The Caribbean Sea is one of the first American colonies that Europeans landed, and after hundreds of years of reclamation and hard work, it has become a honeypot for the whole of Europe.

Portugal, Spain, England, France, Denmark, the Netherlands, every European naval power has fought blood and fire here, countless people have been bloodied and killed here in the centuries of endless confrontations, and ships have been deposited in the depths of the blue sea.

Today, however, the situation has changed dramatically. With the evolution of the situation in the Americas, the Spaniards have completely withdrawn from the Caribbean, and the two most important islands in the Caribbean, Cuba and Haiti, have become Chinese territories, and even vassal states have been established on these two islands.

But the strategically located Winddirection Islands remained firmly in the hands of the Europeans.

Spain had personal ties with China, giving Cuba to China almost for nothing, but the Spanish islands of the Winddirection Islands had already been acquired by the British.

At that time, China acquiesced to this, Chen Han had just taken a big advantage, and a large amount of land had not yet been absorbed and digested, so there was no need to make enemies with Britain because of the wind-oriented islands. What's more, Chen Ming at that time thought that the future naval battle belonged to the steam warship, and the sail warship was backward and would soon be eliminated. The strategic position of the Windward Islands corresponds only to sail warships, not steam warships. So, things just fell into thin air.

But now that the sea battle between the east and the west broke out in advance, and the main warships of the Westerners were still sail warships, the role of the Wind Direction Islands was fully played, although this was definitely the last time the Wind Direction Islands were played.

It was already late at night, and the wind and waves were rising at sea. In the bright moonlight, a fleet was sailing twenty nautical miles south of Roanoke Island. The fleet of five sailing ships was marching in two columns, dragging two long wakes on the dark sea, which stood out in the bright moonlight.

Among the battleships in the three-two column, the warship at the head of the fleet was the Egret led by Guan Tianpei, and behind the Egret was the flagship Whale Shark on which Chen Huacheng, the commander of the detachment, was riding. At this moment, in the officer's conference room of the Whale Shark, a military meeting was being held, and the person presiding over the meeting was, of course, the commander of the detachment, Chen Huacheng, and the main topic of the meeting was the battle at night.

Roanoke Island is located in the northeast of Roanoke, North Carolina, and there is a sandbar belt stretching for nearly 300 miles on the Atlantic Ocean outside, which is like a glimpse of the solid wall that firmly protects Roanoke Island and Albemarle Bay on the western mainland of Roanoke Island.

The southern end of the sandbar is foggy in winter and hurricanes in summer, making it difficult for ships to navigate, and the headland has been the site of the lighthouse since 1798.

Chen Huacheng and the others targeted the lighthouse, and quietly slipped into the inner side of the sandbar, and now they were only a stone's throw away from Roanoke Island. The latter, as a supply ground for the European Navy, is not a very important goal, because there are not too many such supplies on the east coast of the entire North America. In contrast, Elizabethtown in Albemarle Bay is more valuable. It's one of the most important ports in Albemarle Bay, and it's not big, but it's much bigger than Roanoke Island.

Even though Roanoke was the first British colony in North America in the 16th century. And there is also a centuries-old mystery here, one night, Roanoke, a city of more than 100 inhabitants, lost his life overnight.

John White, the governor of the colony at the time, led the fleet back to Roanoke, and they saw from a distance the sudden rise of wolf smoke from the village, which was a distress signal from the residents. But when the convoy arrived, the soldiers found that the doors of the houses in the village were open, and when they entered every house, they saw the bonfires that were being lit, but the more than 100 men, women, and children, including poultry and livestock, all disappeared, as if they had suddenly evaporated from the earth.

This is a strange anecdote about Roanoke Island's intelligence investigation, but it does nothing to increase the attractiveness of Roanoke Island to Chen Huacheng. The only benefit of Roanoke Island over Albemarle Bay is safety! But what the military needs is real feats, to really hit the Europeans.

Therefore, whether to attack Elizabeth City or Roanoke Island, Chen Huacheng convened this military meeting. In addition to the pipe bands of the ships of the fleet, the meeting was also attended by the staff officers of the fleet.

The east coastline of North America is very long, and even if the Europeans distributed all their warships there, it is impossible to take care of them thoroughly. Moreover, it is impossible for the Europeans to distribute all the warships on the east coastline, and the winddirection archipelago has at least half of the main force of the European Combined Fleet, and in the vast North Atlantic, Chen Han's sailing ships are also circling in circles with the Europeans' sail warships and transport ships, playing cat and mouse tricks.

Therefore, the force they deployed in this part of Albemarle Bay is not as strong as the combat effectiveness of five sailing ships, and this is a good time for the aging fleet to attack. Chen Huacheng is very sure whether he is fighting Roanoke Island or Elizabeth City, but if he wants to eat both, it will be difficult.

The European Navy here is not in trouble, but what about the coastal defense forces?

If the Shore Guards had been prepared, Roanoke Island would have been in trouble, and Elizabeth City would have been in trouble.

The town was not located by the sea, but in the heart of Albemarle Bay, the mouth of the Delaware River, a large river that stretches for thousands of miles through New Jersey, and the largest fork on the north shore of Albemarle Bay, fifty miles deep and only seven or eight miles wide. The distance is dangerous for Europeans, if they are prepared.

Although Chen Huacheng firmly believes that even if he is ambushed, he can still fight out. Five sailing ships are equivalent to five capital ships, and such combat effectiveness is not at all comparable to that of the European navies of this generation. But in this way, morale is defeated in the end.

"Ladies and gentlemen, tonight's combat operation is only a cautious one. When you go back, make your own preparations, strictly control the lights, and don't slack off. Now, adjournment! "The twenty-minute military meeting ended, and the final conclusion was to abandon Roanoke Island and take Elizabeth City directly.

Chen Huacheng stood up, picked up his military hat from the table and put it on, then glanced at his subordinates and announced the adjournment of the meeting. The officers immediately stood up and saluted, and then exited the conference room one by one.

Guan Tianpei's face was not nervous, in this battle, they always grasped the initiative. Is it strong and weak? Other sailing ships and some sailing warships held too many European warships at bay in the North Atlantic. In the previous series of naval battles, the situation of the European coalition forces was not very good, and the Western world sent another reinforcement army, but most of the warships have been firmly pinned down in the Atlantic.

Chen Han also sent a new reinforcement fleet, but the strength was much smaller than that of the western reinforcement fleet, with five sailing ships, more small and medium-sized fast warships, and the purpose of aiming was to attack the sea in a war, not to go head-to-head with the large fleet.

Most of the officers quickly walked out of the conference room, and Chen Huacheng turned around and walked to the chart hanging on the bulkhead, looked at the combat area on the chart, and continued to study the details of the battle plan. After all, this is a battle in which Chen Han has the advantage of combat strength and has the initiative, so naturally he is only allowed to win, not to lose.

And winning is not the goal, he also has to win beautifully, which can reflect his level.

There was silence in the conference room, except for the sound of Chen Huacheng stroking the charts with his hand. It wasn't until an hour that this calm was shattered by a 'report'.

"Report! Inexplicable ship lights were spotted ahead! ”

"It is expected that there will be two ships, about seven nautical miles apart." That's about twenty-six miles. Such spacing means infinite possibilities on land, but on the sea, Seven Nautical Miles is too short and too close.

Chen Huacheng's brows furrowed heavily, two enemy ships, even if they were two first-class battleships, and he had five sailing ships, they were not afraid at all. But if this fight starts, it will arouse the vigilance of the Europeans, and his battle plan will be ruined. The five sailing ships must also immediately cross the sandbar in the Atlantic and burrow into the vast North Atlantic to guard against the Europeans.

"Inform the ships to be ready for battle, but it is strictly forbidden to open fire without authorization. Level 1 Lighting Control. ”

The so-called first-level light control means that all lights are turned off, and the contact between warships is based on sampans; if it is a dark night when you can't see your fingers, once the first-level lights are controlled, the entire fleet may be disordered. The collision of each other in the dark night, the distance that unconsciously widened......

This is the highest level of light control of Chen Hanshui.

However, I don't know if the Europeans on the opposite side were not alert, or because they were lucky enough to be so close apart, the two ships on the opposite side did not find the aging fleet.

By the time the clock had crept to four o'clock, five sailing ships had entered Elizabeth Harbour, and their target, Elizabeth City, was located in the deepest part of the harbour.

The battle is about to begin.

But the American soldiers in the harbor of Elizabeth City, and the American sailors on the two dhows wandering outside the harbor, did not have the slightest vigilance or vigilance.

In the past few months, the Europeans have been shouting 'the wolf is coming', but the officers and men of Chen Han's sailors have never really approached Roanoke Island, and naturally they will not enter Albemarle Bay and Port Elizabeth Bay. The sailors found that the 'wolf' in the mouth of the commanders did not even hang around at the door of their own house, so they gradually relaxed their vigilance.

But now the 'wolf' is really here. This time, the 'wolf' will pounce on it and bite the Americans hard.

This is a real night raid battle, a night battle at sea, which is a severe test for both sides of the war. After all, the poor light at night seriously affects each other's line of sight. Fighting in such conditions, and with constant waves at sea, is very disadvantageous for the aging fleet.

However, the officers of the Marine battalion who accompanied the ship were full of confidence. Night fighting has always been a traditional training program for the Marine Corps, and since they officially joined the Marine Corps, fish, liver, kelp, spinach, carrots, corn and so on are indispensable on the menu of three meals a day. Even the tea he drank was filled with cassia seeds and dried blueberries.

To treat night blindness and enhance night vision, Chen Han's Marine Corps started from the basics.

Of course, no matter how strong human eyesight is, it is impossible to challenge the laws of nature. In night battles where there is a lack of natural light, shooting accuracy, distance, and position estimation deviations are not as good as during the day. Therefore, flares have become a necessity for the night battles of the Marine Corps.

In the darkness of the night, the lights on the enemy's ships five nautical miles away were clearly visible.

All five sailing ships had all their lights extinguished, moving only by the light of the moon, and in order to prevent collision, the ships were distanced from each other and kept their speed at eight knots.

The lookouts in the mast were responsible for reconnoitering the whereabouts and distances of the enemy ships, and these were the sailors with the best night vision, who could detect the slightest light of fire with the naked eye, and roughly estimated a distance that was not very different.

Time passed little by little, and half an hour later, Chen Huacheng, who was standing on the command platform, could already see the fire in the distance, and even he could easily judge that these were two gunboats of not very large tonnage.

"Prepare for battle!" Chen Huacheng gave the order.

"Turn the rudder XXX! Heading XXX! The main guns of each ship are aimed at the enemy ship, and after the flagship fires, the ships follow with a salvo! After the first salvo, flares are fired, and then the ships fire a second salvo! ”

At the same time, the marines on the five sailing ships were also ready for landing. Elizabeth City is a small city, the American army will not be stationed here too much, and Chen Huacheng has time to do this, he not only wants to destroy Elizabeth City, but also take Elizabeth City. By the way, collect some supplies that the fleet needs and replenish the fleet's material reserves.

The sabotage battle that Chen Hanshui is now playing on the east coast of the Americas is all this routine.

If you are short of time, you will bomb indiscriminately, and then run away quickly. If you have enough time, you will go ashore and loot, replenish your supplies, and then run away.

With Chen Huacheng's order, the battle officially entered the countdown. The bow gun began to spin, and the muzzle slowly turned to the spot where the fire was lit by the sound of pulleys and rails. The gunner used his own eyes to estimate the shooting elements, adjusting the firing direction and height.

When the cannon is on, it doesn't matter if the lights are controlled. Therefore, when the cannon turned, the aging component fleet had already lifted the light control.

"Boom! Rumble! ”

After a few deafening loud bangs, the battleship shook with a blinding afterglow erupting from the barrel, and the huge recoil made the bow seem to sink, leaving a huge shock wave on the surface of the sea.

Five steel warheads broke free from rifling and flew into the sky, making a graceful arc in the night sky. But none of them hit.

In just a few seconds, the silence on the sea surface was broken by the sound of explosions, and the dark night sky suddenly became brighter.

Rockets were sent into the sky, and when they exploded, they were full of dazzling light.

Under the white light of the flares, Chen Huacheng could clearly see the two enemy ships, which were indeed small guys, estimated to be no more than five hundred tons, and were two gunboats.

"Ships fire freely!" Chen Huacheng calmly gave a new order.

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