The pirate battleship that escaped in front advanced at a speed of 124 knots, and the Edward could only exert half of its power, only 16 knots of speed, and in the process of chasing and running, the two sides used the front and rear main gun groups for an artillery battle, and Edward occupied the advantage of the caliber of the main gun and the loading speed, and it was a triple main gun, which could fire three salvos per minute! And the Corsair is a twin-mounted main gun, which can only fire twice a minute, and the density of fire and the projection of shells are no longer the same grade at all!

As time passed, the distance between the two sides gradually widened, but the stern of the pirate battleship was bombarded by the main gun of the Edward, and the rear mast of the Edward was hit, fortunately it passed through harmlessly, and there was no explosion, otherwise the monitoring radar of the Edward would have been completely damaged!

But the Edward did not use the rudder of the pirate battleship, but the opponent's battleship suddenly began to change course, and in less than thirty seconds, there were waves splashing around the left and right hulls, judging from the observation of the Edward, at least six torpedoes were hit, and the battleship began to capsize to the right, and a large number of pirates jumped into the sea on the ship, and then Zhang Lin was ready to start capturing prisoners! In addition to the previous capture on the Pirate No. 1 battleship, this time the pirates are in a catastrophe, and there is a heavy cruiser not far away that keeps spinning in place, but the flag of surrender has been raised, and a large number of pirates have been captured by Zhang Lin, waiting for them is the severe punishment of the laws of the Reims Empire, but these have nothing to do with Zhang Lin, all the pirates are locked in the bottom compartment of the Edward!

Two destroyers were already escorting around Edward, the damage to the Edward was so bad, and now she was fatal enough to run into any enemy alone!

"Commander, please take a look at Edward's battle damage!" Adjutant Delin presented a notepad with dense writing on the Edward's battle damage and ammunition consumption!

The hull was seriously damaged, fifteen were damaged in more than 40 centimeters on the left and right sides, the air guns were lost, the superstructure was seriously damaged, the front monitoring radar was damaged, the detection radar failed, the hull compartment was flooded in many places, the deck was broken down, the engine was damaged, the No. 1 boiler was scrapped, the armor-piercing shells were consumed 546 rounds, and the high-explosive incendiary bombs were consumed 36 rounds!

The crew lost 787 killed, 52 seriously wounded, and 314 lightly wounded!

In this battle, the Edward was completely disabled, the personnel were disabled, the casualties accounted for more than half, the hull was seriously damaged, the shells were almost emptied, and the rifling of the main gun barrel was almost smoothed, and this completely affected the stability of the gun chambering speed and ballistics*** It is necessary for the Dehua to be overhauled, according to Zhang Lin's estimates, it will take at least half a year for the Edward to be repaired as before!

This is the most tragic war since the beginning of the service of the Edward, Zhang Lin looked at the battle damage report for a long time and was silent, his red eyes revealed his mood at the moment, and then Zhang Lin took off his military hat "Whistle and remove hair, mourn for the dead comrades!" Then the sailors and commanders of the USS Edward and the two destroyers bowed their heads in silence for the dead sailors, and the whistles of the three battleships were heavy and long, resounding through the sea!

After the silence, Zhang Lin said to the telegrapher: "Send a telegram to the imperial capital, let the imperial capital send two tugboats, Zhang Lin will destroy the provocative pirates, capture a heavy cruiser, a battleship, the Edward has suffered heavy losses, needs to be repaired, and needs oil supplies!" After speaking, Zhang Lin walked to the captain's lounge, looked at Delin who followed him and said, "You go to preside over the work of the fleet, let me be alone for a while!" ”

After receiving the telegram, the news was immediately transmitted to Wilhelm II, and then Wilhelm II immediately ordered to send rescue ships according to Zhang Lin's request, and then an emergency meeting of the military headquarters was immediately convened!

"Ladies and gentlemen, Zhang Lin is worthy of the pride of the empire, with such a huge disparity in strength, he has achieved such an impressive record, how should I reward the personnel of this battle?" Wilhelm II asked the military personnel who attended the meeting!

"Your Majesty, Zhang Lin won this war with a huge disparity in strength and preserved the empire's reputation in the world, and he should be rewarded!" A military boss supports and rewards Zhang Lin and his subordinates!

"Your Majesty, this matter should be carefully considered to avoid Zhang Lin and his subordinates being arrogant and complacent, and this matter should be cautious!" Some people agree, naturally some people object, and they have objections to the reward that Zhang Lin's department should have!

Then the bigwigs of the military department divided into two factions and began to quarrel, after all, they were not monolithic, but out of their own interests, fighting each other, Wilhelm II saw this scene, his brows furrowed, and his determination to rectify the military department was more certain!

At this time, after Avril heard the news of Zhang Lin's victory, an angelic smile finally appeared on her worried face, and tears hung on her warm and jade cheeks, "He didn't disappoint everyone, he is a hero!" ”

Subsequently, the major radio stations, media and newspapers of the Reims Empire put this victory on the headlines, and the people in the streets and alleys of every city were talking about this time, and Zhang Lin became the object of the spring of thousands of girls in Reims, and became the ideal husband in the hearts of girls!

At this time, in the Reagan family, "Damn, why is God so partial to him, when can I take revenge for this arrow!" Young Master Reagan looked at the newspaper with a hideous face and said through gritted teeth!

"Young Master, grind!" One of Reagan's entourage was on the sidelines to give advice, the last time he and Reagan went to Zhang Lin for trouble, he offended Avril Lavigne and suffered a meal unimaginable to ordinary people, he blamed all this on Zhang Lin, without thinking about his own fault! "We can ....... like this," the attendant whispered his bad idea to Reagan's ear!

"Damn, this group of pirates is also a waste, young master, I spent such a big price, and it was solved so easily by Zhang Lin, I also provided them with this detailed information, they deserve to die!" After Reagan finished speaking, he asked his subordinates: "This matter will not involve me, right?" ”

"Young master, don't worry, everything is going on in secret, and if you check it up in time, you will only find out that someone hired them to make trouble, not us!"

"It's better to be careful, don't underestimate the capabilities of the Intelligence Department, their agents are not dry food, if any news leaks out, not only will we die, but even the Reagan family will be doomed! Don't forget what Zhang Lin's identity is now. The pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info and the crime of letting pirates provoke the imperial capital is treason, enough for us to die a hundred times, we must be careful! "Reagan taught his entourage that this was no joke, and he hadn't enjoyed it enough!

Later, after having a way to rectify Zhang Lin, Reagan was in a good mood and took his men to the gold cave in the imperial capital to live happily.