261 blood flag flying

In order to delay the entire fleet for a little time. For the glory of the British Empire Navy, a brave white sheep rushed towards the steel monster it had never seen before, and then...

"Aries, sink in battle!"

On the Saint Son at the rear, the lookout sailors almost cried out. They were moving forward with all their strength, and all the gun doors were fully opened, trying to cover their companions fighting in the front. After two consecutive days of fierce fighting, the British gunners had already

They were quite exhausted, but at the moment of life and death, they still tried their best to cover the steel monster ship and the surrounding sea area with countless shells.

It's a pity that this bravery and diligence did not have any effect. The steel monster did not care about the shells that hit it. As it quickly approached the Aries, it fired from the Aries and several battleships behind it.

There were at least a dozen shells that hit the target, although they were all long-range solid iron ball shells - the power of artillery in this era was generally not very powerful, and it was not the case for ordinary wooden warships to bombard each other face to face for a day, and then go home to repair and continue the battle tomorrow.

Few, but with so many metal lumps thrown in, a hole would have to be made, right?

However, there was none! - This is what drove the British sailors the most crazy. No one doubts the authenticity of the iron-hulled ship now - the shells hitting the opponent's hull can only make a sound.

.At most it leaves a mark or a small dent, but other than that, it has no effect. The steel hull is indeed extremely strong.

With the strongest shield, what about the attacking spears? The Western Army soon saw the opponent's offensive capabilities - the steel ship silently rushed forward despite the artillery fire. For a time, they thought that the opponent's ship had no weapons.

It was equipped with artillery. But when they got about 200 meters closer to the Aries, everyone knew - they were totally wrong.

Three balls of fire were spit out from the middle of the steel hull, and the Aries was "jumped". All three shells hit the target. Like the short-haired army cannon, they were explosive ammunition. Even if they did not trigger the gunpowder on the ship

If it explodes, its explosive power is enough to destroy the wooden hull.

The powerful high-explosive bombs opened three large holes in the hull of the British ship. Although the British Navy has the best damage control sailors, and although these sailors tried their best to rescue and repair the leaks, they still could not prevent the influx of large amounts of seawater.

In less than ten minutes, the Aries' dragon bones were broken, broken into several pieces, and sank into the sea.

"Just one salvo...killed the Aries!"

On the several British ships in the rear, even the brave and fearless sailors were trembling. Previously, the Spanish Dignity was besieged by six army guns, but it managed to survive until the second round.

In this era, there were not many naval battles that relied solely on artillery bombardment to sink enemy ships. Unless the opponent's powder keg was detonated or a fire was caused, most naval battles were resolved by hand-to-hand combat and boarding battles.

Or they could fight for a whole day without deciding the outcome and go home. The previous experience of the Dignity had already made the European sailors very depressed, but after all, they were fighting against land forts, so losses were inevitable.

But this time, both sides are at sea, battleship versus battleship. The tonnage of the Aries is similar to that of the Dignity, and the sailors on it are even stronger - the British sailors are very proud. And the Dignity can be said to be unprepared.

It was attacked by a sneak attack, but the Aries fought the enemy head-on with full firepower, but its ending was even worse - the opponent only fired three shots and was unable to fight back.

was sunk.

"Your Excellency! Do we want to continue fighting?"

Even the most passionate and brave fleet adjutant could not help but waver in his will. He looked at his superior, hoping that he would rationally order a retreat. The navy of the British Empire was not afraid of sacrifice, but in the face of such a devilish opponent, it was obviously not a waste to die in vain.

Act rationally.

However, Sir Simon never looked particularly surprised from the beginning. Even when the Aries sank into the sea, he only twitched the corners of his mouth slightly:

"The opponent is a knight in steel armor, but we are just farmers in common clothes... There is no way to fight such a battle."

This noble-born commander has obviously understood the huge gap in strength between the two sides - as a European, he is already familiar with this tactic: for centuries, on land, the medieval warriors who were covered in steel armor and wielded sophisticated weapons

The knights went to suppress the rebellious peasants who were unarmed and at most equipped with leather armor and dung forks. This situation has been seen too many times.

——Only this time, they became the weaker side.

"Since we can't fight, Your Excellency... let's retreat. We are all fast ships, so we should be able to escape."

The adjutant finally couldn't help but take the initiative to request a retreat. While saying that word, he looked back with some shame - behind the British fleet, there was a coalition composed of Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch ships.

Still in a state of chaos, the fleet of the Ming Empire on the other side does not seem to be ready for battle.

If this were in Europe, and if Her Majesty the Queen's fleet was behind them, members of the Royal Navy would rather die in battle than take a step back, as long as they could buy some reaction time for the main fleet.

But what kind of "allies" are behind them now - Spain and Britain have always been enemies, and the Netherlands is not a good bird. As for the Ming Dynasty, do they want the majestic battleships of the British Empire to block cannonballs for the Chinese?

Therefore, the adjutant did not hesitate to do anything, and simply suggested that four of his own ships escape through the gap between the Ming fleet and the European fleet. The slow and big-bellied merchant ships behind would definitely play a role in blocking the enemy - when a group of

When a person faces a bear, you don't need to run faster than the bear, you just need to run faster than your companions.

The adjutant's suggestion sounded good, but the more experienced Sir Simon only showed a wry smile on his face:

"Now turn... can you still escape?"

Sail battleships are knights galloping on the sea, but their gracefulness depends entirely on the direction of the wind - Sir Simon is experienced in naval battles, and when he deployed the formation previously, he placed the fleet upwind of possible enemies. From their current position,

If you rush forward bravely towards the enemy ship, it's a good wind, but if you want to turn around and retreat before the formation... it will be very slow.

And what about the devil's ship on the opposite side? After easily clearing away the Aries, he turned the bow of the ship around with a twist of his butt, drawing a very beautiful arc on the sea. He quickly re-aligned his direction and quickly headed towards

Come up here.

So in the end, Sir Simon just waved his hand calmly:

"Send a signal and order the entire fleet to move forward and fight!...Evans, take a small boat to the Antelope and order them to retreat immediately. Tell Captain William not to stay any longer after replenishing water at the base in Southeast Asia and return to Europe immediately.

go!"

"Sir... it's better for you to go. The British Empire cannot bear the loss of your Excellency!"

The adjutant named Evans had red eyes. The Antelope was a small ship of only 500 tons, but it was the fastest among their ships, and the one who admired the adjutant even more was——Simon

Sir ordered last night to send the broken cannons, half-parted muskets and other items obtained from the Shorthair Fortress directly to the Antelope. At that time, he was still surprised. He felt that such caution was a bit unnecessary, and he did not expect that they would be used so soon.

.

"I'm kidding, how can I leave... As long as those things are sent back to the country and sent to Her Majesty the Queen's arsenal, it will be enough to make up for the losses of the entire Southeast Asian fleet... Go quickly, you won't be able to escape if you delay any longer."

Simon smiled and pushed the adjutant off the command platform. Many years later, the last scene that remained in Evans' memory was the heroic figure of Commander Simon standing upright on the platform, and the faint smile on his face.

…………

On the Qionghai side, after easily clearing the first Western ship, Master Zheng immediately adjusted his direction without any delay and rushed towards the remaining British ships - they were originally worried about those British ships escaping.

Although the Qionghai is much faster, it would not be easy to chase if the opponent disperses and escapes.

Fortunately, the Royal Navy of the British Empire did not disappoint them. Except for one small ship that turned around and slipped back, the other three large ships took the initiative to meet them and put up a challenging posture.

"Well done. Come on then!"

Wang Haiyang and others accepted the challenge without hesitation. Being able to compete with the maritime hegemon of the next two hundred years is a battle that must be won without a doubt, so of course it cannot be missed.

This time they did not pursue the goal of hitting every shot, and the cannons started to speak from about a thousand meters away. However, after a series of missed shots, several second-hand gunners had to ask Master Zheng to get closer and fire again.

Getting closer means that the chance of being hit by the enemy is greatly increased. Fortunately, although the British army's tactics are excellent - the three ships formed a semi-surrounding situation on the Qionghai within a short time; their gunnery is also very good, in

It has hit the Qionghai's outer armor plate multiple times at a distance of five to six hundred meters, causing the ship to clank like hailstones. Unfortunately, the fatal weakness of the artillery's lack of power cannot be made up for by relying on the skills of the sailors - regardless of whether the British or British

No matter how hard the military gunners try, it's all in vain as long as they can't penetrate the steel shell of this devil ship.

The British fleet can attack the Qionghai from three directions, but this also means that the Qionghai can attack the opponent from three sides at the same time - the reason why Master Zheng did not go around the opponent this time, but rushed straight into the opponent.

Encirclement is to give full play to one's own firepower advantage.

There were three movable turrets, one for each ship, and the two sides started shooting at a distance of 600 meters. The Qionghai took a few shots as if nothing had happened, but the other side was immediately seriously injured after being hit once - the navy's artillery charges were comparable.

The army has many cannons, and their explosions are very powerful. There is no suspense at all in this kind of exchange of fire. Before long, one of the three ships on the opposite side was blown into two pieces and sank to the bottom of the sea, and the other one was hit by an incendiary bomb.

, a raging fire has broken out on the ship. Although the British sailors are still desperately trying to save it, there is definitely no hope.

Only the British flagship with the largest tonnage and the strongest damage control capability is still holding on. Its main mast has been blown off, the lower artillery deck has also been blown to pieces, and most of the war guns have slipped into the sea.

It can be said that it has lost both its maneuverability and combat capabilities, but there are still sporadic cannon sounds on this ship. The sailors put almost everything they can find into the cannon barrels and fire towards it.

Come here, regardless of whether it is possible to hit, let alone the issue of damage.

"The bones are quite hard... Huh? It seems like there are sailors raising the flag? Are you planning to raise the white flag to surrender?"

There were so many enemy ships to clean up behind, and the boys on the Qionghai didn't want to take prisoners. However, what the British hoisted was not a white flag representing surrender, but a narrow, blood-red pennant, all alone.

Floating on the bow mast.

The meaning of this flag is certainly not unfamiliar to Ling Ning and others. Even Wang Haiyang knows its meaning - because it symbolizes the honor of the British Empire's navy, and it still does so until modern times.

"The St. George flag means fighting to the bitter end and never retreating... Yes, he is a man!"

Under the blood-red flag, a British commander stood proudly. He should have suffered several injuries. With a telescope, you could even see several rapidly expanding blood stains on his shoulders, abdomen, etc., but this

The commander still stood upright, waving his arms from time to time, and still insisted on directing the battle!

"Give him a good time... with the highest courtesy of the navy."

Facing such a warrior, even Wang Haiyang stood in awe. Under his instructions, the Qionghai adjusted its posture, slowed down, and moved to the side of the opponent, keeping the hulls of both sides parallel.

The creaking sound of the winch slowly sounded, and the three turrets of the Qionghai turned at the same time. The seven artillery guns faced the heavily damaged British battleship "Holy Son". On the opposite ship, the British commander

He remained motionless, facing the muzzle with an indifferent expression, and just stretched out his hand to straighten his noble ribbon.

Now that the distance between the two sides was less than two hundred meters, Sir Simon finally found the operators of the steel ship - they were all hiding in the iron-shelled fortress, observing the situation outside only through narrow slits. Someone seemed to be saluting him inside.

?But it’s vague and hard to see clearly.

However, Sir Simon, who attaches great importance to gentlemanly manners, still saluted back. These people are definitely qualified to treat him on an equal footing...if not a higher level.

The commander of the Southeast Asia Squadron of the Royal Navy of the British Empire took one last look to the side and rear - the Antelope had escaped into the European coalition array and was lost in the shadow of overlapping sails. If it was lucky, it should be able to escape...

As long as those broken weapons are sent back to the UK. I believe it won’t take long for Her Majesty’s technicians to decipher the secrets of the short-haired army. By then, even in Asia, they will still not be able to compete with these short-haired soldiers, but in Europe, the British Empire

Will be invincible!

With full of hope, Sir Simon calmly faced the enemy's muzzles until he saw fierce flames spurting out from those muzzles...

"Boom!"

——The British flagship HMS Son was sunk in battle.

-

An update of 4,000 words. Please vote to support it.

I haven't updated it recently because there are really a lot of things going on. I have to take the registration exam in early May and I have to spend most of my time reviewing and preparing for the exam. It would be good if I can keep updating every two days.
Chapter completed!