In the middle of the night, the roar of artillery woke everyone up.

Duke Taoğlu woke up from his sleep and shouted, "What's the situation? ”

Since leaving Constantinople, he hadn't slept for a long time.

The adjutant hurriedly ran in and said, "Your Excellency Duke Qiqi, the port has been attacked by enemy ships at night!" ”

"How many are there?"

"I only saw a dozen ships, and I don't know the enemy's strength for the time being."

"Hurry up, gather your forces, and fight back!"

"Yes!"

Taoğlu put on his clothes and walked out the door quickly, a few fires flickering in the harbor ahead.

The Ming army does not talk about martial arts and engages in sneak attacks!

"Someone, someone!"

"Your Excellency, Duke, please command!"

"Order Count Lyman, leave the port immediately, and you can't let go of this Ming army!"

"Yes!"

Aoğlu was furious, he had not been humiliated in this way since he left Constantinople.

When attacking the island of Ceylon a few days ago, although the Ming army encountered stubborn resistance and lost a lot of troops, if it was not for the Ming army to support, the battle would have been fought.

I didn't expect these people to be so arrogant and attack themselves in turn!

A dozen ships, in front of the powerful Ottoman navy, are really vulnerable, and they don't even need their own commander.

Count Lehmann received the order and immediately summoned his men to board the ship.

He was a naval admiral of Bulgarian origin, and for many years, he accompanied King Muhad on his expeditions to the east and west, and once defeated the Eastern Roman navy in the Mediterranean.

This time, the Ottoman navy was all dispatched to take the island of Ceylon, and Lyman was very excited, because the opportunity for meritorious service came again.

In the midst of the uproar, a total of more than fifty warships, large and small, sailed out of the port.

"Lord Earl, find the enemy!"

Count Lyman suddenly became excited, and ordered: "Raise the sail and catch up!" ”

Huge sails hunted, propelled at full speed by the sea breeze.

On the sea, two fleets, one large and one small, chased at sea, with more than a dozen ships in front of the Ming army led by Zhang Jin, and behind them were the Ottoman navy led by Count Leman.

Zhang Jin knew that with his own strength, he couldn't go head-to-head with the other party, so he withdrew immediately after winning the first blow, but he still underestimated the opponent.

The Ottoman navy had larger ships and more winds, and as the distance approached, the opponents began to test fire artillery.

Bang!

Crash!

The cannonball smashed into the sea, causing a huge wave.

Zhang Jin looked at the distance of the cannonball into the water, frowned, and then ordered: "Throw away all the heavy objects on the ship and move forward at full speed!" ”

The crew picked up the ship's various boxes and threw them into the sea, and finally threw away all the food and fresh water, but they still couldn't get rid of each other.

Zhang Jin gritted his teeth and stared at the front.

There was the island of Ceylon, his second home.

He is not afraid of death, but he does not want to die at sea and die in the belly of a fish.

A bright light began to appear in the east, and it was the first rays of the morning sun.

Perhaps thousands of miles away, the sky has already brightened.

I can't go back to my hometown, and even what it was like over there has become very vague in my memory.

Bang!

Another cannonball whistled and struck less than ten feet from the stern, shaking the ship's hull incessantly.

At this time, Zhang Jin silently thought in his heart that if he could bury his bones in Ceylon, he would have no regrets in this life......

"My lord, find the ship, the ship!"

Zhang Jin looked shocked and asked, "What ship?" ”

"Ahead, due east, look!"

Zhang Jin raised his eyes and saw that facing the morning glow of the morning sun, black shadows seemed to appear on the sea.

The ships coming from this direction must have been reinforcements from the island of Ceylon, but when they set out, they had already taken all the warships from the island of Ceylon......

"Quick, telescope!"

An idea suddenly popped into Zhang Jin's heart, picked up the binoculars, and tried to identify those outlines.

This position is backlit and difficult to see, but the outline seems somewhat familiar......

"Ironclad, it's ironclad!"

Zhang Jin suddenly became excited, he would never forget that sea beast!

The biggest difference between ironclad ships and ordinary ships is that they do not have masts, and they are very easy to identify as long as they have seen them.

"Our reinforcements are coming, pass my orders, turn the rudder right, and make way for the ironclad ship!"

——

"Lord Earl, the enemy ship is turning."

Count Lehmann was standing on the deck, looking with a telescope.

At first, he was still a little surprised, wouldn't it be easier for me to catch up with you when you changed the rudder at this time?

On second thought, maybe the other party can't get rid of it and tries to make some changes, but this can't change anything at all, it can only make you die faster!

"Summons, prepare to fire!"

All the cannons poked out of their swarthy muzzles, and the gunpowder shells were loaded.

It was just a test launch, and now it's time to get real.

"Listen to me......"

"Lord Earl, there's a ship ahead!"

Lyman was about to give the order, but was interrupted and immediately became irritated.

"Nonsense, we chased it all night......"

"It's not the boats you're chasing, look ahead!"

Lyman took out his binoculars again, and as the ship in front of him turned the rudder, a pile of dark shadows suddenly appeared on the sea level.

What's that?

He was a little surprised at first, and when he made it closer, he couldn't help but gasp.

This is a large fleet, conservatively estimated at hundreds of warships.

Moreover, I don't know if there is anything behind, how many ......

"Quick, turn, retreat!"

However, the dark shadow in the field of vision grew bigger and bigger......

Bang!

Suddenly, a huge roar was heard, like a thunderbolt from the sky.

Count Lehmann only felt unsteady on his feet, and involuntarily took two steps back and sat on the deck with his butt.

The size of the opponent's flagship had exceeded his realization, and in the telescope, he could clearly see the opponent's main guns firing at him.

Although the distance has long exceeded the range of the artillery, the impact is too shocking!

Boom - Boom -

Count Leman turned his head in astonishment, and saw the sawdust splattering on the frigate beside him, and a black shadow was rising.

Oh my God, so far?

Moreover, this is a flowering shell, and one shell almost destroys a large battleship!

Bang!

Bang!

Before the Ottomans could react from the shock, countless cannon shots had already sounded from the ships opposite.

Lyman is going crazy, it's not scientific!

This distance is obviously not in range yet......

Bang!

This time, the sound of an explosion sounded in the ears, shaking the eardrums of the person.

Count Lyman staggered to his feet, and found that his ship was shot in a spin of its side, and its hull was unstable and began to shake.

The soldiers who approached the side of the ship were immediately blown up and their flesh flew sideways, and the scene was simply terrible.

Immediately after, another cannonball fell from the sky, this time hitting the mainmast, and the huge sail fell and was ignited in an instant.

Count Leman's ship was already the largest Ottoman warship, and after only two shells, it was already riddled with holes, and it was baptized by water and fire.

The soldiers and crew of the ship shouted loudly, trying to extinguish the fire, but to no avail.

They watched as the fire spread and gradually engulfed the entire ship, so they could only jump helplessly into the water.

Count Lyman was already stupid, and he looked at all this in astonishment, and then the whole ship was broken in two in the middle, and slowly sank into the endless water.

However, the fall of the flagship was only the beginning, as they had no idea what they were up against.

Otherwise, they will definitely regret going to sea......

No, they will regret why they became the enemy of the Great Ming!

Since the launch of the first ironclad ship Zheng He, the ship-building frenzy of the Ming Dynasty has not stopped, and today, there are as many as five.

This is only the Zheng He-class warships, there are also slightly inferior frigates and corvettes, as well as reconnaissance ships, landing ships, supply ships, transport ships and so on of different sizes.

On this voyage, there are hundreds of steam-powered ships covered with ironclad alone.

Together with the old-style treasure ships and sailing ships, there are more than 500 ships of all kinds.

On the surface of the sea, there was a deafening sound of shelling everywhere.

The Ottoman navy was beaten in disarray, some ships returned fire in a hurry, and the shells that flew out were not accurate.

Even if there is a hit, hitting the outer layer of the ironclad ship is just a crater.

Woo –

Zheng He was like a raging beast, emitting thick black smoke and roaring towards the enemy ship.

The Ottomans finally discovered that the behemoth in front of them was really ...... It's too big!

They had to look up to see that the giant ship was close at hand.

"Turn the rudder!"

"Out of control, it's too late!"

The tonnage of the ironclad ship is so large that it is driven by a steam turbine, forming a strong vortex at the bottom of the ship, so that all the nearby ships lose control, and some even roll sideways, like a flat boat in a storm, small and helpless, and can only resign themselves to fate.

Now, the ironclad is their God!

"Run!"

"Help......"

Seeing the huge ironclad ship collide with it, the Ottoman navy no longer had the heart to resist and jumped ship to escape.

Bang!

Click-la-la-......

Like a sharp dagger, the bow of the ironclad stabbed into the side of the sailboat, splitting it in two.

The whole process is clean and clean, and there is no mud or water.

There were screams everywhere, and some people died on the spot before they had time to dive into the water.

This was the most advanced Ottoman warship, and it turned into a pile of sawdust and disappeared into the sea.

Several other ironclad ships did the same, rushed into the enemy line, and went on a rampage.

Half of the fifty ships were sunk by shells, and the other half were torn alive by ironclads.

The sea was littered with ship's planks and shredded timber, and a well-equipped fleet was gone.

Not far away, Zhang Jin's hand holding the telescope trembled a little.

He saw all this with his own eyes, and his heart was shocked in addition to shock.

In his opinion, although the Ming army had an advantage, the Ottoman navy should not be underestimated, and the two sides played a game at sea, and in the end, the Ming army won, drove out the enemy ships, and successfully returned to Ceylon, which was already a great victory.

I didn't expect it......

What tactics, what bravery, what experience......

In the face of absolute power, any so-called techniques and tactics are useless.

It's like a man in the prime of life, facing a three-year-old child, this man still has a knife in his hand, do you need tactics?

There's no technology to speak of, just rush to do it, and then it's over.

This is a one-sided slaughter, a torture killing!

Since being stationed on Ceylon Island, Zhang Jin has also experienced some battles, especially naval battles, and thinks that he has accumulated some combat experience, but he only learned today that the ones he experienced before were just children's games.

Wherever the ironclad ship passed, there was only destruction.

The Ottoman ships seemed to be made of tofu and rotted as soon as they hit.

They didn't even have time to raise the white flag, and the battle was over.

A landing ship came quickly, picked up Zhang Jin, and boarded the Zheng He.

Zhu Qizhen stood on the deck, the sea breeze blowing on his face, feeling very comfortable.

It smells of gunsmoke and a faint smell of blood......

"Minister Zhang Jin, long live my emperor!"

Zhang Jin was so excited that she knelt on the ground and sobbed.

"Why are you still crying?"

Zhu Qizhen waved his hand and said, "Get up and talk back!" ”

"Yes!"

Zhang Jin got up slowly and recounted the current situation on Ceylon Island and his night attack on the Ottoman Navy.

Zhu Qizhen listened, nodded slowly, and said, "Very good, I didn't mistake you, I will credit you for this battle!" ”

"Thank you!"

Zhang Jin cried with joy again, it was too difficult, if the emperor came one step late, he would definitely be buried at the bottom of the sea.

"Tell me, how many troops does the Ottoman Navy have?"

"The minister didn't look carefully last night, there are roughly more than 300 ships, and the number of troops is at least 20,000."

"How many ships do they have on their own soil, do you have any information?"

"Back to the emperor, the Ottoman navy has all these combat forces."

Zhu Qizhen said with a smile: "In this way, I will run again from the province." ”

"The emperor means ......"

"The wolf ambition of the Ottomans not only detained my Ming fleet for no reason, but also tried in vain to attack the island of Ceylon, which is the land of my Ming Dynasty, there is nothing to say, pass on my orders, and continue to move forward!"

Zhang Jin said cautiously: "Your Majesty, you have just experienced a big war, it is better to go back to Ceylon Island to rest first, and then ......"

"Not necessarily!"

Zhu Qizhen raised his hand to interrupt him, and said with a smile: "What kind of big battle is this, it's just a warm-up, and now I'm going to do it!" ”

The corners of Zhang Jin's mouth couldn't help twitching, and he wiped out the fleet of fifty ships in one go, or was it just a warm-up?

Suddenly, a terrible thought came to him.

Did the emperor lead the Ming sailors out just to protect the island of Ceylon and deal with the Ottoman fleet?

I'm afraid it's more than that......

You know, the Ottoman Empire controlled the Persian Gulf, and the geographical location was superior, which is a good place!

Whether it is on land or at sea, it can be connected with the Ming territory, it is perfect!

Zhu Qizhen saw that his eyes were rolling around, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but rise, so he asked, "What do you want, so happy?" ”

Zhang Jin came back to his senses and hurriedly said: "The emperor's martial arts are far from the Han and Tang Dynasties, and he is really an emperor through the ages!" ”

——

PS: Thank you for the reward of the book friend "Mourning Wu Huaxia", since the opening of the book, Mourning Wu Huaxia has made a lot of suggestions, thank you again!

Thank you for the big reward of "Three Lives in April"!

Thank you for the tickets!!

(End of chapter)