On the ironclad ship of the "monarch", Captain Arthur Hood felt very worried when he saw this scene. Although he had long expected a major breakthrough in the artillery technology of the Qing army, he saw with his own eyes that the Qing army's naval guns could continue to be bombarded, and both the shelling speed and hit rate were several times that of their naval guns. He was still in a very heavy mood.

Seeing that the "Warner" was hit again, he became anxious. The shells used by the Qing army in Maputo could produce strange fires. Once the "Warner" was hit a few more times, the Qing army would be dangerous to replace the shells. Even if it did not sink, there would inevitably be heavy casualties.

This will definitely not be able to continue to fight like this. At such a distance that is neither close nor far, it is more suitable for the Qing army to exert the power of the new naval guns. It is necessary to make a choice to attack the Qing army's formation and create a situation of melee so that they can exert their military strength advantages.

As for the long-distance battle, he had never thought that the caliber of the main gun of the Qing army warships should be 254 mm caliber, which is not much different from the 305 mm caliber. Moreover, the barrel of the Qing warship's naval gun is obviously longer, and in terms of range alone, it may not be inferior to their 305 naval guns.

"Tell me the order." Arthur Hood said in a deep voice: "Request from the flagship and attack the enemy ship formation!"

For Arthur Hood's request, the flagship Sultan quickly responded, "Agree."

Upon hearing the news from the communications officer, Arthur Hood said without hesitation: "Tell us, all ships turn left and attack the enemy's formation!"

The attack on the Qing army formation and the melee situation was not Arthur Hood's impulse, but one of the combat plans formulated before the war. Once the British army is at a disadvantage, they will take the method of attacking the enemy's formation to create a melee situation. Of course, it is very risky to do this before it is clear whether the Qing army has torpedoes, but for the British army, there is no choice and it must be gambled!

If the Qing army had no torpedoes, they could win this naval battle through melee. If the Qing army had torpedoes, they could end this naval battle early. The British fleet could avoid losses to the greatest extent. After all, there were only ten warships that rushed to the formation.

As the ironclad ship "Sonor" left the formation and turned left, the nine warships following followed and rushed straight towards the Qing fleet. The entire formation suddenly split into two, and the formation behind also turned, but did not attack the Qing fleet, but fired artillery at the Qing warships and covered artillery fire.

For a moment, the sound of cannons rumbled on the sea surface and became lively in an instant.

Seeing this situation on the 'Jingyuan', Zai Zhao laughed and said, "It's a good thing! I'm afraid you won't come and fight." After a pause, he shouted, "Tell me the order, fight with each other in close combat, and fight with each other!"

As soon as the words were finished, a communications officer stepped in quickly, "Report, flagship order, no torpedo shall be used without orders!"

"It's a rare naval battle that makes it boring to use torpedoes early." Zai Zhao shouted: "Transfer the order--."

Seeing that a British army suddenly split into two and began to attack the Qing fleet formation. Military observers from all over the world who were watching the battle from afar all smiles on their faces. The continuous artillery attacks of Qing warships and guns made them both surprised and worried. What they were happy was that the Qing army's artillery technology had indeed made a major breakthrough. This time the British were afraid that they would suffer a great loss. What they were worried about was that the British fled without a fight and a good show ended early.

Now the British fleet has begun to attack the Qing army formation. The purpose is very obvious, to rely on its military strength to regain its disadvantages through melee melee. In this way, they can further understand the real combat power of the Qing and British navies and further understand the performance of the Qing army's ironclad ships.

Of course, the serious damage to the Qing Dynasty and the UK was the result they were most happy to see. The British naval strength has been crushing European countries, which can be said to be a blow to all countries. If the Qing Dynasty could severely damage the British ironclad fleet, it would undoubtedly have a heavy blow to the British naval strength. This is definitely a happy event worth celebrating for Europe.

The Qing army's ironclad fleet suffered heavy losses, and they were also happy that all countries coveted the gold mines of Transvaal. Once the Qing army's ironclad fleet was severely damaged, they had the opportunity to get involved in the gold mines of Transvaal.

The sound of cannons on the sea was shocking, and British warships, which were afraid of artillery fire, were fully opened. Although the hit rate was not high, it was also a great threat to Qing warships, especially the 305mm naval guns on several warships, which were extremely powerful and could strike a high water column when landing in the sea. It can be imagined that if one was hit, the lethality would never be small.

Although the hit rate of British ships and guns was not high, Zai Zhao was still worried about being hit and ordered the warships to take the Z-line route to avoid it. The speed was slow and fast, so as not to accurately judge the course. However, in this way, the speed was naturally affected.

The British army's small fleet with the "monarch" as its first ship was attacking the Qing army at full speed. Soon, the two fleets met in close combat. Although the British army had only ten warships, they concentrated four main warships. Moreover, the number of guns on British ships was generally several times that of Qing ships. As soon as the battle began, the warships and guns of the two armies fired in turn, and the firing was extremely fierce.

Once the war is close, the fleet formation will naturally not be maintained. However, Zai Zhao has long ordered that each fight, the warships of the two armies will find their own targets to bombard the artillery. The Qing ships can bombard the artillery continuously. After selecting the target, they will start to lock the target and fire frequently. The British ships follow the principle of close combat and fire only when they reach a distance of nearly one thousand yards. Because there are many artillery, once they fire, they can form dense shelling. For a time, the sea surface is like rain, and the sound of cannon explosions is endless.

At this time, the British fleet, which was cruising outside the battlefield as cover of artillery fire, stopped shelling. The distance was long and the hit rate of naval guns was too low. When the warships on both sides were entangled, they could not guarantee that the shells would land on whose battleships. They could only stop shelling and wait for the orders to be ordered. Should the fleet covering the impact retreat? Or should they directly join the battle group and wait for everything to issue orders.

The sound of cannons rumbled on the sea and smoke filled the gunpowder. The warships of the two armies caught fire. The Qing army used solid bullets mostly to use flowering bullets. During the melee, the warships on both sides were frequently hit by the bombardment. At close range, the hit rate of British artillery also increased significantly. Fierce explosions sounded from time to time on the Qing warships. However, this explosion was not enough to threaten the gunners in the Qing ships. Unless the shells hit the turret directly, the turrets with thick armor protection were absolutely safe.

As the first ship of the British attack formation, the fastest "Sonor" aimed at the Qing army's first ship, Jingyuan, from the beginning. Zaizhao recognized the most obvious mark from the open-air navigation bridge on the turret of the opponent's warship, one of the main battleships of the British army, and was equipped with 4 305mm naval guns.

Seeing that the other party came to him, Zai Zhao naturally would not be polite. He immediately ordered the three main cannons to lock in the "monarch". When the other party was still more than a nautical mile away, the "Jingyuan" frequently bombarded the "Jingyuan".

Despite being hit one after another, Arthur Hood gritted his teeth and rushed forward at full speed. He knew very well that the advantage of his warship was that there were many artillery artillery and four large-caliber heavy artillery. The disadvantage was that the hit rate was not high, and he had to withstand close artillery to the greatest extent. Of course, he did not dare to get too close. He always had a string in his heart, afraid that the Qing army warship would have torpedoes!

Having endured the opponent's uninterrupted shelling, Arthur Hood ordered the cannon to roam and fire. Suddenly, four 305mm naval guns, 10 203mm naval guns, and four 178mm naval guns fired one after another. The gunners, who had been holding back their anger, fully exerted their skillful shelling skills at this moment. Although the "Jingyuan" avoided it, they were still shot one after another. Three shells hit the side of the ship, and a huge shell of a 305 gun landed on the deck, directly tearing the deck a few meters wide hole.

Zai Zhao grabbed the handrail tightly and cursed, "Damn it, this cannon is so accurate. You really can't underestimate these British guys."

Yi Zhengxing was the first time he experienced the battle. The shells he saw almost fell beside him. The thick deck was easily torn apart by the shells like paper. The violent explosion on the side of the ship shook the warship. His face turned extremely pale in an instant.

"Change special bullets! Free shelling!" Zai Zhao ordered in a deep voice. After escorting a volley of the 'monarch', it was their turn. The frequent shellings used were solid bullets, and it was time to use special bullets.

"Boom boom boom" The main and secondary guns of the nine gates opened fire almost at the same time, with only two rounds of artillery fires. The deck of the 'monarch' caught fire everywhere, and a place where the fire was caught was close to the turret. Arthur Hood hurriedly directed the fire to put out the fire. They also came up with a solution to this kind of fire that was difficult to extinguish and would flow everywhere - to cover it with sand.

The effect of using sand to extinguish fire was very good. Arthur Hood immediately calmed down. Although the casualties caused by this wave of shelling were quite serious, it no longer caused the officers and soldiers to panic. While commanding the warships to accelerate their evasion, he ordered the fighter to prepare for a counterattack.

When he saw the opponent, he quickly extinguished the fire on the warship. Zai Zhao was a little surprised. After seeing the huge power of the 305mm naval gun, he was still scared. Once he was hit directly by the shells fired by such a huge naval gun, even if the turret's wrought iron armor was as thick as 110mm, he would probably be easily torn apart. He did not dare to take it lightly and ordered the warship to circulate while avoiding the shelling.

In this way, the "Jingyuan" was at a disadvantage. Although the artillery fired quickly, the hit rate dropped significantly when the opponent deliberately avoided it. On the contrary, the British army had many artillery artillery, and dense shelling could be used to increase the hit rate at close range.

Not only the "Jingyuan" were the case, but almost all the Qing warships encountered the same situation. However, despite the disadvantage, the Qing warships were fearless. Both sides were fighting back and forth, and the battle situation became more and more chaotic. The British ships could deliberately keep a distance at the beginning, but as the battle situation became more and more intense, the distance between the double anti-warships became shorter and shorter, and some warships were even less than 500 yards apart.

On the Qing army's flagship "Zhiyuan", Xiao Mingliang held the telescope expressionlessly and watched the chaotic battlefield opposite, pursing his lips tightly, and he kept silent. He was waiting, waiting for the British warships to join the battle group. So far, the British army has only invested one-quarter of its troops, and the battles on the opposite side are lively. However, the British ship formations on their side are far away and have maintained a safe distance.

On the British flagship "Sultan", Hebu held the telescope with a relaxed look on his face. Melee combat not only gave full play to their numerous advantages in warships and artillery, but also reflected the combat qualities of the Royal Navy officers and soldiers of the British Empire. After all, the navy still pays attention to the foundation. Without foundation, relying solely on temporary weapon advantages, it cannot become a climate!

"Report—." A communication officer reported loudly: "The ship 'Normbrance' begged to join the battle group and annihilate the Qing fleet!"

The Northumberland is one of the three Minotao-class ironclad ships, with a displacement of 10,784 tons, a speed of 14 knots, and is equipped with twenty-eight large and small artillery pieces. It is the first ship responsible for artillery cover formations. It should have seen that the Qing army fleet was at a disadvantage and wanted to join the battle group, which would crush the Qing army fleet in one fell swoop.

Without much thought, He Bu immediately said: "Reject the request! Their mission is not to participate in the war, but to ensure that the fleet participating in the assault can evacuate safely."

Although the current situation of the war was beneficial to them, He Bu did not dare to be careless at all. Judging from the artillery advantages of the Qing army, he is now beginning to doubt whether there were torpedoes in the Qing army fleet?

The battlefield is in chaos at present, and some warships on both sides are less than 500 yards apart, but the Qing army has never fired torpedoes. He could not shake his previous guesses. After all, with the advantage of artillery, the Qing army does have the capital to be arrogant!

However, he still dared not take risks because the risk of taking risks was always too great. As for the current situation, it was enough to drag down the Qing army. Moreover, he also wanted to see what the Qing army would react?

On the flagship "Zhiyuan", Xiao Mingliang turned around anxiously to observe the situation of other British fleets. He still had no movement at all. After all, he couldn't hold back. If this situation could not be changed immediately, he was worried about major casualties.

Since the British army had no movement, they could only take the initiative. After a moment of pondering, he ordered in a deep voice: "Send the order, a formation will rush to the battlefield at full speed."

He wanted to see what would the British army react in this case, whether to evacuate or join the battle group? If the British army chooses to evacuate, he had to settle for the second best and destroy the ten warships that the British army participated in the battle. If the British army also chose to join the battle group, it would be exactly what he wanted.

On the 'Sultan', when He Bu saw another Qing army fleet approaching the battlefield at full speed, he couldn't help but he hesitate and ignore it. The battle situation was definitely one-sided. Arthur Hood's ten warships were definitely not the opponent of the twenty-four Qing army warships. If the fleet was ordered to pursue, it would be a big melee, and at least more than half of the troops would be invested, which would be too risky!

Soon, he made a decision, "Send an order to evacuate the battleships!"
Chapter completed!