Chapter 1669: Wargame Simulation

The deduction chess pieces represent the basic units participating in the war, and each chess piece has a corresponding combat power description.

Since it was a naval battle, of course the battle was fought in units of ships. So the staff officers made the flags in the shape of ships and distinguished the types of ships by size.

The black chess pieces represent the Spanish expeditionary fleet, which totals 139 pieces.

According to intelligence, there were 18 warships of more than 1,000 tons in the Spanish fleet, 32 of 800 tons, 70 of 600 tons, and the remaining 19 were Spanish clippers of less than 200 tons.

This time the Spanish focused on strengthening firepower. A 1,000-ton warship had about 40 guns; an 800-ton warship had about 30 guns; a 600-ton warship had about 20 guns; and warships under 200 tons had about 10 guns, for a total of about 3,270 guns.

The firepower was greatly enhanced, reducing their disadvantages in bombardment. At the same time, in addition to 7,000 crew members, the 139 warships also carried 25,000 Spanish soldiers, still maintaining a strong boarding combat capability.

The red flag represents the Coast Guard Combined Fleet.

Among them, the Coast Guard Strategic Fleet has 8 battleships, 12 cruisers, 10 destroyers and 12 frigates.

The Luzon combat-ready fleet consists of 4 battleships, 8 cruisers, 10 destroyers, and 12 frigates.

The Taiwan Garrison’s main fleet consists of 2 cruisers, 8 destroyers, and 16 frigates.

The main fleet of the Tamra Garrison has 2 cruisers, 8 destroyers, and 16 frigates.

The combined fleet of the four fleets had 12 battleships, 24 cruisers, 36 destroyers, 56 frigates, a total of 128 warships, and 23,600 soldiers, which was less than the enemy in terms of manpower.

But we have more guns. Battleships have 74 guns, cruisers have 60 guns, destroyers have 24 guns, and frigates have 16 guns, so our fleet has a total of 4,600 guns, which is far more than the Spanish in both quantity and quality.

Therefore, the referee team preset a 30% bonus to our ship's long-range firepower, but the Spanish warship's boarding combat capability was given a 50% bonus.

This caused dissatisfaction among many people, who felt that our long-range firepower was underestimated and Spain's close combat capability was overestimated. Moreover, our side was well-rested and the close combat should have a damage bonus, but in line with the principle of anticipating the enemy, we finally followed this setting for deduction.

~~

Over the next five days, Wang Rulong, commander of the Strategic Fleet; Lin Feng, commander of the Luzon Combat Fleet; Xin Fei, commander of the Taiwan Garrison Main Fleet; Haierdi, commander of the Tamra Garrison Main Fleet; and Xiang Xuehai, deputy commander of the Strategic Fleet, conducted war game simulations with Jin Ke and Ma Yinglong, who played the roles of the commanders of the Spanish fleet.

All the generals knew that the tactics of the winner in this war game would most likely be used in the decisive battle with the Spanish. And the winner would most likely become the de facto commander of the combined fleet.

Since Wang Rulong had been bedridden since the second year of the Wanli reign, and as he was getting older, his physical strength and energy were no longer as good as before. The prince would probably let him serve as the nominal fleet commander, but would not allow him to fight on the front line.

Even though these guys usually pay a lot of attention to hierarchy, they are all very wild-minded. Seeing that Lao Wang is about to retire, who wouldn't want to take his place?

So everyone tried their best and discussed with their staff to come up with a satisfactory battle plan, which they then took to the war game room to simulate, just hoping to have the last laugh.

After a round of deductions and a day of review, Jinke announced the scores of the five people on the sixth day.

The highest among them is Wang Rulong, followed by Lin Feng, then Xiang Xuehai, Haierdi and Xin Fei...

"After calculations by the referee team, it was found that Wang Rulong's plan destroyed 60% of the enemy in five out of ten simulations, 70% in two, 50% in two, and 80% in one. The comprehensive combat loss ratio gave him a final score of 85 points."

"Lin Feng's plan has five times to annihilate 20% of the enemy, four times to annihilate 90% of the enemy, and one time to annihilate 100% of the enemy. The comprehensive combat loss ratio gives a final score of 80 points."

The scores of the other three are similar, all around 70 points, and the probability of destroying about 40% to 50% of the enemies.

The three of them were naturally more or less dissatisfied, especially Lin Feng's record, which was lower than theirs when weighed on average. Why did he score higher than them?

Is it because she...

However, when they entered the stage of public tactical review, they roughly understood the reasons.

The tactics formulated by Wang Rulong and Lin Feng were very similar. They both broke the routine, boldly penetrated, defeated the enemy, and then pursued.

The Coast Guard Fleet was trained by Portugal and since its inception, it has strictly required the fleet to maintain a single column and shoot at enemy ships in battle. Only after the enemy is destroyed or retreats can the supreme commander decide whether to abandon the formation and launch a pursuit.

Xiang Xuehai, Xin Fei and Haierdi are all experienced founders of the Coast Guard. In the past ten years, they have been adhering to this set of tactics, without a single defeat, and have laid the foundation for the group's current thousands of miles of sea. Naturally, they regard maintaining the battle line as a criterion and hate fighting without regard to formation.

This tactic is certainly correct. It can easily destroy enemy forces that are weaker than itself with almost zero casualties. Even if it encounters an opponent of equal strength, it can first gain an invincible position, and then use the advantages of range and firepower to defeat the enemy through a long-term artillery bombardment.

Therefore, the battle plans of the three commanders were all very bold strategies. For example, Xiang Xuehai divided the fleet into two, one after the other, in a "人" shape to gain the upper hand. In this way, no matter how the Spanish fleet maneuvers, a large number of warships are in a disadvantageous position at the end of the "丁" shape.

But all three of them requested to maintain their formation and distance, and would not break up their formation and attack freely until the enemy's artillery shells were used up in the pursuit.

Therefore, they were able to win, but the problem was that the battle took too long and too many enemy ships escaped. The Spanish galleons were also tough and their hulls were difficult to be destroyed by long-range shooting. Jin Ke and Ma Yinglong, who served as Spanish commanders, were also focused on escaping, so they naturally avoided being wiped out.

~~

"So your plan cannot be said to be bad." Jin Ke glanced at the three people comfortingly, and said in a deep voice: "But this time the commander-in-chief and the theater are determined to annihilate the Spanish fleet at all costs, or at least annihilate most of it! Obviously your plan cannot meet this requirement."

"Yes." The three nodded. Xiang Xuehai said, "If the Spaniards just want to escape, it will be difficult to wipe them out completely."

"They will definitely choose to escape." Jin Ke said: "Put yourself in their shoes and you will know that after sailing thousands of miles, the warships and soldiers are in poor condition. Before entering the port to regroup, the Spaniards have no intention of fighting."

"So Commander Wang believes that in order to defeat an enemy with equal strength, we must break the routine and boldly penetrate. Concentrate more warships, cut off the enemy's column formation, and surround and annihilate their vanguard!" Ma Yinglong continued:

"This way, we can launch a pincer attack on the surrounded enemy ships, thus achieving the goal of quickly destroying the enemy!"

"But this tactic may lead to the enemy's counter-detour and counter-encirclement, and we will be attacked from both sides!" Xiang Xuehai said somewhat unconvinced.

"The cleverness of Ma Rulong's plan is that by placing the armored cruisers outside the encirclement, he can attract the enemy's follow-up fleet and counter-encircle it. In this way, the other half of his fleet lying in ambush behind can rush out and counter-encircle the enemy ships. Forming a circle within a circle, we can achieve the desired results by attacking at close range!"

"I understand." The three generals nodded. Old Wang is really getting stronger with age and it is impossible not to admit defeat.

"So what about Commander Lin's plan?" Haierdi asked again.

"Similar to Lao Wang's tactics, she plans to divide the combined fleet into three. The first team will be led by her and will be responsible for breaking through the center of the enemy fleet and cutting off its front and rear connections; the second team will attack the enemy's rear guard and form a pincer attack with superior forces. The third team will be responsible for destroying the enemy's flagship, causing chaos on the other side, and finally annihilating the divided fleets one by one." Jin Ke said in a deep voice:

"The difference is that she chose the Leyte Gulf as the first battlefield, while Lao Wang chose the Surigao Strait as the first battlefield. After winning the blocking battle, her subsequent pursuit battle will be launched in the relatively narrow Surigao Strait; while Lao Wang's pursuit battle will be launched in the wide Bohol Sea. This difference determines that her upper limit of annihilating the enemy is much higher than Lao Wang's."

The three generals showed an expression of disbelief. Xin Fei looked at Lin Feng who was sitting opposite him and said, "Let's not talk about anything else first. How could you let the fleet appear in the first battlefield silently?"

"That's right. The Spanish have lighthouses in Surigao Strait and Leyte Gulf. They will definitely send ships to provide guidance and surveillance for the expedition fleet!" Xiang Xuehai nodded.

"Besides, the Marquis of Santa Cruz is known for his prudence. If we defeat the Spaniards who are supposed to support him in advance, he will definitely not enter Leyte Gulf."

"Yes, it was precisely because of the consideration of not alerting the enemy that I decided to ambush them in the strait." Wang Rulong, who had been resting with his eyes closed, nodded and said, "I also considered Leyte Gulf at the time, but I couldn't figure out how to hide the truth and appear in the bay without alerting the Spanish."

"We won't be discovered if we go this way!" Lin Feng stood up and pointed to a gap between Leyte Island and Sanmao Island on the sand table.

Everyone looked at each other and asked, "Can we sail here?"

“No.” Wang Rulong shook his head and said, “I went there a few years ago. I remember there was a section full of reefs in the middle and the water level was too shallow to pass through.”

"Yes, the Spanish think so too." Lin Feng said calmly: "But if we can get through, we can catch them off guard."

"The question is how can we get through it?" Xiang Xuehai curled his lips.

"Just move the reef away." Lin Feng said in a calm tone: "I took the engineers from Luzon Port Authority on a small boat to survey the entire strait. The water depth is fine, only the section less than two kilometers long is blocked. They said it shouldn't be difficult to clear a channel."

"After consulting with Luzon Port Authority, the referee team got this answer." Ma Yinglong added: "However, after calculating the data provided by Commander Lin, the referee team believes that the risk of failure is still very high, so they determine the success rate is 50%."

"Hmph!" Lin Feng looked unhappy, obviously thinking that the judges had given him too low a score.

(End of this chapter)