Chapter 453: The Fall of the Royal Navy
With the main battleships of the British army breaking into the center of the transport fleet.
"Sir, those Frenchmen are crazy! Look ~" Colonel Warren exclaimed, pointing to the chaos that occurred after a heavy battleship and the so-called "troop carrier" were engaged not far away.
"What the hell are these? Could it be that little Corsican madman has infected all the French? Lord Nelson looked at the incredible scene and was dumbfounded.
"It's a trap! Quick, raise the flags, let the ships distance themselves from these troop carriers and sink them! Lord Horatio Nelson was one of the few famous admirals in the history of the navy, and after a brief moment of distraction, he quickly calmed down and gave a decisive order.
As soon as the heavy warships entangled by the transport ships received the order, they immediately began to shell these "French troop carriers" in order to get rid of the entanglement of these "madmen".
But at this moment, there was a "bang~" explosion in Lord Nelson's ears, and I saw a heavy battleship in the distance explode violently, and the raging flames rose up, forming a small mushroom cloud. The white sails were on fire, and the St. George's Cross flag on it was gradually burned out in the flames, as if revealing the doom that the Royal Navy was about to face~
As the heavy warships began to shell the troop carriers at close range, such blazing and violent explosions were still playing out in every corner of the battlefield. The blinding firelight, the creaking of the falling masts and the incessant sound of the explosion filled the battlefield, turning it into a living hell.
It was at this moment that Lord Nelson finally found the culprit of all this:
I saw that a heavy battleship not far away fired a salvo at a troop carrier, but the troop carrier suddenly emitted billowing smoke, which turned into an open flame after a while, and finally, it developed into an extremely violent explosion!
At this point, the answer is revealed: these ships are full of gunpowder, and they are simply barrels of explosives on the water!
—————————————————————————————————————
Shaded by shrubs and trees on the coast of Calais.
"He's been tricked!" Han Xing looked down at the battlefield where violent explosions and flashing firelight came from time to time below, and said lightly.
"Even so, the Royal Navy has only lost a few heavy warships, and counting Nelson's reserves, he still has nearly forty heavy warships and hundreds of light speedboats in his hands! This kind of damage is just a drop in the bucket! Napoleon was worried.
"I'm curious, if Nelson didn't choose to board the ships at close range, but instead sank these transports from a distance, wouldn't your plan for the explosion be frustrated?" Napoleon asked with a surprised expression.
Hearing this, Han Xing smiled and shook his head, "Nelson is not that kind of person!" For a proud admiral, shelling a defenseless troop carrier is no different from slaughtering unarmed civilians in a land battle! Secondly, you look there~"
Han Xing pointed to a calm sea surface with his finger, and just as Han Xing's words fell, a quaint warship jumped out of the water like a dolphin. None other than the Flying Dutchman!
"A dive ship?" Napoleon looked incredulously at the battleship that emerged from under the water.
"Magic! You know~"
"That's your backup plan? Hit the other party by surprise with such a magic boat? ”
"No, I'm going to use it to bombard the transports!"
—————————————————————————————————————
On the battlefield on the surface of the sea.
There is no doubt that Lord Nelson is a good admiral, and one of the essential traits of a good admiral is calm! Even in the face of adversity, he was able to deal with changes without being surprised and led his troops out of the predicament.
Under his command, the remaining dozen or so heavy warships began to sail out of the sea where the transport ship was located in an orderly manner. However, as the flying Dutch joined the battle, Barbossa's Black Pearl and Salazar's Silent Mary joined the battle from the west.
Behind them, there was a huge fleet of more than twenty battleships, battleships, and more than forty cruisers, plus more than thirty warships carefully selected by Blackjack from the Pirate Alliance.
This fleet, of course, did not come out of nowhere! The Black Pearl and the Silent Mary sailed all the way to the European continent with Han Xing, and Han Xing's Caribbean Fleet was transported by him through the [Seaside Zone]. In the [Seaside Area], outside the Limono continent, there is a large area of ocean, which is enough to moor these hundreds of warships!
The "powder keg of the sea" trap formed by transport ships is just a decoy used to delay the Royal Navy! The purpose is just to buy time for the Caribbean Fleet to sail out of the door of space and join the battlefield!
The swift Black Pearl, the fierce Flying Dutchman, and Captain Salazar's ghost ship stabbed the Royal Navy in the back like three sharp blades! In the face of these living legends of magic and ghosts, even the Royal Navy was in a panic.
Now that the Royal Navy's retreat has been cut off, there is only one path left in front of Nelson - to retreat east to London Bay! However, at this moment, another large fleet came from the east, completely blocking the way out of the Royal Navy. They are a coalition of the French Mediterranean Fleet and the Dutch Fleet!
This is another masterpiece of Han Xing! In the past ten days, this fleet has been anchored in the ports of The Hague and Amsterdam, and the French Mediterranean Fleet was also smuggled from the Mediterranean Sea to the North Sea by Han Xing using the [Seaside Area]!
At this time, the Royal Navy has been completely blocked! The Caribbean Fleet on the left, the Franco-Dutch Combined Fleet on the right, the Port of Dover to the north, and Calais to the south!
Lord Nelson has realized: it is imperative to withdraw from this battle! He did not choose the seemingly simple northern breakthrough, although in the north, the only thing that prevented the Royal Navy from retreating into the port of Dover was the trap of dozens of transport ships.
Instead, he chose to break through to the east, where he was relatively loosely organized, intending to break through the blockade of the combined Franco-Dutch fleet and escape the English Channel into the London Bay.
—————————————————————————————————————
"Looks like Nelson didn't fall for you!" Napoleon looked at the Royal Navy, which had chosen to break through to the east, and teased Han Xing.
"I expected it! Nelson is not a fool~" Han Xing put down the monoculars and nodded slightly, as if he was paying tribute to that Lord Nelson from afar.
"It's a pity! These transports are connected by iron locks below the waterline, and if the Royal Navy breaks in on a large scale and forcibly rams them open, due to the deep draft of the heavy warship, it will inevitably lead to the tightening of the iron locks that do not pose a threat in the first place. When the time comes, the Royal Navy will be trapped and become a turtle in the urn~" Han Xing sighed regretfully. He was actually looking forward to seeing that scene, it was like the Battle of Chibi, a copy of the iron chain!
"What to do, Nelson has discovered the weak link in your plan! Our artillery positions are arranged in vain~ I'm afraid the shelling plan will be stranded indefinitely! Napoleon touched the cold, black artillery in front of him, hidden in the bushes, with some sadness.
As far as the eye can see, on the coast of Calais, under the cover of trenches or bushes and woods, there are nearly a thousand artillery pieces in ambush, and there is no edge in sight. This also explains the origin of those deep rutted marks, which are the traces left by the transportation of heavy artillery!
That's right, this is the plan that Han Xing and Napoleon discussed, just like when they ran to Toulon Bay, this time, they will shell Cape de Calais!
Han Xing didn't answer, I have to say that Han Xing really admired Nelson's vicious eyes, and he was able to find that the seemingly largest Franco-Dutch combined fleet was precisely the weak link in this plan!
With a shock wave centered on the flying Dutchman and spreading out like a small tsunami, the mighty Battle of Cap-de-Calais entered an unprecedented climax!
This is not a tsunami, nor an earthquake, this is the death knell of the fall of the Royal Navy! It's a summoning, it's a call from David Jones, summoning his pet, the Norwegian Sea Monster!
Dozens of meters long, several people hugged thick pink octopus tentacles broke through the water, blocking the Royal Navy's advance. Like a giant vine sprouting from the fairy tale "Magic Bean", it is dragged underwater with the battleship of the Royal Navy.
Under Nelson's leadership, the Royal Navy calmly fought back with artillery and guns, but a legendary battleship as strong as the Black Pearl could not escape the clutches of the Norwegian sea monster, let alone these ordinary warships?
It is said that the octopus is one of the most intelligent species in the animal kingdom, so that the current scientific research shows that the octopus seems to be an alien species, not native to the earth, and its organizational structure is completely different from the known earth creatures.
Therefore, the Norwegian sea monster quickly learned to be smart after suffering a few times! Instead of sticking out its tentacles from the side chords full of artillery, it looked at the bow and stern of the ship and dragged the battleship into the water. Now, the only artillery that can pose a threat to it is useless!