Neither Gascoigne nor Adalbert could understand how Li Zhi had built twenty-eight ironclad ships in three months. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The ironclad ship rushed towards Gascoigne's Swordfish at high speed, and although Li Zhi's fleet had no sails, it was faster than the sailing ship, at least ten knots. Gascoigne looked at the ironclad fleet with a telescope, shook his head, and said, "God, this is the fastest battleship I've ever seen." ”

Adalbert's body shook inexplicably, and he didn't understand why he was so scared.

Suppressing his fear with a strong composure, Adalbert said loudly: "Don't worry, everyone, Li Zhi's naval guns can't penetrate our hull at all!" The last battle has proven this! ”

Gascoigne looked at Adalbert and swallowed.

Adalbert has a point. But if Li Zhi didn't have the ability to penetrate the armor of the Anglo-Dutch battleship, why would he send an ironclad ship up? Could it be that Li Zhi has a problem with his brain?

God bless Britain, may Li Zhi just be dying and struggling! What Adelbert said was not wrong!

At this time, the war was about to begin, and all thirty-nine warships of the Anglo-Dutch combined fleet were in combat mode and began to fight under the flag of the flagship "Swordfish".

Now the flag language still works, and it won't be used later. In such a large-scale naval battle of warships, the fleet can often be seen for more than ten miles, and at first you can still see the flags, but after the real fight, the ships of both sides will be staggered, and the field of vision will be obscured by enemy ships. In real battles, the captains of each battleship can only rely on their own experience to complete the command, and sometimes the entire fleet will be a mess and a complete melee.

The battle had already begun, and Captain Gascoe of the British fleet was unable to return to his flagship, HMS Royal George. He could only watch the battle from the Dutchman's ship.

The skilled Dutch sailors climbed the mast with their hands and feet, and lowered the huge soft sails with shouts. Thirty-nine battleships formed a formation in the Seto Inland Sea and formed a battle line against the rushing ironclad fleet.

Adalbert observed the ships in front of him with a telescope and took a breath of satisfaction.

"Your Excellency Gascoigne, don't worry. Now we have the upper hand and we have a perfect battle line. Li Zhi's fleet is downwind, this is the perfect T-word, so that the yellow people who rush up with one word will be bombarded head-on by our battleships. ”

"Obviously they haven't learned enough in the last fight. It's time for the yellow race to see the techniques of naval warfare in our Europe! ”

Gascoigne looked at the methodical fleet, and his beating heart stabilized a little. Adalbert was right that the combined Anglo-Dutch fleet had well-trained sailors, larger artillery and tactical strategies summed up in long naval battles. In any case, Gascoigne should not be afraid of the yellow race in the Far East.

Gascoigne touched the location of his heart and whispered, "God bless Britain." ”

The distance is getting closer a little bit, ten, seven, four. The gunners of the combined Anglo-Dutch fleet had already completed the reloading of their guns, aiming more than 700 broadside guns at the ironclad fleet that had sailed up.

Seeing that Li Zhi's fleet was gradually entering the downwind of the Anglo-Dutch fleet, Adalbert laughed.

"Your Excellency Gascoigne, look at Li Zhi's fleet, look at these stupid yellow people. They actually rushed straight towards our battle line. In a few minutes, thirty-nine battleships on our battle line will take turns shelling the ironclads in front of them. ”

Gascoigne perked up when he heard Adalbert's words. If Li Zhi's fleet continued to rush in a straight line like this, then the Anglo-Dutch fleet, moving laterally, would move one by one to the upwind of the ironclads and hit the yellow warships with their side guns.

Gascoigne felt that victory or defeat was at this point, and his heart beat uncontrollably.

The European sailors on all thirty-nine battleships watched the rushing ironclads with wide eyes to see if the yellow steel ships would fall into the net.

Forty ironclad ships cut through the waves.

On the flagship Tianjin, fleet commander Lu Hu looked at the battle line laid out by the Europeans and smiled contemptuously.

Shi Dingping, captain of the First Fleet, said with a smile: "Commander, the Europeans have really been fooled. They really thought that we would attack their battle line with a long snake formation, and they actually put up such a long line. ”

"Now the warships of the Europeans are stretched in a line, and the end and end are more than ten miles apart, and we are now going around in front of them, and the ships behind them cannot enter the battle at all."

Lu Hu laughed, patted Shi Dingping's shoulder, and said, "Shi Dingping, your plan is good this time. If you can win this battle, I will definitely repay you! ”

Shi Dingping's face was overjoyed, and he said with a smile: "Thanks to the promotion, the commander has been promoted!" ”

Lu Hu said loudly: "Start turning the rudder and go around to the southernmost point of the European battle line!" ”

Shi Dingping shouted the order, and gave the order to the first mate with a wave of his hand. The first mate ran to the ship's flagpole and conveyed the order to the flag commander.

The flag was hung up.

The ironclad captain suddenly turned his rudder to the right four miles in front of the battle line of the Anglo-Dutch fleet, completed a ninety-degree turn on the sea, and circled the southernmost part of the Anglo-Dutch fleet in unison.

The Anglo-Dutch fleet was lined up in a long line at this time, and the European battleships were far inferior in speed and mobility to the ironclads. As soon as Lu Hu circled like this, he saw that the ironclad ships were about to get rid of the battleships in the north, and surrounded several battleships in the south of the European formation.

Adelbert and Gascoigne on the Swordfish were shocked when they saw Lu Hu's movements.

The yellow race is going to outflank their southern flank.

They underestimate the yellow race. The yellow race not only understood the battle line, but also understood how to deal with the battle line of the Europeans.

At this time, the south wind was blowing on the sea, and Adalbert's thirty-nine battleships were headwinding to the south, and the speed was at most five or six knots, that is, half of the ironclad ships. Previously, Adalbert stretched the formation too long, and at this time, the ironclad rushed to the south to beat the battleships in the front row, and the battleships behind could not keep up with the speed of the ironclads at all.

Gascoigne seemed to have seen the end of the war, and he was a little unstable. He held on to the wooden railing above the tail tower, constantly wiping the sweat from his head, and he didn't know whether it was cold sweat or hot sweat.

Adalbert roared triumphantly: "The battleships in the front row turned around, and the battleships in the back row caught up at full speed!" ”

However, it was too late at this point.

Soon, the war became forty ironclads besieging the three southernmost battleships of the Europeans' battle line in the south.

Li Zhi's fleet struck backward and grabbed the T-shaped horizontal position mercilessly.

This is all a bully by a steamer using its maneuverability to bully a wooden sailing ship. This is the crushing of nineteenth-century technology against seventeenth-century technology.

Six hundred twenty-four-pounder rifled guns were pushed out of the emplacements, and flowering shells with lead-shelled steel cores were loaded into the breeches of the new guns. The gunners skillfully completed a series of maneuvers, aiming their guns at the three battleships that were desperately retreating to the north.

Lu Hu smiled and held his right hand high.

He waved his hand downward.

The first mate, standing in the hatch of the deck, shouted at the artillerymen on the artillery deck:

"Fire!"