Under the overcast sky, the waters at the western end of the Black Sea seem rather unsettled. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

From three o'clock in the afternoon, as the sky darkened and darkened, a battleship moved lonely on the sea, the tide stirring and tumbling under the strong wind, blowing the sails and giving a dull hum, accompanied by the battleship cruising the sea at full speed.

Compared to the solid earth, the endless ocean has always caused a strange sense of anxiety and fear in humans, even for weathered sailors.

And, unlike the sunny Mediterranean, the dark clouds over the Black Sea make the sea even more gloomy, and the air is dull and oppressive, making it seem like a storm is just around the corner. The white waves it had drawn on the surface of the sea were soon re-engulfed by the dark and dreary ocean, like bait from the mouth of the devil.

However, unlike the gloomy and oppressive sea and sky, this newly launched cruiser brings a bit of brightness to the gray world with its dazzling orange exterior.

The ship's elegant, elegant silhouette seems to have been carefully crafted, the long, narrow hull allows the sharp bow to move the seas at speeds that are unattainable for large battleships, the double-decked decks are glittered by the sailors, and even the sail lines connected to the towering masts are beautiful.

And at the top of the mast, a large tricolor flag fluttered high, proudly declaring to the world that it belonged.

In the eyes of its captain, Major Eugène de Treville, his ship was as beautiful as the richest and most elegant ladies in Paris, and it was fully worthy of the elegant name "Princess Charlotte".

This major is tall and thin, with a golden hair, and his demeanor can be seen in the kind of reserved that the children of the capital nobles are used to, but because he has served at sea for a long time, like most sailors, his face has turned a little black, and the muscles on his arms are also very developed, coupled with a navy uniform, so that this handsome young man unexpectedly has a little more military rigidity.

He was none other than the cousin and brother-in-law of the Imperial Minister, His Excellency Charles de Treville.

A member of the Treville family, and the second son of a family business that had never inherited the family business, he could have enjoyed the most relaxed life in the world in Paris, indulging in the likes of many of his friends. Eugène, however, was not interested in such a life, and wanted to join the navy and enjoy the pleasure of fighting the enemy at sea - like some of his ancestors.

Of course, he didn't want to waste time starting from the bottom, he just wanted to experience the feeling of mastering a battleship and then using it to fire at the world as soon as possible. To this end, he went out of his way to plead with his sister and brother-in-law, wanting them to help him achieve his ideals.

Although she was initially incomprehensible to Eugène's dream and persuaded him to give up, Charlotte finally failed to resist her brother's will and had to agree. Charlotte then used her friendship with the Lord of the Admiralty to help her brother realize her dream of a place in Paris, where people would always do the nobles, especially the powerful ones.

In this way, after a short apprenticeship career, Eugène soon received a warship and became a young captain in the Imperial Navy, which was also due to the fact that since the Re-establishment of the Empire, His Majesty the Emperor and His Excellency the Admiralty had attached great importance to the development of the navy, so many warships could be assigned.

And this battleship is named "Princess Charlotte".

Let yourself be in command of the "Princess Charlotte", no matter how you look at it, there are some naval insiders who ridicule Ou Ren, it is because of his own sister's relationship that he can be promoted to captain early, but Ou Ren doesn't care about it, and happily goes to the post, anyway, for him, it doesn't matter what others think in their hearts, as long as their wishes come true, so he soon came to the ship, and began his career as a captain.

Although it was only a small cruiser, not only could it not be compared with the size of a large battleship, but even the firepower on the ship was very poor, only about forty guns, and most of them were nine- or twelve-pounder guns, and the power could not be compared with that of a large battleship, but Eugène was very satisfied.

And just after he got acquainted with his ships, the war between the Reich and the Russians broke out.

The war was very exciting within the navy, because the empire and the Russians did not share a border, so the navy would certainly be raised to a high level, at least to fight alongside the army rather than in a subordinate position. And the navy, which has already undergone an initial expansion, is also a strong force of blood, bent on winning honor and making meritorious contributions in battle.

Like the rest of his colleagues, Eugène was very happy, and immediately expressed to his superiors that he wanted to enter the war as soon as possible. Perhaps due to his ties to the Treville family, his request was quickly granted, and he was listed as one of the first fleets to escort the expeditionary force to Russia.

After a period of sailing, the fleet, loaded with a large number of soldiers and warships, finally came beyond the strait, landing on the eastern tip of the continent. At this time, a large number of officers were already eager to try, bent on making themselves useful in the war as soon as possible.

Respecting the orders of Marshal Treville, the French army's land activities were temporarily suspended, with the goal of expanding the camp and expanding the strength at this stage, and for the time being, it was not rash to fight the Russians when the strength was not enough, but the sea was not so conservative, almost after completing the early escort transport tasks, the French escort fleet was ordered by the marshal to rush into the Black Sea first.

The first to go to war by the navy was, first and foremost, a political gesture that could demonstrate the resolve of the French to the world and reassure the allies and those who secretly sympathized with France; Secondly, it can also be scrambled

After receiving the order of the commander-in-chief, the naval staff officers issued a supplementary order after deliberation, and the large battleships in the fleet were all left in the Mediterranean Sea to assemble to deter the Russians, while some small cruisers were the first to sail into the Black Sea to find out the truth for the main fleet, and at the same time to attack the Russian merchant ships and commercial ports in the Black Sea, so that the Russians could taste the pain caused by the war first.

As a result, a detachment consisting mainly of cruisers and other small warships crossed the narrow and cramped Bosphorus Strait and came to this black sea.

After arriving in the Black Sea, these warships scattered and searched for worthy targets - their goals were clear, they used their high speed to search around, found valuable targets and began to attack, and if they encountered strong resistance, they immediately left, not fighting the Russians.

What gave the naval staff officers such confidence was a completely new invention - these cruisers were new warships, equipped with steam propellers.

In the navies of various countries, there has been a long history of equipping ships with steam engines, but in the past, those paddle steamers needed to install huge boilers and mechanical equipment on board, which squeezed the use of cannons, and the safety was also worrying, so the navies of various countries did not equip their main warships with steam engines, and only non-combat ships such as tugboats and transport ships were the mainstay.

As the Industrial Revolution deepened, the door of knowledge continued to open to the Western world, and technology developed rapidly, and just about a decade ago, a steam propeller device that could be installed below the waterline without crowding the deck space was invented, and since then, the use of steam power on warships has become feasible and must be done as soon as possible.

Steam, this epoch-making power, freed people from the shackles of mules and horses on land, made the rails pave all over the land of Europe, on the sea, and also allowed warships to get rid of the restrictions of the wind, so that the war at sea took on a new look, and turned into an all-round competition of human wisdom and technology.

For various reasons, Russia's scientific and technological prowess, as well as industrial and technological development, and even financial strength, at this time lagged far behind the countries of Western Europe, where the Industrial Revolution had already flourished.

Therefore, the gap in science and technology allowed the French warships to establish an unparalleled speed advantage at least at this moment, and they could calmly choose their fighters and have the absolute initiative -- this is the source of confidence for the French Navy to dare to let small and medium-sized warships fight the Russians first.

And there is another important reason why the French navy is so impatient and bent on taking the initiative, that is, Britain has also declared war on the Russians, and their fleet has begun to assemble and is marching in the strait, ready to unite with the French army and navy to strike the most fierce blow against the giant bear in the east.

No matter how high-spirited the French navy was, they still had to admit with jealousy that they were temporarily inferior to the British, whether in terms of the quality of their officers and men, their combat experience, or the size of their fleet, so that when the British fleet arrived, the French fleet would be dwarfed.

Therefore, they must seize the limelight first no matter what, so that His Majesty the Emperor can see that their huge investment in the navy has not been in vain.

The officers of the various ships were also well aware of the arrangements made above, and they carried out the order with the same zeal.

After the detachment dispersed, Eugène and his warships had been cruising the western waters of the Black Sea for several days, experiencing several battles large and small, which also added a lot of fun to this somewhat monotonous sea life.

"Alright, you old fellows, hurry up and reinforce the ropes! Wait, if the storm breaks the sails, you'll be hoisted on the mast to blow the sea breeze! ”

Feeling a little stuffy this afternoon, Eugène unbuttoned his already crumpled uniform to breathe a little, then joked with the sailors on deck, and ordered them to prepare for a possible storm.

"It's been reinforced, Captain!" The sailor not far away replied with a loud shout, "Don't worry, we are more afraid of death!" ”

The boatswain's words immediately provoked a few laughs.

The boatswain was forty or fifty years old, his face was dark and red, and his face was already covered with weather-beaten wrinkles, but his strong body and muscular upper arms still revealed that he still had infinite energy in his body.

In the growing sea breeze, the hull of the ship swayed a little, and his words were a little unclear even though he was close at hand.

"Fuck! This damn place is uncomfortable! Eugène couldn't help but curse, and then shouted at the sailors, "We can go back in a few days, and when we get back to shore, I'll take you to open the meat!" Good Bordeaux! It's all from the Commander-in-Chief! ”

"Oh! Great! The sailors immediately shouted, and even moved a little faster.

Eugène knew that no matter what kind of merit he wanted to make, it was the most basic condition for him to maintain a good relationship with the 200 officers and men on the ship, so after coming to the "Princess Charlotte", he deliberately got closer to his subordinates, and dealt with each other as people at sea, without the slightest arrogance of the children of the family.

Because of his efforts, Eugène has gotten along very well with his subordinates over the years.

Still, no matter how well they get along, the veterans still find it difficult to understand something about their captain.

"Captain, we still don't understand why a young master like you came here!" The boatswain leaned over to Eugène, and then asked with a smile, "This is the place to suffer, why bother to come with us!" You live so comfortably in the capital, if I lived like yours, I wouldn't have come here if I died......"

Eugène was about to answer when he suddenly heard a shout coming from the front mast.

"Enemy warships spotted in front of the flanks!"

As if electrocuted, Eugène and the sailors, who had been a little lazy, tensed up for a moment, and they interrupted their chatter and ran to their respective positions.

Eugène quickly picked up his binoculars and looked at the sea, the gray sea seemed to melt into the sky, and visibility was low, but even so, he could still see the flying Russian naval flag vaguely.

Actually a Russian warship?

Eugène didn't feel fear, but a sense of excitement rose from the bottom of his heart, as if even he was moving faster. He blinked his eyes hard, discerning the blurry image on the other side, hoping to get more information from his gaze.

He'd been waiting too long for this.

He has been cruising the western waters of the Black Sea for some time, and along with other warships, he has tried to harass the port of Odessa.

Odessa, located in the western part of the Black Sea, is the largest port for Russians except St. Petersburg, and is also the main outlet for the export of goods from South Russia to other places.

Some of the lucky ships tried to leave the port, but when the French fleet arrived in the Black Sea, they were unlucky, and Captain Eugène de Treville's first successes came from merchant ships.

However, Eugène's purpose in joining the navy was never to let his warships bully merchant ships, he wanted to do more like a soldier's work - to fight the enemy's warships.

However, perhaps because of the pain that the gap in strength was too great, after the French Navy came to the Black Sea, the Russian Navy has been implementing the strategy of avoiding war and shrinking to avoid engaging the French Navy, and at this time, the detachment of the French Navy that entered the Black Sea was also insufficient, and did not dare to rashly seek a decisive battle, which also disappointed Eugène.

Now that he finally saw the opportunity, how could he not be excited.

He looked closely, these were two light warships, about the size of his ship, and they were approaching him at an angle. However, the ships are a bit dilapidated and do not appear to have been carefully maintained.

It seems that the Russians have already discovered that the number of French warships is not large, so they want to come and meet them.

It's a shame they found me.

"Full speed ahead, close to the Russians!" He gave the order right away. "Get ready to attack!"

The captain's orders were carried out without reservation, and the helmsman steered the battleship and fearlessly rushed towards the two enemy ships, and on either side of the ship, the wooden gun doors on the lower gun deck of the battleship were opened one by one, and the cannons loaded on the ship were also slowly, like the black spikes that a huge sea monster suddenly pierced from its body.

These bronze cannons, which had been turned black by years of smoke and fire, shone with the cold light of metal under the gloomy sky.

In the howling of the sea breeze, the distance between the three ships grew closer, and the silhouette of the opposite ship became clearer, and Eugène could almost make out the vague figure of a group of Russian sailors on the protruding deck of the enemy ship's foreground.

Eugène frowned, carefully looking at the speed of the opposing battleship approaching, judging the speed of the opponent's full speed.

"Right full rudder!" He gave the order.

"Right full rudder!" The helmsman repeated one side loudly, and then maneuvered the boat sideways to the right.

At the helmsman's repeated commands, Princess Charlotte slowly drew an almost regular white arc on the surface of the sea, and then rushed towards the depths of the Black Sea.

The two oncoming ships seemed to have a premonition that the French warship would choose to escape, so they quickly turned to the left as well, trying to pursue the battleship, but in the unfavorable wind, their battleship could not keep up with the Princess Charlotte, and the distance between the three ships began to widen.

However, leaving the battlefield was not Eugène's idea.

After his sudden turn, although the two Russian warships wanted to pursue, they could no longer maintain coordination, and the previous flanking attack became a pursuit in one direction.

And by this time, at a slightly higher speed, on this rough sea, the Princess Charlotte had made a zigzag twist and turn, and the lead was stuck in front of their enemy.

It's time.

Eugène's right hand gripped the telescope tightly in his hand, almost as if it were about to crush it.

"Left full rudder, meet the attack!"

"Left full rudder!" The helmsman repeated it loudly, and then steered the rudder to make another right-angle turn.

Eugène had already concentrated all his attention, as if the blood flow had increased several times faster, and at this moment, the anxious shouts of the sailors, the swaying of the cannons, the roar of the sea, and the wild storm rang in his ears, as if the whole battleship was cheering before the battle.

His battleship retraced, and then, in an awe-inspiring manner, stood in front of the two ships, the guns on the side of the side, and the muzzles of the black holes pointed forward.

Under the telescope, the Russians, who did not expect the French battleship to be so fast and so bold, were obviously a little flustered, and they were also hurriedly adjusting their course and preparing to meet the French, and at this time their enemies were ready.

Eugène looked ahead, the original symphony was no longer audible, and everything seemed to be still. In the telescope, the Russian sailors were still busy, and he seemed to be able to see desperate eyes......

"Fire!" With a calmness that bordered on indifference, Eugène cried out loudly.

"Fire!" The officers on both decks issued orders almost simultaneously.

"Boom!" A roar came from both decks at the same time, so violent that it almost made people deaf instantly, and the whole ship shook suddenly, and a large amount of smoke mixed with gunpowder dust rose from these gun ports in an instant, and then quickly converged into a puff of gray smoke that almost enveloped the entire field of vision.

"Bang!"

One by one, shells whistled out of the muzzles, and the sailors on the masts tried to observe the effect of the shelling in the smoke and then transmitted it to the ship, and the officers on board also adjusted the firing angles and parameters of the cannons according to these reports, and the smoke from the gunpowder filled the two decks, choking people almost without thinking, and then the officers' shouts were so hoarse that they could make people instantly delirious.

In this round of shelling, the new shells showed their good effect, piercing the gloomy sky with a scream, touching the enemy's battleship, and then bursting, bringing almost unbearable disaster to the wooden ship.

After withstanding the first two rounds of shelling, the Russians finally adjusted their positions, and then launched a shelling of the French battleship with the same broadside cannons, and then the Russian battleship, which had lost its first hand, counterattacked very weakly and did not bring much effect.

However, they had an advantage in numbers, and in Eugène's line of sight, flashes of gunpowder were constantly shining from the opposite side, and cannonballs were whistling towards him.

The small naval battle of the three battleships immediately came to the most intense place, the cannonballs passed through both sides without any scruples, bringing the fear of death, so that the whole black sea really devoured life, the waves stirred up by the cannonballs drove the battleships to shake, coupled with the effect of the cannon bombardment, as if the whole world was shaking......

Eugène looked desperately at the other side, constantly giving orders, maneuvering his battleship to fight the enemy, and the sea was blasted from the sea to the deck, like an endless downpour, this fishy salty smell would have made him sick, but at this time it could only make him feel sincerely excited.

"Fire!" He shouted.

"Fire!" The co-captain who supervised the gunners below deck gave the order hoarsely.

Rounds of shelling made the Russian battleship on fire more and more weak, it was already covered with fire, it seemed to have suffered heavy damage, Eugène carefully looked at the situation on the other side, assessed the remaining combat strength of the battleship on the opposite side, and under his observation, people kept being engulfed in flames, and some sailors even jumped directly into the water.

Eventually, the battleship stopped, and most of its cannons stopped firing, as if abandoning the engagement, and the battleship next to it slowed down, as if trying to defend its companions and receive the sailors who had fallen overboard.

Did you win? It was only at this moment that Eugène finally regained some of his usual composure.

He hadn't felt that heartfelt joy yet.

Shells are already running out of stockpiles.

He could choose to return to the pursuit, but it seemed a bit risky, and the Russians might have heavy battleships chasing after them.

He wasn't a man who was afraid of taking risks, but he didn't want to take two hundred people on his ship with him.

"Let's go home!" He finally made up his mind, "Go back to Bordeaux!" Long live the Empire! ”

By order of the captain, the battleship reoriented and headed for the Borphorus, already satisfied with their results.

The Russian warships did not seem to have any intention of pursuing, and they seemed to have been a little confused by the blow.

In the fishy sea breeze, Eugène suddenly gasped violently, and the excessive energy he had squeezed made him feel extremely tired.

"Long live France! Long live the Emperor! Many of them were still lying on the deck and screaming, venting their last remaining energy and looking forward to the enjoyment of their return to shore.

Eugène would certainly reward his subordinates, for they had already helped him win the initial victory.

A victory with an enemy warship, a victory he wanted.

And there were still people on board who remained calm, and a group of sailors were constantly draining the sea at the bottom of the sea at the behest of the old boatswain.

In the rough sea, the surging sea water will seep into the interior of the cabin along the crack in the gun door on the side of the low bottom deck, and then flow down the road inside the ship into the bottom cabin, not to mention the fierce artillery battle just now, so the sea water seeps in more.

If left unchecked, water will accumulate in the bilge, and the food stored in the storage room will spoil as a result, and the bottom of the ship will be soaked by seawater, which will be absolutely unbearable for the hull. Therefore, the best and most necessary thing to do at this time is to immediately organize sailors to take shifts and pump the bilge water out without stopping.

With a smile of admiration and pride, Eugène walked up to him. "Thank you."

"Congratulations, Captain!" The sailor looked at his young boss with a smile on his face, "You've won!" ”

"It's a win." Eugène corrected.

Then he laughed again, "Just now you asked me why I came to sea...... Now you know, right? ”