Among the two all-steel battleships and two armored cruisers of the Ganyang City Coastal Defense Fleet, the slowest flagship, the Zhenhai, can also reach a speed of about 16.5 knots.

The Jinghai can drive to almost 19.5 knots at the fastest, and the two armored cruisers, the Pinghai and Anhai, can reach nearly 20 knots.

Therefore, in the process of pursuing the pirates, Song Limin could order the four warships to form a formation at a speed of 16 knots to launch a pursuit.

As for the Dawn, which could only sail to about 14.5 knots at the earliest, it was asked to follow behind the formation and help the four capital ships clean up the battlefield.

The ships on the pirate's side, including those old warships, were far worse than the four capital ships of the Ganyang City Coastal Defense Fleet, and they were quickly shortened by these four warships.

When the distance between the two sides was shortened, the 12 45-caliber 150-mm secondary guns on the Zhenhai and the 6 twin-mounted 45-caliber 230-mm secondary guns on the Jinghai.

There were also two twin 40-caliber 200-mm main guns and 6 40-caliber 150-mm secondary guns on the Pinghai and Anhai, which also launched artillery bombardments on the corsair.

Since the four pirates were divided into three units, the left, the middle and the right, the four capital ships of the Ganyang City coastal defense fleet never disbanded the formation.

Therefore, Song Limin put the target of his pursuit on the largest group of pirates in the middle, that is, these pirate ships under the command of Cui He, the living king of Yama.

Seeing that another gunboat was sunk, Hu Wei said helplessly to Cui He: "The big boss must disperse and escape, otherwise we will lose all our money today, and we will ......."

"And what?"

"The big boss, the maximum speed of the General and the Fierce General is only 12 knots, and the other party is chasing our two ironclad battleships, the General and the Fierce General want to escape today, I'm afraid it will be difficult."

Cui He's face was very ugly, in fact, Hu Wei didn't say it, he also knew in his heart that these two ironclad battleships that made him proud were almost impossible to escape today.

What made Cui He a little aggrieved was that the General and the Fierce General had flaws in their design, and when they fled, the main guns of the General and the Fierce General could not launch an artillery bombardment to the rear.

Relying only on the two 120-mm secondary guns in the stern of the ship to return fire on the pursuing enemy warships, it did not play a role in stopping the enemy at all.

Cui He gritted his teeth, lowered his voice and said, "Fourth, hurry up and transfer to the carrier pigeon with me, the carrier pigeon is fast."

Let the General and the Fierce General attract each other's firepower, and we will have a chance to escape. ”

Hu Wei's expression was a little gloomy, "Big boss, go quickly!" If I had gone with him, the brothers on the General might have raised the white flag at once.

Big boss, I'll try my best to help you lure these Zhou family's warships away. ”

When Cui He heard this, he said movingly: "Fourth, the truth is seen in adversity, I really didn't see the wrong person!" ”

Later, Cui He took a few cronies and got on a lifeboat of the General, and then was released to the sea.

Cui He and several of his cronies rowed their lifeboats and approached the pigeon light cruiser, which was the fastest ship under Cui He's command.

After Cui He left, the atmosphere in the bridge of the ironclad battleship General suddenly became very depressing, and a pirate leader said to Hu Wei unwillingly: "Four masters, let's go and divert a few of the other party's warships, isn't it equivalent to sending them to death?" ”

Hu Wei looked at several other pirate leaders in the bridge, sighed and said, "All brothers have been with me for many years, and in today's situation, the General can't escape."

Of course, I don't want to see my brothers die at the bottom of the sea with the General, and since the big boss is gone, let's turn off the boiler and raise the white flag! ”

As soon as Hu Wei's words fell, cheers immediately rang out in the bridge of the General.

Hu Wei looked at Cui He and the others on the lifeboat from the observation window of the bridge, and muttered to himself: "The big boss, it's not that I am not righteous, now there is only one way to die except surrender." ”

Receiving the light cruiser Pigeon, Cui He and several of his cronies finally climbed from the lifeboat onto the Pigeon.

Suddenly, a cronie exclaimed: "Big boss, look! The General has raised the white flag! ”

Cui He turned his head and looked, his face suddenly turned pale, "Hu Wei, you anti-bone boy, I trust you so much!" ”

Then another voice sounded, "Boss, I just said that Hu Wei is unreliable, and you still don't believe it."

When it's time for your life, it's really unreliable! ”

When Cui He heard this voice, his face became even more ugly, "Second brother, why are you here." ”

It turned out that it was the second-in-command Konodli under Cui He's hand, Konodli was a member of the Niu clan, and most of the warships in Cui He's hands were purchased from the Bull Empire through Konodli.

However, Knodley should not have been on the light cruiser Pigeon, who was the leader of the ironclad battleship Admiral.

Knodli said with some embarrassment: "Boss, the four warships of the Zhou family have been chasing the fierce general, so I will ......

Boss, not only I'm here, but the third is also here. ”

Cui He immediately saw that Zheng Wei, the third leader under him, was standing behind Knodley.

Zheng Wei is the leader of the armored cruiser Brave under Cui He's command, and when he saw Cui He's gaze sweeping towards him, Zheng Wei stumbled and said, "Big ...... Big brother, the speed of the Brave is only ...... It's only a little over 13 verses, so ...... So I ......."

Cui He gritted his teeth and said, "You all ran away, what about the Fierce General and the Brave?" ”

A cronie beside Cui He exclaimed at this time: "The big boss, the fierce general and the brave have also raised the white flag!" ”

Cui He suddenly felt a little black in front of him, and his body couldn't help shaking, if it weren't for the support of his cronies, maybe Cui He would have to fall on the deck.

Finished! It's all over!

Without the General, the Fierce General and the Brave to lead away the Zhou family's several warships, would he still be able to escape?

Early in the morning of 20 June, the high-spirited Zhou Rui and thousands of officers and men of the garrison brigade gathered at the wharf of the Ganyang Military Port to welcome the triumphant return of the coastal defense fleet.

At this moment, in addition to the five warships of the coastal defense fleet, there are two more ironclad battleships, an armored cruiser and a light cruiser on the sea in the distance.

The two ironclad battleships were the General and the Fierce General under Cui He, and the armored cruiser was the Brave under Cui He.

The last light cruiser under Cui He's command was not the carrier pigeon light cruiser that Cui He boarded, but the Purple Eagle.

In the process of escaping, the light cruiser Pigeon was hit by a 200-mm main gun shell from the armored cruiser Pinghai, which hit the ammunition compartment.

Cui He, as well as his second-in-command Knodley, third-in-command Zheng Wei, and more than 200 pirates on the carrier pigeon light cruiser, all perished at the bottom of the sea with the carrier pigeon.

After all nine warships docked, the entire wharf suddenly resounded with deafening cheers, followed by the officers and men of the coastal defense fleet on each warship.

Song Limin came to Zhou Rui with a large group of officers from the coastal defense fleet and gave Zhou Rui a military salute in a uniform manner.

Then Song Limin shouted loudly: "Report to the major general, our coastal defense fleet has sunk three pirate light cruisers, one iron-ribbed wood-hulled warship, three gunboats and three armed merchant ships in this battle!"

Capture two ironclad battleships, an armored cruiser, a light cruiser, and more than a thousand pirates!

The rest of the pirate's ships broke up and fled, and only four of our coastal defense fleet were slightly wounded, and no one was killed!

In addition, it has been confirmed that the great leader of the pirates, Cui He, the living king of Yama, has been buried in the sea with the ship! ”

Zhou Rui returned a military salute to the officers of the coastal defense fleet, and said loudly: "Hard work! Brothers have worked hard!

I have already approved 1,000,000 silver coins as a reward for this great victory of the coastal defense fleet.

As for how to distribute it, it is up to you to study and decide by yourself, Lao Song! ”

Knowing that Zhou Rui had allocated a reward of 1 million silver coins to the coastal defense fleet, the officers of the coastal defense fleet immediately smiled.

The coastal defense fleet now has a total of more than 3,000 people, and even if it is evenly distributed, one person can get more than 300 silver coins, not to mention that as officers, they will definitely share more.

And Zhou Rui was not distressed at all about the reward of 1 million silver coins for the coastal defense fleet, and even thought that it was too little, if it wasn't for Zhou Xiaorong to stop him, Zhou Rui originally planned to reward the coastal defense fleet with 5 million silver coins.

This time, the coastal defense fleet has helped Zhou Rui make a lot of money!