The emergence of ships made naval battles more flexible. If it were the days of sail warships in the past, even if Richelieu knew the tactics of surrounding points and ambushing around the world, it would not be possible to implement them because the speed of sail warships was too slow.

If you want to surround the enemy, you must at least know where the enemy's reinforcements came from, and you must also surround the enemy's reinforcements. If they are all sailing warships, it depends on luck. There is still some hope. If it is not smooth and not smooth, when the enemy situation is discovered, the enemy's fleet will probably run away long ago.

With a steamship, it is different. Whether it is smooth or not, the speed of the warship will not be affected. Generally speaking, as long as the ambush is in the right position, the enemy will never be able to escape.

Richelieu thought so and did the same. And now both the Spanish and Portuguese navies have been crippled by the joint fleet of the anti-Habsburg Alliance, which is enough to prove that the tactic he proposed is simply a stroke of magic.

When he heard that the fleet of the Ming Empire had entered the Mediterranean and headed straight for the Strait of Gibraltar, he showed a fox-like smile on his face, and the Ming Empire must have fallen this time.

As for the issue of the Ming Habsburg Alliance using its geographical advantages to attack southern France from the Mediterranean coast, he naturally thought that the French army was the strongest in the anti-Habsburg Alliance. In the past two years, he ordered people to build many bastions at dangerous checkpoints in the south. Even if the Ming Empire Army attacked with all its strength, it would not be better!

He thought that within half a month, the news of the Ming Empire fleet being surrounded and annihilated from the sea, but he was destined to be disappointed.

Zheng Chenggong's first stop on this trip was neither the Gold Coast of Africa nor North and South America, but the mouth of the Guadiana River at the junction of Spain and Portugal.

Here, the commercial city of the Ming Empire had long been built. A bridge spanned the two sides of the straits, and two railways connected east and west. The railway to the northwest leads to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, and the railway to the northeast leads to Madrid, Spain.

Railways, rivers and harbors converge together, and the transportation here is well connected. All kinds of goods transported from Africa or from North and South American colonies can be transported to the capitals of Spain and Portugal through here. Whether it is Ming merchants who come from the Eurasian Canal to do business with Spain and Portugal, or vendors who come from Spain and Portugal to go to the Far East to do business, they can be transferred from here. This place has long become a prosperous port city, and its prosperity is not less than that of Lisbon and Madrid.

Originally, there were always merchant ships here, and the cargo was piled up in mountains. However, for more than a month, it has been deserted and deserted. There were few merchant ships coming and going, and even most shops on the street have been closed.

Perhaps this is related to the fact that vendors from the Ming Empire and the vassal states under the Ming Empire were going back to celebrate the New Year, but the more important reason is that the sea routes to Africa and North and South America have been blocked by the Anti-Habsburg Alliance, and the goods from the colonies of Western and Portugal cannot pass at all, so it will naturally be depressed.

Zheng Chenggong was not surprised by the depression here. War originally meant destruction, and it was already good that it was not broken into scorched earth. As for doing business, let’s wait until the war is over.

All signs show that the strength of the anti-Habsburg Alliance's naval strength is probably comparable to that of the Ming Empire. The three fleets under him may not be able to do anything about the anti-Habsburg Alliance. Therefore, he made preparations for a long-term battle. After coming here, he did nothing, but brought Huang Long, Zheng Zhihu, Cao Wenzhao and two senior generals, Shivera and Okundo, to go around, inspecting the terrain, and preparing to build a fort and a prism.

After a few days of investigation, Zheng Chenggong demarcated three areas beside the mountains and seas, asking Schvira and Okundo to inform local officials to move all the local civilians away. Then, ships of Ming soldiers were transported over and camped on the nearby coast. Then, ships of reinforced concrete were transported over, and ports, docks, bastions and forts were slowly formed.

The Ming army once again showed their terrifying construction speed. In less than half a month, the Guadiana River Iron Triangle Defense Line, which left a rich and colorful record in the history books, was formed. In the end, thousands of artillery were loaded with bastions and turrets, and a steel defense line was finally completed.

Everything was ready. After Zheng Chenggong convened the generals of the navy and army to convene the last combat meeting, he then led three fleets to set off. The combined fleet targeted the Gold Coast. He wanted to use his body as bait to lure out all the hidden strength of the anti-Habsburg Alliance.

On the vast sea, the Ming army's joint fleet was moving forward slowly. The formation that Zheng Chenggong arranged was very strange. The four treasure ships were not lined up in front of the entire fleet, nor in the middle, but followed the last. Although the super battleships were lined up in combat queues, the horizontal distance between the queues was very wide, which could be said to be loose. If the enemy concentrated their troops to break through the middle, it would be easy to divide the entire fleet into two or even split into many small pieces.

This formation looks extremely spectacular, but in the eyes of generals with a little experience in naval combat, the commander who ranks this formation is simply a fool who doesn't understand naval combat. If you rank like this, isn't you seeking death? Not to mention fighting, command will be a problem, because it is too loose, and the flagship will not be able to command all the warships at all. At that time, the fight will not be a mess!

When the reconnaissance ship hidden behind a nearby deserted island passed the news to General Fan Mendi, the coalition commander in the rear, Fan Mendi was shocked and almost dropped his chin. The six hundred super battleships were actually lined up more than a hundred miles wide. The commander of the Ming army was not sick!

Regardless of whether the Ming army commander was sick or not, he ordered all ambush fleets to enter the designated position. Once the Ming army fleet entered the encirclement, they immediately surrounded and annihilated it. After waiting for more than half a month, the Ming army finally took the bait. How could Fan Mendi let them go?

Fan Mendi's resentment towards the Ming Navy was simply too much to wash away the Atlantic waters. He was defeated twice in a row at the hands of the Ming army. He was captured for the first time, and the second time he was beaten to almost annihilation and fled in panic. If there weren't too few senior generals who had experienced the command of large-scale naval battles, he would have been destroyed in the hands of the Ming Empire in his life.

The Ming Empire was finally going to fall into his hands this time, and it seemed that he had sent a sick commander. He seemed to have seen the scene of him leading the joint fleet to annihilate the main force of the Ming Empire's naval force, avenge his previous shame, and return triumphantly.

OK, the more sick the commander of the Ming Empire, the better. It is better to be an idiot!

Zheng Chenggong is naturally not sick in placing a formation like this. If the enemy does not lie in ambush, it doesn’t matter how he lie in it. If the enemy has ambush, then, hehe.
Chapter completed!