Late autumn is dry, with no white clouds in the blue sky, and warships scattered across the sea plow white waves and cruise around the main route in the South China Sea.

On the Drake, the flagship of the Nanyang Navy, Wang Xinyu stood on the bow of the ship and held a telescope to check the surrounding waters.

At this time, all the warships have been dispersed, and as soon as one ship detects the enemy, it will immediately send an alarm signal. Once the target is discovered, all the ships can immediately kill the target position, and strive to take down the enemy ship in one go.

"Fireworks! Twenty-six degrees to the northeast! There is a fireworks signal! Suddenly, a sailor looking from the mast shouted.

In order to unify the standards, Wang Xinyu's Nanyang Company Navy adopted a Western-style calculation method, in which the weight of the ship was calculated in tons, the length in meters, the distance in nautical miles and kilometers, and the azimuth angle was divided into a circle of 360 degrees.

Hearing the sailor's shout, Wang Xinyu turned his binoculars and looked northeast, and sure enough, he saw several black smoke balls rising from the air in front of him. It was a signal used by the maritime patrol fleet to give an alarm, and at night, it exploded in the air with brilliant fireworks, which could be seen by sailors watching from the top of the mast dozens of miles away. In the daytime, although it is not as conspicuous as at night, the black smoke emitted fills the air for a long time, and it can also be seen by the sailor at a glance.

"All battleships, immediately to the north!" Albert gave the order.

A British sailor aboard the flagship Drake quickly pulled out three fireworks and signaled a rally into the air.

At the signal, the scattered ships immediately joined up to the north, raised their full sails, and the wind blew the sails bulging, and one after another the battleships split the waves and galloped away in the direction of the target.

Although it is the ninth lunar month, the South China Sea is still hot. The north wind coming down from the north could not reach here, and the sea was still hung with warm and humid air currents from the South Pacific, and the fleet was heading north, with the wind going down, so that the speed of the ships was very fast. Moreover, the sailors who operated the sails were all British, they moved swiftly, their level was superb, and they operated the huge soft-sail battleships docile and obedient, and the battleships were like arrows from Xuan, shooting towards the place where the enemy was discovered, and in less than half an hour, Wang Xinyu and they had already seen the little white sails on the sea in the distance, and also saw the billowing white smoke of the Dutch battleships, and the rumbling cannon sound was like rolling thunder, which came into people's ears.

Just now, among the warships that had been sent out to patrol in all directions, a privateer of one hundred and fifty tons spotted the Dutch fleet.

Ignoring the enemy's large number of ships, the small boat bravely rushed up against the Dutch warship and attacked it with its bow guns, which provoked the commander of the Dutch fleet, Van Delang, to be furious and wanted to send this British boat, which was as nasty as a cockroach, to the bottom of the sea.

When the two huge ships of the Dutch pressed over on the left and the right, the British, of course, did not go to the big ships of the Dutch, but took advantage of the fast speed, immediately turned around, and fled in the direction of their own fleet at high speed.

The Dutch battleships were in hot pursuit, and the privateers constantly counterattacked with the guns in the stern, firing chain bullets again and again, attacking the sails of the Dutch ships.

Seeing the British release the fireworks signal, Fan Delang was startled: "Damn! Those Britons still have helpers! ”

It wasn't long before the Dutch discovered that a large fleet of soft sailing ships had appeared on the sea ahead, with at least five large ships and thirteen small boats!

Picking up the binoculars, Van Delang saw that the fleet was flying the British flag! He was startled and hurriedly ordered: "Not good! British fleet! Turn around and head back now! ”

Although Fan Delang is a more reckless person, he also knows the strength of the other party, not to mention anything else, just say that the other party's big ship, against his own Hector and Graflan teamed up, it is enough! And thirteen privateers happen to be the nemesis of bulky merchant ships! You must know that the merchant ships of the Dutch were feared by the inconspicuous British boats!

The boat is very fast, the action is very flexible, and the firepower is not weak, it was originally born for robbery at sea, and when you are entangled in that kind of boat, no merchant ship will want to run away!

Fan Delang ordered a retreat in the direction of Taiwan, but the merchant ship was full of goods and could not run fast at all, how could it be possible to outrun the extremely fast sixth-class privateer!

As the Dutch fleet drew closer, Albert discovered through his telescope that there were six Dutch ships, two of which were warships and four merchant ships. And on his side there are eighteen warships. In terms of numbers, the Nanyang Navy's navy occupies an overwhelming advantage, but in fact, the advantage is not very large, for the following reasons: Wang Xinyu has a total of more than 500 British sailors and more than 100 sailors from other European countries, and these more than 700 people are assigned to 18 soft-sail warships, and each battleship has more than 20 to 30 Western-style sailors who can master soft sails proficiently. And the gunners of the battleship were all officers and soldiers of the original Daming Water Division. However, due to the lack of manpower, there are many unmanned guns on each ship, and the eighteen search battleships can exert half of their combat effectiveness at most, and most of them are still small boats.

But it can be seen that the waterline of the Dutch merchant ship is very deep, presumably it is loaded with a lot of goods, and if you can grab a handful, it will make a fortune!

The twelve privateers moved very quickly, and the privateer, which was being pursued by the Dutch, also turned its head and launched an attack on the Dutch fleet with the twelve privateers, like a pack of bloodthirsty wolves, fiercely pounced on their prey.

Wang Xinyu's gunners were insufficient, and on the privateer ship, he could only ensure that the guns in the bow and stern had gunners, in fact, the guns on both sides were furnishings.

But the privateer's bow cannon is enough! Thirteen wolf-like privateers were dedicated to biting the butts of Dutch merchant ships, like wolves attacking sheep on the steppe, and they avoided the vicious sheepdogs and slaughtered the clumsy and meager merchant ships.

The privateer opened fire, the guns on the bow of the ship spat out balls of fire, twenty-six cannons fired in a salvo, and the chain bullets specially designed to slow down the merchant ship flew out and whistled into the white sails.

The Dutchman's Cock was unfortunately hit by multiple chain bullets, and the sails fell in pieces, just like the priest in the game who had been slowed down by the mage, the ship's speed immediately slowed down, and then a bunch of wolf-like privateers bit up from the buttocks, and the guns on the bow of the ship continued to fire fiercely at the stern of the Hawke, and rows of solid shells fell into the sea around the Hawke, raising milky white columns of water.

A solid cannonball pierced the stern of the Urke and burrowed into the captain's room, smashing countless planks and smashing the tables and beds in the captain's room.

Several more shells hit the stern of the Erke, and soon, the originally round and beautiful stern became like a garbage dump, and countless holes were smashed open, and a Dutch sailor at the helm of the stern was also hit by the cannonball, and at once the solid cannonball pierced through the waist, and the whole person was cut in two, and the internal organs and intestines flowed all over the ground.

Seeing a merchant ship under attack, the red-eyed Van Derang ordered the Hector and Graffran to turn back and deal with the British privateers, in an attempt to buy time for the Erke to raise their sails again and escape.

The two Dutch warships spun their huge bodies, made a big circle on the surface of the sea, turned their heads, and pounced on the privateers like wolves.

But in the eyes of the British, the two Dutch warships were like clumsy bears, and as long as their privateers avoided them, they were left alone.

The privateer immediately gave up the attack on the Erke, and with its dexterity, it avoided the powerful fire of the Hector and Graflan, and drew a beautiful arc on the surface of the sea, straight into the Dutch merchant fleet that was fleeing northeast.

And just then, the Drake and her sister ships had arrived, followed by three fifth-class cruisers.

"That's it! At that time, I was chased from Malacca all the way to Macau! Seeing the Hector, Albert stared at his blood-red eyes and commanded his battleships and sister ships, lined up in a straight formation, one in front of the other, and pasted the Dutch battleship from the side.

Three fifth-class cruisers also caught up and quickly approached the Grafflan from the flanks.

"Thirty-five degrees on the right side!" The hull of the ship stirred up white waves, and the Drake, with its sister ship, quickly approached the Hector at a perfect angle.

It has to be said that the British Navy has a particularly strong sense of teamwork. Although the gunners were all Wang Xinyu's, under the unified command of the British captain, none of the gunners would fire in advance, and all the gunners were guarding the side of the guns that had been loaded with ammunition, waiting for the unified order to fire.

The Dutch, by contrast, are much more casual and, like the Spaniards, play at an individual level. Before the British flag Nanyang Navy warships could be fired, the Dutch gunners, according to their own judgment, fired out shells.

The cannonballs fired by the Dutch kept falling into the sea, raising countless columns of water that soared into the sky.

The spray of the waves, stirred up by the shells, splashed onto the boat. Another shell hit the deck of the Drake, smashing a plank. Fortunately, the British sailors on board took care to dodge, and only one sailor was injured by the flying pieces of wood, while the others were unharmed.

Wang Xinyu's gunners were insufficient, but because it was a port to meet the enemy, Wang Xinyu asked all the gunners to go to starboard, so as to ensure the firepower of the starboard side.

The ships of both sides were still approaching, and three more shells from the Dutch hit the Drake, one of which hit the tail, but due to the angle, a depression appeared in the thick oak plank, which failed to penetrate the hull. There were also two shells, one of which landed on the deck, shattering a light deck, and the flying plank smashed right on the head of an English sailor who was operating the sails, and the head of the British sailor burst like a watermelon hit by a plank. Another shell hit the upper gun deck, burrowing into the ship's hold, and the bouncing shells and flying wooden planks killed and wounded the Ming gunners inside.

But just like that, Albert still held his composure and did not give the order to fire.

The Dutch finished firing a round of shells, and the gunners nervously cooled down the cannons, cleaned the chambers, and prepared to reload the gunpowder and shells.

At this time, the Drake was only two hundred meters away from his enemy, the Hector! The starboard side of both sides faced the starboard side, and just as the two ships were about to pass by, Albert gave an order: "Fire!" ”

Hearing the order, all the gunners stabbed their torches into the tail of the gun.

With a loud bang, the gun carriage jerked back, its muzzles flashing with dazzling fire, and the shells whizzed towards the Dutch battleship.

In the upper and lower gun decks of the "Boom Boom" Drake, all the guns on the starboard side spewed fire at the same time, and the fiery red flames erupted from the gun doors, and under the huge recoil of the guns, the entire giant ship tilted to the left, and the entire hull was pushed out flat. Puffs of white smoke rose from the gun door, curling into the air, and the hull of the Drake loomed in the smoke, and the sea water below the hull was red by the fire of the cannonballs, looking like it was in a fairyland.

The seventeen cannons on the starboard side fired a volley, and the terrifying degree of its power can be imagined. A volley of shells smashed into the Hector at close range, and at least six shells smashed solidly on the Dutch battleship, and suddenly the Dutch ship was in disarray, and one shell pierced the hull and burrowed into the gun deck, smashing one of the cannons inside, killing many Dutch gunners; Another shell that burrowed into the artillery deck smashed the planks on the ground and knocked the Dutch to pieces. Two more twenty-four-pound shells pierced the waterline, mercilessly tearing open two large holes. The other two shells, one hit the deck, killing several Dutch sailors, and the other pierced the tail where Van Derang was, nearly killing the Dutch general.

Keeping calm, firing a volley at close range, and striving to give the opponent maximum damage at one time was a naval tactic of the British.

Before the Dutch could understand, the Drake and the Hector had already passed by, but the sister ships that followed the Drake had already come up, and with a row of rolling thunderous guns, the sister ships fired a salvo of seventeen shells, and at least eight of the shells hit the Hector!