Drake led the fleet towards the waters of Singapore, and when the telescope could see the city of Singapore clearly, more than a dozen huge airships suddenly appeared in the sky. These airships kept throwing something into the sea, searching the surface with binoculars, but they couldn't see anything.

Drake was a little puzzled, what are these Ming navies doing? At this time, they should see their battleship in the telescope.

"Full speed ahead and fight the Ming fleet off the coast of Xinjiapo." This time, Drake intends to defeat the main force of the Ming Navy.

Xinjiapo is a seaport city, and without the protection of the navy, it is almost a piece of the chopping board, and you can chop it up however you want. The occupation of Xinjiapo opens the passage to the South China Sea. Occupying the South China Sea also cut off the overseas trade route of the Ming Dynasty.

As the British warships advanced, they quietly changed their battle formations. The newest and most heavily armored Normandy and Edinburgh as the center. The entire fleet was lined up in a line, which not only allowed the front and rear main guns to fire, but also used the power of the side-chord small-caliber guns.

These small-caliber guns, although they can't help the warship, are still good at killing and injuring the personnel on the warship.

"Discover the Ming fleet, four ironclad ships, southeast direction!" Suddenly, the shouts of the signalmen were heard from the tower.

Drake quickly raised his binoculars, and in the middle of the binoculars, he saw four thick plumes of smoke in the distance. It is clear that the opposing side has four ironclad ships. Drake was secretly glad in his heart that he had six ironclad ships in his hands, and the other party only had four. In the comparison of forces, he has a huge advantage.

Those flying airships in the sky are annoying, staring at themselves like falcons. But Drake couldn't help it, none of the guns on the warship could reach that height. can only let the airship hover in the sky, anyway, this thing does not fly as fast as a warship, except for surveillance, there is no harm to the warship. I just don't know what they just threw into the sea, and there is nothing floating on the surface of the sea.

I've heard that Daming has something that explodes underwater, but it was launched from a warship, so can it be said that it can also be on an airship?

"In a horizontal formation, ready to cut into the local military formation." Drake has been at sea for forty years and has a wealth of experience in naval warfare. When he defeated the Spanish Armada, he relied on a horizontal and oblique formation. As long as the warship cuts into the local array, the guns on both sides can be fired, giving full play to the firepower on the warship.

And the local fleet was cut into two sections, which, on the contrary, could not exert firepower. Although such a formation will lose the warships that rush to the front, the follow-up warships will have enough output. The loss of one or two warships in exchange for the destruction of the entire local fleet is a good bargain.

The flag was quickly raised on the flagship, and the other warships saw the flag and followed Drake's flagship, the Edinburgh, to speed up.

The sun had risen, and the sea was sparkling with the rising sun. Six giant warships emitted thick black smoke and sailed at high speed.

On the other side, the Ming fleet also accelerated its charge. Like knights ready to charge, both sides are ready to knock out the opponent's first ship in the first round of charge.

The two armies are getting closer and closer, and you can see the appearance of each other's warships in the telescope. The gunners loaded the shells into the chambers, and the calculators nervously calculated the trajectory. Both sides are preparing for the first round of bombardment, and if they can hit the opposing warship in the first round of bombardment, they will have a huge advantage in the subsequent battle.

"Commander! Look! At the height of his nervousness, the adjutant suddenly pointed to the Yorktown and exclaimed.

Drake held up his binoculars, and his heart fluttered.

The speed of the Yorktown suddenly slowed down, and it seemed that it meant to stop the ship.

"Damn! What is that bastard Lawrence up to? Drake was so angry that he jumped to his feet and cursed his mother, if Lawrence, the captain of the Yorktown, was in front of him, he would definitely pull out his hand and shoot the bastard.

"Oh! My God! Look, commander, the Saxony has also stopped. The adjutant pointed to the Saxony, which was slowing down in the distance, and was a little panicked.

"The Saxony is also stopped?" Drake reacted quickly, and it wasn't Lawrence or Saxony Captain Norman's fault. Something should have gone wrong, could it be that the boilers of the two warships broke down together? How is this possible, although the two warships came from afar, they were both checked when they set off yesterday, and the performance of the warships is very good.

"Oh my! The Queen Elizabeth also stopped. ”

Bad news came one after another, and Drake felt his heart fall. He didn't know what tricks the other party used, could it be that these Orientals would not be able to do magic?

When the Irish also stopped, Drake felt like the world was spinning.

The only ones that can still operate normally are his flagships, the Edinburgh and the Nottingham. Just now it was six against four, and it had an absolute advantage. But in an instant, he became two against four, and he became an absolute disadvantage.

And Drake doesn't know if his flagship and the Nottingham will also lose power like those four warships.

Li Xiu was in the telescope and saw that the enemy's four warships suddenly slowed down until they finally stopped completely. I almost jumped up with joy!

"Deng Yongchang! This battle is won, and you are the fucking captain of the Zhiyuan ship. ”

Deng Yongchang next to him was a little dumbfounded, three hours ago, he was still a small signal officer. Three hours later, he was already the captain of the Zhiyuan ship. There was a gap of ...... between this, and he counted on his fingers for a long time, but he didn't count how many levels. Anyway, this official rose too fast, and he couldn't believe it was true.

It all stemmed from the idea he gave Li Xiu three hours ago.

Before becoming a signal officer, Deng Yongchang used to be a chief engineer. He knows the transmission part of a warship well!

He came up with the idea and threw a fishing net tied with balloons and wires into the sea. As long as the size of the balloon and the weight of the wire are adjusted, the net will be suspended about 10 meters underwater.

The power of the warship comes from the propeller at the back. As long as these nets are wrapped around the propeller, the bearings of the propeller can be locked. Without power, the ship will naturally stop.

A warship under sail and a warship at anchor are two concepts, for Li Xiu, one is a moving target and the other is a fixed target. Of course, it is more difficult to hit a moving target, but it is easier to fix a target. If the first shot misses, and after two school shots, the calculator can throw it into the sea to feed the sharks.

Originally, it was a matter of a dead horse being a live horse doctor, but I didn't expect it to happen. And as soon as he did it, he destroyed four warships. Li Xiu spoke incoherently excitedly, and was promoted! This is the most basic, and Deng Yongchang will be reused in the future.

Deng Yongchang couldn't imagine that he had an idea. Not only changed a naval battle, but also changed his fate.

Drake's eyes darkened, and he knew the cross-cut tactic wasn't working. Two ships face four ships, and when cut crosswise, they will be beaten into a sieve.

"Swim around them, protect them. Signal the flag and let them troubleshoot quickly. Drake knew that the order was.

Even if he didn't give such an order, the captains would do everything they could to restore power.

"Commander! Could it be something that was just thrown at those airships, I thought about it carefully. What the airship threw down was in this part of the ocean. The adjutant was holding the chart, and he had just marked on the chart the location of the thing dropped by the airship, which now seemed to coincide with the position of his own fleet.

"So that means ......! Damn it, get out of this area. Drake reacted quickly, if it was an airship that dropped something to make trouble. Then their own warship is also in danger, and God knows when it will lose power.

Drake's reaction wasn't slow, but it was already a little too late.

The propeller of the Nottingham was also entangled in a wire fishing net, and the propeller did not turn, and the warship slowly held up.

Seeing the last living force lying on his stomach, Drake had the urge to commit suicide. The warship loses power and floats on the sea, which is a fucking target. The target ship will move with the direction of the wind, but the ironclad ship doesn't even have sails, where can it float?

Li Xiu would not give Drake a chance to commit suicide, and the Ming fleet sailed at full speed. The two sides were already approaching the firing range, and when the calculation soldier reported that he had entered the firing range, Li Xiu decisively ordered to open fire.

"Boom! Rumble! The 220 mm triple front gun made a deafening roar, and the huge recoil caused the Zhiyuan ship to slide back more than ten meters. The smoke from the muzzle of the cannon floated in the air like a black cloud.

The shells exploded a huge column of water around the Edinburgh, and the helmsman of the Edinburgh struggled to adjust the steering gear. Huge warships move in a serpentine position at sea! It must be said that the quality of the officers and men of the British Navy is very high.

Under such a blow, everyone is in danger. The gunners and calculators, after calculating the trajectory, actually began to return fire. A cannonball almost grazed the turret of Zhiyuan, and Li Xiu's heart "groaned".

The starters actually have this level, and the English still have some background. Europa's naval power is really extraordinary.

"Concentrate your firepower and sink the moving one." Li Xiu knew that as long as he killed this movable ship. The rest of the ships are turtles in the urn, and if you don't want to be sunk, you can only surrender. Capturing these five ironclad ships is much stronger than sinking.

"No!" The herald quickly used the flag language to convey Li Xiu's order.

This time, it was not only Zhiyuan that fired at the Edinburgh. Laiyuan, Jingyuan, and Jiyuan opened artillery one after another, bombarding the Edinburgh, which was frantically counterattacking.

Poor Edinburgh, although trying to maneuver. But no matter how you maneuvered, the local shells were too dense. The four warships, ignoring the others, concentrated on attacking the flagship Edinburgh.

Soon two large holes were blown out of the deck by two 120-millimeter shells, and the soldiers in charge of the loss struggled to extinguish the fire with water cannons. The water vapor soared into the sky, and many people were scalded by the water vapor, still holding the water gun and spraying wildly.

Just when the pipe damage was struggling to be rescued, a near-missed bomb was also eaten on the side of the hull. And the fuck is the near-miss of the 220mm main gun!

Drake's body jumped to his feet in shock, hitting his head on the ceiling of the bridge before falling heavily to the ground. The adjutants and staff officers around hurriedly ran over to support the commander.

"Leave me alone! Back to your work! Drake struggled to break free of his subordinates' support, glaring and yelling.

Although he knew that the naval battle was lost, he still wanted to maintain the pride of the British Royal Navy for the last time. Even if you die in a vigorous battle, you have to pull an enemy on your back.

Pity! The Ming army did not intend to give him such an opportunity, and a 220-mm front main gun shell drilled into the foredeck turret with a whistle.

"Boom!" Drake's head hit the ceiling again, and this time he nearly passed out. After being helped up by the staff officers, he touched it and got a big blood bag.

The huge turret on the foredeck was gone, and the smoke surrounded the bridge, and Drake couldn't see anything. The stubborn old man immediately rushed out of the bridge and climbed up the ladder to the lookout post.

Standing tall, the sea breeze blew away some of the smoke. Drake saw that the entire foredeck of the Edinburgh was covered in smoke, and the people who had just been holding the water hose to extinguish the fire were gone. Instead, tongues of orange fire emerge from the smoke from time to time.

The front main gun is finished! Half of the main output of the warship has been killed, and whether the next one can be killed depends on the main gun.

The rear main gun is constantly returning fire, but two fists are difficult to defeat four hands.

The Jiyuan ship's fourth main gun salvo bombardment, a 220 mm main gun shell, directly hit the rear main gun turret of the Edinburgh. It can be seen with the naked eye that the main gun, which was tightly wrapped in steel, was blown away.

The thick barrel flew dozens of meters into the sky, and then smashed into the sea, causing huge waves.

So far! The only Edinburgh that can still compete with the Ming Navy is considered a scrap.

"Damn, it's quite a toss." Seeing that the Edinburgh was scrapped, Li Xiu breathed a sigh of relief.

But before these words landed, the side deck of the Zhiyuan ship exploded with a "boom". Several soldiers who were preparing the torpedo were directly blown away, and smoke billowed from the side decks.

Fortunately! It was just a shell from a small 105-millimeter cannon, and if it had been hit more accurately, it would have detonated the torpedo. That's really enough for the Zhiyuan ship to drink a pot!

Li Xiu's face was a little dark, but he didn't expect that he was given a shot as soon as he finished speaking.

"Jing Yuan leaned in and sank the boat with a torpedo." Li Xiu was so angry that his head was smoking, he didn't expect the British warships on the opposite side to be like that, and he actually fought back with his mother. Li Xiu decided not to give them a chance to surrender, and directly sank out of the air.

At this time, the Edinburgh could not be saved, and the sides of the hull were seriously flooded. The hull of the ship sank badly, and more than half of the power was lost. The foredeck is only two or three meters above sea level!

Drake looked at his ship in despair, straightened his collar and put on his hat.