People are the key to determining the outcome of a war, but "manpower is sometimes poor", and it often depends on the level of equipment. The seven provincial battleships represent the highest level of European battleships today, but the comprehensive combat effectiveness of this type of battleship is roughly the same as that of the Taiwan-class, and can barely enter the United States battle line.

The seven provincial level does have eighty cannons that exceed the auspicious beast level, but so what? Among these eighty cannons, the only ones that can break the defense against the auspicious beast level are the twelve-pound or more cannons on the lower and middle-level artillery decks, that is, fifty-eight. In terms of defense, the difference between the two sides is even greater. You must know that the seven provincial level is less than two thousand tons, and the defense area is wider than that of the auspicious beast level. Moreover, the way it is built is still an oval rib material, which only extends to the middle-level deck, and there is a stacked structure upwards.

Moreover, the spliced ​​masts used by the seven provincial level are relatively simple, with the masts being nearly one-seventh shorter than the auspicious beast level, resulting in a sail area of ​​one-sixth less. The ship types of the seven provincial level are still relatively backward, and the fastest speed is just slightly more than ten knots.

The same is true for the seven provincial levels, and the other members of the European Combined Fleet are naturally not worth mentioning. In addition to the seven provincial levels, the main battleships in the Dutch fleet are the 1,200-ton battleships and the 1,500-ton Orange Lion-class armed transport ships. The ship type is still unified, and the Spanish battleships are second only to the Dutch fleet. The displacement is between 1,000 to 1,300 tons, and the ship type is Galen ships. France and Denmark are all armed transport ships, or armed transport ships converted from retired and semi-deferred warships. The large displacement is more than 2,000 tons and the smallest is only 800 tons. It took Druittel a year to train such a mixed fleet to this point, but it is limited to this.

On the Golden Lion, Druittel returned to the cabin and sat there with frown. He came to Orangeburg with an ambitious attitude and took over a fleet that was no less than the Dutch Navy to expedition the east. However, as time went by, Druittel's mood became more and more complicated, because his understanding of his opponents became deeper and deeper, especially those uniform and powerful battleships, which made Druittel's deep feeling weak. Now there are two points that support the fighting will.

The Netherlands cannot lose this battle.

There was no better naval general in the entire Republic than him.

Bang bang bang bang!

The hull of the Golden Lion began to vibrate. It was the gunner on the artillery deck that was training artillery skills. The bombardment level was very high, but Druittel didn't feel that it really had any decisive effect.

Amid the chaotic shelling, Druitel was thinking, and suddenly a noisy sound came from the ship. Druitel rose up and walked into the command room with a sword in his hand. His fleet would never allow noisy and undisciplined things. When he entered the command room, Druitel found that the officers were opening the blinds and looking towards the mainland.

"Your Excellency, something happened in Orangeburg." Djott quickly reported.

Druittel opened his telescope and looked towards Orangeburg. Above the two-story five-angle castle, streams of white smoke kept rising. Twenty-four pound cannons were being bombarded, while larger smoke appeared on the ground, surrounding Orangeburg, the residential areas around the fortress, and citizens fled in panic.

"It must be the Chinese in Cape Town who launched the attack, otherwise there wouldn't be such a big deal." Djott stayed in South Africa for a longer time. In fact, he was a pioneer of the East India Company's development of Africa and was very familiar with Chinese people in South Africa.

"If you pass the order, every three ships are one unit, gather the army soldiers on the ship onto one ship, let the army land first, and arm the sailors, we must first protect the port facilities!" Druittel ordered loudly.

In an hour, more than ten faster warships galloped towards Orange Port, and the Golden Lion where Druitel was located was also among them. Under Druitel's command, half of the soldiers on the ships took a small boat on the beach in the north, and the ships they personally led went directly to the port to land.

But things were not as bad as Druittel imagined. When he appeared at the port with a flintlock rifle in his hand, the besiegers had already left, but Orange Fort was still in chaos. The citizens were extinguishing the fire under the organization of soldiers. Druittel still ordered the soldiers to land, control the entire port, and came to the inside of Orange Fort.

The South African Governor of the East India Company, Camilla, was discussing something with a group of young officers. When he saw Druitel, he quickly stood up. Druitel waved his hand: "Tell me first, what happened."

Using the map, Camilla introduced that Orangeburg was encountered a sudden attack from the United States, but Orangeburg was in a state of combat readiness and had sufficient firepower. He defeated the attacking cavalry with long-distance artillery. According to Camilla's judgment, this attack was not about capturing Orangeburg, but about attacking the fleet. Outside the city, the soldiers seized a lot of grenades and arson devices.

Camilla guessed well that the purpose of the cavalry was the warships in the port, but he didn't know that the fleet was training outside the sea, so he turned to burn the port facilities. Once the target changed, the attack became chaotic, and was dispersed by the volleys of the Dutch artillery and flintlock spearmen, and then retreated.

"It's such a hasty battle. Something must have happened, otherwise our opponent would suddenly launch an attack." Djot said immediately.

Unlike the secret development of Adelaide, Orangeburg has faced competition from the United States from the beginning. Djott and Zhou Zeyu competed with wits and courage on this land. Djott knew very well what kind of person Zhou Zeyu was. That guy usually didn't take action, and it was absolutely impossible to attack Orange Port so rashly.

After the establishment of Orangeburg, the South African colonies continued to use various means to destroy them. Similarly, the East India Company would do their best. The battle between the two sides never ended, but as the Dutch and Spanish fleets evacuated here, the struggle between Cape Town and Orange came to an abrupt end. The reason was very simple. The United States and the Netherlands East India Company were tense, and any conflict would trigger a full-scale war. If a war broke out when it was not suitable, the person who detonated the powder keg would definitely be responsible.

"Admiral, I think Cape Town should have received orders from China." Camilla said seriously.

"I think so too, but something big has happened, otherwise China would not provoke a war on its own initiative." Djott guessed that his eyes suddenly widened and said, "Admiral, no matter what happened, we should set off and rush to the Eastern battlefield immediately!"

"Say your reasons, Djott." Druittel said.

"Orangeburg is already a dead end. If we don't want to return to our country or the Caribbean, we can only move forward. In Africa, we are no match for the United States, especially in South Africa." Djot said without hesitation.

Although Orangeburg is a demonstration area for Governor Matt Solco's principle of "reciprocal development", Orangeburg has never achieved equal status with Cape Town. The Dutch East India Company is a strong and the leader of the colonial company, but it is completely incomparable to the United States.

In eight years of development, Orangeburg had only 20,000 residents, and the members of the joint fleet were only 35,000. However, Cape Town was only four years earlier than Orangeburg. However, the United States has always encouraged immigration to South Africa. Today, the South African colonies have 100,000 citizens. If quasi-nationals, European immigrants, long-lived merchants, and legal indigenous people, South Africa has more than 130,000 free people. Cape Town has long developed into a big city of 50,000, but South Africa is not only free people. This free port has a much looser policy than U.S. colonies, with more than 100,000 registered slaves alone.

When the Joint Fleet was withdrawing to Orangeburg, Matt Solco also planned to completely take over Cape Town with the help of this force, but was rejected by all officials, including the Governor of South Africa, because the South African colonies not only had a developed economy and a large population, but also had a professional army, which was the South African brigade.

The South African brigade is a mixed brigade, that is, a Class A unit. Although it is different from those in the mainland battlefield, the cavalry of the South African brigade is over-organized. The three thousand cavalry alone exceeds all Class A divisions, with more than 8,000 people in the entire brigade, plus a reserve force of nearly 10,000. Such a main force is rampant in South Africa. What Druittel didn't know is that the African infantry brigade organized by the African Colonial Company in accordance with the military expansion bill has also gone south to South Africa to participate in the South Africa battle.

Several people were discussing, and two young officers rushed in. They were in a very embarrassing manner and reported a desperate news to everyone that the towns of Udrecht and Ruermond had fallen.

Orangeburg is just the capital of the Dutch colonies in South Africa. There are several towns scattered around the city, especially the upper reaches of the river. Utrecht is located in the upper reaches and is a small town dominated by plantations, mainly providing Orange with wheat and other staple food, while Ruhrmond is an industrial and mining town where the Dutch discovered diamond mines.

These two towns also had construction and castles, but they did not hold on in front of the heavy artillery of the United States. They lost the protection of the two towns, and Orangeburg was in danger.

"Your Excellency, the fleet must leave. Although we have repelled the enemy's attacks, this is just God's blessing. The Chinese have declared war on us. The next step is to strengthen the walls and clear the fields, and then the army advances. We cannot guarantee that the Chinese rockets and molten bullets will not fall in the shipyards, ports and anchorages. If the fleet is damaged, everything will be over." Djot suggested.

Druittel nodded slightly, but Camilla said: "Oh, what should I do if the Joint Fleet leaves Orangeburg? With the strength of the fleet in this area, there is no guarantee of transportation with the local area."

"I'm sorry, my friend, my mission is to go to the East to defeat the Chinese fleet. Orangeburg, Orangeburg, please give me all of you." Druittel said.

In Orangeburg, although Camilla is the governor, everything still needs to be heard of Druidtel. Druidtel knew that Orangeburg was a place of right and wrong, and not only had to leave, but also as soon as possible. He knew more clearly that the fall of a fortress had nothing to do with the overall situation. Victory of the naval battle was everything. If the United Fleet won, there would be as many ports as you want. If the United Fleet failed, Orangeburg would definitely not be able to save it.

Djott entered the fleet with the order of Druittel, not only letting all the sailors get on board, but also processing Orange Fort's combat-ready food into storage-resistant dry food to be transported on board. Even the gunpowder depot of the fortress was emptied by the Joint Fleet for most of the time. In three days, the Joint Fleet was prepared. When the cavalry of the South African Mixed Brigade escorted the rockets outside the port, the sail shadow of the Joint Fleet had disappeared on the horizontal line.

Seeing the joint fleet leaving, Zhou Zeyu couldn't help but feel sad. The attack three days ago was really hasty, but he couldn't blame him. He received the news from the notification ship six days ago. The base camp had declared war on the Netherlands and asked in advance that the South African colonies could launch an attack without declaring war. The focus was on severely damaging the joint fleet, but there was a problem with the notification ship that conveyed the message.

The notice ship rushed to South Africa a month before the declaration of war. When he arrived, the two countries had already declared war, but Orangeburg certainly did not know. However, the notice ship was severely damaged by wind and waves when it crossed the westerly belt. It took more than 40 days to repair it on an unmanned coast before it arrived in Cape Town. Obviously, Zhou Zeyu could no longer guarantee that Orangeburg would not know the news of the war. The joint fleet fled and had to launch a rush to attack without preparation, but it failed.

The Combined Fleet departed from Orangeburg and headed south along the African coastline. When passing Cape Town, it bombarded the Cape Town Port with heavy artillery, but the turrets at the port were also not to be outdone. The two sides fought for a day, and the Combined Fleet finally chose to continue moving south. When the westerly wind belt was confronted with the strong winds and waves, Druittel kept thinking about what happened, which made the Chinese commanders in South Africa lose their power, but they thought about it and deduced it carefully without any clue.

Djott conjectures that there might be huge changes in the mainland battlefield, and it is very likely that the allies Tatars won a great victory. The United States was seriously injured and forced to retreat overseas. However, Djott believed that in just one year, the Tatars could not achieve such results. At least one and a half months ago, the information brought by the notification ship was that the Qing army had just launched an autumn offensive.
Chapter completed!