"Commander, the British are coming." Guo You looked in the direction of Li Dehua's finger, and sure enough, a British light frigate appeared in the fleet's field of vision.

This is a light frigate equipped with steam power. It is very fast, but basically poses no threat to the Chinese fleet.

The corners of Li Dehua's mouth hidden in his beard were slightly raised, and he seemed very proud. He had made the right bet today, or the head of state had guessed right again.

The British obviously didn't want to get involved in the battle, otherwise they wouldn't have sent just this one reconnaissance ship.

The Dutch also saw this British warship flying the Union Jack.

"General, look, the British!" a young officer on the "Dutchman" said excitedly, pointing to the British warship ahead.

General Oden took a look. There was no expression of excitement on anyone's face, but a look of disappointment.

On the British frigate, the sailors were very busy.

"Have you calculated the opponent's speed?" Captain Willen Babu held a small notebook and a pencil in his hand, and was quickly recording some information.

"Yes, Mr. Captain, we have detected a speed of 13.5 knots, which should be the opponent's maximum speed. It is basically consistent with the data monitored last time on Hong Kong Island."

"Where's the main gun?"

"The opponent's main gun seems to have been changed. The rate of fire is much faster. It should be replaced by a breech-loaded gun. The caliber is about eight inches."

"Each battleship is equipped with sixteen guns, four main guns, twelve secondary guns, four six-inch guns, eight four-inch guns..."

The observers on the frigate gathered the data bit by bit into the hands of the captain. A very important reason why the British failed in several wars with the Chinese was that they did not understand the other party too well.

They always look at the Chinese army the same way they look at the Manchu army. How can they not lose?

In the first Sino-British war, the Manchu and Qing troops acted too arrogantly, causing the British army to feel contempt from top to bottom.

So much so that after several consecutive failures, the British army began to re-examine the Guards.

Now they began to collect all-round intelligence on the Guards.

"Captain, the other party has flagged down that this is a war zone and asks us to leave immediately." At this time, the first mate came to Captain Babu and said.

"What? How dare they talk to our British Imperial Navy like this." As a noble Royal Navy officer, this was the first time that Babu was threatened by an indigenous navy on the sea.

Although they were only light frigates, they were flying the flag of the British Empire.

Babu was prepared to ignore the first mate's advice and continue to operate within the sight of the First Fleet.

"Boom..." A huge cannonball landed not far away from the British frigate, and the splash caused the light warship to shake.

On the "Yangwu", following Guo You's order, the front main gun fired a shot at the British warship. Of course, this was just a warning shot and was not aimed at the opponent.

"Commander, is this going too far? I think a verbal warning is enough." Li Dehua said with some worry.

He had served in the American fleet and knew very well how arrogant the British navy was.

If the other party is touched, the other party may really join the war.

"Don't worry, these British people are too arrogant. If you want to make them bow their heads, you must have something practical."

Guo You shook his head. He looked like a simple and honest fishing boat boss, but after more than two years of experience, this man was no longer simple.

Commanding the most powerful first fleet of the Chinese nation, Guo You is making progress every day. The Chinese navy has more and more rising stars.

Not to mention Mrs. Qing, Zeng Tai, Zhang Ming and others are already capable of commanding the fleet.

Guo You feels that his brain is not as flexible as others, so he has to put in more effort.

Sure enough, on the British frigate, the first mate reminded Captain Babu again: "Mr. Captain, the commander ordered us to never conflict with the frigate. The Admiralty has ordered the Far East Fleet to transfer part of its main ships to the Red Sea for alert. This

We must not go to war with the Chinese at this time. Moreover, the Chinese have now formed an alliance with us to deal with the Russians. We cannot create extraneous problems."

The first mate used "absolutely" several times this time. It seemed that if Babu persisted in his own way, the loyal first mate would report it.

"Sigh... Zuo Manduo, let's get out of here."

Babu sighed and had to give the order to leave. As an aristocratic officer, Babu still had the basic awareness of taking the overall situation into consideration.

Just now, the escorts shelled the British warships, which made General Auden's frustrated face instantly shine. He felt that with the pride of the British, it was impossible not to fight back in this situation.

As long as this frigate starts a battle with the escort force, can the British fleet parked in Xingjiapo Port not come out to help?

However, the British approach almost shocked his slender pointed chin.

Escaped!

These British guys escaped shamefully...

"Damn British guy..." General Auden couldn't help cursing, without caring about his own image.

But the officers around him did not feel any sense of violation, because they also cursed the British in their hearts.

By this time, General Auden was a fool and understood that he had been tricked by the British. The support the British said was purely verbal.

"It's time to send these Dutch people to the bottom of the sea." Taking advantage of the low morale of the Dutch, Guo You issued the order for a general attack.

Some time ago, the First Fleet had been struggling with the Dutch. The distance between the two sides was very far, and it was only within the maximum range of the First Fleet. Within this range, the hit rate of the naval guns was not high.

On the one hand, Guo wanted to protect his warships from attack, and on the other hand, he also wanted to kill the Dutch's fighting spirit.

No matter what, we finally killed one of the opponent's first-class battleships.

The three ships Yangwu, Feiyun, and Fubo accelerated to the left front of the "Dutchman", and formed a pincer attack on it with the three ships Ji'an, Jiansheng, and Zhenwu who were on the right front of the "Dutchman"

situation.

And some of the guns on the "Dutch" were finally able to reach the battleships of the First Fleet.

The shelling between the two sides became more intensive.

The six main battleships of the First Fleet opened their firepower, and rockets, artillery, and various ammunition were poured onto the "Dutchman" instantly.

General Oden, who was in the command tower, felt that his sight was blocked by the smoke generated by the explosion.

Although the gun bay protected by the deck continued to fire, the deck of the "Dutchman" had become a hell.

The thick sail ropes broke in the explosion, and the sails were dragged around like whips. The sailors in charge of damage control suffered the most serious casualties.

The most important thing is that a fire broke out on the deck at this time.

An incendiary bomb among the rockets will aggravate the fire on the deck, and the fire will burn the rigging and sails.

Fierce fires were burning up the sails, and it seemed as if a jungle fire had broken out on the deck.

There are at most two or more sailors on a first-class battleship. They have a precise division of labor, and its internal structure is extremely complex. The deck alone has four layers, and there are dense shooting ports on both sides.

The First Fleet knew that when attacking this kind of battleship, it was better not to sink it. The best way was to destroy all the sail ropes on its upper deck and make it lose power.

Without power, this bulky battleship will become a living target on the sea.

General Oden could clearly feel that his battleship was slowing down.

You must know that there are dozens of sails on the deck of the "Dutchman", and each one plays an important role.

At this time, most of the sail ropes were burned, and one mast had tilted, affecting the normal navigation of the battleship.

"Commander Oden, I suggest you transfer to the Friesland. The Dutchman is no longer suitable as a flagship."

The captain's face was blackened by smoke, the fire on the deck was difficult to control, and the damage control sailors suffered heavy casualties. The captain could only transfer sailors from other positions to the deck.

Then, for some reason, the Chinese Navy closed the distance and increased its firepower.

The Chinese navy's artillery shells continued to explode on the deck of the "Dutchman". These shells were all explosive shells, although they would not sink the "Dutchman".

But this left the sailors unable to get to the deck to put out the fire.

"No, the "Dutchman" is the spiritual symbol of our Kingdom of the Netherlands. I can't give it up. Send all the people who can be mobilized to the deck. Let the four warships behind come forward. There is no need to maintain the battle line. We will

Advance in horizontal formation. I'll see how the Chinese navy can change its formation."

General Auden had had enough of being beaten by the Chinese navy. Since the British reinforcements were gone, and he was not willing to admit defeat, he might as well make a last stand and fight with the opponent in chaos.

The "Dutch" took the initiative to slow down, and the four third-level battleships behind it rushed up. They initially wanted to outflank the Chinese navy.

However, Guo You had already accelerated the fleet towards the northeast while the opponent was changing formation.

At this time, the two battleships Futai and Fusheng on guard behind also moved towards the enemy's right flank.

The Chinese navy is all steam warships, and the speed of formation changes is obviously much faster than that of the Dutch.

"All ships attacked the 'Drenthe' and 'Gelderland' on the opponent's right wing with all their strength." Guo Youye quickly changed the target of the attack.

The "Dutchman" finally got a chance to breathe, and the sailors gradually put out the fire on the deck.

General Oden saw that this was not going to work. The two battleships on the right wing were even more vulnerable than the Dutchman, so he ordered four more frigates to come up.

As a result, the Chinese navy immediately increased its power to capture these four frigates.

These frigates are not as sturdy as battleships. In a short time, they were sent to the bottom of the sea by the Chinese navy.

After destroying the Dutch wing, Guo You gathered eight battleships and once again attacked the two third-level battleships on the Dutch right wing.

Four against one, the Chinese fleet surpassed the opponent in terms of firepower and maneuverability.

The Chinese fleet avoided the opponent's sides and attacked from the front and rear of the battleship. The Dutch could only fight back with artillery on the bow or stern.
Chapter completed!