Whether it is the army or the navy, it is impossible for any army to deny the importance of scouts!

In terms of preventing sneak attacks, raiding by yourself, understanding the movements of enemy troops, etc., the role played by scouts is completely irreplaceable, and the soldiers who can become scouts must also be the most elite soldiers in the army!

There are also scouts for the ocean-going sailors, and these scouts use long, sharp clippers, as long as there are no major storms on the sea, such clippers are like horses galloping on the sea, with the speed of ordinary warships.

The significance of the existence of sea scouts is not entirely to reconnoiter the enemy's situation, and it can even be said that in front of the absolute combat effectiveness of the ocean-going naval division, any conspiracy and trickery is just a joke.

Want to raid the ocean-going fleet? That's not a raid, that's an egg to a stone!

Therefore, the purpose of the scout is to find and discover supply points, scout pirate ships, etc., determine the location, and attack quickly, with the speed and combat effectiveness of three steel giant ships, once the pirate ship is locked in position, it can basically only wait for death!

At this time, the clipper approached the flagship, and the scout climbed the giant ship through the suspension ladder, stayed in front of the admiral, snapped and saluted, and shouted: "Report to the admiral, find an urgent military situation!"

"Urgent military intelligence?" Shen Gengzhong turned around, looking at the scout's gaze with a hint of puzzlement, he didn't understand, what military situation could be called urgent on this sea.

"Say!"

"We've got ...... news"

"What!" Shen Gengzhong was furious!

The five warships left off the coast of Portugal were all sunk!

More than a thousand warships from all over Europe are now concentrated off the coast of Portugal?

Shen Gengzhong couldn't help but be angry, although the five warships left behind belonged to the bottom of the entire expeditionary fleet, but the strength of the European navy could only be described by two words in Shen Gengzhong's opinion.

It is true that the European navies also have super-war ships that are no less than treasure ships, but the weapons of these fleets can only be described as complete rookies.

Although they also have artillery, each warship is equipped with only a dozen or a dozen guns, and long-range attack weapons mainly rely on bomb trucks, and whether it is artillery or bomb trucks, their range and rate of fire are pitiful.

But after all, Shen Gengzhong didn't understand the political structure of European countries, as well as the relationship between them, and he didn't even know much about the status of the Holy See in Europe, and he forgot what it means to kill an elephant!

Five warships sank hundreds of enemy ships, and finally were surrounded by regiments, like ants-like enemy ships swarm up, rushed to the Ming battleship to fight, and finally the Ming army was outnumbered after all, the sailors detonated the gunpowder in the cabin, and chose to die with the enemy!

Shen Gengzhong clenched his fists, and hundreds of sailors did not survive!

This enmity is not shared!

"Shogun Order!" Shen Gengzhong shouted angrily: "The White Tiger, the Xuanwu, the Vermilion Bird, and the fifteen main treasure ships, advance at the fastest speed, and attack with the general!"

"Whoa!"

With a wave of the commanding flag, the three steel giant ships and fifteen treasure ships immediately broke away from the fleet, opened their huge sails, and quickly moved forward!

Today, treasure ships can travel 150 knots a day, while steamships can travel about 13 knots a day, with a maximum horsepower of 200 nautical miles a day!

The three main battleships were carrying the Ming clan and the nobles, and the nobles who soon discovered the abnormality found Shen Gengzhong who was staying in the combat command room.

"Why did Gu Hou break away from the Sailor?" As the eldest in the clan, King Qin asked coldly.

"Fight!" Shen Gengzhong replied: "The sea off Portugal has gathered warships from all over Europe, and the size of the fleet exceeds 1,000.

"What?" The war room suddenly exploded.

"There are more than 1,000 enemy warships, and Gu Hou only led a dozen warships to fight a war of annihilation, are you sure you are not joking?"

"Why are you kidding?" Shen Gengzhong's gaze forced him to look at King Qin and said: "Hundreds of naval officers and soldiers died in Portugal, as the admiral of the naval division, I have the responsibility and obligation to avenge them, and besides, if we don't defeat this fleet, how can we log in!"

King Qin said angrily: "Gu Hou, war is not child's play, the lion fights the rabbit with all his strength, but now you are breaking away from the main force of the water division and attacking the enemy!"

"Ben Hou knows more about war than King Qin!"

King Qin was suffocated, the relationship between the clan and Shen Gengzhong in the past few months was quite harmonious, he really didn't expect that a mere marquis would dare to confront him so directly!

"Gu Hou is putting the lives of our clan and nobles in danger by doing this, this king now orders you to return to the sea immediately, and join forces with the main force of the sailor to try to break the thief's strategy!"

"Orders?" Shen Gengzhong sneered: "King Qin may have forgotten that Ben Hou is the Admiral of the Expeditionary Fleet and the Supreme Commander of the Naval Division, and when this army enters a wartime state, no one can order Ben Hou!"

"You ......"

"It is true that the number of expeditionary fleets is huge, but most of them are medium-sized warships, and the firepower and speed do not have much advantage over the enemy fleet. How many innocent people will die tragically, King Qin knows. ”

King Qin almost laughed angrily and said, "It seems that in Gu Hou's eyes, the lives of the clan and the nobles are not as valuable as those of the people."

"King Qin doesn't need to deduct the hat for Ben Hou, Ben Hou just doesn't want to cause unnecessary casualties, three steel giant ships and fifteen treasure ships, eighteen main warships are enough to defeat the European fleet, even if the strength is not caught, Ben Hou can also turn into a certain degree, break away at any time, and then find the right time to use guerrilla warfare to annihilate the enemy!"

King Qin sneered, and then brushed his sleeves away.

Eighteen warships were moving at full speed like madmen, and by the early morning of the third day, they had reached the sea off the coast of Portugal!

As far as the eye could see, more than a thousand warships were gathered inside and outside the harbor, and it was clear that, through the call of the Holy See, most of the naval forces here had gathered all the water forces of the whole of Europe.

If there is no Ming fleet, then this combined fleet in the current world can only be described in two words!

Invincibility!

The commander of the Combined Fleet was the British aristocrat Auston Dinard, who was also a devout Christian and an excellent naval commander!

A grand ball was being held in the camp by the Portuguese sea, and the noble Duke of Auston was still asleep after a drunken spring dinner with a certain girl.

The rush of the whistle breaks the silence of the early morning, and Auston is woken up by the girl who woke up next to him.

"Honey, I'm sorry I forgot your name, and now you're leaving?" Auston asked in a daze, opening his eyes in confusion.

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