Struggle in Russia

Kornilov and Nakhimov's lack of confidence did not dispel Li Xiao's plan. From the beginning, he knew that relying on a single tactic alone would not be able to defeat the British and French fleets.

After all, their advantages are too great. Not to mention the two companies working together, the British Royal Navy alone is enough to beat the half-hearted Russian navy.

But not being able to compete in terms of strength does not mean that there is no chance of fighting at all. In this new era of rapidly changing technology, new weapons and new tactics have a huge impact on the old naval powers.

For example, if you wanted to develop a navy in the past, you would first have to search for wood all over the world. Without suitable profiles, there is no way to build a boat. Even a big business like the Royal Navy, which lacks neither technology nor money, is full of tears when looking for wood.

Especially as suitable trees have been cut down to pieces, it has been difficult for the Royal Navy to build large-scale battleships in recent years.

But with the development of technology and the large-scale application of steel in shipbuilding, all this will soon become less of a big problem. As long as you have money, technology, and mines, you can build whatever you want, and no one else can stop you.

Li Xiao's advantage lies in this aspect. As a time traveler, he certainly knows the advantages of steel, so while other powers are still looking for wood to build keels all over the world, he has already begun experimenting with using steel as keels to build iron-framed and wooden-hulled ships.

Although Wallachia is unable to mass-produce steel on a large scale, let alone make a long enough steel keel, building a small boat is not a particularly big problem.

More than half of the ships in his Danube fleet have steel keels, and some even have wrought iron hulls.

Therefore, although his fleet may be small, its technical content is indeed not low. Moreover, these ships are all steam-powered, and according to his requirements, the maximum speed must be no less than 13 knots.

Why so fast? The main reason is still the requirement of maritime harassment tactics. Currently, the speed of British and French steam-powered warships is generally around 10 knots, and most of them can actually only maintain a speed of eighty or nine knots.

As long as you are fast enough, you can always escape even if you encounter British and French steamships that cannot be defeated.

It can be said that the Danube Fleet was crooked from the beginning, a bit like the characteristics of the Turkish Communist Party in the past. Anyway, there is no head-to-head confrontation, and the business is just robbing families and homes.

Of course, it is not that easy to do this kind of business. Especially when facing the powerful British and French combined fleets, these two navies are too powerful. Putting the main force in the bathtub of the Black Sea is equivalent to two Tyrannosaurus rex jumping into the bathtub and holding the sea slowly. Slowly, the Danube Fleet, which was as weak as ants, could not get out of the Danube River at all, and was blocked in the inland river, unable to move.

This requires the Black Sea Fleet to help attract the attention of the British and French fleets so that the Danube Fleet can go to sea smoothly. As long as you go out, the sea will be vast, fish can jump in the sky, and birds can fly.

Therefore, Li Xiao had to ask Kornilov and Nakhimov for help no matter what, but these two obviously did not believe that ants could kill an elephant and had no confidence in the Danube Fleet.

"Even if you can go to sea, what can you do?" Nakhimov asked with some frustration, "Your small boats are no match for the British and French fleets!"

Li Xiao was a little speechless. Just now he clearly said that the mission of the Danube Fleet was to raid the supply lines. Why did Nakhimov still want to confront the opponent head-on?

But this is normal. In this era, the thinking of Russian naval generals is generally to learn from the British Royal Navy. After all, the French Navy during the Napoleonic era also engaged in sea harassment warfare, but the results proved to be unsuccessful, and the harm to Britain was really not great. .

Naturally, the Nakhimovs believed that Li Xiao's harassment campaign was nothing more than a replica of the French Navy and would be useless.

There is a saying that the reasons for the failure of the French back then were very complicated. There were problems in organization and implementation. The key reasons were that their own morale and navigation technology were not as good as those of the British. Many times it is clear that the French ships are stronger, but when they encounter the Royal Navy, which dares to risk their lives with bayonets, they give in within minutes. This resulted in the harassment tactics having little effect.

But Li Xiao felt that it was because the French were too good at it, and the French ships were evenly matched with the Royal Navy. Since everyone started from the same starting line, it was naturally difficult to distinguish them.

But his Danube Fleet was completely different. It was a specially built attack fleet based on maritime harassment tactics. Performance in this area has been specifically optimized.

Maybe the firepower of these ships is very weak. At most, they can bully British and French merchant ships. Even the weakest ships of the British and French fleets will be beaten. But we can't defeat it, but we can outrun it!

The Danube Fleet is not only fast and flexible, but also has great endurance. It was enough to ensure that the British and French fleets could only eat ashes behind.

"In that case, doesn't the Danube Fleet have to deal with merchant ships?" Kornilov asked thoughtfully.

Li Xiao shook his head and said: "No, it can also be used as a reconnaissance ship and minelayer. As long as it can break out of the Danube River mouth and enter the sea, there are a lot of things it can do!"

Kornilov touched his chin and said: "You can give it a try, but even if you break through the blockade and enter the Black Sea, how will you replenish it in the future? As far as I know, steam ships need to replenish coal and boiler water, not to mention even if Do you need to replenish ammunition when attacking merchant ships?"

"This is not a big problem," Li Xiao replied with a smile: "The Sea of ​​Azov is still under the control of the Black Sea Fleet. We can go to Kerch to resupply. I believe you won't help us with this little favor, right?"

Kornilov and Nakhimov were surprised: "Is the endurance so great?"

Yes, they have always looked down on the 100-ton boats of the Danube Fleet, thinking that they could only wander around the mouth of the Danube River, but now someone said that his fleet could reach Kerch.

Of course, even if you drive directly from the mouth of the Danube to Kerch, it's not that far. The main problem is that someone also said that the main task of the Danube fleet is to harass, and the harasser has to run everywhere, so the endurance cannot only be measured in a straight line. The voyage is over.

Calculated in this way, the endurance of the Danube Fleet is still good, and it is indeed enough to complete the harassment operation.

And Kornilov also remembered someone saying that the main task of the Danube Fleet was mine laying. Since discovering the beauty of mines, Kornilov and Nakhimov have tried more than once to send minelayers to lay mines on the main waterways of Britain and France. However, because control of the sea has changed hands, these small ships cannot escape the interception and interception of British and French ships, and they are often killed. Baozi beats the dog and never comes back.

If the Danube Fleet can help the Black Sea Fleet mine mines, this will really help!