Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 55 The South China Sea War (4)
Billy is not worried about the disparity in the number of warships at this time, but is more worried about the current formation of his own fleet.Just now, in order to avoid the random collision of the Qing army's small gunboats, all the ships dispersed.It's too scattered.

Zuo Zongtang looked at the battlefield that had just ended here on the "Victory", and was surprised to find that the French iron-clad ship "Elegance" had disappeared. Was it destroyed by Xu Changshun and the others?This is unlikely!But there is indeed no "elegant" figure on the battlefield, but at the same time there is no warship of the Qing Dynasty!
Zuo Zongtang also adopted a horizontal formation, but it was quite different from Xu Changshun's death-defying attack just now.In the lead are "Changsheng", "Invincible", "Triumph", and "Juyin", the left wing is the German cruisers "Nanji" and "Nanxiang", and the right wing is the two British cruisers "Chaoyong" and "Yangwei".Behind are dozens of small gunboats.

In danger, Billy calmed down instead.In any case, he couldn't believe that Fair had already evacuated here and returned to Vietnam.If he knew, he would definitely not make a decision that made him regret his whole life now!

"Send a semaphore and tell the ships to move closer to the flagship. Feier's fleet must be chasing after the Qing army. Look at their ironclad ships, which have obviously been attacked by our French torpedo ships."

He quickly commanded the French fleet to change formation. The two columns of the French army, one from the left and the other from the right, slanted towards the two wings of the Qing army. As long as they can seize the two wings, they can form an "H" shape with the Qing army fleet. The strong advantage of string artillery fire dealt the heaviest blow to the Qing army.

A contest of wisdom and courage begins.

If everything goes according to Billy's idea, maybe the French Far East Fleet can change the outcome of this naval battle, or the Qing Navy will have to pay a higher price even if it wins.In this hasty change, however, the French fleet itself erred.

Except for the cruiser "Tour" which can reach a speed of 17 knots, the French army, such as "Victory", "Parry", and "Lapelouse", all have a speed of only 15 knots.Another example is "Sony", "Sign" and other gunboats with a speed of only 12 knots.

And Billy's order was to insert the ships into the two wings of the Qing army at full speed, so that the two columns of the French army actually became one column.The speed of the gunboats on the other line could not keep up with "Dour" and others. A column of "Dour", "Victory", "Pari", and "Lapelouse" inserted into the left wing of the Qing army.While the right wing was empty, dozens of gunboats led by "Chaoyong" and "Yang Wei" rushed up, and got entangled with the gunboats such as "Sign" and "Sony".

The six battleships "Changsheng", "Invincible", "Triumph", "Juin", "Nanji", and "Nanxiang" plus three torpedo ships behind them faced a French column and faced off. Main gun to main gun attack.

The situation did not develop in the direction Billy envisioned. The three small gunboats of the French army were ravaged by the two British cruisers and dozens of gunboats of the Qingshui Division, and they were dying.

Here, although I and the main ship of the Qing army are facing each other, the fight is inextricable, and there will be no signs of failure in a short time.But for a long time.

Especially the torpedo ships behind the Qing army are particularly annoying, although the torpedoes of the Qing army can't really hurt the French warships at this time.But even though the needle is small, it still hurts to pierce it.

In particular, after the bilge was hit and caught fire, a large number of manpower had to be allocated to put out the fire. In order to avoid torpedoes, they were often bombed by the main artillery of the Qing army.

The time has come to 7 o'clock in the evening, and this battle has lasted for a full 7 hours.The Qing military officers at the Kaohsiung Military Port had already sent a telegram to report to the imperial court that all naval forces were attacking.

The latest battle report is sent every hour. The so-called battle report is nothing more than the continuous sound of guns, just telling the court that the battle is still going on.All the warships have gone to sea, and only transport ships are left.After going out to sea, they dared not approach, so they could only use binoculars to count the number of Qing and French warships [-] miles away.Then use semaphore to tell the officers in the military port, and Guan Xuqing is watching the "text live broadcast" of the Yellow Sea War in the telegraph room!Guan Xuqing had experienced this feeling in his previous life, when he used his mobile phone to watch NBA text live broadcasts during class.But today's war is related to the fate of the entire country!

A 240mm caliber shell was fired from the main gun of the "Triumph" and directly penetrated between the living room and the mechanical room of the "La Pelous". The consequences of the explosion can be imagined.The hatches and various instruments near the living room were all destroyed. What's more troublesome is that the steam pipes leading from the nearby to the upper deck were all broken, and the steam overflowed. The sailors hurriedly closed the valves, but in this way, the steam rudder It lost its power, and the "La Pelous" had to use a human rudder. A few strong sailors grasped the huge human rudder, so that the warship could barely steer, but it still could not escape the fate of destruction.

The armored ship "Invincible" on the right side fired a shell that also penetrated into the front of the hull of the "La Pelous", piercing a large hole in the unprotected part and causing a fire in the interior cabin, black smoke came out of this big hole.Covering the front of the battleship, the "La Pelouse" turned into a ball of fire.

In the thick smoke, the "La Pelous" seems to be unable to balance the gravitational pull on it from the earth.The right string sank into the sea first, and the sea finally extinguished the fire that the French soldiers had been trying to extinguish but could not, and a layer of steam rose on the sea.Together with the 208 officers and soldiers of the whole ship, they disappeared into the sea.

On the other side, the "Parry" is not much better than the "La Pelouse". Unfortunately, it was targeted by two cruisers of the same tonnage as "Nanji" and "Nanxiang" at the beginning. Dying, on the verge of death.The entire hull was beaten like a hornet's nest. Below the waterline, it was terrible. Sea water poured in from countless holes, which could not be repaired at all.

The "Victory" and "Dour" are still struggling to support, and it is Phil's fleet that supports Billy's confidence.But after waiting for 5 hours, he finally knew that Fair would not come.

But can the fleet in front of me really destroy the main French fleet within 4 hours?He still can't believe everything in front of him.

At this time, "Victory" raised a semaphore to indicate whether it should choose to retreat.The three gunboats on the other side have also been sunk, and the two 16-knot cruisers of the Qing army have already outflanked them, and there is no chance to run without retreating.

Billy was still hesitating, even if he retreated.Where can he retreat?Back to Europe?Returning to Vietnam is just a delay in the time of destruction, and now he is still full of trust in Fair.Thought he had died for his country.

If you tell him at this time, Feier has led three cruisers back to Vietnam.Surely he'd go back and shoot that cowardly coward!

While hesitating, "Chao Yong" and "Yang Wei" had already surrounded him from behind.

Only then did Billy come to his senses and ordered the semaphore soldiers to issue an order to retreat.

At this time, the power of "Dour" was fully displayed. Its speed of 17 knots, seven 190mm main guns, and fourteen 140mm secondary guns were launched at the same time.

Shoot towards "Chao Yong" and "Yang Wei" behind them.Such a short-distance strike with a high hit rate is difficult for even an ironclad ship to resist.

The hull structures of "Chaoyong" and "Yangwei" were constantly being destroyed, messy broken steel plates and wooden boards flew around, the bodies of soldiers who were hit were thrown into the sea, and the interior cabins were also punctured many times .Several cabins formed a large-scale fire.

Due to its 5700-ton displacement, the "Dour" does not have to consider the problem of calming down the hull caused by the recoil of the artillery, and the rate of fire of the artillery has reached an astonishing level.

The ultra-fast speed that "Super Brave" and "Yang Wei" were proud of was useless in front of it, and they retreated quickly after being beaten.

Although the "Changsheng", "Juyin", "Nanxiang" and "Nanji" on the front came to the rescue immediately, the fire on the "Chaoyong" was out of control because of the cheap and flammable paint used. The whole battleship was like a fireball. The fire destroyed the structure of the hull, and the "Super Brave" sank slowly.

For the first time since the beginning of the battle, Billy showed a satisfied smile.Unexpectedly, the ideal state of "Dour" actually appeared during the retreat.

After sinking a cruiser of the Daqingshui Division, the "Victory" was also greatly encouraged, and blasted fiercely at the "Nanji" and "Nanxiang" that rushed up.The water column around the two warships surrounded the two ships. From a distance, there were only water columns and no warships at all!
The "Victory" fought while retreating, often hitting the "Nanji" and "Nanxiang" who were chasing from the front, but did not find that the "Changsheng" and "Triumph" on the side had already caught up.

However, the "Dour" was surrounded by "Invincible" and "Juyin" one after the other. The seriously injured "Yang Wei" saw the sinking of the sister ship "Super Brave" and refused to leave the battlefield. Surrounded by a group of small gunboats, they sailed towards "Douer" quickly.

"General, it seems that the Qing people are unwilling to let us go." The adjutant next to Billy said.

"Hehe, if I were their commander, I wouldn't let you go! Let the victory come closer to us, don't love to fight, and withdraw to the Red River Naval Port first." Billy calmly ordered.

It was already 9 o'clock in the evening. The naval battle has been going on for 9 hours so far!The two sides fought from the scorching sun to the bright moon, while Guan Xuqing and the ministers in the capital were anxiously waiting for the result, and hurriedly made different analyzes and evaluations of the different results after the war!

The good news of sinking the enemy ship is constantly coming from the front. It seems that the overall situation has been settled and the chance of victory is in hand!

However, the sea battle in the dark is changing rapidly, and the situation is far from being as simple as imagined in the capital.

(End of this chapter)