Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 802 Letter to the People of Europe
The strong searchlight shone directly on the front of the Fuzhou, and then the unique whistling sound of battleship shells began to sound. Zheng Chenggong seemed to have been prepared and took out a pair of sunglasses from his desk in the command cabin.
With the help of sunglasses, he could finally look through the front windshield of the command cabin and simply calculate the distance between the ship and the light source on the opposite side.
"There are about three thousand meters left. The course remains unchanged. Continue..."
"Boom~" Before he could finish his words, a violent explosion sounded not far away: "Captain, the Changle was hit by a bullet, right in the middle of the ship. It looks like there is no way to save it."
"Got it." Zheng Chenggong's tone remained steady as he gave the order: "Keep going at full speed!"
"yes!"
The Fuzhou was a new ship that was commissioned last year. Its power source was the same as that of the Qin Shi Huang-class battleships, using heavy oil as fuel, and its steam engine was also the latest model. Therefore, when the Fuzhou, with a full load displacement of only more than 3,000 tons, ran at full speed, its speed was close to 30 knots (54 kilometers per hour).
At such a high speed, it only took a little more than a minute and a half for the Fuzhou to close the distance between it and the enemy's main fleet to within 1,500 meters.
However, in just one and a half minutes, Zheng Chenggong's detachment, which had only nine warships left, had another ship, the Houguan, hit by a shell fired by the enemy's heavy cruiser's 150mm gun, and a ship, the Dinghai, hit by a near miss shell fired by a battleship, and lost its combat effectiveness. Qi Zhenzong's detachment, which was charging at the same time, also suffered casualties: the Dehua destroyer was hit by three shells in succession, the hull broke in two and sank quickly, and only thirteen people on the ship had time to jump into the sea, and among these thirteen people, only three struggled to escape the huge vortex caused by the sinking of the warship...
But neither Zheng Chenggong nor Qi Zhenzong had time to grieve for their fallen comrades. As the ships gradually entered the firing range, Zheng Chenggong and Qi Zhenzong shouted in unison: "Set the depth to four meters, pull the ship horizontally, and fire!"
Following this order, the remaining 17 warships of the two destroyer squadrons fired a total of 68 barbel missiles in unison!
"Lightning strike!"
"Shine the searchlight on the sea!"
"Machine gunners, get ready!"
Ignoring the roars of the enemy on the opposite warships, the 17 warships immediately turned again after firing the first round of torpedoes , preparing to pull the other side of the hull over to fight the enemy.
As the distance got closer, the enemy ships' hit rate also increased. In just a few minutes of turning again , five of the Ming army's seventeen warships were hit: those that were hit by heavy cruiser shells could barely struggle, but those that were hit by battleship shells, especially direct hits, sank without a temper.
"Turn complete, barbel launch!"
Before the order was fully executed, Zheng Chenggong and his men vaguely heard a dull explosion one or two kilometers away amid the heavy artillery fire.
"Captain, it's hit!"
"Why only one blast? Sixty-eight torpedoes!"
Before he could finish his words, he heard a series of huge explosions in his ears.
"Captain, three, four, no! Five. No, this sound is not muffled at all. It's not the sound of a torpedo exploding from underwater."
"Idiot, this is the sound of our battleship hitting a target. Hehe, because of our approach, the enemy's battleship turned on its searchlight, exposing itself greatly. Hmm~ Another muffled sound came, one, two... four! Hahahaha, the second round of barbels hit four targets! In this way, all the sacrifices are worth it! Brothers, retreat!"
The withdrawal of Zheng Chenggong and Qi Zhenzong's detachment did not mean the end of the Ming Navy's torpedo attack that night. After Zheng and Qi sent a telegram to share their experience in breaking the enemy's formation, the remaining destroyer detachments adopted the method of using white-headed torpedoes to break through the enemy's destroyer defense line, increasing the depth of torpedoes, and using barbels to attack enemy battleships. After paying a certain amount of casualties, they succeeded in breaking the formation and achieved varying numbers of hits.
…
"Your Majesty, the navy has failed to live up to your expectations. It has been a complete failure."
"How could this happen? Garcia, how serious was the loss that made you say that you have completely failed?"
"Except for the Fernando V that retreated earlier, six of the remaining ten battleships were hit by torpedoes last night. The Prince of Asturias and the Gonzalo were hit by three torpedoes in succession and sank on the spot. The remaining four warships that struggled back to Lisbon Port were hit by torpedoes. The Duke's keel was damaged and it was meaningless to repair it. There are also three warships that will not be able to go out to sea again for more than half a year!"
"Since the three warships didn't sink on the spot, the number of torpedoes they were hit by must have been very small. Why did it take more than half a year to repair them?"
"Your Majesty, in order to destroy the enemy destroyers that broke through the formation last night, we were forced to turn on the searchlights for a long time, so that our warships had to face the enemy's torpedo strikes and the enemy's battleships' artillery fire. Therefore, in addition to the damage caused by torpedoes, these warships also suffered damage above and below the waterline caused by enemy artillery. In fact, even the four battleships that were not hit by torpedoes were hit multiple times by the enemy's battleships last night, and they also need at least three months to repair."
"Where are our destroyers? Did they launch torpedo attacks? Did they achieve any results?"
"The loyal navy fought for you to the end, Your Majesty. Last night, a destroyer detachment we sent out launched a heroic charge against the enemy with slow-speed, limited-range white-head torpedoes, but was completely wiped out. The specific results of the battle are unclear, but it should be that no enemy battleships were sunk..."
“No, Garcia!” Philip, who had been polite most of the time for nearly fifty years, blushed, stretched out his hands with bloodshot eyes, pulled Garcia’s collar hard, and clamped his thumbs around his neck: “How could the invincible Spanish Navy fail! Garcia, give me back my navy! Give me back my warships!”
"As the commander of last night's naval battle, I... ahem... I will take all... ahem... responsibilities. I will accept all... ahem... punishments from you."
"Your Majesty!" Just when Garcia was about to be strangled to death, the 70-year-old Prime Minister Osvalles pushed the door open. After taking a quick look at the situation, he pulled Philip away with all his strength: "Your Majesty, we will discuss the guilt of Mr. Garcia later. Right now, Chinese warships are sending a telegram to Europe in Morse code off the coast of Lisbon!"
…
Zhu Youdong, the Ming Emperor of the Chinese Empire, greets the monarchs of European countries and all the people of Europe: Since ancient times, Huaxia, the representative of East Asian civilization, has had intersections with Rome, the representative of European civilization. Over the past thousands of years, East Asia and Europe have had more and more frequent exchanges and deeper understanding of each other.
This clash of civilizations was generally peaceful until the 15th and 16th centuries of your Christian era, when the Spanish arrived in Asia and colonized the Philippines.
The evil, greedy and corrupt Spanish Habsburg monarchs massacred the Chinese people living in the Philippines and sold drugs such as opium to China, hoping to make China fall into the abyss of the devil. After that, they deceived the people of Europe, launched an expedition to India, and invaded the Indochina Peninsula in the Chinese cultural circle... The peace between East Asia and Europe was completely destroyed by the Spaniards, the Habsburg monarchs, and the so-called Philip IV!
In 1620, some Spaniards, under the orders of Philip IV, sold opium to East Asia, forcing the Chinese Empire to fight back. This war between East Asia and Europe has been going on for nearly thirty years.
In the past thirty years, the war has spread to East Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, South America, Central America, Africa, and now, it has finally spread to the European mainland. Now, in the east of Europe, the Ottomans have allied with us, and their army is gathering towards Austria. In the west of Europe, with the victory of the Battle of the Azores, the Spanish navy is no longer a deterrent maritime force. The Atlantic route has been blocked by the navy of the Chinese Empire. Finally, in Africa, your only colony, our special forces have destroyed more than 90% of your rubber plantations...
In this long war, the Chinese Empire lost about 800,000 strong men, and you in Europe have permanently lost at least 2.3 million strong men. This war has caused heavy losses to both sides.
In addition to the casualties that can be seen in the military, the economic losses of both sides are even greater. If there had not been this thirty-year war, the military expenses saved by the Chinese Empire could have bought enough food for each of the 150 million people in the country to eat for ten years. And in Europe, if there had not been this war, the money saved to buy food would probably be enough for the entire European people to eat for twenty years!
Politically, Philip weakened the power of the monarchs of European countries through constant wars, making the independence of European countries smaller and smaller, and even completely reduced to vassalage of Spain... In short, this long war was extremely painful and the losses were extremely tragic for me, the people of my Chinese Empire, and the European countries. In this long war, perhaps the only thing that was satisfied was Philip's ambition! It was his ambition to completely unify Europe through war and make all European people under his dictatorship!
East Asia and Europe don't actually have any deep hatred, and there is absolutely no need to fight to the death. Peace, I hope peace will come soon! If we can achieve peace, I can now generously promise you that the Chinese Empire will immediately stop its economic blockade of you, and both sides can sign an armistice agreement on an equal basis without compensation or cession of territory, and the more than one million young and strong people captured by us can also return home as soon as possible.
However, to achieve all this, there must be a primary condition: Hand over Philip! Hand over the current King of Spain, Philip IV. Because only if this man is sent to China, I, the Emperor of China, can give a decent explanation to the Chinese people who have endured thirty years of suffering. And you can also escape the poison of Philip, who is actually the reincarnation of the devil in the name of Christ.
European people who have created their own brilliant and unique civilization since Greece and Rome. Please wake up quickly, muster up your courage, and for your own rights and happiness, like your ancestors, drive this devil who has bewitched you for thirty years off the throne he has usurped, and hand him over to us! As long as you do this, we can start decent and equal peace negotiations!
