The Great Bandit in Kangxi Year

Chapter 205 The Portuguese Expeditionary Fleet

If you want to fight, you can't do without money. Jiang Tao suddenly thought of gold, jade and precious stones worth tens of millions, and finally he was determined. He secretly opened an auction company in Jiangning City, named Zhenbao Pavilion, and only auctioned one rare treasure every day. .

After a lot of publicity, and the chief assistant of the cabinet personally came to the Zhenbao Pavilion to support it, it immediately attracted a large number of wealthy businessmen.

Now Jiangning has become the temporary capital of Ming Dynasty, and goods from all over the world can be bought in Jiangning City, and it has become a distribution center for goods across the country, and rich people are flooding there.

In order to establish a relationship with Shoufu, merchants with a little strength flocked to Zhenbao Pavilion.

However, for more than ten days, more than a dozen priceless treasures were lost to the people, but the Zhenbao Pavilion harvested tens of millions of taels of silver. Jiang Tao was overjoyed, and finally survived for another two months, but he obviously underestimated the value of these treasures, maybe These treasures are worth at least hundreds of millions of taels of silver.

However, he obviously didn't have much interest in collecting. What he was most interested in was having a lot of silver, not a lot of jewelry with no real value.

.........

Since Chen Dajiang received Jiang Tao's order, he directly assembled [-] Seal-class cruisers, [-] Seawolf-class cruisers, [-] main fleets of Liu Guoxuan, and [-] other warships, dispatching almost all of them. main fleet.

Since Liu Guoxuan was defeated last time, Zheng Jing had put him on death row. When Zheng Jing surrendered and Jiang Tao specifically mentioned him, he turned the corner and was promoted to the rank of general to continue to take charge of the remaining Zheng's fleet.

At this time, 110 cruise ships have assembled in the South China Sea, ready to defend against the enemy outside the country.

Among them, the flagship specially thickened the iron sheet wrapped on the outside this time, and replaced it with a steel plate that was three millimeters thicker than before, in order to prevent the flagship from sinking first.

On the flagship, Chen Dajiang said with a solemn expression: "Everyone, don't be polite when the Portuguese come to seek trouble this time. Let them all be left behind and show off the prestige of our Black Dragon Fleet."

Liu Guoxuan thought of Jiang Tao's importance to him, and first spoke: "General, I heard that the other party has more than [-] warships. We have an absolute advantage in numbers. We can divide the Black Dragon Fleet into several groups and attack from several sides. The Black Dragon Fleet will be defeated." Take advantage of it."

"To be honest, we don't know each other, General Liu. You and Jiang Feng will be in charge of this squadron. The general personally leads forty seal-class cruisers to fight against the Portuguese fleet. You and Jiang Feng take the other The warships attacked the Portuguese rear and flanks."

Recently, Chen Dajiang and Liu Guoxuan got along very well. Seeing that what Liu Guoxuan said was reasonable, he quickly agreed.

Liu Guoxuan was very happy, and said in unison with Jiang Feng: "I will obey your orders!"

...........
A day later, the Portuguese fleet appeared in the South China Sea. The commander of the fleet, Odev, was standing on the deck of the flagship of the God of War, looking around with a telescope with a sad face.

The adjutant beside him, Dick, said casually: "General, our Ares is a first-class battleship with 102 guns, and ten third-class battleships also have 74 guns, and 56 cruisers also have [-] guns." Battleships with artillery, according to reliable information, the Ming Empire has no battleships, not even a single one, it is not worth mentioning at all."

"No, haven't you heard that the Black Dragon Fleet defeated Zheng's fleet? , and one-third of Portugal's naval power has come, if the expedition fails, it will be a disaster for Portugal."

Odev was depressed and shook his head again and again.

"General, maybe if our fleet wanders around the coast of the Ming Empire, Daming will be overwhelmed, maybe that's not the case."

Hearing the lieutenant's thoughtless laughter, Odev scolded loudly: "Adjutant, you have to understand that the damn Dutch stuck in Malacca, which is equivalent to getting stuck in our necks. If the Dutch don't fall, we Portugal will die." It can’t become stronger, and this time I come to East Asia, I want to take back Macau first, and then unite with other countries, ah, no, the Black Dragon Fleet has appeared!”

"Get ready to fight now!"

Dozens of warships appeared on the blue sea, and it was Chen Dajiang's Black Dragon Fleet. He dispatched more than ten small fast boats, and finally got to know the movement of the Portuguese fleet first.

At the same time, Jiang Feng was leading [-] Seal-class cruisers to outflank the left side of the Portuguese fleet, and Liu Guoxuan was leading more than [-] other warships to outflank the Portuguese fleet.

Chen Dajiang didn't dare to be careless this time, but the morale of all the sailors was high. After all, the Black Dragon Fleet had never been defeated since it went to sea, and the opponent only had [-] warships, so it was not easy to deal with it.

Half an hour later, the two sides were only a kilometer apart.

dong dong dong...

At this moment, the Portuguese lined up in a straight line, with the first-class battleships in front, the other main battleships behind, and the frigates in the second row. Eleven battleships opened fire first, and immediately poured more than [-] rounds of various shells.

The distance of more than 1000 meters was obviously just to scare people. It just splashed countless water jets. Among the forty Seal-class cruisers, only the unlucky Seal 18 was hit by a bomb, and it did not cause much damage.

Chen Dajiang was taken aback. The opponent only fired on eleven warships, but fired more than 400 shells. Obviously, the opponent's firepower was very strong, even stronger than his own. Judging from the water column aroused by the impact point of the opponent's shells, the effective range of the opponent's shells had reached The distance of more than 1000 meters poses a certain threat to the Seal-class cruiser. The thin iron skin of the Seal-class cruiser may not be able to block the opponent's shells.

However, the arrow is on the string and has to be fired.

The Black Dragon Fleet held their ground. Although the naval guns of the Seal-class cruiser could reach a range of more than 500 meters, in order to increase the hit rate, Chen Dajiang controlled the combat distance to about 700 meters this time instead of the usual 400 meters.

This distance can not only exert the power of the naval guns of the Black Dragon Fleet, but also minimize the damage of the battleship.

"What a mighty battleship!"

He had already prepared the worst plan in his heart. Not only did he need to use tactics in this battle, but even if he couldn't win, he had to hold back the opponent. After the shells were fired, his own side could replenish them nearby, but the Portuguese expeditionary fleet did not have this advantage.

With the sound of cannons, the cruiser Seal No. 1 fired first, and 24 shells whizzed over, passed over a Portuguese frigate, and fell into the sea hundreds of meters away on the other side, immediately stirring up waves of several meters. high water column.

This cannon immediately shocked Odev, the commander of the Portuguese expeditionary fleet. Although the opponent's shells did not hit the battleship, and the opponent really did not have a battleship, he came to a terrible conclusion based on years of experience. Penetrate the deck of the first class battleship Ares.

At this moment, even Dick was dumbfounded. He thought this trip would be an easy journey, but now it became dangerous and unpredictable. He hurriedly suggested: "The enemy ship is about to open fire. Please, general, enter the captain's room."

Odev didn't dare to take it too seriously, he hurriedly entered the captain's room, and ordered: "Fight with all your strength, don't move forward!"

Before he could finish speaking, there was the sound of cannon firing,

dong dong dong...

The roar of the cannon was like the roar of ten thousand thunders.

Forty Seal-class cruisers have been lined up in a long array, and more than 960 artillery pieces fired salvos, overwhelming momentum.

A column of smoke spewed out several meters away from the muzzle, creating a cloud of smoke in an instant, and then connecting into one piece, forming an endless sea of ​​clouds, mountains and mist, and the fleet was wrapped in it like a dragon flying in the air.

The tongues of flames were shining, and countless shells burst out from the muzzle, and shot at the Portuguese fleet across the sea.

In an instant, the bombs fell like rain, the waves rolled, and the sea water boiled instantly, and the sea and the sky were indistinguishable.

Whoosh...

A round of shells whizzed over and slammed into the battleships of the Portuguese Navy, immediately smashing holes in the fragile hulls of the frigates and cruisers, causing the sea water to pour back and the hull to tilt.

Some hit the edge of the ship, smashing the parapet, and the Portuguese sailors behind were instantly sent flying by the powerful impact.Some shells had curved trajectories and failed to penetrate the deck vertically, but plowed out long ravines on the deck, and green smoke was everywhere, choking people's lungs.The hot shells and the iron nails on the deck rubbed off sparks, and flames suddenly ignited in many places.

Only one round of salvo caused great casualties to the Portuguese navy, sinking two frigates on the spot, and one cruiser withdrew from the battle ranks.

More than a dozen battleships suffered varying injuries, but the eleven battleships had no major problems.

Odev was relieved and surprised at the same time. He didn't expect that the Black Dragon Fleet would choose to fire at a distance of 700 meters. He was just scaring the opponent just now, and the opponent's hit rate reached [-]%, which is terrible. Well, even the Portuguese navy is not sure that it can fight so well, the opponent must be blind.

At this time, the firing distance of European naval powers is generally between 300 meters and 500 meters. The British have short barrels, so the British like to fire within 300 meters. The Spaniards have long barrels, so they like to shoot at a distance of 500 meters. Shoot, and the Portuguese are about as good as the Spanish.

Chen Dajiang didn't know the outcome of the battle, he only knew that naval battles consisted of firing guns continuously until the opponent's warship was sunk, and besides, the smog was so thick that it was impossible to see the enemy ship ahead clearly.

"fire!"

Odev was irritated. Although the Portuguese navy was inferior to the Netherlands and other maritime powers, it was not something that the Black Dragon Fleet, which had just been established a few years ago, could provoke. Moreover, the opponent only had forty cruisers. The emperor will choose wisely.

(End of this chapter)