In the vast ocean, hundreds of warships emerged from the sea level.
This was an expeditionary fleet from France, and the leader of this fleet was the famous Archduke Philip of France.
A year ago, Count Pizarro occupied the Ryukyu Kingdom. Several of his warships returned to France with gold, silver and jewelry looted from the Ryukyu Kingdom, as well as the news that the Invincible Armada had been completely annihilated.
While Her Majesty the Queen was furious, she was also completely dazzled by the gold, silver, jewelry, silks and satins looted - it turned out that there was indeed an extremely wealthy country in the East!
The survivors who came back said that Pizarro went further east and encountered a country called Xia, which was a thousand times richer than Ryukyu!
At the same time, that country also has a navy, but their navy seems to have just been built. The ships are extremely advanced and the artillery is extremely fierce, but the level of those soldiers does not seem to be very good.
Count Pizarro became a prisoner, but the survivors learned about the naval combat effectiveness of the Xia Kingdom.
After some consideration, Her Majesty the Queen personally ordered the construction of an expeditionary fleet consisting of one hundred warships and appointed Archduke Philip as the supreme commander of the fleet.
"Follow this route to the East!"
"Find the country called Xiaguo!"
"Destroy their fleet, then land and destroy their army on land!"
"This king wants Xia Country to become Frankie's colony!"
After more than a year of preparation, the expeditionary fleet was finally formed.
This was the most powerful fleet in Franchi's history, as they were all equipped with the latest steam power systems and further improved artillery.
The maximum range of the new artillery was increased from 200 meters to 300 meters, which was a huge improvement. In the eyes of Archduke Philip, the enemy's artillery fire was obviously not as good as the range of his own naval guns.
Then this expedition is simply a gift from Her Majesty the Queen to her family.
Archduke Philip stood on the bridge of his flagship, the Queen, with the gentle sea breeze blowing towards him. He smelled the scent of the East - according to the nautical chart brought back by the remnants of Pizarro, the Ryukyu Kingdom was not far ahead, and it would only take another three days of sailing at most.
The Ryukyu Kingdom has fallen into the hands of Marquis Bal, so the fleet needs to be resupplied in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It will stay there for three days before heading east again.
Ryukyu is a great place!
Among the treasures sent back by Marquis Bal last time were women from the Ryukyu Kingdom. Her Majesty the Queen rewarded him with two of them. The feeling was so great that he was almost in heaven. It was incomparable to the women from Frankie.
This time, we will bring back more women from the Liu Kingdom and the Xia Kingdom. In Franki, women from this eastern land are in great demand. If calculated in terms of silver, one woman is worth a thousand taels of silver!
Archduke Philip lit a cigar, the swirling smoke was blown away by the sea breeze, and he squinted his eyes and looked into the distance, as if he had already seen the magnificent appearance of the legendary Eastern Kingdom.
"All of this is mine!"
"I will conquer that divine kingdom as a gift for Her Majesty the Queen's fiftieth birthday!"
Just as he was daydreaming, the fleet suddenly slowed down. He frowned slightly, and saw his adjutant, Paul, running over. "Your Excellency, the Grand Duke, enemy ships have been sighted ahead!"
Enemy ship?
How come enemy ships appear before we even reach Ryukyu?
Could it be that the bastard Bal failed to control the Ryukyu Kingdom, allowing the Ryukyu Kingdom to turn the tables?
But how could a small country like Ryukyu have such a powerful fleet?
Archduke Philip took another drag on his cigar and asked calmly, "How many warships does the enemy have?"
"Your Excellency, there are eighteen."
Only eighteen ships?
This is not enough to fill the gaps in the expeditionary fleet.
"Destroy them!"
Bohr accepted the order but did not leave. He looked hesitant, which made Archduke Philip unhappy. "What? The great expeditionary fleet will be blocked from advancing eastward by a mere eighteen warships?"
"Ah, no," Boll bowed quickly, "Your Excellency, the battleship across the way... is huge."
"How big?"
"Yes, twice the size of our battleship."
Archduke Philip's old face suddenly broke into a smile. "So what if they're big? Pass on this Archduke's order to destroy them!"
"I obey your orders!"
Boll retreated, and Philip went to the watchtower on the second deck, wanting to see what this Eastern warship looked like.
At the same time, Zuo Mu's First Fleet also discovered the enemy.
"Report... Commander Zuo, enemy ships spotted 300 miles ahead!"
Zuo Mu stood up and raised the telescope. Through the telescope, a vast number of warships appeared on the sea level.
There was thick smoke without sails, which made Zuo Mu frown slightly. This meant that the enemy ship had also been upgraded to a steam-powered system.
Then I'm afraid there won't be much advantage in terms of ship speed.
The advantage of the First Fleet lies in the longer range of its naval guns. After further improvements to the muzzle-loading guns, the maximum range has now reached 500 meters!
The current fleet is fundamentally different from the fleet commanded by Marshal Bai Yulian. After such a long period of training, the navy has long been familiar with the operation of naval guns and ships.
The transmission of commands has also been much more optimized than before. The flagship still transmits commands to other ships through flag signals, but communication between units on the ship is done through internal loudspeakers - this is something developed by the Daxia Science Research Institute, and its original name was Qianli Er.
In the command room of each warship, the captain of each ship can give orders directly to each unit through this loudspeaker, which is many times more efficient than the previous method of doing it by people.
His Majesty's order to him was to fight as hard as possible, and if he was defeated, then run away - there was no shame in running away, and the enemy could be lured into the Far East to land. The navy of Daxia could be used as an army, and the enemy could be destroyed on land, which would result in less casualties.
Zuo Mu certainly didn't dare to disobey Fu Xiaoguan's wishes, but after so long of navy training, everything on the warship was as familiar to the soldiers as the girls in Cuihonglou, just as that bastard He Sandao said.
What we need to determine now is the range of the enemy's naval guns. Judging from the size of the enemy's ships, its naval guns are obviously smaller than ours. If we have an advantage in range... Zuo Mu judged that this battle can be fought.
"All troops, listen!"
"First Fleet, advance in a linear formation, reduce speed to half, all units in position...!"
As the flag signals were given, eighteen warships lined up in a row 300 meters apart and sailed towards Archduke Philip's expeditionary fleet.
In terms of the length of the defense line, eighteen warships are equivalent to the enemy's one hundred warships, which means that on average each warship of the First Fleet will face nearly six enemy ships.
Can we win?
At Xiaye Naval Base, Fu Xiaoguan, Bai Yulian and others boarded the flagship Guanyun.
"Can the First Fleet win against six alone?" Bai Yulian asked worriedly.
"It's okay. Zuo Mu is not He Sandao. If he is defeated, he will lure the enemy deeper."
He Sandao, who was accompanying him, was now fully recovered.
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