The Great Bandit in Kangxi Year

Chapter 292 Keeping pace with the times
In less than a quarter of an hour, the distance between the two sides was only 500 meters, but Shi Lang's fleet had already moved more than [-] miles away from the enemy ship of the other side.

He sighed softly, after this battle, half of his combat mission had failed, and it was really not worthwhile to waste a lot of expensive explosive ammunition on these merchant ships.

As he got closer, Shi Lang could see more clearly. He could see that the opponents were arranged in a horizontal line more than 20 miles long, with a total of more than ten columns. The ships must be blocked in time.

Moreover, there are very few sailors on the decks of these ships, especially the ships in the first three rows, which are obviously dangerous in the back, and the more than 30 European-style ironclad ships also stay in the fourth row.

Shi Lang had an idea and ordered the flagship to directly bombard the enemy ships behind the third row, so that his side had at least half an hour to weaken the opponent's strength.

dong dong dong...

Under the guidance of the flagship, thousands of artillery shells were fired at once, and more than a thousand rounds of explosive shells burst into fierce sparks as if they fell into boiling oil at once. Although most of those sunk were frigates and small merchant ships, the hearts of the emperors and nobles who were watching the battle along the coast were still trembling.

One round of bombardment caused such a big blow to the Eighteen-Nation Alliance. After this war, more than half of the ships of various countries may be lost.

dong dong dong...

After the three rounds of artillery fire, the emperors of the various countries were completely dumbfounded, and all of them had gloomy faces in an instant. They were all calculating their gains and losses. They did not expect that the Dahua Empire would give them so many surprises today.

Indeed, the rate of fire of the Empire's clipper-style battleship artillery is more than three times that of Britain and France, so how can they turn a blind eye.

dong dong dong...

The flying scissor fleet fired fifty rounds in a row, pouring more than 6 rounds of explosive ammunition in one breath. All the gunners were half dead from exhaustion. The sailors who had been on guard all the time also went to help carry the shells. The ammunition depot was obviously more than half empty. , Fortunately, the results were good. I saw that there were only more than 2000 of the more than 300 ships on the opposite side, but most of the more than 30 imitation Sea Lion-class ironclad ships were slightly damaged, and there was no serious problem.

There are corpses in different costumes and broken boards floating on the sea, as well as European sailors who fell into the water and screamed. Trembling under the gunfire of the mighty flying scissor warship, more than 2000 enemy ships on the other side are approaching.

Shi Lang looked at the gunners who had lost most of their physical strength, encouraged them and ordered them to hold on for a while, and then ordered the flagship to charge with all its strength.

The enemy ships in the first three rows were already in a mess at this time. Under the situation of dying, they chose to escape, but the clipper fleet still fired torpedoes one after another.

Boom boom boom...

The torpedoes that rolled up the white waves hit the targets one after another, and one wooden ship after another was sent into the sea, and a large number of wooden ships were immediately emptied. This time, the European ships ran faster.

After the six torpedoes in front of the flying scissor ship were fired, there were no other enemy ships within 500 meters except for the imitation Sea Lion-class ironclad ship still fighting.

There are more than a hundred capital ships behind the imitation Sea Lion-class ironclad ship, but seeing how powerful the empire's warships are, they consciously avoided them. After all, they did not have the determination to fight to the death.

When all the flying scissor warships galloped away flexibly against the dense artillery rain, the warships of European countries could only look at the ocean and sigh.

More than ten days later, Shi Lang finally joined Jiang Wushang's sea lion fleet, replenished his ammunition, and fought another decisive battle with European countries off the coast of France. This time, with the help of eighty sea lion-class cruisers, the European countries suffered another disastrous defeat. This battle was fought intermittently for a day and a night. There were not a single capital ship in Europe, and more than 10 casualties. In fact, merchant ships suffered the heaviest losses. It destroyed the long-distance navigation and long-distance transportation capabilities of the countries.

And the empire also consumed more than half of its ammunition, lost thousands of elite sailors, and lost more than a dozen warships. The expeditionary fleet took a short rest, and finally tilted all the ammunition in the Dutch shipyard before heading away.

In this battle, only the British shipyards in the three countries of Britain, France and the Netherlands did not suffer losses. So far, the British navy is the only one in Europe.

But after this battle, the morale of the Eighteen-Nation Alliance plummeted, and many countries began to half-heartedly.

However, the new ironclad warships of Britain, France and the Netherlands did not lose much in this battle. In view of their excellent performance, all countries began to increase the speed of ironclad warship construction. By salvaging the sunken flying scissor warships of the empire, the flying scissor warships also entered the eighteen countries. Alliance vision.

However, decades of accumulation by various powers have become the collections of Poseidon. In a short period of time, the navies of various countries will no longer be able to rule the roost. In the following 20 years, the maritime offensive of the Eighteen-Nation Alliance has been on the defensive, but they have stepped up efforts to colonize Africa and the Americas.

When Shi Lang returned to the Cape of Good Hope Base, it was already November of the sixth year of Huaxing, and after a short rest, Jiang Wushang took the Sea Lion class cruiser to stay and garrison, while Shi Lang led the team back to the country.

But as soon as he was halfway there, he received an imperial edict from the emperor, ordering him to attack the Eighteen Nations Alliance with an expeditionary fleet again, weakening their naval strength, and forcing them to compete with the empire on land.

Afterwards, Shi Lang and Jiang Wushang defeated the navies of the Eighteen-Nation Alliance many times in Europe, and made countless military exploits. They became figures in Europe who could stop children from crying. , Jiang Wushang became the tsunami king and became a national hero passed down through the ages.

Of course, this is something to say later. In fact, Jiang Tao decided to compete on land because of his own test. The Sea Lion class cruiser is very difficult to be sunk with the current level of technology, and the West has already obtained this technology. In the navy, if it cannot be destroyed as soon as possible The Empire no longer has many advantages when it has developed a practical steam engine. On the contrary, the Eighteen-Nation Alliance's naval background far exceeds that of the Empire. As long as they master advanced technology, their shipbuilding speed will definitely surpass the Empire.

On land, the empire has an advantage. Because of factors such as logistics, supplies, and distance, it is difficult for the empire to be defeated as long as it does not make a big foolish move. Moreover, the empire's firearm technology is far superior to other countries. At least the empire does not have to face it all at once. A full-scale attack on all countries in the Eighteen-Nation Alliance.

As the imperial army divisions directly under the empire entered the Persian Empire from the Persian Gulf, the pressure on the Persian Empire was increasing.

But in the spring of the seventh year of Huaxing, the Turkmen Army and the Khiva Army were defeated one after another, and the casualties of other parties began to intensify.

When Jiang Tao got accurate information, he received news that the Eighteen-Nation Alliance had mobilized millions of troops to attack the Ottoman Empire.

"The pattern of the world is getting more and more chaotic."

Jiang Tao shook his head. After he checked the map, he realized that as long as the [-]-nation alliance regained control of the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, they could easily support the Persian Empire. If they competed with the Empire in Persia, even if they failed, it would be nothing but Losing some soldiers is really fussy.

And if they open the Suez Canal, the situation of the empire will be even worse.

"Isn't the enemy of your enemy your friend?"

Jiang Tao was no longer conservative, and took the initiative to send a special envoy to give free gifts such as the craftsmanship of clearing muskets, barbed wire trenches and other tactics, as well as some military talents, hoping that the Ottoman Empire would show its power and drag the Eighteen Nations Alliance for a few more years.

"Come here, order Jiang Xin to lead ten Lancers and ten Mongolian Iron Horsemen on an expedition to the Persian Empire and implement a first-level extinction strategy!"

The first-level extermination strategy is to eliminate both mentally and physically. It is even more cruel than the Sanguang policy. Jiang Tao endured it for a long time before shouting in a deep voice. However, Jiang Tao did not dare to be merciful. After all, history is rewritten by the victors. If the empire loses, nearly [-] million Han people will suffer.

The Persian Empire originally had a population of tens of thousands. After a year of fierce fighting, there were only less than 800 million people left. Facing the shameless and naked massacre, I really don’t know how long he can last. Jiang Tao will wait and see, but then he is thinking about how to permanently Occupy this oil treasure land.

Originally, he wanted the Japanese with a population of less than one million to go to the battlefield, but the battle line was too long and it was difficult to transport them to the front line, so he had to give up. However, Jiang Tao sold some outdated Mielu guns to Turkmenistan and other countries at high prices.

The Eighteen Nations Alliance is already using firearms, so Jiang Tao has no choice but to strengthen his cannon fodder. Jiang Tao still understands the principle of keeping pace with the times.

(End of this chapter)