After Zhu Zhanzhen's team approached the scheduled interception area, there was a long wait. A ship carrying the Ingelan Empire did appear in the distance, but unexpectedly it was a steam warship from the Ming Dynasty.
Hou Xian once exchanged warships for Zheng He and gave Ingeland a total of eight warships. Now Duke Humphrey is sailing to France on this fleet.
Unexpectedly, but within reason, the other party's appearance here at least proves that his information is correct.
Even if you have a steam warship, but yours is the first generation of steam warships, and there are only four of them sailing this time, but you have eight of the latest steam warships, so there is no reason to be afraid of you.
Zhu Zhanyi discovered them, and the Yinggelan fleet also discovered Zhu Zhanzhen's fleet.
Duke Humphrey, who was playing with the beauties in the cabin, was immersed in the sensuality and pleasure.
"Your Majesty, what's wrong, a steam warship has appeared in front of us."
Duke Humphrey, whose cheeks were rosy and his upper body was bare, pinched the soft white flesh of the woman next to him before speaking, and then began to speak after a delicate moan: "What steam warship? Other ships have also been launched?
"
Duke Humphrey thought that his other ships were being driven out, after all, he was the only one who owned steam warships.
"No."
"No, it's okay. I thought there was a thief in the house." Duke Humphrey, who was already slightly drunk, said in a daze.
"Sir, look at those steam warships that are bigger, more fierce, and more numerous than ours." The guard was extremely anxious.
Duke Humphrey hugged the beauty frivolously and teased without any scruples: "Impossible, absolutely impossible. Our steam warship was bought from the Ming Dynasty army. It was so powerful that our ships could not fight back.
It's so powerful that after so many years, we still can't completely imitate it. If you say there is something more powerful than it, it's absolutely impossible."
No one can surpass Ming Dynasty, except Ming Dynasty himself.
"But, sir, I see that the flags hung on those steam warships are the same as those of the Ming army back then." The soldier's voice was trembling. He had participated in a naval battle with the Ming Dynasty, and was beaten so hard that he was completely defeated. If he hadn't been in
I was lucky enough to survive holding a piece of plank in the sea, but now I am buried at the bottom of the sea.
Duke Humphrey was no longer calm now. He seemed to have sobered up from the wine. He pulled on his clothes and rushed onto the deck. From a distance, he saw the Ming warships rushing towards them.
Ming Dynasty's new warships were faster, bigger, and stronger than the old ones. Even though the opponent was also a steam warship, Zhu Zhanzhen still issued the order to attack immediately.
Duke Humphrey was frightened by Chen Yaojin who came out of the way. His fat face that was red just now was now pale, and he hurriedly gave the order: "Fight, fight."
In a hurry, Yinggelan's fleet formed a formation and was about to face the Ming Dynasty's fleet.
"fire."
The Ming Dynasty's steam battleships rushed into the range of artillery fire and opened fire directly. They might kill Duke Humphrey. The death was not as valuable as the life. However, because the opponent was also a steam battleship, we should not underestimate the enemy at this time. We should fight with all our strength first.
.
This was the first naval battle involving steam battleships on this sea, the first time in human history.
Including the Ming army, apart from its own exercises, it had never fought against a steam warship.
The sound of artillery fire was heard one after another on the originally calm sea. The warship was moving rapidly, and the steam engine was running at full power, allowing the warship to speed across the sea.
boom
boom
The advantages of the new warships are that they have better steam engines, more reasonable layouts, and more agile movements. Moreover, the Ming army has conducted many exercises for naval battles. Although it was in a hurry when entering the battle at the beginning, everyone was a little at a loss, but gradually they all
They calmed down and went about their duties.
On the other hand, Yinggelan, relying on their steam warships, is almost invincible in this area of the sea. They had friction with the Spanish before, and they were unable to fight back. Not to mention that they did not take back the northern line, and even the ocean
France has no troops, so they don't have enough experience in naval warfare using steam warships.
Yang Feng began to show his military talents. Now everyone does not have a communication system, so the battle instructions depend on the tactical goals designated at the beginning, the adaptability of the captains of each warship after the battle begins, and in a few cases, the commander can be seen waving the flag.
signal sent.
The goal of the Ming army was very clear. Three of the opponent's four warships surrounded one, with obvious protection intentions. Their goal was to sink the three warships they were protecting and capture the middle one alive.
There is a high probability that Duke Humphrey was on this warship. If not, then he can only blame himself for his own misfortune and be buried on the sea.
What should I do if a warship cuts through the waves on the sea and fires from the side? It is difficult to aim while traveling at a fast speed.
Big is good, more is beautiful.
The Ming army still showed an overwhelming advantage based on the number and caliber of artillery.
The dark gun barrels now have some signs of redness due to the continuous firing. The dragon flag of the Ming Dynasty roared on the warship, majestic and majestic, like the sound of thousands of troops.
"Your Highness, one of the opponent's warships was sunk on the left side." Yang Feng passed on the latest news to Zhu Zhanzhen.
Zhu Zhanzhen couldn't help feeling a little sad. These ships were all warships of the Ming Dynasty. They were the warships that Zheng He sailed around the world. They carried Zheng He's dreams and his ardent hopes when he set sail. Zheng He was
God will be heartbroken when he sees it.
The dull sound of cannons is still heard, constantly echoing in the open sea.
The rising white smoke and the smell of gunpowder permeated the air. The smell was a bit pungent, but it also made people more alert.
boom
Two cannonballs landed on an enemy steam warship, directly blowing it in half. The wailing sounds of the Yinggelan soldiers were drowned in the sound of dense artillery fire before they could be heard, and disappeared.
At this time, there were already many small black dots on the sea, and each dot was a soldier of Yinggelan.
"Your Highness, one of our warships was hit."
"How's it going?"
"From a distance, it shouldn't be a big problem."
In order to reduce losses, Zhu Zhanzhen said: "Wave the flag to let it stay behind temporarily, and other warships can get on top."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Yang Feng commanded in an orderly manner. He had excellent eyesight, could see far away, and could change flags and command signals at any time.
At this time, the enemy only had two steam warships left. The dense artillery fire and more powerful power of the Ming army made Duke Humphrey wonder how many artillery pieces the Ming army had.
After they obtained the Ming army's warships, he ordered to study the warships and dismantled one of them to analyze the structure of the steam engine and the structure of the Ming army's artillery.
Their engineering staff spent a lot of time studying the structure of the artillery and manufacturing it. At first, the performance of the artillery made was low due to technical problems. Starting this year, it can barely catch up with the level of the Ming army, but the performance of the artillery made was low.
The quantity is not large. As for the steam engines, they are still in the factory and have not been ready for actual shipment.
In order to manufacture steam warships, almost all of their domestic manufacturing industries need a large-scale improvement. What do these improvements require? It requires a lot of wealth.
Duke Humphrey is naturally reluctant to part with his own wealth, so he wants to use the country's wealth, but he is not the only one who has the final say in the country, so he has been wrangling this matter for a long time. Until now, the cost of producing artillery is still very high. After all, on warships
The artillery also has higher requirements for its range and weight.
Ying Gelan, who he was proud of, developed the artillery of the Ming Army, which was only the first generation of artillery installed on ships by the Ming Army. This also shows the difference in basic manufacturing capabilities between the two countries in this era.
Even without Zhu Zhanzhen, the manufacturing capabilities of the Ming Dynasty were far superior to those of Yinggelan in this era.
He spent so much money to manufacture the artillery, but the Ming army was now bombarding it like it was free of charge, coming in overwhelming numbers. This really shocked Duke Humphrey.
When Duke Humphrey only had two warships left, the situation became clearer. All the warships of the Ming Dynasty surrounded them and attacked them. With their faster speed, it was too late for Duke Humphrey to escape.
As the Ming warships surrounded them, the two Duke Humphrey's warships stopped fighting back.
"Your Highness, they surrendered."
"Let a warship approach first to avoid false surrender. First tie up all the people on board and see if Duke Humphrey is there."
"yes."
According to Zhu Zhanzhen's instructions, a warship approached first, boarded the other ship, and tied up all their crew members, including Duke Humphrey.
After learning that Duke Humphrey had been captured, Zhu Zhanzhen finally laughed and said, "Let's go and take a look."
Zhu Zhanzhen took Hou Xian and others aboard the ship where Duke Humphrey was.
Hou Xian had just boarded the boat, stretched out his hand to touch the railing, as if he were an old friend after a long separation, with tears in his eyes, he stretched out his rough hand to wipe it, and followed Zhu Zhanzhen's footsteps.
The soldiers brought the chair over, and Zhu Zhanyi untied his cloak, which Zheng He had brought with him when he went to sea. Zhu Zhanzhen now carried it with him. Whenever he became majestic, he felt that Zheng He was still behind him.
Looking at the tied fat man, Zhu Zhanzhen asked him to kneel down and looked at him condescendingly.
Facing the Prince of Ming Dynasty, whose clothes were completely different from his own and full of exotic style, Duke Humphrey was frightened at this time. He also fell into the hands of the other party and immediately showed his chivalry: "This
Your Excellency, I am the Duke of Ingeland. As long as you let me go, I can give you glory and wealth."
He didn't realize until he said it that the other party didn't understand what he said.
But unexpectedly, Zhu Zhanzhen said in a standard London accent: "Are you Duke Humphrey?"
Duke Humphrey was stunned. This was a language that Zhu Zhanchang learned temporarily from a passing Englishman. If he were to follow his original level of level 4, it would be very difficult to communicate.
If he had a smooth London accent, an oriental face, and just his voice, wouldn't he be an authentic old gentleman with roots in the Imperial City of London?
No matter what the reason is, at least he understands English and Chinese, so there is no problem in communication. In this case, at least surrendering and negotiating terms will be much simpler.
"It's me." Duke Humphrey admitted his identity.
Zhu Zhanzhen looked at Hou Xian. Hou Xian had a brief encounter with Duke Humphrey. Although Duke Humphrey was fatter than before in the past few years, he still recognized him overall, so Hou Xian nodded.
After receiving Hou Xian's confirmation, Zhu Zhanzhen said: "When someone comes, first throw him into the sea water, soak him, and take off his clothes."
Duke Humphrey thought that the other party would negotiate terms with him, but he didn't expect that Zhu Zhanchen would come up and punish him first without negotiating terms.
"Wait, wait..." Duke Humphrey kept shouting, but the Ming army hung him up with a thick hemp rope, lowered it from the deck, threw it into the sea, then lifted it up, and then threw it again
Into the sea.
Both teasing and punishment were given. Zhu Zhanzhen stood on the boat and looked coldly at the wailing Duke Humphrey. At this time, there were many British soldiers on the sea, who had fallen into the sea in the previous naval battle.
.
"Eunuch Hou Xian, when you and Duke Humphrey bought back Zheng He, Zheng He lost his arms, legs and tongue when he was in England, but he lost his tongue when he was in France."
"I don't know about this either, for the sake of Lord Zheng He, but Lord Zheng He couldn't speak at the time and was unwilling to write about it, so I never knew about it. Only Duke Humphrey knows about it."
"No matter what, let's punish him first. I won't be able to get rid of the anger in my heart."
Duke Humphrey was hung back and forth by the Ming army. When he came up, he was dizzy and collapsed on the ground.
puff
puff
After spitting out two words of water, Duke Humphrey couldn't understand why the other party was doing this to him. When he opened his eyes, Zhu Zhanzhen was dangling in front of him. After a while, his vision stabilized.
"Duke Humphrey, do you know who we are?"
Duke Humphrey was treated like this as soon as he came up, and he became much more honest. He said in a flattering tone: "Your Excellency, are you from the Ming Dynasty?"
"It's good to know, but do you know what we are doing here?"
"You...you..." Duke Humphrey hesitated and did not dare to speak.
"I'm here for revenge." The corners of Zhu Zhanzhen's mouth raised slightly, but there was endless hatred and murderous intent in his eyes.
Seeing this group of Ming people, Duke Humphrey remembered the Ming people who came across the ocean for the first time. A group of people wearing strange clothes approached the coast of France. They drove steam warships.
As soon as he arrived at the shore, he said that he wanted to meet the monarch of this place and establish a tributary relationship with the monarch of this place.
This is what Zhu Di did when Zheng He went to the Western Seas. He did it no matter where he went, showing the national prestige of the Ming Dynasty.
How could Britain and France, who were enjoying the fight, pay attention to the sudden appearance of the outsider? They wanted to teach him a lesson, so they attacked him in groups, and then were killed and stripped of their armor.
Now the Ming Dynasty came for the second time. This time, even though he had the Ming Dynasty's warship, he was still beaten to pieces and he was captured alive. How strong are the Ming Dynasty people?
"Back then, our people bought Zheng He back from you and exchanged eight steam warships for you. I would like to ask you about the specific circumstances of your transaction with France to obtain Zheng He."