As the shrapnel and scattered bombs of the explosion flew wildly, the wave of the explosion of the reciprocal officer and Ma Jiang's north gas rushed to the ground, blood flowed down from the top of Ma Jiang's head, and the registrar's arm hung down visibly.

But the clerk Wang Qiang still stubbornly struggled to get up, and after looking at the pocket watch, he recorded with his uninjured right hand that after 36 minutes of fighting, the flagship captain Ma Jiang was wounded, and the second mate took over.

There was another rapid explosion, and the second officer, who had just stood in the command position, fell to the ground with blood on his face, looking at the twitching young officer, Lin Haijiang's heart was extremely painful.

At this moment, the third officer broke into the bridge covered in gunpowder smoke and shouted: "Captain, the enemy's fleet has concentrated all its firepower on our ship, the second and third chimneys have been hit, the left five auxiliary guns have been destroyed by ricochets, and the whole ship has suffered more than four casualties." ”

Lin Haijiang said coldly: "The military band complements the battle sequence, maintain the course and speed!" ”

The third mate was stunned for a moment, and then saluted: "Success becomes benevolence!" I am willing to die for the governor! ”

The clerk watched with great surprise as Lin Haijiang walked to the command position, raised the flag of the Metropolitan Governor, the pennant, and the blood flag, concentrated the front and rear main guns, and the port side secondary guns, and bombarded the British flagship.

The clerk was extremely excited and recorded: "The Metropolitan Governor Lin personally commanded, raised the Metropolitan Governor's flag, raised the pennant, and raised the blood flag, and fought the enemy to the end. ”

Originally, seeing that the flagship was being attacked intensively, and the casualty and combat effectiveness reduction flag was hung out continuously, Feng Guohua's Zhenyuan ship had just raised the command flag, but the Zhiyuan ship suddenly raised the Dadu Governor flag, the pennant, and the blood flag, Feng Guohua immediately ordered the command flag to be lowered, the blood flag was raised, and the flagship was followed.

Feng Guohua said calmly: "The mainsail is full, drive the whole car, turn right and deviate from the rudder, overtake it, and block in front of the flagship!" ”

The officers and men of the Zhenyuan ship went crazy and tilted the shells at the British at an unimaginable speed, and at a very close distance, the large-caliber Krupp guns with an unusually high hit rate made the British tremble.

The Zhiyuan ship commanded by Lin Haijiang attracted almost all the side-firing fire of the British fleet's battle line, and the British were surprised to find that the Armstrong 24-pounder front-loading gun they were equipped with could not penetrate the opponent's hull even if they fired conical solid bullets.

In the naval battle, especially in the warring fleets, the fleets of the two warring sides formed a battle line to bombard each other, and if the side with a small number of hull tonnage wanted to win, the only way was to resist and use scattered grenades and incendiary bombardments to fight casualties and luck.

But it was clear that the twenty-four Armstrong guns, equipped with the most powerful guns on the side of the British, could not pose a threat to the Huben class armored cruisers designed jointly by the Old Port and Prussia, but the main and secondary guns of all calibers were equipped with the Old Port fleet capable of dealing a fatal blow to the British ships.

Standing in the bridge of the ship that was hit from time to time, Lin Haijiang was calm, and through the engagement, he also found that his previous ship design and artillery assembly had fallen into a very obvious misunderstanding, that is, he defined the opponent as an ironclad capital ship with thicker armor than himself, so Lin Haijiang has been pursuing the so-called maximum caliber multiple of the naval gun.

Although the 260 mm twin Krupp naval guns were extremely powerful, their rate of fire was only 2 times per minute, and the salvo fire of the two guns also caused a six-degree deflection wave in the hull.

After the first battle column exchanged fire with the other side, and the second battle column was preparing to swim to the enemy's left flank, the adjutant reported the losses of the fleet that had just been exchanged fire, and a total of three third-class battleships were sunk, the Cowen Shen, the White Lily, and the Deep Blue, two of the Tranquility and the Flash were broken and lost power, and two of the Wild Fox and the Hunting Knife caught fire and broke out of the battle.

Lieutenant General Gnanding felt his head slammed with a hammer, and his first battle column had been routed?

And the enemy is turning, although the enemy ship is also scarred, but everyone knows that the opponent's hull has not been fatally hit.

"Retreat?" Lieutenant General Garndin had this order in his mind, and if this battle was just such a result, then his career would be completely ruined!

"Should you really bring in those damn idiots from Congress and the Admiralty who only smoke cigars and drink black tea, this is what they call good-for-nothing ironclads? For their short-sightedness, the Royal Navy paid in blood! Lieutenant General Gnanding yelled hysterically, but his howling and complaining did not change the tide of the battle in the slightest.

Just as Vice Admiral Glynding was preparing to readjust the battle line, hit and shell the enemy's flagship, and use ram-and-stop tactics to engage in hand-to-hand combat, Lawrence's second strike column drove the huge transport fleet into Vice Admiral Gnanding's battle column like a sheep.

A three-stage battleship that was turning sank two transport ships in succession, hundreds of British soldiers who had fallen into the water were desperately calling for help, the British ships became timid because of the large number of their own transport ships nearby, and the second strike column of Lawrence and the first strike column commanded by Lin Haijiang, who arrived at the battlefield in time, did not have such and such estimates, and the deafening sound of artillery accompanied by white gunpowder smoke drifted on the sea.

After about two and a half hours of fierce fighting, the ammunition carried by the ships of the First Fleet of the Chinese Empire in the old port under Lin Haijiang's command was basically exhausted; although they were all trained sailors and gunners, training was never equal to combat, and the high-speed fire of the breech guns also made the ammunition consumption rate greatly exceed Lin Haijiang's expectations.

Six of the 26 British warships involved in the battle have been sunk and eight have lost their combat effectiveness, but the remaining ships are already making stubborn resistance, and the British will to fight has shocked Lin Haijiang, and the British transport fleet that has been rushed to and fro in the warring sea area has greatly interfered with the tactical implementation of the British fleet.

Lieutenant General Gnanding fell into a strange circle that could not be beaten and withdrawn.

Of course, Lin Haijiang's words are not good, Lin Haijiang, whose forehead, shoulders, thighs and other places have been cut out by shrapnel, is wrapped like an Indian Asan, this image makes Lin Haijiang very entangled, the ammunition of the ships participating in the war is about to run out, and the loss of personnel is even more serious, Lin Haijiang does not take the damage of the ship seriously, he cares more about the casualties.

These well-trained sailors, officers, gunners, and technicians were all trained by him with his painstaking efforts, and they are the guarantee of the existence of the old port!

Rumble!

The black pillar of smoke soared a hundred meters into the air, and then a violent explosion shook the entire warring sea, and it turned out that the main gun of the Zhiyuan had inadvertently hit a large transport ship, which was loaded with ammunition and artillery cartridges.

"Order the ships to move closer to the flagship, move sideways downwind, cover the convoy of transports, and order the transports to disperse and break through!" Lieutenant General Gnanding had just given the order when a cannonball hit the mast, and the lookout and signal bearer fell with the mast into the sea like two stupid penguins thrown into the sky.

Soon, the Mayflower, which had just hoisted the commander's flag as a flagship, was hit at the ammunition depot and there was a big explosion instantly!

Under the violent explosion of the Mayflower, Lieutenant General Gnanding straightened his military uniform with a gloomy expression, and even the shrapnel on his neck was unaware.

After hesitating for a moment, Lieutenant General Garnanding said categorically: "The sub-mast hangs the checkered flag!" ”

The second mate was slightly stunned, and set his eyes on Vice Admiral Gnanding, who said gloomily: "Today, you have defended the honor of the Royal Navy with your bravery!" I'm Garnanding. Vice Admiral Xie Duo, issued an order for the fleet to disperse and break out, and before that, he made every effort to cover the transport ships to break through, and if he could go, he would count it as one! ”

"The British scattered and broke through?" Feng Guohua waved his fist excitedly.

At 16:46 the two sides disengaged, and Vice Admiral Gnanding abandoned the ship and boarded the Douno Horn, covering the retreat of about a third of the transport ships to India.

When Lin Haijiang came to the deck of the Zhiyuan, he saw bullet marks and blood stains everywhere, and even the remains of the officers and men had not yet had time to be retracted, and the losses of the grassroots officers and men of the Zhiyuan ship exceeded 60 percent, and Lin Haijiang believed that the casualties of the other ships would not be less than 30 percent.

Lin Haijiang took a deep breath of the air that was still full of blood, today's victory can also be said to be a tragic victory, the British Empire can afford to lose tens of thousands of people and dozens of warships, but he Lin Haijiang can't afford to lose, every one of the students who returned from studying in Prussia is an incomparably valuable asset.

However, today, these future pillars of the Chinese Navy have closed their eyes forever when they have not yet shined!

Lin Haijiang's battle in the Strait of Malacca can be said to have achieved a great victory, this was a war of annihilation carried out in the preset sea area, and the Royal Navy of the British Empire suffered the most painful defeat against the enemy with superior forces since its formation.

On the part of the Royal Navy, more than 3,680 people were killed or missing, only seven warships returned to India, 19 ships were sunk or captured, more than 5,600 people were captured on the army side, and more than 7,600 people were missing because the transport ships were sunk, rammed, and stranded in the battle.

For example, when entering the battle line for artillery bombardment, normally except for the fully enclosed secondary guns, the rest of the open auxiliary gun positions should be quickly evacuated, but the high-spirited young officers rigidly abided by the Prussian military academy dogma, and followed one after another, although the deck of the British ship was piled with corpses, their own side also suffered unnecessary losses.

Undoubtedly, for the British it was a Waterloo at sea, with a new type of armored protected cruiser, combined with a three-rise coupling duplex steam engine, with Krupp's forged inner and outer casing spiral female line breech guns, against sail battleships and breech guns.

Although the number of ships on both sides is very different, the quality of ships and artillery of the warring sides is no longer on the same level.

It's like a welterweight fighter can punch 80 times a minute, while a heavyweight fighter can only throw 50 punches per minute, and after the two sides fight, the heavyweight fighter is hit with more than 100 punches, but he doesn't move, while the welterweight punch only hits the opponent with one punch and hangs up.

It can be said that the Battle of Malacca officially opened the prelude to the era of armored ships, and the sail warships that have galloped across the world's oceans for nearly a hundred years seem to have come to the end of the road overnight?

Since mankind found the steam engine, which is more efficient than the wind power, how to make more powerful warships use the new power has become a top priority for all countries. Paddle wheels, because the targets were too large and too easily damaged, and the power system affected the artillery arrangement, was not considered the main battleship from the beginning.

Lin Haijiang looked at the closed gun door of the captured British battleship in a daze, this was just a technically asymmetrical battle between the armored protection cruiser and the sail battleship, he was just a small step forward by luck, if he couldn't maintain this advantage, or even expand the gap, then in the next naval battle, it should be his fleet that was destroyed and killed.

As an absolute supporter of the doctrine of big ships and huge guns, Lin Haijiang still remembers the glory of the British Sovereign in history when it was completed and launched in 1889, with a displacement of 14,000 tons combined with a high freeboard designed for the ocean, a twin-mounted main gun arranged in the front and rear and a large number of rapid-fire guns on both sides, and a thick and efficient armor showing strong survivability, which represents the king battleship of naval warfare that can persist in fighting to the end and destroy the enemy in the column of ships.

A warship that almost represents an era, I shudder at the thought of the powerful Lin Haijiang of the Sovereign, the British Empire may be defeated by itself once, twice, three times, or even four or five times, but its good luck will eventually run out, and the war will also bring its development to a standstill.

Once he no longer has an advantage in technology, then he will be the one who will be crushed, because the British Empire can afford to lose, but he Lin Haijiang can't afford to lose.

Now Lin Haijiang is already full of the shadow of the monarchy, and the tenacity and professionalism of the British Royal Navy make him feel the crisis, after all, the Empire is built by relying on the Royal Navy, and there is no vain under the fame, and the Royal Navy is not in vain.

Looking at the main guns on the front deck of the Zhiyuan, Lin Haijiang opened the notebook, he had been hesitant before, just because he didn't want to give Prussia too many design hints of epochal significance, but now it seems that Lin Haijiang also noticed that he seemed to have entered a misunderstanding.

Since it has affected the trajectory of history, what difference does it make if it is a little more or a little less? Lin Haijiang planned to design a type of battleship with a main gun along the center line on the front and rear decks, and a secondary gun on the two sides of the middle board, with a crash angle installed underwater in the bow of the ship, and a boiler and steam engine installed behind the side of the hull, and the speed should preferably reach the absolute advantage speed of 16 knots.

However, due to technical problems, the loading mechanism of the large-caliber main gun is complex and slow, and the reliability is low, which directly leads to the slow rate of fire of the artillery, and at the same time, it is limited to the tonnage of the ship, and the number of main guns is also subject to the prophet, and the large-caliber main gun is very inefficient in fire projection, and although a large number of rapid-fire secondary guns on the side have a considerable fire density, they cannot cause fatal damage to the battleship of the same class at the usual combat distance.

In this way, it is logical to equip the battleship with a secondary (secondary) main gun with a caliber between the main gun and the rapid-fire secondary gun, and if you have a second-stage main gun, the firepower projection density and speed of the Zhiyuan ship can be increased by at least 60%, which is very cost-effective.

However, Lin Haijiang knows very well that the design of the Zhiyuan ship has been finalized, and the addition of a secondary main gun is not as simple as adding a secondary gun, so this concept can only be used in the future design of new ships with larger tonnage, faster speed, and more firepower.

However, not all new equipment can be smoothly accepted by people, for example, the Swedish Army still refuses to use rear-loading guns, and the Swedish Army Commander Gerfeni stubbornly believes that eating with the ass is obscene and disgusting, and the breech gun is orthodox and noble and civilized...... Suddenly, Lin Haijiang realized that the achievements and victories he had achieved now seemed to be just the beginning?

When Lin Haijiang commanded the fleet to return to the old port to replenish the personnel, Seng Lingqin ushered in the British and French forces with a total strength of more than 30,000 troops in the Baliqiao camp.

Lin Haijiang remembered that in history, it was the monk Lingqin who even directly detained the British and French negotiating envoys and 39 accompanying guards, insulted and beaten them, and sent them to the prison of the Criminal Department. Monk Greenqin's original intention was to let foreigners who did not understand the rules taste the taste of the Qing Dynasty. It is said that at that time, when Monk Greenqin scolded, the guards knocked on the head of the British representative Pashali once to emphasize, and the other representative, Rocky, was simply grabbed by the hair and beard of the soldiers and had zero contact with the land of China under the belly of Monk Greenqin's horse. During the escort, the gold buttons, gold pens, pocket watches and other dangerous goods on the foreign devils were also confiscated by the Qing soldiers.

Afterwards, Prince Yi Zaiyuan, a good partner of the monk Grinqin, said on the matter of detaining the envoys of foreigners: "The Yi Pa Xia Li can make good use of the soldiers, and all the Yi are under his command, and now they have been captured. ”

It can be said that whether it is Seng Lingqin or Zaiyuan, both of them can be called big idiots in international diplomacy! They gave Britain and France a seemingly pretty good excuse, but in fact, Lin Haijiang knew very well that even if there were no such rotten excuses, Britain and France would still launch this war of aggression.

The law of the jungle is the most intuitive and true law in the world, in this muddy water, there are two bastards who are very worthy of Lin Haijiang's attention, one is the Russian minister Ignatiev, and the other is the American minister Hua Ruohan, for the time being, these two bastard hooligans who took advantage of the fire to rob Lin Haijiang can only endure it for the time being.

Especially for the greedy and damn polar bear, for the Americans, Lin Haijiang is ready to hold back his strength to make arms, and once the American Civil War breaks out, Lin Haijiang is ready to dump a large amount of arms to the southern states of the United States that lack an industrial base through Miller's door in Europe, so that the Americans can vigorously engage in civil war.

(To be continued)