Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 685 Battle with the "Pirates"
Talleyrand wasn't a naval expert, but he possessed basic naval knowledge. The current trend in European navies was battleship-on-battle combat, so navies around the world were striving to equip their capital ships with more cannons.

The ten cruisers in front of us clearly broke away from this pattern.

Talleran didn't understand the underlying logic, but he believed the Zhou Empire wouldn't make such a basic mistake.

Therefore, the answer seems to be clear: the range, rate of fire, and accuracy of breech-loading artillery may far exceed those of other artillery of the same era.

As for small-caliber naval guns, the only reason can be that the shells are more powerful.

Thinking about it this way, the logic made sense, but Talleyrand's heart sank to the bottom. The French Navy was defeated by the British Navy, and the Consuls swept across Europe with land warfare.

If the French army and Zhou's army were to encounter each other on land one day, would the French army still have a chance of victory?

Thinking of the spirit and morale of the honor guard, and witnessing the breech-loading artillery firsthand, the answer is clear.

In any case, everything we have seen must be reported to His Excellency the Consul. The Consul shall decide how to establish diplomatic relations in the future.

Under the guise of a friendly visit and escorting rotating members of the observation group, this fleet was actually carrying out a challenging mission of circumnavigating the globe.

When the fleet arrived at Lijiapo, Captain Jia Quan of the Yulie used binoculars to look at the port city ahead.

The fleet will stop here for several days to resupply before continuing its round-the-world journey.

As the eldest son of the Grand Secretary, Jia Quan could have stayed comfortably in the capital, but he chose to join the navy.

This is related to his upbringing. From childhood to adulthood, what he heard most was about his father's achievements on the battlefield, which reversed the decline of the Jia family and led the family to a higher level.

When he went away to study at a younger age, people in the capital would say, "This is Jia Gong's son!"

At the time, Jia Quan did not see this as a source of pride, but rather as a sign of being looked down upon. It can only be said that his rebellious phase came early.

At the age of thirteen, Jia Quan took the initiative to ask to attend a military academy. In order to avoid his father's protection, he chose to study at the Royal Naval Academy in Qingdao.

It can only be said that a long rebellious period is not a good thing. Jia Quan did not realize how fortunate it was to have a father like Jia Lian until he graduated from military school.

While others could only start as third officers on ships after graduating from military academy, Jia Quan started as a first officer. A year later, he was promoted to captain of a cruiser, and two years later, he became captain of a battleship. Two years later, at the age of only 23, Jia Quan became captain of the Navy's new warship "Yu Lie".

Many of Jia Quan's classmates have been promoted at a snail's pace, and many are still waiting for their chance as first officers. Jia Quan, on the other hand, is already the captain of the navy's youngest, newest, and most powerful warship.

Jia Quan used to feel ashamed, but now that he was actually standing on this warship, he felt quite good.

Clang, clang, clang—the copper bells rang, and the warship slowly entered the harbor. The magistrate of Lijiapo County and the garrison commander, along with a group of local officials and gentry, were welcoming it on the dock.

Commander Pete, the commander of the task force, was originally a foreigner. After joining the Zhou Empire's navy, he was adept at interpersonal relationships and ingratiated himself with Cai Shiba, the commander of the South Sea Fleet. His career progressed rapidly, and he is now the deputy commander of the South Sea Fleet, a vice admiral. As a Westerner, Pete gave himself a Chinese name: Pi Zhong.

Jia Quan didn't like this superior very much at first, but after a while he found that the man was really capable. If he weren't white, he should be the commander of the South Sea Fleet based on his abilities.

As for Cai Shiba, Jia Quan also figured it out. This guy was his father Jia Lian's loyal dog in the South Sea Fleet. He was originally from a lowly Tanka family and was personally recruited into the navy by Jia Lian.

After the fleet anchored, officers and soldiers took turns going ashore, while half of them remained on board for combat readiness and duty.

Only high-ranking naval officers knew Jia Quan's true identity, and only Pete (Zhong) in the fleet knew it.

It was common for noble children to join the military, so Pete wasn't surprised. What surprised him was that the vast majority of the mid- to high-ranking officers in the Zhou Empire's navy came from ordinary backgrounds.

This was unimaginable in the British Royal Navy. Even more unimaginable was that Jia Quan never mentioned his identity to his colleagues, always saying that he came from an ordinary family in the capital.

On the eve of their departure, after the fleet had rested and resupplyed, Pete convened a meeting of all captains and issued an order.

"According to reports from the magistrate of Lijiapo County and the garrison, a powerful pirate force has recently appeared on the route to Yangon, seizing three armed merchant ships. They suspect it is the British Navy in disguise. We urge our fleet to teach these cowardly scoundrels a lesson."

The British fleet never approached the Strait of Malacca, but once outside the strait, the British became restless.

The main problem is that the Xue family has gone too far in some things. Over the past twenty years, they have sold hundreds of thousands of smoothbore guns to British India. If the money is right, they would even sell cannons.

As for cotton cloth, tea, silk, and porcelain, even more were sold.

The East India Company was thoroughly harassed and suffered greatly, spending considerable sums to hire the British Navy to act as pirates. The loot was then handed over to the East India Company, and the British military profited handsomely from highway robberies over the years.

The British government's attention is still focused on Napoleon. Only after dealing with Napoleon will it turn its attention to India.

India is a geographically significant country, once known as the jewel in the queen's crown. The reason is simple: this land indeed brought Britain immense wealth.

The British haven't yet set their sights on Burma, not because they're kind, but because they're too busy to deal with it for the time being.

Another reason is that the Squid had a huge influence in the British high command, and the Zhou Empire showed strong dissatisfaction with the Squid, both officially and among the people.

Therefore, the squid had been secretly pushing Britain to trip up the Zhou Empire, showing a strong desire for revenge.

In recent years, Zhou Renhai has been robbed many times at sea, which is naturally very frustrating. However, the navy has been unable to catch the pirates after launching attacks, so they can only urge the other side to crack down on the pirates.

"Including ten rounds of ammunition, each of the new cruisers costs 500,000 silver dollars. The imperial court has spent so much money building warships, so we should play our due role. I have decided that after we set sail tomorrow, three warships will impersonate merchant ships to lure pirates into attacking. We just need to hold off the pirates and wait for the main fleet to arrive. Who is willing to take on this mission!"

All the captains stepped forward simultaneously and snapped to attention: "Your subordinates are ready!"

After looking around, Pete's gaze finally settled on Jia Quan's face. He pointed and said, "Jia Quan's Yu Lie will be in charge of command, with Yang Wei and Fen Yong assisting. Weigh anchor at four o'clock tomorrow morning and depart at five. The decoy fleet must remember to maintain a half-day distance from the main fleet."

To say that the British liked the Zhou Empire was utter nonsense. Not only did they not like it, they considered it a formidable enemy.

Because of the Zhou Empire, even though the British arrived in Australia first, they were forced to abandon the so-called principle of discovery equals occupation and withdrew from the Strait of Malacca.

At five o'clock in the morning, as dawn was breaking, three warships had already left the port and crossed the strait without flying any flags.

When passing through Penang, seeing the fortress on high alert, he ordered his men to raise their flags and announce, "We are a merchant ship from Songjiang."

In short, since they hadn't even seen the new warships, they might as well deceive their own people. The garrison on the gun emplacement looked completely bewildered. Were merchant ships really this brave now? Didn't they know there was rampant piracy outside?
Immediately use flag signals to warn of the rampant piracy and the need for caution.

Jia Quan was unlucky; after a day and a night, he still hadn't encountered any pirates.

Around nine o'clock in the morning, the lookout suddenly shouted: "Six ships spotted on port, approaching rapidly."

"They're flying a skull and crossbones flag; they're pirates!"

Upon hearing the news, Jia Quan was overjoyed and immediately ordered all ships to slow down, allowing the pirates to catch up and be ready to seize the "T"-series ships at any time.

The pirates who suddenly appeared were obviously British Royal Navy in disguise. With such a clear battleship shape, and six of them, how could they possibly be pirates?

If pirates had this kind of power, would they still be pirates?

Upon discovering three "merchant ships," the British naturally intended to strike, as they had become quite adept at this tactic over the years. They would not engage any merchant ships exceeding three, but aimed to annihilate any fewer than three.

It's not that the British are all cowards, but rather that the strength of the navy stationed in India is limited, and the amount of work they can do when they take turns going to sea is limited.

The more important reason is that even the guns mounted on armed merchant ships are in no way inferior to those of the Royal Navy. Because of their limited numbers, the Indian fleet cannot afford to suffer losses.

That's how the Angsa people are; they can only bully the weak. Even the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was beyond their ability to eliminate; they could only fight by supporting the Qing army.

To put it bluntly, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was far better off than the Qing Dynasty in gaining power.

You can spot your opponent from a great distance at sea, but it takes a long time to catch up.

Despite Jia Quan's order to slow down, it still took the "pirates" three hours to catch up to within 1,500 meters.

Having exhausted his patience, Jia Quan immediately ordered: "Speed ​​up, seize the T-series."

In the "pirates'" view, the three merchant ships that were "escaping" ahead completed a beautiful turn on the sea, forming a T-shape at a distance of nearly a thousand meters.

"They're already seizing the T-series at this distance, these rats are panicking." The pirate fleet commander, Macartney, revealed a cold smile, looking contemptuously at these Zhou merchant ships that he considered incapable of naval warfare.

Almost simultaneously, Jia Quan issued the order: "Slow down, fire!"

Boom boom boom! Despite having only ten cannons, they still managed to achieve results at a distance of 1,300 meters.

When Macartney spotted the fire from the other side, he thought he was seeing things. Was it really that far away? Was he sure he wasn't just wasting ammunition?

While he was wondering what was going on, his warship was repeatedly crossed over, and the shells that landed on the other side were not solid shot, but made an explosion.

The moment Macartney realized he wasn't dreaming, his heart sank as if submerged in the Arctic Ocean. Oh no! The Zhou Empire's new cannons!

Unfortunately, he didn't have much time to regret it. A shell hit the side, exploded with a bang, and blasted a hole in the hull. The flying debris instantly took down the three-man gun crew of one of the ship's guns.

But this was just the beginning. Two more shells hit the target almost simultaneously, causing an explosion.

"Boom!" The violent shockwave from the explosion directly overturned Macartney.

"Quickly, turn around and retreat!" Macartney shouted the order, but it was too late. Not only his ship was hit, but two other warships were also struck, resulting in two explosions.

The three warships lagging behind immediately changed course and signaled with flags, hoping that the three warships that were hit would hold back the enemy ships and cover their escape.

Experienced naval rulers would never make the mistake of throwing an egg against a rock. When they discover that the enemy's cannons can accurately hit their targets at this distance and that the shells can explode, they know that they have no chance of winning.

Even Britain's best battleships needed to get within 500 meters to fire a hit. In the current situation, getting close to the enemy would require enduring at least three salvos.

For a period of time, the two fleets were parallel on the sea. Macartney was in utter despair because the enemy ships did not turn to bombard the other side with their guns.

Instead, within a mere ten seconds, a new salvo was launched.

The three lagging warships tried to escape, but all of them were hit by varying numbers of cannonballs. One of them was unlucky; its mast was broken, and its speed was drastically reduced. If the ships behind it hadn't maintained a good distance and avoided it in time, it would have almost collided with the other ship.

"Maintain a safe distance, don't worry about them escaping! Keep firing continuously!"

Jia Quan issued the latest orders, and at the same time, he once again felt the shortcomings of the new cruiser's design in actual combat, because the ship's guns on the other side were almost useless in battle.

The Navy did report this issue to its superiors, but the shipyard replied that this design was for counterweight purposes, and that they would have to make do until a new and better design was available.

The new naval guns have a firing rate that is sufficient to destroy any enemy warship in front of them without needing to turn or change sides.

At a distance of less than a kilometer, the three warships fired three more salvos, turning the battle into target practice.

Looking at the pirate warships that were all hit and bursting into flames, Jia Quan had a strong feeling that this batch of cruisers must be a one-of-a-kind.

The shipyard should be able to come up with a better solution and design a warship that can be equipped with a new type of cannon with greater firepower.

Macartney finally got a clear look at the warship opposite him. From a distance, it looked like a merchant ship, but now it looked like a completely new design, pursuing absolute high speed.

It's over, completely over. Even if I can run, I probably can't outrun my opponent.

The British Empire's maritime hegemony seems to be coming to a complete end.

Relying on the power of the new naval guns, Jia Quan commanded three warships in a separate fleet, using their superior speed to prevent the enemy from getting close enough to launch a counterattack.

The British warships had no choice but to fire from outside their range. The three warships were indeed hit by one or two solid shot, but no damage was caused.

Jia Quan continued to issue orders, using flag signals to force the other side to surrender.

Of the six British warships hit, three had a large hole blown in one side, like a giant skylight; another had its mast broken; and the other two, though hit, were still able to maintain speed. They also raised the Z-flag, signifying their determination to fight to the bitter end.

(End of this chapter)