To the sound of loud drums, Henry Cavendish was a prisoner of the Xuango Battalion.

In front of you, you can see a long and narrow hull with a wooden carving of the head of a legendary creature on the bow of the ship, which is called a 'dragon boat'.

Under the rhythmic rowing of many people, they have begun to advance towards the firepower network composed of many naval guns and muskets.

The mood in my heart suddenly became extremely complicated.

First of all, he was a subject of the Great Yin Empire, and he was a member of Cavendish, a descendant of the top family of the Great Yin.

Of course, I don't want to see the entire fleet of the powerful empire suffer a complete fiasco in front of me, or even be wiped out.

You must know that the Great Yin can become the most powerful empire on this planet.

One of the most critical cornerstones is not the dreadnought lobster soldiers who dare to charge with bayonets after three rounds of guns.

Instead, they crisscrossed the waters and won the invincible fleet.

It really happened in the war of Daqing, or in the war with the civilian armed forces, and the whole fleet was wiped out.

Then for the big yin, it is definitely not good news, and it can even be a disaster.

Because among their many colonies, God knows how many natives will think that the Great Yin has declined, and thus rise in their hearts to rebel.

Secondly, he didn't want the Hu of the Xuange camp and the group of indigenous subordinates under him to be defeated.

I don't want these people to be torn apart by the fire network composed of heavy artillery fire and bullets in the following time.

After all, the mere thought of rowing a few small boats to charge a fleet of more than two dozen ships, including a few third-class battleships, was insane.

There is actually more than one reason why he is so concerned and worried about Hu Biao and others.

Not only after staying with Hu Biao and them for a long time, but also knowing that the Oriental knights in the Xuange camp are actually some civilized gentlemen and ladies.

Compared to the ancient nobles of Europa, it is not inferior at all.

They are erudite, wealthy, generous, upright, powerful, sacrificial, and possess so many good qualities.

It is even more civilized than many of the ancient nobles who have been in contact with some of the ancient nobles who have been inherited for many years in the British Isles and in big cities such as Paris.

Ever since he was captured, it was only during the very first period of time that the War Elephant Lady had beaten him.

Later, after revealing his identity, even when the Sifang Fort was besieged by the army, he did not withhold his share of food and water, or horse blood, when it was the most difficult.

Although the process and taste of drinking horse blood, he never wanted to experience it again in his life.

But he also had to admit that if it weren't for the horse's blood, he would have died of thirst.

After that, even though the landing force led by Henry Yilu and Charlie Yilu was completely annihilated, and they could not pay any ransom, they still did not kill themselves.

On the contrary, as long as those natives who joined their rebel army took two classes a day in the countries of Dayin and Europa, customs, scientific and technological life, etc., they gave themselves preferential treatment.

As long as you don't try to escape, you can live a pretty good day.

Especially in the morning, noon and evening, plus a late-night snack, four delicious meals and snacks a day, he gained at least three pounds or more in just over a week.

Therefore, in the eyes of Henry Cavendis, he and the gentlemen and ladies of the Xuango camp were in fact very good friends.

Naturally, he didn't want to look at them, so he died in front of his eyes.

However, the biggest reason in the heart of Henry Cavendis, a gentleman with a big yin, does not want to see the death of these Oriental people rowing dragon boats and rushing to the fire net.

It was through what he had seen with his own eyes in the recent period of time that he had clearly realized one thing:

This expedition of the Great Yin Empire is not at all what the lords of the council claim, it is a war of civilization conquering barbarism and bringing civilization to the East.

It's completely a shameless war of aggression for the sake of profit, even the right to sell duck chips.

Because he saw with his own eyes that the streets and residential areas that were old and full of oriental charm were reduced to ruins under the shelling of the expeditionary fleet.

I don't know how many women, children, and the elderly died tragically in the shelling.

The Great Yin brings them only destruction and hatred, but there is not the slightest so-called civilization.

More crucially, they don't know what a great being they are challenging; The flower grower is definitely not a third brother, like those black uncles, who can be easily conquered and enslaved.

Perhaps in a short period of time, Da Yin can take advantage of Daqing's ignorant rule over the flower-growing people for many years.

While they are asleep, for a considerable period of time, a great deal of benefit can be drawn from their bodies.

But Henry Cavendish was sure that such a nation would never be conquered as long as there were people like the Hu and Xuange camps.

Because this nation cannot sleep forever, and when they wake up, their descendants will always remember the shame brought to them by the Great Yin.

One day, they will come back with their revenge.

How ferocious the great yin is to plunder and oppress them now, how great the anger will be in the future.

There is a history about this, from the history of how they were invaded by the Turks, Xiongnu, and Mongols in the past, and how they retaliated later.

I also saw one farmer after another, digging out dragon boats that were said to be tens, hundreds, or even more years old from the silt of the river.

It can be seen that they were rinsed, painted with new paint, and then dressed up and carried the ship as if they were participating in a festival, and spontaneously joined the battle.

Unfortunately, the crux of the matter is that regardless of the current Henry Cavendish in his heart, what emotions and thoughts are in his heart.

For this battle that had already begun, neither the process nor the outcome could have any effect, and he could only stand on the crumbling roof of some ruins.

With a telescope in hand, he watched it all silently.

Then he plans to record all this in his diary and tell more people in Europa in the future.

To this end, he glanced at the pocket watch that had been taken away by the War Elephant Lady and later returned to him, and remembered some of the relevant times of the battle, as well as some images that he remembered deeply......

******

When: 3:11:27 a.m. on June 12, about ten minutes after the start of the operation tonight.

There are a total of 116 dragon boats of various sizes, the largest can have a crew of forty or fifty oars, and the smallest can have a crew of about 20.

In a total of more than 3,000 people, in the concerted action.

They appeared on the bank of the long river in the circle of Baietan, and almost every direction began to move.

In the rhythm and incomparably loud drums, men who risked their lives shouted simple trumpets in their mouths.

Almost as soon as he paddled the oars, he used all his strength.

According to the rhythm of the drum and the trumpet, he stretched the oars in his hands into the river in unison, and rowed vigorously.

With each stroke, every muscle in their arms, chests, and shoulders rose and tensed at this moment.

It looks full of power, and at the same time, it also makes every dragon boat fly on the river.

Yes, just flew.

Henry Cavendish never imagined that these long, narrow boats could be so fast just by the stroke of his arms and oars.

Got rid of the start, the speed was a little slower.

Once the speed is increased, the speed is at least five yards per second.

In this way, with the position of the Great Yin Fleet, in the middle of the White Goose Pond, there is basically a distance of about a kilometer away from the surrounding river banks.

With Henry Cavendish being quite good at oral arithmetic among white men, he quickly calculated a number in his mind.

It takes about 210 seconds, which is three and a half minutes.

They were able to rush over and rush to the edge of the Great Yin Fleet.

And by the time these dragon boats began to row, because the opponent was closer, the Yin Army sailors on the battleship had already reacted from the initial panic after seeing the opponent's true face.

Perhaps they all understood that the current time is the biggest crisis on their side since the beginning of the war.

Therefore, under great pressure, he actually showed amazing quality; It really deserves to be the strongest maritime force in such an era.

The sail pilots, who simply controlled the few sails that were left, and even the sails that were currently burning, borrowed some little wind power, so that the battleship had some power.

The helmsmen rely on these modest powers.

frantically beating the rudder, let the bulky battleship begin to adjust its attitude on the river; The remaining ships of the fleet, barely in a neat circle.

In the gun window on one side, countless cannon barrels popped out.

It means that no matter which direction the dragon boat rushes by, it can face at least one or even more warships that can pour the maximum firepower with all their might.

Soon after, some of the battleships, which had been adjusted in place, had already begun to fire salvos.

In the fleet, those transports, fifth- and sixth-class battleships are counted, and the number of guns on their side is limited; Even after the salvo is fired, the power and damage are limited.

But when the third-class or fourth-class battleships opened fire, there were 30 shells ranging from 32 pounds to 12 pounds in the roar of each burst of artillery fire.

As soon as these shells fell, they immediately spread and enveloped an area of the boss.

In the current years, because the platform is on a ship that is constantly undulating, these naval guns that are still breeches are of course not very high.

The problem is that in Henry Cavendish's opinion, Hu's dragon defense is too poor, and there is no defense at all.

Not to mention the terrible consequences of the shells of the naval guns, after directly hitting the dragon boat; Just a splash of water that gets a little closer can cause them a disaster.

In the explosions, the water column that rose from the old height.

Henry Cavendish not only saw one dragon boat after another, like a petrel in a storm, but continued to move forward in the violent ups and downs of the hull.

The flags, which resembled the coats of arms of the nobles of Europa, bearing the names of their villages and families, fluttered in the splashes of water, and were as conspicuous as a fire.

You can also see the tragic situation that occurred in this process.

For example, at 4 o'clock in front of him, a dragon boat was hit by an 18-pound cannonball, which unfortunately hit the bow of the ship with a dragon head decoration.

There was almost no time to react, and in the first second, even if he saw a charming lady, his eyes were always too strange and hot.

And it is said that he has a poignant love story with a lady named No. 88.

However, in terms of tea appreciation and oriental medicine, Mr. Nanzawa has a deep attainment.

He was originally beating the big drum, but in an instant, he was completely torn to pieces by the cannonball that fell beside him; It is a pity that some of his magical and powerful oriental kung fu have not been brought into play at all.

At the same time, because this dragon boat began to sink.

The members above, almost half of the personnel were brought down by the flying shrapnel and shock waves, and the bodies finally floated on the surface of the river after several ups and downs.

also made the surface of that piece of the river immediately become blood-red.

A little farther away, there were two dragon boats that were too close to the rising water column, and the hull of the boat was directly overturned.

The members above also fell into the water like dumplings.

Then, some of them never floated again, and after the other people floated, they glanced at the people around them, maybe uncles, maybe nephews, in short, they were all related people.

Waving his arms, he began to swim quickly, but not toward the safety of the shore, but toward the fleet that was pouring death fire.

The speed of swimming is naturally far worse than that of rowing, and the attacks that need to be endured all the way through are naturally more.

And in the water, they were subjected to the blast wave of the explosion and the natural pressure of the water.

Every time a shell falls, one or two, or more, people are shocked to death, shrapnel is killed, and some corpses are floating on the water.

If it had been before, Henry Cavendish would never have imagined why these people would have done such crazy things; But after this period of understanding, I probably vaguely understood something.

In such a process, the Yin Army Fleet did not suffer any harm at all, they were also under amazing pressure.

Because when they were pouring their own firepower towards the dragon boat at the fastest speed.

Suddenly, in a gap of only three or five seconds, a steam paddle steamer battleship and a fourth-class battleship exploded violently at the waterline on one side of the hull.

The former tilted directly in the explosion, leaving only a boat full of barnacles out of the water; After the latter was frantically poured into the river with a huge hole in the hull, the final sinking also entered the countdown.

It should be noted that these are the fifth and sixth ships destroyed in the sudden explosion tonight.

At such a time, the Yin army could certainly think that it should be an opponent and secretly installed a bomb with a terrifying charge on the side of the hull.

They didn't know exactly how many were installed in total, and the next minute later it was the two ships that were unlucky.

In response to such a potential danger, they leaned out from the edge of the ship and looked around with wide eyes; He even drove some sailors to jump off the battleship to find and check for bombs.

Unfortunately, in the current mess, it doesn't seem to work very well.

Worried that in the next second, their battleship would be blown up, and the sailors of the Yin Army, who didn't even have time to escape, were also under amazing pressure......

Time: 3:12:57 a.m., June 12.

The dragon boat that rushed in front was still more than 600 meters away from the fleet.

The gunners on the Yin Army's side, in the previous more than a minute, had already hailed hundreds of shells.

After suffering round after round of casualties, the dragon boats that rushed to the fleet at this moment still have about ninety-seven or eight in number, and the overall loss is not too great.

In the still rhythmic 'knock, knock, knock~' drums, they are still struggling forward.

However, Henry Cavendish, who was holding a telescope and observing the battlefield, took a deep breath in his mouth after seeing such a scene.

Even if he has no experience in the army, he is just a reporter who follows the army.

But with some of his own superficial military knowledge, as well as his not-so-deep understanding of the Yin fleet, he also foresaw something worse about to come.

Because a group of dragon boats, after entering the current distance.

Grapeshells that have entered the gun's guns, or are within range of shotgun fire.

The above two shells may be less lethal to battleships, but the lethality to vulnerable human bodies is completely terrifying.

For all the people on the dragon boat, it can also have a slaughter-like effect.

I believe that with the old and spicy eyes of the artillery of the Yin Army, they are already loading grapes, shotguns and other ammunition.

And so it was, after three or four seconds at most; A fourth-class battleship in the fleet, with about 30 guns on one side, took the lead in firing a salvo.

All the cannonballs they called for were the grapeshot and shotguns that Henry Cavendish was most worried about......

(End of chapter)