Truth be told, Franz didn't like the feeling of being at the forefront of being in danger and watching the shells fly. However, at this time, he was already on the thief ship "Venexia", and he couldn't help thinking so much.

"Uncle Friedrich, you should be glad that your opponent did not have high-explosive shells. Otherwise, we would have returned to the bosom of our ancestors by now. ”

Franz said, pointing to the solid shell that had just shattered the tempered glass and smashed into the bridge.

"Franz, I think you'd better get out of here. Anyway, here is the front line of the battle. As the captain of the ship, I naturally have a duty to shirk, and you are only our guest. ”

Friedrich took the telescope and continued to observe the surrounding enemy, and said unhurriedly.

"Uncle Friedrich, we are all children of the royal family; If we retreat or even flee from the battle at the slightest danger, I am afraid that it will have a serious impact on our morale. ”

At this moment, the two were chatting unhurriedly, and their calm and composed expressions suddenly eased the tension in the bridge a lot, after all, there were two royal dukes in charge, even if they died in battle, it was not a loss.

Moreover, most of the naval officers at this time were of aristocratic origin, and the nobility of this period paid great attention to the so-called temperament - elegance.

So there was a strange phenomenon on the ship, although everyone was pretending to be calm, but it gave people a really calm atmosphere.

Outside, the artillery fire was so severe that even the glass was shattered, and someone came up to Archduke Franz and asked, "Do you need dessert and coffee?" ”。

"Coffee, thank you."

Although Da Yanshanyin on the side has always boasted that she is not afraid of death, at this moment, she only dares to lie on the ground and look up at her master.

"Miss Shanyin, this will increase the probability of being shot. Not to mention that it is easy to catch a cold on the deck, and it is easy to trip over other people, especially now that you are in the process of fighting. Franz kindly reminded.

"Archduke Franz, aren't you afraid?" The big salt fir asked tremblingly.

"Fear? It's nature! But it's a little late to talk about that. Since you can't refuse, it's better to enjoy it. Do you need dessert? The other party didn't see that this was Franz's pretended calm answer, but only felt that his unique image in her heart was even higher at this time.

"Please give me some sugar, it is said to calm people." The Great Salt Shanyin finally mustered up the courage to kneel on the deck.

Franz took two sugar cubes and handed them to her, and the sudden impact almost knocked the hull off balance, and the various lamps and upholstery fell like rolling stones.

Apparently Friedrich's iron-headed tactics worked, and the flagship "Venexia" directly sank one of the opponent's largest warships; The enemy battleship tried to escape at the last moment, but the power of the "Venexia", equipped with a steam turbine, was no match for this sail battleship.

The 4700-ton super-1st battleship "Venetia" directly smashed Mayerd's flagship "Truth" to pieces. The Omani Navy, having lost its flagship, immediately fell into disarray.

However, this was only the beginning, and then the Austrian 1st class battleships, also wrapped in iron, entered the enemy line one after another, turning the Arab fleet upside down.

At this time, Friedrich, who was standing on the command platform, shouted: "Raise the flag, tell them to prepare for the second stage of the offensive!"

Five first-class battleships were terrifying enough to fire in enemy formation, and the pseudo-battleships of the Omani Navy, although they did not cut corners like the Egyptians, were equally unable to withstand the close range of first-class battleships.

Soon, however, the Omanis discovered some strange launchers on the decks of enemy ships. Although this rodless spin rocket is powerful, its worrying hit rate makes it almost useless in naval warfare.

But that's only under normal circumstances, such as in this kind of close-range melee, where the advantages of rockets are vividly reflected.

Most of the sailors of the Omani Navy were pirates and had spent their lives dealing with ships and death, so they were not afraid of death or broadside combat.

The situation at this time showed that it was difficult for the Omani artillery to effectively kill the enemy ships, so broadside combat might be a good option.

There were even Omani generals who took the lead, taking off their clothes and standing at the bow of the ship with only a scimitar, just like the Barbary pirates who once threatened the world. But this soon turned out to be a bad decision.

When the Austrian anti-infantry rocket exploded in the air, the armorless Arab warrior instantly became a sieve, and the scattered steel balls directly emptied the deck.

The lethal effect of incendiary rockets is more obvious, as the combustibles spilled by the explosion fall directly on the wooden deck or on the human body, as long as a spark will ignite a skyrocketing fire, and the Omanis who are ready to jump into the state just now instantly turned into fire men, and can only jump into the sea for a chance to survive.

Of course, Mayad also prepared a backhand, that is, a huge self-detonating fleet.

Like later generations of Wahhabis and Taliban and al-Qaeda members, these people have a very strong faith or fear of harming the family members in Mayad's hands, in short, they are not afraid of life and death.

It's a pity that with the sinking of Mayad's flagship and the whereabouts of the commander unknown, no one can command this special force. When someone finally "convinced" some of its members to charge the enemy ship, they found a problem.

That is, the self-detonating fleet could not approach the Austrian warships, and the artillery and rockets and the marksmen were an impassable blockade.

These self-explosive ships are nothing more than carrying a large amount of gunpowder and flammable materials, which are the favorite targets of the opponent's high-explosive shells and rockets, because they can trigger a secondary explosion.

And due to the development of rifled technology in the Austrian Empire, rifled guns were no longer high, but all soldiers could afford to be armed.

The Marines, who had previously been forced to hide in their cabins, took the opportunity to vent their anger on the Arabs who had not declared war.

Friedrich's marines, as the only Austrian unit equipped with breech guns, naturally did not miss this great opportunity to test the power of this new weapon.

The rate of fire of the breech guns was far higher than the Arabs on the other side realized, and they thought that after a round of bullets, they would be able to show their heads and paddle, but they did not expect that only a few seconds later, blood would explode on their heads.

As more opposing warships burst out of the bay, the Omanis were increasingly disadvantaged at sea, and they had no choice but to retreat. However, with the passage of time, the steam engines equipped on Austrian warships gradually began to work.

(It takes a certain amount of time for a steam engine to heat up from a cold engine to a working state.) ）

How can a pure sail warship outrun a ship with sail-steam hybrids? The battle quickly turned into a one-sided massacre, and given that the Omanis were undeclared wars, there was naturally no need for the Austrians to follow the established rules on the battlefield.

The navy men picked up their rifles and hooks and frantically killed the Arab soldiers who had fallen overboard, and several large battleships continued to chase the remnants of the enemy in front, while the smaller warships followed behind were to destroy all the enemies they saw, and by the way, salvage some cargo.

The people of Bagamoyo, who had witnessed the whole journey from the shore, rejoiced that the Omanis who had oppressed them for so many years had finally been defeated.

But Benny Erbin and the rest of Bagamoyo's magnates were speechless in horror. They had expected that the Austrians would be defeated by the Omanis, and that they would be so discouraged that they would let them go.

However, the terrible combat effectiveness displayed by the Austrian Navy really made them break out in a cold sweat.

(End of chapter)