When Li Guozhu and Yan Siqi were preparing to attack, as time went on, the fighting on the four battlefields in the north gradually became intense.

Among these four battlefields, the ones with the greatest disparity in strength are, of course, the two rows of battleships on the westernmost side.

One of them is the Spanish Manila Fleet, which has 17 1,200-ton first-class battleships and 33 600-ton second-class battleships. The battleships are 30 second-class battleships led by the Funing Town Admiral Wang Mengxiong.

As soon as the two sides fought, Wang Mengxiong realized very clearly: Such an enemy cannot be fought head-on. The only thing we can do is to take advantage of speed and try our best to pull the enemy away to the west and relieve Yu Zigao in the middle.

burden.

However, Spain itself had more second-level battleships than all of Wang Mengxiong's battleships. So after a brief observation of the battlefield situation, Alfonso immediately made the decision to divide his forces.

Our 33 second-level battleships left the main battle line. Taking advantage of the northeasterly wind at this time, they ignored the enemy ships in front of them and detoured directly from the south, preparing to arrive further west first, and then flank Wang Mengxiong with our main battleships.

battle array.

Although Wang Mengxiong used to command Fuchuan in battles, he only started to learn how to be a real sailing battleship commander in the past two or three months. However, as a veteran general, he can still tell the difference between being flanked by the enemy.

.So, when the Spanish fleet just divided its forces, he immediately knew that something was wrong.

I know that the problem is simple, but it is not easy to solve it: the wind is blowing from the northeast on the battlefield at the moment, and the enemy's second-level warships are heading straight to the southwest, which is a tailwind. And if our fleet wants to maneuver at the maximum speed, it is also

We must move southwest - which will inevitably lead to an intersection with the other party's route.

As a result, on the westernmost battlefield of this great sea battle, it became a situation where two rows of battleships were desperately heading southwest, followed by a row of larger battleships desperately chasing after them.

From 11:45 to 12:30, Wang Mengxiong's battle line had already exchanged blows with Spain's second-level battleship battle line for several times.

At the beginning, due to the distance, the hit rate of both sides was not high. Thousands of artillery fired at each other several times, and only one or two warships each received one or two shots, which did not have much impact on the movement of the warships themselves.

.But as time went by, two rows of high-speed battleships quickly approached, and the hit rates of both sides slowly increased.

"Boom~Kacha~"

There was no tremor under my feet, but the sound was so loud that Wang Mengxiong frowned again: "Which ship behind was hit again?"

"General, it's the 6th of the month."

"Why are you so unlucky on the 6th of this month?" Turning to look at the thick smoke floating a little further outside the side, Wang Mengxiong's brows furrowed even more: "If I remember correctly, this is the 6th of the month.

Is it the twelfth cannonball?"

"This subordinate didn't count it."

"Hey." Taking a deep breath, Wang Mengxiong said: "How many of our warships have withdrawn from the battle line now?"

"Four warships have already withdrawn."

"Where's the red ghost on the opposite side?"

"Forgive me, General, there are only two ships."

"After all, it has been less than three months since tmd took over this new building, and everyone's accuracy is still not as good as others."

After saying this, Wang Mengxiong raised the telescope on his chest and looked towards the south, then quickly turned his head and said: "We are only four to five hundred meters away from each other at this time, right?"

"That's right, General, five hundred and fifty meters at most."

"Okay! Send the order, we are not going southwest anymore, tell the helmsman, the direction is due south!"

"Ah? General, although our opponent's lead ship is about two or three slots ahead of our Moon 1, this distance is not enough for our entire battle line to occupy the "T" in advance!"

"Stupid! I didn't even think of occupying the prefix T! Now that we are heading south, either those Red Yi ghosts will be afraid and follow us to turn, thus giving us the channel. Or, the bow of their ship will be

It will hit you directly, and then we will rush forward to engage in a boarding battle!"

"ah?"

"Ah, what? When the commander-in-chief (Yu Zigao) led us across the southeast, although our Dafu ship still had a few cannons on board, in the end we still had to rely on joining the ship's side and joining gangs to decide the outcome. What's the matter?

This new type of warship has only been used for a few months, but it doesn’t dare to fight in close combat anymore?”

"..."

Seeing his guerrilla's head buried in silence, Wang Mengxiong was furious. He directly stretched out his arms to hug the guerrilla, risking being directly hit by the opponent's shells, and came to the side of the ship: "

You see, although we can't see the first-class Red Yi battleships behind us because of the following of our own warships, you and I both know that they are following right behind, right? The ones on the opposite side

Even if those Red Yi people withdraw from the battle line, nothing will happen for the time being. And once our warships withdraw from the battle line, they will be wiped out by the group of Red Yi people who are following behind! If we still insist on the current way of fighting,

In two hours at most, we will all be doomed! Now, our only way to survive is to find a way to turn the artillery battle into a boarding battle. As long as we get mixed up with the Hongyi people on the opposite side, the group of Hongyi people behind will

A first-class battleship is useless!"

"General, my subordinates understand. Now go and convey your orders and prepare your brothers for close combat."

"Well, signal, this ship is going to ram the enemy ship, all ships in this row should follow. If you don't win, you will die!"

"Take orders!"

…

"Captain, the signal signal from the 5th of the month ahead is that on the 1st of the month, we are going to lead us in close combat with the enemy ships."

"Okay, after all, the quality of our hull is not as good as others, and the accuracy of our cannonballs is not as good as others. There is a group of deadly first-class battleships chasing us behind...tmd should have made such a decision long ago."

The captain of Yue 6, Zheng Wei and Zheng Hongyuan, was in a very bad state at this time: about twenty minutes ago, his ship received the eleventh shot. The shell hit the deck directly and destroyed part of the guardrail.

At the same time, a piece of wood that was knocked away by the impact broke his right hand. Although the skin and flesh were still connected, he could not lift his right hand. What was even more annoying was that there was another

The cut piece of wood had a sharp edge, and it was inserted straight into his stomach.

Although the armor he was wearing blocked most of the potential energy, the sharp section of the wood still opened a big hole in his stomach. His intestines did not flow out, but a large pool of blood flowed out.

So this guy looks very pale now.

To make matters worse, because the wooden boards of this battleship were not completely shaped and dried, in order to ensure that the ship would not disintegrate prematurely, the shipyard workers brushed it with too much tar (pine resin extract). Then

After being hit by many shells and the ship started to catch fire, the entire ship burst into billowing smoke. While making himself a big target, the shooting of his own gunners was also greatly interfered with - not only he

Among the thirty warships in this series, the twenty crudely built warships all have more or less the same problem.

Therefore, Zheng Wei no longer wants to continue the artillery battle with the opponent. In his opinion, since the battle line has attracted the enemy's superior fleet with its inferior fleet and successfully lightened the burden on the main force of our side, the next step is to consider how to offset the opponent's

Take the advantage and fight in the way you are good at.

What does it mean to be good at? There are too many Funing Town sailors in this battle line. Boarding battles are what they are really familiar with and good at.

"Pass the signal to our follow-up ships and inform all the ships that this ship will follow the flagship closely and prepare for a boarding battle with the enemy!"
Chapter completed!