The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 468: Please Go to Lingyan Pavilion

A person's defense breakdown often does not last long.

Because as a human being, as long as there is nothing wrong with your brain, even if you want to continue to break down your defenses, your brain will prevent this emotion from continuing to harm your body.

This is a form of self-protection for the complex brain nerves.

So, after destroying the Mysore Kingdom's shipyard in Kalikat, Vice Admiral Edward Hughes gradually calmed down and sent a fast cruiser to cross the Palk Strait first.

Then, the British cruiser soon discovered the French cruiser that had been wandering in the Palk Strait.

At this time, this fifth-level sailing cruiser had not yet evolved to the point where it was equipped with a 24-pound gun and had a displacement of thousands of tons.

They are basically small warships equipped with only twelve-pound or even eight-pound guns and with a displacement of no more than five hundred tons. They emphasize naval communications and reconnaissance, as well as incidental tasks such as escorting merchant ships and combating piracy.

At this time, they discovered that each other's two fifth-level sailing cruisers in the Palk Strait were even smaller. They were only about 300 tons and were equipped with 18 to 20 eight-pound or nine-pound guns.

So after the two sides discovered each other, they did not engage in battle. Instead, they immediately ordered the oarsmen to row the boats and quickly left the Palk Strait to inform each other's "parents".

Vice Admiral Edward Hughes received the news of the discovery of the Combined Fleet, but he was in a heavy mood because the enemy was obviously well prepared and was specifically waiting to block him.

But he had to go up and fight. If he didn't defeat the Sino-French joint fleet, there would be no way to guarantee that the army could successfully reinforce Madras.

Not to mention that the merchant ships of the combined fleet were also loaded with the supplies most needed by the Kingdom of Mysore.

"According to the established battle plan, we are in the front, let them chase us!"

Lieutenant General Edward Hughes gritted his teeth and gave the order. They had to fight, there was no other choice.

"Sail to the center of the ocean, let those landlubber Chinese catch up, and let God decide who survives!"

Vice Admiral Edward Hughes issued the second order. At this time, due to power reasons, sailing warships rarely entered the deep sea where the ocean currents and wind directions were complex and difficult to detect, such as the central Indian Ocean.

Of course, in order to avoid flirting with a blind man, Vice Admiral Edward Hughes deliberately left a tail, a 300-ton armed merchant ship, to remind the Combined Fleet that he had sailed deep into the Indian Ocean.

"Let the Fortune tell the British that if they don't come, we will go to Madras." Lieutenant General Suffren snorted coldly, with no desire to catch up with the British fleet.

Cai Qian looked at Vice Admiral Suffrand in confusion, "General, we finally captured the British fleet, why don't we follow in and defeat them?"

Lieutenant General Su Fulang smiled faintly, looked at Cai Qian and said earnestly: "Cai, you must remember that even if you have an absolute advantage, as long as the enemy is forced to fight you, you must not give up any of your advantages.

Crushing the enemy with the attitude of a god of war is certainly exciting, but concentrating all advantages and defeating the enemy with the least loss to one's own people is what a general should do.

Warships are the nation's most precious treasures, and every one of the officers and soldiers under your command is God's people. As commander-in-chief, you must cherish and protect both."

Lieutenant General Edward Hughes waited for a long time and finally received the news sent by the rear armed merchant ship.

"The combined fleet sent a cruiser to me with a general flag signal, 'The treasure is ahead', and then began to head southeast towards Trincomalee."

"This cunning swamp frog!" Lieutenant General Edward Hughes cursed again.

'The treasure is just ahead' does not mean that the Allied Fleet will attack Trincomalee, but that if the British army does not go there, the Allied Fleet will send the supplies to Madras.

. . . .

The scorching sun baked the entire Indian Ocean, as if it wanted to dry it out. There was almost no wind, and the ships could only move forward slowly under the push of the ocean currents.

All the ships lowered their sails, and the officers kept their eyes on the weather vane at the top of the mast, hoping to find out the wind direction and strength as soon as the wind started to blow.

This is not suitable weather for a naval battle, but the fleets of both sides are slowly approaching each other.

Now the Combined Fleet was in front and the British Fleet was behind. Although the main battleships of both sides did not see each other, they all knew each other's approximate location.

Because before the main battleships bombarded each other, the light cruisers and armed merchant ships equipped with oars on both sides had been chasing each other, firing a few shots from time to time.

This is like a decisive battle between nomadic peoples on the grassland. The main forces have not yet met each other, but the unarmored light cavalry that have been scattered out are already fighting dogfights everywhere.

"Northeast wind, very fast!"

"Northeast wind, very fast!"

Suddenly, the weather vane on the top of the mast began to spin rapidly, and the weather officers of the two fleets simultaneously discovered the arrival of the northeast wind.

According to the direction of this wind, the warships that are slowly moving eastward, that is, towards the Strait of Malacca, will be blown to the southeast of the Indian continent.

"Column, the battleships are at the end. I want to severely damage the Combined Fleet as soon as the battle starts!" Lieutenant General Edward Hughes roared loudly.

He chose to leave the two powerful third-class battleships at the end, so that he could take advantage of the high quality of the British gunners and damage the small warships of the Allied Fleet before they came up.

"In the column, the Prince of Yanping is in the front, the Zhang Huangyan is in the second, and the Mu Tianbo is in the third.
Once we've locked onto the British third-tier battleships, the remaining ships will break up their formation, rely on their numerical superiority to move closer, and attack their armed merchant ships."

Major General Suffren also chose the column, and somehow his strategy collided with that of Lieutenant General Edward Hughes.

At this time, both fleets were in the upper hand, so there was no need to seize the upper hand, but the order changed to the British fleet in front and the combined fleet in the back.

Both sides were eager to start this fierce battle that had been prepared for half a year, so the British fleet only raised half the sail and waited slowly.

The combined fleet hoisted the mainsail to its full height, and also hoisted the auxiliary spinnaker used when the wind was blowing.
At 11 o'clock in the morning, the two fleets finally discovered each other.

The Prince of Yanping, commanded by Major General Suffren, was in the front. Under his command, the sailors turned the capstan and began to slowly lower the huge sails. The Prince of Yanping began to lower its sails and slow down.

At the same time, the third mate in charge of the deck directed the sailors to clear all unnecessary items from the entire deck to prevent them from being hit by artillery fire and flying up to injure people.

Some sailors carried wooden buckets and dumped sand and gravel onto the deck, because there would definitely be heavy casualties if a fight broke out.

If gravel is not laid, the sticky blood from the dead and wounded will make the deck extremely slippery, which is not conducive to combat.

Above the deck, the protective net began to rise slowly and became relatively taut. It could prevent things on the mast from being shot down by artillery and falling down to injure the crew.

Wet blankets soaked in water were hung at the entrance of the gunpowder magazine to prevent sparks from entering the gunpowder magazine and causing a secondary explosion, and the fire-fighting buckets were quickly filled.

"The gravel has been laid and the deck has been cleared!"

"Fire prevention measures are ready!"

"The protective net is set up!" "All artillerymen are in place!"

"Upper deck officers in place!"

"Lower deck officers in place!"

"The Marine snipers are in place, and the musketeers have assembled at the stern!"

One report after another reached the ears of Captain Lieutenant General Sufran very quickly, and he waved his hand after listening.

All officers put on their most conspicuous uniforms, hoist the blue flag with a golden sun and moon, beat the war drums, and signal all the warships of the Combined Fleet:

"I'm waiting for you in Lingyan Pavilion!"

Boom!Boom!Boom!Boom!
The passionate sound of war drums resounded across the sea, and all the warships, including the two French ships, raised the Chinese Navy's blue flag with a golden sun and moon.

"Serve the court!" Cai Qian drew his saber and shouted loudly.

"Serve the court!" The others also shouted angrily.

Soon, the Prince of Yanping was about to catch up with the Hero of England. Both were third-class battleships with 74 guns. The two ships were one in front and one behind, forming a - shape.

The wind speed did not decrease and the ship's speed was not slow, one nautical mile, five chains, three chains.

Boom! The Hero fired first. Its poop was equipped with ten eight-pound cannons, while the forecastle of the Prince of Yanping had only six eight-pound cannons.

So the Hero fired two shots first, intending to lure the Prince of Yanping to fire. Of course, it was also a gamble on luck. What if these two shots were lucky enough to pass over the side and hit the forecastle deck of the Prince of Yanping in the ups and downs of the waves?

Vice Admiral Suffren was also a master of naval warfare, so of course he would not be fooled by this little trick and did not order to open fire.

Of course, the two solid bullets that flew over failed to fly over the side. One of them fell into the sea, and the other hit the side with a loud bang, but did not cause any damage.

And just after the two guns opened fire, the warships of both sides finally began to pass each other head to tail, with a distance of only about 300 meters in between, both fighting in a flesh-to-flesh and desperate manner.

Cai Qian only felt his whole body numbing. He was so close that he could even see the other person's face clearly. Naturally, he would not shoot solid bullets at this time, but shotgun bullets.

"Fire!"

“fire off!”

After two roars, the artillerymen on both sides immediately lit the fuse, and the artilleryman in the front even cried.

Rumble, four cannons from each side opened fire. Three hundred meters away, on the heaving sea, hundreds of grape-sized shotgun shells were poured at each other by both sides, creating a heart-numbing humming sound.

Cai Qian hid behind the side and felt like a hailstorm, with a large number of shotgun shells accompanied by smoke, whistling towards him.

A gunner was beaten to a pulp by the enemy's shotgun shell right in front of Cai Qian.

It felt like you grabbed a handful of sand and threw it at the thin, rotting window paper. In an instant, everything was riddled with holes.

The shattered body, the pieces of flesh falling to the deck, the blood mist spreading in the air, it seemed that even the sky began to turn red.

"Mom! Mom!" A sailor rolled back and forth on the deck.

He leaned back a little, so when the shotgun hit him, its kinetic energy had been greatly reduced, otherwise he would not have had the chance to groan.

Cai went over to take a look, then shook his head and said that he could not survive.

The sailor's entire chest was minced into pieces by the shotgun shells. At least Cai Qianjian only needed to take a quick look to find three broken ribs, sticking out white in the flesh and blood.

Sure enough, the sailor who was crying just now suddenly seemed to have lost power, his voice suddenly became smaller, and then he looked up at the sky blankly twice and died.

In this round of shotgun shells, at least a dozen people were killed on the forecastle of the Prince of Yanping, and it is estimated that the same number was lost on the opposite side.

"Bang, bang, bang!" On the top of the forecastle, the sniper opened fire. Cai Qian watched as an artillery officer shuddered and blood spurted from his neck. He had been killed by the sniper.

But cheers came from his side. Cai Qian got up and carefully stuck his head out to take a look. A gorgeously dressed officer on the opposite British ship suddenly fell down. He looked like a colonel at least.

The battleship did not stop because of the casualties, but continued to move forward.

The most dangerous moment had arrived. The two warships were almost parallel, with fifteen 18-pound cannons and fourteen 36-pound cannons on each side of the ship. Fifty-eight guns were firing at each other at once, and they were only more than 300 meters apart.

"Boom~~~~!" Violent roars followed one after another, almost at the same time. The Prince of Yanping trembled violently due to the huge recoil. Cai Qian even thought he heard the hoarse and trembling cry of the warship.

On the upper deck, huge projectiles were hitting the side of the ship frantically, and everyone was praying that the side of the ship could block the shooting.

With a bang, a big hole was punched in the middle of the deck, and the whistling bullets penetrated and killed three sailors.

Blood sprayed onto the deck. The thick red liquid was quickly absorbed by the sand and gravel before it began to flow.

"Don't be afraid, keep loading. Anyone who dares to stop will be killed without mercy!" The officer on the deck roared loudly.

On the lower deck, such roars continued. These young men in officer uniforms were basically the first graduates of the Quanzhou Xiamen Naval Academy. They were warmongers who called themselves the emperor's students.

The situation on the lower deck was worse than on the upper deck, because the upper deck was equipped with 18-pound guns and the lower deck was equipped with 36-pound guns.

And the lower level is even more crowded, with people almost touching each other and no extra space at all.

A thirty-six-pound shell shattered a spot on the lower deck, sending flying wood chips piercing a gunner's chest.

Blood gushed out, and the gunner was killed instantly and fell backwards, but he did not fall to the ground because there were too many people.

The three comrades immediately caught the gunner and, without the slightest hesitation, threw him out of the muzzle into the sea outside.

There was no room on the lower deck for a body, much less for the body's blood to flow all over the cabin.

Here, we only need living people!
"Free fire, keep reloading, don't stop, whoever reloads the fastest will survive!"

The officer started yelling and cursing loudly, and everyone's face turned pale because everyone knew that what the officer said was right.

The third-class battleships were built to certain standards and could indeed withstand the bombardment of thirty-six-pound guns, but everyone was certain that as the hull continued to be bombarded, each round would be much more dangerous than the previous one. The one who could fire a shot first would have a better chance of survival than the enemy.

(End of this chapter)