Chapter 890: The First Battle That Decided the Belonging of the World (3)

The huge combined European fleet was wiped out, and the result was actually a fleet of eighteen steam ironclad ships, the gap was too great, and the war at sea called by this kind of force was objectively a massacre. The escaped Portuguese did not come to a good end, and the pursuing fleet did not return until the afternoon, bringing back the result of sinking 23 ships.

The battlefield was more than 50 kilometers away from the Strait of Gibraltar, and the victorious fleet arrived at the fortress of Gibraltar, showing off its military might and bombarding the fortress with the main guns of the main battleships. The ammunition carried was beaten, and the rest were all thrown on the head of the fortress, and the indestructible fortress was beaten by a rain of bullets. Although it did not cause much substantial damage to the main body of the fortress, the surface buildings were washed, and countless casualties were killed. The Spaniards, who fought back, caused negligible losses to the fleet, and the Strait of Gibraltar at this time became the thoroughfare of the Ming Navy. The remnants of the Spanish and Portuguese fleets, hiding in the Gulf of Algeslas, did not dare to come out to meet the battle. It's so swaggering and blocking at the door of people's houses, but the opponent doesn't dare to come out, this is a fortress. Isn't it stupid to say that a battleship to attack a fortress? But the European fleet of the Ming Empire, with the range and power of the new naval guns, taught the Spaniards a good lesson.

At night, the Spaniards and Portuguese, unwilling to be defeated, sent small boats to prepare for a sneak attack on the Ming fleet stationed outside the bay, but they were hit by a combination of searchlights and machine guns, and they turned around and ran, not daring to attack again.

This was just the beginning, and three days later, the landing fleet arrived. After replenishing the ammunition, the fleet once again showed its great power with naval guns, and suppressed the remaining fortress artillery fire. The landing force disembarked from Cape Europa. The rapid detachment blocked the mouth of the bay, and one ship sank another, and as for the Strait of Gibraltar, it has become a no-go zone. As long as it is not a ship flying the Ming flag, it will be sunk.

All of Europe was watching the war, despite the desperate initial results. But there are still people who hope that when they land, they can inflict heavy damage on the Ming army. Unfortunately, this wish was doomed to be dashed, and two infantry divisions, under the cover of battleships, successfully established a bridgehead on the first day, and the counterattack organized by the Spaniards retreated after being baptized by artillery fire. Three days later, the landing was complete. The outcome of the war was doomed. The Spaniards were very stubborn in holding the fortress and would not surrender.

The battle for the capture of the fortress was fierce, and the Spaniards fought hard under the cover of a strong fortress, but they held out for a whole week before finally hoisting the white flag of surrender. 5,800 were killed or wounded in the battle, and more than 8,600 were taken prisoner. It was not the naval guns of the capital warship that caused heavy casualties. It was the most handy mortar used by the army, and it was a nightmare for Spanish soldiers. It screamed like a devil and kept falling on everyone's heads.

When the red flag of the Ming Dynasty was raised at the fortress, the European fleet of the Ming Empire completed its supply and began its journey to the Mediterranean. Malta, here is the point that must be taken, after the occupation of this place. European colonizers in North Africa will lose easy access to supplies. Compared to the previous storm, the battle in Malta was relatively easy, only a regiment of troops was thrown, and under the cover of battleships, after the landing the enemy collapsed. There was no stubborn fight to the end before.

The Ming Empire's occupation of Malta angered the Holy Roman Empire, which had an ambiguous attitude. Since then, the Ming Dynasty has become the public enemy of the whole of Europe, and the European countries have stopped the previous disputes between each other, just like the iron weapons of the Mongols, and have united again, determined to teach the Ming Empire a good lesson on land.

At the same time, the Ottoman Turkish Empire, which was originally on the same page, once again extended an olive branch. This time, under the mediation of Louis XIV, the Ottoman Turkish Empire reached a temporary alliance with Europe to jointly deal with the Ming Dynasty. In May 1691, the parties met in Vienna and, after a week of rhetoric, a provisional European alliance was finally reached. In this alliance, even the Russians are involved.

Although an alliance has been reached, there have always been many internal contradictions in this "EU", how to deal with the challenge from the Ming Dynasty? The debate continued, and Louis XIV was eventually appointed as temporary commander-in-chief, responsible for commanding the armies of the nations. The question is, where is the battlefield?

Louis XIV advocated a decisive battle with the Ming army in Spain, but Spain was firmly opposed, but was willing to accept the alliance of some countries into Spain to help Spain fight against the Ming army. Russia's offer to send troops into the Ottoman Turkish Empire to help the Ottomans fight, was also resolutely rebuffed. It is clear that both of these proposals are wolf ambitions.

If we can't talk about it, we will naturally continue to talk about it, and the contradictions between countries have been going on for a long time, and this is the characteristic of Europe. The relationship between the various royal families is not clear at all. Everyone is a relative, but for the sake of profit, there are endless fights with each other. Countries like Russia have always been synonymous with turtles. As for the Ottoman Turkish Empire, it had little say.

Anyway, it's noisy, Spain itself doesn't have the strength to fight back, so it can only count on others to help. But a "friendly neighbor" like France, which has sent troops, will have a hard time going back. Louis XIV was bent on dominating Europe, and he was no good thing. It's basically a European country, and it's all on guard against France, if it weren't for the Ming Empire, the Europeans wouldn't be able to sit down and talk together.

When European countries were quarrelling, Daming prepared in an orderly manner in accordance with the established strategic deployment. Retaliation against Europe was definitely to be carried out, and the first step would be to land on Spain, and then sweep through its territory and deal a heavy blow to its strength, even if it was to pinch the soft persimmon first. And then there was the first power in Europe, the perfidious France. During this period, the fleet needed to work harder to clear the European maritime power in the Mediterranean.

At the same time, the Afrika Korps, which landed in Suez, sailed to the port of Alexandria, from where it boarded a transport ship and headed for Gibraltar to strike at the strength of Spain. The war is about logistics, so there will not be too many troops on the Spanish battlefield, but less will not be enough. It was eventually positioned as nine infantry divisions, three separate artillery regiments. That's almost the limit of the transport capacity. At this time, we can see the importance of the Suez Canal, without the Suez Canal, the supplies of the Ming Army could only be transported to Alexandria by land, which seriously lagged behind the speed of transportation.

But it can't be helped, it's the only feasible plan. As the so-called two-legged walk, one is from Alexandria, and this line is concentrated in the Ming Dynasty, and the number is about eighty sail cargo ships. Speaking of pits, the more useful steam freighter is difficult to play on this line, because there are no coal mines. So, steam freighters are concentrated on the Mumbai to Suez route. Then they went overland and transported the coal mines needed by the steam armoured fleet to Gibraltar.

There was another supply route, which was even more difficult, a two-month round trip from Mumbai in India, around the Cape of Good Hope, to Gibraltar. Again, this route can only be used by sail freighters. The reason is that the performance of the current freighter is not enough, and there must be coal mines along the way, otherwise the endurance is insufficient.

This route is much more dangerous, and European warships can't hit it head-on, and they can't ambush your cargo ship. Although they were all armed merchant ships and set off in groups, they really encountered the enemy, and the consequences of the fight were still difficult to say. At this time, the powerful side of the Ming Dynasty's maritime power was exposed, and a huge escort fleet was organized, and more than 100 sail warships were used to escort the sea transportation line.

Moreover, the merchant ships of this era are also armed, and with the departure of a group, the safety is still guaranteed. Unless there is a storm, God wants to take you. As a result, the preparation period for the entire war was long. After completing the occupation of Gibraltar, the Ming began a long period of preparation. The two infantry divisions that landed, after clearing the perimeter, quickly went on the defensive. Thousands of local people were arrested as civilian husbands and warehouses for hoarding materials were built. Naval prisoners were also engaged in the construction of fortifications and warehouses.

The Europeans quarreled for two whole months, and finally came up with a result. The end result is that Russia and the Ottomans will take sides first, and you will continue to negotiate on your own. The big head was naturally France, which sent 20,000 troops to reinforce the Ottoman Turkish Empire, which was recognized by the Ottoman Empire. The combat effectiveness of the French Army, which is now the first in Europe.

Spain's investment was much larger, Britain agreed to send 10,000 troops, France 20,000 troops, Sweden 5,000 troops, the Holy Roman Empire 20,000 troops, the Netherlands 30,000 troops, Portugal 5,000 troops, and Spain itself gathered another 100,000 troops, ready to fight to the death with the Ming Empire in the territory. Today's big Dutch in Europe have taken out 500,000 gold coins as a small supply for the troops sent by various countries. There's no way, this money can't be out, otherwise if everyone doesn't take him to play, they won't be able to mix in Europe, what if Daming calls? Historically, the Netherlands was besieged by various countries in the Third Anglo-Dutch War, especially France, which fought very fiercely, forcing the Netherlands to dig a dam to flood their homeland.

Because they were dealing with the public enemies of Europe, this time the countries did not let Spain, the landlord, pay any more money, but the corresponding material supplies still had to be borne by Spain. Europe has only just begun to prepare, and the preparations of the Ming Dynasty have been basically completed. Nine infantry divisions, three separate artillery regiments, after two months of preparation, officially launched the Spanish campaign. (To be continued......)