Chapter 339: Red Cannon, Fake Empire!
The commander gave the order.

Facing a treasure fleet that was twice as large as its own, the First Treasure Ship Fleet adjusted its angle and slanted on the sea at different angles.

From the perspective of the Treasure Fleet, the Mysterious Fleet exposed its belly to the Treasure Fleet’s attack.

Thomas Howard was overjoyed when he saw this, and without thinking about the mysterious fleet’s intentional actions, he ordered a more fierce attack.

The artillery fire was fierce, and the more than 60 ships of the First Treasure Ship Fleet raised and lowered many “holes” on both sides of the cabins above the sea level. Then, the muzzles of the red cannons were pushed out one after another.

Red Cannon.

Its prototype is the long-barreled, spindle-shaped cannon invented in Europe in this century. During the several naval battles between Portugal and the Ming Dynasty, it was obtained and known by the Ming Dynasty court and the Ministry of Works, and was soon imitated.

Therefore, all artillery pieces of similar design were collectively referred to by the court as Red Cannon, also known as Red Coat Cannon.

The design of the Red Cannon had many advantages over the artillery previously owned by the imperial court. It had a long barrel, thick walls, a large caliber, and an overall shape that gradually thickened from the muzzle to the tail. This significantly increased the speed of the shells when fired. At the same time, the range and armor-piercing capabilities of the shells were significantly improved.

There are cylindrical ears on both sides of the center of gravity of the gun body. The gun can adjust the shooting angle based on this axis and change the range by adjusting the amount of gunpowder used.

It is equipped with a front sight and rear sight, and attacks in a parabolic manner with high accuracy.

China has always been good at taking the essence and discarding the dross. After realizing the various advantages of the Red Cannon, China made a localized imitation of it, and in the process, it made great improvements to the Red Cannon.

The Jinyiwei and the Ministry of Works of the imperial court launched a firearms competition. The master craftsmen of the two offices could even perform fine processing on the inner barrel of the cannon. Combined with the improved gunpowder that greatly increased the power, the cannon’s power, range, and rate of fire were all increased exponentially compared to the Portuguese naval guns.

The artillery loaded onto the treasure ship fleet were all new red cannons. Each red cannon was more than ten feet long, about four inches in diameter, and weighed more than two thousand pounds.

A treasure ship fleet of more than 60 ships had as many as a thousand of these red-haired cannons.

The First Treasure Ship Fleet paid no attention to the attack of the Treasure Fleet. They followed the commander’s orders and loaded and fired in an orderly manner.

As the first new red cannon spewed out fireworks, the sound of the cannon that resounded through the heavens and earth spread across the ocean.

Everyone who heard the noise was startled. Although the power of an artillery could not be judged by the sound of the cannon alone, the louder the sound, the more it meant that it was not an ordinary heavy artillery.

Golden Lion, on deck.

Thomas Howard, commander of the Treasure Fleet, saw through the telescope that his own shells hit the warships of the Mysterious Fleet first, and that the hit rate had greatly improved compared to the initial shot. Nearly ten warships of the Mysterious Fleet were hit.

However, the mysterious warship that was hit did not even shake violently, let alone sinking and capsizing.

Even the “wounds” that were caused were quickly repaired, and then a counterattack was launched against the Treasure Fleet warships.

The shells fired from the familiar-looking artillery had extremely high accuracy and powerful power. Dozens of Treasure Fleet warships were hit in just one round of firing.

Thomas Howard witnessed with his own eyes that one of his warships was hit by three enemy cannons in succession, and the hull was broken, caught fire, seawater backflowed, and capsized, all of which happened one after another in a short period of time.

This scene.

Thomas Howard’s eyes were filled with anger.

The difference in defense between enemy and our warships is like heaven and earth.

Rapid military expansion means a lot of “cutting corners” will occur, which is not just possible but bound to happen.

The losses of war are unaffordable for small countries, not to mention big countries. However, during the military expansion of the Spanish Empire, the number of warships in the Invincible Armada not only did not decrease, but increased several times. There were big problems with the “warships” themselves.

In Europe, warships are basically galleons, which are light sailing ships with double decks from bow to stern, main battle guns installed on the sides, and light rapid-fire guns on the front and rear towers.

Perhaps according to the standards of the Ming Dynasty court, this type of warship seems too short, thick and tall, but compared with merchant ships of the same tonnage in Europe at the same time, galleons are narrower, longer and lower, and are very suitable for use as warships from offense to defense to movement.

If the warships of the Treasure Fleet were all galleons, even the new red cannons would find it difficult to cause such heavy damage in a short period of time.

But in the treasure fleet, in addition to galleons, there are more armed merchant ships.

These large merchant ships, loaded with long heavy guns and half cannons, looked very much like galleons, but in the final analysis, they were just merchant ships.

Apparently, the Spanish Empire did not have enough galleons, and could not manufacture them at the moment, so they modified some light merchant ships and disguised them as warships.

But warships are warships and merchant ships are merchant ships. In real combat, the disadvantages of merchant ships will be exposed.

Although each camouflaged warship had more than 300 soldiers, sailors and more than 300 rowers on board, there were not many cannons on each ship, and the firepower was relatively light. In addition, the hull was low after entering the water. After being attacked, it was not only easy to be torn apart by enemy artillery, but even if it was not hit, the huge waves around the ship could capsize it.

“boom!”

A huge explosion was heard in my ears, and the impact and heat wave generated by the explosion hit me in my face. Not far from the Golden Lion, one of the warships of the Treasure Fleet was hit by artillery fire, triggering a chain explosion of shells and gunpowder equipped on the ship, which eventually caused the warship to collapse instantly, and all the crew members were killed or fell into the sea.

The losses suffered by the Portuguese light warships were perfectly replicated by the Spanish light warships. In front of the heavy warships, the so-called “lightness” was nothing more than rushing to death.

In just one round of bombardment by the First Treasure Ship Fleet, more than half of the Treasure Fleet’s warships were lost, and thousands of soldiers and tens of thousands of sailors and rowers were either killed or injured and fell into the sea.

As the commander of the Treasure Fleet, the young Thomas Howard was almost in despair, but he did not forget the most basic qualities of war, which was to play to his strengths and reduce his weaknesses.

If you can’t defeat artillery, then you can only fight with tactics!

“Boarding!” Thomas Howard roared.

That’s right.

The Spanish Armada, on the contrary, took advantage of the infantry and adopted conventional boarding tactics.

Ram an enemy ship, board it, engage in hand-to-hand combat, and then capture the enemy vessel.

There were many soldiers, sailors, rowers, and priests on the Spanish Invincible Armada. At this moment, all the priests boarded the deck and began to pray, asking God to give believers enough luck so that the Treasure Fleet warships could get close to the enemy ships.

Cramming at the last minute, no, cramming at the last minute, is of unknown effectiveness; the important thing is to gain peace of mind.

At this time, traditional fleets of European continental countries often adopted broadside firing and used their longer range to avoid boarding operations with the Spanish fleet.

But when Li Xi, the commander of the First Treasure Ship Fleet, saw this fearless scene, he smiled cruelly and gave another command, saying, “Crush them!”

The commander gave the order.

The First Treasure Ship Fleet restrained its bombardment and instead adjusted the angle of its ship to face the Treasure Fleet warships head-on.

The most appropriate way to deal with a collision is to reduce horsepower to avoid causing greater boarding losses to both sides, but all the captains of the warships of the First Treasure Ship Fleet issued orders to increase horsepower in response to the impending collision.

Pushing at full horsepower, the warships of the First Treasure Fleet and the Treasure Fleet were approaching at a very fast speed. Thomas Howard noticed this unusual behavior and his panic intensified.

Even as they got closer, the naval guns of both sides did not stop firing, and because the distance was shortened, the artillery fire that was able to hit the enemy ships showed greater power.

The two warships of the First Treasure Ship Fleet were unable to repair the holes in their hulls caused by cannon fire in a timely manner. Seawater rushed into the cabins, and the items inside were toppled over.

As for the Treasure Fleet, more warships were torn to pieces by the new red cannons and slowly sank into the sea. Even the main ship, the Golden Lion, was hit by a cannon fire.

In an instant, the mast collapsed, the upper structure was destroyed, the deck was littered with corpses, and blood flowed like a river.

Two senior Spanish generals and hundreds of soldiers were killed or injured on the spot.

Fortunately, Thomas Howard’s subordinate Grenville noticed the incoming artillery shells, knocked down the commander in advance, and pinned Thomas Howard down with his body, using his flesh and blood to withstand the subsequent explosion for the commander. Otherwise, Thomas Howard would have been seriously injured even if he hadn’t died.

Thomas Howard, who had personally experienced the power of the mysterious fleet’s heavy artillery, had realized that there was no possibility of winning this battle, even if he could successfully engage in boarding combat.

In the ocean, strong ships and heavy artillery are the basis of all victories. Tactics can affect local situations but can never change the overall situation of the battle.

Thomas Howard had the idea of ​​surrendering, thinking that defeat to such a fleet was not a crime of war.

In order to protect the commander, Grenville was seriously injured and dying. He noticed the hesitation in the commander’s eyes and immediately wanted to say something, but as soon as he opened his mouth, blood spurted out.

With his face covered in blood, Thomas Howard’s eyes even looked at the world blurry and stained red. At this moment, he thought of a philosophical question.

Why is he here?
With the help of his cousin who is the Minister of the Navy, he can not only gain military merits by following his cousin, but also engage in politics in the empire, and also run the family business as a nobleman to carry forward the family’s prosperity.

Why lead a fleet alone, why face such danger?
“For…for…the…Empire, please, Commander…” Grenville spoke incoherently with blood mixed in his voice. It could also be said to be a request. Although he did not finish speaking, the meaning was very clear. He asked Thomas Howard to hold on.

For the glory of the empire, even death or torn into pieces is worth it.

When people are cowardly and retreat, they will always feel guilty when they see noble and fearless people. Thomas Howard is no exception. At this time, he felt extremely guilty towards Grenville.

Grenville was a trusted general of his cousin, the Minister of the Admiralty, and he was supposed to be the commander of this treasure fleet.

But his cousin could not bear his request and temporarily gave in to Grenville, promising that as long as he could maintain the hegemony in the Mediterranean for three months, he would promote Thomas Howard to a higher position. The position of commander of the Treasure Fleet would sooner or later belong to Grenville.

Grenville had no choice but to agree.

During this period, the Treasure Fleet did not take any major actions except attacking several pirate ships. This is why Thomas Howard was so excited after seeing the mysterious fleet composed of dozens of warships.

He got to his position with the help of his cousin, but he didn’t want people to say that he got to his position with the help of his cousin. He wanted to use his military achievements to shut up all those who doubted him.

Therefore, Thomas Howard did not care which force the mysterious fleet belonged to. He just wanted to report to the empire after defeating these dozens of warships, saying that the Ottoman Empire’s joint fleet had been defeated again. It did not matter whether the report was false or not, because his cousin, the Minister of the Navy, would explain it to him anyway.

In short, Thomas Howard did not take the Ming Dynasty’s First Treasure Ship Fleet seriously at all, and only regarded it as a “lamb” that could be slaughtered at will in exchange for military merits.

It’s easy for a lion to catch a sheep!
It never occurred to me that the First Treasure Ship Fleet was not a lamb, but a giant dragon from the East.

So, Thomas Howard ignored Grenville’s advice, did not find out the origin and strength of the First Treasure Ship Fleet, and launched a direct attack in disregard of war etiquette.

People always have to pay the price for their actions. Grenville’s eyes widened, his body suddenly relaxed, and he fell heavily on Thomas Howard, dying with hatred.

Thomas Howard pushed several times but failed to push the dead body off his body. Fortunately, there were guards nearby who “rescued” him.

Thomas Howard climbed up, suppressed his fear, and continued to stand on the deck, looking at the two armies boarding.

But contrary to expectations, the warships of the First Treasure Ship Fleet, in addition to the excellent hull defenses, the master craftsmen of the Ministry of Works also specially reinforced the bows. The purpose was to provide someone to take the blame even at the cost of death when things got hopeless.

The armed merchant ship and the heavy warship collided heavily, and both ships shook violently, but the heavy warship was intact, while the armed merchant ship collapsed instantly.

When Thomas Howard saw a warship of the mysterious fleet smash one of his own warships and then rush towards another warship at full speed, he completely collapsed.

Boarding?

Boarding operation?

Smash both the people and the boat into pieces. If you have the guts, just climb out of the sea!

One after another, the warships of the Treasure Fleet were smashed. The First Treasure Fleet had countless ways to achieve complete victory in this battle, but the commander Li Xi chose this most brutal and fierce way of victory.

Most of the warships of the Treasure Fleet had sunk or been shattered, and countless Spanish soldiers and corpses were scattered on the sea.

At this point, even if Thomas Howard surrendered, it would not be a disgrace, but with the blood stains on his face and Grenville’s dying persuasion, Thomas Howard closed his eyes and gave his final order.

“Break the bottom of the ship and sink it!”

(End of this chapter)