Dominate the Country

"Boom!"

The bow turret of the Silver Shark made a loud rumbling sound, and even the bow seemed to sink for a moment.

The hexagonal cannon with a caliber of 120mm is the largest hexagonal cannon Chen Han has now. Although the 150 hexagonal cannon on the test field has been produced for four or five years, the cost performance is still unsatisfactory due to the material.

A loud bang broke out on the side of the South Lanark, and the hexagonal shells rushed directly into the hull. The outer side of the ship was still intact, with only a hole as big as a pot, but the other side of the ship on the opposite side was half broken.

Western-style sailing warships are all through the deck. If the shells drilled in, they could hit from head to tail. In addition, the wood chips splashed by the broken side of the ship, the lethality was not small, just like now. Then it is common for the shells to hit the other side of the ship directly, but it is rare to penetrate again.

The hull of a warship is made of three layers of wood inside and outside. Although they are all made of wood, they are not easily broken. There are both softwood and hardwood, so why is oak the top shipbuilding wood? Isn't it because it has both hardness and toughness, is not easy to absorb water, is corrosion-resistant, and can prevent wood chips from flying. In other words, when it is hit by a shell [penetration/non-penetration], there will not be too many small wood chips flying around, causing secondary casualties to the sailors. Moreover, the hull of a general ship has two protective layers, which are 40 to 50 centimeters thick. Without super strong penetration, the hull is not so easy to break.

South Lanark is a standard oak warship. If it is a spherical solid bullet, there is no possibility of someone penetrating the hull. However, the 120mm hexagonal shell is much more powerful than the spherical solid bullet, and the penetration is not at the same level at all.

Although it was not as clean as the first time when penetrating the other side of the South Lanark, it still succeeded.

The side of the ship, which was as big as a skylight, was instantly torn into pieces by the impact of the hexagonal shells. A nearby artillery group, from people to cannons, as well as gunpowder barrels, shell boxes, buckets, mops, etc., all disappeared completely, without even a small piece of meat residue left. The entire South Lanark shook violently under the impact of the shells, and several sailors who were not paying attention were thrown out.

As for the second-floor gun deck that was hit by the bullet, countless gunners fled with their heads in their arms. The flying wood chips and blocks were like bullets, whizzing through the deck. I don’t know how many veterans felt countless shrapnel grazing their foreheads at this moment. It was really a dance with the god of death. When those wood chips and blocks hit the human body, they all made a slight hissing sound, just like a knife stabbing into the flesh quickly. If it hits a wooden board, it will sound like nails being driven into the wood...

"Curve and avoid the bombardment."

"Stern gun, fire back immediately."

The relaxed expression on Michael Hughes' face froze instantly, because from what he could see, the Chinese warship was more than 2,500 meters away from the South Lanark.

Can the Chinese cannons hit it at such a long distance?

Could it be that their bombardment technology has made great progress again?

At this moment, on the Silver Shark, Chen Huacheng stood by the turret and praised Zhang Bao, who had just fired and hit the enemy ship. "You are worthy of being a famous gunner in our Oriental Fleet. This level is high." Zhang Bao was known for his magic gun in many previous trainings. He was promoted to the first mate of the Silver Shark because he did a good job as a gunner. Now he is finally being used in the right place.

The second 120mm heavy artillery followed, opening a hole on the stern of the South Lanark, shattering a lot of glass mirrors, completely flattening an angel statue, and twisting the scattered steel into strange shapes by the shells.

Both shots hit the target, with a distance of at least five miles. Zhang Bao's gunnery skills were really amazing.

The boiling sea and bloodthirsty air brought the six European warships back to their senses. All the captains couldn't wait to issue orders to fight back. Whether they hit or not, it was a matter of attitude.

At 11:20 am that day, after several hours of chasing, the artillery battle officially began. The advance sentinels of Chen Han's main fleet and the European police fleet launched a boring and boring artillery battle. Five motor sailing ships, five 120mm bow guns, and the enemies they needed to face were more than a dozen European stern guns of different sizes and hexagonal guns.

The former had fewer guns, and Zhang Bao was the only one, so the overall hit rate was quite impressive.

Moreover, no matter how good a gunner Zhang Bao was, he could not guarantee a 100% hit rate.

However, when the distance between the two sides was always kept at 2,000 meters, the hit rate of the European artillery was even more impressive. Moreover, the sturdiness of the bow turret had been tested, and even if the hexagonal shells hit the turret, the impact was minimal. But no matter how small the hit rate was, it would eventually hit. The stern and side chords of the Europeans, and the bow of Chen Han's motor sail squadron, were also filled with smoke and debris.

The three motor sailing ships, Silver Shark, Starfish and Sea Urchin, were the rear, while Tiger Shark and White Shark were like two outstretched arms, and in the process of chasing, they surrounded the enemy from the front little by little.

When the bleak setting sun lingered on the sea-sky line, dyeing large areas of the sea and sky bright red, a thin crescent moon had quietly climbed up the starry sky; on the horizon, the setting sun was still waving its last afterglow, and it used thousands of light arrows to whistle and shoot through the red clouds in the sky and the sea underground. Under the setting sun, the sparkling sea did not become calm with the arrival of night. The sea water was still surging, and at this moment it was dyed bright red, as if it was stained by the bloody setting sun.

At 5:40 pm, in a sea area a hundred miles northwest of Falkland Island, three huge fires were burning on the sea, lightly raising three dense smoke, but they were blown away by the whistling sea breeze before they really rose high.

After a while, five warships flying the bloody battle flag of Chen Han and the blue sky, white sun and red flag came over. The gun barrels of these warships were all shining with cold light.

The cool moonlight sprinkled on the ocean like frost. The three warships did not implement any blackout. The lights were bright and could be seen from a long distance. It was their enemies who turned on the blackout. The other three European warships also turned on the strict blackout, and then fled in the dark sky.

Chen Huacheng did not continue to send warships to pursue. He only asked two motor sailing ships in the distance to patrol and guard. He led the three motor sailing ships to search for European sailors floating on the sea. A lot of information about the Falkland Islands should be learned from their mouths.

On the towering mast of the White Shark, two lookouts were on duty, staring at the dim ocean with wide eyes. The more night it is, the more vigilant you need to be. This morning they set out from the eastern entrance of the Strait of Magellan. For a whole day, they chased for hundreds of miles, but they didn't see a European ship again. This is absolutely abnormal.

You can tell with your heels that the Europeans must have used that method to rule the latter.

"Do you think the red-haired ship is lying in ambush somewhere, waiting for us to hit it head-on?" A lookout asked anxiously, leaning against the guardrail on the mast.

"We are a motor-sail fleet, which is easy to turn around and runs faster than sailing ships. Why do they ambush us?"

"This time, the main force of my fleet is out. As long as the red-haired dare to come up, we will definitely defeat them." Another lookout patted his colleague on the shoulder and said confidently.

On the Qin Shihuang, the main flagship of the fleet, which was dozens of kilometers away from the White Shark, the commander-in-chief Ye Tingyang was sitting by the sea chart, staring at the chess pieces of different sizes on the huge sea chart, which represented the main force of the fleet.

Although Ye Tingyang organized the main battleships of the fleet into a column during the march of the fleet, in the war, Ye Tingyang always insisted on the T-shaped horizontal tactics. This is the tactic that can best exert the firepower of the battleship!

Although the British are the ancestors of the T-shaped horizontal tactics, the situation is a little different this time. The speed of the warships in the hands of the British is not comparable to that of the motor sailing ships. In terms of speed per hour, the motor sailing ships can at least fall behind the sailing ships by two knots. If the wind and water direction are favorable, they can fall behind by three or four knots per hour. Moreover, the latter is quite flexible in turning, while the sailing warships are a tragedy in turning.

In front of the motor sailing ships, the sailing warships, which generally have a maximum speed of only 8/9 knots, can only be humiliated and sad. What's more, the main sailing warships of some countries do not have such a high speed.

The shipbuilding level of European countries is generally good, but no matter how superb it is, there are differences in quality. The warships of Northern Europe are generally worse than those of Western Europe, and the level of British sailors is far higher than that of Spain.

In naval battles, this is the Achilles' ankle of Europeans.

Although the Chen Han fleet can rely on its powerful front and rear main guns to kite the red hair, the red hair is a derogatory term for Europeans in China, which is not even as good as the name of foreigners. But this will take a long time, and it is difficult to deal a heavy blow to the European fleet.

Ye Tingyang gave up the idea of ​​firing at the extreme range to disrupt the European formation a long time ago, and instead tried to seize a more advantageous position with high speed, which is the so-called T-shaped crosshead. Although Nelson's glory was not far away ten years ago, this cannot deny the important position of the T-shaped crosshead in naval battles. Even the word "most" can be added before this "important". In naval battles, the side in the horizontal formation can exert all firepower, while the side in the vertical formation can only use the bow firepower. The simple superposition of the main gun numerical advantage is enough to decide the trend of the decisive battle. You must know that the warships of both sides are now equipped with relatively accurate hexagonal guns.

Nelson's glorious victory in that year was in the era of change in the European navy. At that time, no one in the European navy completely replaced the cannons on the warships with hexagonal guns, because the firing rate, accuracy, weight of the hexagonal guns that exceeded the smoothbore guns, and the number required, all of which were not a small number to replace. On more naval warships, only the smoothbore guns on the upper deck were replaced, or the smoothbore guns in some positions were changed to hexagonal guns. Moreover, in that naval battle, the Franco-Spanish joint fleet still had Villeneuve, a timid coward, helping the British. It can be said that it was a group of lions led by a sheep. Villeneuve commanded the Franco-Spanish joint fleet to make a 180-degree turn on the eve of the war to make the fleet's leeward position easier to escape in the case of unfavorable tactics. This order not only seriously affected the morale, but also caused the formation of the joint fleet to fall into chaos. When the joint fleet was in chaos due to the change of direction, Nelson seized the opportunity and decisively ordered an attack.

The British did make some mistakes in the naval battle, and they also made big mistakes. But compared with the French and Spanish navies, they made fewer mistakes and were less harmful. When Nelson led the 15 battleships of the First Division to cut off the combined fleet in a column, and then commanded the warships to cross the 500-meter death line again and again, desperately attacking the enemy warships, this selfless act boosted the morale of all the British naval officers and soldiers who participated in the battle, and they were all passionate and enthusiastic. It also caused the formation of the Franco-Spanish combined fleet, which was in low morale, to be in chaos, and then completely lost its organizational ability. The flagship "Busantor" on which Villeneuve was riding lowered the flag, the fleet commander was captured, and the rest of the Franco-Spanish warships scattered. The British also worried about the lethality of rockets and hexagonal guns, and did not dare to force too much, so although Nelson won a brilliant victory in that battle, he did not completely defeat the naval foundation of Spain and France.

Nelson defeated the French and Spanish fleets with column tactics, but this does not mean that this tactic is completely applicable to all naval battles.

Again, the Eastern and Western fleets are now all equipped with hexagonal guns. Think about the penetration tactics in this situation. The fleet attacking in the column will be beaten to a bloody pulp.

Nelson's victory was due to the naval conditions at the time, the difference in morale between the enemy and us, and the stupidity of Villeneuve.

That is completely different from the current situation, and war cannot be replicated.

Let's not talk about the warship conditions on both sides for the time being. Just talking about the fighting passion of both sides, it is thought that they will not be weaker than the British Royal Navy at that time.

One side is defending the country, and the other side? That is expanding the territory. This is not an invasion. The Europeans have already invaded once, and the Chinese army can only be said to be expanding the territory now. Chen Ming finally didn't have the face to pull the Indians and the Shang Dynasty together. But even so, China has nothing to owe for being careless. Both sides are very high in morale!

If anyone dares to play "close combat" first, I believe that its opponent will never "avoid the enemy's edge".

...

"Dear Duke, Detroit has been lost from the hands of the Americans again. The Chinese soldiers have completely reversed the disadvantages in the northern theater with their powerful strength." After losing Detroit, the advantages that the Americans won in the initial war were all lost. "The Chinese Inland Lake Fleet is rampant in Lake Erie. Many American cities around Lake Erie have been bombarded. The advantages of the Americans in the northern battlefield have been completely lost."

"This summer will be a painful summer for Americans. I think the Chinese have accumulated enough strength and they will explode soon. It will be next month, next week, or this week. The news of the Chinese counterattack will come."

Paris, the heart of the Napoleonic Empire. In the luxurious mansion of Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, Miss Dorothea, who was 32 years old at the time, sighed to her superior, lover, and uncle, Talleyrand, the current French Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Duke Benifentuo.

"Are you disappointed?"

"Of course. We paid such a high price and gave them such great support." One hundred thousand French soldiers have already rushed to the United States or are still on their way to the United States. This is a very powerful force.

32-year-old Dorothee Bergor-Dinnot is Talleyrand's niece-in-law, yes, she is Talleyrand's niece-in-law.