Chapter 842: Ming Dynasty, nothing more than that (first update, please subscribe)
Montevideo Bay.
Eight warships of the Brazilian Imperial Navy were quietly moored at their berths. This huge fleet arrived in Montevideo two days ago. From that day on, this fleet attracted the attention of the entire South America.
As usual, Navy Captain Paul was holding a telescope and looking nervously at the sea in the distance.
Whenever a column of smoke rises above the sea, he will observe it carefully for a while!
If there is only one column of smoke on the sea, it may be a passing merchant ship. If there are multiple columns of smoke, then it must be a fleet.
How will the Ming Empire respond to them?
Although he was young, Paul had visited the Ming Dynasty on a warship. He did not believe that the Ming Dynasty would allow their fleet to demonstrate here without saying a word.
The Ming Empire Navy will definitely do something!
Captain Paul firmly believed in this, but his judgment had no influence in the navy. Now the commander-in-chief and senior officers of the fleet were attending a ball at the official residence of senior officials in the city.
It seems that to them, the threat from the Ming Dynasty is not worth mentioning at all!
"Indeed, Ming Dynasty diplomats have issued a warning. They warned us that if we do not withdraw our fleet and insist on challenging the bottom line of the Ming Empire, we will be met with resolute countermeasures!"
In the banquet hall of the senior official's residence, facing the local dignitaries, ladies and young ladies who attended the welcome ball, Marquis Tamandare held a wine glass in one hand and gestured with the other.
"When I asked how you would respond if I refused to withdraw, do you know what they said?"
Everyone laughed.
"Let's wait and see!"
Just this morning, the news was reported in the Montevideo newspaper. The threat from the Ming Dynasty was so weak, just four words.
"Yes."
Marquis Tamandare laughed, then shrugged his shoulders and said.
"Well, let's wait and see!"
As the words fell, the ballroom burst into laughter. Amidst their laughter, the music sounded again. The beautiful ladies invited the naval officers one after another, and people danced to the cheerful music.
While these people were immersed in the cheerful music, hundreds of kilometers away in the air, a huge fleet of airships was slowly flying towards the target.
This is the Ming Dynasty's floating force, with three regiments and nearly seventy-two airships, sailing towards the distance in a formation that covers the sun and clouds.
While the huge floating force was flying towards Montevideo, the Brazilian sailors at the berth in the port were still enjoying the bright sunshine. For them, this was a weekend no different from any other. Many sailors were even queuing there waiting to go ashore.
The prostitutes and tavern owners on the shore were also looking forward to their arrival.
July 30, 1876, seemed like just another ordinary weekend!
Some people are happily planning how to spend their weekends, while others are at work. Captain Paul is one of them. Perhaps because of his inner vigilance against the Ming Empire, he dare not be as relaxed as others. When he was searching the sea with a telescope, suddenly, he heard some strange sounds mixed in the sound of the waves.
What is that sound?
Just when his heart was filled with such doubts, someone suddenly shouted in his ear:
"Airships. The sky is full of airships! There are airships coming!"
What? An airship is coming...
Paul looked up in astonishment, picked up the telescope, and his mouth opened wide in astonishment...
Airships, lots of airships!
Not just one or two, but seventy-two airships formed two columns and were flying towards them from over the sea in the south.
"It's the Ming Dynasty's airship. Quick, blow the whistle, light the fire, and increase the boiler pressure..."
The officers who stayed behind issued orders one after another. While the boilermen of the warships worked hard to light the boilers and pressurize them, the officers all raised their telescopes to look up at the sky.
The same was true for Baron Radario, who was holding the famous Phoenix eight-fold telescope in his hand. Although he was more than ten kilometers away, he could still distinguish the shapes of the airships and the cabins hanging below. He found that the airships in the sky were completely different from the small airships that Brazil bought from Britain.
It looks bigger!
This is the trump card of the Ming Empire—a large long-range airship!
The Ming Dynasty's airship technology has always been ahead of the world. They have flown across the Atlantic countless times, but what about Brazil's airships? There has never been such an attempt.
airship!
Why did the Ming Dynasty send the airship?
Although there are not many airships in Brazil, the Brazilian military has conducted experiments on airships. The conclusions they reached are the same as those reached by the British and French - airships are extremely lethal to infantry, but have no lethality at all to warships because the accuracy of airship bombing is too average.
Not to mention a moving warship, even for a warship moored at a berth, it would depend on luck for the bombs on the airship to hit it, as it is difficult for a bomb to hit a warship from a height of several hundred meters.
Some naval officers even called airships "budget-eating waste."
Of course, this does not mean that airships pose no threat to the navy. For example, the 30mm Gatling gun on the airship is a threat to the navy of any country. The dense small shells will set off a bloody storm on the deck, destroy the deck, break the mast, and the rigging of the mast will burn with a raging fire.
Fire!
It is also very deadly to ironclad ships. Of course, it is definitely impossible to destroy an ironclad ship by relying on the fire ignited by a 30mm Gatling cannon on an airship. At most, it can only kill a large number of sailors!
If that’s the case, why did the Ming Dynasty send their airship troops?
“Maybe they are demonstrating!”
Baron Radario instinctively had this thought in his mind. If it was the Ming Navy fleet that appeared before him, he would be aware of the threat, but the airship force...
For a moment, Baron Ladario didn't even know how to describe his feelings.
Is this the Ming Empire’s answer?
Maybe they wanted to use the airship to create some "intense friction" with the Brazilian Navy!
“Has the pressure been reached?”
Baron Radario urged again that once the boiler pressure was reached, he would command the fleet to the sea and have a friction with the Ming Dynasty's airship forces. God can testify that he would use his sturdy hull to have a good friction with the Ming Dynasty's airships.
"So the Ming Dynasty... is just like this!"
(End of this chapter)
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