On the night of the sixth day of the ninth lunar month, it rained heavily on the sea.

The soybean-heavy raindrops hit people's faces with pain, and the White Shark and the Earth Comet fourth-class sail battleships sailed silently in the pouring rain.

Zhang Bao, who had an extra three-inch scar on his cheek, was wearing a poncho and stood on the top deck of the bow tower, staring at the sea with wide eyes.

The visibility on the dark sea was extremely low, and the sound of the rushing rain muffled a lot of sounds, Zhang Bao could only look at the flickering lights of the Earth Comet, which was very faint and faint, and he was secretly annoyed in his heart. He shouldn't have sailed tonight, for he had a chance to find a geographically advantageous anchorage to shelter from the wind and rain before sunset. But at that time, he finally chose to sail overnight.

In the pouring rain, the navigation of the warship was difficult, and the wind and waves on the sea were great, but they could also throw people into the sea. In the vast ocean, there is no wind and three feet of waves, and now it is raining, so how can there be no wind at all? And it is not easy for two ships to keep in formation.

Zhang Bao really regrets it now, in this kind of weather, this kind of visibility on the sea, it is easy for the ship to lose contact, and if it is lost at this time, what it means, I am afraid everyone knows very well.

Zhang Bao stood on the deck and observed nervously, his hands had turned a little white due to the long-term clenching of the joints, which also reflected his nervous and worried heart at this time.

"Tell the Earth Comet to hurry up, tear off the broken signal light, and replace it with a good one." Keep in touch all the time.

At night, communication between ships and ships can only be done by signal lights. Zhang Bao shouted hoarsely, his voice shouting a trace of imperceptible trembling. The sudden rainstorm disrupted all his plans, and in such bad weather, communication between the two ships was basically impossible. In other words, the possibility of the separation of White Shark and Earth Comet is infinitely magnified.

He is not a serious sailboat pipe belt, Zhang Bao is just an acting pipe belt. The White Shark's predecessor was killed in the previous battle, and Zhang Bao made a difference in the battle by being promoted to acting band. In this sortie, if the task is not completed beautifully, Zhang Bao's future will inevitably be overshadowed. What's more, at present, this sea area is a key patrol place for Europeans, and the Earth Comet is only a fifth-class sail warship, and it is very likely to be chased by the Europeans after being separated.

Sailing in the dark is always full of unexpected factors, especially on a rainy night like this. Fortunately, the wind and waves on the sea are not very strong now, but with such heavy rain, it is difficult to ensure that the wind and waves will not be high in the second half of the night. If the weather deteriorates and the two ships break up, God knows what will happen.

However, it turned out that the second half of the night of September in the North Atlantic was not stormy, but the rain was still pouring down, and in the second half of the night, the White Shark and the Earth Comet had an extra tail behind their buttocks.

Yes, the time was at 2 o'clock in the morning, and then until 5 o'clock in the morning, the lights of the enemy ships tracking in the distance behind were still looming in the rain, Zhang Bao counted them, and there seemed to be four lights. Nima, there are already three more ships than the one at the beginning! This place is only a day's voyage from Boston, and the distance is a little close, and the European warships certainly regard this sea area very strictly, but it is impossible to contact four warships in an hour!

Seeing that there were more lights behind him, Zhang Bao felt disgusted in his heart. He absolutely did not believe that the Europeans would be able to assemble four warships so quickly, and they must have been lucky enough to crash into the 'fish nest'.

These ships followed patiently, and did not intend to take the initiative, just like wolves hunting on the grassland, first a few wolves slowly hung behind the prey, creating pressure on the prey, driving them to run to the ambush circle, but also tired their spirits, waiting for the best opportunity to come.

Zhang Bao was absolutely sure that the boats behind him were waiting for support. So he had to come up with a way.

It was already dawn, but the rain was getting heavier and heavier. There seemed to be a thunderclap in the sky in the distance, and Zhang Bao looked up and didn't see lightning slashing from the sky.

The Earthcomet's mainsail has been lowered, and the ship's speed is maintained at 3 knots. The sails of the White Shark were all lowered, and the speed of the ship was maintained at this speed. And those guys in the back......

"They're averaging three knots at the moment, and we're about three nautical miles away." It's in line with the White Shark.

Three nautical miles is not that far, and if the White Shark turns around and kills a rifle now, it will be able to catch up in half an hour at most. This was when the Europeans fled backwards after seeing this. If they don't dodge or dodge, this time can even be shortened to 15 minutes.

Sailboats turn much faster than sailboats, and now that the North Atlantic is blowing easterly, if the White Shark turns, it will be a headwind. The hard sails hung on the sailing ship are far more adapted to headwind conditions than the soft sails, and with the power of the steam engine, the speed of the sailing ship will not be lost much at all, and it can still reach a speed of 10 knots per hour. However, the speed of the sail warship has to be folded in half, and this speed after the fold is still under the premise that the Europeans have fully raised the sails.

Therefore, it will definitely not be difficult for the White Shark to get close to fight.

Zhang Bao estimated the distance and relative speed between the two sides and made up his mind. He's going to hit a dozen!

In another hour or two, it will be dawn, and even if there is indeed thunder and lightning in the sky, it will make both sides see each other clearly, which is very bad for the White Shark.

So if you want to fight, you have to fight as soon as possible!

The White Shark has an advantage in speed, and even if it can't be beaten, Zhang Bao is confident that he can easily escape. The premise is that the Earth Comet does not hold back, and Zhang Bao asks the signal soldiers to give orders to the Earth Comet.

The rain continued to fall, the Earth Comet was blazing, but the steam engine on the White Shark was running at full capacity, and the White Shark began to make a big turn. "Full right rudder, pull the sail up for me."

The enemy ships continued to approach in the darkness, and they had not yet noticed the White Shark's movements.

The entire White Shark had already turned its bow, and the thunder in mid-air had finally slashed down.

Suddenly, the sky flashed, but in the blink of an eye darkness returned. Immediately afterward, there was a sound like the sky cracking and thundering.

It was a purple sword that pierced the sky. The shining arc ran down from the clouds to the edge of the sky. Suddenly, half of the sky was lit up.

Soon, a dazzling flash appeared in front of Zhang Bao's eyes, and there was another loud bang, and it was still a ray of light that pierced the sky, and the entire sky brightened white. The winding lightning is like a white dragon, and like a big tree, crossing the blue sky.

The Europeans finally saw the shadow of the White Shark, which did not continue to flee to the west, but had already turned around and attacked them with great vigour.

Four European warships also reacted quickly, they were turning. No way, who made these four enemy ships small warships?

Although it is not a small point like a dhow, the four brigs, none of which has a tonnage of more than 500 tons, are enough to choke.

However, it was very difficult for the sail battleship to turn around, and it took the four battleships a full ten minutes to accomplish this goal. And in the process, their sails are not yet full.

Looking at the White Shark again, the distance to the four brigs has been cut by half.

The four European brigs turned around, but their speed was far from that of the galleon. In less than ten minutes, the bow guns of the White Shark opened fire, and the distance was already close to 1,000 meters.

If it is broad daylight, such a distance is already a proper distance, and the artillery of both sides can hit more accurately. But it's dark now, and it's raining heavily, so 1000 meters is a bit not enough in this case.

There are winds and waves on the sea, and it is raining heavily, so it is quite safe to put the distance to 500 meters at this time.

Therefore, the bow gun failed to hit with one hit, Zhang Bao stood on the command platform, and then saw more than 20 guns on the port side firing at one time, and the white smoke was shot down by raindrops as soon as it rose.

The White Shark is naturally the fastest in a straight line, but in order to get the most out of the ship's firepower, it must take an "S" shape, aiming its guns at the enemy diagonally when moving the hull sideways.

The four enemy ships didn't want to flee anymore, the enemy's speed advantage was very obvious, and they continued to flee, unless they scattered and gave up one to save three, otherwise these four brigs really didn't have much confidence that they could escape the pursuit of the White Shark. But if they don't rush away and turn around and fight the White Shark to the death, they still have hope of being the victors.

It's like infantry and cavalry in the age of cold weapons. The Europeans are now short-legged infantry, and the White Shark is cavalry.

When the two meet, as long as the infantry is willing to fight to the death, the cavalry does not necessarily win; But if the infantry were bent on escaping, and the cavalry followed in constant pursuit, the victor would necessarily belong to the cavalry, and it would have to pay a very small price.

The two brigs continued to flee westward, while the left and right brigs suddenly diverged to the north and south. Are they trying to escape? No. The two brigs were going to flank the White Shark left and right. At the same time, the two brigs in front of them also slowed down, not only taking a curve, but also doing their best to return fire on the White Shark with stern guns and port and port guns.

Zhang Bao looked at the European ships leaving left and right and smiled disdainfully, and he could know with his toes what kind of calculation the foreign devils were playing. But does the White Shark need to be afraid? By the time the two brigs approached from the side, the White Shark had already rowed past the two warships in front.

The speed of the two ships in front of them has been slowing down, and now it has become 2 knots per hour, but after the speed has slowed down, their accuracy has not improved much. Of course, the White Shark was just as blind on the spot. Until the two battleships were in a parallel position......

"Boom! Rumble! The fine rain curtain could not stop the orange-red flames that bloomed from the porthole of the second deck on the starboard side of the White Shark. The spectacular sight of 24 90/75/60 caliber hexagonal guns blooming one after another was still very shocking, and one after another shells whizzed towards the enemy ships on the opposite side at a distance of seven or eight hundred meters.

The gunners on the White Shark fired close to the level of training, firing two rounds in three minutes, and the shells kept going into the hull of the opponent's ship. It was also impossible to see in the night, and the gunners, under the command of the gunner, fired seven or eight volleys in one breath before they began to fire freely.

During this period, the distance between the White Shark and the brig on the right side was reduced from seven or eight hundred meters to five or six hundred meters, and then back to seven or eight hundred meters. As the White Shark sprayed flames on the brig, the brig also blasted at the White Shark without hesitation. The end result, of course, was that the brig suffered a loss.

The White Shark has no more guns than a traditional third-class sail battleship, but it is still more than a brig. And the caliber of artillery is also larger. The White Shark had 120mm hexagonal guns in the forward and backward turrets, as well as several small guns mounted on the bow and stern sides, while guns on both sides of the ship started at 60mm and went up to 90mm at the maximum. The hexagonal guns on the opposite brig are only 75mm in caliber, and the largest guns on both sides are less than 50mm. Otherwise, how could a sailing ship like the White Shark be made with such a large tonnage? It's all comparable to a third-class sail battleship.

The larger the caliber of naval artillery, the more astonishing the destructive power is, especially when the two sides are only five, six, seven, or eight hundred meters away in a straight line.

The battleships on both sides ate a lot of shells, after all, for a hexagonal gun, such a distance can guarantee a certain hit rate. Especially the European brig, the White Shark had one or two hundred shells overwhelmingly overwhelmed, and even if most of them missed, they would have to eat dozens of shells. And it's a small boat, a small boat means that the hull is thin, the hull is not strong, and now the brig is full of holes, broken planks, and groaning wounded, and the whole ship is like a ravaged little daughter-in-law in a den of bandits.

Of course, the White Shark also ate some shells fiercely. Not only were there five or six holes in the side of the ship, but even the stern was pierced with three large transparent holes.

That's the bad thing about hand-to-hand combat with battleships. Even if a first-class sail battleship is against a sixth-level sail battleship, it will be pierced by iron bullets.

The two ships passed by, and the White Shark's twenty-four gunwales and bow guns fired a final salvo, once again dealing a heavy blow to the brave brig. Then he made a beautiful arc and was about to go to the rear of the ship, which, if successful, could inflict heavy damage on the brig.

But the Europeans did not give it for nothing, not to mention that there were other helpers for this ship. The White Shark could only regretfully drill into the distance, so that it could distance itself and come back again.

At this time, on the side of the White Shark, a little fire was revealed in the pouring rain, this is one of the two brigs that were scattered, right?

"Haha......" Zhang Bao laughed heartily, "Let Lao Tzu give you a ride too." ”

The shelling just now Zhang Bao is not enjoyable, and now another dead ghost has been sent to the door.

The White Shark quickly moved closer to the light, and Zhang Bao could clearly see the bow of the ship through the falling lightning.

However, at this time, the lookout in the mast, who was tied to the mast, suddenly sounded the alarm bell, "I found an unknown light in front of ......"

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