Under the fiery red sunlight, Li Xiu was surprised to find five huge smoke pillars rising in the distance. The English fleet also used steam engines? After a closer look, it turned out to be smoke pillars.

"Laiyuan, Jingyuan, Jiyuan are in front, Zhenyuan, and Dingyuan are behind in a cross formation and march towards the enemy ship. Pay attention! The enemy ship is probably also a steam engine ship, and its speed is no worse than ours.

Zhiyuan will stay and guard the landing fleet." The flag carrier quickly conveyed Li Xiu's order to each ship.

The five ironclad ships immediately increased their speed, and cut head to tail in the direction of the enemy fleet. At six o'clock, the fleets on both sides became clearer in the telescope. Li Xiu took a breath, and it was indeed a steam engine ship. And...

It seems to be no smaller than my own boat!

The only cheaper thing now is that your own fleet is cut diagonally. All the ships in the fleet are connected end to end with their broadsides facing the local fleet, so that the firepower of the sideguns can be fully utilized.

At 6:13, the calculation soldier reported that the place had entered the shooting range.

"Wait a minute!" Li Xiu pursed his lips and looked a little nervous. He discovered that the opponent's fleet was actually an ironclad ship. This was so surprising. In just two years, the English were able to build five ironclad ships.

.I have worked hard in the past few years, but I have only built three ships.

The current comparison of forces is five to five! No one is taking advantage, but they just don’t know the performance of the opponent’s fleet and ships.

The person commanding the British fleet is George! As a member of the royal family, he is also the commander of England's Far East Fleet. Over the years, he has plundered India's people's wealth and sold arms and duck fillets to all over the world. All the huge sums of money he finally saved were used to build this

Several giant battleships.

Of course! Wu Sangui bribed the craftsmen of Xingcheng Shipyard and secretly produced some private sketches, which also played a role in fueling the flames.

At 6:20 in the morning, the newly rising sun illuminated the sea surface a fiery red. Li Xiu's fleet turned its back to the sun, and the Union Jack of the English fleet in front of it could be clearly seen.

"Three minutes later, each ship fired a salvo at the enemy's lead ship." To Li Xiu's surprise, the enemy fleet did not form a line array to exert the power of the side string artillery. Instead, the bow of the ship charged at his own fleet.

come over!

In this formation, only the front main gun can exert its power. Could it be said that they are so confident in their front main gun?

Li Xiu looked nervously at the pocket watch in his hand, his ears filled with the roar of machines.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!...!" Thousands of cannons fired in unison, and Li Xiu felt his flagship slide far to the side, and the entire hull became tilted.

The five ironclad ships had more than 100 side guns and main guns in total. More than 100 shells were thrown at a local warship. It was actually a matter of chance. On the bumpy sea, no one could guarantee that they would be able to hit it.

Accurate. If more than a hundred cannonballs are thrown down, there will always be a few hits.

This is the same reason as when muskets were first used, people needed to be arranged densely.

Holding a telescope in his hand, he stared at the enemy's lead ship without blinking.

As if in an instant, water pillars rose up around the warship. Orange light shone on the warship, which was reflected so red by the rising sun.

George was sitting on his flagship HMS Hood. Next to him was the battleship HMS Prince of Wales. It was a battleship named after his father's title. It was also the newest of all battleships and the one most similar to the Ming Dynasty battleship. It was known as the British

The pride of the navy.

He watched as a huge fireball exploded from the front deck of the Prince of Wales, and billowing smoke instantly enveloped the latest ironclad.

"Damn it! The whole fleet is full port rudder, fire back." It was obvious that the speed of the Prince of Wales had slowed down, and George immediately issued the order. It was not that he did not want to use the power of the broadside artillery, but he wanted to reduce the ship's speed as much as possible before engaging the enemy.

However, he never expected that the enemy fleet would ignore other ships and bombard the Prince of Wales with firepower.

Fortunately, his flagship was not located there, otherwise the entire fleet would have lost command.

The British fleet is worthy of being the first fleet in Europe that defeated the Spanish navy. Following George's order, all ships, including the injured Prince of Wales, all set their left rudders. Originally, the bows of the ships were facing the Ming fleet.

The British fleet suddenly turned sideways.

Almost at the same time as the ship turned sideways, the British fleet also opened fire.

Li Xiu felt countless water splashing around his flagship. He had just been hit by artillery shells and was actually hit by several more artillery shells. There was thick smoke billowing from the side, and through the huge glass windows, he could see the hands of the damage control team members.

He was holding a faucet inside and was trying to put out the fire.

"Load! Load! Hurry!" the gunners shouted at the top of their lungs. At this time, even a minute faster reloading time is an advantage!

When it comes to loading, the Ming Army has a very big advantage. Because there is a motor in the Ming Army turret!

Motors are considered the highest-level secret of the Ming Dynasty. They are all produced at the Changxing Island Motor Factory. With Wu Sangui's methods, there is no way to get the secret of the motors! If you want to have a motor, you can only rely on the bribed workers to guess in a few words.

Even Britain, which had scientists as powerful as Newton, could not reverse-engineer an electric motor with just a few sentences and crooked sketches.

With the help of the motor, the Ming army's main gun quickly completed loading. The triple-mounted main gun immediately fired a salvo, and shells weighing more than 100 kilograms rushed out of the barrel and flew towards the enemy ship.

The sea outside Singapore suddenly became lively, and the fleets of both sides came and went and fired continuously. The warships were hit by various small artillery shells from time to time. Whether it was the Ming fleet or the English fleet, they all emitted thick smoke.

With the advantage of the motor, the English navy's main gun fired twice, and the Ming army's main gun fired four times. Unfortunately, none of the four salvos hit the enemy warship. However, the Prince of Wales took a close shot.

The bomb was lost and the speed became even slower.

Good luck does not always favor a person, but bad luck likes to take care of the same person. Just when the speed of the Prince of Wales dropped to only half of its previous speed, a shell from the Ming army's fifth salvo finally hit the Prince of Wales.

The main gun shells weighing more than 150 kilograms are completely different from those small-caliber shells. The shells directly hit the front main battery of the Prince of Wales, and with a huge explosion, the front main gun of the Prince of Wales actually flew away.

When I got up, the front deck, which was originally filled with smoke, now lost the entire superstructure.

The hull of the Prince of Wales obviously began to tilt. If no solution was found, this pride of the English navy would probably sink in the first battle.

"Well done, it's better to cut off one of his fingers than to injure ten of them. Concentrate your firepower and kill that ship." Li Xiu understood that as long as he killed the seriously injured warship, he would have a five to four advantage.

Just after giving the order, Li Xiu was looking through the telescope. Suddenly, a shell directly hit the front deck of the flagship Zhenyuan. This was a small-caliber shell. The damage to the deck was not serious, but a piece of shrapnel was impartial.

It hit the glass in front of Li Xiu.

The huge glass window suddenly shattered, and huge glass fragments hit Li Xiu.

The guards around him pushed Li Xiu down with quick hands and eyes. There was chaos on the Jian Bridge, and everyone ran over.

Li Xiu was pulled up, and a two-inch-long gash was cut on his shoulder and face. The guard who threw him down had a large piece of glass stuck in his head, and his brain was flowing out. He was about to die.

Not alive anymore.

"Don't hold me! Grandma, let me fuck them. Go back and watch what I'm doing, I won't die." Li Xiu's eyes widened, and everyone dispersed in a hurry, returning to their posts to continue working.

.

While the Ming warships concentrated their firepower to besiege the Prince of Wales, George on the Hood also had red eyes. He ordered all the warships to concentrate their firepower on Li Xiu's flagship. Because he found through the telescope that only the mast of this warship was

The Yellow Dragon flag was flying. George determined that this ship was the flagship of the Ming army.

Because there is no motor, the shells of the British main gun cannot be too heavy. Only two people are allowed to load the shells in the small turret.

In just ten minutes, Li Xiu's flagship Zhenyuan received two British main gun shells one after another. The Zhenyuan was in a desperate situation. Half of its rear main gun was blown away, and the two turrets on the side were directly opened.

They suffered heavy casualties.

The front deck started to catch fire after being hit by several small-caliber artillery pieces. The damage control soldier sprayed water on the fire with a faucet. The result was that the smoke became even bigger. The smoke mixed with water vapor rose into the sky, and the huge smoke column was dozens of miles away.

Everybody can see it.

"Sir! Abandon the ship and move to Jiyuan." The captain of the guard knelt on the ground and begged Li Xiu.

"Get out! Take him quickly and help put out the fire. As long as the boiler doesn't explode, I'll be fine. Send the order, prepare torpedoes for me." Li Xiu kicked the captain of the guard over and threw himself at the window with red eyes and shouted.

The torpedo commander heard the order and immediately began preparations.

The naval battle lasted for an hour, and the fleets of both sides were already very close. Li Xiu's Zhenyuan was frantically pursuing the Prince of Wales, and the British warships were frantically pursuing Zhenyuan. Dingyuan, Laiyuan, Jiyuan, and Jingyuan were protected around Zhenyuan, and the sea surface

It's already a mess.

The Prince of Wales suffered heavy damage, with flames coming out of all the superstructures. Many people could be seen jumping from the warship with fire on their bodies. However, no one of the artillerymen on the fort escaped. They all stayed on the fort.

Continuously fired artillery shells at the Ming army.

However, it was hit one after another, causing the speed of the Prince of Wales to slow down greatly. One of the boilers was damaged, and the power was only half of the previous one. The Zhenyuan was getting closer and closer, and the Zhenyuan was accurately targeting the turrets on the Prince of Wales.

Launched, constantly destroying the turrets on the Prince of Wales.

Especially the powerful front main gun, almost every shot will open a turret.

Unfortunately, the shells all hit the warship above the waterline. Although the Prince of Wales was hit by dozens of bullets and covered in thick smoke, there was no sign of sinking.

As a last resort! Li Xiu decided to use the latest weapon - torpedoes!

This thing was proposed by Li Xiao, and the focus was on attacking the underwater parts of local ships. According to Li Xiu's estimation, if his Zhenyuan was hit by a torpedo, it would probably be disabled, or even silenced.

This thing is so powerful that two hundred kilograms of explosives can tear apart the armor of a battleship underwater.

The only bad thing is that the torpedo launch distance is a bit too close. Therefore, Li Xiu ordered Zhenyuan to chase the Prince of Wales desperately.

"The distance is five hundred meters!" the range-finding soldier loudly announced the number.

Five hundred meters, this distance can already launch torpedoes. Li Xiu looked at the smoke-filled Prince of Wales and shouted: "Let go!"

Following the order, the torpedo commander opened the gate. The two torpedoes rushed directly into the seawater, rushing towards the staggering Prince of Wales with two white water lines.

The Prince of Wales did not know what the other party was launching, but Captain Lawrence instinctively ordered the warship to turn the rudder. He decided that it was not a good thing!

The helmsman turned the steering gear with all his strength, and the huge hull of the Prince of Wales twisted hard. One torpedo flew past the bow of the ship, but another torpedo directly hit the bow of the ship.

"Boom!" The huge explosion directly sent water pillars into the sky, and Li Xiu could even see fragments of the armor that had been blown away.

After the huge water curtain fell, Li Xiu's jaw almost dropped to the ground in shock. He had thought that torpedoes were very powerful, but he didn't expect them to be so powerful.

The bow of the Prince of Wales was completely missing, and sea water was pouring in crazily along the large broken hole. It was so fast that a vortex was formed on the sea surface. The huge Prince of Wales was tilting at a speed visible to the naked eye. Countless.

The officers and soldiers jumped into the sea like dumplings.

"Good boy! This thing is so powerful. What the hell are you thinking about? Turn the helm! Turn the helm! We're going to hit you." Li Xiu roared, and the helmsman was also dumbfounded before he even thought of turning the helm.

"Oh! God!" On the flagship HMS Hood, George saw the last moments of the HMS Prince of Wales. From the day the ship was built, George believed that this was an unsinkable battleship. The only known battleship in the world

None of the weapons would cause fatal damage to him.

But the explosion just now completely shattered George's cognition. He didn't understand what kind of thing could explode underwater. But he knew that it was very dangerous. If the Prince of Wales couldn't resist,

All the warships under his banner cannot withstand the blow of that thing.

"Retreat! Retreat!" George gave the order angrily.

After an hour and a half of fierce fighting, the remaining four battleships were also scarred. If they were caught up by the enemy fleet and attacked with underwater explosive weapons, the entire fleet would be wiped out.

This is the essence of the British Royal Navy, and it must not be lost in your own hands.

The retreat whistle sounded, and the British warships accelerated to leave the battlefield. Li Xiu led the fleet in pursuit for a while but failed to catch up. Thinking that there was a huge landing fleet behind him, Li Xiu could only watch the British fleet getting closer and closer.

the further away.
Chapter completed!