1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 118 It's better to catch it well than to hit it accurately (three more!)

"You should trust the artillery skills of an old artilleryman! When I served in the Swiss Artillery Regiment, I was a well-known sharpshooter in the regiment!"

Sutter patted his chest and said confidently.

He knew that the muzzle-loading smoothbore guns weren't going to be as fast or accurate as they could be, but he was still able to sink a few of these ships as long as he brought them closer.

"Your Excellency Colonel, you should trust your old subordinates, we are the elite of the American Army!"

On the fishing boat, Lieutenant Colonel Lange also patted his chest to Colonel Mason confidently.

"What a shitty California Infantry Regiment! They are just a mob of militiamen, how can they be compared with the elite of our American regular army! We are the trump card that has fought into Mexico City!"

"I heard that there are many Chinese in the California Infantry Regiment. What a joke. Ten years ago, a few thousand soldiers from the British beat their hundreds of thousands of troops to pieces!"

"Yes, yes! Your Excellency Colonel, don't hesitate, order to land on the shore!"

The other officers on the ship echoed.

Soldiers of the [-]st Company ransacked Los Angeles and made a small fortune, much to the envy of the officers and men of the other companies.

If you can enter San Francisco and Sacramento, two golden places, you can definitely make a fortune.

The soldiers of the first company were all robbed, why couldn't the soldiers of their other companies rob?That is golden gold!
Just grab a small piece and it will be their military pay for several months!
They urged Mason to land as soon as possible and enter San Francisco.

"Shut up! Am I the commander or are you the commander?!"

Colonel Mason silenced the officers.

He is a rational, opinionated man.

He knew very well that his subordinates had lost control of their emotions, and he had to maintain his absolute authority in the army.

Looking at the cannon erected in Jinshan Bay, Mason knew that Sherman's good deeds in Los Angeles had been exposed.He has only half a regiment of troops, and he must be careful.

For Liang Yao's California Infantry Regiment, Mason had his own judgment. Liang Yao's ability to wipe out Brandon's bandits at least showed that Liang Yao's armed forces were not vulnerable mobs.

It's just that they are infantry, and it's not a problem to be floating in the sea all the time.

"Langer! You take an infantry company to explore the way, and hand this letter of mine to Colonel Liang after landing. Be careful, and withdraw immediately if they have any hostile behavior!"

Colonel Mason thought for a while, then took out a letter he had prepared from his pocket and handed it to Lange.

"Yes! Colonel!"

Lieutenant Colonel Lange took Colonel Mason's letter and happily led a company to the port of San Francisco.

The joy of Lieutenant Colonel Lange didn't last long, and the coastal defense batteries in Jinshan Bay opened fire on them without warning.

His smile froze for an instant, and he watched helplessly as seven or eight huge shells hit his fleet.

"Turn around! Turn around! They're firing!"

Seeing that the situation was not good, Lieutenant Colonel Lange hurriedly ordered to turn the bow of the ship, preparing to leave this ghost place and quickly escape the range of the coastal defense artillery.

If Lieutenant Colonel Lange didn't turn around, he might still be able to save his life. Sartre, who was standing on the coastal defense battery to observe the impact of the shells, was a little disappointed because the shells he fired were a bit off.

To Sartre's surprise, the leading flagship actually turned around and caught his shell, which was a real surprise.

Lieutenant Colonel Lange accurately caught Sartre's shells with his own flesh and blood. Before Lieutenant Colonel Lange could dodge, the hot shells smashed his torso to pieces, and he completely lost consciousness.

The fiery shells with flesh and blood smashed through Lieutenant Colonel Lange's body, leaving a large hole in the bottom of the ship.

Sea water poured up continuously through the big hole that was smashed through, and the hull was also torn.

This is just a small fishing boat, not a warship, and its structural strength is very fragile.

The fishermen built this boat to go fishing, not to carry cannonballs.

The soldiers on the ship were in a hurry to find anything that could block the hole. In desperation, one soldier even pressed the head of Lieutenant Colonel Lange to the hole to block the water, because the size of the head was just right.

These army officers and soldiers are obviously not proficient in sailing, so they can only threaten the fisherman with their guns to make him turn around quickly.

"Come on! Come on! You old man, one more shell and we're all going to die here!"

The fisherman who was sailing also wanted to cry but had no tears: "Now we are against the wind, and the wind is not strong, so we can't get up soon!"

What a sailboat fears most when sailing at sea is not headwind, but no wind.

As long as the sails are handled properly, the ship can also sail forward in a "Z" shape under the condition of headwind, but it is not as fast as the tailwind.

The worst situation is when the wind is small or there is no wind. In this case, the boat can only be driven by manpower to shake the oars.

Wind is to a sailboat what coal is to a steamship.

"Let's paddle!"

Seeing that the wind was too weak, another fisherman gave up sailing and took the oars on the boat and tried to turn the bow of the boat by paddling.

The soldiers on the boat rushed up and picked up the oars and oars and started rowing, but it was a pity that they not only couldn't handle the sails but also couldn't row the oars, and rowed randomly.

At this time, the coastal defense artillery on the coastal defense battery had completed loading, and a second round of shelling was carried out on them.

With the first round of calibration firing, the accuracy of the second round of shelling was significantly improved, and a full three shells hit the fleet.

One of the shells slammed into the side of Lieutenant Colonel Lange's ship. The boards on the side of the ship were torn and shattered, and the splashed sawdust injured four or five soldiers who were paddling.

"Good fight!"

Liang Yao couldn't help but patted the fence on the fort and praised.

These people are obviously not professional naval sailors, and their performance on the ship is very amateurish.

"Your Excellency, Colonel, get ready to leave the port to capture the prisoners!"

Sutter saw a fishing boat being sunk, and the soldiers and fishermen on board either lowered their lifeboats or jumped into the sea to survive. He was very satisfied with the effect of the shelling.

As long as these clumsy guys haven't left the range of the cannon, and give him a few more rounds of shooting, Shako is even sure to sink all the ships within the range!

"I hope I can catch a few more big fish."

Liang Yao nodded, and ordered the semaphore soldiers on the fort to signal to the San Francisco fishermen at the port, informing them to leave the port to capture the prisoners after the shelling was over.

As for the fleet watching from behind, Liang Yao was not worried. Liang Yao wished that all these ships would come within the range of the coastal defense guns and give them a head-on blow.

In a fair duel on land with equal strength and equipment, Liang Yao did not have full confidence in defeating Colonel Mason's troops.

However, if Colonel Mason is willing to be a target, with Sartre as an excellent gunner and his artillerymen, Liang Yao has the confidence to call Colonel Mason's fleet one by one.

After the shelling ended, there were twenty or thirty corpses floating on the sea outside the port of San Francisco, and the surviving soldiers scrambled to grab the lifeboats.

It's just that the number of lifeboats is limited, and the soldiers already on the lifeboats don't want to die, they just want to get out of this ghost place quickly.They did not hesitate to abandon their companions who had fought side by side with them.

There was also disharmony on the overloaded lifeboat. In order to survive, they even fought on the lifeboat, pushed their companions into the sea, and quickly left in the lifeboat.

For those soldiers who wanted to swim to the lifeboat, the soldiers on the boat pointed guns at them without hesitation, threatened them to leave or even shot them directly.

A non-commissioned officer with fairly good water skills held on to an oar, begging the oarsmen to pull him up.

The other soldiers on the lifeboat unceremoniously shot the poor non-commissioned officer into the sea with their oars.

"My God, what are my soldiers doing?!"

Colonel Mason, who witnessed this scene with his own eyes, couldn't believe that these soldiers who killed each other were his subordinates, and said sadly.

(End of this chapter)