Qianlong: Qing Dynasty?What about my Daqing?

Chapter 198 Ended Ocean Hegemony
Following Zhu Xi's order to fight.

The boilers have already been heated up, and the steam engines are already rumbling. The propellers of the twelve ironclad ships hidden under the water surface at the tail turn rapidly.

Under the impetus of surging mechanical power.

Twelve ironclad ships galloped at such a speed that the British Navy on the opposite side, from Commander Nelson to any ordinary sailor, was stunned.

"God, what kind of monster is this?"

"So fast!"

"Is this still a ship? Is this faster than a war horse?"

"Are the Chinese making a deal with the devil?"

Even the multi-story galleys that are more common in the Mediterranean cannot reach such speeds.

The triangular bow of the battleship broke through the wind and waves, and a long white line was drawn from the tail.

All the British soldiers and officers who saw this scene couldn't help swallowing deeply.

The fear of the unknown made the hands of all Britons tremble uncontrollably.

Nelson, who looked confident, was also somewhat broken at this time.

He seemed to have thought of something.

steam engine.

Ships gleaming with steel.

It's an ironclad ship!

That's right!

Definitely an ironclad ship!

The idea of ​​an ironclad ship appeared very early in the pens of some London fantasy novelists.

However, in reality, many people scoff at warships made of steel.

Too unrealistic.

No?
But now such an absurd scene happened in front of him.

A steel warship that only exists in the novelist's writing and does not need sails as a power source appeared in front of him at this moment.

And it is rushing towards its own fleet at a speed of at least fifteen knots!

Nelson hid his slightly trembling hands in the long sleeves of the wide admiral's uniform, and raised the corners of his mouth slightly, trying to make himself look confident.

Ironclad ships are just an idea.

These Chinese are probably just covering a wooden boat with a thin layer of iron, right?
thought here.

Nelson took a deep breath.

"Calculating the distance, the enemy ship is within [-] yards for test firing!"

"Calculate the distance, [-] yards from the enemy"

"Eight Thousand Yards"

"Seven Thousand Yards"

Accompanied by the loud call sign of the watchmen.

on every battleship.

The rocket shooters are ready to launch.

"Be careful, be careful, for God's sake."

"OK OK"

Carefully install the rocket on the launch pad.

The rocket launcher for the test launch was separated from other rockets to prevent accidents.

"At an elevation angle of [-] degrees, the enemy enters [-] yards for the first test fire!"

"Six thousand five hundred yards six thousand four hundred yards."

"Six thousand two hundred yards six thousand one hundred yards"

"Six thousand yards! Launch!"

With an order to fire, the igniter quickly pulled the flint mechanism used to ignite.

A bright spark ignites the rocket's fuel.

The tail flame ejected from the tail is directed to a safe area under the action of the flame drainage tube.

at the same time.

Dragging a several-meter-long tail rod as a balance bar, the rocket jetted out from the nozzle, roaring and rushing towards the Ming army's fleet ahead.

"what is that?"

"Rocket?"

"What a big rocket!"

"careful!"

Zhu Xi and the others also saw this rocket crossing a low parabola in the air, and their eyes suddenly changed.

The rocket with a sharp and strange sound fell suddenly from the air, passed over the chimney of the Weiyuan, and fell into the distant water surface, where a violent explosion broke out.

Zhu Xi and Li Changgeng looked at each other.

Shock and joy can be seen in their respective eyes.

fortunately
If there were no twelve Wei-class ironclad ships, if they suddenly encountered the British fleet equipped with such long-range rockets, the Ming Indian Ocean Fleet might have to confess here!
Thinking of this, Zhu Wei ordered suddenly.

"Assault at full speed! Stick it up! Stick it up! Get as close as one mile and shoot in the face!"

Zhu Xi roared angrily.

Immediately.

The Weiyuan under his feet took the lead.

Driven by the more surging steam power, the speed of the ironclad ship climbed sharply.

"Can you accelerate further?!"

Nelson's scalp tingled.

With the speed of the opponent so fast, it is impossible to get out of the battlefield.

When they come, it's a tailwind, if they want to turn around and leave, it's a headwind.

On the opposite side, how could the Ming army's steam engine-driven battleship that didn't need sails escape?

The only chance now is to go head-on, using rockets and artillery to face each other head-on!
In any case, there were only twelve warships that didn't look particularly large on the opposite side.

in quantity.

Britain's Eastern Intervention Fleet has an absolute advantage.

"Adjust the angle, [-] degrees of elevation! A round of rocket salvo!"

On the decks of the warships of the Eastern Intervention Fleet.

The waterproof gun covers of each rocket launcher were removed, and the gunner vigorously rotated the angle plate to set the angle and direction.

The order to fire was issued immediately.

In an instant.

Heaven and earth change color.

The bright flames seemed to take away even the light of the sun.

Rockets soared into the sky, covering the sky and covering the sky.

White lines formed by thick smoke streaked across the air.

Oh oh oh!
The rockets roaring like chasing the stars and chasing the moon rushed towards the iron-clad warship of the Ming army.

"Go to hell! Chinese!"

"Hahahaha! They are dead!"

"God, I can assure you this is the scariest scene I've ever seen!"

The volley of hundreds of rockets was so spectacular and powerful that all the officers and soldiers of the Ming army opened their mouths and stared, and some people's thighs were still trembling.

It's really scary!

Zhu Bing stared at the rocket in the sky.

The momentum was indeed huge, the smoke from the rockets even obscured everyone's sight, and most of the rockets actually did not fly over the battleship.

But the number of rockets that can't stand the opponent's salvo is enough!

Bang!

The Weiyuan ship shook.

A rocket hit the inclined ship's side head-on.

The violent explosion shook the warship slightly.

But soon.

After the sound of the explosion passed, Zhu Wei straightened up to check, but found that there was only a small dent on the side of the ship, and there was no possibility of being pierced at all.

This is actually normal, after all, the rockets equipped by the British fleet are not armor-piercing bombs.

Just relying on the explosion of black powder, it is difficult to cause too much damage to the 4-inch thick steel armor.

Zhu Xi breathed a sigh of relief.

"Damn it. It looks so scary, but it's okay."

Zhu Xi muttered in a low voice.

Among the twelve Wei-class ironclad ships, except for two unlucky battleships that were hit by rockets on the deck, the violent explosion stunned several gunners.

Almost no other damage was suffered in this round of rocket shooting.

The armor of the battleship successfully withstood this round of rocket bombardment!

at this time.

From the perspective of the officers and men of the British Fleet.

The twelve Ming warships ahead were enveloped in the explosion of hundreds of rockets.

The dense smoke covered the sky, making it difficult to see the situation at the center of the explosion.

But under such bombardment, the warships of the Ming army must be finished.

In this battle, the British Royal Navy once again won the victory.

A great victory.

"God bless!"

"Long live!"

"Won!"

"The land and wealth of the East are beckoning to us!"

The British navy cheers.

Nelson also let out a heavy sigh of relief.

"You led a great victory! My general." Greenwood smiled from the side.

Nelson raised the corner of his mouth and looked forward with a telescope.

"Now it's His Majesty the Emperor who has to consider how to end it. Our fleet will arrive directly at the mouth of the Yangtze River!"

Amid cheers, Nelson announced.

Yet at this moment, within the horizon of his telescope.

A black battleship broke through the thick smoke on the sea!
The cheers came to an abrupt end.

All the British sailors saw it.

in the smoke.

One battleship after another appeared.

no more, no less.

Exactly twelve ships!
That rocket bombardment.

It did not cause any damage to the twelve Ming warships at all!
"Their armor can withstand the bombardment of rockets!!" Collingwood lost his voice.

Nelson held the binoculars like a statue, motionless, his knuckles white.

Under his sight, the muzzle of the black hole pointed in his direction.

next second.

The muzzle vibrated.

Flames spewed out from the muzzle, and an elliptical shell whizzed and whirled, and rushed towards the British Eastern Intervention Fleet in a line parallel to the sea level!
Finished!

The thought had just crossed Nelson's mind.

About 100 meters to his right.

A scene of extreme horror occurred.

A shell tore through the oak-laid side of the ship and drilled into the interior of the cabin, where a violent explosion occurred.

Heat waves and flames from the explosion swept through the interior of the cabin.

The cabin storing the rockets was overturned immediately, and a large number of rockets were thrown into the air by the shock wave generated by the explosion, resulting in collisions.

Soon, a rocket was ignited.

Under the terrifying chain reaction.

boom!
The explosion that shook the world instantly tore the entire battleship into pieces.

Many sailors on both sides of this third-tier battleship were engulfed by the violent explosion without even a chance to escape.

In one round of bombardment, several warships in the British fleet were torn to pieces.

When the British sailors reacted and began to fight back with artillery.

They found out.

The pointed bullets simply couldn't nail the sloped sides of the Wei-class ironclad ships of the Ming Army.

Even the sound of the explosion could not shake the armor of the Ming army's armored ships.

Mobility, firepower, armor.

No matter from which aspect, the Ming army has an absolute advantage.

This is a dimensionality reduction blow.

No matter how good the sailors of the Eastern Intervention Fleet are, no matter how superb naval tactics they have in the age of sailing battleships, no matter how many times they have won naval battles.

Not enough to even out the generation gap between them and the Ironclad Ship!
boom!boom!boom!
Explosions sounded one after another on the sea.

In fact.

The consequences of the immature rocket landing on the ship are already beginning to emerge.

Rockets are the biggest hidden danger on battleships.

As long as one rocket is ignited, the destructive force produced is enough to completely scrap a sailing battleship.

A large number of rockets are stored on every British battleship.

And now.

These rockets have instead become their life-saving talisman
boom!
A shell penetrated the hold of the battleship Victory.

In the cabin of this possibly the most complex, largest, and most expensive first-class battleship in human history, a violent explosion instantly overturned everything.

Nelson, who was standing in the command module, was suddenly thrown away by the explosion.

when falling into the sea.

Nelson thought to himself.

British maritime supremacy is over.

(End of this chapter)