All along, the "Endeavour" has always had the upper hand in various types of naval battles with its strong protection and outstanding speed. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 However, this sudden blow put the Endeavour in danger for the first time. The foremast fell, causing the ship to lose not only several sails, but also all its spinnakers. In other words, this guy made this invincible battleship lose nearly a quarter of its downwind power (when sailing downwind, the foremast is obscured by the central mast and the rear mast, which is less efficient) and almost all of the headwind power. Now, she's not only slow, but also clumsy.

The foremast, which was poured into the sea, was also hung on the "Endeavour" by a lot of ropes, which made the speed of the "Endeavour" drop down at once, and the bow of the ship involuntarily turned sharply to the left, and hit the almost paralyzed "Ferdinand" head-on.

"Quick! Cut the ropes! Marines! Cover! Zheng Sen shouted, Liu De hurriedly ran to give the order, and Zheng Sen wanted to rush out of the anti-artillery command room. But a herald stopped him.

"Major General, you can't go out, it's too dangerous outside!" The remaining herald said.

"Fart!" Zheng Sen couldn't help but say a dirty word, and at the same time he insisted on climbing up, the herald hurriedly wanted to stop Zheng Sen, but he didn't want Zheng Sen to shrink down suddenly, and at the same time stretched out his hand to take him. As a result, the herald's feet slipped, and a guy fell into the anti-artillery command room, if Zheng Sen hadn't pulled him and made him fall down on the legs, if he didn't get it right, he would have been injured this time.

Taking advantage of the short period of being left unattended, Zheng Sen crawled out of the anti-gun room. He is not afraid of death, nor does he deliberately want to be in the limelight. He just knew that the "Endeavour" and her crew had never encountered such a situation, and in such a crisis, Zheng Sen felt that if he, as the supreme commander, hid in the anti-artillery room, it would probably cause a loss of morale.

Zheng Sen climbed out of the anti-artillery room, and saw that the situation was a little better than expected, perhaps because the enemy's casualties were too large before, so the Spanish marines on the "Ferdinand" did not immediately cross the side of the ship to kill the general, but just crackled and fired in this direction. Several sailors were scrambling to chop ropes with axes, and two sailors who were chopping sail ropes were unfortunately knocked down on the deck, and blood was immediately spilled to the ground. The Model Marines also quickly returned fire, and because they had a clear advantage in numbers, they quickly suppressed the Spanish firepower.

"Deck guns! Deck guns ready! One platoon, control the opposing deck guns and don't let them fire! Zheng Sen shouted as he rushed to the side of the deck gun.

On the open deck of the battleship at that time, there were some small and flexible cannons that were used to fire shotguns and suppress the enemy in the broadside battle. These cannons are small and can be easily turned in multiple directions, making them a useful weapon in close combat.

The soldiers of the Model Corps turned their deck guns and pointed them at the opposite side, and two Spanish soldiers on the opposite side also tried to rush over and use their deck guns, but the soldiers of the first platoon of Marines knocked the two Spaniards down with a salvo.

By this time the sailors had already cut the last rope, and the Endeavour was finally freed from the drag of the foremast. It's just that the battleship is still close to the enemy ship at this time, and the warship has lost its spinnaker again, and it is difficult to get rid of it all of a sudden.

"Let all the guns on the port side fire a salvo!" Zheng Sen saw Liu De running over in a panic as if he wanted to say something to him, so he first blocked his mouth with such an order. And Zheng Sen's appearance, as well as his composure, made Liu De also calm down inexplicably.

The guns on the port side of the "Endeavour" quickly fired a salvo, and due to the close distance, all of them hit the target. However, this is not the effect that Zheng Sen wants, what Zheng Sen wants at this time is actually a side effect of the cannon - recoil. The recoil of the twenty-gun salvo pushed Endeavour away a little from Ferdinand, and then, with the sound of a tailwind, Endeavour finally broke away from Ferdinand.

But by this time, the Spanish battleship on the starboard side was very close, and they fired another salvo, one of which whistled over Zheng Sen's head with a terrifying whining sound, and the wind blew the red tassels on Zheng Sen's helmet. Several other shells crackled on the starboard side, one of which even pierced the thick hull of the Endeavour and into the gun hold. However, perhaps because of the exhaustion of strength in the process of penetrating the hull, the shell caused no casualties.

"Major General, it's too dangerous here, you have to ......," Liu De couldn't help but say again.

"That's why I need to be here because of the danger." Zheng Sen stared at Liu De's eyes and said, the cold light in his eyes blocked Liu De's words.

"Let the starboard side return fire with a shot, and then the upper guns will be replaced with grapeshot shells and shoot at the enemy's upper deck. The Marines are ready for a broadside battle with the enemy. Zheng Sen glanced at the approaching Spanish battleship, and judging from the speed of the opponent's approach, Zheng Sen estimated that the opponent was planning to have a vigorous broadside battle with him. If possible, Zheng Sen was reluctant to engage the enemy directly in a broadside battle without serious losses in the enemy's forces. However, at this time, his battleship had lost too much power, and it was already difficult to stop his opponent from such an attempt.

"Before the broadside battle, one round of grapeshot was fired, and then one round of salvo from the deck guns and the first row. The second platoon, supported by salvo fire, jumped to fight on the enemy ships, the third platoon followed with bayonets, the first platoon followed with bayonets, and the fourth platoon ...... "Speaking of this, Zheng Sen paused slightly, and the fourth platoon was made up of the best shooters in the entire Marine Corps, and they were all placed in the mast on the mast, condescendingly shooting at the enemy, and then, just now, the foremast was broken, so that a whole twelve shooters fell into the sea. In the heat of battle, no one had time to take care of them. In short, the broadside battle has not yet begun, and the fourth platoon has already lost a squad.

“…… The fourth platoon was responsible for fire support. Zheng Sen said.

Against the approaching Spanish battleship, the "Endeavour" returned the color with a salvo from the starboard side. Compared to the Spanish shots, the Endeavour fired much more accurately, half of the twenty shells hit the target, and all of them pierced the hull of the opponent's ship. The Spaniards' ships were actually much smaller than the Endeavour in terms of displacement, but they were equipped with three gun decks, more guns, and more crews, which naturally came at a price, and the price was that their hulls were far less thick than those of the Endeavour. In this way, it is naturally impossible to block the salvo of Endeavour at such a distance.

Ten shells entered the gun compartment of the Spanish battleship, bouncing off them, each of which could hit either the Spanish gunners or the cannons. As long as those gunners are grazed by such shells, they will inevitably be seriously injured and lose their combat effectiveness, and once they are directly hit, they will be smashed to pieces. Even those heavy cannons, as long as they are hit, most of them will also fall to the ground and lose the ability to continue fighting. So, just this round of fire caused dozens of casualties to the Spaniards and cost the Spaniards three cannons.

"What a terrible shelling, they have much better artillery than we do, and their gunners are much more trained!" Although he did not go down to the gun bay to inspect it, Rear Admiral Duque could imagine the terrible situation in the gun bay just by seeing the shells easily pierce through the hull and feeling the constant vibrations coming from the hull.

"Get up quickly, don't give them another chance to shell!" Duke shouted, "Marines, get ready for battle!" As soon as you take the board, attack immediately! ”

The two battleships quickly approached, and when they were about forty meters apart, the "Endeavour" once again fired a salvo first. Due to the close proximity, the hit rate of the shelling was naturally high. The solid shells fired by the ten cannons on the bottom all hit, while the grapeshot fired by the ten cannons on the upper stage also swept across the upper deck of the Spanish battleship.

Major General Duke crouched down behind a pile of barrels, dodging the shelling, his ears filled with the sound of crackling rain mixed with the cries of the soldiers. Rear Admiral Duke knew that it was the sound of the enemy's grapeshells hitting various things on the upper deck.

The shelling was over, and then there was a shock from the hull, and Rear Admiral Duke knew that it was the sides of the two battleships that had come together. He stood up, drew his command knife, and shouted: "For God and Spain!" ”

The sailors threw rope hooks at the Endeavour and dragged the two boats together, while the soldiers followed Rear Admiral Duke and shouted "For God and Spain!" He picked up the gun in his hand and threw himself towards the deck of the "Endeavour" opposite. At the same time, the deck guns on the Spanish battleships were also pointed to the opposite side.

A group of soldiers also suddenly stood up on the opposite battleship, and the soldiers on both sides raised their guns to shoot at a distance of about ten paces, and at the same time, the two deck guns on both decks also fired at the same time. Amid the roar of gunfire and the smoke of gunfire, soldiers on both sides fell.

"Blow the trumpet! Charge! Zheng Sen said.

The horn sounded, and the soldiers of the Model Army also rushed towards the opposite side, and at the front were more than thirty soldiers from the second platoon. The guns in the hands of the fighters in the second platoon are more special, the guns in their hands are shorter and thicker than the guns in the hands of others, and this gun has two barrels on it!

This is a double-barreled shotgun specially designed for broadside melee combat, it can shoot twice with a single load, and each shot can shoot 12 iron balls forward, at close range, the shooting rate is very high, and the lethality is very strong, sometimes it may even take down more than two enemies with one shot. And the design of firing two shots in a row can make opponents who are accustomed to entering hand-to-hand combat with only one shot at close range sink headlong into a large pit.