responded loudly!
Next, Zheng Shen roughly arranged the positions and tasks of each squadron, made a record of some possible problems, and then ordered everyone to prepare.

About half a day later, the 800 ironclad warships that had almost surrounded Yingzhou Island sailed towards the East China Sea. Soon they disappeared above the sea surface and no one knew where they went.

Only more than fifty wooden ships of 3,000 tons that Zheng Shen had specially requisitioned from nearby maritime merchants remained in Nagasaki Port, ready to fight.

It is obvious that these fifty old wooden boats are going to be used as bait!
……

(End of this chapter)