Although the "Shunfeng" was hit by four bullets, in addition to a slight decrease in speed, it had little impact on the combat power itself, and the gunners who had already warmed up were even more completely in a state, and the speed of almost one shell a minute was desperately firing at the rate of one shell, and the "Victory" was desperately bombarded with a dense salvo of artillery fire, and the "Victory" was desperately trying to lean from the oblique spur, and the "Victory" immediately fell into great bad luck, hitting nine bullets in a row, the hull was on fire everywhere, and the single-layer gun deck was bombarded to pieces, and the nine guns on one side, There were only five guns left to fire, but even so, the "Victory" still did not give up the operation of leaning towards the "Downwind", while firing a cannon counterattack, while trying to shorten the distance between the two sides with all its might, there is no other thing, the combat habit of the British Navy is close combat!

In the naval battles of the Western countries, under normal circumstances, they are bombarded at a distance of about 200 meters, and most of the training received by the officers and men of the British Navy is mainly melee combat and melee combat, and the main reason is that the power of the naval guns can be brought into full play at such distances, and in terms of training level, the naval guns of the British Navy can achieve a salvo of one and a half minutes, which is more than twice as strong as that of the Western countriesThere are three reasons, one is that the artillery of the Qing army is more advanced, and the loading of the propellant bag is obviously much easier than the black powder used by the British, and the Qing army has a clear advantage in the rate of fire; Second, the "Shunfeng" was forty-two meters long, ten meters longer than the "Victory" of thirty-two meters, and was equipped with three more broadside guns, and the power of the shells was far greater than that of the 18-pound shells of the Britons; As for the third, that is the difference in tactical training - the British navy emphasized the ability to fight in close combat, while the Qing army emphasized the power of artillery, inflicting heavy damage on the opponent at long distances, and grasped the gunner's long-range shooting skills very strictly, emphasizing the hit rate.

"Aim at the enemy ship, open fire, fire!"

Taking advantage of the fact that the "Downwind" and the "Victory" were entangled to the death, the "Rose", which had fallen behind due to the damage of the foremast and cable sails, had already completed the repair, and rushed from the oblique spur to a distance of less than 400 meters from the "Downwind", and one suddenly accelerated, and had been inserted between the "Downwind" and the "Victory". The "Downwind" smashed over.

Three hundred and fifty meters, although such a distance is not yet the combat distance that the British Navy is accustomed to, but it can barely adapt to it, and the hit rate has greatly improved, the first salvo of the "Rose" is enough for five shells to hit the target, three of which hit the waterline a little above, two of which were bounced off the thick side of the ship, just smashed a shallow hole, but one of them directly penetrated the side of the ship, hit the bilge, and blew up part of the food reserve of the "Tailwind", and the other three flowering shells were all smashed on the " On the aft deck of the "Shunfeng", thick smoke billowed from the aft tower, but it was limited to the power of the shells, and did not cause the "Shunfeng" to suffer much damage, and only two sailors on duty at the aft tower were killed and wounded.

"Order: Adjust the course, open the distance, don't stop at each gun position, keep fighting!"

Although the "Rose" stabbed out in such an oblique way, although it did not cause too much damage to the "Shunfeng", Su Ke was immediately keenly aware of the fact that the smaller the distance, the higher the hit rate of the Britons' artillery fire.

On the gun deck, twelve guns roared incessantly, and one shell after another smashed into the two enemy ships that rushed forward in turn, and on the front and rear decks, the boatswain commanded many sailors to control the sails and sail diagonally, in order to widen the distance between the two British warships. The two British warships are brigs, in terms of speed, it should be the Qing army side has an absolute advantage, if the sailors of the two sides are of equal ability, the "Shunfeng" should be able to quickly distance themselves from each other, but in fact, although the sailors on the "Shunfeng" have been fully controlling the sails, but the distance between the two sides has not been opened, and has always been bitten by the two British battleships, and the distance has been kept between 300 meters and 350 meters.

In the blink of an eye, nearly half an hour has passed, and the bloody battle between the two sides is still continuing, although the "Shunfeng" is one enemy and two, but it does not fall behind at all, of course, under the attack of the two British warships, it has not been able to take too much advantage, the soldiers on both sides are red-eyed, and the artillery fire is almost non-stop firing at each other, you come and go, no one refuses to show weakness, the interesting thing is that the huge combined fleet has always been on the side, and did not come forward to interfere in this small-scale battle, just quietly watched.

Gradually, the two British battleships with insufficient artillery power were already somewhat unable to support it, and there was no other, the difference in the power of the shells on both sides was too large, although the hit rate was almost the same, and the number of guns was even the advantage of the British Navy - eighteen to twelve, but the results that could be achieved were very different, often the effect of the British battleship hitting two guns was not as powerful as the Qing army's one-gun hit, with the passage of the war, the "Shunfeng" was of course hit by many bullets, the hull caught fire in many places, and the deck and side of the ship were damaged in more than a dozen places, But with the efforts of the sailors, the fires everywhere were quickly extinguished, and the damage was also being urgently repaired, on the other hand, the two British battleships, although the sailors on them were also working hard to play with their lives, but the power of the Qing army's flowering bombs was too great, once hit, it could gnaw off a large piece of the battleship, and it was difficult to keep up with the battle damage no matter how much it was made up was also beaten to the ground of the sea, and it was difficult to compete with the "Shunfeng".

"Order: 'Hundred-Eyed Giant' and 'Fury' come forward and sink the enemy ship!"

Seeing that the "Shunfeng" was beating the "Victory", which was almost powerless, Edward Vernon, who had been silently watching the battle with a telescope, finally couldn't stand it anymore, put down his glasses with a gloomy face, and as soon as he raised his hand, he gave the order in a cold voice.

"Captain, look, the enemy fleet is moving!"

Edward Vernon's general commanded, and the flag soldier on his own tall mast commanded the two second-class battleships to attack, and then saw that the two huge battleships began to turn, and rushed out of the fleet series at great speed, and rushed towards the battlefield full of artillery fire.

"Order, turn the rudder left, and evacuate the battlefield at full speed!"

Hearing the alarm of the lookout post, Su Ke, who was roaring and directing the operation, immediately calmed down, quickly picked up the monocular on his waist, and looked in the direction of the combined fleet. If he was really going to be caught up, he was afraid that he might not be able to withstand a salvo, Su Ke didn't dare to stay where he was any longer, and he didn't care about the low-hanging fruit of the "Victory", so he hurriedly gave an order loudly.

"Captain, our main fleet has arrived!"

"Shunfeng" was previously one against two, although it was a victory, but it was not without damage, although the sailors tried their best to make up for it, but there were still a few destroyed sails that had not had time to be replaced, and its own speed advantage was naturally difficult to reflect, even if the sailors were already trying their best to sail, but they were gradually chased by the two British battleships to the front, seeing that it was difficult to escape the catastrophe of being sunk, the lookout post on the mast suddenly let out a cheer of surprise, and it was their main fleet that finally arrived at the battlefield!

"Retreat!"

Although they had already reached a distance sufficient to launch an attack, in the face of the Qing army's all-speed attack, Vice Admiral Jonathan Canning, the captain of the "Hundred-Eyed Giant", still resisted the urge to sink the "Shunfeng", turned the bow of the ship without firing, and sailed back towards his own fleet at high speed.

"Order: All ships immediately turn their rudder to the left, seize the downwind line, and prepare to meet the enemy!"

Although Edward Vernon had not seen the arrival of the main fleet of the Qing army with his own eyes due to the distance, as soon as he received the warning signal from the "Hundred-Eyed Giant", Edward Vernon immediately woke up and gave the general order in a loud voice, which immediately began a tactical maneuver in the direction of Yakushima, trying to seize the advantageous battlefield position before the arrival of the Qing fleet, and the largest naval battle in the Pacific Ocean began. Then only the battle-going side can know......