Chapter 870: Brothers Arriving in North America

"If I retreat now, I will take the responsibility on my shoulders alone, and the reputation of the Kingdom of Spain will not be damaged to the outside world, and this battle can also be interpreted as a misunderstanding." Foranger had completely lost his confidence, as the commander who gave the order to attack, and now this result, his fate was sealed. If you are better, you can go home to support your old age, and if you are almost, you will be handed over as a scapegoat.

It's not that Franger is noble, it's that he doesn't see any hope of victory. The naval artillery of the Ming Empire can hit so far, and their artillery on land can hit as far as possible. This is obvious, and it is unreliable to expect a group of demoralized soldiers to attack a well-defended camp.

There was a brief silence in the room, and after a moment, an officer stood up, nodded slightly, and said, "I obey orders." ”

Even if one person stood up and supported Franger to fight, he would gamble again, but unfortunately no one stood up. The battle at sea knocked out the souls of the Spanish naval officers, it was just a "small boat", and it could fight such a battle against four, what if the North American fleet of the Ming Empire poured out? There is not much time left for everyone, and there is no point in arguing with words.

The Spaniards packed up their things and retreated to the sea, and there was a cheer from the position. Although he wanted to catch up with him, Li Jinbao still gave up his impulsive behavior, and the threat of naval artillery on the sea was too great. Even if it's a solid bullet, it's more than 200 cannons, and no number of people are enough to fill it.

"How daring!" Li Heng let out an angry roar, but Dai Zhiyuan, who was sitting opposite, smoked his cigarette unhurriedly and said: "This is a good thing, but should we call over first, or report to the country first?" Li Heng waved his hand: "The general is outside, and the king's order is not affected." You are responsible for reporting back home, and I am responsible for leading the fleet to sweep the colonies along the coast of the Spaniards. Well. I've got to take a battalion of marines. ”

Dai Zhiyuan frowned and said nothing, Li Heng smiled: "Old rules." Dai Zhiyuan stretched out his hand: "Deal." The two high-fived and reached an agreement to divide the spoils of a robbery. What protocol? The detachment is now the key military force in North America, so the price of Dai Zhiyuan's support for Li Heng's robbery of the Spaniards is that the Governor's Mansion can share the benefits of thirty percent, and he doesn't have to send people. It's all the Navy's own business.

"Before that, let's add a little troops and supplies to Xia Wanchun." Dai Zhiyuan was a very competent governor, and he had always been well aware of the country's plans to establish another large colony in Los Angeles. This new colony is not so much a long-established expansion plan, but rather a way to show the young people in the country what kind of prospects they will have when they come to North America. At this time, a benchmark figure is needed to come out for publicity, and Dai Zhiyuan will naturally make the right choice.

Just when Li Heng was about to fight. A cannon salute rang out from the fort at the entrance to Kinmen Bay, followed by the return salute of naval guns. Every time you hear a gun salute, it means that new reinforcements from the country have arrived. The two had no choice but to suspend the detailed study of the robbery plan, walked out of the North American Fleet headquarters near the dock together, and stood on a high place and watched the red flag raised in the direction of the fortress.

"That's right, there are another batch of ships in the country, I don't know what the scale is this time?" Li Heng was very sure, but Dai Zhiyuan nodded and said, "The biggest problem now is communication. The telegraph can be erected on land, but the question of how to lay lines in the sea. It has not been resolved for a long time. Even if it is a fast clipper, it can take four months to go back and forth, and there is no small risk. ”

"It's not something we should worry about, let's go, get the band ready and have a welcome ceremony. I always thought that this time there would be a lot of reinforcements. Li Heng said a word and hurried to the barracks.

For the Navy, the greatest significance of this expedition was not the increase in the strength of the North American fleet, but a purely steam-powered warship. Completed a transpacific operation. Although it was necessary to replenish coal in Hawaii on the way, the new steam-wood-hulled warships, using steel keels, had a standard displacement of 3,500 tons. Moreover, this new type of battleship adopts a completely new shooting, and four 150-mm main guns are placed on the foredeck, and the secondary guns are twelve 75 guns.

It can be said that this is a landmark operation, the new warship has withstood the test of the ocean, and on the way to carry out a variety of performance tests, the results of which proved that the new warship has irreplaceable superiority. The development of Daming's maritime technology has always been the top priority of the imperial military industry. The design and development of new warships has always been the most expensive business. Fortunately, this kind of research and development is the behavior of private enterprises, and what the navy can do is to supervise the confidentiality and quality of technology, and provide corresponding assistance to escort the behavior of enterprises.

Thirty-year-old Zhou Hao is inconspicuous among a group of old guys, they are all dark-skinned, and the people who have been floating on the sea all year round are almost the same. Even Zhou Hao, who is engaged in technology, is also a rising star in this technical team, although this time the navigation test of the new warship is mainly for him, but in front of a group of old guys, he still has to behave very respectfully and low-key.

Zhou Hao, who received a new-style education since he was a child, rarely took his background seriously, and when other people's children were playing, he learned all kinds of knowledge under the supervision of his mother. In the new school, the quality of the grades is directly related to whether there is a smile on the mother's face. Father is a very distant title for him, so his mother's expectations are a very important fulcrum in his life. Of course, as his studies deepened, his personal interests and hobbies led him to this path, and his mother was very supportive. At the age of sixteen, Zhou Hao entered the Huating Shipbuilding School to learn shipbuilding. With working harder and more sources than others, his results have always been number one. After graduating three years and entering the shipyard, he chose a new style of shipbuilding.

Jinshan is a place name for Zhou Hao, but the vast ocean is full of attraction for him. The new warship designed by him was naturally not to be missed for the first time to cross the Pacific Ocean. Now that he saw Jinshan, when the technicians on the ship cheered, Zhou Hao looked at the direction of Daming silently. There was his mother, already gray-haired, praying for his success.

The success of the voyage was also a great operation for the Ming Navy, which began at this time. The warships of the Ming Imperial Navy will not have to look at Monsoon's face. Any act that dares to provoke the maritime interests of the Ming Dynasty can launch a fatal blow at any time. The superiority of the steam warship was fully demonstrated when sailing at sea. The new turret design completely changed the concept of naval warfare. While the Navy is cheering this, it is also going to start new research, and this is just the beginning. There's still a lot to do. On the plywood, there was also a naval lieutenant officer, holding on to the railing, silently looking in the direction of Da Ming. His name is Ye Hai, and his wish is to use his own work to add brilliance to his mother's face.

A huge fleet of ships sailed through the entrance to Kinmen Bay and headed for the harbor, where a sea of people gathered on the pier and cheered one after another.

When the 3,500-ton new warship appeared in sight, Li Heng and Dai Zhiyuan on the dock were stunned. What the hell is this? The shape can be described as "ugly", right? It can even be said that the face is hideous. But it's amazing to look at. As soon as the battleship landed on the dock, Li Heng and Dai Zhiyuan rushed up.

"Where's the captain?" Li Heng was not polite at all, but the young Zhou Hao, who was waiting, told him seriously with thick eyes: "This is a test ship, it has not been officially incorporated into the naval sequence, and the naval officers and soldiers on the ship are just personnel who cooperate with our work." Li Heng's eyes widened: "Who are you?" ”

"Huating Shipbuilding Group. Zhou Hao, engineer of Songjiang Shipyard. The answer was neither humble nor arrogant, Li Heng swallowed a mouthful of saliva vigorously. Hehehehe smiled: "It's not easy to come here, so don't go back." I think the ship is very good, and the North American fleet is willing to receive it. ”

Zhou Hao smiled: "It's useless to be willing to accept it, the ship must sail back, if you want such a battleship, you have to report to the Admiralty." ”

"Songjiang Shipyard? That's it. Li Heng turned around with a painful expression. asked Dai Zhiyuan in a low voice: "Why don't we forcibly keep this battleship?" Such a good thing, it's all delivered to the door. Dai Zhiyuan gave him a roll of his eyes: "Don't make trouble, this is a capitalist thing, you can't afford to provoke a capitalist, and you are a big capitalist with a lot of Ming Dynasty." ”

"Aren't you capitalists? Jiangnan ....... Li Heng swallowed back the words behind. Don't dare to talk nonsense about this, it's taboo.

The ellipsis part is Jiangnan Chen, which is a large group that integrates the country's largest textile base and shipbuilding base, and the heirs of this group are not a certain person, but a group of people. This group of people has a common characteristic, they (they) have the same father, and this group of people are all shareholders of this group.

When he got off the boat, Zhou Hao deliberately fell behind, and when no one paid attention to him, he walked to the side of the gun emplacement, stretched out his hand and patted Ye Hai's shoulder: "How about it, together?" Ye Hai smiled at him and said, "No, I want to be on duty." ”

The relationship between the two is very delicate, Zhou Hao is a few years older, but Ye Hai never calls him brother, playing small is a competitive relationship, and now even if the two families are together, the relationship is still difficult to explain. In general, Zhou Hao, who is older, doesn't particularly care about these things, and people who are engaged in technology are like this, not so many flowers.

"Then I'll go down first, I'll bring good wine, waiting for you to drink it together." Leaving a sentence, Zhou Hao got off the boat first, and after Ye Hai waved goodbye, his expression was very complicated. Background is the weakness that these two have always had, although within the Chen family, they don't seem to pay much attention to this. But the tradition of the Ming Dynasty is like this, the mothers of Zhou and Ye, there is always something that is criticized by the world.

This is probably the reason why the children of the two families are relatively low-key, and no one has ever shown off their father. When they were very young, their mothers told them to be on their own. Therefore, Zhou Hao relied on himself, and Ye Hai also relied on himself. One is now an engineer, the other is a young lieutenant in the Navy, and after participating in scientific research activities on this new warship, he can't run away and stay in service.

"Engineer Zhou, why did you come down, I'll discuss things with you." Li Heng was still a little thief, thinking about taking this battleship out to show off his might. After figuring out who could call the shots on this boat, he deliberately waited on the side of the ship.

"Hehe, General Li has something to say, how can he discuss it?" Zhou Hao was very face-saving, and Li Heng immediately climbed up along the pole and said, "That's the case,......。 You see, I'm going to sweep around the coastline, and I like the cannons on this ship, or let me have a good time and become the acting captain of a new warship? ”

Unexpectedly, this guy said this, Zhou Hao hesitated for a moment before saying: "It's not that this can't work, it's that this ship doesn't have a lot of shells." This time I went to sea, I brought three bases, and I tested a multi-base along the way to test the performance of the cannon. ”

"Enough, enough, I'm driving out to scare those ghosts." Li Heng was impatient, he didn't have the demeanor of a general at all, and there was no one in the navy who didn't like this new type of warship. If you think about it carefully, the 105 cannon is already very powerful, this kind of guy with a larger caliber, isn't it more hilarious in the past?

The immediate retaliation was delayed. There are too many things on the dock, Li Heng still has time to grind his teeth, and Dai Zhiyuan is busy with his feet not touching the ground. Fortunately, the port is now large enough, and there are also military and civilian docks, and the bay is large enough not to cause overcrowding.

The fact that an entire infantry division was transported to North America is not so difficult to do now. Fortunately, the current infantry divisions are all three-regiment systems, and there are more than 12,000 people at full duty. Thirty-five cargo ships were also mobilized, and after the first dock at the wharf, the soldiers lined up after going ashore in an orderly manner, waiting for the next arrangement.

Dai Zhiyuan arrived first and received this improvised infantry regiment. Three regiments, one from Nanjing, one from Lushun, and one of Japanese descent. After the original infantry division was a two-brigade division, after it was changed to three regiments, most of the extra troops were added to the new armies in the provinces, so as to enhance their combat effectiveness and facilitate the control of the local new armies. Considering the importance of North America, the new reinforcement plan included two more infantry regiments, not to mention the addition of two infantry regiments, and the transfer of this Japanese-American regiment from an active infantry division in Dongying.

The officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, who spoke various local dialects, were quite happy when they got together. Fortunately, Daming has been promoting official dialect, and the communication is still very smooth. The sad thing is that compared with those Japanese officers and soldiers, they speak a standard Nanjing official dialect, and they are more like the Ming people than the Ming people, that is, they are generally shorter, but they are in good spirits, unlike the infantry regiments of the pure Ming people, and the vast majority of people are tortured very badly by this long voyage. (To be continued......)