Temasek City, Malacca, Portuguese Governor Antonio hosted a banquet at the Government House.
He invited other officials of the Governor's Mansion to discuss the current situation.
Governor Antonio said with regret: "The current situation in East Asia is unpredictable, especially the rise of the Great China Dynasty, an indigenous dynasty, which has caused heavy losses to Portugal.
We abandoned this place, causing Count Fred to lose millions of taels of silver every year.
Our previous trade was only limited to one place.
Now the Great China Dynasty has opened many trading ports.
Spanish merchants made a lot of gold and silver, and the goods they shipped back detonated the whole of Europe.
The nobles in the country are already very dissatisfied with our current performance.
Lord Earl Fred gave me a stern order.
We must open up trade with the Great China Dynasty and earn huge profits.
Especially silk, tea, and porcelain, these are commodities designated by domestic nobles, and sufficient supply must be obtained.
Now the Great China Dynasty has blocked both us and the Dutch.
The Dutch massacred the Han Chinese in their territory in an attempt to anger the Chinese dynasty.
The Great China Dynasty was indeed angered, and they sent their main fleet to expedition to Batavia.
I have decided to unite with the Dutch to completely destroy Dahua's navy.
Without naval protection, we can force the Chinese Dynasty to open its coastal ports to us."
Governor Antonio merely proposed the idea to prepare his men.
At the same time, this idea was used to appease the radicals in the Governor's Mansion.
The Great China Dynasty shut out Portuguese merchants.
This caused many nobles in the country to suffer huge losses.
As representatives of these nobles, many people in the Governor's Palace have to serve the interests of the nobles.
Because the Dahua Dynasty has always refused to negotiate, these people have all become radicals and advocate using force to knock on the door that the Dahua Dynasty has closed to them.
Whether Governor Antonio wants to implement this idea, he still has to watch the direction of the war.
The navy of the Great China Dynasty only showed a slightly stronger fleet than the Dutch.
The Portuguese fleet immediately joined forces with the Dutch fleet to destroy the navy of the Great China Dynasty.
If the navy of the Great China Dynasty can destroy the Dutch fleet at an extremely fast speed.
The Portuguese fleet immediately withdraws from the battlefield and will never enter this muddy water.
Now that the Dutch were standing in front of him, Governor Antonio felt that the Portuguese had more options.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The continuous loud sound of artillery fire alarmed everyone in the Governor's Mansion.
Governor Antonio lost his voice and said: "Coast defense guns, this is the sound of coast defense guns. Could it be that there is an enemy attack?"
Viscount Lalit, the naval general sent by the Kingdom of Portugal to the Far East, heard the screaming sound of cannons.
His face changed drastically and he said: "This is an enemy attack, and this sound is not the sound of coastal defense artillery firing.
If the enemy attacks Malacca, I will rush back to the army immediately."
He was familiar with the sounds of coastal defense guns in the Strait of Malacca.
This kind of shrieking cannonball also makes a violent noise.
It was obviously the sound of a bomb exploding.
The coastal defense artillery shells they used were all solid shells.
It's impossible. The unique explosion sound of this kind of explosive bomb must be that they encountered an enemy attack.
Governor Antonio urged: "General Larite, the safety of all of us is in your hands. We must guard the port.
I will immediately organize the manpower in the city to assist you in launching a counterattack."
When General Larrit heard Governor Antonio's instructions, he immediately left the Governor's Palace and went to the port to direct the battle.
Governor Antonio saw General Larite leading people out.
He was thinking in his mind which force was attacking Malacca.
Governor Antonio thought about the surrounding forces that might attack.
He first excluded the Dutch, it could not be the Dutch.
They have to deal with the threat of the Dahua Dynasty and will not attack Malacca at this moment.
They and He (this chapter is not finished yet!)
Chapter 375 The Battle of Malacca (1)
Lan people have formed a tacit understanding.
East Asia is so large that it can accommodate several countries occupying territory.
They have formed a tacit understanding that the colonies will come first.
You must first occupy the territory around the colony before expanding to the areas where other forces are located.
The Portuguese had not yet occupied most of the area around Malacca.
The same goes for the Dutch, who only occupied the area around the city of Batavia.
Most areas of Java have not yet been set foot in by the Dutch.
The Portuguese and the Dutch have very small populations in their countries.
There are a large number of colonies around the world.
If a place does not have important resources such as gold mines, it is not worth their efforts to fight for it.
Governor Antonio thought that the most likely force to attack them was the Spanish.
The hateful Spaniards robbed their Portuguese colonies everywhere.
This time, while the Great China Dynasty was attacking Java Island, they took the opportunity to seize the Strait of Malacca.
In this way, the Spaniards could travel from Europe to the Americas, from the Americas to the Far East, and then through Malacca and the Cape of Good Hope back to Spain.
This trade route could bring huge profits to Spain.
Governor Antonio also felt that this possibility was unlikely.
In previous years, the Spaniards were very majestic, but in recent years, things have not been so good.
Spain is too wealthy and has no intention of making progress from top to bottom, and the country's development has slowly come to a standstill.
In particular, they ignored the rise of Britain.
Elsewhere, Spain has to deal with challenges from emerging powers such as Britain.
Spain has shrunk its power everywhere and is no longer as aggressive as before.
Spain's main goal now is to maintain its existing colonies.
They had no reason to choose to attack the Portuguese colonies.
In addition to its good location, Malacca's resources are not as good as those in the Americas, and it is too far from the mainland.
This is not a treasure land in the eyes of the Spaniards at all, and they would not be so eager to take action.
Governor Antonio ruled out all possibilities.
There is only one possibility left, no matter how incredible it is, it is certain.
The only force he couldn't figure out was the indigenous country of the Great China Dynasty.
Someone ran in with a panicked look on his face and said, "Mr. Governor, the navy of the Great China Dynasty has launched an attack on us.
The shore defense artillery came under heavy attack and was rendered ineffective.
Our fleet is stuck in the Strait of Malacca.
General Larrit is leading the fleet to fight against the navy of the Great China Dynasty."
Governor Antonio heard the news.
He was stunned, and his last guess turned out to be true.
The force attacking them is really the Great China Dynasty.
The Dahua Dynasty, an indigenous country, openly promoted through newspapers that they were going to attack the Dutch.
The Great China Dynasty suddenly turned its guns and chose to attack the Portuguese.
This reminded him of a Chinese idiom he had heard before.
The plank road was built openly and the warehouse was built secretly.
The navy of the Great China Dynasty came prepared.
Governor Antonio hoped that General Larite could block the first wave of attack by the Chinese navy.
They don't have to win this war, as long as they don't fail, the final victory will definitely belong to them, the Portuguese.
General Larrit leads the fleet, which only needs to block the first wave of offensive from the Great China Navy.
The fleet towed the Chinese navy in the Strait of Malacca.
Governor Antonio will invite the Dutch fleet to attack the Chinese navy together.
He was very angry because the Dahua Dynasty did not choose the Dutch, but chose to attack the Portuguese.
This is to look down on the strength of the Portuguese and treat them as a weak party.
Governor Antonio swore that he would make these natives of the Great China Dynasty pay a heavy price.
…………………………
The Southern Expedition Fleet of the Great China Dynasty has arrived at the eastern section of the Strait of Malacca.
They can see the shadow of Temasek City in the telescope (this chapter is not finished yet!)
Chapter 375 The Battle of Malacca (1)
son.
The steam engine on the warship began to sound a short air whistle, which was the signal to launch an attack.
The First Fleet and the Third Fleet operate separately in accordance with their respective missions.
Zhang Wanfeng commanded the battleship Huo Qubing and led the third fleet directly into the Strait of Malacca.
Lu Yuanshan ordered the cruisers of the First Fleet to form a formation to protect the transport ships and troop carriers.
He left behind three second-level battleships to protect the rear transport fleet and blockade the sea area.
The battleship Qin Shihuang and the battleship Guangwu Emperor.
They followed the Third Fleet deep into the Strait of Malacca.
From the observation post on the mast, you can clearly see with a telescope the distribution of coastal defense batteries on both sides of the Strait of Malacca, especially on the north shore.
Lu Yuanshan gave the order and the two battleships docked in the middle of the strait.
The artillery on the battleship deck is already busy.
The shells have already been loaded, and they need to adjust the shooting angle of the naval gun according to the shooting parameters.
Observation posts stand on tall masts, and they use them to observe the coastal defense guns on both sides of the Strait of Malacca.
These observation posts calculate the parameters of naval gun firing based on the knowledge they have learned.
Lu Yuanshan used a telescope to look at the fort built by the Portuguese.
The Portuguese coastal defense guns have extremely thick muzzles and look very powerful.
The turret of the coastal defense artillery is also made of huge rocks, and the protective measures are very strong.
Lu Yuanshan said with emotion: "The naval guns are equipped with new propellants and have a longer range. The furthest range is beyond visual range.
In addition to direct aiming at close range, naval guns need to calculate the parameters first if they want to hit distant targets.
Skilled artillerymen can only rely on calculation formulas to calculate the impact point of artillery shells, and the final result is exactly the same as the calculation."
Lu Yuanshan couldn't help but smile when he thought about the powerful power of the new artillery shells during the test of the battleship Guangwu Emperor.
The new artillery shells are too powerful, but the inventory of artillery shells is too small.
When they went on the expedition, the arsenal had only produced the first batch of artillery shells.
These cannonballs must be used on the edge of the knife.
Now that we are knocking out the coastal defense artillery on both sides of the Malacca Strait, especially those on the north shore, we need to use new artillery shells.
The Malacca Strait has a long and narrow terrain, and the coastal defense guns on both sides can play the strongest role.
The firing trajectory of coastal defense artillery is stable and the rate of fire is very fast.
Warships and coastal defense artillery fire at each other, which is very disadvantageous.
Regardless of whether the warship is in the ocean, the ship will be bumped by the sea water and its trajectory will be unstable.
If you only consider the armor of the two parties, there will be no comparison.
The coastal defense artillery was hit by one or two shells, and there was no problem at all.
As long as a wooden sail battleship is hit by a coastal defense gun, it will cause great damage.
Lu Yuanshan wanted to avoid this situation from happening.
Directly use the powerful naval guns of the battleship Qin Shihuang and the battleship Guangwu Emperor to destroy the Portuguese coastal defense guns.
Zhan Tie, captain of the battleship Qin Shihuang, walked up to Lu Yuanshan.
He gave a neat military salute and said: "Mr. Governor, the naval guns are ready.
The main guns have been aimed at the Portuguese coastal defense batteries. Do you want to allow the main guns to fire?"
Lu Yuanshan ordered: "Allow the main gun to fire."
After Zhan Tie received the order, he immediately ran towards the main gun position and shouted: "Fire!"
The order to fire was given, and the coastal defense batteries on the north shore of the Strait of Malacca had already been targeted and opened fire immediately.
There was a loud boom, and the cannonball flew towards the target at a speed far faster than before.
The shells made a piercing scream in the air.
The shells flew out of the barrel, but the muzzle was not as dense with smoke as before.
When the gun was fired this time, only a slight flash of fire and a small amount of gunpowder smoke appeared at the muzzle.
Naval guns are not like before. After firing, they produce a lot of smoke, which blocks the view ahead.
When Zhan Tie saw this situation, he smiled.
The naval gun shells they are currently using are smokeless gunpowder, the latest breakthrough made by the Academy of Sciences.
This kind of gunpowder is more powerful, and cannonballs (this chapter is not finished yet!)
Chapter 375 The Battle of Malacca (1)
The initial velocity is faster and the cannonball can fly farther.
Artillery shells using smokeless gunpowder will not produce a large amount of smoke when fired, which will affect the artillery's field of vision.
On the battleship Guangwu Emperor, their guns have also been aimed.
A larger number of large-caliber naval guns opened fire, aiming at the coastal defense batteries near Temasek City.
Lu Yuanshan used a telescope to observe the results of the naval gun fire.
He saw through the telescope that one of the two shells missed the target.
The artillery shell that hit was so powerful that it shot directly through the fort and exploded inside the fort.
One cannonball destroyed the Portuguese's carefully designed coastal defense fort.
Lu Yuanshan shouted excitedly: "Okay, this is really great."
By destroying the Portuguese coastal defense batteries, they achieved the purpose of this naval battle.
The main purpose of the battleships Qin Shihuang and Guangwu Emperor is to destroy coastal defense batteries.
After destroying the coastal defense forts, they would continue to approach the shore and bombard the city built by the Portuguese with conventional artillery shells.
The entire Portuguese fleet was handed over to the Third Fleet.
They have no way to support remotely.
Moving targets at sea are too far away and the hit rate is extremely low.
They fired at the rear of the Third Fleet, and if they made a mistake, they would hit the warships of the Third Fleet.
Lu Yuanshan would be taken away by the military police and went to the Military Justice Department to explain the situation. He would not take such a risk.
…………………………
When General Larrit came out of the Governor's Palace, he saw artillery shells flying continuously on the distant sea, shelling the coastal defense forts.
The accuracy of these shellings is not very high, but the power of the shells is extremely strong.
The shells have a huge whistling sound and are powerful.
The coastal defense fort made of huge rocks can be penetrated directly by artillery shells and explode inside the coastal defense fort.
The enemy's explosive bullets have great strength.
If they hit a coastal defense battery, they can destroy a coastal defense battery.
General Larrit used a telescope to observe the enemy.
Through the telescope, he did not find the location of the firing warship.
Upon discovering this situation, General Larrit was immediately drenched in cold sweat.
He thought about the significance of this and became full of pessimism about this battle.
This shows that the shooting distance of the enemy's naval guns has exceeded the distance that can be seen with telescopes.
This was very terrible news for him.
Larrit immediately ordered: "Notify the soldiers in the coastal defense battery and ask them to withdraw immediately.
There is a huge gap between our coastal defense artillery and the enemy's artillery.
Before the fleet approaching us gets within the range of the coastal defense artillery, the coast defense artillery will be destroyed by the enemy first."
While he was speaking, he could already see through the telescope the vague fleet, attacking towards the port.
General Larrit, saw the flag of the Great China Dynasty through the telescope.
When he saw the flag, a relaxed smile appeared on his face.
He learned that this navy had only been trained for a few years.
"The indigenous countries are here to give us military honors again."
General Larrit was extremely confident. In his eyes, this naval fleet was vulnerable.
He took his officers and immediately rushed to the port.
General Larrit wants to make the Strait of Malacca the burial ground of the Chinese navy.