"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! ”

Franz was woken up by the cacophony of shouts and chaotic footsteps, and he immediately rolled out of bed, put on his coat, and walked to the captain's quarters.

"What's going on?! Where did the enemy attack come from?! Flag Slogan! Let the Arab ships not come, or they will be annihilated as hostile acts. ”

"Yes!" As soon as the herald left, an adjutant answered the question of the fleet commander. "Five lookouts were found dead at the changing of the guard in the morning, after which we found a large number of sailboats and frigates, as well as small troop carriers, in the northeast."

Friedrich slammed his fist into the table, and Bagamoyo's harbor was just the size of the bay to prevent the Austrian fleet from breaking out of the mouth of the bay and forming formation.

But if you want to rely on the terrain to defend the bay, the Beiyang Naval Division is a lesson from the past, not to mention that Bagamoyo at this time has no decent defense force at all.

"Commander, we can use the artillery advantage to hold the bay, the enemy's numerical superiority is not enough to make up for the lack of firepower!"

One of the adjutants confidently proposed, but before he could wait for Archduke Friedrich's compliment, he was poured cold water on Archduke Franz.

"What if the other side blocks the mouth of the bay and at the same time sends troops to capture several batteries on land? Don't look at them as a threat to the enemy outside the bay, but they are deadly to us in the bay. Imagine how long we can hold out if we are attacked by both land and sea at the same time. ”

In particular, this kind of bay mouth topography made Franz think of a word, that is, to catch turtles in urns.

The adjutant tried to argue, but was stopped by Friedrich.

"Don't talk nonsense! Obey orders! Once the other side has completed the encirclement, there is no need to occupy the land batteries at all. All we need to do is defend the mouth of the bay and get some fire to attack the self-exploding ships and trap us alive. At that time, even if you want to rush out with all your might, the other party only needs to sink a few warships and turn them into artificial reefs to block the exit! ”

"But it will take time for the steam engine to start."

"Damn! You idiot, what are we doing with our sails! Set sail and set sail! ”

At the most critical moment, Friedrich chose the most correct course, and all the ships of the fleet spread their sails and rushed towards the Arab fleet.

The two fleets collided head-on like two sharp arrows on the sea, and the "Venetia" was the sharpest arrow.

Inside the bridge.

"What's going on? We only shipped some weapons and gunpowder, and even if the Omanis wanted to retaliate, it would be impossible to mobilize a fleet to besiege Bagamoyo so quickly. ”

Muscat, the capital of Oman, was theoretically the core of the Sayyid dynasty, and it is located in the Persian Gulf, about 4,400 kilometers from Bagamo.

"No way, I saw the fleeing Arabs yesterday, but it would take them ten days at the fastest to make a round trip, even with the help of ocean currents, monsoons, and steam. What's more, it seems that the other party did not add steam power. ”

Franz was also confused, and he was confident that no fleet could do all this. Suddenly, he had a terrible idea, that is, the whole encounter, starting from the negotiation of conditions, using Bagamoyo and Tanzania as bait, to the loading of the so-called "Bagamoyo merchants", and now the attack of the Omani fleet is all a conspiracy.

They had been in action since the first day, just the morning after we arrived at the port of Bagamoyo, so we were caught off guard.

But that doesn't seem reasonable, because such sophisticated conspiracies are often impossible to achieve in reality. As long as there is a little problem in one link, it will lose everything, just like Babbage's analysis machine.

(Babbage, currently director of the Austrian Imperial Institute for Digital Computing, is a member of the Royal Society of Science.) ）

And even if Benny Earbin lies, where will he find these thousands of professional actors? The feeling of being dirty and pretending to be local is not something that any group performance can do.

The "Venezia" and four first-class battleships barely rushed out before the other side blocked the mouth of the bay, but don't think about grabbing the T-head.

In naval warfare, grabbing the T-head is a very important part, and the side occupying the T-head can face the side of the ship facing the other side, have a good view, and facilitate command and concentration of firepower.

The side that did not grab the T head only had a good field of vision, and the ships behind had a large number of blind spots, which were still difficult to command and dispatch even after misalignment.

And the main thing is that the guns of the battleships of this period were on both sides of the ship, and the bow of the ship could only concentrate a few movable Caron guns at most, which was too small in naval warfare.

It is impossible for even one super-1st battleship to simultaneously counter the firepower of dozens of 58-gun miniature battleships.

The Omani Navy Pasha Mayyed couldn't help but laugh when he saw the Austrian Navy rushing out of the bay and coming straight for him.

"Not bad! The decision is very correct, the other party is a very good general, this kind of judgment and execution is really admirable. But it's a pity that he met me, otherwise he would have been a genius who could have engraved his name into history.

Let us praise Allah and see off His enemies! ”

The twenty warships of the Omani Navy were spread out in a row, the gun doors slowly opened, and the black hole of the guns was aimed at the "Venexia".

"Put!" As soon as the commander of Mayad's flagship gave an order, the six-pounder and eight-pounder guns spat out tongues of fire one after another, and black smoke covered the sky.

These Omani navy veterans who have been fighting in the Indian Ocean for many years did not slack off because the other side did not change hands, but reloaded as fast as possible to prepare for the second round of shooting.

No matter whether the other party chooses to continue to die, or retreat to the bay to survive, they will not be able to escape their sanctions in the end.

They were waiting for the smoke to clear up, admiring each other's faces, distorted by fear or anger. Because only in this way can it be proved that the Omanis are the masters of the western Indian Ocean and East Africa, and that the false gods of the white people are worthless here.

However, a salvo from one fleet did not sink even a single Austrian Imperial warship, and although there were many more broken corpses on the deck of the "Venetian", the crew still continued to move forward with tattered sails.

Mayed didn't see what he wanted to see through the binoculars, no white flags, no shipwrecks, and no screaming crew members jumping into the water to escape.

"Keep shooting! Kill them all, or they will surely become the fierce enemies of our great Omani Empire! In the name of Allah, grant them eternal death! ”

In the second and third rounds, the "Venexia" approached like an immortal undead.

In fact, these new battleships of the Austrian Empire were wrapped in a layer of iron sheet on the outside, although it was only an extra layer of iron sheet, but the protection power was greatly improved.

In addition, the "Venexia" was originally a super-first battleship with fairly thick oak armor, and it was not easy to break through the armor with small-caliber guns.

At this time, its exterior was covered with a layer of iron armor, and all the main artillery of the Omani Navy could do was scrape.

"Disperse!" By the time Mayard discovers the other party's intentions, it's too late.

(End of chapter)