Rear Admiral Ford, Macartney and others stood leisurely on the stern tower of the flagship Lion and watched the battle situation in front of them, only five battleships were dispatched, so that the opponent's battery lost the ability to fight back, Rear Admiral Ford couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, in his opinion, he did not send eight or even ten warships to deal with this battery, it was indeed a wise choice. It not only shows the excellent quality of the British naval soldiers, but also reflects the wisdom of his commander.

All in all, when he saw the battery lose resistance again, and Colonel Keane commanded the battleship to move forward, Macartney couldn't help frowning: "General, is Colonel Gene's action too impatient?" ”

"Your Excellency, I trust the judgment of my men, Colonel Gene is an excellent naval officer, he is at the center of the battle, and he knows very well what choice should be made under what circumstances. You don't have to worry, in front of our British Imperial Navy, these Qing troops are really ......" Before Rear Admiral Ford's words fell, he heard a thunderous roar of artillery, and Rear Admiral Ford's gray eyes full of ease and smile were a little prominent at the moment, and the smile froze on his face.

The battery, which had been silent, had just approached Keane's detachment and had no time to form an artillery formation, when dozens of pipe flames suddenly erupted, fifty-four twelve-pounder guns, almost every ten guns aimed at a British battleship, and the kind of chain ball bomb screamed on the water surface of the mouth of the Pearl River, and spun wildly into a dark halo, smashing towards the British detachment that had not had time to react.

Colonel Keane looked at the smoke that was coming out of the dense bushes with some disbelief, and he already knew in his heart that he had been fooled, and that he had fallen for those damned Qing people. "Soldiers, don't panic, turn the rudder, use our broadside guns to make these damned Qing people understand that their tricks are ineffective in the face of absolute strength."

Before they could finish speaking, a chain ball slammed down on their mainmast, and with the loud roar and the sawdust, the main structure began to tremble, and the red-burned chain ball was a little cooler after a period of flying, but it still ignited the cables that were tied to the mainmast and the canvas around it.

Those Indian Asan-mercenaries who had already walked out of the cabin and stood on the deck to line up, waiting for the battleship to lower the boat, they could jump onto the boat, and the landing battle could not help but widen their eyes, and with their dark skin, the whites of their eyes looked extremely exaggerated and shiny.

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The first strep ball bomb came like a divine help, and it happened to sweep past the chest and abdomen of the group of stunned Indian Asan mercenaries who had not had time to react, there was no strong collision sound, only the terrible sound of broken bones and the miserable howl of dying on the battleship, the broken limbs were thrown in all directions by the spinning chain ball, and even some Indian soldiers who were not swept by the chain ball bullet died under the broken barrel that was broken and inserted into their throats.

This tragedy broke the fragile nerves of all the Indian Asan-mercenaries trained by the British Empire, shouting all kinds of local languages, praying that their god Po Shi or Allah or God, in short, as long as they could save their lives, even if they were willing to believe in Aladdin's magic lamp, their scattering and running not only made the deck more chaotic, but even prevented the British sailors and soldiers from fighting the fire and saving them.

Another scream struck, and a chain ball smashed a hole through the bow of the battleship and into the second gun deck, its crazy spinning speed was enough to sweep away anything that dared to stand in its way, whether it was artillery, or artillery, or powder kegs or shells, it was driven away, and became its men, and it raged wildly in this small space.

The barrel of fire, detonated by its hot orb, even pushed two cannons into the side of the ship, and fell into the sea. Although the British sailors on the deck were a little frightened by the sudden attack and the congestion of those Indian miscellaneous fish, they quickly came to their senses after a long battle, and the first and second officers now waved the hilt of their guns and the back of their knives and slapped the hurried Indian mercenaries fiercely, either quieting down or throwing them off the ship's side, and in a short time, they finally suppressed the panic of those timid mercenaries. The water queens began to dodge the artillery fire while carrying buckets to extinguish the cables or canvases that had been ignited by the chain bullets.

However, at this moment, the gun emplacements of the six-pounder guns, which should have been destroyed by the cover fire of this detachment, roared again, and roared briskly, and one after another the solid projectiles that burned red were happily pounced on the hulls or sails of the five British battleships under the fire spirits.

The artillery fire just now was really fierce enough, but the problem was that although the bombardment of the naval guns caused some damage to the battery, it could not hurt the artillerymen who were hiding in the trenches and gun emplacements, and those guns could still continue to exert their power unless they were destroyed head-on, and the six-pounder guns were indeed difficult to destroy the opponent's battleship, but they could also cause enough damage to the personnel and items on the ship, and could also play a good role in interfering with the opponent's artillery line of sight.

“…… Damn, shit. "Standing on the flagship of the squadron, watching the rain of bullets on the ships on the other side, watching the fine sailors and sailors fall under the shells of the other side, watching the towering mast fall with a terrible cracking sound. Colonel Keane's heart was about to break, but at this time, he needed to be calm, because the formation of the battleship had not yet been set up, and it was impossible to give the other side an effective counterattack.

He can only watch the other party beat himself, but he can't clean up the opponent, which is what makes Keane the most uncomfortable, and of course, he also has a sense of anger that he has been fooled and deceived. Those damn Qing [***] people are afraid that they have already prepared a sleeve for themselves to get into.

"Colonel, the mainmast and auxiliary masts were badly damaged, the captain of the Thurso was killed, the ammunition depot of the Lille was set on fire, the deck was lifted and the combat effectiveness was lost." The first mate's face was covered with sweat and oil, but at the moment he could no longer bother to wipe it, and the shells of the other party were still whistling, continuing to bombard the hull and sails, tearing holes one by one, and the sailors struggled to climb the mast and lift the water up with ropes, hoping to extinguish the fire demons that were raging on the sails.

"It's okay, keep turning, and the already prepared gun emplacements will immediately return fire." Keane's expression was cold and grim, and his calm voice calmed the first mate a little, and he repeated the commander's orders loudly to the standard-bearers and heralds.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! ...... "The British detachment began to fight back after being hit hard by the other side, but although their gunners were very good, and their guns were not shoddy, the problem was that the opponent's bunker was too strong, and their shells could only hit the depressions of stone chips, and even exposed the bamboo tendons inside, but they could not penetrate the concrete bunker several feet thick.

And the enemy's artillery bombardment, as long as it can hit the target, will cause damage to the British battleship, which is the disadvantage that the shore guns and naval guns cannot hide and erase when confronting.

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The Lille has been completely transformed into a sea landscape engulfed by fire spirits, with tall masts like delicate torches, and from time to time powder kegs are detonated, and flying debris carries flames in all directions.

The first mate of the Thurso stepped forward after the captain's death and heroically directed the soldiers to return fire, but, unfortunately, a chain bullet swung through his chest, and he followed in the captain's footsteps.

"It's not going to go on like this, tell Major General Ford that we need reinforcements." Keane's nails had sunk into his skin and soaked blood, and his voice was still cold, but anyone could hear the urgency of his tone.

"Look, our battleship has arrived." At the moment when he gave the order, the first lieutenant facing him looked past the commander with a stern expression, pointed behind him and shouted loudly.

Keane suddenly turned his head to look back, and saw five three-masted battleships slashing in a beautiful arc across the sea, cutting into the right flank of the Big Cape Mountain Battery, and Keane's face was smiling with satisfaction. "I saw it, tell the soldiers, return fire with more fierce artillery fire, attract the enemy, our companions, will make those damned Qing people understand that what they are doing is in vain, and when the fort is occupied, I will make those Qing people who surrender pay the due price and avenge our brave soldiers."

Seeing the flag from Keane's flagship, Lieutenant Colonel Lampard, the commander who was about to be inserted diagonally into the waterway on the right flank of the Big Cape Hill Battery, curled up slightly, spun and retracted, straightened his proud body, held the side of the ship in the tail building with one hand, and held his own command knife with the other hand, Lampard's deep light blue eyes revealed the perseverance and pride of the British, and his thin lips were tightly pursed.

As soon as he received the order from Rear Admiral Ford, Lampard commanded the detachment to break away from the main force of the fleet as quickly as possible, and inserted diagonally in this direction, in order to guard against artillery fire from both sides, Lampard specially chose the central area of the waterway to move forward, at least, the twelve-pounder guns could not hit the British battleships at this distance.

Soon, the appearance of this fleet attracted the attention of those Qing [***] people on the fort of Big Horn Mountain, and some of the guns that were diagonally in this direction began to fire, but the projectiles spit out from the muzzle of the guns fell on the sea about fifty meters away from this detachment, except for the splash, it really did not pose much of a threat.

"Tell all captains to slow down, it's almost time for us to perform." Frank Lampard smiled coldly, unconcerned by the non-threatening attack, and gave the order to prepare for battle.

However, what they didn't notice was that on the other side of the main waterway of the Pearl River estuary they were sailing, in a place called Shajiao, a huge and hideous dark cannon barrel cautiously poked out from those concealed gun emplacements......

(To be continued)