Good in the middle of the earth, Crete.

At dawn, the firelight shone across the harbor, and the explosions finally stopped.

Enverpasha, who had slept on the shore at night, stood in the harbor in despair, stunned by the sight before him, the bay, which had been calm yesterday evening, had now turned into a slaughterhouse, with the once mighty warships paralyzed at sea, the tattered warships on fire, and the whole bay covered with corpses, bloody and wounded, and charred.

A small Fascian fleet, taking advantage of the Ottomans' laxity, stormed the port of Heraklion before dawn.

The Ottomans, caught off guard, watched as rockets rose from the French and Spanish warships and then landed on the mighty fleet in the port area.

After receiving the warning, the Ottoman coastal defense batteries hurriedly launched artillery bombardment, but the bird had no effect. The fight was very lively, but I didn't see being hit. With the roar of explosions, the Ottoman Mediterranean fleet, which had just regained a certain strength, was once again a thing of the past.

After this battle, the beginning of the French, Spanish and Ottomans was inevitable, and at the same time, the French expedition to Egypt was inevitable.

The friendship between the French and the Ottomans for more than 200 years was completely broken.

This was definitely bad news for the Ottoman Empire and the Egyptian Pasha, China's old friend Ilam.

It's not good news for Zhu Mian either.

He saw little prospect of 'breaking out' of the Mediterranean, if not dependent on the British.

You know, his relationship with the French was quite friendly before, and the targets of guerrilla hunting were limited to the Spaniards. And now the French must also enter his target.

Of course, the British would be his staunch allies. The Mediterranean fleet of the Kingdom of Great Britain is still very powerful. Commander Nelson was also a wise and brave general.

At the beginning of the distant sea and sky, two small black dots appeared at sea level.

"Enemy ships!?" Zhu Mian clenched his fists tightly, and the blood in his chest was boiling. "Well done! The notice went down, and the whole ship was ready for battle. "Without the backing of the Ottoman Navy, Zhu Li's warships are not to think about a large-scale sortie, what he can do is to let his warships attack separately, intercept the lone warships of the French and Spaniards, or transport fleets, and so on.

With the shattering of the anti-French coalition and the shift in the position of the Spaniards, the British had become less tight on the naval blockade of France. The British Mediterranean fleet was not as arrogant as it had been.

You must know that the French and the Spanish Mediterranean Fleet combined together, but the strength is greater than that of the British.

To a certain extent, in the Mediterranean, it is no longer the British blockading France and Spain, but the struggle between the three parties. This also gave Spanish and French merchant ships a lot of room to move.

At the same time, for Zhu Hui, they must also prove their loyalty to friendship to their Ottoman allies with the blood of the French.

The Ottomans knew that the Chinese and the French had always had that and that.

The alarm bell sounded on the Li Guang, and in an instant all the sailors were busy, and a large number of unwanted waste was thrown into the sea, and a large number of flammable materials were thrown into the sea, or moved to the cabin. A cannon coat was uncovered, and barrels of cartridges and iron bullets were piled up next to the gun emplacements.

The propellant of the Wehrmacht's naval cannons is no longer bulk gunpowder, but standard gunpowder packets wrapped in silk.

Even though the explosive power of black powder did not increase much because of this, it still had some effect.

This mode has now been popularized by the warships of the Chen Han Naval Division, and even by the army artillery units. At the same time, there are some ingredients in this powder keg that Zhu Lian specially asked people to add.

"General, the two ships in front are indeed French ships, but neither of them is very large in tonnage, it is estimated that they are two cruisers." When Li Guang took Cai to report to Zhu Li, his face was relaxed.

Li Guang is a third-class sail battleship, and his combat effectiveness is against two fifth-class sail battleships, and he still has a certain amount of control over me. The only thing that bothered me was that the French warships were supposed to be fast, and they could run when the momentum was bad.

The speed of the cruiser is definitely faster than that of a third-class sail battleship.

"Then I feel much more at ease!" Zhu Lian said to Cai Lian that Zhu Lian, an officer who was neatly dressed from beginning to end, was quite satisfied. As the flagship of the small fleet, it is only natural that Li Guang has a captain, and Zhu Li himself is the commander-in-chief of this detachment.

On the other side of Zhu Li, there is also Li Guanghao's first mate, 43-year-old Macau Portuguese Anthony de Sabu De Noronia.

The Portuguese who chose Macau in China at that time, although most of them were engaged in education and commerce, some still entered the army. It's just that they don't climb so fast.

"The Spaniard is the apprentice of the French, we have already learned the skills of the apprentice, and now we have played with the French." It was also a signal to the Ottomans. China will stand firmly with them!

"General, this time I will personally command the ship's guns."

Many of the pipe bands of the Chinese sailors came out of the position of gun chief, and the proportion is higher than that of the navigator, which is also a characteristic of the Chinese sailors. Anthony de Sabu Denoronia was also promoted from the chief of gunners to the second officer, and then from the second officer to the first officer.

Cai Lian said with a competitive taste when he spoke to Zhu Lian. Because Zhu Lian himself is a representative of the navigation department, and Cai Lian himself is from the gun department, he was also good at analyzing geometry and calculus when he was in school, and he has a lot of experience in naval gun command.

After taking over Li Guanghao, he showed a higher level than the person who served as Li Guanghao's gun commander in several live-fire exercises.

Anthony de Sabu De Noronha had no fear of fighting, he came from a wealthy merchant family, his father still ran a profitable foreign trading company, and his mother was a foreign language teacher at Sungkyun Public School, and the family was very happy.

Born in such a family, he can only say that he has true love for the army and the navy.

Although his love for the Navy did not lead him to a higher position, he is now only a left lieutenant, which is equivalent to the rank of lieutenant colonel. But he only loved and excited about war.

It is useless to say more at this point. The two French warships also spotted the Li Guang, and they did not escape at all, but met it with full sails.

After holding up the binoculars and seeing the appearance of the two French warships opposite, Zhu Lian turned around and left the bow and came to the command platform!

Both sides felt that they were in good luck.

Two fifth-tier warships were evenly matched against a third-tier battleship, but everyone thought they had an advantage.

The cruisers were fast, while the third class battleships were thick-skinned and at the same time had fierce firepower.

What Zhu Lian is most worried about now is that he doesn't know if the two enemy ships here are followed by the main fleet of the French?!

If not, he can have a big fight with the French. And if there is, then it means a little, and immediately slap your ass and leave. But no matter what, it's better than retreating immediately.

"Maybe these two French warships have the same heart as we do."

Although France and China have declared war on each other, it is clear to everyone that the relationship between the two countries has never really been broken. Just as the Ottomans were suspicious of the Chinese, the Spaniards were suspicious of the French. Maybe the French also need to use the blood of the Chinese to reassure their allies, the Spaniards.

Zhu Mian said as he used a telescope to observe the two French warships.

When the warships on both sides of the sea can find each other, in fact, the distance is quite far, not more than ten nautical miles, not less than six or seven nautical miles, but if the warships on both sides do not avoid it at all and continue to move opposite each other, then the time for meeting will be very short.

An hour at most, and often about half an hour, the cannon fires.

"Attention the whole ship! Attention all ships! We're about to go into range! We're about to go into range! All gun emplacements are ready—" Zhu Mian shouted loudly into the brass horn in front of him.

At the same time, the fists of both hands were tightly clenched, the joints on the fingers were clenched white, and the face was as calm as a piece of marble.

France is a completely different concept from Spain, and in the last hundred years, the Kingdom of Spain has been completely a second-rate European position, the younger brother of France, and France has always been the most powerful country in Europe. Even the Holy Roman Empire, dominated by Austria, was to be relegated.

"Attention guns, ready to fire! One! Two! Three ......"

Just as Zhu Li's eyes were firmly fixed on the French warship that was already close at hand, Li Guang's pipe band was also counting the numbers, and every number seemed to be a desperate roar.

"Boom!" With a bang, a string of splashes rose on the sea surface one hundred and ten meters in front of Li Guanghao's left. At the same time as the Li Guang opened fire, the opponent's bow gun was not furnished. Through the telescope, Zhu Li could see the green smoke rising from the bow of a cruiser opposite, which had not yet been completely blown away by the sea breeze. He subconsciously looked at the watch on his wrist, this kind of new thing that is not popular in Western countries, but is commonly circulated in China, especially in the upper class of Chen Han - at 9:12 in the morning, the Sino-French naval battle began.

Shells constantly fell around the perimeter of the warships on both sides. But there are almost no hits. The nearest one is only twenty or thirty meters, but there is no use for birds. The shells of this era are not high-explosive shells a hundred years later, and the distance of twenty or thirty meters is already considered a close miss, and the vibration of the sea water caused by the explosion of the shells can bring tremendous pressure to the warship. The current shells are all the most basic iron bullets, because of the longer the combat distance, the shotguns, chain bullets, etc., have disappeared in naval battles.

Fifteen hundred meters, one thousand two hundred meters, one thousand meters—

"Boom......" A row of artillery exploded one after another, and Zhu Li felt the battleship under his feet tremble violently under the sound of the cannons.

The distance between the two sides continues to approach, from a thousand meters to eight hundred meters, and from eight hundred meters to six hundred meters. This is the closest distance, and no one will easily cross the thunder pool again.

The two French cruisers were separated from each other on the left and right, one pinning down the Li Guang, and the other clearly trying to reach the stern end of the Li Guang.

Zhu Lian heard the sound of the wooden shell cracking in the loud explosion, but he didn't care.

At a distance of 600 meters, sixty or seventy artillery pieces on both sides are bombarding each other, and no matter what, they can hit the opponent.

Taking advantage of the opportunity for the French to take the initiative to separate, Zhu Lian commanded Li Guang to start approaching the French warship in front from the side, which would make Li Guang's face smaller, and at the same time, it was also pressuring the opponent to adjust its direction.

Today's wind direction is quite face-saving.