The sudden arrival of the fleet completely frightened the French. Hof couldn't even speak at this time. He hesitated with his mouth open and didn't know what he was talking about. Desperate panic showed in his eyes.
Another Zhiyuan ship has arrived! Why is there another Zhiyuan ship!
The same slender hull, dual-mounted 210-meter large-caliber naval guns, the armor all over its body exuded a metallic luster, and black smoke ribbons sprayed into the air, like the breath of an angry bull.
Countless soldiers screamed in despair. One Zhiyuan had already caused them a lot of suffering. Why did another one come?
Boom, boom, boom... The Brandenburg continued to fire at the French fleet, *piercing the fragile armor of the cruiser, and tons of seawater roared into it.
High-explosive shells shattered the deck of the battleship, and the bodies of the soldiers fell into the sea, tumbling and screaming.
It was not just the Brandenburg that was fighting. The remaining sixteen frigates formed a protective formation at this time, closely protecting the Brandenburg's left and right, using their own hulls to resist the counterattack of French artillery.
Suddenly, there was a roar of gunfire on the sea and black smoke filled the air. The Brandenburg rushed to a close range of more than a thousand meters. The left rudder turned the hull, and all three naval guns stretched out from the right side of the ship.
Boom...boom...boom...the cannons fired alternately, and each time the ship was fired, thousands of waves shook the sea!
For warships, a distance of one thousand meters can basically achieve perfect results. Especially for such a large-caliber rifled gun, the muzzle velocity is very fast, and the ballistic trajectory will not attenuate at a distance of one thousand meters.
The massacre scene of the Zhiyuan was repeated once again, and this time the Brandenburg was not fighting alone. With other frigates as human shields, he did not need to rush into the battle quickly. It was enough to keep shooting at this distance. Turn the tide of battle!
"How to fight? How to fight?" Countless French soldiers shouted in despair.
"None of our artillery shells can penetrate the steel plate of the Zhiyuan... But as long as their cannon hits, it will be fatal!"
"How to fight? Hof, please stand up and tell us how we should fight this battle?"
The roaring soldiers were questioning their commander, but by this time Hof had already lost the ability to speak, and could only watch helplessly as the other party slaughtered his warships.
The Duke of Newcastle was also dumbfounded. "Let our marines withdraw! Damn it, William I and Bismarck even lied to us! We were fooled..."
"The Zhiyuan actually has a sister ship! Are our intelligence departments all eating rubbish? A bunch of rubbish! Trash!"
"Send a signal to the Prussians and tell them our marines are still at sea!"
Who cares about the life and death of you British people at this time? If you hadn't taken advantage of the situation, would you have been injured or killed?
The shells exploded in the sky over the sea, and the air waves swept everything. The floating corpses on the sea swept away the British and French marines and rushed out.
"Help... damn..." Without even shouting twice, the waves from the explosion pushed the living soldiers into the sea.
Not to mention those violent fragments, metal fragments flying everywhere like bullets, without any rules, leaving no one alive in the barrage.
It’s a mess, it’s a complete mess! The French army's formation itself was already in chaos. Ten warships that had withdrawn from bombing were now blocking the British fleet, and they were unable to return reinforcements in time.
The remaining battleships, under the command of Hof, lined up to shoot at Speke Island, thus giving up the T prefix to the Prussian fleet in vain.
The Brandenburg now occupies the most advantageous position for T-shaped shooting tactics. Its three 210-caliber cannons can 'take care' of these French ships in 180 degrees.
However, after more than ten minutes of shooting, two French cruisers were seriously injured and lost their combat capabilities. The lives and deaths of more than 500 British and French marines were unknown.
Even Hof's flagship Glorious was hit by a shell, and more than a dozen sailors and two 140-caliber naval guns were overturned into the sea.
"What a great opportunity! It's now! Counterattack, launch a counterattack against the French army across the island!" Xiang Ying, who was standing on the bell tower, jumped up in excitement.
The French naval guns no longer have time to take care of Spike Island, and more and more Prussian troops are landing. At this moment, the force has overwhelmed the French army. At this time, it is necessary to expand the results!
The battle suddenly entered the moment of major counterattack. The number of Prussian troops who landed on Spike Island was close to 20,000, and there were more than 10,000 reinforcements from the mainland waiting to be transported by fishing boats.
There are only about 15,000 French troops left on the island who can fight, and they are all exhausted and short of ammunition!
When the Prussian charge horn sounded, the morale of the French army collapsed completely, and all the troops almost collapsed. Amidst the shouts of killing, a large number of desperate French troops knelt down and surrendered, with their rifles raised high above their heads.
"No fight! No fight! We won't fight this damn war!"
"The bastard Navy even bombed our own wounded barracks. We are not willing to work hard anymore!"
Xiang Ying stood on the tower and shouted excitedly, "Brothers of the Zhiyuan! Attack quickly, attack, now is the time to harvest... snatch the prisoners! The more you can grab, the better!"
"Surf the gun and don't kill! Treat the prisoners preferentially! Just shout this slogan...Hurry, hurry, hurry!"
"Hahaha... We have to build our own prisoner of war camp! The prisoners belong to whoever grabs them. They will be exchangeable for money at the negotiation table in the future!"
All the brothers who could move in the town rushed out as if they had been beaten to death. Fatty Jin picked up a Frenchman's rifle and rushed out.
They shouted the French slogan "Don't kill if you surrender your guns, treat prisoners better", and they rushed towards the French army formation with the largest number of people and killed them.
What the army fears most is despair. When morale is completely exhausted and the soldiers' hearts have become cold, no matter how brave the soldier is, he will no longer be determined to die.
Seeing his comrades kneeling on the ground one by one with their rifles raised above their heads, the French army shed tears of grief and anger and could only accept this reality in humiliation.
Kneel down, really kneel down! Jin Sanshun rushed forward alone, and a full platoon of French soldiers on the opposite side knelt down and surrendered to him, their rifles raised high above their heads, and their faces were earth-colored.
"Throw all the guns and bullets together... We Chinese treat prisoners preferentially! We will not kill them if we surrender our guns!"
Jin Sanshun was so happy that he had never been so proud in his life. He forced a platoon of French soldiers to surrender by himself. He didn't even know that the rifle in his hand didn't even have a single bullet.
The army was defeated like a mountain! The French Army is completely desperate. Facing the enemy with an absolute advantage, they no longer want to die in vain!
Soldiers are never afraid of death in war, they are afraid of meaningless death!
"Brothers, stop fighting! We can't die for someone like Hof in vain! If we live, we are all witnesses. When we return to China in the future, we will go to the military court to sue him!"
"No fighting! No fighting at all!"
