Deng Hailong's ship began to slow down as it approached, about five miles away from the Holy See's fleet.

"Herald ......" Deng Hailong was just about to give an order, and the adjutant said, "My lord, there is a telegram sent over." What Lord Bai means is, move forward, don't fire a cannon. Or change his boat, he has a plan and wants to try it. ”

"Ask him what his plans are." Deng Hailong picked up the binoculars and glanced at the ship in the distance.

Those wooden ships, from the point of view, they can shoot parabolic shells, but they have a chance to land on the deck of this ship. And the closer they are, the straighter their angles can't hit the upper deck of this ship at all.

Deng Hailong gestured at the angle of his own boat, and said in his heart, it is estimated that it can hit the chimney.

Soon, several telegrams came in a row, and Deng Hailong looked at it and smiled: "This white crane is really not a good person." However, this time according to his plan. Ben also wanted to see how sturdy the ship was. ”

"Order, all gunners on deck are ready to face shelling, and all barns are ready to face shelling."

A boat challenges a fleet all day?

Faced with the arrival of Deng Hailong's ship, the Holy See's fleet began to slowly spread out to both sides.

The ship of the white crane and the ship of the Emperor of China were slower in the distance, and they were almost ready to stop at a distance of twenty miles. Different from Deng Hailong's order, Bai Minghe ordered: "All gunners are ready, and if they encounter those who are close, they will fight." ”

If Bai Minghe is thinking about protecting the safety of the Chinese Emperor Zhu Qiyu, then this emperor is having fun with himself. Leaving the captain's room, he walked to the main gun and asked the gunner: "This cannon, I heard that it can fight fifty miles?" ”

"Hooray, I've tried the cannon, but the lethality of more than thirty miles will not work, and the cannonballs can fly up to fifty miles. Fly over and can't hurt each other. So what our drill code says is, twenty-seven miles. The gunner replied as he bowed to the side.

Zhu Qiyu looked at the cannon, the thickness of the barrel was five inches, and the length was almost one zhang and three.

Looking at the cannonball, it was more than two feet long, and it was a high-quality copper cannonball.

Positive. Hearing the sound of cannons in the distance, Zhu Qiyu took the telescope and looked into the distance.

At this time, the gunner on Deng Hailong's boat was shouting: "I think that at the beginning, Lao Tzu went to sea and met the Japanese people and set up such a formation. Let the Japanese people enter on both sides, and then the cannons will be fired from both sides, and the Japanese boats will be scattered in a few clicks. ”

"This time, it's just that we've been beaten." One of the sailors was a little nervous, his hands gripping tightly on the armrest.

"You're a little more daring."

With that, the gunner went straight out of the cover position. He walked to the side of the boat, then stood on the side of the boat, lit himself a cigar, and looked at the wooden boats up close.

At a distance of one and a half miles, two of the Holy See's warships suddenly rushed closer, using the tactics of sliding sails, facing each other head-on and approaching quickly. Pull the distance to within about two hundred paces, and then open fire with all your might on one side.

Dense cannon fire. A shell hit the hull of Deng Hailong's boat.

"Come again, don't send it slowly!" The gunner stood on the side of the ship and shouted, biting his cigar and laughing. It was only after the two ships that had fired the guns that they were far away that he climbed down to look at the hull.

The thickness of the hull of this ship is half an inch, but the important parts of the exterior are armored with high-carbon steel, and the rest of the place is made of pig iron armor. It can be clearly seen. There were several small craters in the armor plates.

Stone bullets, hit on pig iron armor with a thickness of three and a half inches, plus primitive gunpowder, do not have to consider its damage value at all. Not to mention armor, but not armor. The thickness of the hull alone is what this stone projectile can break, leaving small craters on the hull at most.

Standing on the side of the ship, the gunner shouted: "Report to me, the shallow pit the size of the palm of the armor plate, it is not broken!" ”

Someone reported it layer by layer.

Deng Hailong listened expressionlessly, when the two ships approached, he knew the level of the opponent's artillery, and he didn't worry about his ship at all. After listening to the report, he ordered: "Speed up and prepare to approach the port." ”

"My lord, do you want the Marines to prepare?"

"No, don't get too close to the boat, and observe if there are any shore defense heavy artillery. If there is, order the gunners to prepare. ”

Deng Hailong, the small cannon on the ship, is not worried, but the heavy artillery of the shore defense cannot be careless, especially in high places, if it hits the deck directly, it will cause damage to the ship.

On the other side, Zhu Qiyu put down the binoculars: "Let the other party shoot a few shots in vain, I order, return the salute." ”

"Hooray, I didn't say our ship was going to open fire!"

"My words, won't they work? Shoot at the dense part of the ship, and give me a command, and I will watch from here. Zhu Qiyu's face sank, and the artillery commander hurriedly went to prepare.

Ran back to the gun position, and said to the deputy gunner: "Hurry up, bring that tin and copper shell, if this cannon is empty." Long live the sin, who can afford to eat the sin. "A few deputy gunners immediately went to prepare, and brought expensive shells, this one is two hundred taels of silver, and the person who hit it hurts!

It was about fifteen miles away from now, and the artillery was lowered and aimed at the densest position of the Holy See's fleet.

The commander of the guns did not believe that his luck could be so bad, that the cannonballs could fly through the middle of the dense fleet, and that he was resigned to his fate by the staff.

The muzzle of the gun was lowered, and the gun commander took the gun and traced it with a telescope, and then reported the number jù, and a deputy gunner took an abacus and counted there. Zhu Qiyu glanced back and didn't quite understand. Wei Shaoqing said: "Long live, you still remember that Lord Bai was in Zhuozhou and won with his bow skills. ”

"I remember that he was able to calculate where the shells would land."

"Those gunners are also calculating, long live you ask for a hit, they will naturally be attentive. I heard that it is usually the first shot to test the position, and then the trajectory is corrected according to the position of the first shot. This is only one shot, and with the knowledge of the slave, the difficulty should be very much, and the distance is so far. ”

Zhu Qiyu nodded, you must know that this cannon is a little bit worse, and it can be a foot worse if it flies over.

Finally, this side was ready, and the gun commander pulled the hammer hard, and a deafening sound alarmed everyone, and Deng Hailong's ship could hear this cannon sound. hurriedly walked out of the captain's room, but saw that more than ten miles away, there was still smoke on the hull of the Yue Wang Wumu.

In the blink of an eye, two miles to the left of Deng Hailong, a boat was pierced by a half, and then the bow of the second boat was swept away, and it exploded in the middle of the third boat, and the fire rose to the sky, and the ship was instantly blown to pieces, not two halves, but directly blown to pieces.

And the first boat, because of the strong impact force, also injured the main body, and the holes in the sides of the boat on both sides were pouring water into the boat.

Seeing it, it slowly sank.

"The design of this shell is not good, and it will not explode if the impact force is small, and this must be changed. If the other side only has one boat, does not hit an important position, and passes directly through, isn't this shell a waste? ”

Bai Minghe said to the first mate beside him.

"My lord, they used the No. 1 cannonball, probably to please Banzai. We also have them on our ship, but when we were preparing for war, there were only two No. 3 shells on each gun emplacement on the deck, and even No. 2 was not used, so that shell could not be used once a year. It looks pretty good. ”

Not only is it good, a wooden ship equivalent to 400 tons in later generations has directly turned into wood chips.

Deng Hailong on the boat in front also ordered: "Order, No. 1 and No. 2 main guns." Tail main gun. Shoot three shots at each of the generals, and they must be hit into the city of Rome, that is, less than thirty miles, and whoever does not hit will go to the latrine. It is not allowed to use shell No. 1, with incendiary bombs, bone-eroding ghost fire incendiary bombs! ”

"Order!" The adjutant general hurried down to give the order.

When he was still a mile away from the Roman port, Deng Hailong completely ignored the surrounding warships and turned sideways.

The Holy See's fleet was already frightened, and the power of a single cannon at that distance was too terrifying. They do not believe that at the moment on this ship, there is no such powerful artillery.

While they were in a daze, Deng Hailong's ship fired three cannons in unison and three rounds of shelling.

The rest of the ordinary artillery was not used at all, the range was too close, and it could only be hit in the harbor, which was not what Deng Hailong needed.

Nine shells, eight points around the city of Rome, ignited a raging fire, and the last one exploded directly in the center of the city, turning a church into a sea of fire.

"Demons in Hell." The Pope stood in the cathedral, scolding.

From the sea, directly put the entire city of Rome within the firing range, the burning fire cannot be extinguished with water, and any flame sticking to the body is even burning the flesh and skin, what is this not hellfire?

"The people of the city of Rome listened, centered on the church where the Pope was, within a hundred miles. We give both of you a chance to live, because our great peace is merciful and will give everyone a chance to live, but you will need to make a sacrifice, and likewise, we will give you a choice. ”

A huge loudspeaker was playing words in Greek.

It certainly won't reach the city of Rome, but the people in the port can hear it, and I believe it will pass through.

"The first chance to live, Garisdu III. Take all your cardinal archbishops and kneel at the feet of my Chinese Emperor and the honorable Byzantine Emperor and repent of your sins. The people of Rome will definitely live, and our great Chinese emperor will give the people of Rome a chance to live. ”

"The second chance to live, O people of Rome, the Pope repents of his unwillingness to protect you. The people began to count the cardinal archbishops below the pope, and the ninety-nine priests were burned at the stake, and then our emperor believed it, and your hearts were willing to repent and give you life. ”

"The deadline, tomorrow at sunrise. Either the Pope knelt on this pier, or there were ninety-nine burning flames on the stake. Or the whole of Rome, turned into a sea of fire. A fire that cannot be extinguished even by water. ”

When the shouter finished reading, he was trembling.

But another piece of paper was sent to him for him to continue.

"I would like to emphasize that if you want to escape, once you find out, you will directly turn the city of Rome into a sea of fire, and any city will receive you, and the whole city will be burned to the ground."

The words fell, and the ship opened fire again.

Three cannonballs set a ducal castle west of Rome into flames. (To be continued......)