The sun slowly rises below sea level, and a new day has finally arrived.

Under the reflection of the morning sun, at the east entrance of the Strait of Magellan, one after another huge ships raised their anchors and hoisted their sails.

A huge fleet of ten sailing ships, twenty sail battleships, and seven small and medium-sized warships, divided into three columns, sailed away from the anchorage in turn.

Behind them was a solid defensive line composed of ten small and medium-sized warships, many floating batteries, shore artillery positions, etc., and in the wide water on the west side of the first narrow channel, nearly forty transport ships, large and small, were stationed.

These are all the remaining forces of Chen Han's fleet.

In the previous time, the first fleet of twelve sailing ships set out first, followed by the second five battleships, five transports and ten small and medium-sized warships, the third group had only ten small and medium-sized warships plus five transports, the fourth group was five battleships, five transports and ten small and medium-sized warships, and the last group was ten small and medium-sized sail warships and five transports.

The five fleets used a total of 12 sailing ships, 10 capital battleships, 40 small and medium-sized warships, and 20 transports.

The Europeans also divided a large number of warships, but now how many warships are left in Nelson's hands, Ye Tingyang has no score.

But he felt that there was a certain tacit understanding between them.

Didn't you see that Nelson had let go of the sea route?

The 'assault' detachment of Chen Han's fleet ran for the first time, and then it could run four times in a row without encountering a single blockade, which would not have been believed by ghosts without Nelson's acquiescence.

Several times the fleet 'broke through' smoothly and smoothly without encountering any trouble, which was completely a tacit understanding between the two sides.

In fact, Nelson was deliberately letting Chen Han's fleet break through, and even he hoped to see Ye Tingyang, who had broken through easily, be able to command the rest of the Grand Fleet's warships to leave the Strait of Magellan completely.

To solve this threat, Nelson did not feel that the eastern entrance of the Strait of Magellan was a good battlefield, and the first narrow waterway provided an impregnable fortress for the Chinese. If the Chinese encounter a bad situation, they can completely retreat into the first narrow waterway and hold on to the danger.

If you want to completely destroy/severely damage the Chinese's large fleet, you should go to the north, and the vast ocean is the contest between the two fleets.

But it's a pity that Ye Tingyang is not so stupid, so he won't give up the stable rear base of the first narrow waterway. Only the battleships were brought to attack, while the logistics ships and a small number of warships remained in the lair.

In this way, the advance can be attacked, and the retreat can be defended. Even if they lose the battle, they will be able to retreat to the first narrow waterway and hold on.

And Ye Tingyang didn't think that the Europeans would really not throw off the five groups of assault fleets, it was a very powerful force, if the Europeans didn't care, their current supply lines would definitely be cut off.

"Ladies and gentlemen, whether we can go down in history depends on our next battle! I would like to encourage you, but I wonder if you have the same faith? ”

Standing in the officer's conference room of the flagship Qin Shi Huang, Ye Tingyang said magnificently.

"I would like to encourage the general." Everyone's faces couldn't hide their excited expressions, even if a few people still had a little nervousness in their expressions, it was also nervous beyond excitement.

Can you not be excited? Can you not be nervous? Seeing that a super-large-scale naval battle is about to begin, how can everyone here not have a desire for war in their hearts as naval officers? Chen Hanshui has been established for so many years, isn't this day waiting for? Raising soldiers for a thousand days is a while. Of course, while longing for war, they also have a bit of caution in their hearts.

After all, the opponent is the Europeans who have been rampant in the seven seas for hundreds of years, and Obaro has developed rapidly in the past two or three hundred years, and it depends on the sea. For many European countries, sailing is a memory engraved in the bone marrow. Chen Han can repeatedly beat Europe on land, but their confidence in naval battles is really not very sufficient.

Commander Nelson is from England, an island nation that relied on the navy to defend its maritime interests, and who would dare to ignore such a famous general of a great power country that regards the navy as the lifeblood of the country?

But for Chen Hanshui, the development has reached this point, and it has also reached a bottleneck. It's not that Chen Han's naval warships are not strong enough and the number of warships is not large enough, but it is a kind of spiritual self-confidence.

In Chen Ming's eyes, today's Chen Han Sailor is like the old beauty of the Great White Fleet after cruising the world, and it is a world without a fearless era. That's not half the breadth.

But at that time, even if John Bull hadn't made the Dreadnought to turn the Great White Fleet into obsolescence, no one would have regarded the U.S. Navy as an elite force comparable to the British Navy.

If the British were an army, the Great White Fleet of the United States would be at most a group of black people.

At that time, Britain was the head of the global village, Russia was the nouveau riche in the village, Japan had just made a deal with Britain and framed the nouveau riche, and the United States was the runaway son of the British family. The departure of the Great White Fleet is the meaning that the rebel is afraid that his father's friend will move the family property left for him, and he will call the underworld to show his muscles.

When the old American navy was really recognized as powerful by the world, it was after World War II and the little devils fought a bloody battle in the Pacific. After being tempered by iron and fire, the U.S. Navy has truly become a recognized army.

Although the reason why the United States was able to win the Pacific War was related to the strong industrial strength of the Americans, this is exactly what Chen Ming thinks, and he feels that the current Chen Han Navy is still somewhat similar to the U.S. Navy in the original time and space. Now that Chen Han's Great White Fleet has been built, and the first stage, the accumulation of strength, has been completed, it is time to start the main mission of the second stage.

Five diamond-shaped sailing warships, as the outposts of the Grand Fleet, sailed out of the eastern mouth of the Strait of Magellan first.

Streams of faint smoke came out, and the coal used on Chen Hanji's sailing ship was completely the finest anthracite, and the steam engine propelled the ship to sail slowly, accelerating, accelerating, and accelerating, and rushing towards the European sentry fleet.

"Raise all the sails and turn to the left ......"

On a third-class sail battleship, a British naval officer stood on the foredeck, looking at the Chen Han fleet in the south, his eyes flashing with dazzling light. This is the first modern fleet war between the East and the West, and if they can eat the Chinese ships in one bite, then the situation in Europe will be stable in this war.

China, the old empire, has the ambition to devour the earth, and this is no longer a matter of touching the British cheese, but a matter of life and death of the British.

However, as the leader of the Western world, the British Empire has not yet completely decayed, and the Europeans will not willingly surrender the hegemony of the earth.

At this moment, the officer's eyes were full of fierce killing intent.

Chen Huacheng stood in the bow of the Silver Shark in the wind, and the sea breeze made his clothes scruple. He didn't care in the slightest, on the contrary, facing the sea breeze on the warship like this was his favorite.

As the command ship of the outpost, the Silver Shark is located in the center of the outpost's five sailing ships, with one sailboat on the left and one on the left. At this moment, the Silver Shark is sailing at full speed, which is not something that can be done casually. It is not a problem of more coal and less coal, but also a problem of the service life and performance of the steam engine. Chen Huacheng has been a general for three years, and he has been in contact with a sailing ship for more than five years, but there are only a handful of blowers under such full speed!

"If it's standing on an iron-hulled ship...... the latter is Chen Huacheng's biggest regret, he feels that if this battle is a few days late, it won't take too long, even if it's two or three years, and the big iron ships will be launched. It will feel better then. Chen Huacheng couldn't help but think of the iron-hulled gunboat belonging to the Ship Research Institute.

I'm not afraid of not knowing the goods, I'm afraid of comparing goods. The two of the Silver Shark are tied together, and they are no match for the iron guy belonging to the Ship Research Institute. The huge gap in solidity between wooden-hulled gunboats of the same class and iron-hulled gunboats is irreparable.

And what made Chen Huacheng even more envious was that the speed of the big iron ship was even better than that of the Silver Shark, which was really awesome.

While he was thinking about it, the jingling bell suddenly rang.

"Enemy ships! It was discovered that the enemy's new ship was reinforced, about 10 nautical miles to the south, flying the American flag! Quantity, two! ”

The lookout rang the hand-knitted bell vigorously and shouted loudly.

"So fast!?" Chen Huacheng was taken aback, and then a smile appeared on his face. With these two more enemy ships, there will only be six, don't be afraid! "Catch up—" Since you are not afraid, there is no reason to give up. And as for the report to the rear, it is enough to use flares.

At the same time, the alarm bell sounded on the European warships, and two newly arrived warships arrived from the southeast, and the ratio of enemy and enemy warships at the east entrance of the Strait of Magellan changed from 4:5, which was at a disadvantage, to 6:5, which now had a slight advantage.

It's just that there is nothing to worry about is that only three of their six warships are third-class sail battleships, and the other three are fourth-class sail battleships. In the fourth class, sail warships are weaker than sailing ships in terms of size and combat effectiveness.

"Your Excellency, the Chinese ships are adjusting their course...... They were close to us! ”

An American Navy lieutenant held a telescope in his left hand and held the handrail tightly with his right hand, and the green tendons on the back of his hands were all bulging, showing the tension in his heart at the moment.

It is clear that the Chinese warships are here to fight!

So......

"Is it time for the two armies to fight a decisive battle today?" The young lieutenant officer shuddered.

It's a super war.

Not to mention how many fleets the Chinese still have, Nelson still has 35 capital ships under his command now, and there are also more than 40 fourth-class sail warships and fifth- and sixth-class warships, which has exceeded the combined Franco-Spanish fleet of those years and far exceeded the Mediterranean dispatch fleet led by Nelson.

At that time, the combined Franco-Spanish fleet had 33 battleships. One of them was the Trident, the largest four-deck battleship of its time, and the others were: three three-deck battleships; 6 80-gun boats; 22 ships with 74 guns; 1 64-gun boat. In addition, the Franco-Spanish fleet also has 13 cruisers of various types, with a total of more than 2,600 side guns, carrying more than 20,000 officers and men.

The British fleet had 27 battleships, of which 7 were three-deck guns and the remaining 20 were double-deck guns. A total of more than 2,100 artillery pieces, nearly 17,000 officers and men, plus 4 cruisers and several auxiliary ships.

And now only thirty-five capital ships are enough to offset the size of the Franco-Spanish combined fleet, and there are many fourth-class sail warships and five- and sixth-class warships, which of course cannot catch up with the scale of Nelson's fleet at the beginning, but it can easily surpass half of Nelson's fleet. Taken together, this scale completely crushed any naval battle in the history of sail battleships.

The Europeans had great confidence in themselves, with the world's best naval commanders, the most powerful sail battleships, and tens of thousands of hard-working sailors, the combined European fleet could be called the most powerful fleet in European history.

Although they also followed the Chinese to divide their troops again and again, compared with the number of warships, the Europeans had more than Chen Han, and now these extra warships have become the biggest advantage of the Europeans.

The fleet was too large to be commanded, and this was a problem for both the Eastern and Western fleets. But Nelson had the ability to control the military power he had now, and at least the size of the eighty warships had reached the bottom line of his own psychological expectations.

In comparison, Chen Han's troops were less than forty warships.

Ten sailing ships and twenty sail battleships were Chen Han's main force, and seven small and medium-sized warships were just a foil. Compared with the huge scale of the 80 warships of the Europeans, the scale of the Chen Han fleet composed of these 37 warships is much smaller.

In a situation where the outcome is unknown and the process is unknown, the only advantage that the 37 warships have over the 80 warships is that it is more convenient for command and dispatch.

The thirty-seven warships were divided into five parts by Ye Tingyang, with five sailing ships led by Chen Huacheng in the front and seven small and medium-sized warships in the rear, specifically five fourth-class sail warships and two brigs. Then there were twenty-five capital ships in the middle, and the five remaining sailing ships were organized into one road - the northern route, twenty sail warships were divided into two roads in 3:1, fifteen capital ships in the middle lane, and five capital ships in the south route.

Chen Huacheng was very brave and led the forward drive detachment to the European warships in front, and the latter had changed from the brave engagement at the beginning to retreat and retreat. The lookouts on their masts saw the blackened main fleet behind the five precursor detachments, and the Europeans, no matter how brave they were, had to retreat.

Frontal rigidity is just a fearless sacrifice.

"It's a real shame. is a disgrace to the Royal Navy. Lancelot Orlando said resentfully. He was a British Navy Lieutenant and First Officer on the South Lanark.

Captain Michael Hughes was silent. He also felt humiliated. The Royal Navy of the British Empire, which crisscrossed the seven seas, was forced back by the Chinese, which was a very dishonorable thing.

Michael Hughes was a true believer in Nelson, and it was a tradition of the British Royal Navy to fight the enemy. Regardless of whether the origin of this tradition is the criminal privateer at sea and the glittering wealth, in the two hundred years of Britain's rapid development, the 'battle of the enemy' has been raised to a state of honor by the British naval officers and men, and the eyes of a considerable number of people are fixed only on the glory of these four words, and ignore the blood and sins deposited under its glittering appearance.

The current retreat humiliated the proud British Navy, but the Anglo-Saxons could not deny the fact in front of them.

"Three months at the latest. The Empire's galleons can also haunt the North Sea in the harsh conditions of the seas like our enemies. But if they want to form combat effectiveness and wait for them to appear in North America, it will take half a year at the latest. Michael Hughes had regret in his eyes because they didn't have that much time left.

As a senior admiral of the British Empire, Michael Hughes has enough sources to clearly understand what the current hard top needs most, and what the British Empire needs to avoid and ensure the most.

"Half a year, we only need half a year." It's a pity that the Chinese will not give London to Europe.

The Great War has ignited!