Under the fiery red daylight, Li Xiu was surprised to find five huge plumes of smoke rising in the distance. The fleet of the English also used a steam engine? After a closer look, it was indeed a column of smoke.

"Laiyuan, Jingyuan, and Jiyuan are in front, and Zhenyuan and Dingyuan are in the rear, and they are marching towards the enemy ships in a cross-cutting formation. Note! Most likely, the enemy ships are also steam engine ships, and their speed is no worse than ours.

Zhiyuan stayed behind and took care of the landing fleet. The Banner Whisperers quickly conveyed Li Xiu's order to the ships.

The five ironclad ships immediately increased their speed, and cut diagonally towards the direction of the enemy fleet from end to end. At six o'clock, the telescopes saw both fleets clearer. Li Xiu gasped, sure enough, the steam engine ship. And...... It seems that the size is no smaller than its own ship!

The only thing that is cheaper now is that your fleet is cut diagonally. All the ships of the fleet are connected end to tail with the side facing the local fleet, so that the fire of the side chord naval guns can be fully utilized.

At 6:13, the calculation soldier reported that the place had entered the firing range.

"Wait!" Li Xiu pursed his lips, looking a little nervous. He found that the other party's fleet was also ironclad. This is so surprising that in just two years, the English were able to build five ironclad ships. I have worked hard in the past few years, but I have only built three.

The current comparison of forces is five to five! No one takes advantage of it, but they don't know how the ships of the opposing fleet are performing.

It was George who commanded the British fleet! As a member of the royal family, he was also the commander of the Far East Fleet in England. In recent years, they have looted India's people's fat and ointment, and sold arms and duck chips to all parts of the world. The huge amount of money that I had saved was all used to build these giant warships.

Of course! Wu Sangui bought the craftsmen of the Tongxingcheng Shipyard and quietly made some sketches drawn by private individuals, which also played a role in fueling the fire.

At 6:20 a.m., the rising sun turned the sea red. Li Xiu's fleet had its back to the sun, and the English fleet in front of him could see the rice flag clearly.

"Three minutes later, each ship fired a salvo at the enemy's central lead ship." To Li Xiu's surprise, the enemy fleet did not form a line array to exert the power of the sidestring artillery. Instead, the bow of the ship rushed towards its own fleet!

In this formation, only the front main gun can exert its power. Could it be that they are so confident in their front main guns?

Li Xiu looked nervously at the pocket watch in his hand, and his ears were full of the roar of the machine.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! ……！ Ten thousand cannons rang out, and Li Xiu felt that his flagship had slid far to the side, and the entire hull had become tilted.

Five ironclad ships, with more than a hundred side guns and main guns. More than 100 shells smashed at a local warship, which was actually a fight for probability. In the bumpy sea, no one dares to guarantee that it will be accurate. More than a hundred shells fell down, and there were always a few hits.

This is the same reason that when the first smoothbore guns were used, people needed to be densely arranged.

With a telescope in his hand, his eyes stared at the enemy's lead ship without blinking.

As if in an instant, a column of water rose around the warship. The warship shone with an orange glow, which was so red by the rising sun.

George sat on his flagship, the Hood, and beside him was the battleship Prince of Wales. It was named after his father's title, and it was also the newest of all the warships, and the most similar to the Ming warship, and was hailed as the pride of the British Navy.

He watched as a huge fireball exploded from the foredeck of the Prince of Wales, and the billowing smoke enveloped the newest ironclad for a moment.

"Damn! The whole fleet filled the rudder on the left and fired back. Sensing that the Prince of Wales was slowing down, George immediately gave the order. It's not that he doesn't want to give full play to the power of the side guns, he wants to reduce the hull area as much as possible to avoid being hit before engaging the enemy. But he never imagined that the enemy fleet would ignore other ships and hit the Prince of Wales with firepower.

Fortunately, his flagship was not located there, otherwise the entire fleet would have lost its command by now.

The British fleet deserved to be the First Fleet of Europa, which had defeated the Spanish Navy, with George's orders. All ships, including the wounded Prince of Wales, were fully left with their rudders. Originally, the bow of the ship was facing the British fleet of the Ming fleet, and the hull of the ship suddenly turned sideways.

Almost at the same time as the ship crossed the ship, the British fleet also opened fire.

Li Xiu felt that countless splashes of water were splashing around his flagship, and he had just been hit by a cannonball, and he actually received a few more shells. Smoke billowed from the side side, and through the huge glass windows, the team members could be seen holding faucets in their hands, trying to extinguish the fire.

"Reload! Load! Fast! The guns were shouting loudly. At this time, a minute faster reload time is an advantage!

In the matter of loading, the Ming army has a very big advantage. Because there is a motor in the turret of the Ming army!

The motor is the highest level secret of the Ming Dynasty, and it is all produced in Changxing Island Motor Factory. With Wu Sangui's means, there is no way to get the secret of the motor! If you want to have a motor, you can only rely on the guess of the bought worker.

Even Britain, with a scientist as powerful as Newton, could not have reverse-engineered an electric motor with a few sentences and crooked sketches.

With the help of motors, the main guns of the Ming army were quickly reloaded. The triple main gun immediately fired a salvo, and the shells weighing more than 100 catties rushed out of the barrel and flew towards the enemy ship.

The sea off Xinjiapo suddenly became lively, and the fleets of the two sides kept shooting back and forth. From time to time, the warships were hit by various small shells, and both the Ming fleet and the English fleet emitted billowing smoke.

With the superiority of the motor, the main guns of the English Navy fired two salvos, and the main guns of the Ming army already fired four salvos. It is a pity that not a single shell of the four salvos hit the enemy warship. However, the Prince of Wales suffered a near-miss, and its speed became even slower.

Good luck doesn't always patronize one person, but bad luck likes to take care of the same person. Just when the speed of the Prince of Wales fell to only half of the previous speed, a cannonball finally hit the Prince of Wales in the fifth salvo of the Ming army.

The shells of the main gun, which are more than 150 pounds, are fundamentally different from those small-caliber shells. The shell smashed directly into the former main battery of the Prince of Wales, with a huge explosion. The Prince of Wales's front guns actually flew up, and the front deck, which was originally full of smoke, now lost the entire superstructure.

The hull of the Prince of Wales is clearly beginning to tilt. If it does not find a way, the pride of the English Navy is likely to sink in the first battle.

"Well done, it's better to cut off one finger than to hurt ten fingers. Concentrate your fire and take out that ship. Li Xiu understood that as long as he killed that seriously injured battleship, he would have a five-to-four advantage.

Just after giving the order, Li Xiu held up the telescope to look. Suddenly, a shell hit the foredeck of the flagship town directly, it was a small-caliber shell. The damage to the deck was not serious, but a shrapnel smashed impartially on the glass in front of Li Xiu.

The huge glass window shattered all at once, and the huge glass shards smashed towards Li Xiu.

The guards around him were quick and pressed Li Xiu down under him. There was chaos on the bridge, and everyone ran over.

Li Xiu was pulled up, and a two-inch-long gap was cut on his shoulder and face. The guard who threw down him had a large shard of glass stuck in his head, and his brain was leaking outward, and he was not alive when he saw it.

"Don't pull me! Grandma's, them for me. Go back and see what Lao Tzu is doing, Lao Tzu can't die. Li Xiu's eyes widened, and everyone dispersed in a hurry, returning to his post to continue to be busy.

Taking advantage of the concentrated firepower of the Ming warships to besiege the Prince of Wales, George on the Hood also had red eyes. He ordered all the battleships to concentrate their fire on Li Xiu's flagship. Because he found in the telescope that only the yellow dragon flag was hanging on the mast of this warship. George decided that this was the flagship of the Ming army.

Because there was no motor, the shells of the main guns of the British army could not be too heavy. In the small turret, only two people were allowed to load the shells.

In just ten minutes, Li Xiu's flagship Zhenyuan received two shells from the British main gun in succession. The Zhenyuan was extremely embarrassed, half of the rear main gun was directly blown off, and the two batteries on the side were directly lifted, and the gunners suffered heavy casualties.

The foredeck began to catch fire after being hit by several small-caliber guns, and the plumber sprayed water into the fire with a faucet, resulting in even more smoke. Gunpowder smoke mixed with water vapor rose into the sky, and the huge column of smoke could be seen dozens of miles away.

"Sir! Abandon the ship, you go to Jiyuan. The chief of his guards knelt on the ground and pleaded with Li Xiu.

"Get out! Hurry up and take it to help extinguish the fire, as long as the boiler doesn't explode, Lao Tzu will be fine. Order, prepare torpedoes for Lao Tzu. Li Xiu kicked over the chief of the guard, and threw himself to the window with red eyes and roared.

The torpedo chief heard the order and immediately began to prepare.

The naval battle lasted for an hour, and the fleets of the two sides were already very close. Li Xiu's Zhenyuan frantically pursued the Prince of Wales, and the British warships frantically pursued Zhenyuan. Dingyuan, Laiyuan, Jiyuan, and Jingyuan are protected around Zhenyuan, and the sea has been chaotic.

The Prince of Wales was hit so hard that flames erupted from all over the superstructure. Many people can be seen jumping from the top of the warship with fire on their bodies. But none of the artillerymen on the battery escaped. All of them stuck to the fort and kept firing shells at the Ming army.

However, the Prince of Wales was hit one after another, causing the Prince of Wales to slow down considerably. One boiler was broken, and the power was reduced to half of what it used to be. The Zhenyuan is getting closer and closer, and the Zhenyuan fires precisely at the battery above the Prince of Wales, constantly destroying the battery on the Prince of Wales.

In particular, the powerful front main gun, almost every cannon opened a turret.

It's a pity that the shells all fell above the waterline of the warship. Although the Prince of Wales had been shot dozens of times and covered in smoke, there was no sign of sinking.

As a last resort! Li Xiu decided to use the latest weapon - torpedoes!

This thing was proposed by Li Xiao, and the focus was on attacking the underwater part of local ships. According to Li Xiu's estimate, if his Zhenyuan eats a torpedo, it is estimated that he will be disabled, and he will even be silent if he can't get it right.

This thing is too powerful, and a charge of 200 catties can directly tear the armor of the battleship underwater.

The only bad thing is that the torpedo is fired a little too close. Therefore, Li Xiucai ordered Zhenyuan to chase the Prince of Wales to the death.

"Five hundred meters away!" The rangefinder loudly reported the numbers.

Five hundred meters, this distance is already possible to launch torpedoes. Li Xiu looked at the Prince of Wales with smoke billowing and shouted: "Release!" ”

With the command, the torpedo long wrenched the gates. Two torpedoes flew directly into the sea, and with two white lines of water, they rushed towards the faltering Prince of Wales.

The Prince of Wales didn't know what it was firing, but Captain Lawrence instinctively ordered the ship to turn around. He decided it wasn't good!

The helmsman turned the steering gear with all his might, and the huge hull of the Prince of Wales twisted violently. One torpedo grazed the bow of the ship, but the other torpedo hit the bow directly.

"Boom!" The huge explosion directly shook the skyrocketing water column, and Li Xiu could even see the fragments of the armor that had been blown away.

After the huge water curtain fell, Li Xiu's jaw of shock almost fell to the ground. I thought that the torpedo was very powerful, but I didn't expect it to be so powerful.

The bow of the Prince of Wales was gone, and the water was pouring into it frantically through the big broken hole. The speed was so fast that it actually formed a vortex on the surface of the sea. The Prince of Wales, with its huge body, is tilting at a speed visible to the naked eye. Countless officers and soldiers jumped into the sea like dumplings.

"Good boy! This thing is so powerful, what the hell do you want, turn the rudder! Turn the rudder! It's going to crash. Li Xiu roared, and he was also stupid before he remembered to turn the rudder.

"Oh! My God! "On the flagship Hood, George saw the Prince of Wales' final moments. From the day the ship was built, George thought it was an unsinkable battleship. No known weapon in this world will give him fatal damage.

But the explosion just now completely collapsed George's cognition. He didn't understand what that kind of thing would explode underwater. But he knew it was dangerous. If the Prince of Wales couldn't resist it, all the warships under its command wouldn't be able to withstand the blow of that thing.

"Retreat! Fall back! George gave the order angrily.

After an hour and a half of fierce fighting, the remaining four battleships were also scarred. If you are caught up by an enemy fleet and attack with a weapon that explodes underwater, the entire fleet will be wiped out.

This is the essence of the British Royal Navy, and it must not be lost in its own hands.

The whistle of the retreat sounded, and the British warships accelerated their withdrawal from the battlefield. Li Xiu chased the fleet for a while but didn't catch up, thinking that there was a huge landing fleet behind him, Li Xiu could only watch the British fleet get farther and farther away.

"Grandma's! I'll settle accounts with you next time. ”