At the request of King Li Ke of Qi, some ships of the fleet of the Navy of the Great Xia Empire began to assemble, led by the Imperial warship, this operation was personally commanded by King Li Ke of Qi, which was also a training done by King Li Ke of Qi before a large-scale naval battle, after all, Li Ke was a landlubber and had never fought a water battle.
Two days later, Zhou Hai led part of the warships of the first fleet of the Navy's Navy, protecting the Empire to the west, and the King of Qi's immediate target was not the coast and navy fleet of the Great Song Dynasty, but the merchant ships of the Great Song Dynasty.
That is to say, once the navy fleet of the Great Xia Empire can cut off the overseas trade routes of the Great Song Dynasty, then the Great Song Dynasty will no longer be able to expand its army on a large scale, and the Great Song Dynasty will basically be finished; Nowadays, all overseas trade routes were basically monopolized by the Great Song Dynasty and the Seljuk Empire, and the Great Song merchant ships transported a large number of oriental silk, porcelain and spices from one of the ancient Indian dynasties to the port of Basra in the Persian Gulf by sea, and through Basra to the merchants of the Seljuk Empire to transport these oriental products to the Byzantine Empire and Western Europe in exchange for a large amount of wealth; Then the gold and silver and jewels from the West were shipped back to the East, and it took about a year for a sea ship to make a round trip, but the profit was more than ten times greater, so it attracted a large number of merchants to join the overseas trade.
In a certain area of the East China Sea, the Great Xia Empire's sailors led by Li Ke, the king of Qi, were sailing eastward, and at this moment, the Empire received a signal from the ship in front, and Zhou Hai hurriedly walked to the deck of the top war tower and said to Li Ke: "Your Highness, the Great Song fleet has been found ahead. ” Li Ke was sitting on the handsome chair at this time, eating citrus freely with Erlang's legs crossed, and when he heard Zhou Hai's words, Li Ke threw the remaining citrus into his mouth, put the orange peel on the table next to him, and then picked up the telescope and looked into the distance, the telescope used by Li Ke was very high, but when Li Ke picked up the telescope and looked into the distance, he found that he didn't see anything.
So Li Ke asked Zhou Hai: "Why didn't this king see it?"
Zhou Hai said to Li Ke: "Lord Wang, this is still far away, if we want to catch up with them, we will have to wait until at least the afternoon." ” Li Ke nodded and said: "Zhou Hai, but I found a very strange phenomenon, how can I see that the sea in the distance is not flat?"
Zhou Hai scratched his head and said, "Your Highness, this sea is like this, and this last general doesn't know what to say." ” "If you don't know how to say it, don't say it for now."
Li Ke continued: "Report the number of ships of the Great Song Dynasty as soon as possible, and order all ships to participate in the round-up immediately. ” "Yes, the last general will receive the order," Zhou Hai immediately received the order.
After Zhou Hai left, Li Ke continued to look at the binoculars and muttered puzzledly: "How can it not be flat, it's really strange." ” Soon the news about the Song army's fleet was sent to Li Ke by Zhou Hai, and Zhou Hai came to Li Ke's side again and said: "Your Highness, according to the report of the exploration ship, the Song army's fleet has more than 30 large sea ships, all of which are merchant ships; It was also escorted by ten warships, and the flotilla was carried by a bright yellow Zhao flag and a red Song flag. ” "Can you tell what kind of fleet this is?"
Li Ke continued to ask Zhou Hai.
"Your Highness, judging from the other party's flag, it should belong to the Royal Merchant Ship of the Great Song Dynasty."
Zhou Hai said to Qi Wang Li Ke.
"What is the Great Song Royal Caravan," Li Ke said with a frown; In fact, it is normal for Li Ke not to know, over the years, Li Ke has either been fighting against the Song Dynasty, or training sergeants, and basically has not done anything else except fighting and preparing for war, so it is normal for the Great Song Dynasty royal caravan not to know.
Zhou Hai explained to Li Ke: "Your Highness, this Great Song Dynasty royal caravan was established by Emperor Zhao Mao of the Song Dynasty when he ascended the throne, because of the royal support, it is the most powerful caravan of the Great Song Dynasty, and the Great Song Dynasty royal caravan monopolizes more than seventy percent of the foreign trade of the Great Song Dynasty, and has accumulated a lot of wealth for the Great Song royal family. ” "What is the strength of the Great Song Royal Caravan," Qi King Li Ke continued to ask.
"As far as the last general knows, the Great Song royal caravan has tens of thousands of ships, all of which are large sea ships of more than 5,000 materials, which can earn 30 or 40 million taels of silver for the Great Song Dynasty every year," Zhou Haiyi said to Li Ke one by one.
"I really didn't expect the strength of this Great Song Royal Caravan to be so strong."
Li Ke said: "I didn't say it, I have to take them this time, by the way, do you know the trade route from the Great Song Dynasty to the West?"
"The last general once sent a scout ship to investigate, and the merchant ships in the north of the Great Song Dynasty generally followed the coastline, passed through the Ryukyu Strait, the Taiwan Strait, and resupplied in Quanzhou or Ryukyu Island, and then went south into the South China Sea of Wanli Pond and then headed towards the Seljuk Empire."
Li Ke looked at the navigation chart sent by Zhou Hai, and said with a distracted eye: "My father is really wise, and now I understand the deep meaning of my father's request to form a sailor." ” "Your Highness, what do you mean by this," Zhou Hai asked with some confusion.
Li Ke said to Zhou Hai: "My father saw that this move was coming more than twenty years ago, and my Great Xia Empire already has invincible iron cavalry and firearms troops in the world, and it is enough to dominate the world; The formation of the Great Xia Naval Division is nothing more than to destroy the Song Dynasty, and this king can tell you that in the Battle of the Song Dynasty, the Great Xia Empire's Naval Division will become the main force; As long as we can cut off the maritime trade of the Great Song Dynasty, the Great Song Dynasty will not have the strength to compete with us."
The sailors of the Great Xia Empire did not catch up until the afternoon, and the merchant ships of the Great Song Dynasty, the sailors of the Xia Army, occupied this absolute advantage; Immediately after seeing the merchant ships of the Great Song Dynasty through the telescope, he said: "Order all the departments to surround me; Then the Empire came forward to engage it. ” "Your Highness, isn't it too dangerous to let the Empire go on a ship."
Zhou Hai said with some surprise.
Qi King Li Ke smiled and said, "What are you afraid of, this king just wants to try the combat power of the Empire." ” "Yes, the Admiral understands" Under the leadership of Li Ke, the king of Qi, and under the personal command of Zhou Hai, the Empire rushed towards the Great Song caravan, and the Great Song merchant ships also reacted immediately, and the Song army warships in charge of escorting began to move towards the Empire, and these escort warships of the Song army were all more than 3,000 materials, but compared with the Empire, they were too small.
After Zhou Hai saw that the Song warship entered his firing range, he immediately ordered: "Order all cannons to prepare and aim at the Song warship to fire."
"Boom, boom, boom" There was a rumbling sound of cannons, and dozens of shells flew towards the Great Song Dynasty escort warship; The Xia army used conical flowering shells, similar to the current armor-piercing shells, which exploded inside the Song warships after they were concentrated, so as to achieve maximum damage.
Thanks for the recommendation of book friends, there will be a more one later: