The battle is still stalemate, and the shells of both sides are also intertwined with barrages on the sea, and the ships of both sides are also damaged.

The crews on both sides were desperately roaring, the lookout was reminding the helmsman to avoid the shells, the gunnery was desperately urging the various gun ports to load, aim, and fire the guns as soon as possible, and then the shipwrights were even more busy, trying their best to repair the wounds on the ship.

To be honest, both warring sides are now behaving out of line. You must know that they are only reconnaissance fleets, and their mission is to detect the enemy's situation, not to fight each other. Of course, it's not impossible to fight with the enemy and test the water when conditions permit, but the fight is almost over, and the water has been tested, so you should evacuate quickly and bring back the relevant information! What are you trying so hard to do here?

As the saying goes, a slap doesn't make a sound, and the fact that the two warring sides are now in such a situation is actually the result of both sides having red eyes. The people at these two ends, one has been practicing for a long time but has not done anything, and now when they encounter such an opportunity, they especially want to win the first kill; On the other hand, they have been rampant for a long time and are arrogant, and when they suddenly run into them, they are extremely unhappy, and they have to teach the other party a hard lesson. When people with such two mentalities come together, it's like Mars hitting the Earth!

What they couldn't have imagined was that their fight was red-eyed and stumbled together, and a large-scale naval battle ensued, and their fight should also be regarded as an outpost of this sea battle. And this naval battle is actually a battle that transcends the original scope of this era, and completely abandons the old naval battle model in a real sense......

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The sea area where the battle took place was about 200 kilometers away from Kalihet, and the light clipper here here in Lu Ren could reach a speed of about 18 knots, that is, more than 33 kilometers per hour. In other words, if nothing else, the messenger sent back by the patrol fleet will take about six hours to return to Calihat.

Don't think it's slow! In fact, in the early eighteenth century, large warships in the West could only reach speeds of eighteen knots in the right wind direction and sea conditions, provided that the design of the ship was relatively new, and the time at sea was not long, and there were not many marine life on the hull.

This speed is already quite good, you must know that by the time the steam power was later put into use, the average speed was only about twelve knots. Even in modern times, merchant ships generally hover around 16 to 18 knots per hour.

Although Lu Ren's ship was equipped with steam power, in essence, it was not able to depart from the main structure of the wooden sail, or it was just a steam engine installed on the basis of the sailboat, which naturally suffered from many restrictions. Therefore, the speed of a light clipper that can run at 18 knots was already close to the limit at that time. However, if it is a smooth sail, these light clippers can jump at a top speed of more than 20 knots.

Well, that's no more nonsense. The time of the encounter between the two reconnaissance fleets was about ten o'clock in the morning, and the time for the messenger to return to Calihut was about four o'clock in the afternoon. As soon as Zhou Yu and Sun Shangxiang learned the news, they did not dare to slack off, and immediately transferred some ships to anchor and set sail to the battlefield.

As I said earlier, due to the speed of the Messenger Clipper, it was already six hours after they returned to Calihat, and it took a little more time for Zhou Yu and Sun Shangxiang to set sail, so Zhou Yu and Sun Shangxiang set sail from the shore at about half past four in the afternoon. However, this refers to the main fleet that Zhou Yu and Sun Shangxiang are now carrying, and there are also a small number of ships that are patrolling and alerting in the offshore area to adjust their course and go directly to the battlefield.

Due to the speed of the ships and other reasons, the rhythm of naval warfare in the era of sailboats was actually relatively slow, and Zhou Yu received the news six hours later, no matter how slow the rhythm is, this battle should be over, after all, the two warring sides are only two small reconnaissance fleets, and the number of ships on both sides is only thirteen! What's more, both sides are reconnaissance fleets, and after a few fights, they should break up and find their own mothers......

It's a bit of a mess. Anyway, in Zhou Yu's opinion, he led the fleet to rush to the sea area where the incident occurred, and if nothing else, he should have met head-on with his own reconnaissance fleet returning after a period of time. But it wasn't until about eight o'clock in the night, that is, Zhou Yu had sailed for almost four hours, and it was dark, but he hadn't yet met the fleet. Under normal circumstances, there can only be one explanation for this, and that is that the fleet of the other side has been completely sunk by the opponent.

However, according to the accounts of the personnel on the two clippers who came back to report the news, Zhou Yu did not believe that with the scale of two middle and six small in terms of rest, he could sink all of his own large, two, middle and two small. Could it be that your own reconnaissance fleet has encountered the opponent's large force? It doesn't seem like it, does it? Because if that's the case, the first and second middle schools may not be able to run, but there are still two small clippers that run super fast, and according to Zhou Yu's training of the children of Jiangdong, the first and second middle schools will definitely desperately cover the second small school, in other words, the two small clippers will definitely be able to escape and report to Zhou Yu. But now Zhou Yu hasn't seen any of them!

There were all kinds of puzzles in my heart, and at the same time I made a lot of speculations, and the fleet continued to move forward, and then it was completely dark at this time. But it is precisely because of the darkness that some things become particularly conspicuous in the dark night, just like the firelight, which is conspicuous in the dark night...... Scientific experiments have proven that in the dark of night, the flame of a match can be seen by people several kilometers away.

It's not too far, anyway, when Zhou Yu's fleet was moving forward, the fire in a certain direction attracted Zhou Yu's attention here. At the moment, he adjusted the course along the firelight and rushed over, and when he reached a certain distance, he took a look at the telescope, and Zhou Yu's nose was almost crooked...... Nima's two small reconnaissance fleets are still circling each other!? It seems that you won't give up if you don't distinguish between the superior and the inferior, right?

Zhou Yu was all happy at this moment. The two fleets found each other at about ten o'clock in the morning, and then approached each other and the time of the battle should have been around eleven o'clock, but now it was nine o'clock in the evening! In other words, these two small reconnaissance fleets actually fought here for ten hours!? Ten hours! Isn't it too energetic?

After a closer look at Zhou Yu, he confirmed this idea, because the frequency of artillery firing on both sides was really low enough, which could only show that the two sides had almost run out of ammunition on the ship because the battle lasted too long. The trick is now a little bit old-fashioned, just waiting to catch the other party's flaws and pay for it.

Zhou Yu's judgment was correct, and this was also because it was dark, Zhou Yu couldn't see the current situation of the ships on both sides, so he didn't know that the ships on both sides were almost full of holes. It can be said that if it weren't for the desperate repair efforts of the ship's great workers, some ships on both sides would have sunk long ago.

In fact, the Jiangdong children have already lost their combat effectiveness, but fortunately, there is no problem with the power system, so they are running with the queue under the cover of one large, one middle and one small. And at this point, the one medium and one small that have lost their combat effectiveness will not be able to evacuate the battlefield, because once they leave the queue, they are likely to be intercepted and sunk by the other party.

In turn, the rest of the reconnaissance fleet was no better. The configuration of the two middle and six small ones has sunk two small ones, one of the two middle schools has been severely damaged but not fatal, and there is still some combat effectiveness, and the remaining four small ones are about the same as the two small ones at the end of the Jiangdong children, and they are also running with the queue.

In general, the current situation of both sides is that they both want to withdraw, but they dare not withdraw, because if they withdraw, they may be pursued by the other side, which is equivalent to selling their own stern to the other side. Once the tail rudder is damaged by the other party's opportunity, there is no need to say much about the fate of the next.

In addition, the two sides are really completely red-eyed, which is also one of the main reasons why they are still entangled here. Whether it is the children of Jiangdong or the rest of the navy, once upon a time they have encountered such an opponent, and at the same time suffered such a big loss? The most important thing is that they all know that each other's strength has been almost used, and now the fight is who can hold on more, who can withstand it, who can pick the fruits of the final victory.

As far as the principals on both sides are concerned, they did not expect such a situation. And at this point, if they don't take down the opponent's fleet to make a meritorious achievement, then they will have to be killed by their superiors when they go back...... You guys are meowing about the reconnaissance fleet! Who made you fight so outrageously?

In such a battle situation, it should be said that the Jiangdong disciples have more or less taken advantage of it, after all, they have a large warship on their side, which has played an important role many times. In addition, in terms of the quality of artillery, the Jiangdong side is also stronger than the rest fleet.

The loss is due to the lack of real combat experience, and the crew is not as good as the other party, so in some cases the manpower turnover cannot be maintained. In addition, the flexibility of the rest fleet also added a lot of trouble to the children of Jiangdong.

That's enough for the battle situation, and Zhou Yu is angry, so he can't stop reinforcing because he is angry, right? At that moment, Zhou Yu ordered the fleet to send out a light signal, so that the reconnaissance fleet quickly moved closer to this side, and at the same time ordered several fresh warships to go over to replace the reconnaissance fleet and engage the rest fleet.

As soon as the light signal on Zhou Yu's side turned on, the two reconnaissance fleets that were pestering were startled, and then the Jiangdong children who had received reinforcements cheered, and the reconnaissance fleet that rested in peace turned around and ran away. Can you not run? Don't run and wait to be sunk by Zhou Yu? Now there are not a few shells on the ship, and I can't fight if I want to!

This reaction of the rest fleet was expected by Zhou Yu, and he was ready to order a pursuit. But before Zhou Yu could finish speaking, the lookout on the high platform exclaimed that there were a large number of lights in a certain direction, and it should be that a large number of ships were coming.

Zhou Yu's heart sank when he heard the news. That direction was not the direction of Kalhiit, but the direction of Mumbai, north of Kalhiit. In other words, it is definitely not your own follow-up ship that comes. Hurriedly ran to a high place to take a mirror and look into the distance, Zhou Yu's palms were also sweating at that time, because with Zhou Yu's current experience, it can be judged that the number of ships coming from the opposite side is about sixty, but Zhou Yu's side is only about twenty when you count the reconnaissance fleet that has just returned!

By the way, let's talk about Zhou Yu's fleet, or Lu Ren's ship arrangement. The standard crew size is 250 for large ships, 160 for medium ships, and 60 to 80 for small ships. Then Zhou Yu and Sun Shangxiang's 5,000 Jiangdong children, the ratio of large, medium and small ships is 1:3 to 6, that is, about 1,000 people are divided into 10 ships, and 5,000 Jiangdong children are 5 large ships, 15 medium ships, and 30 small boats, a total of 50 ships.

And Zhou Yu rushed over this time to bring two groups, namely two majors, six middle schools, and nine elementary schools. Originally, Zhou Yu just rushed over to reinforce it, and there was a harbor stronghold in Kaliheit behind him that someone wanted to watch, so it was naturally impossible to bring all the ships out. Let's be honest, Zhou Yu's reconnaissance fleet has an accident but hasn't come back for so long, Zhou Yu will think about coming over to take a look, then the other party will definitely have similar ideas, so Zhou Yu thought that he might have to meet the other party's fleet and open his liver, but he didn't expect that the other party's ships would have so many.

Beat? The opponent's ships have an absolute advantage in numbers, which is three times that of Zhou Yu! Twenty of them in two groups...... Well, there is also the reconnaissance fleet that has just been gathered, but the combat effectiveness of those ships can not be counted at all. Zhou Yu has fought a classic example of defeating the strong with the weak in the Battle of Chibi, but is that a good case with many factors? And now this situation is that Zhou Yu doesn't know the bottom of the other party, so where does he dare to rest with the main fleet with absolute numerical superiority?

There is nothing to say, hastened to give the order to turn the fleet around. The wind is tight, and it is pulling and whirring!!

On the other hand, the main fleet of rest also gathered their reconnaissance fleet and learned about some related things. At this time, when they heard that their fleet had suffered a big loss, the arrogance of "whoever provokes Lao Tzu will die" in the entire rest fleet was stirred up. Or is it the same sentence, they have long been used to the region west of the Arabian Sea, when have they suffered such a loss? I happened to see Zhou Yu's fleet start to turn around and evacuate, and the already side had an absolute advantage in numbers, so what reason was there to let the other party go? One word: chase!!

Not to mention, Zhou Yu's reaction ability was too fast, so the order to turn around and slip away was given very early, which bought some precious time for the Jiangdong disciples to turn around. Next, the speed of the ships of the Jiangdong disciples was actually one and a half knots higher than that of the ships of the Sabbath fleet, although it was not much, but it was enough for the Jiangdong children to gradually leave the Sabbath fleet behind.

It's just that although he has left the battlefield and avoided fighting with the main fleet of Rest in this sea area, Zhou Yu knows in his heart that the target of the Rest Fleet must be Caliheit. In other words, the two sides will next fight in the offshore area of Calihet......