"Concentrate your fire! Target, the flagship of the Chinese army, Zhenwu! ”

It was ten o'clock in the morning, but the closest thing on both sides was about 9,000 meters.

John. Jervis gave the order to open fire.

Dozens of British artillery opened fire almost simultaneously.

The solid armor-piercing shells fired by the 330-mm main gun were like meteorites, whistling towards the battleship Zhenwu.

Boom Boom!!

In the first wave of shelling, one of the shells landed eight meters from the bow of the Zhenwu.

A huge column of water rose into the sky, creating a small storm.

However, the officers and soldiers on the Zhenwu did not panic.

As the officers and soldiers of the most core warship of the Ming Empire, they are all elite selected from among the navy non-commissioned officers and officers.

Many of these officers are also the second generation of the nobles of the Ming Dynasty - the biggest source of the current Ming Dynasty's nobles is, of course, the followers of the Emperor Guangfu to expel the Tatars and restore China, but some of them are the descendants of the former Ming Dynasty.

Because the inheritance system of the Ming Dynasty is completely inherited by the eldest son.

So.

The descendants of the nobles who are not the eldest sons have to find their own way.

Among them, such as naval officers, need some relatively high cultural knowledge.

still absorbed a lot of the second generation of nobles - don't you see, even the third son of the Ming Emperor came to the warship to do it.

Therefore, everyone knows very well that the difficulty of hitting the first round of shelling is comparable to being struck by lightning.

The naval guns of this era are very problematic in terms of accuracy.

Basically, one hit in a hundred shots is considered good.

Whether you can hit or not depends largely on luck.

So the advantage of rapid-fire guns is here - the hit rate is not high, the number and number make up for it.

Shoot a few more times.

There is always one time to hit the target.

The British army's large-caliber erection guns fired once every few minutes, while the small-caliber rapid-fire guns equipped by the Ming army fired several rounds a minute, which was almost ten times the difference in pigment.

Even with the same hit rate, the advantage of rapid-fire guns is very obvious - this still excludes the situation that the relatively higher hit rate brought about by the relatively flexible and convenient adjustment of the firing angle of small-caliber guns.

Based on the fundamental difference in the philosophy of the two navies.

Therefore, the British Navy is now equipped with a very slow rate of fire, but it can fire large-caliber solid armor-piercing shells - because solid shells cannot explode, you can only increase the caliber as much as possible to ensure the power.

In fact, if a solid bullet with a caliber of 330 mm penetrates the armor of a battleship from the waterline, the power is quite considerable - but back to another problem, it is difficult to hit the current artillery, how can it be guaranteed to hit the waterline accurately?

Compared to the British army.

The Ming navy basically chose rapid-fire guns, and the battleships were generally equipped with rapid-fire guns, and even the main guns were rapid-fire guns of 100 inches, which were used as the main means of destruction by throwing bombs.

Zhang Bao, the governor of the Ming Indian Ocean Fleet, was also relieved after seeing that the opponent's round of artillery bombardment did not hit.

"It's been five minutes before the British fire the next salvo of their main guns, and the Zhenwu has already made a roundabout."

Zhang Bao thought.

"Now it's up to us to see if God will be on our side!"

Chen Huacheng took a deep breath.

and John. Jervis didn't expect it to be the same.

The errands of the Ming Navy did not intend to make a detour with more agile cruisers/frigates.

Instead, he directly chose to make a detour of the twelve town-class battleships!!

So.

If the Zhenwu and the other battleships detoured back to the flank.

The Hung Lie, which had already lost half of its power, would be exposed to the threat of the British's main guns.

How could the Honglie, which was only 5,000 tons, withstand the bombardment of a 330-millimeter cannon?

"Lord Governor, it's time to turn!"

At this time, a staff officer reminded loudly.

"Let's turn!"

Zhang Bao took a deep breath.

There is no immortal in war.

If the Hung Lie is sunk.

Then Deng Huanzhuang's children, as well as the Deng family in Guangzhou, will be well taken care of by the Ming Empire!

And if Deng Huanzhuang survived.

Then with the merits of this war, he will even have the future of being a secretary of the Admiralty in the future, and there may even be the possibility of becoming a marquis - he has a clean background, was born in the Naval Officers Academy, was gradually promoted because of his merits, and he is still an old revolutionary who followed his family very early, such a background will definitely have a chance.

Right now.

It depends on Deng Huanzhuang's own creation.

"Right full rudder!!"

Zhang Bao's order soon reached the captain of the Zhenwu, Zhu Yimi, who had a broken arm.

Zhu Yimian was also slightly injured and could not get out of the firing line.

even stood on the conning tower with injuries, so that all the officers and soldiers on the ship could see that the sons of the emperor Laozi were fighting to the death on the ship, and everyone had no reason not to fight to the death.

The massive Zhenwu hull turned abruptly to the right.

This scene.

Let John, who was standing in the command tower of the Vostok and had been using a telescope to observe the opposite man. Admiral Jervis and his deputy, Will Jervis. Smith was stunned.

What's going on?

How was it that the battleship turned, and not the cruiser, as everyone expected?

Inside the conning tower.

The staff officers of the Indian Ocean Fleet of the British Empire had a phrase in their minds: It's over, the commander guessed wrong again!

Well?

Why should we add another one?

Everyone looked at John. Jervis.

This admiral may have been the unlucky one who had buried the British Empire's maritime supremacy.

All hearts are lamenting.

The enemy's unexpected actions disrupted all the plans that had been made.

John. Jervis is also confused.

He turned to look at Will. Smith: "That's the students you teach?" How exactly do you get into class? And who told them to turn around with a slower battleship in the case of a double column, and let the weak cruiser go to the shells ?! ”

John. Jervis really couldn't figure it out.

Are the Chinese on the other side more scum?

Will looked at the scene in front of him in a daze: "Zhang Bao! This guy must have deserted when he was in school! This guy didn't have good grades when he was in school, and he was able to become the governor of the Ming Indian Ocean Fleet, relying on his father's relationship! It must be so!! ”

Boom Boom!!

Right now.

The roar of the artillery caused all the officers in the tower to pull their chaotic thoughts back to the battlefield.

16 British battleships, another salvo was completed.

The well-trained British gunners fired a salvo in four minutes.

But this time the shelling was even worse.

Because the target they were aiming at before, Zhenwu was very unmartial and turned around.

And in just a few minutes, John. It was impossible for Jervis to have a dozen warships complete the tactical maneuver of adjusting the aiming target.

In particular, the exposed batteries of a dozen battleships arranged in a horizontal formation had a narrow angle of fire.

If only the Zhenwu could rush over as they expected.

Then it will be bombarded head-on by dozens of huge main guns.

But now

People turned.

So.

Not to mention that the gunners of the British battleships did not have time to adjust.

Even if they have time.

The narrow angle of fire also did not allow them to complete their aiming, and they had to turn the battle formation as a whole in order to continue aiming at the Zhenwu.

Therefore, this round of shelling was only heard, and the splash of the shells falling on the sea did not even splash on the warships of the Ming Dynasty (end of this chapter)