Battleships parked on the sea one after another, like beasts entrenched, exuding a frightening aura. The sea below the flagship was calm, and there was a small boat moored. The boat was not big and could accommodate more than twenty people at most. Bourlon and
Bao Ling was sitting in the boat, and there were several guards sitting next to him. The two of them were fishing in the boat, leisurely and at ease, and did not feel the pressure of the war.
There were already small fishes in the small bucket next to Bao Ling.
Bourlon was much worse, only catching three fish.
At this time, it was already evening. Bourlon and Baoling lost interest in fishing, packed up their fishing rods, and climbed up the ladder lowered from the flagship. When they came to the deck, soldiers prepared deck chairs and fruits for them.
Waiting for food.
The chef on the flagship came over and took away the caught fish.
Bourlon took out the cigarette and lit it, took a puff of the cigarette, and said calmly: "Your Excellency Bao Ling, Adams and Russell have left with their troops for a few days and have not returned yet. I think it is time to send someone to inquire."
Bao Lingxiao said: "Adams just replenished his ammunition, which shows that he is still fighting, so there is no need to worry."
Bourlon nodded, changed the subject, and said: "When I came to Shanghai, I heard that Li Zhen ransacked the home of Yang Nenge, the former Shanghai Daotai, and also ransacked the home of Yang Fang, the richest man in Shanghai. Just these two
My family members already have hundreds of millions of taels of silver. The silver accumulated in the Shanghai treasury is even more tempting. If we capture Shanghai, we will really make a fortune. Not only will we gain huge benefits for the empire,
We can make a lot of money out of it too.”
Bao Ling said: "You have been in China for so many years, but you still haven't made enough money?"
Bourlon narrowed his eyes and looked up at the hazy sky, saying: "No one will try to make more money, and I am no exception. As long as I can make money, I will be very happy."
Bao Ling shook his head and said: "At a certain point, money is no longer useful."
But Bourlon had an intoxicated expression on his face, opened his arms, and said loudly: "You don't understand!"
"Report!"
When Bao Ling and Bourlon were talking about money, a soldier suddenly came to report.
Bao Ling asked: "What's the matter?"
The soldier held a spherical object in both hands and said: "Mr. Minister, this is a spherical ball that floated in front of us when we just collected the ship. I salvaged it. There are a few bumps on it. I don't know what they are."
."
As he spoke, the soldier stretched out his hand to press it.
"Wait a minute!" Bao Ling quickly stopped him.
The soldier's hand stopped in the air and asked: "Mr. Minister, do you have any questions?"
Bao Ling said in a deep voice: "This ball is a bit weird. I'm afraid there is a mystery inside. Please wait a moment and let's retreat a little further." After saying this, Bao Ling pulled Burlon back and retreated to the cabin, which was already ten meters away.
At this time, the soldiers on the deck gathered around and looked at the spherical object in the soldier's hand.
When the soldier saw Bao Ling retreat, he stretched out his hand to press down.
Bao Ling raised his eyebrows, and suddenly something similar sounded, and he shouted: "Don't press it!"
Unfortunately, Bao Ling's words were too late, and the soldier's hand pressed on the bulge.
"boom!!"
There was an explosion, and the soldier holding the mine was blown to pieces and died on the spot.
The remaining soldiers who were watching were blown away and fell on the deck. Some were killed directly, some were knocked unconscious by the explosion, and some were so bloody that they were difficult to identify.
Bao Ling stamped his feet repeatedly and said loudly: "Why didn't I think of it in time?"
"What?" Bourlon asked.
Bao Ling replied: "This is a bomb, specially designed to deal with warships."
Historically, when the British army fought with the American army in Philadelphia, they encountered explosives packed in small beer barrels. The small beer barrels were floating on the water and did not encounter the British warships. However, they were picked up by British soldiers and suddenly exploded.
The explosion killed many soldiers. Even though the British army was not equipped with mines, Bao Ling was well-informed and had a vague impression.
Unable to stop the soldiers, Bao Ling felt extremely sad.
The explosion woke up the remaining soldiers.
The soldiers ran out one by one, with curiosity on their faces, but they quickly took the injured soldiers for treatment and disposed of the dead soldiers. Bao Ling and Burlon walked out of the cabin and looked at the broken deck.
A haze appeared between his brows. Suddenly he encountered an exploding spherical bomb. Things were not simple.
"Oops, there are a lot of bombs floating around the flagship."
The soldiers' shouts came from the edge of the ship's side.
Bao Ling hurriedly ran to the edge of the ship's side. Using the light emitted from the ship, he looked at the sea below the ship and found spherical bombs floating over. Bao Ling's pupils widened and goosebumps appeared on his skin. He felt
His scalp was numb, and he shouted: "Set the ship immediately and order all warships to retreat to the sea."
"boom!!"
As Bao Ling finished speaking, he felt an explosion coming from below the flagship.
The battleship shook, and Bao Ling was caught off guard and fell to the deck, grinning in pain. As the battleships set sail one after another, ripples were set off on the sea. As a result, more and more mines floated over to greet them.
To the battleship.
It was already evening at this time, and the tide receded. Along with the tide, dense mines were scattered turbulently on the sea. They densely surrounded the warships, bumped into them, and then exploded. The power of a mine was not as powerful as
Large but dense mines exploded, and warships at sea simply couldn't withstand them.
The flagship where Bourlon and Baoling were located was hit by mines one after another. The battleship was damaged and began to leak.
The same was true for the rest of the battleships, all of which were destroyed.
The flagship was bumping and shaking, and the soldiers standing on the deck could no longer stand firm.
When Bourlon saw this, he suddenly became anxious and shouted loudly: "What on earth is going on? What's going on? Why do so many bombs suddenly appear on the water?"
In fact, Bourlon had already guessed that Li Zhen must have done it.
Bourlon cautiously ran to Bao Ling and asked, "Your Excellency Bao Ling, what should we do now? The battleship is damaged. If we leave the battleship and take a small boat, we can only escape to Shanghai. If we escape to the sea, it will be a dead end."
ah."
Bao Ling said in a deep voice: "The battleship was damaged and cannot retreat. We have no choice but to enter Shanghai."
Bourlon looked serious and said worriedly: "Li Zhen destroyed our battleship, so he must have prepared countermeasures. We took the ship to Shanghai, but it was difficult."
Bao Ling said: "Shanghai not only has Li Zhen, but also Adams and Russell."
The two knew that they would definitely die if they stayed on the battleship. If they did not get off the ship, they would surely sink with the battleship. They quickly ordered the soldiers to take out the small boats on the battleship that were preparing to escape. One small boat after another was lowered into the water. Due to the floating mines, many small boats were lowered and then disappeared.
They were blown up, but some boats survived.
Baoling and Bourlon did not disembark immediately. They first ordered a few soldiers to enter the escape boat and used wire nets to intercept the floating mines before disembarking from the flagship.
At this moment, all the warships entrenched on the sea lost their value.
Everyone has no time to think about the loss and just wants to escape from this place quickly.