Chapter 767: The Battle to Establish Prestige

"There is no other way, we must fight to the death." After a brief moment of panic, Wolf slammed his fist hard onto the table.

Compared to the naval battle he was about to face, he was even more shocked that Yanzhou actually had the capability to build steamships.

Even in their Western Lands, it took twenty years of initial exploration before the technology matured and they began mass-producing steamships.

Although he was not the person in charge of shipbuilding, he knew this very well.

Steamships represent a country's level of Steam Industry.

Therefore, the appearance of these twenty steamships was equivalent to telling him that Yan Wang possessed a Steam Industry equal to that of the nations in the Western Lands.

"We will definitely win. You British Fleet are the most elite fleet in the Western Lands; you possess hundreds of years of navigational experience, and your soldiers were tempered in the fires of war." Watanabe An tried to encourage Wolf, while seemingly also trying to comfort himself.

After the Sailing Warships of Dongying were launched, he had to admire these warships almost every day to sleep soundly.

He fantasized about annihilating the fleet immediately and dominating the seas of Dongtu.

But he did not expect that the Yan King Fleet would arrive so suddenly.

And it carried twenty-four steamships, which was twice as many as the British.

Most importantly, they had no time to hide in the inland rivers now.

They could only fight the Yan King Fleet.

"You are right; our British Fleet is the most elite fleet in this world. I will not bring shame to Britain or damage the glory of the fleet." Wolf stood up, gritting his teeth, "Yan Wang dares to challenge the most powerful Britain; we will make him taste the bitterness of defeat. For hundreds of years, every enemy that has challenged us has died in regret."

Having said this, he stood up and headed toward the port.

The moment they discovered the Yanzhou Fleet, the soldiers of the British Fleet and the Dongying Fleet boarded their warships.

At the same time, under the orders of their commanders, they turned their sides toward the Yanzhou Fleet, seemingly preparing for battle.

When Watanabe An and Wolf arrived at the Pier, the two sides were still in a standoff.

"Lieutenant, they have twelve steamships and eighteen Sailing Warships heading toward the mouth of the Edo River, seemingly to prevent them from hiding in the inland river." Wolf's adjutant walked over.

After a pause, he continued: "The remaining Yanzhou Fleet has no intention of attacking; they have even retreated a certain distance."

"What does this mean?" Watanabe An asked, puzzled upon hearing this.

Wolf's expression grew even gloomier when he heard this, and he said: "They are provoking us, wanting to duel us with an equal number of warships and defeat us."

Watanabe An suddenly realized; the number of remaining Yanzhou Warships was identical to theirs.

"How arrogant, but this is a chance to defeat them." Watanabe An was overjoyed.

Wolf, however, did not share Watanabe An's optimism.

He had clashed with the Yanzhou Fleet before; they were not reckless people.

Daring to duel them fairly meant they must have something to rely on.

But he could not guess what their reliance was.

However,

he seemed to have no choice but to accept the battle.

So he said to his adjutant: "Since that is the case, we shall accept the battle!"

Boarding his Flagship, he led the fleet toward the Yanzhou Fleet, with the Dongying Sailing Warships following closely behind.

At this moment, Watanabe An's heart was in his throat.

He only hoped that the British could eliminate this damned Yan King Fleet, otherwise, Dongying would be finished.

Meanwhile.

On the Warship Le Ting, Zhou Yi was observing the British Fleet.

Seeing the British Fleet coming toward them, the corners of his mouth curled into a smile.

Originally, he could have launched a sneak attack and caught them off guard.

However, this was the battle for the Yanzhou Navy to establish its prestige.

After this battle, the seas of Dongtu would be dictated by the Yanzhou Navy.

Therefore, in this war, he would defeat the British fair and square.

He would let them carry this news back to Tianzhu, and even back to Britain, to make them understand one thing: the seas of Dongtu belong to the Yanzhou Fleet.

"Prepare for battle!" As the British Fleet drew closer, Zhou Yi issued the order.

At this moment, his fleet and the British fleet were facing each other.

Bow to bow.

Entering the five-hundred-meter range, the British Fleet began to turn their bows, aiming their side gun positions at them.

Zhou Yi issued the order to turn at the same time; the Yanzhou Fleet turned as well, aiming their own gun positions at the opponent.

This time, they were not left behind during the turn; the Sailing Warships towed by the steamships completed their turns almost simultaneously.

The Sailing Warships without steamship tows were slower, turning at about the same speed as the Dongying warships.

"Boom, boom, boom..." The fleet sailed in two parallel lines, and both sides opened fire almost simultaneously.

Black projectiles flew out from the British warships, falling like raindrops on the position of the Yanzhou Fleet.

The cannonballs from the Yanzhou Warships flew over at the same time.

However, most of these cannonballs were round, while a small portion were Conical Cannonballs.

Under the bombardment of the British warships, wood splinters flew across the Yanzhou Fleet.

On the British warship, Wolf's brow was furrowed into a 'chuan' character.

A single change in formation revealed that the performance of the Yanzhou steamships was in no way inferior to theirs.

This made him even more unbearable.

Looking at the flickering firelight of the Yanzhou Warships, he went down to the cabin with his adjutant.

For him, the next step was to see who could hold out longer.

Just as he had sat down firmly in the cabin, he suddenly heard several massive explosions.

Wolf was startled and immediately crawled out of the cabin.

He saw a Steamship three hundred meters away engulfed in raging flames, with countless wood splinters flying in the sky, as if the entire ship had been blown apart.

Besides that, behind his Warship, two Sailing Warships also exploded, and half of one Warship's hull had vanished.

As for the Dongying Warships, four were engulfed in raging flames, with thick smoke rising into the sky.