Chapter 2745: battle full of surprises

Earl Ernie is an orthodox French nobleman in his fifties, but he is still personable. He is upright and resolute, and he likes to follow the steps. What he dislikes the most are those lively pagans.

When he was young, he went to Austria to fight the Ottomans, went to Ukraine to fight the Cossacks, went to Sweden to fight the old Maozi, and also fought against the Protestants in the Netherlands. His religious beliefs were very devout, and he was favored by Louis XIV. Entrusted with important tasks.

He is responsible for commanding the West-French United Squadron in Cherbourg, with a total of 28 battleships (a total of 1,810 guns), of which 19 are French ships and nine are Western ships. The vanguard and backbone of the fleet are all French fleets , the rear guard is assumed by the Spanish fleet.

At that time, the Nanhua Fleet suddenly arrived, but Earl O'Neill did not fight, but let the fleet lie in port.

It's so pleasant to stay in the port, beauties, wine and coffee, go out to fight, those who are frightened, may not necessarily win, and lose their lives if they are not careful.

The port of Cherbourg, close to Normandy, is an important military port and commercial port in northwest France. It is at the northern end of the Cotentin Peninsula, facing the English Channel. Battleships are moored at anchorages in the sea, protected by coastal forts.

Earl O'Neill thought that with the protection of 150 cannons in the coastal fort, the port would be safe, but he did not expect that the Nanhua Fleet was equipped with larger caliber artillery, which kept firing in, making everyone unable to stay still.

In fact, the accuracy of the 210 artillery of the Nanhua Fleet is very poor. If it is destroyed or sunk, you can't fight back just by being beaten. Wouldn't the beating be in vain?

Therefore, Earl Ernie discussed with his deputy, Viscount Tiago Coke, and the captain of the Spanish fleet, Viscount Robert Sanchez, and decided to anchor and leave the port. It would be better to stay in the port than to have a fight with the South China Fleet, or to run away. Li was shot by the South China Fleet.

Both viscounts agreed with him, so after receiving the order, twenty-eight battleships flocked out of the port.

The commander of the invading Nanhua Fleet is Admiral Xiao Changrong. This gentleman has a good name and good luck. He has been promoted to Admiral all the way. There are thirty battleships under his command, which are divided into the front army, the middle army and the rear army. Fleet, Lieutenant General Xiao Changrong, the commander of the Chinese army, Liu Guoxuan, the former commander of the army, and Lieutenant General Shi Lang, the commander of the rear army, are all first-class naval combat veterans.

Although the number is not much different from that of the enemy, and there is only one first-class battleship "Wenchang" which is Xiao Changrong's ship, but because the fleet contains as many as 13 Zhonghua-class second-class battleships (each with 90 guns) ), the total number of its equipped artillery has reached 2,488, which has an absolute advantage over the West-French United Fleet!

This is the annoying thing about the South China Fleet. The pursuit of extreme firepower, coupled with well-trained and continuous gunners, beat the Europeans enough.

Seeing the enemy fleet leave the port, the experienced Xiao Changrong did not choose to fight immediately, but commanded the fleet to follow the Western French fleet to wait for the opportunity.

Due to the large number of enemy ships, if they intercept them on the spot, it will only disrupt the battle, and anything may happen in the chaos.

Now that the army is relatively dominant, there is no need to see the truth from the beginning.

The West French fleet did not have a strong sense of war. After leaving the port, they headed for Brest in the southwest. Instead of sailing along the coast, they drove in a straight line, hoping to reach the large fleet in Brest as soon as possible.

Due to the light wind, both fleets moved slowly.

Later on June 11, 1672, the fleets of both sides were approaching each other and preparing for battle.

The Nanhua Fleet was aggressive, while the Western Fleet was gnashing its teeth. Earl Ernie shouted the slogan "God bless, our army will win!" and ordered the ships to form a battle line.

"It's kind!" Xiao Changrong said hesitantly, and took the lead in shouting "Fight for the emperor, the empire will win!" He ordered his own fleet to also line up to attack the enemy.

Both the enemy and us are gearing up, but the Atlantic Ocean has never been a good battlefield. The sea is turbulent and the night is falling. Even if the captain and navigator of the Nanhua Fleet are top-notch, they have not been able to form a battle line. Naturally, this battle cannot be fought.

Seeing this situation, Xiao Changrong simply ordered to tackle the wind to make it easier for the fleet to complete the formation of the battle line.

The lights were played at night, both the front army and the center fleet did so, but the rear fleet commanded by Major General Shi Lang arrived late, he didn't see the lights at first (it was blocked by the battleships in front), and the wind and waves The rollover hindered the progress of the battleship, so that the rear army was out of touch with the front team and could not form a battle line at all.

By 0 o'clock on the 12th, there was already a long distance between the rear army of the Nanhua Fleet and the front army and the Chinese fleet. The situation was very embarrassing!

Hehe, so fighting is really full of surprises, no matter how skilled you are, you still have to talk about a little luck.

"Hurry up, hurry up!" Shi Lang shouted.

He saw through the binoculars a long line of lights in front of the team, and he was anxious, ordering the ships of his squadron to hoist more sails to speed up and join the team in front, but the wind and waves of the Atlantic enthusiastically kept him, and the battleship's The reaction was very slow, and it was too late to enter the battle sequence.

In this way, the problem fell on Xiao Changrong's side. If he wanted to allow the West-French Combined Fleet to flee south and join the Brest Grand Fleet, Xiao Changrong's fleet would not be able to defeat them.

Otherwise, the current force will be put into battle, so that twenty battleships will deal with the enemy's twenty-eight battleships!

"When you meet the enemy, you must fight!" Xiao Changrong, who knew his duty well, made up his mind.

At around 1 o'clock in the morning, on the flagship "Wenchang" he gave the signal to launch an attack on the enemy rearguard Spanish fleet!

The battle line composed of twenty Nanhua battleships rushed towards the twenty-eight battleships of the West-French Allied Forces without hesitation, and the sound of artillery soon shook the peaceful ocean.

"What a lunatic! Damn heretics!" Viscount Robert Sanchez of the guard fleet said angrily~www.wuxiaspot.com~ He didn't want to fight, but he didn't expect that I was outnumbered, but these Chinese people still rushed forward, forcing him to do nothing no fight.

The battle lines of the two sides quickly paralleled, and the flames of war quickly spread. The two sides were fighting at night, and the gunners got busy, firing shells at each other non-stop.

Although the number of white-skinned battleships was superior, the Nanhua gunners were on par with the white-skinned battleships for a while, relying on their high rate of fire.

As the battle progressed, the main battle revolved around the three first-class battleships, the French flagship "France", the Spanish "Royal Felipe" and the Nanhua flagship "Wenchang". However, the "Zhonghua-class" second-tier battleships of the Nanhua Fleet can be of great use.

One of them, the "West Siberia", was very brave. Under the command of its captain, Brigadier General Fang Lizeng, it deliberately crossed the Spanish battle line and passed in front of the Spanish "Royal Felipe", causing confusion among the Spaniards. However, the "West Siberia" itself was also seriously damaged. Brigadier General Fang Lizeng was unfortunately killed, and the entire ship was beaten to pieces, almost becoming a hulk!

The Nanhua Fleet wanted to sink the "Royal Felipe", and the Spaniards went all out to protect their flagship. The battle was extremely fierce! 2084/10227788