"Captain, there are two fleets coming from the southwest and northwest." A messenger came to Du Hang and reported.
"Report the specific situation." Du Hang asked.
"The northwest fleet flies the American flag and has a total of six battleships, including three steam-powered cruisers and three sail frigates."
Du Hang knew that this was the American Perry fleet. It originally had seven warships, but one of them was sunk by the shogunate's coastal defense artillery in Edo Bay.
This fleet has dealt with the Renaissance Army several times. But now his strength is completely looked down upon by the Renaissance Army.
American steamships are still old-fashioned paddle steamers.
The huge paddle wheel mounted on the side would be destroyed if it was hit by a cannonball.
Moreover, paddle wheels will also reduce the protection of warships.
"Is the other fleet a British fleet?" Du Hang asked, if anything happens here in Nanyang, the British will definitely come to join in the fun.
They now consider themselves the "world police" on the oceans.
"Yes, Commander, there is another fleet flying the British flag, a British fleet consisting of two steam-assisted battleships and four cruisers." The messenger reported back.
The British fleet does pose a certain threat. Although it cannot catch up with the First Fleet, the British's firepower is still quite strong, especially the two modified battleships.
However, Du Hang was not afraid of the opponent at all. The First Fleet could use its speed and gun range to fight the opponent.
The problem now is not to let the opponent get too close to the battlefield. If there is accidental damage or something, it will easily give them an excuse to intervene.
"Order the "Huaihe" and "Huanghe" to intercept the fleet warning the Americans. Order the "Pearl River" and "Xiangjiang" to intercept the warships warning the British."
"Tell them that we are having a naval battle with the Spanish fleet. This is a battlefield area. Please don't get close to them, otherwise you will be responsible for the consequences." Du Hang ordered.
Immediately, the first fleet divided into two detachments, heading northwest and southwest respectively.
The warships of these two detachments increased their speed again and approached the two approaching fleets at high speed.
The U.S. Perry Fleet has gradually disappeared in the Far East this year.
The failure in Edo Bay caused them to lose face among the great powers.
Therefore, Mai Lian has been keeping a low profile, and even the Perry fleet has become "reclusive."
At the beginning of the year, an incident occurred at the Pearl River Estuary, which may have been their only appearance in the year.
Later, the Renaissance Army did not publicly hold the U.S. fleet accountable because that might lead to a war between the two sides.
After the Renaissance Army was stationed, the U.S. Perry Fleet hid in Hong Kong.
However, the American diplomat responsible for the incident later disappeared unexpectedly in Hong Kong.
Americans themselves are very secretive about this matter.
China did not make a public statement, but held a low-key memorial service outside Guangzhou for the people who lost their lives in the incident.
Several people were publicly executed at the memorial event.
As the commander of the fleet, Perry naturally knew some inside information.
However, their fleet in the east was not even comparable to the Nanyang Navy of the Renaissance Army, and they did not dare to take any action at all.
Mai Lian has been very busy because of the loan matter, and she can't take care of the fleet.
So they ate and drank in Xiangdao every day.
Sailors are also happy to live such a leisurely life.
But just last night, a telegram asked them to leave Hong Kong urgently and go to Manila, Luzon.
The Renaissance Army went to war against the Spanish!
This news made Perry mistakenly believe that yesterday was April 1st.
Why did the Renaissance Army go to war with the Spaniards?
The Spanish have just assembled dozens of battleships in Luzon. Such a large fleet is beyond the reach of even the British in the Far East.
Perry knew the situation of the Nanyang Navy in the Fuxing District very well.
With those few cruisers, it was possible to escape relying on speed, so why should they attack the Spanish battleships?
With such doubts, he brought his fleet to Manila.
They arrived in Manila at dawn.
When they arrived off the coast of Manila, the first round of battle between the First Fleet and the Spanish Fleet had ended.
He only saw eight smoking steam warships heading towards the open sea.
When did the Renaissance Army have such a steam fleet?
Perry had never heard of it at all. Could this be a trump card deliberately hidden in the hands of the Renaissance Army?
In this case, this Renaissance Army will be too scary. Masters who can hide their strength are the most threatening.
Because you never know where these people's cards are.
Perry was a very politically savvy admiral, otherwise he would not have led the Black Ship Incident against the shogunate.
He knew very well that the Renaissance Army's war against Spain would have a huge impact on the United States.
Because Spain currently still owns a large number of islands between Luzon and South America.
This is an important route to America. It is of great significance to the Perry fleet operating in the east.
If the Renaissance Army wins this war and takes over Spain's main islands in the Pacific, then the United States will completely lose its initiative in the Pacific.
Japan is already under the control and influence of the Renaissance Army. If the Renaissance Army takes control of the islands on the southern route,
Then the Renaissance Army is equivalent to controlling the maritime lifeline of the United States from the west coast to the east.
In this case, if the United States wants to gain a foothold in the East in the future, it will have to look at the face of the Baath Army.
Or we could abandon the west coast and fully operate the ports on the east coast, but if we go from the east coast to the east via the Cape of Good Hope, the distance would be much longer.
And in that case, we will also have to rely on the British.
At the same time, on the battleship "Cape Town", the flagship of the British East India Fleet, which came from the southwest, Fleet Commander Johnson was also considering this matter.
He also just came over after receiving the news that the Renaissance Army was launching war against Spain.
The order given to him by the Governor-General of Singapore was to monitor the progress of the war.
Looking at the current situation, the war seems to be over.
Johnson wanted to take a closer look. He thought he had just seen the eight steam frigates of the Renaissance Army withdrawing from the battlefield.
Even the first fleet of the Renaissance Army could not be seen clearly, let alone the situation in the port.
It stands to reason that the normal situation would be that the Renaissance Army's attack would be blocked and then it would rely on its own speed to withdraw from the port.
He had vaguely seen that the Renaissance Army's fleet was all steam-powered warships. And theirs seemed to be fully steam-powered.
Seeing that their tonnage is not very large, this approach seems feasible.
Many British inland river gunboats and tugboats are also fully steam-powered. So in Johnson's view, this configuration of the Renaissance Army is not surprising.
The Renaissance Army had fully steam-powered inland river gunboats before. Perhaps they expanded the original gunboats and secretly built this batch of warships.
Johnson gave this explanation in his mind for the sudden appearance of the First Fleet.
Just when Johnson was about to lead his fleet closer to the battlefield, two warships from the Renaissance Army's fleet came to his side.
After the opponent accelerated, Johnson discovered that the opponent was very fast.
"Niels, you see the opponent's speed is so fast, it should be more than 20 knots, right?" Johnson asked Niels, the staff officer on the side.
Nils made careful calculations with the help of the telescope and said: "Yes, Commander, their speed must be more than twenty knots. Oh, my God! I have never seen such a fast speed. Maybe only those used for
Only small racing sailboats can achieve such speeds."
"These Chinese people are so incredible. Did they increase the number of steam engines in the ship? Such a ship is almost more than a thousand tons. To achieve such a speed, it requires at least several thousand horsepower. Is this better than me?
The auxiliary power on a battleship is even stronger."
Although the British, especially the navy, were very arrogant, Johnson was a professional naval admiral.
He knew that the Renaissance Army's navy could build such a fast warship, which was an important innovation in naval history.
The two warships on the opposite side were closer, and he finally saw their streamlined appearance clearly.
For some reason, the proud Johnson felt an inexplicable appreciation in his heart.
It's like when you were a child and saw other children owning a toy that you had always wanted.
Even if you are watching others playing, you seem to be happy.
"Niles, the opponent seems to have a full steel armor structure, rather than a wooden battleship covered with steel plates." Johnson made a new discovery.
"Yes, Commander, I heard that such warships are also being built in China, but the tonnage is much larger than the warships of the Renaissance Army." Nils said in a low voice, for fear of being heard by others.
"Yes, Niels, but our new warships don't seem to have such speed. Please summarize the observed parameters and report back to the country." Johnson said.
"Yes, Commander, you see they are waving flags, it seems they are telling us not to get close." Niels said, through the telescope, he could see the flag bearer on the watchtower in front of the opponent's chimney waving flags.
"Did these Renaissance troops defeat the Spanish?" Johnson's mind turned quickly.
His first reaction was that the Renaissance Army had defeated the Spanish.
Otherwise, how could they be so unreasonable to the British fleet? And the other side was able to divide their forces to intercept them with such a small force.
This also shows that they are not worried about the Spaniards chasing them. This means that they have defeated the Spaniards.
But how is this possible? The fighting must have started after dawn, so the fighting between them only lasted an hour or two.
Battles between battleships sometimes went on for days without a winner.
They only have eight frigates and very few cannons on them. How can they defeat so many Spanish battleships in a short time?
Johnson felt that the biggest shortcoming of the opposing battleships was that they had too few guns.
Today's navy believes that the greater the number of naval guns, the better. Battleship levels are divided based on the number of naval guns as the main parameter.
It’s incredible!
"Commander, are we still going forward?" Nils asked.
"Of course, no one can threaten the fleet of the British Empire." Johnson said proudly.
On the First Fleet "Xiangjiang", the intelligence officer walked into the captain's cabin located under the watchtower in the middle forward section of the deck.
He stood next to the captain and reported: "Captain, the British fleet opposite has rejected our request. They said that they have the right to freedom of navigation in Manila waters."
"I knew these British guys wouldn't give in so easily. Don't they know the neutrality rules of maritime warfare?" The captain of the "Xiangjiang" knew the British very well.
Not only him, many officers and soldiers in the Navy of the Renaissance Army had dealt with the British.
Because in the beginning, the Nanyang Navy was taught by the British.
From sailing to sailing to gunnery, they were all taught step by step by the British.
Therefore, the officers and soldiers of the Renaissance Army and Navy have a deep understanding of the character of these British people.
"Since they won't stop, let's not stop either. Let's stick to them."
Then such a strange scene appeared on the sea.
Two thousand-ton small warships rammed directly into six huge British warships.
Because there is no mast, and the deck of the Jianghe-class battleship is relatively close to the waterline.
Compared with the tall British warships, it was like a dwarf standing in front of a giant.
"What are they going to do?" Johnson asked when he saw the Renaissance Army warship on the opposite side heading straight towards his own fleet.
The two will soon reach a dangerous distance between fleets.
Very few battleships at sea would come within this distance.
"Turn on the generator and call the British." The captain of the "Xiangjiang" ordered.
Electrically driven loudspeakers have already been manufactured by the Renaissance Army.
Dong Shuheng ordered people to be loaded onto the warship. If anything happens on the warship, the captain can notify everyone at once through the loudspeaker.
At this moment, they were fighting with the British fleet. The captain of the "Xiangjiang" suddenly remembered that he could use this thing to shout to the British.
This is much more popular than raising flags.
As the distance between the two sides narrowed, the sailors on the British battleships could clearly see the warships of the First Fleet.
Many British sailors were watching the two warships curiously.
Because the two ships coming from the opposite side are indeed too strange in length.
This appearance is actually very inconsistent with the aesthetics of warships at that time.
"Look, what are those two little guys doing?" a sailor on the deck shouted.
"Are they trying to collide with our battleship?" another sailor said.
"Then they must be seeking death. With their size, our battleship can send them directly to the bottom of the sea." Another person said.
At this moment, loud shouts suddenly rang out from the two Renaissance Army warships.
"Oh my god, what is that? That noise?"
The loudspeaker shouted in slightly stiff English: "This is the battle area between the Renaissance Navy and the Spanish fleet. Please strictly abide by the rules of neutrality in naval warfare and stop advancing. Please stop advancing!"
The sound didn't seem like a human shouting. How could a human voice be so loud?
The sailors on the British warship heard the shouting, and everyone was full of curiosity about such a miracle.
"Your Majesty Commander, what should we do?" Nils asked.
"If we continue to move forward, we will indeed violate the rules of neutrality, and we are indeed not prepared to intervene in the battle between the Renaissance Army and the Spanish." Niels continued, he seemed a little worried that Johnson would start a war with the Renaissance Army without authorization.
That would go against the established policy of the British Empire.
"Tell them that we will not interfere in their war with the Spanish, but we will ensure the safety of British expatriates," Johnson said.
The British could not give in. Johnson in turn made a request, which was naturally to ask the Renaissance Army to give them a step down.
On the "Xiangjiang", the captain received the flag signal from the British fleet and said: "Tell them that we will ensure the safety of British expatriates. In front of them is the war zone, and we ask them not to advance for the time being."
After the Renaissance Army responded, the British fleet turned around.
"Captain, you didn't really want to ram the British warship just now, did you?" the first mate couldn't help but ask.
"Of course not. With the maneuverability of our warships, it is very easy to avoid them." The captain replied. The captain who can sit on the new ship is not a fool.
"Then why do the British bring up the issue of expatriates?"
"Haha, they are just looking for an excuse to give in. They are known as the overlords of the sea, how can they obey so easily!"
ps: I have been coding for most of the night again, and I finished it before going to sleep. Readers, please vote!