Dominate the Country

San Matias Bay is one of the countless bays of different sizes on the eastern coastline of South America, located in the northeast of the Patagonia Highlands. It is seldom visited here, and the land is vast and fertile. It is not impossible for humans to survive here, but unfortunately the Spaniards occupied the whole of Argentina, and they had too many flat, fertile, comfortable and humid lands to use. Then they could not look down on San Matias Bay.

After all, the whole of Argentina has less than one million people. Compared with the land area of ​​Argentina, it is too scarce.

The Spaniards also tried to reclaim here, but this was not for economic benefits, but to strengthen their control over southern Argentina. It's just that Spain has no sufficient financial and material resources, and no excessive population and labor force, and the reclamation operation ended in failure.

Magellan discovered this place three hundred years ago. They were on a fleet of five small boats that seemed very small to modern people. The flagship was the Trinidad, followed by the San Antonio, Concepcion, Victoria and Santiago. The largest of them, the San Antonio, was only 120 tons, not even as big as a small inland transport ship in the Yangtze River today, and the smallest, the Santiago, was only 75 tons. Compared with today's sailing warships, they are as small as toys.

But it was such a small fleet that discovered the New World. They spent 15 days exploring the estuary of the La Plata River. This huge estuary was so vast that even a tiny passage was not missed. Then they saw the huge San Matias Bay near 40 degrees south latitude.

It was a desolate bay, and Magellan had no nostalgia for it.

But now three hundred years have passed, and the San Matias Bay is still as desolate as a blank sheet of paper.

The Egret is now cruising in the San Matias Bay.

Guan Tianpei didn't know how many kilometers away from him there were his friendly forces. In the days without radio, the warships that were separated from their friendly forces in the sea were so miserable and so bad. It had been wandering in the waters near the Bay of San Matias for five days, sinking a 500-ton Spanish cargo ship, seizing a lot of food, ammunition and water, and of course attracting the enemy's attention.

The Europeans must have noticed that a cargo ship disappeared in the Bay of San Matias. Because the Europeans deployed some warships along the route from Buenos Aires to the Falkland Islands, and set up multiple observation points on the coastline.

Perhaps it would take a long time for the Europeans to summarize all the intelligence and conclude that a cargo ship had "disappeared" in the Bay of San Matias, and then send warships to search. This time could not be just three or five days, but the whereabouts of the Egret were definitely exposed.

Perhaps there was no need to thoroughly summarize all the intelligence. As long as the sailors who were knocked down on the shore could get help from European ships, they would definitely know that there was still an enemy warship cruising in the Bay of San Matias.

Guan Tianpei gave some of the food and water on the latter ship to the released sailors. Before they met human habitation, these foods were the biggest reliance of these crew members for survival.

How many ships loaded with supplies have been sent into the turbulent Atlantic by the Egret? If Cai Qian and his men are included, the number will definitely not be rare.

You must admit the power of this "guerrilla warfare". To a certain extent, the existence of Cai Qian's fleet definitely provides support for the front battlefield.

This support does not lie in how many European cargo ships they have killed, but in the artificial creation of huge panic. Just like the Count Spee Squadron during the First World War in the original time and space, he successfully defeated a British naval squadron under the command of British Rear Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock in the Battle of Coronel. Within an hour, the two armored cruisers "Cape of Good Hope" and "Monmouth" were sunk. The news of the defeat reached London, making Fisher, who had just returned to serve as the First Sea Lord, extremely angry. This result forced the remaining British light cruisers to flee, and Britain also lost nitrate, copper and tin shipments from Peru and Chile. Britain has been constantly criticizing the Royal Navy from the political and civilian circles, and even doubted whether the fleet built at great expense is capable of defending Britain's overseas interests.

The Count Spee Squadron has only 2 armored cruisers, 3 light cruisers, and 2 transport ships in total. Compared with the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet, its strength is not worth mentioning, but the influence it has caused is quite huge.

The cruising range of Cai Qian's fleet is far less than that of the Count Spee Fleet that ran from East Asia to the east coast of South America, but there is no wireless telegraph in this day and age, and the backward communication means of both sides greatly magnified the destructive power of the guerrilla fleet.

After resting for ten days in and outside the first narrow waterway, Chen Han's fleet first sent out the motor sailing fleet.

This motor sailing ship has a fast speed, flexible turning, strong combat effectiveness, and has certain advantages over old sailing warships in combat, especially when against the wind and against the current.

Moreover, allocating some motor sailing ships to attract European targets also reduced Ye Tingyang's burden to a certain extent.

In the era when naval command relied entirely on flags and signal flags, commanding and dispatching more than a hundred warships was no joke.

It was like commanding a real million-strong army to fight a field battle on land. In order for such an army to exert its due combat effectiveness, it must have a super high command value.

From a certain perspective, Zhao Kuo, who was good at military strategy but not at arm's length, really had extraordinary military talent. After the 400,000 Zhao troops were surrounded by the Qin army, he was able to maintain the basic base of the army and persisted for 30 to 40 days. He ran out of food and was completely annihilated.

Compared with the 700,000 Liao troops in the Battle of Hubudagan, Zhao Kuo's command value was that of a god, while the latter's commander was a pig.

Without superb command ability, extraordinary military talent, a meticulous staff department, and rich war experience, who could easily command and dispatch one or two hundred warships and exert their due power?

To be honest, Ye Tingyang did not have such great ability.

When the fleet left the mainland, he had already arranged the sequence for the fleet with the assistance of the staff department.

The fleet commanded by Ye Tingyang was more like a military group composed of multiple fleets than an entire fleet.

Ye Tingyang divided his warships into several pieces. He only led a part of them, and the command orders were only given to the commanders of each fleet, which greatly reduced his own pressure.

On the way from his homeland to America and across the Pacific Ocean, Ye Tingyang conducted more military exercises in order to maximize the combat effectiveness of the fleet when encountering the enemy, but the effect of the exercise was not good.

The means of conveying command orders were too low-level, took too long, and might not even be conveyed. So how should Chen Han's fleet deal with Nelson in this situation?

Ye Tingyang didn't know whether his opponent had encountered such a problem. He believed that the number and quality of warships on both sides of this battle were absolutely beyond the ordinary and beyond the level of ordinary battles.

Before this battle, it was impossible for any naval commander to personally command such a large fleet.

But Europeans did have more experience in naval warfare. So, Ye Tingyang believed that his opponent had encountered the same trouble as himself, but he felt that the Europeans' troubles were smaller than his.

If his command value is 60, the command value of the Europeans should be 70. Ye Tingyang has to show some respect to Europe for its organizational ability in naval warfare.

So at this time, he played the trump card of the "motor sail fleet", which was both a test and a coercion.

If the Europeans are confident that they can have a decisive battle with normal combat effectiveness, then their response to the problem of the motor sail fleet will be more or less manifested. This will make Ye Tingyang more or less confident.

As for the coercion, it comes from the mobility and combat effectiveness of the motor sail fleet. The ordinary speed of the motor sailing ship can catch up with the peak speed of the sailing ship when the wind is smooth. As long as they are given enough space, the twelve motor sailing ships will make the European transportation lines a mess.

So the Europeans can only and must divide the fleet to "sanction" these twelve motor sailing ships.

In the future, Ye Tingyang will build a fence at the east entrance of the first narrow channel, and then send out more and more warships to disperse more and more European forces, until the remaining forces in his hands can be fully commanded and mobilized by him, and then Ye Tingyang will fight with the Europeans.

Of course, Ye Tingyang is also praying to God, hoping that Nelson on the opposite side will not divide his troops in the Drake Passage to attack him in the opposite direction. Ye Tingyang did leave a fleet on the west side of the Strait of Magellan, but the force was very small.

…

When the news of the large fleet was further fed back to Chen Ming, it was already April, and Emperor Chen was not feeling well.

This year's summer came quickly. It was just April, and the sun was scorching. The earth was like a steamer, so hot that it made people breathless. Chen Ming was listless.

When you get older, you can't bear the sin. Last night, Chen Ming had five basins of ice placed by the bed and opened the window himself. As a result, the temperature dropped at night and it rained a little. Chen Ming caught a cold.

In the daytime, the sky cleared up and the sun shone again. Chen Ming was almost wilted.

The imperial chef brought in a bowl of eight-treasure chicken soup. The weather was too hot. When he finished a large bowl of chicken soup with meat and soup, sweat broke out on his forehead. Because he caught a little cold at night, Chen Ming was not feeling well. He was afraid that his condition would worsen and he could not use ice. This was particularly difficult for Chen Ming.

He was 65 years old. The strong body of his youth was gradually leaving him.

If he was not busy, Chen Ming would have patted his butt and left, leaving Nanjing and finding a place to cool down. But this year, there are wars in the East and the West, and a large number of memorials arrive at his side every day. Even if a large part of them have been dealt with by the cabinet and the prince, Chen Ming still needs to understand them.

So, he really can't leave now.

It's not that the empire lacks the money to improve the express delivery channels, but because Chen Ming's departure from Nanjing will affect the efficiency of the court in handling affairs and the speed of response.

As the temperature rises, Russia has experienced the muddy season in late spring and early summer. Has the frozen soil in winter thawed? The road is more difficult to walk than in heavy snow. The carriage can sink half of the wheel while walking.

But with the arrival of May in the Gregorian calendar, the mud has become a thing of the past, and the Sino-Russian war has become more and more intense.

Now there are war reports delivered to the Northwest every three or five days. The war between the two sides is still brewing, but the prelude has become very exciting.

And there is news that the Europeans are planning a big counterattack. Their battlefield is not only in the front, but also in the back. Just like the Chen Han government strongly supports the Irish anti-British armed forces.

And only the British in the whole of Europe have this condition, but behind the British, it must be the whole of Europe to pay the bill.

…

The temperature in Myanmar in May of the Western calendar is already very high, almost no temperature below 30 degrees.

Somewhere in Arakan in the west of the former Kingdom of Burma, there is a dense tropical rainforest area. There is almost no wind in the forest. The tall tropical trees block the sky above. Only very little sunlight can penetrate the fine gaps between the emerald green canopy and project onto the soil full of rotten branches and leaves.

As pieces of rotten branches and soil were brought up, a strange smell filled the air.

And the silence of such a large forest is simply weird. The yellow man leading the team could not hear a single bird call here, and only the very light footsteps behind him could be heard clearly.

This is a team of fully armed soldiers, not many in number, less than 30. All of them have oriental faces, or more precisely, Southeast Asian faces, except for the leader.

The large group of people stopped, and the leading officer waved his hand, and two soldiers holding rifles left the large group and quietly moved forward. These people were all wearing green uniforms, which were the attire of Arakan soldiers, but their fierce eyes were enough to easily distinguish them from the Arakan soldiers who were strong on the outside but weak on the inside.

Especially the cross hanging around the neck of the leading officer, which made it even more impossible for them to be Arakan soldiers, who were all Buddhists, especially the officers leading the troops.

The two soldiers searched forward while paying attention to their feet, as they might be buried with landmines. Now they have reached the final stage, and they cannot fail.

The two of them are the vanguards of the entire team, responsible for clearing the way for the main force behind them and serving as outpost guards.

A few minutes later, the remaining small troops followed, and the scouts in front had already made a safe gesture. However, this small team of about 20 people still kept their distance from each other, and slowly passed through the quiet jungle in two columns, and then quickly moved forward to the river area in front. That was their destination, a small river about five meters wide, which could be easily crossed by wading. As long as they could reach the other side of the river, their mission would be completed.

This was not an easy mission. There were 35 of them when they set out, and on the way forward, many people were shot and killed by the "enemy". The scouts also found at least three minefields, forcing the team to take a detour.

Just when these team members breathed a sigh of relief and they had heard the sound of the river water rushing, the originally silent forest suddenly became noisy.

"Pop!"

First there were two shots from a double-barreled pistol, and then there were dense rifle shots. Almost at the same time, a rocket landed on the edge of the open river, and the battle was easily ended when this dense tropical rainforest just became a battlefield.

"Pah, pah, pah, pah..."

The ambushed small unit immediately lay down on the spot and began to fight back with the weapons in their hands. But they only had time to pull the trigger before the rocket exploded and the white smoke completely enveloped them.

The river was narrow, but there were no tall trees growing on the river bank. Rockets were of limited use in the rainforest because the tall and dense trees would block its shooting line. But by this small river, the power of rockets was perfectly demonstrated.

When the white smoke from the rocket disappeared, a group of soldiers like snowmen stood frustrated by the river.

The leading officer grabbed his hat fiercely, and as he moved, a large piece of white powder fell off his chest, revealing the red dot on his chest. He had been shot dead by the ambushed shooter long before the rocket exploded.