Chapter 346 Spain Joins the War

Chapter 346 Spain Joins the War

Chapter 346 Spain Joins the War

It was expected that we would encounter the French Navy, the second-best navy in the world, when we came to France to fight.

At that time, Shao Quanzhong spent a huge amount of money to purchase such a large fleet, and was ridiculed by many parties.

Even if one did not laugh at him, one would feel regretful that the excess naval power wasted a lot of funds, which would have played a greater role if used in industrial investment or army construction.

It was not until today, when they were about to face the world's second largest navy, that his generals suddenly realized that when Shao Quanzhong and the Hunan Army were besieging Nanjing, he was actually considering confronting the French fleet head-on. What a foresight!

Well, originally, Shao Quanzhong's personal qualities were not that high, but he knew about the Franco-Prussian War in advance. This is the ability bonus brought by the information difference.

In fact, our Qing Dynasty is not short of money, but what it lacks is the awareness of investing money in industrial development.

Shao Quanzhong finally got some money, so of course he wanted to develop his combat power. No one else could do this, so the Wen family could lead other wealthy people to invest in industrial and commercial investment.

Shao Quanzhong was responsible for paying the money, and it was the expert Liao Rong who decided what ships to buy. He would not be so smart as to command any naval battle.

Shao Quanzhong was quite self-aware of this point. At least he was much better than his opponent Napoleon III, who was often mentally unstable and insisted on leading the troops personally.

That guy betrayed his 9 soldiers and surrendered in Sedan on September 2. He was defeated too quickly, and Shao Quanzhong was unable to catch up and beat this weakling.

Shao Quanzhong waved his hand and asked Le Sen to hand over the detailed information to Liao Rong. He asked him to organize a naval combat meeting to discuss the strategy to be adopted in the battle with the French navy. He only planned to attend the naval meeting.

The ship-borne army continued to disembark in Cadiz, preparing to invade France via Spain.

This is the strategy that was formulated when I came here.

Most of the ship-based army is on transport ships, and a small part is on warships.

France has a powerful navy. If a naval battle breaks out with the enemy, the warships will have to protect the transport ships, which will also carry an ineffective army. They will definitely be restricted and their combat effectiveness will be reduced.

Therefore, it would be quite risky to rashly land on the French mainland before dealing with the enemy's large-scale navy, and if things go wrong, we might end up following the fate of the Spanish Invincible Armada.

In the Battle of the Downs, the Invincible Armada was defeated and the Spanish army on board sank to the bottom of the ship. This stupid act had a precedent of failure and must not be repeated.

Spain has a well-developed railway system, so transporting troops is not difficult, so the fleet stopped in Cadiz.

The Cadiz naval port was once the anchorage of the Invincible Armada and is one of the best naval ports in the world. Transport ships docked in an orderly manner, thick iron plates were laid as springboards, and steam tractors drove ashore one after another with black smoke billowing out.

Some transported ammunition and light artillery, some carried tracked vehicles of the same size on their long carriage floors, and some directly towed Krupp heavy artillery.

The Huai Army's level of mechanization stunned the Spanish sailors present.

No wonder Liu Buchan and Zhang Zihuai in Spain have been demanding the stockpiling of tens of thousands of tons of coal in Cadiz and San Sebastian in recent years. It turns out that our Qing allies are so advanced!

This fleet of more than 100,000 tons would burn more than 500 tons of coal a day when it was in operation. With so many steam tractors and unprecedented armored vehicles, a huge amount of coal was needed.

Shao Quanzhong's military command ability may be only average. He no longer commands personally, and the command of the war depends entirely on the staff team who have returned from studying in Berlin.

But what he understood most was, "I want to get the most advanced weapons, the most powerful cannons, the best guns, the best ironclad ships, and mechanization to the greatest extent possible."

He didn't hesitate to spend a lot of money for this, and he didn't feel bad at all. In this regard, even if Shao Quanzhong had surpassed all his peers in his previous life, in this world, Shao Quanzhong's advanced consciousness was absolutely unique in the world.

It seems like a lot of money, right? Shao Quanzhong often said, "Damn it, you didn't spend money on advanced weapons. If you lose the war, you will have to pay more compensation."

Shao Quanzhong already has warships of more than 100,000 tons, which are enough to transport all the troops. Why does he need 120 1,000-ton transport ships?

His troops were fully mechanized, with steam tractors and tanks taking up more space than soldiers, horses, and ammunition.

Although the Huai Army seems to be small in number, it is a fully mechanized force that is unique in the world. In fact, it is already the world's absolute top force with no rivals. It's just that it has not yet won a major victory over the top powers to be recognized by the world.

Now there was an opponent who could serve as a stepping stone for the Huai Army, which was armed to the teeth. Napoleon III surrendered as a person, and France immediately established a republican government, still resisting fiercely.

Logistics General Shao Yuan, together with his logistics staff, began to command the army's landing in an orderly manner.

After the vanguard troops landed, they lined up at the train station and took a train to assemble in San Sebastian, the front line near Spain and France.

The rear troops and various weapons slowly gathered towards the train station, and everything was in order.

It is imperative to ensure that the train lines are operating at full capacity at all times, and all civilian trains are temporarily stopped and requisitioned.

It was only because of the numerous logistics staff and Shao Yuan, a logistics genius, that neither Le Sen, who was in charge of logistics, nor Wu Ziyi, who was in charge of logistics on behalf of others, would be able to cope with such complex logistics organization activities.

The landing of troops and the transportation of arms would take several days, but Shao Quanzhong did not have to worry about this. He attended the naval combat meeting of the Spanish Royal Fleet Command in the port.

Naval officers gathered together. The meeting was chaired by Liao Rong, the admiral of the Nanyang Navy, but the operational plan was drawn up by Chief of Staff Mahan and the operational staff, intelligence staff, logistics staff, equipment staff, military law staff, and financial staff who were all students who studied in the UK...

The captains of the main warships were Liu Buchan, Lin Taizeng, Deng Shichang, Zeng Xiaoyi... The Nanyang Fleet was going to confront the French fleet, and everyone who could be used had to be used. Ma Han, the principal of the Zhanjiang Naval Academy, was brought over by Shao Quanzhong and temporarily served as the Chief of the Navy's General Staff.

Mahan was very suitable for the position of Chief of Staff. There was a map of the sea area around Spain in the meeting room, and Mahan borrowed it directly, which boosted morale as soon as he spoke.

"From the data on paper alone, the Nanyang Fleet will not be at a disadvantage against the French Fleet, and it is very likely that we will win the battle. In fact, I think we have a great advantage."

"According to our intelligence, although the French Navy now theoretically has a tonnage of 45.7 tons and 439 warships, this is useless."

"During the Franco-Prussian War, the French army was poorly prepared. All the naval reserves were still fishing in Newfoundland and would not be able to return before the end of the war."

"Because Prussia was well prepared, and the cities along the North Sea and the Baltic Sea were deep river ports, the shores were densely covered with Krupp coastal defense guns, and the ports were densely covered with mines. The French Navy could only blockade the ports and could not fire at them at all."

"The Prussians spent 12000 million eagles to build an excellent coastal defense system, which made the French navy useless. So, marines and naval guns went to support Paris, but now they are surrounded by the Prussians."

"More than 57000 sailors have been sent ashore to serve as the army. If they are to be recruited back to fight us, it will take at least a month. We have plenty of time to prepare."

"Let's talk about the battle power comparison. The French warships are bloated, and most of them are backward wooden sailing warships. They are completely unable to participate in the decisive battle between the great fleets."

That is, if a sailing warship participated in the war, it would be a waste. Cannons hitting an ironclad ship would just tickle it, and the ironclad ship would not even need to fire, as it would smash the sailing warship into pieces if it hit it.

"The only things France can really use to fight us are 45 ironclads, frigates and floating batteries."

“Among them, three outdated floating artillery batteries that participated in the Crimean War are still under maintenance in Toulon Harbor and cannot be pulled out for combat.

The newly built 3717-ton ironclad ship Shangwu was originally planned to be sent to the Far East as a flagship. It encountered us on the way from Cyprus to Cadiz, and was so scared that it ran to North Africa. We don’t know where it is, so it can’t participate in this battle. ”

"Their main battleships were ten Provence-class ironclad ships, 6000 tons, all of which were outdated models launched between 1863 and 1865."

"The three Slava-class and Corona-class ships and the two Magenta-class ships are even more outdated."

"Only the flagship Ocean, which is 7749 tons, is a newly launched warship, plus small ironclad ships of tons."

"Their combat tonnage is 132,000 tons, and our combat tonnage is 100,500 tons."

"Although the number of warships is 41:36, our warships are all new British-made warships. Their average combat effectiveness is one-fourth higher than that of French warships. We also have the most advanced -ton Dingzhen warships stationed there."

"Plus we have the latest TNT high-explosive shrapnel shells, so our actual combat power should be much higher than that of the French fleet. As long as there are no mistakes in command, I am confident that we can defeat the French fleet!"

It was the first time Zeng Xiaoyi knew that the Nanyang Navy was so strong. Backed by the industrial capacity of the British big brother, it was awesome. "Then should we go to Toulon and kill them all before they join forces?"

Mahan shook his head. "The main force of the French fleet has gone to the North Sea to blockade the Prussian ports. The only ones left in Toulon are the Normandy of the Glorious class and the Magenta and Solferino of the Magenta class. These three ironclad ships are all outdated models and not worth our deployment."

"They come from the calm Mediterranean to the rough Atlantic, and their combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced. So our staff suggests that we wait for the French fleet to tire out in the port of Cadiz and defeat them head-on."

At the end of the combat meeting, Shao Quanzhong, who had not said a word the entire time, stood up and said, "Brothers, you don't have the courage to spend money to buy warships. I don't have the courage to fight a naval battle. I'm going to lead the army to deal with the French army, and the naval battle is left to you."

He bowed to all the naval commanders and said, "Brothers, in this battle, we must show the might of our Nanyang Navy and the might of the Chinese Navy. Please."

All the navy officers and soldiers present stood up and saluted, "We are willing to die for the Marshal!"

…………

Shao Quanzhong turned around and walked out, riding his Ferghana horse, and arrived at the train station. He took his guards and the Guards Brigade and boarded the three special trains reserved for him, heading for Madrid.

As soon as he got off the train in Madrid, Shao Quanzhong felt a stronger atmosphere of war.

A total of 140,000 troops gathered on the outskirts of Madrid.

Including 50,000 Taiping mercenaries led by Zhang Hanchen (Zhang Lexing) and Yang Changjiu (Yang Fuqing), 10,000 Spanish Royal Guards trained by the Huai Army Advisory Group headed by Zhang Zihuai, and the 80,000 Spanish regular troops remaining after training and elimination by the Huai Army Advisory Group in recent years.

As an ally of the Qing Dynasty, Spain will also participate in this war.

Alfonso XII, Prince of Spain and Isabel's brother, personally went to the train station to greet her.

Shao Quanzhong pulled Isabel behind him and said, "Let's go to the palace to meet your mother. Princess Lucia is no longer here, but you have the same name as your mother. I have to call you Maria again."

Even though Spain is now considered a weak country among the great powers, when it comes to enjoyment, the Spanish royal family is at the forefront.

The Royal Palace of Madrid is the third largest royal palace in Europe after the Palace of Versailles and the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. It is much more luxurious than the world's largest palaces, Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle in the United Kingdom.

Ahem, this is also the reason why Spain became weak, just like when Emperor Buddha used the navy’s military funds to build a garden…

Isabelle II warmly welcomed her daughter and son-in-law. Her eyes lit up as she watched them both. She immediately pulled them into her bedroom for a private talk.

(End of this chapter)