Since ancient times, the South China Sea has been a major transportation route, and merchants from all over the world rushed to Quanzhou and Guangzhou to buy porcelain, tea, silk and other goods unique to China, and then exported them to the world.

Of course, with the development of the times, the means of transportation of merchants are also advancing with the times, from the beginning of galleys, sailboats to modern light and dark steamers, making the South China Sea this transportation artery more prosperous.

In the South China Sea, near Vietnam's coastline, a long line of freighters is slowly sailing on the sea. The weather wasn't too good today, with plenty of clouds blocking the sun's rays, making the view in the distance not so clear.

That's right, this is the fleet from Saigon, and their destination is none other than Beiqi.

In the long fleet, the French fleet's wooden-hulled cruiser Volda was at the head.

Rear Admiral Barrow, the captain of the ship and commander of the escort fleet, was using a telescope to observe the surrounding sea.

"Why haven't these Italians come yet?"

The first mate, who was doing the same thing beside him, couldn't help but complain.

In response to the first mate's complaining words, Major Barrow lowered his binoculars and spoke. "Be at ease, if you want to hunt, you need to be patient."

"But it's the third time for us, and if the Qing people don't come, then the cost will be high."

Yes, organizing so many ships to run back and forth continuously with full loads is not a small amount of manpower and material resources, which cost money. And in order to make a full set of plays, they really transported supplies, but not military supplies, just some worthless goods. This costs more, after all, it requires manpower to move up and down.

"This is not a matter that we should be concerned about, this is considered by General Lonely, we only need to care about when the Qing fleet will come."

Faced with the first mate's excessive apprehension, Major Barrow corrected it.

Unbeknownst to them, two Venetian-class cruisers were sailing at sea thirty nautical miles outside their fleet.

How could Liu Bu Chan, as the nominal commander of the fleet, not know about the French move in the border area of North Vietnam, and after bearing the pressure of the outgoing Zeng Zhitai's many banquets, he consulted with the two captains of Gomes and Lefell and decided that the French could not continue to send supplies to North Vietnam under any circumstances.

Of course, in order to prevent possible accidents, they did not immediately pounce on the course, but waited for the departure of the French fleet before rushing to the course.

Two hours later, the flotilla spotted smoke and dust from ships sailing on the east side.

"There's a boat on the east side!"

At the lookout, sharp-eyed sailors immediately reported their findings.

"Let the Pit Viper, go check on the situation."

Major Barrow, who was the commander of the convoy, immediately gave the order. The Pit Viper is a iron-wood gunboat, which is mainly responsible for escort and offshore operations, with a displacement of 471 tons, equipped with 9 guns of various types, and a maximum speed of 10.14 knots.

When the herald on board the Volda sent Major Barrow's order to the Viper in flags, the gunboat immediately left the formation and rushed to the east where the ship had been found.

There have been many cases of ships breaking in like this suddenly, so this time the Viper is just a routine inquiry, and intends to let the intruding ships leave quickly.

Only this time it was destined to be different.

After a while, not only the intruder could be seen on the lookout, but even the other people on the ship could see its figure, although due to the distance and weather, the specific figure of the ship could not be seen clearly, but everyone flashed a thought in their hearts, the speed of the ship is so fast.

"There are two ships."

At this time, when the sailors on the lookout finally used their binoculars to discover that there were two ships, everyone immediately raised their vigilance.

"Order, all ships are ready for battle."

Since it was two ships, and the speed was still so fast, nine times out of ten, the ship in the heart of the Barrow Junior School was the goal he had to wait for, so he first gave the order to prepare the ships for battle.

And with his words, the ships of the escort fleet immediately rang the battle bell, and the sailors rushed to their combat posts.

It didn't take long for Major Barrow to prove that he was very prescient, and he saw that the pit viper sent a flag from the front, and the ships were none other than the Zhiyuan and Jingyuan sold by Italy to the Qing Dynasty. Because of its fluttering Qing flag, it has been clearly seen by the officers and soldiers on the Viper.

"Let the ship leave as planned, and let the Baswal immediately contact General Guba and tell him that the prey has been baited."

In fact, he didn't need to inform the Baswal, the liaison ship also saw the flag of the Viper, and immediately turned its bow and evacuated to the rear.

Because of his mission, he knew one, and he needed to inform the Lone General of the news as soon as the Qing Guo's patrol arrived.

This series of orders was followed by another order, followed by Major Barrow. "Let the other ships immediately move closer to me and meet the incoming enemy ships."

That's right, Major Barrow wants to use his weak fleet to entangle the incoming enemy and create an opportunity for the lone general behind him to surround him.

As for Liu Buyun and the two captains of Gomes and Leffel, the French fleet that was attacked was too quick to react, which made them feel a little unusual.

"The French reacted too quickly."

After putting down the binoculars looking at the French fleet, Liu Buyun said his doubts to Captain Leifell beside him.

"I saw it too, but now is not the time to care about the enemy's reaction, now do you need to decide whether to fight or not?"

Leifehr, who had the same idea, was now more concerned about the French escort warships that came up.

This question stumped Liu Buchan, although he had served on a British warship before, he had not experienced naval battles, so this made him undecided.

"What do you think?"

In the end, Liu Buyun handed over this problem to the person next to him, and after getting along with Lefeer for so long, Liu Buyun admired his ability very much, so if he didn't understand and couldn't make up his mind, he just said hello, and the other party would always give a reasonable solution.

"Now we have to fight, or the French will be too arrogant."

Looking at the French warships that came up, the combined tonnage was not even as good as the Zhiyuan under his seat, and if he didn't fight, it was not an opportunity for the other party to show off his might.

"Let's fight, then."

As Liu Buyun made a decision, the herald immediately sent his order to the Jingyuan behind, and then the two ships loaded with more than 7,000 tons immediately greeted them.

As the two parties get closer, the other can see each other's every move.

"Damn it, these Italians are so shameless that they dare to collude with infidels."

Major Barrow, who saw the crew of the opposing ship clearly through the binoculars, scolded fiercely. However, in his heart, he was worried about the next battle, the enemy was not weak and could deceive the Qing people, but the Italians, and the next battle made him have a shadow in his heart. Although Italy's army is despised, its navy still has a certain strength.

"Tell the ships, take heart, we are fighting the Italians."

With Major Barrow's order, a number of words of greeting to the Italians rang out from the ships.

Major Barrow, on the other hand, stared at the opposing warship, and heard the sound of the observer's constant report.

"8000 meters away."

"6000 meters away."

"5000 meters away."

“4800.”

"Order the ships to open fire."

Following Major Barrow's order, the ships of the small flotilla fired angry artillery fire at the two incoming warships in turn.

Among them, the Zhiyuan ship, which was the first to take the lead, was entertained by most of the firepower. In this round of shooting, the Zhiyuan ship broke out three explosions on the bow and side of the hull, which caused cheers on the French warship. It's just that they were happy a little early, and when the smoke cleared, revealing the hull that had been blown off the paint, the average 129 mm armor of the Venetian class withstood the 140 and 160 mm fire of the French warships.

"Immediately prepare to keep shooting."

Seeing that he was not satisfied with the results, Major Barrow continued to give orders. However, the firing rate of naval guns is very impressive, and even 140 mm naval guns basically take more than a minute.

And when the French ship was loaded, the two loading cruisers were still getting closer.

"4000 meters."

Upon another briefing from the observer, the French warship continued to open fire, and the result was no different. It is not indistinguishable, a 57-mm naval gun on the Zhiyuan was hit, and several sailors on duty fell in a pool of blood.

"3500 meters."

"3000 meters."

After withstanding several rounds of artillery fire from the French warships, the Zhijing II finally opened fire. Their 254 mm main guns, along with 150 mm secondary guns, were aimed at their first prey, the cruiser Fort Reynolds. The reason for choosing this ship is simple, that is, it looks bigger and has more firepower.

Up to 8 254 mm and 6 150 mm naval guns gave the wooden-hulled cruiser a stormy baptism. Such a powerful firepower is simply not something that the Fort Renault can withstand. Its captain Chambers and first mate Kebazel were killed on the spot, their hull was punctured, their ammunition was detonated, and their bodies fell to the ground on the deck.

At this time, everyone could see that the cruiser Fort Renault was no longer saved, and even its surviving officers and men could see it, and they chose to jump into the sea to escape.

The firepower of the second ship startled the French present, they did not expect the enemy's firepower to be so fierce.

Although it is two 7,000-ton cruisers, a 1,800-ton cruiser should not be scrapped in one round.

In fact, what is this, you must know that the 254 mm naval guns on the second ship of Zhijing are as high as 30 times the caliber, and these 8 guns alone cost 97,000 pounds. It is not comparable to the 140 and 160 mm naval guns of 18-24 times the ventriloquism on French warships.

The tactic used by the Zhijing No. 2 ship this time was to rely on its own advantages in all aspects, treat its own warship as if it were an armored ship, and fire at the opponent's head. Let these little French warships get a taste of what it's like to ride the face of artillery.

Subsequently, the second Zhijing ship successively named the other warships, the gunboat Rutin, the gunboat Viper, and the cruiser Volda, and in just over half an hour, five of the seven warships escorted by the escort had already been sunk or lost their combat effectiveness. The remaining two gunboats were struggling under their obscenity.

Just as the second ship of Zhijing was about to deal with the two small gunboats and then go after the transport, the observer suddenly noticed that the situation was not right, and a large number of columns of smoke appeared in the north, east and south, and at a glance it was clear that many ships were rushing over.

If you can come at this time, then it must be ill-intentioned.

That's right, Admiral Guba finally led his fleet to complete the encirclement, but by the time he arrived, the warships he had left for decoy had been almost wiped out.

As for the second ship of Zhijing, whether it is to escape or use other tactics, it needs to be fought once.

I don't have to say anything about it, let's get ready for the next battle.