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The fierce battle between the Xinhua Navy and the British Navy continued. Although the British Navy still has the upper hand, the Xinhua Navy is not without the power to fight back. Often, when the Xinhua Navy was sunk or heavily damaged, a battleship would soon give the British Navy a new color. Such a battle caused the losses of both sides to continue to increase. But overall, the situation facing the Xinhua Navy is becoming more and more critical.

"Boom! Rumble! Two explosions sounded on a warship of the Xinhua Navy, and billowing smoke rose from the battleship. The wooden hull can easily catch fire and burn after being hit. The damage management personnel on the battleship desperately tried to extinguish the fire, but it was not easy.

"Commander, cruiser No. 17 was heavily damaged. The brothers on the battleship are putting out the fire. In addition, one of the mainmasts was blown off, and the captain requested to withdraw from the battle. The communications officer reported to the commander of the 1st Fleet, Rear Admiral Wei Yong.

"Allow them to withdraw from the battlefield." Major General Wei Yong nodded. This is the fifth warship lost by the Xinhua Navy, and the second warship lost by the 1st Fleet. So far, they have sunk two warships of the British Navy and severely damaged one. With a battle loss ratio of 5 to 3, the Xinhua Navy now has 31 warships capable of continuing operations, while the British Navy still has 43 warships. The gap between the two sides has widened to 12 ships. As the gap grows, so does the pressure on the Xinhua Navy.

The 17th battleship of the Xinhua Navy. dragged the damaged body and slowly withdrew from the battlefield. Fortunately, the British Navy focused on those intact warships, and wanted to concentrate all its efforts on crushing the Xinhua Navy as soon as possible. Battleships were not sent in pursuit of the damaged ships. Otherwise, there would be only one fate for the 17th cruiser, and that was to be sunk.

"General, we have severely damaged another warship of the Xinhua Navy, and the other party is fleeing. Shall we send warships to catch up and sink them once and for all? Lieutenant Commander James of the battleship 'Apollo' said. Although the warships of the Xinhua Navy were heavily damaged, they lost the ability to continue fighting. But after returning to the shipyard, it was still able to continue fighting after repair. If it can be sunk, it will be a hundred.

The commander of the British Navy, Rear Admiral Allen, shook his head. Then he said: "No need, those yellow-skinned monkeys still have more than thirty warships, after dealing with these intact warships first, we will deal with those battleships that have been heavily damaged." "Major General Allen's intentions are very clear. And that was in this naval battle. Completely destroy the Xinhua Navy. Those ships that have been badly damaged, although they can be repaired and continue to be used. But that's going to take a long time. By that time, the British Navy would have already gained sea supremacy in the South Seas. Perhaps Britain would have won the war by then. Therefore, for the time being, there is no need to draw valuable combat power against those warships that have already been heavily damaged.

"Yes, General." Lieutenant Colonel James nodded. Although he felt a little pity, he also believed that Major General Allen's consideration was correct.

"Boom! Rumble! "The 27th battleship of the 2nd Fleet of the Xinhua Navy was once again hit by British battleships. The starboard side of the battleship was hit by a 4-inch shell and a 3.7-inch shell. The hull below the waterline was torn open with two large openings. The sea rushed madly into the battleship. In such a situation, there is simply nothing that can be done about the damage management personnel on the battleship. The captain immediately ordered the ship to abandon and retreat. The soldiers began to lower the lifeboats. However, because the water intake was too fast, the battleship quickly tilted. In the end, it capsized on the surface of the sea in less than two minutes and slowly sank into the sea. None of the more than a hundred sailors on the battleship, except for a dozen or so, were spared, including the captain. The Xinhua Navy has detailed regulations that when the order is given to abandon the ship, the captain must be the last to disembark. Therefore, most of the time the captain has no chance of escaping.

"Bastard!" On the cruiser 'Xinhua', Rear Admiral Wei Yong couldn't help but curse secretly after learning that another battleship of the Xinhua Navy had been sunk. The battle was too fierce, and the losses of the Xinhua Navy were constantly expanding, which made him very uncomfortable. The Xinhua Navy has never suffered such losses since its formation, and this can be said to be the hardest battle fought by the Xinhua Navy. Even though the Spanish expeditionary fleet was very powerful at the beginning, the Xinhua Navy was able to take advantage of the performance advantages of the warships to reverse the situation step by step and finally achieve victory. In that battle, the Xinhua Navy was also tightly closed, only a few warships were heavily damaged, and none of them were sunk. But now, the number of sunken and heavily damaged warships of the Xinhua Navy has totaled six, which is equivalent to the loss of half of the fleet.

In all previous naval battles, the Xinhua Navy almost always used the performance of warships to ravage the enemy. But this time, the British Navy's 'Apollo-class' battleships were on par with the 'Shark-class' cruisers, or even slightly stronger. After losing the superiority of the warship, the Xinhua Navy inevitably fell into a bitter battle. The increasing losses have also greatly affected the morale of the troops. Under the combined influence of these factors, the Xinhua Navy is becoming more and more disadvantaged.

"How long will it take for that kid Lu Haipeng to arrive? Hopefully, we won't have to wait for him to arrive, and we'll be done. Major General Wei Yong said secretly. Although, he knew that the 5th Fleet was definitely on its way. However, back and forth, it takes time. In addition, during the fierce battle, both the Xinhua Navy and the British Navy were sailing at high speed, and their positions had long since changed. If the 5th Fleet arrives, it will also need more time to find the location of the Xinhua Navy, which will delay some time.

"Boom!" A shell fired by the cruiser "Xinhua" accurately hit the battleship "Apollo", the flagship of the British Navy. The battleship exploded on the foredeck, destroying two 4-inch cannons installed on the foredeck. The British had better luck, there were no shells in the chamber at this time. Otherwise, the detonation caused by the cannonball alone would have killed the battleship.

Even so, it made the face of the commander of the British Navy, Rear Admiral Allen, a little unnatural. Although soldiers will always have to face such situations, the proximity to death still makes him a little frightened. Fortunately, this time the 'Apollo-class' battleship lost only two main guns and did not suffer heavy damage. This also reassured Major General Allen, who believed that God must be bless them in the dark.

The Xinhua Navy found that it did not cause fatal damage to the 'Apollo' warship, and it was also very regrettable. If the flagship of the British Navy can be sunk, this will undoubtedly have a big impact on improving the morale of the troops. They were even able to take the opportunity to turn the tide of battle.

About 30 kilometers away from the fierce battle area, a fleet was sailing quickly on the sea. These battleships, although they had a tall mast, did not have white sails on the mast. On the contrary, there is a thick chimney, and smoke is constantly coming out. The smoke was blown by the wind, like a battleship dragging a long tail.

Although the fleet sailed against the wind, the power of the battleship came from the propellers driven by the steam engine, not the wind. Thus, the headwind had little effect on the battleship, and the speed of the fleet was up to 12 knots.

This fleet is the 5th Fleet of the Xinhua Navy, and Commodore Lu Haipeng, commander of the fleet, was a little anxious in the bridge of the fleet's flagship 'Xia Qi'. They had already received the news that the war had started from the main force of the navy, and they were rushing to the battlefield with all their might. However, because the weather was not very good last night, the distance between the 5th Fleet and the main forces of the Navy widened to more than 80 kilometers. So the clippers sent by the 1st Fleet took a little time to find them. After learning of the start of the war, Brigadier General Lu Haipeng immediately ordered the fleet to rush to the battlefield to fight. However, this is something that takes time. Brigadier General Lu Haipeng was a little worried, if the navy of the Xinhua Kingdom was severely damaged because he did not arrive at the battlefield in time, then how would he explain it to His Majesty the King? Of course, he had no doubts about victory. With the strength of the 'Xia-class' cruiser, Commodore Lu Haipeng is very confident in winning this battle.

"How long do we have to get to the battlefield?" Brigadier General Lu Haipeng asked again, he couldn't even remember how many times he asked.

"Commander, we'll be there in an hour." The navigator replied. However, the area of the pitch of the battle was certainly different from the place of notification, although they were based on the directions provided by the clippers and then marched to the possible position of the battlefield according to the direction of the wind. But it remains to be seen whether they will be able to reach the battlefield in an hour. Maybe we'll have to spend more time looking for it.

"I hope Brother Wei and they can hold on." Brigadier General Lu Haipeng said.

"Commanding the line of defense, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd fleets combined also have 36 'Shark-class' cruisers, and although the British have 46 'Apollo-class' battleships, the gap is not large. The British wanted to eat our main force in one bite, it was absolutely impossible. The navigator comforted.

Brigadier General Lu Haipeng nodded, he could only think in the best direction as much as possible.

By two o'clock in the afternoon, the number of warships lost by the Xinhua Navy had increased to nine, two more warships were sunk, and one was heavily damaged. And what they achieved was only to inflict heavy damage on the British Navy's 'Fury'. The huge losses have affected the morale of the Xinhua Navy.

At 2:15 p.m., a large dark cloud suddenly appeared in the northern sky, which was very strange in a clear weather. (To be continued......)