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The Qing warship was like a crazy big bear, trying to break through the defense line of a group of wild wolves, but the group of wild wolves did not hesitate to give the strongest counterattack. As a result, the big bears were certainly scarred, and the wild wolves also suffered heavy casualties. The number of casualties on both sides is skyrocketing. However, the casualties on the side of the Mawei Army were still relatively far less than those of the Qing Army, after all, the firepower of the Mawei Army battleships was concentrated, and the density of the warships was not as high as that of the Qing Army by relying on the formation on the right side of the river, and the number of artillery fire and the hit rate of the Qing Army were far less than those of the Mawei Warships, which also caused the current result.

The number of casualties on the Mawei battleship is still within the acceptable range, but the Qing army is not good, a large number of soldiers have died Yan zhòng has affected the operation of the warship, especially the death of many sailmen, and a large number of sails were torn by chain bullets, nearly one-third of the speed of the warship has been slowed down, and it is impossible to get as fast as before.

"Orders to the fleets, it's time for us to strike!" This battle has been fought for two quarters of an hour, and the Mawei Army has already occupied the absolute upper hand on the river, Wang Zhenbang carefully observed the battle situation, and decisively ordered.

When the ships received the flag order, the warships also hurriedly took action. The first detachment in the rear also began to adjust its sails, and the whole counter-offensive cleared the warship queue. With the attack of the First Squadron and the Yuanzi formation directly under Wang Zhenbang, the plight of the Qing fleet, which was already insufficient in numbers, will become even more severe.

The warships on both sides continued to move, firing without stopping on both sides. The two sides began to scuffle with each other. Jiang Zhan is like that. Originally designed tactics. There may be no chance to play at all, and all of them need to be adjusted at any time according to the changes in the occupation. However, the Mawei battleships were not afraid of melee, and in this kind of chaotic battle, what was tested was the basic qualities of their respective officers and men, commonly known as basic skills. Whichever side has better basic skills will have the best hope of victory. Of course, it is necessary to compare the firepower configuration of the two sides. The combination of these factors can determine the outcome of a battle.

"Tom Tom"

"Tom Tom"

"Tom Tom"

On the river, there was the sound of artillery firing everywhere, and there was chaos. Even those who are most familiar with the sound of artillery cannot distinguish the sound of artillery on both sides at this time; The only thing that could be heard was the constant sound of artillery, the screams of the personnel, and the sound of the personnel falling into the water. Of course, the most is the screeching sound of various shells hitting the target. Particularly memorable was the shrill whistling of chain-linked shells across the sky, a sound more distinctive than any other cannonball fired. As long as you have heard this kind of sound, you will definitely never forget it. If this voice appears next to you. That definitely means that you are dead and have to be divided into at least two parts.

As the melee between the two sides unfolded, whether it was the Mawei Navy or the Qing fleet, a large number of warships were hit, and the entire river seemed to be boiling. The white smoke produced by the artillery shooting was blown away by the strong wind, as if it was the white mist in the legendary fairyland, but the smell was indeed a little unsmelling, too choking. If you glance at the sky, you can see cannonballs flying wildly. There were so many shells that it was like black dots, swept by. Only the chain bullet with a particularly strange shape can basically clearly see the trajectory of its movement. As for the dark clouds that suddenly appeared, they were naturally grapeballs that were thrown out.

"Squeak quack!"

"Boom"

The warships of the two armies were already relatively close, and this strange loud noise came, and the soldiers on several battleships of the Fifth Fleet on the right were quickly attracted to it. Chao Shun hurriedly raised his binoculars to look over, and it turned out that an armed merchant ship in the Qing army fleet had broken its main mast. "Hahaha, okay, that's it!" Chao Shun laughed happily.

The main mast of the armed merchant ship of the Qing army smashed down with heavy sails, and the entire armed merchant ship was smashed as if a violent explosion had occurred. A large amount of debris was violently shaken, and the deck of the armed merchant ship also sank rapidly, as if the whole ship was going to sink into the water. Thankfully, it wasn't long before it resurfaced. As for the Qing soldiers on the armed merchant ship, they jumped into the water one after another to escape.

However, it was not more than ten seconds before Chao Shun was happy, and another "squeaky quack" sound came, and his laughter stopped abruptly.

"Boom" Chao Shun saw through the telescope that it was a fifth-class warship under his command that suffered this time. This fifth-level battleship was originally relatively close to the Qing army's warship queue, and it had withstood too much enemy fire, and the main mast was indeed not good, and it was on the verge of collapse at this time. Under the pull of the heavy sails, the mainmast has been tilted so tightly that it will break at any moment. There are a total of 200 soldiers on this fifth-class battleship, and more than half of them have suffered casualties so far, most of them are sailmen and gunners. Most of the wounded soldiers were injured by the flying sawdust, and even the captain Li Wei himself was beaten to the point that the blood penetrated his eyes, but he did not retreat to the cabin for treatment. If the people around him take a closer look, they will see that his face is covered in blood, and he is now looking at everything red and blood-red, and he feels very terrible.

"Everyone's on the order, abandon ship!"

Li Wei reluctantly gave an order. The mainmast was broken, the battleship lost power and had to abandon ship. This is a naval regulation, and those who are unwilling to enforce it will definitely be tried by a military court. This was also set up by Geng Jingzhong for the purpose of protecting the soldiers, but this rule has been in place for less than a year. It is not difficult for the Mawei Navy to rebuild a battleship, but it is not easy to retrain a group of experienced crews. After weighing the two sides, Geng Jingzhong still decided to protect people, and as for the coexistence and death with warships, he did not advocate it for the time being. In this era, it is really not easy to train a qualified and skilled sailor, and he has to compete with the European maritime powers. These excellent fighters cannot afford to lose for the time being.

"Puff"

"Puff"

"Puff"

Li Wei and his sailors jumped into the water to escape. The Mawei naval battleship next to it quickly drove over. Pick them up one by one.

"Boom"

The heavy mainmast fell. With a huge sail, it slammed down. The entire fifth-tier battleship was smashed to the point that it seemed to bounce. The long mast smashed deep into the river, and then broke into two under the action of the hydraulic force.

"Damn, that's bad luck!" Li Wei, who had been rescued on another battleship, said stupidly. From a combat point of view, it is quite normal for a battleship to be destroyed. With such a fierce battle, it is absolutely impossible to avoid casualties. However, no one wants such bad luck to happen to them, does it?

"Squeak Quack"

"Boom"

Suddenly. Li Wei heard this hateful voice again. He hurriedly raised his binoculars and followed the sound. "Good!" Li Wei shouted in relief. This time, in the sight of his telescope, another warship of the Qing fleet was broken from its mainmast, and it also lost its combat effectiveness. The ship was also particularly unlucky, pulling on the broken mainmast and leaning to the left. In the end, it turned upside down, and then slowly sank under the immersion of the river. In the end, it sank completely, leaving only a large whirlpool on the surface of the river.

Just now, two fourth-rank warships roared at the nearest Qing army ship almost at the same time. A total of 52 large and small naval guns fired 16 chain shells and numerous grape bullets, and more than half of the Qing troops on this large ship were killed or wounded at once. And the main mast was directly hit by three chain bullets, and the sound of "squeak and rattle" sounded, and the ship was finished.

The tactics of the ships of the Mawei Army are very clear, following the principle that it is better to cut off one finger than to hurt ten fingers. The heavy guns on the upper deck fired ferocious chain bullets at this distance, desperately attacking the target's mast, and the target was to break the mast of the enemy ship and make it lose power, of course, it was best to sink it directly like the one in front of you.

However, in such a battle, the main masts of the warships on both sides became the target of their respective destruction. Even the strongest mast cannot withstand the desperate blow of the chain bullet. After all, all masts are made of wood, and where is the opponent of steel? If you want to avoid the main mast being hit, you can only pray for God's blessing. And several warships on the Mawei Army's side have suffered the same fate, but until now, that is, Li Wei's battleship has sunk.

"Well played!" Wang Zhiding of the Qing army also observed their results in this battle, and this is the first horsetail battleship they have sunk so far, which is indeed worth exhilarating.

"We've knocked out one of each other's warships!" Many soldiers on the ships on the left hand side of the Qing army shouted loudly. A battleship of the Mawei Navy was knocked down, and they were all inexplicably excited, and finally achieved the result, if they continued like this, they really had no confidence at all. For them, this result will make them feel that these large warships of the Mawei Navy are not remarkable! If you can knock out one now, you can knock out a few more. By this time, many Qing soldiers still had the confidence of victory, and the source of confidence was their numerous warships.

Within two or three kilometers of the river, the sails cover the sky, and there is either a ship or a sail as far as the eye can see, coupled with the smoke raised by the continuous artillery of both sides, neither the Qing soldiers nor the Mawei soldiers do not know how many of their warships have been damaged or sunk by the enemy, just like just now, it is only the soldiers on each ship on the left hand side of the Qing warship who saw that they sank a warship of the Mawei Army, and the soldiers on the right side of their fleet did not know what was happening, and they were still nervously firing, Busy with your own business. How did they know that, apart from the warships that had been sunk by mines and long-range artillery fire, the number of warships was now only one-third of what they had been.

As the commander of the Qing Army's naval division, Wang Zhiding's mood was not optimistic, he roughly knew how many warships he had left, and he also knew how many warships the Mawei Army still had, and their fleet concentrated such ferocious firepower to defeat a large warship of the Mawei Navy, while his side lost more than three warships in this short period of time. Although many of the other Mawei warships were hit, they didn't seem to be fine, but their own warships had big problems. If you want to destroy all the other party's warships, you really don't know when? But this can only be thought about, even if you want to pay a big price to win like the last battle with Zheng Jun, it is impossible.

"Commander, we lost a battleship." The adjutant next to Wang Zhenbang said to him in a somewhat obscure tone. This is also the information from the flag just now, which cannot be seen from the perspective of Wang Zhenbang's Zhenyuan.

"Calm down." Wang Zhenbang said indifferently. He had expected that since there was a battle, it would be impossible for his own warships to lose no losses at all, and there was nothing he could do if a battleship was sunk. He believed that the captain and soldiers of the battleship had done their best, and that they would not abandon ship if they could. With such a fierce battle, wasn't the loss of a battleship expected? Either way, just keep a calm mind. However, judging by the current battle, the Mawei battleship still has the upper hand.

"Ships ready!"

"Volley!"

Ning Wu's battleship Fuding led the First Squadron to rush up from the right rear of the Sixth Squadron, and they had long been ready to bombard, and at this moment, when they heard the order issued by Ning Wu without hesitation, they immediately opened fire. The boiling battlefield in front of him made every officer and soldier of the First Squadron who arrived in a hurry boil with blood all over their bodies. This is the real battle! A manly man, if you want to make a contribution, at this time! It's been nearly half an hour just now, and one of them is in the back, which is really enough to hold their breath.

"Tom Tom"

"Tom Tom"

"Tom Tom"

The fierce sound of artillery made the already boiling battlefield even more boiling. After the first detachment of the Mawei Army came up, it immediately pressed directly on the warships of the Qing fleet, and the distance between the two sides was shortened to only 500 meters in just ten minutes. Just now, with the Sixth Squadron in the front, it was not easy to fire shells, but now at such a distance, the ships of the First Squadron of the Mawei Army were dense chain bombs and grapeshot bombs. Forty third, fourth, and fifth class warships fired at the same time, and although only the first ten battleships fired at the same time, there were also more than 200 naval guns firing a salvo. (To be continued......)

PS: There is one more chapter to make up for the lack of a thousand words yesterday