super god warlord

At the same time, the gun fleets of the two sides were already approaching. The leading cruiser Tongji only had a speed of ten knots, but its armament was not comparable to those of the small gunboats.Soon the Tongji was fully fired, with two 150mm cannons, five 120mm cannons, three 57mm cannons and eight 37mm cannons firing together. The net covered the opponent's gunboat formation.

The other two gunboats and three torpedo boats broke away from the Tongji and sailed towards the flank like a sickle, intending to stop the gunboat fleet of the Hangzhou Navy from the side and wipe it out.

At this time, the difference in the quality of the two fleets became apparent. The ships of the Northern Fleet were all officers and soldiers of the original Houjin Navy, and their skills and tactics were familiar with battleships.On the other hand, on the side of the Hangzhou Fleet, because of the incident of Shen Shoukun being imprisoned last time, the officers and soldiers of the navy were alienated. As a result, most of the officers and soldiers of the Longjiang Fleet who stayed in Hangzhou Bay defected to Zhao Shouhong. As a result, although Chen Qimei left the warship, he did not have enough manpower. activate them.

In desperation, Chen Qimei could only recruit a group of merchant sailors at a high price to match them with the remaining naval officers and soldiers, and finally started several warships.Usually, when the warships are in operation, there is nothing wrong with these merchant sailors, but when they are actually going to battle, the shortcomings of these people's inexperience show up.

When the opponent began to surround the side and rear, several gunboats and torpedo boats still attacked Tongji according to the original plan.In their view, the Tongji is the largest ship in the opponent's fleet. As long as it is sunk, other small warships will be taken care of.

The commander of the gun fleet in Hangzhou is also inexperienced. In fact, he was only a second officer before, but now he has become the commander of the gun fleet because of insufficient commanders, but his judgment is really not flattering.The fierce firepower of the Tongji made him feel a huge threat, so the gun fleet rushed towards the opponent regardless, hoping to sink it, but the intensive firepower of the opponent made them unable to get close.

There was a loud bang, and even though the small warship was maneuverable, it couldn't dodge every shell. The torpedo boat Hu Ying couldn't dodge being hit by a shell at first, and its speed suddenly slowed down.Fortunately, it was hit by a 57mm shell, so it would not be smashed to pieces on the spot.The two gunboats and three torpedo boats headed by the gunboat Zedian finally completed the outflank.The three torpedo boats rushed up at high speed, and under the cover of the gunboat, they fired a group of dense torpedoes at the Hangzhou gunboat fleet.

"There are torpedoes." Six torpedo water trails rushed towards them, causing the officers and soldiers on the Hangzhou gun fleet to panic. Facing the approaching god of death, they immediately panicked.Although the torpedo boats of the Northern Fleet still used old-fashioned white-headed torpedoes, which were not only slow in speed but also short in range, the panic of the other party brought disasters that could have been avoided.

The armored gunship Ca' Mau, which was in the middle, was unable to evade. Although the sailors on board tried their best to use rapid-fire guns to explode the torpedoes, they failed because of their poor shooting skills.As a result, a torpedo directly hit its side, and the violent explosion immediately blew up this small gunboat with a small tonnage into two sections.

This explosion woke up the commander of the Hangzhou Gun Fleet, and he immediately realized that it was unrealistic to sink the Tongji first.He immediately changed his tactics, ordered the four torpedo boats to turn, and rushed towards the gunboats of the Northern Fleet.

The four torpedo boats fired all the torpedoes, and at the same time, the machine guns on the boats fired fiercely without stopping for a moment.The gunboats of the Northern Fleet, which had been prepared for a long time, relied on their flexible movements to skillfully avoid the opponent's attack. Eight torpedoes narrowly passed through the gaps between the warships.

Chapter 495 Mutual Damage

Just when the officers and soldiers on the gunboat rejoiced that they had escaped, a white-headed torpedo hit the Haichen which was fighting fiercely.With the sound of a violent explosion, a large hole appeared in the side of the Haichen.

It turned out that the torpedo that was dodged rushed along a straight line, and coincidentally broke into the cruisers of the two sides that were engaged in a decisive battle. However, the unlucky Haichen did not find the underwater threat because of the obstruction of the Haichao in front of it. Hit the jackpot.

The Haichen, which was only [-] tons, suddenly encountered huge damage. The torpedo caused a big explosion, and its speed dropped to seven knots immediately, and the ship also ignited a raging fire.Li Dingxin was being pressed and beaten by the opponent, and seeing that the Haichen was severely damaged, he knew that this was his best chance to even out the gap.Li Dingxin ordered the Zhaohe and the Yingrui to use full power, using a faster speed than the Hairong, to temporarily get rid of the Hairong and Haichu, and the two warships concentrated their firepower on the Haichen.

It was used as a fixed target, and the accuracy of the shelling was quite high. The Haichen had no time to block the breach made by the torpedo, and the cruiser had been hit by several times of 150mm shells one after another. The number gradually sank into the water.

Losing the Haichen, Tang Xiangming's situation suddenly became dangerous. The speed and armor of the Hairong-class cruiser were not as good as the newly commissioned Zhaohe and Yingrui.However, before Li Dingxin had time to be proud, the crisis came again.

Another artillery fleet of the Northern Fleet, which had been given up attacking, finally completed its turn and circled towards Li Dingxin's fleet from behind. Soon the artillery of these artillery vessels began to bombard intensively.Facing the bombardment of six gunboats, Li Dingxin lost sight of the other. He could only rely on the secondary guns of various calibers on the two cruisers to cover those gunboats.At the same time, use the main gun to continue to threaten the Hairong-class cruiser and keep it from approaching.

Chuguan and Chuqian gunboats were shot and caught fire quickly. Because of the heavy damage, these two shallow-water heavy gunships, which were not suitable for sailing in the sea, began to sink slowly, and then the Chutai also encountered the same attack. destiny.The cruisers of the Hangzhou Fleet were fighting vigorously, but they did not notice the destroyer Flying Eagle stalking.

At a distance of a thousand yards, the captain of the Flying Eagle, Lin Songzhuang, immediately issued an order, and the two huge torpedoes immediately broke free from the restraints of the torpedo tubes, and rushed straight to the cruiser ahead.The cruiser Yingrui was enjoying the fight, but unexpectedly the underwater threat was approaching. A sailor occasionally lowered his head and found a straight track in the water. He immediately screamed.

In the fierce battle, the exclamation of a sailor cannot attract everyone's attention at all.Before the sailor had time to report to the bridge, one of the torpedoes slammed into the side of the cruiser.A violent explosion sounded, shaking the soldiers who were firing from the emplacements to the ground. When they got up again, they found that the warship had begun to tilt.

Seeing that Yingrui was hit by a torpedo, Li Dingxin turned pale with fright. He originally wanted Zhaohe to turn to cover Yingrui, but because the two Hairong-class cruisers were pressing too hard, he had to give up this idea.

Hajito departed at a slower and slower speed, and tilted Yingrui seriously, and went up to the two Hairong-class cruisers. He wanted to block the opponent's cruiser and buy Yingrui time for damage control.It's a pity that the opponent will not wait for Yingrui to conduct damage control. The remaining three gunboats, led by the destroyer Feiying, quickly approached the cruiser Yingrui. The superstructure slammed flat.

As the bombardment of the ships of the Northern Fleet became faster and faster, the Yingrui couldn't support it at all, so it had to raise the white flag, and the cruiser was captured like this.

Not knowing that the Yingrui had surrendered, Li Dingxin commanded the Zhaohe and rushed forward. However, just as the two sides approached, the two cruisers of the opposing side bombarded it fiercely. On the deck of the Harmony, those secondary gunners without armor protection fell to the ground one after another.

Zhaohe was beaten into a mess. Although the hull was not damaged much, the firepower was reduced a lot.At this time, an officer on the bridge shouted to Li Dingxin: "Admiral, the Yingrui has surrendered." Li Ding turned his head from the news and saw the white flag hanging on the Yingrui, and his heart suddenly burst into tears. angry.But soon Li Dingxin lost his temper, because he found that his own warships had been beaten to the point of being crippled.

The Jingqing and Jian'an that followed him had already sunk without even a shadow, and now only the Jiangyuan gunboat of our own gunboat that went to intercept the opponent's gunboat is still persisting, the Jin'ou was sunk, and the other four torpedo boats were also hit. He was seriously injured and was about to sink.However, they were not without record. The opponent's three torpedo boats had too weak artillery and were quickly sunk by the Jiang Yuan after releasing the torpedoes.The two gunboats Cedian and Ganquan also suffered injuries of varying severity, and the deck of Ganquan was even still burning.

Seeing that the failure was irreversible, Li Dingxin immediately signaled to retreat, and the Zhaohe speeded up and rushed towards the open sea. He planned to use the advantage of speed to break away from contact with the opponent and save the few remaining warships.The gunboat Jiangyuan also speeded up to follow, but the Jiangyuan, which was only at a speed of 10 knots, was soon besieged by two Hairong-class cruisers and other gunboats.After persisting for [-] minutes, it sank to the bottom of the sea unwillingly.

Although this battle was won, Tang Xiangming did not fight it lightly. Not to mention the consumption of ammunition, the sinking of the Haichen alone was enough to annoy him.In addition, three gunboats and three torpedo boats in the fleet were sunk, and others were seriously injured. Fortunately, he captured a seriously injured Yingrui, which made him feel at ease.But soon Tang Xiangming encountered difficulties again. Their home port was far away from Dagukou, and it was difficult to persist there with a wounded ship like Yingrui dragging such a long distance.

Looking at this advanced cruiser, Tang Xiangming felt a little bit reluctant, but he knew that if he didn't repair it quickly, he would never be able to tow it back anyway.At this moment, waves suddenly appeared on the sea in the distance, and thick black smoke drifted in all directions, and a small fleet quickly approached.

Tang Xiangming picked up the binoculars and found that these warships looked familiar. It turned out that the leading cruiser was the one that Cai Tingqian used to make a bet. Now it has been named Jiujiang and has become the flagship of the Guanghaicheng Fleet. , and following behind are four destroyers of the Huxing class, Huxing, Huning, Huping and Hujiang.

Chapter 496 Cai Tinggan's Invitation

Seeing that it was the fleet of the Great Shu Military Government, Tang Xiangming's face immediately changed.Although there are many warships on our side, they are all quite old, and the ammunition has been consumed a lot after the fierce battle, and they have no power to fight again.The opponent's warships are not only cutting-edge, but also extremely fast, making it difficult for them to even think about escaping.

Thinking that the other party might be here to pick up a bargain, Tang Xiangming couldn't help but secretly regret why he accepted the other party's information and brought the entire fleet out so easily.But it was useless to regret, now that the opponent was approaching, Tang Xiangming had no choice but to secretly order that all warships be ready for battle.

The fleet led by Cai Tingqian did not get too close, and they stopped when they were five kilometers away from the opponent. Soon a high-speed motorboat was released from the Jiujiang, and it was heading towards the Hairong at a very high speed. , and soon approached the bow.

"Commander, the other party asked to board the ship and said they have something important to tell." The sailor reported loudly.

Tang Xiangming frowned and said immediately: "Let them come up."

Soon a familiar figure walked into the cab, seeing Tang Xiangming, he smiled and said: "I said Lao Tang, you fought well, and you actually completely disabled Li Dingxin's fleet."

"Cai Tinggan, what are you doing here? Could it be that you are taking advantage of the opportunity to knock down my fleet?" Tang Xiangming asked.

Cai Tinggan shook his head: "My Dudu Zhao has a very good relationship with the President. How could we do such a thing that hurt our friends? I just know that Dagukou in Tianfeng City is not capable of repairing these warships, so I invite your warships to Jiangnan Dockyard Make repairs."

"This..." Tang Xiangming hesitated.He was afraid that his warship would be disarmed as soon as it landed, and he would be speechless.

"According to our meteorological department's observation, there will be a storm in the nearby area within five hours. I think it is difficult to avoid the state of these injured warships." Cai Tingqian explained.

Tang Xiangming nodded, Cai Tinggan said this very euphemistically, let alone those injured warships, even those uninjured gunboats and torpedo boats were also unable to withstand the harsh weather.After all, those gunboats are shallow water gunboats, and torpedo boats are only suitable for near shore.If it wasn't for helplessness, Tang Xiangming didn't want to bring these warships here at all.

But now that the storm is coming, if he refuses to enter the Jiangnan Dock for fear of being controlled, what awaits him will be great casualties and loss of warships. This is a low-level mistake that no commander can tolerate.

After considering the gains and losses, Tang Xiangming gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, I will drive the fleet into the Jiangnan Dock for maintenance and repairs, and I hope Brother Cai can help."

"Of course there is no problem. I will let the Hujiang number lead the way for you. Let's get on the road as soon as possible." Cai Tingqian nodded with a smile, then pointed to the young man beside him and said, "This is my adjutant Zhang Yong. Here, as your liaison officer."

Tang Xiangming originally wanted to keep Cai Tingqian as a hostage.Unexpectedly, the other party left a liaison officer without waiting for him to make an invitation, but he returned to the Jiujiang.Tang Xiangming had no choice but to command the fleet to sail towards the Jiangnan dock with the help of Zhang Yong.

"Your fleet came out, why didn't you see the Haiqi?" Tang Xiangming asked Zhang Yong curiously. Now that he had decided to enter the Jiangnan Dock, he no longer struggled, and he relaxed.Only then did he realize that the Haiqi, which was supposed to be the absolute main force, was not in the fleet.

"Oh, the Haiqi is undergoing modification, so it didn't come out." Zhang Yong said seemingly casually: "It is said that the piggyback turret and steam turbine will be replaced, so that the firepower and speed can be stronger."

Tang Xiangming took a deep breath, the most powerful cruiser of the imperial court back then, people actually looked down on him.It needs a lot of improvement before it can be used. This is simply the style of a prodigal.Thinking about the Jiujiang cruiser, which was about the same size as the Haiqi, he basically knew the opponent's modification plan in his heart.

Under Zhang Yong's guidance, the Northern Fleet slowly passed through the waterway and entered the shipyard on the flank of Luchao Port. There are already more than a dozen docks with their doors open, waiting for them to enter.Tang Xiangming issued an order to let the fleet enter all the docks one by one.Then the naval officers and soldiers boarded the land and walked out behind Zhang Yong. They will be taken to the residence to rest to recover their tired bodies from the high-intensity naval battle.

Walking in the docks, Tang Xiangming looked around curiously, looking at the ongoing construction work in those docks, he couldn't help but be full of emotion.Unexpectedly, the almost abandoned Jiangnan Dock was so prosperous under the care of Zhao Shouhong in just a few years, which is really rare.

Walking halfway, Tang Xiangming was suddenly attracted by the tall mast of a ship protruding from the dock.What I saw just now were all large merchant ships. Although because of the huge size of the merchant ships, the tall hulls inside could be seen from outside the dock, those were all bloated merchant ships, but this ship saw the towering masts without seeing the hulls. .Merchant ships don't build tall masts because that affects the center of gravity and is unnecessary.Therefore, as soon as Tang Xiangming saw this mast, he knew that the one under construction must be a warship.

Tang Xiangming approached Zhang Yong, pretending to be casual and asked: "Is there a warship being built in that dock? Look at that mast, it seems very interesting."

Zhang Yong looked at it and said with a smile: "Indeed, a new cruiser is being built there, and it is the third ship of the same level as Jiujiang."

"No. [-] ship?" Tang Xiangming was a little dazed. If this ship was No. [-] ship, then Jiangnan Shipyard had built at least three such huge cruisers. Thinking of this, his hands could not help trembling slightly.

"Did Jiangnan Shipyard build many cruisers of that kind?" Tang Xiangming continued to ask.

Zhang Yong snapped his fingers and said, "One ship is currently in service, one is undergoing sea trials, and four are under construction, so there are six ships in total."

Tang Xiangming was a little dumbfounded. He didn't expect that the Guanghaicheng fleet, the cruiser that he dreamed of, would soon have as many as six ships, which made him feel unprecedented pressure.

Zhang Yong didn't seem to see Tang Xiangming's unavoidable expression, and still said to himself: "Our fleet commander has already said that Hualan can't always stay at the stage of cruisers. We must speed up development and strive to build large warships as soon as possible. conditions of."