The surface of the sea, like a pool of blue amber, "has no end in sight." ※※※※※ I ※ I ※ ※

When you look up, even the sky seems to be reflected in blue, the sea breeze is gentle, and the white clouds are long, changing into various shapes.

"It's a rare good weather, for Nanyang." Philitman withdrew his gaze, muttered a few words to himself, and flew up the gangway and into the narrow bridge.

"How long will it take?"

"Your Majesty, at our current pace, it will take about three hours to round out with the Dutch East India Fleet."

After listening to the report, Philitman immediately picked up the telescope and walked to the left side of the bridge.

In the distance, there was a fleet that was not much inferior to the British Far East Fleet, with not only six capital battleships, but also four cruisers, two of which were newly launched and delivered to the Jinghai-class.

Looking at the fleet walking side by side, not only Philitman's eyebrows were deep, but the staff officers around him were also a little overwhelmed.

Because no one expected that as soon as the fleet crossed the Taiwan Strait and entered the South China Sea, it encountered the opposing side's torpedo ships, and then the fleet caught up with the opposing torpedo ships without leaving.

This cannot but be reminiscent of the scene when they intercepted the Japanese fleet in the far sea of Micronesia, and it is clear that they have a means of contact that no one knows!

Philettman even had an impulse to immediately go to the opposite warship to see how these yellow-skinned guys communicated and could find themselves accurately in the vast sea.

It's a magical land, with so many incredible places, these self-proclaimed dragons, which stretch for millennia, have a longer history than any other country in Europe, and they have created a staggering wealth that seems to contain a certain mystery.

And that Li Mo "seems to have this mysterious power, or can always be favored by the goddess of luck, and at the moment when Britain is determined to intervene in the Far East, the Boer conflict broke out."

On one side is the Boer full of gold and diamonds, and on the other side is the rich Far East" how to balance has become a domestic headache, as can be seen from the successive telegrams sent from the country.

It is impossible to abandon the Far East, but it is impossible to abandon South Africa!

However, in order to curb China's expansion, he still decided to work with the Netherlands to quickly seize the port of Pontianak with an overwhelming military superiority and force Li Mo to return to the negotiating table.

However, this plan was small and encountered this fleet, and there were twists and turns: "Although Britain is not afraid of war and is not afraid of itself, it has become a bubble to seize Pontianak quickly, unless it is to defeat the other party head-on!"

Philitman would not doubt that he could defeat the other side, but the losses would certainly be heavy, and if there were significant losses at this time, I am afraid that they would be cheaper than other countries, and might even threaten British interests in the Far East.

What worries him is that "Sampson obviously doesn't know this, and maybe he doesn't think about it if he does, and he knows very well the character of the Dutch, who are naturally impulsive, and sometimes this can be seen as fearless and decisive" but sometimes it's terrible.

"Order the torpedo ships to break away from the formation and rush to Natuna at full speed." Philitman thought for a moment and ordered.

With his order, "the four ships in the fleet rushed out of formation, and these small fellows were very fast, like wild horses on a rampage.

"Your Majesty, are you worried about the Dutch?" The adjutant asked.

Philitman nodded quickly, undisguised his fear, once the Dutch were hot-headed, and did not wait for himself to attack first after seeing that the strength was weaker than himself, "I am afraid that the situation will become very bad." 【 I want: super fast update 】

"Let's hope Sampson doesn't get impulsive." Phillietman turned his head and handed the telescope to the orderly, "Walk towards the chart table."

Boom, boom, boom, ......boom.

Columns of water, accompanied by explosions, rushed up from the side of the Ussuri, "and the waves that stirred up the hull constantly beat against the hull, making the heavy cruiser seem to be swaying in a storm.

The sound of hydraulic pressure came from the triple turret, and when the three huge shells were raised, the gunner immediately pressed the switch, and the push rod quickly stuffed the shells into the barrel, and then stuffed two more pieces of propellant.

The guns that needed to be flattened when loading were very upright, and the gunners kept correcting the muzzles according to the coordinates in the telephone, and after a few seconds, only a boom was heard, and the whole turret was suddenly filled with smoke and dust.

Before there was time to see the results of the battle, the ship's tow was flattened again.

Reload, aim, fire.

Over and over again, mechanical and boring, but the sight of the guns exploding and the earth-shattering sound of their roar makes everyone's blood boil.

The six main guns fired a salvo at the same time, making the heavy patrol capital seem to be pushed sideways, the huge recoil force made the hull of the ship move sideways by more than a meter, and the shock wave when the cannon was discharged formed six whirlpools on the sea surface.

12,000 kilometers.

At this distance, none of the four cruisers' guns except the main guns had a chance to play their role, and even the Jinghai-class twin 7/130 mm naval guns with sufficient range did not fire, because at such a distance, the small-caliber naval guns were purely a waste of shells.

Even the 203-mm gun was equally ineffective, this was already the tenth salvo, and nothing was achieved except for bringing up only some water columns.

The Anglo-Dutch fleet scattered on the opposite side also knew that they did not let the secondary guns participate in the artillery battle, and to everyone's slight surprise, the range of the main guns of the five cruisers on the opposite side was not much worse than that of their own side.

Ye Zugui frowned, this is news that must be known to the General Staff Officer, the naval battle of the Dafu Islands has made all countries pay attention to the importance of long-range artillery bombardment by warships.

However, they still didn't seem to have improved much in terms of rate of fire, and the five armored cruisers still fired at a rate of one shot per minute, while the speed of their own triple guns of the same caliber was much higher.

Fortunately, he still has the Jinghai class, and the 152-mm naval gun is not very powerful, but the high rate of fire of six rounds per minute still hit a column of water around the Tulip, which also caused great panic on the other side.

"Ten degrees on the right side."

Inside the Tulip, Sampson clung to the rickety bulkhead and shouted. There was no more resoluteness on his face, he knew that the opponent's naval guns were powerful, and he knew that their rate of fire was very high, but these were all things on paper, "only when you really face it, you know that it has reached this level."

Seventy-two shells fell every minute, and it was simply a barrage!

"Boom......."

A ball of fire erupted on the hull of the ship that accelerated to dodge the shells and quickly deviated, and Sampson hurriedly looked back, only to see a fireball rising from the smoke and white space in the middle of the building, "overturning several fighters there, fortunately judging from the firelight, it did not penetrate deep into the hull."

Sampson's hanging heart had just been halfway down, but then several shells hit the tulip's hull accurately, one of which exploded not far in front of the conning tower.

Explosions erupted from below deck, shattering the splinters of the deck against the thick bulkheads of the conning tower, causing everyone to break out in a cold sweat.

To Sampson's annoyance, the guy on the other side was clearly a cunning bastard, and after sending a cruiser to entangle the British, he aimed all the remaining three at himself!

"Bastard!"

"Bastard!"

The same scolding also remembered in the Ussuri Commander Tower, and a flash of fire lit up on the hull of the Ninghai, which was responsible for entanglement of the two British cruisers, pierced everyone like a needle prick!

Britain is Britain in the end, not Japan without experience in large warships and Tsarist Russia, both in terms of the quality of sailors and the ability of officers, they are much stronger than the two, after the Jinghai class has been repeatedly studied, they have obviously found a way to deal with it, and the two cruisers are very separated from each other, just to prevent the Jinghai class from giving full play to its firepower superiority.

"Order the Dinghai to abandon the attack and support the Ninghai at full speed!"

"The right full rudder, ready to close the distance and order the Manzhouli to move with our ship!"

Ancestor Ye gritted his teeth and gave an order, it was obvious that if he didn't close the distance, it would be impossible to solve the Tulip quickly, so he chose to take a risk.

At the same time, the Tulip, which was hit by a dense shell, almost couldn't lift its head, but there was a big pine. Seventy-two shells poured every minute are overwhelming.

"Now, they're starting to close the distance!"

But before everyone could relax, the first mate had already shouted, and following his fingers, Sampson saw the growing waves of the two Vladivostok-class ships, and this scene suddenly made him feel bad, judging from the process of the battle just now, the speed of the opponent's naval guns was significantly higher than his own, and a unique triple assembly was used, so the firepower of the main guns was comparable to his side, but the rate of fire was much higher.

Before Pusen's words fell, a series of fires broke out on the side of the two Vladivostok-class cruisers again, and he was born as a young burner and subconsciously raised his binoculars, and when a few black dots appeared in his eyes, his face changed suddenly!

Several columns of water rushed into the sky from both sides of the hull at the same time, and this scene made everyone's hearts tug up...... and shoot across!

For the first time, the other party formed a straddle around the Tulip!

This is an extremely dangerous signal, once a cross-shot is formed, it means that the shooting elements have been very accurate after the first few rounds of adjustment, and all that is lacking is luck.

And after the formation of straddle fire, it means that the main gun can fire at full speed without any scruples!

Sure enough, before everyone could wake up from the shock caused by the straddle shooting, the other party had already fired a second salvo, and before the smoke clouds composed of twelve black smoke and fire light had dispersed in the visual net, the tulip under its feet trembled violently, and two huge clouds of gunpowder smoke rose from the ship at the same time.

Sampson didn't even care about his own safety, and quickly rushed out of the command tower to look back, only to see that a piece of the left side of the ship seemed to have been bitten off by something, and the surrounding sea water was forming a whirlpool there!

The cabin is flooded!

Everyone's hearts thumped, for the steel warship floating on the water, there was nothing more terrible than the water in the cabin, once there was too much water and it could not be discharged in time, it could almost be declared sunk.

", close the watertight compartment, activate the No. 4 pump, order the Camacho and the Orange to take cover, and fire the guns at full speed!"

Sampson's hoarse roar resounded throughout the Tulip, and the three Dutch cruisers immediately opened fire like enraged bulls, and the two intact companions immediately blocked the Tulip and protected the flagship with their bodies.

It is worthy of being a veteran maritime power in Europe, and the speed of response is very high, and after it is pulled closer to 8,000 meters, it means that the main guns of both sides can penetrate each other's main armor, and it depends on whose luck is good at this moment!

The rumbling cannon sound tore through the entire sky, and the smoke of gunpowder even obscured the sight of both sides, and the difference between the cruiser and the battleship finally appeared, these big guys with good maneuverability and a speed of generally reaching twenty knots were far more flexible than the battleships, plus the loss of the Jinghai class was dragged by the British cruiser, and the loss of the important optical rangefinder, so both sides could only rely on the luck and ability of the gunners at the moment.

"Boom......."

In the distance, a fireball from the Manzhouli made the Tulip Commander Tower, who had spent thirty minutes restraining the continued flooding, cheer, although the Camacho and the Orange were already scarred, but as long as they held on for a while, when the Tulip returned, the Netherlands still had a numerical advantage!

"Full rudder, we....

"Go back." Before he could say two words, Sampson's eyes bulged out like a rogue stuck in the neck, for he saw in the distance a fleet of three large warships and two torpedo ships in the smoke of gunpowder had appeared.

And!

They were flying the Blood Cloud Dragon Claw Banner!

"Boom, boom, boom......."

On the surface of the sea around him, a column of water larger than just rose into the sky, and every experienced sailor knew that it was a huge column of water that could be formed by at least 305 mm shells!

Sampson didn't have time to think about it, and even the two battered British cruisers in the distance knew that it was impossible to win, and they turned to start distancing themselves from their opponents.

Ye Zugui seized this fighter very much, and ordered the two Jinghai-class ships to give up the struggle and use the speed to block the retreat of the Dutch cruisers, and at the same time, the two defense-class destroyers of the task force that finally arrived were rushing at extreme speed, sprinting at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Sampson also knew that he would definitely not be able to win, and was about to retreat on his own initiative, but the six fireballs that suddenly exploded in the distance made him freeze his body again.

So go......,...!

God, what kind of monster is that, it actually has six spinning guns against the enemy!

"Acceleration! Damn it! "Inside the crowded and cramped bridge of the Mole Serpent, George was sweating profusely, and the smoke in the distance made his eyes bloodshot, and it was obvious that this was the smoke that would form when at least ten capital ships were engaged.

And in this sea area, the battle of ten capital ships can break out, and only the Netherlands and the two British cruisers who went to liaise and their opponents!

Unfortunately, the mast of this Havok-class torpedo ship was too low to see the details of the battle more than 20,000 meters away, so Captain George could only stomp his feet and complain.

In fact, the Mole is already very good, this torpedo ship with a displacement of more than four hundred tons can hurricane the enviable high speed of the knife, but at this moment everyone feels that it is not enough.

Ten minutes later, when the Viper was the first to rush into the smoke cloud, everyone was stunned by what they saw!

I saw that two Dutch cruisers and two national cruisers were fleeing in all directions, and the Dutch cruiser Camacho was like a rag doll thrown into a sea of fire, and violent explosions rushed from every part of the hull, and in the distance behind it, eight main guns actually exploded on a hull at the same time!

What is that!