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Chapter 990 Mysterious Fleet
"Ding ding ding... Ding ding ding..." Before Wang Chengen could prepare paper and pen, a burst of urgent bells suddenly rang above his head.

"Hey, could it be that Aceh has reinforcements? Lookout, what's going on!" The alarm bell meant that the warships cruising on the periphery had discovered something unusual, so Hong Tao had to put the issue of Yarkand aside for the time being.

"... Marshal, the alert fleet has discovered a communications ship from Enniao Port in the strait 15 kilometers away, and there is an urgent battle report on board." Soon, the flagship's lookout reported the specific reason for sounding the alarm.

"Emergency battle report from Ennori Port... Have the communication ship come over!"

Hong Tao can no longer relax now. The Cape of Good Hope is the first line of defense of the Imperial Navy, and Port Enniao is an overseas territory with a very critical strategic location and great development potential. If there is a problem, it will have an overall impact on the empire's maritime strategy.

“My lords, this sea inspection was a plan I had prepared in advance. I had planned to deal with the affairs of Aceh and then visit Shalian Port before returning.

But there are many things in this world that don't go as planned. We just received an urgent report from the Indian Ocean Fleet that Enniao Port was attacked. The enemy came from the sea and the scale is unknown. The only thing we can be sure of now is that they have bad intentions.

Now the main force of the Indian Ocean Fleet has been diverted to attack Aceh. As the saying goes, reinforcements are needed like fire. Now that I have arrived, I have no choice but to go to rescue first.

However, the war is still going on in the north, and the court cannot remain empty. You should not follow me on this expedition. First, transfer to the ship that transports the prisoners back to Da Nang, and then the navy will arrange a ship to escort them back to Beijing.

I hope that you can all stay in your positions, work together, and cooperate with the General Staff to provide logistics support for the soldiers on the front line, so as to win the final victory in one battle and lay the foundation for the safety of the Ming Dynasty in the next few decades."

More than half an hour later, a dripping fast two-masted cruiser slowly approached. The sailors on the deck were all wearing raincoats, and it was obvious that they had just experienced a long and high-speed voyage.

This type of ship has a low freeboard, a large aspect ratio, a slender hull with a low center of gravity, a mixed sail type, a high thrust-to-weight ratio, and strong seaworthiness. However, it cannot carry too much cargo, and the hull is not strong enough to install large-caliber naval guns. It has no advantages except high-speed ocean sailing.

In the folk, this kind of boat is called a flying fish boat, because after it rises above the sea level and runs with full sails, it travels very fast. When it encounters big waves, it often climbs to the top of the waves. From a distance, it looks like a flying fish in the sea jumping out of the water.

In the navy, it is called the Taishan-class cruiser. Together with the Huashan-class single-masted cruiser that was finalized and mass-produced earlier, it shoulders the heavy responsibility of information exchanges in the maritime borders of the Ming Empire.

Although it is just a communications ship, its level is higher than that of warships and armed cargo ships, and it enjoys various priority privileges all year round.

The sailors on the ship are all senior navy officers, and their salaries are also ranked first. The salary of ordinary sailors is higher than that of naval commanders, and they can also eat in the officers' mess when they are not sailing at the base on weekdays.

Why do communication ship sailors have such high status and treatment? There is no other reason, just two words: important. Two more words: dangerous.

In the days without telegraphs, telephones, airplanes, and trains, the speed of information transmission was shockingly slow, often taking several days, dozens of days, or even dozens of days. If you want to shorten the time, you can only set up a very professional fast fleet.

From the design and construction of the ships to the selection and training of the personnel, the core idea of ​​this fleet is only one, that is, speed! However, the sea is different from the land, and the natural conditions are too harsh. No matter how the technology is improved, safety is still difficult to guarantee.

Running on the sea day and night all year round, it is inevitable to encounter storms. If the status and treatment are not up to par, who would be willing to risk their life all day long?

This Taishan-class cruiser came from Enniao Port, and the message it conveyed was very important, about war. 16 days ago, the Indian Ocean Fleet squadron stationed in Enniao Port discovered a huge fleet on the sea more than 100 kilometers west of Enniao Port during its daily patrol.

Due to the huge disparity in numbers, the fleet's warships only observed for a while, roughly saw the appearance and flags of the enemy's ships, and then hurried back to report to the base commander. The commander of Enniao Port Base at the time was Zhu Neng, the commander of the Yuheng Guard of the Marine Corps. After hearing the news, he felt that the enemy was not friendly, so he issued a war preparation order and ordered the only two Qin-class warships and a Guangzhou-class armed cargo ship to cruise out of the port to prevent being blocked by the enemy.

Then three communication ships were sent westward to try to find out the specific origins of this fleet, and then report to the Indian Ocean Fleet base based on the intelligence obtained.

However, before the three communication ships could get close to the huge fleet coming from the west, they were surrounded and intercepted by several enemy warships, and had to return again.

The specific types of ships, quantity and origins were not clearly understood, but one thing was certain: there were no obvious signs or flags flying on the other party's ships.

Zhu Neng received the report from the communication ship and finally confirmed the enemy's hostility. He then sent all three communication ships out at once. One went to Colombo Port, one went through the Sunda Strait to Manila Port, and one went to Thanlyin Port. In this way, even if there was an accident on the way, the whole army would not be wiped out and the transmission of important battle reports would not be delayed.

The communication ship Hong Tao encountered was the latest model of the Taishan class, with the fastest speed, and arrived at the Colombo port first. It was heard that most of the warships of the Indian Ocean Fleet followed the emperor to Aceh, and they chased after him without stopping.

In addition to being proficient in ship driving skills, the sailors serving on the communication ships also include some very professional surveyors, navigators and lookouts. Their tasks are not only to transmit important messages and personnel and goods between ports, but also to undertake the work of maritime surveying, channel exploration and reconnaissance ships.

There are two surveyors who are proficient in painting on this communication ship. All the mountains, rivers, landforms, animals, plants, people and cities that they have never seen will be drawn on paper for reference.

"This one should be a Spanish galleon, but I'm not so sure about these two. Are you sure that they don't have any flags indicating their identities flying on their ships?" Holding the whale skin paper that had become a little soft due to moisture, and looking at the clear-cut pattern on it, Hong Tao was very confused.

Judging from the picture, there are a total of three types of ships in the fleet that suddenly appeared near Enniao Port, one of which looks very familiar.

The towering forecastle and poop, the stern as straight as if it had been chopped by a knife or an axe, the bow protruding like a ramming horn, the hull that is wide at the bottom and narrow at the top, the three layers of horizontal sails at the top, middle and bottom, and the triangular sail at the stern are exactly the same as the Manila galleon captured that year.

In later generations, this type of sailing ship was called the Spanish galleon, but there was no consensus on the ship type. Some said it was a carrack, some said it was a galleon, while the Spaniards believed that it was neither a carrack nor a galleon, but a Spanish galleon.

Hong Tao had discussed this issue with the captain of the Montanez and partially agreed with his point of view. Although the Spanish galleon also had a towering forecastle and poop, it was still lower than that of the carrack, and the hull was slightly longer.

The four-mast design was cancelled and replaced with a foremast, midmast, and a three-layered sail, and a mizzen mast. This not only maintained the advantage of boarding battles but also lowered the center of gravity, improving seaworthiness and flexibility. It should be considered a new ship type, at least an upgraded version of the Carrack, or the Spanish Galleon.

The galleon was invented by the British to deal with the Spanish galleon. Its superstructure is flatter than that of the Spanish galleon, and the forecastle and poop design are basically eliminated. The length-to-width ratio of the hull is larger, which further lowers the center of gravity and increases seaworthiness. It is commonly known as the Queen's Ship.

The difference in appearance between Spanish galleons and English galleons mainly comes from different combat concepts. The Spanish have always been obsessed with boarding battles and usually carry as many land soldiers as possible on their warships, so they need forecastles and poops as fortresses when boarding.

The English had realized a new mode of naval warfare since the end of the 16th century. Instead of fighting with bayonets, they attacked the enemy's ships. Therefore, instead of carrying land soldiers on warships, they tried to install more artillery and make operations more flexible. The towering forecastle and poop were not only useless but also a burden.

Facts have also proved that the English's choice was correct. They relied on galleon-type warships with slightly smaller tonnage, more guns, lower center of gravity and more flexible operation to defeat the huge and clumsy caravels and Spanish galleons in the Invincible Fleet.

(End of this chapter)