"Crack! Boom~"

Huge lightning flashed across the night sky, illuminating the surrounding sea area for an instant, and also brought a burst of dense thunder. Later, a heavy rain suddenly poured down from the mid-air.

"Bah~" spitting out the rainwater in his mouth, Dong Zhining, the captain of the Qiongzhou light cruiser who had just entered the command module, wiped his face: "Is there any problem with the radio device?"

"Captain, we just tried to contact the heavy cruiser Wei Zhongxian in the rear. The other party received the signal and quickly responded."

"Huh~ That's good. I heard that there was a problem with the radio device of the Ganzhou light cruiser a few days ago. As a result, after finally discovering the enemy fleet, it was unable to notify the main force in the rear in time. Facing the gathering fleet of Western pirates,

I had no choice but to run away by myself. Hey, luckily there was heavy fog on the sea that night, so we ran fairly smoothly. If we were to encounter the same situation tonight, one strike of lightning would reveal our position, and another strike would reveal our position again.

, I really couldn’t even cry.”

On September 15, 1647, when the Manchuria Army Group walked out of the Himalayas, prepared to quickly penetrate into the Khyber, and took the initiative to make biscuits between the twenty Indian divisions, the main fleet of the Ming Navy had been cruising repeatedly in the Bay of Bengal for seven or eight days.

Already.

The Indian Peninsula is the place for a decisive battle, but the key to deploying a large amount of troops and supplies depends on the navy. However, no matter how powerful the Ming Navy officers are, it is impossible to engage in a decisive battle with hundreds of warships and still protect them at the same time.

Thousands of transport ships loaded with hundreds of thousands of soldiers landed.

And even if the Ming Dynasty was extremely lucky and the first batch of main forces landed successfully, the navy would still have to prepare to meet the challenge of the opponent's fleet and at the same time dispatch a large number of warships to escort the subsequent transport fleet - this was not done by itself.

Looking for trouble yourself?

Therefore, before the army lands, it is the consensus of all generals of the Ming Dynasty to fight with the opponent's main navy.

Therefore, after Zhu Youdong arrived in Yangon, his main energy was to intimidate the various vassal kings gathered here and speed up the running-in of the nearly two million army troops. He did not mention the landing at all. As for the navy, it continued to spill out

The fast warships are looking for enemy warships everywhere.

However, although the Bay of Bengal is not too big, it is only compared to the vast ocean. For warships in the sea, it is only a little easier to find the enemy's main force in the Bay of Bengal than to find a needle in a haystack. Therefore,

Starting from September 7th, the Ming Navy dispatched more than 30 batches of warships, but only once found an enemy ship.

Unfortunately, just once, there was a problem with the radio device on the light cruiser Ganzhou and it could not send out a signal. As a result, facing a formation of more than ten warships, the Ganzhou could only turn off all the lights and use the sea to

Covered by heavy fog, we retreated voluntarily.

In fact, it is not only the Ming Dynasty's navy that is looking for the Spanish fleet. The Spanish navy is also looking for the Ming Dynasty's fleet.

The current situation is very clear: if the Ming Dynasty obtains sea control in the Bay of Bengal, then the Ming Dynasty's continuous troops and endless supplies will be released in large quantities and quickly to the Indian Peninsula without any hindrance. Once this situation is formed, then

No matter how hard the European coalition forces try, even if they win in the end, it can only be a miserable victory.

And if Spain gains control of the Bay of Bengal, then as long as Zhu Youdong doesn't go crazy, the Indian war may be over before it really starts: In this way, the EU can save India. Ming Dynasty's wartime economic system that has been operating at high speed will

He suffered serious internal injuries and could not breathe for several years.

Of course, for Spain, the most ideal situation is: first land part of the Ming army, then have a great battle in the Bay of Bengal, defeat the Ming navy, and gain control of the sea. The Ming army that has landed will become a turtle in the urn, and nothing but annihilation will happen.

surrender.

However, although this idea is beautiful, Philip did not dare to take this risk: he did not have high-level spies like Richelieu or Louis XIII in the Ming Dynasty. Although judging from the newspapers published by the Ming Dynasty, the other party had a total of nine scams.

A battleship, and the American Squadron has repeatedly confirmed that the other side has two battleships in the Americas. But what if the other side is acting as a deception?

In other words, a naval battle may not be a sure win. If the enemy is allowed to land easily, what if the naval battle is lost again?

The victory or defeat of the naval battle is one thing. What worries Philip even more is the northern front: the opponent's commander is called Sun Chuanting. In the early years in America, Cromwell and Raimundo suffered a lot, and he also suffered a lot.

The heartbreaking pain of losing a son. This time the opponent is in Central Asia. According to the telegram sent by Hussein to the General Staff, the Ottomans were completely manipulated by Sun Chuanting. The situation on the northern front is really precarious - he

Philip came to India in person because of his talent in "breaking the army". Ibrahim, who was far away in Constantinople, had called many times, urging Philip to send powerful troops to support the northern front. Otherwise, he would order a blockade.

The Boris cluster in the Ganges Delta went north to reinforce Hussein. In Ibrahim's view, let alone three hundred thousand Indian soldiers, even if you sent three million Indian soldiers? That would not be considered strong support.

But how can Boris's 300,000 people go north? Ming Dynasty's Cao Wenzhao cluster has already appeared at Dongge Pass.

Therefore, on the one hand, I don’t know the true strength of the opponent’s navy and want to find out. On the other hand, the northern front is tight: the real Indian battle has not yet begun, and the northern front is in danger of capsizing. If the northern front really

Defeat, well, given the complicated transportation conditions in Central Asia, it is estimated that the other side will not be able to send too many troops southward. As long as the Khyber Pass is defended, it will have little impact. But in any case, in terms of terrain, the Ming Dynasty has gained the Ming general in Central Asia.

Not to mention looking down at India, the Ottoman spheres of influence in Persia and Afghanistan will be completely destroyed - in this case, will the Ottomans withdraw from the war first?

Therefore, no matter what, we must first fight the Ming Dynasty's navy.

…

"Garcia, are you still unable to detect the enemy's main fleet today?"

"Sorry, Your Majesty. It hasn't been discovered yet."

"That's all, I originally planned to use this killer move later, but the northern front is very dangerous now. In order to buy time, I approve you to use an airship to launch reconnaissance."

"Ah? Thank you, Your Majesty. Please rest assured, Your Majesty, with the airship, we will definitely be able to detect each other in advance."

…

The next day, early morning on September 16th.

The storm last night has passed. After the baptism of lightning, the entire sea is now filled with fresh air, and the visibility is extremely good.

"Huh~" After breakfast and smoking a cigarette on the deck, Dong Zhining stretched himself very comfortably: "Hey, if I can survive this battle and retire in the future, I will buy a small yacht.

In such weather, taking your family fishing on the sea is really the highest enjoyment in life."

"Haha, Captain, can you lead the next one at that time?"

"Bring them all, bring them all, it will be more lively when there are more people."

"captain!"

"What's up?"

"Eleven o'clock direction, look up."

"Look up? Huh!" Dong Zhining first looked at the sea level in the direction indicated by the lookout hand, but saw nothing. Then when he raised his head, he saw a small black dot in the sky.

This little black dot is slowly approaching my warship. This speed is not like that of a flying bird.

He picked up the telescope with a swipe, quickly adjusted the focus, looked in the telescope for a few seconds, put it down again, and then quickly put it to his eyes again: "This, what is this?

Son?"

There was no other way. The airship was classified as a top secret by Philippe and Iprahim. Louis XIII didn't know about it, Richelieu didn't know about it - even the Ming Dynasty didn't know about it before sending troops.

At an altitude of about 20,000 meters away from the Qiongzhou light cruiser, the Spanish Navy's aviation troops on the Pioneer 1 airship, suspended about a thousand meters above the sea level, had discovered it long before the Qiongzhou.

Dong Zhining and the others.

"Captain, the Chinese light cruiser has begun to accelerate towards us."

"This should be just a single ship sent by the Chinese for reconnaissance. Regardless of it, we continue to move towards the five o'clock direction. We must find the Chinese main fleet."

"yes."

In this way, as the two sides moved forward in opposite directions, the distance between each other was soon shortened to less than five kilometers.

"Hiss~ It's a big balloon, with a pod about ten square meters in size hanging underneath. There are vague figures of people on the pod. This is incredible!"

After being stunned for a while, Dong Zhining finally came to his senses. He glanced at the dumbfounded people on the ship, most of whom were looking up dumbly, and yelled: "What are you doing standing still? Hurry up and send a report to the rear.

ah!"

"Oh yes!"

The scientific researchers sent on board the ship by the Fangshan Academy of Sciences who were responsible for sending the report hurriedly ran to send the report. The first mate of the Qiongzhou walked to Dong Zhining's side with a solemn expression: "Captain, the Western Thief has invented something incredible again.

weapons."

"It's true. With this, the Western Thieves' observation ability on the battlefield is much better than ours. But..." He quickly smiled confidently: "But so what? The other party has something new.

Shall we not fight this battle?"

After saying this in a low voice, he started to yell again: "You are all bastards who have never seen the world! A balloon makes you stunned? Not to mention that our emperor is also the reincarnation of a blue dragon, coming from the sky. How many times?

Thousands of years ago, our Luban craftsmen were able to make machine-gunners that allowed people to fly into the sky. This thing was nothing more than a large sky lantern. What about the machine-gunner? Increase the elevation angle to the maximum and see if you can shoot him.

Come down!"

"Captain, the Chinese below are adjusting the angle of their machine guns."

"Humph, these ignorant yellow-skinned monkeys." Although he had an indifferent expression on his face, the captain still cautiously gave the order to ascend.

Then there is no more: the 20mm cannon of the Ming Dynasty at this time was prepared to deal with possible small targets: such as pirate ships, slow white-headed torpedoes, etc. It did not exist as an anti-aircraft gun at all. Therefore, its maximum elevation angle was only 40

°. After the airship rose to an altitude of 1,500 meters, all the weapons on the Qiongzhou were ineffective.

"Mother Xipi!" As a native of Ningbo, Dong Zhining would say this when he was anxious. But after scolding him, he began to give orders: "If the power is sent to the rear, the height of the opponent's flying ball will be at least 1,500 meters.

Although our army's machine guns currently have a maximum range of three thousand meters, they are limited by the small elevation angle and cannot pose a threat to them."

"yes!"

Because the radio technology of the Ming Dynasty was not yet mature at this time, the transmission distance was extremely limited. Therefore, about 20 kilometers behind the Qiongzhou was the location of the Wei Zhongxian's heavy patrol. And behind the Wei Zhongxian was the Wangjian.

The battleships... were passed up layer by layer in this way. At nine o'clock in the morning that day, Zhu Youdong, who was in Yangon, got the report.

"You idiot Philip, or Ibrahim, you are really awesome. You actually brought out the airship. And you hid it so well!"

After quietly complaining in his mind, he turned to Sun Yuanhua, the president of the Academy of Sciences who accompanied him to Yangon, and said: "Can the machine gun of our warship quickly increase the elevation angle?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, it's just a matter of a few screws. But in this way, the operation of the machine gun will be without mechanical fixation and assistance. When the time comes to actually fight, the soldiers will have to rely purely on human control. This efficiency and accuracy

Spend……"

"It doesn't matter. In a real fight, if it's a ship-to-ship battle, machine guns won't have much effect. Besides, the opponent's airship is so slow. It's enough for each of our ships to have one or two machine guns to pose a threat to it.

"

"Then Chen immediately ordered Fang Shan's graduate students on each ship to quickly modify one or two machine guns."

The matter had just been discussed here when Fang Zhenghua rushed in again: "Your Majesty, there is a call from the Qiongzhou ahead. A large number of Western pirate navy ships are following the guidance of the opponent's flying ball and rushing in the direction of the main force of our fleet.

Come."

"..." After being silent for a while, he sensed that Tianshu, Tianxuan, Wenqu, and Pojun were all approaching him quickly. Zhu Youdong raised his head with a firm expression: "Send the order, fight!"

"According to the decree."
Chapter completed!