Chapter Eighty-Five: The Night Battle Begins

Seeing that the Seattle fleet could not easily enter Pearl Harbor, it began to enter battle formation. The entire Grand Fleet was divided into three attack groups by Hugh Hobert: the middle group had eleven three-masted battleships as the main force, mainly attacking the center; There were four three-masted battleships on the left and right as the main force, responsible for outflanking the two wings. Hugh Hobert's order was given, and the command staff at all levels immediately assigned the duties of the ships, and the entire fleet advanced together, separating into three attack groups in the advance.

The central battleship attack group, led by eleven three-masted battleships, opened the battle line and sailed in a zigzag, and the other brig-class battleships did not have such superb formation ability to pull out a long battle line, and at the same time ensure that there would not be too many battleships' guns without firing angles. Therefore, the brigs were divided into squads as sloops, or seven or eight, or eleven or twelve ships formed into a small battle line to follow the main formation together.

Gangzi, who had already entered the blocking position, saw the Seattle fleet attacking, and ordered: "The Seattle fleet has already attacked, and it is expected that before it gets completely dark, the enemy and our warships will enter the first confrontation." The ships keep their positions unchanged and follow the team closely, and after nightfall, the course of the fleet changes, paying attention to receiving orders from the flagship. ”

The Langya fleet maintained a low-speed cruise, and the sailors of the gun crew had already installed the ammunition and pushed the guns out of the gun doors. The low-speed march called the muzzle of the artillery very steady, and at the same time, the flagship skill of the "Flying Henan" acted on the ships, and the enemy ships in the distance seemed to be clearer in the eyes of the gunners.

As the two fleets approached rapidly, the sun had sunk into the sea, and the sky began to darken rapidly. The central group of the Seattle fleet is about to enter the shelling range. Hugh Hobert's voice reached the ears of the captains of the ships at the right time, "The fleet has changed direction and is ready for battle, and each formation is divided into different levels to ensure our maximum firepower." Let us give the enemy a heavy blow in the last rays of the sun. ”

"The Seattle Central Fleet has entered the attack range of the fine iron smoothbore guns, they have already put on an attack posture, it seems that Hugh Hobert is not afraid to fight in close combat by us." A gangzi with undead vision. The dimming light didn't affect him in the slightest, and he saw the Seattle Central Fleet turn to a lateral movement in the distance, ready to open fire. Knowing that Hugh Hobert was frightened by the ferocious firepower of the "Flying Henan", and intended to use distance to reduce the hit rate of the "Flying Henan", Gangzi pouted and shouted to Elizabeth, who was staring at the nautical chart in the captain's room: "How many 'guided shells' do we have now?" ”

Elizabeth kept her duty, stared at the changes on the chart, and replied without raising her head: "There is no way to make 'guided shells' on the ship, what we use now are all made from the elven kingdom, and there are still ten in the current reserve, so you better use them sparingly." ”

Gangzi said, "It's going to be night soon. The night still has an effect on the elves' vision, the 'guided projectiles' may not be as effective as the day, and I need to slow down the approach of the Seattle Central Ship Group. Inform the front and rear batteries to prepare to fire 'guided shells', in the number of four, and inform the mage regiment to find four skilled mages to prepare to guide the 'guided cannonballs'. We surprise Hugh Hobert before dark, to the vast audience. ”

With Gangzi's order given, the elves of the battery crew pulled up four red-painted ammunition boxes through the shaft leading to the ammunition bay. The ammunition box was pried open by a crowbar, and in the thick haystack lay a cannonball with one end painted red in the shape of a rugby.

The elven mage, who had been waiting for a long time, cast a spell on the cannonball, unlocking the restriction spell that prevented the magic array above from being activated by itself. Then the front and rear turrets were filled with two shells each by the elven gunners.

"'Guided projectiles' ready to fire!" The cannon commander shouted. The elves are in their places. The gunner provides target and environmental data, and after the observer jumps the ruler to the correct position, he lies down at the observation port to pay attention to the situation around the target battleship. Joey and Mark grabbed the "guided turret" with five rattans of their own and began to spin and accelerate at the top of the canopy. The two of them then watched the target through the mounted gunner, and the elven gunner, who was responsible for guiding the way, also worked with the treant to determine the best angle and power through the gunscope.

Under the protection of the druid, the elven mage climbed into the gondola at the top of the front and rear mainmasts.

The sky was getting darker, and stars were already appearing in the deep blue sky. The Langya fleet, which had already entered the attack posture and was ready for shelling, took the lead in completing all the preparations before the cannonball.

"Attention ships, this time there is no test firing calibration, there is no test firing calibration, all the battleships are preparing for a salvo at my command," Gang Zi listened to Elizabeth's report as he watched the movement of the central bridge in Seattle.

"My lord! The enemy fleet has already mostly come within range of our fleet. ”

When Gangzi heard this, he immediately shouted: "Fire!" ”

"Boom, boom, boom, boom......" On the battle line of the Langya fleet, thick smoke was released at the same time. A volley of shells blasted at Seattle's central bridge with the last light of the night.

"Inspire!"

The "Flying Henan" made another shelling.

"The Langya fleet has fired!" The beautiful anchor who had already drunk water, gone to the toilet and swallowed ten pieces of throat treasure entered the state at the moment when the Langya fleet fired a salvo, "Now the distance between the two fleets is about two nautical miles. This is enough for the shells to fly for a while, and we can clearly see the trajectory of the shells. It's so neat that it deserves to be a well-trained NPC navy, and the quality between the player and the NPC can be seen from just one round of shelling. However, this distance is still too far, the hit rate of extreme shooting is very low, and the power is too much to damage, and there is not much damage to the hull, and only luck hitting the deck can damage the sailors and facilities above. I can't see how many hits I have at such a distance, and as for the specific data of this shelling, I still need feedback from the lookout posts of each ship, hoping that with the help of the telescope, they can see clearly in this light. Yes! See what that is? There was an explosion on the current flagship of Seattle, the "San Francisco", could it be that the salvo just now had shells that were extremely lucky enough to concentrate their powder kegs, and they happened to be cremated? Another explosion, now the camera is completely focused on the 'San Francisco', this explosion is very clear, we can see that something has been blown up in the sky, it looks like a cannon. The San Francisco is tragic, black smoke has risen, and the flames are soaring. ”

"Oh! A bigger explosion. The San Francisco was broken, yes! It really broke. Hahaha...... It's amazing. The Langya fleet killed a three-masted battleship of the Seattle fleet with this salvo, and it was their flagship, but Hugh Hobert was not on it, because in the Hawaiian fleet annihilation battle, Hugh Hobert was beaten back to Pearl Harbor by the Gangzi boss, and now he is not on the flagship of the Seattle fleet, he should feel lucky. This start is really lucky, it seems that the goddess of luck favors the boss of Gangzi. If I continue to fight like this, I don't think I need to wait for the Hangzhou fleet to arrive, and the Langya fleet can destroy the Seattle fleet by itself, hahaha......"

As the Langya fleet opened fire, the Seattle fleet also began to return fire, and the warships of both sides fired shells at the extreme distance of the ship's guns, but after a few rounds, neither of them had a commendable result. So the beautiful anchor played the clip of the sinking of the "San Francisco" over and over again, and used all kinds of gorgeous rhetoric to boast about this god.

Hugh Hobert, of course, did not think that the sinking of the "San Francisco" was a lucky or coincidental. He received information that the "San Francisco" had three explosions after being hit, detonating the powder keg on the deck, causing an even larger explosion.

It was the "guided flowering projectile" that sank the "Flying Dutchman". Hugh Hobert seemed to have returned to the "Flying Dutchman", and the shells falling from the sky penetrated the deck into the ammunition compartment and exploded, also blowing the "Flying Dutchman" in two.

"The surrounding brigs immediately covered the three-masted battleship formation. The opponent has special flowering shells, and the main central formation should keep a distance from the enemy fleet and make a large maneuver, and the other brigs should press up, so as not to give the enemy's flagship a chance to aim at the three-masted battleship. The outflanked ships on the left and right speed up your speed, the sky is about to darken, and we must encircle the Langya fleet as soon as possible. All the sloops stepped forward to serve as observation points for shelling, and each ship paid attention to receiving data and prepared for blind firing at night. ”

The news of the special flowering shells spread throughout the fleet, immediately causing panic among the captains of the Seattle fleet.

"No wonder the San Francisco exploded. It turned out that he had been hit by a flowering shell, but the enemy had a flowering shell. We can't be their opponents, we can't fight this battle. Let's go offline and complain. ”

The concern of a certain captain resonated with many captains, especially the South American fleet, which had come to support the ship, and the speed of the ship had dropped significantly.

Hugh Hobert spoke in time to stabilize the army's heart: "What are you panicking about, since it is a special bomb, there must not be many of them, otherwise the Langya fleet is not waiting for us to attack, it will have already attacked." It was just a demonstration just now, didn't you see that the Langya fleet never fired flowering shells again? They don't have them anymore! The ships have completed their respective tasks well, maintained the forward pressure in formation, and when the encirclement came, we took advantage of the night to disrupt them, seized their flagship, and we exhibited it all over the world. ”

The "Flying Henan" never fired "guided shells" again, as if to confirm Hugh Hobert's words, the morale of the Seattle fleet was restored, and the ships increased their speed again. The two two-masted battleship formations of the central ship group drove to the inside of the three-masted capital ship group, blocking the shells from the Langya fleet for them. Although the three-masted battleships did not need to worry about the attack of flowering shells, the Seattle Central Ship Group was basically missing the firepower of ten three-masted battleships, and the attack intensity immediately decreased a lot.

The sky darkened in the long-range exchange of fire between the two sides, and in order not to be attacked by the opponents who calculated their positions by the light of the fire, the warships of both fleets stopped firing almost simultaneously.

The Seattle fleet sloop began to advance, and the well-styled fleet entered the middle of the battlefield to block the Seattle dhow group. The sea between the two fleets was soon filled with fire, and both commanders pressed the urge to send their main fleet to intervene, directing the fleets to move while looking for traces of each other for artillery attacks.

Hugh Hobert, who was very Captain Fan, sat on the command podium and asked the staff below: "Have the ships on the left and right flanks arrived at the position, I need them to immediately encircle the Langya fleet and threaten their head and tail, so that the central group can directly charge into the formation of the Langya fleet and disrupt them." ”

"Report to the Admiral, the right wing group has arrived at the position, the left wing group is slightly confused due to the presence of a large number of South American players, and now the visibility is low, and the left wing commander is trying to put the fleet in order. It is expected that after thirty minutes, the offensive can be launched. ”

"These Chilean and Peruvian players are too scattered, I guess they are afraid of fighting the Langya fleet, and they are probably slowing down. Can't wait for them, wait for them to sort out the team. They won't be able to finish it until dawn. Ordered the right flank fleet to attack immediately, and the central ship group broke forward and drove the Langya fleet to the left flank together, and the artillery was pushed up to the butt to see if they could fight. ”

The order was transmitted to the right-wing group of the Seattle fleet through the command system, and the fleet, which had long since detoured to the position, immediately launched an attack on the position of the Langya ship. The four three-masted battleships with a large number of brigs advanced in the darkness without any lights, and the sloops that followed the group had already accelerated to pounce. As soon as the Langya fleet was discovered, the artillery of the group was directed to attack it.

"Report! The main force of the enemy fleet was discovered, but we were blocked by the opponent's high-speed sloops, and we were unable to break through for further reconnaissance. ”

According to the information fed back from all sides, although the number of Gangzi's high-speed dhow battleships is small, they are extremely effective in blocking them, and their own dhow battleships use the night to attack, but they are all blocked.

Thinking of Gangzi's ability to see at night, Hugh Hobert couldn't help but admire him very much: commanding battleship operations, commanding fleet operations, and constantly monitoring the Seattle dhow battleship groups all over the sea, and at the same time dispatching suitable warships to block them. Admiral Gangzi's ability and energy are really terrifying.

Feeling a little inhuman, Hugh Hobert ordered the right-wing group to launch an offensive charge against the main force of the Langya fleet that was discovered, and at the same time ordered the central group to attract the attention of the other party while the right-wing group was attracting the attention of the other party. All rushed in, "in the shortest possible time to rush to the front of the Langya fleet, disrupt their formations and create conditions for more to fight less". At the same time, a dhow with an emergency assembly flag in Pearl Harbor quietly departed and sailed in the direction of the Seattle fleet.

The Seattle right flank fleet launched an offensive charge, and the battleships in the fleet were divided into two parts, one to launch an artillery attack on the position where the Langya fleet was found, and the other to charge in a straight line; After the impact was some distance, the front stopped and launched an artillery strike. Cover the rear charge. The two divisions alternately cover the advance.

And the central group of ships directly gave up the cover of artillery bombardment, and all the battleships advanced at full speed in the direction of the Langya fleet.

The two fleets soon reached the position of the Langya fleet. only to find that there was nothing on the sea where there should have been a Langya fleet, and even the dhow battleships that were fighting just now were all silent.

"What's going on? Where did the Langya fleet go. ”

At this moment, a violent cannon fire suddenly erupted on the sea on the left. Then Hugh Hobert received a cry for help from the left flank fleet: "Admiral, the Langya fleet has come to us like this, they are attacking us, our formation has not yet been launched, we are powerless to fight back, ask for support!" Request support! ”

"When did the Langya fleet get there?" The current serious situation made Hugh Hobert not have too many doubts, and he immediately commanded the fleet to support the left flank ship group, "I order you to drag the Langya fleet regardless of all losses, and my central and right flank ship groups will be able to support it immediately." ”

With that, Hobert ordered the central and right flank groups to rush towards the sea where the fire was exchanged, and in that direction the flash of artillery had already illuminated the sky.

When it was still dawn, Gangzi discovered the incoordination of the left wing ship group of the Seattle fleet in the process of traveling, and through the intelligence support of the Hangzhou command center, he knew the South American fleet, the main body of the left wing ship group, and a battle plan was quickly formed in his mind.

He first sank the flagship of the Seattle fleet in the first round of shelling with a small number of "guided shells", telling Hugh Hobert to be afraid of the power of the "guided shells" and not dare to get too close to the central bridge. Then he ordered the fleet with a good PK hairstyle to block the reconnaissance warships of the Seattle fleet, which was easy to do for the "flying Henanese" with "perception". In the end, some of the battleships were left behind to confuse the fish that had slipped through the net, and the entire fleet turned around and rushed towards the left wing of the Seattle fleet.

Because Hugh Hobert has been blocked on land by Gangzi, so he does not have much time to complete the control of the newly arrived South American fleet, so the left wing ship group with the South American fleet as the main force is relatively chaotic in the command system, and the commander of the United States appointed by Hugh Hobert wants to get the full command of the entire fleet, but finds that without the approval of the original commander of the South American fleet, the captain of the battleship below will not listen to his orders at all. The South American fleet is mainly composed of Chilean and Peruvian players, including a small number of Mexican warships, and none of the players in the three countries want to be queued to the front to be consumed, especially after the Langya fleet showed the "flowering bomb", it is even more disobedient to the order. "Anyway, there are right-wing ship groups and central ship groups, they are enough to complete the annihilation of the Langya fleet, it is important that we keep the battleships well, after all, everyone is not very rich."

As a result, the bridges on the left flank, which were full of war avoidance, shirked their duties to each other, and did not even establish an early warning line of defense composed of the necessary sloops. When Gangzi appeared with the Langya fleet and surrounded them, the left flank group found that its surroundings were completely occupied by artillery fire. (To be continued)

...