October 3, 1725, North Sea, the waters of Jutland.

"Boom! Rumble! Two shells hit the starboard side of the "Meng Huai" one after another, causing a violent vibration on the side of the hull.

Captain Rong (Second Lieutenant) of the Navy Fu Qingli immediately grabbed the side of the ship and poked his head out to check the damage to the hull.

The 8-centimeter-thick wrought iron armor showed only two deep dents that did not penetrate the hull, and he let out a sigh of relief and retracted again.

"It's OK on the starboard side!" He reported loudly to the commander in charge of damage management.

The steam-sail warship with a displacement of 1,350 tons is equipped with three damage control stations on board, which are located in the steam power room at the bottom, the mast sail area on the deck, and the armor on both sides of the hull

As the flagship of the second detachment of the expeditionary task force, the "Meng Huai" can be described as a full set of armor, the hull shell is installed with a thickness of 8 cm of wrought iron armor, and there is a layer of teak wood with a thickness of 36 cm on the inside, the main keel and ribs are cast of steel, in naval battles, it can withstand the bombardment of 32-pound guns within 100 meters, and it is definitely a "foot armor warrior" at sea. ”

In the past few days, twelve warships of the Second Squadron have been cruising the waters northwest of Jutland in search of English merchant ships that may pass through the area.

The tactics of interception and blockade at sea were first pioneered by the English navy during the First Anglo-Dutch War, and were so successful that the Dutch were forced to submit to the so-called "Navigation Regulations" established by England.

However, this tactic is an extremely difficult task for the officers and men of the Navy. In the vast Atlantic Ocean, under all kinds of complex and changeable climatic conditions, the boring waiting day after day, month after month, is unbearable for many people. However, the expeditionary fleet had established a temporary anchorage in the Faroe Islands, where it could constantly cruise the seas in search of English merchant ships through ship rotation. However, this kind of boring and tedious task will still greatly drain the soldiers' spirit. Unless, in the face of a bloody battle, can the sluggish morale be boosted a little.

At about 10:20 a.m., an English convoy of fifteen merchant ships and eight warships appeared in the fleet's field of vision. The commander of the detachment and General Guangwei (Rear Admiral) Cui Jiwu was overjoyed, and immediately divided the fleet into two and killed it in a position of outflanking left and right.

Although there were only eight English warships escorting the escort, the other side still met them fearlessly, trying to entangle the preying Qi warships, so that the merchant ships could take the opportunity to escape into the depths of the ocean.

A fierce naval battle began.

According to the Royal Navy's regulations on nautical combat, several English warships lined up in battle lines and followed their flagships in an effort to seize the "T" prefix, hoping to take advantage of the firepower of their own gunwales at the first opportunity. The entire fleet was in close formation, with a distance of 200 yards between the front and back, and constantly used the wind to pounce on the Qi fleet on one side.

The Qi people originally had a certain numerical advantage, but they arrogantly divided the twelve warships into two parts, making a posture that wanted to wipe out the entire merchant fleet.

Seeing this, the commander of the English escort fleet immediately made a decision and decided to concentrate all their eight warships to form a local advantage, first inflicting heavy damage on the Qi fleet on one side, and then withdrawing back to block the Qi warships attacking on the other side.

As the two fleets moved in opposite directions, the distance soon approached 500 yards, and within this reasonably effective range, the commander of the English escort fleet ordered some of the ships to fire a little concentrated fire, ready to disrupt the enemy's line.

The performance of the Qi warships was so terrifying that when they attacked, several of them dropped their sails, and then puffed billowing smoke and plunged into their line at unimaginable speed, disrupting their own formation, forcing the English warships to open fire in advance.

During this period, the best shelling distance was generally 200-300 yards, so as to inflict substantial damage on enemy ships. Too far away, unless you are lucky enough to hit the ammunition depot directly, there are not many examples of an enemy ship being sunk immediately - although there are also plenty of cases where the ship can sink due to hull damage after an artillery battle.

The main reasons for the defeat in naval battles were the damage of artillery, the casualties and morale of the gunners, and the defeat of the enemy's will to fight, which would have caused the ships to either be captured or sunk. As the distance gradually approached, the English fleet immediately aimed its guns at the gun positions of the Qi warships, hoping to kill and injure the opponent's gunners and destroy the gun positions on the ships with a dense rain of bullets.

However, the Qi warships seemed to be more calm, and at a distance of 300 yards, they still did not fire artillery, and continued to cut through the line of the English convoy. Brave the constantly flying shells, little by little, they approached the English battleships. Despite the constant impact of shells on the armor, they never penetrated.

The sea breeze blows and blows away the smoke slightly. The officers and men of the English Navy were shocked to find that the warships of the Qi people were not ordinary with rough skin and thick flesh. At such a close distance, more than a dozen shells had struck their broadside hulls, but as if they had not been harmed, they dusted off their bodies and continued to approach them with confident steps.

In a naval battle, if two ships are equipped with the same number of guns and manpower, and have the same rate of fire and accuracy, the penetration of the shells will determine the victory of both sides. But now, the warships of the Qi State seem to be covered with a layer of heavy armor, like an unkillable warrior, not afraid of their own artillery bombardment. This caused an inexplicable fear to rise in the hearts of the commanders and sailors of the English battleships, and then a terrible and desperate feeling.

This battle is likely to be a very unequal battle.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! ……”

The guns of the Qi warships finally fired, and as soon as a thick smoke of gunpowder rose, the two English battleships trembled violently, and then there were several violent explosions, as well as flashes of firelight, countless figures were lifted high, and then fell heavily on the deck, roars, screams, and wails, and suddenly sounded.

The officers shouted hoarsely and ordered the sailors to immediately start extinguishing the fire and avoid the spread of the fire. On a wooden sail warship like theirs, a fire is the deadliest of all. The slightest mistake can ignite the gunpowder, which can lead to an even larger explosion that destroys the entire ship. Even if the risk of gunpowder being ignited is eliminated, if the sails are swallowed by the flames, the ship will soon lose power and become a lamb to the slaughter of the enemy.

In previous battles at sea, almost all of the bullet holes pierced by ships were above the waterline, because the surface tension at sea would cause the shells to switch direction, and the shells would lose their momentum immediately when they entered the water. The worst that could happen was that a downwind shot would hit the waterline and the water poured into the ship's hold would rush in before the sailors could repair it. However, a crack damage management staff can often close the hole quickly in a very short period of time, thus avoiding the influx of large amounts of seawater.

I still remember that during the First Anglo-Dutch War, the flagship "James" under the command of the English Navy Commander Blake, in a battle, the hull of the ship was shot through more than 70 bullet holes by the Dutch Navy, and the bullet holes of the sail were even more numerous, and more than 40 crew members were killed or seriously injured (minor injuries are not counted), and the backmast was also broken and fell on the ship. But after a night of repair, he set sail again, ready to fight again.

Therefore, in a naval battle, the commander of the battleship was not afraid of the opponent's solid shells hitting him, but the most feared thing was that the ship would cause an explosion and a fire.

This time they met with the Qi State Raiding Fleet in a narrow way, but they did not expect that the other party not only was extremely resistant to the ship itself, but also boldly approached the English battleship and fired a volley at them at an extremely close distance. What frightened the English even more was that the shells fired were still flowering shells.

In recent decades, the English Navy has also been actively researching the manufacture of flowering shells, and has produced some, but due to technical defects, it is still unstable. When launched, there is often a mute or an early explosion. The ships of the Royal Navy of England were not equipped with much, lest they not kill the enemy, but they sank their own ships.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! ……”

Just as the ships of the two sides staggered by, the six warships of the Qi State fired another salvo, and at least five or more shells hit the three English warships behind, without exception, they were also flowering shells, and caused a violent explosion, and the flames covered most of the deck.

After such a round of engagement, the escorting English navy was beaten to a pulp, and five of its own warships exploded and caught fire, with heavy casualties. On the other hand, the opponent was almost unscathed, except for a few more dents in the hard hull shell.

Just when the commander of the English escort fleet was struggling with whether to abandon the merchant ships and withdraw from the battle, three Qi warships ignored the resistance of the sea breeze after missing each other, drew a beautiful inner arc on the sea, quickly turned the bow of the ship, and killed the English battleship again.

It's a steam battleship!

The three sail warships "Meng Huai", "Qingqiu", and "Tianyu" were like three dragons on the sea, spitting billowing smoke, and soon caught up with the English escort fleet, and another round of force output against several warships that were on fire. Then, with great speed, he went around the front of the English fleet, forcing it to change course so that the three pure sail warships behind could catch up in time.

The English merchant fleet, which had lost the escort of the warships, began to flee at the first time, trying to evade the pursuit of the other six Qi warships.

The sea was rough and the sky was gloomy. Twelve Qi warships circled around the English fleet and escort ships, constantly suppressing each other through ferocious firepower and agile movements.

The calm gunners skillfully controlled the guns and, under the command of the officers, constantly bombarded the opposing ships and personnel. The crash continued, and a cannon struck the hull of the ship, smashing into a deep dent, and then falling into the sea, causing a splash.

When there was a loud roar from your own gun position, dozens of expanding shells were flying towards the enemy. The gunner, waiting for his shells to hit the target, eagerly awaited the explosion and the dazzling flash of fire. When his shell hit the hull of the ship, the gunner's deep excitement and sense of accomplishment burst out, and they couldn't help but roar when they saw a huge hole in the enemy's ship. But when he turned around, he found that his ship had also been hit hard by an enemy who was very close to him.

Mass corpses were scattered on the deck, the wounded crew wailed helplessly, and the cowardly cowards huddled in the corners of the cabin with their heads in their hands, praying incessantly to God.

As time passed, more and more ships ignited fires, the smoke grew thicker and thicker, and the beast in everyone's heart was released, roaring with all its might.

The battle came to an end at two o'clock in the afternoon, and the vast sea was littered with countless planks, buckets, canvases, and miscellaneous items. Several scarred merchant ships and warships floated alone at sea, awaiting the verdict of the victors, and two ships in the distance were in flames, but miraculously did not sink into the water.

More than a dozen small boats were scattered on the surface of the sea, paddling gently, salvaging the English sailors who were carrying buckets and floating with the sea one by one.

“…… Here you go. ”

Fu Qingli looked at the English officer who was wet opposite, and he didn't know whether he was scared or frozen by the cold sea, and the whole person was constantly trembling, holding his head in his hands, and muttering in his mouth. He couldn't help but feel a little sympathy, took out a flask from his satchel, and handed it over.

"......" The English officer subconsciously shrank back, his eyes widened, and he looked at Fu Qingli in horror, and after taking a closer look at the wine jug, he hesitated, reached out and took it, opened the stopper, and poured it into his mouth.

"Ahem...... "Ahem" may have been drunk in a hurry, or it may have caused an irritation in the throat from the smell of alcohol, and the English officer coughed violently, causing the two rowing soldiers to laugh.

"Oh, thank you!" With a grateful look on his face, the English officer handed the flask back to Fu Qingli.

"You have been defeated, and from now on, you will be our prisoners." Fu Qingli couldn't hear what he was saying, and after taking the wine jug, he said to himself: "With your little strength in England, you are not the opponent of our Qi country at all." Although you are very brave on the battlefield and very professional in your skills and tactics, you are not enough in front of our absolute strength! The gap between our two navies is unimaginable. As you can see, after this naval battle, we were almost undamaged except for two sail warships, which were heavily damaged. As for you, almost all of your troops have been wiped out, and even the merchant ships escorted by you have only escaped five times. ”

The English officer listened to Fu Qingli babbling, although the language was not understood, but seeing the other party's eyebrows fluttering, he could also guess that this Qi officer might be boasting about their brilliant victory in this battle.

Yes, none of their eight escort warships were spared, four were sunk, two were heavily damaged, and two warships with minor damage were captured, and most of the officers and men were also killed or wounded. Their fleet commander, his captain, and his men were either killed on the spot by artillery fire, or sank into the icy ocean with the ship, but he was the only one who survived the battle.

Oh God, hopefully none of this is true!

The Qi people were perhaps the most formidable enemies their English had ever encountered.

In the face of such a formidable enemy, do our Royal Navy of England have any hope of victory?

(End of chapter)