With a gap of more than two hours and nearly five hours, the main force of the Mongolian naval division could run at least more than 40 kilometers away, and they could change their course at will on the way, even if the speed of the Royal Navy was fast, it would still be quite troublesome to catch up. But trouble is trouble, twice the speed is a hard indicator, and it's no problem to catch up. Four and a half hours later, the Royal Navy, which was searching five nautical miles from each ship, spotted the southbound Mongol fleet and sent the message back to the Golden River through the flags on each ship.

"I've got a long ability, and I'm really not slow to run." Looking at the chart in his hand, Hong Tao once again admired the psychological quality of the Mongolian sailor coach, really Nyima! After the fleet was severely damaged, it was still able to move at full speed without being affected, and it was able to run nearly 80 kilometers in more than eight hours under the condition of side wind. Even if you are in command, at most it will be at this level, at best, you will change the course, no longer walking near the sea, but heading towards the vast deep sea, making it more difficult for the other party to search. But this method did not apply to the captains of this era, they did not have a sextant, a lunar distance table, and a detailed chart, once they left the fixed course, it was likely to be the result of a lost, but if there was a glimmer of hope, they would not take this risk.

"Eat first, rest and then deal with them, I don't know how many ships they will send to stop us this time." Looking at the dense sail shadows a few nautical miles away, Hong Tao put away the last trace of contempt. The Mongolian sailors are playing real this time, and they are dealing with themselves with the attitude of ending up together. In the face of such an enemy, they cannot be despised if they want to, although their weapons are not as advanced as their own. I didn't lag behind to the point where I couldn't touch myself at all.

The naval battle was more intense in the afternoon. Hong Tao's tactic of using three fleets to divide and encircle the long snake formation has obviously been seen by the commander of the Mongolian naval division. And came up with a way to deal with it. This time, there were obviously more warships separated from the main fleet of the Mongolian naval division, and instead of forming a long snake formation to try to block the way of the Royal Navy, these sixty or seventy warships were lined up in four or five rows, and they were still intertwined with each other, so that the Royal Navy could not intersperse and divide their fleet. If it is forcibly interspersed, in the face of such a dense formation, the ships of both sides are likely to collide on the sea. Then the interceptor fleet of the Mongol sailors will complete the task, and they will have ships to consume. But the royal fleet was sinking one ship and one less, and even the ships with guns had to be plundered.

"Why did the smart people of the world let me catch up, why can't I meet the second cargo that connects the warship with iron cables?" Hong Tao looked through the telescope at the Mongolian sailors in front of him to stop the fleet. These people learn to be flexible too quickly, and they never fall in one place twice, making it very difficult for them, the commander of the two-knife navy, to deal with them. As soon as you figured out a way to punch them, they immediately changed and didn't allow you to feel comfortable with a second punch, and you had to think of new tricks if you wanted to fight.

There are no opportunistic new tricks available to deal with this kind of dense fleet, so you can only slowly peel it from the outside layer by layer like a cabbage, knocking out one layer and then moving on to the next. At most, start from both the north and the south at the same time. Strive to consume them as soon as possible, and then turn around and chase the main force of the Mongol naval division that continues to move south. As a result, Bojiao's second attack fleet was mixed with the main fleet. to compensate for the lack of attack power of the main fleet. Kong Pei's Second Assault Fleet went around to the south of the enemy, and in a column formation, swept in a circle in front of and behind these dozens of warships, and at a distance of 200 meters, fired in turn at the stone and iron balls thrown by the opponent.

The best way to train a soldier is to fight with real guns and guns, and a high-intensity battle can turn a recruit who shuddeers at the sound of artillery into a veteran who can fire at the same time as eating.

This time, the resistance of the Mongol sailors was noticeably more stubborn and disciplined. Ignoring the shattering and leakage of their own warships, they desperately fired mortars at the route that the Royal Navy warships might pass. Now they finally understand that there is no hope of hitting a hit by chasing a battleship with a cannonball, and the amount of advance must be calculated to increase the hit rate.

It's just that these skills are not acquired through training, but in exchange for life, and the cost is a bit high, and it can't be passed on. Because Hong Tao would not rescue any Mongolian sailor soldiers who fell into the water, even if they knew more, they would not survive for a few days, and they would not have the opportunity to go back to help the recruits.

But learning is better than not learning, this sentence really makes sense. When the gunners of the Mongolian naval division mastered the technique of shooting advance, the hit rate increased significantly. The deck of the Golden River alone was smashed into two large holes, killing and wounding several gunners, and less than half of the other ships were also injured to varying degrees, the heaviest being an armed cargo ship. Its stern was hit by a cannonball, killing and wounding the captain and helmsman on the spot, and even more troublesome was that the pulley operating system under the steering wheel was also broken, and it could no longer operate the rudder effectively, so it could only rely on sails and change the center of gravity to adjust the course, and after obtaining permission from the flagship, it was forced to withdraw from the battlefield and run to a distant place to repair the rudder.

The battle lasted from less than 2 p.m. until dark, and in addition to one armed cargo ship, six ships of the Royal Fleet were hit by shells, and the number of casualties skyrocketed. Fortunately, the hulls of these warships and armed cargo ships were strong enough, and most of them had a few holes smashed in the deck, which did not affect the navigation. But there are two other problems that make Hong Tao have to replan his next move, one is that the ammunition consumption is too large, which is close to two-thirds; The second is that the crew is overtired, and even if there is enough ammunition, they will not be able to fight continuously, and they must rest and rest.

After all, manpower is limited, especially those gunners, high-frequency shooting makes them keep firing, loading, firing, and loading, and the operating objects are all big guys weighing one or two tons, and an hour is not enough to change shifts.

"Don't you giggle all day, do you? Come with me to Captain Gao's funeral. It's called war, and whether it's your friend or not, it can leave you forever in the next minute. Don't shout and kill all day long, don't fight if you can, don't fight, war is not an end, but the stupidest and most helpless means, and it can only be used when other methods fail. ”

Looking at the long list of killed in his hand, Weng Ya couldn't get alive. The captain who died in the battle was trained with a group of mercy, and because his eyesight was not very good, he was transferred to the armed cargo ship as a captain, and he can be regarded as a senior captain in the Royal Navy. Over the years, he has been running around in the supply fleet with Mercy and Weng Ya, and he is almost thirty years old and has not yet married a daughter-in-law. Fortunately, he was a northern Han who was captured with Kong Pei, and it was much better to be alone without family than to leave orphans and widows.

"It's all your fault, why don't you make a cannon that hits farther and more accurately, so that Lao Gao won't die!" Weng Ya held her mouth, tears swirling in her eyes, but she didn't let them fall, and blamed Captain Gao's death on Hong Tao's head.

"You don't say this like a naval general, you will only use cannons to bully the natives with wooden forks, and you are afraid of the enemy when they have steel swords, right? Don't be a navy if you're afraid of death, I'll sell all the artillery to the Mongols when I'm ready, and then let you fight on an equal footing with them, and see if you navy are real soldiers or bastard waste! Of course Hong Tao can't carry this big hat, and Weng Ya's attitude is very problematic, which shows that the Royal Navy is not a lion in a hundred battles, even the captain thinks so, and the people under him are definitely not much better. Hong Tao has always been ruthless about this kind of principle, even if Hong Tao is standing here, he has to say so.

"......" Seeing that Hong Tao was really angry, Weng Ya immediately lowered her head and began to pretend to be dead, only shedding tears without saying a word. The officers and sailors around also tried their best to find excuses to stay away from the stern, and they did not dare to look at the flood. This commander and the emperor are famous for their love of finding people to spread evil fire, and whoever catches up is unlucky.

(To be continued.) )