Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 674 The Whole Territory is a Battlefield
The battle on the western Indian Ocean on June 3, 1638, began at 7 or 8 in the morning and lasted until noon. Finally, when the Barcelo returned and the destroyer fleet on the south side of the transport fleet was about to close in, Yan Siqi led his team out of the battle.
After more than four hours of fighting, two 3,000-ton ironclad ships on Yan Siqi's side were hit by the main guns of the Barcelo, and the captains of both ships finally issued an order to abandon the ships. Of the three 5,000-ton warships that were tasked with intercepting, one was moderately damaged, and two were slightly damaged. Fortunately, the power was not greatly affected, and they finally struggled to leave the battlefield.
On the European coalition side, two transport ships were sunk and thirteen transport ships were damaged to varying degrees.
One of the two ships sunk was a hospital ship: a professional ship with 1,500 beds, carrying a large number of doctors and nurses, and storing a large amount of medicines and medical equipment. The sinking of this ship dealt a huge blow to the European coalition's ability to treat wounded soldiers on the Indian battlefield.
There was another ship that was even worse off. It was an ironclad transport ship with a full displacement of 5,000 tons. This time it was loaded with a ship full of shells for the army. This dangerous ship, which could easily cause a huge explosion if hit by a single shell, was the best protected: the entire ship was in the center of the entire transport fleet.
Yan Siqi was in a hurry and didn't notice it hiding in the deepest part of the fleet. Who knew that the main gun of Wuchang would cross-fire the target ship after firing. Then the shells falling from the sky landed squarely on the deck of the ammunition ship. After breaking through the deck, the armor-piercing shells weighing more than 100 kilograms exploded inside the hull. After that, the shells of the entire ship exploded one by one, and a huge mushroom cloud rose in the center of the entire transport fleet...
In addition to the two sunk transport ships, more than a dozen other transport ships were also injured to varying degrees. Three of them were so seriously injured that they had to be abandoned.
The European alliance's expedition was a true coalition army, with Spain contributing only 200,000 of the 500,000 land forces. But the navy was a misnomer: more than 50 warships, more than 300 transport ships, and nearly 100,000 naval officers and soldiers, more than 70% of whom were Castilians, and the rest were either Portuguese or Dutch - all of these territories were directly under Philip's Kingdom of Spain.
Fundamentally, of course, because the navy is a technical branch of the military, Philip instinctively does not want technology to spread.
During Rudolf's lifetime, as a tacit understanding between the twins, Philip fully delegated power to Rudolf in the army, while Rudolf did not interfere in the navy. Therefore, Spanish naval officers listened to Philip's teachings from the moment they joined the army.
As an officer promoted by Philip, Garcia knew very that despite more than 30 years of medical progress and the promotion of fertility, the Castilians, the core of the Spanish Empire, still had less than 10 million people. They accounted for less than 10% of the population currently controlled by the European Union. Therefore, it didn't matter if the ship was lost, but people, especially the Castilians, were the most valuable.
Therefore, after Yan Siqi retreated, he had no intention of pursuing him. Even when Yan Siqi arrogantly ordered the two destroyers to slow down and salvage the drowned personnel, he had no intention of chasing him. Instead, he called on the other ships of his fleet to quickly treat the wounded, salvage the drowned, and count the casualties.
After the final result came out, he breathed a sigh of relief: Although the sinking of the hospital ship and the gunpowder ship caused heavy losses in materials for this transport, all the troop transports were saved: many troop transports were hit by some shells, and the army on board suffered about 2,700 casualties - although this meant that nearly a regiment of the army was finished before they saw the coastline of India. But compared with the overall size of 500,000, this number of people was still acceptable.
That's it. In an era without torpedoes, unless the party trying to disrupt commerce could completely destroy the opponent's escort force, it would be impossible to deal with the opponent's escort ships and sink a large number of transport ships in just a few hours using only armor-piercing shells or incendiary bombs.
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"Admiral, the casualties are counted. Ganzhou and Suzhou were badly damaged and abandoned. Xiangyang was damaged, but it did not affect its speed. The other ships were hit by a few shells, but they are generally fine. As for the personnel, our army has 360 dead or missing, and 198 seriously injured."
"Not bad." After thinking silently for a while, Yan Siqi said, "Where is the nearest supply ship hiding now?"
After looking at the nautical chart, the navigation staff did some calculations and quickly gave the answer: "Admiral, at this moment, the two supply ships Poyang Lake and Weishan Lake are 80 nautical miles southwest of our fleet."
"Okay, give the entire fleet an order to turn southwest. After completing the replenishment, the Xiangyang, Wuwei, and Dunhuang will return to Colombo with the seriously injured. The rest of the ships will follow the flagship and continue westward."
"General, the enemy's transport fleet has already headed east. Are we heading west now?"
"Humph, I don't believe that the enemy's fleet sailed directly from Egypt to India. If that were the case, the enemy's army would have to drift on the sea for at least a month. Our navy would already be a little anxious after drifting on the ship for a month, so how could those landlubbers in the army drift for a month? Therefore, I am sure that the enemy must have a transit base in the nearby waters, and I must find it!"
"I see. I will definitely obey the general's orders."
Just as Yan Siqi continued to lead his team westward, looking for a transit base for the European coalition forces. It was also on June 2nd, in Mumbai.
"So, the main force of the Western bandits landed in Goa?"
"That's right. According to Yukimura Sanada, the enemy's landing force this time is at least 100,000."
"Hmm..." After taking a puff of cigarette, Li Yongfang said, "Zhennan, what do you want? Lead the army south?"
"Logically, while the Western bandits have only landed the first batch of troops, we should lead our army southward, and after joining forces with the Japanese and Fukuoka armies, we will have a local advantage and fight first. But..." Mao Wenlong said with a sad face, "Now Yan Siqi has led the fleet out, and the entire coastline of the Indian peninsula is almost completely undefended. If we lead our army southward, the enemy will use their naval advantage to turn around and land in Mumbai and then go straight to Delhi and Agra? Moreover..." He smiled miserably, "Our three divisions of the Ming Dynasty are fine. As for the five Indian divisions, hey, Lao Li, you know, if we let those guys march continuously for five days, I'm afraid that these five divisions will disintegrate before they reach their destination."
"Well, you have a point. What should we do?"
"There is no other way. Just wait. I am going to send a message to Yukimura Sanada, asking him to resist step by step. If it is impossible, he can gradually retreat northward. I will meet him at the mountain pass at the northern end of the Western Ghats."
"That's all that can be done."
Just when Mao Wenlong and Li Yongfang had no choice but to defend, on June 4, two battleships led by about a dozen warships of various levels and five large transport ships appeared on the sea outside the city of Masukopatam, the main seaport in Andhra Pradesh, on the east side of the Indian peninsula.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Raimondo, if it weren't for the damn mines, we could have arrived here at least one day earlier."
"It's okay, General Sanchez. We will use the extra day to get him back as soon as possible after landing. Speaking of which, I am a little worried about the situation of the Andalusia that was hit by a mine. After all, there is no repair shop here."
"Yes, there was a repair shop in Goa, but it was blown up by the damn Japanese. It is said that the Chinese have a complete ship repair factory in Colombo, but unfortunately, we don't have time to slowly find a safe waterway in the minefield this time. However, Commander Alfonso has already personally arrived in Goa, preparing to rebuild the seaport and repair shop."
"That's good. Well, thank you for your escort along the way. Next, please let us land."
"Hahaha, please don't worry, sir. Although I can see from the telescope that there are no artillery batteries on the opposite port, just in case and to deter the enemy, please let me command the fleet to bombard you twice before landing."
"Okay, I look forward to seeing the Navy's brilliant fireworks display."
On June 4, Raimondo and Durrenyi led two divisions and successfully bypassed the southern tip of the Indian Peninsula with the help of the navy and landed in . Since all the strong Japanese were at the front line, the two encountered little resistance during their landing and march.
On the same day, the first batch of reinforcements from the Ming Dynasty landed in Kolkata, about 400 kilometers north of Masukopatam City, preparing to cross the Ganges and quickly rush to the west side of the peninsula to support Mao Wenlong's army.
On June 8, Cao Bianjiao and Zuo Menggeng, who were guarding the Khyber Pass, received a report from their subordinates: countless enemies were pouring towards the pass along the river valley!
As time entered June 1638, the entire Indian peninsula, north, west, and east, became battlefields one after another. The entire peninsula quickly burned.
