PS: In the past few days, my relatives have gotten married, and I have returned to my hometown to help, and I have been updating my manuscripts. Starting today, let's resume one day a day, let's save some manuscripts first. Xie Lu thanked everyone for their support.

Several hapless British gunners fell down with a miserable howl.

Captain Morris looked at the two 8-pounder gun wagons smashed and the gunners suffered heavy casualties. Compared with the luxurious firepower of 12 guns on each side of the ship of the East Coasters, there are only 5 guns on the side of the ship on their own side, and the caliber is pitifully small. The largest gun was no more than a 12-pounder cast-iron cannon, and the other four were 8-pounder and 6-pounder guns, which were very difficult to shoot, not to mention that two of them had been scrapped now......

Captain Morris was also a ruthless man who had been in the Caribbean for many years, robbed many Spanish merchant ships, and later took advantage of the king's amnesty to return to England with the wealth accumulated over the years, and started the tobacco trade between the colony and the mainland through some old connections.

Now that the three-masted galleon Galen and some of the sugar it was carrying were most of his possessions, he could not afford to lose it. Therefore, at the critical moment, he also let go of his flamboyance, pulled out his flintlock pistol, and rushed to the deck with the first mate, second officer and other officers.

The sailors in the steering wheel room pushed the control bar vigorously under the captain's roar, and the "Prosperity" clumsily approached the "Red Trout"; The sailors on deck struggled to control the rotation of the sail trusses, but they were soon killed and wounded by a dense barrage of shells from the opposite side.

"Idiot! Lean in! Hurry up and get on it! The boatswain roared loudly from the deck, the distance between the two ships was only fifty or sixty meters, but the guns of the people on the east coast were too fast. The dense splinters of broken iron and steel balls made it impossible to stand on the deck. The sailors who controlled the sail boom had already killed and wounded twenty people. The sail loses control. The already close distance between the two ships widened again.

Morris patted off the deck of the ship hatefully, the number of guns on this gunboat that had come out of nowhere was very impressive, both in terms of number and rate of fire. In the short 10 minutes of the firefight, two guns had been destroyed on his ship, nearly 30 sailors had been killed or wounded, and even two officers had been wounded.

With so many cannons, how can Nima's be loaded? Aren't you afraid that the center of gravity is too high and capsizes?! Captain Morris roared with grief and indignation in his heart. There were less than forty sailors and crew members on board who could still move, and they seemed to be terrified by the enemy's successive rounds of accurate and heavy artillery fire. God, let them meet the "Lemon" in the back, Captain Morris sighed in his heart. They are all old brothers who have followed him for many years, and today there are so many deaths and injuries at once, what a big loss!

However, his bad luck was not over, and the gunboat "Beagle", which followed the "Red Trout" closely, under the command of Captain Chen Tumu, once again plowed the deck of the "Prosperity" with ten guns on the port side, and several sailors were wounded. What made Captain Morris even more frightened was that the second and third floors of the stern were hit by several rounds of as many as a dozen iron bullets, and both the exterior and interior decoration were shattered. At this moment, he could not help but be glad that he had not stayed inside but had come to the deck to direct the battle, and at the same time he prayed for the fate of the second mate and the chief sailor who remained on the bridge.

The figure of the "Prosperity" was gradually swallowed up by the thick fog.

Guo Zili was standing in the bridge, his telescope had already been thrown aside, and the visibility was so poor. It doesn't make much difference whether you have a telescope or not. Taking advantage of the upwind zone, the opponent's three ships were easily left behind by their own side. And. After the previous firefight, the enemy's firepower has probably been figured out by him. Each ship has about 10-14 guns, which is less than half of its own. With such weak firepower, Guo Zili was wondering whether to go back and compete with them again.

Forget it, there are many ships and people on the other side. The visibility at sea is so poor, and when they find each other, they are all within 100 meters, and it will not be fun if someone blocks them and jumps up to kill them at this time. Every sailor on his own ship is a precious naval seed, and it is a pity to die here in vain.

Then, it is better to take advantage of this dense fog to retreat, and it is serious to quickly find the main fleet. Just as Guo Zili was pondering, the first mate Ding Wei's slightly frightened voice came: "Boat! There are two ships in front! They fired! ”

"What?!" Guo Zili was taken aback. As soon as he finished speaking, he saw several shells whistling on the sea in front of him on the right and smashing fiercely on the deck of the "Red Trout" over a short distance of 100 meters, and two army soldiers armed with flintlock rifles were wounded by sawdust.

The ship's doctor and two ambulances hurriedly went up with a medicine box to rescue, but fortunately, the wound was not big. The wounds of the two Army soldiers were washed with alcohol and put on hemostatic bandages. The two lightly wounded men cursed as they pushed away the ship's doctor who had asked them to rest in the bilge, insisting on staying on deck and fighting.

Several masts loomed in the sea ahead, and one of the ships also had the St. George's cross flag flying.

"Grass! British! Guo Zili and Ding Wei scolded almost at the same time.

Now things are in trouble! There were three British ships in the back and two in front, and God knows what else was hidden in the dense fog around them, could it be that they had run into the British fleet? No, these look like merchant ships, not warships.

At this time, Guo Zili really missed the battleship "August 10", which had lost contact, and if this large battleship with 66 guns was in the middle of this battle, then he was confident that all these British ships would be sent to the bottom of the sea.

But...... Alas, Guo Zili sighed heavily, people are unlucky to drink cold water and stuff their teeth, who would have thought that he would encounter strong winds and fog in a row overnight, and then meet the British dramatically in the fog and then exchange fire.

"Army musketeers ready for battle, spearmen and grenadiers in armor!" Guo Zili ordered, "Navigator, full rudder on the right, follow the upwind, go around the left side of the British, and fight to get out of the battle." ”

It's all at this time, and it's useless to think too much, so let's get through the moment first. As soon as Guo Zili gave the order, the middle and low-level officers who had been standing on the bridge before immediately dispersed and went to the deck to command.

The two armed British merchant ships were now very close, and the noisy roars and rude shouts of the sailors on the opposing ships could be clearly heard.

"Boom! Rumble! "The artillery of both sides opened fire. Since the British ships were facing the enemy at the bow, and they only had ten guns on each ship, which was not enough to cover one on this side, the British suffered a great loss in the artillery battle. However, there are always unexpected things that happen.

"Captain, the sail of the 'Beagle' has been broken by a chain bullet!" The lookout shouted hoarsely.

Guo Zili was startled, the speed of the sail would be reduced if it was broken, and it would be dangerous at this time.

The "Beagle" was a medium battleship with a small displacement and 24 guns of various types, and at this time the mainmast, the middle sail and upper sail were hit by chain bullets fired from the British ship, and the sail surface was widely damaged. The two sail cables were also cut off by the shells, and the wind area of the sail was reduced considerably, and in short, her speed was reduced to 2 knots.

"Turn! Don't leave the Beagle behind! Captain Navigator, turn the rudder to the left, everyone go to the deck, beat the Brit hard, and cover the brethren on the 'Beagle' behind to break through! Guo Zili has a deep friendship with Chen Tumu, and if he turns around and leaves at this moment, he may be able to escape with the help of the fog, but the "Beagle" is finished, and his conscience cannot make him give such an order. And more importantly, maybe Chen Tumu and others will be captured by the British, and many things related to the secrets of the crossing may not be hidden.

Therefore, in public and private, he can't leave the "Beagle".

The two bow guns, two stern guns, and 12 starboard guns of the "Red Trout" fired fiercely at a British ship approaching the right front, while the 12 port guns opened fire on a British ship of the "Beagle" directly ahead, trying to relieve the pressure on Chen Tumu's side. The smoke of artillery fire lingered for a long time, and for a while, the visibility on the sea surface became lower and lower.

The 400-ton British armed merchant ship "Warrior" was hit hard by several rounds of shells, and its broken body hit the port side of the "Beagle" with its broken body, and the two ships were close together. The British sailors cheered and hooked the side of the "Beagle" with their hooks, and then the first group of jumping helpers, under the cover of the musketeers on the deck, with light swords pinned to their waists, crawled along the rope net between the two ships. And behind them, more British sailors quickly followed under the command of the officers.

On the "Beagle", Chen Tumu looked at the scene in front of him with a pale face. In the past few naval battles, he has always bullied the enemy by using the advantages of artillery range, rate of fire and accuracy at sea, but he didn't expect that now in a heavy fog, his ship would let the enemy rely on him!

What can I do? Chen Tumu, who encountered this situation for the first time, was a little confused.

"Spearmen on top!" Seeing that Chen Tumu had not given orders for a long time, John. The second lieutenant of the navy was a little anxious, and soon he ignored waiting for the captain's order, and this English man in his thirties, wearing a cuirass, a saber pinned to his waist, and a flintlock pistol loaded with ammunition in his right hand, rushed directly to the deck and commanded the battle.

More than 20 sailors, wearing cuirass and gauntlets, stabbed the British sailors who crawled by with 3-meter spears. The British sailors were caught between the ropes and nets, and at one time five or six people were stabbed with spears and fell into the sea screaming.

"Bang! Bang! "The arquebusiers on the deck of the British ship fired a volley, and the curved steel armor of the spearmen could not stop the musket fire at such close range, and many of the spearmen were knocked out on the deck.

"Five rows of rounds! Preparation...... Put! As the sharp brass whistle sounded from the commander's mouth, a temporary sentry that accompanied the naval operation also fired a volley. (To be continued......)