Soaring jets of water splashed on the side of the ship.

Julien de Eblore stared blankly: "Damn! Are they a 24-pounder gun? Can hit so far! They actually have 24-pounder guns! ”

"Nope! Youngster! Adrian Flores, captain of the "Resolve," said with a solemn face, "This is an 18-pounder gun!" However, the barrel is very long, and it has a much longer range than our 18-pounder gun. Approached, fired with bow guns. ”

As the distance between the two sides continued to grow, another gun on the battery joined the shelling action. The enemy's firing was surprisingly accurate, and in just two minutes, the "Determination" amidships had already received a shell. The 18-pound solid iron ball pierced through the heavy broadside planks and landed below deck, thankfully causing no casualties.

The two 12-pounder guns in the bow of the Resolve also began to return fire, but the undulating wind and waves on the sea made the shooting seem inaccurate. Both shells fell far into the sea, which made Yu Lian, who was watching the battle, feel ashamed.

He wondered why he was ashamed of himself, maybe it was these two shells that missed the head and made the Tatars on the other side laugh in shame. Julien shook his head and continued to watch the battle intently, Flores was a trustworthy old captain, and there was nothing he needed to do here.

In the midst of his reverie, the "Determination" was shot again. The kinetic iron projectile pierced the sailors' lounge in the forecastle, and fortunately, the sailors were all fighting on deck at this time, causing no casualties.

The distance between the two sides continued to close, and the number of artillery guns fired on the Tatar batteries increased to four. God forbid! Julien silently prayed that the ship would not be hit.

But apparently God went out on an errand today, and the Tatars, who were getting more and more accurate, got hits one after another. Two solid iron bullets hit the bow again, one of which grazed the two sailors who were carrying the projectiles next to the bow gun; Another iron bullet smashed the ship's planks into a sprinkling of sawdust, and several sailors were injured and wailed.

Julien was horrified, but Captain Flores ignored it and ordered the ship to keep closer. After all, now the bow of the ship was facing the battery, and most of the guns on board could not fire.

……

Lu Ming held a telescope to observe the enemy ship in front of him. Dozens of shells had already been fired from the battery, but unfortunately few hits. Of course, the opponent's accuracy seemed to be worse, and the shells of the counterattack invariably fell into the sea.

"Gun positions 5 and 6 join the fire!" Lu Ming suddenly ordered, the opponent's ship had begun to turn around, and he knew that this was the other party's desire to shoot with broadside artillery fire.

Except for the No. 7 and No. 8 gun emplacements, which could not be added to the fire due to the angle factor, the remaining six guns on the battery were all thrown into the shelling. The almost straight trajectory brought the power of the artillery to the extreme, and the enemy ship was shot several times, and there was panic on the deck.

At the same time, for the first time, the shells of the enemy ship's counterattack fell on the island, and two solid iron balls bounced twice on the ground, splashing a cloud of dust, and then ran out of kinetic energy and stood still. This was a wake-up call to the gunners on the battery that they were not without danger. Of course, the gunners responded with even more intense artillery fire.

Two 18-pounder steel cannons began to cool down as a result of continuous firing with overheated chambers. The breeches cleaned the chamber with a damp cloth moistened with water, but also to extinguish the open flames that might be present in the chamber. In addition, the shell handlers also began to pour water on the barrel to dissipate heat, hoping that the cannon would be able to recover its combat strength as soon as possible.

The 10 guns on the side of the enemy ship fired one after another, raising a large cloud of smoke on the sea. Some shells crossed the sea and scattered around the battery. Chen Tumu, who was standing at the No. 3 gun position to supervise the battle, suddenly felt a vibration under his feet, it was a cannonball that hit the parapet wall of the No. 3 gun position.

The parapet is made of masonry, a meter thick, very strong, and there are some sandbags piled up outside the parapet wall as a buffer, and this ferocious shot just now only broke one sandbag.

The 18-pounder bronze cannon at gun position 3 roared and fired back. The whizzing shell hit a cannon on the deck of the enemy ship like a divine help, and the shell penetrated the bodies of the two men and hit the gun carriage headlong, completely breaking the gun carriage apart.

……

"Damn it!" Captain Adrian Flores cursed fiercely, not knowing whether he was scolding the Tatars or Sean Raffarin, who sent him to his death, "Don't drop anchor, turn the rudder, retreat!" ”

Yu Lian snorted a few times at the corner of his mouth and did not speak. He also saw that the guns on the deck of the "Determination" could not form a direct blow to the Tatar batteries due to insufficient depression angles, and the few shells that occasionally fell on the batteries had basically exhausted their kinetic energy before they landed, and they could not form effective kills at all. Moreover, the wind and waves on the surface of the open sea are not small, which seriously affects the accuracy and speed of the shooting accuracy and speed of the naval guns.

"We've tested the firepower of the Tatars." Captain Flores said, "I think the training of their gunners is very average, but the batteries are very strong and the guns are very good. And they still have two batteries that do not work, and the distance between these three batteries is not very far, and once our entire fleet comes in, then it is vulnerable to the blows of the other two batteries. It's time for the Army to figure things out. ”

The "Determination", which turned to leave, fired a salvo at the least, but unfortunately it still did not achieve results, but its own hull was hit by two more shots, which was extremely miserable.

Julien soon returned to the "St. Christopher" by transport boat. Sean Raffarin had witnessed the whole battle and was impressed by Captain Flores' opinion.

"Hang the following flag and sail due north. Get the Army lads ready for landing. Sean Raffarin ordered.

So, after converging the hastily withdrawn "Determination", the entire fleet made a large circle and sailed north, preparing to be forced to carry out a landing operation.

……

"Why did they all run away?" Wang Qinian, who was watching the battle on Yunsheng No. 1, couldn't believe his eyes, held the binoculars and said, "It can't be because our cannon fire is too fierce, right?" ”

"It doesn't look like you're leaving." Wang Tiehammer was also holding the telescope and watching, "Could it be that these dogs can't bargain here, and they want to land ashore in a place where the fort can't reach?" ”

Wang Qinian thought for a while and said, "Don't say it, most of the time it's really possible." ”

"Member Wang, has the Executive Committee authorized you to use Yunsheng No. 1?" Wang Tiezhu asked suddenly.

As soon as he heard this, Wang Qinian knew what this kid wanted to do. "It's authorized, but it's only in an emergency, so don't think about it for now. The executive committee of this ship is reserved for everyone's lives, and the fuel is limited. If it is said that it is to pursue these broken ships of the enemy, I think it is not easy for the Executive Committee to pass. ”

News of the enemy's attack quickly spread throughout the city, accompanied by the rumbling of cannon in the harbor. Not only were the people a little worried, but the European immigrants in the city were also a little restless.

The first battalion of the newly built army had already been assembled in the barracks in the city, and Peng Zhicheng, member of the army and commander of the first battalion, had completed a simple pre-war mobilization, and the entire army was now quietly waiting for the order to attack.

In addition, several horseback riders, armed with weapons and binoculars, rode a few Andalusian horses that Kincola had reluctantly sent, galloped out of the north gate, following in the direction of the enemy convoy.

Xu Yu is one of the few talents who can ride horses, and this improvised reconnaissance team is currently led by him, with a total of 4 people and only 4 horses. Their task was to keep track of the enemy's fleet and to ride back to the city as soon as anything happened.

The speed of the fleet on the sea was not fast, Xu Yu rode his horse to catch up with a high ground, raised his telescope and observed. The other party sailed along the coastline, seemingly not minding being discovered, and from time to time traffic boats were lowered to carry liaison personnel between the boats.

After a while, about two kilometers away from the city, Xu Yu and the other four found that the enemy fleet had stopped and anchored. This was important news, and Xu Yu immediately assigned one person to rush back to report it, while he and the other two continued to stay here to keep an eye on him.

Soon it became clear that the enemy was going to land! The largest of the four ships, together with a pot-bellied one, laid down a number of small boats, and a large number of well-dressed sailors or soldiers armed with muskets began to board them.

Oh my god! Where are the pirates, it's obviously the army. Xu Yu was secretly a little frightened, he didn't dare to slack off, and sent another person back to report the news.

At this time, some of the small boats were full of people and began to row towards the shore. When they saw the crowd on the shore watching them on horseback, they shouted rudely, and some of them gestured with their guns to encourage themselves.

As the first batch of enemies landed on the shore, Xu Yu and the others sensibly kept a certain distance from them, but they were still watching from a distance. There were more and more enemies who landed on the shore, and they even organized a small team to expel Xu Yu and the others.

In desperation, the two had to beat their horses away and began to monitor with binoculars.

The chaos of the landing lasted a full two hours. Two hours later, the landing was over, and there was no one on the big boat to continue climbing towards the small boat. The personnel who had already landed assembled at the landing site, then straightened up their formation and drove violently towards this side.

Xu Yu counted the number of people on the other side, almost 350-380 people. One person was also sent back to report the news, and the remaining three kept their distance from each other until they reached the preset position of the crossing crowd.