In the early morning of the next day, Wen Fu set off with his all-ready fleet, and the first target was Vung Tau.

Vung Tau was the only entrance to Jiaqing, and if it was occupied and jammed, the French expeditionary force that invaded Annam from the sea and arrived at Jiaqing by warship would have to fend for itself by land on two legs.

And the possible way to survive on land is to another seaport to the west, where Pan Che and Mai Ke are waiting for them with the main expeditionary force, afraid that the fish will not be baited.

Once those invaders who claim to dominate the sea lose their support from the sea, they will not be able to take advantage of the Huahan Expeditionary Force, which is good at land warfare, or even the Annan Army, on land.

Wenfu's current fleet is equipped with ships that have been specially selected by Mai Ke and then specially transformed. At present, it is possible to reach an average speed of 13 knots per hour, with each section being about two kilometers. So Wenfu's fleet can travel about twenty-five kilometers per hour.

At this rate, you can rush to Vung Tau before noon and complete the campaign deployment against the enemy.

Although it may not seem like a high speed, it was already the highest speed on the water at that time. Compared to other warships, it is at least three to four kilometers faster than an hour.

The speed difference in normal navigation is still a trivial matter, and the most important thing is the maximum speed, that is, how much speed can be increased in a pinch. Wenfu's fleet can reach a maximum speed of 30 kilometers per hour, while the best level of other ships is 245 kilometers.

This gap is not insignificant! Not to mention that the difference is so much, it is a difference of one kilometer, or even half a kilometer. It is also the difference between life and death.

If you imagine that when your opponent fights against you, whether it is attacking or retreating, he is faster than you, and when you meet him, you can't catch up with the attack, and you can't run away, what is it like?

As for Mai Ke's understanding of French warships, most of their warships are still sail battleships. Compared with Wenfu's ironclad ship, there is a difference of ten years in terms of technique.

At about ten o'clock in the morning, the fleet was already approaching its destination, and if it went on like this, it would be another hour of sailing.

"Report Brother Wen. The front was found in the fleet. We don't know who we are!" a soldier standing on the highest watchtower gave an update.

"Continue to observe! Count the number and type of ships that have come in! Identify friend and foe as soon as possible!" Wen Fu immediately issued an instruction.

"It's a French warship!" reported the lookout after a while.

"There were a hundred sail battleships, twenty ironclads, and four larger than the ironclads. The type of ship is unknown. One of them is a flagship. ”

"Keep watching. Measure the speed and displacement of enemy ships!"

"Determine the main artillery fire configuration of the enemy ship!"

One by one, the orders were conveyed, and the situation of the enemy ships was gradually collected. Wen Fu is also prepared accordingly.

All things considered, this is an evenly matched opponent. The sail battleships and ironclads of the enemy ships were all expected. The variables are in those unknown ship types.

Judging by the fact that the enemy has placed the flagship on this ship type, this is a more advanced ship type, which requires special vigilance.

As the enemy ships got closer and closer, Wen Fu ordered the fleet to spread out the battle formation and directly meet them.

This is an endless open sea, and unlike the water battle on the inland rivers and lakes, there is not much room for the use of formation tactics, and it is basically a contest of strength. If the strength is superior, as long as you don't make fatal mistakes, it is basically who is the strongest and who wins.

According to this characteristic, when building this future maritime domination fleet, Mai Ke is committed to building and improving its strength. Only on the basis of his strong strength did Wen Fu demonstrate his superb command art and tactical operation.

Wenfu's fleet, which is the main battle fleet that attacked today, has a total of one hundred and eight ships, all of which are ironclad ships!

The ironclad was a generation more advanced than the sail battleship, and its main advantage was that it could resist the attack of blasting shells. Sail battleships, on the other hand, were easily torn to shreds by blasting shells.

If the ironclad of the ironclad equips the warship with a strong shield and makes the warship a shield, then the battlegun that uses the blasting shell is the sharp spear of the warship.

Now Wenfu's fleet is this kind of fleet with both a strong shield and a sharp spear, leading the powers as a whole.

In addition to the sharpness of the shield, speed and displacement are two other key factors. In addition to being four or five kilometers per hour faster, that is, two knots, the displacement of a single warship, that is, the tonnage, is unmatched.

Wenfu's formation today is very simple, that is, a long snake formation lined up horizontally, which has already taken shape when there is still a waterway away from the enemy.

"Speed!" Wen Fu commanded.

The flag bearer quickly communicated the order to all warships in the language of the flag.

A loud "boom......" was heard, and the entire fleet increased its speed, and one hundred and eight warships swept away towards the enemy ships like fiery horses.

"Test firing!"

The guns were fired separately by the ships responsible for this task. I saw three blasting shells hit the enemy ship at once, one missed, and fell directly into the water, and the other hit the ironclad ship without causing any damage.

The other shot hit a sail battleship directly, tearing a large hole in it all at once, and sawdust flew all over the sky. It turned out that the main material of such ships was wood, and there was no iron armor to protect them.

The soldiers in charge of the calculations quickly came up with corrected data based on the results of the test firing, and then the order was given for full fire. In an instant, 10,000 cannons were fired, and groups of blasting bullets covered the enemy ship with black pressure!

The first round of artillery fire disrupted the formation of the enemy ships, and twenty-five sail ships were directly sunk, and at least the same number of ships of the same type were damaged.

This was followed by a second round of artillery fire, and half of the enemy's sails were completely gone.

Only then did the enemy ships begin to return fire, and they also used explosive shells. However, hitting Wenfu's ironclad ship, it basically did no damage.

After four rounds of artillery fire, all the sail battleships of the French fleet were destroyed, which announced the vulnerability of this outdated ship in the face of the new warships, and even the qualification to accompany the prince to study.

One of the immediate effects of this example was that all those who claimed to be the great powers of the seas were ashamed that their fleets still had sail battleships!

And every time this battle is mentioned, Wen Fu's name is inevitably mentioned and given a different name. There is one name that is used more frequently: Sail Terminator.

Do people still use sail battleships? Yes! It's those countries that think they are the last or the worst!

The French fleet, which had knocked out all the sail battleships, did not give in, but drove the remaining warships to the highest speed, which had reached fourteen knots.

They shook off their broken tails, but instead appeared much more flexible, and still rushed towards the Wenfu fleet! (To be continued......)