When Li Xiu led the expedition fleet to the sea off Singapore, it happened to be midnight. Far away from the city of Singapore, he could see the city burning with flames. From time to time, you could even see bombs exploding one after another.

Without Li Xiu issuing an order, the expedition fleet immediately entered a battle-ready state.

Six main armored ships, Zhiyuan, Zhenyuan, Dingyuan, Laiyuan, Jingyuan and Jiyuan, were lined up.

Among them, Laiyuan, Jingyuan, and Jiyuan are all newly built ironclads. The design refers to the experience of the previous expedition and was built with the hard work of fishermen. The twelve-inch-thick armor is in the form of a bunker, concentrated in the middle of the hull to protect machinery.

, main guns and ammunition depots, rather than scattered above the waterline.

The skilled workers at the Anshan Iron and Steel Plant creatively smelted chromium produced in the northwest into steel. Not only did the hardness of the resulting armor steel increase, its toughness was also much better than the previous steel.

The three main ironclad ships with new armor can withstand almost all artillery shells in this era. They are truly invulnerable. Moreover, these three ships no longer have only one boiler, but four boilers.

Although this increases the size of the hull, it also greatly improves the power of the battleship. A giant battleship with a displacement of 7,800 tons can be regarded as a real behemoth. Compared with its predecessors of only 5,000 tons, it is much larger

Come out in a full circle.

Laiyuan, Jingyuan, and Jiyuan were at the front. Zhiyuan, Zhenyuan, and Dingyuan were slightly behind, protecting the transport ships carrying two marine divisions and the merchant ships carrying supplies.

The fleet deployed in a forward formation, and the lookout sentries held telescopes like radars to search the sea surface.

A black shadow appeared in front, and a cannonball exploded at that moment. Catching the light of the cannon fire, Li Xiu saw that it was a large group of sailboats. Although it was only for a moment, Li Xiu had already seen that those were flat-headed sailboats.

Japanese ships, why did they come here?

I don't know which warship fired a cannon, and a Japanese warship was immediately torn into pieces. The warship that was intact just now is now just a burning torch floating on the sea. Through the light of the fire, you can see people holding wooden boards on the sea calling for help.

people.

"Stop shooting!" Although Li Xiu wanted to kill everything floating on the sea, he still ordered not to fire.

Several small boats were put down to salvage the surviving Japanese who fell into the water. When they saw the Ming Dynasty Dragon Flag, they all couldn't help crying.

Among the naval officers there were many members of the Zheng family, and there were also quite a few people who could speak the Japanese language. Upon questioning, Li Xiao immediately became angry.

It turned out that at dusk, the British fleet raided the Singapore Port. Many Ming ships in the port were sunk by the British fleet before they could even weigh anchor. The Japanese port was in Malay opposite, and the British fleet was busy dealing with the Ming people.

Take care of them.

These wooden Japanese warships still used the most primitive Franco machine guns. Of course they were no match for the British fleet. In order to save the fleet, the Japanese had no choice but to escape in the dark.

Unexpectedly, the British fleet pursued them from Singapore to the sea outside Singapore.

After asking Li Xiu clearly, he immediately ordered the Japanese warships to disperse to the left and right. The three battleships crossed the ship's body, blocking the exit of the strait like a dam. When the first English warship cut through the waves and sailed out of the strait exit, Lai Yuan

The ship's artillery fire was just a covering shot, turning him into a ball of fire.

It is still an old-fashioned five-masted ship. Although this kind of ship has many guns, none of the guns is as powerful as the main gun of the Ming Dynasty ironclad.

When the officers and soldiers on the Laiyuan ship were still proud of their first hit, a shell passed through a beautiful arc and exploded directly on the front deck of the Laiyuan ship. The huge explosion erupted into orange flames, and the entire Laiyuan ship violently exploded.

Trembling a bit.

Captain Liu Quan was shaken by the huge explosion and sat down on the command platform deck: "The pipe is damaged! The front deck, the pipe is damaged...!" Before he could get up, he yelled at the top of his lungs.

The Laiyuan ship was a new ship. If something happened to him, Li Xiu would skin him alive. He didn't understand why he was so unlucky that the enemy's first shell fell on his head.

.

He was helped up by the soldiers and approached the huge glass window of the bridge.

In the darkness, the front deck was still burning. However, with the help of the firelight, he saw that there did not seem to be much damage to the front deck. The flames that were still burning were still on the deck, so it was obvious that the front deck had not been penetrated.

Moreover, the front main gun turret, which was directly hit, was completely intact except for some dents.

I have to say that the twelve-inch thick steel plate is really strong. Such a powerful shell only made a crater.

The damage control officer ran over like ants, opened the water pipe and sprayed it on the burning front deck. The fire on the front deck was quickly extinguished and did not become a reference for subsequent shells.

"How's it going?" Liu Quan asked eagerly when he saw Guan Sheng running in.

"There was a big dent in the front main gun, and several holes were made in the front deck by shrapnel, but there was nothing serious. The equipment below was not damaged either. One gunner was stunned inside the main gun, and there were no casualties."

"Great! This boat is so damn strong." Liu Quan was overjoyed.

"Search the sea, and if you see that son of a bitch firing cannons, send them to the sea to feed the fish." Liu Quan roared crazily after surviving the catastrophe.

He is no longer needed. Ji Yuan next to him has discovered the ship that fired the gun from the muzzle flames. The whole ship fired a salvo, and the ship burst into flames. It was another five-masted ship!

With the help of the flames, the fleet sank four five-masted ships in succession. The five-masted ships that were chasing the Japanese just now were completely dumbfounded. Those five-masted ships that were invincible in Europe looked like children in front of the new ironclads.

It was as if they were being beaten. They didn't have much room to fight back. Even if they fired one or two shots occasionally, even if they hit, they would just scratch the itch of a few new ironclad ships.

There was even a shell that directly hit the main armor in the middle of the ship. The shell was actually bounced away and flew diagonally for more than ten meters before exploding.

The captains of the five-masted ship, which the British were proud of, were in despair. They originally thought that even if they replaced the new artillery, they would not be able to defeat the Ming warships, but they would not have any room to fight back. But now it seems that their own cannonballs have no chance of fighting back.

It's like throwing stones at someone's armor.

But when other people's cannonballs hit their wooden boats, they will explode immediately. If the cannonballs ignite the ammunition in the boat, the huge explosion will blow people into the sky at once.

Fortunately there was no moonlight tonight, so the surviving five-masted ship quickly turned around and fled into the strait.

While escaping, two warships failed to control themselves and collided with each other. As a result, the two ships entered the water almost at the same time. The frightened sailors immediately swarmed onto the deck and jumped into the water. Then they started swimming with all their strength, fearing the whirlpool of the sinking ship.

Take them underwater.

The three main armored ships were like mountains, pressing into the strait. The huge hull of the Jingyuan ship ran directly over the hulls of the two five-masted ships. After the warships passed by, only broken pieces of wood were left on the sea.

And the desperate cries for help survived.

Li Xiu looked at his watch. It was already half past four. There was a touch of fish belly white on the horizon. Through the blue skylight, he could see the thick smoke billowing out of Singapore. Some orange bright spots shone faintly from time to time.

Around this time, the explosion of artillery shells could already be heard.

The British were attacking the city of Singapore. Hong Chengchou did not surrender, but defended. Although the defense was very hard, he was indeed defending.

This was somewhat beyond Li Xiu's expectation. Preliminary intelligence showed that Hong Chengchou and Wu Sangui were having a heated fight in private. His son Hong Gui had secretly visited Mumbai many times.

Seize the pier and let the Marine Division behind it land. Support the defenders in the city. Ironclad ships guard the sea and raise hot air balloons for observation.

The orders were passed on one after another, and the fleet quickly dispersed. The three arsenal ships lined up, and flames erupted amidst the wails of the British troops on the shore.

As an area-killing weapon, the arsenal ship brought its destructive power to the extreme. Rockets fell from the sky like rain, and basically no living thing could survive in the covered area. That was a true salvo that changed the world!

Among the three arsenal ships, there is also a heavy arsenal ship. There are ordinary light rockets on it, but powerful heavy rockets. This kind of rocket has a full charge of three hundred kilograms. When it explodes, people within five meters

It evaporated directly. All people within ten meters flew into the sky. People within fifty meters were shocked to the point of vomiting blood, or severely shocked to the point of bleeding from their orifices and died immediately.

The arsenal ship fired a round of covering fire, and the ten-mile tidal flat from the beach to Singapore City immediately fell silent.

After a dazzling brilliance, there was steaming smoke. Countless British soldiers turned into dead souls and were carried to the sky by the gunpowder smoke.

The five-masted ship in the Ming fleet immediately sailed into the harbor. The machine guns and small-caliber artillery on it fired wildly at the remaining British troops.

The sound of the heavy machine gun was as loud as exploding beans and could not be heard at all. No matter whether the British soldiers lay on the ground or found cover to hide, it had no effect. Because they were surprised to find that those bullets were actually falling from the sky.

It fell like rain.

As for fighting back...that's definitely overthinking.

The range of the rifle is simply out of reach, and even if it is, you still need the luck of winning the lottery to hit someone. As for the mortars, there is no way, they are mainly taken care of by small-caliber artillery.

As for the larger-caliber artillery, it has been sent to God together with the gunner. If you want to summon it back, you need a high-level summoner.

There were no casualties when the Ming army occupied the dock. There was even no decent resistance from the British army!

A troop transport ship rammed the burning British warship and docked at the dock. The rope net was lowered, and the Marines climbed down from the ship like ants. The heavy machine guns on the ship fired at all suspicious places to cover the Marines.

Login.

As the division commander, Li Dingguo led the first batch of troops to board the dock. He immediately ordered the soldiers to go out on guard. The mortar position was arranged in an inconspicuous corner. There was some cargo there that could be used as a bunker. There was something in front.

It has no effect on direct fire artillery such as mortars.

Zuo Liangyu's landing place was at the beach at Wulidi on the north side of the pier!

Rockets plowed the beach, and now there was nothing left except thick smoke. When fifty small boats brought the marines ashore, not a single British bullet was fired at them.

Even on the beach, they could see broken human body fragments.

Countless rockets flew overhead again!

The arsenal ship had already turned its huge hull and began to attack with rockets from the other side of the hull. Under the extended artillery fire, the British army that was attacking the city suffered a devastating blow. After the intensive explosions, it seemed that the world between heaven and earth

There was silence for a moment.

The artillery fire bombarding Singapore City suddenly weakened, and the Marines landed calmly without fear. After organizing the situation, they began to search forward step by step.

Almost everything on the surface was dark, dead people, dead horses, dead plants, and animals were all pitch black. There was not a trace of blood visible, but the scene in front of me was extremely bloody.

No corpse is complete, whether it is human or otherwise. Under the rocket bombs, it is almost a dream to live. Many people were cut alive by shrapnel, and the soft soil can be covered by a foot on the ground.

Ankle. Grab a handful of dirt and you can find one or two shrapnel in it.

Although everything seemed to be going very smoothly, Li Dingguo and Zuo Liangyu still moved forward cautiously. The leading soldiers were released fifty meters away, and they encountered any disturbance. As long as the leading soldiers squatted down, no one would advance forward from behind.

The battle took place about two miles away from the city of Singapore. A bullet accurately penetrated the chest of the leading soldier.

Everyone in the back lay down on the ground, and the company commander shouted at the mortar. He asked them to put the mortar in a heavy rocket crater very close by!

The explosion of mortar shells sounded, and more than a dozen shells crashed down. Soon the gunmen who were shooting fell silent.

British troops began to come out to fight back in the city. They tried to rush out, but they seemed to be bombarded by mortars, followed by accurate and dense bullets from rifles. One British soldier's head was hit by three bullets at the same time, and it was immediately torn apart.

Li Xiu, who was on the sea, searched the sea carefully. He didn't need to worry about the Marine Corps. He had the arsenal ship for firepower, and two generals, Zuo Liangyu and Li Dingguo, for the landing operations. If he interfered by himself, he would probably ruin things.

He has been wandering on the sea since he was a child, and he has developed the ability to sail. However, Li Xiu boasts that he is not as sophisticated as Li Dingguo and Zuo Liangyu in the knowledge of land warfare.

Professional matters should be left to professionals. Li Xiu believed Li Xiao's words.

The clock pointed to five o'clock, and it was already bright. The sun peeked out half of the head, and the other half was still below the horizon. The hot air balloon hanging high in the sky suddenly slid down a bamboo tube along the tether rope.
Chapter completed!