When it was almost dawn and the Ming army was about to withdraw from the Lion Country Strait, the battle had already lasted for more than sixteen hours. It stands to reason that whoever it is should be mentally exhausted. However, this time, the soldiers of any country in the Allied forces were very excited.

Because they know that when the day dawns, it is also the time to drive the Ming warships out of the strait, and when it happens, the coalition forces on their side will be able to develop the advantage of their forces and completely make up for the shortcomings of the artillery.

However, it was also at this time that strange things happened.

The artillery bombardment of the Ming warships in the distance, judging from the light of the muzzles, seemed to be as much as before, or even less shelling. However, the coalition forces pursued the battleships in front, but there were successive explosions, and the explosions were all below the waterline. This kind of explosion can make the ship enter the water at once, not only scrap the warship, but also have to save people, and wait for the sinking to give way to the channel before continuing the pursuit.

The occurrence of this sudden situation surprised everyone to arrive. Watching the Ming warships finally slowly move away, but the battleships that wanted to pursue here still exploded continuously, which made them understand that there were ghosts in the sea!

They were right, when the Ming army was about to withdraw from the strait, they laid a large number of mines. Even in the original history, in Song Yingxing's "Heavenly Creation", there was already a record of the existence of mines. And in this plane, with the insight of Emperor Chongzhen and the incentive of the reward mechanism, the mines of the Ming Dynasty have already improved a lot. In the face of the Xiyi warships swarming across the strait, the mines that can be blown up are obviously very high.

The commander of the combined fleet, Marton Tronpo, was very surprised when he heard the news, he did not expect that the Ming army would have such a hand. Seeing that the fleet was blocked in the strait by mines, and the Ming army had slowly moved away, he couldn't help frowning.

"No wonder the Ming army should use a hundred or so warships to fight against so many of our warships, but they seem to be unhurried, it turns out that they have this dependence." Major Weddell said hatefully, "Now that they are out of the battlefield, they can escape even if they are not very good at operating the sail warship!" ”

Hearing this, Schwila, who also rushed to the flagship, also echoed: "The people of the Ming Kingdom have always been very cunning, originally I was a little strange, why did the Ming Kingdom dare to stay in Colombo all the time with only about a hundred warships, I don't believe it, they will not get the news, our combined fleet has more than 600 warships?" Now I finally figured it out! ”

Commander Marton Tromp's brows tightened, and after listening to his words, he hurriedly asked, "What do you understand?" ”

"If the commander of the Ming fleet runs away without a fight, he is afraid that he will be punished by their emperor if he returns." At this time, Schwera played the role of Ming Guotong and explained to the people around him, "But now, they have fought with us all night, and the gap is clear, not that the commander of the Ming army is incompetent, but that we are too powerful." In this way, if the Ming army escapes again, the Ming Emperor will not be guilty. ”

Hearing his explanation, the generals of these combined fleets couldn't help but suddenly realize, it turned out that this was the case, the commander of the Ming army didn't seem to be easy, if it weren't for this mine, it would not be possible to distance himself from the coalition army at all, and it was estimated that it would be difficult to escape in the end!

Marton Tromp also listened a lot more relaxed, and if that's the case, it would be the best. However, when he saw that the ships of the Combined Fleet were slowly becoming more and more near the exit of this strait, and they were a little crowded, he faintly always felt a little cool behind them.

Therefore, he immediately issued an order for the warship at the front to immediately send people to the sea to clear the mines in the sea. The combined fleet must get out of the strait as soon as possible and pursue the fleeing Ming army.

Annihilating the fleet of the Ming army, that is a great merit, and the others do not want to be escaped by the Ming fleet, just after dawn, they have sent sailors to the sea to open up a safe road for the fleet.

By the time it was almost noon, the mouth of the strait was finally dredged. The soldiers of the Combined Fleet couldn't help but cheer. After being blocked in this strait for so long, they have long been impatient.

However, at this time, the Ming fleet, which they thought had escaped, actually appeared in their field of vision again.

"Oh no, the Ming fleet is here again, there are about two hundred warships!"

"Report, there are twenty or thirty ships at the front of the Ming fleet, all of them are smoking, I don't know what's going on?"

“……”

The lookout posts loudly reported what they had seen to the following, and finally the news was summarized to the commander of the Marton Tromp. Immediately, he was taken aback.

The Ming fleet that fled just now was about 100 ships, but now 200 ships have come, does that mean that the reinforcements of the Ming fleet have arrived?

Although the Ming fleet has doubled, it is still not enough for the combined fleet, but Marton Tromp is very worried. The number of fleets on both sides is on the bright side, and it is clear at a glance. But in this case, why did the Ming fleet still catch up? Are they sure of victory? It can't be a suicidal fight!

Also, there are battleships in the Ming fleet that are smoking, what is going on?

There were a lot of things he couldn't figure out, which made him nervous. Because he understands that the more he does not understand, the more likely he is to hide a mortal danger. So, he also quickly took out the binoculars and looked at it.

At this moment, the lookout post suddenly shouted in surprise: "Oh my God, those smoking warships of the Ming army seem to be all made of iron!" And there are no sails, how is it possible to drive faster than those sail battleships? ”

"God, what's going on with these ironclad warships of the Ming Kingdom?"

“……”

The lookout post shouted this, Marton Tromp has also seen clearly through the telescope, the shock in his heart, regardless of identity, and the lookout post, are shocked beyond measure. His instinct was that there was trouble. The Ming army dared to take the initiative to attack, which shows that these ironclad battleships are likely to be the killer weapon of the Ming fleet!

Through the binoculars, he even saw that the Ming ironclad battleship was twice as large as an ordinary sail battleship, and the guns on that ship seemed to be larger in caliber. Although I can see this clearly with the help of a telescope, it also means that the distance is close enough.

At this moment, he saw the muzzles of the huge guns on the bows of the ironclad ships of the Ming Kingdom flashing with gunsmoke. Immediately after that, he heard a deafening shelling.

"Boom, boom, boom......"

Amid the sound of artillery, twenty or thirty chain bullets flew and smashed towards the side of the European Combined Fleet. And here it happened to be all boats crowded together, all huddled together, these twenty or thirty chain bullets flew over, almost did not miss, suddenly, either smashed the hull of the ship with a big hole, or the ship's mast was smashed, or, there were unlucky soldiers who did not have time to dodge, and suddenly flesh and blood flew sideways, and limbs were separated.

Anyway, in a word, after the Ming Dynasty's ironclad battleship opened fire from a long distance, the combined fleet was in a mess, crying dad and shouting mother.

Originally, they were already very shocked when they saw a smoking ironclad battleship like Daming, but when they saw this shooting effect, they immediately panicked.

The battleships were crowded with each other, and they could not cope with the battle, so Marton Tromp hurriedly gave the order, and the fleet retreated, freeing up the combat space and opening up the distance. At the same time, he was also thinking about how to deal with the ironclad warships of the Ming Kingdom.

However, the way to deal with it is easy to think, but it is not so easy to complete this order. In particular, the Ming army will not let them retreat calmly, and the whole army has already pressed over.

At the beginning, there was a bit of discipline, but when the Ming fleet approached, it was all chaos. No one cared about the flags on the flagships, and fled back one after another, at most to see what signals were on the flagships of their own countries.

Yesterday, when the Combined Fleet pursued the Ming fleet, it was like a gentleman following and slowly pursuing (of course, it was not that they wanted to do this, but that the Ming army's artillery firing distance was farther than theirs, and it was impossible to chase the Ming army in embarrassment);

And at this time, when the Ming fleet pursued the combined fleet, it was all chaos. It's like wolves chasing sheep. The wolves pounced fiercely, and the sheep scattered in fear. Many warships of the Combined Fleet, in a panic, collided with each other, blocking the shipping lanes instead.

The steam ironclad warships of the Ming Dynasty, like ironclad heavy cavalry on land, opened the way in front, and the sail warships behind followed closely, driving cattle and sheep, and ran with the combined fleet.

Schvera is worthy of being an expert at escaping, but he didn't expect that this time, he would also run at the front. Seeing that he was about to run out of the strait, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. As long as you get out of the strait, the sea is so vast, if you can't stop the Ming warships, run to the depths of the sea, can the Ming fleet still be able to catch up!

But at this moment, he noticed that there seemed to be some smoke floating in the sky in front of him. If it were to be changed to before, he probably wouldn't care. But this time, he had already seen the ironclad battleship of the Ming Kingdom, which was smoking. If the sea breeze is not strong, it will leave some traces in the sky.

At this glance, he immediately became nervous. The Ming people have always been cunning and like to engage in ambushes. He still remembers that when he united with the Ming pirates to attack Taiping Port, he was ambushed and almost blocked in Taiping Port and annihilated.

When he raised his head and was about to ask about the situation of the lookout post, he heard the lookout post shouting in horror: "Oh no, there is a Ming fleet ahead, and a Ming fleet is coming......"

Soon, more and more lookout posts shouted, panicking, and suddenly, over the fleet, which had fled first.

Schwila is a little desperate, the Ming army is definitely premeditated, to introduce the combined fleet into this strait, and then intercept it back and forth, this is to annihilate the combined fleet!

At this time, he didn't have time to think about why he hadn't discovered so many warships in the Ming Kingdom before? I saw him and kept shouting: "Quick, speed up and rush out, quick, speed up ......"

However, the speed of the sail battleship still depends on the sea breeze. Heaven is not beautiful, he is against the wind. I could only watch as the mouth of the strait in the distance was blocked by Ming warships. Or about 30 ironclad warships as the vanguard, approaching the strait.

At this moment, Schvera was desperate. Not only him, but also his subordinates were desperate. There were quite a few warships, recklessly, rushing forward, trying to break through a gap, trying to escape.

However, the chain bullets of the Ming fleet roared, and the sky above the strait was almost full of chain bullets flying in circles, and as long as they were hit by the chain bullets, the wooden ship was like paper paste, and it was immediately broken. Closer, occasionally the chain bombs and iron eggs of the combined fleet smashed the ironclad battleships of the Ming army at the front, but at most they only smashed a dent.

Obviously, in this naval battle, the combined fleet not only fell into the trap of the strait and could not deploy superior forces, but also the ironclad battleships that participated in the battle for the first time in history also seriously hit the confidence of the opponent, resulting in this war, which was simply a naval battle that could not be compensated for by the number of technology.

The soldiers of European countries did not have the spirit of fighting to the death. Seeing that they were about to be slaughtered by one side, a battleship finally took the lead in raising the white flag, which also drove other warships to raise the white flag and surrender.

As a result, the largest naval battle in the history of the earth took about a whole day to end. Among them, the Ming fleet lost 15 sail warships and killed more than 100 officers and men, in exchange for the destruction of 500 combined fleets, and the naval officers of European countries suffered countless casualties, more than 300 battleships were sunk, and the rest of the warships were all captured.

As soon as the battle ended, Zheng Zhilong, the commander of the Ming Navy, immediately sent 250 sail warships to the west, preparing to go to the Persian Gulf and land at the Allied material transfer station in the Persian Empire. The remaining warships, in addition to the guards and soldiers, also have a hundred fish that have slipped through the net, and they need to continue to pursue.

Looking at the prisoner in front of him, Zheng Zhilong smiled and said, "Shi Weila, aren't you very capable of escaping?" Tell you, today's world is the world of the Ming Dynasty, no matter where you flee, as long as my Emperor Ming wants to arrest you, you will definitely not be able to hide! ”

Shi Weila was depressed, and did not reply to Zheng Zhilong's words, but muttered to himself: "Damn, I really deserve to die, I know that the Ming people are very cunning, why should I be fooled, why do I still chase into the strait!" Otherwise, if the two sides fight on the vast sea, with two hundred more warships than the Ming army, they will not necessarily lose! Damn, damn it......"

When the other captured generals on the side, such as Marton Tromp, heard this, they were also very remorseful in their hearts. This time, however, the warships that the European countries had put together were an unprecedented 600 warships. With so many troops, but they didn't use them well, they were really incompetent in command!

Zheng Zhilong heard their unwillingness, but he sneered and said, "Don't think that our Ming warships are not as many as yours, and feel sorry. Hehe, you are wrong, it is my Ming Southeast Navy that is dealing with your fleet, and the number of fleets only accounts for half of my Ming Navy. If you really want to talk about the number of warships in the navy, all of you in Europe combined, you don't have as much as me! ”

If it was before, it would have been impossible. But now, Emperor Chongzhen attaches great importance to sea power and occupies so many places, as long as he wants, he has enough resources to build enough warships.

Hearing Zheng Zhilong's words, Marton Tronpo was unconvinced: "If we lose, we will lose, if you want to say that the fleet is more than us, don't lie to us." Otherwise, you don't have to worry, what if I don't fall for it and don't go through the strait? You only have such a small number of warships, so you rely on the geographical advantage of this strait! If there are really still warships, why don't you transfer them for a decisive battle? ”

"Hehe, frog at the bottom of the well!" Zheng Zhilong smiled and commented, "Ben Shuai has already said that it is enough to deal with you, as for my other fleet of the Ming Dynasty, it is estimated that it is about to surprise your monarch at this time!" ”

.。 m.