At the same time, Baron François also gave the order: "The horizontal team approaches each other. Now the wind is in our favor. But I think they could change direction at any time. The fleets took care to receive orders. ”

The fleets of the two sides got closer and closer, and Wu Yizhou said after careful consideration: "The wind direction is southerly easterly, which is not good for us. Now change into two columns and turn 45 degrees to the right. ”

Upon receiving the order, the fleet quickly changed from horizontal to column, and began to sail westward, intending to seize the flank of the Combined Fleet. When Baron François saw the other side change formation, he immediately ordered: "Change the horizontal team to a column, the original course has not changed, and accelerate forward." ”

Baron François handled it very skillfully. It itself occupies the upwind and the speed of the boat is relatively fast. If Wu Yizhou continued to sail according to the current course, he would cut to the tail of Wu Yizhou's fleet. At that time, the combined fleet will continue to have the upper hand, and everything Wu Yizhou has done will become useless.

Wu Yizhou drew on the chart and immediately guessed the plan of the combined fleet. couldn't help but say: "The commander on the other side is very good!" But I'm also very good! Ordered the fleet to turn, 15 degrees south in the direction. ”

In this way, the fleets of both sides went around in two circles at sea. As a result, both sides found that the other was indeed a good opponent in naval warfare. There's no point in going around in circles. So the fleets of both sides began to approach in unison.

Both sides were heading due west and north at this time, just downwind. At this time, both sides had the intention of engagement, and it was unnecessary for the ship to be too fast. Wu Yizhou's fleet took the lead in lowering the sails and slowing down, and slowly approached the other side. Not to be outdone, the Combined Fleet also ordered the fleet to lower its sails and slow down, putting on a posture of starting a war.

The fleets of both sides got closer and closer. When the two fleets approached about 800 meters, the combined fleet was the first to open fire. Suddenly the rumbling sound of cannon rang out on the sea!

As the smoke of gunpowder rose, dense shells flew out of the muzzles and shot at Wu Yizhou's fleet. However, the first round of shells was missed. It just stirred up a column of water in the sea.

Baron François was not impressed. He carefully observed the landing point of the shell and said: "The boys have a good fight!" ”

Judging by the landing point of the shells, the joint

The gunners of the fleet are really good. The shells basically fell within a distance of a few tens of meters close to Wu Yizhou's fleet. Judging from the existing landing points, the second round of fire will have shells on the opposing ship.

However, to Baron François's surprise, the speed at which the opposing fleet approached seemed to be a bit fast.

Generally speaking, naval battles at this time are not in a hurry to get close to each other. Instead, they tend to shoot at each other for a while and then get closer. After a while, they will shoot at a relatively close distance.

This is due to the fact that both sides are pinning their hopes on being the first to wound their opponents with artillery. At the same time, shooting closer can also familiarize your soldiers with estimating distances. After all, the artillery at this time did not have ranging and sighting devices, and it all depended on the personal experience of the gunner.

When Baron François found out about the problem, one of the officers scoffed and said, "These pirates shouldn't have come close at such a speed?" Do you want to engage us in a broadside battle? It seems that they have not yet learned to use our cannons! ”

An officer sneered and said, "Since this is the case, let's just keep a certain distance from them and use artillery to destroy them!" ”

Baron François waved his hand and said, "Not at all! We're just going to keep the course and speed we're going to keep them coming over. By the time they approached us, it happened that our gunners were used to shooting. When the time comes, it will be more accurate. ”

In fact, none of them saw through Wu Yizhou's plans. Wu Yizhou's plan is very risky, but once it succeeds, the results will be very large.

His plan is to take advantage of the asymmetry of information, with the help of the opponent without knowing that he has a large killer weapon such as short bombardment cannons and flowering shells, to approach the opponent, and to bombard the opponent fiercely at close range, completely defeating the opponent in a short time.

The adventure of this tactic lies in the fact that when you keep getting close to the opponent, your fleet will be continuously attacked by the opponent, and the losses will be relatively large. However, Wu Yizhou still has confidence in his ship. After all, these ships are all new, and the longest time they have been in the water is only a few years.

At this time, the second round of artillery of the combined fleet fired. Because the distance is relatively long, the gunners can be more calm

Aim and shoot. So the landing point of this round of shells is much more accurate. Quite a few warships were hit by shells.

Even Wu Yizhou's ship was hit by a shell on the side of the ship, making a dull thud. However, the ship's plank withstood the shot and catapulted the shell into the sea. Wu Yizhou immediately said: "Unrelated personnel get off the cabin, and the sailman raises the sails and accelerates to get closer to the other party." ”

At this time, if you look at it from God's point of view, the combined fleet is like two parallel lines, constantly stretching into the distance. And Wu Yizhou's fleet is two diagonal lines, constantly approaching the other two parallel lines! The moment when they are close to intersecting is the moment when the great war breaks out.

As the distance approached, the artillery fire of the combined fleet became more and more accurate. They are like two fiery dragons spraying inflammation and fire! And Wu Yizhou's fleet was like two speeding iron arrows, silently shooting at the opponent.

This silence contains an infinite murderous aura. Even the look on Baron François' face changed somewhat. And not far away, on the three English fleets with white flags, Colonel Clark sensed that something was wrong.

He shouted, "Speed up!" Something must be happening! ”

Just as the English fleet was slowly accelerating, the fleets of the two sides were already approaching a distance of one hundred and fifty or sixty meters. The combined fleet has already begun preparations for the replacement of shells. In the next round of shooting, they will fire shotguns and chain shells at the opponent's ship.

Wu Yizhou, who was in the cabin, had been calculating the distance between the two sides and estimating the time of the other side's shelling. It was he who shouted, "Turn! Stay parallel to your opponents! ”

The flotilla turned in time and turned its own side towards the combined fleet. At this time, four parallel lines appeared on the surface of the sea.

Wu Yizhou's fleet quickly turned around, causing most of the shotguns and chain bombs fired by the combined fleet to lose most of their functions. After all, shotguns and chain bombs are mainly aimed at people on deck and sails. Now after the two fleets remained parallel, the sails remained only to the sides, the targets were very small, and most of the chain bombs were empty. Even if a small number of chain bombs cut through one or two sails, it would not have much impact.

Moreover, the sailors on deck had the protection of the ship's side, and there were no casualties. But many sailors who were busy maneuvering and mending the sails were hit by shotguns!