Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1468 Changes in Southern Border ([-])
There are nearly 3000 people from the [-]st Association, the [-]nd Association and the [-]rd Township of the Dingnan Garrison Army. They are surrounded by Huang Zhiting's direct lineage wolf soldiers. Annan Anbang is guarding the Fuzhong Army. More than [-] people have just passed by. Lak Plateau, rushed to the city of Udon Thani in the south of Vientiane.

The guards and generals of Wulong City did not resist, and they surrendered together. It is not right to say surrender, because they opened the city under the banner of greeting.

Why welcome?Because the Nanzhang National Policy Advisory Group, on behalf of King Nuojiao Gumeng, invited Jinghua to invite Jinghua's armed forces stationed in Annan, Siam, Cambodia and other places to go to Nanzhang to stabilize the situation.

As for the reason, after the king became a monk, some people in Nanzhang might be uneasy about the status quo. At the same time, the National Policy Advisory Group was entrusted by the king to be responsible for electing the successor king, so it was responsible for maintaining the stability of the kingdom.

In a word, following the imperial edict promulgated by Dai Nuojiaogumeng of the National Policy Advisory Group, Huang Zhiting and other Jinghua garrison troops were invited to come. The civil and military officials from all over the country should not only treat each other with courtesy, but also need to cooperate with all their strength.

Since this journey is on the Korat plateau, the march is still relatively exhausting. Huang Zhiting has just settled down here, and plans to rest for a day in Udon Thani tomorrow, and then go north to join Mo Yulin.Who knew that just after lunch, he suddenly heard a notification saying that Mo Yulin, the commander of the Vientiane Guard Army, had asked to see him.

This news made Huang Zhiting frown a little. Didn't Mo Yulin station troops in the northwest of Vientiane for surveillance? Why did he come to Wulong?Could it be that after losing the battle, he withdrew to join him?

But soon he knew that Mo Yulin didn't evacuate the Vientiane garrison to Wulong, he only brought his own soldiers, and the Vientiane garrison stayed in place to monitor.

Mo Yulin was a surrendered general of the Annan Mo Dynasty. Although he accepted the reorganization at that time, because Ruan Huang of the Later Li Dynasty voluntarily surrendered, Gao Yushi left some military power in Ruan Huang's hands.In order to balance Ruan Huang's power, Gao Yushi also reserved some military power for the two generals of Mo Dynasty, Mo Yulin and Ruan Juan.

Mo Yulin was later appointed as the commander of the Vientiane garrison, and an important reason was that Ruan Huang served as the commander of the Phnom Penh garrison.Counting it, only Ruan Juan is still in Annan's country among the three surrendered generals of Annan.

Since he still has part of Annan's military power, Mo Yulin was not alone when he came to Vientiane to take office. He also brought a thousand plays, which is similar to the nature of Daming's servant.Today, he is traveling with this Thousand Parts, which can ensure that the monitoring of Vientiane City will not be affected.

Originally, Huang Zhiting didn't think Mo Yulin's arrival was too meaningful, because according to the scheduled itinerary, he would be able to join him in Vientiane City in three days.

However, after seeing Mo Yulin, Huang Zhiting realized that he did not come here just to show his loyalty, but actually came here to show his merit.

Mo Yulin told Huang Zhiting three things: First, he took all the food and grass in Vientiane City out of the city. There is not a grain of military food in the city. Can't last long.

Second, the arsenal in Vientiane City was also emptied. Even if Princess Biyajue gathered her [-] veterans, they would still be short of troops, and it was impossible for them to have much combat effectiveness.

Thirdly, when the security forces withdrew, the senior officials of Nanzhang Kingdom, including Nuojiao Gumeng who had become a monk, and the advisory group stationed by Jinghua were all brought out by him, and now they are all in Banyi Lai waits.

In other words, the Nanzhang court was actually just out for an "outing", and the regime was still firmly in the hands of Jinghua. Huang Yinglei and his wife are now completely alone in Vientiane City.

Huang Zhiting was overjoyed at first, and then couldn't help but sigh in her heart: Am I the only one who never expected that Ying Lei would rebel?

Thinking of this, my heart tightened again: If so, what would my husband think of my loss today?Or, Mo Yulin made these preparations on his own will?
She suddenly became anxious, and after briefing Mo Yulin on the current situation, she said, "I originally planned to take a day off tomorrow, but now it seems unnecessary. I will continue to go north tomorrow, and I will work with you earlier to take this It's over."

Mo Yulin was startled, and replied: "This...it seems unnecessary. The Jingang Garrison will arrive a day or two later, and there is enough time."

Huang Zhiting didn't answer, but shook her head, and the matter was settled like this.
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Almost at the same time, war between Spain and England actually broke out, although the two sides did not declare war on each other.

At that time, Philip II's army was fighting in the Netherlands under the command of the Duke of Parma. It had successfully recovered the southern Netherlands, but encountered obstruction from the British Expeditionary Force, and the two sides fell into a confrontation in the Netherlands.

The weakness of Palma is that he only has a strong army and lacks a coordinated force at sea. As a result, the sea surface of the Netherlands is completely controlled by the Anglo-Dutch coalition forces. The British and Dutch can freely supply by sea and block Palma completely on land. .Moreover, Parma failed to control even a deep-water harbor, which would have devastating effects on the Armada later on.

Philip II invested heavily in building his Armada. Although this fleet looks numerous and has a huge tonnage, it also has many problems, such as a serious lack of long-range artillery.

Moreover, shipbuilding requires a large number of plates that have been dried for many years, but because of the famous British pirate, Drake, commander of the West Road Fleet, raided Cadiz Bay and burned a large amount of Spanish reserves.This hindered the preparation of the Armada, and also caused many materials on the fleet to be forced to use substandard wood, which made the actual storage time of food and drinking water on the fleet much lower than estimated.

In order to ensure the smooth operation of the fleet, Philip II also launched the Battle of Three Henrys in France to ensure that France would not take the opportunity to harass Spain.

Philip's original plan was that after the fleet sailed from Lisbon, it first sailed across the strait to reach the Calais anchorage and join forces with the army at Parma. After the army boarded the ship, it sailed to England and landed at an appropriate time.According to the legend at this time, there should be one-third or even two-thirds of the Catholics in England. If the Spanish army can land, then these Catholics can be called on to rebel against the Queen of England. The Pope of Rome also promised to give righteousness and funds support.

The British tried to go straight to Lisbon and wipe out the Armada on the estuary, but a storm hit the channel and Drake was blown back to the port of Plymouth.This allowed Britain to finally meet the Armada in the strait with ease. From the perspective of later generations, this may be the decisive reason why the English fleet was able to win.

To say this, we first need to understand naval warfare in the 16th century.In this era, naval warfare mainly took the following forms:

One, artillery battle: Use side string guns or bow guns to fire solid bullets.Second, short-range musket shooting: infantry shoot muskets on decks and ship towers.The third is the string battle: use the grapple to capture the ship, and then the infantry will land on the opponent's ship to fight.

The artillery battle should be further divided into two categories: one, long-range shooting: long-range shooting with long and heavy guns at a distance of hundreds of yards.Second, close-range sidestring salvo: at the range of the musket, or even the nearest half of the range of the musket, face the opponent sideways, and then the artillery salvo.

In this era, the only ones that can really destroy the opponent's combat effectiveness are the string battle and the side string salvo. The string battle can directly capture the opponent's ships, and the side string salvo can truly destroy the opponent's hull structure.

As for long-range artillery battles, with the accuracy and destructive power of current European artillery, it can basically be described as scratching the surface. In fact, after the Armada entered the strait and encountered the main British fleet (Drake's West Route Fleet), the two sides used warships on the sea. The guns fired from a long range for four days, shooting out all the shells, but none of the battleships were fatally damaged, and the total casualties on both sides were only a few hundred.

This situation is similar to the contact engagement that occurred in the South China Sea during Huang Zhiting's previous expedition to Burma.The only difference is that the opponents in the battle with the Spaniards are different, and the two opponents—Jinghua and Drake—choose to fly kites instead of fighting with the Spaniards.

What's funny is that no one knows this now, and it's the first time for everyone to experience such a large-scale sea battle.The British have always believed in the power of long and heavy artillery, but the Spaniards did not believe it at first, but after the fleet that fought against Jinghua returned home and made a detailed report to Philip II, the Spaniards also changed their minds, thinking that artillery could Destroy the opponent's ships at a long distance.

However, a series of battles proved that this is only a fantasy at present.

When the Armada arrived at the Calais anchorage almost unscathed, the Duke of Parma refused to show up.On the one hand, he has long believed that there is no chance of winning the battle across the sea, and he has no intention of joining the navy at all.On the other hand, he has no ability to land the fleet at all: the water depth in the port of Calais is too shallow for the Armada to approach the coast, but the Dutch flat-bottomed warships can gallop back and forth, and it is almost impossible for Palma to succeed under the close surveillance of the Dutch flat-bottomed fleet. Land the Armada.

The whole battle situation took a fundamental turning point in Calais. Compared with the actual battle, in fact, the material is enough to explain everything.After a series of battles in the Channel, the Armada had no shells and little food and drinking water left, and they only got a small amount of food and water supplies in Calais.

Although both sides realized at this time that the real essence of naval warfare lies in the sidestring salvo of "the closer the better", but the Spaniards had no shells, and their only chance of winning could only be hoped to use overwhelming infantry combat power to carry out the attack. string battle.

However, the balance of victory has completely tilted towards the English.Because the Armada had arrived in Calais, the Eastern Fleet, which had been patrolling the ocean to prevent Palma from crossing the sea suddenly, also joined Drake's fleet at this time, which brought enough shells to the English fleet, and the British army was able to Use twice as much power as before to launch a fierce attack on the Spanish fleet.

Moreover, because England's warships are more flexible, British ships can safely bombard each other at a distance of their choice, while the Spaniards have no possibility of launching a close battle at all.

Calais thus became a slaughterhouse.

However, while the Armada suffered heavy losses at Calais, it was not devastating.The truly devastating blow was the severe lack of food and drinking water.

The Armada followed the wind and retreated northeastward.Losing the possibility of returning through the strait, this fleet with political significance rather than military significance can only circle England from the north and return to Spain.

Moreover, there is no port for supply in this direction, and countless ships desperately leave the fleet and sail to any possible land during the return process.Seventeen warships ran aground or were wrecked in Ireland, and thousands of Spaniards were massacred on the beach by the British army in Ireland.At this moment, the Spaniards, who were crushed by hunger and disease, had no combat capability.

How dire ship life was in this era can be seen in several ways.From the Spaniard's point of view, there were four navigators on the San Martin where the commander-in-chief was, three of whom died on the way.Almost all the commanders fell ill, and the commander-in-chief had to rest for several months before returning to work. Two squadron commanders passed away one month after landing.

Even military officers are like this, and the situation of ordinary sailors can be imagined.Gao Pragmatism has always been cautious and steady, demanding to establish a series of strongholds in Nanyang to form a "pearl necklace". If the Spaniards at this time understand it, they will be greatly moved.

However, although the Spaniards were miserable, the situation of the English fleet was not much better.Shortly after the battle at Calais anchorage, the English fleet returned to their home port. However, they did not disarm their combat readiness, but remained on standby among the ships in the port. Because of the rapid illness and death due to large-scale typhus, the casualty rate is estimated to far exceed the naval battle itself.

Looking at this battle, it can be said that the most powerful weapon is not the enemy at all, but the storm, accident and disease.As soon as any ship is full of crews, they immediately start to wither at a very alarming rate, and as the ship goes out to sea, there will be immediately ensuing storms, food and water shortages.

In the battle between the English fleet and the Spanish fleet, what really played a decisive role should be: the timely supplies provided by the vast ports on the south coast of England to the British fleet.

During the period from the departure of the Armada to the defeat and returning home, the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance was not idle.The nobles first selected the armed transport ship that they thought was the strongest and strongest, and then selected combatants from among the armed servants who had been at sea for a long time before.

The Jinghua Beiyang Fleet is fully prepared for battle: the ships that are expected to go into battle have returned to Hong Kong for maintenance; they have selected and matched soldiers like the nobles...

The most special thing is that the Jinghua Fleet carried a large number of special wooden frames. Each layer of the wooden frame has thick soil. At the same time, they also brought a lot of mung beans and soybeans—not for cooking and eating, these things It is to cultivate bean sprouts at sea and avoid the most fatal sepsis.Septicemia was an important reason why non-combat deaths were huge in Spain and Britain.

The preparations for the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance were getting more and more complete, and Gao Wushi finally received Huang Zhiting's reply, or statement.
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PS: After two days of acute enteritis, people have become dehydrated cucumbers and frosted eggplants...

(End of this chapter)