Theoretically speaking, Ceylon's navy was only one line weaker than the navy of the Ming Empire. After all www.biquge.info the Ming Empire was once the number one maritime power, and the number was still beyond the reach of Ceylon.

The Ceylon Navy had 15 battleships, and all of these 15 battleships were used to face the Nanyang naval fleet of the Ming Empire. And the Ming Empire had 17 battleships in the Nanyang Naval Division.

Just in terms of the number of battleships, the naval fleet of the Ming Empire was only slightly stronger than Ceylon, and it could not be said that it was completely superior.

If you rely on tactics and defeat the weak in a certain naval battle, even the Ceylon Navy can surpass it.

The Ceylon Navy plus the 8 battleships of the British Royal Navy from afar have an absolute advantage of 23, which is more than the Ming Imperial Navy.

Counting the fact that the Ceylon Navy has sunk a naval battleship of the Ming Empire at the cost of losing a battleship, this makes the battleship ratio between the two sides 23 to 16.

In addition, in the Indian Ocean, the battleship Montenegro of the Ming Empire escaped from the naval battle off Chittagong and finally surrendered to the Ceylon Navy......

In other words, the current situation of the Ming Empire's naval fleet is very unfavorable, and it can only use 16 warships to meet the enemy's 24 warships.

Of course, because of the long sea frontier to defend, as well as escort tasks and maintenance issues, neither side was able to concentrate all the battleships.

At the beginning of the war, neither side could use all their forces for a decisive battle, which is why in the Battle of Jutland in another time and space, the battleship fleets of both sides did not participate in the battle with all their troops.

On 9 February, the slower battleships HMS Magnificent and HMS Reckless, as well as four British battleships, the USS St. Vincent and HMS Collingwood, sailed out of harbor and assembled in the predetermined seas.

Subsequently, the Hercules, along with the three battleships Orion and Liverpool, also set sail and joined the fleet.

The British battleship HMS Giant was damaged and underwent simple repairs in the port of Ceylon, but was not able to participate in the decisive battle at sea.

The role of the battleship Qianshan in trying its best to damage the Giant was finally manifested, so that the coalition fleet in the final decisive battle, one less new battleship to participate in the battle!

In the afternoon of the same day, the Ceylon battleships Yue Fei and Yang Ye of the Song class, which were cruising on the sea first; the Han-level Weiqing, Ganning, and Zhaoyun; Tang-class Li Jing, as well as Qin Qiong and Li Ji, joined the British fleet.

At this time, the battleships of the coalition fleet were waiting at sea, and the main fleet already had as many as 15 battleships.

At the same time, Ceylon's own battleship guerrilla fleet, the Han-class battleships Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Huo Quai, Li Guang and Han Xun, together with the battleship Montenegro, which surrendered to Ceylon, have also sailed into the outer waters of Luzon as bait.

In fact, the main mission of the decoy fleet was to cover the combat units of Ceylon landing in Luzon, and they were mainly bombarding Luzon Island and luring the Nanyang Fleet of the Ming Empire to come to the decisive battle.

They were covering a transport fleet of 50,000 Ceylon landing troops, and behind this flotilla was a much larger landing flotilla carrying another 100,000 Ceylonese soldiers, waiting not far from the sea.

If the campaign goes well, they will join the subsequent landing on Luzon and can retreat calmly if the situation changes.

Miao Shengye has rich experience in landing operations, and he thinks that if the opponent is Wang Jue, he will be afraid of three points, but the defense of Luzon is a little-known Rui Mouguo, then he will not take it seriously.

At this moment, the total number of battleships invested by the coalition forces in the Luzon area has reached 21, and the battleships of the Ming Empire near this sea area are only 16 in total.

On the night of February 9, the naval anchorage outside Hainan Island of the Ming Empire, the roar of machinery was deafening, and the Nanyang Navy of the Ming Empire, under the leadership of the naval commander Chu He, heated its own boiler.

On the bridge of the flagship Kunlun Mountain battleship, the old general Chu looked at the fleet he set sail for, and he didn't know what he was thinking in his heart.

Soon, directly in front of him, the battleships Shushan and Songshan, which originally belonged to the Second Fleet, also began to move slowly.

Further forward, there are Yandang Mountain, Longhu Mountain, and Jiuhua Mountain of the First Fleet. The three battleships were also raising their anchor chains and moving their massive bodies.

And behind Kunlun Mountain, following the flagship, are the six battleships of the main fleet of the Nanyang Navy: Lushan, Tianzhu Mountain, Zhongnanshan, Yandang Mountain, Qingcheng Mountain, and Qiyun Mountain!

At the end, although there were some breakdowns, the battleships Jingtingshan and Damaoshan were also followed by the decisive battle at sea, although there were some breakdowns!

The 14 battleships of the Ming Imperial Navy were not intimidated by the overwhelming numerical superiority of the enemy, and poured out of the nest and slowly sailed in the direction of Luzon.

"Sir! The reconnaissance planes deployed on the island of Luzon sent back the news that the traitor battleship Montenegro had been discovered. An officer walked up behind Chu You, who was standing on the bridge, and opened his mouth to report the news that had just arrived.

Chu He took the telegram, glanced at it, and gave it back to the other party: "Since it is also here, then sink to the bottom of the sea with the British and the battleships of the Ceylon rebels......"

On the evening of February 9, after the sun had set, the main 15 ships of the coalition fleet departing from the vicinity of Quy Nhon headed due east. Admiral Lemm, as commander-in-chief of the coalition fleet, gave the operational order to maintain the speed and course.

The fleet sailed at a speed of 11 knots to the waters off Luzon, and according to the plan, they were to arrive later than the landing force in order to flank the Ming Empire's naval fleet.

At the same time, the main 14 battleships of the Nanyang Fleet of the Ming Imperial Navy set off from Hainan Island and rushed to the direction of Luzon Island at a speed of 13 knots.

Because the departure positions are about the same distance and the routes are more or less parallel, the two fleets are now approaching at a slow pace.

Everyone knows that after dawn, a large-scale decisive battle of steel battleships will break out in the waters near Luzon Island.

The two sides involved in the war invested a total of 35 battleships, compared with the naval battle that decided the fate of the world two hundred years ago, the weapons of the battle evolved from the bronze cannon of the sailing ship to the battleship with a main gun of more than 350 mm caliber and the battleship with steel armor protection......