Chapter 399: The Boiling Ocean

Facing the murderous rush of Karles, . . Rao Zidan leisurely placed the fleet at the forefront of the front. At this time, Rao Zidan's detachment had already loaded the third round of fire and oil bombs, and pulled out streaks of green smoke in unison, although this round of firing was intended to delay, except for causing some damage to the warships rushing to the front, the effect could only be regarded as very average, but the two detachments of Carres and Za Jiaming still slightly reduced some speed because of evasion. At this time, the next move of Rao Zidan's detachment shocked the entire coalition fleet, forming two staggered fleets, which continued to maintain a steady marching speed while spraying the oil of Greek fire all over the sea. The airship team in the air could clearly see that as the fleet advanced, Rao Zidan's fleet seemed to be a huge brush, full of ink and scratching a large piece of blue paper......

Karles immediately figured out the opponent's tactics, and it was clear that he wanted to create a wall of fire to separate the entire battlefield. It's true that the other side hasn't lit the control belt yet, but if anyone wanted to cross the terrible incendiary area, they would definitely not hesitate to ignite it. The line of Carres and Zadjamin could only hurry around the two flanks of the barrier, still asking Alexander for advice. However, at this time, several other detachments under Ye Tao's command were already waiting on the two wings of the isolation zone, waiting for the other party to rush up.

Alexander was also stunned for a moment, but he did not rush to give a new order. Behind Carres and Zadjamin is the entire coalition fleet. Alexander's control of the coalition fleet is much worse than that of Ye Tao, Min Yue and Qi Zhentao, on the one hand, because the fleet is huge, but the command system is relatively lagging behind, especially in the absence of airships to relay in the air, a little farther away, or the enemy or friendly forces that hinder the realization in the middle are almost impossible to order. On the other hand, it is also because the fleet ships of the coalition are too complex, each country has its own traditions, and the national strength is also different, and it is not possible to expect those countries with only a short coastline and a relatively small territory to be able to build powerful combat ships like the Sassanid Kingdom and the Bossa Kingdom. Alexander could not only think about how to fight the best, but also had to calculate whether his orders would be carried out by the detachment below. Alexander was the marshal of the Sassanid kingdom, and he didn't have much confidence that the other party would listen to him about the ships that commanded the kingdom of Persa. In this case, Alexander could only be conservative and conservative, and did not rush to change the order, also to see the performance of the two detachments of Karles and Zadjamin. The barrier in the middle of the battlefield stopped the impact on his side and became a little depressed, but if he could quickly take advantage of the battlefield, this barrier could also be used by himself and become a talisman for the opponent. In order to test the opponent's ability and determination to fight, even if it is to catch Carres and Za Jiaming, it may be worth it, after all, the combined fleet of the two is only about forty clippers, less than one percent of the strength of the entire fleet.

Alexander, whose face was as heavy as water, didn't say much, and the officers on the flagship of the fleet and the liaison officers of various countries were all human beings, so they naturally understood what his silence meant. Even the representatives of the countries to which Kares and Zadjamin belonged were silent, and it was difficult for everyone to say anything.

Carres and Zadimin gathered their ships and detoured from the southern flank of the barrier, abandoning the northern flank. In the past, the warships of the Nanami Trading Company probably did not pursue from the rear around the isolation zone, after all, the main force of the coalition forces was behind, and there was no room for the tail to pursue.

However, today Seven Seas Trading Company is not only showing a premeditated strategy to control the battle situation, but also a fierce battle**. It was Katarina who swooped down on the fleet of Karles and Zadjamin. Although Caterina also had a mixed fleet of Huya and Lanshui ships, she chose the most flexible and compact Cangshui ship as her flagship, and when she met it head-on, she did not slow down and retract the sails at all, but while paddling an arc to shoot continuously, she rushed into the middle of Carres's fleet in a daze. Although the Huya is not designed for broadside combat, its large and sturdy body is just as powerful when used for ramming. When the two Huya ships rushed into Kareth's fleet first, the captains under Karaeth could only hurriedly evade it. It's just that they have been preparing for the docket battle for a long time, and while evading it, they are already watching the century throw out the hook and lock and prepare for hand-to-hand combat. Caterina couldn't let Kares be so happy, and her flagship was now at the risk of being swept up in the turbulence, sandwiched between the two Tiger Tooth ships, and rushed towards Kareth's fleet together. When her ship emerged, it was preemptively smashed into the center of the enemy's fleet with a bunch of fire and oil bombs.

Although Katarina's style of play is somewhat different from the strategy set by Ye Tao and the others, the effect is good. In this naval battle, in addition to relying on the power of warships and ordnance, it also depends on the courage of sailors, and the best results can be achieved by bringing the two together. The reason why Nanami Trading Company was able to develop a method of warfare that combined ballistas with Greek fire at close range was because the sailors under their command did not rely entirely on ballistas and fire-oil bombs with a longer range than the opponent, and they were not afraid to fight each other with white knives and red knives at all. When Caterina was in charge of the convoy, although her fleet had a high casualty rate, to everyone's surprise, the trained sailors were particularly fond of drilling into Caterina's fleet.

Katerina rushed into Kares's fleet and struggled with each other, and Xia Jiangping's detachment hurriedly swung out on the flanks and carried out non-stop artillery bombardment. A series of designs made Za Jiaming's fleet unable to support it for a while. Destroying the opponent's rhythm and destroying the opponent's formation in a naval battle is more than any tactic, and the warship is not a soldier, you can stop when you say you want to stop, you can run again when you say you want to run, it is very troublesome to raise and drop the sails and coordinate the queue. It takes a lot of time to liaise and coordinate with each other, as well as the tacit understanding between the front team and the back team. Even an ordinary merchant fleet would have to toss for half a day when it had to carry out an unplanned movement in any situation, let alone under the threat of a bunch of things that could kill?

As soon as Xia Jiangping went up like this, Ye Tao and the others, who could see clearly on the flagship, put down the binoculars in their hands and looked at each other.

"This battle is even fought." Ye Tao sighed and said. At least at the beginning, for such a short period of time, the whole battle went almost exactly as they expected.

Min Yue raised his eyebrows and said, "Then it depends on when those Greek fires are lit." Ye Tao, is it really okay to soak those things in the water? ”

Ye Tao smiled and said, "You started using that thing when it was still called fierce fire oil, do you still need to ask me?" Although with volatilization, the ratio will gradually appear unbalanced, and the power will decrease. But these things are really not diluted by water, and the polymerization performance is also very good, and they will not drift around. At least for an hour or two, there will be no problem. ”

Seeing that Ye Tao was so sure, Min Yue nodded and said, "That's it, the airship team is in the sky and can be ignited at any time, which is much safer than sending ships to the front all the time." Let's count it according to two hours, and see how far we can fight in two hours. ”

Everyone is still relatively confident in the battle, and the question is how much loss they have to pay to get the results they need. Also, it's about how much time it takes.

As the war continues, uncontrollable situations continue to occur before you know it. First of all, the barrier in the middle was ignited by a ballista wrapped in white gauze shot by an inexplicable ship, and the entire sea area burned and boiled at once, and you could feel the heat wave coming from a long distance. During that time, no matter whether they were close to this barrier or not, no matter which side of the fleet was, they all unconsciously moved in the direction of the principle barrier, just for fear that if something happened to them, they would be forced into the barrier and be swept into the dazzling fire of the whole area.

However, after a while, it became a different story. While the Greek fires were burning violently, they were also drastically reducing the burning area. The power of Greek fire was indeed enormous, but it burned too fast. Ye Tao looked at this situation, and muttered that he wanted to go back and urge the people of the research institute to make an incendiary that burned a little slower and lasted a little longer, which was dedicated to delaying combat and blockade. Min Yue and Qi Zhentao looked at each other and smiled, but didn't say anything. This kind of combat may not have much chance of use, although the blockade with Greek fire is a bit extravagant, but it is also doped. However, the guards who followed behind Ye Tao didn't think so, but took out their notebooks and pencils and recorded them casually. Ye Tao specially made a flat wine jug in order for the guards to drink on horseback, and a spout made of polished steel to prevent overturning and dripping.

As soon as the Greek fire was burned out, the main force of the other side rushed over on all fronts, and after Rao Zidan and Qi Zhu's best efforts to intercept them, they could not stop the enemy, and gradually formed a situation of fighting with each other. Even the Ning Xuan, which has been closely protected, has been threatened, but it is one thing to be threatened, Ning Xuan is a group of activists who are afraid of chaos in the world, Min Yue takes over the liaison of the whole fleet, Qi Zhentao is responsible for commanding the movement of the flagship and the escort fleet, and Ye Tao, who continues to be the commander of the shooting, eagerly enters the battle. The gunners on the Ning Xuan were indeed extraordinary, and in the first salvo, three oil bombs hit a medium-sized enemy ship, which instantly made the ship withdraw from the battle...... And the entire naval battle was still in a stalemate.