Dragonstone isn't named because of dragons, it's not a wizarding world, it's Earth.

Dragonstone's dragons get their name from the Dracaena – a tree that doesn't look like Earth's creatures at all. Not only does this tree have a strange appearance, but it also produces gum that is always red, which is called dragon's blood by Westerners. It's a very precious ingredient for magic!

Well, of course there is no magic, but it is possible to pretend to have magic, so there is a certain market for dragon blood.

In addition to the dragon's blood tree, Dragonstone is also full of stones, and the island, which has a land area of more than 10,000 square miles, does not have much land suitable for reclamation, and it is all occupied by stones.

In addition to dracaena and stones, Dragonstone and the surrounding waters are home to several great specialties: frankincense, musk, ambergris, and myrrh (an anti-inflammatory herb that was a valuable herb before antibiotics appeared).

After the conquest by the Eastern Song Dynasty, tobacco was introduced from the Americas for cultivation, and whaling was vigorously developed for ambergris and whale oil.

So by the time of the Eastern Song Dynasty around 215, this desolate island with strange scenery and harsh (arid) climate had become a fairly wealthy area.

The inhabitants of Dragonstone Island are all of mixed race, descendants of the Eastern Song Dynasty colonists, Egyptian and Tianzhu merchants, and the indigenous inhabitants of the island. The official language they used was Jiangning Mandarin, which recognized the suzerainty of the Eastern Song Dynasty. There was also a governor appointed by the Eastern Song Dynasty on the island. However, the Governor's powers are limited, and the inhabitants of Dragonstone have their own councils, and the self-government elected by the council is responsible for the administration of the island.

In the year 215, the population of the island was about thirty or forty thousand. Through the levy of a spice tax (myrrh is also taxed as a spice) and the export of dragon's blood (dragon's blood is monopolized by the government), millions of taels of silver can be earned every year!

The island's inhabitants also make a lot of money from spices, dragon's blood, and whaling.

Therefore, this Dragonstone Island is a typical example of small but rich.

The small but rich island of Dragonstone does not have many inhabitants, so the supply of soldiers is limited. Therefore, the defense of the island has always relied on the small Western fleet of the Eastern Song Dynasty.

There is a small detachment of Dragonstone Island, which has been stationed in Longshi Harbor, the main city of Dragonstone Island, for a long time.

There are no natural harbors on Dragonstone Island, nor is Dragonstone Harbor, and most of the time there are not many warships anchored. Whenever the southwest monsoon blows, the Dragonstone detachment even moves to the nearby port of Aden (Egyptian-owned).

However, in the spring of 215 years, the residents of Dragonstone Harbor saw an incredible picture in the early morning of one day.

The blue sea north of the harbor was filled with black (tarped) warships! The number must be over 100! Some of these ships were so large that they were bigger than the castles of Dragonstone......

"It's the Red Dragon Banner!"

"It's my Great Song's naval ......"

"It's so powerful!"

"But what are they doing here?"

"It must be against Egypt, right? I heard that the empress of Egypt recruited the son of the Northern Zhou warrior as her son-in-law......"

"Wouldn't that make the Northern Zhou a little bit higher? The Northern Zhou is very powerful! ”

The news of Dragonstone Island is still a bit closed, and the residents of the island do not yet know that there is a war between the three heroes of Huaxia.

However, Chen Ziyi, the governor of Dragonstone Island and the commander of the Dragonstone Island Detachment of the Navy, knew the news of the war - in order to prevent the residents of Dragonstone Island from panicking, Chen Ziyi blocked the news.

Of course, even if the residents of Dragonstone Island knew that the national disaster was at hand, they would not come forward to defend the Great Song Dynasty.

These people have not fought in more than 200 years, they are too peaceful and happy, and their combat effectiveness is almost equal to zero.

And the Great Zhou will not embarrass them half a point when it comes, and the Great Zhou is not a barbarian, and he is also the leader of Zhuxia, a dignified bourgeois republic. When they came, it was nothing more than Jiangning dialect changing to Tianjin dialect......

However, for a Great Song naval officer like Chen Ziyi, it was natural to fight for the honor of the Red Dragon Banner.

Chen Ziyi, whose ancestral home is Luoyang, Henan Province, and was born in Xinkaifeng Mansion is a son of a naval family. He is a descendant of the great navigator Admiral Chen Jiang...... The exploration ship commanded by Chen Jiang was lost in a storm while exploring the ocean south of the New Song Dynasty. Later, he was posthumously awarded the title of admiral, and the tablet entered the naval martyrs' shrine and placed it in the most conspicuous position. It's almost the god of the Eastern Song Dynasty Navy!

Twenty years after Chen Jiang's disappearance, his descendants, along with many of the navy's children, moved from Xingzhou to Xinkaifeng, where the climate was pleasant.

Since then, Xinkaifeng has become the "naval city" of the Eastern Song Dynasty, and many naval officers are from Xinkaifeng Mansion - the reason why this is the case is actually that the ruling Empress Dowager Wu is seeking a way out for future generations.

The army of the Eastern Song Dynasty was not mainly "royal", but of the fifty states. The navy was financed by the Eastern Song Dynasty, and naval officers and sailors were mainly recruited from the imperial territories of the New Song Dynasty.

Therefore, the Eastern Song Dynasty Navy was a genuine royal army, loyal to the Great Song Dynasty from top to bottom.

According to the secret will left by Empress Dowager Wu, if the rule of the Eastern Song Dynasty on the Shenzhou continent collapsed, the descendants of the Zhao family should flee to the New Song Dynasty under the protection of the navy, and then continue the Great Song Dynasty.

Wu Meiniang's layout finally became a reality, and the Zhao and Song dynasties were able to stand for more than a thousand years......

This is all for later, anyway, Chen Ziyi doesn't believe that the Eastern Song Dynasty will lose the war at all.

Because the good news is coming!

Just three days before the arrival of the main force of the Eastern Song Dynasty Nanyang Fleet on Dragonstone Island, a Hibek reconnaissance ship disguised as a merchant ship (there were also many Hibek in the Eastern Song Dynasty Navy) sent good news to Longshi.

The westward fleet of the Great Zhou Republic had already left the port of Suez and was on its way south.

"How many ships are there?"

In the admiral's cabin of the first-class battleship "New Song", Admiral Pan Wuyang asked a low voice while looking at the charts.

"There are more than 20 warships and armed merchant ships," Chen Ziyi said, "including 3 first-class battleships, 2 second-class battleships, and 5 third-class battleships." ”

"Great!" Pan Wuyang rubbed his palm, "10 big ships...... We have 33 of them! Sure to win! ”

The battleships of this era were also divided into classes, as in history, called first, second, and third, also known as A, B, and C.

Basically, it is distinguished by the amount of artillery and displacement. One of the first class battleships had to have three gun decks, more than 100 guns, a crew of more than 900 people, and an unladen displacement of more than 50,000 stones. It's basically a castle on the sea!

And the cost of this kind of "sea castle" is, of course, very high, and the cost of a single ship is not less than 1 million taels of silver.

The second-class battleship was slightly smaller than the first-class battleship, and it was also a three-tier gun deck, with less than 100 guns and more than 80 guns. The ship has a capacity of about 750 people and a displacement of about 40,000 stones.

The third class battleship was, of course, smaller, with only two gun decks, a displacement of between 25,000 and 30,000 stones, and the number of guns between 60 and 80 guns.

These three-rank sail battleships were the capital ships of the Great Zhou and Eastern Song Dynasty navies! The Great Zhou was armed with a total of 100 such battleships, while the Eastern Song Navy had only 66 such battleships.

In terms of naval strength, the Great Zhou Republic occupies a clear advantage!

As for the fourth, fifth, and sixth rank ships below the third rank sail battleship, the navies of other countries can be regarded as the main force. Even the 6th class ships have a displacement of 10,000 stone - 12,000 stone, are equipped with a gun deck, and have 20-28 cannons.

Such ships are still quite useful in the pursuit of pirates and the destruction of sea engagements.

However, it is not enough to look at the great fleets of the Great Zhou and Eastern Song Dynasty.

By the way, the Egyptian Empire, which has the sixth army in the world and the third largest navy in the world, also has a pretty good navy.

But the main battlefield of the Egyptian Navy was in the Mediterranean, so their main ships were all galley battleships. It cannot be used for ocean warfare, and the large galleys of the Egyptian Navy cannot reach the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea, so they will not be able to help the Great Zhou Republic.

Pan Wuyang thought for a moment and asked again: "There are only 10 capital ships?" ”

"Yes, only 10 of them!" Chen Ziyi said, "When they entered the Red Sea, they only had 10 big ships, and they were under our surveillance the whole time, and there would be no more capital ships." ”

"Good!" Pan Wuyang nodded, "Well done!" He laughed, "To win this battle, the comparison between us and Zhou Guo on the capital ship is 66 to 90...... On a 1st class battleship it was 6 to 7! It should be possible to stick with it. ”

"Marshal, will there be fraud?" Yi Chenghu, the switchboard of the Nanyang Fleet on the side, reminded him.

He paused, "Zhou's navy is too stupid, isn't it?" Send 10 precious capital ships to the Little Western Ocean, and let us block us in the Red Sea......"

"Hehe," Pan Wuyang smiled, "the old man thinks so too...... But now the facts are clear, if not that they are stupid, what is the reason? By the way, is there still a Zhou fleet moving nearby? ”

"Didn't find it." Chen Ziyi thought for a while, and then said, "However, our number of reconnaissance ships is limited, and it is impossible to closely monitor a large area of the sea. ”

Pan Wuyang was silent for a while, and then pondered: "If there is a fraud, it is that the Great Fleet of the Zhou State has bypassed the Atlantic...... If their large fleet had gone through the Srivijaya Strait or the Java Strait, we would have known that they would have to take the African Bypass.

But don't worry? The boundless and scattered two fleets on the sea are difficult to echo. And it will only take a few hours for us to defeat the Western Fleet of the Zhou State, and then we will withdraw to the Gowa County State.

So this time Zhou Guo is a miscalculation! They did not expect that our Grand Fleet would follow all the way.

Well, you don't have to hesitate, the whole fleet is attacking! Intercept the Zhou fleet near Dragonstone Island! ”

"Whoa!"

After listening to Pan Wuyang's analysis, the generals had no objections and responded with a bang.

On the tenth day of the second month of the Eastern Song Dynasty in the morning of the 215th month.

The main force of the Nanyang Fleet of the Eastern Song Dynasty Navy, which gathered on Longshi Island, set sail and spread out three columns on the vast ocean, heading towards the trumpet-shaped entrance of the Gulf of Aden.

Because the entrance to the Gulf of Aden is 700 miles wide, it is easy to be slipped out by the Zhou fleet if you don't watch it firmly.

Therefore, before the main force of the fleet was dispatched, Pan Wuyang also sent seven reconnaissance detachments composed of sixth-class ships to spread out in front of the main fleet, forming a search curtain.

Behind the search scenes, it was the main force of the fleet that was divided into three columns.

Looking at the vast lineup of their own fleet, the naval officers and men of the Eastern Song Dynasty were a little sympathetic to Zhou Guo's counterparts.

They're done, and they're going to feed the fish in a foreign land! This is all to blame on the group of corrupt politicians in the Zhou State, who can't manage their own country well, so they want to plunder the wealth of the Great Song Dynasty through war, which is really hateful......

……

At the same moment, a few hundred miles away from the main fleet of the Eastern Song Dynasty, on the sea of the Gulf of Aden, a much smaller Zhou naval fleet with the blue Wanfu flag was sailing slowly westward.

The leader is the flagship "Shenzhou", a huge hull with a displacement of more than 55,000 stones, as if it is a sea monster, breaking through the waves.

Vice Admiral Hua Wuxian, who stood on the stern of the "Shenzhou" and looked into the distance, was full of confidence at this time, just like his opponent Pan Wuyang.

Because he firmly believed that the naval battle that was about to begin would end in a great victory for himself.

His self-confidence, of course, is not unreasonable. It seems to be an extremely disadvantageous situation, but it is actually a false impression deliberately created to deceive the Eastern Song Dynasty.

At the same time that he led the fleet to Egypt, the main force of the Great Zhou Eastern Ocean Fleet (including four first-class battleships) also left the Kamaga Port Naval Base in East Japan Province and headed east into the vast Pacific Ocean.

According to the plan, they would bypass South America, resupply in the plains provinces of South America (roughly the territory of Argentina), and then sail eastward, bypassing the southern tip of the African continent, entering the Lesser Ocean, and finally heading north to Zanzibar.

After receiving the order to go to war at the embassy in Zanzibar, this huge fleet of the Great Eastern Ocean will go straight to Dragonstone. copied the back road of the main force of the Nanyang Fleet of the Eastern Song Dynasty.

With 4 first-class battleships, 16 second-class battleships, and 25 third-class battleships as the core, the strength of the Great Dongyang Westward Fleet far exceeded the main force of the Nanyang Fleet in the Eastern Song Dynasty. As long as they meet, then they will definitely be able to fight a war of annihilation.

The Egyptian ship Hibek sent by Hua Wuxian was to deliver a message to Zanzibar's Great Oriental and Western Fleet...... Urge them to go north to Dragonstone Island as soon as possible.

And the fleet led by Hua Wushu has to act as bait. After meeting with the Grand Fleet of the Eastern Song Dynasty near the entrance to the Gulf of Aden, he immediately turned around and fled to the Red Sea. Strive to attract the Eastern Song fleet to the entrance to the Red Sea, so that it will be difficult for them to escape when the Great Eastern Ocean Western Fleet arrives.

As long as the 33 capital ships of the Eastern Song Dynasty fleet are finished, the sea power of the Eastern Song Dynasty will be lost. Blocked by Da Zhou, it is only a matter of time.

The Eastern Song Dynasty, which had lost its overseas markets and raw materials, would also succumb to the Great Zhou Republic sooner or later.

After taking the territory of the Eastern Song Dynasty, how many years can the Western Song Dynasty hold on?

As for the question of "violation of Egyptian neutrality", of course, it does not exist.

Because the obedient Egyptian empress would definitely declare war on the Eastern Song Dynasty at the request of Prince Suez......

.。 m.