Neither the British nor the French expected Xiao Lotian to be so domineering, and in the heart of Rear Admiral Jason, more than thirty battleships surrounded the Zhiyuan, which was a kind of protection and of course a kind of surveillance. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

He is well aware that in the naval tradition, most of the friction between the two navies during non-combat periods is done by ramming.

Ramming combat is a very traditional and effective method, and it will not cause war at a very low cost. I don't like you on the sea, both sides are emotionally tense, and it's normal for some collision accidents to occur.

When the French battleship appeared, Jason's biggest fear was a ramming event, so he had the British fleet surround the Zhiyuan in the middle.

In fact, the British intelligence network has long known the movements of the French, but they have not disclosed it to the Chinese, and in the hearts of Jason and others, there are at least three benefits for the French to make such a disturbance.

First, it can kill the prestige of the Chinese, so that the French can sing black face, and the British sing red face, which is a good deal.

The second is to make Xiao Letian realize the importance of the British fleet, let him know that protection is meaningful, and without the British military escort, you would have let the French die long ago.

The third is to do everything possible to probe the bottom line of the Chinese, see what kind of character this group of people is, and finally provide first-hand personality information to London politicians.

The abacus played so shrewdly, but unfortunately they never expected that Xiao Lotian would be so strong that he would fire directly.

The well-trained Chinese Navy took a total of fifteen minutes from the cruising state to the first level of combat readiness and then to the launch of live ammunition, which was already ultra-efficient at that time, because at that time human beings did not use electric power technology in the military at all, and all equipment was manual.

Jason was shocked by the efficiency of the Chinese, and the power of the 210 main gun shook the entire United Fleet.

The French never dreamed that the Zhiyuan would open fire without even a single threat, and when the thunder sounded in the distance, a huge explosion occurred in the tail of the ironclad paddle steamer at the front in just a few seconds.

Rumble...... The sound of the explosion shook the ocean, the shells grazed the stern building and exploded, countless fragments flew in the sea, nearly three square meters of armor were completely overturned, and the wooden shell inside?

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?? A hole was blown out of a meter in diameter.

Sawdust and shrapnel flew in the cabin, which was exactly where the sailors' room was, where more than a dozen French sailors were resting, caught off guard by the high-explosive air waves and shrapnel.

The vibration of the bomb also damaged the propeller transmission mechanism of the battleship, and the steam power in the boiler could no longer drive the propeller to rotate, and the power of the battleship immediately decreased.

Although this cannon was a little less accurate and did not concentrate on the vital parts, it also caused the lack of power of the French battleship, at least he could no longer follow the combined fleet.

"Hooray!" All the Chinese warships suddenly burst into jubilation, and the British also woke up in a brief shock, Rear Admiral Jason saw that the matter was too big and didn't care whether his subordinates could hear it or not, and directly stuck his head out of the window and shouted to the sea.

"Expelling the French fleet...... Surround them and let the large forces and the French dissociate...... There must be no war......"

After speaking, Jason stared at Xiao Letian and gritted his teeth word by word, "Your Excellency...... Do you want to shoot a second shot? Do you really want to make a difference on your way out?"

At this time, Xiao Lotian was relaxed, he shrugged his shoulders, "I just don't like these hanged ghosts to follow...... As long as they're not out of my sight, why should I waste shells?"

"Do you know how much that high-explosive shell costs? 21,000 silver coins!"

Jason almost had a crooked nose, but he also realized that this was a very strong person, and the responsibility of dealing with Xiao Letian should be handed over to the politicians in London.

Jason left the Zhiyuan, and the British fleet on the sea understood what was at stake, and six warships arriving from the Indian continent began to surround the French navy, and the ships were getting closer and closer to each other.

The British flag had a threatening connotation, and they ordered the French fleet to slow down and change direction immediately, and that shot really woke up the French, and they finally had to bow their heads after calculating the range of the artillery.

"Damn, that battleship's main guns have a much longer range than ours, we don't have a cheap advantage! Damn, slow down and prepare to rescue the flagship ......"

The fanatical French came to their senses, and the five battleships began to slow down, and the wounded sailors of the battleships immediately carried out repairs, but fortunately the battleship also had a mast and sails, and could return to port with the help of the sea wind.

But this feud can be regarded as settled, and the French captain roared angrily, "Go back to the port and send electricity to the mother country!" Chinese take the lead in firing at me, we have entered a state of war! This is a declaration of war, this is a declaration of war against France......

After a brief interlude, Rear Admiral Jason and the other commanders came to the Zhiyuan that night to continue eating, and at the banquet, the British officers expressed their concern.

"Honorable Führer, you are so irrational today, the first to fire a cannon will put you at a diplomatic disadvantage......"

"The Emperor must have thought you had declared war...... The naval tradition is like this, the two sides can be clashed with ships, or the sailors of both sides can fight on the pier, and this is all right, but the cannons can be fired!"

"Hey...... You're obviously justified, but this shot becomes unreasonable......"

Looking at the fake mercy of the British, Xiao Lotian wanted to laugh, but he still had to maintain face on diplomatic occasions: "Thank you, thank you for your concern, in fact, we will not be afraid of those French in a diplomatic lawsuit, after all, I also have evidence that France and Tsarist Russia have declared war on me!"

"Don't worry, it's really time for the negotiation process, and I don't know who will suffer...... Cheers, congratulations to the Queen!"

The British looked at each other and didn't know where Xiao Letian's confidence was, as long as he drank to change the topic, but in the internal meeting of the Chinese that night, Xiao Letian revealed his intentions.

"Now it doesn't matter whether there is a war or not, the purpose of our trip to Europe this time is to fight the French, and time is still very favorable for us......

"The shelling of the Indian Ocean could not be reported to the mother country until the French warships returned to port, and it took a month or two for the telegram to reach the French bureaucrats to discuss countermeasures......

"Even if Napoleon III wanted to fight me, there would have to be a period of diplomatic protest and negotiation, right? Months have passed, and I am afraid that by the time he has made up his mind to kill me with all his might, the time will be 1870!"

"Hahaha...... By then, the flames of war have already burned their French noses?

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Bottom, I still care if they declare war on me? Grandma......

As soon as Xiao Letian explained this, a group of foxes in the cabin understood, and they all laughed extremely insidiously.

"It's really high, this is not to fight in vain, and if you fight, you will fight in vain, anyway, there are British people who use us as meat shields...... Hahaha!"