The sails of the British Royal Navy's cruiser Lynsian had been deflected to the maximum angle, and it was struggling to move in the headwind, and a lead-gray battleship was spitting white smoke and churning white waves behind its buttocks, and it swept briskly past the Lynsian and chased the French cruiser that was fleeing ahead.

The captain of the ship, Captain Sokeling, let out a long sigh, both relieved that the fleeing enemy was cared for by friendly forces, and also lamented his own powerlessness. Lin Xian is a cutting-edge cruiser that is only ten years old, but compared to the other party, it is too old to be more old.

"They still have to go to Portsmouth to refuel coal, and without British coal, they can't go back to Seris."

The jealousy on the face of the first mate was also incomprehensibly strong, and his mouth was still so sour, the battleship in front of it had no sails, and the oblique brigs were bare, leaning on the steam engine and the propeller under the buttocks, whirring and running in the headwind. In the eyes of the first mate, who has been dealing with sails for most of his life, this scene is almost what happened on the moon.

"They can fight without regard to the direction of the wind......"

Sokelin once again pointed out the essential difference between the other party and himself, and the first mate also let out a heavy and lowered sigh.

The two of them watched silently as the cruiser Cyris approached the French, and they didn't know if the French had surrendered, or if the Cyriss were too light, and the distance between the two ships was less than a hundred yards.

The first mate muttered with strange anticipation: "If I were a Frenchman, I should have a bang at this time, and then rely on the side to fight!" The weakness of the Syris battleship is that it does not dare to take the shipside, and they have only half the people on one ship. ”

Sokelin said again with a blank face: "Their artillery is enough to take away any enemy, not to mention that their battleships are still wrapped in iron ......"

Four battleships, ten cruisers, and when Sokelin first saw the small Cyris fleet, the perception was extremely complicated. In addition to shock, admiration, and awe, there is also confusion and disapproval.

The ships were still made of wood, but with iron armor on the sides of the hull. Cyris's daring to use a steam engine on a regular warship, and also a stern propeller propulsion, is a surprise in its aggressive technical approach. It is important to know that in Britain, steam engine ships are only in the experimental stage, and propeller propulsion is only in the early stage of human pedal theory.

Sails for long voyages, steam engines for propellers for combat maneuvers. While the power model that takes into account both is beneficial, the side effect is a serious decline in combat capability. Seris's cruiser was 1,300,400 tons, but it was only equipped with 16 20-pound smoothbore guns and two 4-inch rifled guns, which looked very shabby compared with the British and French cruisers with 30 or 40 12-18-pound or even 24-pound guns.

In terms of the comparison of firepower of the cruisers, there is a huge difference between the Cyris. And the firepower of the battleship Cyris made Sokelin and other British admirals seriously doubt whether this kind of battleship is classified in the wrong category, which is clearly a large cruiser. With only sixteen thirty-pound smoothbore cannons and four four-inch rifled guns, they looked like unarmed villagers in front of the British double-deck seventy-four-gun battleships, and the flagship of the French Toulon fleet was a second-class battleship with 90 guns.

Boskorn, commander of the British fleet, had difficulty grasping the actual strength of the Syris's fleet and was not confident in the plan of the two sides to join forces to stop the French Toulon fleet, and he wanted to continue to wait for the home fleet to send support. But the Cyris said that they did not have to work with the British royal navy, and that they could deal with the French on their own. Boscohen had to act as planned.

In this naval battle, the Seris taught both the British and the French a hard lesson, and Boscohen wholeheartedly agreed with Sockering's statement that the Seris, who had defeated him at sea more than twenty years ago, was definitely not an ignorant fool or a maverick madman. …,

In the previous three naval battles of Ceylon, the Sailis Navy made many deep impressions on the British Navy, such as the courage of the Britons was not only for the British, for example, the rifled guns as auxiliary weapons were sharp. But on the whole, the British Navy still believes that it is defeated by distance, if it can dispatch a large fleet dominated by capital warships. Seris is by no means an opponent, and India will never lose.

But the Syris Navy that appeared in this naval battle was completely different from the Battle of Ceylon. Iron armor, steam engines, propellers, these are still secondary, and the guns of the battleship Cyris are so sharp that the hearts of all British naval officers and men are heavy.

The rifled guns of the Cyris could inflict serious damage on the enemy from a mile away. The smoothbore guns on the gun deck were just for the occasional close-range threat.

From Boscohen to the rank-and-file soldiers, including Sockerin, at the height of the battle, the question was turning in their minds at the same time: What if the Adversary of the Ceris Navy was not France, but them? How different would it be?

If the members of Congress are not willing to pay for new warships, and if the scientists and shipbuilders of the country are not willing to abandon tradition and follow the technological route of the Ceris Navy, then the answer is extremely frustrating.

That's why the first mate came to say this, it is estimated that more than ninety percent of the British officers and soldiers want to see Seris eat a little deflated, otherwise it will be difficult to dispel the depression and even fear in his heart.

White smoke rose suddenly, and a moment later the sound of cannon came, and as the first mate wished, the French cruiser opened fire.

The sound of knocking and muffling was endless, and in the gun deck of the Jinsha River cruiser, broken wood was flying and wailing incessantly. On the right gun position, a solid round bullet hit the intersection of two pieces of iron armor, not only crashing the iron armor, but also deeply embedded in the wooden hull, the entire gun position was suddenly shrouded in broken wood from the fire, and a group of gunners all fell on the deck, almost brushed into blood gourds.

"Lazy and lazy! Who told you not to hang up the nets after wiping the planks? Damn it! Those bastards in the shipyard thought that the outer steel plate was the top of the matter...... Whoop - Pain! ”

The old gunner counted down the group of unlucky gunners who looked miserable but actually had no worries about their lives, and scolded the shipyard, and pulled out a broken piece of wood from his shoulder without frowning, but he still jumped in pain.

The cannonballs were embedded in the hull, wisps of green smoke floated between the cracks, and the old gunner threw away the bloody wooden thorns and roared: "What are you doing stunned!?" The French want us to hurt, and we want the French to stop not knowing the pain! ”

Commander Tari, feeling the constant trembling under his feet, Rear Admiral An Pingyuan let out an indignant and pathetic roar: "Shameless Frenchman! ”

Surrender! Obviously, the white flag has been raised and the cannon door has been closed. But when he approached, the white flag fell suddenly, and the gun doors were opened at the same time, and then there was a volley of broadside fire.

Thankfully, this is an ironclad ship. A layer of 30 mm thick wrought iron armor is hung on both sides of the hull, and if it is still an old-fashioned battleship, it will be pitted by this trick, and it may be half of the body in serious cases.

An Pingyuan held down the intercom and shouted: "Fire!" All the guns that beat the French are all bombarded! ”

Without waiting for the captain's order, the gunners and gunners on the gun deck had already moved, and eight twenty-pound short guns on the side of the gunboard sounded continuously. Even the two-inch rifled cannons and six-pound shotgun cannons on the side of the upper deck also made a lot of noise, and large and small iron bullets, lead bullets, and round bullets and cones were overwhelmingly smashed over, splashing dense waves of debris and dust on the hull and deck of the French battleship.

The slowest movement was a cylindrical turret at the bow and stern, which was strictly a gun room covered by a canvas canopy over a ring of shields, and the two long-barreled guns slowly turned around and aimed at the enemy ships that had been suppressed by heavy artillery fire. …,

It was the protagonist of the Battle of Lagos: a four-inch rifled gun, codenamed "Gonggong". It seems to be only an inch more than the three-inch gun. But the power has increased exponentially. The shells of the three-inch guns were close to thirty pounds, and the shells of the four-inch guns weighed fifty pounds. Just comparing the weight of the projectile, the largest standard siege cannon in Europe is only 48 pounds. That is, about forty catties of the Yinghua system. Counting the range and accuracy, the Anglo-Chinese fleet, which holds such a sharp weapon, looks at the British and French warships, and has the same mentality as the other party.

The power has been so significantly improved, and the effort spent on research and development has increased exponentially, and the original goal of "working together" is five inches, but later it was found that it was not realistic. It can only be lowered.

Foshan Manufacturing Bureau and Foshan Iron and Steel Company worked together to develop the hair of countless skilled craftsmen. The old leaders of the Manufacturing Bureau, Mead Zheng and Guan Fengsheng, and Tian Dayou, the founder of the Anglo-Chinese arms procurement system, passed away one after another, and when they died, they all regretted that they could not see the advent of Gonggong in person.

From three inches to four inches is a huge leap, and one of the core lies in the improvement of the steel smelting process. The rifling must withstand the wear and tear of the shells and the corrosion of black powder, and the barrel must withstand multiple firing without deformation. With this foundation, we can talk about making artillery.

Materials alone are not enough, and countless efforts on the two routes of forging and casing have found the best body tube manufacturing process. After that, the rifling problem had to be solved, and in the thirty-third year of the Holy Road, the Foshan Manufacturing Bureau finally handed over the four-inch rifled gun with a life span of more than 300 times, so that the Anglo-Chinese Navy and Army also had a large-scale killing weapon that was proud of the world.

At the same time as the evolution of artillery technology, the supporting technology has also been greatly improved, and the maturity of thundermercury gunpowder has finally made the artillery get rid of the ancient way of firing, and the long-awaited rear-loading gun of the British and Chinese military industry can finally become a reality.

At a distance of less than 100 yards, there was no need to calculate the position, and the bolt was unscrewed, and the gunner, dressed in tendons, pushed the shell into the chamber, and the other stuffed the cartridge, then connected the fuse and closed the bolt. The gun commander waved his hand and ordered, pulling the firing cord, and the gun made a thunderous call, and the gun was in the back seat. Then slowly return to the original position.

The French cruiser first spewed out two strands of debris of wood and debris, and then burst into two orange fireworks, and the damage caused by the previous smoothbore guns and small cannons suddenly seemed insignificant, and the entire battleship even showed obvious signs of rollover.

An Pingyuan's voice echoed on the Jinsha River: "Go on!" Don't sink this bastard, don't stop! ”

In addition to the anger of being plotted, there was also the frustration of the destruction of the golden body in his voice. Don't look at him An Pingyuan is a dignified rear admiral, but in this fleet, he is not conspicuous at all. The captains of the four battleships were all of the rank of vice admiral, and the captains of the ten cruisers were either commodore or rear admiral, which was two levels higher than the normal captain configuration.

When this ironclad fleet was first organized, even the commander-in-chief of the navy, Lu Hanshan, was vying for the position of the governor of the fleet, and the governor of the four oceans fleet was even more happy.

Li Keming's promotion to admiral before the age of forty has nothing to do with his status as a prince. He is the ninth Anglo-Chinese navigator to complete a global voyage after Lu Hanshan. And the trip to the Mediterranean allowed him to surpass the first eight. Assisting the Governor of the Western Fleet, Stinge, in defeating the Ottoman Turks' Misr fleet in the Red Sea also proved that he was capable of commanding the fleet.

Xiao Sheng died in the 36th year of the Holy Dao, and Hu Hanshan died of illness in the 39th year, but Lu Hanshan, Shi Tingge, Meng Songhai, Lin Peng and other veteran generals still have a lot of them, plus his status as a prince, Li Keming does not think that he can catch this piece of cake. …,

Who would have thought those old guys were fighting too much. The crown prince couldn't hold it down, and even the emperor came forward to coordinate in vain, so angry that the emperor pushed his son out ruthlessly, and everyone was dumbfounded.

The battle for the governor of the fleet was raging. The position of captain of each ship also reached the ears of the common people, and even started gambling on this matter, and the final result was that the elite soldiers and strong generals of the Anglo-Chinese Four Oceans Navy were all concentrated in this fleet.

The reason why everyone is so enthusiastic is that in the past 20 years, the Anglo-Chinese Navy has been on vacation, and half of the sail battleships are parked in the military port. Let the wind and rain blow and gradually decay. The Navy spends its days piloting cruisers and even smaller frigates, smuggling and banditry halfway across the oceans, plus expeditions. The way of a soldier, in addition to being promoted and making a fortune, also seeks a brave name. There has been no big war in 20 years, and it is already very restrained to suddenly send such an opportunity to not fight each other.

The second reason has to do with the fleet itself. Four fast battleships, ten cruisers, the fleet concentrated all the new possessions that the Anglo-Chinese Navy had accumulated in seven or eight years. Although there are sails, and although the iron armor is only hung on the wooden hull, such a warship has left behind the old sail warships, and is a stepping stone to the way of naval warfare in later generations. Piloting such a warship to the four seas is an ideal that every man who rushes to the sea dreams of all his life.

Of course, in this fleet, which brings together the heroes of the Four Oceans Navy, whoever makes meritorious contributions will stand out, and whoever loses face will be left behind for a hundred years.

In the previous battle. None of the ships were seriously damaged, but the Jinshajiang capsized in the gutter, and every smashed hull and every iron plate that was blown off seemed to be tearing An Pingyuan's face, which was very painful.

The Jinshajiang's artillery fire was even more fierce than in the battle just now. Like a thoroughly enraged beast, it ruthlessly ravages the French cruisers, which have no power to fight back. On the rear flagship, Li Keming put away the binoculars and snorted: "It's a shame now......"

Li Keming is not only scolding An Pingyuan, but also worried about the subsequent trip to Britain, and it seems that he will have to stay in Lisbon for a while. His task force came to Europe, in addition to being invited by Britain to jointly deal with the French, and the more important purpose was to demonstrate the Anglo-Chinese maritime power to the whole of Europa. Riding a tattered battleship to Britain is obviously not a glorifying thing.

Participating in this war that is about to determine the new pattern of global power, and even intervening in the Europa war, is a decision that the emperor and the two houses, the political hall, the general office and other parties have a consensus, but the emperor's decision to send the most advanced ironclad steam fleet of the British and Chinese to Europe is not without opposition. One of the reasons why Li Keming did not compete for the position of Governor of the Fleet at the beginning was that he believed that this would greatly stimulate the countries of Europa, especially Britain, so that they would accelerate the pace of military change, and the military industrial advantage of Britain and China would gradually weaken.

The emperor persuaded him with a sentence: "The hidden advantage is not called an advantage, and the advantage that cannot be exchanged for a benefit is worthless, besides, stimulating them will stimulate us." ”

The emperor didn't know what kind of bad taste it was, and he wanted to paint the whole fleet white, but because these battleships were a mixture of iron and wood, and the iron armor only covered the hull part, after a little longer, the wooden shell of the bow and stern and the iron armor part in the middle were too colorful, and it looked very eye-catching, so he had to change to lead gray. This gives you a better visual effect, as the ship looks like it's all made of steel.

Thinking of the mixed expressions on his face when the commander of the British fleet, Boskorn, first saw his fleet, especially the incredible surprise, Li Keming subconsciously imagined how wonderful the expressions on the faces of thousands of Britons would be when the fleet sailed into Britain.

In The Hague, the Netherlands, in the hall of Prince Moritz's palace, Cai Xin, deputy governor of the Anglo-Chinese General Council and governor of the European Vice-Council, was dressed in a gorgeous silk robe, wearing a long-winged black veil, and spoke fluently French with a strange accent to the hundreds of envoys from various countries below. …,

"The world calls for peace! Seris is a peace-loving country and we don't want to see any war! We are committed not only to charity and medical causes, but also to the cause of peace! We are saddened to see that the clouds of war are not only hanging over Europa, but also spreading to the whole world, and that our descendants will spurn us! If we can survive this war, and there will be a succession......"

"What is the source of the contradiction? This, according to Seris, is due to the unjust distribution of wealth! Some countries in Europa have turned themselves into miserly money glutches who cling to vested interests, which of course makes others dissatisfied and dissatisfied. ”

"Seris believes that there is only one way to stop this war and maintain permanent peace! That's freedom of trade! Let wealth flow freely, castles built with pathetic mercantilism and ugly tariff barriers, are the root of all evil! ”

"Seris proposes to extend the health alliance established by the previous Lisbon Declaration to the field of trade, and only the universal law based on trade can bring peace to the world and put mankind on the path to common happiness!"

After speaking, there was a sparse applause at the scene, which was echoed by the envoys of Prussia, the Netherlands, Portugal and other countries, while the others looked at Cai Xin with a strong and substantial gaze, as if they wanted to engrave the word "shameless" on his face.

Free trade!?

Your Seris's silk, cotton, tea, steel, glass and cement have all collapsed the relevant industries of various countries in Europe, and this is still maintained in the context of high tariffs, and some countries are still resolutely banning Seris goods. If you really want to achieve free trade, the coffers of all of Europe will be emptied by you Seris, right?

As for what world peace is, I'm afraid it's the peace that you have achieved after you Cyris ruled the whole world......

British Prime Minister Pitt, French Prime Minister Fleury, and Austrian Prime Minister Kautz looked at each other, and they all felt that they still had a common language in admiring the eloquence of the second foreign minister, in admiring Seris's high-sounding righteousness and brazen face, and in the matter of being shocked by Seris's true ambition. (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )