My son A Fei has the appearance of a sword master

Chapter 161 The shocked French nobles

Folkestone, a coastal city in Kent, England, is only [-] kilometers away from the French port of Calais. The fleet of the Ming Navy arrived here in two hours.

When densely packed ships appeared on the sea, with black smoke emitting strangely from those ships, the Coastal Defense Forces of the Kingdom of England immediately increased their vigilance.

The soldiers ran out of the barracks one after another, gunpowder was poured into the barrels of the matchlocks, torches were lit, and huge copper coastal defense guns were quickly prepared.

This kind of shore defense artillery with a barrel length of four meters, a caliber of 500 mm, and firing stone bullets weighing 150 kilograms is not comparable to the kind installed by the Portuguese on ships.

Depending on the amount of the charge, its firing range is between 120 meters and 3200 meters, with the highest shooting accuracy at a distance between 600 and 700 meters.

Facing this kind of coastal defense artillery, if you don't know the details and enter a distance of 700 meters, even the Ming fleet will be in great danger.

But as England's century-old rival, France knows all about its weapons and equipment.

After discovering the fleet appearing on the sea, several British soldiers, under the order of the general, pushed a speedboat into the sea and quickly rowed towards the fleet in front.

Unlike the Indian Ocean countries, which are relatively backward and have not experienced many maritime wars, they are not wary of large-scale fleets.

England and France, which had experienced the Hundred Years' War between England and France, were fully wary of large-scale fleets at sea.

They usually send out ships first to find out the other party's identity and purpose, and then decide whether to let the other party approach the coast and how to land.

This was the case when Wang Zhi and the others arrived in France.

In this era without air pollution, on a clear day, it is enough to see ships more than ten kilometers away from the coast.

Therefore, when the British army saw the fleet, it was still more than ten kilometers away. Twenty minutes later, the English boat and the fleet met about five kilometers away from the coast.

When they saw the behemoth ships in front of them, the English soldiers were greatly shocked.

In particular, these huge ships did not open their sails, but were sailing at a speed faster than their clippers, which was beyond their knowledge.

The English soldier was rowing a small boat in front of the gap between the fleet. After the distance was tens of meters away, an English soldier shouted to the people standing on the deck: "Who are you? What are you doing in England?" ?”

No one paid attention to him, the fleet was still sailing forward, and the expressions of the English soldiers suddenly changed.

Their speed boat can reach a speed of 15 kilometers per hour with six people paddling at the same time.

But the ships of the Ming Army were all traveling at a speed of more than 20 kilometers per hour. At this time, the opponent ignored them, and they couldn't even catch up.

On the deck of the flagship of the Ming fleet, Wang Zhi, Wang Lianhua, Song Li, and Shan Zuo Tianyin stood side by side with a French nobleman.

Behind Wang Zhi were two translators, who were proficient in French and English respectively, and a messenger carrying a radio on his back.

Behind the French noble, there were also three French warriors standing, who were the guards of the noble.

After the translator finished translating the British soldier's words, Wang Zhi said calmly: "Ignore it and continue sailing until the ship stops 1200 meters away from the coast."

The French nobleman also understood English. He turned around and said to the three warriors behind him: "Kill them."

"Yes."

A French warrior with a broad sword hanging from his waist pulled out the broad sword from his waist, took a few steps forward, and swung his sword in the air at the boat.

Several Douqi blades flew out, and the few English soldiers who were still looking at the fleet, and they were shocked and uncertain, suddenly fell into pieces together with the boat and sank into the sea.

Wang Zhi, who witnessed this scene, said to Wang Lianhua: "Brother Lianhua, this Western fighting spirit does have its own uniqueness."

Wang Lianhua nodded and said: "Well, although they are a bit rigid and straight forward, lacking subtle changes, they pursue the ultimate in condensation, their power is very concentrated, and their direct lethality is huge."

If they take action, they only need a sword energy with scattered power to blow the entire boat to pieces, killing the soldiers on board at the same time, but not tearing them apart.

Because the sword energy formed by true energy mainly kills the human body by invading the body and destroying the meridians and organs, rather than manifesting itself in direct external destructive power.

Of course, there is external destructive power, but it will not cut people off easily. At most, it will create a wound, allowing the sword energy to invade the body from the wound.

Of course, it's not that sword energy cannot be condensed to the point where it can cut through gold and iron, but generally no one would do this.

People in the martial arts world in China would usually not let their enemies die without leaving their bodies intact unless they had deep hatred.

Even if it is a life-and-death feud, the most common method is beheading. Very few people will chop their opponents into pieces. The most common ways of killing are to wipe the throat and pierce the body with a sword.

Even if sword energy kills people, it usually causes internal injuries, and external injuries are often not fatal.

This is due to differences caused by different cultures. After all, Chinese people have their own basic bottom line.

The West does not have any cultural heritage such as Yin Yang, Five Elements, Four Symbols, and Bagua. Their martial arts naturally lack variety. They are often straightforward and pursue the ultimate lethality.

The killing method of the Dou Qi Blade is no different from that of a physical sword, except that it has a long-range killing effect.

In the West, there is no such thing as "the skin of the body depends on the parents". If a high-level swordsman takes action on the battlefield, his limbs will be broken and his arms will fly around.

Although they looked down upon fighting spirit, Wang Lianhua and the others did not lose the face of their allies.

After the swordsman killed several English soldiers, Wang Lianhua still gave him a thumbs up.

Although the swordsman had a proud look on his face, he still bowed slightly and walked back behind the noble.

Wang Zhi said to the French noble: "Count Pursi, are these all swordsmen under you?"

After listening to the translator's translation, Count Pursi smiled and nodded: "The ambassador has good eyesight. They are not only swordsmen, but they are also very close to the great swordsman."

Count Pursi is in his 30s. He is not only a French nobleman, but also a French general and a master swordsman.

He was sent by Louis XI to observe the Ming army's tactics. Without any understanding of the Ming army's combat effectiveness, how could France dare to send troops rashly?
Wang Zhi praised: "The earl's family is indeed full of martial virtue, and it is worthy of being a family valued by the king."

Count Pursi said: "The ambassador can serve as the official envoy of the envoy, and he must have won the trust of the monarch of the Ming Dynasty."

The two chatted for a while, and the fleet soon arrived at the designated location and stopped 1200 meters away from the coast.

Wang Zhi said: "Count Pursi, at this distance, it shouldn't be that easy for the opponent's shore defense artillery to hit, right?"

Count Pursi nodded and said: "This place is about 650 yards away from the coastline, and the distance between your ships is so huge."

"If you are still hit in this situation, you can only blame yourself for bad luck. In fact, it is impossible for the British army to fire at this distance."

"However, the effective range of naval guns usually does not exceed 330 yards. The other party can't hit you, and you can't hit the other party either. Does the ambassador plan to launch an assault here?"

France uses "size" as the unit of length. One foot is approximately equal to 30.48 centimeters, and one yard is six feet, which is approximately equal to 1.82 meters.

Wang Zhi smiled slightly and said: "Who said that the range of naval guns cannot exceed 330 yards?"

When Count Pursi heard this, he said with great interest: "Oh? Then I'll wait and see."

Wang Zhi smiled at Wang Lianhua and said, "Brother Lianhua, I leave it to you."

Wang Lianhua nodded, turned around and said to the messenger: "Send the order, all the ships come across, carry out coverage bombing on the coast, lift the enemy's shore defense as quickly as possible, and give priority to the shore defense artillery." "Put down the walking boat, The Marine Corps assaulted the coast, landed on the beach, wiped out the surviving British troops, and advanced to 300 meters from the coast to build a defense line, complete."

The messenger immediately conveyed Wang Lianhua's order to each ship through the shortwave radio, and the fleet immediately became active.

Count Pursi looked at the radio station curiously and asked Wang Zhi: "Ambassador, what is this?"

Wang Zhi smiled and said: "This is called a radio station. We usually call it Qianli Sound Transmission."

The signal transmission distance of shortwave radio stations can reach 1200 kilometers at sea, and may be less than half in inland areas, but it is still enough to reach thousands of miles.

Therefore, this Thousand Miles of Sound is worthy of its name.

The translator pondered for a moment. He didn't know how to translate the radio station, so he had to use transliteration: "This is a device called a 'radio station' that allows people to communicate thousands of miles apart."

Seeing the shocked look on Count Pursi's face, Wang Zhi, Wang Lianhua and others all felt a sense of superiority in their hearts.

In the past, the thousand-mile sound transmission they knew was just the use of true energy. In fact, it could only reach a thousand-mile sound transmission at most.

But now, with the help of shortwave radio, they have really achieved sound transmission thousands of miles away.

Li Tianxin is truly a god.

Wang Lianhua turned back to Song Li and said, "Get the telescope."

"Yes."

Song Li responded and immediately arranged for the soldiers to fetch several monocular binoculars.

When Count Pursi also got a telescope and looked towards the coast under Wang Zhi's guidance, he couldn't help but take another breath.

The coast that is 650 yards away and cannot be seen with the naked eye is actually 60 yards away through this magical tube, but the vision is a little shaky.

The magnification of this monocular telescope is 4 times to 12 times. The lower the magnification, the more stable the field of view, and conversely, the higher the magnification, the more shaking it will be.

However, this problem was quickly solved. The Ming army soldiers opened several shelves, and Wang Zhi and Wang Lianhua both stuck the telescopes on the shelves, so that the viewing would be stable.

Count Pursi was amazed. He secretly determined in his heart that he must persuade the king to buy some radio stations and telescopes from his allies in the Ming Dynasty.

These two things are simply weapons of war.

At this moment, all the other ships except the flagship had crossed over. Hundreds of cannons were pointed at the coast, and a series of commands began to sound.

"All attention, target, England's coastal defense system, two holes on the scale, one hole on the direction, three holes on the direction, aim towards the steering wheel."

At this time, because the distance is too far, the artillery cannot see the target with the naked eye and cannot shoot accurately and directly, so the artillery commander needs to conduct coordinate calculations.

The firing method of a cannon is different from that of a mortar, so the command lines are naturally different.

The ruler generally controls the elevation angle of the gun barrel, and the direction controls the left and right rotation angle of the gun barrel.

This requires the artillery command to perform calculations based on various data. After the results are obtained, the gunner is informed, and the gunner adjusts the shooting elements.

"The first shot is good...the second shot is good...the third shot is good..."

After the adjustments to the shooting elements were completed, the commander immediately continued: "Sparkling bullet, No. 3 charge, one shot loaded, ready..."

"The first shot is good...the second shot is good...the third shot is good..."

"put."

"Boom"

The salvo of cannons shook the entire battleship.

The charge of the cannon is divided into seven powder numbers, from No. 0 to No. 6.

The charges of different charges determine the range of the cannonball, with No. 0 being the closest and No. 6 being the farthest.

Therefore, No. 0 charge is also called small charge, and No. 6 charge is also called full-size charge.

However, artillery generally rarely uses full-size charges, because the pressure on the barrel is relatively large, which can easily significantly reduce the service life of the barrel.

Therefore, artillery generally only uses No. 4 charges at most, and No. 5 charges are rarely used.

Cannon shells are different from mortar shells in that they are not complete shells, but have separate warheads and shells.

Before firing, the corresponding propellant is put into the cartridge case as needed, then combined with the warhead, and finally stuffed into the gun bore.

This may sound a bit complicated, but in fact, the preparation speed is very fast. With the tacit cooperation of several ammunition players, it can be completed in less than ten seconds.

Because the propellants are packed in packages, there is a basic powder tube in the cartridge case, which is the No. 0 charge, which can support the cannon for bombing at the shortest distance.

The No. 1 charge is to add one pack of propellant, the No. 2 charge is to add two packs, and so on. The full charge is to add six packs, so that the shell can reach the longest range, which is fourteen kilometers.

The range of No. 0 charge is within 2000 meters, which is already sufficient.

However, the small discharge speed of the charge was somewhat insufficient, and the damage to the shore defense battery was not strong enough, so the No. 3 charge was used.

Cannons are installed in the cabin, and mortars can naturally only be used on the deck. When the cannons show their power, the mortars also start bombing.

Wang Lianhua's order was for coverage bombing, with cannons specifically targeting forts and mortars targeting British soldiers.

When the British army discovered that the strange fleet had not stopped, and the soldiers they sent out to negotiate did not come back, they knew it was the enemy.

Therefore, they were all ready for battle. Gunpowder and stone bullets had been loaded into the barrels, and soldiers held torches to guard the fort.

As soon as the fleet enters the best range of the coastal defense guns, they will perform a final basic aim, and then decisively fire.

But what shocked them was that the fleet stopped less than a mile away and did not enter the optimal range of the coastal defense artillery.

The British generals were a little strange. Could it be that the other party was not the enemy, but because the ship was too fast, the soldiers they sent failed to keep up?
However, it didn't take long for them to learn how wrong they were.

I saw dense sparks suddenly appearing on the ships of the unfamiliar fleet.

Before they could react at all, bullets rained down overwhelmingly.

The entire coastal defense system was instantly engulfed in a sea of ​​fire, and the sound of explosions shook the sky and the earth.

Count Pursi and his three guards could not help but be stunned.

Since the flagship did not fire, they did not see what the Ming army's artillery looked like. Looking left and right, they could only see dark, small-caliber gun barrels sticking out from the sides of the ships.

Why does such a small barrel have such terrifying power and range?
And what are those small and exquisite cannons on the deck with their muzzles pointing upward?
An inexplicable sense of awe arose from the hearts of Count Pursi and others.

(End of this chapter)