Central Pacific, Dec. 25, 6:25 p.m.

The 24 British battleships that had originally intended to rescue the "Emperor of India" had changed course, abandoned the rescue, and instead went straight to the two "Great Zhou" class and two "Zhongwang" class that had just sailed into the battlefield.

At this time, William, who commanded the British fleet to participate in the war. General Baga had already learned from the reports of destroyers and airships scattered around the battlefield that in addition to the two "Great Zhou" and two "Zhongwang", there were 12 other old-fashioned "Hero" and "Hanwu" class ships on the Ming side. Although the performance of these two battleships is already a bit outdated at the moment. But the number of 12 ships is there, and if the British army can't handle the two 30,000-ton new battleships and the two 20,000-ton Zhongwang-class before they join the battlefield, then the British ....... It's almost over.

Li Kezhi and Yu Yang were also shocked by the huge array composed of 24 British battleships at this time, especially the two leading "William IV" class, which is also a 30,000-ton steel monster, each "William IV" class is equipped with 10 14-inch cannons, the barrel has been raised high, as for the pointing of the gun, needless to say, it is also known that it must be the "Great Zhou" battleship where Li Kezhi and Yu Yang are located.

The seaplanes carried by the "Da Zhou" and "Da Qin" had already taken off at this time, and this kind of small plane was a flammable and explosive burden in the artillery battle, so it was better to let them get into the sky early and let the pilots overlook this magnificent battlefield from a high altitude.

Thirty or forty steel behemoths had already fought in two groups in this open sea, and sixty or seventy small warships were faithfully guarding them, fighting as best they could.

The fighting between the two sides has been going on for a while, and there are more and more ships that cannot maintain their speed because they are damaged, and the Ming cruisers and destroyers with the killer feature of steam gas torpedoes have repeatedly launched torpedo attacks, which also disrupted the battle columns of the British ships, and the British ships that lost their battle columns also had to launch decisive assaults again and again, trying to disrupt the Ming army's array and drag the battle into a "chaotic battle".

The goal of the British to "fight in chaos" has been partially achieved, and the horizontal formation of the Ming army's beggar-version battleships has long been unable to maintain, and the beggar-version battleships are forced to engage in a brutal close-range battle with the British monarchy. They have too few artillery and thin armor, and they are not at all a king-level opponent, and they are about to be completely defeated. However, the "Kong Ming", "Haohan", "Zhuangshi", and "Escort" classes of the 3rd cruiser squadron of the Daming Pacific Fleet took advantage of the opportunity of the "Junquan" class to strangle the "beggar's version of battleships" to launch torpedo assaults again and again, and also achieved successive results. The battlefield was full of battered and burning warships that were about to capsize and sink...... It's a battleship graveyard! The "First Emperor" class of the Ming Army still has the upper hand at this time, although their armor and firepower are not much stronger than the "Emperor of India" class, but their high speed of 27 knots and 28 knots allows them to always occupy half of the T position - although it is not the entire T position, they can still concentrate all their firepower to bombard a "Indian Emperor" class. On the side of the "Emperor of India", it is clear that the firepower is not weak and the armor is not thin, but he is always in a state of passive beating, and he is becoming more and more passive...... I can't hold on for too long.

However, the British Empire is not without opportunities, because there is a large gap in the speed of the battleships of all levels of the Ming Dynasty, the fastest "First Emperor" class can soar 27 knots and 28 knots, "Da Zhou" and "Zhongwang" can also run 25 knots, while "Hero" and "Han Wu" only have a speed of about 20 knots.

Therefore, the battleships of the Ming army will be disjointed when they are at full power, and the first to arrive is the "First Emperor", then the "Great Zhou" and "Zhongwang", and the "Heroes" and "Han Wu" can only come slowly.

On the British side, on the other hand, their battleships could not run fast, but it was beneficial for them to concentrate their forces...... Thus gaining an advantage of up to 15 minutes!

"Admiral, we have 15 minutes to defend our world empire!"

Rear Admiral Jervis had already estimated how long the Royal Navy could be used to defend the empire on which the sun never set.

"15 minutes ......" Hearing this number, William. Baga just smiled bitterly, "From the time Elizabeth I began to unite European allies to challenge the world empire of the Habsburgs, to the time when our country overwhelmed Spain, the Netherlands, and France, and it took more than 200 years to build a world empire belonging to the Anglo-Saxons, but now we can only defend her in 15 minutes......"

"Yes," said Major General Jervis, "this is the 15 minutes that will decide the fate of all mankind!" ”

"Alright then!" William. "Tell everyone that we have only two targets, and that are those two unknown 30,000-ton battleships of the Ming Kingdom......" He suddenly raised his voice, "Concentrate your firepower to sink them, and victory will belong to the British Empire!" ”

"Yes, Admiral!"

......

"30,000 tons...... Two ships too! ”

"Sink them and you'll win!"

At the same time, Li Kezhi and Yu Yang were also holding binoculars to look at the "William IV" and "Queen Elizabeth" less than 20,000 meters away, and the 30,000-ton steel body looked particularly deterrent!

Li Kezhi put down the telescope and took a deep breath, "The 30,000-ton ship at the top of the enemy queue is the target of the fire!" 18000 meters began to fire a salvo, concentrating all 360-mm and 300-mm cannons...... Sink it! ”

"Yes!" At 30 o'clock, just before the last touch of sunset on December 25 was about to disappear, the 32 360 mm and 300 mm heavy guns on the "Da Zhou", "Da Qin", "Wuzhong Wang" and "Chengzhong Wang" of the Ming Navy roared at the same time!

Just a few seconds later, more than 200 heavy guns on 24 British battleships also fired the first salvo!

Nearly 300 heavy guns played the world's most magnificent symphony at the same time, and the smoke from the muzzles of the guns even obscured the disappearing sunset.

The crucial 15 minutes to decide whether the sun will never set in the empire begins!

Perhaps the layout of the twin four turrets is relatively stable, or it may be because the optical measuring equipment of the Ming Dynasty is more accurate, and the ballistics calculated by their "abacus soldiers" are also relatively accurate, and the main guns of the two "Da Zhou" and two "Zhongwang" classes have played a very high level in this critical artillery battle, and only in the third round, the battleship William IV has a fire ball.

The first to hit the King William IV was the Great Zhou-class battleship Daqin, and a 360mm armor-piercing projectile fired from its bow turret concentrated the main armor belt of the rear bridge of the William IV, and it pierced in one hit! The main armor belt of the King William IV class was designed to defend against 14-inch guns, while 360 mm was larger than 14 inches...... Moreover, the Ming army's latest hood armor-piercing projectile has a stronger armor-piercing ability, which is not at all comparable to the British army's 14-inch armor-piercing projectile. However, the 360 mm shell that pierced the main belt of the William IV did not cause much damage, because its delayed fuse reacted too quickly this time, and it exploded just after penetrating the main belt of the William IV, and it did not blow through the steel plate that wrapped the power compartment of the William IV, but only cracked some pipes and caused some high-pressure steam leaks, but it was not a big deal.

However, this shell provided an important coordinate, and as its impact point was captured by the fire control rangefinders, the four battleships of the Ming Navy completed the calibration of their naval guns...... This means the beginning of destruction! At 33 o'clock, the 32 heavy guns roared again showed the Wilhelm IV the true power of the 300 mm and 360 mm cannons, and two 300 mm shells and three 360 mm shells crashed through its steel plates.

In an instant, the large battleship named after King William IV suffered the heaviest blow, a 300 mm armor-piercing bullet was mounted on the command tower of the King William IV, although the steel armor up to 16 inches thick resisted the blow, but still shook everyone in the command tower to the ground and the eyes of Venus! Another 300-mm shell hit the relatively thin armor belt near the bow, making a breakdown effortlessly, and by the way, opening a small hole in the bow of the William IV, causing hundreds of tons of seawater to pour in.

Compared to the 300-mm armor-piercing projectile, which is not powerful enough, the 360-mm hood-piercing projectile weighing 700 kg is truly deadly!

One of the three 360mm armor-piercing shells tore through the thickest mainstay belt of the King William IV ship, then smashed headlong into the steel plate outside the boiler room, and finally exploded in the No. 1 boiler room of the William IV, which not only destroyed all the boilers, but also caused the sea water to rush in, and finally the damage pipe had to seal the entire cabin so that the incoming sea water would not flood everything.

The remaining two 360-mm armor-piercing shells hit the stern and the front of the D turret of the William IV, respectively. The stern armor of the William IV could not withstand armor-piercing shells of this caliber at all, and a large hole was punched in one shot, and several compartments were ignited, causing a fire that burned the butt of "William IV" with thick smoke.

And the D turret of the Wilhelm IV withstood it, and the armor up to 16 inches thick was not something that a 360 mm shell could penetrate! However, the direct hit of the 360-mm shell and the huge concussion caused by the explosion still stunned the entire artillery squad and temporarily lost consciousness.

Only a few minutes after the battle began, the British had already tasted the wrath of the Ming Dynasty!

However, the empire is not vegetarian, and the 24 British battleships on the sea will soon be colored, and the battleship "Great Zhou" will soon usher in a real test! At 34 o'clock, a 14-inch shell fired by the Queen Elizabeth slammed into the strongest main belt of the "Great Zhou", and suddenly exploded into an extremely dazzling ball of fire!