Chapter 789: Maneuvers in the Mediterranean

Chapter 790: Circumstances in the Mediterranean

Demobin suddenly frowned.

Before he invaded Genoa, a group of reckless young men burned the grain warehouses, which prevented him from getting any food supplies from the city.

According to the order of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he must stay in Genoa for two months. But for more than 20 days, food was still not available.

In the past month, under the fierce attack of 50,000 enemy troops, his troops suffered very serious casualties. If there is another shortage of rations, the soldiers may collapse immediately...

The ground trembled again. Juno pushed the door open and said anxiously: "Commander, the enemy has launched a large-scale attack from the north!"

Demobin hurriedly grabbed his hat and put it on his head, strode his 60-year-old legs and rushed towards the northern front line. After running a few steps, he turned back and shouted to his staff: "If a ship docks in the port, immediately Report to me!"

"Yes, General!"

Juno helped Demobin get the war horse, and said with some frustration: "There are British warships outside the port, and it is impossible for our ship to come in..."

With the support of his attendants, Demobin struggled to get on his horse and panted: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince promised me that there would be supplies, so the supplies would definitely be delivered.

"What we have to do now is to repel the damn Austrians and defend this place!"

As he spoke, he waved his riding crop and ran through the dust to the high ground where he could easily observe.

He took the telescope handed by the attendant, but first subconsciously looked at the port behind him, thinking silently in his heart: "God bless me, let me see the transport ship soon..."

…

Ten days ago.

Northeastern Mediterranean Sea, Ligurian Sea near Genoa.

In the officer's room of HMS Victory, the flagship of the British Mediterranean Fleet, Lord Hood was flipping through a book of voyages with yellowed pages and took a sip from his teacup from time to time.

There was a knock on the cabin door, and Major General Collingwood's voice came from outside: "Sir Commander, the 'Old Silver Coin' just returned to report that there was a strange movement in the French fleet in Toulon Port."

Lord Hood's eyes suddenly glowed, he stood up, put on his coat, and said loudly: "Call all captains and senior officers to the conference room."

"Yes, General!"

Twenty minutes later, in the conference room of the "Victory", Hood pointed to the waterway between Toulon and Genoa on the map: "Colonel Nelson, order you to command the frigate fleet and closely monitor this waterway. Never miss any ship. French ship."

"Yes, General!"

Logically speaking, an officer of Nelson's level would never be in charge of a frigate formation - usually a lieutenant colonel is enough to command seven or eight frigates - but the core of this raid on the French fleet is to find their whereabouts, and Hood will never allow it. After a mistake, Nelson was sent to supervise it personally.

Hood looked at the staff officer aside: "Get in touch with General Hotham's squadron immediately and ask him to be ready for battle at any time.

"He will hold back the main force of the Toulon fleet for at least half a day."

Hotham was currently commanding a squadron including 4 third-level ships, 5 fourth-level ships, 5 fifth-level battleships, and 16 frigates to perform blockade missions on the waterway outside the port of Genoa.

Although this squadron is far less large than France's Toulon fleet, that is, the Mediterranean fleet, Lord Hood believes that with Hotham's command ability and the skilled ship-handling skills of the British sailors, it is enough to hold off the French for six years. Seven hours.

And his main fleet is hidden 60 nautical miles southeast of Genoa.

Here, supplies can be obtained from the ports of Tuscany at any time, and they can arrive in Genoa to join the war within half a day.

As long as the Toulon fleet dares to show up, he will definitely be able to annihilate them all this time!

The French might have felt that going to Genoa was risky, but Hood knew that they had to go to Genoa even if they took the risk.

Because nearly 30,000 French troops are being surrounded there, if they cannot obtain logistical supplies from the sea, then this army will have only two outcomes: surrender or starve to death.

It happened that Hood had decided to lift the blockade of Toulon and lure the French fleet out of the port so that he could destroy them, and then he encountered the opportunity of the siege of Genoa.

The battle in Genoa has been going on for nearly a month now, and the French finally can't sit still!

Soon, as Hood's order was conveyed, all the warships of the British Mediterranean Fleet were gearing up and entering a state of combat readiness.

After more than half a day, a British galley sailed quickly to the side of the "Victory", and the second officer sent the latest information to the conference room.

"The French fleet is heading southwest?" Lord Hood looked at the officers of the frigate with a puzzled look on his face, "Did you really see it clearly?"

"Yes, General!" the second officer stood at attention and said, "The 'Shark' is still following them. There are a total of 16 main battleships, 20 secondary battleships, and a large number of frigates."

Hood suddenly frowned.

This size is definitely the main force of the Toulon fleet, but they did not go to Genoa.

There is no mistake, every song is released and the content is read one by one!

Rear Admiral Collingwood on the side thought: "General, maybe the French want to join the Spanish fleet and then head to Genoa together?"

Hood nodded slightly: "This is the only possibility."

He looked at the fleet's real-time position map on the wall and ordered the staff: "Let Colonel Louis's squadron go to Valencia Bay immediately to search. If they find any trace of the French, try to interfere with them and report to me immediately."

Louis commanded an escort squadron.

Because French frigates had attacked British merchant ships everywhere before, the size of this escort fleet was not small, equipped with two third-level battleships.

Currently, this squadron is on the west side of the Barbary Sea, only half a day's sailing away from Valencia Bay.

Hood then looked at the officers in front of him and said loudly: "Order all warships to weigh anchor immediately, we will go to Valencia.

"If the French and Spanish fleets really meet, we can save some trouble. This time we will destroy them together! "

He had enough confidence to say this, because even if the French and Spanish fleets were added together, they were only 80% of the size of the British fleet. And Hood also had part of the Dutch fleet.

Twenty minutes later, hundreds of warships of the British Mediterranean Fleet sailed towards the west of the Mediterranean.

The next day at noon.

Just as Hood was proudly discussing with several senior officers how to defeat the French and Spanish fleets at the lowest cost, the "Longtooth Shark" frigate sent the latest movement of the Toulon fleet.

In the commander's cabin of the "Victory", the captain of the frigate stood straight and said: "General, the French turned south on the east side of the Gulf of Lion and should be very close to the north side of the Barbary Sea. "

Hood felt a surge of anger and said in a deep voice: "What do the French want to do? Going on vacation in North Africa? "

Nelson, who had just arrived, read the report of the "Longtooth Shark" - because the Toulon fleet did not go to Genoa, his patrol mission was also cancelled - and said to Lord Hood: "General, no matter what the French plan, as long as we always stay to their north, we can block their route to Genoa."