Chapter 902: Sam Country

"May the heavens bless us; the great Sam Country and Britain must defeat that bastard Yan Wang. Only then can we in Dongying rise again, and the position of hegemon of Dongtu will remain ours." Masho Taro looked toward the direction of Sam Country, his expression pious.

Right now, the Westerners were their faith, their gods.

It was precisely because they held such immense reverence for the Western Lands that they and the southern feudal lords were able to persist until now under the continuous attacks of the Yan King Army.

To them, Yan Wang was nothing more than a petty man who had gained power.

In the end, the Westerners would hang him.

Now, the warships of Sam Country had finally arrived.

This gave them hope, and everyone's fighting spirit was reignited.

"The Westerners will crush Yan Wang as easily as crushing an ant; they will surely win." Watanabe suddenly revealed a look of madness. "If that day comes, I must ask the Westerners to leave Yan Wang to me; I want to personally cut off his head."

"We must also kill those who are vassals to Yan Wang; let's have a massacre when the time comes!" Masho Taro suggested, his expression equally twisted.

The two exchanged a glance and laughed.

"But the most important thing right now is to eliminate Beitiao Chuanqing and those other lackeys of Yan Wang, and regain control of Dongying." Watanabe's expression was resolute. "Pass on my order: kill one person on the battlefield and be promoted three ranks; whoever kills Beitiao Chuanqing will be directly granted the Beitiao family's land and titled as a feudal lord; the same applies to the other three families including Ono."

"Yes, Great General. With such heavy rewards, our soldiers will surely go mad. The time of death for Beitiao and the others has arrived." Masho Taro sneered.

……

Moro Island.

Located on the sea three thousand li southeast of Dongying, between Australia and Dongying.

At this moment, eight steamships and thirty-six sailing warships were docked here.

On the Pier, Admiral Powell of the Sam Country Navy frowned as he examined a combination of one steamship and one sailing warship that had just returned from the Eastern Sea.

This steamship was still intact, but the stern of the sailing warship had a huge hole, along with traces of scorching flames.

"The warships of the Great Song are indeed difficult to deal with.

Their Cannonballs are extremely lethal; once hit, it is either a serious injury or a sinking." The captain of the sailing warship reported to Powell, still feeling a lingering fear.

"Didn't your warship also prepare Explosive Shells? Why didn't you use them?" Powell's expression was serious.

Previously, naval warfare was often a contest of Solid Shot.

But in the Dongying naval battle, the Yan King Fleet pioneered the precedent of using Explosive Shells to sink warships, which greatly shocked the entire Western navy.

Consequently, they urgently moved the Explosive Shells used by the Army onto their warships.

"General, this is not our responsibility. You know that when using Explosive Shells, one cannot load too much ammunition into the Naval Cannon, which causes our Explosive Shells to have a shorter range than Solid Shot."

"So when engaging, we can only use Solid Shot first, and prepare to use Explosive Shells when closing in, but the Great Song warships fired Explosive Shells from the very beginning." The captain felt very aggrieved.

Powell was silent.

After a while, he cursed: "Damn it, how did they manage to do that?"

Because Explosive Shells are hollow, they cannot withstand high chamber pressure.

Thus, the amount of Gunpowder used must be reduced, which results in a shortened range.

"General, if I may speak frankly, to defeat one of their warships, at least three are needed to hunt it: one to attract their cannon fire, and two to flank from the sides, close in, and then use Explosive Shells." The captain summarized the experience of this time.

Powell nodded.

The Western naval commanders were all battle-hardened, and the Dongying naval battle made one thing clear to them.

The Great Song fleet had a great advantage when one-on-one with them.

But precisely because of this advantage of the Great Song fleet, they had to eliminate the Great Song fleet as soon as possible.

Now, at least the number of warships of the Great Song fleet is not high; if they unite, they still have some chance of winning.

Even if they cannot win, annihilating some of their warships could still drag down the development of their navy.

Otherwise, once the number of the Yan King Fleet also rises.

Everything would be beyond redemption.

The era of the ocean, which they Westerners had dominated for three hundred years, would come to an end.

This was also the reason why Sam Country temporarily set aside its hatred for Britain to cooperate.

Furthermore, after breaking free from British rule and undergoing fifty years of development.

The Steam Industry of Sam Country was booming, and they were in urgent need of markets.

They were ambitious and wanted to obtain their own colonies in the world just like the traditional great Western powers.

Dongying was the first step of their colonization in Dongtu.

And this step had been abruptly interrupted by Yan Wang.

Not to mention them, how could the lords in Congress let it go?

"You and your crew should rest for a while." Powell turned to the other captains. "Reconnaissance on the Yan King Fleet must continue. Also, you and your crew go to Tianzhu; the Joint Fleet should have arrived in Tianzhu. Next, we must take unified action."

"Yes, General." The other captains said loudly.

Powell gave a military salute and turned to leave the Pier.

After walking a few steps, he looked back at the warships in the Pier.

Their Sam Country had a total of two hundred warships in service.

But many of the two hundred warships were old, and they had to undergo routine maintenance every year.

This portion of warships reached more than forty.

Another portion of the remaining warships were in the colonies at the southern end of the New Continent, protecting Merchant Ships on the shipping routes from pirate attacks.

Therefore, after deliberation, they chose to send all the steamships and thirty-six sailing warships.

At the same time, this also took into account the supply capacity of Moro Island, which could only support this many warships.

"I hope this time at least the eight steamships can return alive," Powell muttered.

Compared to Britain, the industry of Sam Country was still quite inferior.

They had also only recently mastered steamship technology.

These eight Steamships can be said to be the entire family fortune of the navy, and have always been regarded as treasures.

Although he believed that this time the Joint Fleet would be able to deal with the Yan King Fleet.

But once battle was joined, huge losses would be inevitable.

He hoped that such losses could be minimized.

Of course, if the Yan King Fleet could truly be annihilated, he would be willing even if it meant total loss.

The vast ocean is the backyard of the Xitu Guo.

No one wants a strong man from Dongtu running rampant in their backyard.

Otherwise, how would they acquire colonies and sell their industrial products in the future?

At the same time.

Tianzhu.

Governor Bolt almost jumped up from his chair with joy.

Because a Steamship had just arrived at the port of Calcutta ahead of the Joint Fleet.

This indicated that reinforcements from the Western Lands would arrive soon.

"The nightmare is finally coming to an end, isn't it? Luse." Bolt said to an officer beside him.

He was none other than Luse.

After fleeing to Southeast China, he arrived in Tianzhu under the escort of the Frankish people.

After Britain and the Frankish people divided the immense wealth of Wu.

His application was approved.

Now, he has been recalled to serve as an officer under Bolt.

He will carry the Flame of vengeance to burn Da Song along with the Coalition.