Dominate the Country

The best of the land, Crete.

At dawn, flames illuminated the entire harbor, and the explosions finally stopped.

Enver Pasha, who had slept on the shore at night, stood in the port in despair. He was stunned by the scene in front of him. The bay that was very calm at dusk yesterday had now turned into a slaughterhouse. The once mighty warships were twisted and twisted. The ground was paralyzed on the sea, tattered warships were on fire, and the entire bay was covered with corpses, bloody, injured and burnt corpses.

A small French and Spanish fleet took advantage of the Ottomans' laxity and stormed the port of Heraklion before dawn.

The unprepared Ottomans watched helplessly as rockets rose from the French and Spanish warships, and then fell on the mighty fleet in the port area.

After receiving the warning, the Ottoman coastal defense batteries quickly fired artillery bombardments, but the birds had no effect. The fight was lively, but no one was hit. Amidst the roar of explosions, the Ottoman Mediterranean Fleet, which had just restored a certain strength, once again became a thing of the past.

After this battle, the start of the French, Spanish and Ottoman attacks was inevitable, and at the same time, the French expedition to Egypt was also inevitable.

The friendship between the French and the Ottomans for more than two hundred years was completely broken.

This is definitely bad news for the Ottoman Empire and the Egyptian Pasha, China's old friend Elam.

It's not good news for Zhu Xi either.

He could hardly see the possibility of 'breaking out' of the Mediterranean without relying on the British.

You know, his relationship with the French was quite friendly before, and the targets of guerrilla hunting were limited to Spanish people. And now the French must also enter his attack target.

Of course, the British would be his staunch allies. The Kingdom of Great Britain's Mediterranean dispatch fleet is still very powerful. Commander Nelson was also a wise and brave general.

When the distant sea and sky meet, two small black spots appear on the sea level.

"Enemy ship!?" Zhu Xin clenched his fists tightly, and the blood in his chest was boiling. "Well done! Let us inform you and prepare the whole ship for battle." Without the support of the Ottoman Empire's navy, Zhu Xun and his few warships could not even think about launching a large-scale attack. All he could do was to let his men The warships attacked separately to intercept French and Spanish lone warships, or transport fleets, etc.

With the collapse of the anti-French alliance and the Spanish's changing position, the British naval blockade against France was no longer so tight. The British fleet dispatched to the Mediterranean is not as arrogant as before.

You must know that after the French and Spanish Mediterranean fleets are combined, their strength exceeds that of the British.

To a certain extent, in the Mediterranean region, it is no longer the British blocking France and Spain, but a battle between the three parties. This also gave Spanish and French merchant ships a lot of room to move.

At the same time, for Zhu Xun and others, they must also use the blood of the French to prove their loyalty to friendship to the Ottoman allies.

The Ottomans knew that the Chinese and France always had something to do with each other.

The alarm bell on the Li Guang rang, and all the sailors were busy in an instant. A large amount of unnecessary waste was thrown into the sea, and a large amount of flammable materials were thrown into the sea or moved into the cabin. The cannon coats were removed one after another, and barrels of propellant packs and iron bullets were piled next to the gun positions.

The propellant for naval cannons of the National Defense Force is no longer bulk gunpowder, but standard gunpowder packets wrapped in silk.

Even though the explosive power of black powder did not increase much, it was still somewhat effective.

The Chen-Han Navy battleship has now popularized this model, and even the Army Artillery Corps has also popularized this model. At the same time, there are some ingredients in this powder keg that Zhu Xi specially asked people to add.

"General, the two ships in front are indeed French ships, but their tonnage is not very large. They are probably two cruisers." When Li Guang led Cai Qian to report to Zhu Xin, he looked relaxed. Sample.

The Li Guang is a third-level sailing battleship. Its combat power can defeat two fifth-level sailing battleships alone. The only worrying thing is that the French warships should be very fast. They can run away when their momentum is not good.

The cruiser is definitely faster than the third-level sailing battleship.

"This makes me feel more at ease!" Zhu Xi said to Cai Qian. Zhu Xi was quite satisfied with the officer who was neatly dressed from beginning to end. As the flagship of the small fleet, it is natural for the Li Guang to have a captain. Zhu Xun himself is the commander-in-chief of this squadron.

On the other side of Zhu Xun was Li Guanghao's first mate, the 43-year-old Macau Portuguese-born Anthony Desab de Noronha.

Although most of the Portuguese in Macau who chose China were engaged in education and commerce, some of them still entered the army. It's just that they don't climb as fast.

"The Spaniards are the apprentices of the French. We have already learned the skills of our apprentices, and now we are fighting against the French." This is also a signal to the Ottomans. China will stand firmly with them!

"General, this time I will personally command the naval guns."

Many officers of the Chinese Navy come from the position of gunnery commander, and the proportion is higher than that of navigation chief. This can be regarded as a characteristic of the Chinese Navy. Antoine de Sable de Noronha was also promoted from gunner to second mate, and then transferred from second mate to first mate.

Cai Qian spoke to Zhu Fu with a competitive tone. Because Zhu Fu himself was a representative of the Navigation Department, and Cai Qian himself was from the Gunnery Department. He was also good at analytic geometry and calculus in school, and had a lot of experience in naval gun command.

After taking over the Li Guang, he showed a higher level than the man who served as the gunner of the Li Guang in several live-fire drills.

Anthony Desabu Di Noronha had no fear of fighting at all. He was born in a wealthy merchant family. His father was still running a foreign trade company with good performance, and his mother was a foreign language teacher at Sungkyunkwan Public School. Their family was very happy.

Born in such a family, he was able to join the army. It can only be said that he had true love for the army and the navy.

Although his love for the navy did not allow him to move to a higher position, he was still only a left lieutenant, which was equivalent to the rank of lieutenant colonel. But he only loved and was excited about war.

There was no point in saying more at this time. The two French warships also found the Li Guang. They did not escape at all, but attacked with full sails.

Zhu Fu raised a telescope to see the appearance of the two French warships on the opposite side, turned around and left the bow, and came to the command platform!

Both sides felt that they were very lucky.

Two level 5 battleships against a level 3 battleship, very evenly matched, but everyone thought they had the advantage.

The cruiser ran fast, while the level 3 battleship was tough and had powerful firepower.

What Zhu Fu was most worried about now was whether there was a French main fleet behind the two enemy ships here? !

If not, he could let go and fight the French. And if there was, he would just show a little bit of his intention and leave immediately. But no matter what, it was better than retreating immediately.

"Perhaps these two French warships have the same idea as us."

Although France and China have declared war on each other, everyone knows that the relationship between the two countries has never really broken down. Just as the Ottomans suspected the Chinese, the Spanish also had doubts about the French. Perhaps the French also need to use the blood of the Chinese to reassure their allies, the Spanish.

Zhu Fu said while observing the two French warships with a telescope.

When the warships of both sides on the sea can find each other, in fact, the distance is still quite far. Ten nautical miles is not much, and six or seven nautical miles will not be less. However, if the warships on both sides do not avoid each other at all and continue to sail towards each other, then the time of encounter will also be very short.

At most an hour, and often half an hour, the sound of artillery will be heard.

"Attention all ships! Attention all ships! We are about to enter the range! We are about to enter the range! All gun positions are ready-" Zhu Fu shouted loudly to the brass trumpet in front of him.

At the same time, his fists were tightly clenched, the joints on his fingers were clenched white, and his face was as solemn as a piece of marble.

France is a completely different concept from Spain. In the past hundred years, the Kingdom of Spain has been a second-rate country in Europe, a younger brother of France, while France has always been the strongest country in Europe. Even the Holy Roman Empire, which is dominated by Austria, has to be inferior.

"Attention, all guns, prepare to fire! One! Two! Three..."

Just as Zhu Fu's eyes were fixed on the French warships that were already close at hand, the captain of the Li Guang was also counting numbers, and each number seemed to be shouting desperately.

"Boom!" A string of water splashed up on the sea surface a hundred meters to the left front of the Li Guang. At the same time as the Li Guang opened fire, the opponent's bow gun was not a decoration. Through the telescope, Zhu Fu could see the green smoke rising from the bow of a cruise ship on the opposite side, and the green smoke had not been completely blown away by the sea breeze. He subconsciously looked at the watch on his wrist. This new thing, which is not popular in Western countries, is widely circulated in China, especially among the upper class of Chen Han. At 9:12 in the morning, the Sino-French naval battle started.

Shells kept falling around the warships on both sides. But there was almost no hit. The closest one was only 20 to 30 meters away, but it was useless. The shells of this era were not high-explosive shells a hundred years later. A distance of 20 to 30 meters was considered a near miss. The vibration of the sea water caused by the explosion of the shells could bring huge pressure to the warships. The current shells are all the most basic iron shells. Because the distance of the battle is extended, the shotgun shells, chain shells, etc. have disappeared in the naval battle.

1,500 meters, 1,200 meters, 1,000 meters-

"Boom..." A row of artillery exploded one by one, and Zhu Fu felt the warship under his feet tremble violently in the sound of the guns.

The distance between the two sides continued to close, from 1,000 meters to 800 meters, and from 800 meters to 600 meters. This is the closest distance, and no one will easily cross the line.

The two French cruisers separated to the left and right, one was holding back the Li Guang, and the other was obviously trying to get to the stern of the Li Guang.

Zhu Fu heard the sound of the wooden shell cracking in the loud explosion, but he didn't care.

At a distance of 600 meters, the two sides fired 60 to 70 cannons at each other, and they could hit the opponent anyway.

Taking advantage of the French's initiative to separate, Zhu Fu commanded the Li Guang to start approaching the French warship in front from the side, which would reduce the Li Guang's exposure and also pressure the opponent to adjust the direction.

The wind direction today is quite face-saving.