On September 5, 3975 (October 6, 1875), the weather was fine, and the sea near Guam was calm and turquoise.

Just after 9 a.m., a British fleet appeared in the sea 50 kilometers east of Guam, tasked with monitoring the Imperial Chinese Naval Base on Guam and searching for the Imperial Chinese Fleet on its way back.

Just a few hours earlier, four battleships of the Imperial Chinese Fleet had arrived in Guam for resupply, only to be spotted by nearby British ocean-going fishing vessels, which soon attracted a nearby British fleet.

Guam's air siren sounded, and the defenders of Guam, who had already received preparations for war, quickly entered the combat position, and the 305-millimeter 50-diameter fortress artillery was raised high and aimed at the British fleet in the distance.

The same 305 mm caliber 50 times diameter gun, which is called a fortress gun installed on the fort battery of Guam, has a much longer range than the main gun on the Navy's Dingyuan-class ironclad ships.

The 305 mm fort gun on the fortress of Guam, weighing 175 tons and weighing 388 kg, has a maximum range of 28 kilometers with the help of the fortress battery, which is almost twice the range of the main guns of the Dingyuan-class ironclad ships, which has an effective range of only 10,000 meters when firing armor-piercing shells (beyond this distance, the armor-piercing ability is greatly reduced).

The British Navy did not dare to approach the coastal waters of Guam, because they had sent warships to secretly approach and reconnoiter when the Chinese Empire built the Guam base, and was warned by the Guam fortress artillery fire, and later the British Navy calculated and found that the firing range was as high as 28,000 meters, and was immediately frightened, because the range of the strongest British fortress gun was only about 12,000 meters.

It is no wonder that when the Chinese Empire set the baseline, it was 12 nautical miles, while the British and other traditional European and American powers only had a baseline of 6 nautical miles, and the standard for setting the baseline was the range of artillery.

This is a symbol of strength!

The British Navy is envious, jealous and hateful!

At this moment, inside the military harbor of Apra Naval Base in Guam. The four Hsiungfeng-class battleships are being restocked, Weng Tongsheng and Wei Yongsheng discuss their next strategy against the British fleet, while Mingyue takes Hawaiian princess Kay Orani on a tour of Guam.

"Is your Chinese Empire also an island country?" Little Lori asked curiously.

"Qi Qi Concubine Ning Niangniang, the Chinese Empire is not an island country, it is the country with the largest territory in the world!" Mingyue replied.

"Is it bigger than our Hawaii?"

"The Chinese Empire has more than 15.7 million square kilometers of territory, while Hawaii has just over 10,000 square kilometers. That's a difference of more than 1,570 times! ”

"It's huge! Is your emperor's palace as big as Hawaii? ”

Mingyue patiently explained: "Concubine Ning, rest assured, the imperial palace of the Chinese Empire is larger than the entire Oahu, you are Concubine Ning, and you have your own independent palace to live in, which is much larger than the Hawaiian palace." ”

"Oh" Kay Orani nodded, and asked again, "Is the bed in there bigger than mine?" ”

Mingyue suddenly had 10,000 grass and mud horses galloping past in her heart......

On the other side, Weng Tonggong and Wei Yongsheng had already discussed that it would be safer for the Hawaiian princess to stay on Guam first, and Weng Tonggong and Mingyue and his party would stay at Guam Fortress to accompany them. Wei Yongsheng led four Hsiungfeng-class battleships to meet the British fleet, and it was best to repel the British fleet, and if they could not repel it, they left Guam directly, and after luring the British fleet away, Weng Tongyi and Mingyue took a frigate from the Guam Naval Base to Luzon, and then returned to Beijing after meeting Wei Yongsheng.

At the same time, for the sake of insurance, Weng Tonggong went to the Guam telegraph office. A telegram was sent to the Ministry of War reporting their current location. Request the Ministry of War to send a fleet for reinforcements.

At noon, after the fleet was replenished, Wei Yongsheng and the officers and men of the fleet led the fleet out of Apra Harbor and sailed quickly in the northwest direction, creating a false impression that the British Navy was about to flee quickly and luring the enemy into the bait.

Really. The British Navy had long been deployed in the waters near Guam, closely monitoring the four Hsiungfeng-class battleships, but they did not do it immediately, but followed them all the way.

Obviously, the British commander did not intend to return the four battleships of the Imperial Chinese Navy to Guam alive. So I plan to do it again in some area far away from Guam.

Wei Yongsheng guessed the intentions of the British Navy, but he was not afraid, because he was an admiral of the Chinese Empire, and he was born with arrogance. At the same time, he knew the toughness of the Hsiungfeng-class battleships best, and he was thinking of testing the sword with the British Navy.

At this time, the British fleet had six ironclads and four cruisers, six of which were the latest Revenge-class ironclads to be built by the British Navy. Knowing that Guam was the naval base of the Chinese Empire, the British naval commander would send the most advanced Revenge-class ironclad ships to the direction of Guam, and the demonstration intention was very obvious.

However, in Wei Yongsheng's view, this kind of demonstration by the British Navy was a lack of beatings and a search for death.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, the two sides were already far away from Guam.

At this time, the British fleet began to speed up and approach, and Wei Yongsheng deliberately ordered the fleet to slow down and secretly order battle preparations.

When the officers and men of the Imperial Chinese Navy completed their preparations for battle, the British fleet also successfully approached.

The British ship HMS Royal Oak waved the flag and demanded that the Chinese hand over the macadamia nut king and princess, otherwise military action would be taken. Wei Yongsheng directly refused, and at the same time warned the other party that this was the western Pacific waters, the sphere of influence of the Chinese Imperial Navy, and demanded that the British Navy abide by the provisions of the Sino-British Manila Treaty and immediately withdraw from the western Pacific waters.

The two sides could not reach an agreement, so they immediately started fighting.

At 1:21 p.m., the British fleet began to attack in formation, and the British ship HMS Royal Oak opened fire first.

As one of the latest revenge-class ironclad ships built by the British Navy, the Royal Oak's two twin 305 mm 40 times main guns represent the highest level of British naval gun manufacturing, which is much stronger than the original plan to equip 35 times the main gun, but it is still much worse than the 50 times the diameter of the Chinese Empire's main gun, especially the British naval gun factory in order to meet the vanity of the British Navy reluctantly increased the main gun diameter to 40 times, in fact, the barrel life is sacrificed, less than 100 rounds of service life, less than half the life of the Chinese Imperial naval guns.

The cannon was fired from a distance of 10,000 meters, and a huge column of water exploded on the sea near the Xiongfeng.

This is the British Navy demonstrating to the Imperial Chinese Navy, to tell the Imperial Chinese Navy that the main guns of the British Navy can now shoot at a distance of 10,000 meters.

Wei Yongsheng snorted coldly. As an admiral, he could directly judge the kinetic lethality of the shells from the height of the water column stirred up by the explosion of the British ship's shells just now. He immediately judged the power of the British ship's 40 times diameter 305 main gun, which would definitely not be able to break through the armored defense of the Hsiungfeng-class battleship at a distance of 10,000 meters.

With the bottom in his heart, Wei Yongsheng immediately ordered to fight back.

Boom!

The battleship Hsiungkaze opened fire from its front guns, and a few seconds later the shells exploded in the sea near the British ship Royal Oak, stirring up huge columns of water. Its height far exceeded the height of the water column bombarded by the main guns of the British ship just now, and the power of the main guns of both sides instantly increased.

Immediately after that, the main guns of the three battleships Tempest, Hurricane and Tempest also opened fire in turn, and one shell after another was fired at the British fleet opposite, stirring up huge columns of water in the sea near them.

The water column was divided around the British fleet in an oval shape, which was an inevitable result of ballistic errors, and it was necessary to constantly correct the firing parameters in order to continuously reduce the error until it finally hit the target.

Similarly, the ships of the British fleet opened fire.

The main guns of both sides fired at each other. Countless columns of water rose into the sky, and the entire sea seemed to boil in an instant.

The cannon roared, the waves splashed, and the originally clear sky was quickly filled with gunpowder smoke because of the lack of wind, obscuring the sky and the sun.

The fleets of both sides are constantly changing formations, sometimes accelerating, sometimes turning sharply, all testing the maneuverability of the opposing warships and the range of their guns. Find the most reasonable time to cut into and fight it out.

1:53 p.m. After observing the fastest speed of the British fleet, Wei Yongsheng suddenly ordered a sharp turn to the left and back, and then quickly maneuvered in the direction of the British ships at the rear of the enemy fleet at the maximum combat speed.

The sudden change surprised the commander of the British fleet, Vice Admiral Fraser, and soon he realized the other party's intentions and urgently ordered the fleet to turn around. and inform the British ship Hercules at the rear, to be on guard.

Ten minutes later, the four Hsiungfeng-class battleships successfully seized the "D" position of the enemy fleet for the first time through a high-speed deformation, and bit the British ship Hercules at the rear.

"Knock knock!"

Eight twin-mounted 305-mm guns and twelve 155-mm ear guns fired a salvo, and more than 20 shells whistled and smashed into the Hercules.

A few seconds later. An oval-shaped barrage was formed around the British ship Hercules, and a 305-mm armor-piercing projectile hit its port side armor, instantly piercing the 14-inch-thick wrought iron armor, and sparks exploded in all directions, and a black smoke more than ten meters long erupted from the gap. Two more 155-millimeter blasting shells hit the rear bridge of the Hercules, killing and wounding dozens of British sailors.

The two sides fought for more than half an hour, and this was the first time that the Imperial Chinese Navy hit a British ship at a distance of 10,000 meters, but the British Navy had not yet achieved the first hit.

Lieutenant General Fraser was taken aback when he saw this, and hurriedly shouted: "Quickly ask the Hercules, has the armor been pierced!" ”

Soon, the flag replied that the port side armor of the Hercules had been pierced, and it had broken through the protective walls of the two cabins, causing great damage and igniting a fire, which was simply a soldier's rest compartment, and the fire was quickly extinguished.

However, this news deeply shocked Fraser and his fellow British fleet mates.

This is a revenge-class ironclad ship, and the 14-inch wrought iron armor was directly chiseled through by a 12-inch armor-piercing bullet that came from 10,000 meters away.

This Nima should not be so cruel!

Fraser was ashamed and angry, and thought that the British Empire's new ironclad ships were equipped with 14-inch armor that was enough to withstand the 12-inch main gun attacks of the Chinese Imperial Navy, but it turned out to be dry up at once.

"Intel isn't right, these damn guys!"

Fraser scolded, shifting the blame to British intelligence.

But soon Fraser calmed down, and he said to the British officers and men: "Don't be afraid, it's just a hole, and we have to use our shells to pierce more holes in the enemy ships, so that they know that our British Imperial Navy is invincible." ”

The five British ships, HMS Royal Oak, HMS Sir Clyde, HMS Wise, HMS Prince Albert, and HMS Zeal, turned around and came in for reinforcements, and continued to fire artillery bombardment.

Wei Yongsheng won one blow, won a small round, avoided it immediately, and then looked for the next fighter.

Soon, Fraser divided the six Revenge-class ironclads into two teams, so that the mobility was more flexible, and the left and right wings relied on each other and supported each other.

Wei Yongsheng had no choice but to divide the fleet into two, one team of the Xiongfeng and the Tempest, and the other team of the Hurricane and the Hurricane.

In this way, the way the Chinese and British armies engaged changed from 4 to 6 to 2 to 3.

Of course, the British still had four cruisers cruising around, and they did not immediately join the battle group, their main guns did not have enough range, and at the same time, their armor was thin, and they were crippled by a single 305-mm shell, but they were constantly looking for opportunities to enter the war.

The battlefield was soon divided into two parts, the Majestic Wind and Tempest against the Royal Oak, Sir Clyde, and the Goddess of Wisdom, and the Tempest and Hurricane against Prince Albert, Zeal, and Hercules.

The teams on both sides are shortened, and tactical movement is more flexible.

The speed of the Hsiungfeng-class battleship is still faster than that of the revenge-class ironclad ship, and the main guns shoot far, as long as they are pulled to a distance of 10,000 meters, the main gun hit rate of the British ship will be pitifully low.

Taking advantage of this advantage, twenty minutes later, six British ships were shot one after another, and the Royal Oak, as the flagship, was subjected to a volley of fire, three 305-millimeter shells, three large black holes in the hull, and billowing smoke came out. The Prince Albert was blown off by a bullet in its chimney, causing black smoke to billowing off the entire aft deck, affecting the range of artillery fire.

It is also strange that the British ships are all Victorian livery, that is, the black hull, red under the waterline, the white superstructure, the mast and chimney are yellow, and it is easiest to attract the attention of the other side in naval battles, and it is simply a tailor-made target, guiding the artillery of the Imperial Chinese Navy to aim and then fight.

Of course, this shortcoming has long been known to the Imperial Chinese Navy, so at the beginning of the establishment of the navy, Li Weiguo painted the battleships in navy gray, did not engage in British-style bells and whistles, and did not provide the enemy with artillery aiming references.

It wasn't until many years later that the British Navy discovered the drawbacks of this Victorian livery and canceled it. But at this moment, the British Navy was very puzzled why the shells of the Imperial Chinese Navy could hit the chimney so accurately.

They blamed all this on the optical sights used on the warships of the Chinese Empire, and the British were also developing optical sights, but unfortunately they were not as good as the Chinese Empire, and when fighting at a distance of 10,000 meters, the shells were always not so accurate, and they suffered a big loss for this.

After an hour and a half of fighting, the British ship finally got off to a good start, as a 12-inch shell from the rear main gun of the Goddess of Wisdom hit the starboard armor of the battleship Storm, leaving a half-volley armor-piercing warhead on it.

The morale of the officers and men of the British ship was immediately boosted, but the commander of the British ship, Fraser, had a black face.

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The second half of the content will be published in the 326th chapter repeated yesterday, so that book friends who have already subscribed do not have to pay again, please pay attention to check, and apologize for the inconvenience caused to everyone. (To be continued.) )