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Chapter 1687 Fleet Victory
The battle on the Dunkirk sea lasted from early morning to the afternoon, and many of them were sunk or severely injured on the sea.

The fleets of France and the Netherlands were defeated, and they began to flee in the direction of Amsterdam, while the Holy Alliance fleet pursued, still trying to destroy the enemy's vital forces as much as possible.

Looking out over the sea from Dunkirk Fortress, the flagship of the French fleet, the Coronet, was on fire. The surviving French sailors rowed to escape from the Coronet, which was built and proud of the French themselves. They fled to the nearest Fortress of Dunkirk.

"Our fleet has fled, this is troublesome..."

The Spanish soldiers on the fortress saw the chaotic entanglement between the two sides, and their own fleet took the lead to withdraw from the battle, leaving only the burning ships on the sea.They were a little uneasy at this time. Their own fleet was driven out and defeated, and then Dunkirk Fortress may be besieged by the enemy.The most unlucky ones may be the Spanish soldiers who stick to Dunkirk. They don't know how long they will be surrounded and whether they will face the enemy's strong attack.

Blazer escaped from the Coronet. He was the commander of the French fleet, but lost his flagship and the French fleet he commanded was leaderless.

"It's impossible to attack such a monster." Blazer was very frustrated after his defeat.

He didn't feel sorry, because now he knew that no matter how he commanded, he might not be able to chew down the iron-clad ship like a hedgehog.

The ironclad ship has both offense and defense, and cannot be sunk with artillery. When it approaches, it will face the attack of large-caliber naval guns and machine guns. It is hard to think of a way to break the situation.

Unless the ironclad ship has no other wooden sailboat escort, but only the ironclad ship, they can also try to consume the opponent's ammunition or try to approach the attack regardless of casualties.

The French sailors and Dutch sailors who fell into the water fled to the shore. The Holy Alliance fleet was busy chasing the fleeing Dutch and French ships and ignored this group of sailors.

"Friends from France and the Netherlands, let's defend the fort together. There is no chance of winning against sea monsters, but they can't run to land with long legs, right?" The Spanish guard led people to welcome the group who fled ashore soldiers.

Just a year or two ago they were fighting to the death, but now they are in the same camp.

Some French and Dutch sailors entered Dunkirk to help Spanish soldiers defend the fortress of Dunkirk.

The Zheng He followed the warships ahead and kept chasing the Dutch and French fleets. The two sides were like two sea snakes entangled together. Occasionally, there was a single ship. When the main forces of the two fleets were still fighting each other in the pursuit battle, Fire at the opponent, causing casualties as much as possible.

The speed of the five ironclad warships was higher than that of ordinary sail warships when the steam power and sail power were fully turned on, so that Admiral Trop of the Netherlands could not escape from the pursuit.

Ironclad ships, whose firepower, defense, and speed surpassed wooden sailboats, were their nightmares. Heavy solid bullets and explosive shells that easily caused fire caused a large number of casualties to them.

The chase between the two sides was still going on in the middle of the night, biting together with the help of night.At this time, both sides are a little cautious, afraid of accidentally hurting the friendly ship.

The fierce battle continued until the early morning of the second day, when the sea was foggy, and the remnants of the Dutch fleet and the French fleet took the opportunity to escape and retreat to Amsterdam.

"Stop the pursuit and count the casualties." Seeing that the sea fog was thick, Nelson worried that continuing to pursue would cause his fleet to shoot at his own people in the sea fog, so he gave up expanding the results of the battle.

This naval battle has lasted for 24 hours. Almost all soldiers are exhausted, and the artillerymen are unable to carry and load ammunition.

"The battle is finally over."

Hannah came up from the lower deck and found a group of sailors lying on the deck. They couldn't hold on anymore, so they had to lie down and rest on the spot.

"Divided into two shifts, taking turns to rest." Zheng Chenggong insisted, even if everyone hadn't rested for more than a day and a night, as the captain, he couldn't go to rest immediately.

"Deputy captain, according to the usual off-duty, you take half of the crew to rest for eight hours." Zheng Chenggong saw that Hannah brought people from the lower deck, so he told her.

"Six hours is enough," said Hannah.

"This is an order." Zheng Chenggong said in an irresistible tone.

While Hannah and others rested, Zheng Chenggong led some crew members to repair the damaged Zheng He.

The Zheng He was scarred and scarred from long voyages and battles. There were many holes in the hull, and sea water would even splash into the hull during rough waves.

"It seems that after returning to Portsmouth, we need to find a local shipbuilder for overhaul, otherwise the Zheng He will not be able to return to the mainland." Zheng Chenggong saw the shocking holes in the cabin and part of the seawater overflowing, thinking that the deck was also damaged. Lost, afraid after a while.

If there were a few more shots in the naval battle, the Zheng He might have been sunk.

The coalition forces gathered ships in the sea fog and counted the losses. They found that 7 wooden sailing ships were lost, and many ships were damaged. The biggest loss was experienced sailors.As for the steam ironclad ships, none of them were seriously damaged, but the soldiers on the deck were hit by stray bullets and lost.

"It is estimated that at least 30 to 40 ships of the other party were sunk or burned by us. We still haven't dealt them a fatal blow." Sun Xu estimated the losses of the Netherlands Fleet and the French Fleet.

"Morale is very important in naval battles. The opponent suffered such a loss and lost the courage to fight us in the future. We have already gained command of the sea." Nelson judged that the United Fleets of the Netherlands and France had lost their courage, even if they still With more than 100 ships, they dare not appear easily.

"So what should we do next? Continue to pursue Amsterdam or return to Dover for supplies?" Sun Xu asked.

"Go back to Dover for supplies, and prepare to transport the army to the fortress of Dunkirk, threatening Paris. As long as Paris is captured, the European Continental Alliance will be destroyed by itself," Nelson said.

There are only two simple plans to deal with the European Continental Union. The first step is to gain control of the English Channel and the Atlantic Ocean. The second step is to land in Dunkirk and use the Dunkirk fortress as a stronghold to threaten the French capital Paris.

France is the leader of the Continental Confederation. If France is the first to make an emergency landing, the Continental Confederation is expected to collapse.

Of course, there were a large number of fortresses in the middle of the advance from Dunkirk to Paris. In fact, a large number of towns during the 30 Years War were transformed into bastions to prevent the towns from being looted by the enemy's army during the war.It is undoubtedly a very time-consuming thing to break through these fortresses.

(End of this chapter)