Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Billy put down the binoculars and took a few steps.I didn't see the main armored ships of the Qing Dynasty mentioned by Toure, so I quickly guessed the Qing army's intentions.He smiled coldly and said: "Unexpectedly, the Chinese sent out those sailboats, haha, are they trying to delay time? Use their new warships to kill Feier's fleet? But are they too naive? The same goes for Feier We have two ironclads, four cruisers, eight gunboats, and four torpedo boats." From Billy's point of view, it might only take half an hour to defeat the sailboats in front of him.

"Instructions, the standard speed of the fleet is 8 knots, change formation. The right column deflects 45 degrees to the north and heads northwest. Also meet the enemy in a column formation." Billy decided to defeat these old-fashioned warships first, and then go to encircle the Qing army. new warships.

The French fleet, which had been advancing side by side, quickly opened to both sides like a torn zipper, and turned into an upward greater than sign "ˇ".At this moment, the guns on the sidestring of the warship raised their gun covers one by one, and the black barrels pointed at the Qing fleet that was speeding on the sea level.

At this time, Xu Changshun, the captain of the "Evergreen", formed a long line of staggered lines facing the enemy ships with their heads facing each other.

The horizontal team tactics were successfully used by the Austrians in the Lisa naval battle between Austria and Italy in 1866. They used this formation to quickly approach the Italian fleet and start a boarding battle with it, and even sank in the chaos. a battleship.This naval battle is a classic battle in the era of steam engine warships.Xu Changshun's first tactical class at the Fujian Shipbuilding Academy was about this naval battle, and now, in his opinion, the only way to help them narrow the gap between the two armies is this formation.His ships are too old and too small. The 1134-ton "evergreen" is already considered big.Unless the most powerful main gun on the ship directly hits the enemy's hull at close range, it is impossible to cause too much damage to the French ship. Warships lined up in a row can quickly rush into the enemy fleet, disrupt the enemy's formation, and then proceed Split surround.

Although the posture of facing the enemy with the head of the ship makes the rear main gun and most of the side guns unable to function, but it gives the front main gun a greater shooting angle and space to play. These old-fashioned gunboats were originally designed according to the needs of coastal defense. Yes, there is a general lack of side guns and rear guns, so the impact is not great.

Furthermore, in naval battles, the elevation angle of the artillery is not adjusted, and the striking part is mainly the side string.But now the Qing fleet meets the enemy with its bow, which greatly reduces the chance of being shot on the sidestring.And you can move in an "S" shape at will to avoid enemy shells.

At 12:07 noon, the battle known as the South China Sea War by later generations began...

"boom……"

The 320mm main gun of "Elegance" in charge of the first round made a loud sound, and many unprepared people immediately felt that their ears had lost their hearing.

The scorching shock wave rushed out of the front of the gun barrel with the fire and white smoke after firing, and at the same time carried the suffocating smell of gunpowder.The gun carriage was pushed up the retreat slope by the huge recoil force brought by the shooting, and the hydraulic recoil machine also played a role in counteracting the recoil force.But at this time, not many people will lament the exquisite design, everyone is watching the shooting effect of the first shell!

After Ten Miao hit, before the cannonball exploded, the main gun of "Victory" not far from "Elegance" on the left also rang.

After another two minutes, I saw the "Elegance" shell exploded in the water and set off a white water column nearly 200 meters high. It missed the target!This is not unexpected. With a sharp whistling sound, the shell passed through the deck of the "Wan Nian Qing" which was rushing forward from the front right to the rear left, and exploded only [-] meters away from its port side.

The main gunner immediately reported: "It's far away." The explosion of the shell was not transmitted back to the "Elegance" until 18 seconds after the launch.

Xu Changshun had participated in the battle to encircle and suppress "Elegance" during the East China Sea naval battle, and knew very well the power of its artillery.However, he was still deeply shocked by the huge explosion 200 meters away. At this time, the distance between the two armies was only 3000 meters.

"Order the Elegance and the Victory to turn full rudder to the left, and keep away from the warships of the Qing Dynasty. Give them the most painful blow outside the range of their artillery, and the other warships follow me to full rudder to the right. Also keep the distance from them." Billy said to the adjutant beside him.

The distance that was shortened just now was pulled away again in an instant.So far, the nine gunboats of the Qing army have still not fired a single shot.Although the range is barely enough, it is a pity that it can hit the French ship at such a long distance.It's just setting off fireworks on the opponent's deck, and they can't penetrate their thick steel plates at all.

"Don't disperse the team, concentrate on the Elegance and the Victory." Xu Changshun continued to order.

"Xu Guandai, in this way, our ship's stern will be the target of the Tour!" A soldier said with an ugly expression.

Xu Changshun calmly looked at the French fleet that was slowly separating, and shouted to the semaphore soldiers: "Tell them, the ships are 3000 meters apart. Don't get together! Find an opportunity to surround the Elegance, even if it hits, I will pretend to be sinking." he."

"boom……"

A shell accurately hit the "Zhendong" gunboat rushing from the front, directly pierced the sidestring and exploded inside the ship.A large hole about three meters in diameter exploded.

The "Zhendong" immediately tilted severely to the right, and a large amount of seawater entered the belly of the "Zhendong".However, "Zhendong", which had eaten more than 400 tons of seawater, still rushed towards "Elegance" without hesitation.

"Haha, these small gunboats are really beyond their control. Tell the main gunner to aim straight for me. Sink him!" On the "Elegance", Toure looked excitedly at Zeng Jin's small gunboat that had chased him around the East China Sea.

"Report to the general, there are two Qing army gunboats on the left. There is a gunboat that was shot on the right and is also heading towards us at full speed." An observer reported.

"Oh? Are they just staring at us?" Toure looked to the right and continued: "Sign up and tell the Victory. Move quickly to my left and kill those two mosquito ships."

Xu Changshun's "Wan Nian Qing" had already been hit by two shells at this time, but fortunately only the stern of the rear ship was hit.And it was only caused by some small French gunboats and the side string secondary guns of "Tour", and the damage was not great.The fire that appeared at the stern of the ship has also been extinguished, watching the gunboats around them being sunk one by one.Heart full of grief and indignation!

"Tell the Nancen to fire on the Elegance. Bring him to me." Xu Changshun turned his head and said to the soldiers, "Go to the Elegance at full speed, don't care how many French warships are firing at us."

Toure stood in the observation cabin, watching the Qing army gunboats that were either submerged in water or sunk, or shot and burned, still heading towards him without hesitation.In addition to a trace of surprise in my heart, I was also deeply shocked by this spirit!

"What kind of army is this?" Toure said silently.

"Report, the Dole sent a semaphore requesting us to break out to the southeast at full speed. The two cruisers "La Pelous" and "Parry" have already rushed over as fast as possible." A messenger said.

"Go southeast and advance at full speed. The side and rear guns will fire at the gunboats of the Qing army." Toure ordered decisively.

On the other side, Xu Changshun saw that the "Elegance" was indeed coming towards him.He was secretly happy in his heart, although in front of "Elegance", his warship might be just a mouse in front of an elephant.But sometimes, a rat can often kill an elephant!

"Turn 30 degrees to the right, head straight to the northwest, pass the main gun of the opponent's bow, and move toward the sidestring of the Elegance." Xu Shunchang ordered.

Since the shooting angle of the main gun is only 25 degrees, avoid 30 degrees.Basically, you can avoid the terrifying main gun with 320mm caliber!Although those side-string secondary guns also have huge lethality, they are already the smallest blows that can be accepted so far.

The "Evergreen" shook violently, and the sidestring was hit by the main gun of the cruiser "Parry" behind it.Due to the long distance, although the hull was not pierced, there were many cracks and water ingress in the hull!

At the beginning in the East China Sea, the small gunboats of the French army were surrounded in a small area of ​​the military port.Sunk by consecutive hits from "Undefeated" and "Long Victory".It was caused by the narrow space in the military port and the inability to turn.But now in the vast South China Sea, although it is also a large ironclad ship facing a small gunboat.But the situation is completely different,

After more than 2 hours of fighting, there were less than 9 of the Qing army's 4 gunboats left.And the only four remaining gunboats are also riddled with holes, especially the "Zhenbian". After being hit by a torpedo, most of the hull was already in the sea.And the main gunner is still firing at elegance!

"boom……"

A cannonball drew a graceful arc in the air, and accurately landed on the deck of the Elegance.Although it did not cause any damage to the Elegance itself, the gunner responsible for firing the cannon on the deck was killed on the spot, along with several sailors responsible for transporting the shells.

Xu Changshun saw the opportunity, perhaps in the entire blocking battle.There is only one chance!

"Go at full speed to the Elegance, don't go around the S anymore. Go straight ahead, their main guns have misfired. Maybe only a few minutes, rush up to me."

Xu Changshun reacted quickly.

Toure saw clearly inside, and hurriedly arranged: "Quickly, let the deputy gunner go to the front of the ship to control the main gun. Shoot at the Qing gunboat rushing forward. The ship stops advancing"

1000 meters, 800 meters, 500 meters...

closer, closer...

The corners of Xu Changshun's mouth slowly lifted up, revealing his first smile since the start of the war!

On the other side, Toure's face was pale, and he cursed at the adjutant beside him: "Why haven't we stopped yet. We are about to collide with the gunboat on the opposite side."

"General, it has already stopped. But the one who just moved forward at full speed of 15 knots has too much inertia. It can't stop all at once!"

"Is the deputy gunner not in place yet? Shoot them quickly." Toure roared crazily.

"It's in place, but the shell on the deck has been blown up. The ammunition man has gone to the ammunition depot to get it, and it should be in place soon."

The distance between the two ships was only 200 meters.At such a close distance, if the main gun of the "Elegance" fired a shell. The "Wannianqing" will be directly pierced through the entire hull, but the first to fire is the "Wannianqing"

"boom……"

Even at such a short distance, the shells fired by the "Wannianqing" barely caused a little damage to the "Elegance".Or that there is no fatal injury at all.

Fortunately, they have time, under a series of blows. The "Elegance" was shot 4 times in a row at close range, and the bow of the ship was cracked and there was water ingress.

At this time, the cruiser "Parry" had already caught up, and hit the "Evergreen" with several shells in a row.But this time it was not so lucky. Due to the short distance, the "Wannianqing" has been seriously flooded and shows signs of sinking.

"Xu Guandai, the rear cabin was penetrated by the deck. It was seriously flooded and it was out of control." A soldier reported.

Xu Shunchang looked at the gradually receding Elegance, feeling 1 dissatisfied in his heart.If he was commanding an ironclad ship of the same level, the Elegance in front of him would have returned to the South China Sea long ago...

"Tell my brothers, today is the day we serve the emperor and the court. Go up to me and knock over that **** Elegance. Even if we die, we will be backed."

The slowly sinking "Wannianqing" dragged nearly 500 tons of seawater in its stomach, and rushed towards Yaya quickly.