Although the weapons and equipment of the English Navy are a grade worse than that of the Qing Navy, the English Navy is well-trained, and its rich combat experience is definitely the first in the world in today's era, and this happens to be the most lacking in the Qing Navy, not that the Qing Navy is not trained hard, nor that the means of training the Qing Navy are not advanced, in fact, the Qing Navy is by no means lower than the English Navy in terms of training intensity and assiduity, and the means of training are also diverse. However, it is a pity that the Qing navy in the Pacific Ocean really cannot find a target that can fight in real combat, and without actual combat, it will not be able to discover the deficiencies in training, and there will naturally be no way to talk about improvement, and a navy without actual combat experience will always be only a strong army on paper.

Although the adjustment of the English fleet was hidden, it could not hide from Qiao Hailong's eyes, but unfortunately Qiao Hailong was helpless - the English fleet dared to adjust the channel while firing, so that the entire battle line was smoothly pressed forward, which was guaranteed by the ability of the English naval sailors, and the Qing fleet could not make the same move on this, the reason was very simple: at this time, the Qing army had formed a battle line and played its own artillery advantage, once Qiao Hailong ordered to adjust the channel and open the distance between the English fleet, Due to the limited ability of the sailors of the Qing fleet, it is impossible to guarantee the overall translation, so that the entire battle line will inevitably be chaotic, once the English navy seizes the loophole, after a fat beating, the Qing navy will be defeated without a fight!

In fact, the arrogant English fleet made not one, but two—in addition to the obvious mistake of the distance between the fleets, there was also the mistake of taking the same course as the Qing army instead of the opposite direction, so that the advantage of the large number of ships of the English fleet could not be brought into play, and the only place that could really fight with the Qing fleet was the warships in the middle, and the warships at both ends were all idle. However, this is not that Admiral Nadal did not realize it, but Admiral Nadal thought that with the combat capability of the English Navy, he could defeat the Qing army with the same combat power, and as for the warships at both ends of the English battle line, Admiral Nadal was only used to prevent the Qing army from escaping from the downwind line - if it was used to drive in the opposite direction, the English fleet would certainly be able to give full play to the advantages of many ships, but once the two battle lines were staggered, the Qing fleet might take the opportunity to escape from the downwind line, In this way, the hope of achieving the total annihilation of the Qing fleet may be disappointed.

War is not child's play. Mistakes must be punished, from the beginning of the war to the present, the two sides have fired three times each, the English fleet suffered a big loss, a second-class battleship was heavily damaged and caught fire, had to withdraw from the battle line, the rest of the ships were also damaged to varying degrees, on the other hand, the Qing fleet in addition to more than 20 soldiers killed and wounded. There were not much losses, and the result of the first encounter was that the Qing army took advantage of the big advantage, but as the British battle line was adjusted in place, the well-trained advantage of the British army began to play a role, and the casualties of the Qing army skyrocketed. Although no battleship has withdrawn from the battlefield due to injuries for the time being, it is an indisputable fact that it is gradually losing the upper hand.

Yes, the overall training level of the Qing army is inferior to that of the British army, but it does not mean that the generals of the Qing army are stupid. In fact, most of the officers of the Qing fleet were outstanding graduates from naval schools, and their battlefield analysis skills were not bad. Qiao Hailong saw the intention of the English fleet at a glance, and calmly issued a combat order: "Order: The side sail of the 'Weiwu' is lowered by half and slowed down, and the 'Weiyi' is full of sails to speed up and move closer to our ship, and the firepower of the three ships covers the enemy's flagship, and the solid bullet and the flowering bomb are half each. Defeat or even sink the enemy flagship in a short period of time! The ships in the rear line are adjusted according to the speed of the ships in front, and the ships in the front line remain unchanged. ”

Qiao Hailong's order is a bit risky, a careless will inevitably cause the battle line that has been formed to be broken, resulting in the entire fleet being torn apart, but once the English flagship can be successfully sunk, it will have a huge impact on both the morale of the own side and the balance of victory, which is also one of the few possible victories for the Qing fleet in a disadvantaged situation.

Qiao Hailong's order was quickly conveyed, and the Qing fleet began to adjust the tense battle line while busy shelling. These adjustments are modest albeit substantial. It was only due to the lack of ability of the Qing sailors that the whole operation was a little sluggish. At this time, the English fleet had completed the adjustment, reducing the distance between the two fleets to within two hundred meters, and without the help of telescopes, the two sides could already see every move on the other side's ships across the not too wide ocean.

"Oh, cunning yellow-skinned monkey. After laughing and scolding, Admiral Nadal issued a battle order in a loud voice: "The order: The 'Mayflower' and 'Dancing Girl' are moving closer to me, the 'Kirishima,' 'Victory,' and 'Sabre' are assembled to attack the second ship in the enemy's rear line with all their might; the 'Rose,' the 'Scotland,' and the 'Celtic' are assembled to attack the second ship on the enemy's front line, and the enemy ship must be severely damaged and the enemy's battle line will be broken." ”

At this moment, the artillery battle between the two sides has reached a white-hot level, the two sides add up to nearly 2,000 artillery pieces are constantly roaring, smashing the shells at each other like rain, the sea is full of shells stirring up the ground water column, the battlefield is full of smoke, the ships on the fire are burning violently, the flowering bullets, chain bombs, and shotguns are flying around, constantly exploding on the decks of each ship, and the shrapnel and shotgun have swept down many soldiers on both sides. Although Qiao Hailong's combat order came first, and the adjustment of the Qing fleet was also first, it was the English fleet that was the first to complete the adjustment.

When the three large battleships of the Qing army were close together and tried to sink the "Great Britain" by relying on the superiority in firepower, the "Mayflower" and the "Dancing Girl" had already approached the "Great Britain", and at this time, England's one first-class battleship and two second-class battleships combined with a total of 300 guns, and a total of more than 130 could be put into attack; Although the three Great Qing ships had a total of 324 guns, a total of 154 of which could be put into attack, although they had the upper hand in the quantity and quality of artillery, they were not enough to form an absolute superiority, and it was basically impossible to sink the "Great Britain" in a short period of time. Meanwhile. Due to the adjustment of the Qing army, the British army seized the opportunity, and there were three warships in the front and rear to attack the "Yanwu" and "Yanlong" on both sides of the three Weizi ships, and the British army occupied an overwhelming advantage in those two local battlefields, constantly bombarding the two Yanzihao, trying to sink or severely damage the two Yanzihao, so as to isolate the three Weizihao separately, and at the same time disrupt the battle line of the Qing army, encircle and annihilate the three Weizihao.

Dangerous! The situation is extremely dangerous! Although Qiao Hailong couldn't penetrate the thick black smoke to inspect the situation of the "Yanlong" and "Yanwu" on both sides. However, from the density of shells that roared and smashed into the "Yanlong" and "Yanwu", we can judge the predicament of our own side - not to change the formation, to fight to the end with the strength of the Qing army, but it will only drag on for a longer time, and there is still a glimmer of life in the change of formation, but unfortunately the ability of the sailors is not good, not only failed to seize the fighters, but was seized by the English fleet, so that their side fell into an extreme crisis.

Regret? At this time, Qiao Hailong had no time to regret it. There was only one way in front of him——, so he didn't have to care about the battle line, and the three mighty ships approached and took advantage of the gap exposed by the adjustment of the English fleet to preemptively sink the "Yanlong" and "Yanwu". Defeat the enemy's flagship with all your might, and save your fleet a chance to survive!

Qiao Hailong immediately made a decision and said in a loud voice: "Order: 'Yanlong' and 'Yanwu' will insist with all their might, and the rest of the ships in the rear line will go all out to approach the 'Yanlong'. The ships on the front line turned to distance themselves from the British battle line, and after circling in a circle, they rushed into the British battle line in a straight formation, and made sure to cut off the English fleet at the waist to form a melee situation. Tell the ships: fight to the death and don't retreat, see you on the hero monument! ”

With the wave of the signal flag in the hands of the herald of the "Weilong", Qiao Hailong's order was quickly conveyed to the ships. The Qing fleet immediately took action, and the shouts of "fighting to the death and not retreating" sounded on all the Qing ships at the same time, even the whistling and explosion of shells could not suppress the roar of the Qing officers and soldiers, and the battle line of the Qing army, which had been broken, was immediately divided into four parts-two large warships on the rear line, five medium-sized warships, and three small warships that were originally used as supply ships went all out to move closer to the "Yanwu" that was under attack, although the battle line was somewhat chaotic, but it was still well maintained, Although this part of the Qing fleet was passive, it was not defeated for a while; The front line of three large warships, five medium warships, three small warships began to turn. Despite the increasingly heavy artillery fire of the English fleet. Slowly detached from the original battle line and fled into the distance. even ignored the "Yanlong", which was being attacked by three second-class battleships of the English fleet; The three ships in the middle, while firing with all their might, quietly turned with the upper wind, obliquely narrowing the distance between them and the English battle line, three battleships on each side fought hotly in the middle, hundreds of cannons were firing almost at the fastest speed, both sides were under tremendous pressure, the casualties continued to increase, but for a time no one could help anyone; Since the front-line fleet began to withdraw, the rest of the ships on the English front line did not pursue the Qing army's front-line fleet that escaped because they did not receive orders, but concentrated one first-class battleship and three second-class battleships to encircle and annihilate the "Yanlong." The "Yanlong" that had been shot in many places had already ignited a fire, and the officers and men suffered heavy casualties and a lot of artillery damage, but they never retreated, and they simply blocked the attack of the four battleships of England.

"Admiral, look, the yellow-skinned monkey is running away!" The detachment of the Qing frontline fleet was immediately discovered by the lookout post on the "Great Britain".

"Oh?" Admiral Nadal withdrew his gaze from the frontal battlefield, raised the monoculars, and looked at the Qing frontline fleet in the distance, and immediately found that the Qing army's frontline fleet had abandoned the attacked "Yanlong" and turned 30 degrees, and was leaving the battlefield. At this time, the England rear line fleet was in a fierce battle with the Qing army's rear line fleet, and for a time it was not possible to defeat the "Yanwu", and the England frontline fleet was about to win due to the concentration of four ships to attack the "Yanlong", and was about to win. A scuffle was inevitable, and in this way, the situation in which the British army was well-trained and superior in the number of ships would inevitably be broken, and the losses of the British army would certainly not be small in terms of the current frenzied fighting posture of the Qing army. If we ignore the Qing army's front-line fleet, after the British army sinks the "Yanlong", it can completely hit six or seven warships to confront the three Weizi ships of the Qing Dynasty, and it is not difficult to completely annihilate these three Weizi, as long as these three Weizi ships are sunk, the destruction of the Qing army's rear line fleet is a matter of time.

"Leave it alone the fleets that escaped, they can't run, tell the front-line fleet to attack the burning enemy ship with all your might, and be sure to sink the ship in the shortest possible time! Create an opportunity for our fleet to encircle and annihilate the Qing fleet. Admiral Nadal thought for a moment and gave the order.

"Weilong", "Weiwu", "Weiyi" three Qing battleships are getting closer and closer, at this moment the distance between the British battle line and the British army is only more than 100 meters, the cannons on both sides are roaring fiercely, the primary combat target of both sides is the flagship of the other side, in this battle that is almost a bayonet on the cannon, neither the "Weilong" nor the "Britannia" have not been bargained, the mast is broken, casualties, artillery losses are common, the two battleships are on fire, thick smoke billows, It's just that no one is willing to back down, and the fierce battle is raging, and at the same time, the besieged "Yanlong" has reached the last critical moment......

New Ideas Chinese Network, the first hand-typed text version. A new domain name, a new beginning! Updates are faster and all eBook formats are free to download.