Chapter 730: This is still a fart

"George, the reaction of the Ming Empire's fleet is too strange?" When Blake, the commander of the British Navy's fleet, put down his binoculars, his expression was very strange. This naval operation has been planned for almost a year, and since the fleet left the Ming Dynasty, the British have been preparing for this pirate operation. And with the introduction of the repartition of Asian interests, it successfully impressed other seafaring powers other than the Netherlands. France, Portugal, and Spain were also involved, and France was not yet a seafaring power at this time, but it also had a navy that was beginning to take shape.

It's a risky operation, and it's also an action that pays off with great success. According to British intelligence, after crossing the Cape of Good Hope, the fleet of the Ming Empire was not fast clippers, with only forty warships and five armed merchant ships. In order to complete this operation, the British dispatched a total of 66 warships in this area, and the other three countries committed a total of 73 warships. In other seas, throughout the English Channel, there are no less than 200 sail warships, waiting and looking for the appearance of this fleet.

The British independently supported the battle on one side and launched an attack in the early stage, not because their style was high, but because they did not take the initiative, and the other three countries would definitely take a wait-and-see attitude.

"Yes, Your Excellency, their fleet reacted unreasonably, and I think it was prepared to sacrifice the ten warships in front of the assault to ensure the smooth escape of the other warships and cargo. Just hold on until dark'' and their chance will come. It's nine o'clock in the morning, and we still have nearly eight hours, and if we have a qiē shun lì, we can completely wipe out this Ming Empire's fleet in two days at most. Adjutant George's answer was full of confidence, and his judgment was both correct and at the same time wrong. Correct is based on an understanding of the strength of the European navy, as the strongest navy in Europe. The British Navy's su zhì is definitely the top of the list today. It is not difficult to make a reasonable judgment, but they still don't know much about the combat effectiveness of the Ming Navy, and the intelligence is all a few years ago.

"It's strange, the backward Ming Empire warships have no intention of escaping, but are facing the combined fleet of the three kingdoms to the east." Blackka exclaimed. George couldn't help but exclaim, "What are they going to do?" At such a distance, you start to grab the T-prefix? Could it be that their naval guns can hit 1,500 meters? Even if you can hit this far, how can you guarantee the hit rate? ”

As soon as the words fell, the Ming fleet of about 1,800 meters opened fire, and a dull cannon sound sounded on the sea, and the white smoke rising could be seen in the telescope.

"Look!" Raising his hand, the shell had already landed on the sea fifty meters away, after two booms. A huge column of water rises on the surface of the sea, which is not at all the effect of a solid bullet.

The impact of the explosion caused Blake's flagship to shake violently, and he shook his body a few times, holding on to the railing.

After the two exchanged a look, they both showed shocked expressions, firing at such a distance, coming up was close to missing bullets.

Blake and George were horrified. Knight's horror was even stronger. He saw very clearly, the artillery of the Ming Navy. The speed of reloading was really fast, and instead of a solid bullet, a kind of one-piece bullet was used, and instead of a torch lighting a lead, a rope was pulled directly, and the second round of shelling began.

Ten battleships armed with new naval guns. Following Li Heng's flagship to make a horizontal movement, this process is called seizing the T-shape, after completion, each ship opened fire one after another, and bombarded the British fleet's forward warships with the main guns of the ship. The first round of shelling yielded no success. All of them were lost, but this was the first actual battle at sea for the new naval guns, and all the members, including Li Heng, had no hope that this shelling would achieve results. The key is that the distance is a little farther, whether you can hit the target or not, it depends on God's will, and the way to make up for the hit rate is not an aiming system, but to increase the density of firepower.

"Tsk!" Li Heng still crooked his mouth, the first round of artillery bombardment was too poor, but he still didn't have enough understanding of naval warfare, or he didn't expect that the near miss was still quite lethal to the wooden warship. Well, as the founder of the navy, Chen Xie didn't know that this near-miss bomb could cause pressure and bring a lot of damage to the hull.

Splashes of water rained down like droplets, the result of a grenade that exploded ten meters away. Blake was drenched and drenched, he didn't have a chance to hide, the crunching sound was in his ears, and the roots of his teeth were sore, what was the situation?

The luck of the second round of shelling was much better, and the adjusted fleet once again opened fire at a very fast speed, forty 105-caliber cannons, the propellant was nitrate, chemical cotton, and the charge was nitrate, acid, sweetness, and oil, and the power was not at all understandable to the Europeans today. So, Knight couldn't believe what he saw.

"Reset! Reload! Fire! Subconsciously approached a little closer, and heard the hoarse command from the gun position. Although it is a retracted gun, it is already far ahead of this era, both in terms of power and rate of fire.

"Hit!" Zhang Guangde shouted excitedly, Li Heng still stood very straight, pretending to be calm with an expressionless face. In fact, he is the most nervous, the main force of the fleet is ten warships equipped with new naval guns, if it were not for the insufficient production of Liaodong, and the fleet set off in a hurry, all of them should have been equipped with new naval guns. The other 30 warships sent flags, and the detachment under the command of the deputy commander of the fleet, Zhou Kangdang, met the "pirates" from the west, and the armed merchant ships loaded with goods slowed down and fell behind a little, so as not to be affected by the battle. Don't look at the five merchant ships with not many guns, each of them only has about 30 guns, but the 12-pounder rifled guns of one water, this is not the firepower that ordinary European warships can resist.

The light of the fire rising in the telescope was unusually conspicuous, a British warship was hit, and after the high-explosive and grenade exploded, the whole battleship trembled violently, half of the hull was blown up, and sawdust flew all over the sky, like rain.

At this time, the British have not yet reacted to the fact that it is nonsense, Blake has already shown panic, but as the commander of the fleet, he can't be too nervous, this time the sea operation, they are the protagonists, if they retreat, the whole operation is in vain is a trivial matter, and the blow to the prestige of the British Navy is an immeasurable consequence.

Glancing at the exploding battleship, Blake continued to calmly raise his binoculars: "We have a sixfold advantage, lean on and destroy them with intensive firepower." Tell the ships that Britain needs all members of the fleet to do their duty! When George heard the order, he immediately calmed down, and ran briskly, allowing the herald to sound the flag.

Li Heng saw the Z-shaped flag hung by the British, sneered a few times, and said to Zhang Guangde: "Hang the flying eagle flag!" ”

The Flying Eagle Banner has a special meaning in the Ming Dynasty, and on land, the Flying Eagle Cavalry is a cavalry that terrifies foreign captives. In the navy, the flying eagle flag is a heritage, a symbol of Chen Xie, as long as this flag is hung, the entire navy must defend the honor of this flag at any cost. Sure enough, when the only flying eagle flag of the entire fleet was hoisted on the flagship, there was a cheer on the sea, and a neat shout: "Fight to the death!" Fight to the death! There is no enemy and no self! ”

The Flying Eagle Banner Navy has been given another meaning, that is, not leaving a living mouth. This trick was used by Chen Xie when he was in Liaodong to deter Jiannu, and the navy used it, once the flying eagle flag was hung up, it meant that it would completely wipe out any place that dared to take the initiative to provoke. Swear to defend the symbol of the flying eagle flag - Chen Xie, the founder of the Ming Navy!

Both sides were constantly approaching the opponent, and before a thousand meters of distance, the entire main fleet in front of the assault hit a total of four unlucky battleships, and the other battleships also leaked more than ten ships due to the pressure of the seawater. This result surprised the British, and the battleships continued to withdraw from the battle, which was only a little longer, less than ten minutes. The artillery fire on the opposite side was like raindrops, constantly rapid, but extremely powerful, far beyond the British understanding.

"Could it be that this operation was a mistake?" Blake wavered in his heart, but he was extremely determined, and soon shook his head and said to himself: "Britain will not lose, and cannot lose!" ”

After Zhou Dangdang found the Flying Eagle Flag here, he immediately hung out the flag and notified the ships, during which the Flying Eagle Flag was hung. Immediately the whole fleet was cheering, this is the meaning of letting go of killing, there is no military discipline to restrain them from killing and setting fire. These naval officers and men have been holding back on the sea for too long, and finally have a goal to vent. As for failure, no one thinks about this question at all, how can the navy built by Xinghai Gong lose it?

At this time, the distance of the combined fleet of the three countries was relatively far, still two nautical miles away, watching the thirty warships kill with great momentum, it was like a festival, I really couldn't understand what was going on with these people, didn't they see at least twice as many enemy fleets? Do you like to die so much?

"Fire!" At a thousand meters, the 75 cannon also sounded, and the more numerous 75 ran, playing not the second fire, but a direct salvo. Large-caliber guns did not dare to fire a salvo, because the deck could not bear it, and the 75 guns did not have this concern. The Xinghai fired a salvo and fired a battleship on fire.

By the time the T-shaped fleet had completed a turn reappeared on the T-shaped cross, the British fleet on the opposite side had already begun to turn around and run away. There is no way not to run away, just now a t excellent, the 75 gun gave full play to the advantage of fast rate of fire, a gun that can throw out six shells in a minute, don't look at a battleship with six, but the effect of hitting is a sea of fire, directly with the British fleet caused the loss of thirteen warships.

What a! Fools know something is wrong! Not to mention, Blake's flagship also leaked due to a near-miss. (To be continued......) R1292