Chapter 494: The Decisive Battle (Part 1)

Xiao Sanlang was in a bad mood. He originally thought that with his military achievements to completely wipe out the Dutch Far East Fleet, he could have played a good job in the sea battle that was about to begin. However, he did not expect that the last thing that fell on his head was another scammer, which really made Xiao Sanlang so depressed that he was half depressed. Therefore, as soon as he left the main fleet, Xiao Sanlang threw the command power to Chief of Staff He Haitao, and went back to the cabin to sulk. However, his sulk was not long before He Haitao who broke into the cabin: "Commander, English Fleet, find the traces of the English Fleet in front!"

"What?" Xiao Sanlang suddenly stood up, and without caring about asking in detail, rushed out of the cabin quickly, strode towards the front deck, and pulled out the telescope from his arms while running.

"Eight nautical miles ahead, we found an enemy fleet with targets of 42: eight first-class battleships, twenty-one second-class battleships, five cruisers, and two supply ships. The enemy fleet was in flames and smoke filled the sky. It was suspected that our fleet was attacking the enemy fleet. "As soon as the lookout on the "Weihai" saw Xiao Sanlang rushing to the fore deck, he immediately reported loudly. Due to the horizontal line, the "Weihai" could not see the main cluster of the Qing fleet several nautical miles behind the English fleet, and could only report based on the chaos in the English fleet.

"Commander, there seems to be something wrong with the English fleet. This chaos seems to be an internal strife. Did the British fight with him?" He Haitao, who was standing next to Xiao Sanlang, found that the flames and smoke in the English fleet seemed to emerge from the center of the fleet, and did not seem to be attacked by outsiders. He couldn't help but say in confusion.

Due to distance, Xiao Sanlang could not see clearly the "Veoron" fighting bloody battles in the English fleet from the telescope. He also couldn't understand what the English fleet was playing, but he clearly was that the strength of the half of his second squadron was far less than that of the England main fleet. Without knowing where his main fleet was located, a problem was in front of him - to fight or not?

It is very simple not to fight. At this time, the two sides are still seven or eight nautical miles apart. As long as the Second Squadron turns, they can avoid the English fleet. But the problem is that if they really make way out, under military law, Xiao Sanlang has a few brains that are not enough to cut. Fight? Just a little force to resist the English fleet. You don’t have to think about it and know that there will definitely be defeats but no victory. If the main fleet of our side cannot arrive in time, the end of the entire army is annihilated is probably not far away. Even if Xiao Sanlang is not afraid of death, he cannot ruin the reputation of the Second Squadron. If the title of "covering" the fleet is added to the title of "a defeated general", Xiao Sanlang will not forgive himself even if he dies.

Xiao Sanlang was paced around the front deck anxiously, feeling complicated and still couldn't make up his mind. He Haitao stood aside and naturally understood Xiao Sanlang's difficulties. He breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Commander, fight! The first squadron's Black Island Battle also defeated the strong by the weak. We can't always wear the broken hat of "covering the fleet", right?"

He Haitao's words were like a handful of salt sprinkled on Xiao Sanlang's wound. When he thought of his former colleague Qiao Hailong, now an admiral, he heard that he might take over the position of Minister of the Navy. Xiao Sanlang's dark face twitched, he gritted his teeth viciously, and ordered loudly: "Transfer: The whole army advances, prepare to seize the upper hand." With Xiao Sanlang's order, he issued more than ten second squadrons.

The warship immediately began to change directions and rushed towards the wind line on the flank of the English fleet along the diagonal line, preparing to seize the upper hand. The ship was traveling very quickly. In just a quarter of an hour, the distance between the English fleet and the still in chaos had been narrowed to three nautical miles. At this time, the lookout post on the mast of the "Weihai" suddenly screamed: "Main fleet, our main fleet has arrived. Four miles behind the English fleet!"

What? Xiao Sanlang suddenly became anxious - his order just now was to seize the upper wind line, and he had already made way out of the channel. It was too late to seize the lower wind line again to prevent the English fleet from escaping. He was anxious and suddenly shook Yun Xi's angry face in front of him, and immediately shouted: "Transmission: Turn to thirty degrees, sail at full speed, and go into the British fleet!"

The warship of the "Viron" was already in full swing. After rushing through the English fleet for a quarter of an hour, the "Viron" shot again for 40 times, and the "Viron" had lost its navigation ability, the main mast was broken and the side sails were broken. The rudder cabin was damaged, and huge holes were everywhere on the huge hull. The three-layer gun decks were damaged. The fire and smoke filled the cabin. The cannon could no longer fire. The ship had already begun to tilt left due to serious water leakage. It was inevitable that it would sink. There were only more than 200 sailors left in the ship. Liu Ninghai, who was seriously injured, stood under the main mast that had been broken into several pieces, glaring at the English fleet around who were constantly firing guns towards the "Viron" attacking, but none of them tried to abandon the ship to escape.

Lieutenant General Liu Ninghai, who had lost too much blood, had already looked as pale as paper. He looked around the wounded officers and soldiers around him, raised his hand with difficulty, and said in a trembling voice: "Abandon the ship, brothers, we have completed the mission, and now I order all the ship to abandon it." The officers and soldiers of the "Weilong" who had always been bleeding but not crying suddenly started to cry, and carried Liu Ninghai with tears in his tears and ran towards the remaining lifeboats.

On the front deck of the "New Wales", Admiral Nadal silently looked at the sinking Qing warship not far away, suddenly raised his hand and saluted a standard military salute, and ordered loudly: "Transfer: No need to care about the warship, the entire army has it. Go forward with all sails and immediately rushed back to Danmasi." With the order issued, the British warships were still firing at the place where the "Viron" was fired, and the British warships gave up the opportunity to sink the "Viron" and accelerated the assault forward, trying to take advantage of the opportunity of the Second Squadron giving up the channel and running towards Danmasi.

"Grandma, damn Xiao Sanlang, if you let the British go, I will strip him down!" Liu Yao, who was rushing to the front deck of the "Weisheng" at the front of the Qing fleet, saw the dynamics of the battlefield and guessed all Xiao Sanlang's actions at that time. Seeing that the channel was empty at this time, Liu Yao immediately started to curse in anger.

Yun Zi also had a gray face. He held the telescope in his hand and looked silently at the Second Squadron's moves in the distance. He had the heart to kill Xiao Sanlang with a knife. But he was the head coach after all, so he couldn't say anything at this time. He could only wait for a miracle to happen.

The reason why miracles are miracles is that they are rare, but no matter how rare it is, there will always be a wind direction - the wind direction suddenly changes! The original southeast wind direction suddenly changes, the air current changes, sometimes east wind, sometimes west wind, which makes all the warships that were sailing at full speed fall into trouble. Both the Qing fleet and the English fleet inevitably fall into chaos. To put it bluntly, it is actually very simple: the monsoon changes direction in mid-May every year near the equator, but no one of the two sides of the war expected that it would happen at this time.

Fighter planes appeared! Although the Second Squadron of the Qing Dynasty was also affected by the changes in the wind direction, this impact was not too great for them, perhaps because they were worried about the consequences of letting go of the English fleet. The officers and soldiers of the fleet showed their super-level sailing ability. The entire fleet stabbed into the front of the chaotic English fleet like a sharp sword, blocking the British army's retreat to the single-masek route. At this time, the distance between the two sides was only less than half a mile, and a big battle was inevitable!

Admiral Nadal looked at the second Qing squadron that had already begun to adjust the battle lines not far away in front of him. He calculated the distance between them and breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that there was no hope of breaking through the attack of the second Qing squadron before the main Qing squadron caught up. Once he got entangled, when the main Qing squadron arrived, the destruction of the English Far East Fleet was inevitable under the attack from the main Qing squadron. He looked back at the main Qing squadron who was chasing him, and issued a battle order with a gloomy face: "Turn to the northwest and prepare for combat."

The northwest direction is the upwind line, not the tactics that the English fleet should choose. However, the bow of the Qing Dynasty Second Squadron, which was standing in front, was just southeast. No matter how hard the English fleet tried its best to adjust its course, it would not be faster than the Qing Dynasty Second Squadron. If it was to force it, it would either directly hit the gun of the Second Squadron. Either a big melee occurred and was beaten by the main Qing Dynasty fleet coming from behind. In this way, it would be better to just grab the upwind line and fight to the death with the Qing Dynasty fleet.

"Good job!" Yun Zi saw the series of beautiful tactical movements of the Second Squadron. No matter how calm he was, he couldn't help but shouted ok, laughing and ordered: "Transmission: The entire army has it. Heading to the southeast. Occupy the downwind line and prepare for battle. Order Xiao's army to turn the bow of the ship, stand on time, and prepare to cooperate with the main force to launch the final attack! Order Chen Chengwen's army in the first squadron was arranged after the main force had plastic surgery, and was at a 90-degree angle, parallel to the Second Squadron, waiting for my order. "

The adjustments of both fleets were very fast, but more than a quarter of an hour, and the formations of both sides had been set: the English fleet, which was on the upper wind line, was in a column of forty-two warships, and all the warships had already fallen half sails and were sailing slowly. In the middle were three first-class warships, including the flagship "New Wales", and the rest were distributed on both sides of the flagship, and the spacing between each warship was about twenty meters; the Qing fleet, which was on the lower wind line, had a strange formation - the one in the front was also in a column of Chengyi.

The forty-eight large and small warships were also half sailing. Among them, the flagship "Wishen" and three other large warships were in the center, and the rest were separated by the left and right. The distance between each ship was about twenty meters, and the ground was taken in the opposite direction from England. The other two squadrons of land consisting of more than ten warships were lined up at about five hundred meters behind the fleet, and they were at a ninety-degree angle with the main force, as if they were here to watch the battle rather than participate in the battle. The distance between the main fleets of the two sides was more than four hundred meters, and they did not start fighting immediately.

Admiral Nadal could not see the mystery of the Qing army's formation. Once the two sides began to exchange fire, since the ships were sailing towards each other, the two squadrons in the back of the Qing army could not get involved. Such wasted troops made General Nadal puzzled. However, the war was about to come, and General Nadal did not think much. He looked at the Qing army's battle line that was being adjusted in the distance with a serious expression, and ordered loudly: "The warriors of Great England, the last moment to test your courage. Take out your abilities and let the yellow monkeys see who is the real master of the sea. For Great England and Her Majesty, I order: start attacking, lean on, and fight hard!" As Admiral Nadal's order was passed to each ship, the entire battle line of the English fleet immediately began to move forward and force towards the Qing army's battle line.

Seeing that the English fleet began tactical movements, Yun Zi sneered, gritted his teeth, and whispered: "There are all soldiers. Take a good look at the sinking 'Veoron'. Don't forget that it was the brothers of the 'Veoron' who had won the opportunity for a decisive battle for everyone. Ask yourself: If you can't wipe out the British, are you worthy of those dead brothers? Are you worthy of the saint's cultivation? This king ordered: the attack begin!"

"Fight to death and never retreat! Fight to death and never retreat!" As Yun Zi's orders were transmitted to the ships on the battle line, the neat sound of the battle line sounded among the ships, and the sound waves soared into the sky. With the sound of the battle line sounded, the Qing army's battle line also began to move forward, and the distance between the two battle line being slowly traveled quickly shortened.

Three hundred meters, two hundred and eighty meters, and two hundred and fifty meters, with Yun Zi's order, the flagship of the Qing fleet, "Weisheng", took the lead in firing the first artillery of the largest naval battle in the history of the Far East. In an instant, thousands of artillery artillery from the forty-eight battleships of the Qing army opened fire in turn. With the rumbling guns, thousands of artillery shells roared at the English fleet, which was still trying to narrow the distance between the two sides. The war finally began!
Chapter completed!