Chapter 750: Fierce Battle on the Angry Sea

"Your Highness, the Britain warships have retreated!"

In the command tent, Zhao Xu was drawing up a blueprint when Chang Wei walked in excitedly.

Ever since the south wind began to blow, he had ordered people to observe the movements on the sea at all times.

Zhao Xu stopped his pen, feeling a surge of excitement; it must be that Zhou Yi's fleet had arrived. He said, "Seize this opportunity and immediately launch an attack on the Eastern Earth Allied Forces on the coast."

"Yes, Your Highness." Chang Wei gave a military salute to Zhao Xu and turned to leave.

Zhao Xu also exited the tent and arrived at the positions of the Prince's Personal Army.

Taking the telescope from Xu Lie's hand, he looked toward the coast.

Sure enough, the Britain warships had already turned their bows and were heading east.

With the Britain warships gone, it meant the enemy had lost five or six hundred pieces of Artillery.

The pressure facing the Prince's Personal Army was suddenly reduced.

Orders were passed down one after another, and the Howitzers were the first to emit a thunderous roar.

One Explosive Shell after another flew into the sky, tracing perfect curves before falling into the Trenches of the Eastern Earth Allied Forces.

"Boom, boom, boom..." The deafening sound of exploding Cannonballs filled the coast, blasting out one crater after another.

Many Eastern Earth Allied Forces soldiers were even sent flying by the shockwaves, rising into the air along with the dirt.

"Don't be afraid of wasting Cannonballs; hit them hard and fire every single one," Zhao Xu said.

This was the final battle; as long as the remaining Eastern Earth Allied Forces were annihilated, the war in Gaoli would be a complete victory.

There was no need to save ammunition.

With Zhao Xu's order, the Artillerymen became jubilant.

The Howitzers roared incessantly, and Explosive Shells rained down on the enemy's Trench positions as if they cost nothing.

Compared to the ease of the Prince's Personal Army, the Eastern Earth Allied Forces soldiers in the Trenches were in a miserable state.

They pressed themselves tightly against the ground, burying their heads in the dirt, not daring to move at all.

Some soldiers were even so scared that they wet their pants, trembling all over.

"For the General, for Dongying, we must fight to the death!"

Some Dongying officers moved through the Trenches with hunched bodies, shouting loudly.

They had fled back from Rang City and had experienced the terror of being bombarded by Cannonballs.

Encouraging the soldiers like this was to make them hold on.

"We will definitely win! Kill him, kill them all!" There were also Dongying officers acting crazily; one of them tore off his upper garment and, without hunching, walked through the Trench while shouting loudly.

Before he had walked a hundred paces, a Cannonball landed beside him.

His entire body flew up and slammed heavily against the earthen wall of the Trench, vomiting blood, and he died instantly.

The surrounding soldiers looked at the miserably dead officer, their eyes suddenly filled with terror...

"Boom, boom, boom..."

While the Howitzers were bombarding the Eastern Earth Allied Forces Trenches.

The harassment battle at sea also began.

Steamships towed twelve Britain warships out from the mouth of the bay.

Wu Warships followed closely behind the Britain warships, launching an attack on the Yan King Fleet.

The flashes of Artillery lit up the sea from time to time.

"Do not engage them head-on; lure the Britain warships away, then order Gong Ying's left wing to attack the Wu Warships," Zhou Yi commanded.

The Britain warships were clearly not as fast as the Wu Warships.

As long as the Britain warships were drawn away, the remaining Wu Warships would be nothing but lambs for the slaughter.

Realizing this, he decided to personally lead the eighteen warships of the right wing to engage the Britain warships.

As his orders were issued, flags of different colors changed.

The eighteen warships commanded by Gong Ying headed toward the clustered Wu Warships.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

While Gong Ying was in action, Zhou Yi led the fleet to continuously head toward the Britain warships.

The Britain warships also came toward them.

The fleets of both sides sailed toward each other.

However, when they were five hundred meters apart.

The Britain warships, under the tow of the Steamships, suddenly turned, aligning their sides toward them in a line formation.

Zhou Yi narrowed his eyes; at this moment, he finally understood the significance of Steamships to Sailing Warships.

Because it was a south wind, blowing from south to north, he was in the windward position.

In naval warfare, the fleet in the windward position often holds the advantage.

This is because the opponent is sailing against the wind, making the turning of their warships inevitably slow.

But due to the existence of the Steamships, the turning of the Britain warships was as smooth as flowing water, even slightly faster than theirs.

Noticing this, he immediately ordered the fleet to turn right, also keeping their sides toward the Britain warships.

The opponent had twelve ships, but he had eighteen.

Even if the opponent turned slightly faster, he would not be at a disadvantage in an exchange of fire.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

The two fleets became parallel lines, and the Britain warships opened fire first.

Dense Cannonballs flew from five hundred meters away toward the Yanzhou Warships.

Most of the Cannonballs fell into the sea, but quite a few still struck the Yanzhou Warships.

"Thump, thump, thump..." The Yanzhou Warships emitted a dense series of loud noises, like hail pelting against wood.

Some cannonballs struck the railings on the ships, smashing them to pieces and sending wood splinters flying.

Other cannonballs hit the masts, causing the entire masts and the soft sails above to shake violently.

More cannonballs struck the side planks and fell into the sea.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

After the British Fleet finished their bombardment, the Yanzhou Warships likewise sounded with the roar of Artillery.

Eighteen warships smashed cannonballs toward the enemy's Sailing Warships.

There was no Artillery on the Steamships, so they were not worth wasting cannonballs on at all.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..." Cannonballs, far denser than those of the British Fleet, flew toward the British Warships.

Likewise, the British Warships were pelted until wood splinters flew everywhere.

Wolf listened to the sound of cannonballs striking the wooden planks, his expression grave.

"Their Artillery is not inferior to ours in the slightest," Wolf said to his adjutant.

"And their numbers are greater than ours," the adjutant added.

Although they had seized the initiative in this round of shelling, they were actually at a disadvantage.

A duel between warships at sea is simply a matter of whose warship can endure longer.

Continuing to bombard each other like this was extremely unfavorable for them.

"Seize the windward position!" Wolf issued the order.

He wanted to force the Yanzhou Fleet into the leeward position.

In this way, with the Steamships combined with the windward position, they would be much more agile.

Thereby turning faster to bombard their warships.

Once his order was issued, the Steamships towed the Sailing Warships to sail east, escaping the bombardment range of the Yanzhou Fleet, then sailed south, attempting to circle behind the Yanzhou Fleet.

Zhou Yi immediately judged the intentions of the British Fleet.

Now, he finally understood why Yan Wang was so cautious regarding naval warfare.

The foundation of naval warfare for Sailing Warships lies in the "crossing the T" tactic.

The fundamental purpose of this tactic is to be able to align the side of one's warship with the front of the opponent's at the first opportunity.

Because the side is loaded with a large amount of Artillery, while the front is the most vulnerable place and has no Artillery to return fire.

Once the opponent successfully occupies the horizontal bar of the "T", the opponent will be at a disadvantage.

Now, the British Fleet was clearly trying to occupy the windward position and, in coordination with the Steamships, continuously gain the advantage in the process of seizing the "T".