Chapter 953

Under the blue sky and blue sea, seventy warships sailed on the ocean.

On the warships’ masts, flags of three different nations fluttered in the sea breeze.

On the leading British flagship, a general in a black naval tailcoat uniform was using a telescope to observe a warship in front that was emitting black smoke.

Not long ago, they encountered this warship. Immediately, this warship began to flee in the direction of Dengzhou, Great Yu Empire, and quickly left them behind.

“Is this the Great Yu Empire’s new warship? It’s truly astonishing,” Wilson said, putting down his telescope, his brows deeply furrowed.

Dick, the councilor beside him, heard this and said, “I must say the Parliament made a foolish decision this time. What do we do now? Clearly, we’ve been discovered. If the Great Yu Empire has enough of these warships, we will have nowhere to escape and will be sunk one by one by them.”

“Don’t be so pessimistic, Dick. This time we are using new shells. These shells will send them to hell.” Wilson was confident in the current strength of his fleet.

Just last month, mainland Britain sent a batch of brand new shells. After testing them, his confidence greatly increased. In an engagement with equally armed opponents, he believed the British fleet could defeat the Great Yu Empire fleet with its rich experience.

“It’s just that they also possess these shells that can send us to hell.” Dick was not as optimistic as Wilson. He had just arrived in India from Britain and immediately participated in this attack plan.

To utterly destroy the Great Yu Empire’s naval power in one fell swoop, Queen Victoria even ceded a portion of South America’s colonies to Spain in exchange for their support this time.

The reason why Queen Victoria and Parliament were willing to pay such a price to destroy the Great Yu Empire fleet stemmed entirely from their fear of the Great Yu Empire.

After much discussion in Parliament, they finally decided to launch this dangerous operation. Because if they could destroy or heavily damage the Great Yu Empire’s navy, the Great Yu Empire would be unable to colonize overseas, and also unable to attack Europe in a short time.

This would give them precious time to absorb the Great Yu Empire’s technology. For this, Victoria even met with the head of the secret society, requesting all technical talents within the society to participate in researching the practical technology they had obtained.

Wilson frowned. “Dick, were you sent here to demoralize us? The Great Yu Empire’s warships have already appeared in Europe with Dutch merchant ships. This is intolerable to us, understand? Otherwise, why do you think the French are willing to cooperate with us? These are all our interests in Asia. The Great Yu Empire cannot arbitrarily destroy everything we have built over centuries.”

“Apologies, I merely stated facts, but I am not afraid. Eliminating Britain’s enemies and paying the price with my life has always been my conviction. However, my purpose in coming here this time is not merely for war. If victory is impossible, we must try our best to destroy their shipyards, seize their warships, or even abduct some workers, rather than simply dying in vain.” Dick said seriously.

Wilson looked at Dick, then gradually calmed down. He said, “I am no fool; I will adapt as the situation changes.”

“That’s for the best.” Dick looked northwest. In the distance, they could already see the outline of Dengzhou City.

At the same time, the Great Yu Empire warship, which was ahead of the combined fleet, was running at full power towards Dengzhou military port. When they marched south, Yue Yun had taken most of the warships.

Currently, only twenty-four warships were docked in the military port. This included one massive first-rate sailing warship, two large second-rate sailing warships, nine third-rate warships, and twelve hybrid-powered warships.

“Faster! Faster!”

In the warship’s boiler room, soldiers were frantically feeding coal into the bottom of the boiler. Under the heat of the flames, steam passed through pipes into the steam engine, driving the propeller to continuously rotate.

Under powerful propulsion, the warship swiftly cut through the sea.

On the deck, Li Wei and his adjutant were staring at the huge fleet they had left behind. At this moment, both looked solemn, their brows tightly furrowed.

“There are a total of seventy ships. Their coming to Dengzhou this time is definitely with malicious intent. They are most likely trying to launch a surprise attack on our military port. It’s just a pity that they ultimately couldn’t evade our routine patrol’s search,” the adjutant mused.

“Britain, France, Spain—these are all strong nations of the West now. It seems they’ve gone mad to stop the Great Yu Empire’s rise.” Li Wei glared fiercely at the pursuing fleet.

“This time, they’ve probably staked everything. Good. If we destroy their navy in Asia, then our Great Yu Empire navy will have no rivals in Nanyang from now on.”

“That’s right. Since they’ve come, this time we’ll give them a good fight. The Great Yu Empire navy will fight to the end, even if there’s only one warship left.”

Li Wei said firmly.

As the two were speaking, the warship’s speed noticeably increased. An hour later, they successfully arrived at the military port, while the combined fleet was still half an hour away.

After an emergency docking, Li Wei immediately sent his adjutant to strike the warning bell on the pier.

“Dong dong dong…”

The urgent sound of the bell echoed throughout the military port. Great Yu Empire soldiers, hearing this sound, quickly rushed out of their barracks and headed straight for their respective warships.

At the same time, flag signalmen relayed information to other warships on the mast via flag signals.

The soldiers quickly understood what was happening.

“The British!”

Xie Yuan and Ding Chang’s expressions changed to surprise after reading the flag signals.

“Excellent! Last time we were ambushed by these bastards at sea and almost sunk. Now we can finally get our revenge!” A hint of madness appeared in Xie Yuan’s eyes.

That time, in the dense fog, he was backstabbed by the British. He had always held that humiliation deeply in his heart.

He was initially a bit displeased when Yue Yun ordered him to remain at the military port, but now the gloom in his heart immediately dispersed. He said to Ding Chang, “Have all coastal defense soldiers enter their artillery positions! Warships, clear the channel and see if they have the guts to come in!”

“Yes.” Ding Chang immediately had the soldiers send out flag signals.

The soldiers, receiving the order, quickly entered the artillery positions in the arc-shaped bay. These artillery positions were all made of reinforced concrete, and the positions were not open-air, but rather dome-shaped fortresses. The outer walls of the fortresses had hollowed-out sections, through which the cannons aimed their muzzles at the harbor.

And in the fortress, boxes of shells were neatly arranged, with ample ammunition to cope with emergencies.

Watching the soldiers quickly enter the artillery positions, Xie Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. He had already ordered all sailing warships to assume firing positions, while the remaining twelve hybrid-powered warships were ordered out of the harbor to seek opportunities to destroy enemy warships with their superior power.