open sea

1168 Threat
"I am the monkey!"

King Philip murmured viciously in the Lisbon palace, and the arrival of the general officer of the Ming Dynasty, Fu Yuan, brought him an unprecedented experience.

"They divided the fleet into two groups. Each group was led by three Red Sea-class warships and led three teams. One team patrolled the sea for [-] leagues, another team patrolled the offshore area, and one team rested in the port to completely block the offshore area for [-] leagues. "

The Portuguese nobles in Philip's court restored the defense of Fu Yuan's fleet for him, and finally concluded that if the fleet came to attack Portugal, once the Marquis of Santa Cruz led the Naples fleet to leave, the local warships could not defend at all.

The bald king frowned and squinted, with a strong expression of unwillingness and dejection on his face. This feeling was very bad. He obviously didn't want to provide supplies for the Ming army, but he still had to make such a decision. He said: "Prepare supplies for them as soon as possible, Let them go before Antonio comes back."

Like sending the plague god.

In Philip's eyes, Fu Yuan was no different from the God of Plague. The only difference was that his naval commander was also learning from Fu Yuan's arrangement of the Ming army's offshore defense system. The patrol equipment at that time was later included in the teaching materials of the martial arts lecture hall in Guangzhou Prefecture, and it became a common practice in Fujian and Guangxi provinces.

When the Northern and Southern Eryang Military Mansions are established, such naval formations will be brought to all parts of the world, especially under the leadership of this fleet under the leadership of Fu Yuan, a veteran of the Qianhusuo era in Xiangshan, the fleet will definitely form such a composition to ensure that it will be The fleets at sea can not only spread the width, but also maintain the communication between the teams to the maximum extent.

The Marquis of Santa Cruz, commander of the Spanish navy, felt nervous after the landing of the Ming army fleet, but the starting point of the tension was different from King Philip's worries. He did not think that Fu Yuan was in Lisbon to compete with the Spaniards for control of Portugal.

At least the Ming army still has a squadron staying in the port, which shows that they have no plans to attack.

No one would keep the attack force at the port. Bazin’s explanation to the king in the report was nothing more than that the Ming army was used to domineering and wanted to take the initiative wherever it went.

Despite this, Philip still transferred the Naples fleet cruising around the offshore to Lisbon, and even transferred the six warships stationed in Gibraltar in order to maintain a local advantage. Even so, it was enough to make up 34 warships. The two teams followed the Ming Army Squadron and watched and cruised each other at sea.

The Spanish Navy needs to govern a wide range of seas. Even in the most urgent situation, two fleets still need to be deployed in the Mediterranean Sea, and each port also needs a garrison squadron, so that the number of warships that can be assembled is not large, and the quality is also uneven. together.

The Fuyuan Fleet brought great pressure to Spain, just as the Ming Army's uniform military equipment put pressure on the New Spain Legion. Ships are standard... No country in Europe can do this, not even Spain.

Among the 34 warships assembled by the Marquis of Santa Cruz, there are large galley warships from the Mediterranean Sea and Portuguese caravel ships. There are only seven Galen ships built in the country, and four of them are small Galen ship.

This setback allowed Bazin not only to serve as the megaphone of 'killing chickens to scare monkeys' when he met Philip, but also made more demands on Philip: "Your Highness, our naval shipbuilding industry is in urgent need of reform, including the countries of Spain, Sicily, Portugal, Jerusalem and Naples. The shipbuilding industry should be standardized, just like Daming."

Such a proposal made Philip frown: "Unified specifications, different forest materials and quantities in different places, some places can build large ships, some places can build small boats, some places are close to artillery workshops, and some places have subordinates. There are many villages that can make muskets, why should they have uniform specifications?"

"Your Highness already knows what the Ming fleet looks like. They only have two types of ships, warships and merchant ships; there are only three sizes of warships, four hundred, one thousand, and fifteen hundred. Their materials are shipbuilding timber units; This makes their ships all the same. Warships of the same specification have the same force configuration and the same artillery installation. How many soldiers know how much ammunition and food should be equipped."

"We are different. Different ships have different soldiers and weapons. The same ship must use different soldiers and weapons because of its different size. Just like the Galen ship, we used one sailor for every five tons and one sailor for four tons the year before last. This year we use the configuration of one sailor for every six tons and one soldier for every four tons, which puts a lot of calculation pressure on the officers.”

Bazin, the Marquis of Santa Cruz, said, and after gesturing to Philip, he took a pen and paper from the table to perform simple calculations, listed the table for the king, and compared it: "In the fleet assembled in Lisbon, our Captain Galen It weighs three thousand one hundred and eighty-six, so there should be one thousand one hundred and eighty-two sailors and soldiers, and the quartermaster also prepares supplies according to this number, but there are always passengers on board, and there are always not enough supplies, which is extremely dangerous on long-distance voyages.”

"Perhaps His Highness thinks such a calculation is not difficult, but we still have large Clarks, galleys, Caravelles, and a considerable number of armed merchant ships, which are not suitable for such calculations."

"If all our shipyards build ships of different tonnages with the same specifications, distinguish ships by warships and fast ships, set up three or more standard specifications for Galen ships, and stipulate that soldiers on ships of different specifications and We will have more advantages in long-distance voyages and naval battles by strictly implementing the number of artillery and various weapons equipped."

Philip quietly listened to the naval commander's understanding of Daming's shipbuilding industry. He frowned and thought about the pros and cons. Instead of directly agreeing, he asked, "What's next?"

The Marquis of Santa Cruz looked at Philip for a moment, straightened his posture, nodded and said: "In the next three years, there will be warships of various specifications built by Great Spain and incorporated into the fleet, except for the Galen and Philip. We will also have a fast communication ship that can reach the New World within 28 days, further strengthen the connection between His Highness and the Indian Affairs Committee, and strive for the opportunity to share the Atlantic Ocean with the Ming army."

"The Atlantic Ocean without too many interests." Philip's look of anticipation gradually dimmed, and he waved his hand: "What about England, the Netherlands, and Ottomans? I still need ten or twenty years to build a new navy?"

"No!"

The Marquis of Santa Cruz shook his head firmly and said, "When we strive to catch up with the Ming Navy, they will no longer be a threat."

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)