Inside the turret of the Dingyuan.
With the assistance of hanging rails, sailors loaded huge cannonballs into the barrel.
The main gunner clicked on the switch next to him, and the green light came on.
"Turret No. 1 is ready!"
On the control room console of the bridge, the small light bulb labeled No. 1 turret was on, and the sailor reported the status to the captain.
"Bearing XXX, shooting angle XXX, whole ship salvo!"
As the order is issued, the command room transmits the information to the inside of the turret through the copper pipe, commanding the naval gun to fire.
"Boom~"
Dingyuan fired the fifth salvo. Since both sides were within 500 meters, Dingyuan and Zhenyuan were only 400 meters away from the enemy ship formation.
The bombardment was fruitful.
Of the eight shells, three consecutively smashed through the nearest sailing battleship. After killing a large number of gunners, they penetrated from the other side and hit the armed merchant ship on the side, causing a fatal explosion.
The Zhenyuan following behind actually detonated three warships with a salvo.
As the distance enters within 300 meters, the hit rate of the Ming Navy gunners increases exponentially.
Zhu Zaiming felt that the time was ripe and began to order the two battleships to fire freely and at the same time crash into the enemy's formation to engage in close combat.
The sailors of the British Empire, especially the Royal Navy, wildly poured cannonballs on the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan with a rate of fire of one round per minute.
However, most of these large and small spherical shells fell into the sea, and a small number of them hit the steel armor with a "dUang" sound and were bounced away.
The Dingyuan was smashed and made a clanging sound.
Shen Yulong was worried about Zhu Zaiming's safety and advised him.
"Your Majesty, please enter the cabin to avoid the bombardment."
Zhu Zaiming waved his hand. He bought the Dingyuan himself and knew very well what kind of performance it had.
The thickest armor on the Dingyuan is the bridge command tower.
"The armor of the bridge conning tower of the Dingyuan is 203 mm thick. It is impossible for these solid iron balls to break through the armor unless they hit it through the glass window."
Zhu Zaiming explained patiently while walking into the small steel room behind the drawing table, very attentively.
As the saying goes, a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall, and he must hide when he needs to.
At 1:40 pm, the naval battle entered a fierce stage.
The Dingyuan and Zhenyuan attracted a large amount of firepower. The terrifying artillery fired at the high-value large sailing battleships, and the gunners' proficiency gradually increased.
The other warships of the Ming-France Combined Fleet began to squeeze the British Empire Navy and forced them onto the shoals in southern Australia.
The Warrior formation that circled behind was also chased by the Brest into the deep sea to the south.
"Boom~"
The Brest intercepted successfully, and a shell finally hit a first-class sailing battleship, detonating her into a huge fireball.
Subsequently, the Warrior formation fell into a hard battle. Brest was like a cat catching a mouse, and the naval guns began to fire one after another.
Jean Bart did not rush forward to engage in close combat, but directed the gunners to take turns practicing their artillery skills.
The Brest's artillery is very advanced. The huge turret has a professional crane to transport artillery shells, and sophisticated sighting equipment makes long-distance precision artillery possible.
Taking advantage of the opportunity of this naval battle, Jean Bart asked the sailors to calmly practice shelling on moving targets.
Collingwood fell into despair.
The Brest relied on its speed advantage and after the Warrior formation was bitten, it lost the opportunity to implement roundabout tactics.
Collingwood could even feel that the steel battleship behind them was hanging from them in the distance, as if they were training.
"What happened in the Far East?"
“Who did my British Empire mess with?”
Collingwood murmured.
He was temporarily transferred here and had defeated the French fleet many times in Europe before.
From the Mediterranean, to the English Channel, to Norway.
Like other admirals of the British Empire, he searched for the French fleet for a decisive battle and won.
Last year, King George III of England met with him and said that the empire was ready to completely solve the Ming Dynasty that occupied Xinxiang in Australia, and at the same time solve the French Southeast Asian colonies.
To be honest, Collingwood felt that such a task was not difficult at all until Emperor Wude of the Ming Dynasty took over and began large-scale military training.
The British strongholds on land were quickly removed, and even the sea was beaten to pieces by the Ming-French combined fleet. The three giant steel ships puffing out black smoke gave him a huge shock.
So, what exactly happened in the East?
The leap in military technology like the Ming Dynasty is like a primitive man suddenly taking out a musket and beating someone holding a big bone stick.
Steam power, steel giant ship.
Ming Dynasty is undergoing a military revolution!
Collingwood ordered a dispersal breakout.
With the failure of the roundabout operation, the British navy, which was forced onto the shoal, reached its final moment.
Most of the battleships raised white flags and surrendered, but only a few Royal Navy soldiers resisted.
The combined fleets of Ming and France surrounded them and began intensive bombardment. After several warships that preferred death to surrender were destroyed, the naval battle also came to an end.
Of the more than 600 warships in the British Empire's naval fleet, more than 170 were sunk and the rest surrendered.
More than 40,000 merchants and colonists were captured, and more than 10,000 British Empire naval officers and soldiers were captured.
The Mingfa Navy also suffered heavy losses.
More than a dozen main sailing battleships were almost completely lost. Even if the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan tried their best to attract firepower, they could not withstand the enemy's huge numerical advantage.
The Ming Dynasty's navy had more than 3,000 people and suffered 600 casualties, including more than 120 killed in action.
The Battle of Australia ended, and Ming Dynasty won the final victory.
At this time, the Nanyang colonists were shrouded in the shadow of the Ming and French coalition forces.
Government House, Sydney.
William turned into a table-cleaning master, and valuable porcelain, crystal goblets, etc. were thrown to the floor.
When he received the battle report, he couldn't even believe his eyes. The British Empire Navy, which was sailing across the ocean, had actually lost.
If the navy loses, what will they do with the army?
When the sea and land surrounded them, they could no longer escape.
William's idea at this time was very simple, just to run.
For the strategy of the Far East, the British Empire spanned half the world and invested nearly 30,000 army troops, more than 100 large sailing warships, and nearly 20,000 naval officers and soldiers.
He, William, had lost half of his army in just half a month. Seeing that the enemy army was getting closer and closer, the other half of the army was not far away from death.
Even if this kind of responsibility returns to the British mainland, George III will definitely be guillotined!
You can't go back to Europa, you can only go eastward into the Americas, both South and North America.
Relying on the huge wealth collected, it is not a problem to become a rich man. You can even join the newly established United States of America and become a human being again.
Just as he said, William called the steward, ransacked the Governor's Mansion, and boarded the ship to North America with a guard of hundreds of people overnight.
In the military camp in northern Sydney, bitter Army soldiers sat around the campfire and told interesting stories about the past few days.
"Why do I think these Ming people are more ruthless than us? Those aboriginals kill them whenever they say. Central Australia is almost becoming a no-man's land!"
"I heard from the soldiers who retreated from the stronghold that those Ming people were crazy. They killed the natives during the day and attacked the stronghold at night without rest at all."
"Really? Even an Iron Man can't bear it."
"Now that they are getting closer to us, do you think they will attack us at night tonight?"
"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"
The bearded officer looked unbelieving. The nearest enemy army was still twenty miles away. How could he have the energy to launch a night attack when they came over?
At this time, there seemed to be a noise from the edge of the military camp.
A fire dragon rushed into the camp from a distance, and the killing cry got closer and closer.
