More than a dozen round iron bullets hit, and only one of them cut a hole in the sidesail, which can be said to have no damage value at all. But before Zhu Li could breathe a sigh of relief, another batch of shells came over.

The point of impact of this batch of shells was not high, and I don't know if the French finally understood it - the battleships were two or three times farther apart, the accuracy was greatly reduced, and the target was no longer the rope sail mast - or the occasional shelling they struck.

Anyway, at least three iron bullets hit the side of the ship, and the sound of wood breaking was so clear.

"Two cracks have been reported under the starboard draft line, which have been repaired." The voice of the engineer commander only stopped for a moment before it sounded next to Zhu Li's ears. Zhu Li's nervous expression immediately relaxed, because he heard the composure in the voice of the engineer commander. Apparently two shells caused little trouble.

This trick of bombarding the ship's side and attacking the part of the battleship below the waterline was the usual trick of the British, who had previously been only interested in the sail line and the deck.

The engineer chief is the carpenter non-commissioned officer on Li Guang's number, and he is also the head of the repairmen here.

In the Western naval system, carpenters are exempt from duty. The ship's "craftsmen" are the assistants of non-commissioned officers of various specialties. For example, a sail repairer, a carpenter, a cook, or an assistant to a supply officer. Although they are not much better than sailors in terms of treatment, the biggest advantage is that they do not have to be on duty and can sleep peacefully every day. Moreover, some positions can be close to the water and get a little convenience for themselves, such as cooks, which is the most oily position for ordinary sailors on sail battleships.

In the Chen Han Naval Division, all such personnel are classified as engineers, and their treatment is a little higher than that of ordinary sailors, because they are technical troops, and the leader is the engineer commander.

However, with a loud "boom-" sound, Zhu Mian felt a shock under his feet, and the whole person almost fell crooked on the deck. Light smoke rose from the stern part of the Li Guang, and another French battleship had already reached the tail of the Li Guang and opened fire at a higher speed. It was the weakest point of Western sailing ships.

If you think of a Western-style galleon as a wild boar, it has wild boar skin on both sides, and the bow is a strong boar head, but the stern is a wild boar's butt, which not only has poor attack power, but also belongs to an absolute weakness, which is easy to be crotched.

After the cannonball hits the stern, not only can the stern be messed up, but the cannonball can also go all the way forward to the front of the ship, so to speak, directly penetrating the entire battleship.

This is where the stern part of the ship is most severely attacked.

However, at the same time that the guns of the French battleship hit the stern of the Li Guang, the French battleship opposite the Li Guang had also been hit by Li Guang with at least twenty iron bullets.

The ship's side, deck, and even the rigging were falling apart, splinters of wood flew everywhere, and the screams of the wounded French sailors were even more terrible.

The Li Guang quickly turned its stern, and the French cruisers certainly did not easily let the Li Guang stern part of the ship out of its lock, but the currents and wind direction in the Mediterranean Sea would make the difference in speed between the two. The Li Guang, which was turning in the direction of the wind, was obviously faster than the French battleship.

This is also Zhu Li's greatest confidence in one-on-two.

As long as the enemy did not have a large fleet behind him, how could a third-class sail battleship be afraid that only when two of them were added together would there be a large fifth-class sail battleship of Li Guang?

"Boom, boom, boom......"

There was a shock on the upper deck, and Zhu Lian saw that there was a commotion on the French battleship not far away, and several hot incendiary bombs hit the French cabin, not only the large wooden planks shattered, but also seemed to be burning inside. It's a pity that it didn't cause an explosion.

The first time I hit the hot bomb, it was good luck, but unfortunately it didn't detonate the powder keg and didn't hit the sail. Zhu Ting and the first mate beside him glanced at each other, and they could see the smile and endless surprise in each other's eyes.

Time passed silently with the roar of each other's cannons.

The sun passed through 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock, and came to 12 o'clock.

The upper deck of the Li Guang was busy, and several huge openings on the side of the ship were like the marks of being bitten by a giant beast in the sea. More than two hours of fighting added a lot of painful scars to the third-tier battleship.

Of course, the two French battleships on the opposite side were even more embarrassed. Whether it is in terms of the gunnery of the soldiers, or in terms of the density of each other's artillery and the probability of hitting, when the French battleships hit the Li Guang, they will only suffer more damage.

Because the fire density of the three-stage sail battleships is greater.

Today's battle mode allows a row of guns to be fired one by one.

Large ships certainly have an advantage over small ships in battle.

Otherwise, the navies/sailors of the East and West would not have pursued the tall ships when they were fighting.

"General, the French ship No. 2 is adjusting the angle, and they are closing the distance between them and our ship."

At 12:05 p.m., the Li Guang achieved a major victory, and a round of hot bombs detonated the powder keg on the deck of the French ship No. 1 [frontal French battleship], and a third of the ship's deck was swept away by the explosion. But Zhu Li, who was very excited just now, immediately received a basin of cold water poured on his head.

"What?" Zhu Li, who was taken aback, immediately went to see another French battleship, that is, the French ship No. 2.

"Attention Navigator! Keep your distance from the French ship! ”

Zhu Li instantly understood what the French were going to do, this was using desperate efforts to force Li Guanghao back, and they were using desperate efforts to win critical time for their companions.

The two French warships attacked Li Guang one in front of the other, one on the left and one on the right, one east and one west, and always attacked Li Guang, and the stern building was always the highest goal pursued by the French ship No. 2. It was only when the two cruisers were separated, when the French cruiser in the back kept capturing the stern of the Li Guang, the cruiser/French ship No. 1 in front had already suffered a lot of damage in the strike of the Li Guang for more than two hours, and what was even more unfortunate was that a round of hot bombs fired by the Li Guang directly ignited a powder keg on the deck of the French cruiser.

A sudden explosion swept through a third of the ship's deck. The French cruiser was almost incapacitated by this.

You must know that the fifth-class sail cruiser is a single deck.

So, the brave French Navy, another fifth-class sail cruiser, suddenly cut inward towards the 'course'. The previous path was a round ball, between 600 and 700 meters in diameter, and no one dared to continue to close the distance.

But what about now?

When a French battleship suffered heavy damage, another French battleship suddenly shortened the distance between Li Guang and it, and Zhu Li's spirit was tense.

As a person who also commanded the battleship to approach the enemy in the battle and came to fight for the enemy ship, Zhu Lian was very clear about the plans of the French warship opposite.

The distance of one or two hundred meters is a distance that can be easily approached in this day and age.

After Zhu Li gave the order, he quickly raised his head and looked at the French ship No. 1. The opponent's battleship was very smart, and it immediately distanced itself from Li Guang. It is likely that the French ship 1 has already made contact with the French ship 2.

Zhu Dian was faced with a choice, whether to give up and end the battle with a heavy damage to a French cruiser, or to really see the French and fight together?

Zhu Li is at a point in life.

His previous choice was to retreat, if he did not change his order, at most ten minutes, the French ship No. 1 would be able to leave the battlefield, and the battle would be over.

The people near the command platform were all looking at Zhu Li, and no one wanted to taste the power of the rockets, but it was also unwilling for the soldiers to let go of the prey in front of them in vain.

"Smack!" Zhu Lian slapped on the wooden railing. At this moment, he remembered his old rival, Ye Tingyang. If Ye Tingyang was in his position, what would he choose to do?

The answer is undoubted, Ye Tingyang didn't even hesitate, he would command the warship to 'collide' head-on.

Although he is Zhu Li's most important competitor, Zhu Li cannot deny Ye Tingyang's bravery.

Up to now, Ye Tingyang is still insisting on advocating the destroyer fleet and insisting on the destroyer fleet. Among the Nanyang Naval Division, Ye Tingyang's destroyer fleet already has the title of a death battalion. Because in Ye Tingyang's 'imagination', the destroyer fleet is a desperate team, and when the big fleet is fighting, they are like a sharp knife, interspersed with cutting the enemy's fleet formation and main force, and in the endless ocean, they rely on a higher speed to circle with the enemy's main warship.

They travel not at a distance of 600 meters, but at a distance of 530 meters, 520 meters, 510 meters, or even 500 meters. Always in a state of 'stepping on the line', always ready to cut into the '500 meters' from the best strike angle, and pursue the ideal state of 'one blow away' at the cost of his own life. At the same time, the destroyer fleet must also have a high fighting spirit that is always ready to fight hard, and if necessary, they can fearlessly attack the enemy's large fleet head-on......

It is also because of this more extreme 'thinking' that Ye Tingyang has been criticized by many sailors and old people, even if he is his own person who has been demoted. Many people who supported Ye Tingyang before have now begun to support Zhu Lian. Many of the people who had previously maintained independence in the competition between the two of them now turned to support Zhu Li's idea of the Grand Fleet.

Zhu Li is not a person with deep roots, he is not from the Qing army, nor is he from foreign bandits. His foundation is very weak, but Ye Tingyang's extreme ideas have made those who originally supported him turn extremely strongly against him.

As a result, Ye Tingyang went from being on a par with Zhu Li, and now he is slightly half a step behind Zhu Li. But Ye Tingyang is still Zhu Li's biggest competitor in the competition for the first person in the Mesozoic Era and the first person in the future imperial court sailor.

As Ye Tingyang's biggest 'enemy', Zhu Li never doubted the bravery of his opponent.

……

"Captain, the Chinese warship has stopped deflecrating, it is approaching our ship, and they are no longer dodging."

There was no need for a report, and Lieutenant Commander Henry, the commander of the cruiser 'Loire', clearly saw the change in course of the Chinese warship. Although it was still going around in circles, the change in course could not deceive Henry's eyes, who had been on the sea for twenty years.

Chinese are not running away, they are choosing a suitable angle and then ......

"Soldiers, I'm sorry I gave this suicidal order." Lieutenant Colonel Henry shouted to everyone: "The enemy artillery fire does not allow us to hesitate, and the Sablé needs our help." In order to buy them time, but also for the final victory, for the tricolor to fly forever, let us bravely rush to the enemy. ”

"Men who advance to the French motherland,

The glorious hour has come!

……

……

The Holy Fatherland calls us,

Revenge on the enemy!

We yearn for precious freedom,

Determined to fight for it!

Determined to fight for it!

Let us hold high the banner of freedom,

Victoriously striding forward!

Let the enemy be under our feet,

Listen to our triumphant singing......"