Boom

rumble

The artillery fire continued to attack, and the warships of the Cantonese naval division began to lose more and more, and the losses of the Portuguese fleet also became more and more serious. In particular, the five ships close to the Guangdong Navy Division were the most powerful, only three of them were still on the surface of the sea, and the other two were destroyed and sank to the bottom of the sea. The only thing that made them happy was that due to the proximity of the Guangdong Naval Division, most of the surviving Portuguese sailors who fell into the water were rescued by the Qing court warships, and temporarily escaped death and were taken to the top of Chili Corner.

On a certain hill on Lantau Island, with the continuous movement of the flag commander on the side of the military division, conveying a series of orders from this strategist, the warships dispatched by the Black Flag Gang were immediately divided into two large and small units, and moved quickly, one part pursued the four Portuguese warships, and the other part attacked the remaining three Portuguese warships and the Guangdong Naval Division.

Although the Black Flag Gang ships are menacing, they are not numerous, and most of them have sunk in the harbor of Ma Wan. Therefore, the Portuguese fleet and the Guangdong Navy Division can still deal with the Black Flag Gang, and the war is in a stalemate, and the results can only be handed over to time to judge, depending on the will of God?

Royal Portuguese Fleet, on the battleship Raphael.

The captain looked at the head and tail of the bombed-out warship, and in the midst of the roar of the battle, the previous excitement disappeared, and he was no longer proud, but now he was all anxious and miserable, and his heart was full of uneasiness, and he continued to hesitate anxiously, always looking to the side, and still the calm commander, General Fernand André.

"General, what should I do now? Once the Black Flag pirates react and aim all the cannons along the coast at us, it's all over. While there is still a chance to maneuver, why don't we retreat quickly? It's important to save your strength~! ”

"Retreat? Where to retreat? Look at our warship, without masts and sails, can we escape the pursuit of the pirates? Once out of the range of the Chinese sailors, without any cover, our warships will be completely exposed to pirate fire and surrounded and annihilated by their warships. ”

A series of rhetorical questions made the captain stunned and unable to answer, and instantly shut up, but his heart was still flustered, and gradually appeared on his face. Fernand turned his head to look at it and sighed: "Hey, I'm still too young, just graduated from the Naval Academy, and I haven't experienced any decent naval battles. ”

At this moment, all of a sudden, the rumbling sound was deafening, and then countless cannonballs shuttled in the sky, and in an instant, they landed near the Royal Portuguese Fleet, and another warship sank, and all the sailors on it were killed, floating on the sea, and some of the ships of the Cantonese Naval Division were also damaged and destroyed.

"Hurry up, bomb them for me, fight back, hurry up and fight back~!"

"If the commander of the Black Flag Gang is caught by me, I must hang him and unscrew his head~"

The captain kept roaring, his face was hideous, and he said cruel words, but the soldiers on the ship still operated in an orderly manner, and did not speed up their movements because of his urging.

The roof leak happened to rain overnight, and the ship was late and encountered a head wind, and in the face of the artillery fire along the coast of the Black Flag Gang, several cannons on the Raphael suddenly fell silent and could no longer be fired. Immediately, a sailor came quickly, stood in front of Fernand, and quickly reported it.

"Report, General, the cannon can no longer be used, it has been used continuously for such a long time, the barrel of the cannon is overheated, if it is forcibly used, it is likely to cause the chamber to explode, or the cannon will be completely scrapped and can no longer be used."

The captain was dumbfounded, he didn't expect this to happen, his roaring voice stopped abruptly, his face instantly turned dead gray, his mouth trembled and muttered, he didn't make any sound, and turned to a look of despair, unable to believe the facts in front of him.

Fernand's calm expression from beginning to end finally appeared a little wave, his brows furrowed, and then he ordered: "Stop the shelling, move closer to the Chinese naval division, sail to Chi Lek Kok, land ashore, assist them in attacking Lantau Island, and take him in the shortest possible time." ”

The Raphael had just left for Cape Chili when suddenly, the rumbling sound of cannons instantly subsided, and the shells bombarded from the sky decreased.

Seeing this, Fernand quickly raised his binoculars, looked in the direction of Lantau Island, and solemnly observed. As the sound of artillery weakened greatly, the stunned ensign woke up and turned away, pointing to the shores of Lantau Island, where there was no artillery fire, cheering and rejoicing.

"Haha, God help our royal fleet, God is fair, our cannons are dumb, their cannons must not be usable, haha~"

As time passed, a hint of happiness appeared on Fernand Andre's face, a look of hope flashed in his eyes, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up slightly, and he smiled.

"Haha, second lieutenant, you are really right, there is also a problem with the cannons along the Black Flag Gang, it should be similar to us, it is because the cannons have been used continuously for too long, causing the barrel to overheat, and it will be unusable for a short time."

At this time, after his words were confirmed by Fernand, the captain immediately asked excitedly: "General, then why don't we go to Chilijiao and meet the Chinese sailors?" ”

"Go, why not? What's more, the cannons on the pirate warships can still be used, and our warships are still at a disadvantage and cannot fight them, so they can't sail alone at sea, and it's better to join up with the Chinese sailors, which is relatively safe. ”

After that, the two Portuguese warships passed through the large and small warships of the Guangdong Naval Division, and gradually approached Chili Jiao, and the captain's eyes were full of hope, praying that this Chinese braided naval army, which he looked down on, could surprise him and bring him hope of escape.

At this moment, the mutual fire of artillery fire was already very weak, only the Guangdong naval division, the pirate warship and the other four Portuguese warships, but after destroying the pursuing Black Flag gang warships, they were also dumb and could no longer stay away from the attack, relying on the superior performance of the still intact battleship, with the help of the wind, quickly approached Chili Point and joined Fernand Andre.

Although there was not much artillery fire, the two warring sides were still fierce, still in a state of stalemate, and it was difficult to distinguish the winner from the loser for a while.

Chek Lek Kok is surrounded on three sides by small sampans of large and small warships, layer by layer of protection, leaving due west blank, the closer to the east side of the ship, just because it is closest to Lantau Island, is constantly fighting, trying to land on Lantau Island. However, because Guo Po brought a death order, the pirates along Lantau Island guarded to the death, and did not lose the beach, but they also exchanged their lives for each other.

At this moment, without the mutual fire and bombardment of artillery, the number of deaths on both sides dropped sharply in an instant, but as time passed, the battle situation was stalemate, and the casualties were slowly increasing.

The coast is close to the sea, and the advantage of the long range of the pirate cannon is no longer there, because the warships of the Guangdong Navy Division are quickly approaching and narrowing the distance.

Surrounded by a group of ships, in the center of Chili Point, on the side of a small hill, in the simple tent, Fernand stood there with the captain, and the rest of his subordinates were waiting outside, and on the upper seat sat the commander of the Guangdong Navy Division, Sun Chuanmou, the commander of the Navy Division.

As the supreme commander of the Portuguese and Guangdong naval divisions, although the two did not talk about each other, the atmosphere was peaceful, and there was no unpleasant thing because of the Portuguese navy's occupation and harassment of the coast of Guangzhou in the past.

"Presumably this is the supreme general of Portugal, General Fernand, please sit down, take a seat, we can't neglect our allies." Under the translator's relay, Sun Chuanmou expressed his goodwill and invited Fernand to the table.

At this moment, when the captain on one side wanted to have a seizure and asked why the other party was ignoring him, he was immediately stopped by Fernand, and sat on the side, sulking and unhappy in his heart. Due to his meritorious service in commanding the royal fleet many times, Fernand was made a nobleman, an earl, by the royal family. Therefore, after sitting down gracefully, he began to talk about his thoughts.

"General Sun, although the island cannons of the Black Flag gang are muted and unusable, they still have a formation of naval warships, once they echo the pirates along the coast and attack us, the situation is not optimistic."

"Moreover, although your cannon was used later than ours, it should not last long, and it is likely that it will not be able to be used at any time. If we continue like this, we will both of us" (To be continued.) )