Start: Datang Wanli a lonely city

Chapter 879 Ambush on all sides ([-])

Amidst the loud beating of drums, Henry Cavendish, a prisoner of the Xuange Battalion team.

In the telescope in front of me, I saw those ships with long and narrow hulls, and a wooden carving of the head of a legendary creature on the bow. They were oriental ships called "dragon boats".

Under the rhythmic and vigorous paddling of many civilians, they were already moving towards the firepower network composed of numerous naval guns and muskets.

The mood in my heart suddenly became extremely complicated.

First of all, he is a subject of the Great Yin Empire, and he is Cavendish, a direct member of the top Great Yin family.

Of course, he didn't want to see the entire fleet of the powerful Empire on which the sun never sets suffer a complete defeat in front of him, or even be completely destroyed.

You know, Da Yin can become the most powerful empire on this planet where the sun never sets.

The most critical cornerstone is not the fearless lobster soldiers who dare to charge with bayonets after firing three rounds of volleys.

Instead, he crisscrossed many waters and captured the invincible fleet.

If it really appears in Daqing's war, or in a war with civilian armed forces, an entire fleet will be destroyed by the entire army.

So for Dayin, this is definitely not good news, it can even be a disaster.

Because among their many colonies, God knows how many natives thought that the Great Yin had declined, and thus had a desire to resist in their hearts.

Secondly, he did not want Hu from Xuange Camp and his group of indigenous men to be defeated.

Not to mention that these people would be torn apart by the fire net composed of fierce artillery fire and bullets in the following time.

After all, rowing some small boats and charging towards a fleet with more than twenty ships, including several third-class battleships, makes people feel crazy just thinking about it.

There was actually more than one reason why he was so concerned and worried about Hu Biao and others.

Not only after spending a long time with Hu Biao and the others, I also learned that all the Eastern knights in Xuange camp are actually civilized gentlemen and ladies.

Compared to the ancient nobles of Europe, they are not inferior at all.

They are knowledgeable, wealthy, generous, upright, strong, willing to sacrifice, and possess so many beautiful qualities.

It is even more civilized than many of the ancient nobles that I have come into contact with in the British Isles and in big cities such as Paris for many years.

Since capturing him, it was only during the initial period that the War Elephant Lady beat him.

After he revealed his identity, even when the Sifang Fort was surrounded by a large army, during the most difficult time, he did not deprive himself of his share of food, water, or horse blood.

Although he didn't want to experience the process and taste of drinking horse blood again in his life.

But he also had to admit that without the horse blood he would have died of thirst.

After that, even if the landing force led by Henry Yilu and Charles Yilu were completely wiped out and they were unable to pay any ransom, they still did not kill him.

On the contrary, as long as the indigenous people who joined their resistance army were given two classes a day on Da Yin and European countries, customs, science and technology, life, etc., they would get preferential treatment.

As long as you don't try to escape, life is pretty good every day.

Especially in the morning, lunch and evening, plus a late night snack, four delicious meals and snacks a day made him gain at least three pounds in just over a week.

Therefore, in Henry Cavendish's opinion, he and the gentlemen and ladies of Xuange Camp can actually be regarded as very good friends.

Naturally, he didn't want to watch them die in battle right in front of his eyes.

However, Henry Cavendish, a sinister gentleman, had the biggest reason in his heart that he did not want to see the death of these Oriental people rowing dragon boats and charging into the fire net in front of him.

It was through what he had seen with his own eyes in the recent period that he realized one thing clearly:
This expedition of the Great Yin Empire is not at all what the gentlemen of the Council claimed. It is a war in which civilization conquers barbarism and brings civilization to the East.

It is completely a shameless war of aggression for profit, even the right to sell duck slices.

Because he saw with his own eyes that ancient streets and residential areas full of oriental charm were reduced to ruins under the bombardment of the expeditionary fleet.

An unknown number of women, children, and elderly people died tragically in the shelling.

The Great Yin brought them nothing but destruction and hatred, but no so-called civilization at all.

What's more important is that they don't know what a great existence they are challenging; the flower grower is definitely not a third brother. Like those black uncles, they can be easily conquered and enslaved.

Perhaps in a short period of time, Dayin can take advantage of Daqing's ignorant rule over the flower-growing people for many years.

While they are sleeping, huge benefits can be drawn from their bodies for a long period of time.

But Henry Cavendish was certain that as long as there were people like Hu and Xuangeying, such a nation could never be conquered.

Because this nation cannot sleep forever. When they wake up, their descendants will always remember the shame brought to them by the Great Yin.

One day, they will come back with a vengeance.

How ferociously Da Yin robs and exploits them now, how much anger it will bear in the future.

Regarding this, there is a history of how they were invaded by the Turks, Huns, and Mongols in the past, and how they later retaliated.

I also saw farmers one after another digging out dragon boats from the mud of the river that were said to be dozens, hundreds, or even more years old.

It can be seen that the warship was washed and painted with new paint, and then the warship was carried out as if it were a festival, and it was spontaneously joining such a battle.

Unfortunately, the key to the problem is that no matter what the current emotions and thoughts of Henry Cavendish are in his heart.

For this battle that has already begun, neither the process nor the result can have the slightest impact. I can only stand on the crumbling roof of a certain ruins.

Holding a telescope in his hand, he watched all this silently.

Then I plan to record all this in my diary and tell more people in Europe in the future.

To this end, he took a look at the pocket watch that was originally taken away by Ms. Zhan Xiang and later returned to him. He clearly remembered some relevant times of the battle process, as well as some scenes that left a deep impression on him...

******
时间：6月12日凌晨3点11分27秒，今晚行动开始的十来分钟之后。

There are a total of 116 dragon boats of different sizes. The largest one can have a crew of forty or fifty rowers, and the smallest one can have a crew of twenty or so.

In total, more than [-] people worked together in action.

They appeared on the long river bank of Baietan, and began to move out in almost every direction.

Amidst the extremely rhythmic and loud drums, men risked their lives one by one, shouting simple chants.

Almost at the moment when he paddled, he used all his strength.

According to the rhythm of drums and trumpets, the oars in their hands were neatly inserted into the river and started to paddle vigorously.

With every stroke, every muscle in their arms, chests, and shoulders rose and tightened at this moment.

While it looked full of power, it also made every dragon boat fly on the river.

Yes, just fly.

Henry Cavendish had never imagined that these long, narrow boats could go so fast just by the movement of his arms and oars.

Except for the time when I just started, the speed was a little slow.

Once the speed is increased, the speed will at least reach five yards per second.

In this way, the location of the Dayin Fleet is in the middle of Baietan, basically about one kilometer away from the surrounding river banks.Henry Cavendish, who had quite good verbal arithmetic skills among white men, quickly calculated a number in his mind.

It takes about 210 seconds, which is three and a half minutes.

They were able to rush over and rush to the side of the Great Yin Fleet.

After the dragon boats began to row, because the opponent was closer, the Yin Army sailors on the battleship had already reacted from the initial panic after seeing the opponent's true appearance.

Perhaps they all understand that at this moment, their biggest crisis has arisen since the war began.

Therefore, under tremendous pressure, they actually showed amazing qualities; they are indeed the strongest maritime force in such an era.

The sailors managed to control the few remaining sails, which were even burning, and borrowed some little wind power to give the warship some power.

The helmsmen relied on these little power.

Using the rudder like crazy, the heavy warship began to adjust its posture on the river; barely allowing the remaining ships in the fleet to form an uneven circle.

In the gun window on one side, countless gun barrels popped out.

This means that no matter which direction the dragon boat rushes from, it can face at least one or even more battleships that can pour out the maximum firepower after being defeated.

Soon after, some battleships that had been adjusted in place started firing salvos.

In the fleet, forget about those transport ships, fifth-class, and sixth-class warships. The number of artillery on their side is limited; even after a salvo is fired, the power and damage are limited.

But when those third-class warships or fourth-class warships opened fire, at least 30 cannonballs ranging in size from 32 pounds to 12 pounds were enveloped in each burst of gunfire.

After these shells fell one after another, they immediately spread and enveloped an area of ​​​​the boss.

In this day and age, because the platform is on a ship that is constantly rising and falling, these are front-loaded naval guns, and of course their accuracy is not very high.

The problem is that in Henry Cavendish's opinion, Hu's dragons have poor defense, or even no defense at all.

Not to mention the horrific consequences of a naval gun shell directly hitting the dragon boat; just a slightly closer splash could cause them to suffer a disaster.

In the explosions, tall water columns rose up.

Henry Cavendish not only saw dragon boats one after another, like petrels in a storm, they continued to move forward despite the violent ups and downs of the hull.

Those flags, like the emblems of European noble families, with the names of their villages and family names written on them, were flying in the splashing water, and they were as conspicuous as balls of fire.

You can also see the tragedy that occurred during this process.

For example, at the 4 o'clock position in front of him, a dragon boat was hit by an 18-pound shell, which unfortunately hit the position on the bow decorated with a dragon head.

There was almost no time for any reaction. In the previous second, whenever he saw the charming lady, his eyes would always be too strange and fiery.

And it is said that he has a poignant love story with a woman named No. 88.

However, Mr. Nanze has profound knowledge in tea appreciation and oriental medicine.

He was originally beating the big drum, but in an instant he was completely torn into pieces by the cannonballs that fell around him; unfortunately, he was unable to display any of his magical and powerful Eastern Kung Fu skills.

At the same time, because of this dragon boat began to sink.

Almost half of the members above were knocked down by flying shrapnel and shock waves. After several sinkings, their bodies finally floated on the river.

The river surface immediately turned blood red.

A little further away, there were two dragon boats that were overturned because they got too close to the rising water column.

The members above also fell into the water like dumplings.

Then, some people never floated again, while others, after they floated, glanced at the people around them who might be uncles or nephews, in short, they were all relatives.

Waving his arms, he began to swim quickly, but the direction was not towards the safe shore, but towards the fleet that was constantly pouring death firepower.

The speed of swimming is naturally far slower than that of rowing, and the number of attacks you need to withstand along the way is naturally much greater.

And when they were in the water, they were naturally affected by the explosion shock wave and water pressure.

Every time a shell fell, one, two, or more people were killed by the shock or shrapnel, becoming corpses floating on the water.

In the past, Henry Cavendish would never have been able to imagine why these people would do such crazy things; but after this period of understanding, he probably vaguely understood something.

In such a process, the Yin Army fleet was not unharmed at all, they were also put under astonishing pressure.

Because when they used their fastest speed to pour their firepower on the dragon boat.

Suddenly, within an interval of only three to five seconds, a violent explosion occurred on the waterline on one side of a steam paddle-wheel battleship and a fourth-level battleship.

The former tilted directly during the explosion, leaving only a barnacle-covered ship above the water; the latter had a huge hole in the hull and was crazily poured into the river, and its final sinking also entered a countdown.

It should be noted that this is the fifth and sixth ship that was destroyed in the sudden explosion tonight.

At such a time, the Yin Army could of course think that it was their opponent and secretly installed a bomb with a terrifying amount of explosives on the side of the ship.

Specifically, they had no idea how many ships had been installed in total. The two ships that would be unlucky in the next minute were the ones they knew nothing about.

In response to such a potential danger, they leaned out from the edge of the ship and looked around with wide eyes; they even drove some sailors to jump off the battleship to search for and inspect bombs.

Unfortunately, under the current messy situation, it seems that the effect is not very good.

Worried that the battleship they were on would be blown up in the next second, the Yin Army sailors who didn't even have time to escape were also extremely stressed...

时间：6月12日凌晨3点12分57秒。

The dragon boat rushing in front was still more than 600 meters away from the fleet.

The gunners on the Yin Army's side had already fired hundreds of rounds of artillery shells at them in more than a minute.

After suffering one round of casualties after another, there were still about 97 eight dragon boats rushing towards the fleet at this moment, and the overall losses were not too great.

In the still rhythmic sound of drums, "dong, dong, dong~", they still strive to move forward.

However, Henry Cavendish, who was observing the battlefield with a telescope, took a deep breath in his mouth after seeing such a scene.

Even if he has no military experience, he is just a reporter accompanying the army.

But with his own superficial military knowledge and his not-too-deep understanding of the Yin Army fleet, he also foresaw that some worse situations were about to happen.

Because a group of dragon boats, after entering the current distance.

Grape bullets that have entered the naval gun, or within the range of shotgun fire.

The above two types of shells may be less lethal to battleships, but their lethality to fragile human bodies is completely terrifying.

It can also have a massacre-like effect on all the people on the dragon boat.

I believe that judging from the sophisticated vision of the artillerymen of the Yin Army, they are already loading grapeshot, shotgun and other ammunition.

The situation was indeed the same. After three or four seconds at most, a fourth-level battleship in the fleet, with about 30 cannons on one side, took the lead in firing a salvo.

All the shells they summoned were the grapeshot and grapeshot that Henry Cavendish was most worried about...

(End of this chapter)