Add Bookmark | Recommend this book | Back to the book page | My bookshelf | Mobile Reading

Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> Reborn as a prince in the Western Jin Dynasty

Text Chapter 371 Mediterranean Naval Battle

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    In the nineteenth year of Hongwu, after another year of preparation, the atmosphere of war between the East and the West became more intense. The Jin Dynasty's continuous westward expansion greatly infringed on the interests of Rome and Persia.  Originally, the Romans wanted to win over the Arabs, but the issue of Jerusalem made cooperation between the two parties impossible.  Before the war broke out, in April of the 19th year of Hongwu, the Arabs, instigated by the Jin Dynasty, sent an envoy to Rome to meet with the Roman Emperor in Constantinople, demanding that the other side withdraw their troops from Jerusalem and Syria. The reason was that  It is said that these two places are the hometowns of Arabs.  Although their rule in the above two areas was already shaky, the Romans still refused the Arabs' demands. Everyone knew that refusal was tantamount to war.  Immediately, the Romans immediately issued a nationwide mobilization and notified their ally, the Persian Empire, to prepare for the enemy's invasion.  Although the Romans knew that their naval strength was not as good as that of the Jin Dynasty, they still concentrated all their maritime power, including one hundred and fifty gunboats and fifty transport ships.  At the same time, the Great Jin and the Arabs formed a combined fleet of 120 ships, the main force of which was the Third Fleet of the Great Jin, which was the Indian Ocean Fleet.  The commander of the combined fleet, Lin Feng, has strong leadership skills and considerable strategic vision. He believes that if the Jin Dynasty can gain control of the Mediterranean, it can strategically cut the Roman Empire into two parts. The Roman Empire's operations in Africa and Asia  The province will be separated from the European part.  On July 22, the 19th year of Hongwu's reign, Lin Feng ordered the Seventh Squadron to land in Limassol on the island of Cyprus and launched a probing attack on Nicosia (except for Famagusta, this was the first attack on the island).  two fortified towns).  On August 9, Nicosia was captured and the defenders were massacred.  Secondly, the coalition forces besieged the city of Famagusta, where there were 7,000 Roman defenders.  Due to the strong determination of the defenders to resist, they defeated many attacks by the Arab Army. The coalition forces had no choice but to retreat to Port Said.  in this stage.  There was a powerful Roman fleet, numbering more than 200 ships.  Concentrated in Chandia, Crete, but due to internal disagreements, no attack was launched against the Jin coalition.  Facing the menacing Jin coalition, the Romans concentrated their forces to resist. On the other hand, in order to enhance their own confidence, they announced their alliance with Persia.  This alliance is permanent, not just to deal with the Jin people.  Arabs will also be targeted.  The military strength of the alliance was set at 250 galleys, 100 other warships, 150,000 infantry, and 80,000 cavalry.  and lots of artillery.  When the Allied forces are ready, they head to the Mediterranean coastal area. When one side is attacked by the coalition forces, the other side has the obligation to assist in defense, and each side bears half of the war expenses.  All conquered territory shall be divided according to methods agreed upon in advance.  But the Suez Canal, Tunisia, and Tiberias were entirely reserved to Rome.  No country may conclude truce, peace, or alliance treaties with the Jin Empire and the Kingdom of Himuyel without the consent of both parties.  Despite these terms, conflicts still occurred between the two parties due to issues of interest.  Persia hopes to use the alliance to recapture Tocharo and the Transoxiana region, and at sea it only needs to block the Jin Empire in the eastern Mediterranean. There is no need for a decisive battle with the powerful combined fleet.  But Emperor Constantine wanted the Allied navy to take the initiative.  And completely destroyed all Jin's naval power in the Mediterranean.  It can be seen that although the Romans and Persians formed an alliance, there were huge differences in interests between them.  From the perspective of combat focus, the Romans obviously took maritime threats more seriously than land threats, but the Persians faced serious land threats.  Although there were differences between the Allied Powers, the naval power was dominated by the Romans after all, so the Romans' battle plan was finally adopted.  Emperor Constantine personally wrote to the generals on the front line, asking them to muster the courage to fight the Jin army at all costs.  In order to compete for the island of Cyprus, the forces of both the enemy and ours quickly concentrated in the surrounding waters. Lin Feng had nearly 200 ships of various types and 50,000 personnel under his command - 30,000 of them were Marine Corps and Arab Army, and 20,000 were Navy.  The strength of the naval fleet is as follows: ninety sailing battleships of all classes, fifty Fuchuan transport ships, and forty other small ships.  On September 10, the coalition held a combat meeting.  Some people advocated immediate attack, while others advocated delay.  But fleet commander Lin Feng had already made up his mind and advocated an attack.  So the dice were thrown - it was a fight to the death.  All objections were over, and then Lin Feng announced a swearing-in ceremony to encourage everyone to work hard in the name of the Great God.  On September 15, the main force of the fleet sailed from Port Said. Because Lin Feng had received accurate information and learned that the main force of the Allied fleet was concentrated on Crete, he decided to move forward immediately and try to lure the enemy into battle.  This decision is correctLin Feng believed that as long as the Roman navy was defeated, the Jin Dynasty would completely control the Mediterranean hegemony and be able to attack from all over the sea and attack the Roman hinterland, thus making Europe fall under the feet of the powerful conquerors of Asia.  On September 29, Lin Feng led the main fleet and headed straight for Crete. On the way, he encountered a small fleet. Through interrogation of the prisoners, it was found that a total of 200 warships were anchored there.  After learning the news, Lin Feng did not wait for the Seventh Squadron to come to join him. He led the other two squadrons towards Crete at full speed.  On September 27, the Allied fleet had concentrated on Crete.  At this time, the Allied generals held a combat meeting. According to the scout's report, the Romans had learned that the main force of the Jin's third fleet was heading here, so the meeting decided to attack the enemy.  Before dawn on October 6, lookouts on the flagship Hanwu Emperor spotted two ships heading northwest, followed by eight more ships, and then the entire Allied fleet.  .  Lin Feng immediately ordered a cannon to be fired and raised the coalition flag on the flagpole - this was the signal that the enemy had been discovered.  Amidst the sound of the cannons, all the captains cleared the surface of the ship and began to prepare for battle.  The main commanders all transferred to the flagship Hanwu Emperor in a small boat to listen to Lin Feng's final orders.  Some Arab generals still opposed engaging in battle, because fighting so far away from their bases would result in their entire army being annihilated if they failed.  But Lin Feng's determination had already been made. He said to the officers: "Everyone, the time for discussion has passed, and the time for battle has come." When the Allied fleet was preparing, the Allied fleet was also preparing at the same time.  The Romans arranged their ships into a giant crescent.  The light wind slowly pushed the two huge formations together. At 11 o'clock at noon, the two sides finally entered the firing range, and the artillery battle began.  Roman commander Antony did not take the initiative to advance. In the first Mediterranean naval battle, the Romans witnessed the powerful firepower of the Jin navy's well-trained "battle line" tactics. As a far-sighted naval commander, he also tried  Introducing the "line of battle" into the Roman fleet.  The artillery stations on both sides lasted for 3 hours. Because the wind was too weak, the Roman alliance fleet was never able to approach the Jin combined fleet.  Soon, the Allied vanguard fleet gradually approached the Allied vanguard. Lin Feng was afraid that the vanguard would be lost, so he immediately went to support it.  At this moment, the wind direction suddenly changed. Lin Feng's central army and the Allied vanguard took advantage of the wind and successfully surrounded the Allied vanguard squadron. At this point, the Allied forces had gained a huge advantage. The Romans in the rear saw that the situation was not good.  Lead the Chinese army to support as much as possible the vanguard detachment that is under artillery fire on both sides.  The fierce battle continued until dusk. One of the main Roman battleships exploded and another was sunk.  At noon the next day, the battle started again.  The two fleets sailed south side by side, with the combined fleet attacking first.  From the northwest, a huge front of more than 100 warships slowly pressed against the Allied fleet. What was even more unfavorable to the Romans was that the Seventh Squadron of the Jin Dynasty also joined the battle.  The battle lasted from noon to the afternoon. After the two fleets bombarded the sides many times, the Roman warships equipped with only light firepower and protection were gradually overwhelmed by the powerful Dajin warships. The battle line tactics effectively curbed the Romans in close combat.  The advantage of being flexible and maneuverable also prevented the Romans from using the superb technology of arson ships (arson ships are equivalent to modern lightning ships, manned by more than 10 people, fully loaded with gunpowder or flammable materials, and quickly rush to enemy ships,  Hook the side of the ship and set it on fire. As long as you are caught in the arson ship, you will basically be killed in one hit).  It can be seen from the results after the war that almost no intact Roman warships were captured, and they were all beaten to pieces by heavy artillery.  The battle lasted until dusk, and 11 Roman warships had been sunk, and the rest were seriously injured, with a total of more than 1,600 casualties.  At the same time, the captains once again reported depressing news: the gunpowder reserves were insufficient.  Even with all the disadvantages, the tenacious Romans still resisted for four hours. Antony had no hope of winning. He could only watch his own warships being sunk or captured one by one by the combined fleet.  .  In this battle, 11 main battleships of the Combined Fleet were sunk, nine were damaged, and the personnel loss was as high as 3,000.  However, the results were equally brilliant. Post-war statistics found that the combined fleet sank or damaged a total of 153 enemy ships, captured 30 enemy ships, and only a few dozen warships escaped.  In addition, the combined fleet killed approximately 11,000 Romans and Persians.  This battle can be said to have completely established the Jin navy's hegemony in the Mediterranean. After this battle, the Jin Dynasty advanced on land and water, and through the "leapfrog" tactic, successively occupied a large number of islands in the Mediterranean Sea, cutting off the Romans' maritime transportation lines.  Forcing the other side to divide their troops and garrison various ports to prevent the Jin navy from attacking!
Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report