Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 1297 Burning the Battleship
On the night of the sixth day when Algiers was blocked by the United Fleet, 37 naval soldiers selected from the Fourth Fleet quietly steered two pirate galleys to the shore.

Only the sound of the waves crashing on the shore, and the flickering torches of Algiers' forts and mountain towns.

Under Li Dingguo's self-recommendation, he was allowed to participate in this risky arson operation, and his task was only to be the oarsman of the galley.

His face was covered with sweat.

Once spotted by the pirates on the frigate, their arson attempt would most likely fail, and their galleys would likely be sunk.

Unknowingly, the two galleys approached the frigate in the shallows at a slow speed, and the night was their best cover.

The frigate was used as a stranded sea battery by pirates, and pirates with torches patrolled the deck.

Li Dingguo could hear his heart beating faster involuntarily, and his whole body couldn't help shaking.

The other members are not much better, this is the conditioned reflex of everyone in an extremely tense situation.

The arson boat was in front, and the escape boat was behind, and the distance between the two boats was very close.

The closer the two galleys came to the pirates' heavily guarded frigate, the more tense they became.

They tried to avoid places where the fire could shine, and hid in the darkness until the galley came under the frigate, and the soldiers could put their hands on the frigate's hull to prevent the galley and frigate from colliding.

A soldier on the arson ship stood up, with a grappling hook in his hand, and he used the torch on the frigate to identify the location of the frigate.

The soldier holding the grapple hook quietly hooked the grapple hook to a gun port of the frigate, locking the arson ship and the frigate together.

"Retreat!" After the soldiers on the arsonist boat completed their difficult task, they climbed onto the escape boat in the dark almost hand and foot - some movement was inevitable in the middle.

Boom!The unmanned arsonist ship collided with the frigate due to the ups and downs of the waves, which alarmed many pirates who were sleeping on the artillery deck.

The pirates woke up from their sleep and anxiously grabbed the muskets beside them, looking for the source of the sound.

Soldiers who hastily boarded the escape boat ignited the gunpowder on board at the last moment.

Boom! !A large amount of black powder loaded on the arsonist ship made an explosion sound, and the flames soared into the sky, and the kindling on the arsonist ship was completely ignited!

The arsonist ship is connected to the stranded frigate by the grapple, and the frigate that has lost its mobility cannot escape the attack of the arsonist ship!

The raging fire was burning the frigate's hull, and the fire began to spread to the upper deck of the frigate. The fire lit up the nearby sea surface, and the billowing black smoke it produced sank into the dark night sky!

Fire is undoubtedly fatal to a wooden galleon!

At the same time, the fire exposed the escape ship that hadn't escaped in time. After the pirates stationed on the frigate realized what was going on, they shot at the escape ship that was escaping here!
"Our mission has been completed, return to the fleet at full speed!"

The escape ship was exposed to the flames, and they didn't care about sneaking around, but excitedly celebrated the excellent completion of the operation of burning the frigate!

The pirates on the deck fired a few shots at the escape ship angrily, but the hit rate of the muskets was impressive and it didn't help.

By the time they reloaded the gunpowder, the escape boat was already out of the range of the muskets.

The fire rolled and swallowed this expensive frigate, destroying the hard work of many shipwrights.

The pirates were unable to save such a fire, and could only panic and leave the frigate they had not occupied for a long time on a pirate ship docked near the stranded frigate.

The gunpowder in the frigate that had not had time to be removed exploded violently because of the fire, and the fire became more fierce!

The fire on the sea and the explosion of gunpowder alarmed the pirates in the port and city of Algiers.The defenders of the fort couldn't tell what happened, so they didn't dare to fire rashly.

Pasha Murat was in his palace on the hilltop, and he too was awakened by the noise of his servants.

From his palace, you can see the entire port and the nearby sea.

At this time, the frigate on the sea turned into a big ball of fire, and the keel, deck, and artillery were all annihilated in the sea of ​​fire.

"Their methods are also ruthless. We have only occupied the frigate for three days, and they burned it. I am really willing to do it." Murat's mouth twitched a few times.

If the well-made frigate had been his ship, he would have hesitated and reconsidered burning it, and Fourth Fleet had not hesitated a bit.

Either the Chinese are too rich to care about burning their warships, or...

"They are so eager to destroy the captured warships, which means that they are about to launch an attack, and the defense of the coastal battery must be strengthened."

During the night Murat summoned some of his most important leaders and ordered them to deploy more soldiers to the harbor forts and city walls.

The torment of the night made the pirates in Algiers miserable. They were afraid that the combined fleet would attack the shore, and then they would become the other party's captives.

Sun Xu, Zheng Zhibao and others on the ironclad ship saw the frigate on fire.

"Tens of thousands of taels of silver will be gone, if the Admiralty pursues it..." Zheng Zhibao's eyes reflected the fire ball in the distance, and his tone was distressed.

"As long as the shipyard has enough silver to buy raw materials, they can continuously produce this 24-gun frigate. Similarly, if the silver is in place, the ordnance factory can also produce a large number of artillery to destroy such a frigate There is nothing to be sorry for, as long as we get enough compensation. Compared with the burned warship, I feel more sorry for the soldiers who died, and they paid unnecessary casualties." Sun Xu said.

Among the wooden sailboats produced by the Kyushu Army for the Ministry of the Navy, the number of small battleships of the 24-gun class and the frigate of the [-]-gun class are the largest.It can be said that these two types of warships already have established production standards and skilled workers, and can quickly make up for losses.

"The actions of the squad this time can be regarded as barely washing away the shame of our Fourth Fleet." Zheng Zhibao said.

"Not yet. We won't truly wash away our shame until we capture Algiers, let the pirates compensate us for our losses, and sign a treaty with us. The pirates must have had a hard time sleeping tonight. The officers and men of the ship should take a good rest, and we will land on the beach when the tide rises tomorrow," Sun Xu said.

In the past few days, they have not only planned to burn the frigates used by pirates as sea turrets, but also made a plan to storm the beach. The ships they sent out included shallow-water gunboats from the United Fleet and captured pirate galleys.

(End of this chapter)