The sails of the cruiser HMS Linxian of the British Royal Navy have been deflected to the maximum angle, and it is moving hard in the headwind. A warship painted in lead gray is blowing out white smoke, with white waves rolling behind its butt, and passing by the Linxian briskly. , chasing the French cruiser that was fleeing ahead.
Captain Thorklin let out a long sigh, feeling relieved that friendly forces were taking care of him while escaping from the enemy, but also lamenting his own powerlessness. The Linxian is a cutting-edge cruiser that is only ten years old, but compared to its opponent, it is extremely old.
"They still have to go to Portsmouth to add coal. Without coal from Britain, they can't go back to their hometown in Siris."
The jealousy on the first mate's face was extremely strong, and he was still saying so sourly. The battleship in front had no sails and two bare masts standing at an angle. It was relying on the steam engine and the propeller under its buttocks, whistling in the headwind. Running. In the eyes of the first mate, who has been dealing with sailing for most of his life, this scene is almost like what happened on the moon.
"They don't need to consider the direction of the wind when fighting"
Frustrated, Soklin once again pointed out the essential difference between the other party and himself, and the first mate also let out a deep and down-pitched sigh.
The two of them watched quietly as the Seris cruiser approached the French. They didn't know whether the French surrendered or the Seris underestimated the enemy. The distance between the two ships was less than a hundred yards.
The first mate muttered with strange expectation: "If I were a Frenchman, I should blast hard at this time, and then fight hand-to-hand on the side! The weakness of the Seris battleship is that it dare not get on the side. They only have half the number of people on the ship. .¡±
Soklin continued expressionlessly: "Their artillery is enough to deal with any enemy, not to mention their warships are all covered with iron sheets"
There are four battleships and ten cruisers. When Soklin saw this small Seris fleet for the first time, his impression was extremely complicated. In addition to shock, admiration, and awe, there is also confusion and disapproval.
These warships are still made of wood, but with iron armor on both sides of the hull. Siris dared to use a steam engine on a regular battleship, and it was also propelled by a stern propeller. His radical technical route was surprising. You must know that in Britain, steam engines and ships are just in the experimental stage, and propeller propulsion is only in the early stages of theoretical research on human-powered pedals.
Use sails for long voyages, and use steam engines to drive propellers for combat maneuvers. Although the power mode that balances both has advantages, its side effect is a serious decline in combat capabilities. Seris's cruiser weighs 1,340 tons, but is only equipped with sixteen 20-pound smoothbore cannons, two four-inch rifled cannons, and frequently thirty or forty 12- to 18-pound or even 24-pound artillery pieces. The British cruisers looked extremely shabby compared with the French cruisers.
In terms of the firepower comparison of cruise ships, Siris is already very different. The firepower of the Siris battleship made Sokerin and other British naval admirals seriously doubt whether this battleship was classified into the wrong category. It was clearly a large cruiser. There are only sixteen thirty-pound smoothbore short guns and four four-inch rifled guns. In front of Britain's double-decker gun-deck seventy-four-gun battleship, they are like unarmed villagers, and the flagship of the French Toulon fleet is even more like an unarmed villager. A second-class battleship with ninety guns.
The commander of the British Squadron, Boscorn, had difficulty grasping the actual combat power of the Serris fleet and had no confidence in the plan of both parties to join forces to block the French Toulon fleet. He originally wanted to continue waiting for the support from the Home Fleet. But the Serris people said that they could deal with the French alone without having to use the British Royal Navy. This forced Boscoon to act according to his original plan.
In this naval battle, the Seris people taught both the British and the French an unforgettable lesson. At this time, Boscoon wholeheartedly agreed with Soklin's statement: Seris defeated him at sea more than 20 years ago. , definitely not an ignorant fool or a maverick lunatic.
In the previous three naval battles of Ceylon, the Siris Navy left a deep impression on the British Navy. For example, courage does not only belong to the British. For example, the rifled guns used as auxiliary weapons are very sharp. But overall, the British Navy still believes that it is defeated by distance. If it can dispatch a large fleet mainly composed of main battleships. Siris is no match and India will never lose.
But the Seris Navy that appeared in this naval battle was completely different from the one in the Ceylon Naval Battle. Iron armor, steam engines, propellers, these are all secondary. The artillery of the Seris battleship is so sharp that it makes all British naval officers and soldiers feel heavy in their hearts.
The rifled guns of the Seris battleship can cause serious damage to the enemy from a mile away. The smoothbore guns in the gun deck were just for dealing with occasional close-range threats.
From Boskon to ordinary soldiers, including Soklin, when the battle was at its most intense, one question was running through their minds at the same time: If the opponent of the Seris Navy was not France?Some of the colors were too large and looked very eye-catching, so they had to be replaced with lead gray. This achieves a better visual effect. It looks like the entire body of the battleship is made of steel.
Thinking of the mixed expressions on Commander Boscoyne's face when he first saw his fleet, especially the incredible surprise, Li Keming subconsciously imagined that when the fleet sailed into Britain, thousands of British people What a wonderful look on the face.
In The Hague, Netherlands, in the hall of Prince Moritz's palace, Cai Xin, deputy governor of the Yinghua General Council and European Vice Councilor, was dressed in a gorgeous silk robe and a long-winged veil. He spoke fluent French with a hint of a weird accent. Hundreds of envoys from various countries talked freely, and the expressions on the faces of these Europeans were truly wonderful.
"The world calls for peace! Seris is a peace-loving country, and we do not want to see any war! We are not only committed to charity and medical causes, but also to the cause of peace! We are sad to see that the cloud of war is not only trying to cover Europe, It is also spreading to the entire world, and our descendants will cast aside us! If we can survive this war and continue the family lineage"
"What is the source of the contradiction? Siris believes that this is because of the unfair distribution of wealth! Some countries in Europe have turned themselves into stingy money-grubbers, holding on to their vested interests and refusing to let go. This will of course make other people dissatisfied. dissatisfied."
"Serys believes that there is only one way to stop this war and maintain permanent peace! That is to achieve freedom of trade! Let the free flow of wealth, the castle built with pathetic mercantilism and ugly tariff barriers, is everything The source of evil!"
"The Seris Initiative extends the medical and health alliance established by the Lisbon Declaration to the trade field. Only universal laws based on trade can bring peace to the world and put mankind on the road to common happiness!"
After he finished speaking, there was sparse applause at the scene, which was echoed by envoys from Prussia, the Netherlands, Portugal and other countries, while others looked at Cai Xin with intense and substantial eyes, as if they wanted to carve "shameless" on his face. "Two words.
free trade! ?
Your Siris¡¯ silk, cotton, tea, steel, glass and cement have all destroyed related industries in various countries in Europe. This was achieved despite maintaining high tariffs and certain countries resolutely banning Siris products. If free trade is really to be realized, the treasury of the entire Europe will be emptied by you Siris, right?
As for world peace, I am afraid it is the peace achieved after you, Siris, ruled the entire world
British Prime Minister Pitt, French Prime Minister Fleury, and Austrian Prime Minister Kaunitz looked at each other. They all felt that they admired the eloquence of Siris, the second foreign minister, and admired Siris's high-sounding righteousness and shameless face. On this matter, as well as on the matter of Siris' true ambition that shocked him, everyone still had a common ground. (To be continued)
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