shadow of britain

Chapter 109 The Voice of the Endgame
While the Blackthorn was full of laughter, the deck of the Beagle was still busy.

Colonel Fitzroy observed the trajectory of the Barbary pirate ship with a telescope, and ordered the adjustment of the gun positions.

"Calibration! Elevation angle 30 degrees, east by south 15 degrees, four shots, salvo!"

Only the roar of the cannon was heard, and there was a splash of water on the sea. The barbary pirates were shot in two places, but the damage was above the waterline, which did not affect their mobility.

But the shelling of the Beagle ended, and the Barbary pirates' revenge came soon.

They showed six platoons and fired heavily at the Beagle.

There was only a bang, sawdust splashed on the deck, and smoke and dust rose everywhere.

Elder was lying on the ground, covering his head, and it took a long time before he got up and spat out the stubble in his mouth with a bah, and cursed: "These sons of bitches, they are kind of sticking to the board! Bullying with superior firepower What are people!"

Darwin also wiped the soot from his face, and muttered, "Elder, that's not what you said when we shelled the black thorn just now! Didn't you say that firepower is justice?"

Elder glared, picked up the musket at hand and pushed it up. He scolded: "Charles, where are you from? Of course our superiority in firepower is justice, and the superiority in other people's firepower is to bully the weak by the strong. Of course I want to Protest!"

Maybe it was the Barbary pirates who saw the billowing white smoke from the Blackthorne. After several rounds of shelling on the Beagle, they finally couldn't help getting closer, and planned to use their numbers to rescue the Blackthorne.

However, as soon as the pirate ship shortened the distance from the Beagle, the sailors on the two ships couldn't wait to raise their muskets to attack each other.

Under the orders of Barbary pirate captain Ahmed and Colonel Fitzroy, both ships furled their sails and sailed in parallel at almost a static speed.

After the sailors on both sides completed a round of confrontation, they threw their guns to the ground violently.

Subsequently, several gangplanks were set up between the two ships, and the Barbary pirates drew their scimitars and rushed to the deck of the Beagle, shouting 'Allah Akbar' (God is great).

The sailors of the Beagle also pulled out their swords and shouted 'God wills it' (God's will) to catch the opponent's impact.

Agares, who was pacing on the deck of the Blackthorn, couldn't help wrinkling his nose and shaking his head when he saw this scene, "We all believe in one God, so why bother? Besides, He can't control Guys, you might as well call out my name, at least I can give you some response."

However, the two sides obviously couldn't hear the sigh of the Red Devil, and almost instantly, the deck of the Beagle was covered with blood.

Almost everyone joined the battle, even the nine-year-old waiter raised his sailor knife and cooperated with several of his friends back and forth to besiege a Barbary pirate with all his might.

At this time, Elder also fought a sword with a pirate, but his arm strength was obviously not as strong as the opponent's, and his standing posture was not as stable as the opponent's.

The pirate raised his foot and kicked Elder's ankle, and kicked him staggeringly. Taking advantage of his unstable center of gravity, the pirate rode on him in an instant, and raised his knife to kill him.

In desperation, Master Elder pushed his knee forward with his right leg. Although he failed to kick the pirate away, he hit the other party's private parts hard.

The pirate was in pain for a moment, and the scimitar in his hand fell to the ground.

With sharp eyesight and quick hands, Elder slapped the scimitar away, then lay on the ground and strangled the pirate's neck with all his might.

The pirate also gritted his teeth and grabbed Elder's neck with pain.

The two sides were in such a stalemate without letting go. Seeing that their faces were gradually turning blue, Elder saw a person hugging the mast in front of him from the corner of his eyes. It was the man who claimed to be a little dizzy Former surgeon Charles Darwin.

Elder yelled and cursed: "Charles, don't come and help me? Look at your skill, you are ashamed to say that you have nothing to do with monkeys!"

Darwin's head was a little dizzy, but when he heard this, he immediately jumped angrily, and hit the Barbary pirate heavily on the back from the mast.

The pirate spat out a mouthful of blood, covering Elder's face.

Just as Elder breathed a sigh of relief and was about to praise Darwin, he saw Darwin pointing his middle finger at him angrily.

"Elder, you can question my courage, but you can't doubt my relationship with monkeys without any evidence! You are not only insulting me, but also Lamarckism!"

Elder covered his neck and shook his head: "Thank God, thanks to the monkeys, and even more thanks to Lamarckism, they both saved my life!"

Just when the sailors were in a hard fight, they heard a gunshot behind them. Seven or eight Barbary pirates were shot instantly, and one after another fell to the ground clutching their chests.

Looking back, they saw the returning marines and Arthur standing on the springboard with his arm raised and his gun raised.

Arthur straightened his sailor cap slightly, raised the muzzle of his gun, and blew away the pale white smoke.

"call……"

The gunpowder smoke gradually faded, and behind Arthur, apart from the marines, there were groups of black shadows, which were countless, liberated from the Blackthorn, armed with various weapons, and angry. Indentured slave.

Seeing this situation, the Barbary pirates knew that the situation was over. Captain Ahmed stuffed two fingers into his mouth and blew the whistle for retreat.

He shouted in Arabic: "This order is a mess, let's withdraw!"

They wanted to withdraw, but the sailors of the Beagle didn't necessarily want to let them go.

Colonel Fitzroy kicked the pirates in front of him, and immediately raised his arms and shouted: "Counterattack from all sides!"

Tom and Tony drew their muskets and shot at the pirates retreating towards the diving board one after another: "For justice and justice!"

At the same time, the voice of the sailors charging resounded on the Beagle: "For Nelson!"

And Alexandre Dumas, who followed Arthur to the Beagle, also picked up the flintlock pistol Arthur gave him and fired violently: "The Irish represent the highest level of intelligence in Britain!"

Hearing this, the passionate sailors felt a wave of anger rise to the top of their heads, and even Captain Fitzroy couldn't help roaring: "Damn it! Which bitch pirate shouted!" ? I think they don’t want to live anymore! Kill them all!”

Under the impact of waves of sailors, the Barbary pirates retreated steadily.

Seeing that the angry sailors and contracted slaves were about to chase down the springboard, the pirate leader Ahmed had no choice but to order: "We can't wait any longer, remove the springboard, and let's retreat!"

Under his command, the pirate ship opened its sails again, and under the action of the monsoon, it quickly pulled away from the Beagle.

The springboard lost its support, and those Barbary pirates who were still standing on the springboard fell into the sea one after another, splashing waves and shouting for help in horror.

Colonel Fitzroy swung his sword and roared, "Fire me! Don't let them live!!!"

With an order, the Beagle's bow guns fired in unison.

A few shells hit the pirate ship's cabin in an instant, but unfortunately they did not break the sails that powered them.

Colonel Fitzroy looked at the Congreve rocket launchers full of ships, and gritted his teeth angrily: "I would have saved some spares if I knew it!"

He wanted to give the order to pursue, but when he turned his head and saw the damaged sail and an overturned mast of the Beagle, he sighed unwillingly.

"Ah! What a pity, there was a chance to take two ships! These Barbary pirates dare to insult us with only the intelligence of the Irish!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Arthur walking towards him with a bloody towel.

The fight was so fierce that Arthur's arms and arms were covered with blood, and his palms were so slippery that he couldn't even hold things.

Arthur looked at Colonel Fitzroy with a dissatisfied expression, and said, "Mr. Colonel, you don't have to worry, those pirates are dead."

"How did you know?"

Arthur wiped his hands clean, then took out the telescope from his pocket and handed it over. He pointed to the sea ahead and said, "Look there."

Colonel Fitzroy took the telescope and looked up, only to find several black spots on the sea ahead.

As the black spots got closer, he could clearly see the bow flags hanging on those ships.

At the top is the flag of the Navy Headquarters with three golden anchor marks on a red background.

And hanging below it is a red cross on a white background, with a rice logo in the upper left corner, symbolizing the white flag of the Royal Navy's front-line troops.

This is followed by the unit flag symbolizing the English Channel Fleet and the unit command flag with a white background and a red border in the shape of a swallowtail.

But these flags were not what Colonel Fitzroy was most concerned about. All he focused on was the special flag with a small red sun on the St. George's flag fluttering in the wind.

That is the flag that symbolizes the rank of the supreme commander of the fleet.

And as the ship approached, Colonel Fitzroy could see exactly which behemoths of the Royal Navy were coming.

The Channel Fleet's 74-gun third-tier battleship 'Glasgow', the Channel Fleet's 98-gun second-tier battleship 'Reckless', and the Channel Fleet's flagship 114-gun first-tier battleship 'Conqueror'.

Colonel Fitzroy breathed out slightly, the information was enough for him to realize which big boss of the Royal Navy was on the ship in the sea opposite him at this time.

The Navy Headquarters of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is directly under the Commander of the Channel Fleet, Lieutenant General of the Royal Navy White Banner-General Edward Codrington.

At this time, some knowledgeable sailors were already grinning, and Colonel Fitzroy couldn't help drawing a cross on his chest with his fingers.

"Why are you talking about these pirates? General Codrington has some complicated grievances and grievances with the Ottoman Turkish Empire. If it falls into his hands, he might as well surrender to me directly."

At the far end of the sea, a cold-faced admiral with a silver-white curly wig, a boat-shaped cap on his head, and three shiny round sun star epaulets on his shoulders, wearing a red and black uniform and white trousers, is crossing his hands The stacked top rested on the hilt of a longsword that stood on the deck, and sat on the crimson velvet seat in the bow.

The salty sea breeze blew over his side face, lifting his silver-white wig.

The veteran stood up and raised his right hand slightly.

Seeing this, the orderly behind him shouted deafeningly, "To Your Station!"

Soon, there was a humbling sound on the sea, and the sound of the artillery cover being lifted.

From top to bottom, naval guns of various calibers were launched one by one, including 12-pound, 24-pound, 32-pound and the largest caliber of 68-pound. The black hole's muzzle densely filled 114 gun positions.

With a gust of sea breeze blowing through the cuff, the raised right hand waved down lightly.

"Fire!!!!!!"

All I heard was a rumbling and thunderous thunderbolt.

In an instant, a thick white mist rose from the distant sea, like the mysterious cloud curtain of the Bermuda Triangle, completely engulfing the pirate ship in the unknown.

As a gust of wind blew past, the smoke gradually dissipated, and the sea was still calm. There was nothing there, as if there was nothing there in the first place.

It's just that there are only a few floating wooden boards that remind people that there may have been something here.

(End of this chapter)