The main force of the Beiyang Expeditionary Fleet arrived on the battlefield a little earlier than Takagizo expected. Fleet Commander Gao Zhenxin’s attitude towards this battle is beyond doubt, that is, he must win the first battle!
Compared with the Nanyang Fleet, the Beiyang Fleet itself is slightly weaker, and has never had the opportunity to fight big battles. In recent years, he has almost only been able to threaten certain big names in Japan and engage in naval gun diplomacy.
Of course he envied Gao Jing of the Nanyang Fleet - if nothing else, the name next to the word "王" alone was enough for him to covet.
Gao Jing was really engaged in a series of battles in Nanyang. Even in the statement he reported to the master the year before last, he had to admit that the Nanyang fleet was "tired."
So tired!
Moreover, the most important thing is that if things continue like this, the size of the Beiyang Fleet will not even be able to maintain the current "two-ocean ratio". Then wouldn't he be a pain in the ass as the commander?
Therefore, Gao Zhenxin attached great importance to this battle. After receiving a report from Takagi San, he directly ordered the entire fleet to speed up with full sail, and the entire fleet came together to encircle the enemy.
The first to appear on the battlefield were the two second-class cruisers "Simingzhou" and "Sichengzhou".
These two second-class cruisers are the earliest batch of warship-class warships built and equipped in the Liangyang Fleet. A total of six ships were built, two of which were returned to the Northern Ocean and four to the Southern Ocean.
The six warships are all named after the former Guangxi Tusi Tuzhou-class places. The first ship is the "Si Mingzhou", so it is also called the "Si Mingzhou" class cruiser. The second ship is the "Sichengzhou". The two ships are actually
It is a sister ship. The "Simingzhou" was launched and named only half a month earlier than the "Sichengzhou".
This naming is obviously to commend the Guangxi Chieftain for his contribution in the founding period of the highly pragmatic southern Xinjiang cause. Therefore, although these two warships were launched earlier, the corresponding quality of the personnel on board is also high.
Two "Si Mingzhou" class cruisers joined the battle, allowing the "Dengzhou" and "Jinzhou" to breathe a sigh of relief after having already eaten dozens of shells each.
Although these dozens of shells did not cause much damage to their hulls, more than twenty crew members were killed on both ships. Considering that the "Laizhou" class first-class cruiser has a single-ship capacity of only 346 people, the loss of two dozen
In fact, more than ten people have lost about 7% of the personnel, which has already had an impact on the operation of the battleship. What's more, in addition to those killed in battle, there are dozens of people injured, varying in severity, who are in urgent need of treatment.
But having said that, the two ships "Dengzhou" and "Jinzhou" can actually be separated from the battle. The reason why they urgently need to fight is to hold back the Spaniards and prevent them from escaping. Now "Simingzhou" and
Now that the two ships "Sicheng Prefecture" have arrived, Takagi San decisively ordered to keep distance, and urgently needed to use solid shells to fire, instead of stepping forward to engage in close-range artillery battle. At the same time, in this way, the damage control work on the ship and
The treatment of injured patients can also be carried out better.
When the second "Simingzhou" class ship appeared, Commander Silva already had a very ominous premonition. He had already guessed that something big was going to happen today, and Captain Echevari's face turned pale.
Are you afraid of death? In fact, these two are not really afraid of death. It's just that both of them, the noble commanders, considered that losing this battle might bring bad consequences to their families.
After all, everyone in Castile thinks that their navy is invincible. Perhaps it is understandable that it occasionally fails in Europe, but how can it also fail in the Far East?
But at this time, Silva and Echevari suddenly saw another giant ship - this time it was really a giant ship: the third-class battleship "Liu Rengui" appeared in their field of vision.
At this moment, it was only the sixteenth year of Wanli, that is, 1588 AD. The largest warship in Europe at this time was only about 1,200-1,400 tons. It was not until 1637 that the British Sea King reached an unprecedented 1,683 tons.
And that was because King Charles I of England at that time forced more artillery.
As for the "Liu Rengui"? It is a 1,600-ton pure warship with two decks of guns, 72 artillery pieces of various types, and a crew of up to 460 people. It is enough to be called the most powerful warship in the world at this time.
[Note: The number of guns carried by Jinghua III-class battleships is still significantly smaller than that of European battleships of the same tonnage. For example, the British "Sea Sovereign" mentioned above was originally designed to carry 90 guns, but was later interfered by Charles I.
The number was forcibly increased to 104, and the artillery alone weighed 153 tons.
However, this issue has been explained before, because although the hull of the Jinghua battleship mainly refers to European battleships and is designed and built using technical means such as tight ribs and double hulls, they also retain a certain amount of watertight compartments, which improves anti-sinkability.
At the same time, it also affects the amount of artillery carried.
Another point is that Jinghua's gun ratio is also different from that of European warships at this time. Jinghua battleships have more long and heavy guns and fewer light close-in defense guns. Long and heavy guns are usually much heavier than light close-in defense guns.
, so its gun capacity is correspondingly reduced.]
In any case, when the "Liu Rengui" appeared in front of the Spaniards, everyone was stunned, and many people subconsciously swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
"Your Excellency, Commander, it seems that the legend of Nanyang is probably true." Echevari murmured: "The indigenous people of Nanyang said that the Chinese sent a large treasure ship with many sea monsters more than a hundred years ago.
The team cruised to Southeast Asia and other places, and those large treasure ships were larger than any ships they had ever seen - they had seen our warships - this legend does not seem to be based on rumors."
Silva didn't care about the Nanyang legends. He just stood there for a long time, and then suddenly said: "I heard that the Chinese like to use swords to execute prisoners. Mr. Captain, maybe we can die with dignity."
Echevary was stunned and speechless. After a while, he smiled bitterly and said: "Perhaps we should feel lucky that we can avoid being hanged like pirates."
The conversation between these two people may need to be explained. In the early European Middle Ages, since the feudal lords were the actual rulers of the fiefs, a large number of people living in the manors had to abide by the laws of the manors. And the lords had to do so because of their needs.
Peasants farmed the land and produced other necessities for themselves, so severe penalties were rarely imposed. In most cases, manorial law did not carry out the death penalty - fines were usually used, and at most flogging was imposed.
It was not until after the 11th century AD that merchants began to build cities. Commercial cities were largely outside the jurisdiction of lords, so they gathered many landless peasants who did not want to be exploited. However, the more people gathered in the city, the more likely it was that things would happen.
Chaos, when lower-class citizens are unable to support themselves, various criminal activities begin.
City managers will not be as "benevolent" as manor owners. For them, the foundation of a commercial city is the protection of private property - only by severely cracking down on thieves can deter crime and stabilize urban order. Therefore, medieval European cities
, began to formulate various severe penalties, especially for thieves.
The most cruel thing among them is dismembering limbs, but it is rarely used and is usually used for treason. There are not many clear records of "dismembering limbs". One of the examples is not long ago in this book, when the Netherlands launched the independence movement in 1584.
Movement that occurred when the Spanish Crown sought to secede.
First, the leader of the movement, William I, was assassinated by a fanatical Catholic. Four days later, the assassin, Barthessa Gerard, was brutally executed in Amsterdam. The punishment was to dismember his limbs.
The torturer tied Gerald to a wooden frame in the city hall, and then used a hot iron to burn his right hand until it was bloody. Afterwards, Gerald's body was burned in many places, and the executioner divided him into pieces.
Four pieces, his stomach was cut open, his heart was taken out and his face was beaten... As a warning to everyone, his body was hung next to the four gates of Amsterdam.
Dismembering the limbs is indeed too cruel, and the church will certainly object (of course the Netherlands will not listen to the church now). Therefore, for the most heinous crimes, the most common methods of execution are rotation and beheading.
Rotation is a very distinctive method of execution in Europe: the prisoner is tied to a large wheel, and then his limbs are broken with a hammer, causing him to die in pain. This process is likely to last several days. Use it to compare with China
If so, it may have "similar approaches but the same effect" as "Lingchi".
In 1435, there was a very detailed description of a round of torture. It said that a prisoner was first hit by the executioner on his right leg 6 times from the back, and then hit the back 16 times... The executioner would be careful not to torture the prisoner to death.
.
A knight in the 14th century committed a serious crime, and all the bones in his limbs were smashed during the wheel torture. He stayed on the wheel for several more days before he died, while his wife knelt and cried below.
In 1518, a double murderer named John Brandt was sentenced to death by the Cologne court. He lived for another 24 hours after being tortured, and did not die until the next morning.
As for beheading, it is actually the "sword execution" mentioned by Commander Silva just now. This punishment was considered the simplest but most decent method of death penalty in medieval Europe, and it could only be "enjoyed" by people with a certain status.
According to the analysis of later scholars, sword punishment originated from the army, and the medieval army was mostly composed of nobles and their entourage. Therefore, even if the death penalty is carried out, sufficient respect must be given - sword punishment is concise and clear, and will not cause too much pain.
, and the "sword" itself also has some good symbolic meanings.
More importantly, sword punishment places extremely high demands on the executioner. An unskilled executioner may not be able to chop off the prisoner's head with one sword. Scenes that are too bloody are not acceptable. Based on the relevant evidence preserved in later generations, scholars have inferred that in the Middle Ages
The execution sword weighed about 7 pounds, which meant that it was difficult to master without a lot of training. Therefore, many medieval cities did not have executioners who could perform sword punishment, and sometimes they had to be hired from neighboring cities.
As for the "pirate-style hanging" in Echevar's words, the reason why he and Silva considered it very dishonorable was actually closely related to the importance Europeans attached to "private ownership."
For a long time, European cities were intolerant of thieves. Some people might be hanged for stealing just a few loaves of bread - as just mentioned, early European cities attached great importance to private property.
For hundreds of years, hangings were indispensable in European cities. The execution time of prisoners had long been announced, and people in the city would flock to watch. Before the 18th century, the method of hanging was relatively simple: criminals would climb on
A ladder, the executioner puts a rope around his neck, and then removes the ladder. The criminal often struggles for a while before slowly dying.
After the 18th century, the British invented the "long fall" type of hanging, which is often seen in later movies: after the prisoner is put on the rope, the executioner pulls the mechanism, the wooden board under the prisoner's feet opens, and his body will fall rapidly, and the prisoner will
Death occurred quickly due to broken cervical vertebrae.
Of course, no matter what period it is, the bodies of most criminals will continue to be hung on the gallows until they rot and stink, in order to shock the public.
So why are all the pirates seen in movies hanged? Now you should be able to get the answer.
First of all, hanging is not very technical and there is no need to find a special executioner to carry it out. Especially if there are a large number of pirates caught, hanging is the most convenient and quick way.
Secondly and most importantly, in the eyes of early city councils and law enforcers, the main crime of pirates was to rob people of their property. Their behavior was essentially not much different from that of thieves, they all occupied other people's private property.
, it is most appropriate to use hanging as usual.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Of course, another reason is that hanging is painful enough for prisoners. And Europeans at the time generally believed that, after wheel punishment, hanging was the most humiliating
What a way to die.
By the way, water torture and fire torture were mainly methods of execution used by the church in the late Middle Ages to deal with heretics. For example, in the famous witch hunting movement, water torture was a method of torture; while fire torture was considered to be a way to kill "devils"
The most suitable method for "possessed" people.
It seems that the Spaniards still have a little understanding of China, knowing that China "likes to use sword punishment (beheading)", but their understanding is obviously still superficial, because all Chinese dynasties have recognized the saying that "human life matters"
, so "asking and beheading" is actually always a very serious matter.
Of course, if you are engaged in "military law", this category may really need to be excluded.
The appearance of the "Liu Rengui" had already made Silva and Echevari despair, and the "countless" armed transport ships that followed from all directions completely made them lose the courage to resist.
What else is there to resist? Although they have lost count at all, but what is the concept of one hundred and fifty ships? The Armada is only of this size!
[Note: Let me emphasize again that the Armada itself is actually a temporary fleet. Judging from the order issued by Philip II to the Armada, the main task of the fleet is to send the main Spanish army in the Netherlands.
Go to England to fight land war. So this fleet is largely a transport fleet. The Spaniards may not have thought that the English navy could be regarded as a strategic force at first.
The colonial fleets of Spain and Portugal basically did not participate. The colonies of the two countries only provided money and some material support for the organization of the Armada. This is one of the main reasons why the failure of the Armada had little impact on Spanish sea power.
1, so it later organized several Armada expeditions to Britain.]
Although there are only five regular warships in the Beiyang Expeditionary Fleet in front of us (plus two Rangers, it can be counted as seven), the more than one hundred armed transport ships are also large ships carrying guns! Even if they are
There are only 28 guns on each ship, and only 8 heavy guns, but there are too many ants to bite the elephant to death - forget it, the elephant hasn't encountered the ants yet, half of them are dead now, how can we fight it?
Commander Silva and Echevari looked at each other. Both of them could see the deep despair in the other's eyes, but neither one was willing to say that word first.
However, in the end, it was Commander Silva who spoke first out of a sense of responsibility. He looked around at the people in the command room and said: "Gentlemen, the situation is already clear. We are surrounded. The opponent's advantage has become too great to increase. Continue to resist.
It is obviously in vain. The merciful Lord will not be happy to see the unnecessary sacrifice of his people, so in the name of the commander of this fleet, I order you to fly the white flag and surrender to the enemy fleet... May good luck be with us."
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